Thomas Passey and Drusilla Theobald Passey (Parents of George Henry Passey)

Thomas Passey and Drusilla Theobald Passey 

(Parents of George Henry Passey)

If you would like to view Thomas and Drusilla's Ancestors go to: 

thomasanddrucilla.blogspot.com

Thomas Passey

            I, Thomas Passey was born in Strenshame, England September 23, 1837. I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints June 13, 1851, at Strenshame, England, and then moved to Birmingham, England. I then sailed to America on the ship “Enock Train;” landed in Boston Harbor May 1, 1856. I then traveled by train to Iowa. Then came to Salt Lake City, Utah, with the first handcart company, arriving there September 26, 1856. I drove an ox team across the plains and had never seen an ox team before. I had mountain fever the last few days of our journey.

            President Brigham Young and some of the saints met us over the mountains. They brought us watermelon and good things to eat from the valley. The saints from England thought it was a funny sight to see them eating watermelon. President Brigham Young told his son-in-law, Edmund Ellsworth to show us how to eat watermelon. I was too sick to eat anything. My uncle and aunt, John and Sarah Grimmett met me in Salt Lake and took me home with them to Fort Harriman, a little west of Salt Lake. They took care of me through the winter. Everybody was in poor circumstance, having scanty supply of food.

            In the spring two companions and myself went to work for Edmund Ellsworth, he having married my cousin, Mary Ann Bates, who came with me from England. My two companions were Thomas Fowler and David Bowen. We worked for him for several years. While working there I met Drusilla Theobald, whom I later married. In the spring of 1858 all the people who lived north of the mountains moved south. I drove a team of three yoke of black cattle with flour boxed up in lumber boxes of 150 lbs, each, ready to cash if necessary. Inside of three months we moved back again. Those that had homes came back and any one else that want to. I was still with brother Ellsworth when the soldiers passed through Salt Lake about fifty miles south.

Thomas and Drucilla Passey

            In August 1858 I married Drusilla Theobald; we lived in Salt Lake for two months. Then I went to work for Bishop Moon and moved to Farmington. We didn’t have much to move. Our property consisted of one bedstead, one sheet iron kettle, three plates, three cups and saucers, one vegetable dish, one tin pan and one cow. We though we were rich.

            The first thing to do was to look for food. We had flour; I borrowed a gun and went hunting to obtain meat. It would be sometimes rabbit, chicken, and good many times nothing. We had some potatoes that I had dug on share.

            At Christmas time we rode 20 miles on a load of wood to Salt Lake City to spend the holidays, visiting the people we knew. Then we went to Fort Harriman for New Years in 1860. We came back to Salt Lake o a load of Charcoal after a weeks visit. My uncle burned it and then brought it to Salt Lake for the blacksmith. In the spring of 1860 I went to work for Sherman Leonard and worked for him 1 year. The next year I worked part of the time on shares and raised a big crop of wheat. I had two hundred bushels for my share and sold it for 35 cents a bushel. Grain was cheap then. But everything else was high, we still had our cow and had butter and milk.

            Our first son was born January 24, 1860. In the fall of 1862 my parents came to Utah. They stayed in Salt Lake and my father worked for Edmund Ellsworth, taking care of his garden and orchard. Them same year my father-in-law, William Theobald was called to settle the southern part of Utah known as Dixie. WE moved to his place in the first ward; we had one lot in the first ward and one across the street in the second ward. We lived there until 1863.

            In the spring of 1863 I was called on a mission to go to Florence, Nebraska, as teamster to bring saints from there to Utah, as that was the only way they had to cross the plains. My brother Fredrick and I went with Brother John W. Wooley who was our captain going down. We had to take our own provisions with us going and coming back. They were donated by the members of the ward and consisted of flour, potatoes, bacon, and eggs. We had to cash part of them on the road to come back on. Most were eggs; they were worth 5 cents a dozen. WE had them three times a day for six weeks, flour at a meal. If you don’t think we got sick of eggs, just try it and see. We had to camp at Florence for six weeks waiting for the saints to come that were immigrating from other places. There were a good many teams, but I have forgotten how many. I came home with Brother Peter Nebeker as captain of the company.

