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The Walter J. Stevens Tragedy

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The Walter J. Stevens Tragedy

by Joel H. Martineau

 When the families left Colonia Pacheco in July 1912, at the time of the Exodus, it was with the hope that the federal army, under General Blanco, would arrive soon and the rebels would be driven out of the country and the families could return.

There was one family, however, who did not go, that of Walter J. Stevens. This family lived on a ranch a mile north of town and instead of going to El Paso, they moved into a small cave on the riverbank not far from their home. The mouth of the cave was in a patch of brush and trees and had recently been discovered.  The cave was not known to anyone except the Stevens family.

The entrance was not very large but the cave widened out and extended into the bank about 40 feet. Into this, they brought supplies of food and bedding, and when General Salazar, with his army of 700 men occupied Pacheco for three weeks, they pass the time quietly and were not discovered.

At length, when the rebels had all gone, the family again moved into their home. There is a small creek that came from the west the past near the house. Along its border, for about 195 yards, was a blackberry patch and the berries were ripe. Beyond the berry patch was an orchard of apple trees.

Shortly after they returned to their home, Sextus H. Johnson came from Sonora and visited the family and camped nearby.  The next day he went home and was cleaning out the rubbish and wreckage left in his home by the rebels when Brig, the little Stevens boy, came and told him that his father had just been stabbed by a Mexican and was dead. Hastening to the Stevens’ home, he found the grief stricken family under intense suspense over the terrible tragedy.  Artificial respiration was tried, but to no avail. The husband and father was dead.

There were three big boys in the family but Walter had gone hunting and Alden and Ammon were riding out to locate their horses that had been driven off to a secure place a month earlier.

Events leading up to the tragedy were related by the family. The two girls, Ella and Emma, were picking blackberries near the upper end of the patch when two Mexicans passed near and spoke to them. They did not speak Spanish so did not know what was said. The Mexicans went on across the creek, which is lined with willows, and the girls began working toward the house. Soon the Mexicans came back across the creek and saluted them with “Buenos Dias” and the girls went at once to the house and the men slowly followed them, eating berries as they walked along.

Brother Stevens was in the field a short distance away and little Brig was sent to tell him the Mexicans were coming. He went home at once and got his double-barreled shotgun and met the intruders as they neared the house and ordered them away, evidently thinking they were not there for any good purpose. They evidently did not come to rob them for they knew there was a man and three big boys there and they were unarmed except for a knife.

As the two men retired back the way they came, Stevens followed close behind them and was still talking to them.  The two girls took their pails to again resume their berry picking. Now Stevens is a man unafraid, yet he is a man of peace and may have unwittingly made some remark that cause a burst of passion in the natives, for one of them turned suddenly and plunged a knife deep into the breast of Stevens. The reaction came immediately for Stevens’ trigger finger tightened and both barrels went off, both loads striking the other man in the side making a ghastly wound. He went about 150 yards into the orchard and died.

As soon as the gun discharge, Stevens dropped it and seized the two wrists of the killer and forced him down on his back on top of the gun.  Another girl, Mina, was looking out of an upstairs window and saw her father stabbed and screamed. Her two sisters immediately rushed to the assistance of their father. He was sitting astride the Mexican and grasping his wrists. His face was ashen and he spoke not a word.

Ella pulled the gun from beneath them and Emma struck the man in the face with a stick. Their father weakened and fell over. The Mexican jumped up and made a lunge at Emma with the knife. Ella seized her skirt and pulled her back far enough to miss the knife by a small margin and as she raised the gun, the native fled. As he passed his fallen comrade, he took his hat, having lost his own in the scuffle. The girls then carried the limp body of their father to the house and when halfway there, he gave his last gasp and expired.

As soon as Johnson came, he did all he could for the stricken family and when the sons finally came home, he went at once to Pearson and notified the military then came on, though quite late, and told us in Colonia Juarez what had happened. At daylight next morning, half a dozen of us left on horseback for Colonia Pacheco. You the top of the mountain we met the Stevens family in a wagon driven by Joel Porter on their way to Colonia Juarez.

On arriving in the Stevens’ home I (J.H. Martineau) made two coffins for the dead while the others dug Stevens’ grave in the local natives buried their dead friend. A posse of soldiers came up from Pearson to take cognizance of the tragedy.

