A Tennant Family

Benjamin Housley was born 28 march 1871 in Paradise, Cache, Utah. He was the sixth child of George Fredrick and Maria Christina Jacobsen Housley.

His Grandmother Greene presented him with a new outfit of clothes to wear when he was blessed. He had such few clothes his mother slipped them on him one day while she washed the ones he had on. During the process of the washday, he became very ill. Being afraid he would die, they hurried and had him blessed, not even thinking what he was wearing. So he was blessed in the special clothes that had been prepared for the occasion.

While he was small, his folks took up a homestead in Avon, Utah where they lived for a few summers. He was baptized 4 September 1879.

When Mr. Holbrook went on a mission, he promised Ben a colt if he would stay with Mrs. Holbrook and do chores. A few months before Mr. Holbrook came home, he sent a boy from the mission field to stay with them. So Ben went home to stay but still did the chores. When Mr. Holbrook came home, he didn't give Ben the colt, which was a great disappointment to him.

He continued his schooling while there but only went to the Third Reader. During the summer, he worked herding cows for the community. In the winter, he would haul lumber from the saw mill for buildings in Logan, Brigham, and other places. When the mines were being developed at Mineral Point, he hauled supplies to the mine.

As a young man, he carried mail on horseback from Franklin to Mink Creek and back, the round trip being sixty-five miles. He lived with his sister Anna and Joseph Stone in Cherryville, Idaho, a few miles east of Franklin, while employed in his work.

At the age of 23 he married Clarissa Paulina Allen who was born 30 April 1870 in Willard, Box Elder, Utah, the daughter of Marshall Franklin and Emma Holmes Allen.

She started school when she was four years old, and she passed the primer and first reader that year. When she was in the second grade, she won two books for memorizing the multiplication tables before any other member of her class. She continued school until she had completed the eighth grade, but the teacher said she had obtained the knowledge of a second year high school student.

When she was six years old, her sister Mary Emma died. Paulina was baptized 14 September 1878.

At the age of 11, she was very ill, and the lady doctor said it was a lingering fever and advised them to taker her to Ogden to a doctor, but on account of expense, it was impossible to take her. They called the elders, and they promised her she would get well. From this she gained a testimony of the gospel and never doubted it.

When the primary was organized in Willard, Eliza R. Snow was there and let each child hold the Prophet Joseph Smith's watch. She also gave them a recipe for canker and sore throats:

Make 1 quart of sage tea, 1 teaspoon of borax, 1 teaspoon of alum, 2/3 cups of sugar, and boil together. To a little of the sage tea mix1 teaspoon of golden seal and 1 teaspoon of rhubarb. When cold mix together.

She moved with her parents to Paradise, Cache, Utah in 1884, and from there she spent the summer months in Avon on a farm.

She started taking a dressmaking course when she was 17, but did not finish as her mother died 14 Aug 1887, and she stayed home to keep house for her father for seven years until she was married.

On 19 December 1894, they were married in the Logan Temple. They had a double wedding with her brother Albert Ozro Allen and Lillian McMurdie. They went in a sleigh in snow about eight inches deep. Whey them came out of the temple about 4:00 pm so much of the snow had melted, it was hard for them to get back home. Paulina cooked a wedding supper for them all that night.

They lived in the town of Paradise for 11 years. He logged in the canyon for a livelihood, and he also dug wells. He dug one for an elderly couple by the name of Summers in Avon. For his pay, he received a late model High-arm Singer Sewing machine. This made Paulina very happy as the only one she had ever had was an old fashioned low-arm machine of her mother's, which did not do very good sewing. Whenever he got odd jobs around town, he would get store pay or script as it was called. This script was a thin piece of metal hexagon in shape with the amount in raised figures in the center. This was only good at the Paradise Co-op.

Six children were born to them while living in Paradise. Emma Allen, born 29 September 1895; Maria Christina, born 18 Aug 1897; Elva, born 4 April 1899; George Frederick, born 24 April 1361; Marshall Alburn, born 4 December 1362; Calvin, born 2 February 1364. On 8 February 1363, their little son Marshall died.

Soon after this one night, Paulina's mother came to her and told her that her baby Fred was sick like her other baby and for her to get up and do something for him. When she got up and looked in on him, his head was drawn back between his shoulders and he was very cynotic. The doctor pronounced it spinal meningitis and a complication of diseases. He also said he was dead, but Paulina's father administered to him and rebuked the disease and promised him health and strength to fulfill his life's mission.

