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James Berry Chandler

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James Berry Chandler

1861-1939

Born January 9, 1861 a Clairborne Parish, Louisiana, James Berry Candler is the second child of James and Elizabeth Frances Stewart Chandler.  His father volunteered for the Civil War and left his wife and two small children with his parents, Little Berry and Lucy Swan Chandler.  Near the end of the war, Benjamin, a young man of only 24 years of age contracted a devastating disease, died of measles on May 4, 1864 and was buried in Lynchburg, Virginia.  He left two children: James,  and his elder sister, Elizabeth Matilda Chandler, who was born in July, 1859, Elizabeth Frances, the widow of Benjamin , had to work at whatever  she could get to do to earn a living for Jim and is sister Matilda.  Jim’s mother would send him to sell butter and hand-made socks that she knitted to earn a living.  Jim often had to work all day for a cup of fresh, sweet milk for his supper because if he did not earn it, he had to drink skimmed milk which otherwise would be given to the animals to drink.  James Beery Chandler was an independent young man and had a terrible temper.  Once when his mother asked him to build the fire in the fireplace and he could not get the fire to burn to suit him, he began to beat the fire with a stick of wood and live coal popped out onto his sister’s dress and burned it to cinders.  It was Jim’s responsibility to make the fire for his mother to cook breakfast, and he was expected to get up so early in the mornings that he had to wait a long time for it to become light so they could go to work.  Jim vowed that when he was grown and was his own boss he would sleep as long as he wanted.

His mother was remarried in about 1866 to James T. Gaines.  She then took her two young children and moved to Texas.  She never contracted any of the Chandler’s again.  Jim never knew anything about his relatives.  There were a few memories that lingered in his mind, but they were so faint he could not be sure what was true and what was not.

James Berry Chandler, or Jim, as he was always called, was raised in Texas on the frontier and had very little chance for schooling.  This was one of his larger regrets.  He always said his children should never lack for an education.  His two great ambitions in life were to make his “little woman” happy and give his children a good education. He felt bitter disappointment when circumstances beyond his control prevented the complete education of his children, but one son and three daughters finally completed a college education.

In Texas they moved several times before finding a permanent home in Rock Springs, Edwards County, where they owned a ranch and small farm.  Jim had to go to the fields and help with the farm work and he said his stepfather made fun of him for being so slow and would often stand his hoe up and sit at the end of the row to see if Jim was moving. One day his stepfather told him that if he would hoe the rows clean they would give him an extra portion of his favorite food for dinner.  Jim went to the garden and went to work.  His stepfather soon came to see how he was doing and, much to his surprise, Jim had hoed up every plant along with the weeds.

His sister Matilda married Henry Thompson in 1878, and part of the time they all lived together at the farm.  Jim began to give way to his temper to such an extent that his brother-in-law told him that if he did not control it, it would lead him to the gallows.  Jim had never given to serious thought before, but he was sure he didn’t want to end up that way.

Eventually, his stepfather went into the sheep business and Jim herded sheep and took out his earnings in sheep.  He worked hard, and by the time he was 28 years old, he had accumulated 900 sheep and several hundred dollars on hand, and decided it was time to go and find a wife.  His mother’s older sister, Martha J. Stewart, had married a man named John A. York and was living in Arkansas.  Jim decided to go and visit them and look for a bride.  On the first day of May in 1889, he and his aunt’s family were on their way to a May Day picnic and passed a group of young people.  Jim saw an attractive young lady.  Finally, he tugged at his aunt’s arm and said gently, “that girl is mine.”  When they arrived at the picnic grounds, he jumped down off the wagon and kept looking for her.  The girl was Beaulah Hazeltine Brown.  She was indignant when she heard about the stranger that wanted to meet her, so she refused.  Later at another gathering they met again and became acquainted.  Him left soon after that and went back to Texas where he spent all that winter fixing his farm for his intended wife, because he planned to marry Beaulah in the spring.

Beaulah’s father depended on his daughter for everything.  He strongly objected to her marriage, giving as one reason their difference in age to meet at a cousin’s home in Malvern, Hot Springs County, Arkansas.  On the 30th of May, 1890 they were married.  When her father and brothers returned home from work for dinner and found she was gone, the father set the two brothers after her with guns, giving them strict orders to bring her back home even if they had to us the guns.  But the boys missed them.  Jim and Beaulah went to the train station and left Arkansas and went to Jim’s home in Texas. 

Their first child was born June 16, 1891, a daughter, and they named her Missouri Frances Chandler.  A son was born the following year on August 12, 1892, and they named him William Lion Chandler.  On November 2, 1893 they had a daughter named Hattie Matilda who died three months later on February 10, 1894.  James Walter Chandler was born September 23, 1895, and Tommie Brown Chandler was born May 24, 1897.  The name Tommie was the maiden name of Beaulah’s mother (Missouri Williams Tommie) and his middle name was her own maiden name.  Albert Jasper Chandler was born February 4, 1899.  All seven of these children were born in Rocksprings, Edwards County, Texas.

In about the year 1898, Jim sold his ranch and bought the city water works and blacksmith shop in Rocksprings, Texas.  He did all the blacksmith work and furnished water for the entire town.  He gave water to many people who were too poor to pay him and he was well liked by everyone that knew him.  Jim was appointed Road Overseer for one term in Edwards County.  His duty was to summon the men of his district to work the road when work needed to be done.  At that time, there lived a man in the district who was called a bully and had been in the habit of dodging his share of road work.  One time this man failed to appear so Jim reported the case to the proper authorities.  After court adjourned, this bully jumped onto Jim.  They had quite a struggle before Jim laid him out cold.

Beaulah was not in good health, and the doctor seemed to think another climate might be better for her.  Jim sold everything except 15 head of horses, and, on the third day of April, 1900, the family left Texas for Arizona.  He talked to his sister Matilida and her husband Henry Thompson and family into going with them. Before leaving, all their neighbors came by to bid them goodbye, and someone asked Jim why he was going to Arizona. He answered jokingly, that he was moving out among the Mormons to get another wife. Naturally they had a big laugh since all any of them knew about Mormons was polygamy. 

James Berry Chandler and Beaulah took five young children on this trip, ranging in age from one to nine.  Matilda and her husband had seven young children.  Each family outfitted a covered wagon holding all of their earthly belongings.  There was a white-top buggy for the two women and the children who were too small to walk.  Beaulah drove the white-top.  Henry drove one wagon and Him the other.  Henry’s two older sons Will and John Thompson, drove the loose horses.  They started out with 15 head but, since it was still spring, several colts were born on the trip.

Instead of going to Arizona, Jim settled in Lincoln County, New Mexico.  The journey had been more expensive than they had expected and the teams were tired.  The youngest baby, Albert, and Matilda’s daughter Lottie, both about two months old, were very sick.  Everyone expected the babies to die.  They had a bad case of summer complaint or dysentery.  They stopped in a place called Silver Springs Canyon, which was across the mountains from Alamogordo, New Mexico.  It was near a goat ranch.  Someone told them to feed the babies goat milk and they would get well.  The rancher was good to them and he let them have all the goat milk they needed for the babies. 

The two families landed in Capitan, New Mexico in July.  They camped near a creek.  The men obtained work in a coal mine in Colora, a few miles from Capitan.  In Colora the houses were all alike.  You had to count them to be sure you were in the right one.  In a few weeks they left and went to Angus, New Mexico, in a small valley where Jim took work on a farm. 

When it was crop planting time, they rented a small farm near a stream and raised vegetables and chickens to sell.  They also had a little orchard and raised apples.  They used to earn money by catching gophers and selling them for the bounty which was about 10 or 12 cents apiece.

It was about four to six miles from their place to the post office in Angus, New Mexico.  On Saturday afternoon, the family was going into town to get the mail and do the weekly shopping, when they met Henry coming home from town.  He said, “Jim there are two preachers over there who preach the best doctrine I have ever heard.  They will preach tomorrow, come over and hear them.”  When he told them the preachers were Mormons, Beaulah said, “I’ll not go to hear them.”  Beaulah was raised a “hard-shell” Southern Baptist.  She stayed home that Sunday and Jim went to hear them preach.  After the service, Jim went over to the Elders and asked to see their horns.  Of course they laughed and took off their hats to show their horns.  Jim told them he was very much impressed with the service.  The names of two missionaries were Elder James T. Lisonbee and Elder Edward R. Jones.

One day Jim went to the little town of Capitan with vegetables, eggs and chickens to sell.  After selling his load and buying groceries with the proceeds, just as he was leaving town, he happened to see the two Elders.  He knew they were on their way to his house and he thought about what people would say if they saw him with the missionaries, so he decided to turn around and take another way out of town.  James Berry Chandler went home, fed and watered his team, came into the house and no more than sat down by the fire than a knock came at the door.  It was the two Elders.  They had walked all the way from town, between four and six miles. Jim felt ashamed of himself that he invited them in and confessed what he had done.  Of course the Elders just made a joke of it.

After supper, just before time to retire, it was always the family custom to have a visiting minister (of any church) read a chapter in the Bible and say a prayer.  Elder Lisonbee read, then asked the young Elder Jones to offer prayer.  He appeared quite bashful and spoke slowly.  The family never forgot that prayer, there was something very impressive about its simplicity.  He asked the Lord to bless the night’s rest, that all might have strength to arise in the morning able to go about their work, that dreams might be for the enlightening of their minds, and that all might understand the truth. 

That night Beaulah had a dream.  To quote her own words: “I dreamed that I went to Salt Lake City and went to a beautiful temple which was enclosed by a rock wall.  I went into the temple, and had to go through a tunnel to get to the temple proper, then I was taken to the baptism room, where there was a fountain of water resting on 12 oxen.  The head and shoulders were turned away from the pool.  Then I strolled through the temple grounds, I saw many statues and all kinds of flowers.”  Although the dream was clear and very impressive she did not mention it to anyone the next day.  They had a good visit with the two Elders and soon they left, promising to return in two weeks.

During those two weeks, Beaulah had another dream.  Again, to use her own words; “That time I was sitting on the porch, when a man walked up and introduced himself to me.  I had never heard his name before; he said he was Brigham Young.  He sat next to me and we talked for a while. At the time I did not realize the significance of this dream.“

In two weeks, the missionaries came again; it was about the same time of day as it had been before.  After the evening meal was over, and the work was done, Beaulah went into the living room with the others who had gathered around the fireplace and were talking about many things.  They Elders were explaining various principles of the Gospel. Just as she walked in, one of the Elders had just taken out a Church paper from his valise.  On the front page was a picture of the prophet Brigham Young.  Beaulah was quite surprised and she said, “That’s Brigham Young isn’t it!”  The Elders asked if she had ever seen that picture before and she said, “No, but I saw the man in a dream the other night.”  She then related the dream about the temple, and the Elders said she could have described it better if she had been there in person.

One thing Beaulah noticed and liked about the Elders was that, when they came to the house, instead of expecting to be treated as a special guest (as the ministers of the other churches of that day did) they would offer their services to help with the work around the place.  One Elder used to milk the cows, and the other helped with the dishes.  The Chandler house became their headquarters during the two or so years while the family was in New Mexico.

James Berry Chandler bought a little book called, The Voice of Warning, by Parley P. Pratt.  He also bought a Book of Mormon.  At first Beaulah did not want to read anything.  But her husband was not a good reader, so he would ask her to read to him, which she did. In reading The Voice of Warning, Beulah became interested in the promise made by Moroni in the Book of Mormon.  When Beaulah read that she decided to test it.  So she began reading the Book of Mormon.  She was impressed and knew in her heart that if the Bible was the work of God, so was the Book of Mormon.

