David S Ostler Family Background

DAVID S. OSTLER

Personal History

Isaac Grace

Elizabeth Williams Evans

FAMILY BACKGROUND

Grace Family:

 Great Grandfather, Isaac Grace and his family joined the LDS Church in Liverpool, England in 1841, and arrived in Utah about ten years later with his wife, his two daughters and his widowed Sister, Margaret. They were forced to bury at sea, on their journey to New Orleans, a young daughter who was born prior to their departure. Upon their arrival in Salt Lake City, Brigham Young sent them to Parowan. Since Isaac had worked in the shipbuilding industry in Liverpool, Brigham thought that he would be an asset to that new community. After traveling for several days, the family arrived at Salt Creek (now Nephi). Men from Provo had arrived in Salt Creek earlier in the year, had planted crops, built log cabins, and had returned to Provo for their families. Thus, when the Grace family arrived, there were homes present, but no one was living there at the moment. The family camped adjacent to Salt Creek for the night. As Aunt Margaret was getting out of the covered wagon that afternoon, she sprained her ankle. At that point Great Grandfather Isaac said, "This is far enough. We'll settle here." And that's why I was born in Nephi instead of Parowan.

Due to their early arrival in Nephi, my grandfather's sister, Harriet Ann (Aunt Ettie) in April of 1852, was the first white girl born in Nephi. Early in their residency in Nephi, a band of Indians stopped at Salt Creek. They had with them a young Indian boy that they had kidnapped from another Indian tribe. They offered him for sale to the Salt Creek settlers and said they would kill him if the settlers did not buy him. In the history of the early Utah settlements, it is recorded that Indians would often come to the settlements bringing Indian children which had been captured from other Indian tribes. They would offer to sell them to the Mormon settlers, and if the settlers refused, the children would be killed. Great Grandfather purchased him (I have no idea what the purchase price was or what it consisted of). Great Grandfather bought him, named him Alma, and raised him as a son until he died in 1871, a few months after the death of Great Grandfather Grace. My Grandfather often spoke with me about his brother, Alma. Alma had been born in 1852. He lived with the family as a son and brother until November 1871 when he passed away as a result of an illness. It is of interest to note that Great Grandfather Isaac Grace died in May 1871, just six months before the death of Alma.

Great Grandfather Grace died in 1871 when my Grandpa Grace was not quite 14 years old. At that time, it being two years after the completion of the trans-continental railroad at Promontory, Utah, the railroad line to Los Angeles had extended as far south as Santaquin, Utah. That same year the mines at Pioche, Nevada began to be developed, and the closest rail head was at Santaquin. In the winter of 1871, several of the men in Nephi contracted to use their teams and wagons to haul materials from Santaquin to Pioche. My Grandpa, in order to help support his family, used their team and wagon, and took part in this project. I can only guess that without the help of some of the fine men of Nephi, Grandpa would not have been able to do this. I still marvel, however, that he was able to do so much at a very tender age.

Grace Brothers:

The Grace Brothers consisted of Grandpa, Uncle Will and Uncle Charles. Uncle Will lived in Midvale, Utah during all my years living in Nephi. Grandpa and Uncle Charles were involved together in several business enterprises during their lifetimes. They were involved in irrigated farming on land located west of Nephi and in dry land farming on the Levan Ridge. They were also involved in the construction business where they built several school building throughout the southern part of the state. I wish I could remember the locations of these buildings. Grandpa told me about most of them, but I was too young to pay sufficient attention. The Grace Brothers also owned and operated a Lumber Yard in Nephi as an adjunct to their construction business. Later on, Uncle Charles became a dealer for Chevrolet automobiles in Nephi. I remember well, as I was a child in the 1930's, the Chevrolet automobile Uncle Charles drove. I think it was about a 1928 model, and Uncle Charles maintained it in immaculate condition.

Dry Land Farms: Dry land farming was first introduced in Utah on the Levan Ridge where no water was available for irrigation. It was begun at Four Mile Creek by David Broadhead on what became known as the "Perjury Farm." Mr. Broadhead homesteaded his property. Under the homestead program, it was necessary to live on the property for a certain period of time and to prove that the property could actually produce crops. The story goes that Mr. Broadhead, whose residence was in Nephi, would spend alternate nights at his home in town and at his property at Four Mile Creek. In this manner, he met the requirement for being on the property every day. The problem arose when he claimed that he was raising wheat on the property. It was common knowledge that there was too little natural precipitation to raise crops without irrigation. He devised a method where he would raise a crop one year on a given parcel of property, then let it lie "fallow" the following year as it accumulated the necessary moisture. By removing the weeds on the fallow property, but not plowing the property to allow the loss of moisture, it would support a crop the following year. Mr. Broadhead was accused of perjury for attesting to something that "everyone knew" was not true. He was acquitted of the charge. His property became known as "The Perjury Farm" and the Levan Ridge became the area where dry land farming started in Utah.

