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David Alma Stevens

David Alma Stevens

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David Alma Stevens

1849-1947

David Alma Stevens, son of Walter Stevens and Abigail Elizabeth Holman, was born February 10, 1859, in Holden, Millard County, Utah, formerly known as Buttermilk Fort.  He was the first male child born in the Fort.  As the son of a frontier family he learned the hardships of pioneering early in life.

In 1879, at the age of 20 he and his brother, Joshua, with a large company of settlers, were called to go to Bluff, San Juan County, Utah.  These settlers were told to take all of their belongings as they were to remain there and colonize that part of the country.  David, being young and unmarried, was given the task of scouting, herding the cattle and other odd jobs.  This party was what has come to be known as the “Hole-in-the-Rock” expedition. 

The task assigned the pioneers proved to be more difficult than anticipated.  They spent the whole winter making the trip to the Colorado River and on to Bluff.  Once at their destination, they discovered that it was much too small to support the entire company assigned to the mission, so those who arrived late were obliged to find other places to settle in that area.

David and Joshua and some of the other settlers liked the country on the La Plata River in New Mexico, which was then being settled.  They obtained land from one of the squatters and started on the new project.  Corn and wheat were planted and, the land being very fertile, it produced a heavy crop.  After the crop was harvested they went back to Holden with the good news.  A few of the men were interested in returning with them, including Alma’s father, Walter, and two sons-in-law, Charles Bigler and John Allen.  In the fall of 1881, David met Agnes S. Johnson and after a short courtship married her on November 10, 1881.    Their honeymoon was a trip to New Mexico in a covered wagon.  They stopped in Fruitland where Walter and Abigail made their permanent home.  Thus, Fruitland, New Mexico, became the headquarters of the Stevens settlers.

David was an able and fearless man, but Agnes was cautions and fearful.  She had not been raised among a lawless element as had David and therefore was rather fearful of such a wild life.   She was the daughter of Benjamin F. Johnson who was closely associated with the leaders of the Church.  He was called to settle in Santaquin as the Bishop of the Ward there.  She had also worked in Salt Lake City and was acquainted with rural life.  She did not know how to face the hardships that people had to face in the early days of New Mexico.  As long as David was home she was at ease but conditions required him to be away much of the time, with the result that she lived in constant fear.

One of the most dramatic events of the New Mexico range wars involved Mormon settlers in the region, and the Stevens family in particular.  It is best described by an observer of the episode, who reported “the La Plata affair” in the Deseret News for December 22, 1886:

In August 1883, Walter Stevens and his eldest son, W.J. Stevens, formerly of Holden, Utah, bought out the claim of one Golden, on the La Plata, each holding half, until the spring of 1886, the son then buying his father out.  Prior to the purchase by the son, the father had rented his portion to Hanson Walker, formerly of Pleasant Grove, Utah.  In the purchase, young Stevens was to attend to the agreement the father made with Walker for the current year.

In August 1886, Chas. E. Bigler made Stevens an offer for the farm, which he accepted in October, 1886; but, instead of doing this, he left early Monday morning.  At noon Bigler arrived with a load of furniture.  To his surprise, he found that Walker had gone, and one Dennis Hilton had taken possession having laid some poles belonging to the ranch in a square in front of the house with a notice thereon, also one on the door of the dwelling, and another on the granary, stating that he (Dennis Hilton) had located the ranch this day, (Nov. 8, 1886) etc.  Dennis, having left the place in charge of his brother Sherman Hilton, came to this place (Farmington), to procure help, guns and ammunition to assist him carrying out the break he had made.  This party thought that, as J. W. Stevens was 85 miles away, running a thresher, and his brother Alma was some 50 miles away, they would have only Bigler to contend against; but to their surprise, the Stevens brothers were only five miles from the farm, and hearing what had taken place hurried on.  They arrived at Alma’s place, which joins Bigler’s on the south, about 7:00 p.m., took supper, and then went over to Bigler’s some 80 rods distance.  In front of the house was a campfire, and bit it stood Bigler and Hilton.  W. J. Stevens said, “Good evening, Boss,” to Dennis Hilton, “You’ve made quite a raise.”   

“Yes,” said Dennis.

“How do you expect to make a break like this stick?” inquired Stevens.

“I’ll show you how I’ll make this stick,” said Dennis.

“I want none of your slang,” said Stevens.  “I came to see what reason you could offer for jumping this farm.”

“I’ll show you my reason, by G-d,” replied Dennis.

“I want you to understand I’ll not take any of your slang,” said Stevens.

“Well,” said Hilton, “You’re holding land under false pretenses.”

Stevens then proved this to be false by three witnesses present, and that he had sold the place to Bigler.  Hilton continued to abuse, and to sue rough language, which was more than Stevens could bear; so he pushed Hilton over and held him down for the space of five minutes, urging him all the while to produce some reason for the step he had taken, which he finally did, then Stevens let him up.

Prior to this, Sherman Hilton and others went to supper a distance of three quarters of a mile, and soon Lon Hilton and Nels Duluche returned from supper.  Shortly after two other ruffians came from above, John Duluche and Sam Bowen, Lon Hilton rode back to Sherman’s place; and in the meanwhile S. Duluche and Dennis Hilton retired from the fire in the same direction.  Presently the four, Sherman, Dennis, Lon Hilton and John Duluche hove in sight from the way of the stacks, and marked up to the fire with guns and pistols in hand.  Here they were joined by S. Bowen.  Dennis pointing at J. W. Stevens with his rife said, “That’s the man who choked me.”

Sherman said, “Who?”

Dennis, pointing as before, said, “That one.”

Sherman said, “You D—d son of a gun,” to J. W. Stevens, at the same time firing at him. This being the signal for the Hilton party, the firing became general and lasted about a minute; there being about 30 shots fired at close range.

There were five of the Hilton party who did the shooting, while only two Stevens (brothers) shot on the other side.

Sherman Hilton was mortally wounded and died the following Thursday.

John Duluche was killed on the spot.  Alma Stevens received three flesh wounds, one ball passing through the left wrist, between the radius and the ulna, one passing through the fleshy part of his forearm and coming out just below the elbow joint, the third lodging in his right thigh just below the groin.  W.J. Stevens, being in the heaviest of the fight, received only powder burns in his face and wrist; he was the last man to leave the battleground.  The next morning the Hilton party withdrew from the place.

These Hiltons went before the justice of another precinct, and procured warrants for the arrest of the Stevens boys charging them with murder; also four others who had no part in the fight.  There not being enough evidence brought to convict, or bind them over, they were discharged on the grounds of justification.

Last December Sherman Hilton succeeded in jumping the ranch of John Allen, joining David Alma Stevens.  He afterwards succeeded in getting his mother-in-law to jump a claim joining Allen’s which had previously taken up by Chas. E. Bigler, who had a house upon it.  Sherman Hilton, during last summer, drew his gun two different times on Chas. E. Bigler, without provocation.

The sympathy among all honorable men of this section runs high in favor of the Stevens brothers.

David Alma Stevens was so seriously injured he nearly died.  With careful nursing, however, he began to recuperate.   When it was reasonably safe for him to travel, he was advised to go to Bluff, Utah, with his family to a ranch up in the mountains where he could recuperate in the cool fresh air.  It would also be safer for him inasmuch as it appeared the Hiltons were determined to hunt him down and kill him.  During the summer while he was working on the ranch he received a call from the First Presidency to go to Mexico and help colonize that part of the world.

David Alma’s father-in-law, Benjamin F. Johnson, had previously moved his family to the Salt River Valley of Arizona and David Alma asked permission to stay in Mesa for a year to work as he was very short of funds.  Such a delay would also allow Agnes, yet shaken from the La Plata fracas, to visit with her folks before going into another country which to her seemed clear out of this world.  The request was granted.  While he was engaged in that endeavor he took work plowing a section of land for a Mr. Zullik and did very well.  While working on an old thresher the team engine blew up and nearly lost both eyes in the explosion which left them both badly burned.  He nearly lost his life, also, and carried scars from that explosion to his grave.  A cousin, Frank Openshaw, lost both eyes in the same explosion.

Finally, they made the move to Mexico in 1890, locating their home in Colonia Dublan.  David Alma and Joshua were in charge of taking care of the colonists’ tithing cattle.  As feed began to run out in the lower valleys it became advisable to look for better grazing grounds in the mountains where some of the colonists were settling.  David Alma and Joshua decided that Hop Valley would be as good a place as any to take the cattle and the Stevens family went there to live for a season.  While there they learned that the Indians had raided and killed the Thompsons who were living on the Pratt ranch not far away.

At this particular time David Alma Stevens was away purchasing supplies in Dublan.  The following day when he returned Agnes met him in the yard before he had even gotten off the wagon and told him.  He immediately unloaded the cargo he had bought, loaded a few items onto the wagon and left with his family, travelling all that night for safety.  

They moved to Colonia Juarez.  David Alma spent much time away from home hauling freight from Gallegos to the store, and lumber from the sawmills in the mountains.  Other jobs that required time away were railroad construction in the northwestern part of Chihuahua and supervising teams working at other jobs such as hauling ties to the men laying the track. 

In 1896 he married Mary Elmira Boice and shortly after that contracted with a Mr. G. W. Webb to do some work on the railroad.  Mary went with him to do the cooking for the gang.  While they were gone that summer Agnes and the children raised potatoes, milked the range cattle and made butter which was sold and the money used to purchase a baby buggy for baby Irven.

About 1900 a lot of work developed in Sonora out of Naco and Cananea where the William C. Green Company was promoting mining projects.  David Alma took his outfit to Sonora and worked there for years.  He then returned to the colonies, purchased some land and tried to make a living for his family by farming and doing odd jobs such as hauling lumber and freight.  He purchased about a hundred head of cattle from Ernest L. Taylor.

It seemed, however, with all those efforts he was not making enough to take care of his obligations.  Therefore, in the early summer of 1905, he decided to try railroading again and took a job on the Kansas City, Mexico and Oriente Railroad with G. W. Webb who was the main contractor.  This job took him up into the mountains 77 kilometers south of Minaca.  Because of the rain weather he lost a great deal of time.  Much of his work consisted of hauling supplies from the main comercio some 30 kilometers distant.   In the mud and washed-out roads, only small loads could be hauled at a time.  The poor horses suffered from dew poisoning with every scratch or flesh wound.

