Tag Archives: Colonia Pacheco

George Conrad Naegle

1860-1935

George Conrad Naegle was the son of John Conrad Naegle, of sturdy German ancestry. His father was born in Albersweiler, Pfalz, Bavaria, September 14, 1825.

The Naegles had lived in this beautiful little village, nestled among foothills on a tributary of the Rhine River since about 1653 when Leonard Negelin, a direct ancestor, was among the first to have settled there with his family after the town was swept clean by a civil war. The Naegles played their part in the history of the town after that time. Legend affirms that in feudal days there was a castle on every strategic hilltop occupied by lords of the manor or the monks who ruled with them. Today those same hillsides are terraced to the top since wine making is the foundation of this town’s economic and commercial life and every available foot of ground must be planted to grape vines. George Conrad’s mother, Rosanna Zimmerman (number three of John Conrad’s wives), was born May 1, 1841 in Franklin County Pennsylvania, of the first generation of German immigrants of this line to come to America.

George Conrad Naegle was born October 1, 1860 in Lehi, Utah. He spent his early years there with a garden and orchard to be looked after and animals to be cared for. No doubt he was often at Warren Spring Ranch (now Saratoga) where his father had most of his cattle and horses. As a large family of which she was a member was very strict and religious observance, he had strict training in the principles of the Gospel, but little, if any, formal education. Father, busy with projects for developing the fast-growing empire of Utah, apparently did not since the need for it. One wonders why Grandfather Zimmerman, educated in the universities in Germany in German, French, Latin and English, himself a teacher of renown in the early days, did not leave his cobbler’s bench in all classes for the young of Lehi.

John Conrad’s was a strictly patriarchal home and George Conrad, the oldest son, was his right hand lieutenant. He made all decisions for all the family, did all the planning, controlled all activities.

Shortly after 1875, George’s parents moved to Beaver, Utah. Their father Naegle found faster for his growing herds of cattle and bands of horses, and an excellent garden spots produce food for the rapidly increasing family. At the stay at Beaver was short-lived. Friends were securing rangeland in the Buckskin Mountains and John Conrad was able to secure land in this region, so he moved Rosanna and family to Toquerville and his stock to Kaibab Forest near the Grand Canyon of the Colorado.

George Conrad was baptized by his father at Lehi, ordained a Deacon in the early 1870’s in Toquerville, made in Elder in 1880, and became a Ward teacher an officer in the first YMMIA organized there. He married Sara Higbee, daughter of pioneer John S. Higbee of Toquerville in the St. George Temple, 18 February, 1880. This he responsibility made him definitely aware of his lack of education. George determined to correct an embarrassing situation. John Conrad readily agreed and purchased a home in Provo where his children might attend Brigham Young Academy. George, now highly motivated, but the preparatory studies in record time and, at the close of the term in 1882, left with credits in bookkeeping, German and other courses, some taken under Karl G. Maeser.

In a cave for he was called to fill a mission in Germany, and on 7 April was ordained a 70 by Francis M. Lyman. He first labored in Switzerland and later in the part of Germany where his father’s people had lived for generations, Albersweiler and Liensweiler. He searched genealogical records together information on the Naegle family line. Later work done by a bonded archivist at Speyer Staatarchiv verify George Conrad’s work for accuracy to the last detail. Scraps of letters to his father at this date have interest:

“In November, 1885, I was called on a special mission to Turkey to aid Elder Jacob Spari and opening a mission in Constantinople. We started for the Orient but in Genoa, Italy, were interrupted by a letter which called us back owing to cholera, which at that time was raging Greece.”

From a later letter:

We distributed two tracts and “Articles of Faith,” conversely them all [his relatives in Albersweiler] from the principles of the Gospel, but it remains for the future to see if any will embrace it. I borne testimony to many and hope the seed sown will find some good ground and bring forth fruit. I have five companions, noble and praiseworthy young men viz: Elder F. M. Lyman, Jr. of Provo and Elder A. W. Musser of Salt Lake City. The former is president of the South German Conference in the latter and myself his co-laborers; but we do not enjoy each other’s company very much as we are… in the Missionary field, I desire to be an instrument in His hands and bringing souls to salvation. We have some pretty warm times, especially in the Kingdom of Bavaria from where Elders Smoot and Jennings were banished last June. I was sent there last July from Switzerland and spent two months with the police at my heels, was summoned before the chief of police twice and each time threatened with banishment, but I got over the border into Wurttemberg and escaped being banished. That was in September last and in October Elder F. M. Lyman, Jr. was banished from the kingdom…

After his return the summer of 1886, George Conrad moved his family to Kanab, Kane County, Utah, where he was ordained a High Priest by Thomas Chamberlain and set apart to act as first counselor to Bishop Lawrence C. Mariger. Other positions held by him in Kanab were President of the Ward and Stake YMMIA, Home Missionary, and Clerk of the Stake Board of Education.

In about 1890, having married his second wife, he decided to join his father in a move to Mexico where he had already purchase a tract of land in the Sierra Madre Mountains near Colonia Juarez. After a three month’s trip they arrived in Colonia Pacheco and establish their large herd of cattle on the range nearby. It was there, in June, 1892, that his brother Hyrum was killed by a large brown bear west of Pacheco.

