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done it yet. Just wrote him again now, but I have not even got money to file now. I have had to pay out some on the horses for pasture and have to pay more. But I don't see how we can get along without them if we do anything at all we will have to have a team and that is sure.
"So what do you think? Do you think we can live on our own place and work around for others by renting a place here, or what do you think we had better do? It seems to me that you had better make ready to come home dear and we will skimp along until we can do something better. I will fix up the house the best I can and maybe we can manage to exist until we can raise something to eat, but, of course, it will be pretty hard. But I don't know anything else to do.
"Don't you think that the best dearest, if Lyle can stay and work for Henry and get some money to help us out a bit?. I think we can get along some way until Campaign begins next fall, providing they run the factory. If not, maybe we can get something else to do, but we can't make it over there with my work alone. You see that,. so I think you had better begin to pack up and come as soon as you can without over doing yourself.
"But don't do that dear, just take your time and do a little at a time, as it will be getting warmer after this month any way, and I will do the best I can until you come. In fact there is not anything I can do at present as it is so cold and I am so nash I can't stand the cold at all but I will do the best I can and I will keep you posted, so do not weary, but just pick up as you can and let me know when you get ready and I will try to be at Modena to meet you with a team. But it will not be wise to come in a cold snap for it will be a long ride over here from Modena.
"Have you sold the cow or calf yet? I would not buy any more hay if I were you I would sell them and buy milk for a little while.
"As you will not be staying long and again you see I will have to get a cow some way so as to have her when you come, for the children, or I don't see how we can exist at all without, although they ask high prices here for cows and flour is $5.40 per hundred here too. But we will have some potatoes and probably we can exist some way. And I will have to buy a harness too as there is the colts to break and that will cost a deal. Know dear I think it will be the same if we stay away for ten years when we do come home we will have a hard time to start.. So I guess we had better start now so whenever you are ready to come I think we will try it now just as well as next year. This is the way I look at it.
"So as soon as it gets a bit warmer I will try and fix the house the best I can but it is sure like a barn now. The wind blows right through so many windows broken out and the floor broken through. But never mind. Thisis a lesson to me. I don't think I shall ever be so foolish again. I can see what we have lost now. But it is too late. But I will tell you the rest then you come.
"Give my love to all the children and accept the same yourself. Try to find out what Henry is intending to pay Lyle next summer and if he will pay him along so he can help us out a bit to live through the summer as it will be very hard for us to exist and get the money for that (tuh) they have before you leave. I don't know what we will do for water either, but I expect we will have to put the city water in. But I will see how the well is. So long dearest sweet loving wife XXXXXXXXXXX I will write again as soon as I hear from you.
Your ever true husband, J.U. Coleman"
Ervin is Born
Only four days after he wrote from Enterprise, his son, Ervin Harvy, was born in Delta, Utah on Jan. 17, 1920.
As James noted, their 16 year old son, Lyle, had been farmed out and was living with Mr. Henry. They left him there one more year after they left Delta, as they needed his pay to help the family survive the next year. Lawrence was finding work where he could get it.
Vendon marries
Meanwhile, son, Vendon, had met and fallen in love with Vilate Staheli, a devout member of the Church in Enterprise, whom he married on May 21, 1920, in the St. George Temple. On July 18, 1921, they provided James and Maud with their first grandchild, Lola, born in Enterprise, Utah. (Note that this was 3 months before Maud delivered her last child.) On Nov. 11, 1922, Vilate gave birth to LeRoy Vendon also in Enterprise, which is where all of Vendon's children were born. Marvin J. on Oct. 20, 1923, Zelda on Nov. 17, 1924, Owen on June 27, 1926, Dean Lorraine on Jan. 25, 1930, Verna on Dec. 8, 1931 and Oral Ralph on Feb. 14, 1933.
Last Child
For three years the James Uriah Coleman family had worked in Delta for the sugar campaign. By Oct. 7, 1921, they had returned to Enterprise, except for Lyle, where Maud, now a grandmother, delivered their 12th child, and third girl, Leona Arvina. The last child, she became the treasured baby of the family for the short nineteen years of her life.
Hupton, Nevada
By 1922, James Uriah and Lyle began working at the White Star Plaster Company in Hupton, Nevada, leaving Maud to raise the children in Enterprise. He was there for three years. In a much more cheerful mood, James U. wrote, describing life and work at the mill:
"It is with pleasure I endeavor to answer your most kind and loving letter, hoping this will find you all well and happy. I am some better, but my side bothers me yet. Lyle is well and on shift. This is the day to change shifts, but I and Lyle did not change as we have the one floor to ourselves, that is we are the only ones that work on that station and we can do as we please, change or not, so we 'air usta' the time and did not change. I have had the same shift ever since I began and I am usta it now and don't care to change.
"Well, this is Sunday and I did not get up for breakfast, but got up soon after. I have been out visiting the sick. There is a lot of the camp down with the flu, but they seem to all be getting better this a.m. Zerieys Hunt's family air all down. But the weather is so nice and warm that I don't think it will last long.
"Yes, dear love, get the raisins; don't starve yourself, get what you need to eat, anything, don't stop
to ask me. You know you need something for a change, so get it. Life is too short for you to starve yourself, dear.
"Well, dearest, I think we had better settle some of our other debts before the doctor's bills, as they air making thousands of dollars per month and don't need it. Justwrite them a nice letter and tell them you will pay it as soon as you can and I don't think they will crowd us if they knew we are willing to pay.
"I don't know how much Lyle sent you this time, but I sent you my full check. You see that I did not hold out a cent and have not kept a cent out since I arrived here, so you know just [what] I have MORE
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