Home | Metcalf/Waslin Pedigree Chart | Ancestry Name List | Lists | Contact Me

Back to Family Album

Sylvia Eliza, daughter of Cyrus and Sylvia Clark Sanford, was born November 16, 1845 in Hancock County, Illinois.

The family came to Utah in 1850, in Captain Snow's Company. They stayed in Salt Lake City two weeks then moved to Springville where they settled.

They had many experiences while crossing the plains. An interesting experience that Sylvia told her daughter Emma follows: They had been traveling all day and the oxen were very thirsty when they came to the Platt River. The oxen became very unruly and plunged over a high bank where they hung until they could be cut loose.

As Sylvia grew older it was necessary for her to take the place of a boy. It was one of her duties to herd the cows. While doing this she would play with the young Indians. She learned to understand their language and to speak some of it. As she grew older she went into the fields with her father to help with the grain and hay. She also helped to haul wood. They would sometimes take their lunch and go to the canyon on a picnic but while there would gather berries which they dried for winter use.

Very often they went to dances with bare feet because they had no shoes. She and her girl friends would exchange dresses so that they wouldn't have to always wear the same dress.

She was married to Anthony Metcalf in 1862. In the spring of 1866 they moved to Warm Creek to run the flowr mill. The Indians became very unfriendly so they were forced to move to Gunnison. They built a flour mille there and resided there the remainder of their lives.

Sylvia became the mother of 15 children. Though having a large family of her own she always had room for others. She was a very good nurse and always went where there was sickness to do what she could to help those in need. Her home was known as the half way house and was ever open to weary travelers passing through Gunnison. Any times the church authorities, making their visits through that part of the country would stay at the Anthony Metcalf home. She trained her girls well in the art of cooking and homemaking and often left the meal getting to the girls when these visitors arrived. She learned well the pioneering arts: washing wool without shrinking it, dying, cording, spinning, weaving, making cloth then cutting and sewing by hand. She did most of the sewing at night after she had put the babies to bed. She would sit on the floor so the light wouldn't disturb the sleeping children. The light was made by melting tallow in a tin, putting a string on it. She made lye and soap and tallow candles.

Sylvia was a faithful Latter-Day-Saint and though having so many household duties she had time to serve as a teacher in the Relief Society for over 50 years. She was one of the members that heard the Heavenly Choir at the dedication of the Manti Temple.

She died at the age of 101 years 9 months on the 12^th of August 1957.

The following children were born to this union:

Contributed by srp7@email.byu.edu

Home | Metcalf/Waslin Pedigree Chart | Ancestry Name List | Lists | Contact Me

Back to Family Album