Tag Archives: Colonia Juarez

Joseph Henry James

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Joseph Henry James

1855-1908

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Bobby Cochenour and Eulla Davis, granddaughters.

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

James Christian Peterson

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James Christian Peterson

1858-1929

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hilma Peterson, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 326

Ammon Meshach Tenney

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Ammon Meshach Tenney

(1844 – 1925)

Ammon Meshach Tenney was born on the plains of Lee County, Iowa, November 16, 1844, the son of Nathan C. and Olive Strong Tenney.

When Ammon Meshach Tenney was four years of age his parents immigrated to Utah, arriving there in 1848.  Two years later his father was called by President Brigham Young to accompany Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich to California for the purpose of establishing a Mormon colony at what is now San Bernardino.  The family remained there until 1857 when they, with all other Latter-day Saints, were called back to the body of the Church in Utah because of the threat of an invading United States army.

Back in Utah, the Tenney family settled at Fort Harmony, Iron County, in the southern part of the state.  Ammon had been named for the great preacher Ammon, told about in the Book of Mormon, had learned Spanish while playing with Mexican children in San Bernardino and was therefore a natural choice to serve as a missionary to the Lamanites.  He was ordained an Elder by President Young at the age of 14, and almost immediately was appointed to go with Jacob Hamblin to serve as interpreter on a mission to the Indians.

The expedition consisted of Jacob Hamblin, Ammon M. Tenney and 11 others.  The party left for this mission in 1858 and headed for the Colorado River region where they spent considerable time among several trives of Indians living on the east side of the river.  Friendly relations were readily established among the Indians through Ammon’s fluency in the Spanish tongue, a language known to the Indians.  This was the beginning of a missionary companionship between Ammon Tenney and Jacob Hamblin that extended over a period of 15 years and resulted directly or indirectly in the establishment of numerous settlements in southern Utah and northern Arizona, in opening new roads into unexplored regions, in strengthening weak settlements and in creating more friendly relationships between the Indians and their white neighbors.

Many hardships were encountered.  Hunger at times compelled them to eat the flesh of worn-out draft animals and the rawhide carried to mend badly worn shoes.  They suffered from excessive summer heat and the biting cold of higher altitudes.  There were also many sleepless nights from fear of attacks by red men on the warpath.

In 1869, at the age of 25, Ammon married Annie Sarah Egar and settled in Kanab on the southern Utah border.  A family incident a little later illustrates his devotion to Church duty.  One of his many mission calls came when a little daughter was critically ill.  He lingered at the home after the rest of the missionary group had left.  After a day’s delay he mounted his horse and rode off.  He had not gone far when he heard an urgent call from his wife, “Come back, Ammon, our child is dying!”  Ammon rode back, administered to the apparently lifeless child and she returned to consciousness almost immediately.  Fighting back tears, Ammon went again to his horse.  “How can you leave us like this?” his wife sobbed.  “If I go I have claim on my Maker, but if I stay, I may forfeit that claim,” he replied, trying hard to keep a steady voice.   He left and the child lived.

In 1875 Ammon was called to participate in that famous first mission to Mexico in company with Daniel W. Jones, Anthony W. Ivins, Wiley C. Jones, Helaman Pratt, James Z. Stewart and Robert H. Smith.  The missionaries, equipped with seven mounts and 17 pack horses, crossed the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry, and then made their way to the Moqui villages in Arizona, passing enroute through Moenkopi, Navajo Springs, and Willow Springs.  At the seven Moqui Indian villages the missionaries visited with the Indians several days, then pursued their journey toward the Salt River Valley.

They arrived in Phoenix on November 24, 1875, where they were kindly greeted by Judge C. T. Hayden, who furnished them with letters of introduction to Governor Safford and other influential men of Arizona.  In their report to President Young of the opportunities for settlement, attention was called to the many fine facilities on the Salt River Valley for attaining a livelihood. At the village of Sacaton on the Gila River they held their first public meeting with the Indians.  The service was well-attended.  At Tucson the missionaries were tendered the courthouse of the holding of a Sunday meeting.  They were cheered by the kindly reception of the governor.  At a military post near Tucson they sold some of their animals and purchased a spring wagon which added comfort to their journey.

It appears that their intention had been to cross the boundary line into the state of Sonora, but they changed their plans when they heard of the unsettled condition of the Yaquis.  The party therefore crossed at El Paso, except Tenney and Smith, who were appointed to labor in New Mexico among the Pueblos and Zunis.  These two made their way up the Rio Grande River 350 miles to Albuquerque, where they preached for some time without success.

Here Ammon had a dream in which he saw a light in the heavens and became impressed to leave the city of Albuquerque and proceed in the direction of the light.  Slowed by jaded animals, the missionaries subsisted mainly on rabbis, the fruit of Ammon’s marksmanship with a rifle.  The light followed a distance of 125 miles to Fish Springs, New Mexico, then disappeared.  There they met about 20 Zuni men to whom they presented their Gospel message and received permission to hold a meeting, the first since they left El Paso.  Thirteen of the leading Zunis were baptized, including their cacique.  Ammon reports the great joy he experienced when he led from the waters of baptism the first person he had ever baptized.  His strength gave way under the experience.  He was helped from the water by his companion and lay prone upon the grass while Elder Smith baptized the other 12 candidates.

Shortly after this the cacique reported an invasion of grasshoppers which threatened destruction of their crops, at the same time calling attention to blessings promised by the missionaries to those who obeyed the Lord’s commandments.  Ammon realized that this was a test of the faith of the natives and of the missionaries and trembled at the thought.  Gaining confidence he told the cacique that if the Indians would humble themselves on their knees in asking for deliverance from the pest, the grasshoppers would disappear.  Ammon’s missionary companion was doubtful and so expressed himself.  Ammon’s reply was:  “We are the Lord’s servants and He has already manifested His approval of our labors.  He will not fail us.”  Within one hour, so the Indians reported, following their supplication there was not a grasshopper to be seen.  As they arose in their flight they darkened the sun by their numbers.  In their enthusiasm the Indians lifted Ammon to their shoulders and danced about, and had they not been restrained, would have worshiped him.  One hundred fifty Indians were baptized and three Branches of the Church were organized.

Missionary activities were interrupted by a letter from President Brigham Young instructing Ammon to explore northern Arizona and parts of New Mexico for suitable places in which to plant colonies of Latter-day Saints.  Although President Young died soon after, Ammon and his father, Nathan C. Tenney, continued exploration as instructed.  They helped in securing a place on the Little Colorado for the settlement of Woodruff.  While in New Mexico a letter was received from Church headquarters instructing Ammon to go to St. Johns, Arizona, and make the purchase of a tract of land.  There they purchased from Sol Barth, a Jew, and his two brothers land on which one hundred families were called to settle.  Ammon was appointed Presiding Elder of the group and the Lamanite Mission in Arizona and New Mexico, until called by David King Udall to be Bishop of the St. Johns Ward.

Trouble arose between the Mexican population and the Mormons, brought on by the Greer brothers, reckless cowboys.  During this trouble the father of Ammon M. Tenney, Nathan C., while attempting to be peacemaker, was killed.  And during the trying raids on St. Johns by U.S. Marshals against Latter-day Saints suspected of practicing plural marriage, Ammon was harassed almost constantly.  The Deseret News of August 1, 1884, reported:

It seems that when Mr. Tenney was first arrested he was given 15 minutes by Commissioner George A. McCarter to say whether or not his first wife should be present at the examination on the 12th of July; and if he did not promise to have her there, he was told that an officer would be sent after her immediately.  Mr. Tenney promised to have her present, without the aid of an officer, although she was in a “delicate condition” and the distance to where she was at the time was 20 miles.

About the same time an officer went to Mr. Tenney’s house in St. Johns, in search of his reputed plural wife, and when it was ascertained that there was no such person there, the Commissioner went in person to the house, no doubt thinking to overwhelm Mr. Tenney with his august presence.  He told Mr. Tenney that unless he should immediately produce a plural wife for a witness he would issue a search warrant and have the house searched.  Mr. Tenney advised him to do so immediately, and this remarkable U.S. officer departed, apparently not in a very good humor.

That night about ten o’clock, Arthur Tenney, a brother of the accused, discovered three men crawling around the house.  Mr. Tenney ordered them up onto their feet and when they arose with alacrity, when Arthur discovered that that one of the party was Bill Lewis, the land jumper.

On December 7, 1884, Ammon was tried and convicted of polygamy and sentenced to serve three and one half years in the house of correction at Detroit, Michigan.  Two days later he was en route to Detroit to begin his prison sentence.  After serving a term of nearly two years, he was given a reprieve by President Grover Cleveland and walked out of the penitentiary on October 12, 1886, a free man.  Of this experience while in captivity he had this to say:

We were set at liberty on October 12.  I am pleased to say that we are well in body and feeling well in spirits.  I can truthfully say the Lord has borne us up through many a dark and dreary hour.  We had, however, many things to encourage us, such as visits from friends, the News and Juvenile Instructor, not forgetting the kind treatment of officers who frequently manifested a desire to favor us…  Even at the very moment when it seemed as though the heavens were brass over my head and the earth iron under my feet, He [the Lord] strengthened me to press forward… I can truthfully say in behalf of my brethren, as also myself, that in many respects, our minds have been enlightened in a manner they never were before, in regard to the principles of life and salvation, and while I may not know what I may do tomorrow, yet today my greatest desire is to retain in memory what I have passed through.  I know it will serve to make me humble, for I know that I have not at all times bee as humble as I ought to have been.

In November 1887, about a year following his release from prison, Ammon was called on a mission to Sonora, Mexico, to labor among the Indians.  To accompany him were Peter J. Christopherson, Edward E. Richardson and Gilbert D. Greer.  The missionaries set out upon their journey but had not proceeded far when a letter from Church Authorities stated that in consequence of the Yaquis being at war with the government in Mexico there were to continue their labors among the natives in Arizona and New Mexico.  From November 1887 to September 1890, Ammon traveled 5,000 miles by team, on horseback and on foot, preached 135 times and baptized 111 souls.  His labors were chiefly among the Papago and Pima tribes.

After his release from this mission he went to Mexico to establish a home for himself and family in the Mormon colonies, locating in Colonia Dublan.  He was not there long, however, when he was called to reopen the capital city by John Henry Smith and Anthony W. Ivins.  His labors there were crowned with considerable success.  He organized eight Branches of the Church and appointed local Saints to preside over the Branches.  He also set apart 17 local Elders to travel throughout the various cities and villages in proximity to Mexico City.

President Ivins said:

Brother Tenney has been remarkably successful in his missionary labors and had nearly 200       people who appear to be enjoying the Spirit of the Gospel to an unusual degree.  I visited all      the different towns where we have converts with the exception of one or two isolated places, and held meetings with the people.  It was a great surprise and caused my heart to rejoice beyond expression to hear the strong testimonies borne and excellent and logical remarks made by those people.  Sectarians, Methodists in particular, are aroused and are doing all they can to hinder the work, but it grows in spite of them.  At their conference held in Mexico a few days ago one of the ministers reported that unless something could be done to prevent it, the Mormons would take the entire Protestant population.

At the beginning of 1921, in his 77th year, he was among the Yaqui Indians in the state of Sonora.  Elder Tenney said that for 56 years he had been interested in the Yaqui Indians and at last his long-felt desire to be with them was fulfilled.  On his first visit to the Yaquis, he found that they had a Quorum of Twelve Apostles which they claimed was organized among them by Jesus.  They also said Jesus had instructed them to fill vacancies as they occurred, which they had done. These instructions and many more were given them by Jesus in a personal visit.  Ammon asked if they might have received these teachings from the Catholic monks who came with the Spaniards, but the reply was that their religion reached much further back than that of the Spanish conquerors.

