Jonas S. Heaton

Jonas Sinclair Heaton was born 3 Jan 1883 in Portage, Utah, to Jonas Heaton and Laura Belle Hall, who had just arrived in Portage, Utah, from Salt Lake City. His parents were married and sealed in the Endowment House 15 months earlier (10 Oct 1881) in Salt Lake City. He was eventually joined by seven younger brothers and sisters, all born in Portage. They were Laura Reba born 6 Sep 1884, Earnest Hall born 27 Mar 1886, John Chauncy born 23 Mar 1889, Cora Lapreal born 17 Jul 1893, Miles William born 5 Nov 1895, Rilby Seymour born 17 Jun 1897, and Frank Afton born 6 Jul 1899. I often heard some of them referred to as Uncle Chance, Aunt Preal, Uncle Aft, Uncle Ril, etc. Two of his brothers died fairly young; Ernest Hall died at age 28, and Miles William, at 19. They died just five months apart in 1914 and 1915. Jonas grew up in Portage and worked hard doing chores, farming, herding sheep, and helping his family. The winters in the Malad Valley were harsh and the farming during warmer months was difficult. In 1855 President Brigham Young gave this description of the valley: "Malad Valley, north of the Bear River, has been considered a pretty desolate, cold, hard, sterile valley. As we passed through it on our way north, we considered it tolerably good grazing country, and that people could possibly live there. But after we had traveled over the basin rim into Bannock County, down through the little Bannock Valley, over to Salmon River and wended our way down that stream through the swamps and willows and climbed over the points of the bluffs to keep from being mired, and returned again to Malad Valley, it looked to us like the most beautiful valley that any person had ever saw. Before this experience we thought nobody could live there, and I expect that if we had gone a few hundred miles north it would have looked still better." Grassland now fills the valley, checkered with farms, and extends up the hilly mountain sides. Forests of junipers can be seen on the higher slopes. The early settlers of Portage planted many trees throughout the village such that today the town looks like a little forest on the west side of the valley. When Jonas was eight years old he was baptized on 24 Jan 1891 by Enoch Harris, his future father-in-law. When Jonas was twelve years old he was ordained a Deacon. David Anthony, his brother-in-law, describes their younger days in Portage: “ . . . . the Deacons were assigned jobs to care for the church house and they received free tickets to the activities in payment. These activities included shows and dances. Two boys were assigned each week to cut and carry wood and clean the building. “Regular dances were held each week. Tickets were 25 cents and in those days that was sometimes hard to get. I remember well the 'Wood Dance' which was the biggest dance of the year and held in the fall. Preparations started weeks before the dance when groups of boys, usually about four in a group, would go to the mountains to get a load of wood. In this way, the winter fuel for the church, which was also the community building for all activities, was gathered and the boys got tickets for the big dance. All of the heat for the building came from wood stoves. The following week another dance was held and the wood was all chopped. “There were no picture shows to supplement our fun; we had many home dramatics in which I took an active part. With winter came another fond memory, that of ice-skating. An ice skating rink was made by turning the creek down Main Street to freeze. A nice big area was made for skating. The most fun was freezing one end of a wagon axel with two wheels in the ice. Then a rope was tied to the wheel on the top half and with a horse hooked to the wheel to keep it going. All the kids had a rope and went around and around to gain speed and then let go to see who could coast the farthest. It was fun to build fires and have parties on the ice. Another sport was sledding from the top of Main Street down the hill to the farther end. We used a wood sled and one boy would guide the sled by holding to the tongue, which was turned backward. I never remember anyone being seriously injured, but there were plenty of bruises. “Another fond memory of my childhood is the big community Christmas observance. Everyone in the town met at the church on Christmas morning. Here we found a huge Christmas tree all lit with burning candles. Men were assigned to stand close at each side to put out any fires that might start. “Some of my early pals in Portage were Mel Harris, Chet Hall, Lee Hall, Jone Heaton, Will McCrary, and Horace Hale. I usually palled around with fellows who were quite a bit older than myself.” When Jonas was 17 years old he was listed as a "shepherd" on the 1900 Portage, Utah, census. He probably herded sheep for others as well as for his own family. His