Sarah Browning (May 11, 1968)

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Voices From the Past Early Rexburg, Idaho By Sarah Pauline Flamm Browning May 11, 1968 Tape # 109 Oral Interview conducted by Harold Forbush Transcribed by Jasmine Scholes January 2007 Edited by Jamie Whitehurst May 2008 Brigham Young University- Idaho 2
Harold Forbush: Through the facilities of the Historical Society, the interview that follows which had been originally placed on reel- to- reel tape is now transposed and transferred on to C90 cassette side two and being done on the 24th of February 1984. HF: It’s my privilege this afternoon here at Rexburg it being the 11th day of May 1968, to be in the home of Sister Sarah P. Flamm Browning, who lives on 59 East 1st South in Rexburg. Just down the street from Brown Food Store and across the street almost directly from my home which is on 68 East 1st South here in Rexburg. And our purpose in being here today is to interview Sister Browning considering the early days of Rexburg. Now, as per custom, I’m going to ask you a few questions Sister Browning to guide you through this interview. For example, would you kindly state your full name, the date and place of your birth, and then you can tell us a little bit about your father and about your mother, their dates of birth of when and where they came from. Sarah Browning: My name is Sarah Pauline Flamm Browning. And my father was Jacob Henry Flamm. He was born in Metzingen, Germany, born in 1837. He lived there until he was fourteen years old. His mother died when he was a very small child. And his father married again and when father was fourteen he came to the United States bringing his two older sisters. His father’s two older sisters and his two younger half- brothers. And they settled in the East. And when father was seventeen, his father died. And he remained with his step- mother and helped her to raise and support the two younger children until they were able to take care of themselves. My mother was Matilda Anne Painter, her mother and her father were both born in England and met on the plains coming to Utah. After settling in Utah, they married and mother was born in Utah. Her name was Matilda Anne Painter. Now what? HF: Now, how was it that you were born here in Rexburg? Now I understand that you were born here in Rexburg and give me the date that you were born and how your parents happen to come up to Rexburg. SB: Father and his… HF: First of all your date, when you were born and then that.
SB: My birth date. I was born on February 24th, 1892. And my father and mother were married in Utah. And father came up here, he was called to come here with T. E. Ricks as a counselor. He served as a counselor to T. E. Ricks in Utah. He had an accident and was unable to come up just at the time when T. E. Ricks came, but he came very shortly after and was totally blind when he came up here. He married my mother in Utah and the first wife had came up here to Rexburg with father and they colonized up here in Rexburg. And his first wife, Salina Boch was the first person to die after the colonization of Rexburg. She was buried in Mill Hollow, near the old mill site up on the hill. But the soil was so full of lava and sandstone that it was impossible almost to dig a grave. And after five or six people were buried there they gave that cemetery up and located the 3
Rexburg Cemetery. And my father’s first wife’s body five years after her death was moved out here to the Rexburg Cemetery. HF: That’s very interesting. Now I’d like to inquire, you mention that your father had had an accident before coming. What was the nature of that accident and how quickly did he get his sight back? SB: It was not for a while. Father was put in the U. O. Store at Logan to take charge of it. Do you know what the U. O. Store was? HF: No, what was the purpose of that? SB: The United Order Store. It was not a cash store; it was a church owned store. And the people exchanged produce for produce— not for money. And father was in charge of the U. O. Store in Logan. And they had nothing but cotton wood, to burn to keep the store warm and the wood got so full of knots that they couldn’t split it. Ao one of the men told father, he said, “ It’s impossible to split that wood!” And father said, “ I’ll blast it for you.” So he took black powder out, showed them where to make a hole between the knots in the tree trunk. And the man made the hole and father filled it with several pounds of black powder and there was no fuse so he took a string and he twisted that string. He tied the two ends together and twisted it in his hands until he got a solid twist of string there. And he took the one end of the string and dipped it in kerosene until he had it thoroughly saturated— the length of the twisted string— and then he put that in black powder to make a fuse. He went out to the tree where the powder was in the tree trunk and he put one end of the fuse in the tree and the other end on the ground. He stooped down and he lit the one end and just as he lit it a gust of wind came and blew the whole fuse end of the great powder hole he had in the tree and it exploded immediately before he could get up. It completely took one eye out, blinded him in the other, and broke one leg, and broke one arm. And he was taken home so he couldn’t come here with T. E. Ricks but he came a short while later. He ran away and came up here when he was totally blind. And at that time the whole territory here was cotton wood and he would feel his way along but animals run into him. And he was bumped and hurt a good many times and I can’t tell you just how long he was blind. But eventually he saw daylight from dark and got enough vision of that he could protect himself a little bit from any accident. HF: About how old a man was he when he arrived with his first wife? SB: He was somewhere between 45 and 50. I can’t tell you. HF: Uh huh. Well, then he came up here with his first wife and how many children did they have at the time? 4
