This History was written by Oather R. Roper
MARIA ELIZABETH WIMMER ROPER FULLER
By Oather R. Roper, a Grandson
William Wimmer and Sarah Maria Curtis were married January 8, 1865. Both the Wimmer and Curtis families had crossed the plains to join the Mormons in Utah. Both families settled in Springville.
Their first son, Willam Willis, was born 16 December 1865 in Springville. William and Sarah were sealed for time and eternity on 7 July 1866 in the Salt Lake Endowment House,
Sometime after the birth of their oldest son the Wimmer’s moved to Parowan, Iron County, Utah where William joined his brother Peter, who was already living in Parowan, in the operation of a shingle, mill.
On December 18,1868 a second child was born, a daughter named Maria Elizabeth. She was born in Parowan. Other children born to William and Sarah while they lived, in, Parowan were John Gardner, born 12 August 1871 and Robert Uriah, born 7 August 1875.
Sarah related that she taught school for several years after her marriage, taking her babies with her to school.
When Maria was 8 or 9 years old the family moved north to Fairview, Sanpete County. Sarah Isabell was born in Fairview 12 September 1878. The family remained in Fairview for two or possibly these years. It is not known what William did for a living during these years.
From Fairview the Wimmer family moved to Huntington where two more sons were born. Paris LeRoy born 7 November 1881 and Roy Edwin born 26 January 1885. The dates would indicate the family lived in Huntington for eight or nine years. The Huntington/Lawrence area is where Henry Roper homesteaded with his large family. When Maria Wimmer was about seventeen years of age she met William Roper. There has been no record
handed down to give any incidents of their courtship, but they were married 28 January 1886, probably in Huntington. I
During the spring or summer of 1886 The William Wimmer family and their daughter and her new husband, William Roper, moved from Huntington to Mountain Dell, Dryfork Canyon, 12 or 15 miles northwest of Vernal. That valley is not very wide, and has home’s and ranches along the valley for about two miles. The Wimmers lived in a small cabin in the valley. William Roper purchased two large tents and placed them on the hillside next to the mesa on the west, near a spring ‘of water. Work was scarce and the families lived in real pioneer style. William Roper herded sheep and any other kind of work available, and left the area for Periods of time in order to find employment.
Three sons were born to William and Maria while they lived at Mountain Den. William Henry born 13 December 1886, Argyle Wimmer born 2 September 1888 and Ross Edwin born 17 November 1890. Maria was often lonely and frightened when William had to leave to find work. When he returned home he would find that she had moved into the cabin with her parents rather than staying in her home.
The two families stayed in Mountain Dell for four or five years. Then, probably hoping to find better employment, both families moved to the Big Horn Basin in Wyoming, perhaps in the spring or summer of 1891 or 92. Homesteading was available in Wyoming at that time and they possibly felt it would be a good opportunity to acquire land and become self sufficient.
Apparently the opportunities were not so great as anticipated because it was not many years before the Wimmer family had moved back to Utah and settled in Fort Duchesne. This was the period when the government was building the Fort and had 600 black soldiers stationed there to keep peace among the Indians and whites. William Wimmer secured the mail delivery contract to carry the U.S. mail from Fort Duchesne to Whiterocks and other settlements to the north and to Ouray, on the Green River to the south.
We do not know much about William and Maria, except that they started back to Utah with the Wimmers. William was distressed that Maria was unable to break her ties to her family and go with him where he felt he could find work. When they reached Lander, Wyoming, this problem reached the breaking point and when Maria insisted on going on to Utah with her parents William left them in Lander and did not return to the family again. It was later learned that he traveled through Wyoming and Montana for years, working at ranches and herding sheep.
Maria said some people in Lander took her and the three little boys into their home and helped her get word to her parents. One of her brothers came to Lander to get them and once again Maria went to live with her parents. Life was difficult for Maria and she worked at menial jobs to help, support her children.
Somewhere during their stay in Wyoming Maria made the acquantance of a man named Orsin Oather Sheets, a, Wyoming cowboy and rancher. After Maria’s divorce from William, Mr. Sheets got in touch with her and they, were married., Again she moved her children to Wyoming and, lived on his ranch for a time. She had one son by this man, but the child died in infancy. Maria didn’t stay in Wyoming long. Orsin Sheets was a rather cruel man and did not treat her sons well, which lead Maria to finally leave him and return to her family in Ft. Duchesne.
