The Conversion of James Henry Rollins
to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
by Howard K. Bangerter, 1988
In the Autumn of 1830, James Henry Rollins was a fourteen year old boy working as clerk in the mercantile store of his uncle, A. Sidney Gilbert in Kirtland, Ohio.
One day, Oliver Cowdery, Parley P. Pratt, Peter Whitmer and Ziba Peterson arrived in Kirtland on their missionary journey to the Lamanites. These men preached the gospel to Sidney Rigdon's Campbellite congregation, of which James' family and others in the neighborhood were members. While most of these (Sidney Rigdon, the Newell K. Whitneys, Gilberts, and Frederick G. Williams included) joined the church, James was not baptized, "as I did not thoroughly understand it, but read the Book of Mormon through, and I had to read at night by firelight, as candles were very scarce at that time, and I lay on the floor on my back with my head to the fire and read at nights, the only time I had to read."
by their Daughter, Geraldine Hamblin Bangerter
My folks had just moved from Cumberland, Wyoming, where my father was a coal miner, to Erickson Lane just a few days before Mama went to the L.D.S Hospital to have me. The setting was Spring 1924. Mama was 30 yrs. old, Daddy-28 and Ivan-3 yrs. old.. Erickson Lane was graveled with slag from the Murray smelter and when a small child fell down, especially a girl, it was curtains for the tender-fleshed knees on the sharp edged rocks. A girl always wore dresses no matter what the age or activity. The white picket fence contained a two-room frame home with a lean-to quarters added on the back. A door entering into each of the 3 quarters was prefaced with a simple, rough-board porch. The quarters changed purposes at intervals. For example, the big bedroom became the family living room, the kitchen lean-to became a bedroom, and the middle big room shifted at times from kitchen to family room. With the plumbing all being outside, it didn't matter which room was the kitchen. We could carry water into one room as well as another. Gracing the dirt yard was a rather large building we called the washhouse. There the laborious task of washing unfolded every Monday. A good long day of 8 or 10 hours to get it done. At times, Mama did it all by hand. I remember seeing her blistered knuckles from the scrubbing on the washboard and the chloroxing. She hung a proud line of white dishtowels. A coal stove in the washroom allowed her to boil the whites to get them whiter. I can remember seeing her cut the laundry-bar soap into chips before putting it into the water, when we eventually had an antique washer with board sides. Sometimes it was my job to cut the chips into the water.. Mama started the wash with the whitest of whites, i.e. the garments, then the sheets and pillowcases were the next batch. As each was wrung through the wringer, a little more soap was added and a little more hot water. Then the dishtowels and towels, then the colored and then the overalls (not levis) and work socks, then the floor rugs and rags. The water was saved and carried out by the bucketsful to scrub the 3 porches and finish off the washhouse floor. Water was plentiful but the good soapy water was an asset. The job then was not complete until all the clothes had been brought in from off the clothes line, folded and put away. The ironing was dampened for the next day. One cannot say much for the "good old days" when it comes to the task of keeping the family cleanly clothed and pressed. It was solid hard work. Even the ironing was a big job. Material was. all cotton, often muslin sheets and clothes took starching to look their best, which made ironing an art. I can remember when Mama did the ironing with "flatirons" as they were called, heated on the stove. On a hot summer day, to keep the irons hot made the kitchen as hot as Hades.
TOLD BY IDA M. ROLLINS HAMBLIN
I can't tell you when we first met, but it was when we were both babies. My brother Charles had me in his care and Ephraim Marshall had Wallace and William Hamblin twins taking care of them. They were all playing together and I think perhaps that was our first introduction. As we grow older, as children often do, we single out certain persons and claim them among our school mates as our beau or boyfriends. So of course, I claimed Wallace as my beau. One night a bunch of us children about ten or eleven years old were invited to an old fashioned candy pulling party. We had them in those days very often. The candy was made out of molasses. My father had a molasses mill and of course it was not very hard to obtain it. When this party ended, Wallace accompanied me home as far as a bridge over a large ditch some distance from the house. I told him I could go the rest of the way home alone alright. I was afraid if he went any closer my brother Charles would see us and he would tease me about it. That was the first time he had ever taken me home.
Here is a GEDCOM file that is essentially the ancestors of Wallace Hamblin and Ida Minerva Rollins and their children.
Many stories are included in there. I hope to have all the stories listed separately on this site for ease of indexing and search engine finding.
I have also attached the "book" which contains these stories separately (in both RTF and TXT).
Thanks to Howard Bangerter for these. (click on attachments to seed downloads)
Life Sketch of James Henry Rollins
A short sketch of the life of James Henry Rollins, which was dictated by James H. Rollins [in 1897 at age 80] and written by his daughter, Mary Osborne, and re-written by his youngest daughter, Ida M. Rollins Hamblin, and assisted by his daughter, Melissa R. Lee Reyborne, Sept. 7, 1924 in Cedar City, Utah.