mother, Laura Belle Hall Heaton, cleaned house for Jane Ann Hoskins Harris. Jonas' future in-laws, Jane Ann and Enoch Harris, were quite well-off and had a white house on Main Street just one block west of the city park. It was located on the northwest corner of the intersection and had a large wrap-around porch on the south and east. Their house was filled with beautiful mahogany furniture and lovely furnishings. Jonas’s family, the Heatons, lived in a modest home and worked very hard for what they had. Both families were honest, loving, and dedicated. Years later Jonas' s mother, Laura Belle, helped care for his and Annie's children after he and Annie died. Her grandchildren spoke reverently and lovingly of Grandma Heaton's warmth and love. Another interesting note: Annie’s and Jonas’s mothers, Jane Anne Hoskins and Laura Belle Hall, were distant cousins. Laura Belle’s grandparents and Jane Anne’s great-grandparents were William Hall and Anna Copeland. Also, Jane Anne’s great-grandparents were Charles Copeland and Hannah Osborne on her mother’s side as well as her great-great-grandparents on her father’s side. In other words, Jonas’ grandfather, Miles William Hall, was a brother of Annie’s great grandmother, Mary Hall. This may explain the genetic predisposition and frequency of familial tendency toward diabetes, heart disease, and Alzheimer's we see in several of the Heaton/Harris descendants. Jonas is very handsome in his pictures and must have been so, as he swept Annie Jane Harris off her feet when they started dating in January of 1901. She was 17 and he had just turned 18. At the time, Annie Jane was waiting for a missionary to return home. After her first date with Jonas, she wrote to a friend saying how nice and sweet he had been to her, and the missionary was soon forgotten. Annie Jane was outgoing, vivacious, loved parties and pretty dresses, and performed readings at public gatherings. By comparison Jonas was more quiet and reserved. He was as devoted and honest as a man could be. When Jonas was 19, just two weeks before his 20th birthday, and Annie was barely 19, they were married on December 20, 1902, in Malad, Idaho. Imagine how cold that sleigh or buggy ride to Malad would have been for them in those days. The railroad was not yet come to Malad. That would come three or four years later in 1906. They were sealed in the Logan Temple less than two years later on October 19, 1904. They took their one year-old baby boy, Vernon Harris Heaton, born on 12 September 1903, to be sealed to them. They lived in Portage for about four years, where their second child, Lloyd Enoch, was born on 20 December 1905. They soon moved to Kimball, Idaho, where his widowed mother, Laura Belle Hall Heaton lived. His father died of heart disease just three months before their baby, Lloyd, was born and perhaps he and Annie moved to Kimball to help his mother. Before 1908 they moved to Rudy, Idaho, which was west of present day Ririe to homestead land. Other family members had already moved there or came soon after. They were Annie's brothers, Ransom and Wilford, and Jonas' brother, Chauncey, and his sister, Lapreal, and her husband Perry Frandsen. Her sister and brother-in-law, Eliza & Dave Anthony, moved to the Ririe area in March of 1918. The area was growing and settlers were moving in. To better understand the area into which Jonas and Annie moved, I've included the following brief history about the towns of Rudy, Clark, and Perry from the book, "Ririe, Our Hometown," by Thelma McMurtrey and others. "Homesteaders began to claim land east of Rigby and north of Shelton in the 1880's. Enos Ormond, a pioneer of 1884 would remember that he had four neighbors in 1887: Peter Purser, Thomas Humpton, William Camel, and Jesse T. Clark." . . . . . . . "Residents petitioned for a post office in 1888. The request was granted, and for unknown reasons was given the name "Rudy" by the postal department." . . . . . . "Cedars Branch of the Rigby Ward was created in 1892 for LDS members living east of Rigby, including those on Butler's Island. Henry M. Perry was named Branch President. A few weeks later Cedars Branch became Rudy Ward, taking the name of the post office. Jesse T. Clark was named bishop. Members built a log church and a store. The church became the social center with regular dances and neighborhood events held there as well as church services. "The dances were lively. Rudy Ward minutes for 1903 record that 'Bishop Clark condemned the habit of stamping on the floor by the boys in our dances.' Further, 'Our daughters ought not to dance with those who get intoxicated.' A little later, Bishop Perry stated, 'We ought to feel blessed here away from saloons and other bad things, though we have to watch on every corner.' He cautioned against 'certain practices that are among us and especially