Sylvester Silas Hulet

• GIVN: Sylvester Silas
• SURN: Hulet
• NSFX: (Twin)¹²³
• Sex: M
• Born: 17 Apr 1857 in Springville, Utah, Utah, United States⁴
• Died: 6 Feb 1950 in Wendell, Gooding, Idaho, United States
• Buried: 9 Feb 1950 in Dayton, Franklin, Idaho, United States
• AFN: 19CP-97
• ORDN: Ordained Bishop 20 Sep 1885 in Summit, Iron, Utah, United States⁵⁶
• Mission: Fall 1886 in England⁵
• Census: Age 43 11 Jun 1900 in Alta, Teton, Wyoming, United States⁷
• Census: Age 53 19 Apr 1910 in Alta, Teton, Wyoming, United States⁸
• Census: Age 62 5 Jan 1920 in Driggs, Teton, Idaho, United States⁹
• _UID: E35E0297776148F6A177F0F7830B8480811F
• Baptised LDS: 5 Apr 1866 22 Oct 1879
• TEMP: SGEOR¹⁰ BIC
• Record last updated: 30 Nov 2013
• TIME: 11:39
• Notes:

  Sylvester Silas Hulet was born in Springville, Utah, April 17, 1857. He was a twin (his twin brother was Syvanus Cyrus, Jr.,) and the fifth child in a family of ten, born to Sylvanus Cyrus and Catherine Stoker Hulet.
  
  In 1861, when Sylvester was four years old, Brigham Young called three hundred families to settle the Dixie Country and his father's family was one of those chosen. They sold their home at a great loss and prepared to respond to the call. His father purchased a large wagon and a team of mules and with another wagon that he had built, they loaded their household goods. With three ox teams on one wagon and a horse team and the mule team on the other, they set out for Dixie.
  
  The company traveled for a month before reaching their destination. They found a desolate looking sage brush and alkali desert, but they were not dismayed; they had been called by the Priesthood of God and with the energy and determination characteristic of the Latter-day Saint pioneers. they set to work and in a comparatively short time had laid out a town-site, built homes, a tabernacle and laid the foundation for a temple. they named the place St. George, for George A. Smith.
  
  Sylvester's father was promised that if he accepted the call to Dixie and filled his mission, neither he nor his family should ever go hungry. They worked hard to start a new home for themselves. The climate was warm and they raised cotton, sugar cane, corn, grapes, and other fruits. Sylvester said that he helped dig the first irrigation ditch in the St. George area.
  
  The children went barefoot in the summer and Sylvester, or Vet, as he was called, said he never would forget trudging through the hot sand to and from his work in the fields and orchards. The field was about five miles from the house. If they saw a bush they would make a dash for it and stand in its shade long enough to cool their burning feet.
  
  Their first house was a small log one with a dirt roof. They soon built a big house of blue adobe--nice looking and comfortable. His father made all the furniture and also made some furniture and wagons to sell.
  
  His father had bought some land in Summit, about 60 miles northeast of St. George, and they farmed both places for a time. They liked Summit because the climate was cooler and better for the children, so in 1872, his father was released from his mission by Brother Erastus Snow. He sold hi property in St. George and moved his family to Summit permanently. The father, with the help of his sons, built another fine home of red brick.
  
  Sylvester was about fifteen years of age at the time they moved to Summit. He was quiet, bashful and retiring, seldom joining in their dancing parties, but fun-loving in his own quiet way. He told his daughter, Mary, that he fell in love with her mother, Mary Elizabeth, when he first saw her and used to ask God to help him win her.
  
  When Vet reached the age of twenty-one, he rented a piece of land from his father and with his share of the crop bought himself and wagon and team of horses. On October 22, 1879, Sylvester and Mary Elizabeth Dalley were married in the St. George Temple. They made the trip to St. George in a covered wagon, in company with his older sister Barbara, and William Smith, who were married also on this date. A few days after their return, Sylvester and his wife, according to plan, loaded their possessions into their covered wagon and started for Snowflake, Arizona, where Vet's oldest brother, John, lived. Vet and his wife made their home with John and his wife, Josephine, for the first eight months, when Vet bought a lot with one log room "halfway up" on it. He completed the room and covered it with shakes or hand-hewn shingles. There was no floor at first, but this was their first home and they were very happy when they moved into it. They also bought forty acres of land by their combined industry and economy and soon had it paid for.
  
