Category Archives: Histories

Isaac Alldredge

1 Reply

 

Isaac Alldredge

1843 – 1936

Isaac Alldredge was born in Jackson County, Illinois on July 25, 1843.  He married Susanna Evans on December 27, 1869, in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah.  There were 10 children born to them, all in Utah.

Isaac Alldredge went to Mexico in 1902, from Ferron, Emery County, Utah with his wife and three children, Nettie, Leo, and Jacosa. Two other families from Utah accompanied the Alldredges at that time, those of William Wanlass and William Winn.  They went first to the Colony of Dublan, then to the new settlement of Morelos in Sonora.  There they farmed and helped with building dams and ditches.  They stayed two years before going to Nacozari to work on the railroad.

They returned and purchased a farm in San Jose, 10 miles from Morelos.  Again they helped with the pioneering tasks of clearing the ground, building dams, irrigation ditches, church and school houses.  Isaac had three children marry in Mexico:  Nettie married John Keate at Morelos; Leo married Ida Romney in Colonia Juarez; and Jacosa was married to Alva B. Langford at San Jose.

Isaac lived a long, full life in the interest of his family, church, and community.  After leaving Mexico, at the time of the Revolution, he settled in Mesa, Arizona.  While there he ran a popcorn stand.  Many of his friends long remember him as the “popcorn man.”

Susannah passed away on July 23, 1932 in Mesa.  Isaac died four years later, September 24, 1936, also in Mesa, at the age of 93.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch and B. Carmon Hardy

Stalwarts South of the Border, page 12

 

Additional information on Isaac Alldredge

Walter Fredrick Hurst

1 Reply

 

Walter Fredrick Hurst

1867-1956

Walter’s father, Philip, was born September 15, 1836.  He came to Utah in Captain James. J. Jepson’s Company in 1852 and settled in Springville, Utah.

Philip Hurst married Lucinda Harris Guymon who was born September 9, 1840 in Nauvoo, Illinois.  She came to Utah in the Hancock Company and located in Springville, Utah where she and Philip were married.  They moved to Fairview later.

To this union were born seven children, including twins, William and Walter.  The twins were born June 18, 1967, at Fairview, Utah.  The mother, Lucinda, died when they were nine days old. One of the twins, William, who was a strong and healthy looking baby, died when he was two or three months old, leaving Walter, who was a very small and apparently puny baby. 

Shortly after Walter’s mother died, his father married Elizabeth Wilcox of Mount Pleasant, Utah. She was very young, not more than 16 or 17 years of age.  Even for a woman older and more experienced, it would have been a big undertaking and responsibility to step into a family of five children under conditions of financial insecurity, with a husband away from home so much of the time.  Consequently, the young stepmother and the five children had a great many adjustments to make, which led to numerous heartaches and unhappy experiences.

Mr. Orvil Cox of Fairview once told me he remembered calling my father off the street and sewing his big toe on after it had chapped practically off.  I asked father in his later years if he remembered anything of this experience.  He said he remembered it very well, but that Mr. Cox had confused some of the circumstances.  He said that it wasn’t his toe, but his heel.  He had gone swimming almost daily and left the water day after day without drying his feet.  From getting his feet wet and not wearing shoes his feet became so chapped that a large part of his heel had broken loose.  He said he could remember Mr. Cox calling him into the house after examining the heel, making him soak the heel in hot water for a long time, greasing it well, then giving him a bowl of cubed sugar to eat while Mr. Cox sewed the loose heel back on.

When father was about eight years of age he was hit in the eye with a hard snowball.  Larger boys were having a snowball fight, and Walter was the victim.  His left eye was put out, which was a painful ordeal.  Although he could distinguish between light and darkness, the damaged eye greatly handicapped him throughout his life and it finally had to be completely removed.  He went to school in the Fairview school, getting no more than a 6th grade education.  In spite of his limited schooling, he died a well-educated man.  He schooled himself through observation, reading and practical experience. 

I have heard Father say that he always pitied every stray dog he came in contact with and how he was always getting in trouble with the family for bringing stray dogs home.  Perhaps his great affection for animals was the result of his missing the security of a motherly love at home.  He used to say how he longed more than anything else in the world to call someone “Mother,” and how he used to daydream of how his life might have been if he had a mother.  He would form mental pictures visible to his mind’s eye and imagine he was talking to her and she to him. 

As a young man he became interested in Alzadia Anderson who was the oldest daughter and second child of James Anderson.  The Andersons were from Scotland.  Having heard the missionaries in their native land, the father, mother, and three sons had joined the Church.  In 1855, Alzadia’s grandfather came to America and the following year the three boys and their mother joined him to settle in Utah.  The youngest son, James, married Matilda Cheney who gave birth to Alzadia.  In the Logan Temple, on April, 20, 1886, Walter Hurst married Alzadia Anderson, who became the best wife and mother anyone could ask for.

Eleven months after their marriage, the first child born to Walter and Alzadia, a five pound baby girl whom they called Eunice Alzadia.  Father and mother built a one-room log house which became their first home.  It was here that their second child was born, a boy whom they named Walter Lauretz.  At this time the house was still not complete.  The boy was born on December 27, and I have heard them tell how the snow blew in and covered the bed while mother was bedfast with the new baby.  A year and half later Walter and Alzadia, with two small children, went to work on the new railroad that was being built in Pigeon Hollow, between Spring City and Ephraim.  They lived in a tent, and while living in such difficult circumstances both children came down with scarlet fever, which was then a much dreaded disease.  Because of inadequate medical help and exposure Walter Lauretz died.

The following spring the Hurst family moved to Mexico.  Walter’s father was a polygamist, and things were uncomfortable for these people at that time.  They were advised to move to Mexico where the government had no laws prohibiting plural marriage.  Whether to remain in Fairview with my mother’s people or to move to Mexico with my father’s folks was a hard decision to make, but in April of 1891, Walter and Alzadia left the United States with their only living child to follow Walter’s father, Philip, who along with two wives and his oldest son, had moved to Mexico in January.  Grandpa Philip and his wife, Elizabeth Wilcox, had gone first, to be followed later by his second wife, Rebecca, along with Walter’s eldest brother, “young Philip,” who also had two families. 

The Hurst families left Walter with the responsibility of chartering railroad cars for the purpose of shipping livestock, machinery, and all kinds of furniture and farm equipment from the states to Mexico.  At that time the railroad did not go as far as the Chihuahua colonies.  The shipping point was at Deming, New Mexico.  There the other members of the Hurst family met Walter and Alzadia to help them transport the livestock and other belongings to where they were colonizing.

When the train stopped in Deming and they climbed from the railroad cars, the wind was blowing so hard their cloths were blown over their heads and they were hardly able to stand on their feet.  They were in desert country, and to people who have never been in a windy country it would be hard to describe the conditions that confronted them.

They traveled by team from Deming, New Mexico, to Colonia Dublan in the state of Chihuahua in Mexico.  When they reached their destination Walter and Alzadia didn’t have so much as a tent of their own to move into.  They had to move into a tent with Walther’s brother and his family.  The summer that followed was to Alzadia one of hardship, homesickness, and sacrifice, since she had left all her family and loved ones behind.

Walter bought three or four acres of land his father had purchased, and built a two-room house and barn.  He had purchased some oxen and, the following fall, his brother rented and became manager of a sawmill in the mountains where Walter went to work.  As nearly as I can find out, the sawmill belonged to the Church and was the responsibility of Moses Thatcher.

The following February, the third child was born.  Since their second child had died shortly before they left Utah, this was their second living child, a daughter, whom they named Hannah Lucinda.  Now that I have arrived on the scene and can speak for myself, I will write mostly from my own recollections of things that happened after I was four or five years old.  I will also call Walter and Alzadia, Father and Mother.

As I reminisce over my life I can remember nothing but hard work, striving honestly and persistently to meet problems and teaching each child that honesty was the most valuable asset one can possess if he were looking for true success. My father had a natural talent for teaching in a way that would leave lasting impressions on a child’s life. My mother was a patient good-natured helpmate. It always seemed to me that she sang or whistled from morning till night regardless of how much poverty she was enduring or what her health condition was.

When I was two months old I was taken to the sawmill and I was there most of the time until I was nine years old. I remember a great many experiences connected with the sawmill history. My parents told me many times how mother would set me in a half-bushel tub when I was a baby. On one particular day, mother was peeling peaches. She gave me a pealed peach. I became restless and she set the tub outside the door with me in it and the peeled peach in my hand. There were four or five other families living on the sawmill at the time, and some of them had pigs running loose. Mother was busy with her work until she heard a frightened cry. Upon looking up she saw the large sow had grabbed me by the wrist while attempting to get the peach. It had tipped over the tub and was still dragging me by the wrist. My uncle George Arthur was just coming around the corner of the bunkhouse and he rescued me before Mother could get to me. I am still carrying the scar from that pig’s teeth.

During the time that Father was sawmilling he sold the land with the two-room house and bought a farm north of town. The land extended west to the river and the top part of it was along the main Street of town. There were a number of buildings on this place, but no house. We lived in a granary while the first brick home in Dublan was being built. We really thought we were rich when we moved into it. This was where Agnes Fern was born on December 1, 1898. As nice as we thought our home was, we still had problems. It was the farthest home north in town and we were in a Mexican district. Mother’s health was very poor and she was afraid to be left alone so much of the time at nights with four little girls. The Mexicans would come from the Corralitos ranch and from the San José district to trade at the Dublan stores. They would gather in groups in front of our home to eat their lunches and drink their tequila. They often became so intoxicated that it worried Mother. I remember how she would lock the doors and not allow us children to step outside. Dad was still sawmilling and was away from home most of the time. Due to Mother’s fear and nervousness, she spent the greater part of her time at the sawmill with Dad. My older sister and I were old enough to go to school but our schooling was interrupted much of the time because we were in the mountains at the  sawmill so much.

Consequently, in 1901, Father sold the farm with the new brick house. While he planned to build a nicer home near the center of town where he had purchased the lot, and had the foundation laid, he changed his plans and purchased a large farm four miles from town in the San José district. This was a disappointment to Mother, but inasmuch as we children were old enough to go to school, they realized that the sawmill days would have to come to an end. In Mexico, sawmilling went on the year-round.

The new farm was in a Mexican district and Mother would never make up her mind to live on the farm. She did consent to move into a two-room adobe house in the center of town until the farm was paid for. Paying for the farm, fencing it, and equipping it with machinery and livestock took a long time. It did, however, have a shanty on the back which served as a wash house and utility room.

There was a large river about halfway between the farm and town. When Father was putting up hay, putting in grain or irrigating, he would take a grub box and his bedding and stay three or four days at a time. In the spring or fall when there is a lot of rain in the mountains the river would rise until its banks would overflow a mile or more on either side.

One spring when I was about 10 years of age, Dad went to the farm to sow grain. He was to be gone a couple of days and took my sister Eunice with him. The rain had been quite steady in the mountains and we knew the river was rising. That night Dad and Eunice were supposed to come home, they did not return. Mother and I waited long into the night. We could hear the river roaring, but that was all we knew. I don’t think mother shut her eyes all night. The next morning at sunrise Father rode up to the gate on a strange horse. He was also dressed in strange clothes. As mother saw him she cried out, “Where is Eunice? Is she drowned?” Then Dad explained. He had attempted to cross the river on his way home the evening before. He knew it was high, but did not realize it was nearly as high as it was. He had a team and wagon with a disc, harrow, and other machinery on; he also had several sacks of grain and a plow. As he reached the middle of the river, the horses, wagon, machinery and all were carried away in the stream. He quickly cut the tugs on the harnesses so the horses could be free to swim out. Taking Eunice on his back, he managed to swim to shore, but everything else was carried away in the stream.

There was one American family living on the west side of the river so Eunice went there that night. The family’s name was Carlton. Mrs. Carlton managed to find them some dry clothing that didn’t fit too well, and the next morning Mr. Carlton offered dad his horse which he said was an extra good swimmer. Eunice remained with the Carlton family a few days but Dad swam the river and came home to let us know the conditions, and to get help to find his wagon and machinery.