On Thanksgiving Day, November 28, 1901, they were baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  A Brother Lamb, a former Baptist Elder, and his family were baptized the same day.

A year after they joined the Church, they had another child.  She was born November 22, 1902.  They named her Ruth Florence Chandler.  A few months later, the family was stricken with influenza.  The three youngest children contracted pneumonia.  Andrew Berry Chandler, age two, died on January 18, 1903 and Ruth Florence Chandler, age two months, died on January 26, 1903.  The Elders had just just left the Chandler home days before the first death occurred.  There were no other Saints in the community.  After the first baby died, the other two were too ill for the parents to leave them, so a friend had to arrange for the grave and bury the baby.  Jim felt there must be some kind of funeral service. There was no one there but himself, so he and the two older children sang “Redeemer of Israel.”  He felt that the song would take place of a funeral service.

On Christmas day, December 25, 1903, Jim and Beaulah had another son, and named him Franklin Richard Chandler. 

Their ninth child, Jesse Stephen Chandler, was born April 11, 1906 in Capitan, New Mexico.  Jim acted as the doctor and nurse for his wife at this birth.  This was the year Jim felt an urgent need to take his children where there were Saints and a good school.  So again Jim pulled up stakes and went to Mexico.

They moved to Colonia Dublan, where there was an organized Ward.  It was a dramatic change in life style for them.  The LDS way of living was very new to them and they had a difficult time for a year or so.  They had always lived on the frontier.  Jim had a difficult time getting established.  But the family was blessed in many ways. 

One of their neighbor’s crop of potatoes was flooded by heavy rains and ruined.  He let the crop go unharvested and the next year it grew up in the weeds and tall sunflowers.  He told Jim if he would clear the weeds off all the ground and plant it again, Jim could have the potatoes for his work.  Him went to work and harvested enough potatoes to last the family through the winter.  They picked fruit for the neighbors and canned enough for themselves.  They lived on bottled peaches without sugar and bread and potatoes without seasoning except salt.  Despite the re-adjustments, the family loved living among the people and were determined to never live where the Church organization did not exist.

The first winter in Dublan, their baby boy, Jesse, took the measles and spinal meningitis, and he nearly died.  About the seventh he appeared to be breathing his last.  They called the Bishop and Ammon Tenney who administered to him.  All at once he relaxed and went to sleep.  The next morning he was well and sat up all day.

Two daughters were born to the family while living in Colonia Dublan.  Beaulah Alva was born March 24, 1908 and Hastletine was born February 28, 1910.  Jim finally obtained a contract with the railroad, and the family started to save money for a trip to Salt Lake City.  By June 1911, they had enough money saved to go to the temple to have our family sealed.

In the meantime, the people were told that they might have to leave Mexico and not to make any obligations where they had to go into debt.

The boys were working with their father on the railroad, saving some of their earnings for spending money on the trip to Salt Lake City.  When it came time to go, their son, Tommie, was sent to Dublan from the railroad camp to tell his mother when to leave.  He came on horseback and, on his way, asked his father to let him have the money he had saved which was $25.00.  His father told him he had batter leave the money he had saved with him for fear he might lose it on the way home.  Tommie begged his father to let him take it, so he finally gave it to him but warned him to be careful.  On the way he was robbed by two Mexican soldiers who took the saddle and bridle off the horse, search him, and took the money and left him to ride about 20 miles bareback.

The family had nine children, and the trip to Salt Lake City on the train cost them between 11 and 12 Mexican dollars.  They were gone a total of two weeks.

While they were in Salt Lake City, word came that the trouble in Mexico was about settled, so they went back and Jim signed a new railroad contract.  He went into debt for new material and bought new dump carts.

In 1912, soldiers demanded all their guns and ammunition from the colonists, and took cattle and horses at will.  The colonists were told to leave for their own safety.  The younger children and Beaulah left with the women and children in the first Exodus.  Jim and the two older boys remained working on the railroad contract and, sometime after the rest of the family left, rebels came and robbed the road camp, taking everything.  They captured Jim and took him to help fight a battle at Cumbre Tunnel.  Part of the trip was after dark, so he managed to escape.

The rebels loaded all the supplies on wagons and left.  That night the work animals made their way back to camp.  The two boys tailed them to where they left the wagons and proceeded to the pack animals.  The boys recovered the wagons and teams and returned to Dublan.  They then received news that the women and children were in El Paso where the city provided camping places for them.  From there, the U.S. Government and Church Authorities provided transportation for the people to whatever location they desired.

The James Berry Chandler family chose to go to Graham County, Arizona.  In September 1912, Jim and the two boys went to Arizona.  They moved around several times for the next three years, from Hubbard to Pima, and finally to Thatcher.  They chose Thatcher so that the children would be close to a school.

Beaulah’s brother, James Brown, died in July, 1917, and left her $2,500 in cash as well as land in Corpus Christi, Texas.  When they inherited the land, they soon discovered that they owed back taxes.  A few years later that property proved to have 40 acres of oil on it, and the people that took the property became millionaires. 

Jim and Beulah were grateful just for the cash inheritance, and bought property in Red Rock, Arizona.  Beaulah was called to be the Relief Society President in the Franklin Branch.  Eventually the family returned to Thatcher to make that their permanent home.  Jim Chandler died June 27, 1939.

Submitted by Eileen Miller, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border,

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 104

Charles Whipple

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Charles Whipple

1863-1919

Charles Whipple, son of Edson Whipple and Harriet Yeager, was born on September 9, 1863 in Provo, Utah, on the Bench, now called Orem.  Edson Whipple was acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and with Brigham Young and helped build the Nauvoo Temple.  He crossed the plains in the first company, driving Heber C. Kimball’s team and wagon and after the Saints landed in the Salt Lake Valley, he managed Kimball’s farm for him.

Edson was the husband of five wives and it is said that he had hoped to establish a colony of his sons and daughters on the shores of Utah Lake, west of Spanish Fork.  He was a cattleman and farmer and an influential man in the early days of Provo.  He was friendly to everyone and said he would not have an enemy.

Edson was called with his families to help settle Arizona.  They settled around Show Low in the northern part of the state.  Hans Hansen had also been called with his family to settle there.  That is where Charles met Annie Catherine Hansen, daughter of Hans Hansen and Mary Andersen.  Although Charles was eight years older than Annie, they were married in Snowflake when she was just past 15 by President Jesse N. Smith and went by team and wagon back to the St. George Temple.  There they received their endowments and were sealed on November 3, 1885.

In the spring of 1887 they went up to Park City where Charles got a job cutting ties.  After two years they were both back in Show Low.  Charles worked one season in Fort Apache with his father-in-law, Hans Hansen, doing mason work.  While they were in Provo, his own father, Edson Whipple, on account of polygamy, had moved with his two wives, Harriet and Amelia, to Mexico.  He had quite a few cattle and being an old man of 84, he needed Charles to help him.

They loaded their belongings in a wagon with a bed and stove in it.  After a long tiresome journey, they arrived in Colonia Juarez in the fall of 1889.  When they reached the top of the hill looking into Colonia Juarez they said it looked like a little paradise.  They moved out on the Whipple ranch eight miles from town where they milked cows and Annie made butter and cheese to sell.  They also served many free meals to people going and coming who liked to drop in.  Charles liked to have company and he liked Annie to cook up a good meal for his friends.  He was very free-hearted and liked to entertain.  In later years as his family grew he liked to invite young people in from the neighborhood.  They would gather around the organ and sing, or just sing without the organ, maybe with a guitar or two.  He liked singing and music.  He always sang when he got out of bed in the morning.  If others were not awake they soon would be.  He was a religious man, too.  His children remember how he would get them up early in the morning and gather around the fireplace and read from the Bible or Book of Mormon.

While they were on this ranch, Annie was alone much of the time and she had many frightening experiences.  The following is one she and Charles had, quoted from her own biography.

It was during the summer of 1892, while we were living on the Palo Quemado ranch about 8 miles from Colonia Juarez, up toward the mouth of the canyon, tho we had been warned to move into tow.  But our cows were there and we were making butter and cheese –our only source of income.  Apache Indians had been on raids in the mountains of Mexico stealing crops, cattle and horses.

Two weeks after the warning we were awakened by a horse tramping around the house.  My husband got up to see about it, and found it to be a horse with a saddle on it, so he tied it to the wagon wheel.  After daylight he went out and examined it and found it to have a United States government saddle with rawhide shoes and rawhide lariat.  We knew it to be stolen by the Indians.  We thought it had just strayed away.  The fact was, it had escaped from some Apaches camped a short distance from the wash.  We were sure they had planned a daylight raid, but losing the horse had prevented it.  The next morning, while Charles and Sam Hawkins, a hired boy, were out gathering calves which were allowed to graze at night while the cows were corralled, I stepped out just before sunup to see if I could see them.  I saw an Indian lassoing our riding mare which we had hobbled and left to graze.  Their horses were staked nearby in the tall grass which waved like a grain field.  He got on another horse, lassoed it and led it for a little way then got down, removed the hobbles, and started toward the mountains.

After he had taken the hobbles off, my husband discovered him and ran toward the house.  The boy came running in breathless to tell us he had seen a bunch of Indians down in the wash.  Charles wanted to follow him to recover the horse, but I begged him not to go.

After the Indians had gone we sent Sam to town to tell the people and to get help.  Mexican soldiers were sent from San Diego, about 8 miles away to search for the Indians.  Since my husband accompanied them I was left with a ten-year-old girl who was helping me and my two-year-old Jennie.  The soldiers lost the trail of the Indians and returned the same night.  We were left alone, Charles having his gun beside the bed in case of attack.

The next night we heard a horseman coming and thought perhaps it was Indians.  But before he got there he started to whistle to relieve our fears.  He brought word that the whole Thompson family had been killed the morning after they (the Indians) had been scared away from our place.

The next morning, while Charles with his gun on his shoulder was out hunting calves he saw about six horsemen coming over the ridge from the mountains.  He thought they might be Indians and ran to the wash to head them off.  When he turned to climb down into the wash he saw they were white men.  Soon the Helaman Pratt family from the mouth of the canyon, about 8 miles away, came and stayed all night with us.  The next morning we all moved into town.

For awhile Charles and his family lived in town where they bought a lot and planted an orchard.  Later they traded this for a bigger place about three miles up the Piedras Verdes River.  This place also had a young orchard planted on it. There was no house on the place, so Charles bought brick and hauled lumber from the canyon.  He hired a man to help him build the structure.  This four-room brick house was their first real home in Mexico.  While the house was being built the family lived in a shanty, the roof of which consisted of boards, and it had a dirt floor.  When it rained they had to roll up the bedding and set pans around to catch the water.  While living in the shanty Charles’s father, Edson Whipple, died at the age of 89.

When the family moved into their little, new home, they had neighbors all around.  Bishop George W. Sevey and the Alfred Bakers lived on one side.  The James Dartons, and Vance Shaffers and the Brigham H. Pierces lived on the other, downriver, side.  All of them lived close by.  Not long after moving, Annie was looking for another visit from the stork.  They were quite worried because during September it rained, rained, rained, and the river rose higher and higher.  The town was on the other side of the river and no bridge across it.  Charles came in one evening and said that if the stork held off for another day he would be able to cross the river in a boat to get to the midwife.  But the stork couldn’t wait, and on October 4, 1895, Charles Hansen, the first son was born, with just a neighbor woman in attendance.