  Their first furniture was home made and very crude, but after a few years they were able to buy furniture that was considered very good in those days. They had no candles the first winter and Sylvester read the Bible through by the light of the kitchen stove. They had to haul their wheat seventy miles to have it made into flour.
  
  The climate was very much like that of their old home. There were occasionally exciting times such as the time when a bunch of young Apaches broke out of the reservation and went on a rampage through the country near Snowflake. They killed a beef and when a man riding along happened to see the beef and got off to investigate they shot him in the back and took his horse and saddle. The people in Snowflake were terribly excited. Sylvester was at the sawmill and they sent a messenger to tell him what had happened. The men folks patrolled the town until the soldiers, who had been sent for, arrived and took the Indians back to the reservation.
  
  Their first two children, Sylvester Silas and Mary, were born in Snowflake. In the fall of 1882, Sylvester and wife went back to Summit to see his mother who was very ill. She died on November 8, 1882. His father was lonely so he persuaded Vet and his wife to sell their possessions in Arizona and make their home in Summit. Sylvester bought a large lot and built one big log room on it with a fireplace at one end. He farmed and took care of his father's sheep on shares for a living.
  
  Soon after they were settled in their new home, Mary Elizabeth gave birth to another daughter whom they called Emma. Fifteen months later Katie was born. Just nine days before Katie's birth, their son, Sylvester, or "Vettie" as he was called, was accidentally killed. His parents were heartbroken over the tragedy. He was his father's pride and joy and it was a long time before they could reconcile themselves to his loss.
  
  On September 20, 1885, Sylvester was ordained bishop of the Summit Ward, succeeding his father who had been bishop ever since the organization of the ward. A short time after this, Sylvester courted and married Sarah Ann Dalley, a half-sister of Mary Elizabeth, and ten years younger. They were married in the St. George Temple. From this union there were three daughters and two sons. They were, in order of age, Sarah Pearl (Sadie), Moses Arthur, David Willard, Lette, and Lillian. When asked why he took a second wife, he said, "What would you do if the Authorities told you to take a second wife?"
  
  In the fall of 1886 Sylvester went to England on a mission. About five months after his departure, Mary Elizabeth gave birth to her fourth daughter, whom they called Lenora May. Sylvester enjoyed his mission and received some remarkable testimonies. Among the friends he made while on his mission was the Harwood family. There were several children in the family and they were very poor. He often visited at their home and heard them express their strong desire to have their children go to Zion. His father sent money to pay for passage of one of the Harwood boys, and George, a boy about eight years of age, went to Utah with Sylvester when his mission was completed. George was brought up in Sylvester's father's home and when he became a man we went back to England on a mission and was the means of bringing his entire family to Utah. A few years later George went to see Sylvester and thanked him for the part he had played in bringing the Harwood family to Zion.
  
  Sylvester's family at this time consisted of five girls, Mary Elizabeth's four and Sarah's daughter, Sarah Pearl, whom they called Sadie. He was not at all satisfied, for he wanted more sons, so was very happy when Moses Arthur, Sarah's oldest son, was born on February 16, 1890, and a month later Mary Elizabeth gave birth to another son whom they named Marion Cyrus. Both of these boys died in early manhood. Modie (Moses Arthur) was killed in World War I and Marion was drowned at the age of 19 in a mountain lake while herding sheep. Mary Elizabeth gave birth to three more sons in succession: Francis Edgar, Oscar Phillip (who died when only a year old) and Albert Franklin.
  
  In the spring of 1896 Sylvester decided to move his family to Teton Valley in Wyoming, which seemed to be a sort of refuge for polygamous families. They made the long trip in two covered wagons. Mary Elizabeth drove one and Sylvester the other. They were about a month on the way. To the children the trip was a glorious lark, camping out while on their way, and they enjoyed every minute of it. They reached Teton Valley on the 4th of July. Sarah Ann and her family had gone earlier by train, so now they were all together again. Sarah also bore another son, David Willard, who was born in Alta, Wyoming, on May 24, 1896.
  