The local Mexicans said the two men were employed at the railroad construction camp about 6 miles east of Colonia Pacheco and had come hunting their saddle horses and were on their way to the house to inquire of the boys if they had seen them.

Walter Joshua Stevens was a man of strong convictions. He did not see the necessity of abandoning the colonies at this time as all of the colonists in the mountains had lived in comparative peace. He had many friends among the natives as well as colonists and had scarcely an enemy and felt perfectly safe to remain as he had his hidden cave, if needed.

He was fearless but not quarrelsome; a kind neighbor, honest in his business deals, always ready to aid the sick with his help at the bedside as well as with his means. He left the host of friends among all classes who knew him.. The slayer was unhurt and proceeded to camp, told what had happened to his companion and went on his way.

Taken from Pacheco History and Stories compiled by Sylvia Lunt Heywood

James Wilson Memmott

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James Wilson MemmottJames Wilson Memmott

James Wilson Memmott

(1851-1919)

James Wilson Memmott was born February 25, 1941 in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England to William Memmott and Ann Wilson.  He was the third child in a family of seven. James had some schooling until he was 10 years old. When he was 12 years old he commenced to learn the engineering trade and at the age of 18 learned part of the milling business.

James married Elizabeth Hopkins on March 24, 1861, and they started for Utah that April 23, sailing on the ship Underwriter.  They arrived in New York on May 29, about six days before the Civil War started. From New York they traveled by river to Saint Joseph, Missouri, and by steamboat to Florence, Nebraska, arriving June 10. They traveled from Florence to Salt Lake City in the Milo Andrews and Abner Duncan train. “We had a first rate time and a good trip. I don’t think we were $5.00 to the good or$5.00 to the bad when we arrived in Salt Lake.” Here James and his wife met some of their Sheffield friends, including Harry Roper and Mathew Rowman.

Came to his wife settled in Payson, Utah. There a baby girl, Annie Elizabeth, was born July 16, 1862, but James’s wife never recovered and died September 13, 1862. This was a great sorrow to James who felt many times that it would be easier to return to his home in England. His mother took the baby girl to raise as her own.

James remained in Payson even though his family moved to Scipio. He did well in the shingle making business. In 1866 he took charge of Or Simons’ mill and held it for over 20 years, during which time he bought about $10,000 worth of land, two threshing machines, two sawmills, and built a good home. On May 15, 1871 Jane married Jane Mathewson, a young lady from Scotland. They had 10 children.

1890, James left what he had accumulated to this family and went to Mexico, arriving in Colonia Juarez July 9. There he met William R. R. Stowell who was leaving the next morning for Deming, New Mexico to find a Miller to run his gristmill. James, being a miller, was hired at one dollar a day. As people moved in, business increased, and it wasn’t long before James began to accumulate earthly possessions. Making a new start in business at the age of 49, and establishing himself and progressing as he did, is evidence of his industry, good management and thrift.

James married Mary Ann Miller Hills on June 14, 1894. They soon bought a home of their own. James ran the Stowell Gristmill for six years. He then bought a mill in Casas Grandes from Joseph Jackson for 12,000 pesos and operated it for seven years. After this, he sold it back to Joseph Jackson and moved to Colonia Juarez. During seven years James ran the mill at Casas Grandes he also ran a farm in San Jose which he had bought from Peter N. Skousen.  Later, he purchased a farm in Colonia Dublan and moved his family there. In 1907 he built a good trick home like many of the Saints were building in the colonies at that time.

James and Marianne had five children and a son of Mary Ann’s by a former marriage whom James treated as his own.  He and his family left Mexico in 1912 when all the people left. They returned once in 1915 the left again when general Pershing’s army came out. James died at his home in El Paso, Texas, on February 13, 1919, at the age of 78.

Violet Monroe Jensen, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border page 480

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

Cave Valley Indian Princess

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Cave Valley Indian Princess

(as told by Keith Bowman)

Many years ago the boys in Colonia Pacheco would hurt their cows down by the river. As time passed, they would go farther and farther and thus got down as far as Cave Valley.  The boys would play around the caves well there cows were grazing. It was interesting for the boys to find different caves going to them.

One day they found a cave that was back in a little canyon that they hadn’t been to before it was hidden by some trees. As they went into it, they sought it was very well preserved and had Indian dwellings in it. In the back there was one room that didn’t have any doors or windows. They pounded on it and knew it was a hollow room.  They got a stick and dug a little hole then put the smallest boy through the hole to see what was inside. When he got in and sat down, the light came in through the hole and he could see a girl sitting there. He said he had a hard time getting in that room through the small hole, but didn’t have a hard time getting out!

