Tag Archives: Colonia Dublan

Warren Longhurst

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Warren Longhurst

(1868 – 1951)

Warren’s parents were William Henry Longhurst, born January 22, 1817, in Little Hampton, Sussex, England, and Ann Preston, who was born April 13, 1825 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.

William Henry’s father was a shipbuilder, and the son took up the trade.  His business took him to Portsmouth where he met and, in time, married Ann.  In associating with their friends, they both heard of the Latter-day Saint Church.  She told him about it and was amazed to find that he also was interested.  So they went together to hear the Elders.  They became convinced that what they heard was true and were baptized. They then tried to convert their families and friends, but were rejected.  It took them 15 years to save up the money to emigrate to America.  They were poor and it was difficult; also, the whole sum of money had been stolen once and they had to start over.  By this time, Ann’s father was wealthy and offered her everything he had if she would give up her religion and stay with him.  If not, she was to be disinherited.  She chose to cast her lot with the Mormons and bid her family good-bye.  They set sail in the early 1860’s.  There was much sickness while sailing, but they arrived in New York in good condition, then made the trek across the plains to Salt Lake City. From Salt Lake City they moved to Bountiful, Utah, where his mother died while he was young.  His sister raised him.

Warren married Eva Allred on November 17, 1909. Eva’s parents were Byron Harvey Allred, born May 29, 1847 in Kanesville, Pottawattamie, Iowa, and Alta Matilda Rolfe, born August 5, 1855, at Lama, Iowa.  They had 12 children of which Eva was the eighth child. She was born in Garden City, Utah.

Warren, the 10th child of his family, was born March 2, 1868. They moved to Woodruff, Utah in 1872 were his mother, and Preston Longhurst, died and was the first reburied in the Woodruff cemetery. He was four years old the time and the youngest in the family so he was raised by his older sister Marintha and her husband George Whittington.  His father went to Arizona to live in the United Order with his daughter Clara. He never lived with his father after that except for a few months. George and Marintha moved to Garden City, Rich County on the shores of Bear Lake, where new tracts of land were being open. Here Warren grew up. He was baptized May 14, 1875. His childhood and young man days were very happy ones he enjoyed ice-skating and sleigh riding in the winter and swimming, spearfishing, boating, and berry picking in the summer. He attended high school over the mountain in Randolph where he stayed with his brother, Tom, sometimes hitching a ride part of the way home on the mail sleigh at Christmas time and skating along the edge of the lake the last 11 miles. He also helped on the farm where they raised pigs.

In 1885 his brothers George, Charles, and Joe and his father moved to Idaho along the Snake River and Warren went with them to help drive the cattle. They tried to get him to stay and “grow up” on the homestead but he decided to return to Garden City. He had been keeping company with Myra Irene Allred and they were engaged to be married by April, 1888. Her parents were Alta Matilda Rolf and Byron Harvey Allred, and they were moving to Star Valley, Wyoming to homestead a tract of land and persuaded Warren to go with them. He chose land near the Allreds and built a one-room house on it, made improvements on the land, and in the fall of 1889 he was ready to marry Myra. She had returned to Garden City during the summer to bottle fruit and vegetables for winter use. They were married in the Logan Temple, October 2, 1889 and returned to Afton Wyoming to live on their Homestead. Myra taught school for several years and Warren worked the land, cutting poles for fencing in the wintertime and farming during the summer. There were no children to bless this union, so they were mother and father to all the young people wherever they lived.  They were both very good at singing, drama, and teaching in the auxiliaries.

Warren’s father passed away in Idaho, May 17, 1890 in the age of 73. For several years, Warren and Myra worked hard to establish a desirable home. He was chosen to be a member of the High Council when the Star Valley Stake was organized in 1892. He had been ordained a Seventy in 1891.

In the fall of 1898 they were called on a mission to Samoa leaving their dream cottage and farm in the hands of a nephew, James Whittington. The members of the Ward gave them a nice farewell party and to their surprise gave them $75 in cash. They left Star Valley in November, went to Garden City by sleigh, bidding farewell to their relatives in the Cache Valley. They then went to Salt Lake City where they receive their instructions and were set apart as missionaries. They sailed from San Francisco Bay on the steamship Moana, making her maiden voyage across Pacific Ocean, in November 1898. They spent a five day layover at Hawaii visiting members and sizing. However most of the time was spent resting up from there seasickness. Thirteen days later they arrived in the Samoan Islands and were met aboard ship by Mission President E. J. Wood. They saw many strange sites, among which was a war waged very near the mission home. The war was a political nature and soon dwindled away into nothingness, leaving the old chief command. They felt that they were very blessed with learning the language and customs of the people.

Their main assignment was to teach school and the Gospel to the people on the island of Savaii, the largest of the Samoan group. The natives came to help build their first house, which was a far cry from the solid walls of their home in faraway, cold Wyoming. Released from this mission in the fall of 1901. Many poems written by both worn and Myra was told of their wonderful experiences there.

After greeting friends and relatives in Utah and Wyoming, they moved to Mexico in early 1902 were Myra’s parents had gone in the early 1890’s to escape persecution due to their living in polygamy. They lived in Guadalupe, near Colonia Dublan in northern Chihuahua, where many Mormons were already located. Myra’s health was not good and in 1903 she was taken to El Paso, Texas to have her appendix removed, returning soon to her active life.

When President Anthony W. Ivins was released as President of the Juarez Stake in 1907, his home, surrounded by price fruit trees and berries, became the property of the Juarez Stake Academy. Warren and Myra, recently from the Samoan Mission, moved into it. She became its matron and he the Agricultural Director for the Juarez Stake Academy and turned the Ivins block into a small experimental farm.  Student agriculturalists learned the fundamentals of horticulture by fulfilling the needs of growing trees in the orchard. They also learned first principles of animal husbandry by studying and working with the cows and horses in the barn and stable. From the flush of Leghorn hens in the coops, fundamentals of poultry were also taught. In garden spots in between the tree rows, all varieties of vegetables were grown and through experimentation it was taught what and how to plan for best results in various localities. A nursery was establish that grew into a career for Warren in later years and for his son, who took up the business when he became unable to carry on. He was among the pioneer fighters of the coddling moth when its infection was discovered. He became an authority on control of pests and of ailments that afflicted cattle, horses and chickens.

While setting up the agricultural department, he was also foremost in promoting cultural activities in the community and helped to forward every good cause. In this he was helped by his wife, Myra, who was capable and willing where and when help was needed. They were a childless couple and in a position to continue being foster parents to the entire student body. They entertained frequently, and were often a part of the programs presented by the school. Both had good voices and entertained  many a group dressed in Somoan costumes and singing Somoan songs. In fact they complement each other in public entertainments as well as they did in their home life and patterns for peaceful living.

When Warren later married Eva, Myra’s sister, the children born to Eva had two mothers. These children were: William Preston, Myra Myryl, Harvey Ashton, and Brandon. They lived a very happy life until Myra died September 9, 1912 in El Paso, Texas, shortly after the Exodus.

Warren took his family to Idaho to live for a while, but soon returned to Mexico and there, in November 1918, with all the family ill with the flu, Eva passed away, leaving her husband to care for the children. He started nursery in Dublan where they settled upon returning from Idaho. Here he married Mary Lavinia Moffat, April 12, 1919 and one child, Woodrow Wilson, blessed this union. The marriage was not a happy one and when they separated, Warren was both father and mother to his children. He lived to see them all married and settled. He died peacefully in his home May 14, 1951, and passed on to his reward awaiting the faithful.