On April 25, 1902, my sister Lora was added to the family and two years later a brother whose name was James Otis. We had buried a little boy when he was seven months old. I remember how patiently Mother and Dad nursed and cared for the little fellow all through the sickness, of the neighbors and friends came in and administered to his suffering. They worked so hard to save them, but good doctors were not available. He had a large abscess on his throat. It was lanced several times, but infection set in, and he died of blood poisoning I remember how hard Dad cried when they saw he was gone. Mother turned so white and shook, but still kept working with him. This was in May 1905, in the following November, Dad went on a 27 month mission to the southern states.

Dad had always wanted a mission so badly. I think by now he practically had the farm paid for although we were still living in the adobe house. He was afraid if he waited to build, he would never get the mission, and his life would never be complete without it. Mother had just as much faith in the mission as Dad did. Another thing they had so much faith in was the law of tithing. The 10th load of hay, the 10th load grain, the 10th dozen eggs and so on with all their income, they did not consider the 10th was theirs, but was instead taken to the tithing yard or office. Just before Dad left for his mission, his brothers came up and helped him tear the shanty off the adobe house and put on a large kitchen made of rough lumber. Dad thought it would give us much more room, but the lumber shrank and left large cracks and with just a cook stove to keep it warm, and nothing but wood to burn, we almost froze in it.

I didn’t realize at the time Dad left for his mission that Mother was four months along with another baby, but I soon found out. I thought it was so strange that he would go on the 27 month mission with mother in that condition and no help but five little girls. Whenever there was anything said about it, or any of us complained about the way we had to work, Mother would stop and tell us some story about the sacrifices early members of the Church had made to fill missions, and how it took strong faith and regular prayers to keep in tune with their Heavenly Father so we could expect his help.

Eunice, my oldest sister, went to the sawmill to work for dad’s oldest brother, Philip, after Dad left. Mother and I would get up real early in the morning and milk the cows. We would strain the milk and I would harness a horse and hook it up to a one-seated buggy, and take the milk to a railroad junction two miles south of Dublan. There I would deliver one, two, or three quarts to a customer. Then I would have to get back in time for school.

In April 1906, Walden was born. The fact that both my other brothers had died when babies made Walden the only boy in the family. My sister, Eunice, was the backbone of the family when Dad was away, and Mother was sick. It seems she could supply all the needs for the family and be both mother and dad when it was necessary.

By the last December, 1907, Dad’s mission was finished. He came home just in time for Christmas. Walden was past 20 months old. He had long yellow ringlets. Dad came home at night and the next morning he wrapped Walden in a sweater and took him off to find a barber. He wanted those curls cut off so he could realize he had a son.

We prospered beyond words to express during the next three or four years. We were out of debt. Our horses, livestock and other property had increased. Dad worked at the milk business at Nuevo Casas Grandes. A year or two later he worked up a milk business at Pearson where he had sale for our milk and our neighbors’ milk. By 1910 we were considering building a new home. There was one major drawback. The Mexican revolution was doing its worst. The whole country was in an uproar, and everything was unsettled. We didn’t know from one day to another what was going to happen. The papers were full of battle reports. Some of them took place only a few miles from our town. Crops and our accumulations of all kinds were unsafe because there was no government that could protect us. One day the rebels were in power, and within a few days they would be overthrown by the federals. The colonists, or American citizens, were advised to stand neutral and show no sympathy toward either side.

I remember one Sunday afternoon a rebel army marched through our town. They were a pitiful looking group. Some of them were barefoot and their clothes would hardly hang on them. They were headed for old Casas Grandes which was a distance of 12 or 13 miles from our town. At 4:00 a.m. the next morning the battle began and raged until the middle of the afternoon. Hundreds were killed. I remember I was working in the candy shop that day. Most of the places of business in town closed up because people were so upset they could not concentrate. I have often described the noise from that battle as sounding like a community of lumber houses all falling down at the same time.

Conditions went from bad to worse. I remember one day five or six Mexican men came to our house. They said they wanted to come in. There was nothing anyone could do about it. We had no protection as far as the government was concerned. I don’t know what they wanted that day, but they searched through the house and left. There was money in three different places in the house. One box of money belonged to the Dublan Sunday School, as my sister Lillian was the secretary and treasurer of that organization. Dad had a purse another place that the priesthood had delegated him to collect for the purpose of remodeling a widow’s home. We also had the proceeds from the milk sales of the previous week. It seemed they were not supposed to find any of that cash.

A few days after this, I was at my Uncle Jim Young’s home. I happen to be out on the porch and saw Uncle Jim coming from the farm on a large pinto horse which was his pride and joy. He was surrounded by five Mexican men. They all had guns pointed at his head. They told him they wanted his horse, but he wasn’t so sure they were going to get it. When he reached his gate he jumped from his horse still holding it by the reins. He was as white as a dead man. He then turned loose with all the bad phrases that could be uttered; I believe he used all the bad words that I ever heard and a lot more. He told them he was an American citizen and if they didn’t want trouble with the American government they better lay clear of him and his property. This must have frightened them because they turned and fled.

Things went on this way until July 1912. The colonists were ordered by the Mexican Government to turn in all their firearms and weapons of all kinds. The Stake priesthood authorities called meetings in all Wards and advised the Mormon people to turn in no more than one firearm from each home. Some homes had several, and some didn’t have any.

By July 27, the colonists could see that they were in grave danger. The Church and the U.S. Government came to the rescue. Word was circulated that there would be railroad cars in from the states to evacuate the colonists. They would be ready to leave by Sunday evening, July 28.

Dublan, our hometown, was the only colony that the railroad went through, and was the first one to be evacuated. All night Saturday all day Sunday we work to get things ready to leave the best way we could. In our family there were 10. We were allowed to take two mattresses and our best quilts, pillows, and our best clothing. We opened our chicken coops, our pig pens, turned our livestock, turned loose our horses, and at 9:30 p.m. we walked out of our home, never again to return. Part of our crops were harvested, our granaries were full, and we left large stacks of hay. We had bottled quite a bit of fruit that summer which we buried under the floors.

The whole town was at the station at 10:00 p.m. We stood right there and waited until 6:00 a.m. the following morning. When the train did, it wasn’t nearly large enough to hold all the people. It was decided that the women and children under 17 years of age should leave, with barely enough men to take care of them. The remainder of the men were left.

No sooner had the train pulled out than a mob of Mexicans came into the town. The men grabbed horses and the firearms and fled the hills with the Mexicans firing on them. The Mexicans discovered they had guns and could shoot back, they were very much surprised. The Mormons found a place in the hills where they could march around the hill and make it look like there were a great many more of them than there really were.

They fled to the mountains between Colonia Dublan and Colonia Juarez. Here they felt quite safe because they were located where they could ward off quite a large army. Many privations were experience to the fact that they didn’t have time to gather food or clothing, or bedding of any kind to take with them. Someone did take a sack of flour, however, and I have heard Father tell how they stirred flour and water together to make hotcakes, and cooked them on a piece of tin over the campfire. It was two weeks before they were able to get across the border to El Paso, Texas, where they joined their families.

In the meantime the women and children that left on the train at 6:00 a.m. the morning of July 29, 1912, landed in El Paso, Texas, the same afternoon. I remember how worn out we were as we hadn’t slept since the Friday night before and this was Monday. We were transported to a large lumber yard east of town by means of automobiles. Automobiles were new then and there was only one in our hometown when we left, and when we reach Fairview, Utah there was just one there. It belonged to Pat and Jess Young. 

When we reached the lumber yard in El Paso, Texas, we were given a small division, like a stall for a horse. It was large enough that we could lay our two mattresses down, but there wasn’t room to walk around or between them. We just sat on them. Our food was delivered by the government and consisted mostly of bread, milk, prepared cereals and canned foods. There were dozens of men working in the lumber yard, dividing it into small sections and putting a roof on it to protect us from the rain. We were so worn out we lay on her mattresses and slept all afternoon the first day while Texas men sawed and hammered over our overheads. We lived in these conditions about 10 days. Then we were transported south of the city to on tenant house where each family was given a small room. They wanted to make room in the lumber yard for other colonists on their way from Mexico.

Believe me, refugees were curiosities to the Texas people. News reporters and cameramen were on the job making the most of everything. When we moved in, we had a chance to cook in a campfire out in front of the building. Each day two or three persons would cook dinner for the whole group that were in the building. We cooked potatoes in a six-gallon lard can and it seemed so good to have hot food.

About August 19, the men arrived from Mexico. How glad we were to see them, and what an experience they had been through. Poor Dad looked so pitiful and worn out. They hadn’t as much as shaved or changed clothes in all this time. Dad didn’t have a saddle on his horse most of the way. Cleveland LeBaron, who at the time was my sister Lillian’s boyfriend, insisted that Dad take his saddle part of the trip.

It was four weeks since we left our home and conditions were no better. Affair steadily grew worse and the refugees were advised by the U.S. government to find locations in the states as rapidly as possible. About the time we received a letter from mothers folks in Fairview, Utah, saying we should take advantage of this opportunity to make a trip to Utah until the trouble in Mexico cleared up. The government paid transportation for the refugees to various places and advise them to seek employment in order to support themselves, as it was evident that we were not going to be able to return or property. It looks like we might lose everything Dad and Mother had spent the best 21 years of their lives to accumulate.

We children were thrilled at the thought of making a trip to Utah to get acquainted with our relatives, but little did we realize the embarrassment that Dad and Mother were suffering at the thought of returning to their old hometown under such financial circumstances.  Their pride and independence almost got the best of them. On August 21, 1912, we left El Paso on the railroad for Utah. We arrived at Thistle station at 11:00 p.m. The rain was pouring down and we learned we would have to stay there all night. We bade goodbye to our old Mexico neighbors who had come this far with us but were going on to Bountiful, Utah. Part of Uncle Philip Hurst’s family was with us. We were also hungry, and we learned that everything was closed for the night. We found a hotel and someone there told Dad where he could go to find some food. When he returned he had four cans of tomatoes, one pound of butter, and three small loaves of baked bread. How good it tasted.  There were 10 in our family and six of Georgiana’s family.

We arrived at Fairview at 12:00 noon on August 14, 1912. Uncle Jimmie Anderson was at the depot to meet us with a taxicab and driver.  Nobody expected us to have the extra family with us, and while the relatives had partly made preparations for taking care of our family until we could help ourselves, they had another problem when they saw we had an extra family. Their situation was more serious than our own as they were perfect strangers and didn’t know a soul in Fairview. How understanding our relatives were and how patiently they sacrificed to make us feel comfortable and welcome! The townspeople were generous with the Fairview hospitality that they have always been known for, and soon we all felt more at ease.

When we reach Fairview Dad had $.60, which was every cent we owned. It had been close to a month since we left home. Mexicans and stolen the last two shipments of milk we had made before leaving, and the month’s experiences had taken what we had on hand. But we weren’t not long(with the help of our good relatives) finding a little work one way or another. Eunice spent the winter with Aunt Agnes Terry, and Lillie stayed with Aunt Deseret Larson at Spring City.  Uncle Phil sold the horse of Dad’s in Mexico and sent us $100 for it. This along with a little we were making help tide us over until spring.

Up until now dad had not made up his mind that we could not return to our home and property. By spring he was convinced. He wrote Uncle Philip and told him if there was any chance whatever to sell any of our property, for him to do so and send Dad what he could get out of it. There wasn’t anyone who would take the chance of paying very much for the property under the present conditions of the country. There was one fellow who was buying up property the people had with a prospect of investment. He told Uncle Philip he would pay $4,000 for Dad’s land, which was a small percentage of what it was worth. This deal was made and Dad received the money, making it possible for him to make a new start.  Dad also received a little cash on livestock and horses however, he never did receive any thing of our home.

