Ida Roxanna Bushman
#M7a Ida Roxanna Bushman (AFN:1Z9J-QX)*
Born: 14 Sep 1868 Lehi, Utah, Utah.
Died: 18 Jul 1948 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Father: #M14 Jacob BUSHMAN (AFN:1KC7-8N)
Mother: #M15 Charlotte TURLEY (AFN:1BGL-KK)
Married: #M6a Archibald Robert ANDERSON (AFN:1Z9J-PR), 5 Feb 1902, Manti, Sanpete, Utah. They had five children.
#M6a Archibald Robert Anderson (AFN:1Z9J-QX)
Born: 23 Feb 1868 Fairview, Sanpete, Utah
Died: 18 Jul 1948 Fairview, Sanpete, Utah
Buried: 21 Jul 1948 Fairview City Cemetery, Fairview, Sanpete, Utah
Father: John ANDERSON (AFN:1LGD-B3)
Mother: Helena R REES (AFN:1BM6-B7)
*To locate person on Internet by AFN (Ancestral File
Number):
Go to http:/www./familysearch.org and click
Custom Search. Click Ancestral File. Scroll down to AFN. Type in the
Ancestral File Number. Click Search. You may find a Pedigree Chart and a Family
Group Record as well as submitters.)
Children:
1. Archibald Jacob ANDERSON (28 Jun 1903-2 Sep 1995) (AFN: 5GQB-9B),
md Eda Nash PARKINSON in 1933.
2. Ora Nivian ANDERSON (5 Jul 1906-22 Dec 1986) (AFN:5GQB-85),
md Paul Smoot DIXON 6 Jun 1929.
3. Vora Vivian ANDERSON (5 Jul 1906-28 May 1916) (AFN:5GQB-BH)
4. Helena Charlotte ANDERSON (b.15 Dec 1913), md Reed W. BRINTON in 1935.
5. Anna Jenevie ANDERSON (4 Nov 1916-4 Nov 1916) (AFN:5GQB-DT)
Biographical information on the family is given in The Theodore Turley Family Book (Family History Center Microfilm #1321300 and call number 929.272/T848L), pp. 509-520.
Other Sources: Family Group Record in FamilySearch® Ancestral File™v4.19. For Vora FHL Film #1903697 for SP and Film #1903840 for B and E. For Anna FHL Film #1903697. Also The Bushman Family: Originally of Pennsylvania and the Rocky Mountain States by Newbern Butt, main author. Its Family History Library call number is 929.273 B964bn. It is located in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building Family History Book Section. It is also on microfilm, FHL 896926, item 5. (In the main library located in the FHL US/CAN Film section.)
Biography of Ida Roxana Bushman by Elden LaVern
Stewart.
Ida is his great aunt. Elden is the son of Nancy Charlotte Bushman Stewart
and Angus Lamoni Stewart (stepson of Evan J. Ruesch or Rousch.) Nancy is the daughter of
Jacob Isaac Bushman and Effie May Bills. Jacob is the son of Jacob
and Charlotte Turley Bushman. See Turley book (cited above) pp.
506-508.
Written by Elden L. Stewart; retyped and submitted by Ella
Mae [Turley] Judd.
Elden recently read the Biography and Autobiography of
Theodore Turley. He commented as follows:
"As I read the Biography and Autobiography of Theodore Turley I felt the
turning of the hearts of the children to the promises made to the fathers, etc. Every page
made it seem as if I were there and I, too, was giving my testimony to the world to the
truthfulness of the Gospel."
As a Seventy, Elden was called to a Stake mission, and helped bring some 12 or more
converts to the Gospel.. He has served in the Bishopric and Stake Presidency, and is now
Second Counselor to the High Priests in his Tooele, Utah Quorum. He works in the cheese
factory at Deseret Industries in Salt Lake City every Wednesday, which he says is
"most rewarding."
When Elden was asked to participate in a sacrament meeting for some rest home residents,
he "wondered what I would talk about." "Then," he says, "I
remembered some events at the rest home and things that had happened in my life. I thought
about Aunt Ida when she was old and told me when I was on the Lord's errand I could do
whatever was needed. Things just popped into my mind and it wasn't long until those old
ladies all had tears in their eyes. I didn't hesitate once and put all the emphasis in the
right place like that of the old rocker in the story." It wasn't long before he was
requested to tell his story in different settings.
"My Aunt Ida somewhat raised me," says Elden, "and always made sure I had
money and went to school. She gave me odd jobs to earn the money and always met me at her
gate as I came home from school. She always told me to make something of myself. So you
see, it was easy to write a poem and story about her."