SB: They had eight children. But they didn’t all come up at that time. But later the children came up and two of father’s first daughters, that was Helina Flamm Jensen and Elisa Flamm Hess, were the first two women to come into Rexburg after the colonization. HF: Well then after his first wife passed away, did he invite his second wife to come up? SB: Immediately. Mother came up immediately and took charge of the home. She had two small children. And she took charge of them and the other six children came and lived right there in the home with mother. HF: Now your father as I understand was a polygamist. SB: That’s right. HF: And while he was living in Logan he had two homes established. SB: That’s right. HF: I take it. Eventually when the story was all told, your own mother was the mother of how many children? SB: Ten. HF: Ten children. SB: Ten children. HF: How many children did the first wife have? SB: Eight. HF: She had eight? SB: Yes, there was eighteen. HF: Total of eighteen children. SB: Yes. Here’s something too. After father’s first wife died there was raids, one after another made on Mormon people here. My father didn’t marry again. But, they make these raids and they got my father and arrested him for polygamy and he served a long term of prison down in Blackfoot that was then part of the Fremont County. HF: Bingham County. 5
SB: Bingham, yes. And they ran all the way up to Montana. But he served a long term there before they finally had a trial and found that he had only one wife. HF: That’s very interesting. Now those were some pretty punishing days for the Mormon’s at that time. Sister Browning, where were you actually born here in Rexburg? SB: I was born up in Rexburg just a half block east of the First Ward Church. HF: Who lives there at the present time? SB: My mother. That was mother’s home. The entire family lived there in that home. Three room logged house. HF: Who lives in this location at the present time? SB: Myrtle Beter. It’s on that corner on father’s original home site. HF: What type of employment did your father engage in during the remainder of his life here at Rexburg? SB: Well to begin with he got an engineer to come here and lay out the first canal so that there could be water for the farms and that people could have irrigation to raise crops. And then father went into the merchandising business. He built small store and he kept that store until the time of his death. HF: What was name of the store and where was it located? SB: Henry Flamm and Company. Well the first store was located over here between Main Street and First South. But later father built a store on Main Street and he owned three buildings there he owned a half block of property there and he had three large rooms there and different businesses in them. And then Mr. Comstock came in here and needed a place to put his bank up so he set up in the middle of father’s grocery department. And it was there for some time. And then later they gave him the corner lot where the Commercial Bank is if he would build a bank there. And he built his bank there on the corner where the Commercial Bank is. HF: Where the Idaho Bank of Commerce is? SB: That’s right. HF: I see. SB: He was in there until the time of father’s death and that of course is not a Commercial Bank. 6
HF: Now Sister Browning, what relationship are the present owners of the Flamm Mortuary to you? SB: They are nephews. They’re the sons of a half brother, John Daniel Flamm. HF: Is he of the first wife? SB: They’re grandsons of the first wife. HF: Now, who are these men, who are we talking about? SB: There’s Russell, Edwin, and Kenneth are the morticians. Jim is a great- grandson of my father’s. HF: Now Sister Browning let’s reminisce for a moment about some of the gentlemen, men and women that you knew while you were still a little girl here in the area in Rexburg. SB: Well, there was Sarah Barnes. Her father was an engineer and surveyed and laid out the first canal here in Rexburg and the son of Heber and his wife Mary Heber. Well Rick’s wife, her name was Sandy. HF: Did you know Thomas E. Ricks. SB: Yes, I knew him well. HF: Tell us a little about him. SB: Well over at the old store, there was a big boulder that had rolled down from the hill and there was nowhere for people to go, and the man used to go there and stand around and sit around on that old rock spin urns hour after hour. And that was right in front of father’s little old store. And these men— practically all the men in town did T. E. Ricks Sr. used to come there every morning. I’d better not tell this one. HF: Go ahead! I think whatever… SB: I’d better not. I’ll get in trouble. HF: Well, whatever’s prudent. SB: It’s true but… HF: He was quite an elderly gentleman then at the time you knew him? 7