            I arrived home September 23, 1863. In my wagon there were three ladies; Mrs. Cole, her daughter Angeline, the other young lady is now Mrs. Topims, a school teacher. Mrs. Cole’s husband was a tanner living in Salt Lake; he fitted out the team I drove. These people were all very good friends of mine and my family.

            When I arrived home it was too late to get any work. My wife and two small sons lived on a small food supply, consisting mostly of nettle greens. We were sure glad to get back to out loved ones, as we had been gone from May to the latter part of September. Sister and Brother Cole and daughters proved very good friends. He had plenty of work being a tanner and looked after my wife and family while I prepared for winter. I went up on the mountains and dug out cedar stumps for winter wood. Nearly everyone had fireplaces at that time.

            While I was in Florence it rained a good deal. We had to take turns at night herding our stock. One morning as I was coming back to camp I picked up a little roll of paper. It had been raining all night and the paper was so wet I couldn’t unroll it. So I put it in my pocket until it dried. When I unrolled it I found it was 18 dollars in green backs (that was the kind of money we had at that time). I could not find the owner so I bought a stove. The stove had a high back like they did at that time. I was allowed to take it home with me. That was all I received for my summer’s wages. I had a little work all winter that kept us, with what help we received from Brother Cole and cornbread all winter except when Mrs. Cole sent us a loaf of white bread, baked in a bake kettle; it was salt risen, and was like cake to us. We had meat but no butter. It was November 1 of this year that our daughter Florence was born.

            In the spring of 1864 we moved into Sister Hawkins house as she was going back to London, England, on a visit. My wife kept house for her two sons Creighton and Reigo through the winter of 64 and 65. I was one of the special police guards for the wards. I went to Camp Douglas. The trouble was settled by the soldiers. They were very rough and rude, threatening the Mormons with everything imaginable. I had a pair of brass knuckles made for the occasion but never had to use them. In the fall of 1865 Sister Hawkins returned from London. Then we moved to the Tanners at the mouth of Parley’s canyon.

            I moved my family back to the first ward and went to work for J.M. Blake. He bought the ten acre block which formerly belonged to Edmund Ellsworth. He built a concrete house in the middle of the block letting the contract to a man to build it. Mr. Blair came to me the next morning and said, “Tom can’t you do this job for me?” I had never seen that kind of work done as it was line, cobble rocks and gravel. It was a slow piece of work as it covered so much ground. I stayed with it and finally completed it, and everyone said it was a fine piece of work. In September I built a small one for brother Steel.

            In October 1866 we prepared to move to Bear Lake County. My parents and my brother Fred moved there the fall before. Fred brought his ox team to move us to Bear Lake; it was very cold and stormy all the way. Brother Lewis went with us from Cache Valley. We arrived at the foot of the mountain November 5, 1866.  It was almost dark and it had been raining all day, the road was so slippery the oxen could hardly make any headway. We were afraid to camp for fear of snow then we wouldn’t get over the dugway for a long time. We had two wagons and three yoke of oxen. Fred and Brother Lewis went on ahead and we followed. When we got on top we camped. As soon as it was light we started down the canyon. WE had not gone far before it started snowing. The snow came in big flakes that covered everything. Soon the snow was so deep we could hardly keep on the road. Brother Lewis tried to walk on as the teams were so heavily loaded with provisions. But the snow was so deep he had to ride.

            We arrived in Liberty on the sixth of November at 2 o’clock. We had dinner at Brother John Hymas’ and that was the first we had eaten all day. WE let our teams eat for about 2 hours and then we drove into Paris. It was after dark when we arrived. The roads were very bad and the lights were all on the south, as the houses all faced that way and we drove into Paris from the north. My parents and brothers were glad to see us.