About a month later, an archaeologist from the United States was visiting the Pacheco area. He was told about this boy seeing the girl in the case. The archaeologist went to the boy and said he would give him a dollar if he’d take him where the girl was. He was taken there and they opened up a door into the cave and sure enough, there was a girl sitting there. She had on a blue velvet dress, had long blonde hair and blue eyes. There were two hollas (clay jars) by her, one contained squash seeds and the other one was empty.  It had probably contained water.

We don’t know why they put her in there or if they were putting her the there to preserve her during some more or attack or whether she was a prisoner. They intended to come back and get her, I’m sure, because they left her with food and water. She was very well preserved but her fingers were all worn off where she had tried to scratch and dig herself out. Of course, the archaeologist took the girl to United States and probably put it in a museum or other location for display.

When I tell this story to the girls who had “Girl’s Camp” in that area each year, they’d say, “Let’s go and find the cave.”  We’d go and find a cave where there were dwellings in little room in the back it had an opening so we figured this was a place where they found the princess mummy.

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

Henry Eyring

Henry Eyring

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Henry Eyring

(1835-1902)

Genealogists trace the name Eyring back to the time when they accepted Christianity, the meaning of the name being Pagan God of light.

The Eyrings were well-to-do apothecarists.  There father, Edward Christian Eyring, invested his fortune in the factory to manufacture an oak extract for tanning leather and after much hard work and experience, it failed, losing all. His son Henry was born March 8, 1834. Family history says this loss to Henry was probably a blessing in disguise, as it was the cause of his sister Bertha and himself migrating to America where they heard and accepted the Gospel.  Otherwise, he might have remained in Germany living in a season caring nothing for religion.

Henry and his sister Bertha sailed for America in 1853, landing in New York September 8, from where he went to St. Louis, Missouri. There he found employment with a wholesale drug business. There he also became acquainted with Mormonism. On the morning of December 10, 1854 he happened to hear that Mormons were going to meet in a chapel in the city. Out of curiosity he decided to attend, to see some of the desperate characters he had heard so much about. But as the people gathered, each one greeting him as they entered, he was surprised to find them so friendly and sociable, and so different from what he had heard of them. But he was disappointed in this spirited singing and in the quick way Elder Milo explained the principles of the Gospel, being used to solemn  music of the Lutheran Church in Germany and an orthodox Christian minister. The next morning a fellow clerk handed him a copy of Parley P. Pratt’s Voice of Warning, which he read through that night. On being asked how he liked it, he replied he had read many interesting things in it, but could not believe in visits by angels or visions.

At this time he had discarded all religious belief, but was not satisfied with infidelity, and so was ripe for conversion to the truth. As he continued to attend their meetings faithfully, he formed a habit that he continued throughout his life and ever strongly hoped his posterity would adhere to as well. He also continued to read studiously every pamphlet and book he could find in St. Louis having any bearing on the doctrines of the Church. In three months he was thoroughly convinced he had found the truth. But he could not bring himself to the point of being baptized. He prayed earnestly for some manifestation from the Lord concerning this step. His prayers were answered by a dream in which Elder Erastus Snow talked with him and commanded him to be baptized. He further said his companion, Brother Brown, would be the man to do it.

He was baptized March 11, 1855 by Elder William Brown at 7:30 a.m., in a pool of rainwater. In the afternoon Elder Brown confirmed him. April 13, he was made a Deacon, and on May 16 he was ordained to the office of a Priest, on May 13 having preached for the first time. June 17, he baptized his sister Bertha, and on October 11, he was set apart as a missionary to the Cherokee Nation. On October 11, he was set apart to do missionary work under the hand of the President of the Stake.

On October 24, 1855, he settled up his typing and left St. Louis for his mission. Laboring among the Lamanites for four and one-half years, he suffered all manner of hardships and privations; most of the time chills and fever, until his health was almost ruined. He met with some success, baptizing some members and the Church. The authorities of the Church seemed to lose track of the five or six elders in the mission. Inasmuch as he could not get word from the President, Henry decided to ask the Lord in humble prayer if he should leave the mission and go to Zion. His answer came in a dream in which he saw himself in Salt Lake City. He went to President Young and told him he had come without being sent for, but if that was not all right, he would return and finish his mission.