Regarding his Grandfather Bushman [Jacob Isaac Bushman, son of Jacob
Bushman], he says, "For weeks I felt the promptings to write about Grandfather
Bushman and so I started visiting my Uncle LaMar and Aunt Fern Bushman [to learn more
about him].
Elden completed his Master's Degree on the History of the Utah Indians. He taught fourteen
years, the last two teaching Indians. He had 12 Indians, grades 2-7 in a room 12' x 12'.
For about a year he taught English to 16 adults from six different countries. At the
present time he is participating in genealogical research and is hoping to complete temple
work for the more than 2,000 names from his father's and mother's lines he has located,
with the help of a professional genealogist.
AUNT IDA
by Elden L. Stewart
In the glider we sat facing each other
Talking envisioned future dreams she inspired
"Be a somebody," she said, "a somebody"
Like the flowers about her she blossomed
Her wisdom gave she freely, eagerly I listened
"Be a somebody, a somebody," she said
A sheep man's woman was her lot
Wash the bedding, cook for hungry shearers
Prepare the victuals shepherds eat
Eggs from her poultry prepared she sent
Husband sustained in all his doings
Love, Love, home a haven enthroned
No one loves a nobody, be a somebody.
She taught this truth and example lived
Like her flowers, all beauty she radiates
Simple she prepares her meals: cheese, sandwich, cold milk
Conversation is her dessert, oh so sweet her voice
Reward for my wages, a smile and a thank you
Tasks completed, chop the wood, beautiful her yard
Pick the apples, harvest cache in cellar cool
Awaiting winter's first bite, crunching oh so sweet
A pocket full for eating and one for teacher's desk
At her gate she awaits my coming home from school
"What have you learned today, tell me?" she'd say
In her rocker back porch she rocks away
I envision her still today as if yesterday
Rocking away with a neighborly hello friends pass by
Transit and poor, hungered gave them drink and eat
To the least of these also ye have done it unto me
Aware she praised my progress, scholarly and deeds
Be a somebody, she reminds me, a somebody
Stills the air a small voice her presence yet I feel
Wrinkled and deplete her body wore away
Aged we spoke of each other one more time
I love you in tears we embraced, spoke not a word
It's been so long, so long, I've missed you
A sandwich, cold milk and cookie treat
We talked, reminisced, treasured hours gone by
A sweet goodbye she stands still in doorway waves
Gone sweet dreams, she sleeps, lights out, now she rests.
I see her still her voice ever so clear
"Be a somebody, be a somebody," then gone
She lays there in bier a shamble of what was
Beautiful yet I see her clear, Cinderella she appears
Just rocking away smiling she says "Be a somebody?"
Still, stills the air, reminisces "Where does it fly?"
"Be a somebody young man, be a somebody."
Eating lunch and conversation just Aunt Ida and I.
IDA ROXANNA BUSHMAN ANDERSON
14 Sep 1879 - 28 Apr 1970
In 1884 great grandfather [Jacob Bushman] was called on a mission to
colonize St. John's, Arizona. He sold his property in Lehi and headed out for Arizona with
his family. Aunt Ida Roxanna (Anderson) was five years old at that time. Aunt Ida
remembers helping her father drive the cattle all the way to Arizona. A. J. Anderson (Aunt
Ida's son) informed me that his grandfather lost most of their cattle to marauding Indians
who stole them for food. Jacob tried to make friends with the Indians, but when they were
hungry they drove off his livestock. After several years of such harsh living and having
lost almost all his stock Jacob gathered up his little family, disheartened by failure and
headed back to Utah. This time Aunt Ida rode a horse most of the way.
In conversation with Uncle A.J., I learned the story of the courtship of his father and
mother. It seems his father, Archibald Robert Anderson, herded sheep in the area of the
Anderson farm some distance to the west of great grandfather's farm. It was the policy to
take the sheep down the Brady Ditch for a drink now and then. It was on one of these
watering trips that he spied the beautiful Ida Bushman. Ida was cooling off with her feet
in the water and playing in the ditch with her homemade boat. As Uncle Archie looked down
from his horse at young Ida it was Love at first sight and his heart jumped a few extra
beats. I am sure that Ida also wondered who this handsome young knight in sheepherder
clothing could be. At first the conversation was just a 'hi' and a 'hello' for the shy
couple, but as time went on, watering the sheep became a daily routine and the
conversations increased. Ida could hardly wait each day for the wise herder, Archie, to
resume the conversation. It wasn't long until the two were well acquainted, knowing each
other's likes and dislikes. It was what you might call a sheepherder and country gal
courtship. At any rate the courtship continued and the two soon became united as husband
and wife.
