Item Detail
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Baker, Anna Sophia Boyce
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1877-1967
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MSS SC 1140
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Biography
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On 28 October 1877, in a one-room log cabin in Oxford, Oneida, Idaho, Anna Sophia Boyce Baker was born to Ida Margaret Merrick and Albert Myron Boyce. As the fourth of thirteen children, she had a thirst for knowledge that later inspired her to attend Oneida Stake Academy at the age of nineteen. She taught school until she married Walter Baker on January 20, 1902. After only ten years of marriage Walter died. Anna sold their ranch in Boulder, Utah and moved to Logan to be closer to her parents and to the university, where her children could get a good education. For six months, she and her children lived with her sister, Chloe, who was very ill and also a widow with six children. Anna cared for both families until a doctor ordered her to get a place of her own. She and her father built a home, using half of the money she got from selling the ranch. To help pay her bills, Anna washed and mended clothing, and rented many of her bedrooms to college students. Sometimes, she had up to twenty students living in her home at once. In 1922, Anna was persuaded to return to Boulder to teach for seven months of a school year. With this experience and a little more education, Anna gained certification to teach in Logan City Schools. She returned to Logan and taught for two years after her retirement age. On 20 September 1902, Anna married Thomas William Ogden, whom her young children used to call Uncle because of his kindness to them over many years. Thomas passed away after only two years of marriage. Later, Anna married a neighbor named Johnny Paul Cardon, who also died after two years. On February 1, 1967, Anna Sophia died in San Jose Hospital.
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This collection is a combination of various letters, genealogical materials and biographies of the Baker family. The section containing information about Anna consists of photographs, poems, Walter's character sketch, and Anna's biography. This brief history is two typewritten pages and it is written by Anna's daughter, Margaret Baker McKinnon. It contains many direct quotes by Anna concerning her childhood memories. Anna writes about her first memory of dragging her baby sister around the lot in a dripper when she was two years old. She also remembers being afraid of Indians because of the Battle Creek Wars that were fought near her home in Idaho. Sometimes, Anna remembers the Indians looking into the windows of her small home to ask for fresh biscuits. The biographer writes a lot about the fulfillment of Anna's Patriarchal Blessing, in which she was promised that she would always have a strong mind and a thirst for knowledge. This strong mind helped her through the difficulties of losing her husband, building a home, and raising her five children: Margaret, George, Hayward, Arthelia, and Nan. Her thirst for knowledge inspired her to become a schoolteacher, and to learn enough carpentry to be able to build on to her home in Logan. Her biographer ends the account by emphasizing that old age was hard on Anna because of loneliness and inactivity and that death really was liberation for her.Eduation, Trials
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1896-1950