History of John Robert Holindrake and Emily Winn

by Ida H. West

My father was born in American Fork on May 2, 1866 in the soft rock house that his father had built when they arrived in American Fork 2 years before. My father being the youngest in the family of five girls and 2 boys, knew the hardships and trials of early pioneer life. His 3 oldest half sisters were Mary Swain Hollingdrake, Elizabeth Wilson, and Mary Ellen Wilson. Sarah Jane and Louisa were his full sisters and Albert his only brother. Grandmother's home was built on the south rim of the old river bed, the water being diverted into the other channels.

Their piece of land extended to the north border of the river bed. The old hollow (as it was called) became a play ground for the children. But my father and Albert had little time to play. During my father's early years there were droughts, the cricket plagues, and there were times when Albert and my father John Robert suffered pangs of hunger. There were times when they had to gather thistle and sego roots for food. John Robert helped his brother Albert and their mother in planting and harvesting the crops. They also had cows and horses and hogs to feed. They had cows to milk and take to the pasture land about a mile west of their home and bring them home in the evening. They had to help haul wood from the canyon and cut it into fire wood, help prepare their meat for winter. They helped with the cording of wool and making of candles.

My father had very little schooling when young. He attended school, an adobe school house with a granite foundation and a basement, which was built in
1861. It was used for school, church, dances, and other
community gatherings. During the winter months when
fuel was scarce, school would be closed for weeks at a
time. Children received only a few weeks of school each
year. There were also many epidemics of diphtheria,
measles, scarlet fever, and other diseases which greatly
interfered with their schooling. Their seats were rough
planks with no backs or desks. In 1877 a new addition of
30x50 ft. was added to this school building, which later
became known as Science Hall. There were writing planks
along the sides of the room, and when there was writing to
be done, the students were allowed to stand before the
class and do their exercises. Soon writing slates came into
use. The school curriculum consisted of the 3 R's,
Reading, Writing and Arithmetic, along with spelling. My
father was a very good student and became very efficient in spelling and with arithmetic. The adobe school house was very crowded. Sometimes as many as 140 pupils were taught by one teacher, who taught all the grades from beginners to 8th grade. Some of my father's teachers were Ebenezer Hunter, Eugene A. Henroid, Minnie Hindley and John J. Shelley.

My father had happy and eventful days along with the hard work. Independence Day was always looked forward to with a great deal of pleasure. There was always the gun salute at day-break. Later in the morning there was a parade headed by the brass band. Then afterward there was a patriotic program in the grove, at which time the Declaration of Independence was always read. Then the picnic in the grove, after which there were games and races. Another celebration was Timber Day at the Grove, or Timbers, as it was named. The Timbers (grove) was in the north east part of town. This day was a real family picnic, where they enjoyed eating melons, pie and other treats. The family, the married daughters and children, sometimes took time for a hay-rack ride to the lake, where they enjoyed picnics and swimming.

I remember my father telling me that when he or Albert or other boys of the neighborhood were away from home playing, going or coming from school or the pasture, they were always on the lookout for Indians, and if they were ever encountered an Indian, they would run for home as fast as their legs would take them. I have often heard my father tell of the first time he ever saw a train. The new railroad tracks were laid just a few feet south of their property line. He was walking along the track coming home from the pasture, when he heard a shrieking noise behind him, looking back he saw a great monster coming along the track. He said he had never run so fast before or since that time. As soon as he reached home, he ran in the house and crawled under the bed with his heart pounding as loud, he thought, as the noise of the steam engine.

My father, John Robert, being 2 years younger than his brother Albert, had to learn at an early age to shoulder his share of the work. At the age of eleven years when his father died June 2, 1877, most of his childhood days and play time was ended. My father was the youngest in a family of 10 children. Mary Ann Swain was daughter of John by a former marriage. Elizabeth Wilson was daughter of William Wilson by a former marriage. Mary Ellen was daughter of Sara Wood and William Wilson.

On their farm in American Fork, my grandmother Sarah Hollingdrake, after grandfather's death, manage the farm with the help of her two sons Albert and George. As my father John Robert grew from boyhood to manhood he began to attend house parties and church dances.

My mother Emma left her home on Highland and went to Salt Lake and found work in a home. When Ethel was a baby, Emily was not very happy to have to give up her good job to help grandmother at home. It was while she was home that mother met a tall handsome young man with large brown eyes and dark brown hair. His name was John Hollingdrake. This acquaintance soon developed into a courtship. It was at one of these dances that he met my mother, Emma Winn, a beautiful young girl with hazel eyes. As Emma lived in Highland, about 3 ½ miles from American Fork, John sometimes rode to see Emma on horseback, and sometimes they were able to take rides together in the summer time. The winters were very cold and snow sometimes came to the tops of the fences. They enjoyed sleigh rides on cold winter nights. My mother and father were married on the 13th of February 1889. Father was twenty two years old and my mother was nineteen years old.