Among other exploring expeditions made by Ammon Tenney was one as an interpreter for Major John Wesley Powell down the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River.  It was said that Ammon Tenney understood all Indian dialects west of the Mississippi River.  He was a man of great courage as demonstrated on many occasions during his lifetime.  One such was related by Anthony W. Ivins, a lifelong friend:

Nathan C. Tenney had established a ranch at Short Creek, but abandoned it and moved to Toquerville, about 25 miles distant.  In December, 1866, three horsemen rode out from Toquerville; to the ranch…Nathan C. Tenney carried an old fashioned cap and ball pistol.  Enoch Dodge wsa armed with a light muzzle-loading rifle.  The third member of the party, Ammon M. Tenney was a mere boy, with black hair, dark eyes and a slender body.  He carried an old style six-shooter and was going with his father to look for horses which had strayed from Toquerville back to the ranch.

At the foot of a bluff a corral had been constructed to which the horses, eight in number, were driven and hurriedly caught and necked together.  Signs indicated to the trained eyes of these experienced frontiersmen that Indians were in the neighborhood… The horses were driven from the corral and were heading toward home when the white men found themselves face-to-face with eight Navajos.  The Indians occupied the plain, while the white men returned to the protection of the bluffs.  What was to be done?  That the Indians meant to kill them was plain to the two men.

The boy spoke to the Indians in Spanish and found that he was understood.  A parley ensued, and one fo the Indians… leaving his arms, came out into the circle and invited the boy to meet him and arrange terms of capitulation.  Ammon was about to comply when restrained by his father.  At this juncture the cliffs echoed with war whoops and the men saw eight Indians riding furiously down the plain toward them, their long hair streaming out behind as they unslung their guns and quivers.

“Resistance is now useless,” said the elder Tenney.  “What hope have we against 16 well-armed and mounted men?”  It was at this juncture that the courage and leadership of the boy asserted itself.  Drawing his pistol, he turned down the trail at the base of the bluff, striking the spurs deep into his horse’s sides, and crying, “Follow me,” he rode straight into the Indians who confronted him, firing as he went.  The two men followed.  Against this intrepid charge, the Indians gave way, and the race for life began.  Thus, for more than a mile they rode, the three on the trail, sheltered to the west by the bluff, while the Indians, who were in front of them, behind them, on the plain to the east, kept up a constant fusillade of shots.  Several times the boy, who was a superb horseman and better mounted, had opportunity to outstrip his pursuers and escape, as after he returned to encourage his father and Dodge to be brave and come on. He was thus riding in advance when a sharp cry and rider rolling in the dust.  The Indians, with bows bent to the arrowheads, were bearing down on his father.  Without a moment’s hesitation the boy turned and spurred his horse between his father and the onrushing savages, discharging his pistol in the very faces of the men nearest him.  The Indians wavered, scattered, and falling on the opposite sides of their horses, discharged a volley at the boy.

His father declared that he had been shot, and Dodge, also having been wounded by a bullet, implored the boy to escape and go to his mother.  Instead of doing this, he assisted his father, to his feet, and turning the horses, loose, with the saddles on, assisted and urged the men to climb to the rocks above.  For a few moments the attention of the Indians was attracted to the loose horses and ruing this time the boy succeeded in getting the men up into the rocks, where ne covered their retreat.

A hasty examination showed that the father had not been shot, but that the fall from the horse had dislocated and badly bruised his shoulder.  Dodge had been shot in the leg.  The boy laid down on his back, took his father’s hand in his, and placing one foot on the neck and the other in the arm pit, with a quick and strong twist brought the dislocated joint back into place.  He then placed his hands upon the head of his father, and in a few well- chosen words, laid their condition before the Lord, and prayed that his father might be restored.  The man arose and they retreated a short distance to the west where they concealed themselves in some loose rocks.

Darkness came on and with it the Indians left them.  When it appeared safe, they came out from their hiding place, and guided by the boy slowly made their way to Duncan’s Retreat, from which place they were taken to their home by friends.

The boy still lives, a courageous, devoted man, but never since and probably never again, will a crisis arise demanding the inspiring exhibition of courage here recounted.

The death of Ammon M. Tenney occurred October 28, 1925 at Safford, Arizona.  He left behind a large posterity and a multitude of friends to mourn his going.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, Stalwarts South of the Border, page 688.

Frederick Granger Williams II

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Frederick Granger Williams II

(1853 – 1918)

Frederick Granger Williams was born March 29, 1853, in Salt Lake City, Utah.  His parents were Dr. Ezra Granger Williams and Henrietta Crombie.

He was blessed by President Brigham Young in June of 1853.  His mother commenced his schooling, teaching him at home, at the age of seven. He was born in a little white house to the rear of the Hotel Utah, just east of Temple Square.  This house was still standing in 1925.

He married Amanda Burns on January 24, 1876, and was called that same year on a mission to Arizona on the Little Colorado River.  In the fall of 1877 he moved to Ashley’s Fork, now Jensen, Utah.  He was the first Presiding Elder in the Uinta Basin.  In 1879 he returned to Ogden, the home of his parents, working for two years on the Oregon Short Line Railroad at Hams Fork, Wyoming.

In 1886 he started for Mexico by team, and got as far as Fairview, Utah.  While living there he met Nancy Abigail Clement and married her in Salt Lake City on April 8, 1889.  In December of that year he moved to Pleasant View.  He was ordained a High Priest in February of 1890.

He moved to Mexico in August of 1890.  At this time, he, together with several other men in his same circumstances, chartered two large freight cars to make the long journey south.  In the end of one car the livestock was taken care of.  In the other end were placed the farm implements.  The number two car was partitioned off; on half held the household furnishings for four or five families.  The families rode in this way to Denver, Colorado.  There they changed trains, repacking all their belongings to travel on to Deming, New Mexico.

A short time before the family reached Denver, Flora May was stricken with spinal meningitis. By the time they arrived in Deming, she was very low.  Frederick Granger telegraphed to Winslow Farr who was a member of their party but had gone ahead of the group.  He had a place all ready for them when they arrived.  Amanda, the sick girl’s mother, was in very delicate health also. Deming at this time was just a small railroad town out in the desert.  Flora May was so ill it seemed her time had come to go.  The family remained about a month and she was still very ill.  Apostle George W. Teasdale passed through Deming on his way to the colonies to take charge of Mexican affairs for the Church.  Frederick Granger told him of the child’s condition and he came to the house and with Frederick Granger and two or three other Elders, Apostle Teasdale placed his hands on the little girl’s head and gave her a blessing.  He promised her that she would live to fill the measure of her creation and that she should be greatly blessed in life. The child began to mend so rapidly that within a very short time the family started on their way again to Colonia Diaz.  Flor May grew to maturity and raised a family of her own.

While in Diaz, Amanda, Nancy and Elizabeth, wives of Frederick Granger Williams were all very ill with mountain fever.  Elizabeth died.  Amanda’s little girl Hazel also became very ill.  She was six weeks old at the time.  They gave her up for dead.  They were washing her body for burial when she showed signs of life. The Elders administered to her and she immediately rallied and regained her health and lived to rear a lovely family.

The Williams moved to Colonia Dublan, 65 miles farther south of Diaz in 1891, and there Frederick Granger Williams found amply opportunity to be of service to the Mormon community in a variety of ways.  As a young man he had been taught the rudiments of medicine by his father, Dr. Ezra G. Williams, who tried to make a doctor out of him. The son’s tastes, however, were for farming and raising livestock. He became a blacksmith, farmer and rancher.  He did not permit his knowledge of medicine, however, to go unused. For many years he was one of the few trained health specialists available to the colonists.  During his busy lifetime, he delivered many hundreds of babies.

In November, 1909, he moved with his family to Arizona, arriving in Binghampton (now part of Tucson) on December 15. In June, 1914, he started a ranch near Sonoita, Arizona, where he had homesteaded a quarter section of land. It was here, On January 19, 1918, while hauling a load of hay with his son Orin Granger, that he was pulled off the load and instantly killed. Two of his sons have presided over three such missions; Spanish American, Argentine and Uruguayan.  A grandson, James A. Jesperson, is at this time laboring presiding over the Andes Mission, and his granddaughter, Leonor Brown, with her husband, Harold, presided over the Argentine Mission.  Harold is at this time President of the Mexico City Stake.

Frederick Granger Williams grand- and great-grandchildren have spent well over an accumulated 100 years in missionary work among the descendants of Father Lehi in Latin America.  Perhaps it was prophetic that the angel showed our progenitor, Dr. Frederick Granger Williams, the vision in which he saw Lehi’s landing place in South America.  This vision was received in the Kirtland Temple which is constructed on land that he donated to the Church for that purpose.

Frederick Salem Williams, son

Flora May Williams, daughter

and Leonor Jesperson Brown,granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 778

James Elbert Whetten

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James Elbert “Bert” Whetten

1881-1969

 

James Elbert Whetten was born July 18, 1881 in Snowflake, Arizona.  He was the second son of John Thomas and Belzora Savage Whetten.  His father kept a stable where the mail and passenger coach from Holbrook to Fort Apache changed horses. 

Bert was five years old when the renegade Indian, Geronimo, was captured and carried to Fort Apache.  He and his brother John climbed up where they could look into the big Government wagon and saw him chained to the bottom of it.  They really looked him over.

James Elbert was seven years old when his father sold out in Snowflake, preparatory to the move to Mexico.  They made the trip in company with John Kartchner and were two months enroute.  They settled in Cave Valley where a Ward had already been organized.  There Bert was baptized when he was eight years old by his father.  Life was hard for the first few years, with little to eat but corn dodger, molasses, and greens, which they were glad to get.  His father was a good provider but had to work hard and be on the lookout for every opportunity to improve their situation.

He was 11 years old when the Apache Kid, reputed to be Geronimo’s son, killed the Thompson family at Williams’ Ranch, only two miles from Cave Valley.  This put fear into the hearts of all, especially young boys who had to ride the range to keep cattle rounded up.  His father had taken a herd of 500 cows to run on shares with a man in Colonia Diaz.  Bert had gone along to help move the herd onto what is now the Villa Ranch on the Gavilan.  “And that was some job,” he said.  But taking care of this growing herd, and keeping them from straying on an open range, was a bigger task.  Bert and his brother John kept at this job early and late.  They milked cows and took care of the milk.  They were not afraid of Mexicans, nor of Americans, many of whom were in the hills prospecting, but Indians were something else. 

Bob Lewis, claiming to be a prospector, came into their camp one day and they welcomed him as added protection against the Indians.  Little did they know that his friendly approach and his apparent interest in two lonely boys was the greatest menace of all.  Their suspicions were not aroused when several of his companions showed up in camp, all claiming to be prospectors, not were they curious about their frequent absence, while Bob remained always close to the boys.  He made himself very useful and entertaining around camp, and helped them hunt stray cattle.  He even suggested that he would hunt the strays by himself.  One evening their cows didn’t come, neither did Bob.  A hurried search showed their range had been wiped clean of cattle, except for a few strays that had escaped the rustlers.  A thorough search, with help from neighboring cattlemen, revealed that they had all been victims of the famous Black Jack Outlaws, a gang of notorious desperadoes.  They followed the trail and found that the cattle had been moved out of the country, by-passing ranches and the unguarded border, into Deming, New Mexico.  There they found that Bob Lewis had made shipment of cattle to the East just two days before.  They could do nothing about it, although the U.S. Government finally caught and hanged them all.  But it didn’t bring back the cattle nor a penny for their sale. 

