Life History of Mary Lovenia Boam Brinton
I was born in MillCreek Ward, Salt Lake County, Utah on July 27th 1890. My parents were William McGhie Boam and Mary Lovenia Moss. My nickname is Vinnie. I am the third child in a family of seven children. There were five girls and two boys in our family. At the age of five, I commenced my schooling at the ÙSFrame SchoolÙT as it was called. My brother, Will, and sister, Annie, and myself used to walk a distance of four miles to school. In wintertime, the roads were very muddy. I can remember when it was storming, Father would come with the horse and buggy and get up. I went to this school until I was in third grade. Then Father talked to the school board and it was decided that we could attend school at Big Cottonwood, which was much closer to home. Probably two miles. But we still belonged to Mill Creek Ward. I was baptized at the age of eight years in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake, and confirmed the next day in the Mill Creek Church House. After going to school in Big Cottonwood and having our friends there, we children used to go to Sunday School there. Later on, the Mill Creek Ward was divided and the Winder Ward formed. So we attended school in Big Cottonwood or Holladay as it is now known and church in Winder Ward. We used to have lots of fun at school playing tom ball, hopscotch, run sheep run, and etc. I can at this time remember all my different school teachers names . I had one teacher, Miss. Batt, an elderly lady. She was an invalid on crutches. I was plenty dumb in arithmetic. Seemed, I just couldnÙut learn long division. But this lady persevered with me until I did learn it. I remember how thrilled I was when I finally saw the light and I never did forget long division. My sister, Annie, and I graduated at the same time. May of 1904. We both used to like to dance very much. And we really had a lot of good times dancing in the Old Big Cottonwood Church house. Then it was just one large room and the vestery. It has been remodeled so much now that you would never know it was the same building. The school house a short distance away has also lost the appearance of the one we used to go to, it has been remodeled so much. When we graduated there wasnÙut any High School out in the country like there is now. There were some in Salt Lake City. So consequently the rural children or many of them just had an 8th grade education and I was one of the many. I busied myself helping mother in the home and working out for my different aunts. Four dollars a week was big wage. Usually got three dollars. Used to milk my grandmother BoamÙus cow for 50 cents a month. Sure was tickled when I could earn a little money of my own. When I was 23 years old I married Samuel Howard Brinton in the Salt Lake Temple on September 17th 1913. He having returned from a mission in June. We lived in a couple of rooms in the Brinton home [Samuel HowardÙus parents] until March. Then we moved to Churchill, Idaho. To the land of sage brush, rabbits, and coyotes. Samuel went up in January and he and another man built a two room frame house. Then I went up in March with Tom Gundersen. We went by train. We went on a dummy train from Milner and got off at the corner of our land on the North. The train sped on to Oakley, its destination. Believe me, it was a lonely desolate country that I beheld. We carried our luggage a quarter of a mile or better to the house. On going in the house, about the first thing I noticed was ashes on the floor. The ash box in the stove was so full it had to over flow. Samuel cleared the eighty acres of sage brush. I helped to burn a lot of the brush. And we used a lot for fuel. Had to haul all our water in barrels, until we got a cistern made. Then we run ditch water in that. The land was very level and fertile, but there wasnÙut enough water for the project. Three of our five children were born while we lived in Churchill. But thanks to my good parents I went to their home in Winder Ward [Salt Lake] for the girls to be born and Howard was born in Murray. They [VinnieÙus parents] having sold the farm and moved to Murray. We stayed in Churchill five years and then moved to Coltman, Idaho on March 4th 1919. I thought when I arrived on this place that it wasnÙut heaven but it was nearer to it than when in Churchill. It was glorious to hear the Grant and Coltman School bells ringing. Before Max was born, I again made the trek to my parentÙus home in Murray. When Max was ten mouths old my Mother died. Our last child, Emerson, was born in Idaho Falls Hospital. The other children had measles at the time of his birth. I worked in Relief Society Presidency for six years. And I also was a teacher in Primary for six years. I have been a visiting teacher for twenty years or more. All our children are married and gone. One has passed away. The home nest is empty. We are enjoying our new home that we moved into in 1941. All the boys have filled missions and all have been in the services of their country during World War II. I have wished many times we would have had the new house when the children were all home, so that they could have enjoyed it with us. They were all here this past Christmas of 1950. It really was nice to have them all together again. We have four little grand-daughters and I love them all.
I have written this history by request of Elaine.