In March, 1913 the family moved to Mapleton, Utah. They rented the LeRoy farm with a good home. The income from the place was mostly fruit. Dad also got the job of hauling the schoolchildren from Mapleton to Springville. This job, along with what they could make from fruit and by selling a little milk, helped them to get ahead and I think they were as happy as at any time in their lives.

Dad bought 30 acres of land in Idaho in 1919, with water, and he perhaps would have done alright if he had been satisfied. The 30 acres was plenty, considering his age. It wasn’t long until he found that water and other conditions were unsatisfactory. Dad thought by buying the 360 acres which joined him the problems could be worked out. He mortgaged 30 acres on the big farm. The folks almost worked themselves to death trying to meet payments and make a living but it was too big of an undertaking considering what their income was. After seven or eight years they gave up the whole Idaho venture and moved back to Ogden, Utah. I have heard Dad say many times that the Idaho experience was the biggest mistake of his life. He worked some time as a Raleigh salesman, then he tried different jobs. Part of the time he was out of work and they saw some hard times.

After the death of my Grandmother Anderson my mother inherited a little money, and they considered building but they were both quite old by then and starting a new home was to be an undertaking. They decided to fix up the old home a little and have a little money left to pull them through. They were wise in making this decision because it was only a year or two after my grandmother’s death then Mother’s health became very poor. She had stood too many hardships while raising so large a family. Her health grew steadily worse and after obtaining medical assistance we learned that she had a bad heart and also diabetes. Prior to this she had a large goiter removed and one breast taken off.

Mother passed away at the age of 74 on April 16, 1944. Dad held on until February 6, 1956. He was buried beside Mother in Ogden.

Hannah Hurst Howell Bohne, daughter

Condensed from the original by Ruby Hurst Morgan

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 300

Alma Platte Spilsbury

Leave a reply

Alma Platte Spilsbury

(1850 – 1920)

Alma Platte Spilsbury parents, George and Fannie Smith Spilsbury, except in the Gospel in England in 1842. 

As soon possible they were married, they emigrated to Nauvoo in order to see and, if possible, talk to the man who had seen God, who had talked with Jesus Christ, and who was visited by angels and ancient prophets. Seated in the unfinished temple and Nauvoo, they recognize the Prophet of once though they had never seen him or even a picture of him. “He was his bold a lion, yet meek as a lamb, and his eyes pierce to my very soul,” wrote George later in his journal. They mourned with the Saints when the prophet and his brother were martyred and were present in the Grove when “the mantle of the Prophet” fell upon Brigham Young.

They evacuated Nauvoo at the time of the Exodus, and moved to St. Louis, then to St. Joseph, Missouri, in order to earn money to buy wagons, teams, seed and other necessities for settling in a faraway land. During that time, four little girls were born to them, each in turn dying. Belmont, their fifth child and first son, was born August 5, 1850, on the banks of the Platte River somewhere in Nebraska. When he was eight days old, the wagon in which she was born and was riding overturned in the Platte River in the oxen in their haste to slake their burning thirst rushed into the river. The mother was rescued at once, but by the time Edward Hunter, whose company they were traveling, had found the baby lodged against the stump, he seemed lifeless. Detecting a flicker of life, Hunter asked for the privilege of blessing given him a name. “Name him Alma,” his father said anxiously, “for the Book of Mormon Prophet.”  “And I’ll add Platte to it,” said Bishop Hunter, “to commemorate his ducking.”

The family arrived in Salt Lake City on October 3, 1850, where the first eight years of Alma’s childhood were spent. His father replied the trade of mason to keep his ever-growing family supplied with necessities. Alma was 18 years of age when his father settled in Toquerville, in southern Utah, having spent one summer in Springville when Johnston’s army entered Salt Lake City, three years in Draper, four years in Grafton and four years in Rockville. Being the oldest son, Alma stood guard when Indians menaced, went with parties in search of stolen property, and help build their homes and provide for the family. Schooling during that time was incidental and possible only when other matters were not pressing.

On June 22, 1869, he married Sarah Ann Higbee, when he was but 19 years of age. His first daughter, Fanny Ann, was born September 1, 1870. On December 11, 1879, Sarah Ann died at the birth of their fifth child. She was survived by three children: Fannie Ann, David Moroni, and John Summers (Alma Platte Jr., and Ella having previously passed away).  Immediately following this bereavement, Alma accepted a call to the Northern States Mission, leaving the care of his children to his mother. He left in April 1880, but in the cold, damp climate of the Great Lakes area he developed a cough that soon turned serious, and in July he was released.

On October 6, 1880, he married Mary Jane Redd of New Harmony, Utah, a girl he met when he stayed overnight with the Redd family on his way from his mission. With her he began a new life for himself and his motherless children in the old Spilsbury home in Toquerville. Mary Jane’s Katie Pearl was born and Sarah Ann’s Johnny died while they lived there.

March 2, 1883, he married Margaret Jane Smith is Cedar City, Utah, who had been preconditioned for his proposal by seeing him in a dream and being told distinctly, “This is the men you are going to marry.”  Because of persecutions assailing those who entered the world marriage, he was advised by Apostle Erastus Snow to marry her in the St. George Temple and move his family at once to Arizona. In preparation for the movie fitted himself with for wagons, five teams, some loose horses, a race horse and a cow and left for Arizona, arriving the first of May. They settled in Mesa, then a struggling hamlet of a dozen families. With his extra horse he bought 40 acres of land from Fred Mullins, and moved his two wives into the one room Adobe house already built, and set about improving the property. Mary Jane second baby girl, Sarah Ann, was born June 2, 1883, and nine months later, March 3, 1884, Janey’s first girl, Estella May, was born before another room was added to the one-room adobe.

Eluding the U.S. Marshals, who were soon on the trail, was the beginning of dangerous times for this family. Although Alma believed in “facing the music,” going underground was so distasteful to him, he accepted a call to explore northern Sonora in company with Heber J .Grant and party, headed by Brigham Young, Jr. They spent four months hunting land suitable for colonization.

On his return he was arrested and stood trial in federal court in Phoenix in the spring of 1885, and was among the first to plead guilty as a test case. Others before him had pled “not guilty,” and had been sentenced to three months in eastern penitentiaries plus a fine. The “guilty” plea was made in hopes it would lessen the penalty. Pleading guilty also seemed more honest Alma, so he disregarded the advice of his lawyer. The result was a six-month sentence in the state penitentiary at Yuma, Arizona.

His prison term began April 1885, and lasted until October of the same year. Mary Jane’s third child and first son, Lemuel Hardison, was but a month old. Making friends with his jailers and gaining special privileges that mitigated the daily rituals and scorching heat was characteristic of Alma’s tactics in a hostile situation.

Serving his penitentiary term gave no relief to the persecution and when the chance came to choose between giving up part of the family were going into exile, he chose the latter. Leaving Mary Jane to liquidate his business, he took Janey with Estella May and Ernest Moroni (George Phillip having died at age two) and went with a company of Saints to Mexico. Janye’s fourth child, Carmelita, was born in Dublan shortly after they arrived.  They settled in Colonia Juarez, and their Mary Jane followed in November 1891, with her six children: Katie, Sarah, Lemuel, Nellie Keziah, Della Redd and Ruby Vilate. His oldest daughter, Fannie, had married Isaac Dana and remained in Mesa. He gave up valuable property for the sake of living peacefully with his family.

Life in Mexico was a series of living on ranches in the summer time and in Colonia Juarez ares for school in the winter. Eight years were spent in the Strawberry Valley 25 miles northwest of Colonia Juarez, where he raise corn and potatoes, made cheese for sale and cared for the T-five (Church) cattle on a profit-sharing basis. Four years were spent on the Palo Quemado Ranch it miles south of Colonia Juarez which he used as a base for his lumber hauling. Loads of lumber were delivered each week, and still he spent the night at home. In 1905, he moved his families to Chuhuichupa for three years the farm, dairy and raise cattle. The highlight of living in this secluded hamlet 90 miles southwest of Colonia Juarez was the visit of his aged and revered father, George Spilsbury, who weathered the hard trip in order to give his grandchildren a Patriarchal Blessing.

Inaccessibility to high school privileges for his growing family induced a move to the valleys, and he settled his families on fruit farms four miles up the river from Colonia Juarez. From here he moved them in to town and the first comfortable homes either had enjoyed.  Hardly were they settled when the political upheaval scattered the Mormon colonists all parts of the southwestern United States, and forced temporary abandonment of these newly-acquired homes. In the general Exodus came, Alma, by permission, remained in town alone, thinking he could save property and be instrumental in easing strained relations by doing so. By using tactics learned in the Yuma penitentiary, he made friends by being friendly. As a consequence, he never was harmed. Within a month Mary Jane’s family joined him. Janey and her children stayed in United States.

He was strictly honest. He never treated in a trade nor took unfair advantage in a deal. He never told a lie except once to save a favorite horse from rebels. No word of contempt could aptly express his aversion to the fellow who would tell you one thing while thinking another. He was a stickler for fundamentals. If the Gospel is true, its teachings were a correct guide. Family prayer is as regular as the morning and evening meal. Alma thank the Lord for what he had, asked him for what he needed. Mothers and each of the children took their turns praying.

He was as honest with the Lord as with his fellow man. He had little to tie, but such as there was, was carefully calculated and scrupulously paid every 10th load of hay, wood, or lumber was piled into the tithing yard. Attendance at Sacrament Meeting and the Sabbath Day was strictly observed. Saturday evening his teams were turned out. Sunday morning is liveliest team of mules was hitched to the light wagon, and into it was loaded all the family. The mules and rested until time to return from Sacrament Meeting. He was supposed to buggy rides, often indulged in on Sunday afternoons, because horses needed their rest, too.

He loved horses. Had life dealt him what he craves, he would have been a horse fancier. When he moved to Mexico, he was wealthy with blooded horses which were taken with him. They were the first to succumb to the rigors of a hard country. As one by one they died, he saw something as Hardy as himself to take their place, and found it in mules. It mattered not whether he drove one span or two or three, or had them hitched to one wagon were to; his teams made his living.

No tools of a craftsman could have had better care. Teams that stayed with him until the day’s work was done often spent 16 hours in the harness. Yet he never had one refused to do his bidding. He had no patience with one who abused a balky horse, maintaining that if the driver knew as much as the horse, no mistreatment would be necessary.

Special favors among his horses were legion, and would be hard to name. Any animal once broke to his ritual was a favorite. Sometimes it was hard to tell who’s law was deepest, the horse’s or its master’s. More than one of them saved his life at various times by split-second timing in response to his jerk on the line or his sudden command.  His pride in his team extended to the roads over which they took him. He took many a kink out of the crooked bit of road by plowing a more direct route from one point to another. He never failed to leave a road better than he found it. His pick and shovel were ever handy to remove an embedded boulder, dig down a wash, or fill in a chuckhole, and his children were always handy to throw out loose rocks.

In spite of his love of horseflesh, his children by no means took second place in favoritism every dollar was made the hardest way, no child was unwelcome. The last of his 28 causes much rejoicing as the first. This rejoicing was doubled when his wife, Mary Jane, gave birth to a pair of twin girls. His strategies then looked as if he claimed all the credit.  When his cuatas were still mere babes he took them to Mesa to show what his move to Mexico had netted him.  Yet even that was not allowed to eclipse another member of his family, nor allow any child to wish he had been born between. “This is the best child I’ve got,” he’d say as he patted the head of the child nearest him.

He want investors children. But more than closer fine things, he wanted them to be honest, diligent and trustworthy, and to learn the dignity of work. “What you are, you can take with you when you leave this world,” he often said. His love for his children went to a desire for them to be loyal to him and to show it as his forces did. To make it so, he instituted some hard and fast rules: how my son down on Sundays; in bed by 10 p.m. after parties, and by midnight after dances; no sleeping away from home. The hardest of all was: no dates without first getting his permission. “Do you think I’d allow anyone to take my mules from the corral without first asking my permission?” He would say. “And you think I love my mules more than I do my girls?” When times change, he change with them. His younger children heard only, “You’ve been taught correct principles, govern yourselves. But no late hours.” His children rarely forgot.