that of hugging too closely in the dances.' "Early settlers included Isaac Kite, Frederick Ellis, Henry Hulse, John Wheeler, Andrew Young, George Lister, Robert McNeil, Soren Nielsen, Isaac Chase, Andrew Park, James Young, Charles Rolf, Anders Anderson, Ransom E. Harris, Charles Ellis, Howard Streeper, William Summers, John Finn, James Anderson, Oscar Bush, the Radford brothers, Dutson brothers, Ross brothers, and many others, for this was a very large area. "Communities grew and flourished in the early 1900's. In 1904, construction began on a telephone line to reach from Rigby through Rudy and on to Poplar. In 1906 a bond was approved for a two-story, four classroom school. Carl Stromberg was the marshal. "In 1908 the Rudy Ward was divided, creating Clark Ward on the west, named for Bishop Clark. The eastern portion of Rudy Ward was named Perry for Henry M. Perry, grandfather of L. Tom Perry. Howard Streeper became bishop." Jonas and Annie's first daughter, Grace, was born there on 9 Feb 1908. Their second daughter, Laura Belle, was born on 19 March 1910, and Mae followed her on 15 March 1912. "Perry's church, schools, and store were built on the first road west of what would become the Ririe town site. In present day it is the beginning of highway 48 that leads from Ririe to Rigby. Members of the new Perry Ward build a rock church similar to the Shelton Church, and members met there for a dozen or so years. This building was on the east side of the road, facing west about one hundred feet north of the Harrison canal. In the 1920's the building started to settle and cracks developed in walls and foundation. It was declared unsafe and was torn down. Many of the rocks were carted to Rigby to be used in the Rigby Stake building. Meetings were held in members' homes for a time, and members were absorbed into adjoining wards. "A small frame school house had been built across the road from the church site. This stood about three hundred feet back from the road. It was in use in 1903, and possibly before that. A two-room rock school building replaced the frame one. It stood near the later Dennis Streeper home on the west side of the street and faced east. Among early teachers were L. Tom Perry, Clyde Bate, Maude Perry (Anderson), W.W. Heyrend, and Effie Walker (Davis). While Parley Ririe was attending school, the rock school was filled to overflowing, and his grade was assigned to a back room of the store. Emma Hatfield (Park) remembers that as a little girl sometime before 1910, she took eggs there to trade for candy. The Kunter Brothers ran their merchandise business there before moving to Ririe. The Perry rock store was on the east side of the street, immediately north of the Clarence Park rock house. The building was abandoned and the Rocks have been moved away." When Jonas and Annie lived in Perry, there was no town of Ririe, but it became a booming little town before they moved back there in 1920. In 1914 Jonas, Wilford, and Perry Frandsen homesteaded some dry farm land east of Idaho Falls. This was during World War I when prices were high. They made good on their crops and bought homes in Idaho Falls when Mae was two years old, Laura - four, Grace - six, Lloyd - eight, and Vern - ten. Their home was located at 560 “H” Street, where they lived during the school year. Laura, Vern, Lloyd, and Grace all attended Riverside Grade School while living there. Ethlyn was born 12 July 1914 on the dry farm above Ririe. Jone was born four years later in Ririe on 28 July 1918. That was probably the most prosperous time of their lives. They bought a Ford car, new furniture for the home, and were able to hire help in the home. That Christmas they bought gifts for the children and each other that they never forgot and that had been out of reach before. Laura remembered that when she was little she heard scary Indian stories. One day, when she was five years old and out in the yard in front of the house on "H" Street, she saw two Indians wrapped in blankets and wearing feathers coming toward the house. The Indians used to go from door to door begging for food. She was so scared she went running into the house screaming and jumped into her Dad's arms. The family all had a good laugh over that. While the family lived in Idaho Falls, the town of Ririe was beginning to develop. Again, from the book, "Ririe, Our Hometown,” "Idaho Falls was a long hard journey over bumpy roads in horse and buggy days. Rigby was not much better. The most exasperating situation, as old-timers remembered was, that after all the back-breaking labor of raising a crop, a farmer would haul a nice load of grain to sell in town only to find that the price had suddenly dropped to rock-bottom. This raised the ire of David Ririe and other farmers to the point that they petitioned the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company