From that time on Ida became a sheepman's lady. She was an excellent cook and knew just
how to prepare a good brown mutton roast with mashed potatoes smothered with brown gravy
made with the drippings from the roast, together with all the other fixins.
In his later years, Uncle Archie liked a little rest after he had eaten such a good meal
and would take a small nap on the rest bed by the window. The bed was not exactly a sofa
bed, but rather a leather stuffed one-man-bed with a little rise on the one end. After his
rest, he would go outside and take care of his chores or visit the sheepherd to the east
in the nearby hills. I remember Aunt Ida telling me it was on such a bed on which her
father had passed away. He, too, had eaten a good dinner and felt a little tired. "I
want to rest for awhile as I am tired now after such a good meal," he said. He just
passed away there calmly sleeping. I am glad I remembered this about my great grandfather.
Early in the spring the sheep would be brought in from the desert to shear. There is a
little house in the back yard now used as a granary. This house used to sit on the old
farm. It was here that Aunt Ida used to cook for the sheep shearers. In those days they
used shears much like the ones used to trim grass only with big long spring blades. Today
they use electric shears which are much faster. Uncle A.J. grew up with the job of
shearing. His job was bag tromping. Bags about ten or twelve feet long and three or four
feet in diameter were stuffed with wool fleeces that had to be tromped down. The bags were
taken up to the railroad to be shipped to wool factories for further processing. Spring
time was working time for the Andersons, there was wool to be sheared, men to be fed,
clothes to be cleaned, bedding to be washed for summer camps and young lambs to be docked.
Sheep were separated into herds (the drys or those that didn't produce lambs from the
mother ewes). There wasn't much time for play or recreation. The sheep were herded to the
summer range where coyotes were a constant threat to the young lambs, then in the fall
they were brought to Bear Flat where the bears loved to eat lush choke cherries and elder
berries. Uncle Archie has told me several stories about bears that molested the sheep and
the herders. There never was a dull moment in the sheep business. There were the good
parts too, however, with a meal of sour dough bread smothered with Aunt Ida's jam or
butter and honey, fried mutton that melted in your mouth, fresh cold spring water, a
bottle of Aunt Ida's fruit and the smell of the mountain pine, elders and brush in your
nostrils, herding was no longer a chore but an aroma of mountain lush all bottled up as
perfume. I experienced many of these trips with Uncle Archie and Uncle A.J. up in the
mountains.
As a boy, the Andersons kept me quite busy, especially Aunt Ida. After school and on
weekends, I worked in her vegetable garden and especially her flower beds which she took
great pride in. On one project she had me make her a trellis for her climbing roses. It
was a three piece project, big enough to walk under as the old one had rotted away. This
one gave the roses plenty of room to climb over sort of like a bridge. I got an 'A' in
shop that quarter for the project. She also needed a wheelbarrow to haul her trash in.
This, too, I made in shop and got another 'A.' It was wooden gates and other projects from
then on to keep the 'A's' coming. Aunt Ida was concerned about my education and was always
waiting on the porch or by the front gate when I came home from school, just to see how
things were going for me. When I needed a little extra money for a date or Junior Prom,
she had a job for me to do to earn that extra money. She asked me one time what I wanted
to become in life and without thinking I said, "anything but a sheepherder." I
thought she was going to blow her top and I got a good lecture on the advantages of the
sheep business. She knew all of them and didn't miss an item. Well, the fact was that my
high school teacher, Mr. Madsen, had taught all us boys to raise our heights and ambitions
least of all not to be a sheepherder as anyone could do that. Well, I had heard this brain
washing so many times that out it came. It was the biggest mistake I ever made around Aunt
Ida and was never to speak a word of it again. The fact is that I did herd sheep one
spring and in the year book it noted Elden Stewart sheepherder future objective. Aunt Ida
did have higher Hopes for me than this however and helped me in my first year at Snow
College with the usual jobs for extra cash. She provided the way for me to get my new
dress clothes for the Junior Prom and many other events. She always wanted me to go on and
achieve my best, which I tried to do using her as an example.