Shortly after the turn of the century, Bert received a call to the Mexican Mission.  This was surprising as well as frightening to him.  He could handle the wildest broncos and meanest cows, and haul heavy loads with double teams over treacherous mountain roads, but what preparation was that for a mission. His education, too, had been limited.  But his church work was less.  He not only felt unprepared but unworthy to accept the call.  But, schooled to be obedient, he said he would do the best he could.

He was set apart by Elder George Teasdale in June 1905 and entered the Mexican Mission shortly before President Talma Pomeroy was released.  With this, he began work that was to be a vital part of his life for more than 50 years.  He did his tracting on foot and carried his bedding and books on his back.  Whereas before, he had been used to riding and using a pack mule.  This was the first hard lesson that turned a cowboy into a preacher.  He struggled to learn the Gospel both in Spanish and English.  He became Rey L. Pratt’s first companion and made phenomenal growth in the work.  He finished his 26 months in the mission field as an accomplished missionary, well informed in the Gospel, and so much in love with the Book of Mormon and the truths contained in it that it never ceased to be his favorite source of study. 

On June 29, 1908, he married Lillie O’Donnal and later was sealed in the Salt Lake Temple.  With her, a long, happy life was begun.  A local mission, to which he was called by President Anthony Ivins shortly after his return, was interrupted by the Exodus.  After this event, he was homeless and struggled to maintain his family in a New Mexico logging camp.  Then he was called to serve under President Rey L. Pratt, who operated the Mexican Mission in the United States, as the Spanish American Mission.  It was a sacrifice, both to himself and his father, to leave their contract at the time.  They expected it to be of but six month’s duration.  He accepted, and stayed in the field for two years.

Back in Colonia Juarez by 1914, he was called to serve in the Chihuahua Mission when it was organized under the direction of President Joseph C. Bentley.  In 1917, in company with President Bentley, he visited the district of El Valle, Temosachic, Namiquipa, Matachic and other places to find Saints who had remained unvisited during the Revolution.  This turned out to be the most fateful experience of all.  With their wagon loaded with provisions for missionaries in the districts, they had hardly passed El Valle when they were captured by Pancho Villa’s troops, taken to Cruces, Chihuahua, and confined.

Villa was still smug over outsmarting the American soldiers in their attempt to capture him. He was still antagonistic toward Americans and had proved a thorn in the side of the Mexican Government, then in its first struggles to establish a stable government.  What he would do with these missionaries was a question.  The missionaries partially solved this problem by making friends with the guards and Felipe Angeles, Villa’s military strategist.  He was a ready conversationalist, and as soon as he learned of their peaceful mission, confided to them that he was working with the American Government to use his influence with Villa to effect peace with his own government in Mexico.  He admitted he was in a precarious situation.  Should his identity and mission be discovered by the Carranza forces, he would never get out of the country alive.  Then he sympathetically listened to the missionaries while they explained their way of life, the plan of salvation and the principles of the Gospel.  The farther they went in their explanations, the more excited he became.  Finally he shouted through the door, “Pancho, come here!”  When he stood beside him, he exclaimed. “I want you to hear what these men say.  They are doing with words what we are trying to do with guns.” Villa nodded and sat down to listen, continuing to nod in between the questions he asked.  His final question started them both.  “Why have you never told me this before?  I have lived around Mormons all my life, and with a Mormon family for awhile in Sonora.  But never before have I heard your doctrine explained, or learned the real meaning of your way of life.  It might have made a difference in my life.”

At that, Angeles became more excited and solemnly exclaimed, “If I ever get out of this mess alive, I’m going to join the Mormons.”  Villa, looking a little anxious, asked,” I might do the same thing.  But do you have any place for a man like me?” “Yes,” answered Bert.  “There is a chance for anyone doing wrong if he quits and tries to do better.  I don’t know anything about you, but I do know that all the Lord wants is a repentant heart.” At which Villa replied, “No doubt you have heard much about me, most of which is untrue.  I’ve been bad enough, all right, but not as bad as I’ve been represented to be.  Every killing, hold up, or bank robbery has been blamed on Pancho Villa, and of most of them I knew absolutely nothing.  But if I ever get to where I can make proper arrangements, I may do just as Angeles has said he’d do.”

Soon after their release, they heard of Felipe Angeles’ capture and subsequent execution.  President Bentley and Bert decided if they could get property data, they would have his work done in the temple, for they were both convinced he was converted.  Because of the lack of essentials for such work, it was postponed.  One day after President Bentley returned from a General Conference in Salt Lake City he announced he had done Angeles’ work in the Salt Lake Temple.  The First Presidency had told him to go ahead even if they lacked the essential data.  President Bentley died shortly after that and Bert let the matter drop.  But as time passed and he was able to spend time in the temple, he became curious to see what had been recorded of the work done for Felipe Angeles.  To his surprise he could find no record or anyone who knew of it.  Not even after writing Ernest Young, was Bishop of Colonia Juarez when the affair with Villa had taken place, could he obtain confirmation.  Together with Antoine R. Ivins and the Temple Recorder, they searched for the record without success. But the unanimous decision of the searchers was that it should be done and Bishop Young commissioned to authorize Bert to do it.

But where would he start?  He had a picture of the man which contained his place and date of birth, but where to go to get what else was needed?  Then, as if out of the blue, it came.  Bert’s son Rey, on business in Chihuahua City was during with a friendly lawyer.  In the course of the conversation Felipe Angeles’ name was mentioned.     The lawyer at once said he had a book that told much about it and that he could take it if it would help.  The book, when procured, contained the record of his trial, Angeles’ speech of introduction wherein he told who he was, when and where he was born, and the names of his parents and much of his early life, all the information necessary to do his temple work.  Bert copied all of this onto a genealogical family sheet and sent it to Ernest Young.  He took it at once to the First Presidency, who after considering it, sent word to have the work done.   Bert was authorized to do it, which he prepared to do at once.  But in his search for data on Felipe Angeles, the question of doing the work for Pancho Villa had never entered his mind.

One night he had a dream, so real that when it was over he found himself sitting up in bed.  In his dream, Pancho Villa stood at the foot of his bed, dressed in the same suit he had on while they were his prisoners.  Villa asked if he knew him.  Did he remember the last time he had seen him?  When Bert answered “yes” to both questions, he continued.  “Do you remember the things I said at that time?” “Yes,” said Bert.  “I remember distinctly.”  “That’s why I’ve come to see you about now. You taught me something I’ve always remembered.  Do you remember what I told you?”  “Yes,” said Bert.  “You said that if the Mormon doctrine had been explained to you in your early youth, that your life might have been entirely different.”  He then said, “I still feel that way, and I’ve come to see if you can help me.”  “If there is anything in the world I can do for you, I’ll be glad to do it,” answered Bert.  Pancho Villa then told Bert of his trouble, of his inability to go farther without help, and that Bert was the only one that could help him.  “Why don’t you go to President Bentley, who is over there and tell him the same story?”  “He’s here, all right,” answered Villa, “and I’ve seen him.  But he can do nothing for me, and I’ve come to ask will you do it?”  Bert repeated his willingness to do anything he could for him.  “Can I count on that?” he asked.  “Yes,” answered Bert, “you can count on that.”  With that he woke up.

Sitting straight up in bed, he awakened his wife who asked in concern, “What’s the matter?”  “I’ve been talking to Pancho Villa,” Bert answered.  “Oh, you’ve just dreamed it,” she laughed, soothingly.  “No, he was standing there at the foot of the bed.  Didn’t you see him?”  “Of course I didn’t,” she laughed again.  “You’ve just eaten too much supper.”

The dream had so shaken Bert he didn’t sleep much the rest of the night.  Nor could he get it off his mind the rest of the day.  He kept asking himself why he had not been on the search for Pancho Villa’s genealogy while he was hunting so diligently for that of Angeles.  Though Villa had not been as vehement in his avowal to join the Church as Angeles, both he and President Bentley felt sure that if conditions were right that he would eventually join.  He now decided to do what he should have done earlier.  Miraculously, again, he found a friend with a book containing all they needed.  In this book he not only found all the information necessary, but also learned that Pancho Villa was christened Doroteo Arango.  He copied it onto a sheet, took it to Villa’s widow in Chihuahua City to verify its accuracy, and then explained what he hoped to do with it.  To his surprise she not only agreed, but asked what he could do for her.  “I’ll send you the missionaries,” he answered, “and you can do for yourself.”  This she promised to do.

Bert made a duplicate copy of his sheet and sent it to Earnest Young, who took it to the First Presidency, who in turn said Villa’s work should be done also.  Joseph Fielding smith commissioned Bert to do it.  In the spring of 1966, with joy in his heart, Bert compiled, thankful to be a Savior on Mount Zion for a man who, bloody through his reputation was, had never harmed a Mormon.  Temple officials rejoiced too, when the letter came sanctioning that his work be done.  They opened wide the temple doors for those doing it, glad that work was being done for more Lamanites. 

This inspiring missionary experience came in Bert’s 85th year.  And in what better way could his long service to the Lamanite people end?  Bert continued doing his own roping, branding, and caring for cattle until his 85th year.  He still makes almost daily trips to his ranch, a few miles distant from Colonia Juarez, where he now resides with his wife Lillie.

Compiled from his journal and tape recording by Erma Cluff Whetten in 1967

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 739

Edson Darius Porter of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico

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Edson Darius Porter

of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico

(1859-1933)

 

Edson Darius Porter was born on April 12, 1859 in Provo, Utah, the son of Chauncy Warriner Porter and Lydia Ann Cook.

As early as 1854, members of his father’s family had established what was to become the town of Porterville, Morgan County, Utah. Other family members soon came to this beautiful little valley to make their homes.  It was from here that Edson left to help his brother, Warriner Al Porter, settle in Orderville where the United Order was in practice.  Here in Orderville he met Catherine Aurelia Carling, daughter of Isaac Van Wagoner Carling and Asenath Elizabeth Browning.  They were married in the St. George Temple in June 1880.  This young couple continued to live in Orderville where Edson worked at the leather tannery.  He joined the Order into which he turned a yoke of oxen, valued at $40 each.

In Orderville, Edson served the Church in the capacity of both Secretary and Second Assistant of the Sunday School from October 12, 1884, until October 18, 1885, as First Assistant in the Sunday School.  From October 18, 1885, to September 18, 1887, he served as Sunday School Superintendent.

The Order was dissolved in 1885.  It was on February 19, 1886, following the counsel of the President of the Church, that Edson took Catherine’s sister, Phoebe Malinda, as a plural wife.  He bought land south of the town of Orderville and built a home for his two families.  Here they enclosed 20 acres of land and planted fruit trees and grapes.  He continued with his leather work with the help of his wives, making chaps, harnesses, leather jackets, etc., until they were able to pay for their new home.

There were only about 2 years of peaceful living in this new location as the government commenced persecution of all those who were living in polygamy.  Edson, as did most men, went “underground” for six months to avoid imprisonment. In 1888, after two years of uncertainty and trial, word was received from President Wilford Woodruff that all who wished could move their families into Mexico where land had been purchased and permission had been granted by the Mexican Government for the establishment of Mormon colonies.

From Catherine’s own story comes the following account:

It was on September 4, 1890 that we bade Father, Mother, brothers, sisters, friends and home goodbye.  We bought a tent, a good camp outfit, two almost new wagons, two of the best teams in the country, and an extra horse in case we might need one.  Our brother Isaac, and sister, Eliza, where were not married, took a team and accompanied us the first day and night of our journey.  He had his accordion with him and played sweet music which we shall always remember.

