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Warren Longhurst

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Warren Longhurst

(1868 – 1951)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch,

Stalwarts South of the Border page 409

New Pancho Villa Photos Surface

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NEW(?) PHOTOGRAPHS ON PANCHO VILLA

Rondal R. Bridgemon

I am an amateur historian of the Mexican Revolution with special emphasis on the events that took place in and around the Mormon colonies of northwestern Chihuahua.  As such, I have seen numerous pictures of Pancho Villa.  Recently, friends (Sullivans) shared a couple of photos that I believe could well be rare photographs of Villa.  One is alleged to have been taken in Colonia Garcia (Villa with midwives and their spouses) and the other (Villa at a natural spring) was possibly taken in Madero around 1915.  Let me give you a brief background as to how these pictures came into my possession.

Tito Carrillo, a friend and fellow Mata Ortiz aficionado, has been a long time trader and tour guide to Mata Ortiz (Pearson).  He has been going through a period of dialysis and during his recent stay at the Life Care Rehab in Tucson; he struck up a friendship with patient Loren Perry.  During one of their conversations, Loren pulled the two photos from his wallet.  Ron and Vicki Sullivan (Sahuarita, Arizona residents) scanned the photographs and Ron did a brief phone interview with Loren to get more of the historical background on names, places, and faces.  Loren is Mormon and apparently his grandmother knew Villa.  The photographer is unknown. The photo captions are what Ron and Vicki pieced together.  

There is writing on the back of the bathing photo that appears to have been done by three different people.  Initially believed to say “Madera,” the writing in the middle appears to say Madero, a small village just south of Nuevo Casas Grandes.  This really is more reasonable than Madera as there are natural springs and pools in the Madero area.

Answers could solve a few questions that come to mind. When did the village take the name of Francisco I. Madero – by 1915?  Does the name in the middle mean the Mormon Clifford Whetten and did he own property in Madero?  Does anyone recognize any of the people in the photographs?  If so, please contact me through Las Colonias Magazine.

While I can’t locate the Colonia Garcia photo anywhere else, there is a partial, low resolution photo of Villa in the swimsuit (image reversed) on The Mex Files website: (http://mexfiles.net/2010/05/11/pancho-villa-as-youve-never-seen/). I believe this photograph comes from the collection of Ciudad Victora, Tamaulipas, historian Osiris Villa Huerta who is hoping to find a better image. I will send the “Loren Perry” photographs to him.

Poncho Villa with midwives and their husbands of Colonia Garcia

Poncho Villa with midwives and their husbands of Colonia Garcia

Handwritten description of Poncho Villa bathing suit photo

Handwritten description of Poncho Villa bathing suit photo

Pearson Ballinger

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                Pearson Ballinger

(1832-1910)Pearson Ballinger young

Pearson Ballinger, a High Counselor in the Juarez stake of Zion, Mexico, was a son of John Ballinger and Mary Sparrow.  He was born in Leigh, Gloucestershire, England, June 9, 1832.  His own account follows.

I was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, October 6, 1853, and crossed the Atlantic Ocean in the ship Thorton in 1856.  With wife and one child, I resided in Quincy, Illinois for six years; here I buried the child one and a half years old. There were born immediate Quincy one son and two daughters, namely, Albert, now residing in Ogden; Emily (Mrs. Emily Ballinger Ware) now dead; and Clara (Mrs. Clara B. Williams) residing in Ogden. We moved from Quincy to Florence, Nebraska where we resided six weeks, and then started on our journey across the plains in Capt. Brunson’s company.  We left Florence with a blind pony and two cows, the cows furnishing milk and butter sufficient for our needs. We got along all right until we were 300 miles from Salt Lake City, when one of the cows gave out. The Captain of the company told me to ask brother Williams for another cow to assist me on my journey, as he had plenty, but he refused to let me have one. I then prayed concerning it, after which my cow was able to travel and stood the rest of the journey well.

The company followed along on the old “Mormon trail,” passing close to the Carthage jail, and crossed the river Keokuk. We arrived in Salt Lake City August 29, 1862. Here we stayed a few days and then went to Ogden where I obtained work with Elder Lorin Farr, assisting to build the first flour mill in Weber County.  I worked for Elder Farr for several years and also worked for Elder Peery as a millwright, etc., for 10 years.

I have seven children born to me in Ogden, namely: Willard, Frederick, James, John, Charles, George, Sarah and Isaac. Willard and Frederick died in infancy. Charles died at the age of 14 was smallpox. John, George and Sarah (now Mrs. Sarah B. Wright), and Isaac are still residing in Ogden.  

I went to Hooper for a while and had a farm there, Bishop Belnap being my nearest neighbor.  I was driven from Hooper and exiled for conscience sake and went to Mancos, Colorado, where I resided for three and a half years.  Here I worked at the coopering trade and ran the grist mill for three years.  I also helped to build the first meeting house at Hooper.  I returned to Ogden and was arrested and put under $2,000 bonds.  I then left Ogden again for Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, December 20, 1890, again enduring necessary trials incidental to the building up of a new country, being exiled from my family.  

Often I longed for the leeks and onions of Utah, as at times I would tire of Mexican mush and molasses and would wish for something else for a change.  But I still rejoice that I have passed through these trials with the Saints, knowing that the Gospel is true.  I have now resided in Colonia Juarez 17 years with wife and one child, Alma Nephi, and I expect to close my mortal career here, as I am now 75 years of age and quite feeble.  I was ordained a High Priest in Ogden, in 1889, and set apart as a member o the High Council in Colonia Juarez, in 1894.

Pearson Ballinger died August 23, 1910, in Colonia Juarez.