It was soon after this that Aunt Mary Louise Walser came into the family.  She was the daughter of John Jacob Walser and Mary Louisa Frischknect.  It was not exactly easy for any of the three of them, but Charles was a fair-minded man, and he always called his family tighter to talk things over and to straighten out difficulties.

One autumn Charles Whipple went to Sonora with a load of apples to sell and was brought home sick.  The doctor pronounced it appendicitis and recommended an operation.  But in that day operations were not common and the results were unsure, so he put it off for awhile.  Finally he decided to go to Salt Lake City to have it done.  His wife Mary accompanied him on this trip and also received her endowments.  The children remember how before he left he gathered them around him and told them that if there was any quarreling while he was gone he might not get well.  Of course, they didn’t quarrel!  The operation was successful and he recovered his health.

After the return Annie continued to live on the ranch, and Charles bought a place in town and moved Mary there. Pearl and Jennie stayed in town with Mary and went to school, but they usually walked home on Friday evenings.  The boys, Charley and Ted, either walked to school or rode a horse.

During the summer of 1900, Grandma Whipple came to the ranch to make her home with Charles and Annie.  She remained only about a year and then went to Thatcher, Arizona to visit a daughter.  There she died in 1901.  Soon after this Charles began to ship fruit to El Paso and to different parts of Mexico.  He was just getting started when a call came from “Box B.”           Quoting from Annie’s history:

In the spring of 1905, Charley came in with a letter from “Box B.”  We all knew what that meant… a call to a mission.  He opened it and read it and asked “What shall I do?”  I wouldn’t think of having him turn it down.  He wondered what we would do without him with our big families.  I said “We will get along alright.”  [By this time Annie had six children and Mary had four.]

He wrote to headquarters and asked for a few months to get ready.  They told him he could wait till his fruit crop was harvested and he could straighten out his affairs.  Then, to top it off, I was in a delicate condition and as expecting another visit from the stork about the middle of January, so he asked to stay till I was over with it, and that was granted.  On January 4, 1906, Augustus was born.

Charles Whipple left for his mission while Annie was still in bed with baby Gus, only eight days old. Sometimes Charles Hansen and Jennie took loads of fruit to sell at Casas Grandes, about 12 miles away.  The boys plowed about an acre and planted corn and a garden.  For the first year after Charles left, things went rather smoothly.  The family kept well and got on very well financially.  In the fall, Annie and Sister Sevey went to El Paso to do some shopping.  They stopped overnight in Dublan where Annie’s daughter was exposed to the measles.  Ten days after returning from El Paso, she came down with the disease.  I (author) was the only one that had them before.  Annie as well as the other children were all exposed from Cleah.  Even though Annie didn’t feel very well, she took care of them all.  She herself was soon afflicted with the disease.  They could not get a doctor or a nurse but Mary brought three children and helped care for Annie and the others.  Annie was very, very sick before they could get the measles to break out.  The, about the time she got well, Mary’s three children became sick.  In the fall when the boys started school, they got whooping cough.  In the spring Baby Gus took pneumonia and was very sick.  Jennie remembers sitting all night with him in her arms.  Annie still was not very well.

From Annie’s history, we receive an account of another exciting incident:

In the fall of the same year (Charles was still in the Central States Mission), I was getting ready to go to town to do some shopping… Young Charley was driving and I sat in the spring seat besied him and held the baby in my arms.  Edson, Cleah, and Clyde sat in the back on a quilt watching the butter and eggs.  We had gone about two-thirds of the way to town when the horses started to run away. Charley put on the brake and tried to hold them, but he could not stop them.  I was afraid the baby would be thrown off my lap so I handed him back to Cleah.  I took hold of the lines and thought maybe I could stop them, but I could not.  Then I discovered the cause of the runaway.  One of the horses had slipped his bridle off onto his neck and we could not guide them. About the time I felt myself slipping, but I didn’t know when I hit the ground.

When I came to, I heard Charley crying, “I’m killed, I’m killed.” He was lying about 5 feet from me, and I could see the other children strung along the road.  But when I tried to get up everything went black before me.  When Charley saw that I could not get up he came to me.  He picked up one of the buckets we had brought eggs in and brought water from the river and wet my head.  As soon as I tried to move everything went black again.  By this time Cleah, Edson, and Clyde came to me.  Edson and Clyde had cuts on their heads but Cleah didn’t have any cuts, just bruises.  None of them had any broken bones.  We couldn’t see the baby anyplace, and the wagon was turned bottom side up and the horses had stopped.  I was afraid the baby was under the wagon, but we finally found him under the overturned seat.  He must have been stunned, but when they picked him up he was all right.  I was thankful we were all alive.  Edson rode one of the horses to town and Brig Pierce and Ernest Turley put a cot in a wagon and came for me.

Annie was taken to Apostle Taylor’s home where his wives Roxey and Rhoda cared for her.  In fact they took in the whole family.  After about three weeks, when Annie was a little better, she insisted on going home so they could pick the fruit and take care of things.  The children stayed out of school until the fruit was harvested and the corn gathered.  They rented a house and moved into town, where they stayed until Charles returned.

Charles Whipple began shipping fruit again, mostly apples and pears, in carloads all over Mexico.  He built a house in town, which the family lived in only about a year when they had to leave because of the Revolution.

Annie was ill with typhoid fever at that time.  Charles returned one night about eleven o’clock from the town meeting where it had been decided that the whole town would leave for El Paso in the morning.  He told the family to pack their clothes, bedding and a few things.  This was in July and baby Catherine was about one year old.  They expected to be back in about three or four weeks at the most.  Annie was not told until they were ready to go because of her illness.  Third class coaches were waiting on the track.  A bed was made for Annie on one of the benches.  After arriving in El Paso, they were taken to a newly finished, but unfurnished, apartment building along with a number of families.  Annie continued to be sick.  When the doctor was sent to see her, he told her she had typhoid fever and would have to go to the hospital.  She told him she had no money, but he said she would be cared for anyway.

Charles Whipple was one of the men chosen to remain in Colonia Juarez to see about rounding up his cattle and horses, and closing the houses or leaving them in charge of Mexican neighbors.  The family was very glad to see Charles when he came bringing the team and wagon.  Since the United States was furnishing transportation for many families who could find homes with relatives, Annie and her family went to Holbrook on the Santa Fe Railroad.  There, two of Charles’ brothers, Ned and Willard, met them and took them to Show Low.  Annie’s brother, Hans, took them from therer to Lakeside, Arizona.  Later, Charles brought Mary and her family to Lakeside as well.  We all lived on the ranch near the little town of Shumway, Arizona where Jennie taught a country school.

In mean time, Mary’s father and his families had returned to Mexico and was urging all to return.  Charles finally consented and Mary and her family went back to live in the old home.  She was sure Annie and her children would follow later, but before they could bet arrangements made, Mary suddenly died.  Annie had rented a place in Snowflake, serving meals and renting rooms to help make a living.  About a year after Mary’s death, Charles Whipple was killed.  He had taken a load of wood to Holbrook and was to haul freight back, a distance of about 25 miles.  Something frightened the horses.  He was thrown to the hard ground, suffered a fractured skull and in ten days died on April 13, 1919. He was taken to Snowflake for burial.  Annie was left to care for her own younger children, with no home except the evacuated one in Mexico.  She accepted the responsibility of the seven motherless and now fatherless children and with the help of the Walser’s was able to care for them until they were grown.  She not only survived her 43 years of widowhood, but creditably maintained herself in her home in Mexico for a time, then managed to build a duplex in Mesa, Arizona, renting one part to enable herself to subsist.  There she died on October 25, 1962.  She had ably earned for herself a place among the stalwarts of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico.

Jennie W. Brown and Pearl W. Cooley, daughters

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 764

John William Heder

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John William Heder

1856 – 1940

In 1856, Mormon Missionaries came to the home of John O. Heder.  He was not there at that time, he being in the service of the King of Sweden as an officer in the standing army.  Officers were furnished two and a half acres of land, a house to use as they liked, and the precinct in which they lived furnished them two hundred pounds of pork, two barrels of rye, two barrels of oats, five barrels of potatoes, two hundred pounds of beef, and wood.  He received a salary of 15 Rickstolan a month.  This made for a good living, so he always had plenty.

The missionaries introduced themselves as preaching the true Gospel of Jesus Christ just as it was found in the New Testament.  They told John’s wife, Christine, about the angel appearing to the boy prophet Joseph Smith.  Christine became interested at once for she was a very religious woman and had never been satisfied with the way the Lutherans had taught her.  Here the Mormon Elders found a home and were made welcome.  They explained the Gospel to her and made her home theirs while they were working in that part of the country. 

On the next furlough, John gave his consent to his wife to be baptized, but said the Lutheran Church was good enough for him.

By the time the Elders came again, Christine was ready to be baptized.  She told the Elders that she had her husband’s consent.  She was baptized and a dozen or so more in the vicinity were also baptized. By the time John came home on his next furlough, persecution had started and all except Christine had apostatized.  They told Christine that the Elders were false, and if she had any more to do with them, she would be in danger.  They would have the Elders arrested and whipped until they couldn’t return.  They said they would lay in hiding to guard her home and catch the Elders.  Christine had been a Mormon for some time when John came home.  The missionaries were there.  John came home after dark, was tired and went right to bed.  Christine told her husband of her baptism, of the apostasy, and the threats made to the Mormon Elders.  John had heard a little of it from some of the soldiers, so that he was already upset.

Just then, a rap came at the door.  Christine thought perhaps it was someone coming to molest the Elders.  Another rap much louder came, and some words and swearing.  John caught the word Mormon.  Out of bed he jumped, opened the door, and asked what they wanted around his house this time at night.  When the mobbers caught a glimpse of John, they ran as fast as they could with John after them barefooted and only in his night clothes.  It was snowing and the snow was five or six inches deep.  He chased them for about two blocks, then the snow and frozen ground prevented him from going farther.  He returned home, but mobbers never bothered them again.

The Elders were left in peach to preach the Gospel to John all the days following.  By the time his furlough was up, he was converted to the Gospel.  He told Christine to warn anyone not to molest his house under penalty of receiving 40 stripes for molesting the King’s premises.

When he returned to headquarters, he asked for his release.  He had served one year longer than his enlistment.  His release did not come, but he got a furlough of three weeks for which he was happy.  He had been away from home a long time, and had preached the Gospel to the soldiers and higher officers.  When he reached home, the Elders were not there.  Just how long he had to wait before they came is not known, but when they came, he was baptized. The Elders were still in danger, so stayed close until John’s furlough was up. 

Word came that the mob had been seen just over the hill about a mile from the house.  John, in full uniform, sword and glittering badges on, started with the Elders for town.  When they come over the hill, the mob made their appearance.  When they saw an officer of the King with the Elders, they knew what that meant so they went another direction.  John and the Elders made their report in town, and returned home finding Christine waiting to hear the news.

