My great, great grandfather Richard Stephen, was born about 1750, in Rowan County, North Carolina. Not to much is known about my great grandfather Alexander Stephens, except that he was married to a Mary Daily.

My Grandfather John Stephens was born March 31. 1811, in Rowan County, North Carolina. In 1833 he married Elizabeth Briggs. In 1836 they were converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints. They then went with the Saints to Nauvoo, Illinois.

On Oct. 4, 1842, my father, Daniel Monroe Stephens was born, one of 12 children, When he was 8 years old, he, with his parents and the rest of the children joined the Bates Company of Mormon Pioneers, and headed across the plains for Salt Lake Valley.

My grandfather, on my mothers side, Alford Clark and his wife Rose Hannah Waterfield and family, including my mother, Mary Ann Clark, who was born in England, on April 11, 1850, came across the plains in a later camp.

She met Dan and later they were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah, on Dec. 21, 1868. When they were married, father built a one room house on the corner of 33rd and Wash., in Ogden, Utah, it was built of adobe he made himself. They lived there about 14 months, then bought a farm in Birch Creek. After they had established themselves and had 4 children, my father was called on a mission for the L.D.S. Church. This was in April 1881, leaving home, Jim, Dan, Charley, Maggie and Mother, to take care of the farm and provide for him while he was away. Soon after he left, my brother John was born, but he died, a year later, of smallpox.

On October 13, 1883, I was born, the sixth child, and they named me Joseph Franklin. My brothers and sister promptly nicknamed me, Joe, and that is the name I shall always answer to.

My Brother Samuel L. was born on July 5,1885. I always loved little brother Sam. We were always together even when we were grown and married and had our families. I will never forget the day he fell in the canal in front, of our house. He was about three, and I saw him slip, and the canal was full, I don't know how I did it but somehow managed to get hold of his hand and hang on for dear life. I bellered like a bull calf, and alarmed father, who was up on some scaffolding working on the house. He jumped to the ground and sprained his ankle, but managed to relieve me of my responsibility. Shortly after this episode he got a fishbone in his throat. Mother and I were the only one's at home at the time. We tried to reach the bone with our fingers, but couldn't get it. We had no tweezers, so Mother told me to get a piece of wire, bent it and mash the ends flat with the hammer. With his homemade pair of tweezers, Mother finally got the bone out of his throat.

We lived on a small farm in Birch Creek until I was four years old. We had wonderful neighbors who lived just a mile to the East of us. The Garner brothers Fred and Phillip, both had large families. It was hard to part with them when we moved to a larger farm in Riverdale. It was located between the tracks and the Weber River. We didn't build a house here however. Father bought an acre of land up on the road, just off the main highway between Ogden and Salt Lake and built a two story brick home on it. It was here that the seventh son, and eighth child was born. On July 14, 1889, Walter Clark Stephens.

We were a hard working, but happy family. Our parents were strict but loving and kind. Above all we tried to obey our parents and keep the Commandments of the Lord.

I loved to go along with my older brother, Charley, when he had to herd cows. We had to bring them along the railroad tracks. Cows browse as they move along, and these were no exceptions. We'd move slowly along with them; enjoying the relaxation of sitting a while and visiting with each other. We'd talk and walk a while and kick rocks to amuse ourselves, then one day when the train went past us, a fellow stuck his head out of the window of one of the passenger cars and yelled, "do you kids want a pair of boots"? We yelled back, "yes." He threw out the biggest pair of boots I had ever seen in my life. Size 13. Another time someone on the train threw out a loaf of bread, it was wrapped in wax paper so we took it home. When Mother cut into it she found a four-bit piece. We thought we'd found a fortune. Oh, there were many things happened on those tracks. Some of them were interesting, some exciting, but on day a most horrible thing happened. We were ambling along as usual, and it was about time for the train to come along. We turned to look back down the tracks and saw a herd of at least 12 horses running toward us in front of the train, they were trapped, the train ran into them and all were killed.

All of us had our job, and were responsible for taking care of it. Mine was getting in the wood. We used wood to feed the old pot-bellied stove. It seemed as if that old stove was always hungry, because it gobbled wood continually. Every summer we hauled, cut and split wood. We piled it in several 10 foot high piles to dry. In the winter we used it to feed those iron monsters. It was cozy though, and satisfying to know we had enough wood to keep us warm all winter.

When I was 8 my father sold our house in Riverdale to William Allen. He bought a house on 33rd and Lincoln. We moved to our new home on Nov. 2, 1890 and that same night my youngest brother, Aldo, was born. We still worked the farm however.