Soon after the said event, typhoid struck family. Sabra had gone to Utah to receive medical aid. His second wife, Anna Foutz, baby girl, and his only son (child of Sabra) were carried away by the scourge. His Mexico family wiped out, the bereaved man left Mexico to join Sabra in Utah.

Church Authorities, realizing that he needed a complete change, called him to preside over the Swiss-German Mission. Accompanied by Sabra, he arrived in Bern, Switzerland, February 16, 1894, and in April took charge of the Mission. He held this position for three years in which time the number of missionaries laboring there increased from 40 to 82. Four of them were his brothers: Heber, Joseph, Casper, and Enoch.

Sabra kept the “Missionary Home” and endeared herself to all who came there. Here they adopted a baby girl, Margie Pope. During this period, George traveled through the entire European mission and Scandinavia with Anthon H. Lund and later again with Rulon S. Wells.

George Conrad was released from his mission, in January 1897, he returned to Colonia Pacheco, Mexico. A year later he moved to Colonia Oaxaca, Sonora, where his father assisted in settling the colony and also Morelos. From Oaxaca he was called on a mission in the interest of the MIA to St. Joseph Stake, Arizona, that he returned home to succeed Franklin Scott as Bishop of the Oaxaca Ward in the Juarez Stake.

In 1889, he married, as a second plural wife, Maggie Romney, daughter of Miles P. Romney and Hannah Hill. Their son, George, was born June 27, 1900. The daughter, Sabra, was born May 25, 1902. With their babies, Maggie went home to Colonia Dublan for a visit. While there, little George died of typhoid fever. A grief stricken father brought his sorrowing wife and baby home. She did not rally but grew weaker day by day. It was realized that she, too, had typhoid fever, of which she died. George Conrad thus found himself 42 years of age with two adopted daughters and an invalid wife, but no son to bear his name.

In 1903, he married the Philindra Keeler and Jennie Jameson. Philindra’s first born, Joseph Abner, died in September of 1905 of spinal meningitis, but Jennie’s boy, Owen, survived. The family lived through the Oaxaca flood of 1905 which swept away their houses and most of their cattle. This is been George’s means of support all his life. In the fall of 1906, the family moved to Colonia Dublan where they were in 1912 when the Mormons left the colonies, as part of the Exodus, with little cash on hand. Families coming out on the train, where George was in charge of the company, were limited to a bedroll and suitcase her family. With no more than this, a start in a new country had to be made from the ground up.

George Conrad Naegle was killed in an automobile accident in Salt Lake City, July 29, 1935, and was buried in the Wasatch Lawn Cemetery. He left 15 children, five sons and ten daughters, and ever increasing group of grandchildren.

Philinda Keeler Naegle, wife

Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 499

Sarah Ann Lunt

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Sarah Ann Lunt

1858-1921

Sarah Ann Lunt, my mother and the daughter of Edward and Harriet Wood Lunt, was born in Manti, Utah August 11, 1858. Her family later moved to Nephi, where she grew up. She early learned to spin, card and weave clothes for the needs of the family which consisted of four brothers, two sisters, and her parents.

The two older brothers were stockmen and Mother spent much time cooking for them on their ranches. She was unusual in that she knew no fear of man or beast. At one time while on the ranch an angry steer attempted to gore her and she felled him with a stone. Her formal schooling amounted to very little. She often said, “If my school days were all summed up, they would not exceed three weeks.” Yet, she learned to read and did all her own letter writing.

Henry Lunt, my father, often called on my grandfather at Nephi on his way to and from Salt Lake City to conference. One morning in the spring of 1877, returning from conference, he in Nephi for a visit. In the meantime, his team turned short and broke out the wagon tongue. Getting it repaired delayed his journey for hours, making it possible for my mother and father to get acquainted. The next time Father passed that way, he took Mother with him and they were married January 16, 1878, in the St. George Temple.

Sarah Ann Lunt immediately took control of the hotel in Cedar City. Aunt Mary Ann and Aunt Ellen, my father’s other wives, had previously taken care of the work but were not at an age of delicate health and could no longer carry on. They also had the telegraph office to look after and Aunt Ellen was kept busy with that. She was one of Utah’s first telegraph operators. The hotel and stage line were the main source of support for the entire family which consisted of Father, who was almost blind, Aunt Mary Ann, Aunt Ellen, Mother and some 20 children.

Things went well until the raids on polygamy began. Father took Aunt Ellen and went to England as a missionary for two years to avoid the law. After coming home, things were no better. So, Apostle Erastus Snow said to Mother, “Sarah Ann Lunt, it is our job to take your husband and go to Old Mexico.” Where you can acquire land as a place of refuge. We have talked to President Porfirio Diaz and he is willing to allow us to live our religion. We can build up and beautify the country. Diaz says his people are in need of being taught a better way of living and doing things. Other people are there and two settlements are already established, Colonia Diaz and Colonia Juarez.”

In response, Mother said, “Brother Snow, do you know what you are asking of me? This hotel is the only means of support for the entire family. Brother Lunt is blind and I am the only one in the family who is able to run it. We have no means and my oldest son is only eight years old.” He said, “Sister Lunt, I feel it is the will of god that you should go, and the Lord will open the way if you will but obey.” Mother prayed and fasted and thought the thing over until Apostle Snow came again. Mother was strong willed and did not act until she knew it was right.