A few days later, John had to leave for headquarters to be gone for several months.  He again made his request for a release.  Several months later, he was called to headquarters.  The General asked him why he wanted his release.  He said he was a Mormon and wanted to go to America.  The officer said that they did not care what he believed.  “Your name has been submitted for promotion.  You have shown in your service that you have honored the name the King gave you.  We want such a man.”  But John answered, “I have done my duty while serving, and have honored the position I hold, also my country, and I think I am entitled to my release.  I have served two years longer than my enlistment.”  The General agreed, and said that if that was what he really wanted, he could have it.  A short time later, he was honorably released with high honors and a present from King Karl XIV.  He was given the Swedish Coat of Arms and a trunk with several small compartments on it. He was released in the fall of 1862 and was set apart as a home missionary.

In April, 1863, he migrated to America.  They left Liverpool on the 8th of May on the British ship Kimball with 654 Saints under the direction of Hans Peter Lund.  The party of Saints arrived in New York on the 15th of June 1863.  From there, they went by train to Council Bluffs, Iowa.  From Council Bluffs they made their way to Omaha.  From here they started over the plains by ox and team and handcart.  John and Christine walked from Omaha to Salt Lake City.  They arrived in Salt Lake City on November 9, 1863.  John William Heder was a boy of seven years old. 

When John W. Heder arrived in Salt Lake City with his parents, they lived in a one-room adobe house.  His father helped President Young harvest carrots which he was paid in pig rinds.

The next year, they rented a farm and raised 200 bushels of wheat for their part.  John W. and his mother again gleaned wheat.  It amounted to 21 bushels.  They sold it and bought a pair of oxen that had crossed the plains six times.

In the fall of 1865, they moved to Huntsville. A man borrowed their wheat to pay off his debts, promising to return the wheat to them in Huntsville.  When they went to get their wheat, there were only a few bushels and it was frozen and no good for bread.

The next five years were hard years, due to grasshoppers.  They had to live on half rations.  Breakfast usually consisted of a little flour and bran bread with a cup of skim milk. 

In 1871, they started again raising crops and the earth yielded a forth her strength.  When the Union Pacific Railroad was built through Weber Canyon, John William’s father got work and from that time on they got along pretty well.  Crops matured and they built another and better house. John William worked with his father on the farm and built barns and log houses for other people.

His mother and sister Sophia, corded and spun wool and wove cloth for Heber C. Kimball’s family and others and saved a little money with which they bought another cow and three or four sheep.

John William Heder began his self-education early.  He ambitiously applied himself and mastered the carpentry, cabinet making and wheelwright trades. His father who had received his training in the “Old Country” was his teacher, and a good one.  He used every opportunity to learn other occupations as well.  He learned framing, dairying, storekeeping, mining, lumbering, and sawmilling. He built many homes, churches, schools, barns, stores, canals, and railroad bridges, at various intervals in Utah, Mexico, and Arizona.  He hated idleness and never wasted precious moments.  

In the spring of 1877, a man from Montana wrote offering to pay John William $40 per month, and room and board.  That was very good wages for those times.  He walked a distance of 800 miles in 11 days and nights.  He worked for this man about two years.

After two years, he returned home.  His mother was overjoyed to see him.  She had been told that Indians had killed him. 

He had a good time with his old friends in the winter.  He became acquainted with a young lady by the name of Anna Madsen.  They kept company for a short time, and he found that she cared for him.  He asked her to marry him.  She consented and he bought her a ring.  They set their wedding date for late March.  They were married on May 22, 1879 in the Salt Lake Endowment House.  Then they returned home to Huntsville. 

They lived in Huntsville for several years.  They were close neighbors, and dear friends of the David O. McKay family. Brothers David and Thomas McKay taught several of the other Heder children in school.

In 1885, John William Heder received a letter from the First Presidency asking him to go to San Juan to help settle that country.  He had sold his share in the mill and was ready to start with his family.  But he had his mother who was a widow now to support, too.  Bishop David McKay and President Shurtliff wrote the First Presidency wand had him release from that mission.

On February 23, 1895, he left on a trip to Mexico.  He was gone about two months.  He saw lots of country.  When he got back to Huntsville, he made arrangements for his brother-in-law to take charge of the sheep that summer and got all his business in shape, because he thought that he might want to return to Mexico. 

He and a friend, Bert Engstrom, bought a sawmill and had it taken to Ogden and then shipped to El Paso.  There he chartered two railroad cars and a passenger car.  On one car they shipped the mill and machinery, and on the other their horses and furniture.  There were 24 people in the passenger car, all family and friends.

They were met in Magdalena by Benjamin F. Johnson, David B. Brown, Ben Judd, and Nathan Tenney from Colonia Juarez.  They loaded all the goods and machinery into their wagons and went overland to the colonies.

Things had been badly misrepresented about the need and market for sawed lumber for a few houses.  Before long, the mill was moved to Garcia, near Round Valley.  There they had some hard years plowing, planting, building fences, with little to eat but cornbread or mush.  But they pulled through, and within a year or two they were able to build a nice home and barn.

Three more children were born to them while they lived in Mexico.  He traded his home in Chuhuichupa to Ira L. Wilson for Wilson’s home in Colonia Dublan.  After a few years, he purchased another place in the north end of town, the Hansen Place.

In July, 1912, they all had to leave Mexico on account of the Revolution.  They went to El Paso in boxcars and camped in a lumber yard until they could determine some place to go and start again.

They relocated to Tucson, Arizona.  They worked and lived there for two years.  Then they went to Mesa, Arizona, and except for a short stay in California, lived there until their deaths.  

John William Heder died November 6, 1940 and Anna died June 9, 1955, in Mesa.

Anna May Evans Farnsworth, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border,

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 264  

Byron Harvey Allred, Sr.

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Byron Harvey Allred, Sr.

1847-1912

Byron Harvey Allred Sr.’s parents were William Moore Allred and Orissa Angelia Bates.  He was their third child.  He was born 29 May 1847 at Council Bluffs, Winter Quarters, Iowa, during the Saints’ westward migration to the Rocky Mountains.

Byron Harvey Allred was a third generation Mormon, his grandparents, Isaac and Mary Calvert Allred having accepted Joseph Smith as their prophet in the early days of the Restoration.

Byron Harvey Allred Sr. married Phoebe Irene Cook and to them were born two children, Byron Harvey Allred Jr., and Myra Irene.  His second wife, Alta Matilda Rolph, gave him his largest family, bearing him 11 children.  They were Arville Albert, Melvin Calvert, Alta Matilda, Minnie Diantha, Ednar Jay, Cora, Eva, Orissa, Cyrus William, Orsen Parley and Rolla Olan.  His third wife, Mary Eliza Tracy added four more children to the family:  Henry Garcia, Lorain, Lavon Tracy and Mary Viola.  This made a total of 17 children.

The family went to Mexico in 1890.  They moved to the mountains, living in Colonia Garcia for several years.  They then moved to Poverty Flat, named that because of the hardships they went through at that time.  He taught school in Colonia Pacheco.  While living in Poverty Flat, Byron was digging a well.  One night he dreamed that the bottom fell out.  He decided not to dig the next day and, that night, it caved in and filled up nearly to the top.  He felt that it had been a warning to him.  From there they moved to the valley.  They lived near Colonia Dublan, then moved to Guadalupe around the year 1900.  They spent the remaining years that they lived in Mexico in Guadalupe.

Aunt Irene felt that they needed a nurse as there was very little medical help in the colonies.  So she went to Salt Lake City and entered the LDS Hospital, returning to the colonies after two years of training. 

Byron prospered in Guadalupe, providing his families with some of the good things of life that they had been denied through the years of their poverty.

Byron Harvey Allred Sr. had a keen sense of humor and was the life and laughter and spirit of the home.  He had strong convictions and beliefs.  He was a father to love, but also to obey.  He was President of the Guadalupe Branch. 

The time came in the summer of 1912 that the people had to leave the colonies because of the Revolution.  He had his homes well- furnished for those times.  He moved a friendly Mexican family into one of the homes to care for things until they could return.  He and his family left with the first group out.  After a few days in the “sheds” in El Paso, Texas, they moved into a house.  During this time, he sent his wife Irene to Blackfoot, Idaho to visit her son. 

While yet in El Paso with his families, they were in need of a tub and washboard so he went to town to buy them.  When he came back he lacked his usual cheery greeting.  A tired, weary man took his last few steps.  He died of a heart attack August 6, 1912, and is buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in El Paso. 

Mary Viola Stout, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, page 13,

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

 

Franklin Scott

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Franklin Scott

1851 – 1901

Franklin Scott, first son of Andrew Hunter Scott and Sarah Ann Humphrey-Roe, was born December 1, 1851, in Salt Lake City, Utah.  In the spring of 1852 his parents moved to Provo, Utah.  He was baptized and confirmed a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May 21, 1861, by Edson Whipple.

Franklin Scott grew up on the farm, learning by experience how to turn barren desert land into fruitful fields.  He was a sickly child on account of his parents not being able to provide the proper food and clothing for him.  From the time he was eight years old until he was 14 he attended a log cabin school during the winter months.

He was ordained a Deacon when he was 14 years old and presided over a quorum of Deacons in the Second Ward of Provo for two years. Franklin Scott was ordained an Elder in April, 1866.  In this same year he drove an ox team in the company of his father to the Missouri River to help Saints coming to Utah.

On April 4, 1870 he married Sarah Ellendor Stubbs in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.  To this union 11 children were born, 5 sons and 6 daughters.  On May 2, 1877, he married Eliza Rachel Stubbs, sister of his first wife.  By this married he had 9 children, 5 sons and 4 daughters.

In 1873 he took up some land and built a home in the river bottoms of Provo, near Vineyard.  Here Franklin Scott farmed and hauled farm products to the mining camps.  When the Fifth Ward was organized he was ordained a High Priest and was set apart as Second Counselor to Bishop O. Madsen, where he served until he was called to go to St. Johns, Arizona, in 1881.  He helped build the first meetinghouse in St. Johns and asked the blessing on the first sacrament administered in that meetinghouse.  He was also First Counselor to the YMMIA and a teacher in the Sunday School for four years. 

On account of being a polygamist, he went to Mexico in May 1884.  After being in Mexico three weeks he was advised to return to the Gila River where he contracted chills and fever and had to remain eight months.  He then returned to Provo, Utah in May 1885.  He worked in Spanish Fork Canyon buying charcoal.  In 1886 he was arrested for unlawful cohabitation with his wives.  But when placed on trial, he was discharged for lack of evidence.  He worked in the Manti Temple during June of 1889.

In 1890 Franklin Scott went to Mexico and settled in Pacheco, where he built the first house in this settlement.  On April 11, 1894 at the organization of the Oaxaca Ward, he was set apart as Bishop by Brigham Young, Jr.  He labored faithfully for six years, and helped build the first meetinghouse in Oaxaca.

About 6:00 p.m. on August 7, 1901, at age 49, he was killed by lightning while on his way home from his farm.  He was buried August 8, 1901, in Oaxaca, Sonora, Mexico, leaving 2 wives, 10 sons and 10 daughters.

Inez Haymore Standage

Stalwarts South of the Border, page 602

Miles Park Romney

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Miles Park Romney

1843 – 1904

The family tree from which Miles Park Romney sprang had its roots planted in English soil centuries before the family came to America.  They belonged to the middle class.  Miles Romney, father of Miles Park, married Elizabeth Gaskell.  Miles P. was the 5th child of seven children and 4th born to this couple.

Miles and Elizabeth, on their way to market, saw a group of people assembled on a street corner.  They were curious as to what attracted the crowd.  They discovered it was a religious gathering and that the preacher was a Mormon missionary from America.  They learned later that it was Orson Hyde, an Apostle, to whom they had listened.  This was in 1837.  In September, 1839, Miles Romney, his wife and son George were baptized. 