We had neighbors on all sides of us now, and there were lots of children to play with, We all gathered to skate on Pincock's pond in the winter. It was located on Wall ave. where Affleck Park is now. We played marbles in the spring together, and tops, and shinny: a game played with a 3 inch stick sharpened on both ends. It was dangerous and sometimes we got hurt.

As we all grew older we had skating parties on the Stephens Pond in Birch Creek, and we had bobsledding parties on the 36th St. hill. We started on Jeff, and could usually ride the bobsled, loaded with 6 kids, for a mile. What wonderful fun.

I remember on day I had my first real injury. I was chopping wood and somehow managed, in a tussel with a heavy limb, to chop my big toe almost off. When I saw the blood I fainted, I finally came to and got to the house. Mother, who was a practical nurse, cleaned up the wound, put it in place and put a poultice on it and wrapped it up. It grew back almost as good as new.

One summer my brother, Sam and I were working for our brother, Dan who was doing the brick work on Charley Lane's house at 3271 Grant Ave. We had been to lunch one day and I was feeling frisky, Sam was whittling a stick as we walked along. I don't know what possessed me, but I broke a switch off a tree, stripped the leaves off and slashed him across the face with it. It startled Sam and made he so angry he threw his knife at me, and it stuck in my leg. Of course I made a fuss, and a neighbor lady came out and stuffed a piece of cloth in my pant leg to stop the bleeding. We went on to work and I told Dad and he took Sam over his knee and spanked him with a trowel.

I had my moments of mischief, and one day the Old Nick whispered for me to take a watermelon from Will Weaver's store. Fortunately Mr. Weaver saw me and that night he came to our house and told father about it. Father asked me if I had taken the melon I said, "yes, I took it". He said, "get your bank and dump it all out onto the table for Mr. Weaver" I said, "but there is over a dollar in my bank." Father explained, "that makes no difference, this will teach you that you always pay one way or another, and usually more when you steal things." It was a good lesson. And one I will always remember. I paid a dollar for a melon I could have bought for 10 cents.

In 1903 my brother, Sam, Ray Shupe and I, decided to start a gym, over Nelson and Fell livery stable on 24th St. and Kiesel. We worked like beavers to get the equipment for it. We picked strawberries and sold them, we thinned beets for .25 cents a row, doing 2 or 3 long rows a day, we hauled wood, and did any odd job to finance this venture into business. We charged .50 cents admission, but after six months we had to fold up. We couldn't keep up with the expense.

Charley and I furnished all the coarse salt for the Ice Cream parlors in town. We hauled two ton of salt from Syracuse every week. Syracuse is about 15 miles from Ogden, and it took 18 hours to drive down, load up, and drive back. It was a long and tiresome trip.

My oldest brother Jim had a blacksmith shop, which he operated for many years. Charley and I did our own blacksmithing when we were hauling salt. I liked the blacksmith shop, because it was always so interesting. All kinds of things hung on the walls: shoes for work horses, driving horses, ponies and oxen. There were plow points, iron rods of all sizes, pitchforks, runners for sleighs, skates, door hinges. Sitting around in every nook and corner were barrels of horse shoes and caulks. There also was a tire shrinker, and an anvil, a large bellows with a long handle; sand for welding, a spoke auger, a grinding stone and an open barrel of water and a bucket of sand, for cooling and tempering, we used coal and coke for the furnace.

One day when I was about 15, I with a group of boys had heard the sherif was after the Major Brother, they were cornered at Hot Springs. We went racing out there on our bikes to see the excitement. One policeman was shot and killed, and one of the Major Brothers was killed, the other captured and sent to jail.

I didn't like to waste time so I got a job cooking at a sawmill owned by my Uncle Jess. It was located in Monte Cristo. Uncle Jess wasn't the most honest person in the world, and I knew it, but I hoped he'd pay me. How I worked. The first day I cooked a six quart pan of rice and two dozen biscuits for 4 of us. I served the rest, and before I could sit down to eat, everything was eaten up. After that I took my portion first.

On Saturday, after the first week, we came out with a load of lumber we had a new horse that had never made the trip, he was used to eating at noon, but we went on to the usual stopping place, before eating. It was already 3 o'clock so we didn't stop long to rest the horse. We got as far as Ogden Canyon and the new horse couldn't go any father. We had no feed along so we had to chain the other horse back so he could pull the load alone. We got home about 11.p.m. It was a horrible week, and I was supposed to get a dollar a day and my board, but all I got was my board and that was might skimpy.