The nursery he established has grown until it is one of the largest in the country, having over 750,000 trees all of fruit bearing types, suited to the locale. The nursery is now run by a son Ashton, the only one of his children residing the Mexico.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch,

Stalwarts South of the Border page 409

P.H. Carlin

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The Latter-day Saint colonists had been counseled from the beginning of the revolution to remain neutral and offer no resistance to marauders, rather than retaliate and thus invite a terrible vengeance. The non-Mormon ranchers, however, were much less willing to stand for mistreatment without putting up a fight. One of these was P. H. Carlin, who operated the ranch at San Jose, 4 miles southwest of Colonia Dublan.  (In early August 1912, when the men and boys of Dublan escaped to the United States during the first exodus from Mexico, Carlin had quickly saddled his horse and left with them as they passed by his ranch on their way to the mountains.)  The Deseret Evening News told what happened when half a dozen Red Flaggers attempted to extort money from Mr. Carlin:

Six bandits appeared late Saturday night [December 27, 1913] at the home of P. N. Skousen a “Mormon” farmer living in Casas Grandes, and demanded money. As Skousen had no money he gave provisions instead. After loading up with the provisions the bandits took one of the Skousen boys as a guide and left for the home of Carlin not too far distant.

Reaching the Carlin home, the six Mexicans battered the door down and covered Carlin with their guns, demanding the payment of $500 as a ransom for his freedom. Refusing to comply with their demand, and calling them thieves and cowards, Carlin was led from the house to a grove in the neighborhood, and stood in front of a tree preparatory to being shot.

After having been searched at his house, however, and before leaving for the grove, Carlin managed to conceal a revolver under his arm in such a way that the bandits were unaware that he had it.  As the chief of the outlaws ordered the others to take aim, five gunbarrels were leveled at his breast, and the count, “Uno, dos,” was given when, during a momentary pause after the second count, and just as the leader seemed ready to pronounce the “tres,” Carlin seized the revolver and fired on his assailants, killing two before they hardly realized what was occurring.  The others took flight, but he succeeded in winging two of them. The others escaped after he had chased them a considerable distance.

Elder Anthony W. Ivins, who had known P. H. Carlin for many years, commented that he was “he was of a fearless nature” and that the bandits “got hold of the wrong man.”

Anson Bowen Call Bishop of Colonia Dublan by William G. Hartley and Lorna Call Alder pages 340-341

William Wallace Haws

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William Wallace Haws old

William Wallace Haws

(1835 – 1895)

William Wallace Haws, son of Gilbert and Hannah Witcomb Haws, was born February 18, 1835, at Green Township, Wayne County, Illinois. 1835,  he was the seventh of fourteen children. He had six sisters and seven brothers. The father, Gilbert Haws, was born March 10, 1801, in Logan County, Kentucky. The mother, Hannah Witcomb, was born April 17, 1806, at Cazenvonia, Madison County, New York.  The couple first learned of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints about 1840. Previous to this time they had not affiliated with any church. They, with two of their daughters, Lucinda and Elizabeth, were baptized during the years 1842-1843. Gilbert and Hannah lived on a farm near Xenia, Illinois, in the northwestern part of Wayne County, helping with the sheep and cattle. 

In 1845, after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, they received word from the Elders of the Church that a body of the Saints would leave the State of Illinois the next spring. Although they lived in Wayne County, some distance from Nauvoo, and suffered less persecution, they decided to leave with the others. They made their preparations and left Wayne county in May, 1847, leaving many friends and some relatives behind. 

The family traveled northwest through Illinois, crossed the Mississippi River into Iowa, beyond the first account of Saints at Garden Grove, to Mount Pisgah, about 200 miles from Nauvoo. Here they stayed the winter. William was 12 years old at the time. In the spring of 1848, the family continued on to Council Bluffs, then to Winter Quarters. They crossed the Missouri River in Lorenzo Snow’s company. Here they made preparations to go west with the first company of the season. In May, 1848, they left winter quarters for the Rocky Mountains. The trip was difficult. They washed clothes in cold water and use Buffalo chips for fuel, for wood was scarce. The crossing was not all hardship, however, for the 13-year-old boy enjoyed many adventures incident to the pioneers’ travels —the programs and dances at night, the herds of buffalo on the plains, and the ever present threat of molestation by the Indians. 

They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 23, 1848, where the father bought one of the little adobe houses in the old fort which had been built by the pioneers the year before. The new Haws home was one room, 12 feet square. It had a fireplace and two portholes about 10 inches square on each side of the chimney. The roof of the house was made of logs across which willows and bushes were piled and covered with dirt. The floor was packed dirt.  The old fort was formed by a great many of these little houses built together in the shape of a square with all doors opening into the square.  Spaces were left for gates on the east and west sides of the fort. No windows were put into the house for fear that Indians, who were numerous and had attacked the fort, might again do so. The portals were on the outer wall to shoot through in case of attack. 

William Wallace, in company with Orville Cox, went to the Sessions settlement about 10 miles north of Salt Lake City to take care of his father’s animals grazing on land leased until they could locate on a place of their own. He was baptized in City Creek, November 18, 1848, by Brother E. Strong.   

In December 1848, three of his sisters were married to men who had just returned from service with the Mormon Battalion. Food was very scarce this first year in Utah. Few crops were planted and the harvest was meager. They have little corn for making bread but very little to go with it. Sometimes a beef was killed and a little meat rationed to each family. Dried buffalo meat was available at times, which was cut into small pieces and pounded and used to make gravy and soup, with flour added to make the gravy thick and more palatable.

In March of 1849 William’s father was called to help settle Utah Valley at what is now Provo.  John S. Higbee was called to organize this group of 150 people. They were met by Timpanogos ,or Ute Indians, who would not let the colonizers cross the Provo River until the interpreter had made a treaty with them that they would not drive the Indians from their lands. The treaty made, the company establish the Provo Branch of the Church, March 18, 1849, with John S. Higbee as President. 

William helped with the herding of the cows and though he was but 14 at the time he also helped build a fort. This year his sister Matilde died and was buried on a little knoll near the river. The body was later moved to the Provo Cemetery. His brother Gilbert Oliver was born in Provo, being the second white child to be born there. While they lived in and around Provo, they were harassed, quite severely at times by the Indians, and more than once had to move to the fort until the Indians were at peace again. 

On December 1, 1853, William was married to Barbara Belinda Mills, by Bishop J.O. Duke.  She was the third child of John and Jane Sanford Mills.  She was born July 1, 1836, at Suffan’s Creek, Pickering Township, Leads, Canada.  Her family was taught the Gospel and was baptized by Elder John Taylor.  Her parents and an older sister received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple, having moved from Canada, settling in Nashville, Iowa, until the temple was completed.  In October of 1846, they started west, but spent the winter at Winter Quarters.  John Mills preceded his family to the Salt Lake Valley.  Jane and the children crossed later in the company of Morris Phelps, arriving in Lehi, Utah in the fall of 1851.  They soon moved to the Provo bench, where Barbara and William met and were married.  They lived that year with  Barbara’s parents, farming with her brother Martin W. Mills.  For several years they had a hard time getting enough to eat.  But they built a small home, helped to establish a sawmill and gave birth to two children, Hanna Jane and William Wallace. 

During the October Conference of 1871, William was called on a short term mission to the area around his old home of Xenia, Illinois. He visited and preached the Gospel to many of his relatives and saw the old homestead.  He was released from his mission in February 1872, but consumed a month returning home because of heavy snow.  He earned most of his passage home by shoveling snow so the train could travel. 

In May, 1875, Millie May was born and William became a member of the Provo police force in 1875, continuing at the same time to carry on his farming and wood hauling.  He married Martha Barrett, November 8, 1875, a twin, who was the eleventh child of William and Phoebe Colburn Barrett, recent immigrants to Provo from England.  Her twin stayed with an Aunt in England when the family came to the United States.  As a result the twins did not see each other for some 32 years, when Mary and her family came to America. Martha’s first child, Wallace John, was born February 21, 1878.   

