Esther Anderson Homer Stokes
R. M. H. CROCKETT
Esther Homer Stokes was the third and youngest of the daughters of Mary Caroline Anderson and Russell King Homer. She was born January l, 1865 at their home at the corner of Sixth South and Second West Streets in the Seventh Ward of Salt Lake City. Her mother had been in delicate health for quite some time, and she died When Esther was a baby. The mother died at the home of her father’s first wife, Eliza Williamson Homer, who became her mother and who raised her.
Esther’s early years were spent in Salt Lake; thence she went to Three-Mile Creek and to Clarkston with the Homer family, as is told in the history of her parents included in this volume. At the time the Homer family moved from ThreeMile Creek in Boxelder County to Clarkston, she was one of us children who were lost in the blizzard on the Cache Valley divide. One of the teams that came out to help us into town was driven by a youth by the name of Will Stokes. He was 16 and she was 12 years old at the time. They met on the top of the mountain in the snow; then and there began a romance that lasted throughout their lives. She remained in Clarkston for three years; meanwhile her friendship and romance with Will Stokes continued.
As she was very motherly and affectionate by nature, she was a great help in caring for other children. I will always remember how helpful and kind and thoughtful she was to all of us. When I was a little girl, no one else combed my hair quite as carefully or tucked me in bed quite as tenderly as did Esther. The day 1 was nine years old she made me a birthday cake, and that was a very important event in my life. She also gave me my first birthday present; it was a small lace collar. The giving meant a sacrifice to her, yet it made us both so very happy. she also made and trimmed the first large decorated cake I ever saw. The occasion was father Homer’s birthday, and it was one time when the whole family was home to celebrate.
I relate these personal incidents as they give an insight into her character. She was a little above medium height, she had blue eyes and blond hair. She had a good sense of humor and was fond of singing. She learned to play the accordion and was gifted with a very fine contralto voice.
After living in Clarkston for three years, she went back to Three-Mile Creek to live with some friends by the name of Thorne, as she could go to school there. She remained there one year and returned home to get married. She and Will Stokes were married September 22, 1881 in Salt Lake City. They then decided to go up to the Snake River Country and take up a homestead. They were among the first to homestead what is now Lewisville, Idaho. The winter of 1885 they returned and spent in Clarkston where on March 7 her first child, a daughter, was born. Thereafter, they went to live in the mining districts at Coeur D’Alene in northern Idaho where she spent the rest of her life. She and her husband had a family of nine children. Her husband was for some years the Road Supervisor in the Coeur D’Alene district. When her sons were old enough, they worked in the mines.
Although she lived for so many years far away from all of the rest of the Homer family, she was a good correspondent, often writing and sending pictures of her own family. Two of her boys, Henry and Russell, served in the United States Navy during the World War. Esther died October 9, 1928 at Kellogg, Idaho.
Her family consisted of the following:
| William Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| Esther Stokes | Arthur Lawrence Fernan |
| Henry Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| Russell King Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| Mary Caroline Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| Alice Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| George W. Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| John Edward Stokes | Edith Smelcer |
| Clara Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| Alice Stokes | Died Unmarried |
| George Washington Stokes | Leota Beatrice Showalter |
From left to right
Top – Russell Homer Stokes, William Hale Stokes, Henry Stokes, Elizabeth Jane Stokes, William Hale Stokes, Ester Anderson Homer, Eulalia Myler, Bessie Stokes
Bottom – Alice H Stokes, William Henry Stokes, John Edward Stokes, Elizabeth Jane Hale, George Washington Stokes
Image source: https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/memories/K2WK-952
Russell King Homer's History 