I worked for Calvert and Leek Construction Company for a couple of years. Billy Stratton, Brig Web and I hauled brick and sand for all their Jobs. The largest job was Scowcroft's warehouse on 23rd & Wall. I not only hauled brick and sand but hoisted it up on the elevator. I had a horse that could run the elevator by himself, he'd listen for the click of the brake, then pull the load, when the brake clicked again he'd stop and turn around wait for a load then pull in the opposite direction. One day one of the wheelbarrows got caught half way up in the elevator. The horse kept pulling, which made a coil in the steel cable, and the horse stepped into the loop. I saw it and yelled. "Woah". He stopped, and held the load. I jumped down, took his foot out of the loop, and backed him up. If that barrow had come loose while his foot was in the loop it would have cut his leg completely off.

I hauled a lot of sand, gravel, and brick, and also carried hod. I did a little hod-carring in competition. I won a dollar by wheeling one more brick than a Swed. I was working with. He got stuck at 100 bricks. I wheeled 101 up the plank.

Us boys didn't like the farm, so father sold it in 1910, for $4500. This money bought material for 4 houses on Goddard and Grant, on land he bought from B.H. Goddard. We had previously bought a lot including a house and barn from Mrs. Harris and built a brick house on it. This land we bought had an apple orchard on it and in the fall we would pick up all the apples that fell off and grind them up and put them through the press for cider and vinegar.

One day in the spring of 1900 the Weber River was running high and threatened our farm on the south side and we were wiring trees along the bank to save our farm from being washed away. We had to do this every spring. I spotted a man lodged on a tree, about 100 ft. out in the river. We called the sheriff and when he came he threw a rope on the man and hauled him out. He had committed suicide.

There are many jobs to do on a farm such as plowing, you could plow about one and a half acres in an 8 hr day. It gets to be quite a job in the spring and fall. It was also a big job in the fall cutting grain with a sythe and binding it by hand, and when you bound bundles behind father you really worked. I remember one year we had 4 acres to cut and I followed behind father for several days. I was glad when the days ended.

I remember the day Sam hooked the wrong horse on the old rake. It was a new horse, and seemed to be gentle. Sam was rather happy go lucky, he didn't fasten the hold back straps and when he wanted to stop, the rake, ran up and touched the horse, he kicked and ran away scattering pieces of the rake all over the field. There wasn't much left of the rake when he got through, so that meant a new rake and a lickin' for Sam, for he had been told not to use the new horse.

I had quite and experience, one day when herding cows on the river bed west on 30th st. I was riding up a very steep hill and the trail was winding and full of sharp turns. The horse stepped off the trail, fell over backward, and lodged between three trees. My leg was caught under him and over a limb. I was helpless. I tried tickling him in the ear to make him flounce so I could get my leg out, but after an hour of this we were still there, and the horse was so tired he couldn't move. I called and called hoping someone would hear me and come to my aid. A sheepherder, heard me call, and found me. He couldn't figure out how I had gotten in such a position. I tickled the horse's ear again and the herder pulled the horse's head until he worked him around the trees. It took an hour, but we got out and my leg was alright. The horse was OK but tired.

In 1903 I decided to go to school so I registered at Weber Academy I took bookkeeping from Mr. Nelson, and studied the book of Mormon from Prof. Mills. David O. Mckay, who is now president of the L.D.S. Church, was principal. I liked school, but in June 1904 I was called to go on a mission. I left for the North Central States Mission.

The first three months after my arrival in Omaha I spent in study and tracting on the streets of the city and surrounding area. I have always loved the Gospel and tried to live by it's teachings, but I can't say I enjoyed being a missionary. There are those who love to teach and preach doctrine, but I wasn't one of them. It has always been agony for me to stand on my feet before a crowd and speak. My whole being quakes, and I seemed to have no control over my timidity, therefore it was painful to me.

In Sept, my companion, Elder Knight and I was assigned to go to Colfax County, Nebraska. We left Omaha on foot with about 40 lbs. Of books. The first night we slept between three stacks of grain. We put bundles down for a bed, and stacked bundles about two feet high between the stacks. The wind blew and it was cold and we] almost froze to death. I caught cold, and even thought I was half sick most of the time, I continued to work until I was released in Dec. 1904, with pneumonia.