Stalwarts South of the Border  

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

page 24

William Wallace Haws

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William Wallace Haws old

William Wallace Haws

(1835 – 1895)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Stalwart’s South of the Border page 254

On July 24th 2014 over sixty Mormon colonist descendants ascended Temple Hill overlooking Colonia Pacheco to honor their pioneer ancestors.  They came to pay tribute to the original men who scouted future Mormon settlements for colonization by unveiling a new plaque and capstone to replace an older plaque that and capstone, which were both missing since the 1950’s.

The original monument had been constructed by the Pacheco Boy Scout troop in 1935.  Dan Jarvis helped spearhead the project of replacing the original plaque and monument that was originally placed by his uncle Ray Jarvis who served as Scout Master.  

Later that evening a Pioneer Day celebration was held at the home of Ed and Gayle Whetten with most of the Colonies residents attending.

 

(L-R) Dan Jarvis, Vila Ruth Wakkure, Michael Houghtaling, Marie Haynie Houghtaling, Linda Edwards, Carl Haynie, Joe Haynie

Marie Haynie Houghtaling and John Whetten reminisce at Temple Hill commemoration.

Marie Haynie Houghtaling and John Whetten reminisce at Temple Hill commemoration.

24th of July 2014 Pioneer Day celebration Colonia Juarez, Mexico. Home of Ed & Gayle Whetten.

24th of July 2014 Pioneer Day celebration Colonia Juarez, Mexico. Home of Ed & Gayle Whetten.

Names of Pacheco and Temple Hill scouting party and settlers.

Names of Pacheco and Temple Hill scouting party and settlers.

Colonia Juarez colonist Ed Whetten stands next to Temple Hill monument.

Colonia Juarez colonist Ed Whetten stands next to Temple Hill monument.

Plaques relating the story of Temple Hill.

Plaques relating the story of Temple Hill.

60+ attend the commemoration with new plaque and monument on Temple Hill, Colonia Pacheco, Chihuahua, Mexico

60+ attend the commemoration with new plaque and monument on Temple Hill, Colonia Pacheco, Chihuahua, Mexico

Dan Jarvis with plaques of Temple Hill history

Dan Jarvis with plaques of Temple Hill history

James Douglas Harvey

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James Douglas Harvey beardJames Douglas Harvey

(1863-1912)

My father, James D. Harvey, had two wives and when Church leaders advised men living in plural marriage to go to Mexico, he was one of those who made that long journey south in 1890. He and my mother, Sarah Elizabeth Kellett, went to Colonia Diaz, leaving the other wife, Nancy Anderson, with her folks until they could get a place. They bought an adobe structure with a dirt floor.Father worked for John W. Young who was attempting to build a railroad through the country at that time. This required my mother to stay at home and care for the garden and similar chores by herself. The railroad project failed. Father came home but receive no pay for his work. Mother had worked so hard while he was gone getting the garden planted that she was sick and lost the baby.

In the autumn of 1890, they sold the place where they were living for a team and wagon and moved into a tin shop. In March 1891, they took the team and wagon and went to Deming to meet my father’s second wife, Nancy, and her little boy.  They succeeded in buying two lots on which all live together.  My mother inherited a home which she sold for sheep that she was able to also sell for enough money that she was able to buy a nice three-room house in which the entire family lived for some time.

Both my mother and Father’s wife Nancy gave birth to children 1892. There was a drought at the time and nearly all the cattle died from thirst. My parents’ only cow was one of the victims. Then it rained so much that the wheat grew in the bundles. They would pound it out on a canvas with sticks and grind it into flour.  Flour was so scarce that it was selling for $10 a hundred.  There were some fruit but no milk and no grease of any kind. They learn to make cake without grease.  The Church gave them some beef but it was so poor they just made soup out of it.  They raised garden vegetables and lots of cane and made lots of molasses. It was delicious. They made cornbread with vinegar and soda. Mother could not eat it. It gave her heartburn and took all the skin off her throat and tongue.  On one occasion, a family came from their hometown in Utah and stayed with them for a week. They had brought lots of flour with them and other groceries. They divided them with our family for which we were very grateful. Then the family went on up into the mountain colonies to settle.

The next summer our family raised grain, plenty of fruit and garden vegetables. They also made butter, cheese and had lots of eggs. My father took these things out to the mines in the mountains to sell. After a great deal of hardship and saving all we could, my father was also able to purchase a farm five miles west of town.

On this farm my parents raised two crops of potatoes every year, grain, corn, and came to make molasses. There was a two room house on the farm. My father’s wives took turns living there in the summertime.

I remember being told as a child how Apostle George Teasdale had dedicated a certain spot on which he wanted Colonia Diaz to be built. He named it Rock Joseph.

But the settlers were already starting their farms elsewhere and didn’t want to move. As it turned out, it was wise that they didn’t move because when the river flooded the area was so swamped that a levee had to be built.  They named the place where the settlers located Colonia Diaz.

During all this time father’s families were growing. Eventually each of his two wives had nine children, 18 in all.

In 1912, Frank Whiting arose at two o’clock in them morning with a crying baby and heard a commotion in the co-op store next door to his home.  He looked out the window and could see some Mexicans trying to pry open the doors of the store. He slipped out of the house rounded up some of the men of the town. When they arrived back at the store the Mexicans were leaving. Whiting and the men with him shouted for them to halt but they refused. Consequently, the men fired on them and killed one of the thieves. One of those running away was named Cesario. He didn’t have a horse but succeeded in making his way to his home on the edge of town. It was his brother who was killed. When he found out that his brother that was shot, he went out to his farm which bordered on the land we owned. He allowed his mother-in-law to live at the farm house and kept his own family at home in town. He knew how to get into the store because he was always hanging around and observing the Mormons who owned and operated it.