As I said, Aunt Ida was a sheepman's woman. She supported her husband in everything he
did. Uncle Archie held many positions in the church and as a result when the general
authorities came to town, Aunt Ida housed them. It was nothing but the best for the Church
leaders. She used to tell me the stories about each of these authorities and what they
taught in conference. I suppose this is partly where she got so much of her wisdom from in
life. If ever there was a problem, she had an answer for it. Once she told me she wanted
to raise me as a baby because my father rejected me saying I wasn't his. She gave father a
good tongue lashing and that was the end of it. She was willing to raise me if dad still
persisted, but mother would have none of it. The beauty of it all was that I spent half my
time at her home anyway, which I shall never regret.
Mealtimes were something special at Aunt Ida's. Just before lunch time she would send me
down to the Fairview Merc to get a slab or two of cheese, a little lunch meat, milk, and
some goodies. When I got back she had the table set for the two of us with a small bouquet
of flowers as a center piece. Some sandwiches were quickly made with a glass of cold milk.
We ate and talked, had a short rest and went back to work. She had a few chickens in the
back yard that needed constant cleaning and care for the coop. "Got to have some eggs
for breakfast and the herders," she used to say.
She loved her vegetable garden and when it got to the point she could no longer take care
of it with its night time watering and all she made a small garden in front of that old
apple tree. She had a small row of everything with four tomato plants. One day she sent
mother out to bring in some fresh carrots to make a mutton stew. As she was cleaning off
one extra big carrot there was her wedding ring grown around the carrot. She had lost it
many years ago while working in her flower garden. Uncle Archie had bought her a new one
so she gave the old one to mother. When times got hard for mother after father died she
sold it (as it was pure gold) to get a little extra money. I wish she had kept it as a
keepsake now.
I remember one special incident when I was about twelve years old. Aunt Ida gave me a call
one early winter morning. The bucks had to be moved to the desert to mate with the mother
ewes. The roads were all snowed in and the graders hadn't opened the Round Knolls road
yet. Uncle A.J. needed some help and she called upon me knowing I could be depended upon.
She had an old wool sweater, a cap and some warm gloves prepared for me. She buttoned me
up in one of Uncle Archie's old coats and said, "Don't want you to catch cold and get
your death of pneumonia." I slipped on some of her old rubber boots that were a
little large and she ushered us out the door. It wasn't long until I was glad of the extra
warmth as we trudged through the deep snow of about sixteen inches. Ice seemed to form
around our nostrils at every breath as we walked about two miles to the back pasture.
Uncle A.J. kept me busy listening to stories about sheepherding up east and taking
supplies to the camp with the team of horses. He reiterated stories about moving the sheep
to the west desert in which he drove the old Conestoga wagon which had been housed in the
back shed for twenty years or more. I enjoyed his short sermons to keep my mind off the
cold. It wasn't long until we had the bucks headed towards Fairview and just as we rounded
the last bend, here came the grader. When we got home with the sheep about noon, Aunt Ida
was waiting with a hot meal and some hot chocolate to wash it down as we sat around her
old Majestic stove that she had fired up to warm ourselves. That day I received warmth in
more than one way that I shall never forget. Aunt Ida sent me home with her special smile
which was a little extra besides the money it was a smile of 'thank you' that I shall
never forget.
In the fall Uncle A.J. brought Aunt Ida her winter supply of wood for her Majestic. In
earlier days he brought her a load of quaking aspen from Bear Flat down the old sheep
trail that four-wheel trucks now use to get up the face of the east mountain. It was Uncle
Marion's chore to saw the wood up into blocks with his model T saw jigger. My chore was to
chop the blocks into kindling. She could have had one of the latest electric stoves, but
she would have none of it. She knew just the right temperature for baking bread by
touching the oven door with her wet finger.
Just east of her home was a big apple tree with a broken down glider swing that we often
sat in and talked. With a little effort the swing would give a little action, but it was
mainly used for soft talk resting. This we did many times as she loved company. In the
fall I would climb the tree and pick the apples on shares. For lunch she often split open
one of these huge apples and sprinkled some brown sugar, cinnamon and a dab of sauce to
bake in the oven. It made a great feast with a scoop of ice cream. Some of them were dried
and stored in brown paper bags in her cold cellar beneath the house. In the winter the
dried apples came out to make apple pie and sweet pudding with raisins, prunes, and a
delicious sauce. In the back of the root cellar were the winter apples that I picked and
stored for her. Here we also stored some of her carrots, potatoes, turnips and squash.
After school I always stopped to pick an apple off her tree to eat on the way home. In the
winter the cellar was always open to me to take a pocket full to eat that night while
listening to Amos 'n Andy on the radio.