He and Elder Richie started to Zion and on their arrival went to see the President and his dream was literally fulfilled. President Young welcomed them and said they had been expecting them.

On the journey from his mission, Henry fell in with the company of Saints on the plains and became interested in one of them, Mary Bommelli. They had many pleasant walks together ahead of the company and to them it was a very pleasant pilgrimage. They arrived in Salt Lake City August 29, 1860 and on December 14, 1860 they were married.

She was a native of Weingarter, Canton Thurgau, Switzerland, and was born March 10, 1830.  She was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in November, 1854.  She emigrated in 1859, going as far as New York City, and in 1860, crossed the plains to Utah territory.

Henry and his wife settled in Ogden. While there, he joined the military organization, being part of infantry. When they first moved to Ogden, he traded his pony for a city lot which was half swamp. Long years after he had disposed of it, it became very valuable, being used for a railroad depot. From Ogden, he moved to Salt Lake City. Up until this time he had never done any hard manual labor, but being very ambitious he preferred any work he would find rather than be idle.

In June, 1862, he began cutting stones on the Temple block for a $1.25 per day after that he did a lot of copying music. At the October conference in 1862, he volunteered to move to Dixie. On May 1, 1863 his first son was born, Henry Elias.

In October, 1862, they started for Dixie taking passage with John Nebeker. After a tedious journey, they arrived about November 23. They got work at Washington, ginning the cotton where they remained until the latter part of January. They then pitched a borrowed tent on the lot which was their home as long as they remained in St. George. He says:

Our earthly possessions were very limited. We all and some clothing, some bedding, and provisions to eat for three months. We had neither team, wagon, cow, or even chickens. I presume we commenced with as little as anyone ever did in St. George. My wife was a good weaver so we exerted ourselves to get a loom, and when we succeeded in this, her faithful and untiring efforts brought us a good many comforts which we could not have obtained in any other way. I cannot speak too highly of my wife Mary, for through her ceaseless energy and untiring labors, we succeeded with the blessing of heaven to gradually work ourselves up out of extreme poverty.

He tried all kinds of hard work such as farming, gardening, adobe making, stone cutting, living and working on the poorest fare until his health was badly impaired. His first job he says was erecting a sod house 16 ft. square covered with willows and dirt. He says that when he accomplish this he felt proud as it was comfortable and they were better fixed than many of their neighbors. November 6, 1863, Louise was born. They also raise some cotton which his wife woven the cloth, to pay for the building of their first adobe home.

He further stated:

Clara was born July 14, 1865, but died July 13, 1866. On May 27, 1868 Edward Christian was born. In September 1868, I was taken violently ill with rheumantics in the back and hip and was confined to my bed for about three weeks. When I recovered from this sickness I secured employment in the St. George office as assistant to Brother Franklin B. Wooley, clerk of the office.

This change of work benefited him.

January, 1869, money was subscribed for starting a co-op store. From this time on Henry found clerical work which he was well prepared to do. About May 1872, he took charge of the store and under his administration built up a very successful business. He continued with the store until he moved to Mexico in 1877. He was one of the few successful operators of co-op stores. This grew and flourished under his administration, paying handsome dividends all the time. When he arrived in Mexico, he started another co-op store on a small scale but it soon doubled and trebled its capital until it became a very profitable institution.

He might have done as many other co-op superintendents have done, bought up stock and weeded out stockholders to his own gain, but he would not do that. He was content to live and let live. The result was that in each case he turned back to the stockholders a flourishing business. He was an honest man in the truest sense of the word. The success in St. George in the mercantile business was repeated in Colonia Juarez.

On August 12, 1872, he married Deseret Faucett, and on August 1, 1874, he received a call to a mission in Switzerland and Germany. August 31, 1874, he left to fill this call, going by way of New York, Liverpool, London, Antwerp, and Cologne. He traveled very extensively in Germany and Switzerland with his sister Clara. He was banished from Germany and went to Berne, Switzerland, where he edited the Church publication, Der Stern, and translated the Doctrine and Covenants into the German language. He also published tracts and a songbook.

Because of his plural marriages, Henry decided to move to Mexico where he could live peacefully. Apostle Snow invited him to go to the Mexican colonies, promising that he would do better in every way and Mexico than he had ever done in St. George, which proved to be the case.

