A Wilson Family History

The Wilson family currently living in Boise, Idaho have grown quite large over time. The clan of Jesse David Wilson (deceased) and Agnes (Buffington) Wilson (deceased) are from their children: Jesse Wilson of Kansas City, KS;  Arthur Wilson (deceased); Grace (Wilson) Reeves (deceased); Loretta (Wilson) Evans of Nampa, ID; Joseph J. Wilson of Boise, ID; Helen (Wilson) Dennis of Ancorage, AK; and Gary Wilson of Nampa, ID.

My parents are Joseph J. Wilson and Janet C. (Laub) Wilson. They live in the extreme western portion of Boise where dad is an ordaned Church of God minister (retired) sort of. They generally hold family church services in the home of my younger brother Jess and his family in Ola. My next to the youngest brother John is deceased and his family live down the road from mom and dad. My youngest brother Jered and his familiy generally gather for praise and worship services followed by the bringing of The Word.

I have to admit that since my graduation from Kuna High School in 1967, I've been geographically separated from the entire clan. After retiring from Army life, I currently live in Colorado Springs, CO with my wife Montian (Luckjant) Wilson, our two daughters Debra (Wilson) Rowland and her family; and Michele (Wilson) Cooksey and her family.

We have made a number of trips to Boise over the years. It is still the place I call home.
 

I remember bits and pieces of my youth, growing up as one of the Wilson boys. I must start back at the beginning, or at least the beginning of what I’ve been able to determine about the Wilson lineage.

This page was originally started in 1998 and with this 2009 update much has changed. I had to gather much information when my brother John was alive. He did a great job of getting me the "official" version of the Wilson family history. I however reserve my right to record the family history as I want to remember it, ok?

John was able to ask descrete questions and record his answers without arousing suspicion. I told him that this was a surprise for the folks and would be placed online when it was done. The funny thing about web pages is, they are never finished. They are in a constant state of fluidity or change.

Little did we realize at the time that John had been diagnosed with cancer and would die before this article actually got posted online. I sure miss having John to trouble shoot things for me. His house was only 2 or 3 houses away from mom and dad's home, and it was easier for him to walk down the road and ask those tough questions.

My maternal and paternal grandparents were about as different as night and day. On mom’s side, "Little Grandma," Edna Allred was born in St. George, Utah. "Grandpa Laub," Minor Lamond Laub was born in Lewiston, Utah. They were married in Brigham City, Utah before moving to Las Vegas, Nevada where mom, was born (Janet Cleone Laub), on March 31^st, 1934.

The Laubs are direct descendents of "The Mormon Draper’s" and the Brigham Young family. Many of the descendents live in the same towns as they have for the past 100 years or more.

Grandpa Laub was a worker in a magnesium plant in Las Vegas. He was exposed to chlorine gas, which caused him lung problems the rest of his life. While Little Grandma suffered from pneumonia and relatives thought a change of climate would be best for them. In 1945 they headed for southern Idaho and Eastern Oregon, staying with relatives in Nyssa, Oregon. They became migrant workers, harvesting beets, potatoes and peas.

Mom attended school in Nyssa, before the family moved to Ridgeview, Idaho where Grandpa Laub built the family home on a hillside. A year later, he dismantled the house, wall by wall, and moved it to Homedale, Idaho where mom continued her schooling.

On dad’s side, "Big Grandma" Agnes Buffington was born in ? . "Grandpa Wilson" Jesse David Wilson was born in ? . They lived in Shelton, Washington when dad was born, (Joseph James Wilson) on January 15^th, 1928. The Wilson’s moved to Dixie, Idaho where dad was raised much of his younger years. There was a period where they moved back to Harriston Island, Washington so Grandpa Wilson could work as a blacksmith in the shipyard.