In December, David Alma Stevens quit that job and moved to another located on the Yaqui River in Sonora with the Southern Pacific Railroad Company.  All went well through the winter but when summer came the weather was so hot he could work only part of the day, from 4:00 am to 10:00 am and from 3:00 pm until dark.  The job lasted until October.

He then returned to Casas Grandes.  He went right to work on the place as soon as the family was settled and planted a good crop of wheat on the land.  The method of harvesting in Mexico at the time was to cut with a sickle and then thresh by means of treading with horses.  That method seeming too slow, Stevens purchased a header and thresher and hired Fenley Merrill from Dublan to operate it.  The first day that the new equipment was put into operation was a spectacular event for the Mexican farmers in the area.  They gathered around the field to watch.  One prominent Mexican farmer in the crowd, Don Pablo Federico, exclaimed, “This maquina is not of this world!” The Stevenses did very well with their header and thresher by doing jobs for farmers in all parts of the area at harvest time.  After they purchased another header and thresher and continued to do well.

David Alma’s tow older sons, Earl and David, had married by 1914.  With the younger boys wanting to go to school, Alma sold out to Earl in 1918 and moved to Chandler, Arizona, where he purchased a farm for raising long-staple cotton.  Soon after he started and had a good crop, the market for cotton dropped to four cents a pound.  Alma then moved Mary with her two small children to Los Angeles, California.  He put the children in school and sought work with his teams wherever he could find it in the Los Angeles area.  There was much construction work to be done in the area but soon mechanized machinery and heavy equipment took over the work previously done by horsepower.

David found himself out of work.  After helping his son, who had a cotton gin in Porvenir, for about two years, he made his last move back to Holden, Millard County, Utah.  There he married his cousin, Laura Stevens, on June 18, 1930.  Laura was the youngest daughter of David Riley Stevens, brother of his father, Walter Stevens.  Laura inherited the family home when her father died so that Alma in his old age had a nice home to live in.  He planted two acres of berries and fruit trees, built a chicken coop, and tended a nice flock of chickens.

He passed away in Holden on June 14, 1947, at the age of 88.  He was buried at the place of his birth. 

David Stevens, son

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 633

More on David Alma Stevens and the “La Plata affair”

 

http://www.morningtalks.com/gunfight-new-mexico-1886

Moses Thatcher

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Moses Thatcher

1842-1909

Moses Thatcher, sixth son of eight sons of Hezekiah Thatcher and Alley Kitchen, was born on February 2, 1842, in Sangamon County, Illinois.

The frightening turmoil of the Saints’ exodus from Nauvoo, Illinois, the misery, sickness hunger and death that hung like a cloud over the camps of wandering Mormons, the blistering sun, and unquenched thirst that accompanied his barefoot trek across the plains, and witnessing the death of his childhood chum as he lay crushed under a rolling log…all these deeply impressed young Moses.  But overriding the challenges and trials of his early life was his abiding faith in a benevolent God, a faith inculcated in him early in his tender years by his faithful, trusting mother.

Not forgotten were his memories of early encounters with Indians, one in which he was forced to exchange some cherished corn cakes for less palatable cricket pies.   

With other members of his father’s family, Moses was taken to California in the spring of 1849, where they settled in the area of Sacramento, a village of rude huts and unprotected tents, where people kept their silver dollars sewn in gunny sacks under their beds. 

He attended his first school when he was eleven.  Large for his age, he was humiliated to realize that boys much smaller and younger than he were far ahead of him in class, and so he exerted extra effort to excel.  When not in school, he earned money by digging moss and dirt from the crevices of large rocks along the river.  In a milk pan he washed the moss and dirt and retrieved gold dust which netted him several dollars a day.

His chief delight, however, was found in frequent night religious meetings which he and his parents attended.  He listed with pride as his father explained the Gospel to non-believers and as his mother confounded religious leaders with her simple, direct, unwavering faith.

When at 15 Moses accepted the call to serve as missionary companion to elder Henry G. Boyle, it was with the understanding that he would be just that, a companion. He would not be required to proselyte.  However, within a short time, he was amazed that he was blessed to be able to defend eloquently and knowledgeably the Gospel, not only to friends but to complete strangers.

Lettie Farr became his bride in April 1861, and they settled in Cache Valley, building the first frame house in Logan, Utah.  There Moses joined the “Minute Men” peacekeeping force.

He was called on a mission to Salt Lake City to learn telegraphy in 1865, and in April 1866 was called on a proselyting mission to England.  Upon his release in August 1868, he returned to Logan where he entered into a mercantile business with his father, a business that was later incorporated into ZCMI. He became influential in business and politics in Utah and was a member of the Utah Constitutional Convention of 1872 and a delegate to present the proposed constitution to Congress.  Moses was called as the first President of the Cache Valley Stake on May 21, 1877, and on April 9, 1879, at the age of 37, was called as an Apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Because an influential Greek-Mexican, Dr. Plotino Rhodakanaty, residing in Mexico City, had become interested in the Gospel and had written to President John Taylor requesting additional information about the Church, Moses Thatcher was sent to Mexico City to meet with him personally. He was accompanied by Meliton Gonzalez Trejo, the Spanish translator of the Book of Mormon, and by James Z. Stewart.  Soon after they arrived in Mexico City, in November 1879, they taught and baptized Dr. Rhodakanaty and a native Mexican, Silviano Arteaga.  Within a few days they had baptized six additional men, had formed a Branch of the Church, had invoked the Lord’s blessings on Porfirio Diaz, the Mexican Constitution and governing bodies of the country of Mexico and its inhabitants that they might hear and receive the Gospel message, and Moses Thatcher additionally dedicated the land to missionary work. 

During this introductory visit to Mexico, Apostle Thatcher became acquainted with many prominent educational and political leaders in Mexico and he absorbed all the knowledge he could on the history and customs of this fascinating and powerful country. In his contacts with government officials, he laid the groundwork for the legal acquisition of lands in northern Mexico by the Mormon Colonists. 

In 1882 he and Erastus Snow were called to explore northern Mexico with a view to acquiring land there for possible colonization.  When in 1885 the first Mormon settlers moved into northern Chihuahua, alarmed American residents of Chihuahua prevailed upon the governor to issue an order for expulsion of the Mormons.  Apostles Thatcher and Brigham Young Jr. were able to have the order rescinded in Mexico City, where the matter had been referred.

Moses Thatcher was called to assist Elder Erastus Snow, who had been given charge of the Mormon colonies, in the adjustment of the Saints’ property titles and in the purchase of additional lands for their use.  Because of the time he had spent in Mexico City subsequent to his first, time which included a mission in that area, he had come to know intimately many of the political leaders there, and his service to the colonists was invaluable.  Also, he was able to obtain needed machinery for the Saints and arrange for its importation to Mexico.

At the request of Elder Snow, Moses Thatcher dedicated the townsite of Colonia Juarez on January 1, 1887.  In the years that followed, until his death in 1909, Thatcher maintained a lively interest in the colonies, visiting them often and contributing to their growth and development.

Jeanne J. Hatch

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch,

page 696

Avelina Mills Saville

Avelina Mills Saville

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Avelina Mills Saville

1859-1920

Avelina Mills Saville was born October 18,1859, in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She married John Harrie Saville in Salt Lake City, Utah.  They had four children, three daughters and one son.  Only her one daughter, Caroline, and the son, Willard, lived to maturity.

“Aunt Dean” Saville, as she was lovingly called, was called and set apart as a nurse and doctor to go to Colonia Juarez, Mexico, by Apostle George Teasdale in the Salt Lake Temple in 1896.  She had studied and practiced medicine for three years with Doctors Seymour B. Young, Wright and Mattie Hughes Cannon and passed successfully the Utah State Medical Board Examination.  She was well prepared with knowledge and experience and a large stock of the best drugs and equipment to fulfill this mission.  But she always felt that the success and power to heal the sick, during the 17 years of ministrations to the native people surrounding the colony and that of the LDS who lived there, was due more to her complete dependence upon, and her faith in, the promise of Apostle Teasdale when he set her apart:  that if she relied and put her trust in the Lord and called upon Him for aid, she should at all times know just what to do in the very hour of her need.  This was literally fulfilled, as of all the 800 women she delivered, not one died under her care.

A typical case was when she was called to go up a 60 mile rugged mountain trail burro back, leaving during the night, with a small boy as her guide over the wild and strange mountainous country, to remove from a Mexican woman the afterbirth that she had retained for 10 days.  She corrected the woman and had to do it kneeling down with the patient lying on a sheepskin on a dirt floor.  The woman lived.  The only remuneration “Aunt Dean” received was the first body louse she had ever had.  Her efforts were untiring.  She went when she was more physically ill than the patient.  She not only cared for women and children but removed many cataracts from eyes of the Mexican people, a malady to which they are very susceptible.

She displayed great skill in removing a bullet from the palm of a stranger who came once to her during the night. The bullet had remained in his hand for three days and had caused it to swell to three times its natural size.  He had traveled day and night, having been directed to come to Colonia Juarez to have his hand treated.  He took from a back pocket a pistol and asked her to keep it while his hand was being dressed.  She placed him under the influence of ether, yet it took three strong men to hold him down while she removed the bullet.  While under the ether, he talked and told her he had shot and killed a man and had received the bullet in his hand and was fleeing for his life to the United States, as he was an American.  He was forced to stop in this colony to have his had treated.    After he recovered from the ether and was ready to leave, he asked for his pistol and said it was a good thing he did not have it in his pocket while he was out of his head or he would have shot someone.  She told him to go to a doctor as soon as he reached Deming, New Mexico, and have his hand examined and dressed.  He wrote her a not and told her that the doctor had told him whoever removed the bullet had done a fine piece of surgery and did not need his care.  The most outstanding memory people have of her was her gentle, soothing touch and the cheerful assurance that all would be well.

