A Tennant Family

Elizabeth Housley Crapo, daughter of George Frederick Housley and Maria Christina Jacobsen, was born 16^th January 1875, in Paradise, Cache County, Utah. Her mother was an invalid, suffering from rheumatic fever and dropsy when she was born. Her older sister Charlotte took care of her when she was a baby and during her childhood she was rather sickly. The family was very poor and sometimes lacked for food and clothing. Her mother was a very good cook, however, and made everything they had taste very good. Because of lack of shoes, etc. the children were not nble to go very far through school. At the age of fifteen, Elizabeth went to Ogden to work. Here she did housework for wages from $1.50 to $4.00 per week. Except for occasional visits home and trips to Idaho to visit her sister, Lottie, she worked until she was 30 years old.

On one of the trips to Idaho she met George Albert Smith Crapo and they were married in the Logan Temple, 31 March 1365. They went to Parker, Idaho to live as George owned a farm there.

The following children were born to them in Parker, Fremont County, Idaho: George Lavelle Crapo, born 16 June 1366 who married Melba Christie Olsen 29 September 1938; Carrie Crapo, born 9 January 1368 who married Floyd Ervin Davis 2 November 1927; Winford Whitney Crapo, born 30 July 1369 who married Melvina Mason 5 Nov. 1931; Helen Elizabeth Crapo 13 January 1911 who married William Downing Ferney 5 Nov. 1931; Maurice Evan Crapo born 11 August 1912 who married Vida Lucille Stoddard, 15 March 1934; Frederick Myron Crapo, born 22 December 1913 who married Cleo Williams 27 April 1945.

On 19 March 1916, after an illness of 12 days, George A. Crapo died of pneumonia. At the time of his death he was one of the seven presidents of the seventy in the Yellowstone Stake.

Elizabeth was now left with six small children to raise and only a 25 acre farm which she rented out for five years at $250.00 per year. It was a hard struggle to make a living and she worked very hard even taking in washings. The children also worked hard in the fields and at every job they could find. When Lavelle was sixteen years old and the boys decided they could run the farm themselves and from then on the boys made most of the living.

Elizabeth served as a Relief Society Visiting Teacher for several years and taught a class of small children for several years in Religion Class. This class was held during Sacrament Meeting.

As times got better she was able to spend several weeks each summer in Lava Hot Springs. At first she went with Aunt Ida Powell, her sister-in-law, and later with her brother, Ben, and her sister, Annie. During one of these visits together, Annie was ill and suffered a stroke. They took her to the doctor in the afternoon and he gave her medicine which was to be taken immediately and again at midnight. His instructions were carried out but about 2 AM Annie tried to get out of bed and fell on the floor. The doctor came and said she had a stroke. Her children were also called and they took her to the hospital in Downey for a few weeks and then she went to live with them. She lived six or seven years after that.

Elizabeth has lived and raised her family with faith and prayer. She had two patriarchial blessings which promised her many wonderful things including that she will live to shake hands with the Savior and help to build the New Jerusalem in Jackson County; that she would have dreams and visions and the power to raise her children right. She has had many prayers answered and many dreams that came true and all her children have been married in the temple and all are serving in various offices in the Church. Maurice is Bishop of Parker Ward and Lavelle is in the High Council in his stake.

Though Elizabeth was sickly as a child she has never had an operation and had her first shot at the age of 83. At 84 she enjoys fairly good health, still lives on the farm at Parker and is still baking the delicious bread she has served her family all their life.

Our Mother, Elizabeth Housley Crapo, was truly a Mother in Israel. She loved the Lord and her family and spent her life in their service. She spent 44 years as a widow in doing her best to raise her family in a way that would be pleasing to the Lord and her husband. Mother taught us the Gospel and how to work. She always worked with us and would give us lots of good advice as we weeded the garden or picked fruit. She took in washing to help with the living when we were small and we all had the experience of delivering the washing in a little red wagon.

Mother was a shy person and very reserved. Truthfulness and honesty were her virtues. She had instinctive good taste and always picked the best quality without even looking at the price tags. She could not always afford the best but that was what she liked. Mother was a good manager and never wasted anything. Everything was made use of, even the rags, which she made into beautiful rugs. She loved to use her hands and was always busy. She did beautiful crochet, embroidery and some knitting.

Mother was a good cook and our father used to say she could make a good meal out of a shoestring. Her bread was especially good. I remember one time when Bill and Don came home from College, the first thing they said was, "Boy! We started smelling Grandmas bread when we got to Idaho Falls."

Mother was very discerning about people. She could take one look at a person and tell you their true character. Her patriarchal blessing said she would have dreams and visions. This was very true all her life. One time we lost the cows and could not find them for several days. She dreamed that she saw them out at a lake near the sand hills. In the dream they were walking single file along the shore of the lake. The next morning she told Winford to go out there and get the cows. He said, "Oh no! This time you are wrong because I have already been there." Mother insisted that he go anyway and sure enough there they were walking single file along the edge of the lake.

