Seth Bradshaw's Family Life

                                                                 Seth about age 12

I am grateful for Dan Bradshaw providing me with an extensive history of the Bradshaw family, from which this article was edited. Seth Stuart Bradshaw was born in Wellsville, Cache County, Utah, on 19 November 1902. He was the 6th of nine children born to Charles Hampson Bradshaw and Robenia Glenn Stuart. The children were: Mary (1/1/89-4/20/92), Charles S. (4/7/91-1/3/1974), Elizabeth (1/17/93-3/7/1979), Margaret (9/15/96-4/1/1979), Ethel (3/8/99-5/20/1971), Seth (11/19/02-10/21/1978), Allen (10/6/04-10/6/1904), Jessie 12/2/06-5/25/1988) and Sarah 11/11/09-1/12/2001) 

Seth’s father built a new home in Wellsville when Seth was 3 or 4 years old. They moved to White’s Valley in 1910. It was about 45 miles from Wellsville and took all day on a dusty old road. It is located about 16 miles west of Tremonton. His dad dry farmed, as there was not enough water for irrigation. He grew barley and other grain. He also had a steam thresher and a couple of headers to help with the harvest. There was a well on the property and he had a horse that went around and around in a small circle to pump water into a tank. Seth always wondered why the horse did not get dizzy and fall over, but he was a faithful horse, and did this every day all summer. 

Seth was just under 12 years old when his father died. He finished the 8th grade in Wellsville, and that completed his schooling. He did say that he was known as the little tough guy in school. When it came time to get shots for diphtheria, he laughed at the other kids who were crying. When it came his turn, they gave him the shot and he feinted. So much for being the little tough guy. He also said they burned the school house down so he did not go beyond the 8th Grade. 

After his father died, Seth went to White’s Valley to live with his brother Charles and his family In early 1919, Charles and family moved to Montana, so Seth went to live with an uncle in Tremonton and worked for him on his farm. He also worked in the sugar factory in Ogden for a while. Seth liked to ranch and owning his own ranch was something he wanted all of his life, so he decided to go to Montana and stay with his brother Charles and his wife and family for a while. Seth rode in a boxcar with some cows, horses, chickens and furniture that belonged to Charles.. He had a toothache all of the way to Montana. The train stopped at several places along the way and he had to feed the animals. They stopped in Garrison, Montana, and somehow the chickens got out, and he had to chase them all over town, and get them back into the boxcar. He did have some help. 

He arrived at Charles place on May 20, 1919 and worked there for a while. Next he stayed with Herb and Teen Leishman. They were old friends from Utah and lived in the old Robbins house up near the airport. The house has since burned down. Seth rented the place for one summer to put up hay. He used the horses that belonged to the Robbins. It was all dry ground, as the canal had not been yet built. Mr. Robbins taught him how to irrigate. 

His mother and younger sister Sarah (Sally) came to Montana in 1925 and stayed for a year. Those were rough times, as grain sold for only 10 cents per bushel. Seth worked for other ranchers in Granite County to try to save some money. He leased the old Fred Parker place before he was married. 

He met Ruby Stuart, a 2nd cousin, and they courted and were married on October 24, 1927 in Drummond, Montana. They left a few days later to be sealed in the Cardston Alberta Canada Temple. They drove his Ford Model T and camped along the way. They stayed with some relatives in Alberta while they were there, and were treated very nicely. They came back through northern Idaho, to Spokane and then back to Drummond. They lived in the old house around the hill, which Seth called the old Bunker house. 

                                                         The Old Bunker Hill House

The first four children were born while they lived in this house: Verlin, Dan, Keith and Allen. This was during the depression. Times were really tough. They lost the ranch in 1934 and then rented it back.  Seth always used to say that you could .......

While living in the Bunker House many male friends came to visit and get their hair cut, as Seth was a reasonable barber. He also cut all of his children’s hair until they left home. “The only difference between a good and a bad haircut was about three days.” While living at this house Verlin was told that if he could sneak up on the Hungarian Pheasants and sprinkle salt on their tales he could catch them. So being a kid, Verlin decided to try this at about 6 or 7 years old. After several tries, he could not get close enough to salt their tales, and gave up.  

Over the years all of the children had the usual chicken pox, measles, whooping cough, mumps and other childhood diseases. They were saved by eating Ruby’s soup. At the old Bunker Hill house, there was a ditch that ran along the southeast of the house. This was a place to play, and build dirt roads, and use imaginary cars that were actually rocks. Seth must have had a desire to be a cattle rider in a rodeo. He would tie a long rope to a calf and then put Dan or Verlin on the calf, and hold the rope as it ran in circles. Amusing to Seth while the boys usually were bucked off. One Christmas morning Seth told the children to come and see Santa’s sled tracks in the snow outside the front door. Verlin was convinced that he had no problem seeing them, but Dan was not convinced. 

Seth always had a few milk cows. Seth and Dan went up to get a load of hay for the cattle and on the way back a terrific thunderstorm came up. Seth stopped the wagon to open a gate and lightning struck the fence right close to where he was standing. He quickly got the wagon through the gate and ran the horses home. While at the old Bunker Hill house, Seth was injured and developed blood poisoning in one arm, which was serious. Doctor Wilcox, came out and put hot packs on the arm and after a few days he was okay. 

In the spring of 1935, Ruby was very pregnant and driving herself to Philipsburg to see the doctor. As she approached her sister Phyllis’s home, 10 miles from Philipsburg, she realized she would not make it to Philipsburg. They took her to the back bedroom in Ernest and Phyllis’s home, where Ernest helped deliver the baby. He said “I have helped deliver horses and cows, so I guess I can do this too”. This special child was Carol Ann, the only daughter in the family. 

       Front Row: Keith, Carol and Allen. Middle: Verlin and Dan. Back: Ruby and Seth holding Larry

After the “Bunker Hill” house, the family then lived in what was called the house on the corner. Located on the corner of Highway 1 and the old Mullan road, they lived there for a couple of years and Larry was born in this house While living at the house on the corner, Seth had a nervous breakdown. Jobs were scarce and so was money. It was a difficult time for many during the depression. In 1937 the family decided to go back to Utah and visit and this seemed to do the trick as after a few days Seth began to feel normal, so they returned home and he was not bothered with this malady the remainder of his life They moved from there to a house located about 50 yards to the south of his brother Charlie’s home. This was the house that was later moved to the ranch. 

He worked for Joe Mitton, on roads in northern Granite County, with 6 or 7 workers. Seth spent most of his time cutting their hair. In the boggy areas they would build the roads using rip-rap, where they laid poles along the roadway and filled the spaces with rocks and gravel. Seth also worked on homes in Drummond, running a horse drawn scraper to dig dirt out for a basement; Next for the WPA for a couple of years; then the Skalkaho Highway for a while using a horse and scraper (The scraper tripped one time, catching him under the chin, which knocked him out); then back to ranching and putting up hay for other ranchers. He had mowers, rakes, bull rakes, forks and other tools and would hire other men to help out. 

In 1939 he and Ruby borrowed money from the Federal Land Bank and bought the ranch where he lived the remainder of his life. He had now fulfilled the lifelong dream of owning his own ranch.