            My parents had a comfortable 2 room house with a seller and lean-to, to make another room. We lived with then that winter. One room had a slate floor and the others had wooden floors.

            Father said there was plenty of room in Bear Lake and plenty of lumber in the hills to build our home. The next thing was to get a lot to build a home on. There were no saw mills in the county then so we had to go to the hills and get logs to build our home. My brother George and I hauled logs to build a two room house. He helped me saw lumber for floors, doors, and windows. That was more than any of the houses had at that time. They had either slate rock or straw for floors, but they were mostly straw.

            I finished our home in May. The grain froze so we had to go to other valleys for grain and flour. The ones that made their own bread had black bread. We had very hard times every year either from frost or else grasshoppers took our crops; but we were counseled to keep on.

            That year I had a herd of sheep on shares, but people complained about them being a nuisance so I got rid of them. I made pretty good from them. Then I went to Cedar City Valley and got some cattle to herd on chares from the Wilcox family. They moved up here and took their cattle to Dingle in the year 1875.

            I was hired to go to Nounan Valley and look after the co-operative dairy there. I lived there until the fall of 1879. I then moved to Paris for the winter. Then in May 1880 I moved back to Nounan. Two of our children were born there, Drusilla and Margaret.

            In the spring of 1881 I moved to Liberty and took over the Union Dairy. I worked for Brother Horsley for three years; the I bought the old Joe Rich ranch from him and lived there until 1908. Then I sold out to Joseph Wilcox and moved to Paris that year. My wife and I went to Logan to visit my son Frank, also some dear friends of out. Brother and Sister Bowen whom we had not seen since we left Salt Lake forty years before, and we also did some work in the temple and visited other friends we knew.

            In the year 1910 in May we went to Canada to visit my 2 sons George and William Passey who lived there. We had a wonderful time and on our way home we visited my wife’s sisters Mrs. Shaw and Mrs. George S. Baker.

            On December 10, 1910, Thomas Passey passed away, leaving behind his wife and eleven children. He was buried in the Paris Idaho Cemetery.

Thomas and Drucilla Passey Family

Drucilla Theobald Passey

            Drusilla Theobald first saw the light of day in the town of Weston, Freshwater, Isle of Wight, Hampshire, England, where her grandparents had lived for several generations. They were William Lane and his wife Elizabeth Parish.

            Drusilla’s parents were William and Marthe Lane Theobald. William had been in the Royal British Navy, where he had served as ships’ carpenter. Drusilla was born 22 October 1842 in Freshwater, England. The family moved to Newport, Hampshire, England after Arthur was born. It was while living the Newport that the Mormon Missionaries cane to their home. When Drusilla was nine they left England to join the Saints in Utah. How excited she must have been embarking on this big ship, sailing on and on for ten long weeks, helping her parents care for the smaller children. Dreaming of seeing America, of which they had heard so much. After two and a half months, they reached New Orleans, where they had another two weeks traveling up the Mississippi River on a boat to St. Louis, Missouri. Here they stayed two weeks getting their land legs and preparing for the trek westward. From England to Salt Lake City consumed nine long months, they landed in that city on October 3, 1851.

            Being the oldest child in a growing family, there was on thing Drusilla learned well. That was hard work, which everyone had to do to survive in those days. Women and children gleaned in the fields to get wheat for a little bread. Nothing was ever left to go to waste if there was time and strength to get it gathered. Food was hard to get. The valley had only been settled about four years. During this time a young Englishman had accepted the gospel in Gloucester and joined the body of saints coming with the first handcart company. He was Thomas Passey, whom Drusilla met and married in Salt Lake City in August 1858. After living in Salt Lake City for two months, Thomas found a job working for Bishop Moon. They moved to Farmington, Utah, where their first child, a son, was born 24 Jan 1860, they called him John Thomas.

            Not long after having John Thomas they went to the Endowment House and were endowed and sealed to each other for time and all eternity. Children were not sealed at this time, 20 July 1861.

