One of my maternal great grandmothers, Rosa Florence Nicholas was born May 31, 1872 to Joseph Nicholas and Nancy Allen at Willard, Utah.  Rosa was their last child of a family of eight girls and one boy.

     In 1878, when Rosa was six years old, her family moved to Almo, Idaho. School wasn't very regular in those days and the first school Rosa went to was in a two room log house on the old Joseph Nicholas place.      It was in this old school house that Rosa first met Henry Miller Durfee and his three brothers Frank, Will and John Durfee.  At first Rosa liked Frank best because he was older, but a little later decided he was too old for her!

    Rosa was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints February 26, 1881 when she was 9 years old.

    The first time Rosa dated Henry she was 12 years old and he was 17. Rosa came home from a Christmas dance with him at Almo; the year was 1884.  Not long after this Henry gave her an engagement ring.  This same ring five years later became her wedding ring.  In those days while you were engaged you wore the ring on your front forefinger, left hand and when you were married it was changed to your fourth finger.  It was a plain, wide, yellow, gold band.

    Henry quit school in July 1887 and went to work in Nevada as a cowboy for Sparks and Tinnan, a large cattle outfit just out of Reno.  He rode his horse from Nevada to Willard, Utah to see Rosa in August 1889, when he quit his job with Sparks and Tinnan.  Rosa’s family had moved back to Willard in the spring of 1888.  Her father, Joseph Nicholas died October 15, 1888.  Rosa and her mother moved back to Almo the winter of 1888.  They moved back to Willard in the spring of 1889.  In October 1889 Rosa and her mother came back to Almo to visit Grandma's sisters, Helen (Nellie) Edwards, Mary Ann Jones and Ida Durfee.  They came in a wagon and Grandma drove the team.

    Rosa married Henry at her sister Mary Ann’s and her husband William Jones's old house November 3, 1889 at Almo, Idaho by Henry P. Cahoon.  Their marriage was later solemnized in the Salt Lake City Temple, October 2 or 15, 1901.

    On November 19, 1889 they took Grandma Nancy Allen Nicholas and moved to Willard, Utah.  Henry worked on the narrow gauge railroad.

The next July 31, 1890, my grandmother, Nancy Lerona (Nina), was born.  The winter of 1891 Henry worked on the Bothwell Canal at Corinne, Utah and earned enough money to buy a harness and wagon.  Their second child, Ivan Leo, was born March 1, 1902.  On Rosa’s 30th birthday, May 31, 1902 they moved back to Almo, Idaho where they were worked in ranching.

    Rosa's mother always lived with them.  They had two more children, Edwin Ruthvon and Rosa Florence, making a family of four children.  They raised one foster daughter from a very small girl, Louise Jones.

    They built a very lovely rock home in Almo (now owned by a grandson, Harold Durfee) and for many years owned and operated Durfee Hot Springs swimming pool--a natural warm water spring on their ranch.  People from all around the country came to go swimming. 

    Henry passed away June 7, 1930 at the Rupert, Idaho Hospital from a ruptured appendix, at the age of 62 years.  Rosa died at her home in Almo, December 17, 1937, from cancer at the age of 65 years.  They are both buried at Almo Sunny Cedar Rest Cemetery.

    Read an extended history written by Edith Carlson: Rosa Florence Nicholas Durfee history.pdf