Bath Time for Grandpa

Edwin did not have an indoor tub until he was 5 or 6 when his father (Lamar) built on to the back of the house.  At his house, the girls got to go first so their hair could be rolled in rags for curlers.  He could remember his dad bringing in the wash tub and they would take baths in the kitchen.  Often they would have to wait for the hot water tank that was attached to the kitchen stove to heat up again.

(1935 Evelyn and Edwin Perkins)

The Best Chalk Around

From Doyle Argyle

It seems Delbert’s home on the flat was kind of a mark or gathering place for the neighbors around there, the Nelson’s, the Kingston’s, the Sessions and so on seemed to use that as a target place for social times.  Back then there was no electricity so the lighting was done with kerosene lamps and gasoline lights, but through the foresight of my grandfather when he built the home he put in what was known as a carbide system.  This consisted of a tank of carbide periodically being dumped into a large vat filled with water and causing carbide gas to burn and make the brightest lights in the valley.  Everyone told him this was a dangerous thing that shouldn’t be done.  I remember him going to my Dad and saying “Do you think we ought to change this Delbert?”  Dad would reply “What do you think?”  Grandfather would always reply “As long as it is taken care of properly it will be alright.”  So one of my fond memories as a child is cleaning out this vat every fall and getting the white carbide from the bottom that had crystallized, man that stuff made the best chalk you could ever get hold of.  I chalked up the barn and the corrals, and granary.  It would last for a period of three or four days until the rain came and then it would be gone.  It sure was wonderful chalk.

(1930 Delbert and Dora Argyle)

 

 

(1935 Doyle Argyle)

 

 

(1936 Joseph Hyrum Argyle)

Stuck on a Clothesline

When Edwin was a preschooler, his mother hooked his overall straps to a rope on a clothesline.  He got a neighbor boy to unhook him and away they went.  Louise got a call from Aunt Maude.  “Do you know where Edwin is?”  “Oh yes, he’s in the backyard.” “You’d better look again.”  He and his little buddy made it down the highway three or four miles bare foot.

 

(1935 Evelyn and Edwin Perkins)

 

A History of Her Birth

I am the after effects of a twenty-fourth of July celebration, as I was born about 9:30 on the morning of July 25, 1935.  I was the chubbiest baby my mother had weighing a fraction over six pounds.  My mother was staying with my grandmother Baty at the time.  Dr. Fitz assisted my mother.  As Dr. Fitz approached the house my only brother Doyle was playing in the yard and Doyle asked the doctor if his baby sister was in the little black bag.

 

Here is how my brother looked that day when he asked the doctor where his baby sister was.

 

Written by Denece Ann Argyle Perkins

 

Frances and Margaret Perkins

Edwin remembers his grandparents (Frances and Margaret Perkins) had a farm in Hazelton, Idaho, that they farmed in the Spring and Summer. 

(Taken About 1894)

 

They had a farm there and when it was harvest time all their sons and son-in-laws would come and help put in the hay.  When Lamar Perkins and his family came the kids would all stay at the cousins homes that lived in Hazelton.  Edwin was only about 4 or 5 when he broke an egg and he dropped it down a hole in the ground to hide his mistake.  It turned out the hole he had happened to choose was a well and his grandma told him if he could not behave he could not come back.  So he does not remember ever going back there again.   

Frances and Margaret moved to Logan during the Winter months and while living there did they did over 130 endowments at the Logan Temple.