Photos
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Jody Lyman and Nellie Grayson Roper holding Nellie May Lyman
Nellie Grayson Roper
Born: 13 April 1862 at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USALIFE SKETCH NELLIE GRAYSON ROPER LYMAN
Written by Lydia Roper Smith, niece of Nellie Grayson Roper (from photocopy of handwritten journal)
Nellie Grayson Roper was born 13 April 1862 in Salt Lake City, Utah to Henry and Mary Ann Grayson Roper. The 11th child in a family of 13. When Nellie was just a small child, the Roper family moved to Deseret, Millard Co., Utah. The Indians were troublesome and for the safety of the community, an adobe fort was built. Throughout her life she carried the memory of being with older children and tramping mud and straw together with her bare feet. Later the family moved to Oak Creek (later Oak City) where pasture for cattle was better and water more plentiful.
The first really important event of her life was her marriage at the age of 16 years to Joseph Alvin Lyman, 25 April 1878. They traveled by team and wagon for about a week to reach Salt Lake City, Utah and were married in the Endowment House. About a year after their marriage a call came from the Church authorities to make a colony in San Juan Co. to create friendly relations with the Navajo and Ute Indians who lived in that corner of the State.
Silas Smith was chosen leader of the expedition. [Her brother-in-law,] Platte D. Lyman headed the group from Oak Creek. Those of the Lyman family who joined the colonizers were his brothers. Joseph A. and his wife Nellie and mother Eliza Maria; Edward, 22, and Walter who was 16; and his sisters, Ida, 20, and May, 14. They were advised to prepare for six weeks journey. So through the summer months they dreamed and worked to fulfil the call to the San Juan Mission.
The Oak Creek [group] started on their trek 21 Oct 1879 to join those who were answering the call from Cedar City, Parowan, Paragonah, and Beaver. They had six wagons, 30 horses and mules, and 180 head of lose cattle. It took more than a month to reach Forty-mile Spring southeast of Escalante, which was the central gathering place. They had planned for six weeks and the main part of the trek had not yet begun.
Nellie experienced all the hardships and trials that beset them, but she also carried memories of joys and pleasures. In spite of their weariness they danced in the evening to the music of Brother Haskel’s fiddle. Their food supply ran out and for many days they lived on hominy from corn brought for feeding the horses and planting.
Six weeks lengthened into six months and on 6 April 1880 the weary travelers reached a little cove on the north banks of the San Juan River, large enough for a town site and land enough up the river for small farms. They decided “this was the place.” They named it Bluff City for the cliffs of buffs towering above.
Town and city lots were marked off and numbered and men drew for their property. Thus divisions were made and homes begun. Nellie became very homesick and when the opportunity came to visit her folks the following year she returned to Oak City. But the joy of her trip turned to sorrow when she learned that her husband was shot in the leg by horse thieves and she had such a hard time getting back to care for him, but his mother was there.
Their first child came to them in August 29, 1883 and they named her Nellie May. The Indians were pleasable most of the time, but they could be hostile too, and the fear of the fierce looking chiefs, Poke and Posey, was always with them. Many of the men had to go to work in Colorado while others worked in the fields leaving the women and children alone most of the time. For their safety they built a fort and Nellie and Joseph lived there for a while.
Joseph suffered greatly with his leg which was shot just above the knee, shattering the bone, and finally it became necessary to take him north for medical care. Nellie was taken to her folks in Oak City and he went to Ogden. They moved back to Oak City and their son Joseph Alvin was born 27 Oct 1885. In spite of his crippled condition, Joseph found work to do. He clerked in the Lyman store, was county assessor and collector. Nellie kept busy in public affairs, sang in the choir, and worked in Church organizations, but her special interest was nursing. She became a midwife and found great joy in caring for mothers and babies.
Joseph, affectionately called Uncle Jody, still felt the call of San Juan and they moved back to Bluff, reaching there 12 May 1901. After living there about a year they moved to the L.C Ranch just north of White Mesa, about 36 miles north of Bluff and about 15 miles south of Blue Mountains.
Work on the ranch was hard, carrying water from the creek, raising a garden and all that goes with pioneering a new country, but Nellie found joy in everything. In the fall, mother and children went berry picking, for wild fruit was all there was. This filled their needs for preserves and jellys. Bluff was a good fruit country. Because Joseph was crippled in coloninzing project, the Bishop gave him his winter supply of apples from tithing.