They moved back to Dixie, Idaho and dad continued in school. One of his first grade schoolmates (Phil Batt), later became governor of Idaho. The Wilson family lived at a place called "Allendale Corner". It was a farm owned by John Batt. There was time when Grandpa Wilson took the family to Yakima, Washington to harvest hops, then returned to the Wilder, Idaho area.

Dad attended high school in Wilder, and was active in athletics (especially after school street brawls). He liked to join his older brothers, and occasionally had to be helped on his feet by his older brother. He was sort of a big shot marble champion, by winning a tournament in Caldwell, Idaho where he chose the cash prize instead of the plaque. Grandpa Wilson settled the family on a homestead in Owyhee Heights, just west of Homedale, Idaho.

By this time mom was a mere 13 years old, and dad was only 19. He tried to win her heart and sort of followed her around. Everyone started calling her "JJ’s Doll".

At one point dad went to Cascade to work on the railroad. It was here that he met and married young Fanney Lehner. He searched for a job on the dam. His marriage to Fanney was very short and their marriage was annulled while dad was in the Navy.
 

Well we obtained quite a bit of info on dad's service in the US Navy (1945 - 1947). I'm still deciphering it and getting the chronoligical order in place. Dad joined the Navy with his buddy Marvin Marks on October 31, 1945. They went to the USN Recieving Station at the Naval Station San Diego in California. Dad served on the USS Dixie AD-14 and the USS Gunston Hall LSD-5 during Operation Crossroads in the Bikini Atoll during the 1946 atomic bomb testing. Dad said the ship masts actually bent over from the blasts. Lots of contaminated equipment had to be jettisoned and each sailor had to be checked for radiation poisoning before being allowed off the ship back in San Diego.

While stationed in Pearl Harbor, dad joined the boxing team. It seems that his street brawls gave him a false sense of pride. Prior to one match in particular, where he felt he was grossly outmatched, he decided to quit boxing for health reasons.

Later on the USS Southerland DD-743. He made ports of call in places like Hawaii, Guam, Yokosuka, Japan and Tsingtos, China. In Guam, dad claimed that the aircraft scrapyard had the best torpedo juice. In Japan, dad rode the train from Yokosuka to Toyko. Dad was in China during the Chinese Revolution. It was the streets of Tsingtos, that he witnessed something special. They conducted a nightly ceasefire, and resumpted hostilities at dawn each day. In Saipan, the ship docked near a leper colony (nobody was allowed off the ship). He had the opportunity to visit places like Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Okinawa, as well.

Here are some of the names of guys dad remembers: Harold McFarland, Harold McDaniels, Kelly Anderson and others with names like Mcdonald, Menesse, Douglas, Webb, Burns, Loristo or Soristo, Kemp (Kenny), and Leibert.

He was a Carpenter Striker, and held a rate of SA (enlisted grade E-2).
 

His service medals: The Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal, The American Campaign Medal, and The World War II Victory Medal.
 

After his honorable discharge on October 26, 1947 he returned home in the Homedale, Wilder area of southwestern Idaho.
 

Shortly after his discharge, dad received a letter asking him to volunteer for something called the "space program", what is now called NASA. He was to have trained for lunar voyages. He tossed the letter (he later regretted), and wondered if he would have been one of the first astronauts? He doesn’t mind missing the opportunity to orbit the earth.

Dad spent the next year unemployed, doing odd jobs in and around Homedale, Idaho. He swapped peaches for old car batteries, thus perfecting his sales technique. He went on the road with the migrant workforce picking potatoes (spuds). This is the time he sort of teamed up with the Laub family and they went to Arco, Idaho for the spud harvest. Dad asked mom to ride with him in his fancy ’37 Chevy, all the way to Arco. After they had been in Arco about a month, they decided to get hitched. They were married on October 18^th, 1948.

After leaving Arco, they lived in a surplus army tent in Darlington, Idaho. It was in Darlington where they put lead slugs (taken from old church glass windows) into the slot machines.