He was proud to be a member of the first High Council organized by Anthony W. Ivins. When cases were tried, he was invariably assigned to defend. This was because, as explained by President Ivins, Alma Spilsbury was a friend to the erring one. He lost older people on the downward slope of life and his were returned to finding some way to make life writer for them. Hearing of gala occasions in Utah where older people were honored, and attending such an occasion in Mesa, he turned to sell the idea to community leaders, who immediately planned and Old Folks’ Day, and placed him in charge of it. He went himself and by every person in town over 50 years of age of both races, and when the day arrived, he met all honored guests and chivalrously escorted them to their assigned places in the hall. They use corsage was placed on the oldest person present, thus making him the center of attention. As a jovial master of ceremonies Alma lead in the singing of old-time songs. Then, following a sumptuous banquet, all were in a mood to reminisce, and experiences were aired that provoked both tears and laughter until it was time to take them to their homes again.

This first successful Old Folks Day in Colonia Juarez was made into an annual affair, and it was a stake organization under his direction, with Miles A. Romney and Daniel Skousen as helpers.  After his death, Old Folks’ Day was held each year on his birthday, August 5, until in later years it lost its identity. Being in charge of such occasions supplemented his dread of growing old, but nothing could really hide the fact from him. Called “old man Spilsbury” for the first time was like a lash from a whip. His family writhed with him, but secretly enjoyed his quick retort: “Looky here, young man, when you can throw more mud out of the ditch in a day than I can, you can call me old.”  He never heard the words again.

Eulogies of the dead irked him. “Why couldn’t they have told that poor fellow all those nice things while he was alive?” Life and how was lived were more important to him than how he was buried. “All I ask is that the Lord will let me live as long as I am useful, and then let me die in the harness.” These words were literally fulfilled. In June 1920, following a load of wool on a lonely mountain road, his wagon overturned, killing him and his favorite horse. His body lay in the hot June sun for two days before he was found. He was laid to rest June 22, 1920, in the Colonia Juarez Cemetery.

He was survived by 16 of his 28 children, 14 of whom were born in Mexico, and his posterity numbers around 300 at this writing. Many of his numerous posterity are found in Stake in Ward leadership, also as Stake and full-time missionaries for the Church. Many grandchildren served in all branches of the armed forces during World War II, with but one casualty. There are apt craftsman to be found among his children and grandchildren. Professional men and women are numbered in the fields of medicine, art, science and music. In the field of education are teachers from elementary to university level, as well as principles of high schools. All of which proves, as in the life of Alma P. Spilsbury himself, that hardships and meager opportunities are no bar to achievement if proper incentive is supplied.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Stalwarts South of the Border page 628 Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Erastus Snow

Leave a reply

Erastus Snow

(1818-1888)

Among the early settlers of Massachusetts colony was the family of the Levi and Lucina Snow, parents of seven sons and two daughters.  All but two of the sons and father Levi accepted the Gospel when missionaries visited them in St. Johnsbury, Caledonia County, Vermont, where Erastus was born on November 9, 1818.

Erastus, 14 years old at the time Elders Pratt and Johnson introduced the Gospel to the Snow family, was zealous in his study of the scriptures and search for truth.  After his baptism on February 3, 1833, he was advanced quickly in the Priesthood. 

On November 8, 1835, he left his home in Vermont to travel to Kirtland, Ohio, where he became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and where, after attending the Elders’ School, he received his endowments in the Kirtland Temple, and his Patriarchal Blessing under the hands of Joseph Smith, Sr.

On April 16, 1836, after the glorious spiritual experiences he had had in Kirtland, he left on a mission to Pennsylvania where he was successful in converting some 50 people and organizing several Branches of the Church.

This was the commencement of many missionary travels and experiences, confrontations with ministers of other fathers, miraculous healings and considerable verbal and physical abuse.  In June 1838, he joined a company of 40 or 50 Saints, including Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde, who had just returned from a successful mission to England, and with them traveled to Far West, Missouri, where he was reunited with his family, who had moved there from Vermont.  When Far West was subsequently besieged by the mob, Erastus, like all the able-bodied Mormon men, was forced to take up arms in defense of their homes and families.  Suffering from fever and ague, which left him extremely weak, he nonetheless stuck bravely to his post.

On December 3, 1838, Erastus and other brethren were sent as messengers to Liberty, Missouri, where the Prophet Joseph was incarcerated.  On the evening of February 8, when the jailer brought food to the prisoners, a previously planned escape attempt failed, and not only were the prisoners locked in their cell again, but their visitors were incarcerated also.  At the suggestion of the Prophet, who promised Erastus success if he would follow counsel, Erastus pled his own case before the court and was set free; the others, with professional lawyers, were freed on bail.

Upon his return to Illinois with his family, Elder Snow commenced a series of missionary assignments that took him throughout the northeastern part of the United States.  Despite continiuing bours of fever and ague, which plagued his family as well, in six months’ time he managed to travel some 5,650 miles, a great deal of the distance on foot, and was responsible for the conversion of many souls and the establishment of numerous Branches of the Church.

His missionary labors continued over the next several years, during which time his wife bore him a daughter and a son.  Occasionally, he was able to return to Nauvoo, Illinois, for counsel and, on one such visit, he was instructed by the Prophet on the principle of celestial and plural marriage.  Sometime later, he obeyed that teaching by having his wife, Artemisia, and a 2nd wife, Minerva, sealed to him.

He and his family suffered the hardships endured by all the Mormon pioneers crossing the plains and the rigors of establishing themselves in a new and barren land, but he was ready for additional missionary service when he was called to establish a Scandinavian mission.

On his way to that field of labor, he stopped in St. Louis and stayed at the home of a Mrs. Streeper.  While there, he contracted a light case of smallpox.    Noting her concern for her family, he promised her that neither she nor her family would have the disease, and they did not.

Elder Snow was responsible for the translation to the Scandinavian languages of many of the Church publications of that day, and the missions flourished under his supervision.  After three years in Scandinavia, he returned to his home and family only to be called on two additional missions which took him away from them again. 

On February 12, 1849, Erastus Snow was ordained an Apostle.

In the early 1860’s, his mission took him to southern Utah and northern Arizona, where he supervised and organized early settlements in those areas.  From there, he supervised and organized the Saints in their move to Mexico.  This was an area which he had previously scouted and which he felt would be suitable for the families of plural marriages who needed to be together but who, out of necessity to avoid persecution, were separated.

In 1882, with Apostle Moses Thatcher, Apostle Snow was on a trip to northern Mexico, attempting to secure lands for the Mormons to colonize.  While there, Erastus received a poignant letter from his 2nd wife, Minerva, advising him of the death of Artemisia on December 21.  The love and devotion which Minerva felt toward his older wife was expressed in simple but eloquent terms:  she wanted to go with her in death, their ties were so fast. 

The ensuing years of his life were devoted to the welfare of the self-exiled Saints in Mexico.  In Colonia Juarez, a town nestled in the narrow valley through which flows the Piedras Verdes River, he built a lovely home near the banks of the East Canal. 

While his energies were directed toward making a comfortable home fo his family in the small Mormon colony, he continued to travel extensively to aid the Saints with land problems which often required meetings with President Porfirio Diaz in Mexico City, and to oversee affairs of the scattered colonies in the Mexican states of Sonora and Chihuahua.  He was in Salt Lake City on business for the colonies when he succumbed to a heart attack on May 27, 1888.

His life spanned an exciting, challenging and remarkable period in the history of the Church, and he was equal to the burdens he was called to bear throughout his lifetime of service during that period.   A deep thinker, a kindhearted and benevolent man of impressive bearing, a man noted for his honesty, a kind father, wise counselor, efficient pioneer and colonizer, and a great statesman—truly, he was an Apostle of the Lord. 

Jeanne J. Hatch

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 627

Benjamin Julius Johnson

Leave a reply

Benjamin Julius Johnson

(1857-1937)

Benjamin Julius Johnson was born to Benjamin Franklin Johnson and Sarah Melissa Homan Johnson, May 10, 1857 in Santaquin, Utah.  His family moved to Spring Lake, Utah when he was 8 years old.

His father was engaged in agricultural pursuits and was also somewhat of an expert in horticulture, planting quite a large orchard and engaging in making syrup, ketchup, keeping bees, using the whole family to help with the work.  So Benjamin Julius was brought up learning various occupations, which knowledge served him well in the task of pioneering. 

He married Isabelle Millican Russell, November 28, 1878.  Sometime between 1880 and 1883 he with his family wife and twin boys moved to Tempe, Arizona, where he engaged in general farming, specializing in bee culture and honey.  A daughter, Isabelle Melissa, was born at Tempe, May 19, 1883.   Shirley H. was born April 12, 1886.  About this time, he moved out on the “Bench” in Mesa, Arizona and developed a large apiary.  While at this place he became interested in a young lady by the name of Harriet Jane Hakes and, with the consent of his wife, Belle, they decided he should marry Jane and all move to Mexico where they could live polygamy legally. 

A covered wagon was outfitted for the trip, and with a single team of horses they headed for the newly established colonies. Starting early in the fall, they crossed the line at Palomas and camped at a nearby lake. Here Alexander F. Macdonald caught up with them and that same night performed the ceremony then joined Harriet Jane Hakes in marriage to Benjamin Julius Johnson as wife number two. This was October 22, 1889. The stepson of L. V. Guthrie traveled with them and he, too, was married to Winnie Johnson, the same night by A.F. Macdonald.

They traveled on to Colonia Juarez where they bought a house and a small plot of land. The house stood against the hill at the northeast corner of town, above the crossing of the Eastern canal. The plot of land was situated under and adjacent to the west side of the canal. He later built a four room house and tore down the old Orvel Allen two-room shack.  The plot of ground served as a family garden and help supply the family food.

These were really hard times, at least for a season, as most of his resources have been spent on the journey.  But Benjie, as he was called, was resourceful and versatile. He had learned plastering, and, as a number of brick and Adobe houses were being constructed, he obtained considerable employment, which brought much needed income.

The Johnson family contributed to the cultural life of the colony.  Belle had some literary talent and also gave lessons on the organ. Benjie, with natural music talent, played various instruments. He was especially efficient with the violin, and made an excellent fiddler when square dancing was an informal social exercise. He with his lively fiddle and “Uncle Pete” Wood with his flute, playing for many of the hometown dances.

In May, 1895, Benjie moved to Chuhuichupa, where four or five other families had already settled. Sometime later a Branch was organized under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Pacheco and Benjie was called to be the Presiding Elder until George M. Haws of Colonia Juarez was called to preside over the Chuhuichupa Ward.  Benjie was then set apart as a Counselor to the Bishop.  Later he was ordained Bishop.

The Johnson family became a sort of hot for cultural and social activities with Benjie at the center as chorister and dance fiddler, and daughter, Belle, at the organ. Later his son Frank became the choir leader, school principal and a leader in academic activities, which “relieved” Uncle Benjie’s overcrowded agenda of Ward duties. Besides serving as leader in religious activities, Benjie set the pace in home beautification. Although not blessed with great financial resources, he did the best he could with what he had. He planted the first apple and cherry orchards in Chuhuichupa. On his farm he raised oats, corn and potatoes. He also worked at sawmilling between farming seasons. His favorite activity was horticulture, and, inasmuch is Chuhuichupa did not seem to fulfill his expectations in this field, he looked elsewhere for a better opportunity. The search led him to Coahuila, Mexico, where his cousin Derby Johnson was promoting a colonization project. This appealed to him as “the Place.”  So he decided to make the move and in the early spring of 1911 he moved to Coahuila. However, because of the Revolution in Mexico, he became apprehensive and didn’t stay long in Coahuila, moving to Blue Water, New Mexico, where Colin Hakes, brother of his second wife, Harriet Jane, presided as Bishop.  Here Benjie with his two sons Frank and Shirley, engaged in the business of burning lime. But this was not the occupation for Benjie, so he with his sons moved to Mesa, Arizona, in the winter of 1913.