There were no drug stores or prepared medicine and Nellie dried hopps and made her own cough and canker medicine and made her own salve. When men began making a canal to carry water to the White Mesa, the home of Joseph and Nellie became headquarters for the men. Nellie became famous for her puddings. When she had no raisins, she dried bullberries, which they gathered along the creek. Three big puddings placed in sacks and boiled in the wash boiler often became their Sunday dinner dessert. They called this “rag pudding.”
Nellie was taken to Bluff when Lucy was born and the time seemed so long waiting to see their new baby sister. A great problem was getting the mail through. Monticello was the nearest Post Office and the ride could not be made very often. Finally the government decided to give settlers a Post Office at the L.C Ranch. They called the Post Office, Grayson, Nellie’s second name, when the town was laid out on White Mesa. Joseph moved his family there taking the Post Office with him and Grayson became the name of the town.
The first white child born in Grayson was Angie, 12th child in the family. She chose to appear while living on the L.C. Ranch. Nellie was both doctor and nurse for the community. When she put on her white apron and little brown bag, her children knew when she returned there would be one more baby in someone’s home. Soon other women came who could share the responsibility of the sick. Amy Carroll was a good nurse. Also, Elizabeth Hurst. Nellie and Elizabeth enjoyed working together.
When a branch of the Bluff ward was organized in Grayson, Joseph became presiding Elder and Nellie was President of the Relief Society. Nellie had a very outstanding experience while at the breakfast table one morning while they were still living in the tent. She had just taken food on her plate when she pushed her plate back and said, “I can’t eat, father just died.” Father looked at his watch and wrote down the time. In due time a letter arrived from Oak City telling of the death of her father and the time was given was exactly the time that Nellie had said, “Father is dead.”
Thirteen children came to bless the home of Joseph and Nellie. Don, the last, was born in Grayson 30 April 1906. The children in order of birth: Nellie May, Joseph Alvin, Henry Mason, Alton Adelbert, Emma Lavern, Bessie (these two girls died in infancy), Carlie, twins Eliza and Ezra De, Wayne Roper, Lucy, Angie, and Don Partridge.
Before the ditch came to White Mesa, water had to be hauled about a mile. People made sledges to which they fastened barrels. A horse was hitched to the sled and in this way water for general home use was provided. To keep the water from spilling in hauling boards nailed together to fit inside barrels was placed on top. This was called a float. Then a washtub was put over the top of the barrel. Some people called their sled a lizard, but Lymans called theirs the go devil. It fell to Nellie to haul most of the water. The big boys were away most of the time looking after the cattle or working on the farm. Once a week she took Ezra and Wayne and with their help brought in their weeks supply of water from the little canyon called “West Water.”
Though Nellie worked hard she was never too tired or too busy to help those in need and she found time to sing and tell stories to her children. She knitted the family stockings, made their clothes, first by hand and later by a sewing machine. They were far from doctors and it finally became necessary for the family to leave San Juan on account of Joseph’s health as his leg never ceased to give him trouble. So in 1914 the family left Grayson taking the name with them for the town was changed to Blanding. A library was offered to a town who would name it after him and Grayson needed one so the name was changed.
They moved to Mayfield, Sanpete Co. where Nellie May lived since her marriage to Hans Bogh. Nellie continued her life of service. Thirty seven grandchildren were welcomed into the world by her and her family felt fortunate in calling her “mother” to a truly great woman.
She passed away 22 December 1931 at the age of 70 years and was buried in Mayfield, Utah.
Children:
Nellie May – Born in Bluff
Alvin – Born in Oak City
Henry Mason – Born in Oak City
Alton Adelbert – Born in Oak City
Emma Lavern – Born in Oak City, died in infancy
Bessie – Born in Oak City, died in infancy
Carlie – Born in Oak City
Eliza (twin) – Born in Oak City
Ezra De (twin) – Born in Oak City
Wayne Roper – Born in Oak City
Lucy – Born in Bluff
Angie – Born in Grayson
Don Partridge – Born in Grayson
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Jody Lyman and Nellie Grayson Roper holding Nellie May Lyman