In February 1887, he left for Mexico with the following members of his family: his wife Deseret, Edward Christian, Annie, and Andrew. He started out with one light wagon and one team, traveling by way of Price, Scandlen Ferry, Hackleberry, Mesa, Fort Bowie, San Simon, La Ascencion, Casas Grandes, and Colonia Juarez.  We arrived there on April 1, 1887.  Father secured two city lots and fenced them and commenced to cultivate and plant trees and vines.  He also built a small log house Deseret.  Then he left to a fill a call to serve as a missionary in Mexico City.

He had faith in Apostle Snow’s promise to him in which he had said, “If you will take this mission, learn the Spanish language, become acquainted with the people, in the laws and customs of the land, as well as with government officials, and through it all learn how to do business in this land, you will be great blessing to the Saints in Mexico.”

Arriving in Mexico, he began study of the Spanish language, although he was then 50 years of age. Yet, he mastered it to the extent that he could transact business in the language, could take care of legal matters and receive instructions from prominent men of the nation, including President Porfirio Diaz himself, without an interpreter. Later at home in Colonia Juarez, he was able to teach the language both to the students in the school and to adults in night school. So far as meeting the success he had hoped for in his missionary work, however, he was somewhat disappointed.

The following is from his journal:

On account of the return of so many of the Mexican Saints who failed to make a location at Colonia Juarez and who told exaggerated tales of woe and disappointment, it was very difficult to make any headway among the members of the Mexican Mission. Nearly all of them believed the false statements about our colony and a bitter feeling was engendered by many. The consequence was that two of the branches that had at one time been the most flourishing, declared themselves independent of me. In addition, a false prophet arose claiming to believe the book of Mormon but taking all manner of false doctrine. Having a very fluent tongue and being a man of force and energy, he upset quite a number of the members. However, a few remained faithful, it was impossible to make any headway by any of the new converts. While there, one man living in Morelos took quite an interest and applied for baptism.  I think I must have converted him for the Lord never did. Being a drunkard, he soon drifted into his old habits and left the Church. Though my mission to Mexico was in some ways unsatisfactory, I believe that as a whole I accomplish what Brother Snow required of me.

Our beloved Apostle and true friend, Erastus Snow, died at Salt Lake City, May 27, 1888. By his death Mexican colonies lost a leader who would greatly have promoted their welfare if he had lived. As it was he had laid the foundation, and his wise counsels are quoted to this day.

Near the close of 1888, there being no new openings and the people of Colonia Juarez being anxious for my return, I turned over the affairs of the mission to John Rogers. I bought a small stock of merchandise for our completed co-op store at Juarez, and then returned, reaching there in company with Annie Snow on December 29, 1888.

I found my family in fair health, except Annie, who was recovering from a severe attack of pneumonia. A frame store having been built, I opened business on January 1, 1889, with a stock of goods of about $1500. At first I opened about two hours in the morning about the same in the evening, working in my lots the remainder of the time. That’s very soon business increased, and my whole time was required. In May 1889, burglars entered the store and got away with about one third of our stock of merchandise. That year, as business was increasing, I sent for my son Edward Christian to help me. He arrived in August, and at once began his work.

August 29, a son named Carlos Fernando, was born. In February, 1890, I went to Mexico City on business for our Colonies.

In April I went to Utah to move my wife, Mary, to Mexico, reaching St. George about the 26. She had been closing out our furniture and I sold one of our water rights to James Andrews for $100 so we had something like $600 to take with us to Mexico. On May 1, 1890, we started for Mexico with myself, wife Mary, Henry, and Ida. Emily, who had married William Snow, son of Erastus Snow, on November 9, 1887, remained in St. George.

We went by team to Milford and by railroad to American Fork, where we visited my sister Bertha.

From American Fork, we went by rail to Deming and from there by team to Colonia Juarez, arriving on May 15, 1890.  During the summer this year I built a brick cottage on my lower lot for my wife, Mary and family, who moved into it about November. February, we received a visit from Apostles Moses Thatcher and George Teasdale. Brother Teasdale returned her call you Diaz where he was temporarily located and about May returned with his wife, Ettie, and her two children and lived with us several weeks. He then moved to the Snow house. Later in the season a temporary organization was effected, called the Mexican Mission with George Teasdale as President, and A. F. Macdonald, and Henry Eyring as counselors.