The second night we were out, we slept in a school house. Elder Knight found a feather and a flag. He put the feather on a bench and flag over us and said, "this is our feather bed,and we are under the protection our countries flag." We slept just fine that night.

Some of the other elders that were with us Alex Child, Moon, Bybee, Chambers and Baird. I kept in touch with Child and Knight for many years.

I baptized one convert, while in the mission field, by the name of Amelia Flack. We met a family of 2 old maids and a bachelor brother, by the name of Ferdick. The people in this part of the country were hospitable.

Elder Knight had a philosophy that matched his humor. We found a poem among his possessions which read:

Well, I've been in the mission field two years, But what do I care I've raised a mustache as white as my hair. May the people say of me when I'm dead My record's as white as the top of my head

While we were tracting, we went over a stile and about a mile down to the house. While we were talking, a little dog came from a shed, looked around and went back. When we left, & went over the stile she nipped my leg. We didn't know she was anywhere near, she never made a sound, but turned back.

While on my mission, I visited the place where the Latter Day Saints crossed the Missouri river. I also went to see where Omaha City had it's pumping station for drinking water. There were 12 pumps. 6 running at a time, pumping water out of the Missouri River. The water was so muddy they had to have 3 pelting vats. The lower one was the reservoir, and every week they would flush the mud back into the river from the vats.

I also visited some natural surface wells in Decator. They were out in a pasture and the animals drink there. One day some people told me they had found a cask of butter someone had placed in the well close to the road and the next morning they couldn't find so it was left.

I found while visiting the farms in Colfax County, Neb. That the houses were built on stilts, about 2 ft. high, boarded up on 3 sides. One side was left open for sleeping quarters for the pigs. Sometimes there were as many as 50 pigs asleep under the house. There wasn't much noise, just a grunt once in a while, and they seemed to keep the house warm in the winter. Not bad insulation, I say.

The beds in the houses were all built on the wall about 2 ft. off the floor. The mattress was made of straw or corn husks, stuffed in a tick about 18 inches thick. Another 12 inch mattress of feathers was placed on top of the first. A soft, warm feather quilt was used as a cover when sleeping. My, what a comfortable warm bed that was. Most of the houses were built in the middle of the farm with a pond for plenty of ducks and geese, the source of the feathers for the beds.

When I was released I returned home and was 6 months recovering from pneumonia. After I was back on my feet I went to work for W.H. Wright and Sons as warehouseman, at $30.00 a month. I began courting Nettie Cardon whom I met at Weber Academy before going on a mission. During that spring and summer of 1905 before and after work, I built a three room house on Childs Ave. Between 33rd and 34th. I married Nettie, Nov. 8, 1905 in the S.L. Temple.

During this first year I had Neuritis and couldn't work, so I lost my job. I did the finishing carpenter work in my brother Dan's house, and he bought my groceries. Dan was good to me when I was unable to work.

In Oct. 1906 we had a hard East wind. These winds still plague Ogden & Vicinity, but this one was the hardest in all my experience. It blew for 2 days and nights and the destruction was extensive. After the first night I had no roof on my coal shed. It was on the north side of the house, and during the day we put it back on & wired it down. The next morning it was on the South side of the house. During the second night we got scared because of the high velocity of the wind, so at midnight we decided to go to father's house which was across the lot. We figured there would be safety in numbers, I suppose. As we passed a neighbor's barn a 2"x 6" brace four feet long blew off the barn, went past us, and hit a mowing machine wheel, and broke a large chunk out of it. We arrived at father's house and went to bed. The next morning there was no roof on his house, but the chimney was still standing. Our house was intact.

In the spring of 1907 I got a job as baggage agent, manifest clerk and call boy in Carlin, Nevada, for the S.P. Railroad Co. In those days we had to recopy the manifest for every train leaving Carlin. Carlin was the terminal between Ogden and Sparks.

One night when I went to call one of the conductors, I had to walk down an alley, it was midnight and black as could be, I was walking along the alley and there, lunging at me with a loud bark, was a huge dog. He fortunately was chained, and the chain was just about a foot short of reaching me. I dropped my lantern and took of like a shot. I was certainly frightened, my hair stood on end. After I calmed down I went on and called the conductor, but after that I was a bit more cautious about prowling in back alleys.