Even after she could no longer attend patients, many said, “If only Aunt Dean would sit by me and hold my hand I could endure any kind of pain.”  She never spared herself, and at the time, in 1912, when colonists were called out to El Paso, she left all she had and went with the rest.  There were many sick and some births among these refugees who were placed by the El Paso Commercial Club in a big lumber shed which was divided into small sections for each family.  Huge supplies of food were sent each day.  She spent almost her entire time among the sick for three weeks.  Although she had one of the best rooms and a private bath in the city’s leading hotel, she was seldom there.  This great strain and lack of proper rest and care and the sorrow of leaving all she had possessed broke her health and she had to give up her glorious work and submit to being cared for by others for over five years.  Eventually, she had the great desire of her heart granted, to return to her former home and the few people who returned to the colonies.  Here she was lovingly cared for by her own daughter, and cousin, Maggie Ivins Bentley, as well as other devoted friends, until the end of her eventful, useful life.

She was truly a great a pioneer in this frontier country as was her pioneer mother, Emily Hill Woodmansee, the poetess, who came from England as a mere slip of a girl and pushed a handcart across the plains to Utah in 1856.  Her passing was peaceful and many of the children attending her funeral were brought into the world by her hands, many of them with children of their own.  They were all dressed in white and filled one side of the meetinghouse.  Bishop John J. Walser said of her, “Now she is free from all physical handicaps, there is no limit to the heights she can go for the good of others, that her great soul will take her.

While the Mexican people were usually thought of as a being barbarous and uncivilized, yet the noble colony “Doctor Woman” who cared for the sick in the mountain colonies was often called to go on horseback to the ranches to attend one of their women in confinement.  She was usually accompanied by only one of them to show the way.  Several expressed themselves as never being afraid and they were always treated with the greatest courtesy.  These women preferred our sisters to wait upon them, believing their children would be more fair than if they were waited upon by a native doctor.

Avelina Mills Saville died in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, on March 7, 1920 and was buried there the same day. 

Caroline Telford, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border page 600 

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

 

More information filling in some of the banks in Avelina’s life story can be found at: http://29deadpeople.com/wp/?page_id=109

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_H._Woodmansee

Guy C. Wilson

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Guy C. Wilson

1964-1942

The paternal ancestors of Guy C. Wilson are to be traced back in English and Scottish history.  The first to come to North American colonies arrived in Boston around 1640.  Guy C. Wilson’s grandfather, for whom he was named, was born in Chittendon County, Vermont, in 1801.  It was this forbearer who, with his father and brothers, joined the Mormon Church and linked their lives with its dramatic early days.

Guy’s grandfather and namesake, with his wife Elizabeth and their family, left Nauvoo with others of the Saints in 1846.  The rigors of the western journey proved too severe and Guy died on 17 September of that same year.  Elizabeth and her 18-year old son Lycurgus, took charge of family affairs and pressed on to the Salt Lake Valley.  There, three years later, when Lycurgus was 21, he married 14-year old Lois Ann Stevens.  This occurred on November 29, 1849.  The couple was called to help settle Sanpete Valley where they assisted in establishing what is now Fairview, Utah.  And it was in Fairview, as the fourth of their eight children, that young Guy Carlton, bearing the name of his grandfather, was born April 19, 1864.

Guy Carlton Wilson’s eldest brother, Lycurgus Arnold, would, like Guy, later become with other members of his large polygamous family, residents of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico.  Two of Guy’s sisters, Ellen Adelia and Mary Mehitable, became the polygamous wives of Philip Harrison Hurst, another Mexican colonist.  Yet another sister married Andrew Peterson of Colonia Juarez. An both of Guy’s parents would later move to the colonies where they died and were buried.

In his youth, Guy received a strict Mormon upbringing.  Unless given permission to do otherwise, he was expected to be home by dark, to report to his parents on every evening’s activity away from home, and to be faithful in his religious duties. Early on, he became attached to the habit of personal prayer, fully convinced that his prayers were always heard and answered.  On one occasion as a boy, however, while searching for a lost cow, he thought he would employ the Lord in his errand.  He knelt down and fervently pleaded that he might locate the animal after crossing the next little hill.  Arising from his prayer, he was certain he would walk straight over the hill and see the cow immediately.  Instead, it was nowhere in sight.  Had God failed him? No.  The boy’s mind reasoned out an explanation that served him well the rest of his life.  “Had the Lord answered that prayer,” he said, “I would have kept Him busy all my life placing things or changing situations to suit my convenience, instead of learning the basic lesson that “the Lord helps those who help themselves.” 

He displayed a zeal for learning and was always an avid reader.  His studious manner earned him an unusual respect from his boyhood peers.  The story is told that at one time he was with a group of friends, sitting around the stove in a Fairview store, listening to a group of laborers that had recently returned from observing mining operations at Bingham.  The men told how they saw water lifted from one side of the canyon to a higher level at the other side by means of a long, specially constructed pipe.  Young Guy protested that this was impossible because, without a pump, water could not be made to rise above its source.  A heated argument followed, with men scoffing at the “know-it-all” kids.”  The other boys insisted, however, that if Guy said it was impossible, so it was.  It finally reached the point that both sides were willing to wager money on their opinions.  One of the boys had recently been orphaned and had inherited a team of matching grays.  He boldly stated, “If you say so, Guy, I’ll bet my team.” That ended the argument and those contending Guy Wilson was wrong, walked away.

Guy’s mother acted for years as both postmistress and telegraph operator in Fairview.  As a boy, Guy learned morse code and often helped his mother with the transmission and receipt of messages.  Inasmuch as these were the years when law enforcement authorities and Mormon polygamists were often engaged in a game of cat and mouse, young Guy, because of the central location and use of the telegraph of both sides, was often witness to the dramatic events of those days.  Sometimes Church leaders or their emissaries would arrive in person, unannounced.  One such occasion was long remembered by Guy.  Porter Rockwell arrived in the middle of a winter’s night.  After sending his telegraph message, he gladly accepted a plate of supper from the Wilson family.  As he sat eating before the open fire, Guy’s curiosity got the better of him, and asked: “Brother Rockwell, how many men have you killed in your life?”  Without a moment’s hesitation, Rockwell replied: ”Well, son, I reckon I never killed a single man that didn’t need killing.”

Recognizing their son’s zeal and special aptitude for learning, his parents fitted up a room with chairs and a blackboard in which Guy regularly met with friends with whom he studied and tutored.  An older brother and sister had already gone on to normal school and were teaching the elementary grades in Pleasant Grove, Utah.  In 1883, at the age of 19, Guy followed them and, in 1884, was himself employed as an elementary school teacher in the same community.  Ever hungry for additional education, in the autumn of 185, at the age of 21, he left Pleasant Grove and enrolled in the Brigham Young Academy.

The year that marked his first experience as a formal school instructor was important for another reason.  In September, 1884, he and Elvira Elizabeth Hartsborg were married in Salt Lake City by Daniel H. Wells.  They saw that first year in Pleasant Grove through together and lived in Provo, Utah, while Guy attended the Brigham Young Academy in 1885.  The next year Guy was called to serve in the Southern States Mission, with Elizabeth remaining in Fairview. Most of the time was spent in Kentucky and West Virginia.  In later years he told him he told his children many tales of the primitive conditions he observed while living in the hill country of those two states.

After being released and returning to Fairview in 1888, Guy and Elizabeth moved to Salt Lake City where he attended normal school in the old Social Hall.  In the fall of 1889, he accepted the position of principal of the district and returned to Fairview.  For the next two years he oversaw Fairview’s schools and served as Counselor to Bishop James C. Peterson.  Then, feeling the need for yet more schooling, he and Elizabeth moved to Provo where he could take additional course work in a variety of subjects.  While there he distinguished himself as an outstanding player on the school’s baseball team.  He also participated on the debating team and took part in dramatics.  He was selected to be “Class Orator” for the Class of 1893.

Guy returned to Fairview as principal of the school district and as a Counselor in the Bishopric.  His schooling and maturity, however, acted to point his interests in new and other directions.  He began reading law and involving himself in local political affairs.  Before long he was elected to the city council, then to the office of Justice of the Peace and, finally as prosecuting attorney.  After adding to these achievements by being elected county commissioner, he resigned his post as school principal and successfully obtained the state Democratic Party’s nomination for the office of State Auditor.  This was in 1895.

By this time Guy and Elizabeth had been married 11 years.  They had prospered.  They had an attractive home, a good team and buggy, and were respected citizens in their community.  Since there was no bank in Fairview at the time, Guy kept his earnings in a box in his bedroom dresser.  He was astonished at how rapidly his savings accumulated.  His and Elizabeth’s needs were modest.  Life seemed abundant in all regards, except for one:  Guy “ached” for children, especially a son.

Then occurred an important coincidence of events.  Anthony W. Ivins was set apart in 1895 to preside over the Mormon colonies in northern Mexico.  Ivins, as a young man, had been one of those who accompanied Daniel W. Jones in his exploring and proselytizing journey into Mexico in the 1870’s.  Like Guy, he had married and gone on a mission in the 1880’s.  He then returned to St. George, and like Guy, had prospered and become active in politics.  By the mid-1890’s he was being considered as the Democratic Party’s nominee for the state’s first race for governorship. 

After visiting the colonies and surveying their needs, Ivins returned to Salt Lake City to confer with Church Authorities at the time of the April general conference in 1896.  Among the most important of his recommendations to Church leaders was the imperative need for an improved school system in the colonies.  Altogether too little had been done in this regard during the 10 years since the colonies had been established.  Specifically, he asked that the Church subsidize a school system that would accommodate the colonists who were there and the hundreds of others who arrived from north of the border each year.  Secondly, he wanted the best young educator that could be found anywhere in the Church to be called on a mission to preside over that system and bring it to a level of excellence that the toiling Saints in Mexico deserved.  The authorities agreed to both requests.  While the Church readily concurred to underwrite an important school system in Mexico, there was uncertainty as to who should be chosen to oversee it.  President Ivins was told to consult Karl G. Maeser, the director the Brigham Young Academy in Provo.  After describing the kind of person required, Dr. Maeser immediately told Ivins, “Guy C. Wilson is your man.”  The result was an invitation to Guy to meet with President George Q. Cannon in his Salt Lake City office.

