Your Great Grandmother (Florrie) came to the United States from Wales with her mother and sisters and one brother in 1896 when she was ten years old. In the chapter on Catherine Lewis you will find information on their upbringing in Wales, their journey to America and life on the ranch.
When she had all the education available at the local school in the town of Knight, she helped her mother at home on the ranch until she was old enough to go to town. At that time she left the ranch for southern Utah and took training to become a telephone operator. The boys stayed on the ranch and helped their father. They raised cattle and alfalfa for feed.
Florrie became head telephone operator in Evanston. She was 5 foot 10 inches tall and her long arms were a real asset in working the switch board. The telephone service was a far cry from what we have today. Each call made was direct to an operator who manually plugged in the number desired. Several homes were on the same line so your phone was not accessible to you if your neighbor was on the line. The ranchers would listen in on each others calls and that is how they kept in contact and knew what was going on at the other ranches. We ultimately had a private line and our number was 93J.
It was while working in Evanston that she met our father Reuel. At that time she was living with the John Arnold family. She was a close friend of their daughters Ethel and Floss.
Florrie belonged to Eastern Star and the Church Guild. They belonged to several groups that played cards. They played bridge, "500", pinochle and other games. Although a very happy person Florrie had migraine headaches which were debilitating. These attacks occurred almost every other week as long as she lived. Florrie was not a strong person but had a most wonderful outlook on life. She always said she was "fine" unless sick in bed with a headache. She suffered a heart attack and a nervous breakdown when she was in her sixties. She was never very well from that time on.
Florence Matilda Lewis and Reuel Walton, parents of Dorothy Walton were married in Evanston, Wyoming November 28, Thanksgiving Day, 1912, at St. Paul's Episcopal Church by the Reverend Bullis. Florence was 24 and Reuel was 32. The reception was at the home of Judge and Mrs. John R. Arnold where Florrie was living at that time. Their daughter Ethel and Florrie became sister-in-laws later when Ethel married Reuel's brother Thad.
Florrie and Rue rented a house in Evanston on 9th Street and it was there that their first child Rose was born on March 22, 1914. Sixteen months later, July 24, 1915 I arrived.
Florrie had a very difficult time with the delivery of both Rose and me. In 1916 they bought a lot on Walton Avenue across the street from where Pop's brother Dyke, for whom the street was named, had built a home. Pop and Dyke then started to build a house on our lot doing most of the work themselves. Grading of the lot and hauling lumber, etc. was done using horses and wagons. You will find pictures of the house under construction. It was completed in 1917.
About this time Rose became seriously ill. Dr. Holland of Evanston felt that she needed specialized treatment. She was taken to Salt Lake where Florrie stayed with her for the month of April 1915 at the Anderson home (Dell's sister). The house was quarantined because they suspected a contagious disease. Her left leg became paralyzed. The doctors in Salt Lake suspected infantile paralysis. Although the doctors were not sure of the diagnosis since there was a polio epidemic at that time they put her in a body cast. After there was no sign of improvement they suggested that it was time to take her home. The family doctor in Evanston, Dr. Holland took her out of the cast and put a drain in her left side. She had lost all of her hair. After the cast was taken off she began to improve and started to creep again and her hair grew back. Our parents never said what it was but polio was suspected later. A vaccine had not been developed at that time. One leg was slightly shorter than the other but practically unnoticeable.
Dyke and Dell also had two children, Frances and Bill. Dell was a great help to Florrie as Rose was not a well child. Dorothy arrived sixteen months later.
Living in a small town in the 20's and 30' was far different from life in the l980's or 1990's. Homes were basically safe from vandals or burglars. It was not necessary to lock their doors at night.
Dell's daughter Frances recently told me a story that they had laughed about many times. It seems that Dell and a friend decided to play a trick on Florrie. They dressed up in men's clothing, added mustaches and knocked at Florrie's back door. When she answered she did not recognize them. They wanted to know if she had work they could do for something to eat. They said they were very hungry and were willing to do any kind of work. She said no she couldn't think of anything. However, after talking for a few minutes, she invited them in to the kitchen where she sat them down at the kitchen table and said she would fix them a bite to eat. At this point the girls broke out with laughter. Their joke had succeeded. It was a long time before they quit kidding her about her gullibility.
On July ll, 1915 the LIBERTY BELL passed through Evanston on the train. This was the end of World War II. It was a big occasion and the townspeople were there to see it.
The winters in Evanston were very long and cold. Occasionally Pop had to go to Kemmerer or Salt Lake on business and she would be left alone. Florrie was not particularly happy about staying alone with two little girls. It seems that one time a big storm came up in the night. Florrie kept hearing noises near the front door but was too frightened to investigate the cause of the noise so locked all of us in the bedroom. In the morning she went to check what had caused the noise and found the front door wide open. The snow had blown in half way across the front hall and piled up in a drift. The noise she heard was the baby buggy being knocked against the door each time a gust of wind blew.
Continue to Chapter 8, Dorothy Walton - Evanston and the rest of the history,
Return to the Dorothy Walton Bishop page, or
Return to the Lewis Family page.