            In the fall 1861 Thomas’ parents came into the valley with a group of emigrants. It was a joyous reunion.

            In 1866 the family moved to Bear Lake County. Thomas’ parents and brother Fred had moved there in 1864 answering a call from Brigham Young to settle the Bear Lake Valley. John and Ann (New) Passey had prepared a lot, built a two room log home with a lean-to on the back, and a cellar for storage. To this home Tom took his little family.

            With the fresh provisions Thomas’ family brought with them, the two families settled down for the winter in pioneer style. Pioneer life was not easy. The two families comprised of 10 people living in a two room cabin with a lean-to on back. Their home was not ready until the end of May 1867. It was roomy compared to sharing the elder Passey home. It had two rooms with windows, doors, and lumbered floors. This lumber had to be sawed by hand as there were no saw mills at that time, and lumber floors were rare indeed. The boards were rough and slivery, but by scouring with sand they became smooth.

            Her husband being ambitious, with Drusilla’s good managing, they began to prosper. Through hard work they became the managers of the Union Dairy in Liberty, the Cooperative Dairy in Nounan, and later Thomas purchased the Joe Rich farm and moved to the bottoms not far from Montpelier, where they operated their own dairy. While living in Paris, Drusilla worked for other people, doing house work. Leaving the care of the family for her oldest daughter, Florence, which included carrying a nursing baby to her mother when it got hungry, getting dinner for the men in the family, besides other household chores. All of the clothing had to be turned wrong side out during the washing process, which was all scrubbed on the board each piece individually. Drusilla being very precise and strict about things being done just so, made the tasks more difficult.

Drucilla delivering milk at Montpelier, Idaho.

            They delivered milk to Montpelier every day for over 30 years. It was on the Joe Rich farm they built a dairy business. AS there were no separators for milk in those days, building a milk house with shelved all along the walls, where pans of milk were set overnight, allowed the cream to rise to the top. Then it was skimmed of the top then churned into butter. The skim milk was used for making cheese. Buttermilk was sold for drinks, and possibly to fatten hogs.

            They had a roadside stand built, where things were sold, a kind of store. Drusilla also had a carpet loom in her back room, on which she wove carpets for herself and other people for 10 cents a yard.

            Most of the floor coverings I those days were home made carpets with straw for padding, stretched as tightly as possible and then tacked down. The material for these carpets were strips of cloth torn 1 and a half inches wide from worn or grown out clothing. They were sewed in long strips in variegated or plain colors which were selected carefully to make pretty patterns, rolled into balls of a standard size. When the ball would just crowd under the arm of the sewing machine, it was the right size. These were wound onto shuttles made of wood, to be shoved across the wrap, then the beater was shoved firmly against the rug, which changed the threads, firming it against the carpet ready for the next row. Back and a shuttle forced through, back and the shuttle forced through again, weaving a good piece of floor covering. Strips of the proper length were made and sewn together to make the right width of the floor.

            After threshing of grain in the fall, housecleaning was in order. Carpets were taken up, old dusty straw removed, floors scrubbed fresh and clean. Fresh straw was spread over the floor and the carpet returned after being hung over the clothes line and the dust beaten out.  Those who did not have feather beds also used ticks filled with straw. These were our mattresses. Oat straw was softer to sleep on. These too were filled fresh each fall. After being used for a year much of the straw was pretty fine.

            Drusilla taught her children to be thrifty, clean, and hardworking. Everyone was expected to work as soon as they were old enough. She also had a deep love for the gospel, and wanted her children to live it.

            They stayed on the farm a few years past the children being married and moving away. About 1910, they being along in years, they sold the dairy to a Mr. Wilcox and moved into a home in Paris where Thomas died, leaving Drusilla widowed for several years. She died in 1915.

            Grandma always set a good table they always loved to have their families home for the holidays. Truly they raised up a righteous family unto the Lord.