After being told what it was the authorities wished him to do, and given him time to consider it, Guy decided to accept and so informed President Cannon of his willingness.  However, Guy had previously made preparations to spend the 1896-1897 academic year studying law at the University of Michigan and thus would be unable to go to the colonies until the autumn of 1897.  President Cannon and Ivins both found this to be an acceptable delay.  As it turned out, Guy did not go to Michigan but spent the year studying at Brigham Young University in Provo.  When the agreed upon time arrived, he was given a formal missionary call, complete with the laying on of hands and papers, dated August 31, 1897, signed by the First Presidency of the Church, appointing Guy as head of the school system in the Mormon colonies in Mexico.    Before leaving President Cannon’s office Guy was also told that his calling involved more than presiding over schools.  He was expected to seek out and marry a suitable mate or mates in addition to his present wife.  President Ivins, was informed, had been given authority to solemnize polygamous or “celestial marriages.”  President Cannon assured Guy that the Lord did not want him to be forever childless.  We cannot be entirely sure how Elizabeth responded to this second part of Guy’s calling.  But she chose to stay in Utah when he left for Mexico in the autumn of 1897.  Ant it has been said that she seemed “crushed and rebellious.”

Upon arriving in Colonia Juarez, Guy was introduced to the colonists and their leaders by Karl G. Maeser who made it a point to be present at the time.  Guy, who was almost universally referred to thereafter as “Brother Wilson” or “Professor Wilson” took quarters in the home of Hanna S. Taylor.  Student were invited to visit with him in the Taylor home and, before long, it became one of the favorite locations for young people in Colonia Juarez to meet and socialize.

Making friends with the students and listening to their problems was but a part of the responsibilities Professor Wilson had undertaken. Nevertheless, it was an important part of illustrated one of his best known strength: his capacity for relating to and communicating with others.  It was not just that he was warm and magnetic in his personality.  He also had the ability to quickly elucidate an issue and then, with uncanny skill, bring contentious personalities to a common understanding.  Whether in the classroom or in church or civic gatherings, his remarkable gift for clear exposition and precipitating consensus marked him throughout his life.

A school building being constructed in Colonia Juarez and an addition was already being built when Professor Wilson assumed his responsibilities in the autumn of 1897.  He immediately set about reorganizing tutorial “reader system” used by his predecessor Dennison E. Harris, into a ladder of eight separate grades.  He added an additional teacher and saw 15 students graduate from the eighth grade in the spring of 1898.  More importantly, after making a tour of the colonies and examining their schooling efforts, he concluded that a program for teacher training must be implemented so that local talent could be used to enrich the educational experience of young people in every colony.  The result was the creation of a normal training center in the Juarez school.  In addition to this, each year he added a new grade level of instruction so that, by 1901, six students were graduated and certified to teach in the elementary schools of the Stake.   

In the summer of 1898 he went north to Salt Lake City where he reported to the First Presidency on his progress in turning the colony schools into an integrated system of graded, quality instruction.  Church leaders expressed their approval.  Then President Cannon asked how he was coming in connection with the rest of what he had been urged to do.  Professor Wilson’s reply was, “I’m waiting for her grow up.”  “Good,” said President Cannon, “Then, make it two.”

After his visit to Salt Lake City, Professor Wilson took his wife Elzabeth and spent the next three months attending summer school at the University of Chicago.  When finished he left Elizabeth in Fairview again and returned to the colonies.  He brought with him, as anew members of the faculty, Miss Ella Larson who had specialized in teaching training and dramatics and was a graduate of the Cook County Schools in Chicago and Miss Pearl Thurber, whose training was in music and elementary school and education.  This same school year also saw the completion of new, larger school buildings.  There were now five large, well equipped classrooms, a principal’s office and a library, topped with an attractive belfry. 

Everyone was astonished to see how quickly the new building was filled with a growing student body.  The faculty rapidly expanded to ten teachers.  A movement was soon afoot to erect yet another larger structure.  At a crowded town meeting called to discuss the problem, President Ivins donated five acres of his land for the project and pledges were made by other citizens totaling $12,000.  When matching Church and Stake funds were made available, a beginning on the academy building was possible.  Ground was broken on December 12, 1903, and the new structure opened its doors for use in September 1905.  By 1908, four-year diplomas were being given in high school and normal school, and three-year certificates in domestic science and domestic art.  Students came from all the colonies, many of them living during the school year with families in Colonia Juarez.  As the school grew, three other buildings were added to the school’s physical plant.  With the Academy providing high school education for students from all the colonies, some of whom were trained to return and oversee elementary instruction in their own communicates, the Juarez Stake Academy had become the mother institution for the entire system.

One of the things that is most surprising in the work of the school during these early years was the breadth of its curriculum.  Courses were taught in physics, mathematics, music, bookkeeping, English literature, history, elocution, woodwork, agriculture, Spanish and, for prospective teachers, education philosophy and child psychology.  There were athletic programs that fielded lively teams for both boys and girls.  Student performance of dramas, musicals and operas provided enjoyment for the entire community.  A tasteful but entertaining school paper was published.  In 1903, largely to the work of Charles E. McClellan, a museum was begun.  A brass band, complete with uniforms, a string orchestra, and special choirs were trained.  In all of this one sees the broad educational outlook of Guy C. Wilson.  The quality of work in the schools along with the rising level of culture in the Mormon communities, owed an immense debt to his initiative and vision.      

During these years, Elizabeth sometimes spent Christmas vacations or other brief periods with her husband in the colonies.  Professor Wilson, always anxious to obtain more schooling, had taken her with him while attending summer school at Columbia University in New York City in 1899.  But there seemed to be no indication that tshe was willing to permanently move to Mexico and make a home there.  This reluctance, combined with the childlessness of the marriage and the urgings of President George Q. Cannon, led Professor Wilson to enter “the principle.” We have noted his response to President Cannon in 1898 that he was waiting for a prospective bride “to grow up.”  This suggests he may already have been thinking about young Agnes Melissa Stevens.

The family of David Alma Stevens had arrived in the colonies from New Mexico in 1890.  Before moving to Mexico, David had been among the pioneers of the Hole-in-the Rock expedition of 1879 and 1880.  Later he was involved in the La Plata shootings that were part of the New Mexico range wars.  Though seriously wounded, David had survived and eventually relocated in Colonia Dublan with his wife, Agnes Sariah, and their four children.  The oldest of these was Agnes Melissa who had been born in Fruitland, New Mexico, on September 2, 1883.  Melissa was 14 years old and in the 7th grade when Guy C. Wilson first arrived in 1897.  She was among his students for the next five years and was asked in 1901, even before completing her normal training and receiving her diploma, to teach the 3rd grade in Colonia Juarez.  In the spring of 1902, being 18 years of age, and after a discreet courtship, Melissa was married to Guy C. Wilson as his second living wife.  The ceremony was performed in Professor Wilson’s upstairs office in the old Academy building by President Anthony W. Ivins. 

It will re recalled that President Cannon had at one time suggested to Professor Wilson, regarding the taking of additional wives, that he “make it two.”  The year following his marriage to Melissa Stevens, on 13 May 1903, President Ivins sealed his own daughter, Anna Lowrie Ivins, to Professor Wilson.  A year older than Melissa, Anna had come to the colonies with her rather when he was appointed President of the Stake in 1895.  She had also been one of Professor Wilson’s students.  She and Melissa had been especially close friends during the years previous to their marriages.  In the years they spent as sister wives to Guy C. Wilson their love for each other only deepened.  If Elizabeth withdrew somewhat in her relationship with her husband, the harmony and affection that existed between Melissa and Anna, including among the happiest examples of Mormon polygamy had produced.

The years that followed were in many ways the most rewarding of Guy C. Wilson’s life. Children began to arrive eventually numbering 14 between the two families.  Along with the warmth of his domestic circumstances, his days were brightened by the presence in the colonies of his mother and father, two sisters and a brother, as well as the parents of his young wives.  His talents were being used not only in connection with the administration of the school system, but as a Counselor to his father-in-law, Anthony W. Ivins, in the Stake Presidency.  Finally, he was seeing the results of his labor at the Academy.  Not only had the enrollment grown, but the quality of programs being offered was on a par with the best available at those grade levels anywhere in the United States.  By 1912, for Guy C. Wilson, prospects for the future never seemed better.

The Mexican Revolution of 1910 swept over the colonies.  Although no Mormons lost their lives at the hands of soldiers, there was considerable annoyance with pilfering.  With the demand that colonists give up their guns, Church Authorities feared there would be no way to adequately defend themselves and that injuries would certainly follow.  The result was the well-known Exodus of late July 1912.  Both Melissa and Anna, with their children, were sent by train to El Paso for safety.  Eventually Melissa and her children went to a ranch belonging to her rather, David Alma Stevens, just south of the border in Zaragosa, near the Rio Grande River.  Anna was sent to live with her parents in Salt Lake City.  With both families taken care of, Professor Wilson was given a year’s sabbatical leave by the Church and decided to spend it in post-graduate study with John Dewey, Edward Thorndike and others at Columbia University.  His service at the Juarez Stake Academy was at an end and a new phase of life had begun.  

Upon return from New York City in 1913, Professor Wilson established and oversaw the first seminary program in the Mormon Church.  This was done at Granite High School in Salt Lake City.  This was pioneering of a different kind again, and the fruits of his planting are known to every LDS family in North America today.  In 1915 he became President of the LDS University.  This was a four-year high school and business college.  During his 10 years in that position, buildings were added and in 1920, the curriculum was enlarged to embrace two years of college work.  Also, with B. Cecil Gates, he founded the McCune School of Music.  

In 1926 he was succeeded by Feramorz Y. Fox and accepted an appointment as head of all the Church’s schools and seminaries.  He continued at this until 1930 when he became Dean of the Divison of Religious Education at Brigham Young University.  In addition to writing Church educational manuals, and sitting on numerous boards and committees, Professor Wilson was able to give considerable time to the classroom —- always his greatest professional love.  If there was a particular objective that characterized his work, it was the desire to harmonize secular and scientific knowledge with the teachings of the Church.  He was in adapting theology to the problems of everyday life and his passion for clear and correct exposition was exceeded only by a personal interest in the lives of his students.