Because of the crusade against polygamy, William Wallace was obliged to spend most of 1878 hiding in one place and another. In April 1879 he sold his property in Utah and moved with his sons William and George and their families to Show Low, Arizona, near Fort Apache, where they engaged in wood hauling for the fort, and in farming.  They provided butter and cheese and fresh produce for the fort. On April 15, 1881, Charles James, Martha’s second son was born. That fall his wife Barbara took her family to Provo so that the girls could go to school. He found out that the land he had settled on near the fort was government land, so he moved both his families to Smithsville (now called Pima), Arizona, where he started anew with his land clearing and planting crops. In the Arizona community they lived very happy lives and were able to build and make improvements on homes for both families. William established a sawmill at the mouth of a canyon in the Graham mountains nearby.   

By January, 1885, U.S. Marshals were moving into Arizona Territory and men with plural wives again went into hiding. William made immediate plans to move his family to Mexico. He first made a preliminary trip on horseback. At Corralitos he found a body of Saints in conditions similar to his own, with more families arriving each day. He stayed long enough to help plant crops on land rented from Mexican neighbors. In August he returned to Arizona and by September 14, 1885 was back in Mexico with Martha’s family. 

The Saints in Corralitos could not arrange for enough land in one tract to meet their needs, so they split up into two camps, renting land at Janos and Casas Grandes. William went with the Casas Grandes group which later established the colony of Colonia Juarez. The Janos group founded Colonia Diaz. A third group, called the Turley group, merged with the two larger groups, although for a while most of the Sunday services were held at the site of the Turley camp. 

In Mexico, William was helpful in laying out townsites, carrying the surveyor’s chain, digging ditches and planting crops.  When not busy with farm, church or community duties, he explored the mountain areas to the west in search of new townsites.  On one of these trips he located the areas later named Hop Valley, because of the many wild hops growing there, Corrales Basin and in the Strawberry Valley.  He helped build a road to get to these areas and planted crops such as potatoes, squash, beans and corn in the Strawberry Valley, so named because of the abundance of wild strawberries. Other locations nearby were Williams Ranch and Cave Valley, where a Ward was established. Near Cave Valley were many well-preserved cliff dwellings. 

In May, 1887, William was called as one of the several men to go with teams and wagons to meet a group of native Mexican Saints being moved from the interior of Mexico to the colonies. Efforts of these missionaries had been fruitful, but the lot of new converts was difficult because of persecution. It was thought best, to have the Mexican converts moved to the colonies. The men left on April 30, 1887 and returned May 10, traveling 260 miles. 

Among these converts was a widow and her children, Gertrude Guameros Paez, whom William married on March 1, 1888 as a plural wife. The men in the Church were advised in those times to marry widows as a way to help care for them. William built her a home in Corrales where she lived until his death, after which she moved to Colonia Juarez where her children could receive adequate schooling. Three children were born to this couple: two girls and a boy. One of these youngsters reached adulthood —Elizabeth. Gertrude’s children by her previous marriage moved back to the interior of Mexico after living in the colonies only a short time. After Elizabeth married, Gertrude also returned to her old home near Mexico City, where she died during the Mexican Revolution. 

William was happy with his family as at Corrales, where he built, planted, harvested and fenced.  Soon other families were also locating in the vicinity and a Branch of the Church was organized on April 28, 1889.  During this time, William helped survey and stake out the townsites for Colonia Pacheco. His son George and family moved to Pacheco in January, 1891 and William spent considerable time helping them build a home and getting crops planted.   

By this time many families had moved into the Corrales-Pacheco area:  The Staleys, Lunts, Naegles, Humphreys, Carlins, Smiths, McConkies, Farnsworth, Sellers, Spencers, Jarvises, and Cluffs to mention a few.

To get money to buy salt, sugar, clothing and other staples, William would haul lumber from the sawmills to the lower valleys to sell. During one of these trips, his eyes became terribly infected and he nearly lost his sight. His eyes troubled him for the remainder of his days.

He spent his days making a livelihood for his family by logging, hauling lumber, planting and harvesting his crops, in fair weather and foul. During one of his trips to the valley with lumber he contracted a heavy cold which kept him ill for many weeks. During this time he was clearing land in Galeana, with several other men, to give them more acreage on which to plant, they also built a reservoir to hold irrigation water. Here he contracted chills and fever, which bothered him more as time went on.

In December 1892 he went with a group of men to clear roadway to Colonia Chuhuichupa. The group some on horseback, some with teams and wagons, consisted of Alexander F. Macdonald, George Russell, David A. McClellan, John McNeil, William Ivins, Alfred Baker, Brigham Stowell, and George and William Wallace Haws. 

He was ordained a High Priest at meetings held in Pacheco by Apostle John Henry Smith in February 1893. He suffered from the chills and fever all that summer and on  August 3, 1894 his wife Martha gave birth to twins, Mary and Martha.  He suffered terribly as a result of the cold weather and exposure while working on the Galeana project, but was able to return to Colonia Pacheco.  William died on March 6, 1895 and was buried in  the cemetery at Colonia Pacheco.  He was survived by three widows, the two in Mexico and Barbara, who had remained in the United States.  Martha and her family stayed in Mexico until the Exodus in 1912.  The William Wallace Haws estate was divided equally among all three wives.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Stalwart’s South of the Border page 254

John Rowley

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John Rowley

John Rowley, Mormon Colonies in Mexico

John Rowley

(1841 –1893)

John Rowley was born July 14, 1841 in Suckley, England. On May 4, 1856, a board the ship Thorton, John, his mother, three brothers and three sisters set sail for America in the port of Liverpool. His father had died in 1848.

They arrived in New York on June 14, 1856. By rail they commuted to Iowa City, arriving there on June 26. On July 15 he was one of the 500 souls making up Captain Willie’s handcart company headed for Salt Lake City.  Not until November 9 did they arrive in that city.  John was not able to travel farther because of frozen limbs which needed to be cared for. His mother was counseled to take the rest of her family to Nephi, Juab County, Utah.  John joined his mother there as soon as he recovered and there they established their first home in America.

John was the oldest child and took the responsibility of helping his mother with the family. He was not only progressive but had talents which so became a pioneer: the “know-how” and ability to subdue the earth.

In 1859, he married Frances Banks. Two children were born to them, John William and Frances Rosetta. Both children died. Later they were divorced. On September 10, 1864, he married Mary Ann Gadd to them were born 12 children.

On April 21, 1873, John married his first polygamous wife, Emma James Johnson, a widow having seven children. To them were born to children. On October 25, 1875, he married Emma Ozella Johnson.  They had six children. Two years later, on April 10, 1877 he married her sister, Orissa Jane Johnson. They became the parents of seven children.

Besides having built homes for his family he had also built and was operating a sawmill at the mouth of Salt Creek Canyon which was the first sawmill near Nephi. About four years later, he purchased 160 acres of land on which he built lovely homes for the families. He had to develop a system of irrigation for his land. After getting water to the land he developed a new project for which use the water. He built a reservoir in which to store water to create power for a plaster of paris mill.  Next, he built a large mill in the large waterwheel that stood 30 feet in the air. He constructed a wooden flume 12 inches square and 100 yards long that stood 20 feet in the air. By running water through the flume over the huge waterwheel he created the power to crush to powder the gypsum rock that he hauled from a hill nearby. After cooking the powder in a large boiler, it became a finished product of plaster of paris which was shipped to Salt Lake City. He donated hundreds of dollars worth of the plaster to the Church to be used in the building of the temple. The wastewater from the mill was used to water crops in the field.

He invented a machine and obtained a patent on it.  This he used to make cement pipes to carry water to his home. He tunneled into the mountain to get the water. A little later he made and laid cement pipes to carry water from Salt Creek to the town of Nephi, thus creating the first water system for that town. He built, owned and operated his own gristmill. For all these projects he operated his own carpenter and blacksmith shops.

In October 1884 he was called to labor as a missionary in Great Britain. Upon his return, he married Belinda Kendrick on July 28, 1886. At that time persecution of the Church, because of the practices polygamy, was very strong. John was advised to move his families to Mexico.