I will describe more fully our camping outfit.  We had our bedsprings fixed in the wagons.  As there was not room for all of us to sleep in the wagons, we pitched the tent at night.  We had camp chairs.  There was a cupboard built in the back of the wagon; the door could be let down to make a table.  Our baking was done in a dutch oven. Everything was arranged as comfortably as possible for the long journey.

Brother Willard Carrol and family accompanied us to Mexico.  They had grown sons and a daughter, one of his sons Thomas Carrol, drove one of our teams.  We appreciated their company.

My children that were living were Arvena, aged nine; Delilah aged six; Geneva, aged four; Clara, aged two; Zenos, aged four and Jesse, aged two.  We passed through miles and miles of plain country.  In places we had to dig deep into the earth to find water four our stock, this made our journey long and dreary at times.  There were times when we would find natural rock tanks filled with water from recent rains.

We had an exciting crossing over the Gilla[Gila]River.  It was swollen so high we felt fortunate to get across, and we thanked our Heavenly Father for helping us cross safely. We continued on through great stretches of unsettled country — country where the cattlemen had bored down into the earth 700 feet to get water for their cattle.  We had to buy all the water we used for ourselves and our animals from there until we reached Colonia Diaz, Mexico.

We were traveling in a stranger’s land.  We came on to guards stationed along the way to tell us what to do.  When we finally arrived at Colonia Diaz, we had been on the road seven weeks.  We stayed here 10 weeks then we moved on up the country another 50 miles to Casa[s] Grandes Valley where Bishop Winslow Farr, Fred G. Williams and Anson B. Call had laid out a mile-square town, Colonia Dublan.

We obtained land on the West side of the river in San Jose.  The Dublan ward was organized with Winslow Farr as bishop.

In Dublan Edson serviced as the First Assistant in the Sunday School, from August 16, 1891 until January 21, 1894.

“Edson,” said Catherine, “was appointed president of the MIA. We found that we could not do justice to our callings, however, on account of living so far away.  So much of the time we couldn’t cross the river because of high water.”

From Clara, daughter of Catherine, we get this incident:

I remember how the river came up; water was so high no one could cross it. We had to stay home a lot, for there were no bridges to cross. One time when we went to Sunday School, the river was so we could cross it. I think there were nine of us in the three seated buggy; Zenos, my oldest brother was running the team — a pair of black ponies. When we went home after Sunday School the river had risen some, but we couldn’t tell how much. We drove in and got right in the middle of the stream where the horses stopped. The water was way up on the sides. They looked back as if to say, “We can’t go any farther.” The water was running into the buggy and almost over our laps. There was a Mexican man standing on the bank watching. He got on his horse and went to tell our father that his children were in the river and couldn’t get out. He brought Father back with him. The Mexican had a long rope which he tied to the saddle horn and wrote out in the stream. He tied the other end of the rope to the buggy tongue, and went ahead and pulled us out. We were a happy bunch of with kids when we got across the river.

From Phoebe’s story we get the following account:

In Dublan we plan to send our children to school, but as my boys [Kate’s older children were girls] were not old enough to trust with the team and flood times, Edson told me I had better drive them over. I said, “I don’t want to drive over and back twice a day.” He said I could spend the day visiting. I asked if he would get the teachers, Brother A. B. Call’s, consent for me to go to school also, I would do it. Edson spoke to them about it, and they said I could go. So I drove the team over to school and back every day while Kate took care of my baby girl and her small children.

We again quote from Catherine:

Dublan grew so rapidly that it was soon the largest Ward in the Stake. At one time there were 1200 members. On account of having a new canal built, which was badly needed, people began to leave for other locations. It was wonderful climate, never very cold in the winter, nor very hot in the summer. Had there been plenty of water for crops, it would have been wonderful country. My eldest son, Edson, was born in Dublan, June 10, 1892. Also Asenath Ann was born to Phoebe.

It was decided the Catherine and her family should go to Juarez, a distance of about 17 miles from the ranch in San Jose. Edson had agreed to go there to make shoes for Henry Eyring’s store. In Juarez in that education would be available for the older girls. Phoebe and her family remained on the ranch. Mexicans were hired to help operate the place. In Juarez, a son, LeGrand, was born to Catherine on August 4, 1894. He lived only 14 months. She became to Juarez also for the birth of her son, Francis Milo, July 16, 1893.

Jesse and Phoebe relate and interesting incident which occurred at this time:

Father was writing it three-year-old filly hunting cows that were on the Helaman Pratt ranch, about 17 miles beyond Colonia Juarez -Juarez being 18 miles from our ranch in San Jose. As he rode up the mountainside he saw what he thought was a post… It turned out to be a mountain lion. It gave a bloodcurdling scream badly frightening Edson. As the lion started to head Father off, he made the cold jump over a deep canyon about six feet wide. Here came the lion after him as he made for the house on the Pratt ranch. He and the mayor got safely into a building, but the lion screamed and watched the house until almost daybreak before it went away.

Just after sunset… Mother called us boys to her side and we knelt in prayer, for she had said she knew our father was in danger. I felt then that the Lord had answered our prayer. I can see even now how we ran to see Father when he came home. He told us how Aunt Kate had called her family together in Juarez just as the sun had started to set, even as we had done. Tears came into Father’s and Mother’s and our eyes as he told us how both his families and prayed for his safety just the time when he was in such danger.

Phoebe and her sons worked the ranch with the age of Mexican helpers. Jesse recalls:  

That fall we had a wonderful crop of corn. We had 50 or so Mexicans shucking corn in the fields, and a few of them were a little tricky. After the crop was hauled out of the field, they would go gleaning and seem to find a great amount of corn as they had hidden it inside places. Mother decided to take us boys to look for the places where they had hidden the court. While we were hunting she found a good pair of woolen pants that had been taken off when the day was warm. Mother washed them well and made a fine coat and pants for me. I was proud of my new suit, and when I went to Juarez to visit Aunt Kate the first thing I told to all was that my suit was made from a pair of Mexican pants mother had found.

After two years in Juarez, Edson and Catherine and their children moved back to San Jose and the farm. Here it was that Amelia and Winnie he were born. Mary was born July 22, 1896, and Winnie, August 7, 1898. During this time in San Jose(it must be kept in mind that San Jose was rather like a suburb of Dublan, hence the two names seem to be used interchangeably), the following children were born to Phoebe: Jonathan, September 20, 1895; Homer, August 29, 1897; and Nathan Edward, August 28, 1899.

In the spring of 1899, Edson was called by the President of the Stake Anthony W. Ivins, to go to Colonia Diaz for colonization purposes. Again he took with him Catherine and her family. He did not want to give the farm in San Jose; so once more he left Phoebe and the sons to operate it. Catherine and Edson stayed at Diaz 19 months. He established a tannery there. Justina was born December 20, 1900. She lived only three weeks.

Return to Dublan, Catherine gave birth to Evan Cook, December 29, 1902 and Margaret Irene on July 5, 1905. To Phoebe were born Eliza Rozena, October 16, 1901, who lived for three years; Ellen Moneta, December 2, 1903; Wilford, June 17, 1906, who lived for one year; Vearl, December 12, 1908, who lived only three weeks. What a trial it must have been to see so many of their children taken in death before they reach maturity.

Again we quote from Catherine’s record:

During the time of the Mexican Revolution we passed through some thrilling and exciting experiences. One day a few weeks before we were driven from our home the Mexican rebels, a tent of them, surrounded our house on the farm at harvest time, and demanded that we let them into search our place. It was just noon and our menfolk were all ready to stop work for dinner. My daughter, Clara, was with me. She could speak Spanish; so she told them are men would soon be coming and they should wait until they arrived home. They said they would not wait. They went through all the rooms— turned up the bedding to see if they could find any arms and ammunition. Their search was in vain that time, and they soon left. They came several times in search of guns.

Phoebe report similar experiences: “The Mexicans wanted our menfolk to help them in the war, but our authorities had said for us to remain neutral. They said, ’Give us your guns, then.’ So our people gave them our guns, as Brother Henry Bowman, the merchant in Dublan had a lot of guns in his store. He told her men to give up their old guns and get new ones from his store; so they did.”

Phoebe further relates that after the main body of people had left the town, a few men stayed on to try to keep things in order. The Mexicans were very surprised to find that these men still had good guns and were both able and willing to protect themselves.

Catherine tells us:

It was on July 28, 1912, late in the afternoon that the Bishop sent a runner over for a place to tell us to be ready to leave on the next train that would take us to El Paso, Texas. We were to meet at 1:00 a.m. at the store where the train would take us on. We had to walk out of our home and leave everything we could not packed into two trunks— cows, horses, chickens, all our food and household things. I have tried to keep myself from grieving about all our losses, for worry and grief do not bring back that which is lost. Several of the wealthiest people I knew did not live long after they left Mexico.

Phoebe, Jesse and Juanita, Clara, Francis, Edward and Moneta were with the first group to leave on the train. A few days later Catherine, Evan, Irene and Winnie left together. Edson left on horseback with the other men of the community.

There was a ruling of the Mexican government that a certain percentage of the land occupied by the Mormon colonists had to be owned by Mexican citizens. Edson Porter, among others, took out Mexican citizenship. He became a Mexican citizen September 7, 1897 it was a blessing to the colonists in general, but for his family have proved to be rather expensive, for after the expulsion of the colonies, at the insistence of the United States, the Mexican Government made a compensatory payment to those people expelled. They were paid $.50 on the dollar of the value of the property which they were required to leave behind them. The property of Edson and his family was valued at $350,000, but because he was Mexican citizen he received no compensation.

The refugees were welcomed in the city of El Paso, Texas. The drying sheds of a lumber yard served as temporary housing for them. That first night 1000 people were camp there. More arrived, but gradually they moved out as decisions were made to pick up and continue with forced alternatives.

The Edson Porter families moved to Clearfield, Utah where already several of the children had located Clearfield, they moved to Holladay, Utah, then to Tooele, then to Clarkdale and Jerome, Arizona. Finally, in 1929, they took up residence in Mesa, Arizona— just three of them now. There were two small homes side by side, very near to the temple. Edson, Catherine, and Phoebe were all temple workers.

On December 10, 1933, Edson died very suddenly of the severe pain in the stomach.

Phoebe married Culver Kartchner, a fellow temple worker, July 28, 1943. She passed away March 14, 1945. It was not until her funeral that all her living children were together— Zenos, Jesse, Francis Milo, Nathan Edward, Ellen Moneta, and Alva Elmo. She was 76 years old.

Catherine continued as a temple ordinance worker until 1941 when she was released because of ill health, at the age of 76. She passed away November 1, 1957, at the age of 92. Edson, Phoebe and Catherine are all buried in the city cemetery, Mesa Arizona.

Edson had many acres of farmland in Mexico. He was also busy with his chosen trade—that leather tanning and making leather goods. There were times when he rented much of his land to a Japanese produce farmer in El Paso, Texas. This man had both Chinese and Japanese workmen with them. Edson’s relationship with these men was very, very, good. The family takes great pride in the story related by elder Matthew Cowley:

When I was in Japan a year ago we found a man who, before the war, was the second largest landowner in all Japan… He had 12 buildings on his property, four or five beautiful homes… hundreds of acres. Finally decided to give this land to the Mormon Church… When asked him why he offered it to the Mormons instead of others. He said, “There is a man here named Mr. Mogi and Mr. Mogi told him to give it to the Mormons. Many years ago he used to live in Mexico among Mormon people. He said, ‘I saw what those people can do, their spirit of cooperation, the way they lived, could, clean living, good habits and morals.’ That has remained with me all days my life. And so I said let’s find the Mormons.” Now we have 1700 acres of ground in Japan—all those beautiful buildings given to the church for nothing, because a man lived among the Mormons in Mexico, and the inspiration which came into his life from those Mormons never left him.