We left Cedar City later in the evening of November 26, 1887. There were no farewells. Only the most trusted friends knew we had gone. Our party consisted of Father, Mother, Edgerton, Broughton, Parley and Edward. We took the southern route by way of “Dixie.” We went through Toquerville on to Virgin City and up a canyon called North Creek, where a family by the name of Sanders lived. It was great grape country. I will never forget the pickled grapes put down in barrels. I have never seen any since like them.

We found lodging in a two-room log house which had been used by campers as an old junk house. One of mother’s first discoveries there was that all we children were lousy. I well remember the days of scrubbing and cleaning until the pests were exterminated. Then came the measles. The remedy was sheep berry tea. It did all that any highly advertised patent medicine could do. It cured the measles. While there, we boys learned how to make slat quail traps. Father bought us a sack of wheat for bait and we climbed the sunny hillsides and found bare spots where the snow had melted off, made a trail of wheat leading to the trap, then waited for the catch. How happy we were one morning to find we had caught 13 quail in one trap. How well I remember the quail pie that night.

When the weather permitted, we moved on. We arrived in February, 1888 at Moccasin Springs, Arizona where we stayed at a stock ranch operated by Christopher Heaton. My brother, Heaton, was born there. When he was three weeks old we journeyed on, going by way of Kanab over the Buckskin Mountains to House Rock. My half-brother Oscar joined us at Pipe Springs and brought the white topped buggy. We loaded the bedding and provisions and needed camp equipment in the buggy where Mother and the children rode. The heavier goods were loaded on the big wagon. On acquiring the new fresh team and hitching them to the buggy, Mother thought it safer to ride on the heavy wagon. But even then, when going down a steep rocky hill, Mother was thrown from the wagon with the baby. In trying to protect the baby in the fall, Mother hurt her ankle quite badly. Father had her sit on a stone and he administered to her. She recovered sufficiently to continue the journey although she remained lame for months.

Mother had a natural horror of crossing the Colorado River at Lee’s Ferry. Just a short time before we crossed, a man was drowned while attempting to cross. We had to cross at the upper ferry and it necessitated going over Lee’s Backbone, a very dangerous steep mountain. I will never forget as we started down the ridge with steep canyons on both the north and the south sides, Oscar fell from the wagon, lodging on the tugs of the team on his back. The brake came off and the horses were unable to control the wagon. No matter which way it went it meant certain destruction. Luckily, Oscar regained control and all was well. On the river, men had to hold the wagon from tipping into the water.

From the Colorado to the Little Colorado is a barren waste with but little water. Most of what water was obtained had lodged in the holes in the rocks and had been there for months. Sheep had also watered at these holes and the liquid was very yellow and brackish. It always had to be boiled and some substitute flavoring added to be used at all. On reaching the Little Colorado we had a new experience. The horses were nearly famished with thirst and, seeing the water, plunged into it and sank deep in quicksand. After a great deal of exertion we finally got them out. We then traveled up the river to Winslow, Holbrook, and Joseph City, Arizona. We then went on to Snowflake and Pinedale where we stayed that summer and rented six acres of land.

Brothers Freeman and Flake let us milk a few of their range cows. Mother did the milking while the boys herded the cows and calves. The Apache Indians were not under thorough control and often broke off the reservation. We remained in Pinedale or Fish’s Ranch the winter of 1888 and I went to school at Pinedale a mile away. Joseph Smith of Snowflake was the teacher. He lived at the Fish Ranch also. Many a morning I held to one fork of his swallow tailed coat to keep from being lost in the snow as we trudged on our way to school. The summer of 1889, Aunt Annie came with her family and joined us at Pinedale with one more wagon and a team. She then took the buggy back to Cedar City. In September the rest of us took up the journey again to Mexico.

Near Show Low, a man by the name of Jeff Adams and his wife fell in with us. After traveling with us for several days, they pulled on alone and left us. The next morning, our best horse could not be found and we spent the entire day looking for him, but all in vain. That made it necessary to use one of the saddle ponies as a work horse and one boy had to walk and drive cows. In time we reached Pima on the Gila River when we camped near Franklin Scott. He had arrived some months before and had raised a small crop. He was also on his way to Mexico. Here we found our first sweet potatoes, and were they good! They grew so prolific that George went to help a man dig them on shares and found one so large that he sat on one end and put the other end in the fire to cook.

While on the Gila, Christopher Heaton, Warriner Porter and John Walser joined us with two to four families each. From then until we reached Colonia Diaz, sometime in December, 1889, our camp looked like the children of Israel in the wilderness. We would build a big fire at night. Then we children would play while the older folks would sing hymns, relate past experiences, speak of their future hopes, etc. Then we would all be called to order and Brother Walser would lead in a hymn. We would all kneel in our large circle and some of the men would pour out their souls to God for blessings of the day and ask Him to bless and watch over us and our animals as we slept. All the Porter and Heaton families came down with sore eyes and that spoiled our good play at night. I can see them still in memory bathing and trying to get their matted eyes open of a morning.

