Autobiography

I was born in Nine Mile, Idaho, which was named Cambridge, Idaho in May 13, 1887. I was the seventh child born to Charles B. Hancock & Louisa A. Shurtliff, the first one born in the new frame house which is torn down now. The others were born in a log house which they used later for a chicken coop.

My parents were quite religious. My father was the Superintendent of Sunday School for over 30 years & everyone loved him and he would take strangers in & feed them & give them hay to feed their horses.

When I was 8 years old, my father was ready to baptise me with a lot of others & I ran back to the house, was afraid to get in the water, but father didn't scold me. He went right on baptising others so I waited until my brother Alma was 8 & I decided to be baptised with him so we went down to the warm springs which they call Downetta now & Bro. Criddle baptised us & it was o.k.

I liked to ride horses. That's the way we got around for father kept a lot of Indians horses around. I would put a strap around its belly & jump on a fence & on to the horse. We didn't ride stride. We rode sideways & we didn't wear jeans either, just dresses.

We always celebrated the 24th of July. The men would build a bowery for shade & they would have a parade.

We used to go to Blackfoot in the winter & visit my uncles & aunts up there. It would take 1 1/2 days to go up there. We would stop in Pocatello overnight.

When I was 16, I with some girlfriends rode our first train up to Blackfoot to a funeral of our dear friend, Chessy Kent, & then there is where I met my husband, Hye Curtis (Hyrum Alma Curtis). He fell for me the first thing - all he seen was my brown eyes & we started going steady from then on until I got married.

I worked for my brother Charley in Jan. 1905 when their 3rd child was born, Lester Hancock. I worked 2 weeks & he gave me a large trunk for pay & was I proud.

I went to my first circus in Pocatello before I was married. Hye took me to that one. Well, I was married in Salt Lake Temple on Dec 14th, 1905 and my Aunt Mary Hancock went thru with me & that was the last time she done temple work for she was sick for several years & she died the last of March in 1906.

Well, my parents gave us a reception after we got back and we went up to Blackfoot to live for Hye was working for John Kent at the time, but we didn't stay there long, only until spring & Hye went out with the sheep & moved me back ddown to Cambridge with my parents & in Oct our first child was born, Ila Mary. And 16 mo later our second girl was born 24 Feb 1908. Well, we went back up to Blackfoot & Hye farmed in the forks of the river & in 18 months my third girl was born Aug 15 1909. We stayed there until spring & then moved up in Blackfoot town for awhile. And 2 years later we went up to Kimble to live for Hye worked on a farm for Geo Eaten. He hawled beets to the dumps. And our 4th girl was born, Wanda Oct 11, 1911. We moved from farm to farm always working for wages. The winter 1912 & 1913, we lived in Pocatello for a winter & our 5th girl was born, Fern. She was born on Velma's birthday Feb 24 1913. She was sickley. Nothing agreed with her & she only lived 9 mo. Well, that Spring Hye was laid off the R.R. & we moved down to my fathers place & in the spring he started working for my father on the farm & in May 9 1914, our first son was born in Cambridge. He was his fathers pride & joy, a son after having 5 girls. But wasn't alone very long for we then moved back to Kimble & in ct 4 1915 another son was born, Charles. And we never lost much time between children for 10 mo after, another son was born but he only lived one day, just long enough to be blessed. His name was Oscar Hyrum Aug 22 1916.

And so another year went by we were still on the farm & he was working for Mr. Peterson & on Sep 20 1917 another son came along, Myron Lavon, that made 4 boys.

Well in Feb 1918 we changed our luck & moved back to Pocatello, Idaho & Hye started to work for the R.R. again. The war was on so in July we bought our home here in North Pocatello & settled down for good, but that didn't stop the boys from coming for our 5th son was born April 20 1919.

And in 16 months passed, Milon D. was born Aug 24 1920 so then our luck changed to girls again for Louisa was born in Jan 23 1922. And in Jan 28 1923 our 7th girl was born, Berdell. She lived to be 15 mo old and she died with measles & pneumonia. And in May 10 1924 Ruby was born and 15 mo later our last girl Sarah was born Aug 23 1925.

We were all kept busy, didn't have much time to visit but I had all of them blessed & baptised. We attended the 3rd ward church until Feb 1921 when our ward was split & made into the 5th Ward. Our Bishio was Bro. Quinn and he was a good faithful Bishop up until poor health struck him & caused him to resign.

In May 14th 1930, Hyrum died and left me with 10 children to raise. Two older girls got married before Hye died & we had 2 grandchildren. So that is the story of my life. I have 42 grandchildren & 39 great grandchildren & I have pretty good health so far.