One time she dreamed that Carries husband, Floyd Davis, was in a truck wreck. He made a trip over to their place to warn him about using the truck that day. He said he just had to go for wood. He went and did have a wreck that day.

One time Earl Terry was staying the night with Winford and Mother said the family prayer. She asked the Lord to help her get money for Christmas for us. The next morning she happened to open either the Bible or the Book of Mormon and a ten dollar bill fell out.

Mother was just terrified of thunder and lightening because of seeing it strike a barn and burn the animals during her childhood. One night we were having a bad storm. Mother got us all out of bed and put us under the dining room table. Then she kneeled down and prayed that the Lord would send someone to stay with us until the storm was over. Very shortly someone called from outside, "Oh Lizzie!" It was Uncle Glaud Housley who was herding sheep near the sand hills. He had been caught in the storm and wanted to come in until it was over. The Lord blessed Mother with dreams and visions and answers to many prayers.

When Fred was in the army she prayed that someone over him would intercede for him so he would not have to go over seas. He came home for a furlough prior to being shipped out. When he was telling us goodbye he said he would probably be shipped overseas and be gone for a long time. Then he said that just before he left to come home the officer over him asked if he really wanted to go overseas. Fred answered that he would go wherever he was sent. The officer told him he would like to intercede for him and keep him at the base to help him. As soon as Fred said the man was going to intercede for him I spoke up and said, "You aren't going overseas! That is the answer to Mothers prayer!" Sure enough everyone else was shipped out a few days later and Fred stayed to help his commanding officer.

Mother loved children and made up stories to tell them. One story the kids especially loved was about Little Edith Mouse. The mouse lived in the basement of Farmer Browns house and had numerous escapades even to getting her tail cut off by Farmer Brown as she was stealing cheese. Mother always had a new chapter from her own imagination when the kids asked for stories.

Mother feared death all her life but when the end finally came she was very calm and thought only of her childrens welfare. She did not suffer to die but went peacefully in her sleep.

Mother was plain of feature but beautiful of character and spirit. She will be a living memory with us always.

Here are a few things she told to her niece Emma H. Auger in about 1858.

"I had worked for so many people in so many different homes who whipped their children that I guess I thought it was a must. As my children came and did things which I did not like, I did the same. One time your Uncle George caught me in the act and he just could not stand to see a child abused. He walked up to me and took hold of me and pulled on my hand, I looked at him as I stopped, he put his arm around and we walked away to ourselves, then he kindly said: "Lizzie, we don't whip our children." Then I burst into tears and shouted, "What are we to do, let them run over us?" Then he explained that we would try to govern them with love and kindness. I said, "Spare the whip and spoil the child." He said something like this: "They may as well be spoiled than to have one devil whipped out and a dozen more in."

After he got me calmed down by his kindness, I could begin to see his point. We must be firm with our children but love is the greatest tool that our Heavenly Father has given to us. From that day forward I have tried my best to follow his wise counsel.

She also said he did not believe in a lot of jewelry such as rings, chains, beads, pins, etc. as he thought too much of this sort of thing was an abomination in the sight of our Heavenly Father.

He had studied the standard works of the Church and could quote many passages of scripture from memory. He understood the principles of the gospel and seemed to converse wisely with the numerous individuals with whom he came in contact.

He was a college graduate majoring in Agriculture and many people sought his counsel and judgment, especially when buying land. He seemed to understand his profession well. As he walked out over the land often times he would pick up a handful of soil and sift it through his fingers and tell which piece of land was best adapted for raising different kinds of crops.

The following obituary was read in her funeral services by a grandson Terry Crapo

I esteem it an honor to have the privilege of giving the obituary for my Grandmother, Elizabeth Housley Crapo, daughter of George Frederick Housley and Maria Christina Jacobsen. She was born 16 January 16 1875 in Paradise, Cache County, Utah. Both of her parents were converts to the Church. Her father came from England and her mother from Denmark. They crossed the plains with the Handcart Companies, and were married after they reached Salt Lake City. Grandmother was the 8th child born in her family. At the time of her birth, her mother was an invalid suffering from rheumatic fever and dropsy. Her older sister Lottie took care of her when she was a baby and during her early childhood. Although she was rather sickly as a child, she enjoyed excellent health during her adult life. She never had an operation; she had her first shot at 83, and she was never in a hospital until she went in a little over a week ago.

Grandmothers family was very poor, and hunger was often present. Her mother was a good cook, however, and made everything they did have taste very good. She has written this description of her early home.

"My childhood home was a drafty log house with an upstairs where we children slept on straw ticks. I remember that the snow drifted on our faces sometimes when we were in bed. The cracks in the floor of the upstairs bedroom were so wide that we could look down into the rooms below. Even so I remember that I was afraid to go upstairs alone.