We finally reached Deming, New Mexico, a railroad town before crossing in Mexico. There we stocked up on a few things we needed, as far as our meager means allowed. Until then, we had not had a stove to cook on since we left Cedar City, nor a bestead outside of what we had made. The only furniture we had was one red and one green chair which had been made in Utah with rawhide for the seats. At Deming, father bought two cast iron cook stoves, one for each of his wives. They were still in using them when we left Mexico. He also bought two rockers, and I think a half dozen chairs. This was the sum total of the furniture we owned. We did have plenty of good homemade quilts and plenty of empty ticks which we filled with corn husks after we raised corn. We also had three feather beds and several pillows. Until the first corn crop was harvested in Pacheco, we used pine needles or pulled wild grass to fill the bed ticks.

Upon arriving in Colonia Diaz, we had to leave the only team of horses we had. They were old and nothing but mares could go on from there duty free. We also had to leave one of the cows which became too weak to travel. From Juarez to Pacheco was the end of the journey, as the notorious San Diego Canyon had to be scaled. We managed to acquire the assistance of lumber haulers who went up empty to get lumber. We arrived on what was the town site of Pacheco just as the sun was setting in the west. It had been previously surveyed and laid off into city lots, each lot containing one and one-fourth acres with wide streets and a small alley running through the blocks both ways to avoid corrals being built on the main street.

There were two small houses built of logs on the town site when we arrived, one owned by George Haws and the other by Alexander F. Macdonald, the latter being the surveyor. The town was built on a small mesa of about 200 acres, falling away to the south. A high mountain of 1800 feet to the west and a box canyon 100 feet deep on the east bracketed the town. The canyon was cut our of solid volcanic rock by the Piedras Verdas River which drained the beautiful yellow pine timber, and provided a living for most occupants of the town by affording lumber for telephone posts, railroad ties, mining timbers, and juniper fence posts. The lowlands afforded small fertile farms and grazing lands. The town proved to be a very rocky piece of ground, after the abundant grass was gone, which served as a beautiful garment when we first arrived.

We arrived in Pacheco on January 21, 1890. The next day was a busy one. We cut logs, made cribs about two feet high, then put up a ridgepole over which we stretched our wagon covers and gathered pine needles upon which we spread our quilts for beds, making as many as four children beds in each shelter. Late in the evening of the first day, one of John C. Naegle’s sons arrived at our camp with a load of lumber he had brought from a sawmill in Cave Valley and gave it to us. We used it to make a spacious kitchen and dining room by lashing a pole between two pine trees and leaning one end of the boards against the poles and letting the other end rest on the ground. This we called “the shanty.” George went to take some of the horses “off to the park” as we called it, a small valley at the foot of Garcia Knoll, and came home with a deer tied on behind him. He was only 15 and what a hero he was.

Yet other colonists soon arrived: the Scotts, Farnsworth’s, Rowley’s, Cooley’s, Blacks, Heaton’s, Porter’s, Carroll’s and many others. A log school and church house quickly erected. A ditch from Water Canyon was to be dug so we could plant orchards and gardens and have water for culinary purposes. In the meantime, all of our water was either carried or hauled in barrels from streams a mile away.

1891 was a year of severe drought everywhere and food became very scarce. Also it was an early fall and corn did not mature. George went to work on the railroad. Oscar worked at the sawmill and Edgerton went to work for Franklin Spencer. Father, Tom and I hoed corn at home. The only good team of mares we had that had reached Mexico had to be sold to make ends meet. Our suckling colts were killed by mountain lions before the first season was over. We hoed constantly. Father (who was nearly blind) had to be nearby so we could tell him which was corn and which was weeds.

Father always took one day off each week for letter writing. He couldn’t read what he wrote after writing it but by having very heavy lines drown on the paper he could follow them. Parley herded the cows to be sure they would find the best pastures and come safely home each night so that we could obtain the scanty supply of milk they gave. One day while herding cows he was bitten by a black rattler on his little toe. His leg swelled up so tight we were afraid it would burst. We did all we knew for it to no avail until the Lord heard our feeble cry and answered our prayers.

During this time, most who entered the colonies were very destitute. In Pacheco we were the only ones who had corn. The year of 1892 was a desperate one, and flour was not to be bought. The cattle were dying of starvation, but we saved our corn again and had it made into meal. I well remember how people came to borrow the corn or meal not knowing how or when they would be able to return it. I was too young to sense the gravity of the situation but can year yet the conversations that took place whenever our last sack was being dipped into. People would come to Father and say, “Brother Lunt, have you any more meal you could lend me, my family hasn’t a dust of breadstuff in the house.” His reply would be, “Ah dear brother, you will have to see Sarah.” I have heard Mother bear her testimony many times to the fact that she divided down to the last mixing and trusted in the Lord that somehow the way would open so she could feed her own. Just as the last dust was divided, here came Albert Farnsworth in from working on the “Manana (tomorrow) Railroad” with two four-horse wagons of flour. By night, Mother would have 1,000 pounds of flour in her house that had been returned for cornmeal.

