"A Small Account of My Life"
by Jennie Lewis Hullinger circa 1967
by Jennie Lewis Hullinger circa 1967
"It is with reluctance that I write this little account of my life, never the less, I am glad that I have had the privilege of living in two distinct periods of time. And seeing the change that has been brought about in the 66 years that I have lived. Where there has been greater change in this period than any like period in all history. Some are pleasant memories and some not so pleasant."
"We were a poor family but as children we never realized we were poor, likely because most everyone at the time were in the same shape. I guess we had most every thing that counts. We had love and discipline and proper moral guidance and the priceless opportunity to rise above our humble beginnings."
"Though we didn't get to church regularly we did attend when the opportunity was so we could. One of my first recollections of church was attending Sunday School and hearing Bell Dean read the minutes and although I haven't the words to describe her, she still remains in my memory. Also Mary O'Neil leading the singing in Primary or religion class. I can hear her singing yet "In Our Lovely Deseret". This good soul only had one tooth that was visible and it fascinated me so I watched that tooth more than I concentrated on the music."
"Later in my teenage years I went to Maeser mostly to Mutual this was likely because there were other girls in our neighborhood going there and it offered a little social life that was so much needed at the time."
"It was lucky for Birda and I that we had two older sisters Mary and Georgia that were our ideals and I often think that likely they did more in molding our lives than our own parents."
"As children, (and I refer mainly to Birda and I because the other members were gone from the family either married or working.) Doctor's were only sent for when all time tested remedies had failed and there seemed little hope. The outstanding miracle drug at that time was epsom salts or Watkins cold pills for all ills. Mustard foot baths were used too, we were wrapped in heave quilts to make us perspire. Then sulphur and molasses were used to purify the blood and I took coal oil and sugar by the cup fulls for croup. Things that now would be labeled for external use only we were forced to take. Mother would usually recommend a cup of tea while father would say a cup of coffee would sure do the trick."
"I had watched mother fix father an eggnog with a little brandy in it and as I stood watching him he often let me have the last half teaspoon in the cup so I decided the first time I got sick I would order an eggnog like father. Well, the day came and I ordered my eggnog as I sat on the floor behind the cook stove I tried to drink the eggnog but somehow it had lost its flavor and I never wanted eggnog again."
"As I think back over my early childhood and the meager things my mother had to do with I can't help but pray she is having things better in her eternal life. For instance to name a few I can still see in my minds eye, my mother going out to gather chips to start a fire and it seemed our stove always smoked both the kitchen stove and the heating stove its a wonder we weren't all gassed from the coal smoke we breathed."
"We never realized the convenience of electricity so ever so often the lamps had to be filled, the wicks trimmed, and the lamp globes washed. When wash day came it was a matter of carrying water, heating it on top of the cook stove then emptying it into the washer that had to be turned by hand then boiled in a copper boiler on top of the stove. Wash day was an all day process. And this was done with home made soap. usually made from scrap grease never clean grease like we would have today. Making soap was a process of its own and the house would be filled with the smell of lye soap for hours."
"The water in the winter was hauled in a barrel fastened on a slip and drug by a horse for the distance of nearly a mile. This furnished our drinking and all culinary purposes. And snow was melted for washing when the ditch went dry or was frozen up. "
"It seemed one's whole life was just spent in keeping life together."
"On ironing day heavy irons (only found now in museums) were used, heated on top of the cook stove and regardless of how hot the weather a blazing fire had to be kept going to keep the irons hot enough to do the job.
"Our Saturday night bath was done in a round no. 2 tub and sometimes two or more would use the same water."
"Our food like most families of that time was pork, vegetables from the garden, bread, milk and honey and many time s just flour mush. Cream and eggs had to be sold to bring in the little cash that was needed in the home."
"I longed so for a new dress as a child and one 4th of July a little girl came to our place with a red china silk dress on. Birda and I thought it was the prettiest thing we had ever seen, our clothes were always made out of hand me downs that some one else had grown out of or discarded, this included our stockings and underwear. I am sure our mother would have liked to have done better because she was a proud nature and never went into public for years at a stretch because she was to conscious of her clothes."
"Then to make things worse we had two fires that completely cleaned us out of all our personal goods. The first one I was too young to remember, but the second one I well remember someone taking me one early morning from my bed wrapping a quilt around me and putting me off at a safe distance from the burning home. Chas screamed "fire" but neighbors lived quite a distance from us and there was nothing but buckets of water carried from the ditch to help us. There was very little saved and the family was spread out to different homes until another shelter could be built. In those days fire insurance was unheard of. I went with father and mother to Siney's home which only had two rooms and there we spent the winter. There were one or two families that gave us help one being Mrs. Geo Adams. She gave us a set of dishes and a lot of clothes from a sister that had died. They were made over for us."