In the spring of 1365, they sold their home in Paradise and bought the improvements form Joseph Stone and homesteaded to improve on a 160 acre farm in Mapleton, Franklin, Idaho. This farm was near the head of Sugar Creek about two and one half miles from church and school. It was a dry farm, but there was a nice stream of water for the orchard and gardens. There was only a two roomed house. So Ben built a shanty for a summer cook room. The farm furnished various experiences for this family, especially in the winter time. When the snow got deep, they could not get out very much. They did not get to church nor school. Ben and Paulina only went to town occasionally. One time when they needed a new supply of groceries, they went to Preston with a team and sleigh. During the day, there came up a bad blizzard and on their way back, they lost their way and wandered around on top of the big hill in the deep snow. It was after midnight when they reached home very cold, wet, and hungry.

Ben said he would not stay on the farm another winter.

The next fall, he rented a house from an old Danish bachelor, John Olsen, who ate with the family for his pay for his rent. The house was just a short distance from the old meeting house where church, school, and dances were held.

Four more children were born to them after moving to Mapleton: Arvilla, born 20 August 1366; Walden, born 29 November 1369; Millen Glen, born 16 November 1911; Clarissa Paulina, born 10 February 1914.

Ben was a ward teacher and floor manager at the dance hall. Ragtime dances were just becoming popular. The church authorities did not approve of them, but the young people used to try different schemes to get Ben to let the orchestra play for them to dance. They started to play one of the tunes for those dances, Ben would just hold up his finger, and they would play another tune.

When Paulina was 38, she had a very bad spell of rheumatism. She was bedfast for about three months. She could not move to turn over or even lift a limb. She could only move one finger backward or forward on one hand. During this time, three of he children, Maria, Elva and Fred, took diphtheria. Again the doctors gave up. The elders were called, and by the power of the administration, and through faith, Paulina was healed instantly. The pain left, and she could move freely. She was a little weak for a few days, and then she resumed her regular house work, and the children also recovered.

At first, there was only one thrashing machine in Mapleton, and it was run by horse power and tumbling rod. The regular thrashing crew consisted of ten to fifteen men and horses. They went from one farmer to another doing the thrashing straight forward from one end of the ward to the other. One fall, it was November before it came Ben's turn, and they had to scrape the snow off the bundle stack and clear it out of the yard so they could do the job. Ben was afraid his grain would all be spoiled, but only a small amount on top of each stack was wet. Soon the horse powered, hand fed thrashers with the old straw carriers were changed to steam engines, straw blowers, and self fed thrashers.

Paulina was called to be a Relief Society teacher during the summer months with Mary Ann Buckley as her companion. They would go in a one horse buggy, and it was about 12 miles round trip. There were four to six families in the district.

Paulina's father made his home permanently with them soon after they moved to Mapleton.

In the spring of 1914, he traded his property in Mapleton for an irrigated farm in Cornish, Cache, Utah. The house was an old rock building with two rooms down stairs and two up. There was a board of shanty at the north for a kitchen. The next year, he tore the shanty down and built three new rooms.

He bought his first automobile, a model-T Ford, in 1917 for $414.05. The license plate number was 13058. It was the fourth car to come into Cornish and the first Ford. So he was quite proud of it.

He cut off his mustache which he had worn most of his married life. The farm was beets, and he didn't like that kind of work. So in 1918 he sold out and went to Richmond, Cache, Utah to live on a farm east of town. They also owned a home in town and lived there some of the time.

In August 1918, they took their daughter Emma to their home while her husband was in World War I. On 10 September 1918, Emma's daughter Zetta was born (their first grandchild) at their home. In 1921, Paulina's father passed away at their home.

On August 1925, their daughter Elva died and they kept her baby son Muray for four years until his father remarried.

They moved to Lewiston, Cache, Utah in 1934. One of the highlights of their life was a trip to Canada in 1937. They visited with her sister Marcia Obray and family whom they had not seen for 30 years.

On 22 May 1938, their son Walden's wife died leaving four small children, whom they took care of until 20 September 1939 when he remarried and took them.

In a stake meeting in Richmond, Paulina received an honor ribbon for being a Relief Society visiting teacher for 20 years. Ben was ordained a high priest 27 July 1941 in Lewiston by Orson U Hyer.

Paulina always helped care for the sick. She had a strong testimony and tried to instill the same in their children and others. She passed away 13 July 1942 in Richmond at the home of her daughter Clarissa Talbot. She was buried 16 July in Paradise Cemetery.

After her death, Ben lived with his children staying a few weeks with one then another. They all loved to have him come and would look forward to having him stay with them next. He was always ready and more than willing to help them and give them words of encouragement whenever he could.

In December 1948, he had a major operation for gland trouble in a Salt Lake City hospital. After this, he recovered enough to go through the temple again which he had longed to do. He spent several summers at Lava Hot Springs with his sisters.

He passed away 2 June 1953 at the home of his son Calvin in Richmond, and was buried in Paradise Cemetery. At the time of his death, he had 49 living grandchildren, 8 proceeded him in death, and 29 great-grandchildren. One of his sons and four of his grandchildren had fulfilled mission.