Once a Cesario reached his farm, he turned his horses in my father’s grain, which, at the time, was ripe and ready to harvest. On the morning of May 3, 1912, my father and my brother Will were in that part of his properties the horses were permitted to enter.  When they saw the horses, Father told Will to go over to the house until Cesario to please take care of his horses. Will said he was afraid to go over there because the family had such a mean dog. So Father said he would go, taking a shovel for protection against the dog. When he had almost arrived at the house, Cesario came out swearing, using foul language. His mother-in-law was crying, begging him not to be violent. But Cesario swore that he would get gringos to pay for the death of his brother.  He had a pistol and pointed at Father but his mother-in-law knocked his arm down forcing him to miss. This made him so angry that he knocked her to the ground.  Father raised his shovel and was going to hit Cesario, trying to escape him by running around the house. My brother Will was shouting at Father telling him which way to go but Cesario was able to get close enough to fire, and shot my Father through the heart. He shot him three times. He walked up after Father fell and shot him in the temple close eye.

Will ran to Mexican neighbors and told them what happened. They took him into their house and told him that if Cesario were to come after him, they would protect Will with their own guns. But rather than pursue Will, Cesario had taken a horse into the Mexican town of La Ascension.  Will then went to the house and told the rest the family what had happened, telling him to go cover Father’s body with the quilt and that he would go to town and get help. Everyone was terribly frightened. I was married at the time and Will had to pass by the home where I was living, and gave me the sad news. I then took my baby and went to comfort my mother as best I could.

The Bishop and others of the men from town took a wagon and went to the home of Cesario where my father still lay. Some other men went to La Ascension to get the authorities to conduct an inquest so that the body of my father could be brought home. It was late afternoon before the Mexican authorities came out to the place were my father’s body was. When they arrived, they arrested Brother Jim Jacobson and those with him rather than pursuing Cesario. Father’s body was placed in a wagon and brought home. It was drenched in blood and was a horrible sight. When Jim Jacobson and the boys got to the La Ascension they said it was like going into a den of hungry wolves. The Mexican population was so aroused they didn’t expect to get out of there alive. The next morning three Mexican officers came out and looked father’s body but never did anything about it. Cesario was allowed to go free.

Some of the Church brethren  went over to La Ascension to see if they couldn’t have Cesario restrained or put behind bars so he could not do any more killing. The Mexican sheriff just cried and said that if he tried to do anything more people would be killed and to please just go home and peace. They did allow Jacobson and the boys to leave jail and return to their homes. My father was buried on May 5, 1912.

His sons went to the farm, gathered the grain and planted a second crop of potatoes. They lived in fear all the time. We were told later that Cesario was killed by Poncho Villa. I and my husband, George Guile Hardy, then went with my mother and her four small children north across the border to visit her people in Utah and Idaho. While there, we heard that the leaders had directed the colonists to leave, taking only what they needed for they would be gone for only a few days.

Those in Colonia Diaz went to Hachita, just across the line where some American soldiers were stationed.  Some men and boys remained in the colony to watch and care for the people’s livestock and properties but word was sent for them to come out also and to join the rest in Hachita.  They never went back.  The Rebels that came through were so upset at not obtaining guns and ammunition that they burned and destroyed everything they could.

Sarah Agnes Hardy, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch pg 235

 

William Cook Prows

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William Cook Prows

William Cook Prows

(1827 –1894)

 It was the upper Kanawha Valley, Virginia (now West Virginia), on the eleventh day of June, 1827, that a son was born in the home of Thomas Prows and Elenor Kounts (Kountz).  He was given the name of William Cook Prows.  Two brothers, John Thomas Prows, born July 15, 1819, and Daniel “W” Prows, born 1824, along with a sister, Mary Ann Prows, born February.  22, 1822, greeted the new child.

Thomas Prows’ father was born April 17, 1792. We have record of two brothers of this Thomas, a Daniel and a Samuel G. His mother, Elenor Kounts, was born January 4, 1802. Temple records indicate that both Thomas and Elenor came from Virginia. We also have record of three sisters of Eleanor—Mary, Jerusha, and Margaret—listed from St. Louis Missouri.

Very little is known about the route his family followed westward. However, records indicate that other brothers and sisters were born in Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

We know that after arriving in Utah territory, William married Lodeskey Ann Roberds on the 14th day of April, 1850. He entered plural marriage by taking Louisa Melinda Rowan James to wife on 6 June, 1867.  Like so many others, this led to difficulties because of laws passed by the federal government prohibiting polygamy.

In 1891, William Cook Prows sold his property and farm of 12 acres to Anthony Paxton for $650 to move to Mexico. His family had coaxed him into going there that they might get away from the U.S. Marshals.

In the year 1892, William went as far as Mesa City, Arizona, accompanied by Lodeskey and their sons, John and Joseph, with their families.

The following November, his second wife Louisa James, and family, joined them in Mesa. On Christmas eve of that year, 1893, William remark to his wives, “well, I am going to give to all my children here, something that I have never given them before and never will again.”  Awakening Christmas morning, each child found by his stocking a watermelon picked fresh from the vine and a bottle of wine William’s own making.