"Then within about a years time a spark from a threshing machine fell into our grain stacks just as they were setting up the machine for thrashing. This time it cleaned out all our grain that had taken a year to produce."
"This took courage on the part of my father and mother to start life over at their age."
"About this time mother's heath became quite bad and it was decided to take her to Salt Lake City to have her teeth out. As the covered wagon was prepared for the trip it was quite an exciting event for me. Hay and grain had to be placed for the horses for a four or five day journey. Food, bedding and clothing were also packed for the trip. If we did well we would probably make some 25 or 30 miles the first day. Camping out and cooking our meals over the camp fire was a real thrill. But the fording of the many streams was one constant worry and as the horses floundered in the rocky streams and the water rose higher and higher on the side of the wagon box I was terrified."
"Roads were terrible at that time deep dust in the summer and mud up to the hubs of wheels in the spring. One time when I was probably eleven or twelve years old I was driving a horse and buggy home from town and I was on a high ditch bank trying got avoid the deep mud ruts in the road when the buggy went over a small sapling tree. I thought the buggy was heavy enough to just push it over but as I went over it, it tipped the buggy over and the shafts broke loose from the buggy. This frightened the horse and he tore down the street kicking at the shafts trying to free himself. I wasn't hurt but terribly frightened and wondering what my father would say when he found the buggy mashed up. I suppose a few scolding words was all that resulted."
"When I see what is lavished on children today at Christmas, Easter, and birthdays I wonder if they appreciate anything."
"Our Christmas' were so meager that only once can I remember of getting a doll. Another time I got a few little pieces of doll furniture each piece being about two or three inches in diameter. Another time a Christmas tree was brought to our place and my parents told us it was for the neighbors. We never questioned it because such luxuries were never for us, but Christmas Eve Minnie and her family and Siney and Leana and one or two children came and stayed all night at our place and early the next morning we were awakened and taken into the living room where this Christmas tree was all lighted up with tiny candles about the size of one's finger. I shall never forget the beauty and excitement this brought."
"Though things seemed to change slow really things were taking shape fast and in as much as I have written another account of my life I am going to skip now to a more prominent time."
"The twentieth century is characterized by some of the most rapid and profound changes in the history of man. Someone has said that approximately ninety percent of all the scientists of recorded history are now living. Systems of transportation and communication have greatly increased in number and efficiency. The telegraph, telephone, radio, television, automobile, and airplanes have become commonplace only during the last fifty years. This has made it possible for individuals to receive knowledge about places, people and facts, in ways that were completely unknown to our grandfathers."
"This new type of world has brought with it many changes of values. There has been a realizing and letting down of moral standards, and divorce rates are rising rapidly."
"I feel we should stop talking about he "good old days" and appreciate the wonderful things we have today. I am grateful for the advance in scientific areas providing us with vaccines and drugs that now practically eliminate diseases that were common in my childhood."
"I have had the privilege of crossing the country in a jet airplane, having electric equipment in the home, we (Harold and I) have had 5 automobiles in our married life. We have worked but thank heaven for the privilege to work, and in general we have had strong bodies to do the work we needed to do."
"We have had six lovely children, five boys and a daughter and no parents have ever been blessed with finer children. They have each brought joy and honor to us."
"Our children have all grown up now and have children of their own which makes our interest spread out that much farther. Each little soul that is born we feel that much more blessed. We how have 9 grandsons and 10 granddaughters."
"I mention these children because their lives are our lives now. And I am proud to be their mother."
"I should not end this without paying tribute to my fine husband who has stood by me in sickness and health. We have had the privilege (at this writing) of being together for 43 years. I have had good clothes, a good home, a helping hand in raising our boys and every boy need a good dad to direct him. He has been kind and helpful and considerate in all things. He has been ambitious and a hard worker. I have always admired his constant faithfulness to the Church. His testimony has been one that has given me much support and strength. Our children all look to him for advice in important matters. One admirable quality has been his cleanliness in mind and body. And his word is as good as his bond. He spent 44 years as a teacher in Uintah School District, 22 years on the high council, and 8 years as a bishop. These things he did was in the time he was a teacher in Uintah School District."
"In 1964 I was called with Harold to take an Indian mission at Gusher, Utah. Harold was first counselor to Aubra Hodgkinson the president of the mission and my work was with a Sunday School class of 9 year old children. I rather enjoyed working with these Indian children. The mission only lasted 9 months and due to attendance going down the Gusher mission was closed and we were all released. I have worked in the Primary and Relief Society for many years and feel I couldn't live without the Church."
