Autobiography of E. Lavell Ostler

I was born December 15, 1885. My mother’s name was Rhoda Elizabeth Oakey, and my father’s name was Samuel Ostler. I had four sisters, their names were Ella, Grace, Irene, Fern, and my brother’s names were Arthur, Samuel, and James.

He was the fourth child in the family and Ella Died when Lavell was a baby.

In my younger days all little boys wore dresses until they became four years of age. Finally the day arrived and I received my first pants. I was really proud of them, and I went all over the neighborhood showing them my first pants.

In my early part of my life, we lived in part of Mason’s house. The Indians all liked him and they would come there often to see him. There was one old Indian that used to help Mr. Mason, in return he would get his supper. He sometimes would stay in their granary for several weeks at a time. One day, Mrs. Mason asked him to chop wood for her, but he refused because he said he hadn't had his tucki yet. This meant supper. So Mrs. Mason fixed him a fine supper. The Indian ate his supper and after finishing he said that he was too tired and full to cut wood. He then went to the granary and fell asleep. Mrs. Mason had to cut the wood herself. The more wood she cut the madder she got because the Indian was so lazy. She planned a trick, which she hoped would end the laziness of the Indian. It soon became dark, and Mrs. Mason dressed herself in a white sheet and moved quickly toward the granary. She opened the door just a little way to make sure that he was asleep. Mrs. Mason then began calling his name. The Indian sprang to his feet when he saw a white ghost standing there. Why don’t you cut Mrs. Mason’s wood, the ghost asked. The Indian, who was scared to death, began pleading as though he were to die. The Indian promised to cut her wood and do anything she asked if the great white spirit would just leave him alone. Often times after that Mrs. Mason found herself chuckling to herself when the Indian treated her as though she was his master.

My mother didn't belong to any religion until I was ten years of age. She then joined the Latter Day Saint church.

He was baptized on the same day with his mother. Rhoda's Father died when she was young and her mother married a man who was not a member of the church. so Rhoda didn't get a lot of religion as a child.

We went to school in a one room school. (In Springville). Everyone from the first grade up to the eighth grade went in one room. Mr. Alleman was the first teacher I had. Phillip Houtz was another of my first teachers.

As a young lad, I often stayed with my grandfather Ostler. We used to sit up nights thinking of different things. He had been a seaman for eighteen years. One night I asked him if he had ever seen a mermaid. He said, "son, if there is such a thing I never have saw one."

My father and grandfather used to have a lot of cattle. They would graze in the fields all summer and by the time fall came they would often be quite wild. One day my grandfather and my father were walking through the fields when a steer suddenly took after grandpa. He pinned him down to the ground with his long horns. My father broke and run to the house, and returned with a ax. He freed grandpa and saved his life.

Grandpa owned a small team of black horses. In the winter when Utah Lake was frozen over, he would take his horses and haul wood across the lake to keep us warm.

Grandpa and dad had a lot of odd jobs to earn a living. Often times they went willow hunting. They gathered them along Hobble Creek. They would boil these willows and peel them. When they got done with this process they would be a lily white. Beautiful baskets were made out the willows and they were sold.

In those days, people often had to make their own entertainment. Sleigh riding was a great sport for everyone. Men, women, and children would all go. The one horse open sleigh was great fun. There was square dancing in Renoylds Hall. Everyone turned out and there was fun for everyone.

A telephone call from Provo sent people hurrying down to Main Street. You would have thought it was a parade by the number of people standing on the street and looking toward the north. It’s coming one man shouted. We all looked up and sure enough, there was a car coming down the road. It was the first car I had ever saw. The first car I ever rode in was one that my son Lavell bought.

The first job I had was in the Quartz Mines in Eureka. They mined gold and silver. I went to Idaho soon after this. I worked for my brother-in-law Gibb Austin on his ranch. My sister Irene was very good to me. I stayed for about a year and a half.

One day while walking down the street, my brother Sam and I saw two girls. Sam turned to me and said, see that girl? She’s the girl that’s going to be my wife. Joking, I said, well, if she’s going to be your wife, I guess the other one is going to be my wife. All four of us started going together. We always went places in a buggy. Not joking this time, I decided that I wanted Tryphena Gallup for my wife. While going to Provo after an engagement ring, the horses ran away with us. There wasn’t too many cars on the road then. A car passed us and the horses got scart. They started running back toward Provo. The buggy turned up side down, the wheels spun around. Fortunately, we weren’t hurt. We were married in the Salt Lake Temple soon after this. We stayed in Salt Lake City for a few days after our marriage. We decided to live in Mapleton. It was here that our son, Lavell, was born.

When his son Lavell was one year old, the family moved to Carbon county. During the next sixteen years they lived in several mining towns, Including Price.Lavell worked both inside and outside the mines. He also worked for a brick contractor, Farmed and worked at other Odd jobs.

We then moved to Carbon County because work was better. I worked in the mines. The Lord certainly blessed me and kept me from harm. I had many narrow escapes. A man standing next to me one day had his back broke when a big chunk of coal fell on him.

While working outside the mines, a team of horses ran away with me. They ran over the railroad tracks, which knocked the wagon box loose. The wagon box flew up in the air with me in it. When it came down, it landed on top of me. I had three ribs broke.

I had the job of hauling everything outside of the mine. One morning, I was loading up bedding out of a railroad car into my wagon. I was going to haul the bedding to the bunkhouses for the men. All of sudden without warning, a mining car came down and hit the wagon and took two of the wheels of the wagon. The bedding landed in the wash and I landed on top. One man saw it and told the rest of the men that I was dead. I well remember how scart my son Lavell was as he run to see if it was true. It frightened me more than hurt me.

There was a lot of bad environment around the coal mines, so we decided to move our family out of Carbon County. We moved to Springville, Utah.

In 1929, they bought the old farm in Springville that was owned by Lavell's father, Samuel Ostler

Our children Lavell, Gerald, Valejo, and Fern found companions and were married.

In 1942, my wife and I moved temporarily to San Francisco, California to be near Fern, who was single and living in San Francisco. I got a job as a carpenter. I had always wanted to see the Golden Gate Bridge. To my astonishment, we had to cross that bridge every morning going to work. We enjoyed living there, although we only stayed a few months and then returned to Springville.

In 1946, my wife became ill. She had a heart ailment. The doctor thought it might help her if we moved to another climate.We left our home and went to San Diego, California. We liked SanDiego very much and liked our little apartment. During our time there, Fern and Susan came to visit us from Merced, where Doug was stationed at the time. We rode trolley cars, went to the famous SanDiego zoo, and enjoyed the mild climate allot. My wife seemed to be getting better. One day, we received a telegram that my brother Sam had died from Cancer. I wanted to attend the funeral, but I hated to leave my wife there alone. Tryphena told me then that she thought both of us should go. She surprised me when she told me that it was time that we stopped kidding ourselves because she didn’t feel any better. We both left for home the next day. As the weeks passed, she got worse. Tryphena was put to bed and she couldn’t get up. I never once heard her complain about being sick. After about three years of illness, she died.

The Doctor thought that a lower altitude would help her, so they went to San Francisco, Where Lavell Worked as a Carpenter. Later they lived in SanDiego for a time but her health did not improve so they came home to Springville. She gradually got worse and died 24 January 1947. A.L. Ostler

It was very lonely for me, after she died. I sold my home about two years later and I went and lived with my son Lavell and his wife. They lived on a farm, and I helped out in any way I could.