James Henry Rollins was born May 27th, 1816, in Lima, Livingston County, New York, the son of John Porter Rollins, born in Rutland, New Hampshire, about 1796, and Kaziah Katura Van Benthuysen born May 15th, 1796, in Albany, New York.
The Rollins lived in Vermont and New Hampshire. There were three brothers emigrated to America and settled in the Eastern States a while, then two of the brothers went south. Their names were James, John Porter and Henry Rollins. My father, John Porter, was interested in cattle, and sheep, and he was going on a trip to Canada with a large boat load of cattle, when a storm came up and wrecked the boat, and he went with the load to the bottom of Lake Erie, about the year 1820 or 1821.
Wallace Hamblin and Ida Minerva Rollins Family.
backrow left to right: Rollin Hamblin, Eugene Hamblin, Marcene Hamblin
middle row: Lee Hamblin, Addie, Ida, Clark
bottom row: Clark, Wallace Hamblin, Lucille, Ida Minerva Rollins Hamblin
date unknown
[original photo in possesion of Joseph Carl Free as of July 2006]
Granddaughter, Lorene Hamblin Bradshaw:
When grandpa died of a massive heart attack, I immediately went to Lyman to be with grandma. She asked me to help her dress him in his temple clothes. I considered that to be a great honor. It was a difficult task as grandpa was such a big man; but when we were through he looked so handsome. Grandma stood by me, crying and telling me how good he had always been to her, and how handsome he was as a young man. As I looked at him, I noticed that his hair was very thick and dark brown, with just a touch of grey at the temple. He had died at 77 years of age.
Grandma was always beautifully dressed, and her hair was thick and dark brown. On some occasions she was accused of dying her hair, which was considered a sin at that time, but she told me her only secret was rinsing it in vinegar water to bring out the color and shine. It still works. Her hair didn't turn white until she was in her eighties.
Granddaughter, Geraldine Hamblin Bangerter
written by herself
I was born of goodly parents in a very primitive cottonwood log house with a dirt roof on the 2nd day of October, 1862, in a small pioneer village situated on the banks of the Bear River in the southwestern part of Utah. The place derived its name Minersville on account of there being so many miners in that locality. My parents were James Henry Rollins, born in Lima, New York, on the 27th of May, 1816; and Eveline Walker Rollins, born the 16th of May, 1823, in or near Dayton, Ohio. They were very early pioneers of Utah immigrating from Nauvoo to Winter Quarters in February 1846 --- lived there through the year 1847 and from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City --- arrived there in October 1848.
I was my mother's tenth and last child, four of them dying while small. I spent my childhood days in Minersville. I attended school there and learned my ABC's there, as it was then called. The first school that I remember attending was taught by my father's sister, Mary E. Lightner. She taught in an old adobe meeting house which was used for church and all kinds of amusements and a school house.
Each of these stories can be (or will be) found on this web site. But they are all grouped together here in a ".zip" file for your downloading convenience. (Click on attachment)
Absalom P. Free history
Anders Gustav Blad
Annie Hicks Free history
Carl and Addie Blad history
Ida Minerva Rollins history
James B. Wheeler;Rachel T.
JAMES HENRY ROLLINS
Mina Jean Blad history
Oscar Hamblin history
Rachel D. Wheeler history
Wenlock Wheeler Free
written by their daughter, Jean Blad Free
Carl Levi Blad was born August 13, 1886, a son of Andrew Gustaf and Mina Albertina Andersen Blad. He spent his childhood in Panaca and attended the local schools.
As a young boy he helped his father on the farm, being the main salesman for their truck garden produce at Bullionville. He later followed the carpenter and mason trade, working mostly for Syphus Construction.
Addie Minerva Hamblin Blad was born February 6, 1891, in Minersville, Utah, a twin daughter of Wallace and Ida Minerva Rollins Hamblin.
They first met about 1905 in Panaca, Nevada, the home town of Levi, when Addie, accompanied by her twin sister Ida, had come to visit their Aunt Melissa Lee and their Lee cousins, who lived there. These must have been times of fun for them, mingling with the young people of that little farming community; there were parties, hayrides, singing, dancing and much laughter on these visits.
The twins, Addie and Ida, were from Lyman, Wyoming. Their home was a ranch, which was shared with many brothers, where the western way of life was the real thing. This life style no doubt was influential in Addie's development into a capable, strong, beautiful girl; who could drive a horse and buggy or sew a pretty feather on a bonnet, as the need may be. Her trained soprano voice, her dancing feet and her happy disposition kept her in demand in the small town social circles of that day.