In the late 1930's an Agricultural Experiment Station was established on the Levan Ridge by the Utah State Agricultural College (now Utah State University) Not long afterward a few trees were planted on the property to honor men who had pioneered the dry land farming procedure. Grandfather Grace was honored by having one of the trees planted in his name. He was also honored, at one time, as the "Farmer of the Year" by Utah State Agricultural College. He also received an honorary degree in agriculture from USAC.

Steam Tractor: Grandfather Grace related to me the experience they had on the Levan Ridge after they had purchased the first steam tractor to be used on the Ridge. They used the tractor to tow the combine wheat harvester. Prior to this time, such equipment had been towed by large teams of horses with the driver perched high on a seat at the front of the machine so he could see and control the teams of horses. Grandfather related to me that they planned on using wood or coal to fuel the steam tractor as it made the first swath around the field. On all subsequent swaths, they planned on using the straw expelled during the earlier swaths to fuel the tractor. There was only one problem with this plan. It did not work! The straw did not provide sufficient heat to provide adequate steam for the tractor's boiler.

An early steam-powered tractor

Combine Harvester: The Grace Brothers also owned the first combine harvester on the Levan Ridge. Prior to this, the harvesting of wheat was a very labor intensive operation. The wheat was cut and bundled by a binder. It was then manually stacked in "shocks" in the field before being loaded onto horse-drawn wagons and transported to stacks where the threshing would later take place. It was then thrown into the threshing machine that removed the wheat. The wheat was bagged into burlap bags and the straw was stacked into a straw pile where it would be used for animal bedding (or in cases of poor crops, as feed for the animals during the winter months.)

An early combine harvester

The combine harvester eliminated most of the laborious operations described above. It cut the wheat in the field, transported it into the thresher, a bagger bagged the grain into burlap bags, and deposited several bags at a time onto a place in the field where they would be loaded onto wagons. The straw was also dumped in piles where it could be transported to a location where it could be used during the winter months.

The first year they used the combine harvester, they learned that the Juab County Mill & Elevator Company would not store the wheat because it had not "sweat." That is, it had not been "shocked" in the field where it could dry thoroughly before it was threshed. That first year, they had to haul the wheat to Manti, some 40 miles away, after it was harvested. In subsequent years, this was not a problem since everyone knew, by that time, that this was a perfectly acceptable way of harvesting wheat. Of course, the same procedure is still used but with much more modern equipment.

Civic and Church Experiences: Grandpa was Mayor in 1910 at the time the first electrical power plant was put into service. The power plant was a water driven power plant located on Salt Creek on the right hand side of the highway in Salt Creek Canyon between Nephi and Fountain Green. It was located just a short distance above Nephi. An additional power plant was added some years later at a location upstream from the original one. Many years later, the city determined to purchase its power from the public utility company servicing the area, and the two power plants were taken out of service. This change was made because of the lower cost and greater reliability of purchasing the power from a larger company with more efficient facilities.

Probably, because of the above experiences, he was called on a mission by the LDS Church to operate the church plantations and sugar factories in Oahu, Hawaii. This assignment came prior to the end of the 19th Century. Operating sugar plantations and sugar factories in the climate of Hawaii was an experience unlike operating a dry land wheat farm in Utah. He related to me that when he arrived, the Church owned three sugar factories, none of which was operational. By concentrating on one of the refineries and cannibalizing from the other two, he was able to make the one operational.

Grandfather Grace sold his Levan Ridge property in the 1920's to a relative who agreed to pay for the property over a period of several years. At about the same time, he made a significant investment in the Nephi National Bank. In the financial collapse that began in 1929 the relative having purchased the Levan Ridge property failed. The bank also failed and the investors were liable to the other stockholders for an amount equal to their original investment. The combination of these events created major changes in his life. In a fairly short period of time, he went from being a very well off man in his retirement to one who had very little in the way of assets.

Originally, Grandpa owned the entire east half of the block in Nephi bordered by Third and Fourth East and First and Second South. By the time I came upon the scene, he had sold a building lot on the South-East corner to Raymond Pace who had built a home on that property. On the balance of the property was the home located on the North-East corner, a hay barn, a granary, several large chicken coops and a brooder coop where young chicks were hatched. I remember, on several occasions, walking with Grandpa to the Utah Poultry Co-op as he pulled a large wooden case of eggs in a coaster wagon. He was also one of the organizers of the Utah Poultry Co-op. The Co-op was located in a fairly modern, brick building located on Track Street (Second North Street) just below Main Street.

Wooden egg crate

Grandpa had several automobiles in his lifetime. This was notable inasmuch as he was almost 50 years of age when the first automobile appeared in Nephi. He drove to Los Angeles several times before there was a paved road. I recall his telling me how pleasant it was to drive to Los Angeles after the road was paved all the way. I often thought about that years later as I was driving up the hill on the two-lane highway behind a tractor-trailer on the Shivwits Indian Reservation south of St. George.