Early in the spring of 1894, William took Louisa and her family and left for Mexico. Elizabeth Jane Barney narrated this adventure:

 We were going from Mesa to Juarez, Mexico for the purpose of establishing a home. We pastor El Paso, Texas and traveled several days out into the desert. There were three wagons and one buggy in this caravan. The trip from Mesa to Mexico took about a month. After several days journey from Tucson, my mother became very sick which continued to increase in intensity as time went on… My father desire to get out of the sand into a country where gravel could be located, for the purpose he later stated, to find a suitable place to bury mother, as he feared that she would pass on any minute… On the certain day, he started very early in the morning in order to make as much distance as possible, but after traveling a few hours, my mother’s stated that she could not stand the jarring any longer… Camp was made and preparations were made for breakfast.  Then man suddenly appeared in camp not more than 10 or 20 feet away. The stranger asked, “How are you?” To which my father replied, “I have a mighty sick wife.” Father raised the wagon cover, the stranger extended his hand and placed it on mother’s forehead and gently rubbed her head… After a few minutes he said to father, ”Come out here and I will show you something to give your wife and she will be all right and you can be on your way.”  A scrubby tree was some green berries on it was near. After taking a few of these he went on a short distance and told father to gather the leaves from a small shrub growing in the desert. He told my father to steep a tea from the berries and leaves.

 Father insisted that he stay and have breakfast but he said he must be on his way. One of the children did something which drew our attention and, upon looking up, the stranger had suddenly vanished. The tea was made and given and my mother soon revived.

 It was sometime in March before we reach Colonia Juarez, Mexico and they started planting their crops immediately. One afternoon in May, William Cook wasn’t feeling well. That night he arose from his bed and went outside where he was very ill. Louisa brought him back into the house and seeing that he was dying, cried, “Oh, William, don’t go and leave me in this God-forsaken country all alone!”

Before he died he said to Eliza, “I want you to go back to Utah and see that my father is sealed to my mother and their children sealed to their parents for they have all been sealed to President Brigham Young.” This sealing was attended to by President Lorenzo Snow.  William Cook Prows died May 24, 1894, at Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. They had no money with which to bury him, but a Mr. Thomas Romney loaned them enough with which to bury him and the Relief Society made his clothes. He died at 5 o’clock in the morning, and the government gave them until 2 o’clock the next day to get him buried. But at 8 o’clock the next morning a messenger came to the door and told them that Mr. Prows had to be in the ground by 9 o’clock, which gave them one hour. They just got him into the ground when the hour was up and here came the law.

William Cook Prows was not unprepared to meet his Maker, for his faith, sacrifice, hardships and obedience to the Gospel had brought many rich blessings, which he recognized had been given him.

He honored his priesthood above all else. He was a Seventy and a High Priest and died a faithful Latter-day Saint.  He sacrificed his association with his father, sisters, and brothers that he might be with the body of the Church.  He showed kindness and love to his fellow men and lifted the downtrodden. He followed the Savior’s admonition, “Thou shalt teach my children to walk uprightly before me.”  His children and grandchildren down through the ages should feel grateful for the heritage he left them, a heritage to be proud of, a goal to work for and an example to follow.

The death of William C. was a heartbreaking experience for his family. On the eighth day of December, 1895, they left Mexico, arriving at Mesa City, Arizona, the latter part of January, 1896. They left Mesa on 8 June, 1896, and went on to Kanosh. After a few years at Kanosh, Louisa moved to Clawson and resided a number of years, experiencing extreme hardship and privation, until the boys grew to manhood, where they tenderly cared for her in her later years. They moved out into the Uintah basin at Altonah, Duchesne County, and Louisa lived there until five days before her death in Salt Lake City, January 4, 1929.  She had gone to visit her daughter, Elizabeth J. Barney, caught a bad cold and was not able to fight it. She was buried in Kanosh, Utah. Her sons-in-law were heard many times to remark, “She was one of the best women that God ever sent to earth.” Besides her own eight children she raised seven orphans.

Lodeskey Ann had remained in Arizona to see how they came out in Mexico. It is said she bought a tombstone in Mesa and took it down to Mexico to put at her husband’s grave. She had to get a Mexican permit to put it on the grave. In August, 1894, she applied to the US government for widow’s pension and it was granted to her. She left Mesa on June 8, 1896, and returned to Kanosh, Utah.  In 1907 she moved to Salina, Utah to live with her eldest son, John Thomas. There she died on September 2, 1922, at the age of 87. She was buried in Salina Utah.

Excerpted from the family generation book and submitted by Merle Howle Dow, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border pg 553

George Washington Sevey

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George Washington Sevey

George Washington Sevey

1832 – 1902

George W. Sevey, the first Bishop of Colonia Juarez, was born February 25, 1932, in Le Roy, Genesee County, New York.  He was a son of George and Hannah Libby Sevey.

In LeRoy, a frontier township, his education was limited to about six months of actual schooling, yet his love of learning made him conversant with topics of the day and gave him what was considered a normal level of education for pioneer times.

He grew into a strong, well built man, with a pleasing personality that drew people to him. He was the main support of his widowed mother, and in 1849, wishing to add to her material welfare, he acquired the “gold fever” that sent hundreds of easterners to California.  Hiring himself out as a teamster to accompany of gold seekers, he started his long trek to the West, promising his mother that he would return with enough gold to fill her every need.

On his way west, he heard unfavorable reports of the Mormons and so determined to avoid them.  He probably would have bypassed Salt Lake City or made haste to pass through it, had he not become so ill that he was replaced as a teamster and left at a wayside camp. In telling later of this part of the story, he recalled thinking he had died and that his spirit left his body. His spirit hovered near enough to observe the body, repulsive and emaciated as it lay beside a stream. But something told him his work was not yet finished, and that he must re-inhabited his body. He was soon picked up by a passing party and left in Salt Lake City.