In the spring of 1888, he started on the trail to Mexico with three of his wives, Ozella, Orissa (with their children), and Belinda. When they reached Pima, Arizona, he decided it was necessary to remain there a while and work. So he set up a blacksmith shop and repaired wagons for freighters. There they spent the winter. The following year, in November, 1889, after a long, hard trip they arrived in Colonia Diaz. In the year 1890, John returned to Nephi to sell his property and move his wife, Mary Ann, and children to Mexico. He bought three wagons and about 30 head of cattle that his sons Jesse and Heber drove. They arrived in Central, Arizona, in the fall. There he left Mary Ann and the children, except Heber, who helped move the stock on into Mexico.  Again, in the spring of 1891, he returned to Arizona to get the rest of his family. They arrived in Colonia Diaz in September of that year. There he purchased a 12-acre farm and built two homes, one for Mary Ann and one for Belinda. To this couple were born three children. There he also built a flour mill and molasses mill.

He suddenly fell ill with pneumonia, and passed away on October 7, 1893 at Pacheco. 27 children mourned his death; five had preceded him.

 Ellen Farnsworth, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border compiled by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 598

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=57713831

Eli Whipple

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Eli Whipple

Eli Whipple younger

      Eli Whipple

      (1820 – 1904)

Eli Whipple was the fourth child of John and Mary Jane Whipple. He was born October 17, 1920, at Lucorn, Warren County, New York.

 At the age of 15 his parents left New York and went to Pennsylvania where he located in McKean County in the town of Bradford. They bought a farm and put in a sawmill in store. His father was very successful in all these ventures. Eli was in charge of the work until he was 21 years of age. He then met Patience Foster, who was the daughter of a successful lawyer. They were married and were happy in their home. They were members of the Christian Church until 1845. Then Eli joined the Mormons. Patience, however, was unhappy with this. Eli tried to persuade her to leave her mother and go with him and the Mormons, but to no avail. A child was on November 15, 1846. Her name was Marion.

Eli heard of riches in California and saw prospects of wealth. His wife Patience consented to go, so in 1852 they left New York and went to San Francisco where he went into the store and lumber business. They soon had three mills and made lots of money. However, early one spring, two mills burned down. They became discouraged and went to Utah, arriving on March 17, 1858. Eli invested in some woolen mills with some other fellows but lost a great deal of money. In the fall of 1861, Eli was called to help settle Dixie. He sold all he had and bought land there. It wasn’t long until he was busy making lumber to build homes. Here in 1861, he married a widow, Caroline Lytle, as his second wife, and had her two children, Edgar and Harriet, sealed to him. He bought more land and cattle and raise lots potatoes. In fact, he was called the “Potato King of Utah..”  He was called on a mission in 1872 to Ohio. On his return he started making butter and cheese. A man named Benjamin Clark then came to work for him. Clark had with him to nieces and a nephew: Mary Jane, Sarah, and Samuel Legg. Eli took Mary Jane as a third wife in the St. George Temple on July 6, 1877. At that time Eli was 57 and she was 19.

Because the enforcement of anti-polygamy legislation, Eli decided it best to go to Mexico. Two of his wives, however refused to go. Eli decided to make the move anyway. This was a difficult decision. Patience and Caroline, with their children, by choosing to remain behind, well knew that it meant not having a loving father to help in raising their families. Many tears were shed. They had all the worldly goods necessary to make them happy. For, at this time, Eli was one of the wealthiest men in southern Utah. By spring of 1887 everything was in readiness. They departed for a strange land where they knew they would have to pioneer and there would be many hardships. They knew little of the customs of the people of Mexico. It was a trial in many ways. It was a cold and long journey. They were two days in getting across the border.

The spring after arriving, Eli was an accident. He was thrown off a wagonload of lumber. He broke both his legs and some of his ribs. He was laid up for a year and had to walk to with two canes for the rest of his life. With his wife Mary Jane and her children he made cheese and butter and raise hogs for sale. He moved to Colonia Dublan and put up a blacksmith shop to get money for his family. He also had a vineyard and sold many grapes. A deeply religious man, Eli Whipple also enjoyed writing poetry. He died at the age of 84 on May 11, 1904.

Jennie W. Brown and Pearl W. Cooley granddaugters

Pg 770 Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Samuel Walter Jarvis

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Samuel Walter Jarvis

(1855-1923)

Samuel Walter Jarvis, third son and fifth child of George and Ann Prior Jarvis, was born in London, England, on April 18, 1855.  When he was less than three years of age, his parents emigrated to America, staying in Boston, Massachusetts, until means could be obtained to enable the family to join the Saints in Utah.

In his 6th year he walked much of the distance across the plains carrying his two-quart brass bucket, as each member of his family was responsible for some article of their few prized possessions.

At the October conference of 1861, his father answered President Young’s call for volunteers to settle the Dixie country.  This is said to have been one of the hardest pioneer settlements to develop.  Here it was that Samuel grew up under adverse circumstances, learning early to work and take responsibility.  Clothing was scant and food meager, and he helped provide it by killing rabbits and shooting wild ducks and geese in season along the Virgin River.  At times his trousers were made of wagon covers, and he often reversed them to get maximum wear.  He delighted to tell of one pair his mother made from buckskin.  Early one morning while shooting ducks, he had to wade into the river to retrieve them.  Soon his pants were much too long.  Boy-like, he cut them off, and soon cropped off a second piece.  By the time he reached home, the trousers had dried and the buckskin had shrunk until they were skintight and far too short, much to his mother’s consternation.

With practically no formal schooling, his knowledge came principally by observation and hard knocks.  He was fortunate, however, in that he parents used correct English, and he learned how to express himself clearly and fluently, as well as obtaining a meager knowledge of the three “R’s,” which stood him in good stead throughout his life.

He had contact with the Ute and Paiute Indians, and learned their customers and some of their language.  This helped him in his dealings with the Arizona Indians and with Mexicans in later years.  For a season in young manhood, he worked for George Q. Cannon in Salt Lake City.  While living with this family, he advanced rapidly in knowledge of the Gospel.

On December 4, 1877, he married Frances Godfrey Defriez, an English girl, in the St. George Temple.  Shortly after their marriage they were called as pioneers to help in the establishment of settlements in northern Arizona.   Consequently their first tow children were born in Snowflake.  They later lived in Taylor and Nutrio Ozo (now spelled Nutrioso).

In the early spring of 1885, with their family of three boys, Samuel Walter, Jr., George Josiah, and William Heber, they answered a request to cast their lot with a company of Saints seeking refuge from the officers of the law and hoping to establish homes in Mexico.  By prearrangement those leaving were to meet in Luna Valley, some miles distant from Snowflake, and travel all together by way of Silver City and Deming, New Mexico, where they were able to replenish their food supply and otherwise outfit themselves for the journey,.  Here also they caught up with a company captained by Lot Smith.  After experiencing such things as ten inches of snow on the mountain roads of Arizona, tracking and recovering stolen horses, a near skirmish with bandits, prairie fires, and trouble with natives, they finally arrived at “Mormon Camp” near Ascension, Mexico.  Ascension was at that time the custom house, or official port of entry. Here the immigrants camped on the Casas Grandes River under some cottonwood trees while legal negotiations were underway for obtaining land. These negotiations took many months to complete. Meanwhile, the men rented land from the native farmers or share cropped where possible in order to raise food for the coming winter. Within weeks of their arrival, on May 2, 1885, a daughter, Frances was born to Samuel W. and Frances G. D. Jarvis.

After an early harvest of corn, beans, and a good quantity of other foodstuffs, they joined an organized company which moved up the river to what was known as “Old Stink Town,” where a dam was built on the Piedras Verdes River.  A ditch was dug to irrigate what is now known as Cuahtemoc, which is presently owned by Mexican farmers, they yielded very good crops. A stockade was built in which meetings in religious worship were held.

Dugouts along the river helped house the company. Meanwhile a town was laid out, and holes were dug for planting shade trees along the sidewalks. During one Sunday service, Apostle Erastus Snow, standing on the platform extended his right hand over his left shoulder, declared, “There are those under the sound of my voice who will live to see the day when this (the territory embraced by the half-circle) will become one of the brightest stars in the galaxy of stars.” (This can be interpreted but one way i.e., starting at Mazatlan and ending at Veracruz, draw an arc across the Republic of Mexico and see what happens.)

