“When the roots are deep there is no reason to fear the wind.” African Proverb

Last night Rox and I went out to Heritage Square in Samaria to look around and see what Friend Luke has been up to lately. It was a beautiful evening and a group of us strolled from cabin to cabin, checked out the new storage shed, ate a honey crisp apple right off the tree and generally had a lovely evening. 

As we sat in a $200-cabin purchased from the Margaret Jones Estate, which happens to be one of the first five cabins built in the valley, I started really paying attention. In the 1850s five families moved to the valley with the intention of staying permanently. They built five cabins together up by where Malad Elementary stands today. This cabin at Heritage Square is the only one remaining of the five. The first cabin in Malad Valley, probably about 170 years old, and still standing. Our ancestors not only lived but thrived in a harsh environment with very basic accommodations. We have come a long way.

We also spent time in the Samuel Deer Davis cabin. Samuel was quite the guy. After his father died in Utah and his mother married John Evan Price in 1870 and moved to Samaria, Samuel grew up in a polygamous family. As a young adult he married Mary Jane Williams, started a family and with the encouragement of Mary Jane, his only wife, began his formal education in the Malad Schools as an adult. He attended school while supporting his family. Eventually, he was admitted into Brigham Young College in Logan, Utah, and studied law in the evenings. He soon became a partner in the law firm Evans, Gibbs and Davis in Malad. At the time, Idaho did not allow members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to vote because of polygamy. Samuel and 55 other men in the county wanted to vote, so they removed their names from the membership records of the church and cast their ballots in 1888. The whole bunch of them were indicted for perjury, but because it was cumbersome to conduct 56 trials they focused on just one… Samuel Deere Davis. The case became known as Davis vs. Beason and went to the Supreme Court of the United States, who did not rule in Samuel’s favor. He did jail time, but he had voted. The man had principles and was willing to sacrifice.

Knowing just a little about those who came before me and seeing how they lived, fortified my respect for heritage and strengthened my resolve to buck-up and handle what comes my way. Samuel is not my ancestor, nor did this first cabin belong to my people, but I feel a kinship. It’s a Good Life when roots run deep.