I attended the October Conference in returning, went in company with Brother Moses Thatcher to Manassa, Colorado. There I met sister Georgina Snow Thatcher, who had a home in Manassa.  While there I posted up the books of the Mexican Colonization and Agricultural Company. I stopped at the house of brother John Morgan who had since died. On October 3, 1891, my daughter Fernanda Carolina was born.

 

In 1893, he attended the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, and participated in meetings held afterwards by Authorities of the Church in the upper rooms of the Temple. The first two of these meetings were to ascertain to what degree the First Presidency was sustained.  He among others proved they were in full accord and were willing to give full support. At the last meeting at which they fasted and prayed, it was attended by the largest group, 140 people, ever gathered for that purpose. After prayer, they went into another room to partake of the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper and were filled with rejoicing.

While in Salt Lake City, he met his daughters, Louise and Emily, and two children and returned with them to Sanpete, and from there started for Mexico. Arriving in Colonia Juarez, May 1, 1893, he found a late frost had destroyed the fruit, including the grapes. The second crops of his muscats did very well. That year, he built a frame house for his wife Deseret into which she moved immediately. That same year he went to Mexico City in company with A.F. Macdonald and Meliton Trejo and, together, were able to get a new contract for colonization. They were also allowed a personal interview with President Porfirio Diaz, who treated them very cordially.

In the spring of 1894, he was appointed by Apostles Brigham Young, Jr. and John Henry Smith to go to Chihuahua City to secure better water rights for Colonia Juarez. There he waited three weeks for an interview with the governor, but was then successful in getting from him a letter to the presidente in Casas Grandes asking him to see that the colonists were not curtailed or crippled in their use of water.

In December 1895, Apostle Francis M. Lyman organized the Juarez Stake of Zion. Anthony W. Ivins, who had been set apart in the office of the First Presidency, was made President and Henry Eyring and Helaman Pratt were sustained as his Counselors.  In the capacity Henry, with his wife Mary, who had been made Stake Relief Society President, and Elder George Teasdale, visited all the settlements in the stake except for the two most recently organized, Colonia García and Colonia Chuhuichupa. These they visited the following year in company with Helaman Pratt.

Although Henry suffered a slight decline in health about this time, he was able to carry on throughout the years, meeting both civic and ecclesiastical responsibilities and finding time to teach Spanish, help those needing it with legal transactions, and taking care of his store.

It has been remarked by men who knew him best that he never stopped growing until his last day. Father’s word was as good is his bond. In all the years that I, Edward Christian, his son, worked with him, I never knew him to do a small mean being. He was free with his means in all public works. He used splendid clean language, free from slang and petty swearing.

It was, as Miles P. Romney said to me once, ”He has a splendid type of European gentleman.”  He was very kind to his wives and children. I never heard him speak an unkind word to one of his wives and he was always kind to his children as well. He had high ideals for education. I think he would have gone to almost any length to help us children become educated. He held high positions in the Church from the beginning and never received a penny for his services. His idea was that if we pay for our services here, we could not expect pay hereafter. He preferred to lay up treasures in heaven and went to his just reward February 10, 1902 in Colonia Juarez.

Edward Christian Eyring, son

Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

pg 152

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

Daniel Skousen

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Daniel Skousen

1865 – 1940

Daniel Skousen was the sixth child and fourth son of James Niels Skousen and Sidsel Marie Pedersen.  James Niels Skousen was born September 30, 1828, in Herslev, Vejle, Denmark.  Sidsel Marie Pedersen was born August 23, 1826, in Leasby, Aarhus, Denmark.

 They heard the message of the Elders after they were married, believed and were baptized. He was one of the King’s Guards in Denmark. Soon after they joined the Church they began saving to move to America. They had four children born in Denmark before they accumulate enough funds to make the journey. The oldest child, a girl, Petria, and the third child, Parley Pratt, died in Denmark.

On April 17, 1865, Daniel was born in Draper, Utah. He had eight brothers and sisters and had to help his parents make a living in a new and strange land. He went to school but a few months each year and all the formal schooling he gained was during those few months in Draper. The work Daniel did was to herd cows and as with most boys, he found time to swim, play and lie in the sun. But he learned early in life, as did the other members of his family, to obey.  Sometimes he learned the hard way. His parents were very strict. His mother was especially strong willed, a characteristic passed on to Daniel. But also he inherited, among other things, wisdom and a desire to work.