When Uncle Archie was taken sick with cancer, Aunt Ida had her hands full as a full time
nurse. She had gallon cans of Clorox to wash his bedding and clothes in. Her Wards ABC
washer and her clothes lines were constantly loaded. She didn't have much time for me
except an occasional dropin to see how Uncle was doing. Mother helped with her house
cleaning and such. After Uncle Archie passed away it was a great relief and yet sad for
the loss of her eternal partner, but she had the pioneer spirit and wasn't one to easily
give up. She kept herself busy so that she didn't have time to think of her troubles. She
was always looking for ways to help others. Uncle A.J. more or less took over her affairs
and the sheep business; however, she continued to keep the sheep camps going.
She now had more time to renew our acquaintances and there was work to be done to keep the
place up. The old wood sidewalk leading back to the farm yard needed replacing. She made
arrangements with the lumber yard to deliver some planking for the job. She supervised as
I tore out the old rotted planks and laid the new ones. During the process we found five
of Uncle Archie's pocket knives, numerous coins, buttons and whatnots that had been lost.
All but the money were in sad shape. Uncle Archie loved to whittle about his work and I
suppose it was on these whittling times that he lost his pocket knives. She also had me
replace the old wooden bridge leading to Uncle Archie's garage. I might add that it was
here that he parked his old chev sedan. When he backed out and went down the street he
would rev the engine at a high speed and let out the clutch a habit he never overcame.
With a jerk the car sped down the street. Needless to say the clutch was worked on more
than any other part of his car.
One day while I was mowing her lawn, old man Ottesen came up the sidewalk carrying a gunny
sack full of groceries. He lived up the lane about another half mile. He looked all
tuckered out as he passed the Anderson home. Aunt Ida motioned him to stop for a rest and
insisted I help him carry his load home. I wasn't back for another hour, but she still
paid me for that hour of work. That's the way she was, always looking after others.
She had one gripe in life that was her neighbor's unkept barnyard. At times the north wind
brought the most horrible smells to her open kitchen window. When it came irrigation time
the ditch that came through the corral had to be rebuilt. The animals leaned over the
fence and it was in constant need of repair and all her friendly urging just didn't work.
It was a constant harassing to keep things going. "Good fences make good
neighbors." Yet in her heart she forgave the neighbor and just lived with it hoping
the problem might go away. She told me a story about Abe Lincoln and an old stump he had
that was a problem. It seems he tried to move it with everything he had. After breaking
all his single trees and making the males all balky, he just plowed around the stump and
let it rot away. That was the solution to her problem. She used to say, "just plow
around the stump and let the problem rot away if you can't do anything else." That
was my Aunt Ida always trying to look at something positive rather than negative.
As the years passed by, hard work began to take a toll on my dear aunt. I had gone off to
work, to school and was later married. The visits hadn't been as frequent as they should
have been. At any rate every chance I got I tried to pay her a short visit and tell her
how things were going. She was still concerned about my future. One day she asked my
mother if I might come down next weekend and she would have lunch prepared. She wanted to
meet my wife as she wasn't able to get to our wedding. The next week I prepared to visit
Aunt Ida. She waited for me all day and hoped I hadn't forgotten. She had prepared the
usual simple but delicious lunch that we had eaten in our earlier years. We both knew it
might be one of our last times together. We talked about my younger days, but most of all
she was concerned how I was doing. I now had my teacher's credentials and I was teaching
school. She also wanted to know what I was doing in serving the Lord. I was proud to
answer all her questions in the positive. She said she was proud of me and knew I could
succeed if I kept close to the Lord. As I left I took a picture of Aunt Ida on the front
porch which I still have. It wasn't long until she moved to Salt Lake to be with her
daughter Helena. One Sunday I had a strong impression to visit her. My wife and I drove up
to the east of Salt Lake to Helena's home and rang the door bell. Helena opened the door
and recognizing me said, "Mother, it's Elden." We embraced for a moment with
tears in each of our eyes. "I knew you would come and see me," she said. She
would have nothing more than to hurry and fix us something to eat just plain graham
crackers with a cold glass of milk; it was the conversation that made it all worthwhile.
Since it was getting late, we embraced again and said goodbye, not knowing that this was
the final goodbye we would have. From there Aunt Ida was taken to a rest home where she
passed away. I like to remember her smiling at our last parting rather than as a tired,
weak, weary vegetable in bed unable to do what the mind wanted to do. She is resting now
away from life's chores with her husband, never to be parted in eternal joy. She lives
yet.
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