Because of the ill health of his wife and baby girl, the family was advised by Apostle Erastus Snow to return to St. George for an extended visit to their parents. He took his eldest son, Sam, along and they traveled by wagon by way of Lordsburg, New Mexico and Mesa, Arizona, crossing the Colorado at Johnson’s ferry, then on to St. George. They arrived just before Christmas, 1886.

Early in the journey, his wife was thrown from the spring seat and run over by both wheels, which pressed over her body from right shoulder to left hip. She was driving the team down a sliding, sandy bank, while he and Sam walked. He realized the seriousness of the situation, and in humble prayer told the Lord that He could have the expected child if he would spare the life of his wife.  During the remainder of the trip she was confined to her bed in the wagon box. On May 4th 1887, a baby girl, Amelia, was born, and died quite suddenly in September. They resigned themselves to the loss, knowing she was a promised child.

Sam and his son spent the summer months hauling wood for the Silver Reef Mining Company.  In October 1887, taking grandmother Baker, who was blind, with them, they began their trip to Mexico, traveling by way of Lee’s ferry and arriving at Colonia Juarez shortly before Christmas. Apostle George Teasdale was by this time in charge of the colonies and called Sam to help settle the mountain colonies. They were the sixth family to settle at Corrales.  The other families were: Franklin Spencer, Eddie Durfee, William Wallace Haws, Merit Howard Stahle, and James Palmer. While the Jarvis family lived there, three more children were born: Grace, Nephi, and Clementine. He was Sunday School Superintendent, and meetings were held in his two-room log house.

In a few years Colonia Pacheco, a few miles distant, grew to be the central mountain colony. A frame meetinghouse had been erected and surrounded with a high log fort as a safety precaution against invading Indians. In the same building a school was begun.  There had been only short terms held in private homes until then. In early summer of 1894, he bought Brother Moffett’s place and moved his family from Corrales to Pacheco, at which place his son Lehi was born. The few animals they brought with them to Mexico had by this time increased to a good-sized heard and quite a band of horses. Caring for these and farming took up most of father’s time. Most of the cows, except those milked for home consumption, were loose on the range and brought in only during the rainy season, when the whole country was a waving meadow of grama grass.  At this time, the calves were branded and butter and cheese made in abundance. The butter was put into molds, preserved in a barrel of brine, and kept for winter use. Cheese and potatoes were hauled to Chihuahua City or Deming, New Mexico, in exchange for cloth, sugar, salt, shoes, nails, leather, and other necessities.

Samuel was a great scout, and when the colonists’ animals were stolen he tracked them down. He was also a leader in time of Indian trouble. He was fearless, courageous, brave, and daring. He was a man of great faith, yet humble, prayerful, and blessed with intuition and spiritual inspiration, which made him equal to any situation.

He was often asked to give readings, make a stump speech for various celebrations, or take parts in plays. He was a leader in direct public work such as road, canal, or dam building. He was never idle, working daily even on stormy days, when he mended harnesses, repaired shoes, shelled corn, sorted potatoes, or made hair ropes. If ever there came a leisure moment, it was spent in reading and study. In this way he gained understanding of the scriptures and familiarized himself with the Spanish language. He loved sports, and was quite a wrestler and foot racer.  Ever mindful of greater opportunities for his family, in November, 1896, he moved to Colonia Juarez, where schools and social conditions were more desirable for growing children. This move made possible the purchase of a reed organ from Annie Williams, which gave added pleasure to Grandma Baker who, though blind, had been a music teacher and played beautifully from memory. While living in Juarez, two more sons, Joseph D. and Benjamin Charles, were born. At this time he took railroad contracts, the first being in the states of Durango and Coahuila, where he employed native laborers. It was during this time the young man, Manrique Gonzalez, was hired. He proved to be desirable help and was given a home with the Jarvises, where he helped care for the horses. They finish the contract after being gone the greater part of the year, then returned to Juarez, bringing Manrique with them. Manrique found a home with Patriarch Stowell, attended school, and afterward joined the Church.

Almost immediately after the return from the railroad contract, Samuel Jarvis was called by Stake President Anthony W. Ivins to go to Sonora and help open up settlements there.  He took the older boys, but left the remainder of the family. In due time, after the Pioneer Canal was finished in Colonia Morelos, fields cleared and fenced, and cultivation began, he asked for release, not wanting to take Grandmother Baker there. President Ivins felt the time was not ripe for such a measure. The rest of the Jarvises were moved to Colonia Morelos. Samuel W., Jr. was married, and George is on a mission to the Central States. In Morelos, Samuel Sr. Set up a grocery store, which his wife managed while he spent the greater part of his time on the road freighting. All merchandise was purchased in Colonia Dublan, until Douglas, Arizona, came into being. In rainy seasons, with their washed out roads, high waters, and mud holes, it sometimes took two weeks to make the round-trip, which is double the usual time. This, together with attempting to farm and look after cattle, was taxing to both body and mind. Under these conditions their 12th child, Mary Esther, was born.

The fall of 1905 came what is known as the “Great Flood.”  After a week of continuous rain, the Bavispe River rose to unprecedented heights, destroying the dam and canal systems from both sides of the river and washing away and cutting up fertile fields, destroying all the crops. This act of nature forced practically every male member of Colonia Morelos to seek means of support elsewhere. A railroad line being extended from Naco to Nacozari offered a solution in the form of jobbing and freighting. Here it was that Samuel married his second wife, Pearl Dean Taylor. With his father-in-law, Edwin A..Taylor and family from Colonia Juarez, the two men ran a butcher shop that season in Nacozari.  Camped at Calabasa Flat, Pearl’s first son, Hyrum Taylor, was born.

When the railroad was completed, Samuel returned to Colonia Morelos and, with others, opened new fields north of town on the Batepito River where farming was resumed. In May, 1906, Pearl second son, Edwin Walter, was born in Colonia Morelos.  In the summer of 1907, Samuel made a trip to St. George, Utah, accompanied by his wife Pearl, their two young sons, and his daughters Frances and Grace to attend Will’s temple marriage and visit Samuel’s parents. He returned to Colonia Morelos in early October.

In the spring of 1908 he was given his release as a colonizer from President Ivins and moved his families to Colonia Dublan, where, on June 16, Pearl’s third son, Brigham Taylor, was born. Some months later Samuel purchased the Frank Wall terreno (large field) in Guadalupe, about 10 miles up the river from Dublan, where he again took up farming. Here their daughter Pearl was born on April 24, 1910. Prior to her birth, Samuel took a contract building a railroad, as the Noroeste was extending its road from the vicinity of Casas Grandes to Madero via Pearson and El Rucio.

Revolutionary movements were already brewing in Chihuahua, the effects of which brought about the Exodus from Mexico in 1912. At that time all the women and children of the Chihuahua colonies were taken to El Paso on freight cars. Finding themselves dependent on the United States government or other charities, many of the colonists accepted transportation arrangements by the Church and the railroads so they could go where they had relatives. The men came out overland on horseback, joining their families as soon as possible. Samuel Jarvis took his families and went to St. George, Utah for a season. Here, on October 15, 1915, Ernest Van Buren was born.  After attending October conference in Salt Lake City, Samuel returned to Mexico and brought teams and wagons out to Arizona. He stopped at Saint David, Arizona and traded a team and wagon for a 40-acre homestead near the Whetstone Mountains, southwest of Benson. This area was called Miramonte.  Here another shack was built to “prove” this property.