SB: T. E. Ricks Sr. was yes. T. E. Ricks Jr. was like my brother, H. J. Flamm, and they served in the bishopric many years together. HF: Well now, can you describe the old gentleman T. E. Ricks? Do you remember him in your minds eye? SB: He was very stately and he had very heavy white beard. He was attractive. He was a very marvelous and stately person. HF: Did you know some of his family? Who were some of his family members, his children? SB: I can’t remember those too well because they were older than I am. I was just seven with the second family, so I don’t remember them so well. HF: Now you mention he had a pair of twins? SB: It was Brig and Heber Ricks who were twins. HF: What do you recall about them? SB: They were good hard working men just like the average other men who were here. HF: Do you remember William Rigby? SB: Yes. His daughter married my half- brother John Daniel. That’s the father of Russell, Edwin, and Kenneth. HF: Sister Browning, what were conditions like in Rexburg when you were growing up as a little girl? Did you have a chance to get some education? SB: Oh yes. We had the old Academy and we had a teacher who came in, there wasn’t a salary paid to them but they were taken into the homes. And they were given room and board and were housed. But they were all of them really educated people. HF: Where was the Academy located at that time? SB: North of an old city pump and south of Philip’s real estate property on the canal, right on the canal. HF: What did it consist of at that time? 8
SB: There were three log rooms that run east and west and they were built flush to the ground. And then there was other rooms that were built; a dining room that run north and south and they were built up several steps away from the ground. HF: Well now in the little Academy at the time, I would assume the first, second, or third grade possibly is taught? SB: Yeah. That’s right. HF: Did they go any higher than that? SB: Well, not very much. But they went up that high and then the public school came in and the grade schools were taken away from the Academy and everything from the fourth grade up, but the kindergarten and so no up to the first grade continued there in the Academy. HF: Did they use the Academy more or less as a center for recreation and activities? SB: Yes. They used that for activities and recreation for the 4th of July and the 24th and so on came the group would meet there and they would built what they called boweries and have limbs of trees to make shade and they would make benches and we’d sit there and entertained until an afternoon. And then we’d have horse racing and foot racing and other entertainment down at the old city park. That’s where Porter Park is now. HF: At that time, of course, people would gather in from all of these outlining areas and really have a good time. SB: We just got together and we had a real get- together. HF: Would you occasionally have a speaker come up from Salt Lake? SB: No. No, it was just usual the group of people from home here. HF: Now what were the streets like as you recall them? I don’t suppose there was any paving or anything of this nature, but what do you recall about the general layout of the streets and the ditches and so forth? SB: Well the streets were just mud. We had no sidewalks at all. Eventually they put little walks that ran from the courthouse down as far as the old schoolhouse, oh down to where the old high school is now. But there was no sidewalk or anything— we just wade in mud! HF: All the gardens and lawns, I guess, were irrigated out of a canal and ditches. 9
SB: They were irrigated from the little ditches from each side of the street. There was a small irrigation ditch on the side of every street running north, south, east, and west. HF: Now in learning more about Rexburg, can you recall what stores or places of business were established when you were just a little girl and what they were like? SB: There was a brick store. It was right across the street south from the courthouse and it was the Co- op and the man named John T. Smee, that’s Ruth Rick’s father run that. Then in the middle of the block going west towards father’s store in there, there was a little harness shop. And it was ran by a man name McAllister. And then father’s store came on the other corner. There weren’t many more stores than that here. HF: How about livery stables? SB: There was a livery stable that sat right across the street directly west from where the Dry Drug sits now. But right across into the west, right there. HF: What was across the street going west? Were those just homes at that time? SB: Nothing. HF: Just nothing out in there? SB: Just vacant lots and water, mud. HF: Did every family have their own cow or two? SB: Yes, they did. Most people had one or two or three cows. And they usually had some horses and they’d have a few chickens, and a pig or two. HF: And where would the farms be located at that time? SB: Well the first farms were out there right north of the river on the highway, one on each side. And then a mile directly to the east there was a farm but we’d go that far between the farms. HF: Do you recall when the railroad came to town? Can you tell us the happy occasion this must have brought?