Distrustful and fearful of people of whom he had heard unfavorable comments, dreaded contact with them. He had to have work, however, or starve. A friendly Mormon offered him a teaming job, moving freight to Palmyra, Utah.  There he took lodging with the Mormon family and was taught the Gospel by the way this family lived. His fears began to seem foolish, and his heart softened. One night he attended a cottage meeting out of curiosity.  There a miracle happened. And man to whom he had been listening indifferently, unexpectedly began speaking a strange language.  Even more strange was fact that George can understand them. The man was speaking directly to him, in a language  non one else could understand. “You must not deny the voice speaking to you, or be deaf to what it is trying to tell you. Listen, and you will be the means of taking the Gospel plan of salvation to your widowed mother and be a savior to her.”

These words so disturbed him that he was unaware of the sermons end.  The hush and quiet of the room aroused him and he heard the next speaker ask if anyone had the interpretation of the sermon spoken “in tongues.” When no one responded he wondered why they all could not understand it as well as he had. But his lips are sealed and he could not tell them the wonderful thing that has happened to him. All he could do was sit with questions racing through his mind. When the questioners singled him out and pointed asked, “don’t you know the interpretation?” He merely shook his head. When the meeting was over without any interpretation being given, he walked out, wondering why he had denied something he knew was true.  Throughout the night he was tormented by a feeling of cowardice. On his knees, he confessed to his maker his weaknesses, asked for strength to do as his heart dictated, and then dropped into slumber. Then, first the family, and later to the Elders, he confessed to the conviction he had formulated during the night. With peace in his soul, he knew his search for truth was over, that though he had not found the gold he had left home to seek, he found something far more precious. He later fulfilled the promise that he would be a savior to his mother by sending a team to the Mississippi River to meet her, and she was brought to spend her last days in his home in Panguitch. She died a firm believer in the Gospel.

He was baptized May 3, 1853 by Steven Markham, presiding Elder of Spanish Fork, then a frontier town made up of Saints who had to abandon settlement attempts at Palmyra. Here he met the Redds, the Paces and the Butlers to whom he became attached and with whom he was to spend much of his later life. Here he met Lem Redd, who became a lifelong friend, and this friendship was cemented into a family relationship when they married sisters. George married Phoebe Butler, daughter of John Lowe and Caroline Farozine Skeen Butler, December 5, 1854. They spent their early married life in Spanish Fork.

George was helpful in harnessing mountain waters, and bringing life to the sage-covered desert areas and planting orchards, fields and gardens. He was a factor in carrying out Brigham Young’s policy of feeding rather than fighting the Indians and took the lead in a campaign to share food and make friends with them. He built a cabin for himself and his wife on the banks of the Spanish Fork River. She cooked what they ate over an open fireplace. She carded and spun cloth for clothing and he made their shoes. Undaunted they endured pioneer life together.

In 1861, he was called to help settle southern Utah, at Harmony, Washington County, being among the first to locate there. It was then called Ash Fort, and was near old Fort Harmony. They made the trip from Spanish Fork in a covered wagon drawn by oxen, with one extra ox and two cows. They spent the night with John D. Lee had built the fort. George and Phoebe were among the first settlers, and made camp near the Jim Payson family, also relatives by marriage. Their tent was soon replaced with a log cabin.

But the “Big Storm” the next year crumbled the fort, washed away a part of their farmland, and even took two lives. So a move four miles north was imperative, and the town became New Harmony. New settlers arrived, the Redds and more Paces.

George was made First Counselor to Wilson D. Pace when a Ward was organized. He built a three-room log house, cleared land, got a few sheep and cows, peddled what he raised in the mining town of Pioche, Nevada, and soon set up a store in New Harmony with a Mr. Pateson, a Pioche merchant, to back him in the buying and selling of merchandise.  It was New Harmony’s first store. He also built a water-powered sawmill with an up-and-down saw, and hauled timber from Pine Valley Mountain with ox teams.

Here he met Margaret Nebraska Imlay, daughter of James Haven and Hannah Eliza Coward Imlay. With her, George made his first step into the principle of plural marriage. Two years later, he was called by President Brigham Young to lead a party and resettle Panguitch now that Indian troubles had subsided. He placed the following advertisement in the Deseret News: “All that wish to go with us to resettle Panguitch Valley will meet at Red Creek on the fourth day of March 1871, and we will go over the mountain in company to settle that country.”  From Red Creek (Paragonah) he drove over rough mountainous roads into a high valley where cold and snow had made the fertile valley prohibitive for settlement until arduous labor and wise planning made it into a thriving community.  A mountain stream was harnessed, soon making it a community surrounded by ranches and farms, where sheep and cattle businesses prospered.  Panguitch, within two years, numbered 500 people, and George became its first Bishop, a position he held for nine years.  In 1875 he went with others to Potato Valley to assist in the settlement of what later became Escalante.  In 1877, when the Panguitch Stake was organized he was chosen to be the First Counselor to Stake President James Henrei, but still maintained his office as Bishop.  In these two capacities he attended the dedication of the St. George Temple in 1877, going by way of Pipe Springs to inspect the source for food that was provided to temple workers.

On December 19, 1877, George married Martha Ann Thomas of Pine Valley, Utah, a daughter of John Pledger and Mahala Matthews Thomas.  The following year, as a favor to the Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition, George, in company with Lem Redd, George Morrell and George Hobbs, floated a raft over the Colorado River, and, in deep snow, spent almost a month marking out a wagon road from the Colorado River to Bluff on the San Juan River.