"We were a poor family but as children we never realized we were poor, likely because most everyone at the time were in the same shape. I guess we had most every thing that counts. We had love and discipline and proper moral guidance and the priceless opportunity to rise above our humble beginnings."
"Though we didn't get to church regularly we did attend when the opportunity was so we could. One of my first recollections of church was attending Sunday School and hearing Bell Dean read the minutes and although I haven't the words to describe her, she still remains in my memory. Also Mary O'Neil leading the singing in Primary or religion class. I can hear her singing yet "In Our Lovely Deseret". This good soul only had one tooth that was visible and it fascinated me so I watched that tooth more than I concentrated on the music."
"Later in my teenage years I went to Maeser mostly to Mutual this was likely because there were other girls in our neighborhood going there and it offered a little social life that was so much needed at the time."
"It was lucky for Birda and I that we had two older sisters Mary and Georgia that were our ideals and I often think that likely they did more in molding our lives than our own parents."
"As children, (and I refer mainly to Birda and I because the other members were gone from the family either married or working.) Doctor's were only sent for when all time tested remedies had failed and there seemed little hope. The outstanding miracle drug at that time was epsom salts or Watkins cold pills for all ills. Mustard foot baths were used too, we were wrapped in heave quilts to make us perspire. Then sulphur and molasses were used to purify the blood and I took coal oil and sugar by the cup fulls for croup. Things that now would be labeled for external use only we were forced to take. Mother would usually recommend a cup of tea while father would say a cup of coffee would sure do the trick."
"I had watched mother fix father an eggnog with a little brandy in it and as I stood watching him he often let me have the last half teaspoon in the cup so I decided the first time I got sick I would order an eggnog like father. Well, the day came and I ordered my eggnog as I sat on the floor behind the cook stove I tried to drink the eggnog but somehow it had lost its flavor and I never wanted eggnog again."
"As I think back over my early childhood and the meager things my mother had to do with I can't help but pray she is having things better in her eternal life. For instance to name a few I can still see in my minds eye, my mother going out to gather chips to start a fire and it seemed our stove always smoked both the kitchen stove and the heating stove its a wonder we weren't all gassed from the coal smoke we breathed."
"We never realized the convenience of electricity so ever so often the lamps had to be filled, the wicks trimmed, and the lamp globes washed. When wash day came it was a matter of carrying water, heating it on top of the cook stove then emptying it into the washer that had to be turned by hand then boiled in a copper boiler on top of the stove. Wash day was an all day process. And this was done with home made soap. usually made from scrap grease never clean grease like we would have today. Making soap was a process of its own and the house would be filled with the smell of lye soap for hours."
"The water in the winter was hauled in a barrel fastened on a slip and drug by a horse for the distance of nearly a mile. This furnished our drinking and all culinary purposes. And snow was melted for washing when the ditch went dry or was frozen up. "
"It seemed one's whole life was just spent in keeping life together."
"On ironing day heavy irons (only found now in museums) were used, heated on top of the cook stove and regardless of how hot the weather a blazing fire had to be kept going to keep the irons hot enough to do the job.
"Our Saturday night bath was done in a round no. 2 tub and sometimes two or more would use the same water."
"Our food like most families of that time was pork, vegetables from the garden, bread, milk and honey and many time s just flour mush. Cream and eggs had to be sold to bring in the little cash that was needed in the home."
"I longed so for a new dress as a child and one 4th of July a little girl came to our place with a red china silk dress on. Birda and I thought it was the prettiest thing we had ever seen, our clothes were always made out of hand me downs that some one else had grown out of or discarded, this included our stockings and underwear. I am sure our mother would have liked to have done better because she was a proud nature and never went into public for years at a stretch because she was to conscious of her clothes."
"Then to make things worse we had two fires that completely cleaned us out of all our personal goods. The first one I was too young to remember, but the second one I well remember someone taking me one early morning from my bed wrapping a quilt around me and putting me off at a safe distance from the burning home. Chas screamed "fire" but neighbors lived quite a distance from us and there was nothing but buckets of water carried from the ditch to help us. There was very little saved and the family was spread out to different homes until another shelter could be built. In those days fire insurance was unheard of. I went with father and mother to Siney's home which only had two rooms and there we spent the winter. There were one or two families that gave us help one being Mrs. Geo Adams. She gave us a set of dishes and a lot of clothes from a sister that had died. They were made over for us."