Ione A. Pack, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, pg 530

Warriner Ahaz Porter of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico

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Warriner Ahaz Porter

of

the Mormon Colonies in Mexico

(1848 – 1932)

Warriner Ahaz Porter was born May 20, 1848, at Winter Quarters, Florence, Nebraska.  His parents, Chauncy Warriner and Lydia Ann Cook Porter were encamped there with others of Mormon Church who had been driven from their homes in Nauvoo.  In the fall of that same year, Lydia Ann Porter crossed the plains to Utah in a covered wagon, taking with her the infant Warriner and four young stepchildren.

After their arrival in Salt Lake City, they suffered through a year of near starvation before Chauncy was able to join them in the fall of 1849.  Soon after settling in Salt Lake City, he was assigned to manage a sawmill in the Mill Creek area south of the city.  In the autumn of 1854 they moved to Centerville.

The settlers living in Centerville during those early years were beset by many hardships and privations.  Food was very scarce, and cloth or wool for weaving was almost impossible to find.  For this reason, young Warriner worked as a farm laborer at the age of seven, using his earnings to help with the finances of the home.  His formal schooling was very limited, as school was held for only two or three months a year, during the coldest weather when there was less demand for manual labor.

In 1858, Chauncy Porter moved his family to Morgan County, where he went into business with his brothers running a sawmill.  They later founded  a community know as Porterville.  Once again, Warriner was denied a chance for the education he desired so much, but he learned a valuable lessons in knowing how to work with his hands, and grew up strong, independent, and able to support himself at several occupations.

In Porterville there lived the family of Richard S. and Elizabeth Norwood.  Through the years of growing up together, Warriner and Mary Malinda Norwood fell in love. They were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, on October 5, 1867.

Warriner had been raised in a home where plural marriage was accepted as part of his religion.  He was sincerely convinced that it was right, and therefore on July 21, 1873, after he and Mary had three children, he married Martha Norwood, Mary’s younger sister.

The people in Porterville made an attempt to organize themselves in the United Order.  The experiment lasted only 18 months, but the  Porter family believed this to be the right way of life, if people could only learn to live its principles.  Warriner sold his home and farm and moved to southern Utah were the United Order had been set up in the small town of Orderville, Kane County.  Each adult in the Order was assigned to work at the task best suited to his or her talents.  Warriner worked in the cabinet and carpenter shop and later became the manager of all furniture making in the Order.

In addition to this work in the Order, Warriner was busy in church and in civic affairs.  He served as a Ward Teacher, Sunday School Teacher, a member of the Stake Sunday School Superintendency, and a High Councilman.  For a time he was the sheriff of Kane County.  Warriner always felt that the time years he spent in Orderville were the most pleasant of his life.

While living in Orderville, Warriner married his third wife.  On April 23, 1879, he married Rachel Ann Black, a daughter of William Morley and Maria Hansen Black.

When the United States Congress passed laws against plural marriage, it became illegal for any man living this principle to vote, to hold public office or to own property.  Men were hounded, persecuted and even imprisoned.  So these good men who married in the sincere belief that they were doing right were forced to make a grim decision.  They must abandon the wives and children whom they loved, or they must seek some other locality where they might live together as families, free from persecution.  After asking advice from the President of the Church, Warriner decided the only solution was to take his family, leave the United States and settle in the Mormon colonies which were being established in Mexico.

The summer of 1889 was spent in preparation. Property must be sold and business affairs settled.  Clothing must be provided for two years, and wagons teams and supplies must be assembled.  At the time the Porter family began the exodus to Mexico, Mary had eight children, one of whom was married.  Martha had four living children, the oldest just 15 years old, and Rachel’s four living children were all under nine years of age.  Each of the wives was leaving behind a small grave, for each had lost a child.  They had no hopes that they would  ever again see the friends and family they were leaving in Utah, so the start of the journey was tinged with sadness.

On October 3, 1889, the long line of wagons left Orderville.  The Porter family traveled with a good friend, Christopher Heaton, who later married Phoebe Ellen Billingsly, a sister to Mary and Martha Norwood.  Tragedy struck within weeks of their departure. On October 28, Warriner Eugene, Mary’s oldest son, died at Black Rock crossing of the Little Colorado.  He had not been in good health for a long time, and the hardships of the trip overtaxed his heart.  The grief-stricken father and brother retraced their way back about three miles to a small station where they were able salvage enough lumber to make a simple casket.   He was then carried another 10 miles to the town of St. Joseph, Arizona.  Some of Warriner’s people lived there, and it was a great comfort that they did not have to bury him among strangers.

After weary weeks, the travelers reached Deming , New Mexico.  Some miles beyond Deming, they were required to pass through customers.  A bond was set on all their property with instructions that they must return within six months, bringing each item of property to prove it had not been sold in Mexico.  In this way the bond would be lifted.

After crossing the border at Las Palomas, they followed the Boca Grande, traveling along the west bank until they reached the Mormon settlement at Colonia Diaz.  Before they could rest, however, they had to go on to Ascension to report to the Mexican Government.  They arrived there on December 17, 1889.

Warriner returned his family to Diaz and then went on a tour of the colonies of Dublan, Juarez and Pacheco to decide where it would be best for them to settle.  The mountains near Pacheco were covered with tall pines, the first Warriner had seen for many weeks, and he felt that this was the place for him.  Hence, on February 3, 1890, the Porters and Heatons settled in Pacheco on a three-acre flat near the river and under the hills on the northeast side of town.  They tunneled back into the hill to make dugouts, stretched out their tents, and by using the wagon boxes for bedrooms were able to settle into temporary quarters.

Because of his skill as a carpenter, Warriner found a job building a millhouse near Juarez.  But before the task was more than started, he was stricken by a severe attack of chills and fever which left him unable to work for over three months.  Another three months was spent in returning to lift his bond in Deming, so the first years in Pacheco were lean ones.  Most of the bread was made from corn grown by the Mexicans which had to be hauled 40 miles over almost impassable roads.  This corn bread with Mexican beans and molasses made up the major part of their diet.  Deer and turkey could be found in the hills, but the men could spare little time for hunting.

By the fall of 1891, through much back-breaking effort, the families had adequate housing, a good crop of corn and potatoes and a vegetable garden.  A team and tow of the wagons had been traded for milk cows, so living conditions began to improve.  Warriner found, however, that the little farm had insufficient water in the dry season, while the rainy season brought floods roaring down the canyon to wash out dams and ditches. 

When they received an offer of land in Cave Valley, the Porters and Heatons sold the farm and moved, arriving in Cave Valley in the spring of 1892.  Warriner bought a house and lot with a nice orchard and also a small farm.  Then he and Chris Heaton went into partnership and bought a combination shigle and grist mill and they began to prosper. 

During the summer of 1893, Martha Porter became very ill.  On August 21, she died, leaving four children, one of whom was married.  So once again the Porter family was plunged into sorrow.  The three wives had lived together in complete harmony.  The children hardly knew which mother was their own.  Mary and Rachel took Marth’as children and raised them with the same love they showed toward the children born to them. 

Cave Valley was organized in the United Order early in 1893 with Christopher Heaton as President and William Morley Black and Warriner Porter as Vice Presidents.  When the Order leased a sawmill near Pacheco, Warriner was assigned to manage it.  For two years, he and Rachel lived there while Mary kept things going in Cave Valley. 

Christopher Heaton was killed by Mexicans while working at the manufacture of molasses in the Casas Grandes Valley.  Warriner was stunned by this loss, as Chris had been a brother as well as a good friend.  Phoebe Ellen, Heaton’s wife, moved her family back to Utah.

William M. Black was then made President of the Order, but it was not to last much longer.  The settlers were forced to leave their homes because of a misunderstanding about financial arrangements.  The Order was dissolved and the settlers moved back to the other colonies.  With others, Warriner chose to move to Pacheco.

A short time before Chris Heaton’s death, Warriner had bought his share of the mill.  But tragically, just after making the final payment on it, the mill burned to the ground.

While living in Cave Valley, four more daughters had been born.  Mary’s daughter was the last of her 11 children.  The first of three daughters born to Rachel during this period lived only a few weeks, so there was another small grave to leave behind.

The move to Pacheco necessitated the buying of a farm, as all the Church land under irrigation had been taken up.  The farm that Warriner purchased contained a very good site for a water-powered mill.  The dam which had furnished water for this area had been washed out, leaving the farms with and the mill high and dry.  Warriner offered to rebuild one third of the dam if other farmers would help with the rest.  It was finally agreed that each famer should pay for his share according to the size of his farm.  Warriner’s farm was of such size that he ended up being responsible for building two-thirds of the dam and two-thirds of the upkeep of the ditches.  When a water company was formed he was logically elected president.

After moving his families to Pacheco in 1897, Warriner returned to Cave Valley and gathered up all of the equipment which had not been destroyed in the fire with the mill.  He was also able to salvage enough lumber from the old home to build two rooms on his farm.  By constructing a workshop near the mill, he provided adequate shelter for his families.  During the next three years Warriner and his boys managed to add eleven rooms to the house.  This home served as comfortable living quarters for both families.  There was an enormous living room in the center which was shared by both families, while on each side were the private living quarters, so that each family could have its own individuality.  This was a happy time for the family, marred only by the death of Rachel’s year-old son on August of 1899.

In 1903 Warriner sold the shingle mill, keeping the little gristmill to grind his own grain and that of the mountain settlements.  He purchased a sawmill and was soon selling lumber throughout the colonies.  This mill was operated near Garcia for a time and was then moved to Pacheco.  In 1905 it was decided to move the mill back to the boundary line between Pacheco and Garcia, locating near the head of Round Valley Draw.  His sons were now able to do most of the milling, while Warriner drove a four-horse team, hauling lumber to the various settlements.

Then disaster struck again in the form of the worst flood ever to hit the valley.  It tore the mill from its foundation and carried with it over 50,000 feet of lumber which was scattered in all directions.  Once again this intrepid pioneer gathered up the pieces and started over.  The mill was rebuilt a few miles down the canyon, although it meant a debt of over $1,000, an overwhelming amount for those days.  After the mill was completed, Warriner went into partnership with his son, Omni, who then took over management of the mill.

The Pacheco Land Company was formed about this time for the purpose of assisting settlers to purchase their land from the Church and owning it on a private basis.  Warriner was chosen president of the company and spent many hours of his time helping to complete the negotiations.

The Porters met with another business failure when they took a contract to float a large amount of timber down into the Casas Valley where it was to be milled at the railroad.  They had somply taken on more than could be accomplished and so were not able to fulfill the contract.

The immense financial loss of this experience really hurt, but it seemed as nothing to Warriner compared to the loss of his wife Rachel.  She died on May 5, 1906, just eight days after the birth of her 14th child. The baby daughter lived only one day.  Rachel left 11 living children, one of whom was married and one living away from home. 

It was hard to adjust to this loss, but as always, their faith gave them the needed strength.  Mary, now 55 years old, became a 2nd mother to Rachel’s children, just as she and Rachel had for the children that Martha had left. Of the three families, there were four boys and ten girls still at home.  With a family of this size, Warriner could not afford to be idle.  He tunred the sawmill over to his sons, keeping a one- half share, and operated the shingle mill as well as doing carpenter work, cabinet building, and farming.

Somehow, Warriner always found time to carry his full share of responsibility in church and community. He served as President of the Pacheco Land Company and as a school trustee, and was always on hand to help with community improvements.  His church positions included being a teacher in the Ward, a Stake High Councilman, a Stake Missionary assigned to visit all the Wards, and many other callings through the years.