In 1895 I went to work for Pleasant Williams for $.50 per day and worked until I had earned $60 for which he gave me a horse. My brother Edgerton also worked for Joshua Stevens at the same price and got another for $50. They were both two years old. We waited a year. Got them up and gentled them and it made us our first real team. The same year, Mother and I and the four youngest children, Heaton, Alma, Owen and Clarence, moved onto the Williams Ranch and rented six acres of land and 15 cows to milk. Edward was in Chihuahua City working for Lucian Mecham and his wife who were running a hotel there. Parley, Father and Tom looked after the farm in Pacheco. In order to do our plowing on the Williams Ranch we borrowed a mule from James Mortensen when he could spare it. Otherwise, Mother and I used the hoe method. We succeeded, however, in raising several tons of potatoes, a few beans and enough corn to fatten two or three big white hogs, a lot of squash and a good garden. We moved back to Pacheco for the winter and school. In those days we would have about three months of school, beginning the first of the year.

In 1897 we bought the Spencer farm at Corrales for $1,000. We also bought a small cheese factory from George C. Naegle and milked some of his cows on shares and some of Helaman Pratt’s. Mother’s cheese became famous right away and found a ready sale. Each year a box of the fruits and vegetables and products of the Mormon colonies was sent to President Porfirio Diaz as a token of our good will to him and our appreciation for letting us live in his nation unmolested. Included in each box was one of Mother’s cheeses.

Laura Ann Hardy Mecham was the first Relief Society President Pacheco had. After she moved away, Mother took her place and served as long as we lived there. During the early days of Pacheco, many of the men died due to exposure and overwork and lack of sufficient food. Examples are William Haws, John McConkie, and John Rowley. These men left large families and people had a hard time of it. Many was the day that a few of the sisters would get together and go over to spend the day with “Aunt Sarah Ann Lunt,” and when the truth was known it was to get a little food as well as have a visit. As I remember, she always had more than anyone else in town to cook. She always had a garden as we had a stream of water at all times of our won. She was a friend to the poor native people of the area as well and they loved her because she never let them go away hungry.

In 1899 our home in Corrales burned down. Since Father and Aunt Ellen were getting along in years, Mother wanted to build a brick house large enough to take care of him them, her own family, and also some spare rooms for passersby, as it seemed there were always lots of travelers in the country looking for accommodations. Mother sent to Helaman Pratt for advice, but he rather discouraged the ideas, thinking it too big a job for her and her boys with the means she had. It didn’t daunt her. We went to work and hired a man who knew how to make brick, put up a brick kiln, worked on the sawmill for our lumber and hired a boy whose father was on a mission to Denmark to lay the brick. We also hired a carpenter and builder. They all did fine work.

The house was a two-story affair, consisting of nine large rooms. We had it finished and paid for in 18 months. Sadly, this was not soon enough for Father to move into because he died on January 22, 1902. Aunt Ellen was then brought over and she died there. Aunt Annie also made her home with us for several years until she decided to live with her daughter Ellen in Pacheco.

The big house being finished and the Noroestre Railroad having been completed as far south as Terrazas, it became possible for Mother to entertain guests. The railroad advertised their road as leading into the Sierra Madre Mountains and as opening up one of the best hunting grounds in America for both small and large game. This brought many people from all over the United States and Europe to hunt. And as Corrales and the Lunt house were on the route where they outfitted and quit the wagon road, my brother George took up the hob as a guide to trappers and hunters and became the most famous guide of his day in Mexico, having trapped as many as seven bear in one week.

Our ranch, being the jumping off place into the unknown wilderness and the only place where people could get hotel accommodations, brought many people of high rank to our home. Including among them were: Theodore Roosevelt, Dr. Smith, who accompanied him on his African hunt. German barons, and English dukes and lord. At one time, William Green, the great Cananea Copper Company owner, brought man of the nation’s great men to the area, including some 27 senators. They all stayed overnight at the Lunt house. Although Mother had no education, she felt as free and at home conversing with these people as she did with her own family.

Mother placed great store by her dreams. She always had a forewarning in a dream before someone died in the community and when she was informed of some sudden death, she would often say, “That is what I saw; it was not quite clear to me, but now it is.” She was a friend to the sick and always had a little medicine and food for the needy. As material for burial clothing was hard to get, especially for members who had been through the temple, I have known her to give her own temple clothing for them to bury someone with.

At the time of the Exodus I was in the Mexican town of Toluca on a mission. The women and children of the colonies went first on a train to El Paso and later the men followed on horseback by way of Hachita, New Mexico. Rey L. Pratt was President of the Mexican Mission at the time. Most of the 22 missionaries in the Mexico City area were from the colonies and many of them had families depending on them. President Pratt, hearing of the colonists all being in El Paso, immediately went there to see what could be done. Mother met him and gave him $50 to give to me, saying, “I want him to say as long as he is needed. We will get along all right.” Although President Pratt declined to accept the money, he mind was made up and he accepted.

In the summer of 1913, she thought it her duty to go back to Mexico and put Clarence and Owen in the Juarez Stake Academy. She was made matron of the Ivins home which had become par to fht eschool and where many outside students lived. The Ivins lots were used as agricultural experiment farms. In 1919, she again returned to Colonia Pacheco, taking Alma and Clarence with her. To go back to the devastated home in Corrales where she had spent so many struggling but happy years was a trial that few women could endure. Her once beautiful home was a pile of rubble with only parts of the walls standing. Fences were gone that once enclosed fertile areas. There was no stock on the range to be looked after or bring in profit, no bawling of calves. All was silent except for the chatter of natives that gathered to greet her. A few homes of her friends had escaped the forest fires that swept the town. But the once beautiful two-story church with its spires to which she had contributed so much was a skeleton with a leaky roof and glassless windows.

