The Life History of John William (Bowman) Boman and Fannie Elizabeth Brower

Prepared and written by a son, Elmer, with the help of

a daughter, Alice B. Pond, prior to 1970.  Edited and

other information added by Ruth Pond Lloyd,

family genealogist in May 1989.

John William (Bowman) Boman was born 10 April 1861 in Richmond, Utah.  He was the son of Hiram (Hyrum) W. Bowman and Hannah Wilson Bateman, who came to Utah in 1857 settling in White’s Fort, now known as West Jordan.  In 1860 they came to Cache Valley and settled in Richmond, with other early settlers, who were very poor.  Hiram engaged in farming and brick making.  Many of the early brick homes in and around Richmond were built from his brick.

John William was the sixth child in a family of eight children.  He was born in a log house, with dirt floor and dirt roof, never knowing what it was like to have a pair of shoes until he was fifteen years old.  He and his brothers all worked together.  Their father would wrap their feet in burlap every morning whether it be going to the canyon for wood, helping in the brick yard, or working at the old time horsepowered threshing machine.

When Fannie Elizabeth Brower ask [sic] her mother if she could marry J.W. she said, ‘Yes Fannie, marry your J.W., he always has a good woodpile, he will be a good provider’.  They were married 23 December 1883.  His father gave them a wedding dance and supper in a two room log cabin.  The place was packed, but they danced until the wee hours of the morning.

It was true, J.W. Boman was a good provider in all things.  He owned 14 acres of land before he was married.  Now he needed a home.  He built a two room house, with a man hole to the attic, made from logs he got from the canyon.  Their first seven children were born in this log house.  He engaged in farming, brickwork, saw milling and threshing of grain.

He also built a stable for his horses, a log granary and a frame granary.  From the canyon he secured wood to burn in his house and also some for his mother, who lived across the street.  He furnished wood for the store, all cut into lengths, that could be used in their stove.  He received merchandise from the store for pay, which helped with the needs of the family.

In 1890 he traded a team of horses, harnesses and a wagon to Ed Kent for 160 acres of land in Lewiston, known as poverty flat, where the sands blew and water was scarce.  The land was in its original state, with trees and shrubbery covering much of it.  It took a lot of work to get the farm in shape to grow crops.

He lived in Richmond and traveled to Lewiston for approximately three years.  It had many disadvantages, but he was not discouraged.  He was progressive and few men were harder workers or more ambitious than he.  During this time he moved both granaries to Lewiston to live in, while a frame house was being built on the farm, by Amasa Hodges.  In the fall of 1894, the family welcomed their move into this home in Lewiston.  The house had two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs.  A few years later another room was added onto the west side for a kitchen.  Not long after, a cellar was added with a kitchen or cook room over it.  The frame house still stands today (1989) in good repair with a few changes.  It is owned by Golden and Phoebe Boman, who have lived there since their marriage and have raised their eight children there.

J.W. raised enough pigs in one year to pay for a net wire fence around his 160 acre farm.  Some posts and wire still stand (1964).  To get these fat pigs to market, he would start before daylight, taking as many as fifty to seventy-five at one time, driving them along the road like sheep for five and a half miles to Merrill’s Spur.  He would stop at the millrace for a rest, where there was shade and water.  There he gave the pigs a feed and would arrive at the Spur before the heat set in.

He bought lumber from a saw mill in Mink Creek, Idaho, to build a barn.  As a down payment he gave a team of horses, named Jam and Bolley.  This was the family’s favorite team and they missed them very much.  Hauling the lumber from Mink Creek to Lewiston was quite an undertaking.  Jimmie Oldum from Franklin, Idaho, and other helped to build the barn.  It had stalls for thirty-five cows, ten horses, calf pens, grain bins, etc.  The barn is still standing and is now owned by Byron Glover (1984).

Fannie was a busy farm woman.  Besides all her other work, she would skim cream from the pans of milk and keep it fresh without refrigeration.  When she collected enough, it was put into a dash churn and made into butter.  To keep the butter fresh, she would wrap it in a white cloth, then put it in a bucket with some fresh green alfalfa.  Tying a rope to the bucket, she would lower it down into the well, just above the water, to keep it cool.  The butter sometimes grew to forty pounds.  It would then be taken with some eggs to market and traded for things the family needed.  Fannie took her turn taking them to the store.  Many times she took them in a cart, with a baby on her lap, a smaller child by her side in the seat, a bigger child sitting on the shaves, by the singletree driving the horse and the eggs and butter in the bottom.