The Church soon called the Skousen family to help settle Arizona. With all their belongings loaded into two wagons they started on this move. Dan drove the cows and loose stock. They settled in St. Joseph first and there they lived the United Order. After a short time it was discontinued. Then they moved to Springerville, took up farms and thought this would be their permanent home. Dan’s father had taken a plural wife who was also a woman from Denmark, so it wasn’t long until the law took him to prison. This left the responsibility of care of the family on Daniel and his brother Peter.

Daniel was a sober man but very attractive and a first-rate baseball player, checker player and wrestler. He enjoyed good sportsmanship. He was a sports fan and it stayed with him through life. Not only did he enjoy sports but he loved to dance and sing. The arts were always interesting to him. He was put on the spot many times in his social life and forced to stand up for what he knew was right. This was especially the case with the Word of Wisdom. Very often designing men would tempt him, almost with force, to go against what he thought was right. But he stood by his convictions and would talk his way out and leave the drunken companions with his explanations.

It seems that he seldom escorted only one lady friend alone. They usually went in groups. But all the time he had his eye on one special girl, Melvina Clay Greer. She was his favorite dancing partner. When his younger sister, Caroline, decided to go to St. George and be married, Daniel thought it a good idea to go along. He convinced Melvina to accompany him. The four of them made the trip by team and wagon to St. George where they were married for time and eternity on December 9, 1885.

It was soon learned that one of Dan’s father’s families would have to leave the country if his father were to remain out of jail. So Dan, with his young bride, took his mother and younger brother and sister to Mexico. Dan and Malley (Melvina) had no idea of staying in Mexico, since his brother Peter had also come to Mexico to make his home and could take care of his mother. But it wasn’t long until Dan decided to make his home in Mexico also.  The people were still living below the present town site and were sorely in need of lumber to build things. Brother Joseph Moffett and Dan went up on the mountain, sawed lumber by hand, to help build homes, furniture and other things. This was the first lumber sawed in the colonies.

Dan was a healthy, stalwart, robust young man, six feet tall. Never was he afraid of work. “Early to bed and early to rise” was his theme song, and a light scarcely ever found him in bed. He always enjoyed good health except in the last year of his life when he was stricken with terrible pain. After taking him to a specialist in El Paso, they operated and found him afflicted with cancer. He was bedridden for nine months, and his body wasted away with the disease.

Dan was a faithful member of the Church. He upheld authority both by deed and precept. He worked in the Sunday School Superintendency for years and was always punctual and depending. He instilled these qualities into his children. He was an honest tithe payer and always had family prayers.  The choir depended on his rich bass voice and he enjoyed singing at public gatherings. At all the old folks’ gatherings, which were held once a year, he was asked to render one or two vocal solos. He encouraged his children not to only improve their talents but also render service whenever possible.

Dan worked wherever he could to earn a living for his family and for his mother, as his father did not come to Mexico to live but remained in Arizona. He found work in Galeana on a thresher at harvest time and as foreman of a big hacienda owned by Don Luis Terrazas in San Diego. Wherever he went, he made a good name for himself through his honest, fair and well-done work. His employer soon found out that they could trust him and could depend on what he said.

Daniel met was several severe accidents is almost cost him his life. One of these was while freighting down the San Diego Canyon. Two span of horses drawing a big wagon loaded with lumber were coming down the steep grade when the brake block broke turning the load loose. They were nearing a bend in the road and Dan knew they were going too fast to make it, so he climbed out onto the tongue of the wagon and dropped to the ground, hoping the load would pass over him and leave him unharmed. All would have been well, but the tongue chain caught his foot and threw it under the wheel crushing his foot and ankle. Brigham Pierce, living nearby, hearing the noise, came to see the cause. Seeing Dan badly hurt, he was going to take him to his home but Dan, being a lover of animals, asked him to please go cut the teams loose first. He could hear them struggling far down the hill. Dan was confined to his bed for four months. Blood poisoning set in and Dr. Lake did all he could for him but to no avail. One day Edmond Richardson came in. Seeing the pain Dan was in, he turned and walked out, returning soon with a drug. This brought relief and with the administration of other strong drugs he was soon up and around on crutches.