By the late 1930’s his health began to decline.  He was able to continue teaching through the autumn quarter of 1941 when, at the closing meeting of one of his classes, he was reported to say:”I have taught my last class.”  This must have been a most difficult moment.  Although he had traveled a long road, he made enormous contributions to the educational systems of the Church in both Mexico and the United States, had trained in classrooms in the finest universities of the land, and had raised two wonderful families with two happy, supporting companions, he was first and last a teacher. It was there that he had used his first to enrich the lives of so many others.

When he died on January 27, 1942 it was entirely appropriate that his funeral was one of the first functions held in the new Joseph F. Smith Memorial building, constructed to house the Division of Religion over which he had presided.  It was also appropriate that at his request, the song sung by a BYU quartet was, “The Teacher’s Work is Done.”

Elizabeth spent her declining years in Salt Lake City, surviving until September 27, 1951.  Melissa moved to Provo in 1926 until after Guy’s death.  She then relocated in California, living at the home of her son, Guy C. Wilson, Jr. She was with her daughter Elizabeth, in La Jolla, California, when she died on March 21, 1965.  Anna continued to make her home in Salt Lake City and passed away on October 30, 1967.  Their children have distinguished themselves in business, education, and other professions.  More than his children, however, there are thousands whose heritage includes the magic of time in a schoolroom with Professor Guy C. Wilson.  The high level of cultural activity and taste, as well as the unusual amount of achievement associated with those who trace their roots to the pre-Exodus period of the Mexican colonies, must be at least partly credited to the influence of this remarkable man.       

B. Carmon Hardy

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 781

Arwell L. Pierce

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Arwell L. Pierce

1882-1967

Arwell L. Pierce was born June 8, 1882 in Glendale, Sevier county, Utah. 

Arwell left Utah with his parents moving to the Mormon Colonies in Mexico.  During the trek south, he turned eight years old and was baptized by his father in a Southern Utah stream on July 21, 1890. He was confirmed by his father a member of the Church the same day. 

His first cousin, Brigham H. Pierce, accompanied the family on the trip.

The family arrived at Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico, on Dec. 1, 1890. Here Arwell attended school, and was an active member of the various Church auxiliary organizations. 

Colonia Diaz was the families’ home for the next ten years.  The Pierce family experienced many hardships such as little food and clothing and poor housing conditions.  During this time Arwell worked on the farm with his father. 

In 1896, while only 14 years of age, Arwell drove a team and scraper to construct the rail bed for the Rio Grande Sierra Madre & Pacific Railroad near Dublan. 

In the early part of 1898, his father started a lumber yard in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, and Arwell started to work with him.  During this time Arwell  attended a Mexican day school and studied Spanish, which he learned to speak almost without any foreign accent. He also learned to read and write Spanish very well. Returning again to Colonia Diaz, doing odd jobs to help earn money to support the family. 

In May of 1900, Arwell moved with his mother and the family to Colonia Dublan, where they built a home.  During the years of 1901-1903 Arwell attended the Juarez Stake Academy under the presidency of Professor Guy C. Wilson.  While in attendance, Guy C. Wilson encouraged him to take up school teaching as a profession. Due to an illness, his father needed help in the lumber business.  Arwell was forced to give úp school in order to help provide for the family. He worked in the lumberyard as bookkeeper, yardman, and managed the business. 

He was called on a mission to Mexico in 1904.

Elder Pierce arrived in Mexico City Christmas Day, 1904. He served under the President Talma E. Pomeroy and President Hyrum S. Harris. He was a conference president and second counselor to President Harris. Miraculously, he was protected from the attacks of mobs several times. During his mission, he blessed many children, baptized eight people, and ordained a number of men to the Priesthood. 

He learned the Spanish language fluently.  His ability to speak forcefully in Spanish won him the respect of his fellow missionaries and the Mexican people among whom he served. He finished his mission early due to the death of his father who died on Aug 21, 1906. 

Upon the death of his father, he organized the Juárez Lumber Company and took over the lumberyard from his father’s estate. He purchased an interest in the Juárez Lumber Company and became its manager.

Arwell Pierce married Mary Brentnell Done on October 2, 1907 in the Salt Lake Temple.

In 1912 he and his young family returned to Colonia Dublan.  The stake presidency appointed him to a committee to escort the refugees to El Paso, Texas. During the time the colonists were refugees in the lumber sheds in El Paso, he, along with Orson Pratt Brown looked after the colonists’ needs. 

He permanently moved with his family to El Paso, Texas, where he organized the first Latter-day Saint Sunday school in El Paso and was its first superintendent. He became a counselor to Philip H. Hurst in the branch presidency of the first branch of the Church in El Paso from 1912 to 1916.  In 1918 he was ordained Bishop of the El Paso ward. 

He started in the automobile business in Ciudad Juarez and Chihuahua City in 1920, and in 1928 in Arizona and El Paso, while still keeping his interests in the lumber business, but devoted the majority of his time to the automobile business.

In the year 1928 and 1929 he sold his automobile holdings in Mexico, Arizona, and El Paso choosing to devote his time to the lumber business and his farms.

In 1946 Arwell had the opportunity to serve as Mission President in the Mexico Mission and perform an incredible work to bring many disaffected Mexican saints back into the fold. 

The schism, which became known as the Third Convention, had occurred 10 years earlier.  Due to post-Revolution nationalistic Mexican sentiments, changes in the laws regarding religious officials, and feelings of disregard by Church authorities in Salt Lake City, caused one-third of the members in Mexico to leave the Church.

During the decade from 1936 to 1946, Mission Presidents Harold W. Pratt and A. Lorenzo Anderson used a firm, disciplined approach to handling the disaffected members.  This firm approach resulted in little success in bringing these Saints back into the mainline LDS Church in Mexico. 

According to Third Convention scholar F. LaMond Tullis, the majority of the Third Conventionists still practiced Mormonism faithfully.  They continued to construct buildings and send out missionaries.  They separated themselves from the mainline Church in their belief that their Mission President should be a full-blooded Latino.

At the age of almost 60 years, Arwell had developed patience and wisdom.  He understood that the Third Convention members’ main sticking point with the Church was that no native Mexicans were being called into leadership positions in the Mexican Mission. 

One of his tactics was to have Harold Brown accompany him to speak at Third Convention sacrament meetings.  He would ask Harold to “give them the word,” meaning he wanted Harold to speak harshly to the crowd, while Arwell would then speak softly pleading with them to “come back to Zion.”  This good cop/bad cop approach worked well in softening the hearts of the disaffected.     

Over time, exercising much patience and diligent service,  Arwell was able to get the self-exiled members’ from obsessing about not having a Latin Mission Presidency to what they really should focus on…becoming a full-fledged Stake with a functioning Stake Presidency and auxiliaries staffed by Latin members.   

In 1946 through much back and forth between the Third Convention and The LDS First Presidency in Salt Lake City, Arwell L. Pierce was able to broker a peace agreement.  In 1946 President George Albert Smith visited the members of the Third Convention welcoming them back into fold.  

Arwell served as President of the Mesa, Arizona Temple from 1953–1960.

Arwell L. Pierce died October 23, 1967 In Americus, Georgia.  He was buried in El Paso, Texas

Various sources were used in creating this life sketch. http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=121696605 

F. LaMond Tullis

A Shepherd to Mexico’s Saints: Arwell L. Pierce and the Third Convention

https://ojs.lib.byu.edu/spc/index.php/BYUStudies/article/viewFile/6437/6086

George Ayers Black

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George Ayers Black

1861-1908

George Ayers Black known as “George A.” the second son and third child of William Valentine Black and Jane Johnston Black, was born in Lisburn, Entrum County, Ireland, in the year 1832.  He moved to Manchester, England with his parents.  There the entire family was baptized into Mormonism and emigrated to the United States.

Landing first in New Orleans, they traveled up the river to St. Louis, Missouri, and from there to Nauvoo, Illinois where they joined their daughter, Mary, who had come over before them.

When the Saints left Nauvoo the Blacks had a wagon but no team, so they pushed the wagon by hand down to the Mississippi dock and ferried it across the river to join the camp of refugees. The family went on to Council Bluffs in the spring, and in 1850 traveled to the Salt Lake Valley with the Pace Company.

After they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, President Young called William V. Black and family to help settle Manti.  When in 1853 the Walker War commenced, William V. served for two years as a cavalry soldier. 

He first married Almira Ayers, daughter of Caleb and Lucinda Catherine Haggerty Ayers, and in 1857 he married Victoria Ayers, sister of Almira.

George Ayers, Victoria’s first son was born March 3, 1861, in Spring City, Sanpete County, Utah.  While George Ayers Black was still a baby his parents were called by the Church authorities to help settle Utah’s Dixie.  They spent some years in Rockville, then in Kanosh, Millard County, and finally settled in Deseret. 

George A. was not a large man, about five feet nine inches in height, but he enjoyed good health and was blessed with great endurance, enabling him to do a great amount of work.  He had a jovial, happy disposition, loved to sing songs, made friends easily and enjoyed their companionship. 

He left for a Church mission to the Southern States in 1883.  His work was in Tennessee and Kentucky.  While there, he visited the Exposition at Louisville.

George A. was released from his mission November 17, 1885.  He arrived at Oasis depot where he was met by his fiancée Emily Partridge, her brother John and sister Clara, who had traveled all day from Fillmore to meet him.  He and Emily were married in the St. George Temple on December 31, 1885 and lived in Fillmore for a while where he attended school.  The couple did a lot of studying together.

In the spring they moved to Deseret where George A. was employed in his father’s store.  Their first child arrived October 2, 1886, and they named him George Edward.  Their second son, William Shirley, was born January 30, 1889.

In 1891 the family moved to Hinckley a few miles distant and took up a homestead.  Although Hinckley was a sand-swept, dry, alkaline land, George A. sank artesian wells, broke up the soil, built buildings, planted poplar trees for wind breaks, and made his holdings into a very good ranch with cattle, horses, and large stacks of hay.  For their fruit supply they planted currant and gooseberry bushes, which were about the only fruit producing plants that would grow there.