In 1910, a terrible epidemic of typhoid fever rated through the colonies.  Rachel’s daughter Hortense, a lovely girl of 20, was stricken with the disease.  She died on August 30, 1910.  It was a great blow to lose her in her young womanhood.

In 1911 and the early months of 1912 Warriner spent a great deal of time and money in a complete remodeling of the shingle mill.  He had no sooner put it into operation than they were forced to leave it.  The civil war in Mexico was growing worse and the Mormon colonists were ordered by their leaders to leave the country.  They were given 36 hours in which to reach the nearest railroad, 35 miles away.  Each family was allowed to take only a small amount of clothing and bedding and just enough supplies to get them to El Paso.

Thus, on July 30, 1912, the Porters took their departure from Mexico, leaving an estimated $30,000 worth of property, none which was recovered in Warriner’s lifetime.  After settling his bills and collecting the little he could of money owed to him, Warriner had $17.00 in his pocket with which to move 7 people over 1,000 miles.  His married daughter and her family, number six, also traveled with them, making Warriner responsible for 13 people.

How they accomplished this is another story in itself.  But through their faith and their industry they succeeded.  Because some family members had previously moved to the small town of Grayson, in southeastern Utah, it was decided to move there.  Warriner and Mary Porter lived in Grayson, now Blanding, in San Juan County, Utah, until 1922.  Then they moved to Salt Lake City where they spent their declining years working in the temple. 

Mary passed away on September 10, 1929, at the age of 78.  Warriner carried on alone, faithful and active to the end of his life, which came on May 28, 1932, just after his 84th birthday.

Warriner Ahaz Porter stood at the head of a numerous posterity.  He was the father of 30 children, 10 boys, and 20 girls.  At the time of his death he could count 125 grandchildren and 55 great grandchildren.  Although the last years of his life were spent in poverty in a financial sense, he was wealthy in those riches of life which count the most.      

Carol P. Lyman, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 537

Mormon Colonies in Mexico

Jesse Nathaniel Smith, Jr.

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Jesse Nathaniel Smith, Jr.

1861-1912

Jesse Nathaniel Smith, Jr. was born May 16, 1861 at Parowan, Utah.  He was the seventh generation of an influential family of Smiths who came from England and settled Topsfield, Massachusetts.  From father to son, they are: Robert, who migrated in 1638, Samuel, Samuel II, Asael, Silas, Jesse Nathaniel, and Jesse N., Jr.

Samuel held many positions including that of delegate to the Provincial Congress, and chairman of the “Topsfield Tea Party.”  Asael was a free thinker and predicted that one of his descendants would “promote a work to revolutionize the world of religious thought.”  His grandson, the Prophet Joseph, was that man.

Jesse N., his brother Silas S. and their widowed mother were called to settle in Parowan, Utah.  The boys’ lives were parallel, Silas in Colorado and Jesse N. in Arizona.  Jesse N. held many positions in both state and church, among them legislator and President of a Stake. He married Emma S. West, daughter of Samuel Walker West and Margaret Cooper.  Jesse N., Sr. had five wives and 44 children.  All but two of the children grew to maturity.  Two of them died before marrying.  The other forty all married in the temple.  Their posterity, as of 1967, numbered about 6,000.

Jesse N., Jr. was sealed in infancy.  His life was saved by the administration of the Elders and the application of home remedies He went to school two or three months each winter.

At age 17 he was recommended to attend the University of Utah to prepare to teach.  He returned to his home town to take up his profession.  During his first year he courted Mary Ann Mitchell, daughter of William C. Mitchell and Mary Ann Holmes.  The Mitchells joined the Church in England, migrated to Utah and became community builders at Parowan. They did well, financially.  Mary Ann was born February 10, 1863.  Her mother took sick when she was nine years old and the girl assumed most of her care until she died five years later.

Jesse N., Jr.’s teaching was interrupted when his father was called to preside over the Eastern Arizona Stake.  In the early spring of 1860 he helped his father move the family to Snowflake, Arizona.  While there he worked with her father who had contracted to build a section of the Atlantic-Pacific railroad over the Continental Divide, near Ft. Wingate, New Mexico.  Jesse then returned to Parowan to get his bride.  They were married in the St. George Temple, October 14, 1880.  From there they went to Snowflake where he took up his profession as a teacher, his wife working with him.  Mary Ann returned as her family came along.  Jesse N. III and Elias were born there.  Jesse N., Jr. took up some land nearby which squatters jumped.  Even though he knew there were Texas cattlemen hostile toward the Mormons, he rode up and claimed the land anyway.  By diplomacy he persuaded them of the justice of his claim. 

Jesse N., Jr. fell in love with one of his students, Nancy Ann Freeman.  They were married September 11, 1884.  Her parents, John Woodruff and Sarah Adeline Collins Freeman, were sturdy pioneer stock.  They answered the call of the First Presidency to help colonize the St. George country.  He was called to be Bishop of the Washington Ward until 1877 when he was called to help settle northern Arizona.  He moved to Snowflake and became a prominent citizen of the town.

The Edmunds anti-polygamy law was being enforced with vigor.  Many were being prosecuted.  President John Taylor decided the Saints in Arizona who were vulnerable should go to Mexico to colonize.  He called Alexander F. Macdonald to take charge of the project.  Brother Macdonald took a company, which he located south of the border at Corralitos.  President Taylor also instructed President Jesse N. Smith to warn the brethren liable to prosecution for polygamy to go to Chihuahua, Mexico, on the Casas Grandes River.  He then appointed Apostle Moses Thatcher to be a committee to purchase lands. 

President Smith organized a company to go immediately.  His son Jesse N., Jr. being in a public position, joined the group. They left on February 10, 1885, and after 18 days of hard travel over mountains and rivers arrived at La Ascension, the site of the Mexican customhouse. 

A meeting of the committee was called the next day at Corralitos to plan operations. For months the committee met and made explorations.  Brother Smith was also appointed to preside over the camp at Ascension.  This entailed helping with payment of duties.  The camp entertained customs officials at the best dinner they could prepare.  The officers reciprocated.  Brother Smith signed bonds for the payment of duties by some of the colonists.  He also had to join in giving surety for the payment of double duty imposed by the government in certain cases.  He wrote a remonstrance to the Treasurer General who finally remitted the assessment.

On November 25, a conditional contract was signed for the purchase of 20,000 hectares of land in three locations for 12,000 Mexican pesos.  Three days later Brother Smith returned to Arizona as other members of the committee had done.  Jesse N., Jr. chose to dedicate his life to pioneering in the new country so he remained in Mexico.  During the months he had been active in camp affairs, he rented land which he farmed.  Jesse N., Jr. committed himself to learning the language, customs and legal procedures of this new land so that he could be of service as a mediator between the colonists and the Mexicans.  He learned to speak the language fluently.  He also did a great deal of studying in other fields and came to be known as one of the best-read men of the colonies.

It is unique that with all his training and culture, Jesse N., Jr. turned to raising cattle and horses.  He moved to Colonia Juarez where he taught a class in grammar and raised a crop.  Here he commenced his life as a gentleman-stockman by caring, with Lyman Wilson, for the town dry herd on the Tinaja Wash.  Mary Ann’s daughter, Mary was born there.  After two years the lack of feed and water required them to find new pastures, so Jesse N., Jr. (as he was always known) took the herd up into the Sierra Madre Mountains and located them on a ranch in the Corrales Basin. 

At Tinaja, Mary Ann had made butter from cream that raised on milk set in pans.  At Corrales she also made cheese.  They pioneered cheese-making by using galvanized tubs for vats.  Then Franklin Spencer joined them and they made cheese in shares.  After they moved to Pacheco they continued the cheese-making, using their own cows.  Nancy Ann’s sons, John Woodruff and Francis Clair, and Mary Ann’s son, William Cooke, were born at Corrales. 

On February 12, 1891, Jesse N. Smith Jr. was ordained the first Bishop of the Pacheco Ward.  He had moved into town to teach school.  Mary Ann also taught.  As Bishop, he took the lead in community, as well as church, activities.  Handling tithing was the hardest of his jobs.  Tithing and fast offerings were paid in kind, as with livestock, crops, eggs and butter, all of which had to be sold or consumed. He frequently went to the city of Chihuahua to sell tithing stores as well as his own crops and cheese.

Three sources of anxiety plagued the community:  Indians, Mexicans, and “Black Jack,” the cattle rustler.  Mexicans killed the wife of Brother Macdonald in Garcia.  They also killed Brother Heaton who was guarding his molasses.  Indians killed the wife and shot one of boy of the Thompson family.  Indians annoyed and threatened the colonists in many ways.  Bishop Smith kept horse and Winchester in readiness at all times for an Indian raid.

Eventually, in the interest of the education of his family, he moved them to Colonia Dublan.  There he bought a large farm of about 100 acres.  He bought a home for Nancy and later built a house on the farm for Mary Ann.  Then misfortune came.  The cattle with which he expected to pay for his new home were driven off before he could round them up.  After 16 years of married life he had to start all over again financially with 13 in the family.  But this also meant he had lots of help, and two crops could be raised on the land each year:  grain in the winter and another field crop in the summer.  With family organization and hard work, they managed to survive. 

Jesse N., Jr. was called on a three month MIA mission to the Gila Valley in 1898-1899.  He was called upon to strengthen the faith of the faithful and encourage those of less conviction to increase their activity in the Church.  After his return he moved Mary Ann into a brick home in town.  Before this, the Mexicans stole a great deal of his stacked grain but when he built good stockyards in town and hired Mexicans to work for him they became friendly and trustworthy. 

In 1900 he took a contract to haul lumber from the sawmill near Pacheco to Terrazas.  He moved Mary Ann to Brown’s Ranch.  The two older boys hauled the lumber down the dugway to the ranch where it was loaded onto trailer wagons with two, three, and four teams in tandem.  It was here that Jesse N., Jr.’s life was miraculously saved.  A flying board from a heavy wind struck him on the back of the next at the base of the skull.  Although he was thought to be dead he was administered to and his life was restored.  He related how his spirit left his body and hovered over it.  He saw his wives and little children and pleaded to be able to return and care for them.  He heard the blessings of the Elders and was permitted to return to life.

The contracted completed, Jesse N., Jr. moved his outfits to Naco, in Sonora.  He hauled coal to the mines at Nacozari and brought back ore.  Later, he worked on the railroad.  Here he put to good use his knowledge of Spanish and of Mexican law.  He helped many people to cross the border both ways.  At Colonia Morelos he and the older boys hauled ore from Cananea to Douglas for three months.  He returned to Dublan on the fall of 1901.

On May 18, 1902, Jesse N. Smith, Jr. was set apart as Stake Sunday School Superintendent of the Juarez State, a position he held until his death.  It was said that he was the best Stake Superintendent in the Church at the time.  He traveled much by team visiting the schools, a distance of some 200 miles from one end of the Stake to the other.  He wrote letters of instruction and encouragement.  Another thing that made his ministry successful was his ability to choose men and women of character to serve on his board.  These included Harry L. Payne, Junius Romney, Ben F. LeBaron, Gaskell Romney, Willard Call, L. Paul Cardon, Wilford Farnsworth, Edward Payne, William G. Sears, Ed McClellan, Verda Pratt, Lucile Robinson, Ada Mortensen and Myra Longhurst.

In 1904 Jesse N., Jr. was made superintendent and manager of the Dublan stock pasture.  He fenced around the lakes which furnished water; when the water dried up in the summer he pumped it with a horse-powered centrifugal pump.  His boys did most of the riding and the pumping.  He also imported well-bred horses which he sold.  A proup of men came in from the States and established ranges nearby.  They created problems at times, but he maintained respectable relations with them.  After trying to involve him in a “maverick” incident, one of the men said to Jesse N., Jr.’s son, “Your father is too honest to be a cattleman.”  Mary Ann gave birth to Joseph Holmes and Sara at this time.  Sadie died.  Elias died also.