Undaunted, she moved into the adobe home of her son Heaton, which had not been destroyed. President Ivins visited them in 1920 and made her youngest son, Clarence Bishop with Harlo Johnson First and William Jarvis Second Counselors. She re-fenced the fields, obtained more cows, and resumed making cheese. She was happy again. To once more be back where her husband and Aunt Ellen were buried was very important to her. She had given her first child to Aunt Ellen who was unable to have any of her own.

The Revolution continued. Firs one man would gain control of the government and then another, and each would print his own money. As the different leaders lost out, their money became valueless. The silver dollar always retained its value, but very few silver dollars could be found. Mother had 45 silver dollars laid away in a baking powder can, hidden in her flour bin, to pay her burial expenses.

During the late summer of 1921 her health failed and she suffered a long sick spell. She again had a dream. In November, for of her sons went to visit her: Broughton, Parley, Edward, and Heaton. We wanted to bring her out to Duncan, Arizona where we resided and could get the aid of a doctor. She declined, saying, “I want to stay right here. If it is the Lord’s will that I should live, He can make me well here, and if my time to die has come, I want to die and be buried here.” She told us she had dreamed of traveling and entering a deep canyon and as she traveled the walls became higher and steeper, until she reached a point where it looked as though she could go no farther. Just as she was about to give up going any father, it suddenly opened up into a beautiful valley. She said, “I don’t know whether it means I am going to get well or pass to the other side.” She felt sure there would be a sudden change for the better. Our visit did her good.

After coming home for three weeks we received a telegram from President John T. Whetten telling us that Mother was worse. So Edward, Chloe, Heaton’s wife, and myself went back to her bedside, knowing that we would bury her before we returned. We arrived at her bedside on Christmas Eve and watched over her until 6:00 pm on the 27^th when she died with father’s name on her lips, gazing heavenward.

Being a carpenter, I took some of the boards my mother used to cure her cheese on and made her casket. Chloe and Lavetta lined it with white bleaching and the Johnson girls trimmed it with lace inside and out. On the 29^th she was buried on the left side of her husband, Henry Lunt. Aunt Ellen, his first wife, had been buried on his right side. We dedicated the spot and poured out our souls in gratitude to God that he had given us such noble, God-fearing parents.

Broughton Lunt

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 413

Alexander Jameson, Jr.

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Alexander Jameson, Jr.

1859-1943

Alexander Jameson, Jr. was the son of Alexander Jameson and Pirene Brown Ewell. His grandfather, Charles Jameson, was wounded at Hans Mill. Charles was also a member of the Mormon Battalion.

His wife died of cholera while crossing the plains and was buried in Nebraska. Alex, Jr.’s father drove the ox team and brought his sisters and younger brother to the Salt Lake Valley.

Alexander Jameson, Jr. was born May 18, 1859 in Provo, Utah. In 1866 the family moved to Goshen, Utah. During the early settlement of Goshen, Alexander, Jr. remembers his father beating the bass drum every morning at daylight as a signal for grown male members of the Ward to gather at the log schoolhouse where the roll was called and the night guards were relived and day guards appointed to take their places. As the Indians grew more peaceful, Goshen was moved to its present site where Alexander, Jr. grew to manhood.

He was baptized a member of the LDS Church by Bishop William Price in 1867. He grew up without being ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood as he was always away from home working, his father being an invalid. In 1881 he was ordained an Elder by James H. Jenkins. In 1884 he was ordained a Seventy by Rodger Openshaw. His name was sent to the First Seven Presidents of Seventy as worthy to be called on a mission. A little later his brother-in-law met with an accident from which he died. The brethren asked that Alexander, Jr. not be called as his sister was left with six children and needed him to finish a house that was under construction at the time of her husband’s death.

Alexander Jameson, Jr. married Millicent Ferris Hatfield on December 29, 1881 in the Salt Lake Endowment House. Eleven children were born to them.

Because his father was an invalid he had the care of his parents until his father died on October 24, 1884, at which time his mother went to live with his younger sister, Martha J. Christensen.

He bought a city lot in Goshen, Utah and build a home, where they lived until 1889. He had little opportunity to attend school until he was 30 years of age. He moved his young family to Provo in 1889. His wife, Millicent, cooked for students while he attended Brigham Young University.

Dr. Karl G. Maeser called him to go to Castle Dale, Emery County, Utah to organize a church school known as the Emery Stake Academy.

He was called to serve as a Counselor in the Bishopric of Castle Dale Ward. On February 4, 1895, he was ordained a Patriarch at 36 years of age. He was released from the Bishopric a year later. They lived in a log house until 1895, when they moved into a new brick house, built in front of the log house. It was a lovely two-story building with eight rooms. One of the rooms upstairs was his office. He gave many Patriarchal Blessings there. He also served as Stake Sunday School Superintendent in the Emery Stake. He taught school until 1900 in Castle Dale, then he moved to Colonia Morelos, Sonora, Mexico. Here he married a second wife, Mary Amelia Larsen, May 24, 1901. Five children were born to this union.