Three weeks later a boomer switchman was run over by the switch engine. I saw quite a commotion at the East end of the Yard. All the people in town gathered around the body of a man, when I arrived. It was hard to tell who he was because he was cut up so badly, and parts of his body were missing. I thought I knew who he was, but the only way I could be sure was to see his hands, which were missing. I walked up the track and found his hands plus many other parts. The body belonged to a man named Spike, he had a stiff finger on the right hand. He had wandered onto the tracks and been hit. For many days I avoided the East end of the yard. Every time I had to cross, it brought a gruesome memory.

A few days later I had been out to call a crew for the next train. I returned about 7:30 am. All the office help and a few trainmen were standing in front of the office. The office had two rooms, the front door was in the North end close to the east side. The door leading into the back room where the stove, coal and wood were kept, was in the middle of the center partitions. At the time I didn't know why the crowd was there. I stepped into the front door and saw the yard boss, who weighed over 200 lbs. Standing in the doorway leading to the coal room with a four foot iron rod over his shoulder ready to strike. I jumped and caught the bar just as it left his shoulder. He lifted me off the floor but I hung onto the bar and succeeded in delaying his blow. The object of his attack was a little conductor by the name of Case, and 60 years old. He was sitting as far back in the corner, on the woodpile, as he could get. His right arm was broken and what was left of it wouldn't protect his head as it had the two previous times. Another fellow and I put the Yard Boss out the front door and told someone to take him home. He had been hit in the mouth with a car knocker's hammer, and his teeth were all gone on one side, and his mouth was bleeding.

Conductors Case's son was also a conductor, and was in town at the time. We knew that if he found out what had happened to his father he'd see red and go after the yard boss. We put Case on the passenger train that was ready to leave and sent him home. The boss was replaced by a man named Johnny Shields. I never heard any more about any of them.

I worked in Carlin for 2 months then left the Railroad to go into business for myself in Ogden, I built chimneys all over Weber County. I got $1.00 per foot. In the fall of 1908 I went back to the Railroad and worked the mail, part time, for the Union Depot Co. I held this job for 23 years.

In 1909 I went into the grocery business with my brother-in-law, Roy Cardon. We had a store on Washington blvd. At five points. Besides the grocery dept. we operated a meat shop and ran a meat wagon from house to house through North Ogden, Hot Springs, Plain city, Harrisville, Marriot and Parts of Ogden.

While in the meat and grocery business with my brother-in-law and I went to Eden in the Valley and bought 7 yearling steers and a spayed cow. I paid $125.00 and had them butchered. The cow over the block paid for the lot.

In 1910, I sold my home on childs Ave. and built one on Porter Ave. and 36th st. I did the work from the basement to the chimney, all five rooms by myself. I surely was proud of it. It was a lovely home, and might have been a happy one but Nettie and I were just not compatible. We had 2 lovely boys, Earl F. Born Sept. 2 1906, and Kenneth R. born Jan. 2, 1909 and another baby on the way. It was a bad time to think of divorce but were both felt it best not to raise children in an atmosphere of quarreling and unhappiness. Netties mother didn't help the situation any, she was always trying to run our home as well as her own. Netties mother interfered with us just too much. I had her in court 6 months prior and she had been restrained from meddling in our affairs. This was impossible for her, after a while she started dropping in at all hours. Someone had put in a basement for a new house next door to us. One night about 10 p.m. we heard a cry for help, I ran out and someone had fallen in the hole. I picked her up, it was Netties mother. She wasn't hurt so I hustled her onto the streetcar and sent her home.

In January 1911 we finally agreed that a divorce was the best thing. I gave Nettie the house and everything in it I also gave her my interest in the grocery business. I paid off the mortgage on the house, and paid for the support of the two boys, for 20 years. The new baby was a girl, born June 13, 1911. She was named Lorene, but died Sept 3, 1912.

I stayed a home with my folks and worked for my father. One day when father had sent me to McBride's Lumberyard, I saw the bookkeeper there. She was beautiful, with a pile of red hair and a peaches and cram complexion. That evening when I was getting ready to go out, father asked me where I was going. My younger brother Sam told him I had a date. Father thought I should keep away from girls a while loner. But I told him it was the bookkeeper at the lumberyard, Sarah Jane Beesley, so he gave his permission.

We enjoyed each others company from the start. She was a wonderful woman and companion, we shared many pleasures together. We often went for rides and picnics and most of all she enjoyed target shooting. She also loved to visit her family in Kaysville, where she was born.

On August 21, 1912, Sarah and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple for time and eternity. No marriage was ever so right, and I never for one moment regretted it. There was never any quarling nor bickering. I loved her with all my heart, and I was truly happy. We were married for 44 years and had 6 children.