While he was Bishop, many industries were started:  shoe and harness shops, a printing press, a shingle mill, pottery plant, and others.  The community boasted of many tradesmen, such as carpenters, masons, blacksmiths, seamstresses and musicians. A church-schoolhouse of brick was soon built to climax other enterprises.  He was rated as one of the outstanding characters of the pioneer days.  He made brooms for sale, shoes for himself and others, and before his life was over he had become successful in farming, stock raising, freighting, and promoted the building of roads, canals, and railroad grades.  By 1885 he was considered a well-to-do man.  Cattle and sheep stocked his ranches, his barns were filled with hay.  His dairy furnished milk which was sold to miners in Nevada.  His comfortable homes housed contented families.

But in that year, 1885, the hopeful outlook for the future was drastically changed by the enforcement of the Edmunds Act that outlawed his form of family living.   To escape arrest and imprisonment he left it all, took his plural families and joined others fleeing to Mexico.  He located at Camp Turley near San Jose on the Casas Grandes River while waiting for land purchases to be completed.  There he heard the letter read that appointed him Presiding Elder of Colonia Juarez.  When word came to move onto property finally purchased, he led the camp members to what later was called Old Town.  When it was discovered that they had put their improvements on private property, he led them to the present site of Colonia Juarez, maintained the same policy toward land ownership and used the same method to build a brotherhood and neighborly atmosphere.

George took a town lot after the survey was completed, and a farm up the river, then started operations for building canals to bring water to the desolate spot their real claim turned out to be.  He promoted road building over the eastern hills to facilitate entrance to the town.  He scouted the forbidding San Diego Canyon over which lumber had to be hauled from the sawmill on top of the mountains.  He encouraged the completion of the school and church house and bought a tannery in which John. J. Walser and sons soon began making leather from the tanned hides of cattle. He established Martha Ann in the lumber home he soon built on his town lot, and Margaret in the same type of home four miles up the river.  From an orchard he was soon peddling fruit, and he raised alfalfa on both pieces of property.

In June of 1887, the Juarez Ward was organized and Miles P. Romney and Ernest L. Taylor were appointed as his Counselors, making an outstanding Bishopric.  Miles P. Romney kept watch over the morals of the community and promoted cultural activities and set a level that is still maintained.  Ernest L. Taylor, besides being the peace officer, promoted businesses of cattle and stock raising.  Bishop Sevey, warmhearted and congenial, full of compassion for the erring, quick to see the needs of those struggling against odds, kept the principles of brotherhood growing.

 

George was saddened when word reached him of the death of his wife Phoebe, who passed away on August 4, 1892 in Panguitch. It was impossible to attend her funeral. This bereavement was beset with another worry, that of Maggie’s ill health. Before the next three years had passed, it was plain to see her illness was malignant. With no medical help in the country to fight this dread killer, and knowing of his good friend Doctor Blackburn in Utah, George immediately fixed a conveyance in which he could travel comfortably and set out to get help.  He traveled against time and did his best to cover the miles with all possible speed. It was in vain. Maggie died within a few miles of their destination. He buried her in Panguitch beside his departed Phoebe.

The return to Mexico to move Martha Ann to the farm, put the motherless children into her care, and was soon at work again in his capacity as a ward leader. He made sure that the owner of every lot had his quota of hillside pasture for milk cows. He created a fund for the keeping of widows and those in need. He had the rare art of giving without hurting, and too many he became an Angel of mercy. He frowned on bickering among neighbors and from the pulpit urged his congregation not to “go into the new year with hard feelings against her neighbor. Go to him and acknowledge her faults if you have been wronged. If you can’t fix it up among yourselves, then let the Ward Teachers help.”  Created a scab pasture for tithing cattle and a storehouse for produce gathered by the Deacons as fast offerings, and dispensed it to those in need.

George’s long life on the frontier was taking its toll, however. In deference to this he was released as Bishop in 1896, is six years later he died, on June 22, 1902. He was buried in the cemetery in Colonia Juarez. He left the posterity of 30 children, among whom are financiers, state legislator, bishops, many missionaries and church workers, all blessed with benign qualities and all promoters of the love of brotherhood.

Tom Sevey, son

Stalwart’s South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch  page 605

Lemuel Hardison Redd

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Redd house Colonia Juarez, Mexico. Courtesy of www.brimhallkerby.com

Redd house Colonia Juarez, Mexico. Courtesy of www.brimhallkerby.com

Redd, Lemuel H

 

 

Lemuel Hardison Redd

                (1836 – 1910)

Lemuel Hardison Redd, eldest son and fifth child of John Hardison and Elizabeth Hancock Redd, was born at Sneeds Ferry, Onslow County, North Carolina, July 31, 1836.

In 1839 his parents moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, where his father acquired a huge tobacco plantation and purchase slaves to operated it. In 1842, converted to the Gospel by John D. Lee, he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Becoming convinced that one man should not be in bondage to another, he freed his slaves, sold his plantation, invested the proceeds in wagons and ox teams and prepared to migrate to Zion. While these negotiations were in progress, he and his wife made a trip to Nauvoo to become acquainted with Joseph Smith. There they were given Patriarchal Blessings by Hyrum Smith.

Emigrating west they joined Captain Session’s company at the Missouri River. Lem, a boy of 14, walked and drove and ox team the entire distance to Utah. Although slight in weight and short in stature, he was agile and strong and a quick and willing worker. When cholera broke out in camp, taking the lives of many, he and his father both survived an attack. Without further incident, other than fear of Indians and of being run down by buffalo stampedes, they arrived in Salt Lake Valley in October, 1850.  The family settled in Provo, then a village of some 50 families. There Lem and his sisters went to school, and one sister, Mary Catherine, died.  The next year, the Redds, with William Pace and family, moved to Spanish Fork, being pioneers in its settlement. There John, the father, built the first sawmill, which was burned by hostile Indians. Soon afterward, Lem was assigned defense service against the Indians, while his father assisted in erection of a fort. This was the beginning of the Walker War.