He was made a Counselor to Bishop William Pratt.  His friendly nature, ambition, and public spirit soon made him a leader in the community.  He was helpful in building Hinckley’s church, later known as the “mud temple.”

The third son, David Clisbee, was born July 17, 1892.  Geneva was born September 10, 1895, Carnal Buxton on September 4, 1897, and Victor F. October 14, 1899.  About a month after Victor’s birth Emily, the mother, died, having contracted blood poisoning.  George A. was left with six children under the age of thirteen.  Julia Stout, who lived on the farm adjoining, took baby Victor until he was old enough to return to the family. 

George A. struggled on with some help from relatives and “hired girls” until he fortunately met and fell in love with Artemisia Cox, a sister of Julia Stout.  They were married November 30, 1900 in the St. George Temple.  A daughter, Golda was born October 21, 1901. 

George A. left Salt Lake City on November 22, 1902 for Canada to work as a missionary encouraging enrollment and attendance at the Mutual Improvement Association and selling Era subscriptions.  When a telegram brought word from home that Victor had died, George A. was released from the mission and returned home.

On May 12, 1903, the family moved to Deep Creek, Tooele County, Utah.  There George A. engaged in farming, sawmill work, thrashing grain, helping James A. Faust with the Church farm and befriending and helping the Indians on the nearby reservation.  He soon became a member of the school board which was planning a much-needed building for school and church services.  With the help of his boys and other members, kilns were built and brick and lime produced and the building was soon finished.

Another son, June Whitmore, arrived December 3, 1903.  Many Indian friends wanted George to name the baby Ibapah, the Indian name for Tooele County.

As the years passed George Ayers Black realized that the environment of Deep Creek on the Nevada border was not a suitable one in which to raise his large family.  He decided to move to a more settled community.  Letters had come from the David Stout family praising that part of Mexico where the Stouts were living.  George A. decided to take his wife to Mexico to visit here sisters and to see the country.  With their four small children they made the trip to Guadalupe, Chihuahua.  They liked what they found there and before returning home bought a terreno joining the Stouts’ land.  November 30, 1906 the family moved to Guadalupe to make their home.  It was necessary at first to live in a Mexican adobe house, but he started immediately to assembly material for a new house.  Crops and gardens were planted; trees were set out to beautify the new home.  Soon George was made Presiding Elder of this Branch of the Dublan Ward and he gave Guadalupe dynamic leadership.  Immediately, wishful thinking about a new meeting house was changed into action, and every able-bodied person in the branch was performing his part in the great task of building a house of worship.  Again George A. Built kilns and produced the brick and lime needed for the new chapel.  Within a year it was ready except for the needed furniture, including an organ. 

The Brown family purchased a grain header, a molasses mill, and other farm machinery.  The sons and Emerald Stout operated the header, cutting wheat up and down the valley on both sides of the river.  The Haws and Hatch thrashing machine crew followed, finding George A. a very fine man to work with.  A seventh son, Alma Cox, was born January 15, 1907.    

It became a custom in Guadalupe to celebrate Mexican holidays such as the Cinco de Mayo.  In 1908, the program was especially fine.  Both American and Mexican flags were displayed.  Many Mexican neighbors were invited and attended the gathering in the new church building, and a very friendly feeling prevailed throughout the day.  Quite ironically, however, before the month had passed, George A. was killed—May 30, 1908—by a gun shot from an angry Mexican intended for someone else.  In the early evening George A. had learned about a dispute over water rights that was taking place in the field and went to find out what the trouble was.  As he was approaching the scene a bullet from the Mexican’s gun struck him in the jugular vein, killing him instantly.  His funeral was held in the Dublan Ward Church were large crowds came to pay respects to a man they had known only a short time but for whom they already had great respect and friendship.  The burial was in the Dublan cemetery.

On October 19, 1908, a baby girl, Georgia Ayers, was born to the stricken home.  Artemisia carried on bravely, although her health was poor.  She sent Don, a son, on a Church mission to Mexico City.  After another tragedy in the community, she moved in with the Stouts for better protection.  The older boys worked hard to help support the family— Edward worked for the Juarez power plant: Shirl ran the farm; Don and Geneva attended the Academy.  Shirl married Verna Johnson of Colonia Diaz just before the Exodus.  Edward and Shirl left Mexico overland with a group of men from the colonies, taking the horses.  Other members of the family went by train to El Paso.  Artemisia went from El Paso to Hinckley, Utah, where she lived and raised her small children.  The older children stayed with relatives until they were grown. 

Geneva Black Stout, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 38

From the history of Shirl Black regarding the death of his father:

     My father was killed 30 May 1908. It was our turn to      take the water, so my brother Edd went up the ditch        to take the water, but some Mexicans were there and        chased him away with knives. He came home and got the      shot gun and asked me to go with him with a shovel.        When we got to the head gate the Mexicans were there,      but they left when they saw us come with the gun. We      took the water. Then Father, who was getting worried,      came there with a boy who could talk Spanish. He got      there just as the Mexicans came back with a gun. They      called out to a Mexican who was with us to get out of      the way. The Jameson boy, who understood them, said,      “Look out’ They are going to shoot.” Edd and I            dropped down behind the ditch bank. The boy and            Mexican who was with us ran down the ditch. We            thought Father went with them, but he just stooped        over and their shot struck him in the neck, coming        out back of his shoulders. They started to follow          those who ran and shot twice more at us. Their shots      went over us. We moved to another place and hid until      they were gone. Then we got up and found Father was        dead.

https://familysearch.org/photos/stories/573476

Alexander Jameson, Jr.

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Alexander Jameson, Jr.

1859-1943

Alexander Jameson, Jr. was the son of Alexander Jameson and Pirene Brown Ewell.  His grandfather, Charles Jameson, was wounded at Hans Mill.  Charles was also a member of the Mormon Battalion.   

His wife died of cholera while crossing the plains and was buried in Nebraska.  Alex, Jr.’s father drove the ox team and brought his sisters and younger brother to the Salt Lake Valley.

Alexander Jameson, Jr. was born May 18, 1859 in Provo, Utah.  In 1866 the family moved to Goshen, Utah.  During the early settlement of Goshen, Alexander, Jr. remembers his father beating the bass drum every morning at daylight as a signal for grown male members of the Ward to gather at the log schoolhouse where the roll was called and the night guards were relived and day guards appointed to take their places.  As the Indians grew more peaceful, Goshen was moved to its present site where Alexander, Jr. grew to manhood.

He was baptized a member of the LDS Church by Bishop William Price in 1867.  He grew up without being ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood as he was always away from home working, his father being an invalid.  In 1881 he was ordained an Elder by James H. Jenkins.  In 1884 he was ordained a Seventy by Rodger Openshaw.  His name was sent to the First Seven Presidents of Seventy as worthy to be called on a mission.  A little later his brother-in-law met with an accident from which he died.  The brethren asked that Alexander, Jr. not be called as his sister was left with six children and needed him to finish a house that was under construction at the time of her husband’s death. 

Alexander Jameson, Jr. married Millicent Ferris Hatfield on December 29, 1881 in the Salt Lake Endowment House.  Eleven children were born to them.

Because his father was an invalid he had the care of his parents until his father died on October 24, 1884, at which time his mother went to live with his younger sister, Martha J. Christensen.

He bought a city lot in Goshen, Utah and build a home, where they lived until 1889.  He had little opportunity to attend school until he was 30 years of age.  He moved his young family to Provo in 1889.  His wife, Millicent, cooked for students while he attended Brigham Young University.

Dr. Karl G. Maeser called him to go to Castle Dale, Emery County, Utah to organize a church school known as the Emery Stake Academy. 

He was called to serve as a Counselor in the Bishopric of Castle Dale Ward.  On February 4, 1895, he was ordained a Patriarch at 36 years of age.  He was released from the Bishopric a year later.  They lived in a log house until 1895, when they moved into a new brick house, built in front of the log house.  It was a lovely two-story building with eight rooms. One of the rooms upstairs was his office.  He gave many Patriarchal Blessings there.  He also served as Stake Sunday School Superintendent in the Emery Stake.  He taught school until 1900 in Castle Dale, then he moved to Colonia Morelos, Sonora, Mexico.  Here he married a second wife, Mary Amelia Larsen, May 24, 1901.  Five children were born to this union. 

In 1901 the Morelos Ward was organized and Alexander, Jr. was sustained as First Counselor to Bishop Orson P. Brown.  He was in charge of the tithing.

He built a cooler of screen wire tacked to a wooden frame.  On top of the frame was a pan of water.  Burlap covered the frame and the door and enough of the burlap was allowed to reach into the pan of water to soak the burlap to keep it wet.  This is the way they kept food that members had contributed as tithing, such as home-made cheese, butter, vegetables, and eggs.  Grains and hay were kept at the tithing office yard.

Following is a quote from Clara Porter’s life story:

One night while a Priesthood Meeting was being held in the chapel, a volley of shots rang out.  It sounded like cannons, north of town. We always feared a rebel invasion and were always on the alert.  I was at a Primary song practice at the home of my friend Josie Snarr.  Mother was the Primary President and was with us.  She decided to go home and get the tithing records and money and take them to the chapel.  She wrapped the records and money in the blankets with the baby and ran to see what was keeping the men.  They had been singing the closing song loudly, they hadn’t heard the shots.  The men soon organized a posse to investigate.  They learned that two enemy outlaw groups and not the Mexican rebels that were feared.

Another occasion which gave us a shock was when a thief from the United States went into a mining camp, killed the leader, and robbed the miners.  H needed food and fresh horses, so he came to our colony, tied his horse up in the hills at the edge of town and walked to the store for supplies.  He paid for his supplies with money he took from a large roll in a burlap bag.  Our deputy had been informed of the holdup, so he asked the thief some questions.  He ran out of the door and tried to get his horse.  The deputy shot him in the leg.  As he fell he tried to hide the money under his head.  The Mormon men carried him to the tithing office (no jail).  The deputy dressed his wounds and cared for him until the Mexican officials came for him.

In August, 1907, Alexander moved his families to Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico, where he rented rooms in Bailey Lake’s new house.

