Item Detail
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Roper, Margaret Walker
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1900-1988
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MSS SC 2587
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History
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Margaret Walker Roper was born on 9 February 1900 in Lindon, Utah. She was the second youngest of 5 children belonging to Ezra Foutz Walker and Annie Swensen Walker. On 18 June 1924, she married Parley L. Roper in Salt Lake City, Utah, and together they had 2 children, Betty Jane and Anna Rachel. Anna only lived to about a year, but Betty lived to be 90 years old.
One of Margarets earliest memories as a child was of walking with her mother to a neighbor and midwife, Sophie Culmer, because her little sister, Ruth, was very ill, to the point of having to be carried on a pillow because she was so sensitive to touch. Another childhood memory of hers was going with her father to her Grandfather Walker Henson Jr.s home in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Her memory of this visit included stopping to talk with the people in the kitchen and her discomfort and shyness surrounding that, as well as finding Grandfather sitting in a cane-bottomed chair on the porch in the sunshine, with a brown shawl around his shoulders.
While having no memories of her biological grandmothers, Margaret could recall her Aunt Rye, as a grandmother to her. Ane Marie Hansen was Grandfather Swensons third wife, and had a heavy accent and broken English that Margaret remembered she would purposefully exaggerate to make her and her sister, Ruth, laugh. She also remembered fondly the many family dinners in honor of Grandfather Swensons birthdays, where she and her siblings would eat so much dinner that when it came time for cake and ice cream, [they] always had to go out and run around the house two or three times, so [they] would have room for more food.
Margaret had fond memories of her parents as well, remarking on the measured approach to disagreements and steadfastness of their faith in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints teachings, which they passed on to their children.
Margaret valued school from an early age. She spent about 50 years of her life in the schoolroom, between her time as a student and her time as a teacher. She was always unhappy when she and her siblings had to stay home from school due to communicable illness, an impressive number of which her family contracted. The only ones she remembered not getting were Diphtheria and Scarlet Fever. She especially remembered the Small Pox, which her father brought home with him late one evening after using a public phone to warn his family of his lateness. It wasnt too serious among most of the family, but they all got sick at once, which wasnt easy for her mother, who had been vaccinated as a child and was spared the illness. She also recalled getting tonsillitis from time to time, which also kept her out of school. She got her tonsils removed after she was married.
Margaret very quickly discovered her love of writing as well. In the fifth grade, she wrote her first story, A Loaf of Bread. Her teacher, Miss Wilcox, was so pleased with the story, she asked for a copy to show what fifth grade students could do. So, she made a copy for herself to keep in her journal.
Margaret graduated from Brigham Young High School in 1922. She received 2 diplomas from there: a Normal BYH diploma, and a BYH Arts Supervision diploma. She went on to teach and write, writing books such as Whisperings, a collection of poetry, and the manuscript in this folder, Echoes of Sage and of Cedars.
She died on 28 October 1988 in Delta, Utah, at the age of 88. -
This collection consists of 5 folders, each containing portions of a manuscript entitled Echoes of Sage and Cedars: A Centennial History of Oak City, Utah 1868-1969. The manuscript is compiled by Margaret W. Roper. The book is typescript, covered in both red and black pencil corrections, and numbering about 530 pages. It covers the history of Oak City, Utah, beginning with its birth in 1868. It includes the names of the people and notable places that populated the growing town, the history of the Churchs growth there, and the development of civil and school programs, water systems, and the post office. It also details the towns eventual incorporation, as well as the various forms of recreation and other points of interest regarding the community.
There are also 2 small trial-print booklets, printed in blue ink. One contains pictures of Oak City and the people who lived there, including Abel M. Roper, an influential member of the town. The other folio is a copy of the list of biographical sketches also included in the back of the manuscript, including many members of the Roper family and probable descendants of Margarets.