to build a branch loop to the outlying communities northeast of Idaho Falls. Railroad companies, always well subsidized by the federal government, were ever eager to extend their empires and in 1914 construction got under way. "David Ririe extended the hospitality of his big rock house and his wife's bountiful cooking to the seventeen-man construction crew. Teenaged Elizabeth Ririe remembered that she and her cousin Vivian Dutson made twenty-two loaves of bread every day for nine months to help feed the hungry men. When the crew finished building the little wooden depot, the railroad company named it 'Ririe.' "Joseph Hewitt's adjoining land claims were still mostly in sagebrush. He donated the lot for the depot and proposed a village town site, which was platted by Vetter and Hewitt in December 1914. Hewitt Land Company advertised village lots for sale, and offered a free building lot to the first homebuilder. Enterprising citizens built hotels, restaurants, and other businesses. Ririe was on its way "G.P. Furr General Store was Ririe's first store on the south side of the later business highway 26. The store burned down in about 1916. Across the street a blacksmith shop, a furniture store, Wilford Harris' shoe shop, and the post office burned down also at that time. The Quality Store had recently been moved from that side of the street to the east side of Main Street, and escaped the fire." In 1918 Annie's sister and brother-in law, Eliza and Dave Anthony, moved to Ririe. They managed the Marler Hotel and the Livery Stable in Ririe for a while. They bought the Poplar Store from Parley and Maggie Byington in 1929 and ran it throughout the depression. years. In about 1920 Jonas and Annie moved to Ririe into Uncle Ransom's house on North 2nd West Street where a canal ran behind the house and barn. In the wintertime the children skated on the frozen canal and during the summer they swam and fished there. Jonas continued to farm the dry farm southeast of Ririe. The 1920 U.S. census for "Ririe Township," enumerated January 28, 1920 by Roland Beazer, page 11-B finds Jonas and Annie living next door to Dave and Eliza Anthony. The children are listed as: Vernon H. 16, Lloyd E. 14, Grace 11, Laura B. 10, May 7, "Ethlin" 5, and Jonas Jr. 1 1/2. Jonas' trade is listed as "farm operator" dry farm. Jonas and Annie's daughter, Laura, related that each summer the family lived up on the dry farm and helped their father. They had horses, cows, pigs, chickens, and a large garden in the black soil at the foot of the grove. Annie would often ask the older boys Vern and Lloyd to kill a chicken and she would make chicken and noodles with mashed potatoes, green vegetables from the garden, freshly baked bread and fresh churned butter. The children remember how good it tasted. Annie kept the butter, milk, eggs, etc. in the cellar. They all had to take turns cranking the butter churn and the washer, and weeding the garden. In 1917 and 1918 during World War I, Jonas had two brothers who were in the armed services. Rilby was in the Navy and Afton was in the Army and fought in France. The family fixed up boxes full of candies and foods and sent them overseas. About this time Jonas bought a set of encyclopedias, the "Books of Knowledge," for his family. The children spent many hours reading from them or looking at the pictures. There was no electricity on the farm and they burned coal-oil lamps for light. They had two cisterns for gathering water from the melting snow; a small one used for drinking, bathing, cooking, and washing; and a large one used for watering the animals. Laura said the children felt loved and secure, and they learned how to work together. Jonas and Annie were always there and the whole family felt close. They were a happy family, and the children experienced happy, carefree, childhood days. Helen Beth was born 16 September 1921, and Norene Harris was born 20 November 1924, both in Ririe. Jonas loved babies and loved playing and having fun with the children. He used to say, "Am you's my baby? I am you's." His wife Annie, however, was the disciplinarian of the family. During the spring of 1925, Annie remained down in Ririe to care for little Norene, who was not yet five months old. Mae, who was 13, and Laura, 15, were sent to the farm with their father to cook and keep house. Laura remembered her father playing the mandolin and he often sat on the porch in the evenings on the farm and sang, "I'll take you home again Kathleen, across the ocean wild and wide, to where your heart has ever been, since first you were a bonny bride." All the farming was done by hand and the implements were pulled by animals. After the seeds were planted they prayed for rain, as that was the only way to water the crops. Lloyd wrote in his history of loving to work with his dad on the farm: "I really enjoyed