The Mexican Revolution was a sore trial to Jesse N., Jr. At first he was able, because of his use of their language, to prevent soldiers from taking his horses.  But when sickness came upon him he was forced to watch them ride off on his last horse with his own saddle.  He worried a great deal about the welfare of others.  One Sunday at noon, he suddenly said, “I must go to Diaz; they are having trouble.”  Although he couldn’t get out of bed, he continued to talk about it. Within the hour word came that Will Adams was killed at Diaz. 

His sickness lingered for a year.  He had suffered at intervals form the blow of the flying board.  On one occasion when he was very sick his family in Snowflake called a special fast.  Local Elders were called to administer to him at the appointed time and he recovered.  But gradually his entire nervous system succumbed to the frailty of his condition.  Jesse N. Smith, Jr. died on August 13, 1912, just two weeks before the Exodus.  At the funeral, his remains were carried into and out of the meetinghouse between two rows of Sunday School children.

After Jesse N., Jr.’s death, the wives took their children to the United States at the time of the Exodus.  Mary Ann, with seven children, visited Snowflake, her former home, then moved to Parowan, the home of her children.  There, her sons built her a home near her brothers.  She sold it to follow her boys when they went to college.  She died at Virden, New Mexico, at the home of her daughter in 1949.  Nancy Ann gathered her children at El Paso, then joined them at Virden, New Mexico, a town they helped settle.  They provided her a home in which she lived until her death in 1951.  As of 1967, all but five of the children had passed on – all strong in the faith and activity of the Church. 

William Cooke Smith, son

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 620

Charles Edmund Richardson

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Charles Edmund Richardson

(1858-1925)

Charles Edmund Richardson was born in Manti, Sanpete County, Utah, October 13, 1858.  He was the son of Mary Ann Darrow and Edmund Richardson, converts to the Church, who had been called to Manti to help increase the population of that city as protection against Walker’s band of Indians.  They later moved to Springville, Utah.

From his father, Edmund learned mechanics, carpentering, and building.  He was considered a prodigy because of the eas with which he absorbed learning.  When he was 14 years old his parents died, leaving to him the care of a younger brother, Sullivan Calvin.  This responsibility developed in him resourcefulness and ingenuity.  Thoughtful and logical, cheerful but never loud, he was inclined to plainness in clothes and manner, and yet was possessed of natural dignity.  He was cautions but never worried or fearful.  His hair was red, and, even as an old man, he had an erect figure which he maintained until his death. He had steady blue eyes and grew a heavy moustache.  After the death of his parents, he worked fo a short time in the mines but later took his younger brother and went to northern Arizona to join the United Order at Brigham City.  There he learned the art of community living and developed his skills in the trades.

Although he had married Sarah Louisa Adams (Sadie) in 1882, and Sarah Rogers in 1887, polygamy was not the reason he moved to Mexico in 1888.  Rather, it came about because of a misunderstanding over land.  This prompted him to leave Pleasant Valley, near Heber in Arizona, and move south with Sadie and their three small children.  He turned to Mexico because his friends and the relatives of his wife were either already there or planning to go there.  His recent plural marriage simply supported his decision. 

On a hot summer day in 1888, Charles E. Richardson and his family crossed the border into Mexico and settled in Colonia Diaz, a fast-growing Mormon colony three years of age.  This was not his first trip to Mexico, for he had interrupted his duties in the Indian Mission in 1885 to be transferred to northern Chihuahua as an interpreter for Apostle George Teasdale and others during the Mexican land purchase negotiations.

Edmund was an immediate asset to the Mexico communities.  He set up blacksmith and carpenter shops and came to be rated during those early years as one of the best mechanics among the Mormons in Mexico.  He shod horses, made wheelbarrows, and handcarts.  He even made a complete windmill, including pump.  As a complete wheelwright, he made repairs to wagons and wheels for the colonists.  He had taught school on his earlier arrival in Mexico and was one of the first school teachers in the colonies.

During those first years there was much sickness in Colonia Diaz, and no professional medical help was available, only services of several devoted women who served as practical nurses and midwives.  Among these were Annie Nelson, Maude Acord, and, later, Leah Jane Keeler, who was a registered nurse.  In January, 1891, tow of Edmund’s children died almost the same day.  This sorrow so affected him that he resolved to do something about the lack of medical help.  He consulted with doctors in Deming, New Mexico, Casas Grandes, and El Paso, Texas.  He bought books on medicine and drugs, and charts on anatomy.  He purchased a skull and the trunk of a skeleton.  With encouragement from area doctors, he began to study medicine earnestly.  William Gailbraith owned a large drugstore in Chihuahua City and, when Edmund and his brother, Sullivan, learned that Gailbraith was going to return to the United States, they bought his drug stock.

Aided by regular and frequent consultation with doctors, Edmund became remarkably successful in the practice of medicine among the colonists.  In 1892, he was called upon so much for medical service that he was forced to neglect other duties.  Often, the gristmill which he had set up earlier was left all day unattended, except by his nine-year-old son Eddie, who was too small to pour grain into the hopper, so the machine ground on without wheat until some older person happened by.  This was one of the first water-powered grist mills installed in the colonies.  He christened the mill El Molino Joyero, meaning “jewel mill.”  

Edmund successfully applied his ingenuity and resourcefulness to many facets of the Mexico colonization project, but perhaps his greatest contribution was with legal problems encountered by the colonists.  Many precedents established by cases he fought in the Mexican courts proved invaluable to the welfare of the Saintes long after the Exodus in 1912.   

In January, 1896, Edmund received a mission call to Great Britain.  This was later changed to Mexico City to allow him to study Mexican law to prepare him to act as legal advisor to the Mormon colony Diaz which, at that time, was considered the most thriving of the colonies.  Two other men, Pleasant S. Williams and Hyrum Harris were also called at the same time to study law to prepare for duties at Colonia Dublan and Juarez. 

Having lawyers among the Mormons was a wise move inasmuch as the colonists had suffered for lack for legal counsel from the time they first crossed the line into Mexico.  Some cases had dragged on for years and amounted to nothing less than extortion or blackmail.  In compliance with the missionary call, Edmund enrolled as a student at the University of Mexico where he completed a four-year course in two years and graduated with honors. 

Through a series of circumstances, Edmund became the only “home grown” lawyer in the colonies and the sole source of legal counsel unless Mexican lawyers were engaged, whose sympathies were not always clear.  A fellow colonist said of him, “As a lawyer in Mexico, Edmund Richardson knew his stuff.”  And a Mexican lawyer is said to have observed, “If Don Edmundo is on the other side, we will not take the case.”  He had a phenomenal memory and the word of Don Edmundo, as he was called, came to be received with deference at the jefetura (county seat).  His son Edmund is authority for the statement that Charles Edmund Richardson never lost a case in the Mexican courts.

In 1889 Richardson married Caroline Rebecca Jacobsen, and, in 1904, Daisy Stout.  He had also brought his second wife, Sarah Rogers, down to Mexico.  Edmund was a family man cum laude.  His family and genealogical records kept in his own handwriting are examples of his efficiency and thoroughness and compliment to his love for his families.  That the family was due to their deep religious convictions, forbearance, and the wise counsel and just dealings of of the husband and father.  He created such harmony and good attitudes that the family continued to have close and strong bonds of affection even after Edmund had died.

In the latter part of 1904, Edmund moved his wife Sadie to Colonia Juarez and later established a home there for his fourth wife Daisy. This move provided a home for the lawyer during the time his legal duties kept him a t Casas Grandes, county seat, and put the children near the Juarez Academy.  However, Sadie and Daisy often returned to the ranch at Colonia Diaz to spend the summer.

An incident told by Edmund’s daughter, Hazel, reveals the need of the people for the help he could and did give.  “One day,” said Hazel, “not long after my father’s death, I met Daniel Skousen of Colonia Juarez on the streets of El Paso, Texas.  AS soon as the greetings were over, he asked me where my father could be reached, and said, “We need him so much.  If we could only persuade him him to come back to the Colonies!  The people down there are in trouble and he is our only hope.  He must come back!”  When I finally said, “He is dead,” Uncle Dan Remarked, “No one will ever do for the colonies what he has done.  He filled his mission faithfully and well.  He knew how to handle the Mexicans and they knew that they would receive justice.”

Adam Fredrickson of Colonia Diaz noted that:

Edmund Richardson was a student of merit, utilized all his spare time for study.  His overland trips were made with a team and a book.  He spoke both Spanish and English fluently.  His interesting and enlightening sermons were second to none, and were enunciated clearly.  He had the best control of his temper of anyone I knew.  Once while he was fencing his property, an angry stockman who favored open grazing reviled him with abusive language and every foul name at his command.  Richardson went calmly about his work remarking, “If you get any pleasure out of calling me such names, just go ahead.”  Even when the cattleman threatened to strike with a shovel, Richardson laughed him out of it.  He was a friend to everyone… He helped many a poor family enjoy a better Christmas because he helped Santa put dolls and toys on the community Christmas tree.

Edmund Richardson tried to make the best possible use of every hour for he believed that wasting time was foolish and irresponsible.  He read avidly while traveling to his appointments at the courts, or on business, thus accumulating a superior store of knowledge.

Because he was so capable, it was sometimes a relief to find that he was human, too.  An incident will illustrate this.  His wives, Sadie and Becky, when they fed the pigs, were in the habit of going together, one carrying the feed in a bucket and the other armed with a large stick to keep off the pigs as the women approached the trough.  One day Edmund was at home, he decided to feed the pigs himself.  “Take a stick,” cautioned Sadie.  “Never mind my dears.  Don’t worry.  I will take care of myself,” he called back as he walked away out the kitchen door, both knowing well the difficulties involved, and yet wondering if he could possibly take care of the situation. But before he reached the trough, an overeager pig had run from behind, pushed himself between Edmund’s legs, tripping him.  Before he realized what was happening, Edmund was down on the ground, completely out of sight of the watching women, surrounded by a horde of scrambling, pushing pigs.  It is understandable that the story was told and retold with relish by the wives.  The husband, after all, was just human enough to still have something to learn.

Charles Edmund Richardson’s versatility was evident by his many activities:  law, medicine, cattle raising, farming, mechanics and blacksmithing, teaching, designing and building, reconciliation fo the needs and demands of his wives and pluaral families, not to mention his church activities.  He managed to crowd all these activities into his life with a fair degree of success in every area.  He seemed to have a driving force and ability to manage his time which enabled him to accomplish what he did.

His daughter, Hazel R. Taylor, happened to be talking with Anthony W. Ivins, President of the Juarez Stake in Mexico, and perhaps Edmund’s closest friend in Mexico. At the time of the conversation with President Ivins was then in Salt Lake City as Counselor to the President of the Church.  President Ivins said, “Do you know you have a wonderful father?” Hazel, who adored her father, as did all his children, said, “Well, I am his child and perhaps inclined to be prejudiced, but I think that my father is just wonderful!”

Brother Ivins went on, “I suppose that he did as much or more good for the colonies in Mexico that any other man.  Did you know that except for one thing he would have had many important positions in the church, but we couldn’t depend on him…”  Shocked, Hazel interrupted him to expostulate regarding her father’s dependability.  She said she could not imagine him, who knew her father so well, thinking such a thing.  President Ivins quickly said, “Now wait, let me explain,” and went on to say that her father had a brilliant mind, that his capabilities were remarkable, that his spirituality was far above average, and that his principles were unquestioned, but that because of his mission he could not be relied upon to fill scheduled church appointments.