The family left England in 1841 to gather with the Saints in Nauvoo.  It took 51 days to reach New Orleans.  Miles Park Romney was born August 18, 1843, in Nauvoo, Illinois, a little less than one year before the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum.  Three years after his birth, the Saints were driven from their beloved city.

Destitute, the family sought employment among strangers in three or four places, finally finding temporary employment in St. Louis, Missouri, where they remained until 1850.  Then they were on the move again, this time to join the Saints in Salt Lake City, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles.  The hardships and trials of this journey no doubt had a profound effect in molding the character of this lad.  While a young, barefoot boy, he herded cows at the base of the Wasatch Mountains with other boys.  One of them was Joseph F. Smith, who later became President of the Church.

Because of the need to help support the family, Miles P.’s education was neglected.  He went to school but a few terms in his entered life.  In fact, he never entered a schoolroom after he was 12.  Yet, through his own efforts he became a well-educated man.

During the Johnston’s Army episode, he brother George was a captain among those sent by President Young to harass the federal army and keep them from entering the city.  Miles P., only 14 then, had great aspirations for military service and followed his brother several miles up the canyon east of the city, much to his brother’s displeasure.  No argument proved sufficient until Captain George thought of a scheme which worked.  He wrote a letter President Young asking that the boy be kept home.  He told Miles he had a special message for the President which should be delivered.  Miles accepted the mission proudly, having no idea of the contents.  He was kept home.

In those early days great stress was placed by President Young and other leaders upon the importance of early marriage.  At one time President Young said, “Let every man over 18 years of age take a wife and then go to work with your hands and cultivate the land or labor in some mechanical business or some honest trade to make a living for yourself and those who are dependent on you for subsistence.”  An ardent admirer of President Young, Miles P., at the age of 18, married Hannah Hill.  Just three weeks after the marriage, Miles P. was called on a mission to the British Isles.

On April 9, 1862, he left and on the 26th day of July arrived in Liverpool.  He labored first in the Manchester and London districts, and finally was made President of the Cheltenham Conference, a position he held until his release in April 1865. Miles P. had barley arrived in the mission field when called to speak.  He stood faced the audience, but not one word could he say.  He got up the 2nd time with the same result.  He did not give up.  The 3rd time words came haltingly from his quivering lips.  The audience may not have been much enlightened, but they would not forget.  The young missionary had achieved a victory that was of untold value to him in his ministry and throughout his life.  His fluent speech and magnetic personality, with his implicit faith in the Gospel, contributed to his success as a missionary.  During his mission he became very ill and was forced to go to a doctor, who told him he had but six months to live. But he did not give up.  Every night he prayed that he might be able to complete his mission and return to his loved ones.  His prayers were answered.

On the ship Belle Wood, on which he sailed for home, were a large number of Saints, organized into nine wards.  Miles P. presided over one of them.  In November 1865, on his return to Salt Lake City, he was greeted by his wife and daughter, Isabell, who was only two years old, and whom he had never seen.

In 1867 he entered plural marriage by taking to wife Carrie Lambourne.  In October 1867, with 157 other heads of families, he was called to settle St. George, where he was employed as a skilled workman.  He worked on the St. George Tabernacle which was completed in 1871.  When it was decided that a temple should be built in St. George, his father, Miles Romney, was appointed to superintend the work.  He was assisted by Miles P. On one occasion President Young in a public meeting thus addressed Elder Romney: “Brother Romney, would you like to go to Heaven?” The answer came, “Yes, Brother Brigham, I think I should like to go there.”  “Then,” said President Young, “You must join the Order and take charge of all the building in southern Utah.”  

On November 8, 1869, Miles P. was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a member of the High Council.  In September 1873, he married Catherine Cottam in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City and again, scarcely four years later, he married Annie W. Woodbury.  In 1875, he was called on a mission to the Northern States.  Part of the time he was appointed to preside over the Mission. He was gone 10 months, and baptized 33 converts.  On April 17, 1877, he was ordained Bishop of the St. George 1st  Ward.  He also served as Superintendent of the Sunday School and Stake Superintendent of the YMMIA.  On September 15, 1878 he was release as Bishop as his request.

In 1881 he was called by the First Presidency to leave St. George and settle in St. Johns, Arizona.  While there he acted as First Counselor to Bishop David King Udall and edited and published a newspaper.  He was a member of Dramatic Association and leading contractor and builder in this area.  But on account of trouble with land claim jumpers, and with the consent of the First Presidency, he returned with his plural families to St. George.  There, political conditions made it necessary to leave that section of the country.

After only three weeks, he left with his wife Annie and her three children for Mexico.  There they settled in Camp Turley on the Casas Grandes River, but moved with the camps to Old Town on the Piedras Verdes River and were among the first settlers of Colonia Juarez.  On June 15, 1887, when the Juarez Ward was organized, he became First Counselor to Bishop George W. Sevey.  One of his first cultural moves in this new community was to organize a Dramatic Association.  He was fresh from St. George where, according to reports, he “bestrode the theatrical world like a giant colossus.”  He was eager to reproduce some of his successes.  He wanted to set a standard for excellence in play production and introduce refugee settlers to a high standard of entertainment.

He and his boys made a stage for his plays.  On it were presented high classed dramas to an appreciative audience, the climax of which was Othello, in which he played the leading role of the swarthy Moor, a crowing to previous roles he had directed and acted.  He was ever the actor, rising to heights of oratory on patriotic occasions, thundering Gospel and moral teachings from the pulpit, dramatically acting as Marshal of the Day for national celebrations.  He led parades with plumes waving and sword flashing with military precision, and all done so enthusiastically that one was to wonder if the occasion was created for him, or was he created to make the occasion something special.  The fruits of his efforts are still alive in posterity rich with public speakers, dramatic coaches and play readers, all bordering on the professional.  All point back to his reverence for the spoken word and his love for pu0re undefiled speech.

Miles P. Romney had direct supervision over the building of the initial Juarez Stake Academy structure, which later became the elementary school.  One year after the laying of the foundation of the building, it was ready for occupancy.  By the turn of the century, Miles found his carpenter shop against the eastern hills too small to permit expansion necessary for his growing family.  He sold his holdings in Colonia Juarez, bought a huge tract of land on the eastern bank of the Casas Grandes River, and moved his families into homes built separately for them on this property.  Here he lived for the remainder of his life in relative comfort and affluence.  In 1902 he was appointed President of the Stake High Priest Quorum and ordained a Patriarch by Apostle Matthias Cowley. 

In February 1904, acting in his office as President of the High Priest Quorum, he went to Morelos.  His wife Catherine and son Vernon accompanied him on this trip.  The strain of the trip was wearing, and he was not feeling well when he left Sonora.  But they arrived home safely.  As he returned that night a strange feeling came over him.  Fearful he was going to die, he suggested that the rest of the family be sent for.  Before they arrived, he passed away.  His wives, having seen him miraculously restored to life once before, sent for the Dublan Bishopric who administered to him, but without results.  This was on February 25, 1904.  He was buried in Colonia Dublan.

High-minded ambition still lives in his posterity, many of whom have given further distinction to his name.  A grandson is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve , and a granddaughter is the wife of a member of the same Quorum.  Two sons and two grandsons have been Stake Presidents.  Two grandsons have in turn been Bishops of the Juarez Ward where he officiated as a Counselor.  Missionaries by the dozens have carried the Gospel to nations in honor.  Politically, a grandson was governor of a state and considered a candidate for President of the United States.  Another grandson is a millionaire farm implement dealer.  Others of his descendants are pioneering in colony orcharding, and packing and marketing fruit.  Their orchards have spread through the Casas Grandes Valley.  Another grandson operates a several million peso turkey processing plant.  One son is an author of note.  Another grandson is an internationally famous physical chemist with many distinctive awards for his contributions to the scientific world.  There are deans of universities, teachers at many levels,, as well as craftsmen and artists.  All of these display Miles P. Romney’s devotion to excellence. 

Ethel Romney Peterson, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 594

George William Hardy

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George William Hardy

1863-1921

My father, George William Hardy was born in Mountain Dell, now part of Salt Lake City, Utah, on December 2, 1863 and was the son of Josiah Guile Hardy and Ann Denston.  Josiah was born March 17, 1813 in Bradford, Essex County, Massachusetts.  His ancestors had lived there for over 200 years.

Josiah Guile married Sarah Clark on May 17, 1835 and they joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on November 6, 1842 and left for Utah on April 29, 1852.  They were the parents of ten children, seven boys and three girls.

In Utah Josiah Guile met Ann Denston and they were married on October 25, 1857.  Later he took Sarah and Ann to the Endowment House and they were sealed to him on March 17, 1858.  They were sealed by President Brigham Young. 

George William Hardy was the third child born to Ann.  Abner Parker and Mary Ann were older.  Father was only about three years old when the crickets invaded Utah and the crops were saved by seagulls.  In the big move south his parents along with others would rather set fire to their homes than to see them go to the army that was ready to invade Salt Lake City.  Laura Ann and Lois Ann were born before they left Salt Lake City and moved to St. George, Utah in Washington County where the rest of the children, Willard Guile, John Dean, Seth Taft, Aaron Bradford and Able Woodruff were born. 

George’s father, Josiah worked on the Tabernacle and St. George Temple from start to finish.  He donated $500 in labor.  After the temple was completed, George and his mother helped with the janitor work for years.  They also did ordinance work for the dead.  George had his endowments when he was 15 and was baptized and endowed many times for the dead.  Grandmother was endowed for 976 and baptized for 19,708.

In 1884 George William Hardy married Julia Ann Rogers.  Their first child, George Guile was born on December 26, 1886 and the second Julia Irene, was born on November 13, 1889.  In 1890 they, along with Josiah Guile and family, left St. George and went to Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico.  Then they moved to Colonia Pacheco in 1891. 

Thresa Ann was born January 10, 1892 and David Rogers, May 3, 1894.  Julia’s last baby, Vivian was born April 3, 1898 but only lived three months, dying July 3, 1898.

The Pacheco Ward was organized in 1891 with Jesse N. Smith as Bishop.  In 1895 he moved away and the Father was ordained a High Priest, December 11, 1895 by Apostle Francis M. Lyman and was set apart as the new Bishop which office he held for nine years.

About the same time the Hardy’s moved to Pacheco, John Rowley and his family moved there from Nephi, Utah.  Emma Ozello Johnson was John’s fourth wife and they had a family of six children.  Emma Sylvania Rowley was the second child and eldest daughter. 

George William Hardy and Emma were married on March 8, 1898.  George built a two-room log cabin across the street from Emma’s mother’s home for her. 

During the winter of 1898-1899, George took a temporary job as blacksmith in Colonia Juarez.  Here Emma’s first son, William Gilbert, was born February 6, 1899.  In the early spring the family moved back to Pacheco.  Herbert Josiah was born September 12, 1900.  When they were expecting another child, George added two more rooms.  Georgina was born April 28, 1902.

In 1902 George William Hardy married a third wife, Betsy Ann Butler.  To them were born four children.  Emma’s next child was born November 17, 1903, Ervin John.  When Ervin was three months old, George sold his homes in Pacheco and moved his families to Juarez.  There he made cans of all sizes for fruit canning.