There he engaged in farming, gardening and dairying, until his health began to fail. Then he became a full-time worker in Mesa Temple until the time of his death on February 10, 1938, ten years to the day after his wife Bell passed away. He was buried beside Bell in the Mesa Cemetery close to the graves of his father and mother.

Isabelle Johnson Sevey, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 341

Peter Cotton Wood

Leave a reply

Peter Cotton Wood

(1852 – 1929)

Daniel Wood, father of Peter Cotton Wood and founder of Woods Cross, Utah, was born October 16, 1800 in Dutchess County, New York.  He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints February 20, 1833, in Ernestown, Canada by Brigham Young.  He stood persecutions with the Saints in Ohio, Missouri and Illinois, and was a guard of the temple at Nauvoo. 

He exchanged 260 acres of land for two wagons, a carriage and three cows in order to go west.  In recognition of his ability as an excellent farmer, Brigham Young requested he remain on the trail to raise crops for the emigrating Saints as they passed on their way to the Great Basin.

At the age of 48, he captained fifty wagons in the 2nd company, first division in Brigham Young’s company, leaving in the spring of 1848 and arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on September 20 of the same year.  There, he settled near the Woods Cross plot.

In 1850 he built a large two-story adobe house which for years was the only religious meeting house in Davis County.  Later he built the first public hall, complete with belfry and bell that rang for all public affairs.  It housed the first formal church organization.  The choir consisted of his own family, and he organized the first band, also made up of family members.  The Wood school was held here also, the teacher being paid by the hall owner and contributions.  This hall also served as a convenient recreation facility.  The crossing of the railroad through the Woods’s private cemetery provided the occasion for the name Woods Cross.  Family members record that Daniel and his brother argued about permitting this intrusion on their private cemetery and this was the real reason for the name.  Daniel wanted the proposed station or depot to be closer to the main road on the edge of the property.  When angry words were exchanged between the two brothers, the conductor jokingly called it “Woods Cross.”  It has kept its name since that time.  This private cemetery was dedicated August 27, 1859 by Daniel Wood; and a memorial erected by Daniel Wood’s posterity was dedicated by his great-grandson, Henry D. Moyle, First Counselor in the Church’s First Presidency, April 1, 1962.

Peter Cotton Wood, son of Daniel Wood, was born July 4, 1852 in Woods Cross, Davis County, Utah and went to school in Salt Lake City.  Born into a musical family, he became part of the first choir and also the first band in the small community and at a very early age composed musical numbers, writing both the words and the music for his compositions.  He also wrote poetry and arranged programs and took part in them.  Of all this, however, gardening was his first love.

At the age of 18, he was ordained a Seventy and went on a mission to Canada with his father, Daniel Wood.  He met and married Launa Pace in Utah about the year 1872.  They became parents of six children, every one of whom died within two weeks of a diphtheria epidemic. 

He acquired extensive acres of land and a herd of livestock but, when a call came to help settle Arizona, he sold it all and settled near where Snowflake is now located.  There he endured the hardships of pioneering on a remote frontier.  While at Snowflake he met and married Lucy Jane Flake and with her and the now childless Launa they soon had all the necessities and some of the comforts of life.  His love of gardening and seeing things grow, his joy in surrounding himself with the beauty and necessities from what they grew, soon produced a home that made them seem prosperous and kept them happy.  When the call came to take his families to Mexico, he gathered seed, roots, roses, and cuttings of choice flowers and trees, to take with him to the foreign land.

He joined a group of exiles leaving the United States for the same reason, and landed in Colonia Juarez on March 21, 1889.  He chose a lot in Colonia Juarez on the east bank of Piedras Verdes River. There he built a concrete home in which his families lived comfortably and happily. In the beginning, like most others, he had a hard time making ends meet.  But he worked hard and his wives were frugal and thrifty.  Together they made every possible use of what advantages were available.  His love of the soil and what he could make it produce induced him to building two points to conserve his water turns, and catch waste water.  With this water supply, he planted a garden, trees, and the plants, shrubs, and roses he had brought with him.  Soon his walls were covered with climbing berries, roses, honeysuckle, and other vines.  His street was lined with shade trees, his garden was filled with vegetables to supply his family needs and much to sell, and he had trees to give the people of the community.  The high quality of his vegetables proved what love for gardening can do.  

His green thumb service went beyond the people of Colonia Juarez.  He donated and planted the trees in the plaza in Casas Grandes and lined the street around it with shade trees, mostly poplar.  Peter built a lime kiln, made the lime that went into the walls of his own concrete homes, and helped build other homes in town as well.  The walls of some of these homes still stand today. 

Peter’s inherent love for music was passed onto his family, and with Launa’s beautiful voice he was soon able to create a Wood Orchestra patterned after his father’s Wood Band in Woods Cross where he played the flute.  He taught his daughter to chord on the organ for the tunes he made.  A son learned to play the guitar, another to play the harmonica and still another son to play his beloved flute.  He taught himself to play the violin after he was 50 years of age, and with these instruments tuned and spiritedly led him, the music he produced recalled his boyhood band and choir days in Woods Cross, even if it didn’t rival it.

Peter and his flute became legendary.  He played it for celebrations, programs, for parties, for his own comfort and amusement, and for all this dances.  Sometimes he had only the organ to accompany him.  Other times he had a guitar or violin or both.  But whether he played alone or with others, Peter and his flute were always there.  With the first tremolo that lifted from his flute, as his lips caressingly whispered into it, dancers were on the floor ready to take the tempo he set, to dance the schottische, the quadrille or a reel, as his musical spell dictated. No dance was complete without Peter and his flute.  In later life, he contrived a neck band to hold the harmonica in place, and while his lips and tongue coaxed music from its reeds, his fingers would simultaneously strum the guitar.  This one-man band made the same dance-inducing music as his flute, both of which paid tribute to his talent and his love of sharing it with others.

Peter and Launa were a part of the first choir and religiously attended the weekly rehearsals held by the conductor, John J. Walser.  They both capably participated in the concerts, cantatas and operas he produced.  In the early days, they trundled the baby to these functions in a wheelbarrow so that (Lucy) Jane could attend also.  They looked upon these walks of 10 blocks as an accepted part of life.

Peter’s home was always filled to capacity at Conference time, his yard and stable filled with wagons and teams, his table loaded with good food and a hearty welcome for all.  His wives, Launa and Jane, were excellent cooks.  They worked together beautifully because they loved each other.  Launa expended the love for her lost children on those of Jane.  She not only helped in raising them but became a second mother to them, which made a united and loving family.  Something went out of their lives when Launa sickened and died.  She felt so many vacant spots that only she could fill.  She was such an integral part of Peter’s musical life that his love for and interest in that art could easily have died, too.  Instead, he let her continue to live in the music he enjoyed and produced. 

Being the watermaster for years, Peter made the necessary rounds, took care of ditches, the head gates, and the water in them.  He could be seen walking or riding a horse with a shovel over his shoulder, checking to make sure there were no leaky headgates and that users both took and released water on time.  Water to him was so precious that not a drop should be wasted.  In this capacity, he represented the community in Casas Grandes.  Old-timers say that with him in this work there was never any trouble.  Besides this his team was always ready to take General Authorities into the mountains whenever it was necessary.   

Peter was a great friend to the Mexican people.  He used to say, “If you make one friend of an Indian, he will make you a hundred more. Or if you make one enemy, he’ll make you a hundred more enemies.”  It was the same, he said, with the Mexican people.

Peter was the town dentist for years, and never broke a tooth.  With no anesthesia to deaden the painful yank, he had methods all his own to not only quiet the fears of the sufferer but to get his mind on something besides the menacing forceps he often tried to hide.  “Just let Uncle Pete get a look at that fellow that kept you awake all night, while you just think of a white horse without a tail.” If that didn’t provoke a smile he had other antics that would.  Before the patient was aware of it, the forceps were firmly in place and the tooth was out.

Peter, like his father, was spiritual-minded and early formed the habit of taking his problems to the Lord.  He never failed to get his answer, often through dreams.  Many problems were solved through following instructions given in his dreams and important moves in his life were dictated by what he had seen or been told in a dream.  The following are typical:  While on his Mission in Arizona, he returned to his homesteads in Woods Cross to sell out.  He received an offer of $1500 cash but hesitated because the offer had come from a gentile.  In answer to an earnest inquiry of the Lord, he was told to deal with the man.  He did, receive his money, and returned to his mission.  On another occasion he was told by heavenly messenger, surrounded by a bright light, “Go straight for Mexico!”  This occurred after he had prayerfully asked for guidance, and after he had arranged to move to Beaver.  “Go by all means,” his Bishop said when he reported his dreams.  “And God bless you!”

On the way to Mexico, in company with John McNeil, he was shown in a dream a way to cross the swollen Gila River, in which a large ox appeared by his team and guided them moving from side to side so quickly that he seemed intelligent.  Next morning he told McNeil he was going up the river.  “There’s no crossing there,” said McNeil.  But Peter was impressed to go.  Soon an Indian was riding by their side leading him toward San Carlos on the other side of the river. He later led his team and wagon safely across, going from side to side of his team, guiding them as the ox had done in his dream.  McNeil followed and they soon were safely across and on their way. 

He was a hard working man yet he took time each day to read a newspaper, or something good, most often the scriptures.  And every day he played one or all of the instruments he loved.  He could pick out a tune on any instrument he picked up.

Fifteen of his descendants have spent more than 25 years as full-time missionaries to the Mexican people.  Two of his descendants have spent two years working in the Andes Mission.  One son filled three Stake Mission calls among the Spanish-speaking people in the colonies.  These are some of the results that have flowed from his dreams concerning where he should move his family.

He died November 9, 1929 in Colonia Dublan, and was buried in the eastern cemetery in Colonia Juarez.

One of the climbing roses he brought to the country is het blooming in the yards of his sons Enos and Lee.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch Stalwarts South of the Border, page 793

Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico

Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt

Leave a reply

Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt

1841-1914

I was born on September 8, 1841 at Vinding Land on the beautiful shore of Vejle Bay, about 8 miles from the city of Vejle, Jylland, Denmark.  My father’s name was Lauers Jensen and my mother, Ane Sophie Nielsen.

My parents belonged to the Lutheran protestant church and in accordance with the customs of denomination, I was at the age of about one and one-half months taken to the church, sprinkled with water which act was called baptism by that church, christened and given the name of Jens Christian Lauersen.  The reason why I don’t bear exactly the same name now will be explained later.

My parents were both conscientious, God-fearing people, honest, upright, and industrious.  They were kind and loving toward their children of which they had 10 in number—five boys and five girls. I was the first child.  Having been reared by googly parents I presume that I naturally inherited the same tendencies.  Especially did I at an early age acquire a reverence for God. In my early youth in mingling with people of the world, I did not exhibit my inward convictions in outward manifestations and during the years of my minority I sowed a good deal of wild oats.

By the time I had grown to the age of 20 I had become somewhat disgusted with the religions of the day, deeming them in most cases only hypocrisy.  I consequently took no stock in them.

At the age of 11½ I was hired out to work for my living.  The nature of my work was tending horses, cows, and sheep.  As I remember, the wages for my first summer’s work was less than five dollars (American money) plus by board.  During my early years I hired out to various farmers and also acquired the customary schooling.  In the spring of 1856 when I was 15 years old, I commenced as an apprentice with my father to learn bricklaying and plastering, which occupation I followed more or less as long as I stayed in my native land and also when I came to America.

Inn the spring of 1861 I was introduced by a chym to aman by the name of Niels Jensen, a bricklayer.  This man was a Mormon, a fact which my young fried cunningly concealed from my knowledge until I had bargained with him.  Had I known before hand that he wa a Mormon I would have had nothing to do with him.  On telling my friend so, he assured me it wouldn’t have made any difference, for though a Mormon; he was a pretty good fellow.