His dependability was proverbial. When a Sunday school representative came from Selig city, desiring to go to Pacheco, he could find no one who was able to take him. He then inquired where Dan Skousen was. Dan was plowing but when the request came he unhitched his team from the plow put on his light buggy and took Brother Stoddard and started to Pacheco.

He was Counselor to Bishop John J. Walser and people were yet taking plural wives. President Anthony W. Ivins, a close friend, asked him why he didn’t do likewise. Dan was slow to act but when he decided to join the ranks, he already had one picked out: a lively girl, Sarah Ann Spilsbury, who had been helping Dan and Malley in their home. They were married by an Apostle.

In 1901 he bought a gristmill from William R. R. Stowell.  Don Luis Terrazas advanced him the money. By this time Dan Skousen’s name was as good as his bond, he could borrow money or have credit anytime he wanted. He also took a contract with Brother Stowell to build a dam for Luis Terrazas up on Tapiacitas.  The dam held for many years. Dan built a 14 room house for his family and was always reaching out for more property. He leased a large tract of farming land south of the Colonia Juarez purchase and he bought a 300 acre farm called the “Ojo,” north of old Casas Grandes.

Dan had the ability to get along with Mexicans. He was willing to help show them how to plant and irrigate their land and how to harvest the crops. He worked on committees to visit the governor and often went to Mexico City on legal matters. He was known as “Don Daniel” by his native friends. Especially was this manifest during the Revolution. The coming and going of different factions was a difficult situation and it was his policy, as recommended by the Church, to be neutral. Very often he was called in to settle disputes for them. At the time Poncho Villa was in Casas Grandes, when leaders of the Stake and others had gone to get him to return some of their horses, Villa sent them on their way with threats. Dan also called upon him. And although Villa was very disturbed, without raising his voice or losing control of himself, Dan convinced Poncho Villa of their need and soon Villa gave him an order for some of the horses to be returned.

At the time of the Exodus, when most colonists left the country, Dan Skousen and his wife, Sarah, were among the first to return. Brother Ivins, former Juarez Stake President, said, “If I had a mill full of wheat like brother Skousen, I would go back.”

Dan’s material wealth, was almost depleted by the end of the Revolution; but they couldn’t take his land, only what he raised on it. He still had faith in future crops. Many of the rebel leaders ate at his table. He believed “it is better to feed them than to fight them,” but often it wasn’t all voluntary. During the Revolution he never knew when he went to bed at night what would find in his spacious yard the next morning. He trusted in the Lord and taught his family to have the same faith and prayer. He was held for ransom many times, with guns held at his head if he didn’t give over all his money or his guns. He was threatened with having his hay, mill and home burned, but with that same reasoning power, “that a soft word turneth away wrath,” he evaded many possible catastrophes. Many a person, Mexican and Anglo alike, came seeking help, either for themselves or for their family, eating either money or protection until opposing forces left. But it must be said to the honor of the Revolutionaries, that while on the ranch, soldier and leader alike, they were courteous to the womenfolk. At times, however, the women would cut the ropes from around the horses neck, put a child on its back and give therefore suspect, sitting the writer on the run for the tall cornfields or plum thickets to hide until the rebels and gone away.

Dan was a devoted husband and father and very much the head of his family. He sired 14 daughters and seven sons. Seven of these 21 children died in their tender years. Three of them filled honorable missions. All the living children obtain their education in the Juarez Stake Academy and graduated, many with honors. One became a registered nurse and returned to Colonia Juarez and was an angel of mercy to her hometown. They have all fill positions of leadership in their Wards and Stakes. Three children obtained their degrees from college and many of them have taught school, two of them in the Academy.

Dan was an active member of the High Council for many years and on the board of education. He was proud of each of his children and never missed an opportunity to attend cultural events sponsored by the school. Sports were his love and when his boys took an active part he was always one of the fans.

His love of animals and his ability to get them to respond to his desires because of his kind treatment was phenomenal. He always had a favorite horse that he would ride. And scarcely ever did one see him without his shovel. He could irrigate probably more profitably than anyone else, and water was at a premium in those days. So Dan, his horse and his shovel were a common sight on the streets of Colonia Juarez.

He lived in Colonia Juarez 54 ½ years. He was well thought of by businessmen of the area and in the border cities as well. He enjoyed the respect of many and left the example of his stalwart characteristics to his posterity.

Sarah S. Skousen, wife

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 610