George William Hardy was a friend of Anthony W. Ivins, both in St. George and later in Mexico.  George played in the Juarez Academy band and was a member of the choir.  He also played organ and “called” for the square dances. 

The Hardy homes were frequently filled with guests.  Friends and relatives on their way to and from Pacheco, Diaz, and Dublan would stop over and were always welcome.

A daughter, Emma, was born May 18, 1906 and a year later George sold out in Juarez and moved to Diaz where he had purchased a 100 acre farm.  Their home was just a little adobe house until he had time to build a larger one.  Here, another daughter, Bertha, was born November 14, 1908 to Emma and early the next spring we moved into the new home.  Soon after arriving in Diaz, George moved Julia to and her family to St. George and were later divorced. 

In Diaz, George still worked at blacksmithing.  He owned and operated a molasses mill on the farm.  He built a large barn with corrals and soon had cattle, pigs, sheep, chickens and ducks.  He built a large reservoir and dug a well in which he installed a gasoline pump to help furnish water for irrigation for the garden and cultivated part of the farm.  The rest of the land was used as pasture.   

A son, Milton Lorenzo, was born December 6, 1911.  By this time the Revolution troubles were getting so bad that life on the farm was not safe.  The following summer on July 28, 1912, the Hardy’s left their homes and everything to go back to the United States.  George furnished teams and wagons for a number of the townspeople to leave in.  His own family was in a white-top buggy.  Bed rolls and food were in a wagon.

They traveled to Hachita, New Mexico where they lived in tents put up by the U.S. Army for three or four months.  When it was decided that they could not return to Mexico, George and his brother John took their families to Tucson, Arizona.  George sent Betsy to Paragonah, Utah where she wanted to go.  Later that year they were divorced and Betsy married Mr. Adams. 

George William Hardy and family spent one winter in Tucson, then went to Thatcher, Arizona, stopping at Mesa for a few months to work during the haying season.

In Thatcher, George leased a blacksmith shop and stayed there for a year.  Emma was very ill all winter.  In the evenings George would sit by her and carve such things as wall ornaments and rattles, windlasses and swings in bottles.  He also carved doll heads for the three girls, for which Emma and Grandmother Rowley made rag bodies and dresses.  Emma needed to live in a cooler climate so George, hearing of the wonderful opportunities in Idaho, decided to move there along with David Rowley.  They left in July traveling by team and wagon, and were nine weeks on the road, with a stopover for a week in Salt Lake City.  While traveling, George did all the cooking on campfires, preparing delicious meals for the family.  On Saturdays he would watch for a pretty campsite for Sunday.  They never traveled or worked on Sunday but spent the day resting and reading.

They arrived in Oakley, Cassia County, Idaho September 18, 1914.  There George purchased a lot on Center Street and built a blacksmith shop with a nice home just next to it.  As we looked down on Oakley from the top of East Mountain, George promised Emma that within two years she would be living in her own home.  He kept that promise and the family moved into a new home in 1916 in time in Thanksgiving. 

George loved all kinds of sports, and was a good sport himself.  They children loved to have him tell of his tricks and pranks as a boy and they were always in fun and not at too much expense of others.  He loved music and was a good singer.  He had good health all his life.  He hardly ever got sick, but in November of 1920 he suffered a heart attack.  He was unable to work after that and died of a stroke while driving up Main Street in a wagon on June 18, 1921 at age 56, a young man really, but one who had lived a full life.

He had a strong testimony of the Gospel, paid an honest tithing all his life and Sunday always found him in church with his family.  Sunday amusements were out of our family. He had a great faith in the power of prayer and the Priesthood of God.  In his home George always would administer to his children in sickness and then call the doctor if needed.  When a son, Ervin, fell off a cliff and was critically hurt, the doctor said that nothing but George’s great faith saved the child’s life.  The doctor also said that when George died, it would have to be suddenly because he had too much faith to go any other way.

He was a hard worker all his life.  After coming to Oakley he would shoe as many as 20 horses a day for the Vipont Mine freighters.  This may have brought on his early death at the age of 56. 

Georgina Hardy Puckett, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 215

Benjamin Louis Croff

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Benjamin Louis Croff

1847-1937

Benjamin Louis Croff was born March 6th, 1847 at Northfield, Summit County, Ohio, to William Cowe and Julia Ann Boughy. The family moved to the wilds of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, in 1847, then on to Noble County, Indiana. After two years they move to Cass County, Iowa.

Ben’s father was a blacksmith and wagon maker who, with the help of the oldest son, William, set up blacksmithing on a large scale and did a thriving business with California and Utah immigrants as they moved West. In 1852 Ben’s father started for Oregon but went only as far as Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he decided to build a hotel. This was an important stopping place on the newly-developed Oregon Trail. One of  Ben’s childhood memories were those of Mormon handcart companies setting out across the desolate plains.

After two years the Croff family moved to Kansas. They moved to a 160 acre farm that had belonged to an old Dutch plantation owner. It was located in the heavy timber bottom of the Missouri River across from St. Joseph, Missouri. Abraham Lincoln came there, stumping for political office, and seeing wide-eyed Ben standing by the coach, offered his carpet bag to be carried into the hotel. This Ben excitedly did and Lincoln handed him a quarter for it. It was only the second quarter he had earned. Not long after that Ben went to St. Joseph to see a play featuring the actor John Wilkes Booth who later assassinated President Lincoln.

The Civil War came along, scattering father and boys, each finding his own way to the West. Though just a stripling of a boy, at 16, Ben found his way through some of the wildest camps of the Western frontier as a teamster and mine worker.  He said of those days, “I never took up any of the bad practices of that environment except swearing, mule-skinner’s vocabulary, but not profanity.  I did not smoke, drink, chew or submit myself to loose moral conduct.”

In 1862 Ben reached Denver, then a town of 600 population.  He worked in the Black Hawk mines in central Colorado in 1863 to 1864, then drove six yoke of oxen to Camp Douglas, Utah, then trudged on alone to Salt Lake City, half frozen and starved.  A kindly Mormon family took him in and fed and lodged him until he could work. 

A year later Ben’s father and brother Will arrived, and were baptized, but Ben was not yet converted.  In the spring of 1867 a party was made up to prospect for gold in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, 100 miles east and north of Fort Bridger.  Twelve miles east of Fremont Peak the Indians unexpectedly came upon them, and killed seven of the party, as well as nine other men at the Sweetwater Station ten miles east, one at Little Sandy Station, and one more at Big Sandy Station.  All three stations were burned, Ben said, “Providence seemed to be caring for me, though I didn’t understand it at the time.”

In 1868 he carried his blankets to Green River crossing, now Green River City.  A group of gamblers and entertainment girls with portable halls and dressing rooms were going to a grading camp.  They let him load his blankets on their wagon while they all walked to the railroad camp. There were 160 men of all nationalities there.  Ben and one or two others took a tape and hand compass, and surveyed a street six blocks long, driving stakes on each side of street.  That was the beginning of Evanston, Wyoming.  He took a block and could have had any amount more just for staking it out.  Still very young, and impatient for faster monetary return, he left it all and moved on to Big Rock at Yellow Creek, near Bear River about six miles west.

There were some 300 men at Yellow Creek, all nationalities, and learning Ben was from Salt Lake City, secretly planned to hang him along with their superintendent.  Ben discovered the plot and fled to Salt Lake City, arriving August of 1868 to find great excitement over the new apostate group called the Godbeites.  Ben almost joined their following for they had a well edited periodical and were made up of wealthy converts from the cultured class in Great Britain.  But before he became a member, the movement fizzled out. 

On September 26, 1870 he married Mary Jane Davis, a precious little Welsh girl, in the old Endowment House.  Bishop Hoagland had baptized him almost a year before.  He and his brother helped build the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads.  They were among the first in the Cottonwood and Park City mining district of Utah, 1870-1873, and first to pen the Leeds (sandstone) mining district of southern Utah between 1874-1878.

Benjamin Louis Croff opened a blacksmith shop with Oscar Young, a son of Brigham Young.  They made wagons and buggies.  Ben shod horses to earn $300.00 for a donation to the tabernacle building; the shop financed his mining.  When Oscar was called on a mission, Ben bought his interest and did a good business with government contracts from Camp Douglas and other preferred trade with the leading authorities of the Church.  Ben could always get good credit wherever he went.  He and his brother Will took a contract with Benson and Farr for the Union Pacific Railroad to do a stretch on the Promontory northwest of Ogden.  They had moved to Payson, south of Provo, and Ben became critically ill at the time of departure.  Bishop Hoagland and Ben’s father administered to him and he felt better, ordered his brother to make a bed in their wagon for him, and they left in spite of pleadings from his father, and others, not to.  They encountered such severe weather that Ben almost died.  Their supplies never arrived and the project had to be abandoned for the time being.  Ben and Will lived in a cave for a while waiting for the supplies, during which time they were given what they needed in feed for the horses and food for themselves by a branch of a Salt Lake City trading company.  They were told, “Take all you want and pay when you get back to Salt Lake headquarters.  We know all about you and your credit is good.”  They had never seen this man before.  They lost all they had in this venture but managed to pay off their debts and their indebtedness on their father’s home.

On April 25, 1885, Benjamin Louis Croff married Hannah Elizabeth McKnight, daughter of Bishop James McKnight of Minersville, Utah, who in his later years became Patriarch.  Bishop McKnight was the first Bishop of Minersville.  Ben and Hannah were married in the St. George Temple.  They had a baby daughter whom they named Mary Jane after Ben’s first wife, she being unable to bear children.  This being a polygamous marriage, secrecy was necessary.  When it was apparent that Hannah was with child the three decided to hide her in the tunnel of mines so Ben could be free to provide for them.  This seemed the only way out for them but it was a great hardship for Hannah and she lost her health. 

Apostle Erastus Snow had been involved in the purchase of lands for colonization in Mexico and wrote Benjamin to come, promising him he would make a good living if he did, and saying that he was needed.  Ben and Hannah left all their worldly possessions with Jane, hitched a beautiful span of buff horses with black flowing tails and manes to a buckboard, loaded in Hannah with her baby daughter and drove off for Mexico.  His huge St. Bernard dog trailed behind.  Hannah was well known in that section of the country for her looks and talents in singing and ballroom dancing.  She was a small woman, as was Jane.  Ben looked very young, had coal black wavy hair and snapping eyes, a well-balanced face and fine features, was six feet, one inch tall, and slender.  They excited much attention wherever they went. 

It was a hard trip, and took all the strength they had to reach Colonia Juarez.  It was almost more than Hannah could bear to lay her little one to rest in desert country near Gallup, New Mexico, never to see the spot again.  Further discouragement met them on arrival at the colonies.  The poverty of those just getting settled was dire, living in ragged tents, propped-up driftwood cast up from the Piedras Verdes River, caves in the river bank, etcetera.

Brother and Sister Snow welcomed them into their two-room adobe house until a parcel of land was allotted to them.  The one they received turned out to be the worst place in the colony, half of it running up the side of a rocky hill.  A third of the way down Ben leveled off a strip large enough for a sizable corral and stock sheds.  He also terraced off a fine vineyard.  The irrigation ditch which he helped construct ran a few feet below the corral, and another branch higher up.  The house was built on the next level with a barn at the side.  A hundred yards below this was his shop and a lovely orchard.  He had the first winter apples and pears raised in the area.  He provided handsomely for his family, working 12 hours a day in the shop, taking care of the chores and his place in the few hours remaining.  This left scarcely enough time for rest.  Their strength became depleted and they had much sickness.