  Sylvester bought a farm in Pratt Ward, later called Alta, close to the foothills west of the Tetons. There were a couple of log rooms with a dirt roof which was their home for a few years. Sarah lived in another small log house nearby. There was a clear mountain stream called Spring Creek running near the house.
  
  It was too late to plant a crop that year but there was some hay and a potato patch on the place. The neighbors' pigs soon did away with the potatoes. That year and the following few years they always referred to as the "Dark Ages." They struggled on trying to cultivate the farm; the boys were not old enough to be of much help so the girls helped their father. Owing to the change of climate, all of the horses they brought with them from Southern Utah, except for a riding pony, died one by one.
  
  They bought a few cows but they were not very profitable. There was no sale for the milk, cream, or butter. He finally sold the cows and bought a few sheep. After Sylvester's father died, he received 200 head of sheep as his share of the estate, which gave them a fair start in the sheep business and they were able to buy a few more comforts of life, and Sylvester began to prosper and accumulate quite a number of cattle and sheep.
  
  Leonard Merrill, Mary Elizabeth's last child, and Sarah's two youngest girls, Lette and Lillian, were born in Pratt Ward. Sylvester served seven years as superintendent of the Pratt Ward Sunday School and later on became a member of the bishopric.
  
  The older children were obliged to go to Rexburg to attend high school, but this was very inconvenient and expensive. Later, a good high school was established at Driggs, Idaho, a progressive little town a few miles west of Pratt Ward. For this reason, among others, Sylvester decided to sell out and buy a home in Driggs. He bought a large farm and several hundred acres of pasture land near the town. By this time he had acquired a large band of sheep and he was obliged to be away much of the time taking care of them. Therefore, he was not able to take part in church work, but he always paid his tithing and donations. He taught his family the principles of the gospel and the value of keeping the Word of Wisdom and living a clean life.
  
  Their first home in Driggs was an old store building, formerly known as the "Star Commercial" partitioned and made into two comfortable apartments. Here Sarah Ann and Mary Elizabeth lived for a few years until the building caught fire and burned to the ground. They were able by this time to build two modern cottages and furnish them well. Everything looked rosy and it seemed as they were well established for life when World War I broke out.
  
  Modie, David, and Albert went into the Army. Francis was married and had a family, and Leonard was too young for military service. Modie did not return, and David returned in poor health. He was called on a mission and was sent to the California Mission.
  
  After the war was over and the depression came along, Sylvester, like thousands of others, lost practically all of his property. Hoping to better their conditions, he, Mary Elizabeth, Leonard and Francis and his family moved to Montana. They stayed there a few years, but were glad to get back to an L.D.S. community.
  
  In 1930 they moved to Firth, Idaho, where they farmed not too successfully for a couple of years. They were quite discouraged with conditions so they finally went to Dayton, Idaho, and rented the farm of their daughter, Emma, where Mary Elizabeth passed away May 14, 1944. They had lived together for almost sixty-five years.
  
  Sylvester always had remarkably good health, due in part to the fact that he inherited a good constitution from clean living ancestors and had always lived a temperate life himself and kept the Word of Wisdom, and because of his work with the sheep which kept him out in the open air. He was always a fine looking man and a man of strong temper. (In his earlier years it was not so well controlled as it was in his late years when he grew in patience and tolerance.)
  
  He served faithfully as a ward teacher for the twelve years he lived in Dayton and also performed temple work. He was very kind and thoughtful to his wife during her last years.
  
  After the death of Mary Elizabeth he was very lonely and spent his time visiting with his children. To the very end he was alert in body and mind, and stood straight and tall. After a lingering illness, he passed away February 6, 1950, at the age of 92, at the home of his son, Francis, in Wendell, Idaho. He was buried by the side of Mary Elizabeth in Dayton, Idaho.
  
  Sarah Ann passed away December 29, 1954, in Driggs, Idaho, where she was burried.
  
  Sylvester impressed his children with the importance of paying their debts. He left his children a wonderful heritage from a father who was honest, full of integrity, wisdom, and faith in God.