Our father, Joseph Oxborrow, was born August 7, 1871 at St. George, Utah; the oldest of 11 children born to Joseph Oxborrow, Sr. and Mary Liecht Oxborrow.
Our mother, Sabra Stringham, and her twin sister, Sybil, were born November 21, 1875 at Bingham, Utah to George Ammon Stringham and Mary Jane Ashby.
Mother and Dad were married in St. George in 1894. Three of their children were born there before they moved to Lund in 1898: Marie, Bryant and Rodney.
The summer of 1898, our father and his twin brothers, Eph and George, came to White River Valley, drew for home lots and farm land and cut hay with hand sickles. That fall the rest of the family came to Nevada.
The following is a quote from Marie Oxborrow Ashworth that she wrote in 1948, "The first I can remember is coming over the raise south of Lund and it started snowing. My mother, Grandma Oxborrow, Bryant, Rodney, LaVera, Uncle Jack Oxborrow and myself were in a covered wagon. Coming from Southern Utah where it seldom snows, the snow looked pretty cold to our folks so they tucked us all into a feather bed that was in the back of the wagon.
"We lived in one room for a while at the Nevada Land and Livestock Ranch at the Lund Spring until they went to the old Taylor Mines through Water Canyon and brought us a house from there. Our house was 4 small rooms made of lumber but it was quite a mansion after living in one room. My sister, Sabra, was born in this house in 1900. After that there were eight more children born to my folks, among them a pair of twins."
Mother didn't like the lot the lumber house was on so Dad moved a log room that was in the northern part of town onto the lot just south of the lot where the lumber house was. There was already one log room there. The two rooms were not connected and we had to step outside to go from one room to the other. But Mother liked this place better because it was on higher ground. Later a two story cement home was built where Mary Oxborrow now lives.
Another quote from Marie's history: "Grandma Oxborrow came to Lund with us and was our doctor, nurse and guardian angel and we all loved her. She was the real pioneer of our town because she came to Utah with the early settlers of St. George and endured the hardships of the pioneers there. She was a practical nurse and did a lot of good for the community--healing sores with her 'Grandma salve' and bringing babies into the world.
"In the early settlement of Lund, the people had to make their own entertainment. They had a Dramatic Society and learned to put on plays. My father was one of the actors and I can remember how he paced the floor while learning his lines. He took Elocution in school in St. George and used to recite poems to us. He had one we liked to hear him recite, "The Toper". Kathryn and Kelly Harrison were born on my dad's birthday so they always invited "Uncle Joe" to their birthday parties. All children in town liked Uncle Joe because he always noticed them and played with them when he met them."
Dad was a jack-of-all trades, blacksmith, mechanic and mail driver. He was a good father, a good friend and neighbor. Mother, too, was a good mother, friend and neighbor. She was "Aunt Sabe" to everyone in town.
The oldest of Joe's and Sabra's children was Marie. She married James Webster Ashworth and they had 6 children and 12 grandchildren.
Bryant married Laura Birch but there were no children born to them. He later married Leah Squires. They had 4 children and 16 grandchildren.
Rodney married Irma Despain. They had 8 children and 25 grandchildren.
Sabra married Eugene Peacock. They were parents of 6 children and 19 grandchildren.
James married Mary Turk: They have two daughters--ten Grandchildren.
Effie married Bert Long and they had 3 children. Bert was killed and after his death Effie married Vernon Reed and 2 sons were born to them. Effie had a total of 11 grandchildren.
Lewis, the twin of Morris, was unmarried.
Morris married Margaret Reid. They had one son and 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
Frank married Alta Peacock. They had 4 children and 9 grandchildren.
Sybil married DeLile Terry. 9 children were born to them. They have 26 grandchildren and 3 step grandchildren.
Edna married Don Stranton and they had 1 son.
Jed and his wife, Isabella, had 2 children and 5 grandchildren.
Today (1979) Joe's and Sabra's posterity includes 12 children (6 survived), 144 grandchildren and I don't know how many great grandchildren.
Our father, Joseph Oxborrow, died February 20, 1938. Mother died January 31, 1944 and both are buried in the Lund Cemetery.
Written by:
Maria Oxborrow Ashworth and Sybil Oxborrow Terry
Submitted by:
Sybil Oxborrow Terry