Thomas "H" Carter & Mary Crawley Carter
(The following information about the Thomas "H" Carter and Mary Crawley Carter family comes from a tape made by Raymond Crawley Carter, for Myrna Laird, a granddaughter. whose father is Clyde.)
Mother was a good manager. She always kept a clean house. She said that since she didn't have girls to help in the house, we boys had to take our turn. We had assignments around the house for one week, then we would change. We learned to clean, cook, and do anything that needed to be done. Father was very strict. He taught us self reliance by giving us assignments. He would say, "I've got a job for you." We'd say. "How do you want it done?", and he'd answer, "You decide how you want to do it, then if you make mistakes, I'll tell you what to do."
We had a fruit farm in Nephi, and we grew the best fruit around. We had peaches, pears, apples, plums, and apricots. There was a deposit of clay on the farm and Father made adobe bricks with it. We would mix up the clay mud, some of us would shovel the clay, and the horse, which was attached to a long pole, would walk around in a circle and turn the mixer. Dad would grab a handful of the mud which was squeezed out of the mixer, and squish it into a mold. There were four molds to a frame, and then take a leveling stick across the top. Clyde, Herman and Eddie shoveled the clay, and Clifton, Loyal and I would set it out on the ground to dry. We'd let it dry so long, then turn it on the edge so that it could finish drying, then turn the bricks out, and stack them. Most of the homes in Nephi were made with adobes that Dad made. When we used up all the clay that was on the farm, we moved out west of town and made adobes there. Many of those homes are still standing.
We had two or three thousand chickens, and we had to feed, clean coops, and gather the eggs. We also had cows, and they had to be milked. When Clyde went on his mission, that became my steady job.
We moved to Knightsville (by Eureka) and Dad worked in the mines. We were in Knightsville when I was born. We moved back to Nephi when I was one year old , then back to Knightsville in 1911.
While we were there, Loyal was working for the grocery store, and had brought a load of coal from Eureka. He had to go up a steep hillside to deliver it. When he went to turn the wagon around the horses ran away, and tipped the wagon over. They dragged him under the wagon for about a block, then there was a rut in the road, and he rolled into it. The wagon went on over him. When the horses went running out of the alley, they went looking for Loyal. They took him home and called Dad at the mine. They also called the Dr. When Dad got home, the Dr. hadn't showed up, so he said "Get your horse. You're going with me." I got my horse, and when we got to the Dr.'s office and there he sat with his feet up on his desk. Dad had a revolver and he poked the Dr. in the ribs with that, and he said, "Get on the move. Grab your satchel and get running. The Dr. said, "I will have to call for my horse." Dad said never mind calling, yo u just start running, and we'll see that you do, for we'll be right behind you on our horses, and they'll be running, and if you don't keep out of their way, they'll run over you." He went fast enough, he kept out of their way. We couldn't have missed him if he'd slowed down. Nothing would have saved him, the horses would have been right on top of him. I was on one side, and Dad on the other, and he made time. He went right up to the livery stable, and they got his horse ready in a hurry, and we started for Knightsville. Dad was on one side and I was on the other, and we used our quirts. When we got there, all three horses were white with sweat. The Dr. went in and ran his hand over Loyal. Loyal said, "Oh, that hurts." The Dr. said, "I can't feel it." For two days he laid there and the Dr. didn't do one thing for him. Dad said that this couldn't go on, so we took him to the train and Dad took him to Provo to the hospital. The Drs. there worked on him for two days, then called in another Dr. He came in, and said "Look at this right here." He had the other Dr. feel it, and when he did his expression changed, and they found three places full of pus. They had to operate, and found three broken ribs, his heart was damaged, plus all the infection. He never was really well from that time on. He did serve a mission in California, and once there were 13 missionaries standing in a safety zone, when a truck came into the safety zone, and hit 11 of those elders. Loyal was the first one hit, and it broke his back in three places. The Drs. gave him no hope whatsoever. He recovered, and was home for Christmas. At the hospital the Dr. said "There is a power higher than man that caused you to recover. Medical science couldn't have done it." Loyal said that he did more missionary work while in the hospital than anywhere else on his mission. They released him two months early because of the leakage of his heart caused by his accident.
He lived long enough to marry, and have two children, but died as a very young man.
Dad owned a Merry-go-round from about 1905 to 1911 when he sold it. He also owned a roller skating rink. He ran the Merry-go-round in the summer, and the rink in the winter. He traveled all over Utah, Idaho, and Colorado. Clyde, and I and some of the other boys went with him, and it was lots of fun. In the fall we'd put the machine away. He'd put it in the garage we had, and we had it hooked up to the electric motor, and we would go out there and play. We had a lot of fun on it.
Just before the War started, he got a thrashing machine. He went out on lease thrashing corn. Ernest and I had a bunch of pigs, so we'd go with him and clean up everything that fell out of the machine, and feed it to our pigs. That became our war project. George was called into the service. Clyde came home from his mission and was only home about a month, and he had to go into the service too. He was sent to Camp Lewis, and George was still here for a week, so they saw each other for a while. Then George was sent overseas. Clyde was too, a little later, but Clyde never got to the front lines, and George was in the worst of the fighting.
While the war was still on, the family moved to Provo, and Dad got a job as a machinist with the Provo Foundry. When he formed a union, they fired him. He then went to work for the railroad. Clifford was 16 when we moved to Provo, and some of his friends came up from Nephi to celebrate the New Year. They went out and had a good time, and he went to bed feeling fine. When Clifford woke up in the morning he was burning up with fever. Dad sent the other boys home, because he was afraid of what he had. (It was the terrible flu epidemic of 1918-19) Before they could get a Dr. he had gone into a coma, and he never came out of it. He lived six days. He died on the 6th of January, 1919. Clyde and George were over in France. When they had the funeral they wouldn't let any of us out of the house. They brought the casket up on the porch, and opened it by the window.
After the War, Clyde went to barber school in Salt Lake. He worked in Nephi as a barber for several years. He later worked on the railroad, as he didn't really like barbering.