working on the dry farm. My Uncle Wilford Harris homesteaded a farm next to ours, and I grew up with my cousins. We used to ride horses all over the country. We only lived about three miles from Willow Creek and we used to go fishing quite often and would always come back with a nice mess of mountain trout and perhaps a few rattles we had taken from rattlesnakes we had killed on the way over and back. "I remember one morning, Dad and I got up and were looking east over a large patch of wheat we had planted two weeks before. It really looked good and Dad said, 'I wouldn't take five thousand dollars for our farm this morning.' In those days, that would have been a fortune. Three weeks later our four hundred acres of beautiful wheat was burned up. We hadn't had any rain and it was dry all summer. We didn't harvest a bushel of grain that year and we had two more years of the same dry weather, and that wiped us out. We had to leave the farm and several years later it was sold for taxes." Jonas left the farm -- he had to pick up and walk away because poor weather had brought a failure of crops. Many others lost their farms as well, and times were bleak. From the book, "Ririe, Our Hometown," we learn about these hard times: "South and east of Ririe are many small creeks which rise in higher wooded mountains and drain eventually into Willow Creek. In between are miles and miles of gentle hills, ideal for dry farming. The hills roll endlessly in utter beauty. But the hills could also bruise the hearts of those who love them, as Herman Schluter, Jr., noted in a poem he wrote, 'And the Mountains Laughed.' Many families claimed the hills during the early dry farm years. Grain crops grew, but there was a limit on how many acres men and boys and horses could till; double acreage was needed for alternate years of fallowing. World War I wheat prices tumbled, but there were good years of adequate rain - - and seasons too, when there was none. During the 'great depression' prices hit bottom. Little rain fell and harsh winds whipped the fields. Many farmers had to pick up and leave, unable to wait out the bad times for the good which came with tractors and ironic prosperity of World War II." Lloyd wrote in his history, "After we moved from the dry farm, Dad and I contracted painting. We used to paint houses, barns, and sheds of all kinds. I remember one day we were painting a house in Shelton. Up in the eaves of the house was a nest of bees. I was a little hesitant of going too close to their nest. Dad said, 'They won't hurt you.' But I was still hesitant about going too close. So he got on my ladder and started up. He got within about five feet of the nest and one of the bees shot out of the nest like a bullet and stung Dad right on top of his head. He threw the bucket of paint all over the side of the house and fell half-way down from the ladder. I couldn't help but laugh, but Dad didn't think it was very funny." In 1927 Jonas moved his family to Driggs, Idaho, where he managed the Maytag store. They rented space in an old hotel for the family's living quarters. They didn't live there long because Jonas transferred with Maytag to Rexburg, Idaho. He was awarded a gold pocket-watch by the Maytag Company for selling so many washers. They moved into a two-story home just northeast of Ricks Academy, now BYU-Idaho. Jonas soon became ill with rheumatism and couldn't work for a while. Times again were very hard and the older children got jobs and worked to help with expenses. Things went from bad to worse. In 1929 the family moved back to Ririe where they operated and lived in the Henry Hotel on Main Street. Their family lived on the main floor and they rented out the upstairs rooms and took in boarders. Again from "Ririe, Our Hometown," by Thelma McMurtrey: "John Henry built the Henry Hotel which was situated in the block south of the Ririe Hotel. This hotel was first operated by Frank Lark, then by Bill Hawke, later by the Crofts, and the last one to run it was Annie Heaton." Jonas became the town constable in Ririe and Jonas Jr. recalled an incident that made a lasting impression on him. He and several other boys “appropriated” some chickens while his father was constable. Jonas arrested the boys and took them to Rigby to see the judge. Jone, Jr. said he didn’t know it then, but it was calculated to teach them all a good lesson, not to make a record of their transgressions. The lesson surely stayed with him. In the fall of 1929 the stock market crashed and the great depression paralyzed the economy. Nearly everyone was affected and money was scarce. There were no jobs to be found and most people survived by bartering services and goods, and most did without what most of us now think of as necessities. The depression lasted for about five years, from 1929 to 1934, and life was bleak during these troubled