John Winters Lusk

John Winters Lusk

John Winters Lusk

(Written by Catherine Lusk Reynolds, Jan. 26, 1935)

John Winters Lusk was born June 12, 1829, in Madison County, Illinois., a son of Samuel and Elizabeth Dixon Lusk. He was married to Mary Elizabeth Park, daughter of John M. and Matilda Stewart Park, at Council Bluffs, Iowa June 20, 1851. She died Nov. 20, 1853, at Provo, Utah.

He married again on March 4, 1854, at Kaysville, Utah, to [Esther] Catherine Park. She died Oct. 29, 1893, at Malad City, Idaho. She was the mother of eight children.

He married the third time on Jan. 20, 1859, in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Martha Tidwell. She was the mother of ten children.

John Winters Lusk was one of the early pioneers of Malad Valley, coming to Malad, Idaho in April 1866. He settled on a block of land, located on the north of the street going East and West of the school house, the public square, and the Morman Church.

John Lusk had two families. They lived in a dugout and two covered wagons during the first year after they came to Malad. In the fall, he started to build two log rooms, which were built together with only outside entrances to each room. The rooms had wooden floors, the roof was made by placing large willows over the entire area, then covering that with straw, and finally a layer of dirt.

The night they moved in, Esther gave birth to a baby boy. His name was David James. He was a very bright child. He died when he was fourteen years old. (he was loved by all people both young and old) They lived in this house for a number of years. Later father built a log room on the west corner of the block for Martha.

Between the two homes he built his barns and other outside buildings. In the granary father kept his tool chest. The inside of the granary was divided into sections according to different sizes of tools. These were always in order, and no one was allowed to bother them.

Each woman had cows, pigs, and chickens, which helped to make a living for the family. Father was a farmer, raising hay, grain and all kinds of fruit and vegetables. On his east lot he planted all kinds of the choicest fruit trees, namely apples of all kinds, peaches, pears, plums, raspberries, gooseberries, and currants, which were all the very best. He always had a good garden, plenty of large field squash, and corn which are seldom seen now.

He was a great lover of horses. (He always had a kettle he used for boiling wild sage, which was used for limbering joints, and curing all kinds of ailments in horses.) He owned several race horses. Sleepy Tom, a medium sized white horse, was his favorite race horse, because of being faithful to him in later life. Father once said, “Sleepy Tom knows more than the most of men.”

He owned a piece of hayland south of town, and also a few acres of wheat land near where the depot now stands. In after years he took up a quarter section, five or six miles north of town, just at the mouth of New Canyon, (now owned by Evan Evans), His land was joined on the south by the property of his sons-in-laws, the Evans brothers, and on the north by the property of another son-in-law, Henry Bolingbroke. The property of his son, John W. Lusk, joined that of Henry Bolingbroke.

Esther and Martha took turns living on the farm, one one summer and the other the next, caring for father and the boys wile they were working on the farm, They had a number cows, pigs, and chickens.

On April 22, 1882, Martha died at the age of forty, and Ester then cared for the two families, consisting of ten children, the rest being married. Later father decided to build a larger house on the east corner of the lot. The family all lived together on the west corner in Martha’s home until the new home was completed. The new home was a two story building, with five large rooms, stairway, pantry, and one large closet, at the head of the stairs.

Fastened to the ceiling of one of the large rooms up stairs were four large hooks, these were used to hold the quilting frames in place. While the quilt was not being worked upon, it was wound up on ropes to the ceiling, and the room was used for other purposes.

There they lived very happily, until Esther was called home. That was the trying time of father’s life, with five children home and no mother at the head. He kept the home together until all the children were married. He was then alone, getting old and no partner or help-mate. He sold the farm and other lands. One of the girls, Rose, and family lived with him one winter. He then lived for some weeks with Ida, another of Martha’s daughters, and also with Mary, Esther’s daughter.

His health was failing all the time. He then moved to the home of Sarah, another of Esther’s daughters. After some weeks he passed away, (and went to join his loved ones in Heaven, where I know they are all glad to meet him as he was a kind hearted father and husband.)

He was the father of eighteen children, eleven girls and seven boys, (six girls and three boys still living, on Jan. 26, 1935) He was a sturdy pioneer and went through all the hardships and trials of taking care of his family and building up a new home in a barren country. He was a true Latter Day Saint and died in full faith in the glorious resurrection.

He died on September 21, 1899, and was buried in the Malad Cemetary. (May all his children and grandchildren follow in his footsteps is the desire of one of his daughters.)

Sarah Catherine Lusk Reynolds

Malad City, Idaho

Jan 26, 1935