Here came the turning point in my life, for although I had been reared in a Christian church by Christian parents and Christian ministers, I did not know what a true Christian was until this man told me.  It did not take very long after my acquaintance with Niels Jensen, through conversing with him on religious matters, that I was convinced that Mormonism was true.  I did not however become humble enough to receive baptism until 1863 when on the 11th day of January I was baptized in a broke on the borders of the city of Vejle by Elder Anders Hansen and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The conference held in the fall of 1863 in Vejle I was ordained a teacher and sent on a mission to the Horsens Branch to labor under the direction of Gustav Pegan.  I was by him ordained a Priest. Shortly after, I was ordained Elder and set apart to preside over the Horsens Branch. On account of the war between Prussia and Denmark, my work as a messenger of the Gospel did not last long as I, being 22 ½ years old was eligible to be drafted into the army. Therefore, the spring of 1864 I was released from my mission with the privilege of emigrating to Zion. I have built myself of the opportunity. My father, although not a member of the Church at the time was liberal with means to enable me to go. On 4 April 1864 I bade goodbye to my parents, brothers and sisters in Nebsager Mark in on 6 April, I bade adieu to my native land, Jutland, and proceeded on until we arrived at Liverpool, England.

On 28 April 1864 I boarded a large sail ship called the Monarch of the Sea in company with about 1,000 Saints. The captain in charge was John Smith. We found ourselves pretty low crowded. Especially did we experience a great deal of inconveniencing the cooking department and it was chance work if we got anything to eat. It took about 35 days from Liverpool to Castle Garden, New York.

We proceeded on by boat and trail until we landed on the west bank of the Missouri River at a place called Wyoming, where we laid in waiting about a week before the ox trains from Utah arrived which were to take us across the dreary plains. Instead of going with the church teams, I am for other men decided to go as teamsters for a man named Soren Christofferson from Manti so we would not be in debt to the Church for passage.

Her company numbered eight souls with six wagons and 20 yolk of cattle. During the summers of’64,’65 and ’66, the Indians were very hostile on the plains and we were greatly exposed to being massacred by them, being so if you traveling alone and guarded. But God preserved our lives many of our cattle down the plains. When we got to Fort Bridger we were compelled to leave two of our wagons there.

I enjoyed the trip across the plains very much, enjoying good health all the way. We saw no Indians and they did not molest us but many depredations were committed on the plains that summer. We entered the valleys of the mountains by way of Provo Canyon 13 October 1864 and proceeded right onto Manti.

My first job in my adopted country was digging the seller for a Miller who live south of Manti. The next hired out for a year to Peter Rasmussen, Bishop of Salina, Sevier County, Utah.

Manti on 29 October and traveled on foot towards my new home. Went about four miles south of Manti, I retired to a secluded place and kneel down before the Lord in secret prayer and thanksgiving and to him who preserve me over land and sea to the land of Zion and the home of the Saints. I asked my heavenly father on this occasion to bless me with a gift of speedily acquiring the English language and the Gila my lungs which for several years before leaving Denmark had been very weak and at this time would often bleed profusely. I prayed for my mother and father, brothers and sisters, all of whom were left in my native land. I asked God to lead them all into the fold of Christ. I asked him to bless me and all my labors and travels in the land of Zion. I covenanted anew that if he would hear and answer these my humble petitions that I would serve him all days my life. I can say to the praise of the name of God that he has bestowed upon me every gift I asked on this occasion.

I soon acquired the use of the English language, the Bishop taking great pains to instruct me.  While living at Salina, the Black Hawk War broke out in April 1865.  There were several men killed which stirred up great resentment amongst the settlers. I rode bareback on a pony to Glenwood, 15 miles away to warn the settlers of that vicinity that the Indians were on the rampage. I carried a small rifle already loaded as there was no place to carry a ramrod. I returned safely quite late in the day.

During my stay at Salina I heard news about a girl, Joanne Hansen, whom I had known in Denmark. I had shunned her on account of it being rumored that she was going to become a Mormon. She did join the Church and came to Zion with her brother. She was now living alone out in circle Valley since her brother had been killed by the Indians. I renewed my acquaintance with her and after the necessary proposals, we were married by Bishop William Allred on 13 February 1866 and I moved to Circle Valley and join together in building a fort for protection against the savages. I moved our house into the floor for protection and we lived there until the early part of June. Then my order general Daniel H. Wells, the place was vacated. We left our land, crops and all we never returned.

We made our about it Manti for a few weeks and then moved to Ephraim, Sanpete County, where we lived in a little log house. We both worked in the harvest fields cradling and binding wheat and oats to help us acquire a few of the necessities of life. On July 11, 1867 our first son was born, but he died when 11 months old in 1868. Grasshoppers ate most of the wheat crop this year and I spent much of my time in fighting these destroyers. There was however enough we took bread the people and my family did not suffer.

This fall I had the pleasure of meeting my brother Peter and my sister Ane and her husband as emigrant Saints to this land.

This fall, 1868, a call was made by President Brigham Young for volunteers to go work on the Union Pacific Railroad in Weber Canyon. My brother and I and a great many more went, but it was cold and the work was dangerous, being in a a deep stone cut called Slate point near the 1,000 mile tree West of Omaha, Nebraska. The majority the men soon went home, many of them not clearing expenses. I stayed until spring and then left without my pay afterwards and afterwards had considerable difficulty in getting it and finally had to take it mostly and goods.

In February 1869 I was ordained a Seventy of the 47th Quorum of Seventies by Thora Thurstesen.  In the fall of 1869 I went to Salt Lake to meet my parents and family and learn my mother had died while crossing the plains.

In 1870 I took my wife to the endowment house in Salt Lake City to be sealed for time and all eternity. With my wife’s consent in full approval I married a young lady from Laaland, Denmark, named Christine Larsen and she was also sealed to me in the Endowment House.  She bore me two daughters, one of whom died in childhood of Diphtheria. My wife Christine also died in April, 1873.

In December 1873 a call came from the First Presidency of the Church for masons and laborers to go work on the St. George Temple. I felt that my duty to go. Thus with approval of my family I left them on 1 December and joined a company of 25 men and boys who arrived in St. George after very difficult weather and bad roads. I worked on the St. George Temple at this time a little over three months giving my time as a free will offering for the erection of the house of the Lord. In the middle of October 1874 I again went to work on the St. George Temple and worked until the stonework was completed which was in March 1875. My wife Christiana whom I had married 30 March 1874 in the Endowment House, accompanied me and also my little daughter Sophia. I then returned home to see from where lived for several years and where several of my children were born.

The spring of 1879 I went to work on the Manti Temple cutting stone in the winter and laying it in the summer for seven continuous years. My wages were $3.50 a day.

Well any from, I and my brothers and my father desired to have our name changed. The reason for doing so was because there were so many families named Larsen living any from that our mail matters went to the wrong persons, and also because the various spellings are names since coming to America. We petitioned the legislative assembly of the Territory Utah asking the privilege of adopting the name of Breinholt as a surname for ourselves and posterity. The privileges granted us by the last legislature in which polygamists were allowed to serve in 1882.

I bought some property in Redmond, Sevier County and move my families there in 1886 and tending to settle down to farming, but I was unable to live in peace on account of the pressure from the US Marshall and forcing the Edmunds law and the charter amendment which required a man to abandon all but one wife. For conscience sake it could not abandon my wife Christiana and her five little children and thus I was tried and found guilty of the crime of unlawful cohabitation. I served hundred five days in the state penitentiary along with many great and good men of the Church. I felt proud that I had been numbered among so many staunch man and true, who were willing to suffer imprisonment for the sake of their families rather than to make the unholy promise to obey the law made by man on purpose to persecute the Mormons.

In 1889 I was asked to take charge and conduct the stonework of the Stake Tabernacle being built in Richfield, so after I put in my spring crop on the farm in Redmond and leaving it to my sons to care for, I began work on the Tabernacle and continued to work there until November 1891.

During this time I had made plans to leave the United States and traveled down to old Mexico and thus in connection with Simon Hansen of Mayfield and Soren Thyggersen of Ephraim, I chartered a Rio Grande freight car to be loaded at you from 24 November 1891. My wife Johanne and family prefer to stay with the home in Redmond and this was a sad parting. I loaded some furniture, provisions, one cow, a team, and some farm implements in the boxcar along with those of my brethren and I wrote on this car being allowed free passage for taking care of the animals.

I arrived at Deming, New Mexico on 3 December to join my family and friends who had arrived by passenger train. From Deming we were to proceed the remainder of our journey by our teams. We also were to receive pass papers from the Mexican Consul and have everything classified, numbered and listed in shape to passed the custom house at Ascensión. This proved to be a very tedious and laborious ordeal, besides its being expensive. On 9 November we started for old Mexico and had an uneventful journey over the barren country to the first Mormon settlement, Colonia Diaz. On 17 December we passed the last guardhouse at Carlito’s and proceeded on to Colonia Dublan, arriving after dark.

On 18 December 1891 we drove onto Joseph Jackson’s flour mill near Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. Here we were made welcome by William Morley Black and his wife who was a sister to my wife Christiana. The following day we pitched our tents beside their house which was a lumber building about 12’ x 14’. The ground was so dry and Rocky that it was difficult to drive stakes in it. We were now thankful to our heavenly father that we had reached the end of our journey without any sickness or harm. The year 1891 was a very dry year and it was difficult to get feed for our livestock and also flour and other food was very scarce. Shortly after the new year I got to build a dry stone wall for brother Jackson around an enclosure of his home. With the help of my two small sons we earned about $3.00 a day.

Shortly after my arrival in Mexico, Brother Black moved to the mountains and he sold me his house. I proceeded to tear it apart and moved it on to a 25 acre tract of farmland in San Jose that I had bought for Brother Jackson. I pitched my tent in the riverbed ownership trees until I got the house built. I continue to work as a stonemason for Joseph Jackson for about two years until his new grist mill was completed.

My family and I became members of the Colonia Dublan Ward, Juarez Stake. We hear joined in the activities of the Ward in my children attended school here until 1899. I did amazing construction on several of the early built homes in Dublan. To mention a few: Helaman Pratt, Gaskel Romney, Lewis Cardon (Louis Cardon)and many others.

Note:  After 1894, this journal history was never completed by J. C. L. Breinholt in his own handwriting, but there were many important things that are necessary to record about his activity and honorable life.

My father, J. C. L. Breinholt, with his wife Christiana and their children on their farm in San Jose, Mexico. Here he cared for his farm and always worked at his trade of masonry and stone cutting. He almost always more to and from work every day, sometimes a total of ten miles.

In the fall of 1894 while at San Jose, Christopher B. Heaton was operating a molasses mill at the adjoining farm. One day some Mexicans were seen loitering around. After Heaton had left for the night the Mexicans returned and rolled barrel of molasses to the pummis pile and covered it with pummis (the pulp of the sugar cane) in preparation for coming back the following night. He decided to try to have them arrested. He went to the officers of the law and asked them to come and arrest these natives when they came back, but he was disappointed as the authors never came. He attempted to handle the situation alone and concealed himself to wait for them to return. Shortly after dark they arrived in ox team and wagon on which the load of the barrel of molasses. When they started to leave, Heaton stepped out and ordered them to stop. They were prepared for trouble and shot Mr. Heaton through the shoulder, then beat him to death of the club. They took his gun robbed him of his watch. Breinholt heard the shot and knew that there was trouble. He immediately sent his two oldest boys to go after the horses in the field instructed them to go to Dublan for help. He then went on foot to the scene of the tragedy. The murderers had left and dragged tree limbs behind the wagon to try to cover up their tracks. These thieves were apprehended but turned free in a day or two without being punished.

In the spring of 1899, J. C. L. Breinholt moved his family to Colonia Juarez. While living in Juarez he built some of the brick and stone houses of that area including one for Anthony W. Ivins and a large stone house for John W. Taylor.

