In a one room and attic log house in [Paradise, Utah],... I was born adding one more to the already large family of my father and mother, James and Charlotte Elizabeth (Betsy) Lofthouse. I am the tenth.
A good old sister, Elizabeth Law, a midwife, standing by and welcoming me into this world of probation. With such a parentage and background as I have tried to describe, I leave it to you who may read this to judge for yourself, whether or not I have upheld the standards left to me by my parents. But in judging, I ask you to be impartial, weighing my faults, of which I have many, and my better qualities, if any, carefully before you pass upon my case.
In the shelter of love and protection, I grew up to young manhood not knowing want of food, my parents always having a well filled table, or the need of clothing, of which I was well provided, in fact, I was called the family sport.
Being the last in the family, I had it much my own way, going to school when I liked, and staying home when I wanted to. While I had the best of teachers, George S. Obray, Robert Pearce, Samuel Oldham, and two of his sons, Samuel and Ernest, James Law, a little hunchback, Jacob N. Larson, and Danford M. Bickmore, I was careless in my work, failing in my exams. I was unable to complete the eighth grade even though I took extra work under Bro. Bickmore. The only thing that got me as far as I went, was my daily work, and that wasn't anything to be proud of...
Just as I had much my own way in going to school, not fully realizing the importance of a good education, I worked when I felt like it, sometimes on the farm herding cows, etc and sometimes with the sheep. Not sensing the responsibility of work or the value of a dollar, I got everything I wanted just by asking for it. I lacked the proper training to meet the experience of life when I was placed on my own. I do not wish to blame my parents for this seeming lack of training, much of it was my own fault. If they were to blame, it was because of their love and over-indulgence to me their youngest...
It was during [the fall of 1904] that I first used my right as an American citizen to vote. My but what times we used to have at such times. Each party a having their candidates in the field holding rallies and giving parties and how they threw the muck, sometimes burning one another in effigy.
I remember on one such occasion, my brother Charley and I wanted to go out. But my mother did not wish us to go, so being angry, we sneaked up to our room and went to bed. My mother thinking we had gone out anyway, waited up for our return. She was still waiting when my brother Fred came in, who entering our room and seeing us in bed started to laugh. My mother hearing him wanted to know what was so funny. He spilled the beans by answering, "Here's the damn kids in bed!" Mother learning we were safe went to bed. Rather tough on her, but she never refused again when we wanted to go out...
Source: Autobiography