As life was rigorous and they had little to work with, being forced to relive pioneer experiences, food was plain and simple. In order to receive proper care, Pearl went to El Paso for the birth of Bessie Ann on March 15, 1916. After some six years of difficult living, helping to build dams on the San Pedro River, enlarging the Benson canal, clearing and bringing under cultivation new land and hoping to better his condition, Samuel exchanged his holdings in San Pedro Valley (Benson) for land under new irrigation system near Ysleta, Texas.  Only months after living there, Pearl was a victim of the influenza epidemic in the spring of 1919, leaving her small children to the care of Frances, Samuel’s first wife. The water in Ysleta was blamed for Samuel’s own failing health, so he moved his wife Frances and his young family back to Colonia Dublan, Mexico.  However, he never regained his health, and passed away after considerable suffering on February 7, 1923, leaving Frances and Lehi to care for the children. He was buried in the Dublan cemetery on February 9, 1923.

Samuel Walter Jarvis, Jr., son, and Grace Fenn, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border page 329

Manrique Gonzalez

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Manrique Gonzalez

(1880 – 1976)

 Manrique Gonzalez was born October 19, 1880.  His parents, Juan Francisco Gonzalez and Juliana Rodriquez Campos, lived in a small town in the northern part of the state of Coahuila named Nadores.

Manrique’s father was a school teacher in the surrounding farming districts.  He and his wife had 15 children, ten boys and five girls.  Manrique was the seventh child.  He left home when he was 14 years old, living first with an uncle in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico and later in San Pedro close by, but keeping his whereabouts a secret for fear of being forced to return home.

At San Pedro he was employed by American railroad contractors and for the first time heard the word “Mormon.”  He became acquainted with David A. Stevens and wife and with Samuel Jarvis and his son George.  When he came to know the principles and beliefs that actuated the lives of these men, he as most favorably impressed.  He wanted to be like them, to do the things they did, which to him seemed perfect.  They didn’t use tobacco, tea, or coffee, neither did they drink liquor, and they kept the Sabbath day holy.  Even more important, they treated their workmen with consideration and kindness.  Life could offer nothing better than to allow him to remain always in their society.  Nothing gratified him more that to take his money to Mrs. Stevens to save for him.  When it had reached the fabulous sum of sixty pesos, he sent it home to his father.

When he moved with the contractors to Chihuahua where railroad grading was continued and the job was completed, he gladly accepted an invitation to move with the company to colonia Juarez where he took up residence with the Mormons.  From 1898 until the preset time (1966) he has remained a part of society in the colonies.  The only exception to this is the period he spent in the United States in search of higher education.  In Colonia Juarez he lived with first one family and then another, all the time working to learn the English language.  Despite his age and his adult growth, he entered Sarah Clayson’s Primary Department and took his first schooling in the language with little tots in the first grade.  He was kind to them and they responded well to the friendly young man who sat on an adult-sized chair brought in especially for him because the school benches were too small.  In five years he had mastered the essentials in elementary instruction and was given the customary certificate of graduation from the eighth grade in the spring of 1903.  He was then twenty-two years of age.

His progress in the study of religion was also rapid.  His eager questions about Mormonism were answered to his satisfaction.  On September 2, 1899, at the age of  18, he was baptized by John c. Harper and confirmed the following day as a member of the church by Anthony W. Ivins.  He later said, it was “the happiest day of my life.  I was no longer alone, I had brothers and sisters who cared for me and were interested in my welfare.  I felt bound to the community in every way.”

As soon as the hands that had confirmed him and bestowed upn him the Gift of the Holy Ghost had been lifted from his head, the venerable Patriarch, John Holt arose from his seat and walked solemnly to the stand.  In the hush that followed this pretentious action, he began to speak.  His first words were unintelligible, then all realized they were listening to one speaking in tongues. When he had finished, the congregation waited eagerly for interpretation. When it came, it concerned Manrique’s conversion and future:  that if he remained true to the covenants made in the waters of baptism his power and influence for good would be felt throughout the nation; that his baptism would open the door through which many of his people would pass; that he would be a saviour to his own family. “What surprised me,” said Manrique later, “was why interpretation was necessary. I understood every word of it.”

In October, 1903, Professor Guy C. Wilson, in a characteristically discerning decision, asked Manrique to accept position at the Juarez Academy as a Spanish teacher. To fortify Manrique’s extreme lack of self-confidence, Professor Wilson promised to remain in the room to help should annoying situations arise, and bolster Manrique with his support until he grew more self-assure.  On this condition Manrique accepted. He had little formal study in the Spanish language, but because it was his native tongue, he learned quickly. In the first year he learn the fundamentals along with the other students. He also took lessons on the side. By teaching and studying together, he felt that he learned far more than he taught. He graduated from the institution in 1910 at the age of 28.

For seven years he held his place as a faculty member, taking class after class of students through De Torno’s Spanish Grammar, leading them into supplementary reading fields, drilling them on the rules to govern correct speech, and encouraging them to make use of the language in conversation groups he organize. He knew that free discussion and constant use of Spanish was the shortest road to fluency it was also his best means of learning English, and both he and the classes he taught discovered that studying two languages made each a supplement to the other.

The prediction uttered the day of his confirmation was literally fulfilled. Through him, several members of his family followed him to the colonies and life was changed for them as it had in for him. He was the first Mexican citizen to graduate from the Academy, but not the last. He was but the example that led dozens of others to follow in his steps in the years that followed.

By 1912 when the Madero Revolution broke up the Juarez Stake, he had a wife and five children. With these and little else he entered the Agricultural College in Logan, Utah, where two more children were born, and by his own efforts, coupled with encouragement from professors and friends, earned the credentials to head an experimental agricultural station. When he failed to achieve this ambition, he took position in the U.S. Department of Agriculture in New Mexico, that position he held for six years. During that time he worked for the United States government, he developed by patient experimentation and hours of hard work, the New Mexico Pinto Bean.

At the height of his career, his family life broke up and he was released from his influential position through discrimination against his religion. He returned to his native land and settled in Colonia Dublan with the words of A.W. Ivins ringing in his ears: “Manrique,” he said, “would you like to be rich and happy? “Well,” he continued when Manrique nodded vigorously, “it’s in your hands.”  In his hands! That was all he had besides what he had learned through study and experience. But with those he went to work.

He married Regina Del Palacio about 1920 and began a happy married life. In the course ofd raising six children he preached by example what he called the Gospel of Righteous Farming. First on rented lands, later on his own acres, he demonstrated correct methods of raising alfalfa, wheat and other grains and finally with orchards he used scientific methods that raised standards in farming.

Within a few years his financial standing was an enviable one. In 1966, at the age of 85 he is a contented, retired farmer living in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, enjoying the fruits of his labors in a comfortable and well furnished home, and is respected and esteemed by all who know him.

But only he knows how far it is from the life of a peon to the prominence of an agricultural expert, or what has gone into the fulfilling of the promise made him by Patriarch Holt, or the pride he takes in his numerous posterity. A son, Ernesto, is an eminent physician. A grandson, Carlos, appeared in “I Believe,” a column of the Improvement Era.  And there are auxiliary leaders and priesthood quorum directors and church workers sprinkled through his descendents. One grandson, Miguel, recently serving in the northern Mexican mission (1966) with his companion were having little success in the city of Zacatecas.  Other missionaries before them had failed to make successful contact, much less perform a single baptism. Returning to their room one night, Miguel said, “There must be someone in this big city ready for baptism, let’s pray about it.”  Accordingly they both knelt in first one and then the other humbly prayed for guidance to that one individual. It was 10 p.m. before their Ernest please had come to an end. Then Miguel said, “let’s go right now and find him tonight.” And in spite of the lateness of the hour they knocked on the door of the most pretentious house they could find. The doors open by the lady of the house and heard housecoat, and already for bed. “We have a message for you,” said Miguel when she met them. “Come in,” she said, and led them to a reception room. “But first,” she said, “I will call my husband to hear your message, too.”  He soon appeared in robe and slippers, having already retired. Before they could give all of the message she said, “wait! My children was hear this, too.”  Soon, tousleheaded and sleepy-eyed, they were in the room. The message was given. In six days the entire family was ready for baptism. The man, being politically influential, gained other investigators and within a few weeks a branch of 30 souls was organized.  Manrique’s determination and zeal still lives on.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Stalwarts South Of the Border page 212

August Christian Fredrick Bluth

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August Bluth

August Bluth

August Christian Fredrick Bluth

(1842-1930)

August Christian Fredrick Bluth was born on August 24, 1842, in Stockholm, Sweden, to Johannes Christian Fredrick Bluth and Wilhelmina Liding.  His father died three months before August, the youngest of eight children, was born.