In Juarez and took pride implanting choice fruit trees and other things. At the time they had no culinary water except from the irrigation ditch. An early morning chore, while the water was fresh and clear, was to fill the water barrels for household use. J. C. L. Breinholt was called to serve a mission for the Church in his native land, Denmark. He left November 5, 1900 and return from this mission November 22, 1902. He enjoyed excellent health even though he was at the time 60 years of age.

On account of the revolution in Mexico during the years 1910-1912 the people in the Mormon colonies were counseled by Church Authorities to leave Mexico until the trial was over. Many never returned. J. C. L. Breinholt and his family returned to Redmond, Utah leaving everything they owned except what could be packed in a couple of trunks and a suitcase.

It was difficult to leave his home at age 72 and face the necessity of taking charity from friends and relatives, although he was very happy to see them all again. During the two years that he lived at Redmond he spent considerable time fixing fences, gates, and other things for his eldest son who had remained in Utah and made the family welcome and provide for them with a log house. The summer carrying it was made quite comfortable and here Father and Mother Breinholt lived out the remainder of their lives. He died November 5, 1914 being sick just five days with pneumonia contracted while helping harvest beets. She died just a month later on December 7, 1914 and was buried beside him.  J. C. L. Breinholt was honest and forthright man in all his daily dealings with his fellow man. He was kind intemperate in his disposition. He was neat, clean, and systematic in his everyday habits in person. He observed the Sabbath Day and was regular with family prayers, and his blessings on the food. He paid an honest tithing and he was liberal in his contribution to the Church and the communities in which he lived. He kept his homes and lands in good repair and his orchard in garden were always well cared for. His manners were outstanding and he enjoyed the food that was prepared for the family. He was very particular about his appearance and kept his sandy-colored, medium length beard clean and trim. His penmanship was excellent and he was good in mathematics and tried to improve his education by reading a great deal. He lived the health rule of “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.”

Although he never acquired worldly goods in excess of the moderate living he left a good name for his 18 children and the numerous posterity that survived him.

Condensed from the personal Journal of Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt, and completed by Oliver C. Breinholt, son.

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 63

 

Mormon Colonies in Mexico resident David Brigham Brown.

David Brigham Brown

Leave a reply

David Brigham Brown

(1847 – 1920)

Descended from sturdy New England forbears, David Brigham Brown was born January 21, 1847 in Des Moines, Iowa. His father and mother were both faithful members of the church, having resided with the Saints in Kirtland, Ohio and Nauvoo, Illinois.   His mother, Lydia M. Lathrop, died of cholera while traveling to the great basin with the company of Saints in August, 1852.

Samuel, David’s father, continued with his family to Utah and settled in Fillmore where David grew to manhood. David early displayed a love for horses, was an expert with them, and with the pony express rider, carrying mail on the road between Fillmore and a point near Camp Floyd, northwest of Lake Utah.

The family later moved to Payson, Utah where David met and married Cynthia Selena McClellan on October 6, 1873. They moved to Gentile Valley, Idaho, where their first four children were born. Two other children were born in Grass Valley, Utah. Tragically, the last child was but a few days old when the mother sickened and died. They then married Anna Helena Rasmussen on February 11, 1885. When their first child, George Andrew, was one year old, David moved his family to San Luis Valley in Colorado. Two more children were born there.

The climate in the San Luis Valley could be severe, however. Crops were slow to mature and the hard winters took a heavy toll on livestock. David dust decided to move south. Working their way down the Rio Grande, the family finally stopped at Deming, New Mexico. There the Browns put up a livery stable and operated a kind of open house where meals were served and beds provided. This developed into “half-way” house for those living in the Mormon colonies, and was often used as a kind of headquarters for many of them. As church leaders visited the colonists, they frequently stayed at the Browns’, going and coming. Eventually, in the mid-1890s, David moved his family to Colonia Diaz. After another stay in Colonia Juarez, they settled in Chuhuichupa, farthest south of all the colonies. There David followed farming, stock raising and dairying. As his family grew, they married and settled near their parents, pursuing the same occupation.

Wherever David lived, he was active in the church, serving as a counselor in several bishoprics. He had a generous nature and, during their life together, he and Lenie made their home welcome to all who needed care and shelter. There was scarcely a time when guests were not living in the Brown home. To mention only a few, there were John and Rob Beecroft, David Fife, George and Mary Russell, and the three Elliott children, Louise, Romula and Jesse who were taken into the Brown home after the death of their mother.  The Browns took a young Mexican couple into their home, Dulce and Marie Gonzalez to work on the farm and help in the house. The Browns converted the couple to Mormonism with many of their children, in turn, continuing as active members of the Church.  Delbert and Blythe, the last of the Brown children, were both born in Chuhuichupa.  During all this time Anna Helena (known as Lenie) worked as a midwife and nurse, caring for the sick with love and kindness.

Along with others, David and his family left Chuhuichupa with most of their possessions at the time of the Exodus of the colonists in the summer of 1912.  They erected a livery stable in El Paso as a source of income.  Later yet, they rented a 500 acre farm in the Rio Grande Valley.  Nostalgia grew, however, and the Browns eventually returned to the colonies, first to Colonia Juarez and then to their beloved Chuhuichupa.  They loved the quiet little valley in the high Sierra Madre.  It was there that David died on August 9, 1920 and was buried in the little cemetery north of town.  Lenie closed her life on September 30, 1943 in Colonia Dublan.

Ruby S. Brown, daughter-in-law

Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 70

Louis Philip Cardon

Leave a reply

Louis Philip Cardon

(1832 – 1911)

The ancestors of Louis Philip Cardon and Susette Staley have been traced back several generations in the Piedmont Valleys to Italy to 1644.  Some of the maternal lines have been traced to the middle of the 1500’s. 

Connections have not been made out of the valleys, but they were of French extractions, since French was the main language they spoke. 

These people were known from the twelfth century as Vaudois, Waldense, or Walloon and were driven to various parts of France, Switzerland, and Germany, then to the final refuge in the High Alpine Valleys of the Piedmont.  They sent preachers out, first openly, then as opposition grew, disguised as tinkers and various other occupations, gaining many adherents.  They were constantly pursued as heretics and had Crusades directed against them.  They were subject to unjust taxation, many persecutions, and as late as 1848 the law forbade them entrance to any of the universities or the professions.  However, they owned their own homes and in 1848 were permitted to enjoy civil and political rights but were still restricted in their religious worship.  This background built character, and they were ready to accept the Gospel as preached by the missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when they finally heard it.

Philippe Cardon had accumulated enough money by 1836 to purchase a large vineyard and an orchard in the valleys of the Piedmont, and there he built a good, comfortable home.  Unfortunately this was shortly destroyed by fire.  His eldest child was seriously ill upstairs at the time and they felt fortunate in being able to save her.  It was the middle of the winter, so there was even more hardship.  However, they were able to rebuild, and by the time the Mormon Elders came were in good circumstances.

Louis Philip Cardon was the 5th child of Philippe Cardon and Marthe Marie Tourn.  He was born March 9, 1832, in Praustin (Prarustino), Turino, Italy.  The other children were: Anne, Jean, Barthelemy, Catherine, Marie, Madeleine, Louise, Jean Paul, and Thomas Barthelemy.

Louis Philip’s younger sister tells in her autobiography of a dream she had as a very young child. Three men came to her and told her they were the servants of God.  They related the story and the restoration of the Gospel, about the Prophet Joseph Smith and his vision, along with many other truths.  Continuing, they said the day was not far off when her parents would embrace the Gospel.  Many things concerning their departure from their home and the long tedious journey they would take as they went to Zion were also mentioned.  When she awoke she felt so strange that her mother wondered what had happened.  When the father came in she told him how strange the child was acting.  He listened to her as she told him the whole story.  The mother also listened and stored up every word she heard.  Relieved, the child then forgot all about it, as a young child would.  The father, Philippe Cardon, was an architect and was directing the building of a large house on day about 1851 when a man came from La Tour, quite a distance from his home.  The man said some strangers were teaching and preaching some very strange doctrine related what he had heard.  Philippe listened intently and knew then that these men were teaching and preaching the very things his young daughter related to him as a child from the three strangers in her dream.  He immediately put down his tools, saying he would go find the strangers.

He walked all Saturday afternoon, all night and the next morning over the mountains and down the valley.  He reached the Palais de la Tour in time to find these men and hear them preach.  After the meeting he went to them and invited them to come to his home and make it their headquarters.

At the October Conference in Salt Lake City, in 1849 many missionaries had been called to go preach the Gospel to the nations.  President Lorenzo Snow, Elders T.B. Stenhouse and Joseph Toronto were sent to Italy.  After checking around, President Snow felt impressed to go to the Piedmont Valleys.  When they got there, there were about 22,000 Protestants and 5,000 Catholics. They had been but a short time at the Palais de la Tour and were laboring hard.  While they were allowed to preach in the streets it was hard to get contacts so they were glad to accept the invitation to the Cardon home.

Marie Madelaine was now about 18 years of age.  She was reading a book and did not see them approaching.  When she heard her father say, “This is my daughter who had the vision I told you about,” she looked up quickly, and recognized them and the dream came back to her memory.

Philippe, his wife, their son Louis Philip and his brothers were soon converted to the Gospel of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were baptized.  The sisters were slower, studying more but all joined except one whose husband forbade her to even listen to her sister.    Their minister tried to stop the conversions, but could not.

The congregation grew to about 50 faithful members.  Meetings were generally held in the Cardon home, but as the crowds came from far and near, a bowery was built and meetings were held there.  The Cardon family often served food to those who came so far.  Opposition became strong and, on occasion, mobs threatened them. 

When Philippe Cardon received word to prepare to go to Zion, he decided in February, 1854 to sell his home.  Since he was in a hurry, he did not get full value, but enough was raised to leave.  A few days before they started the Elders held a meeting, giving instructions for the journey over the great ocean and the desert places and gave them a blessing saying if they obeyed the principles of the Gospel faithfully they would reach their destination safely and in good health in spite of the dangers.

Three days before they left, friends came to bid them goodbye knowing full well they would never return.  Eight of the Cardon family left for Zion.  They had with them a family of five who had no money of their own. They could neither understand nor speak English but soon met Elders who spoke French as the Cardons did, so gradually they picked up the language. 

First they went to London where two weeks were spent making the necessary preparations.  Then they went to Liverpool where they waited 17 days for their ship to be completed.  There were 485 passengers, all Latter-day Saints, except the crew and captain.

The first few days out were good sailing.  Then a terrible storm arose.  The ship rocked to and fro and finally the captain ordered the anchor to be dropped as they were about onto “the Rock of Providence” as he called it.  The captain said no ship every hit that and had survivors.  However, calm weather finally came, and drawing up the anchor, they sailed on.  On reaching New Orleans, they were transferred to the from the sailing ship to a big steamer. 

Some of the company who went ashore to view the City of New Orleans contracted cholera.  In a short time cholera broke out on ship and they were quarantined on an island not far from St. Louis.  Quite a number died.

The father, Philippe, contracted the disease.  For a time it seemed that death would come.  But through faith and prayer he recovered.  When the cholera abated, the family and Saints continued their journey up the Mississippi and camped above Kansas City.  Here they began final preparations for the journey across the plains.  However, cholera struck again, worse than before.  Many died, sometimes as many as 15 or 20 a day were buried.  This too finally passed.

The Cardons left with a few others and soon as the oxen, cattle and covered wagons could be readied. Louis Philip and his two brothers had a wagon with three to four yokes of cattle each.  The roads were rough and there were many steep dugways, so they often had to stop for repairs.  At times they were frightened by Indians but the captain of the company was crossing the plains for the third time so he knew how to deal with emergencies as they came up.  They finally arrived safely in Utah. 

Susette Staley was born February 12, 1837 in Angrogne, Torino, Italy, in the Piedmont Valleys, and was the daughters of Jean Pierre Staley and Jeanne Marie Gaudin.  Her parents, being thrifty became quite prosperous, having two homes, one in the mountains and one in the Valley Prarustin. They spent summers on the mountain with their sheep and cattle, the winters down where it was warmer.  They lived mostly on their own produce.