The farmers took turns using the irrigation water.  One evening his son, Arthur Jameson, was irrigating near Brother Black’s farm when he saw a Mexican trying to force Brother Black to give him the stream of water.  Art went over to interpret as Brother Black didn’t understand Spanish very well.  The Mexican became angry and pulled out his gun.  Young Jameson tried to get Brother Black to leave, but he didn’t think the Mexican was serious about shooting.  As art ran to get help he heard a shot.  Sister Black heard the shots also.  They notified the authorities.  When they arrived they found Brother Black dead. 

The few years prior to 1912 were happy ones.  Alexander built and purchased homes for his families, farmed his land and began to get his roots down.  Then the trouble began.  The Revolution left Mexico without a stable government, and danger seemed to beset the Saints at every turn.  Alexander took his turn standing guard, but things became worse and eventually the women and children were placed in box cars and sent to El Paso, Texas.  Jameson remained with the other brethren for a few days longer, in hopes things would clear up and his families could return.

While tending the water in his field, a band of Mexicans surrounded the home of first family.  He returned to the house and found them helping themselves outside and in.  As he approached the front door, two guns were thrust in his face.  He recognized both guns as his own.  One was out of order, and there was no ammunition for the other one.  He took a barrel in each hand, thrust the Mexicans to each side and walked into the house.  The Mexicans exclaimed “Bravo, bravo!”

They were putting on his clothes, even his good white shirts, and helping themselves in general.  He was angry and felt like going to the corner of the room and pulling out the organ, in back of which he had hidden a six-shooter all loaded.  For a moment he wanted to shoot the invaders but controlled his feelings.  After the Mexicans had taken what they wanted, they left.

A short time later he was forced to flee with the other brethren into the mountains and back to the United States.  The first few miles they fled under fire and never had a chance to rest until they reached El Paso.   Having no desire to return to Mexico, he moved his families back to Castle Dale, Utah, where they lived for three years. 

In May, 1916, he moved his families to LaSal, San Juan County, Utah, where new land was being homesteaded.  He brought the improvements of Don Loveridge on 160 acres of land and started dry farming.  The land was rich and in the first few years the crops were good.  He worked in the nearby Big Indian Mine and paid for his land.  He helped build the church house and served a number of years as Bishop of the LaSal Ward.  He served a number of years on the San Juan School Board and was instrumental in getting a schoolhouse constructed.  Theretofore they had held school in the church house.  He continued to give Patriarchal Blessings.

Some dry years came along and many of the people in LaSal left to make their homes elsewhere.  He took the job of watchman at the Big Indian Mill for copper after it ceased operating.  Millicent went to visit some of their children who were living in a number of the western states.  Amelia moved to Moab, Utah so the boys could attend high school.  Here she contracted pneumonia and died on November 6, 1924.  Millicent went to Moab and helped the boys finish that year of school.  Annetta went to live with her Uncle Parley and Aunt Mary Larsen.

After the death of their oldest daughter, Millicent Dorothy Naegle, the Jameson’s moved to Eureka, Utah, to be near their son, Joseph, who was teaching school there, and his family.  Later they moved to Provo, Utah.  Here he was active in the Manavu Ward and gave many Patriarchal Blessings.

On fast day of October, 1943, he gave his last blessing in Manavu Ward.  After October General Conference, 1943, he went with Oscar to LaSal, Utah for a visit.  Here he became ill and was taken to the hospital in Moab, Utah where he died November 2, 1943 at the age of 84 years.

His funeral in Provo, Utah, was well-attended and many wonderful things were said that his service.  President Junius Romney, and old friend and Stake President in Mexico, was one of the speakers.  His life was rich with service to his fellowmen.  He was a scholar, an educator, miner, stockman, a good follower, and a fine leader, and above all a good husband and father.  He was buried at Goshen, Utah. 

Iva Naegle Balmer, granddaughter

 Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 325

The word Manavu is derived from the Hebrew meaning “beautiful view”; it can be compared with Nauvoo, Illinois, which stands for “beautiful location.”

The Manavu Ward was created April 11, 1920, when the Provo 5th Ward was divided and all that part lying north of 4th North St. and east of 1st East St., extending north to the city limits and east to the mountains, was organized into the Manavu Ward.

Manavu Ward Link to family search.org

Joseph Henry James

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Joseph Henry James

1855-1908

Joseph Henry James, son of Sarah Holyoak and Joseph James, was born October 22, 1855, in Ogden, Weber County, Utah, on of 12 children.  Not much is known about his childhood, but records show he moved to Sunset, Arizona before 1877 where it is supposed he lived the United Order.

He was a short, stout, dark-complexioned man with a keen sense of humor.  His first wife was Elizabeth Salome Broomfield, whom he married July 12, 1877, and from this union were born 14 children.  His second wife was her sister, Mary Eliza, whom he married January 10, 1879, and she also bore him 12 children.  His third wife was Orpha Emelia Rogers whom he married September 12, 1882, and she bore him seven children.

He moved to Mexico in 1885 with his three wives.  They were the first settlers who moved into “Old Town” where they lived in a dugout and had a hard time finding enough food to eat that first winter.  From there he moved to Colonia Dublan, then to Casas Grandes and finally settled in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Hop Valley, near Pacheco, which became his home for as long as he lived.  By this time he had 25 children and he decided it was time for each of his wives to have a home of her own.  So, on the banks of the river where it forked, he built a home for each wife, where, as he said, no matter where high water caught him he always had a home.  Here he planted fruit trees that are still bearing (1967).  He was a good farmer, ran a diary, made cheese and butter and also owned a saw mill and soon had a prosperous little family community.

The Jameses were good hosts and people enjoyed visiting them for they always had a good joke to tell and made everyone feel at home.  Some of his humorous statements are remembered and are in common use today by people who heard him make them.  

In 1908, he and his sons devised a shortcut to get logs from his sawmill at the top of the mountain to the valley by building a chute through which logs could pass.  This would have saved many hours of travel over rough, hazardous roads.  The plan was hailed with delight by some but with skepticism by others.   There was enough interest in its outcome that many lumbermen were watching when the first log was ready to make its triumphant landing.  His son Hollister regulated the take-off of the logs at the top, and then Joe James, with a couple of Mexican helpers, stood at the bottom to enjoy the safe landing and the successful outcome of his revolutionary idea.  This expected thrill was short-lived, for that first log, coming with the speed of an express train, suddenly up-ended and jumped the chute.  Joe James and his helpers, standing in the precise location to catch the full impact of the hurtling logs, were killed instantly.  The scheme that was to have made Joe James immortal died stillborn.  He was buried in the western cemetery April 22, 1908 in Colonia Juarez.  His three widows and his large, sturdy and industrious family were left to mourn his loss and eke out individual existences in various parts of the United States.

His jocular comments on life as he met it have immortalized him among the people who knew him best.  Though it took Joe James to tell a Joe James joke, the following have been preserved through the years and are still in common use in this area:

As Joe was going from Dublan to Juarez on horseback one night, someone had been putting a wire fence up near the road some distance beyond a limestone ridge and had just gotten up one wire of the fence.  Joe, not being able to see it, rode right into it and hut his leg almost half off. When he got to Juarez he wnt to Mrs. Crow, the only doctor they had in Juarez at that time.  She had nothing to give him to deaden the pain.  “Go ahead and sew it up,” Joe said, so she started in on the job.  Joe just sat there telling jokes.  She said she might have to cut the leg off.   When she was about through sewing it on, he said to her, “I’m only going to pay you half price.”  She wanted to know why and he said, “Because it is half cut off now.”

He used to like to tell about the Pacheco farmers.  He said that they would raise a little corn to feed their horses to haul a little lumber so they could have something to feed their horses. 

 One day as he was walking up the street one of the brethren met him and said, “Well, Brother James, I’m sure glad to see you.  I heard that you were dead.”  Joe said, “I did get shot but I turned around so quick that the bullet came out of the same hole it went in.”

Ida Skousen was out in her yard one morning and Joe came along and stopped and talked with her a moment.  As he stated she said, “Brother James you look shorter every time I see you.” He said, “Yes, I get worn off up in the rocks.”

One day as Joe was going down the mountain he met one of the men coming up and stopped to chat a bit.  He noticed one of the men’s horses was slo lame it was holding one leg up.  Joe said, “Can that horse add?”  “No,” said the man, “Why?” Joe said, “I see he was three down and is carrying one.”

Joe said that lumber haulers had to haul their lumber green because it warped so bad if it got dry that both ends tried to get off the mountain at the same time.

I remember at one time Joe raised what he called cow horn turnips.  They would grow way out of the ground.  One day he was to our place and was talking to my mother.  Mother asked him how things were going with him and he said, “Oh, I[m having tough luck.”  Mother asked him what the trouble was and he said, ”The wind is blowing over all over my turnips and I’m breaking all my cant hook handles turning over potatoes to keep them from sunburing, they are growing out of the ground so fast.”

Joe told me about a man who ran a store but could neither read nor write.  He ran a credit account and he would just draw a picture of whatever he sold.  One day a man came in and the storekeeper said to him, “Say, you owe me for a cheese.”  The man said, “I don’t owe you for a cheese.” “Yes, you do,” said the storekeeper.  “I got it down right here.”  The man said, “Let me see,” and he saw the round circle.  “That wasn’t cheese,” he said.  “That was a grinding stone.” “Oh, yes” said the storekeeper.  “I fogot to put the little square hole in the middle of it.”

One year Joe rented a piece of land up the river at a place we called Willow Creek, to a man by the name of Henry, to raise potatoes.  Joe’s cows got to going up the river and eating the man’s potatoes.  The man went down and told Joe to try and take care of his cows.  Joe would make wisecracks and didn’t seem to do anything about it.  So one morning he went down to Joe’s place as joe was just getting ready to go to Juarez.    Henry said, “Joe, I wish you would bring back all the old boxes that you can find.”  Joe looked at him and said, “What in the world do you want things like that for?” Henry said, “To cover what few potato vines your damn cows haven’t ate.”  This was the only time I have ever heard of when Joe didn’t have a wisecrack to reply with, it had surprised him so.  