There seem to be no time to build the rock house which John H. had in mind to duplicate his Murfreesboro home, and it was postponed. His wife Elizabeth, and his son, John Holt, both died.  Soon after, his two older daughters, Moriah and Elizabeth, married Wilson D. Pace and Harvey Pace in a double wedding.  Lem himself married Keziah Jane Butler, daughter of John Lowe and Caroline Skeen Butler, on January 2, 1856.

All these family changes made John’s dream house pointless and his mission to help settle the Muddy was given up. Lem, newly married and still living in the fort, was called to take his father’s place in settling the Muddy.

Members of this party were chosen with care. They were instructed on what the mission entailed and learning something of the Indian’s nature and various approaches to them. All were well supplied with guns and ammunition and instructed in self-protection. They left in the spring of 1856 and, after traveling some time but seeing no Indians, they became alarmed for they were aware of nearness by signs.  Horses were driven off, and clothing and foodstuffs were stolen and unobserved moments. One Indian was seen from a distance, but he skulked out of sight. How could they make friends with such an elusive people and fulfill the mission of preaching the Gospel to them? As result, they were released and allowed to return to their homes, Lem went back to his home in the fort, and 1856 , his first son, Lemuel Hardison, Jr., was born.  Life in the fort created bonds fellowship.

Relationships were cemented between the Butlers, the Paces, the Seveys, the Redds and other first settlers of Spanish Fork.  John Lowe Butler was Lem’s father-in-law as well as that of George W. Sevey, who had married Keziah, Jane’s sister, Phoebe.  Harvey and Wilson Pace were his brothers-in-law, and all remained firm and lifelong friends.

 The year 1856 was a hard one. An epidemic of measles afflicted most of them, Lem and Keziah (Kizzie) being confined to their beds at the same time. Snow lay on the ground three and four feet deep.  Canyon roads were so completely blocked that all able-bodied men were called to keep the passes open.  In the snowbound state, telegrams came stating that immigrant Saints, late in beginning their trek across the plains, were starving and freezing in the mountains. Lem was chosen to go with his father and others to rescue them.

In 1858, Lem’s father was thrown from a horse and killed, leaving a young wife, Mary Lewis, and a year-old baby daughter besides his half-grown son, Benjamin.  That year crops were good and life seemed propitious. But the Utah War disturbed and frighten the Saints. Lem, with about 2,000 other men, became part of a standing army detailed to do guard at mountain passes in an effort to keep Johnston’s Army from entering Salt Lake City.  When the crisis was over, he settled down to help build up Spanish Fork in to a beautiful and prosperous settlement.

In 1862, a call came from President Brigham Young for settlers to go to southern Utah. Lem, the Butlers, the Seveys and Paces were among those called.  By that time, Lem was the father of four children:  Lem, six; Mary Jane, four; John, two; and William, a babe in arms.  He sold his property, invested in teams and wagons, placed heavy machinery and furniture and a sturdy wagon, his wife and children with bedding, clothing and foodstuffs in the lighter one, and his six-year-old son, Lem, and brother, Ben, to drive the loose stock, set out for St. George.  At Harmony, however where the Seveys and Paces had already located, they ended their journey and settle among relatives and acquaintances.  The settlement at this time, following a washout by the “Big Storm” earlier in the year, was moving to higher ground.  The storm had destroyed the fort, washed away a part of the farmland, and a New Harmony was being established 4 miles farther north. At New Harmony, they met John D. Lee, who had carried the Gospel to Lem’s parents in Kentucky, and was the founder of New Harmony.

Lem moved onto lot near the river. But not being satisfied with either the location of the house, he soon built more commodious Adobe home on higher ground in which the Redds lived for the next eight years.  Here three more children are born. November 5, 1866, he entered the principle of plural marriage and married Sarah Louise Chamberlain. She was the daughter, and only child, of Solomon Chamberlain and Theresa Morse her father had crossed the plains as Brigham Young’s teamster in the original group of pioneers in 1847. Soon after this marriage, Lem bought the John D. Lee home, and unfurnished two-story building against the foothills of the Pine Mountains. John D. Lee was then a fugitive from justice as the accused leader in the Mountain Meadows massacre.

Lem and his boys finished the home and made it into a duplex with Louisa occupying the north half and Keziah the South half.  Here, peaceful family living was enjoyed for 20 years and a setting was provided for a tranquil life for every child in the home. Each member willingly accepted his share of responsibilities and cooperated in the distribution of work about the house and farm. To Luisa were born 11 children and all but the two older ones, who died in infancy, were born after settling in the Lee home.  To Keziah, five were born there. Life seemed good in the future bright.

All this changed, however, with the passing of anti-polygamy legislation that made polygamy a crime and everyone who entered into it a criminal. Almost overnight, their free, wholesome life was changed to one of anxiety. Plural wives were also to be arrested. A hideout for both Lem and Louisa was made in the wash behind the house, that was used many times when the approach of U.S. Marshals was suspected.  In addition, Lem created reasons for being absent from home, going to and from places where businesses were created, under cover of night.  He went to Mesa, Arizona, to visit his daughter, Jane, and to San Juan where he that isolated section of Utah was open for colonization. Any place where safety seemed possible he went. He served as scout for the first company that set out for San Juan by way of the Hole-in-the-Rock. Lem and three Georges – Hobbs, Morrell, and Sevey – loaded pack mules with bedding and food for eight days, and went ahead to locate a possible trail through almost impassable country to the Colorado River and beyond. The eight days stretched to 28 before they returned.   