In 1901 the Morelos Ward was organized and Alexander, Jr. was sustained as First Counselor to Bishop Orson P. Brown. He was in charge of the tithing.

He built a cooler of screen wire tacked to a wooden frame. On top of the frame was a pan of water. Burlap covered the frame and the door and enough of the burlap was allowed to reach into the pan of water to soak the burlap to keep it wet. This is the way they kept food that members had contributed as tithing, such as home-made cheese, butter, vegetables, and eggs. Grains and hay were kept at the tithing office yard.

Following is a quote from Clara Porter’s life story:

One night while a Priesthood Meeting was being held in the chapel, a volley of shots rang out. It sounded like cannons, north of town. We always feared a rebel invasion and were always on the alert. I was at a Primary song practice at the home of my friend Josie Snarr. Mother was the Primary President and was with us. She decided to go home and get the tithing records and money and take them to the chapel. She wrapped the records and money in the blankets with the baby and ran to see what was keeping the men. They had been singing the closing song loudly, they hadn’t heard the shots. The men soon organized a posse to investigate. They learned that two enemy outlaw groups and not the Mexican rebels that were feared.

Another occasion which gave us a shock was when a thief from the United States went into a mining camp, killed the leader, and robbed the miners. H needed food and fresh horses, so he came to our colony, tied his horse up in the hills at the edge of town and walked to the store for supplies. He paid for his supplies with money he took from a large roll in a burlap bag. Our deputy had been informed of the holdup, so he asked the thief some questions. He ran out of the door and tried to get his horse. The deputy shot him in the leg. As he fell he tried to hide the money under his head. The Mormon men carried him to the tithing office (no jail). The deputy dressed his wounds and cared for him until the Mexican officials came for him.

In August, 1907, Alexander moved his families to Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico, where he rented rooms in Bailey Lake’s new house.

The farmers took turns using the irrigation water. One evening his son, Arthur Jameson, was irrigating near Brother Black’s farm when he saw a Mexican trying to force Brother Black to give him the stream of water. Art went over to interpret as Brother Black didn’t understand Spanish very well. The Mexican became angry and pulled out his gun. Young Jameson tried to get Brother Black to leave, but he didn’t think the Mexican was serious about shooting. As art ran to get help he heard a shot. Sister Black heard the shots also. They notified the authorities. When they arrived they found Brother Black dead.

The few years prior to 1912 were happy ones. Alexander built and purchased homes for his families, farmed his land and began to get his roots down. Then the trouble began. The Revolution left Mexico without a stable government, and danger seemed to beset the Saints at every turn. Alexander took his turn standing guard, but things became worse and eventually the women and children were placed in box cars and sent to El Paso, Texas. Jameson remained with the other brethren for a few days longer, in hopes things would clear up and his families could return.

While tending the water in his field, a band of Mexicans surrounded the home of first family. He returned to the house and found them helping themselves outside and in. As he approached the front door, two guns were thrust in his face. He recognized both guns as his own. One was out of order, and there was no ammunition for the other one. He took a barrel in each hand, thrust the Mexicans to each side and walked into the house. The Mexicans exclaimed “Bravo, bravo!”

They were putting on his clothes, even his good white shirts, and helping themselves in general. He was angry and felt like going to the corner of the room and pulling out the organ, in back of which he had hidden a six-shooter all loaded. For a moment he wanted to shoot the invaders but controlled his feelings. After the Mexicans had taken what they wanted, they left.

A short time later he was forced to flee with the other brethren into the mountains and back to the United States. The first few miles they fled under fire and never had a chance to rest until they reached El Paso. Having no desire to return to Mexico, he moved his families back to Castle Dale, Utah, where they lived for three years.

In May, 1916, he moved his families to LaSal, San Juan County, Utah, where new land was being homesteaded. He brought the improvements of Don Loveridge on 160 acres of land and started dry farming. The land was rich and in the first few years the crops were good. He worked in the nearby Big Indian Mine and paid for his land. He helped build the church house and served a number of years as Bishop of the LaSal Ward. He served a number of years on the San Juan School Board and was instrumental in getting a schoolhouse constructed. Theretofore they had held school in the church house. He continued to give Patriarchal Blessings.

Some dry years came along and many of the people in LaSal left to make their homes elsewhere. He took the job of watchman at the Big Indian Mill for copper after it ceased operating. Millicent went to visit some of their children who were living in a number of the western states. Amelia moved to Moab, Utah so the boys could attend high school. Here she contracted pneumonia and died on November 6, 1924. Millicent went to Moab and helped the boys finish that year of school. Annetta went to live with her Uncle Parley and Aunt Mary Larsen.

After the death of their oldest daughter, Millicent Dorothy Naegle, the Jameson’s moved to Eureka, Utah, to be near their son, Joseph, who was teaching school there, and his family. Later they moved to Provo, Utah. Here he was active in the Manavu Ward and gave many Patriarchal Blessings.

On fast day of October, 1943, he gave his last blessing in Manavu Ward. After October General Conference, 1943, he went with Oscar to LaSal, Utah for a visit. Here he became ill and was taken to the hospital in Moab, Utah where he died November 2, 1943 at the age of 84 years.