This was certainly true.  When he was teaching commercial law at the Juarez Stake Academy, the only way students knew whether he was in town was by the ringing of the bell.  Edmund would advise the custodian, John Allen, when he came into town to ring the bell and students would prepare for class.  Because his lessons were so enjoyable he was retained as the teacher of the adult class in Sunday School for many years.  Likely as not, Brother Richardson would be found in some Ward other than his own on a Sunday, and was usually called upon to talk in his clear yet deep and thoughtful way to an appreciative audience while his Sunday School class accepted a substitute.

So it was true, as President Ivins indicated, the positions Edmund held in the Church did not reflect the extent of his abilities, his spirituality, or his dependability.  Through he valued his property holdings, he valued his membership in the Church and his testimony of its truthfulness far more.  His entire life dedicated to compliance with its demands.  He honored his priesthood and was sincere in his devotion to it. He vowed to submit to authority, and succeeded in every instance.  Great characters stand tall, and Charles Edmund Richardson towered with other stalwarts who established and maintained the Mormon colonies of Mexico.  He was a pillar of strength on whom others depended for help. 

In August, 1925, Edmund became ill and passed away.  H was buried in Thatcher, Arizona. He was the father of 36 children, 24 of whom grew to adulthood.  If there is anything that can be said to describe the family generally, it would be an unusual closeness among the families of the four wives, the clean living and high moral character of the family members, and their involvement in church activity. Among his posterity are found professional men and women in the fields of medicine, education, law, and finance.

Compiled and submitted by members and descendants of the Charles Edmund Richardson family

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 564

Elmer Wood Johnson

Elmer Wood Johnson

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Elmer Wood Johnson

Elmer Wood Johnson was the son of William Derby Johnson and Jane Cadwallader Brown.  He was born on May 18, 1854 in Kanesville (now Council Bluffs), Pottawattamie County, Iowa.

His parents, before coming to Iowa, lived at Nauvoo, Illinois and personally knew the Prophet Joseph Smith.  When Elmer was two years old the family moved 6 miles above Omaha, Nebraska on the Missouri River to Old Winter Quarters (now Florence, Nebraska).  It was here he spent his first school year.  He often related an incident told him by his mother, that when he was a very small child he stood with his mother and watched the first handcart company go by on their way to Salt Lake City.  In that company was Anna Matilda Baldwin, his future mother-in-law.

In the year 1861 when Elmer was seven years old, they trekked to Salt Lake City with other pioneers.  They traveled with a company of pioneers under the direction of Sixtus Johnson, a cousin.  There were a good many ox teams and a lot of people, and as near as he could remember, they were about three months on the road and traveled about 1,500 miles.  His father had his own outfit and brought his family, who were seven in number, his sister Almera and her two daughters, his brother-in-law Alva W. Brown and a teamster.  They had four teams, one with four yoke of oxen, on with two yoke, one with one yoke, and a single horse and wagon.  This horse and wagon were used especially for Elmer’s mother and the smaller children.  He remembered well the way they camped at night.  The would form their wagons in a half circle to the right, and a half circle to the left; in the center a large fire was  made to keep them warm and give them light.  After singing, reciting, telling stories, sometimes dancing and sometimes holding formal meetings.  Evening and morning prayers were never neglected.  Elmer was too young to remember much himself, but as he grew older his parents often told him about the trip.  He did remember Indians coming into camp several times but no serious trouble with them and also seeing small herds of buffalo.  His brother Willie, four years older, drove the one yoke wagon.

 One incident taught Elmer a great lesson.  One morning while the camp was preparing to start, and all fo the grownups were busy getting ready, he and his cousin Della climbed into the wagon they were going to ride in.  She was sitting up front; he was to the reare end hanging on some wagon bows.  On one of the bows was an old pistol.  Elmer was sure the pistol would misfire more that it would fire and recalling that his father warned Willie not to leave it loaded, Elmer took it down to Della and suggested to her that they play “hold up,” each taking turns demanding something from the other.  They had been planning for some time this way when Della grabbed Elmer’s straw hat from his head and stuck it on her head.  Elmer, whose turn it was to be the bandit, demanded to have his hat back.  Della of course refused, so hin fun he said, “Give me my hat or I’ll blow your brains out.”  She said, “I’ll not do it.”  He took aim at the back of her head and pulled the trigger.  To his horror it went off.  Della jumped out of the wagon, her hand clasped to the back of her head and blood running down her neck.  Running and screaming she cried, “Elmer had killed me.” Elmer’s mother came running to the wagon where Elmer sat frozen stiff with horror.  They understandable why Elmer was always opposed to both young and old pointing a toy or real gun at anyone. 

Enduring the usual hardships of pioneers the Johnsons arrived in Salt Lake City in the early part of 1862.  Elmer’s father bought a house on South Temple Street between 3rd and 2nd West.  While living here Elmer attended the first school in Utah and during that winter he was baptized.  When 12 years old he was ordained a Deacon.   He sant alto in the 15th Ward choir for about four years and he took part in in the first local play at the Sale Lake Theatre.  When he was 17 years old, President Brigham Young advised Elmer’s father to move to southern Utah.   They stayed one winter in Washington near St. George, then settled at Johnson 15 miles east of Kanab.   During the winter of 1872-1873, Elmer, in his late teens, attended school three months; that was the last of his formal schooling.

While going to school that winter he met Mary Jane Little. He tells the good one. We just didn’t how impressed he was with her and could describe the color and kind of dress she wore; she was only 12 or 13 years old. About three years later Elmer persuaded Mary Jane to marry him. She was not quite 16 and he was 21. On November 5th they left now for Salt Lake City by team and wagon, with his sister-in-law Lucy Johnson as a chaperone. After traveling two and a half weeks, camping at night and cooking over a campfire, they arrived. They were married November 22, 1875 by Daniel H. Wells in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City and they arrived back home December 22.

It was during this time that men in the Church were advised by the Authorities to take more than one wife, and so on November 22, 1879 Elmer married his second cousin, Julia Anna Orton.

In the fall of 1880 Elmer was sent on a church mission. He bought each of his two wives enough material for two grasses and left them in the same house, with $.25 cash. Elmer had been gone only 18 months when he became ill with chills and fever. Because they couldn’t get., He was given an honorable release and sent home. His wife met him, dressed alike, white Leghorn hats with black ribbon bands, and streamers at their waists, black shoes and white stockings. Elmer was surprised to find all debts paid and much more in the house then when he left.

When their babies were born about a year later, there was only a month difference in birthdates. The wives lived in the same house and plan and made their baby clothes alike. Two years later the stork again visited mother and Aunt Julia.  On 20 February, 1885, another little girl was born to and Julia. They called her Anna. About three weeks later on March 13, 1885, a son was born to Mary Jane. This was Elmer Wood Johnson, Jr.

By this time, for safety reasons, the wives were not living in the same house. Elmer, along with other Mormon polygamist men, were being sought by U.S. Marshals. Eventually, with others, Elmer served his time in jail. Finally Pres. John Taylor advised those who wish to live in polygamy to go to Mexico. In the autumn of 1885, Elmer took a part of his brother Wille’s family south of the border. The next year he decided on a like move for his own family.  Julia was expecting a baby in October and Mary Jan in January.  Elmer left Julia at Johnson with his mother and in September 1887, with Mary Jane and their four small children, he left for Mexico.   They traveled in covered wagons.  Bed springs were put in the wagon box to serve as a bed for the mother and two younger children.  Elmer and the older two youngsters slept under the stars except when it rained.  Then all spent the night in the wagon.  The trip took two months.

They arrived in Colonia Diaz latter part of November, 1887. Other families were already there. They pitch their tents and proceeded to prepare for winter. On January 22, 1888, another daughter was born while the family was living in a tent. The tent leaked and Elmer had to keep hands on the bed to keep mother and baby dry. Sometime in 1889, Julia and family went to Mexico. By this time Elmer had seven girls and one boy.

Mary Jane and her older girls decided to go into the candy business. They paid $100 for a pure sugar candy recipe, got a small hand mill, and started the business. As it grew they were unable to handle it in the home kitchen so Elmer built a little candy shop. He decided to help with the candy making and it became a major part of the family income. Candy was applied to all the Mormon colonies as well as to some of the Mexican communities nearby.

Elmer had good looks and a pleasing personality. Most everyone in the community referred him as “Uncle Elmer.” He served as chairman of the dance committee for about 12 years, was head of the old folks’ committee, and was in charge of the dramatic Association productions. He lost social dancing and with a clear voice called the quadrills and other public dances in Colonia Diaz. He imparted the first phonograph in the colony and put it to frequent use. He sold tunes to the young people. He had a little room in the front of the candy shop where he sold candy and soft drink made by Mary Jane. Elmer put the gramophone in their on dance nights. He had a large horn for it and earphones to serve for couples. It went over big. The gramophone was as thrilling then as TV is to us today.

He also sent back east for the first “store” Valentines, both comic and pretty, and sold them. He was always trying to promote the interests of young people in homemade entertainment. A favorite pastime was hayrack riding.  “Uncle Elmer” could always be depended on to provide a team and rack, serve as chaperon, and have fun along with the young people.

After living in Mexico 25 years, going through many hardships, building their homes and pioneering a new country, the Elmer Johnsons left their homes in July 28, 1912, with the rest of the Saints.  A few minutes before 10:00 a.m., 84 wagons, hacks, and buggies filled with people, bedding and lunches, pulled out of town with between 600 and 700 men, women, and children.  We did not camp until we were on U.S. soil.  We finally pitched camp at Hachita, New Mexico and were provided with tents and provisions by the U.S. Government, and from there the people scattered in all directions.  Before all had gone, however, some 17 babies were born and several old folks had died whil waiting in the camps.  When the colonists realized that they could not go back, word was sent all that the U.S. Government would provide free transportation to anywhere in the United States that the refugees wished to go.  It was ironic that the same government that 25 years previously had compelled them to take their families to Mexico was now feeding them and providing them with refuge.

It was impossible for Elmer to take both families with him, because he was destitute. A daughter, Mary Heva, and her family lived in a dry farm near Idaho Falls. She and her husband invited her father and mother and any others who wish to join them and Homestead land in the area. Members of the family decided to go north to Idaho, take up homesteads of 340 acres with adjoining corners.

Elmer second wife Julia was not among those who settled in Idaho. She went to Oregon where her brother Joel Orton lived. She stayed there about year, then spent the next year in Salt Lake City. In the summer of 1914, she moved to St. Johns, Arizona where her daughter Caddie was living. She yet had two younger daughters with her. The rest of her children had married. She lived there the rest of her life, passing away in 1946.

Elmer and Mary Jane struggled on in Idaho, and endured enormous hardships. Eventually, they decided to sell their farm and moved to Salt Lake City where they could work in the temple. Mary Jane’s health was poor and Elmer spent increasing amounts of time caring for her. Despite great want, they were always faithful tithe payers. On November 22, 1925, they celebrated their golden wedding anniversary at Heva’s home in Ogden. They had been married for 56 years on November 22, 1931. Mary Jane passed away January 12, 1932 in Salt Lake City. After this, Elmer seemed to lose interest in life and people. In the spring of 1936, after breaking his ankle and being sent to the hospital, Elmer began to slip rapidly. On May 6, 1936, he quietly passed away and was laid to rest by Mary Jane in the Salt Lake City cemetery. At his passing, Elmer Wood Johnson had between 80 and 90 grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Abby Johnson Gooch, daughter

Stalwart’s South of the Border, Nelle Spillsbury Hatch page 351