Ruth Sophrinia Mackey

Helen’s grandmother, Ruth Sophronia Mackey, married John McRoberts on July 27, 1865. McRoberts had fought in the Civil War in a Union Army regiment from Des Moines, Iowa. After the peace, he and Ruth Sophronia and their daughters crossed the plains along with 500 wagons moving westward from Bigelow, Missouri in 1875. Pulled by a team of white mules, they carried cheese, flour, dried fruit, bacon, clothing and bedding. At Salt Lake City, thirteen people, including John and Ruth, broke off from the others to head to Idaho where they settled in Midvale short for Middle Valley. John McRoberts first ran the post office there and the ferry service across the Weiser River during high water at Midvale. He later took up a 160-acre homestead where he raised cattle, pigs, and horse.