As most of the older children were grown and married when he was yet a small boy, August was very close to his mother, and was a great comfort to her after her husband’s death. He lived with his mother in their small island home by the sea.

At the age of six he made his own fishing net. He would put it in the in see at night and in the morning empty is catch and will bucket which he took to a small store in trade for other foods needed at home. He also fished hook and line to help support his mother.

With only three months of formal schooling, August could be considered self educated. Yet in latter years he helped his children with her studies in algebra, geometry, history and geography. As a child, he went each day to a Lutheran minister; for daily readings of the Bible, he came to know it well, and memorized a great many passages. He had a fine singing voice and saying in that Lutheran choir when he was ten. Years later he sang in Mormon choirs. Men and boys liked to sit by him during rehearsals for he was a great help to them.

When he was 12 he started an eight-year training program for a diploma in carpentry. He graduated with high honors in May, 1862, at the age of 19 and went to work building houses and doing fine finishing carpentry.

On May 10, 1867, he married Hannah Hammerstrom in St. Jacobs church in Stockholm. A son, Fredrick Zacharias, was born to them on September 6, 1868. His wife ran a small store in front of their home while he worked at his trade. Hannah died June 14, 1875. After her death he closed the store.

One evening when he was returning home from work he saw a crowd of people listening to some Mormon Elders preaching on the street corner. He listened, and was impressed with her message, which seemed to be what he had been seeking for years. The Elders came to his home and he was soon converted to Mormonism. He in turn converted his oldest brother, John, and five members of his family. With new hope he had something to live for. He met Josephine Alberta Rose and converted her. They were both baptized, and were married February 17, 1876.

With his wife and son Frederick, now eight, August came to Utah in the company of other Saints and settled in Ogden, Utah. On August 19, 1877, a daughter Tyra Josephine, was born. Work being scarce in Ogden, the family moved to Brigham City, and later to Evanston, Wyoming.

They Latter-day Saints were living in The United Order at this time and most of August’s income went to help in this great cause.  A son, Bernard August, was born on December 8, 1878. On August 14, 1878, Tyra Josephine died, and in the same year, September 3, his wife Josephine died. In 1879 Bernard died. These losses were almost more than August could endure.

On October 9, 1879 he married Johanna Johannsson who had come to America from Sweden.  Six children were born to them, Johanna August, Rosia Elvira, Rosemilda, Ranghilda, Oscar Emmanuel, Jared William, and Carl Emil.  Two of these children died in Ogden.  When his son Fredrick was nineteen he obtained employment in an Ogden co-op store.  Delivering goods in a wagon, the horse ran away; Fred fell from the wagon and was dragged..  He died June 1, 1887, and was buried in the Ogden cemetery.

When leaders of the Church advised August to live plural marriage, he said he would try to comply. On August 14, 1887, he married Sophia Anderson, who had, by a previous marriage in Sweden, a six-year-old son, Fred. On June 8, 1889, he married hold the Ossmen. By this time persecution had become so bitter that all who were living plural marriage were advised to go to Mexico.

August, with his families, arrived in Deming, New Mexico on May 15, 1889. Here for his children had diptheria. On June 1, Jared died. They continued on to Colonia Dublan by wagon and arrived June 24, 1889 with three children: Hilda, Oscar, and Emil. Dublan was a barren flat with only for Mormon families living there: The Carltons, Whipples, Fosters, and Lakes.  The Bluth family lived in a tent with a bowery. Because of bad weather and many hardships, August developed bronchitis and was very ill. A bed was made on the floor of the tent for Hilda Josephine when she gave birth to a baby, Ellen Josephine, born March 5, 1890.

Food was very scarce and pioneer life was extremely rugged. As conditions improved, August made adobes and in time was able to build a two-room home for his families. In September, 1893 Hulda gave birth to a son, Earl Lawrence. Hulda died and in less than a month Earl Lawrence also died. Grief-stricken, August made the coffins.

His wife, Sophia, and her son Fred had come from Ogden into Mexico with Albert and Sarah Farnsworth. On March 23, 1893 Sophia gave birth to a son, Oliver Ferdinand.  Later Sophia and her husband worked at the Corralitos ranch; then he helped build the Jackson flour mill near Old Casas Grandes.  August would walk several miles to work Monday morning, stay until Saturday evening, then walk home again. His salary was 50 centavos a day. Later he helped build the Lewis Cardon, the Rueben Farnsworth, and the Mike Larson homes in Colonia Dublan, and also the Relief Society building and the Mexican Branch church.

Known for his fine workmanship, August for many years made coffins for people in Dublan and Juarez.

In 1910, because of the Mexican Revolution, he moved his family to Tucson, Arizona, where his brother-in-law, Heber Farr, had bought several hundred acres of land. Together they formed a company. In Tucson the Bluths lived in the Rillito Ranch, which later was called Binghamton. He left his 20-acre farm that he had purchased in Colonia Dublan with a married son, Oscar. Sophia, and her son Fred, also stayed in Mexico. When living in Tucson he received word that his stepson, Fred, had drowned on August 5, 1891, while crossing the Casas Grandes River; his horse had stepped into deep water. Fred’s body was not found until a week later.

In January 1915, August moved back to Colonia Dublan. He built a cozy little home across the street from Bishop A. B. Call’s home where his grandchildren loved to visit him. He raised fruit and kept bees, selling honey and honeycomb to the townspeople. He enjoyed making doll furniture for his grandchildren. As his health began to fail, he needed more care and moved from his little home to be near Ellen. He died March 25, 1930, at the age of 87. Joanna died February 12, 1937, and Sophia on August 13, 1938. Life was never easy for those pioneers, but they were always valiant during hardships, and they love their home in Mexico.

Ellen Josephine Bluth Jones, daughter

Pg 51 Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Laura Ann Hardy Mecham

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Laura Ann Hardy Mecham

(1865–1933)

Laura Ann Hardy Mecham, the fourth child of ten children born to Josiah Guile Hardy and his second wife, Ann Denston, was born November 26, 1865 in Mountain Dell Salt Lake County, Utah.

She married February 13, 1881, to G.O. Noble, to whom was born a daughter, Laura Maude. Due to the severe persecution of polygamous families, he chose to abandon Laura, his second wife.  The divorce became effective in 1889.  Then she married Lucian Mormon Mecham in the St. George Temple.  The daughter Maude died at the age of two years and was buried in St. George.

At this period of time many people from Utah were looking south for new fields to colonize as well as for freedom from religious persecution. The Josiah Guile Hardy family joined the stream of pioneers looking to Mexico and new opportunities. Lucian and Lara joined with them and, in 1891, traveling by team and wagon across Arizona and into New Mexico, crossing at Columbus into the land to be their new home. Colonia Pacheco was the birthplace of their last three children. Their first child was born in St. George and, as an infant, endured the difficult trip.

Pioneer life was hard and privations many. Lucian found farming the small acreage in this remote mountainous settlement very difficult with his handicap from birth of club feet, and especially following a freighting accident where his feet were crushed and bones broken. As a couple, they resorted to itinerant merchandising from colony to colony, selling books and dry goods that the colonists could purchase or barter for. This brought but a meager income. Then they tried operating a restaurant in Chihuahua City as a source of income.

Many are the loads of lumber freighted down the San Diego dugway, with Laura accompanying Lucian to help him with his handicap. He was as handy as any of the other freighters in hitching and managing the teams. Her hand was apt around the campfire and with the nosebags and harnesses.  Many children and adults alike delighted at Christmas time to find a new pair of buckskin gloves in their stocking which had been made by Laura’s talented and never tiring fingers. Her children more beautiful homemade dresses, suits and other peril as a result of her talent and ambition.