times. A few months into the depression, in January of 1930, Annie became terribly ill with spinal meningitis, which she contracted from a family she was helping to care for. The family members all recovered, but three days later she developed a severe headache which worsened throughout the day. Jonas had taken Mae and his niece, Evelyn Anthony, to Utah to enroll in beauty college in Salt Lake City, and couldn’t be located immediately. Annie's son, Vern, put her in the car and hurridly drove to the hospital in Idaho Falls. Meanwhile, Lloyd and his wife, Helen, had picked up Grace at the train station and were driving toward Ririe. Lloyd and Vern unknowingly passed each other at about the corner of Lincoln Road and the Ririe Highway. Annie was still alive when Vern reached the hospital, but died soon after they arrived on January 16, 1930, at the age of 47. The nurse said she looked up at her and smiled and was gone. When Lloyd and Grace reached the hospital after driving to Ririe and back, they were shocked and saddened to learn their mother was gone. Vernon gave the coroner the information for the death certificate. Jonas grieved the loss of his wonderful wife and companion, Annie. She had been the center of his life. His grief was made worse by not having the money for her casket and burial. Annie's funeral was held on Monday, January 20, 1930, and was conducted as an outdoor, graveside service because of the meningitis and smallpox epidemics in the area. Laura was unable to attend because she, herself, had smallpox and was quarantined. One can imagine what a hard time it was for the family, especially the younger children who, in the cold and snow of January, saw their mother lying there in an open casket. The 1930 U.S. census for Ririe Village, Jefferson County, Idaho - enumerated April 5, 1930, page 2-B (less than three months after Annie's death) finds Jonas living in the hotel with Cora May 18, Ethlyn H. 15, Jonas J. 11, Helen B. 8, and Norene H. 5 1/2. The census shows they were paying $30 a month rent on the hotel and they had one boarder, William Kochler, who worked at the lumber yard. Jonas listed his occupation as salesman, Maytag washers. May's occupation was recorded as a lodging housekeeper. After Annie's death, Jonas, Ethlyn, Helen, Jonas Jr., and Norene moved to Idaho Falls. They briefly lived in a white house on Maple Street and Jonas again worked for the Maytag Company. His mother, Laura Belle Hall Heaton who was then 66 years old, moved in with them to help care for the family. They didn't live there long because the Stakers, whom they knew and had lived by in Ririe, were living in a duplex at 252 Hill Street and wanted them to move into the other apartment, which they did. A short time later the Stakers rented a large two-story house at 490 D Street that was on the corner of "D" Street and Capital Avenue. Mrs. Staker rented the top story to Jonas and the family. In August 1931, Jonas was riding in the rumble seat of a car driven by Alma Ray Johns, a relative through marriage. (Jonas's mother, Janet Sinclair Heaton (then a widow) had married Alma's Uncle, William Henry John. Jonas's Uncle John Heaton married Annie Llewellyn John, Alma's first cousin. And, finally, Jonas's sister, Laura Reba Heaton, married David Abbott John, another of Alma's first cousins.) They were traveling south on U.S. 20 at about 60 miles per hour between Rexburg and Rigby when Alma, the driver, attempted to pass another car and lost control. The left front wheel of Alma's car hit an oncoming car and caused the car to slam into a steel bridge railing. This bridge, the Bannock Jim Slough bridge, is about two miles south of Thornton, Idaho. His head hit the steel bridge and he was killed instantly. He died on Friday, 28 August 1931 at the age of 48; and he was buried alongside Annie Jane in the Ririe-Shelton Cemetery on Thursday, 3 Sept 1931. From handwritten notes of Barbara Heaton Waldram, Lloyd's daughter: "On the bridge where Grandpa Heaton was killed, Dad (Lloyd) said they couldn't find his pocket watch which he had been given for selling so many Maytag washers. Dad and Mother went back to the bridge and saw something sparkling in the water and there was the watch. Dad gave it to his younger brother, Jone." His daughter, Mae, told the following story to her daughter, Louise: "After Preston and I had been married for about six months, we were awakened early in the morning of August 29, 1931 by someone knocking at the door of our home in Poplar. We got up in the dark and answered the door to find my uncle standing there. He told us that my father had been killed in a car accident near Thornton, Idaho. I couldn’t believe what he was saying. "I had been dreaming about my father. He was dressed in white, walking down a green valley with a line of people following him who also dressed in