The cows J.W. had at this time were every color and size, grown in a mixed herd.  They were not what he wanted.  He arranged a trade with a Mr. White in Gentile Valley, for a good herd of holstein cows.  Each drove his herd to Treasurton, made the trade, and drove their new herd back to their homes.  There were some calves in the holstein herd and on the way home many people came out to see them.  It was the first all holstein herd in the valley.  They were not accustomed to alfalfa for feed and the first night four cows became bloated and died.  The rest of the herd did very well and gave lots of milk.  It was a good trade.

Skim milk was a good feed for the pigs, so J.W. bought a hand turned cream separator.  Not long after he purchased a pony treadmill, for separating the cream and milk.  Elmer’s pony was used to run the tread mill and he was the one to take care of it and see that the pigs were fed.  Pigs are known for being greedy and they never had sense enough to quit when they were full.  The first ones to the trough would drink more milk than they should, so they bloated up like a cow — several died.  The feeding method was changed and things went better.

Another hazard, the sows would have their young in the summer out in the field, in a ditch or by a fence.  Then the coyotes would come at night and get some of the little pigs, occasionally all of them.  The loss of the pigs meant a loss of income, so this was a difficult and serious problem to manage.

Around 1900 J.W. and a neighbor, Lewis Baker, agreed to buy a new threshing machine together. Before the machine was delivered, Baker decided to go to Canada, leaving J.W. alone with the machine.  After using it for two years, he had a chance to sell it.

The 160 acres was producing alfalfa, wheat, oats and potatoes.  Production was good and with the cows and pigs, the family had a nice income.  But the family was growing too and their needs also grew.  There was a necessity for more land.  The 14 acres in Richmond was sold.  Then 40 acres joining the northwest corner of the 160 acres was bought from Enoch Tripp, a brother-in-law.  Another 80 acres was purchased from another brother-in-law, William Tripp, which joined the 40 acres.  A few years later 45 acres were obtained from Enoch Tripp, making a total of 325 acres.

All were kept busy with cattle and pigs as there was much to be done.  Children were going to school, William Ariah, the oldest, was at BY College in Logan.  There was need for a hired man and sometimes more during the cropping season.  At times a hired girl was needed too.  Fannie’s aged mother had come to live with them.  A big, long kitchen table with seventeen places had a lot of work connected with it.  Always J.W. would say family prayer, also the blessing on the food.  He was sincere in what he believed and practiced the same.

Alice, the tenth child, recalls, “My precious memory is the heart warming manner in which our father prayed.  I have a clear vision of father, mother and we children kneeling in morning and evening prayer.  The room was always tidy and clean, which served to create a pleasant atmosphere like a benediction.

“Father approached our Heavenly Father with simplicity and love, quiet grace and firm unyielding faith.  Always first to express humble thanks for manifold blessings bestowed upon us.

“Some never to be forgotten phrases were: ‘We thank Thee for the light of the gospel, for Thy servants, for each other…Help us to so order our lives that we will be worthy of exaltation in Thy presence.  Fill our minds so full of good, that evil cannot enter.  Wilt Thou temper the elements for our good…Help us to live busy useful lives and overcome our weaknesses.  Forgive us of our short comings and take lead of our thoughts, words and actions.  Bless the authorities of the Church, our missionaries in the field, comfort those who mourn.  Let Thy protecting care and guidance abide with us at all times.’ “

There were thirteen children who lived to full maturity.  One boy died at approximately two years and two were stillborn.  J.W. had a wonderful companion.  They planned and worked together.  They were truly “Giants of the Earth”.  When they built anything they built it well, artistic and beautiful.  They were not afraid to work for what was right.  All Fannie did, she did well.  Always cheerful with time to help a child in trouble, or a neighbor in need.  Doing acts of kindness, working in the Church, all this and much more.  She smiled on the duties of life and had time for more.  She truly was the Mother and Queen.  In 1903, this wife and mother said, “Yes” for her husband to fill a call to a mission for the Church, to the Northwestern States.  “Yes Will”, as she called him, “you will go to fill that mission.”  She was left with those thirteen children, the youngest was nine months old.  It was Fannie who organized this large family into a working group to till the 325 acres of land.  The machinery was all the horse-drawn type, slow and hard.  In order to support her husband in the mission field, it was necessary for her to take in a school teacher, to board.  The children, all with their separate problems, and her own church duties, was an enormous task, but she was one who never shirked a responsibility.  Still the acts and deeds of kindness, she was always ready to do all of these, had it still been more, even then here [sic] answer would still have been yes.  Such was the testimony of this wife, mother and companion.  Long, hard and many were her duties.  Well and willing did she go to her life’s work, always praising her Master, always hoping for the success of her husband and that of her offspring.  “God Bless You Mother.”

