Person:Elmer Longmore (3)

Watchers
     
Elmer Henry Longmore
m. 20 Feb 1901
  1. Lester George Longmore1902 - 1973
  2. Elmer Henry Longmore1904 - 1975
  3. Alma Robert Longmore1908 - 1983
  4. Luella Olive Longmore1913 - 2004
  5. Hyrum Jesse Longmore1918 - 2003
m. 15 May 1929
  1. Don Carol Longmore1931 - 2012
Facts and Events
Name Elmer Henry Longmore
Gender Male
Birth? 27 May 1904 West Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
Marriage 15 May 1929 to Lillian Sedgwick
Death[1] 6 May 1975 Cottonwood, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
Burial[2] Redwood Memorial Cemetery, West Jordan, Salt Lake, Utah, USA40.63124 / -111.94013
Other[3] LDS Ordinances
  Exemplary WeRelate page with a well-written narrative, or comprehensive information.


Idaho Timeline (1910,1920) Utah Timeline(1930,1940,1950,1960,1970)

History written by Elmers children.

My turn on earth began on May 27, 1904 the second son of my parents George Brooks Longmore and Maud Mary Walters. I was born in a home in West Jordan, Utah. The home was owned by an elderly couple by the name of Last. My dad worked at the smelters in Murray, Utah.

My older brother Lester was born in 1902 in West Jordan, Utah. In 1909 my brother Alma was born and in 1913 my sister Luella. Both in Coltman, Idaho. My youngest brother Hyrum wasn’t born until 1918 after we moved to Thomas, Idaho.

In the summer of 1904 we moved from West Jordan to Coltman, Idaho. Coltman is ten miles north of Idaho Falls. My grandpa Walters had just purchased an eighty-acre farm. My father built a home on their property. It was a two-room home with a dirt roof. There was no lath or plaster just boards on the outside that ran vertical. It was finished on the inside with “factory” (which is dried muslin) and then we white washed the “factory”. There were home made carpets on the floor. We lived there from 1904 to 1915 a period of eleven years.

My father, while in Coltman, worked for Utah Idaho Sugar Co. and various blacksmith shops in Idaho Falls and Rigby before starting our own business in 1910.

The church was too far away so we didn’t get to go very often, as we had no way of getting there. We had primary and religion classes during the school months. And Bishop Taylor was our Bishop in the Coltman Ward.

I was baptized in the canal that ran west of the old Coltman church house.

When we were young my dad used to take us boys hunting. In the summer we would go fishing. In the spring we would trap muskrat, in the fall we hunted ducks, and in the winter we used to go hunting snowshoe rabbits. The best fishing was up at Camas creek. I learned to love the outdoors because of my father’s influence.

When I was about seven years old Les and I went with my dad to Idaho Falls for supplies. We drove a buggy or buckboard. In the drug store there, there was an old skeleton on display that they had found in a cave out in the desert. Les and I were just sickened at seeing this so dad took us up front to the soda fountain and bought us an ice cream soda. We also went to the blacksmith supply store. The owner gave Les and I a baseball bat. And I will always remember that.

I started my schooling in Coltman. Miss Reed was one of the teachers and Miss Wright taught the higher grades. In the school picture I am the one in the front holding the hat and my brother Les is two boys to the right of me.

In those days we didn’t have candy and all the fine snacks kids have today. We used to slice potatoes and cook them on top of the old coal stove. They were really good. Home made potato chips!!!

When Luella was really young great grandma Bateman died and we got shiny new shoes for the funeral, which was a real treat. Because we usually only got one pair of heavy work shoes when the school year started and they had to last all year.

We moved to Thomas, Idaho in February 1915. Our first home there was another log house with a dirt roof. We were really homesick and wanted to go back to Coltman. It was still winter and the wind blew and how cold it was. We had to walk a couple of miles to school. The next year in 1916 dad built a nicer home. A two-room frame home on the “Thomas town site” next to the church and Thomas school. It was plastered and it was really nice there. That was the place I lived in as long as I lived in Thomas.

My dad was a blacksmith. He never did change his trade. He was a blacksmith until he was about 78 years old. Dad built his blacksmith shop, first on another property, and later moved it onto the property where he had built our home. With dad having the blacksmith shop we learned the trade. We shoed horses built wagon wheels and buggy wheels. I helped dad light the forge and whatever was necessary. You had to be good and strong to shoe horses. I got kicked many a time by a mean horse. You had to learn how to protect yourself from those horses. That blacksmith shop became one of the favorite places for my kids to visit when we went to Idaho to see grandma and grandpa.

When we were kids the big pass time at school was playing marbles. When the spring came and the dry ground showed through we would go out and play a game we called “Fats” or “Rounders” and also a game we used to call “Kill”. Of course they were all gambling games. You took a chance on whether you were going to lose your marbles or win the other fellows marbles. We used to swim in the old Snake River and the American Falls canal near our home. We kids used to swim nearly every day if there was any water available.

The Thomas ward house was an old rock church house. Bishop Williams was our Bishop. Our parents made sure we went to church every Sunday. As deacons we passed the sacrament in Sunday school and in Sacrament meeting. And when we were Priests we blessed the Sacrament. The church house was just through the field from us.

During our dating years we found entertainment in many of the surrounding towns. We liked to dance. One of the popular places was “Paradise Gardens” in Firth and the “Blue Bucket” in Blackfoot. We used to go to shows and cafes and the ice cream parlor for a malted milk. While attending a dance at “Progress Hall” in Blackfoot I met my sweetheart, “wife to be”, Lillian Sedgwick.

I went to California and worked for a time. I rode the rails (Hobo) with a friend to get there. At one point we were so hungry that when the train stopped we jumped off and filled up with fruit from a nearby orchard. We jumped back up on top of the train again and suffered the consequences of eating all that fruit (It was not a pretty sight!!!)

When I got to California I boarded with an Italian family in Santa Cruz for a time. While there I met Albert Tuney at a dairy farm. Albert Tuney was a boxer and I was his sparring partner. I later moved to San Francisco. I found a family of Longmores in the phone book. I contacted them and they let me come and board with them for awhile. I wrote letters to Lillian during the following months from California and kept the romance alive.

I returned home to Idaho and married my sweetheart on May 15, 1929. It was during the depression era and times were very hard. Things did not come easy. But I worked very hard to take care of my family. We loved children and wanted a large family. We didn’t quite reach a dozen. We stopped with eleven.

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References
  1. US Soc Sec Death Index[1].
  2. East of Moseluem. GPS Coordinates 40.63124 / -111.94013
  3. BEP