SB: The railroad pulled in and they picked up every child and everybody that they could pick up and would take them for a little ride on the train and then bring them back in and let them off the train. My mother’s mother came up to visit, the first time she’d ever been in Rexburg and she’d been here a few days when she got a wire telling her that grandfather Painter was very, very ill so mother packed up, took my baby brother 10
and myself and grandmother and we beat it down to Logan. We got there one night and grandfather died the next morning. HF: And you went on the train? SB: We went on the train. HF: Now do you recall about what year this was? SB: Well I was eight years old. It was probably about 1900. HF: Has the train of the depot been located differently than originally? Has it changed? SB: No. We’ve had right down in that territory ever since. That was the only time I ever saw my grandfather was the one night when we got there and he died the next morning. HF: Well now in recalling more history of Rexburg, could you tell us about this frame building where you went to school and the way they would have to get the water and it resulted in an epidemic. You tell us a little about this. SB: Well the old school building it was eight rooms, four up and four down. And it was heated with a big stove in each room and during the summer months no water was ever taken from the well, it was just left. But when school started in the fall, they would pump it until they would pump out a rusty corroded water, pump it into a bucket and everyone would get a dipper and everyone drank out of the same dipper and we had a typhoid fever epidemic— a pretty bad one. There was some families where children died there was other where they got well. Some families there’d be two or three had it, some of them only one. But it was pretty severe epidemic of typhoid fever from the water in the old well. HF: About what year was this Sister Browning? SB: About 1902. HF: Now did you have the facilities and doctors or trained nurses in the area? SB: No. We had no doctors and we had no nurses. A year or two later we had a doctor. But my younger sister and I both had typhoid at the same time from it. HF: Do you recall when the first doctor came in? SB: No, I don’t. HF: What doctor do you remember as a child? 11
SB: Well, there was a doctor here, his name was Woodburn. But I don’t really remember him because I was a small child. And then Dr. Hyde came. And Dr. Hyde was here for a number of years. He was the only doctor we had for a number of years. HF: And you recall him don’t you? SB: Yes. HF: And what other doctors do you remember later on that you personally remember? SB: Well Doctor Armsby came here later; he was doctor who removed my father’s one eye! And he located in a business place in town and he settled in a building on Main Street, down near the school. And they were here for several years and then they moved away. HF: Were there any trained nurses? SB: No. No nurses. Everybody went and helped everybody else. HF: Do you recall an outstanding lady who acted as a midwife in the birth of children in the area? SB: Yes there was a Mrs. Waltz and a Mrs. Nelson. Both of those women were midwives and we knew them. HF: Well now Sister Browning, after you had gotten your education what did you do? Go out and work on your own in the area? SB: Well to begin with, I went to school when I got to the eighth grade in the Ricks and then I went to Salt Lake City and went to the LDS College one year. And after that I didn’t do very much because I wasn’t very well. I was just home mainly then and worked in the store with father. HF: Now as a teenager, going back in the times when you were say, fifteen to twenty years old— when you were a teenager, what activities did you engaged in? What was your father doing during these years? SB: He was about in everything there was to be in. I wasn’t too old then and we didn’t do a great deal, only go out in groups and the like. But father was the first chairman of the first village board and he was the first mayor of Rexburg. HF: Do you recall some of the other men that served with him? 12
SB: No I don’t then, but Raymond McIntire, his father, was one of the mayors and a brother- in- law, John L. Jacobs, served as a mayor. HF: Well now Sister Browning, at the time of the First World War opened in 1917, you’d been a young woman at this time, how did your family feel about serving in the service? Some of your ancestors and in- laws, and so forth might have been in the service— tell us what reaction you have. SB: The early reaction we had was out of loyalty. We felt that it was a duty of every citizen to do what was right. If there was anything asked of us we did it and my brother Harold, they declared war, and he enlisted the very day they declared war and served entirely through the war. He was in the Navy. He came home disabled and he spent the greatest part of twenty- five years in