They spent the winter of 1948 in Arsonal Villa, with dad’s older brother and his wife. They lived in a sheep wagon, while dad worked in the lamb sheds (sheering and neutering lambs). Later they rented a one-room house for $12 per month. Dad plowed gardens with a horse drawn plow for $7 to $10 per day. Dad also worked as a painter for the deaf and blind school before moving back to Homedale. They pitched their tent at Grandpa Laub’s place and lived there for a while.

Next they moved into a tenant house on Grandpa Wilson’s place, so dad could help with the farming. By this time mom was all of 15, and dad was 21, and I came along.

On August 31^st, 1949 I was the first born, (Joseph James Wilson, Jr.). The next year, mom had a miscarriage or I would have had a little brother. Then the following year, my brother (Jesse Lamond Wilson) was born in 1951. The next year produced (Johnnie Gale Wilson), born in September 1952. Finally (Jered Lyle Wilson) was born in October 1953. We were all born at Mercy Hospital in Nampa, Idaho. (I’m surprised they didn’t name it the "Wilson Hospital").

If my memory serves me correctly (selective recall) we were the best behaved and most well mannered boys you could find. Besides getting into brawls (between ourselves), I remember working in the fields alongside the other migrant families, while dad was called a "Crew Boss".

We picked lots of spuds, peas, apples, cherries and strawberries. I remember lots of meals at the Dew Drop Inn, in Homedale. I also remember when they opened the Frostie Palace, and we could get huge chocolate covered ice cream cones for a quarter.

We moved around several times, and eventually moved into the town of Homedale. Our 2 bedroom house was alongside the ditchbank. Then we moved to Fargo, Idaho and lived on a 40 acre farm. Dad had an accident while a Fargo and had to be taken by ambulance to the Veterans Hospital in Boise. The doctors worked on his left knee (he first hurt it in the navy), and they ended up fusing the knee.

Dad traded our farm for a house in Boise (not far from I-80). Our house was on Lindsey Lane, and our back fence bordered the Union Pacific Railroad. It was here we received our brand new Murray bicycles. We rode all over town, peddling fruit, collecting and selling coke bottles.

We moved a couple of years later, a little closer to Borah High School, where I would join the Civil Air Patrol. Our house was on Grover Street. Later we would move out to the Landeco Ranch in Kuna and live in a small trailer house. I started my senior year at Kuna High School, and I moved out after graduating in May 1967.

I lived and worked for a time in Boise, before joining the US Army in September 1967. Then mom and dad moved into a parsonage in Kuna. I came home on Christmas leave and got a job shoveling coal out of a railroad car.

Then in February 1968, after graduating from a military school in California, I headed overseas to Southeast Asia. Mom and dad moved a few times while I was in Thailand. Dad pastored a church in Nampa for a time. They moved a couple of times before settling down in the area where they now live.

My military career has taken me to lots of exciting places. Mom and dad were able to visit us in Panama. We traveled around the Ismus of Panama, looking at the towns of the Canal Zone and traveling through the jungle, looking at the old forts and other historical sites.
 

They have visited us at Fort Lewis in Washington, as well as our home at Fort Leonard Wood in Missouri and in Colorado Springs, near Fort Carson, in Colorado. One thing about Colorado Springs that doesn't always agree with visitors is the altitude. In fact both my parents were hospitalized for altitude sickness and dehydration during one of their initial visits.
 

In October 1998, we had a dual celebration of mom and dad’s 50^th Wedding anniversary. It was held in a small fellowship hall in Eagle, Idaho. During this banquet, we presented dad with a shadowbox flag, complete with his service medals, and his dates of service.

A major part of this family history was gathered by my brothers Jess and Jered. Without their help I would not have had such a good memory. Thanks guys.
 

I want to thank mom and dad for the effort they have put forth over the years to help us and anyone in need. I love you all, ….Joe.

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Email me: Joseph J. Wilson, Jr.

Colorado Springs, Colorado, USA