Richfield was a small, warm springs town, pretty and cozy, and its special attraction to us who lived farther south, in Joseph, was that it was the ‘county seat’ and the large town in our county and had red soil, which if it got on our new white dresses they just seemed to never come clean. It also had stores where father could buy oranges, sometimes when he went to pay his taxes or when we went to conference.
So it was in this very choice town of Richfield that Walter Marsh Ogden was born on September 3, 1888.
He was the eighth child of Thomas and Ann Marsh Ogden. His father’s parents, William and Mary Vickers Ogden emigrated to Utah in 1868. They had embraced the gospel with all their family some years previous, in England, and brought all of their children with them. Walter’s mother’s parents were Thomas and Ann Horrocks Marsh. They were also born in England. The mother joined the church with their four daughters and came to Utah about the same time as the Ogden’s. But Grandfather Thomas Marsh never accepted the gospel and remained in England.
Thomas and Ann were fine parents for a boy. But Walter was not to have the companionship of a loving mother for long in his life. She passed away a few months before his eleventh birthday and Walter was left a very lonely little boy.
A number of things happened in his early life, after his mother’s death which seemed tragic to a young boy and his heart was made sore on many occasions. He learned early to go to Aunt Betsey, who was mother’s sister. And she helped him over many of his sorrows. And was always much like a mother to him.
His five full brothers are Thomas, Albert, Frank, Charles and George and his sisters are Nora and Jane.
Walter’s father married a plural wife. Her name was Hannah Wells. She had Elizabeth Wells, Joshua, Eva and Ruby.
After mother passed away Hannah, “Auntie” came to be the mother. But after some of his brothers were married, Walter made his home with one or another of them most of the time. They and their wives were very good to him and taught him to work on the farm and at the store which his father owned.
Walter was very ambitious and quite early in life began to acquire personal property.
When he decided to go to the B.Y.U. he sold a good team with new harness, a new wagon and several acres of land which he had all paid for.
He lived with the Greenwood boys in Provo. And was very intimate with the basketball team, which at that time was Utah’s best. He helped the coach in their training and games. He was too short for basketball but was very quick and strong on the mat and excellent in wrestling, taking the first gold medal for the B.Y.U. in that sport in 1913. For his seventy-forth birthday, September 3, 1962, he received a beautiful jacket with a block Y which he was very proud to have.
From the journal of Mary Ross Ogden
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