white. At the time I didn't really understand the full meaning of my dream, but I was later comforted by it. I was expecting my first baby and my father's death was very hard on me. Both my parents were gone, and my children would never know them." Jonas' death was another severe trial for his children. Grace was taking nurses training in Idaho Falls and she tried, with Grandma Heaton's help, to take care of the children and keep them all together. This proved to be impossible so after a while the younger ones stayed with their older brothers and sisters. Jonas was described by his children as a gentle, kind, and soft-spoken man who loved his family. He worked hard to provide for his family, but suffered many hardships and setbacks. Although I never met him, I feel that I know him. My mother and my aunts and uncles held him in high regard and were probably much like him. I look forward to meeting him and thanking him for his example of love, integrity, and hard work. I especially want Jonas and Annie to know that, even though they were taken from this earth so soon, their children stayed close, took care of one another, and grew to be fine men and women. Jonas and Annie have a great posterity: nine children, 36 grandchildren, and numerous great-grandchildren. Barbara Heaton Waldram, daughter of Lloyd Heaton and second surviving grandchild of Jonas Heaton, remembers Grandpa Heaton and tells this story about him in her personal history: "When I was three, Elaine was born . . . . Right soon after that Mother was home with Elaine. At that time Dad and Mother had bought the home at 411 Lomax. There was a living room, kitchen and a back porch . . . . We had a dresser in the living room as you went in the door. There was a door that closed right against the dresser so it made a little cubbyhole there. "Grandpa Heaton came to see Elaine and me that day. We played hide and seek. I would keep hiding behind that dresser and behind that door. Grandpa would look around the room and act like he was looking for me. He would wait until the last minute then find me behind the door. He played and played with me. I even got tired before he did, and that is the day he went to Rexburg and was killed on the bridge. He was a very kind man. I was so little then, but I can remember how kind he was. He reminded me of Uncle Vern, Dad, and Uncle Jone a lot." (By Louise Wheeler Horman, granddaughter, with the help of notes from the personal history of Laura Belle Heaton Schley written by her daughter, Betty Schley Erickson; personal histories of Ethlyn Heaton Cleverley, Lloyd Enoch Heaton, Barbara Heaton Waldram, David Anthony, and the book, "Ririe, Our Hometown," by Thelma McMurtrey and others.) 2005

From the Ogden Standard Examinar – Saturday Evening Issue, August 29, 1931 SKULL BROKEN IN AUTO CRASH Ogden Driver Figures in Death Case; Three injured IDAHO FALLS, Aug. 29. UP A head-on collision of two autos on a bridge near Lorenzo Friday night took the life of Jonas S. Heaton, 49, Idaho Falls, and injured three companions, one seriously. Heaton’s skull was fractured. Death was believed instantaneous. Mrs. Mark Wilson, Rexburg, suffered internal injuries that were this morning considered grave. Cleo Burrell, Butte, Montana, and Al Johns, of Ogden, driver of the car, received minor bruises and cuts. Fay Williams, Ririe, Idaho, driver of the other car, and a companion were uninjured. Cause of the fatal crash is being investigated by officers. An inquest is set for this afternoon at Rexburg. Neither car left the bridge at the impact but the john’s auto crashed through the steel railing and hung over the water with one wheel off the bridge. Heaton is survived by his mother and nine children. _____________________________________ From the Ogden Standard Examiner – Wednesday Evening Edition, September 2, 1939 UTAHN FACES HEARING SOON Bond of Death Car Driver Placed At $2500 in Rexburg IDAHO FALLS, Sept 2 AP A.R. Johns of Logan was arraigned at Rexburg today on a charge of manslaughter in connection with the death in an automobile accident last Friday night of Jonas Heaton. His bond was fixed at $2500 and his preliminary hearing was set for September 11. A charge of transporting liquor based on the alleged discovery in Johns’ car of a bottle of whisky after the accident, was set for hearing the same date. Bond of $1,000 on this charge was not supplied. He was driver of an automobile in which Jonas Heaton of Idaho Falls was killed August 28 near Thornton, on the Yellowstone highway. ____________________________________ From the Salt Lake Tribune – Saturday Morning Edition, November 14, 1931 A. R. Johns, Pocatello building and loan association salesman, arrested in August on a charge of manslaughter, pleaded guilty Thursday to reckless driving and was sentenced to pay a fine of $100 and spend 40 days in the county jail.