Maria’s boys were now old enough to drive the buggies to deliver the mail for their grandfather Wimmer, or find other work for themselves. At a young age these boys learned to drive a team and to do farm work and perform other tasks necessary in that day.
There was very little work available for women in those days. Maria often did house work for other people and spent her evenings sewing and knitting. The family had moved so often that she had not acquired much education, and did not seem to enjoy reading as her mother did.
For a period of time after she left Mr. Sheets, Maria worked as a cook in Ouray for the Ouray Indian Agency. One summer afternoon Maria went for’a walk across the drab rolling hills of the Ouray area. Her attention was caught by something glittering on a hillside as the rays of the sun were reflected. She investigated and found a small ledge protruding from the hillside and small particles in the rock were catching the light. She broke off a piece of the material and took it back to her room. Later she took it to her parents home and eventually it was taken to Vernal. As different people looked at the rock they thought it looked like gold. Even one of the bankers in Vernal thought it might be gold and suggested the rock be sent to someone to have it assayed. The report came back that indeed it was a rich deposit of gold. Several family members spent many days hunting the area but never were able to find the ledge Maria spoke of. Appointments were also made with Maria for her to return to the area and show them where she found the rock, but each time she was to go to Ouray she became ill. She never returned to try and find the area.
After a few years in Fort Duchesne the Wimmers had saved enough money to purchase a small farm. They moved to Vernal and bought a farm and home in what was then NCR Ward (now Maeser Ward). Maria was still living with her parents when they moved to Vernal.
In Maeser Maria met William Fuller and was courted by him. They were married 20 November 1900 in Vernal. Will Fuller had saved enough money to buy a small farm, across the street south from the Wimmer family. William Fuller got along well with Maria’s children/ William, Argyle and Ross, so the boys stayed at home some of the time until after they were married.
To William and Maria were born five children:
Jesse Fuller, born 30 August 1901, Vernal, Utah
Roy Fuller, born 1.8 April 1906, Vernal, Utah
Sarah Rosella Fuller, born 13 July 1909, Vernal, Utah
Eldo Fuller, born 4 January 1914, Vernal, Utah
Ruth Marie Fuller born 27 March 1915
A few years after Maria married William Fuller she began to drink. Before long she had developed a real craving and found herself almost out of control. When her older sons discovered what was happening they took steps to stop her source of obtaining liquor and after a period of time she was able to get control of her life again.
About 1919 the Fuller family moved to Emmett, Idaho. Several of William’s brothers lived in Idaho. By this time Maria’s father had passed away and her mother was living with her, so her mother went with them.
They stayed in Idaho only a few years, then moved to California, near Oakland. A few ears later they returned to Boise, Idaho. The year after moving back to Boise the Fuller family leased a farm south of Boise, down in the gorge of the Snake River. Their intentions were to raise vegetables to supply to the markets in the cities. Their crops came up well, but when the weather got hot the rattle snakes that lived in the rocks and ledges came into their gardens in great numbers for the coolness and shade of the plants. When the family went into the gardens to harvest produce they had to wear heavy rubber boots and gloves and be very careful where they stepped. This daily process became hard on their nerves, so after one season they decided there were easier ways to make a living.
Maria and William purchased a nice bungalow home in Boise and were comfortable for a number of years. Then Maria developed some health problems which necessitated constant care. Jess, Roy and Sarah, all of whom lived nearby, tried to care for her in their homes. Finally she had to be placed in a rest home where she had a stroke which paralized most of her body, except one hand which she could move a little. Her heart was strong and it took nearly five years of suffering before she passed away.
During the time while Maria was in a rest home William Fuller had a heart attack and died 22 July 1949. Maria passed away 18 September 1951 in Boise, Idaho.
After waiting a year her daughter Sarah had the Temple work done for her parents. William, Argyle and Ross had never been sealed to anyone and this troubled the Ross’ sons. Oather, Voit, Bernarr and Darson, Ross’ sons, met with temple authorities and consent was given that William Roper and Maria should be sealed, and their three sons sealed to them. This work was done in. the Provo Temple on 28 February 1978 by the four men mentioned above.
Maria chose to marry three men, all of whom chose not to be active members of the church, and so it was left to their posterity to take care of the sealing ordinances for them.
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