Ben stayed up nights for a week with Jane who was three-and-a-half years old and who had spinal meningitis, which had broken out in the colonies.  With ho doctors but Benjamin, the Elders were called in, as always, and she was one of the very few that recovered.  There were no after effects of any kind to mar her.  He never took his clothes off to sleep in all the time until her crisis was over.  Although he was a very stern and exacting man with his family, he was always at the bedside when accident, illness or harm struck.  At times he himself became critically ill but always took command and dictated what was to be done.

He participated actively in all the civic affairs of the colonies and helped in getting the schools, tannery, power house, cannery, and telephone company started.  He had his own private telephone lines to the mines over 40 miles away.  He at one time operated a mercantile store in Colonia Juarez, but had to close it down due to mismanagement by the man he placed in charge of it.  He opened up the Guaynopa mining district near the State of Sonora in the high and rugged Sierra Madre Mountains.  This was at one time described in leading mining journals as the copper bonanza of North America.

He and Hannah had a large family as follows:  Mary Jane, Jane Elizabeth, Julia Maude, Benjamin Louis, Paul Loraine, Ruth, Hannah Eve, and Charles Gordon.  After several children arrived, Jane wrote from Utah that although she had been doing well, she wanted to be with the family.  Ben told her to sell the home and come to Mexico, leaving his brother Will to manage his property and mine there. Hannah welcomed her into her home as Jane had done years before.  They loved each other and liked to be together.  Jane loved to do things for the children and they loved her next to their mother.  Jane and Hannah would take each other’s part in any issue with Benjamin, and in spite of his high temper, he seemed to think this was all right.  When the two of them got together he usually yielded.  We know of no other family where this was so much the case.

Ben’s business grew and he found a larger residence was necessary.  He bought the large, white, stone house of Apostle John W. Taylor, who had been called back to Salt Lake.  Time and space will not permit a full description of all the unusual feathers of this home of two master and many other bedrooms, a large powder room at the foot of the wide oak staircase, a large office for Ben, parlor, a family room, great dining hall, kitchen, pantry, large cellar, two bathrooms (one inside was a luxury in those days), and many closets plus an attic and under-house space that could accommodate several additional rooms.  On the second floor the stairway opened through double ornate oak doors to a foyer and large entertainment hall.  A very large bay window at the far end of the hall served as a stage when desired, and yet other double doors opened to a 10×14 foot veranda.

Hannah made the old home look almost like a fairy land, and to this new place she applied her taste and skill with great effect, making it the show place of the State of Chihuahua.  Many Europeans and North Americans came to Pearson in connection with the lumber business, the mines, and to hunt.  They were always given a tour of this place by Dave Spilsbury, a close friend, who ran a tourist and hunting business in Pearson and Nuevo Casas Grandes.  There were imported golden maples from Canada and bordering the sidewalks, 85 varieties of tea roses, potted ferns of every kind, mock orange arbors from California, moon-flowers as large as dinner plates, and many other novelties too numerous to mention.  Weddings and funerals carried away flowers by the tubful and were hardly missed. 

Benjamin Louis Croff and the boys sometimes helped with the flowers but generally hired help was brought in.  Once Ben brought a young Yaqui Indian down from the mines to help.  It was felt necessary to clothe him at the house, but this was a great disadvantage to him.  When only the boys or small children were around he hung shirt and pants on some limb, retaining breech cloth only.  But the girls and their friends were always encountering him, shrieking at his nudeness, and embarrassing him.  He was a very nice young man and otherwise well behaved.  He was fond of Ben and wanted to please him, but begged to go back to the mines, so he was taken back. 

Benjamin Louis Croff always signed his name as B.L. Croff, and was soon known simply as B.L.  That was the way almost all people referred to him.

Another amusing episode, as told by daughter Hannah, follows:

Father did much buying from a merchant in Casas Grandes named Mari Hilda Pari [Ermeregildo Parra].  He was European (not Mormon)who prospered there, married ten women, had children by all fo them, and could afford many servants, carriages and mounts.  Their residence surrounded an entire block with a large lovely patio in the center.  Knowing of our new home, they decided to pay us a social visit, never doubting we could cope with the situation.  At about 10:30 one morning the colonists were startled to glance up at the dugway coming into town and witness a caravan the likes of which they had never before beheld.  There was conjecture as to whether or not the town was being taken over, but by whom and why?  No one was able to fathom this phenomenon until the procession wound itself leisurely down and across the river bridge and up to our place.  When we recognized who it was, we took what control we could of our surprised expressions and performed such hospitality as we were able to think of on short notice.

After almost an hour of salutations Mother excused herself to give instructions for the preparation of dinner, but they restrained her, saying they had come well prepared with food of their own.  It was not too unusual for us to seat 32 persons at meal time, but this time the dining hall was taxed to the limit.  However, we had an enjoyable visit, and they departed a few hours before dark.

When the terrible news that the Mormons were to leave Mexico came in 1912, the family was given an hour to throw things in trunks and rush to Pearson where cattle cars waited to transport them to the United States and safety.  They left 300 acres of pasture, 70 acres of farm land, two nice orchards, horses, cattle, tow homes, and mines operating at an ambitious rate.  Some of the men at the mines were killed, the mill strung all over the hills, and finally, the ore dump, which was rich in gold was raided.

Ben and his two oldest boys stayed behind to protect things from raiders and vandals, hoping the others would return in only a short while, but they finally had to leave with other men, crossing the desert to El Paso.  Ben was one of the group captains.  Benjamin, Jr. had his beloved dog, Bud, along (son of old Judge, the St. Bernard and a shepherd dog).  A rabid coyote attacked the camp and Bud fought it off, receiving wounds.  When the dog became sick they had to shoot him, which was almost too much for Benjamin Jr. to bear.

Benjamin Louis Croff was going blind, and trying to recover business losses seemed an impossibility.  However, he acquired a big cattle ranch operation in the northern part of the Panhandle in Texas.  The drought of 1921 bankrupted this operation along with other cattlemen and several large banks.  This left him without hope of keeping up taxes on his mines in Mexico and he lost them by default, being unable to operate them during the long Revolution.  He was honored with a fine banquet on his 90th birthday by his priesthood quorum.  He died, almost 91, in the home of his third son, Paul, in El Paso, Texas, having lived the last 10 years of his life in almost total blindness.  His wife Hannah had preceded him in death almost six years before.  Jane still lived with Maude, but died later, and was buried in Virden, New Mexico.  She was a fine nurse, and lovingly remembered by many families.  All of Hannah’s children loved them both dearly as well as their father.    

Hannah Croff Putnam, daughter

Compiled by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch,

Stalwarts South of the Border pg 126

John Menzies Macfarlane

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John Menzies Macfarlane

1833-1892

 Stirling Castle, built on a rocky promontory overlooking the River Forth in the Scottish Highlands, was the birthplace of John Macfarlane, October 11, 1833. 

Like his father, he was given the single name of John, to which she later added the middle name of Menzies. Later, two other children were born to John and Anna Bella Sinclair Macfarlane: Ann and Daniel.

By 1842, most of the family had been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and, as a member of the new church, Annabella became one of its most active missionaries. With her older son, John M., she sang hymns and preached on street corners. It is thought by many that this was where he first found his love and gift for music.

When their father died, Annabella moved her children to Glasgow, where she took up midwifery and nursing to support her family. Many years later, John M’s descendants, in an effort to substantiate the theory that he had obtained a university education, discovered that in deed John M. Macfarlane from Stirling had studied at the University member, but the date was 1857, several years after John Menzies Macfarlane had already emigrated to Utah.

That he was a learned man there could be no doubt, but it is now believed that the extensive and varied knowledge he gained beyond the sixth grade was entirely self-taught.

The family was helped to emigrate to Utah through the perpetual emigration fund. On February 11, 1852, they set sail for America on the Ellen Marie. After eight weeks and three days, to Garden City, and being stuck on a sidebar in Mississippi River, they finally arrived in New Orleans on April 7, 1852. By September 1852, they had reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake.

As families moved out of the Salt Lake Valley, the Macfarlane’s went to the Cedar City area, where John Menzies Macfarlane taught school in the meeting house which was built against the wall of the Old Fort. His pay was $2-$5 a quarter for each student.  In 1854, a choir was organized at the Old Fort, among its members were John M. and his brother Dan played in numerous productions.

When Brigham Young made a trip to the old Fort, he drove east out of town, and there indicated a new piece of ground which he ordered be surveyed. On the surveying team was John Menzies Macfarlane.

In the midst of all this activity, John Menzies Macfarlane found time to begin showing interest in and Chatterley, a young girl of 17. They were married in the Old Fort, they were later sealed to each other in the Salt Lake Endowment House on November 3, 1857.

Several years after his marriage to a man, John attended the priesthood meeting in which Brigham Young sorted young married men to marry the single women. That night he discussed the matter with him, and much to his surprise— for she had openly expressed her opposition to polygamy— she suggested that she could get along with Agnes Eliza(Tillie) Hayborne, a member of the Cedar City choir which John than directed. But, saying, she doubted that two women could live in harmony in one room. There in the morning John started to work to build another room onto their cabin. He and Tillie were sealed in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on October 9, 1866.

It is not known when John M. Studied music in composition, but it is known that he owned of well-worn book on harmony instruction. Since nor it was available to accompany the Cedar City choir, he used a tuning fork or pitch pipe to guide the choir members.   McGuire traveled throughout the settlements in southern Utah and became well-known. In the late summer of 1868, Erastus Snow called John M. To move to St. George, Utah as director of the St. George choir, which had been started by Charles J. Thomas, the leader of the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir.

After settling his family in St. George, John Menzies Macfarlane started up a school was some 90 students, among whom was Elizabeth Jane (Lizzie) Adams. The story is told that one day as she jumped over bench, she exposed the rather shapely ankle, and the teacher observed that someday she would make him a good wife.

Having helped to settle some legal questions in Cedar City, John was also sought after in this regard in St. George, and on January 13, 1869, was admitted to practice law in Washington County.

The purpose for which John Menzies Macfarlane had been called to St. George, to direct the choir and to organize a band, expanded with his organization of the St. George Harmonic Society. He also taught singing lessons.

A friend of John’s, Charles L. Walker, a convert from England and blacksmith in St. George, was also a poet, and John took to putting his friend’s poetry to music or adapting the poetry to already-known sacred music.

This Christmas season of 1869 approach, John Menzies Macfarlane began to think about the music available for a special program. He discussed the matter with his friend Charles and asked Charles to write some poetry for which he, John, would compose music. But the poetry Charles wrote did not seem to fit any music that John had in mind. He finally prayed fervently for help and in the middle of one night it came suddenly in a dream. He awakened his wife, Ann, and told her that he thought he had the words in mind as well as the music.

Together they got up. Ann lighted the “bitch” lamp (a large lantern-type lamp) and held it up so that he could see.  As he hummed, wrote, erased, and wrote again, she became chilled, as she was only in a thin nightgown, and, thinking out loud, said: “Let it go for now and finish it in the morning.” But he brushed her off and continued writing until he finished.

Because he had asked Charles Walker to collaborate with him in the test, John went immediately to Charles the following morning and showed him the music and words and asked Charles to put his name to the manuscript is author of the words, but Charles refused, saying that the words were not his. John never wrote both words and music to another song. But this, “Far Far Away on Judea’s Plains,” which he expected would be sung for that Christmas program and forgotten, has become a traditional Christmas hymn, not only for the LDS Church but for other denominations as well. It was first published in the Juvenile Instructor on December 15, 1889, 20 years after it was written and the December 1961 issue of The Instructor John M. Macfarlane on its cover composing the music.