"Then within about a years time a spark from a threshing machine fell into our grain stacks just as they were setting up the machine for thrashing. This time it cleaned out all our grain that had taken a year to produce."
"This took courage on the part of my father and mother to start life over at their age."
"About this time mother's heath became quite bad and it was decided to take her to Salt Lake City to have her teeth out. As the covered wagon was prepared for the trip it was quite an exciting event for me. Hay and grain had to be placed for the horses for a four or five day journey. Food, bedding and clothing were also packed for the trip. If we did well we would probably make some 25 or 30 miles the first day. Camping out and cooking our meals over the camp fire was a real thrill. But the fording of the many streams was one constant worry and as the horses floundered in the rocky streams and the water rose higher and higher on the side of the wagon box I was terrified."
"Roads were terrible at that time deep dust in the summer and mud up to the hubs of wheels in the spring. One time when I was probably eleven or twelve years old I was driving a horse and buggy home from town and I was on a high ditch bank trying got avoid the deep mud ruts in the road when the buggy went over a small sapling tree. I thought the buggy was heavy enough to just push it over but as I went over it, it tipped the buggy over and the shafts broke loose from the buggy. This frightened the horse and he tore down the street kicking at the shafts trying to free himself. I wasn't hurt but terribly frightened and wondering what my father would say when he found the buggy mashed up. I suppose a few scolding words was all that resulted."
"When I see what is lavished on children today at Christmas, Easter, and birthdays I wonder if they appreciate anything."
"Our Christmas' were so meager that only once can I remember of getting a doll. Another time I got a few little pieces of doll furniture each piece being about two or three inches in diameter. Another time a Christmas tree was brought to our place and my parents told us it was for the neighbors. We never questioned it because such luxuries were never for us, but Christmas Eve Minnie and her family and Siney and Leana and one or two children came and stayed all night at our place and early the next morning we were awakened and taken into the living room where this Christmas tree was all lighted up with tiny candles about the size of one's finger. I shall never forget the beauty and excitement this brought."
"Though things seemed to change slow really things were taking shape fast and in as much as I have written another account of my life I am going to skip now to a more prominent time."
"The twentieth century is characterized by some of the most rapid and profound changes in the history of man. Someone has said that approximately ninety percent of all the scientists of recorded history are now living. Systems of transportation and communication have greatly increased in number and efficiency. The telegraph, telephone, radio, television, automobile, and airplanes have become commonplace only during the last fifty years. This has made it possible for individuals to receive knowledge about places, people and facts, in ways that were completely unknown to our grandfathers."
"This new type of world has brought with it many changes of values. There has been a realizing and letting down of moral standards, and divorce rates are rising rapidly."
"I feel we should stop talking about he "good old days" and appreciate the wonderful things we have today. I am grateful for the advance in scientific areas providing us with vaccines and drugs that now practically eliminate diseases that were common in my childhood."
"I have had the privilege of crossing the country in a jet airplane, having electric equipment in the home, we (Harold and I) have had 5 automobiles in our married life. We have worked but thank heaven for the privilege to work, and in general we have had strong bodies to do the work we needed to do."
"We have had six lovely children, five boys and a daughter and no parents have ever been blessed with finer children. They have each brought joy and honor to us."
"Our children have all grown up now and have children of their own which makes our interest spread out that much farther. Each little soul that is born we feel that much more blessed. We how have 9 grandsons and 10 granddaughters."
"I mention these children because their lives are our lives now. And I am proud to be their mother."
"I should not end this without paying tribute to my fine husband who has stood by me in sickness and health. We have had the privilege (at this writing) of being together for 43 years. I have had good clothes, a good home, a helping hand in raising our boys and every boy need a good dad to direct him. He has been kind and helpful and considerate in all things. He has been ambitious and a hard worker. I have always admired his constant faithfulness to the Church. His testimony has been one that has given me much support and strength. Our children all look to him for advice in important matters. One admirable quality has been his cleanliness in mind and body. And his word is as good as his bond. He spent 44 years as a teacher in Uintah School District, 22 years on the high council, and 8 years as a bishop. These things he did was in the time he was a teacher in Uintah School District."
"In 1964 I was called with Harold to take an Indian mission at Gusher, Utah. Harold was first counselor to Aubra Hodgkinson the president of the mission and my work was with a Sunday School class of 9 year old children. I rather enjoyed working with these Indian children. The mission only lasted 9 months and due to attendance going down the Gusher mission was closed and we were all released. I have worked in the Primary and Relief Society for many years and feel I couldn't live without the Church."
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