Susette had a long way to go to church.  She was religious and learned her catechism so well she was always able to quote long passages from the Bible.  When the missionaries came she went wherever she could to hear the Gospel preached.  Opposition arose as the Church grew, with mobs trying to break up the meetings.  On one occasion in 1855, Elder Franklin D. Richards and two other missionaries were forced to hide in the high mountain passes from the mob, going without food for three days before being found by the Staley family.

Elder Franklin D. Richards was instrumental in getting members of the family to emigrate.  They were in the company overseen by Elder Canute Peterson and sailed from Liverpool, December 12, 1855, on the Ship John J. Boyd.  There were a number of other families from Italy and some 500 saints from Scandinavia and Great Britain.  Immediately after their departure, the Italian Mission was closed and was not reopened for 40 years.

They arrived in New York on February 15, 1856 and went from there to Florence, Nebraska by rail, stopping at Chicago and St. Louis on the way.  They were delayed for three months waiting for the handcarts to be completed, then joined the first handcart company which left on June 9, 1856 with 273 in the company.  Many things have been written of the trials and tribulations acts of faith and heroism of those who came in the handcart companies.

The father, Jean Pierre Staley was not well when he left Winter Quarters and became progressively worse.  It is said that he did not eat all the food issued for him, saving it for his children.  Suzette and her brother Daniel did most of the work after he became ill.  He told his wife he would never reach the valley, but that she and her children would, and that they would never want for the necessities of life.  The second morning that he had to be helped into a wagon, he died.  His body was wrapped in a sheet placed between layers of sagebrush, and was buried on banks of the banks of the Platte River, opposite Ash Grove.  His death was entered in the diary of the handcart company, August 17, 1856.  A bonfire was built over his grave to keep the Indians and coyotes from finding it. 

The company arrived in Salt Lake Valley on September 26th 1856 and were met at Willow Springs by President Brigham Young and many others.  The Cardons from Ogden met the widow and her younger children and helped them to get settled in a dugout.  Susette and her sister Mary went to work to help the family.  The trials and tribulations made her faith grow stronger and dearer.  The 24th of July was sacred to her and took precedence over all other celebrations.

Louis Philip first married Sarah Ann Wellborn.  No children were born to this union.  In 1857 at Logan, Susette and Louis Philip Cardon were married.  Their first two children, Joseph Samuel and Louis Philip, were born in Ogden.  The daughter, Mary Katherine, was born in Logan.  They next moved to Oxford, Oneida (now Franklin) County, Idaho where Louis Paul Cardon and Isabelle Susette, who died when about two years of age, were born.  The persecution because of plural marriage became so persistent that Louis Philip traveled to Salt Lake City to ask advice from President Brigham Young.  President Young arose from his chair, smote the palm of one hand with the fist of the other, and said, “Brother Cardon, it is about time for the Saints to move to Arizona, as I have been thinking about.  Be here in a week with your wife and belongings.  The Company will be ready to leave.”

Again there was a long journey.  They settled first at George Lake’s Camp on the Little Colorado in Northern Arizona.  The camp was later called Obed.  In February, 1877, he and his family moved to Tenney’s Camp.  Here they lived in the United Order, being on the first roll taken.  This called for sacrifice as the Cardons had ample supplies for two years.  They were active in the church and building the community.

After two years they moved from Woodruff to Taylor.  The Woodruff Ward was organized on September 26, 1879 when the name was changed to Tenney’s Camp.  They had hoped to make Taylor their permanent home but peace was not possible for those practicing plural marriage.  In 1885 President Taylor advised Louis Philip, his first wife Sarah and his son Joseph, to move to Mexico.  Emanuel and Louis Philip went along to help the families move, but Louis Paul returned to Taylor where he had married and stayed w=there with his mother, Susette, until 1896 when he was called to go Colonia Dublan to help with the church school.  Susette and her daughter Mary Katherine Cardon Clawson, wife of Joseph I. Clawson, accompanied him and his family.  The father, Louis Philip, had settled in Colonia Juarez, where he stayed until a couple of years before his death.

The town of Dublan was blocked out in the Mormon way: A mile square divided into blocks of then acres each, minus a large street all the way around.  Louis Paul and his sister Katie were able to purchase a block across the street from their brother Joseph, so once more the brothers and sister were together.  They were active in church, community and civic affairs, in addition to teaching supporting the schools.  Louis Paul led the choir too.

The farms of the colonists were in town.  Irrigation was a problem so it was decided to build what was called “The Big Canal.”  Louis Paul did all the surveying and his brother Joseph was the chief engineer.  The men of the community worked hard to get the project completed.  When the new irrigation system was laid many shook their heads saying, “He can’t make water run up hill.”  Both Louis Paul and Joseph contracted typhoid fever before the project was finished, and Joseph died.  Later, the whole town turned out for a parade and dedication service when the canal was finished.  Susette said she felt as though she were going to her son Joseph’s funeral, as to her, the work seemed like a monument to him.  The water was turned into the canals and they worked perfectly.  Plentiful water made the farms produce more and prospects for the colonists and their future were more encouraging.

The industrious and thrifty habits of Susette kept her family well clothed and well fed.  She wove her own cloth from wool, coloring it with plants and indigo.  She even made suits for her husband and sons.  These clothes were durable and beautiful, and some were good 35 and 50 years later.  She lived to be 86 years old and many of her grandchildren remember her dresses.  They were old-fashioned then but on her they looked very beautiful.

She always preserved meats, vegetables, and fruits.  But her specialty was strawberries and cream.  She planted strawberries both in Arizona and in Mexico.  Her Strawberry Parlor was a popular place to gather.  She was successful in drying strawberries and after her move back to Arizona the University of Arizona Economics Department asked for samples of them saying they had never heard of strawberries keeping in places like Arizona and Mexico.  She was very generous, and many a friend received strawberries from her.

Louis Philip Cardon died and was buried in Dublan on April 9, 1911. Susette continued to live near her son, Louis Paul, as she had done since the days in Taylor.  Her testimony of the Gospel never wavered, and she always did whatever she was asked by those in authority.

When the Saints were driven from Mexico during the Madero Revolution, she had over $6,000 in stock in the Union Mercantile Store.  One of the greatest trials of her life must have been to be reduced from a condition of easy independence.  She never complained or mentioned what she had left behind as so many of us did.

When the colonists finally knew they were going to have to leave Mexico and would not be able to take their treasured possessions, many tried in various ways to hide them so they would not be stolen. Some dug holes and buried things that would not rust.  Susette was asked by someone if she wasn’t going to try and do something of the kind.  She replied, “No, they will never touch any of my things.”  Her son Louis Paul’s home, a large two-story home, at one time housed twelve Mexican families, and was badly misused and stripped.  The large parlor and living room were used to stable the horses of the Revolutionists, planks being put up the front steps to bring them in.  Her home, a neat little three roomed adobe, stood just a few yards away. 

When the first war storm passed over, Louis Paul sent some teams down to the colonies and told the driver to bring back anything of hers he could find.  When he came back that was all he had on the wagons, for nothing had been molested.  She had trunks of clothing, bed linen, and table linen, quantities of dried fruit, and preserved fruit.  Elmer said that it did not look as though the door had been opened, although it was unlocked.

She was a brave woman.  The afternoon the Rebels came into town, one of them went to her clothesline, which was made of rope, and cut it so he could lead away a horse belonging to Roy Clawson.  Disregarding the fact that the rebel had a gun and a knife in his hand, she went out and demanded that he return it.  He did. 

The Exodus occurred in late July 1912.  The Saints went first to El Paso where they received temporary help.  They were then encouraged by the government to go where their relatives were or someplace where they could start making a living.  Her son Louis Paul moved his family to Binghampton near Tucson, where some of the refugee Saints were making a colony.  He built a nice one-room place for her near his own.  She didn’t want to be a burden to anyone.

Although she spoke English, she did all her reading and praying in French.  She was intuitive, and at times would ask us if something had happened.  When we asked her how she knew, she would say, “I knew it. I dreamed it.” She died on July 19, 1923 at Binghampton (now in Tucson), Pima, Arizona, and is buried in the Binghampton cemetery.

Edith Cardon Thatcher, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 98

Erastus Kruse Fillerup of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico.

Erastus Kruse Fillerup

Leave a reply

Erastus Kruse Fillerup

(1875 – 1910)

My father, Erastus Kruse Fillerup, son of Anders Peter and Caroline Rasmine (Rasmussen) Fillerup, was born in Lake View, Utah on February 16, 1875.

He was the fifth of nine children, six boys and three girls. His parents were immigrants from Denmark. He attended the Lake View Elementary School, then entered the Brigham Young Academy, graduating from that institution in 1895.

On May 31, he was set apart by Heber J. Grant and June 1 of that year he left for a mission to the southern states, where he served 2 and a half years, chiefly in Tennessee. He reported his mission at the church offices December 26, 1897, and was called by President Wilford Woodruff of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to teach in the elementary school of Colonia Diaz, Mexico, which was a church school. He was also instructed to remain in Mexico until he was called elsewhere.

Here he met Lucy Ann Johnson and on May 18, 1899, he married her in the Salt Lake Temple. Lacking the proper chaperone they were not allowed to travel the long distance from Diaz, Mexico to Salt Lake City together. Lucy was sent ahead with a Mrs. Galbraith to stay with his parents until he arrived for the wedding. They were the parents of six children, the youngest of whom, Drexel, was born five days after his father’s death.

Erastus Kruse took a very active part in all church organizations in the Ward and was a Counselor in the Bishopric for a time. He loved to take part in dramatics, and let the Ward choir.

In 1905 he was called to teach horticulture in the Juarez Stake Academy at Colonia Juarez, Mexico. There again, after but a short time he was called to the Bishopric, and work in the MIA Stake Board. As band and choir later, along with his other activities, he had meetings every night of the month but one.

Erastus was a friend to everybody and tried to influence those in his classes with the desire to get an education. To his students he used to say, “Set your aims high and work to reach them. There is no honor in reaching goals that require little or no effort.” He had a way of holding his students up to their best without preaching urging. It is said that none slept in his classes.

Death came to Erastus Kruse Fillerup on July 2, 1910, in the little town of Pearson, Mexico. He was doing construction work on a bridge and fell, being killed instantly. He was buried in Colonia Juarez. The Bishop, Joseph C. Bentley, made the remark that it would take ten men to replace them.

In 1912 in the Mormon colonists were forced to abandon their homes and possessions because of the Revolution, Lulu, with her six children, went to Tucson, Arizona where she stayed about a year. The next year she stayed about a year. The next two years she lived on the Provo bench, now Orem. Her children attended the Lake View Elementary school and BYU Training School. During this time her helpless poor and it was a struggle for providing care for a family. She moved to Ammon, Idaho to be near her parents and sisters, who homesteaded farms there. We went out on maternity cases into general nursing care for invalids and other work, getting fine service to her fellow sisters.

After six years she moved to Logan, Utah, where her children could have the opportunity for better schooling, and she secured steady work cooking for the fraternity houses. During the summer months she was employed by Deseret Livestock Company on their ranch in Evanston, Wyoming.

Later, on a trip to Cedar city to visit her daughter, Thelda, she met a man who was energetic and ambitious in his work. By trade he was a carpenter and built homes to rent and sell. He also did bricklaying and other work in the construction of houses. He was a widower and alone as she was. On April 19, 1931, Lulu married Martin Ray Tanner in Salt Lake City, Utah. For a time they lived in Cedar City; then they moved to Salt Lake City in 1946, where he managed apartment houses. Lulu, ever ambitious to be doing work, continued to work. For a while she sewed for the Deseret industries. She also worked as a pastry cook for the ZCMI cafeteria.

With Martin’s failing health, they moved to Mesa, Arizona, where they lived quietly and happily doing temple work and other activities in their church. Lulu passed away in 1969.

Irva Fillerup Huber, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 197

Thanks for Phil Stover for sharing this power point.

Erastus Fillerup powerpoint by Phil Stover (file will download when link is clicked).