Because of their poverty the children were not able to spend much time in school. But Grandmother had a willing spirit and a sharp mind and in my opinion she was an honor graduate from the University of Hard Knocks. At the age of 12 she hired out to do housework. At the age of 15 she went to Ogden to work as wages were better there and work more plentiful. In Ogden, she received from $1.50 to $4.00 per week. From this time on she made her own way in the world. Except for occasional visits home and trips to Idaho to visit her sister Lottie, she worked until she was 30 years of age.

Let me give you the next bit of her history in her own words:

"My sister Lottie lived in Parker and later in Plano. I came up to work for her when her children were born. Mr. and Mrs. Ben Browning were special friends that I met and visited with when I came up here. I went to Church dances and got acquainted with the people on Egin Bench. I worked for John Crapo about a year or two. His brother George was living there and attending Ricks Academy. Sometimes an Sundays, George would take me to Plano to visit my sister. We would go in a little buggy drawn by an old gray horse named Benny. One day the tug broke and frightened the horse and he jumped the canal, pulling the buggy with him. One wheel of the buggy was still on the bank and it hung there long enough for me to climb out. George cut some wire out of the fence to fix the tug and we went on to Plano.

While I was working in John Crapos home I became very discouraged. I was about 30 years old and I longed for a home of my own. One day I addressed the Lord in fervent prayer. I told him that I was worn out with working in other women's kitchens. I pleaded with him to let me have a home of my own. I told him that I wanted to go to the temple with someone who would be worthy of me and someone I was worthy of. I even told him I though he had forgotten he put me here.

A few days after this incident a Patriarch came to Parker and stayed at the Crapo home. He gave blessings to all the family and then John insisted that I have a blessing too. In the blessing, my prayers were acknowledged in almost the very words that I had used. The Lord promised me that the desires of my heart were to be realized and that he had not forgotten me. A few months after this George A. Crapo and I became engaged and we were married 31 March 1365 in the Logan Temple.

We stayed in Johns home for 3 weeks after we were married. Then we moved into a little two-room house on the corner where the Parker road turns to go to Rexburg. We had 25 acres of land and two cows. That first summer George built a frame house and we added a log kitchen later. We moved into the new house in November. I made a cupboard and table out of dry goods boxes. I made a rag carpet and I made curtains for the cupboard and windows. We bought a bed and borrowed some dining room furniture from Georges brother, John, and so in this humble way we began our eleven years of married happiness."

To them were born six children - four sons and two daughters. And then one cold day in March 1916 Grandfather Crapo contracted pneumonia. After an illness of 12 days Grandfather passed away on 19 March 1916. Grandmother was alone again, this time with 6 small children to raise. The oldest, my father, Lavelle, was 9 at the time. The farm of 25 acres was rented out for $250.00 per year. It was a hard struggle to make a living. Grandmother even took in washes and the children worked hard too at thinning beets, picking up potatoes, and other jobs to help augment the scanty income. When my father was 15 years old the boys decided they could run the farm for themselves, so they bought a team of horses and a plow and started farming. The Lord blessed their efforts and from this on they prospered. In her later years Grandmother enjoyed the comforts and necessities of life.

Grandmother was strong in will and spirit and in her testimony of the Gospel. Although she didn't like to participate in public affairs, she did serve as Relief Society tacher for many years, and she taught a religion class of small children for several years.

In our Church we believe that the home is of paramount importance and that there is no greater calling than that of being a mother in a Latter-day Saint home, and in teaching the Gospel by precept and example to sons and daughters. Judged by this standard, Grandmother was a great success, for she reared her family, educated them and kept them together in a strong family unit. They are all active in the Church and are attempting to follow the teachings and the great example set by their mother.

A year ago this March Grandmother suffered a slight stroke and she has been in ill health since that time. A week ago Thursday she was taken to the hospital where where the doctor said that she had pneumonia. She passed away early Tuesday morning, 23 February 1960. Surviving are the following sons and daughters: George Lavelle Crapo of Idaho Falls; Mrs. Carrie Davis, Winford W. Crapo, Mrs. Helen Ferney, Bishop Maurice E. Crapo and Fred M. Crapo all of Parker; 28 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.

As Grandmother left us I am sure that Grandfather Crapo was waiting with outstretched arms to welcome her to a new and wonderful experience. And I feel that as he watched and waited for her coming his thoughts were reflected by this beautiful poem:

Our tall sons move with eagerness and
Like strong trees facing sun and storm and wind
Against their strength I watch your failing stride
Your work worn hand, your white hair slightly thinned.
I do not see the tall sons now. They move
Within a mist of tears--beyond my view.
My heart is quickened by an old, old love,
And all that I can see is you, is you!

They will go on to triumph; they will be
All that we hoped and toiled and waited for
Here in the twilight,
Stand awhile with me--

More to a woman, than the Sons she bore,
Must be the one who freely gave his all
That these might flourish
Strong and straight and tall.

Brother Vernon Johnson

May God bless her memory, I humbly pray, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.