Autobiography of Sylvester Evans

Verland Edith Evans Smith's Father

Autobiography of Sylvester Evans
Written March 25, 1978
Lehi, Utah

To write about my personal life is quite a task as it has been quite normal and simple. I was born to William S. Evans and Martha Geneva Clark Evans in Lehi, Utah, in what is known as the New Survey on June 6, 1889. I was one of twelve children – John S., Pearl, Letha (who died at age 11), Hyrum C., Juliette, Maria, Ina Jean, Reta, LaVerde, Geneva (Nean), William Abel (Bill) and myself.
I had my share of sickness in my youth. I never completed high school as the series of operations those 2 ½ years kept me from school. I completely recovered from the operations with no bad effects in spite of the nature of the illnesses.
At the end of the last attack I had reached my 18th birthday and I found myself very much in love with a 15-year-old orphan girl, Edith Smith. She never knew her father, had no brothers or sisters and lost her mother at the age of 12. From then until we were married in the Salt Lake Temple on September 1, 1909, she lived with her Aunt who was a deaf mute – Aunt Ba as we all called her (Mary Ann Davis). When we married she became one of the family and lived with us for 30 years. She was truly a grand person and she loved the children and taught them to talk her sign language. She gave each one a name as well as Edith and me, and we all used these sign names as long as we lived as a family.
My wife, Edith, was very talented in music and as a vocalist with a lovely voice was in great demand to funerals and socials. She also gave piano lessons as she taught herself to play the organ on an old organ, which she bought while attending grade school. While attending grade school she was employed at the silent picture theatre, which was giving two shows a week in Lehi. She would sing two songs each night as slide pictures were shown on the screen and she would accompany herself on the organ. This was very popular with the people. She was paid $2.00 per night and she purchased a fine set of silverware with her earnings and they are still being used in the home at present.
Edith and I had something in common with my parents. They were married when Father turned 20 and Mother was 17. Edith and I were married when I was just past 20 and she was just 17. Both marriages were in the Salt Lake Temple, or the Endowment House. Our marriage took place 34 years almost to the day of my parents. August 31 and September 1.
The third day after our marriage we loaded a few articles in a wagon and drove to the mouth of Provo Canyon where I had set up a tent to live in as I was working for my father and brother-in-law, Owen Stewart, who were the contractors on the two tunnels for the Canal. We lived there until the job was completed, February 9th. We then moved back to Lehi where I began working on the Lehi Water System – laying pipe – and worked at it until the system was completed. Soon after I was sent to Driggs, Idaho, by Richard R. Lyman who was the engineer at Lehi to do the same work there as the two systems were very similar in material and construction. I was at the time 23 years old. I should state that at the work in the Provo tunnels is where I learned the blacksmith trade, as I was a helper to a very good blacksmith. I learned the art of tempering steel and sharpening tools, which prepared me for that trade in many places and mines throughout Utah and Idaho.
On October 1, 1917, I moved to Santaquin with my wife, her Aunt BA, and four little kids, Verland, Neldon (Dick), Keith and Sterling. I was employed as a blacksmith for a mining company where I did all types of shop work. While living in Santaquin, our fifth child was born on February 2, 1918. Soon after Karma’s birth we moved to Genola, which was near my work. I leased a farm owned by the company for whom I worked and I provided jobs for a number of people on the farm, as I grew hay, grain, potatoes and vegetables. The farm put an extra burden on my body making a 16 hour day most of the time. Our three oldest children were carted to school at Santaquin, which was 1 ½ miles away.
While I think those few years were the most trying period of my life with two women and five children to support, I will say they were the most rewarding period as I was with my children every day and night and how they all enjoyed the farm with the pigs, chickens, cows, horses, and pets. I remained on that job under four different bosses and until the mine closed.
We moved back to Lehi on May 1, 1923. We moved into the home I now live in which I purchased from my parents. Our five children have been a joy and a blessing to me and Edith. They all graduated from Lehi High School, married very fine companions and are all very industrious, hard working and are all highly respected citizens where they now live. I am so proud of them all and for what they have contributed. They have produced about 100 persons to my family and at this writing are scattered over this blessed land from Wyoming, Texas, California, Germany and various cities in Utah. I lost my dear wife, Edith, on March 12, 1970.
I have said nothing in the above writings as to my services in the community and the church. I have filled tow short-term missions, served as Elders President – replacing my father W. S. in that position when he was released-, Seventies President, High Priest Group Leader, Lehi Stake High Councilman. I served 6 years as City Councilman, four years as City Judge, helped organize the Lehi Civic Improvement Committee and served as its first chairman and a number of years on the Lehi Rodeo Committee.
At the time of the writing of this history I am reaching my 89th birthday on June 6, am quite deaf and my health failing fast but I am happy to be alive. There is never a day goes by that I don’t find some happiness.

Mary Ann Edith Smith Evans

Mary Ann Edith Smith Evans was born in San Francisco, California, June 13, 1892, to Banks W. Smith and Edith Richards Davis. She was an only child. She died at her home in Lehi, Utah, on March 12, 1970, from a heart attack. Edith passed away peacefully sitting in her favorite rocking chair.