Finding living difficult and means scarce, Lucian and Laura heard of opportunities for freighting from Cananea to Naco in Sonora, so they, along with others from both the Sonora and Chihuahua colonies, headed that way. Living in tents and freighting with six horse teams and heavy wagons was not an easy life. During all those ventures away from home the children—Theodosia, Lucian, and two adopted children Pearl and Edgar Hallett—were left in Grandmother Hardy’s care.  As a dutiful daughter Laura had assumed much of the responsibility for her mother’s care, along with that of her feeble-minded sister, Mary, her father having passed away in Colonia Pacheco in 1894, three years after their arrival.

After being in Pacheco short time after the Cananea venture they headed for Cos station in Sonora which is halfway between Agua Prieta and Nacozari. Here they freighted between the end of the railroad and Nacozari, carrying merchandise to Nacozari and copper ore on the haul back. This continued until the completion of the railroad when they moved to Nacozari. The money spirit was high and prospecting was tempting, so a claim was taken up in the mine of the Pilares.  This was worked for some time and developed for sale. A fine prospect for a lucrative sale was promoted for $50,000 pesos (the peso was then worth $.50 to the dollar). But the idea of making the terms in American money and doubling the price upset the deal and the sale fell through. The property was never sold. All the labor, time and expense was lost. At that time $50,000 pesos would have been worth a fortune, like $1 million a day. Dame Luck never followed their path.

Lucian turned a stagecoach venture and build up a promising trade and a lucrative stage system, driving a four and six force “Royal Coach” from Nocozari to Moctezuma, adding other stages when needed with higher drivers. This ended in disaster when the many horses use in the stage system were to have been sold and delivered; but through the negligence of the person sent to deliver them, becoming drunk, some of the horses foundered and died and others were turned out of the corral and became lost. The financial loss was heavy.

The greatest event in Laura Mecham’s life came at this critical time when she was asked by a Doctor Keats, the company physician, to help him in the small and poorly equipped hospital which served both the employees and the public. Although she had enjoyed but a third grade education, she had not let her time pass in idleness and had developed greatly her reading ability and talent for learning. Doctor Keats was very willing to train her and give her needed assistance. She, being eager to learn, advanced happily became able to they just technical medical books, as her later years attested. Her training continued under Doctor Ayer, who was a retired army Doctor and very exacting, which was excellent training for her. In all, she served under many doctors and learned from each one during the years from 1903 to 1912. Then she left the hospital and moved to Douglas to be with and provide a home for her family that had been driven out of Mexico during the Revolution.

One great event happened while she was working in the hospital Nacozari when the explosion that nearly wrecked the town occurred. The train headed for the mine at Pilares, loaded with three cars of dynamite, caught fire. To save the town, Jesus Garcia, engineer, conducted it out of town before it exploded, losing his life and killing scores. The town bears the name of Nacozari de Garcia in his honor.  The explosion occurred over a mile from the hospital, but window panes were broken and plaster shaken from the ceiling, leaving the hospital in a disastrous condition to receive the dead and wounded that were rushed in.

In Douglas from 1912 to 1917, Laura operated a rooming house to make a home for the family. It was here that in 1913 Theodosia married Joseph P. Lewis from Colonia Morelos. Lucian married Kate Brown, the daughter of John Wesley Brown and Sarah Elizabeth Styles, converts from Alabama and recently from Colonia Chuhuichupa. After these marriages, Grandmother Hardy went to Orderville, Utah, to be with her son John Hardy. Lucian and Laura then moved back to the colonies as things had settled in Mexico by this time. For the first time Laura could enjoy the Elsie McClellan home, as she had previously stayed in Nacozari to help pay for the property and the family had lived in the home from 1910 to 1912.

Then commenced a number of mercantile ventures in the buying of property, the purchase of the Richardson home adjoining the two Brigham Stowell properties north of the main home, and in being the community doctor.  Laura began restoring properties, making them livable and attractive. She did much of her own freighting for the store from in Dublan and Pearson. She clerked, irrigated and helped in farming. Always her medicine cabinet was filled and hand satchel in readiness for emergencies. Winter or summer, heat or cold, day or night, on foot or horseback, in buggy, wagon, or car, it was all the same to her if someone sick demanded her attention. Many are the times that she went for days only with her “forty winks” for rest and a change of clothes.

During her period of service, she delivered and cared for, including the customary 10 day period following confinement, some 2200 babies. Most of them delivered in homes where often there were the most unsanitary conditions and the most meager and modest of circumstances. Yet, through it all, they were very few serious complications. There are literally thousands who call her blessed. She had a natural gift for healing and although she had no medical schooling or specialized training, her ability to diagnose and expertly treat sickness and emergencies are vouched for by hundreds, and your place in the hearts of the colonists and the Mexican people alike abides as an angel of mercy.

In 1925 she suffered a paralytic stroke, leaving her partially paralyzed and unable to carry on her normal activities. She then spent two years in Salt Lake City working in the temple, doing endowment work for hundreds. Through her life she had been a hard worker, doing the work of several persons, putting in longer hours than was wise, often working as though she were a man. In this she definitely was not observing the Word of Wisdom, as she was taxing her physical strength, and suffered another stroke in 1930, which left her bedridden until her death in 1933.  She spent her last years in Douglas and Chandler with Theodosia and Lucian, passing away January 29, 1933 in Douglas. She was buried in the Douglas cemetery.

Of the five children born to Laura Mecham, three died in infancy, but Theodosia and Lucian where a comfort and joy to their parents. Lucian and Laura’s descendants now number more than 60. Among them are doctors, teachers, artisans, housewives, missionaries, and loyal, good citizens.

Lucian M. Mecham, Jr., son

Stalwarts South of the Border page 477

Samuel Keith Bowman

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Samuel Keith Bowman

Samuel Keith Bowman born November 22, 1921, in Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico, the 5th child of Claudious Bowman and Jennie Stark Robinson, passed from this life on May 24, 2010 in Orem, Utah.

He lived a life full of service to his church, family and friends.  In his church service he served in many capacities to include service as a missionary in the Mexican mission as well as service in the Aaronic Priesthood Organization, Stake Missionary, High Councilor, Branch President, Bishop, and District President to the Tarahumara mountain territory under the Chihuahua Mexico Mission Presidency. He served as sealer in the Colonia Juárez México Temple and as a Patriarch in the Colonia Dublán, Chihuahua Stake for 15 years and most recently for 2 years in the Queen Creek, Arizona Stake.  He has served selflessly, tirelessly and lovingly and touched the lives of many people.

He is survived by his sweetheart of 64 years Mary Naoma Haynie and his nine children and their spouses, Keith LaRae Bowman and Charleen Cluff, Mary Eva Bowman Kvamme and James Douglas Kvamme, Naoma Susann Bowman Wagner and James Spencer Wagner, Samuel Kent Bowman and Marian Louise Stevens, Nancy Jenene Bowman, Patrick Tracy Bowman and Cathy Bonner, Karl Henry Bowman and Shauna Momberger, Claudia Ann Bowman Nelson and David Wayne Nelson and Anthony Esaias Bowman and Rosalee Ann Egbert.  Survived also by 35 grandchildren and 47 great grandchildren.  He is survived by his brothers Bardell Robinson Bowman, Donn Seymour Bowman and Maurice Dwight Bowman.  He is very loved and respected and his guidance will be missed. 

Funeral services will be held Saturday, May 29, 2010 at 10:00 a.m. at 56 East 600 North, Lindon, Utah. Viewings will be held Friday, May 28, 2010 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at Olpin Family Mortuary, 494 South 300 East, Pleasant Grove and from 8:30 to 9:45 a.m. prior to services on Saturday.  Interment will be in the Lindon City Cemetery 550 North 200 East, Lindon.