Oscar was the first boy born in Roy to Richard and Elizabeth Jones. He grew up on an 80 acre plot of land where he worked and played with his family.

Oscar was young when he stared helping out with chores. He would help move the cattle to the lake. Can you imagine a young boy doing such a big job? Shoes were worn on special occasions so he was barefoot doing this. He must have had tough feet because there were a lot of stickers in that area.

When Oscar was 17 he saw Ellen King, a girl working in his Uncle William Baker’s berry field. He thought she was so cute and wanted to meet her. One day he rode his horse back and forth near that field trying to get her attention. Her friends dared her to call him over. She did and that was the first time they spoke.

A while later Oscar and Ellen met at Syracuse Resort where Oscar first met Ellen’s mom. They were together a lot after that and on February 17, 1897 they were married in the Salt Lake City Temple.

Ellen was one of 12 children born to Hyrum and Alice Bennett King from Hooper. They had a really sweet family. It was said that they had a home where patience, love and harmony existed. That sounds amazing especially seeing that they had such a large family.

After they were married Oscar worked for the railroad and was paid $1.25 a day. He also helped where he could in the community by building roads, the canal and other projects. His dad gave him 10 acres in Roy for them to live on. Oscar then bought an old house in Hooper from his father in law and moved it to their land. They made lots of improvements on this house over time. They lived there until 1917 when they built a 6 room house made of brick.

Oscar loved being involved in the community. One thing that he enjoyed was the community band. They would have practices at various members’ houses each week. One week, Harry Garrison picked Oscar and his bass drum up for practice. They were meeting at a member’s house on the east side of the tracks. Oscar was happy to be going to practice and he channeled his enthusiasm into beating his drum as loud as he could. As they were crossing the railroad tracks, they couldn’t hear the train coming because of his loud playing and were hit. Oscar went flying from the car with his drum and broke both his ankle and drum. Harry was lucky and walked away from the accident. What a scary experience.

Oscar owned two canneries in Roy and later manufactured salads, puddings and potato chips.

You can find this story and more in a book called “Roy Utah Our Home Town” by Rose and Ida Dalton.