After J.W. returned from his mission he was concerned about his children, especially the four older boys.  He knew they would soon be getting married and his thoughts were for their welfare.  With this in mind, in 1905 or 1906 he bought a 420 acre farm from Mr. Blakely, north of American Falls, Idaho, on the Snake River.  All of it was river bottom land.  A spring of water called “Big Hole Spring” went with the land and because it was located two miles from the farms, a ditch had to be made to carry the water to the farm.  It was a difficult task to accomplish, as was clearing the sage brush, grass and other vegetation growing on the land.

With long days and years of hard work, the land was cleared and crops were growing.  Two rough lumber houses were built and cattle were driven from Lewiston up to the ranch twice and back to Lewiston once.  It took four long days for the drive.  In the summer, the mosquitoes were bad and at night they’d all but carry you away.  Fishing on the river was good and they caught many fish.  It took a full day to go to the nearest town, American Falls, to the post office and to shop.

Some time later there were rumors that a dam was to be put in at American Falls, which would include much land up the river and also J.W.’s 420 acres.  The rumors soon turned to reality.  As plans went ahead American Falls town was moved.  The government made all the arrangements for the land the dam would cover.  They set their own price on the land and the owners could do nothing but take it.  J.W. didn’t get what he wanted for his land and the family never knew what amount he received.  The land deal didn’t turn out at all as he had planned.  His 420 acre farm and two houses have now laid under water for over 80 years (1989).

In 1915 J.W. bought his first car, a Maxwell.  Roads at that time were not very good for cars.  But he and Fannie went a lot and enjoyed it very much.  They traveled to St. Anthony, Idaho to see J.W.’s brothers, Ed and Joe.  They hadn’t seen one another for a long time.  They all went camping and fishing and had a great visit.  Also visited his half-brother in the Downey, Idaho area.  The places they could go in the car were very pleasing to them.  They were thinking of moving to Logan.  J.W. rented a home from Ed Hoffman, with thoughts of buying it.  As it turned out, he didn’t like city life, so he moved back to the farm and started to plan for a new brick home, which he started to build in 1917.  Due to World War I, it was delayed.  In the fall of 1918, they moved into this new home located a short distance south and west of their original home.  It’s [sic] cost was eleven thousand dollars, a lot of money for the time.  The home was enjoyed for years.  It was a lovely home then and still is today, now owned by Delores and Arlin Buttars (1989).

In the winter of 1919 and 1920 he filled a second mission for six months.  This time to the Southern States, with Atlanta, Georgia as the headquarters.  Fannie carried on with the home affairs.  Sixteen years had passed since the first mission.  The family had grown.  Many of them were married.  Fannie’s duties were much different from those of the first mission in 1903.  Time hurried on and the mission was soon over and he was home again.

J.W. and Fannie were great civic leaders and active in community welfare.  He served as the president of the Cubriver Irrigation Co. for many years.  He worked long and hard to help make things better for the coming generations.  He toiled for some forty years to get land leveled, fenced, watered, and drained.  He helped to build churches, schools, roads, ditches, drains, electric lines and rail roads.  He was chairman of the railroad committee, which was successful in getting the railroad from Sugerton to Kents and on to Amalga, where a sugar factory was built.  He thrilled at all the improvements as they came, one by one, felt a measure paid for the part he played in all of them.

On July 10, 1921, he was called to serve as first counselor to Bishop Joseph Bergeson, in the Lewiston 2nd Ward.  He served in this position until July of 1926.  He was always serving the Lord in some church activity and Fannie the same.  They were indeed missionaries of the gospel.  While he was away from home preaching the gospel, she was doing the same at home, in her ward and among her family.  They both had a strong testimony of the gospel and taught the gospel to their children.

Yes, J.W. was a good provider, always believing in having an extra supply on hand.  He had a generous heart, although somewhat stern and harsh at times.  He was honest, dependable and trustworthy.  He was religious from his youth.  This good quality he inherited from his father.  He was more like his father than any of the other boys, was very particular and neat in all his belongings.  He didn’t have much formal schooling, only three or four grades.

The children honored their parents on the Golden Wedding anniversary in December of 1933.  J.W.’s health started to fail in the early 1930’s, gradually growing worse until the 10th of November 1936 when he passed quietly on at the age of 75.  He was born on the 10th of the month and passed on, on the 10th of the month.  Fannie passed away six years later on 20 December 1942 at the age of 76.  Both were some of Cache Valley’s most respected pioneers.

(digitized by Susan Carey Aug 2013 from 8.5×14 pages in possession of Gary & Rebecca Walker)