John was the youngest member of his family, Albert was married, and he was now the only member of the family left at home with his mother in the soft rock house that was built when they arrived in American Fork. He and Emily began their married life in the old home with John's mother. John farmed the land to make a living for his new wife and mother. Grandmother gave John and Emma part of the land on the east part of their farm for a building lot and soon after their marriage, John began to build a new home for his new bride where they would be close to take care of his mother. It was a 2 room house. He worked on it in his spare time when there was little farm work to be done.

The following year after their marriage on April 26, 1890 I was the first child in a family of nine children. They named me Ida, because this was the shortest name they could think of to accompany the long name of Hollingdrake, which the family later shortened to Holindrake. I was born in the same bed in the same north east corner of the room where my father was born. This home was one of the first homes in American Fork.. The new home was not quite finished when I was born. On the following year on the 20th day of October 1891 my mother gave birth to their second child a son named Vernon Edward.

The new home was finished before Vernon was born. It consisted of 2 rooms, the front, south room which was living room and kitchen, and a north bedroom. It wasn't long until they had a family to fill their little home. Their 3rd child was a girl named Velma born 6th Sept. 1893. Next came Hayden, a happy good natured baby boy born 30 July 1895. The two room home was now too small for this fast growing family. Father built a lumber addition to the east side of the house, which became the kitchen. Now we could have a real parlor. I can remember the parlor very well. The furniture consisted of a center table in the middle of the room on which sat the family bible on a doily. There was a couch, sewing machine, and 2 or 3 chairs. On August 29, 1897, another beautiful brown eyed baby girl came to bless their little home. Father worked hard to support his little family. Mother cooked, churned butter, made soap, sewed rags for carpets and rugs, washed and boiled clothes by hand, ironed the clothes with flat-irons heated on the stove, and the many other tasks of early pioneer life. Mother loved life, she had a very happy congenial personality. For many years before they could afford the luxury of a sewing machine, she made all of their clothing by hand. She made all of their wearing apparel, underwear, coats, hoods, caps and dresses. Grandmother was very ambitious and a great help in the family. She knitted the stockings, gloves, mended the clothes, and many other tasks to help lighten the household tasks.

I have a very vivid picture in my mind of their home, as I played in and around my grandmother's home all through my childhood days. My brother Vern and I, took in turns, stayed with her at nights. There was a lean to shed on the west end where coal wood and other articles were stored. The west room was the kitchen, and all purpose living room with couch, table chairs, cupboard, stove, etc. The west room was the bedroom parlor with a fireplace on the east wall, a bed in the north west corner, a couch, rocking chair and center table with a crocheted doily and the family bible resting on it. The east room had a door and window on the south side and a window on the east side near the north wall. The upstairs attic always enchanted us as children.

For several years the kitchen had the only fireplace for cooking and heating. In the northwest corner of the kitchen was a stairway leading to the attic, where grandfather kept his looms, old trunks and heirlooms. This was a mystery room which we children like to search in. Sometimes we imagined there were ghosts up in the attic and we were afraid to venture there. For many years afterward I dreamed of this attic. A path let from the front door to the gate on the fence with lilacs growing on each side of path.

I can not remember living in grandmother's home but I well remember the old home, one of the first pioneer homes built in American Fork. Many times I have dreamed of this home, and can see the attic, the rooms and furnishings very vividly in my dreams. There was a rage carpet on the floor, a fire place on east wall with large rug in front of it. There was a couch in the southeast corner where my brother Vern or I slept as we each took turns sleeping at grandmother's home. Grandmother's bed was in the north west corner of the room and a rocking chair on the south side.

Grandmother suffered for several years with asthma. I would awaken several times during the night, seeing her, propped up, sitting up coughing as she couldn't breath well lying down. I wondered if she ever slept, and how she had the strength to do so many tasks during the day.

Grandmother's upstairs or attic always enchanted us when we were children. The old spinning wheel and the tin trunk containing treasured belongings that had been brought across the plains from England. In front of the south door was a stone step and a cobblestone path leading to the gate of the fenced bordering their lot. I well remember the lilac bushes, the currant, raspberry and gooseberry bushes on both sides of the path, the wild roses along the fence and the apple and plum trees. We enjoyed the luscious summer green apples from the big tree west of the house by the side of the drive way.