Someone asked him once how he liked his farm over in Hop Valley.  He said, “Just fine.”  He said he went out to plant some cucumbers and they came up so fast they threw dirt in his eyes.  Then when he looked back the first ones he had planted had runners on and he went to get out of the field but found runners going up his leg and had to cut himself loose to get out.  In fact, they were actually growing so fast, he said, they were dragging the little cucumbers to death. 

Brother Stowell went to visit him at a new home he had built.  The house was right at the base of a hill.  Brother Stowell asked him how he liked it and he said, “Just fine.  I can go out and stand on the back porch and load my shotgun with pumpkin seed and shot them into the hill and then when they are ready and my wife wants one I can go on the porch and shoot one and it will roll right down to the door.”

Joe sent little Ammer over to Pacheco to grind a sack of corn.  He didn’t come back until night and Joe asked him what took I so long getting back.  Ammer said, “That old mill ground so slow I could eat it as fast as it came out until I’d starve to death.”

As some people were building a house Joe was watching them.  A 2×4 slipped off and hit Joe, knocking him out.  When he can go he asked them what had happened and they told him the board had come off and hit him.  He asked if it hurt the board and when they said no he said, “Well, then, what’s the matter?  Let’s get up and go to work.”

Joe asked one of his little boys to go get a hammer for hm.  After some time the boy came back and was standing there when his father asked him if he was the boy he sent after the hammer.  The boy said, “Yes,” and Joe said, “Well, you’ve grown so much since I sent you I didn’t know you.”

Someone asked Joe James why all Mormons rode 3rd class and answered, “Because there is no 4th class.”

When asked the reason of his good potato crop during the drought he said he always planted onions with his potatoes so that the eyes of the potatoes would water themselves.

When asked how he could feed so many children he answered, “I feed them dried apples for breakfast, water for dinner, and let them swell up for supper.”

When asked why he didn’t give a lady that was standing on the train his seat, he answered, because his seat was a birthday present to him.

When a neighbor asked Joe James how he was getting along he answered, “I’m holding my own, I came here with nothing and I’ve still got it.”

Bobby Cochenour and Eulla Davis, granddaughters.

Joseph Henry James Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 321

James Christian Peterson

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James Christian Peterson

1858-1929

Mormonism was brought to the Nils Persson family in Soder Rorum, Sweden in about 1856 by the Mormon missionaries.  Grandpa Persson first learned of this new religion but it was Grandma Persson, Maria Livisa Danielsson, Persson, who first accepted it and was baptized in 1858.  The Persson home was a haven to the missionaries as Grandma and Grandpa were very hospitable and welcomed the missionaries.

The Persson children were all born in Soder Rorum with the exception of the eldest son, Olof, who was born in Farlov, Sweden.  Austusta Persson the baby of the family, was born on February 29, 1864. She often told us of the missionaries coming to their home and how brother Erastus Snow would put his arm around her and put her on his knee, something a child would remember.

In 1863, the eldest son, Olof, went to Denmark and there was associated with the Mormon converts.  Later, the whole Persson family moved to Denmark as the families of brother Nils Persson and Maria Lovisa Danilesson Persson were embittered over their joining this new religion.  At the time Grandma Person was a soloist in the Swedish Luteran Church.

James Christian Peterson was born in Mygind, Denmark, January 26, 1858.  He became acquainted with the Mormons and when 17 years of age was baptized on October 10, 1875.  His parents did not join the Church at this time.  He met Matilda Persson while in Denmark at the Mormon activities.

The Persson family immigrated to American and traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah from 1874 to 1876.  James Christian Peterson and his mother emigrated in 1877.  They came to Salt Lake City.  James’ mother, Anne, was baptized February 2, 1886, in Utah.

In Denmark James learned the trade of fine shoe making and repairing of shoes.  When young people learned a trade in the old country they were skilled.  After arriving in Salt Lake City, he secured employment with ZCMI and Solomon Bros.  Later, after his marriage to Matilda Persson in 1879 in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, and after their first three children were born, they oved to Ephraim, Utah.  There James opened a mercantile store.

Matilda and James Christian Peterson were an outstanding couple in church work and talents.  Six of their eight children were born in Utah, John Henry and Florence Viola being born in Colonia Juarez. 

Augusta Persson and James Christian Peterson were married in the Manti Temple on August 28, 1890.  They, with several other couples, went to Colonia Juarez, Mexico, to establish their homes.  Matilda Peterson and family were living in Ephraim at this time.  James came for them in 1891 and they moved to Colonia Juarez with him. 

James commenced his trade of shoe making and repairing of shoes when he arrived in Colonia Juarez.  He was an expert in this trade and taught some of the local men the shoe making business.  Later, after establishing himself and having built separate homes for his two families, he opened up a mercantile store on the main street in Colonia Juarez.

James was interested in getting ahead financially.  He acquired timberland in Chuhuichupa.  He was prospector by nature and he located several mining claims.  He interested some people from England in the mines.  They came and looked over the property.  Due to the inaccessible roads and location of the mines, the English people declined the process of extracting the ore and cost of shipment to the States would be exorbitant.  So the deal was not closed.

Grandma Persson or Peterson lived with the two families until her death in 1904.  Nils Persson died in Salt Lake City, Utah on June 28, 1882.  He was only in America six years.  Grandpa and Grandma Persson were a cultured, refined and talented couple and loved their children and religion dearly.  In Colonia Juarez, Matilda Peterson acted as midwife and brought many of the babies in Colonia Juarez into this world.  Augusta Peterson, 10 years younger than her sister Matilda, had her own dressmaking shop in Salt Lake City before her marriage.  She often spoke of the women in Colonia Juarez coming to her with material for a dress to be cut out.  She said she nearly always wound up making the dress for them.  Augusta was very artistic.  Her home was always most attractive; she just had that touch.  Both Matilda and Augusta were very good cooks.

James was called on a mission to Denmark.  Later he was made Branch President.  Being able to speak the language and knowing the country I am sure he converted many to the Gospel.  He was a Christian gentleman.  He had a very good disposition, loved to read, and spoke several languages fluently.  Matilda and Augusta Peterson were both outstanding and had charming personalities and good dispositions.

Leah, a daughter of Augusta and James Christian Peterson, died in Colonia Juarez, July 4, 1906.  Matilda and her family moved to Salt Lake City, Utah in 1907, and Augusta and family followed the next year. John Henry and Florence Viola and all of Augusta’s children were of school age. The

James sold some of his holdings, including the homes, but the timberland and mines were never sold.  He never was paid in full for the homes, because of the problems caused by the Mexican Revolution.

Some of the Peterson children received university educations.  Nearly all the grandchildren have graduated from college and the great-grandchildren are headed that way.  They possess many talents, hold good positions, are well respected in the communities in which they live and most are active in Church. 

Hilma Peterson, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 326

George Washington Patten

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George Washington Patten

1853-1863

George Washington Patten, son of George Patten, born October 26, 1828, in Chester County, Pennsylvania and Mary Nelson, born March 8, 1832, in Mt. Vernon, Jefferson, Illinois.

His parents, as teenagers, had joined the LDS Church and were in the midst of the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri and Illinois.  They, with their families, were driven from their homes at the time of the exodus from Nauvoo and crossed the plains, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1850, settling in Mountainville, (now Alpine, Utah).  It was here that his father met and married Mary Jane Nelson.  To this union were born eight children. George Washington Patten being the second child, born on January 12, 1853 in Alpine, Utah.  His family later moved and settled in various places in and around Payson, Utah.

So far little has been learned about the early childhood of George Washington Patten, but it is believed that most of his time was spent in Payson, Utah.  It was here that he met Lillian Sophia Beckstead who had come from Annabelle, Utah, in 1870 to live with her sister Sarah.  Their friendship grew and they were married on July 24, 1871, she at the age of 15, and he at 18.  Lillian was the daughter of Sidney Marcus Beckstead and Ann Sophia Rollins who were also pioneers in the exodus from Nauvoo. 

The Pattens moved to various locations trying to make a living and settle down.  They found it difficult because of a shortage of water, and soil conditions.  They had many experiences with the Indians..  One one occasion, George had to go to Payson overnight, leaving Lillian with three small children alone.  Early in the evening a crowd of Indians passed the house, and Lillian knew they were drunk.  She was very frightened.  Barring the doors and windows, she prepared to spend the night alone.  Later a knock was heard at the door.  She asked who was there and Chief Santaquin answered, saying some of the Indians had been to Payson and returned drunk and that it would be safer for her to bring the children over to his house and stay all night.   She took the children and spent the night at Chief Santaquin’s home.  He was very good to them while they lived in Thistle Valley. 

In 1890 George decided to move to Mexico.  Their family consisted of ten children, two of which were married.  With very little means to travel he managed to trade a race horse for a wagon and mule team and they started on their long journey with other members of the family.  They had many experiences on this journey, because of traveling conditions, roads and lack of food.  At Lee’s Ferry, the teams, wagons and children were taken over in a large boat run by cable.  In crossing some of the rivers some of the things were lost in quicksand.  They finally arrived in Colonia Dublan on January 10, 1891.  They were on the road two months with their teams and wagons.

They lived in Mexico 21 years before returning to Payson to live.  At first their life in Mexico was very rugged.  When they arrived they were in very poor circumstances, living mostly on corn bread, beans and molasses, using sweetened water on their mush.  Beef was five cents per pound, but money was hard to get and there were things that could not be bought, even if one had the money.

George bought an ox team and his boys would plow with it and go into the mountains for wood.  He served as Deputy Sheriff for a number of years.

It was a terrible struggle for many years but finally the farm was well equipped with machinery and good horses.  The family raised hay, oats, barley, wheat, and cane, making their own molasses—from 400 to 500 gallons at a time.  We had a good orchard and garden, raising our own peanuts.

George died on February 22, 1896, after being kicked by a horse, causing acute Brights Disease.  Lillian was left with nine children and one more was born four months after her husband died.  She had many problems during the ensuing years as one can imagine with such a large family.  But the entire family worked together.  One by one the children were married, and sad events took place on occasions when a dear one was taken away.  Lillian passed December 1, 1916 at Payson, Utah.

Mary Jane McClellan, daughter, and Thelma Patten Allen, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 517