John may have written many of the pieces of music to Charles L Walker’s poetry, only one such him is known today: “Dearest Children, God is Near You.”

John Menzies Macfarlane conducted the St. George choir at the groundbreaking ceremony for the St. George temple, and again when the last known was laid. He also conducted acquire in a special high mass for the Catholic Church, which is conducted by special permission of LDS Church Authorities, in the St. George Tabernacle.

At the same time that he was occupied with the choir and with teaching, he was becoming a prominent community leader. In 1876, he was elected to the St. George City Council. As he became not respected, he ran for a number of public offices and was never defeated. In 1878, he was elected probate judge. As a surveyor, his services were constantly in demand. He mapped parts of Cedar City and St. George, private properties for individuals, and, in 1870, was elected Washington County Surveyor.

John had long known the family of Samuel L. Adams, and he had watched Elizabeth Jane (Lizzie) from the day her ankle had caught his attention when she jumped over a bench in his schoolroom.  When she became unhappy over the failure of her marriage plans to a Bentley boy, she and her family turned to John to help her.  His two wives were concerned that he might be giving Lizzie too much comfort, but they actually had no idea of his intentions to marry Elizabeth Jane Adams, which he did in the St. George Temple on January 30, 1879 — without informing Ann and Tillie until after the ceremony.  Whether or not this was responsible for creating the coolness with which the other wives accepted her is not known, but it appears that Lizzie did not have the close bond with Ann and Tillie that they had developed with each other.

With the passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Act, John Menzies Macfarlane became increasingly apprehensive about his polygamous situation, and for a time he and his first wife, Ann, hid out at St. Thomas, near Overton, Nevada.  But both ended up contracting malaria and had to return to hid out in and near Cedar City.  Having encouraged by Erastus Snow to join the Mormon colonists in Mexico, John finally decided that it was the only thing to do.  He invited Ann to accompany him, but her recent unpleasant experience of hiding out decided against another such venture.  Tillie was steadfast in wanting to remain with Ann.  So, at the latter’s suggestion, he took the  youngest wife, Lizzie, and their children and departed, via, Kanab, to there await the arrival of Erastus Snow, who had been attending to business matters in Salt Lake City and would travel with them to Mexico.  When a messenger brought news that Brother Snow had succumbed, John M. leaned over his wagon wheel and wept.  It was Erastus Snow who had called him to move to St. George.  They had been close friends, and it was mainly through his encouragement that the Macfarlanes were undertaking this move to Mexico.  But they must go on. 

Three months and many miles later, they arrived in Colonia Juarez, a settlement not yet 18 months old. John M. pitched a tent for the family to live in until they could erect a permanent abode on the lot assigned to them southwest across the street from the public square.  As they crossed the border, the customs officials allowed them to take in surveying instruments and his organ and their personal belongings after payment of considerable duty, but confiscated their furniture.  All they had to sit on in their tent was the spring seat of their wagon. 

John Menzies Macfarlane had little ready cash, even though food items were cheap in Mexico; so he and his son Urie dug post holes, hauled rocks for the foundation for the Co-op Store and helped paint the new store.  He and Louis Cardon laid up the adobes for the gristmill south of town.

Miles P. Romney helped John M. build a one-room log house on their lot, and although it was bare of furnishings and had only cheesecloth-like material, called “factory,” at the windows, it was much better than the tent.  Two days after they moved into the house, their son John Adams was born, but because they now lived in Mexico, they called him Juan.

Soon after their arrival in Colonia, Juarez, John Menzies Macfarlane organized a choir, with rehearsals, as usual, in his home.  He also took up surveying again, and he was responsible for surveying the west side of the Juarez Valley and a “city” in Upper Corrales Valley.  He was drawn again and again to the beauty of Pacheco and dear friends who lived there, among them the Lunts.  He also taught school in Colonia Juarez and he represented the colonists in legal matters at the state capital in Chihuahua City.

In one protracted absence from home, he wrote his wife that she would not know him, for he had lost 32 pounds and now weighed only 206 ½ pounds!  He was remembered as a big man with dark hair and a beard; but when he returned to Salt Lake City for conference in October, 1890, and a reunion with his wife Ann, he had lost considerable weight, his beard had been shaved, and he carried a heavy scar below his left eye, the result of his trying to apprehend someone stealing his wheat.  The thief had struck him with a pitchfork, the blow not only scarring him, but impairing the vision of his eye.

Although he would have liked to remain in Utah with his family there, he returned to Mexico, and had been home just a month when, Almon B. Johnson accepted an invitation to supper at John M.’s so that the two could discuss some surveying Almon wanted done.  As they talked, Almon played with little Juan.  The following morning, Almon, his wife, and two of their children were ill with smallpox.  They were moved to a pesthouse two miles north of town and Agnes Macdonald and one of her sons and Annie Jonson Hilton and Asa Johnson took care of the quarantined family.  In spite of their ministrations, the family died one by one, but miraculously no one else contracted the disease.    

In 1890 John M. agreed to operate a store owned by H. L. Hall in Casas Grandes, and he moved Lizzie and the family into the store compound there.  With this new venture he dreamed of expanding into a mercantile business in several northern Mexican towns, with members of his family running each store.  With this in mind he wrote Ann to sell everything possible to raise the money to send Tillie and her family to him and thereafter to raise money so that she and her family could also join him.

Lizzie was unhappy and afraid in Casas Grandes and prevailed on him to let her move back to Colonia Juarez.  With that, and an unsuccessful attempt to open a store in Dublan, his dreams of a thriving mercantile business faded.

Tillie, however, had followed his instructions to ready her family to move to Mexico.  She raised much of the money for the trip by cooking for a construction crew and by catering for weddings and feasts in St. George.  On November 13, 1891 she and six of her children—her oldest son, Urie, was already with his father in Colonia Juarez—arrived to join the others.  IN preparation for her arrival, John Menzies Macfarlane had built a more commodious house than he had for Lizzie.  The two houses, a corral, vegetable gardens and a young orchard occupied the town lot in Colonia Juarez.

In February 1892, he returned to the mountains above Pacheco to survey.  Because of poisonous snakes and insects in the rocky area in which they camped, the men slept with their boots on, but John M. could not stand his tight boots and so one night removed them to have a good night’s rest.  He awoke during the night experiencing terrible pain in one of his toes.  He was sure he had been bitten by a snake.  In the morning he laboriously put his boots back on, was helped to mount a horse, and somehow rode back to Colonia Juarez, where he collapsed from pain, his foot so swollen that the boot had to be cut off.  He was in such misery from the pain, from asthma, and from insatiable thirst which was followed by nausea and vomiting, that he seldom lay down.  Rather, he sat on the edge of his bed and cradled his head in his arms on a nearby tabletop.

He felt that if he could only return to St. George to Dr. Higgins, he could be cured.  So, when he was well enough to travel, Tillie remained at home in Colonia Juarez to take care of the small children, and Lizzie, Urie, and daughter Caddie accompanied him as far as Deming, from where he traveled by train to Salt Lake City.  He seemed some better there, attended spring conference, and was one of a huge crowd who witnessed the laying of the capstone on the Salt Lake Temple.

From Salt Lake City he returned to St. George, where he was ministered to by Dr. Higgins and family members who took turns helping him out to the porch to get fresh air and making him as comfortable as possible.   Medications and ministrations were in vain, however, and on June 4, 1892, he died.  Telegrams were sent to Tillie and Lizzie in Mexico, but they would not be able to arrive in time for the huge funeral held for him the following day in the St. George Tabernacle, a funeral at which the choir sang, and at which dear friends preached.  Shortly thereafter, Tillie and Lizzie disposed of all the family property in Colonia Juarez, except their husband’s transit and organ, and with help from Utah family members and others, returned to southern Utah to live.

Excerpted by Jeanne J. Hatch from Yours Sincerely, John M. Macfarlane, by L.W. Macfarlane, M.D. Published by L. W. Macfarlane, M.D. Salt Lake City, Utah 1980.

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 449

Robert Logan Scott

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Robert Logan Scott

1853-1940

Robert Logan Scott was born in Fenwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, April 18, 2853, the son of John Ferguson Scott and Ann Shields.  He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 5, 1871 by Thomas Godfry.  Ice in the River Clyde had to be broken for his baptism.  He was confirmed by Alexander Rankin.

He emigrated to Utah and there married Catherine Latimer, also from Scotland, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, August 11, 1876.  His first two children, Robert Latimer and Margaret Dougal, were born there.  He obtained work as a section boss on the railroad near Deseret, Millard County, Utah, and homesteaded a farm there.  Five children were born at Deseret to his wife Catherine, and a son, John, was born by a plural wife, Rosilla Alexander, whom he married while living in Deseret.

Being hounded by the United States Marshals because of his plural marriage, Robert moved to the newly formed colonies in the northern part of Chihuahua, Mexico.  He located in Colonia Juarez, arriving there October 3, 1901.  A son, Walter, was born to his wife, Catherine, and a daughter, Agnes, was born to Rosilla at Colonia Juarez.

The colony was in its early pioneering stage when Robert and his family moved there, and many skills which were essential to its developmental were contributed by him.  He was accomplished in any finishing skills required in the homes, such as carpentry, plastering and whitewashing.  He was hired for such tasks in the Dennis E. Harris homes, among others.  He was an able craftsman, and with his scroll saw, made many useful and decorative pieces of furniture such as bookcases and shelves which at that time were not commonly available in the colonies.  He made outstanding floats for many of the holiday parades.  He kept the town clocks in repair and did much other repair work.  For several years he ran the cannery owned by Joseph C. Bentley, cutting out the cans from sheets of tin as well as filling them when made. 

His home was located on the east side of the Piedras Verdes River south of town beyond the Peter Wood home, near the Stowell gristmill on the west side of the river.  A quiet stretch water in the river near his home created by means of a low dam formed a long pond for boating and swimming.  Large cottonwood trees lined the banks of the river.  From these he suspended high swings.  With two rowboats, which he made, his place became a recreation retreat for the community and especially for the young people.  Boating, swinging, swimming and singing were enjoyed by groups on moonlit evenings.  He also built an icehouse and placed flat pans of water on the riverbank on cold nights to collect ice which he buried in sawdust and kept until spring.  With the ice he made ice cream, popcorn balls, cookies and lemonade.

Robert Logan Scott had a pleasant tenor voice and enjoyed singing in the Ward choir and other occasions when given the opportunity.  He was an avid reader, especially of religious and scientific matter.  In his homes he was diligent in teaching the doctrines of the Church, good manners and cleanliness.  Slang, profanity and stories of questionable taste were never tolerated in his homes.  Of Robert Logan Scott it might truly be said that by his fruits he was known.

As of 1966, he had a growing posterity numbering 238.  Among these were many Church officers: two Mission Presidents, two Stake Presidents, six Bishops, many Counselors in Bishoprics: 32 on foreign missions and many on Stake missions.  Among his descendants have been many successful men in industry and politics and one vice-consul in the United States Foreign Service.  His talent for singing was also passed on to children and grandchildren.

Robert Logan Scott died and was buried at Colonia Dublan September 24, 1940 at the age of 87.

Katherine S. Brown, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 603