hospitals as a result of it. We never felt any bitterness or anything about it, we felt that it was right and proper and should be. And we never felt that there was anything unfair in him going and we didn’t feel that he was any braver or stronger than any other man who enlisted and went. And then in going back, father had his two brothers here. And the older one of the two had served through the Civil War. He was also a Navy man and was on the battleship Lancaster. And he came home and he never married and lived alone and was with us. And he is buried right by my father out here in the Rexburg Cemetery. His name was Charles Fredrick Flamm. But he is a veteran of the Civil War. HF: That’s really interesting. Well now at the time of the war was there quite a lot of parading going on and a lot of enthusiasm here in Rexburg? SB: Every time there was a boy who enlisted, every time that a boy came home on leave, everyone did everything they could to show honor and respect to them. There was no disrespect whatever in regard to any of the boys. HF: Well that’s really wonderful to know this spirit about the honoring one’s country by serving one’s country. In your youth I presume the church was quite active in the community and also on missionary labor. What would be your comment on some of these things Sister Browning? SB: Well, frankly the only entertainment and the only activity we had was church. Everybody respected and did what they could for everyone else. In so far as missions, I had one brother, my brother Peter who filled a mission in the Southern States. And I had three brothers, my brother John Daniel, my brother George, and my brother Herbert who all filled missions in Germany. Raymond McIntire died of meningitis while he was in Germany and was a companion of my brother George. And my brother George brought his body home for burial. Then I had a sister Hannah who filled a mission back in Denver as a young woman. And later when my one sister had grown, married family, he and her husband went back to Washington and Oregon and filled missions back there, full term missions not short ones, but full term missions back in Washington and Oregon. 13
HF: In the growing up of the Church in Rexburg, I assume first of all, you had but one church and where was this located and tell me something about the structure of the building and so one? SB: Well we had our 1st Ward Church for many years and that’s all we had then. The 2nd Ward was built. And that was built down here where the 2nd Ward Church now stands, but it has been taken down and the new, better church put up. And the 1st Ward Church, we went to that for many years over here where we went to the Academy on the old canal. And then they got together and decided that we needed a better church so they bought the property up here and build the first 1st Ward church where it stands now. And that’s what we had for many years, but all the entertainment and recreation, practically everything we had was church. HF: Under that type of environment, church influence, undoubtedly there was very little skullduggery or juvenile delinquency going on. How did they manage? Did they have a curfew or anything like this in Rexburg? SB: They had the great big old bell on top of the old wooden school house and when nine o’clock came that bell was rung and you’d hear it a full mile away. And we had a cop named Joe Morrison, he had the bluest blue eyes they were piercing, he never herd anything on earth but when that curfew rang he got on his pony and he started herding kids! And he’d take those kids home and he’d fine them a dollar for taking them home. And they’d be there and they’d run sometimes and he’d make them run all the way home and they’d ran all the way. But when that curfew run, everyone else run too! We really got for home! There was no night hawking; there was no nothing. Nine o’clock and everyone was home. HF: Well now do you recall when the courthouse down here that we have today, was constructed? SB: Yeah, but I can’t remember a lot. I remember when it was built. HF: What was in its place before it was constructed? SB: Well to being with it was a dwelling site there and there was people living in their homes and the property was bought from and the courthouse was constructed. HF: Do you recall any local industry in the area? Now we mentioned this Mill Hollow, what type of a mill was this?
SB: It was a [ inaudible] mill and it was where everybody took their grain. Sometimes they stored it, sometimes they had it made into bread. And among other things, they employed considerable help there and at one time father had two men working for him. 14
I won’t say who they were, but one of them came to him and asked him if he might borrow a team and sleigh— it was in the winter. And father loaned him the team and sleigh and he was to be back for work in the morning. So he took the team and the sleigh and he came back in the morning… End of Recording