It was considered a miracle that they survived, considering the ordeals they passed through. After leaving the main company at Hole-in-the-Rock, they ferried themselves across the Colorado River. There they were confronted with many canyons leading off from the river, only one of which, of course, was the San Juan River canyon which led to the outpost for which the company was headed.  Exhausting themselves and their animals by climbing the top of ridge after ridge, and further expending their strength and food on several vain searches, they finally reached a barrier through which they never could have found their way except that a mountain goat whose trail they followed led them down. Wallowing through snow drifts, have frozen and facing hunger, they made camp wondering if they could hold out until sight of the San Juan River was gained. The next morning, Lem in formed the others it if they would go with him to the top of a nearby knoll, he would show them the San Juan River just as it had appeared to him in a dream. As he predicted, there before them lay that glinting waters of the river they sought and off to the left Blue Mountain, a landmark they sought.  This site was so cheering that although they had been without food for five days, they completed the journey to a log cabin on the San Juan River into which they stumbled half dead from hunger. Then, refreshed with food, they retraced their steps, marking a feasible route over Grey Mountain and delivered to the anxious Hole-in-the-Rockers the message of a possible way to reach their destination  their tired bodies, weather-beaten faces and tattered clothing were mute evidence of what the information had cost.

Lem later made a trip to Bluff, after a better route had been made, on vacation with two daughters, Delle and Ellen, to help his son, Monroe, move cattle, and at the same time to dodge marshals. They had not proceeded far, however, when signs behind them indicated they were being followed. To avoid being taken by surprise, Lem slept in some hideout each night and all were on the lookout through the day. Deciding one night they had outdistance there pursuers, he began to lay out his bedroll in camp. “My second thought is that I’d better not,” and he slipped into the darkness. Ten minutes later, two marshals suddenly stepped into the firelight with a warrant for the arrest of L. H. Redd.

At Bluff, Lem found a possible place to move his wife, Louisa.  For two years this to be the right decision, but marshals again put in their appearance and he realized that a better place must be found. Mexico was the place. It seemed a last resort.

In 1891, Lem loaded Louisa and her children, including baby Effie, who had been born in Bluff, but excluding Wayne, who had married, into wagons and again began the lonely trek to a foreign country. They faced water shortage in desert sections, grim fears as they passed through Indian country, and the anxiety of running out of food. They arrived in Colonia Juarez in the fall the year. There they would live the rest of their lives.

Louisa’s 13th child, Ancil, was born in the little rock house on the Alfred Baker farm above town.  And her 14th, Hazel, was born in a frame house they had bought just outside town limits. Later they built a spacious, two-story brick home on the same lot. Into it the family moved. And by industry and love beautiful they made it a show place.

For the first four years, Lem’s time was divided between his home in Mexico and that the new harmony. Hectic living of the past years have allowed his Harmony farm and home to run down.  Kizzie was in poor health with cancer, from which she died on May 15, 1895.  Lem sold his property and interests in New Harmony and spent his entire time in Colonia Juarez, of which he and his family soon became an integral part. He acted as a High Councilman to help in the deliberations that made for the best and surest growth of the community. His children were active in school and community affairs. Life was good and free from fears of the houndings of the “underground days.”

When the Juarez Stake was first organized 1895, Lem was released from the High Council to become the First Counselor to Alexander F. McDonald, who was sustained as President of the High Priest Quorum. Shortly after, he was released and made Patriarch of the Juarez Stake of Zion.  In this capacity he endeavored to give each one of his living descendants a Patriarchal Blessing before he died.  In 1897, he attended the jubilee celebration of the LDS church held in Salt Lake City and connection with the October Conference.  There, he visited Alice and Vilo, Kizzie’s two youngest daughters, who were attending the University of Utah, his son, Lem and daughter Hattie from San Juan, and other immediate members of his family.   

In October, 1902, a memorable reunion with Kizzie’s children took place in Salt Lake City. To this gathering also went to Louisa from Mexico and her youngest child and her oldest son, Wayne.  The L. H. Redd family, long separated, was able to meet for the first time since the old happy days in the John D. Lee home in New Harmony.  They attended several sessions in the Salt Lake Temple together.

In March 1907, Louisa succumbed to an attack of pneumonia, her death leaving Lem bereft of a wife, with seven unmarried children, all of whom were away from home except Hazel, the youngest. Lem sold the “show place” home, and rented a house in town where he and12-year-old Hazel settled down to care for each other.  It was not for long. Failing health, incident to a broken hip and advancing years, resulted in his death on June 10, 1910 at the age of 74. He was buried in Colonia Juarez Chihuahua, beside his wife Louisa.  His 74 years of accomplishments, of triumphs, of hardships and of steadfastness to his church were over. Love for the Gospel was ever a dominant feature of his life, and he passed this on to his numerous posterity. Of the 21 children who survived L. H. Redd, none but have done honor to his name in this respect.

In business and the professions, his descendants have been above average in their success, public service, and loyalty to their country. In World War II, for example, his descendants served in all theaters of the war, and were a part of every division of the Armed Forces, some of them rising to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. In all, there were 70 representatives as of his family in active duty; 21 of these were officers.

Lem with his wives, Kezziah and Louisa, may well rest in peace. Their posterity do them proud.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch Stalwarts South of the Border pg 563

John Rowley

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John Rowley

John Rowley, Mormon Colonies in Mexico

John Rowley

(1841 –1893)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 Ellen Farnsworth, granddaughter

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

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