Samuel Hadley
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After Louisa Field Hadley died of smallpox, her two-year-old son, Samuel, was taken into the family of his grandparents and was accepted as their own son. He loved them very much, and they loved him.
Henry Field, Samuel’s grandfather, moved to Roy to homestead eighty acres of land. Henry built a one-room log house and moved his family into it, becoming Roy’s second family to settle there. Samuel shared the privations of the early settlers and scrounged with them for food and fuel. Sometimes early in the morning, he would walk to Hooper and pack sagebrush in bundles all day for Charlie Parker. Mr. Parker ran a molasses mill, and a can of molasses skimmings was given to Samuel for his day’s work. He was happy to get it and felt justly paid. Occasionally, Samuel would see a few Indians ride by. Some had papooses on their backs. None ever stayed, though, because of the unproductive land and lack of water. Samuel helped his grandparents take a pig to Salt Lake City to sell. He gazed in wonderment at the Latter-day Saints’ temple under construction. It was about three feet high. He saw many men hauling rocks with two-wheel carts driven by oxen. He never forgot it. When the Rio Grande railroad was being built through Roy, Samuel and others would take fresh milk to the workmen in their camps and sell it for five cents a glass, a good price then. Samuel often gathered wool from sheep that had died or been killed by coyotes and also the wool from fences or bushes where the sheep had passed by. It took a lot of gathering to get a gunny sack full to take to Ogden and sell for twenty-five cents a sack. Samuel grew to be a fine-looking man, about six-feet two inches tall, with hazel eyes and fair skin. He was a strong, quiet man. On August 7, 1893, Samuel married Rachel Starkey. She had been born in Cheshire, England, October 26, 1876, and had immigrated to Roy with her parents, Francis and Jane Starkey, when she was only five years old. She had had measles only a short time before. It had left her ill and had weakened her eyes. Her father carried her on board ship to sail for America. Rachel continued to be very sick the whole three weeks of the voyage. Rachel spent much of her childhood herding cows and helping in the fields with the crops. She loved the flowers she found in the pastures and gathered them to take home. She never lost her love for them during her entire life. Samuel’s grandfather gave him ten acres of land, the same as he gave his sons. This is where Samuel built a fine home for his wife. Fourteen children were born there. They were Louisa Jane, Wilbur, Herbert—Fuchia and Vernal both died in 1901 of smallpox—Dora, Lee, Melva, Clifford, Erma, Elsie Una, Alden, Lavon, and Jack Lyle. Samuel farmed his acreage and worked for the Davis County Nursery and later for the Rio Grande Railroad. He was dubbed “Spike” by his fellow workers because he could drive more railroad spikes than anyone else. The children of Samuel and Rachel never went hungry. They were not wealthy but were comfortable and had sufficient of life’s needs. They were a happy family. Samuel died at Roy, November 9, 1942, and Rachel followed on March 2, l955. Hadley Heritage compiled by Ralph Hadley, a grandson
This is the house Samuel Hadley built: 2946 W 6000 S in Roy, Utah (the picture was taken later and an addition had been added on the back of the original)
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