In the later years of his life, Grandpa served as the Stake Patriarch for Juab Stake.

John C Ostler

John Ostler & John C. Ostler: John Ostler joined the LDS Church in 1847 Southwestern England. His son, John Charles, known as John "C" is my Great Grandfather. I understand he was an owner of the Ostler and Allen harness shop, once located on the west side of Main Street a few doors north of First South.

George Oliver Ostler

George Oliver Ostler: John C. Ostler's son, George Oliver Ostler, is my Grandfather. I did not spend much time with him since he disinherited my father shortly after I was born. He and my grandmother were divorced a few years later. I don't know all that occurred between my grandfather and my father. I heard a lot from my father, but I suppose that may have been somewhat biased. My father was, of course, the oldest son in the family, having been born in 1901. During the 'teens' and 'twenties' of that century, my grandfather and his sons established a substantial farming and ranching empire. They owned the McIntyre Ranch which consisted of several thousand acres of mountainous grazing land located just east of Mammoth, Utah. Just east of that, on the other side of the mountain was the Hancock Ranch which they also owned. That farming and ranching operation was situated a few miles south of the southern end of Utah Lake. It was also quite large. Over the mountains to the south of the Hancock Ranch was Dog Valley, a dry land farming operation that they also owned. In addition, they had several hundred acres of irrigated farmland west of Nephi. The latter was, of course, their headquarters.

In addition to the above, they had several thousand sheep that grazed on Federal Land in the East Mountains in the summers and in the West Desert in the winters. My father has related experiences to me of his being the only Ostler Company representative (I suspect this was a rather loosely formed company, probably not incorporated.) who accompanied entire trainloads of sheep to the markets in Kansas City.Grandpa had several automobiles in his lifetime. This was notable inasmuch as he was almost 50 years of age when the first automobile appeared in Nephi. He drove to Los Angeles several times before there was a paved road. I recall his telling me how pleasant it was to drive to Los Angeles after the road was paved all the way. I often thought about that years later as I was driving up the hill on the two-lane highway behind a tractor-trailer on the Shivwits Indian Reservation south of St. George.

My father finished the 8th grade before leaving school. I believe that was quite customary at that time. He went on his mission to Holland about 1922, so he had been active in the family business for several years prior to his departure. According to my father, grandfather Ostler did not want him to go on his mission, held it against him all the time he was gone and continued to do so after his return.  Nevertheless, Dad returned to the company business after his return from his mission.

I don't know the details, but I suspect that grandfather Ostler was highly leveraged financially when the financial crash came in 1929. By 1932 when my father and his father went their separate ways, the financial pressures must have been enormous. I imagine that this precipitated much friction between the two of them. In any event, Dad was booted out of the family business and had to start all over again in 1932. The relationship between him, his father and his brothers was quite "prickly" all during the 1930's and early 1940's.

Grandfather lost the McIntyre Ranch, the Hancock Ranch and the entire Dog Valley property. After he and Grandmother Ostler divorced, he began living with Sadie Cazier in Nephi. I don't know much about her background except for the fact that the Caziers were some of the earliest settlers of Nephi. Incidentally, my father bought the old David Cazier farm in 1932 from the Federal Land Bank after the Cazier family had defaulted on their loan with that institution.

About the only thing I remember about Grandfather Ostler in the late 30's and early 40's was that he had purchased the old Packard automobile previously owned by Dick Evans. It was about a 1929 automobile and was a real classic. I think it had a 12 cylinder engine, was a coupe with a rumble seat in the back. I wish I had it now. It would be fun to restore, and would be worth a fortune.

An interesting thing took place in the 1940's. My Brother, Morris, had a newspaper route and delivered the daily newspaper to Grandfather Ostler's and Sadie Cazier's home. He had been doing this for quite a long period of time. Once when he was making the regular collection, Grandfather asked him whose boy he was. When Morris replied, Grandfather was absolutely speechless. 

The Ostler/Brough Feud

The Ostlers and the Broughs each owned large acreages on opposite ends of Dog Valley, just over the Dog Valley Mountains west of Nephi. Both outfits had several hired men working for them. Apparently, some of the Ostler cattle had gotten into one of the Brough grain fields, and the Ostler crew learned that the Brough crew was driving the Ostler cattle to Nephi to be put into the "stray pen," an enclosure where loose animals were to be kept until their owners retrieved them. The Ostler hands immediately departed on horseback to Dog Valley. They met the Brough hands as they were coming down Dog Valley hill with the Ostler cattle. A confrontation occurred that almost resulted in bloodshed before the Ostler hands were able to take possession of the animals and to return them to the Dog Valley property. My brother, LeRoy, has better details than I about this confrontation.