His funeral in Provo, Utah, was well-attended and many wonderful things were said that his service. President Junius Romney, and old friend and Stake President in Mexico, was one of the speakers. His life was rich with service to his fellowmen. He was a scholar, an educator, miner, stockman, a good follower, and a fine leader, and above all a good husband and father. He was buried at Goshen, Utah.

Iva Naegle Balmer, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 325

The word Manavu is derived from the Hebrew meaning “beautiful view”; it can be compared with Nauvoo, Illinois, which stands for “beautiful location.”

The Manavu Ward was created April 11, 1920, when the Provo 5th Ward was divided and all that part lying north of 4th North St. and east of 1st East St., extending north to the city limits and east to the mountains, was organized into the Manavu Ward.

Manavu Ward Link to family search.org

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 3^rd class and answered, “Because there is no 4^th 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

Christopher B. Heaton Murdered By Thieves In Mexico

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Christopher B. Heaton Murdered By Thieves In Mexico

Surprised by Murders at Work and Was Shot-

Supposed Assassins are Caught-Great Loss to Colonies

E. G. Woolley, Jr., received a letter yesterday from his uncle and Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, containing an account of the murder of Christopher B. Heaton, near Colonia Pacheco, on November 10.

Mr. Heaton was one of the best-known men in Utah, and leaves a large circle of friends and relatives to mourn his untimely death.

With reference to his murder, the letter says:

I just received the sad news of the death of Christopher B. Heaton, and thinking perhaps you would like for the paper, in case you cannot get a full account from the Colonia. I send you this, to be fixed up as you please: Brother Heaton was First Counselor to Bishop Jesse N. Smith, Jr., of Colonia Pacheco. Last September he came down to Colonia Dublan, to make molasses, and finished on Saturday, November 9, in the evening. That night to barrels of molasses were stolen and next morning he found one of them cash away in the pumice. He then decided to watch the next night and see if the thieves came after the cash to barrel. That night about 8 o’clock some Mexicans with a yoke of oxen and a wagon came loaded up the molasses. It is not known what took place, but three shots were heard by Brother Breinholt, who was nearby, and as he ran to see what was the matter, he heard the wagon rattling off. He followed and two Mexicans were caught with the team and molasses and put under arrest. Brother Heaton was found dead, having been shot. His head also was terribly beaten with a club. Several other Mexicans have been arrested, and it is hoped the guilty parties will be put to death. The officers of Casas Grandes appear to be doing all they can to catch the murderers. Brother Heaton’s death will be a terrible loss to the Mexican colonies, as he was one of our leading men, and was highly respected by everyone. He was buried in Colonia Dublan.

This newspaper article appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune, Sunday November 24, 1895 page 5.

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

William Morley Black

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William Morley Black

(1826 – 1915)

The son of John and Mary Kline Black, William Morley Black was born February 11, 1826 in Vermillion, Richard County, Ohio. William’s own account follows:

When I was eleven years old, one of our neighbors, a man whom we had always respected by the name of John Potts, got into trouble, and my father made his bond in the sum of $500.00. When trial came on, Potts could not be found and it took our farm to pay the bond. At that time Illinois, a new state, was widely advertised as a place homes were cheaply obtained, so Father and three of our neighbors moved into Lawrence County, southern Illinois, and purchased homes near where Bridgeport now stands. It was a wide, level, beautiful country with groves of timber and stretches of prairie, with cold springs and streams of cold clear water abounding in fish. The drawbacks were occasional swamps, giving rise to malarial fevers and here — after two years of hard labor in building a new home – our first great sorrow came to us in the death of our father.

My brother Martin, being the first born – the responsibility of managing in the home rested upon him, while I aided what I could by hiring out and giving the family my means. For two summers I worked in the brickyard getting 37 and one half cents (a) day. Winters I hired to do farm work, getting $5.00 a month. When 17 years of age the family consented to let me strike out for myself and I went northward and stopped in the vicinity of where Peoria now stands. The first summer after leaving home I worked on a farm, getting $8.00 a month, which was considered good wages at the time. The second summer I made an agreement with a Mr. Brockman, a contractor and builder, to work two summers with him. He was to pay me $6.00 a month and learn me the trade of masonry. I worked one summer when Mr. Brockman died, which ended that adventure.

In 1845 a little town called Cuba was started. I secured a town lot and began to gather material to build me a home. At that time I had made the acquaintance of a family by the name of Banks. I was temperate, industrious and saving, and during the summer erected, mainly by my own labors, a tidy two-roomed house; and in February 1845, I married Margaret Ruth Banks. I took quite an interest in politics, and in 1848 I ran for sheriff on the Democratic ticket and was elected. In the winter of ’48-’49 the news of the discovery of gold in California created quite a fever in our town and I caught it. In the spring of 1849 a joint stock company was formed to go to the gold field. I resigned the sheriff’s office and paid one hundred dollars into the company which entitled me to a passage by team across the plains of California…

William Newell was elected captain. I was selected as a teamster. On the third day of April with light hearts and high ambitions we kissed our wives, children and parents goodbye and took the trail for the Eldorado of the West. One hundred miles from Cuba brought us to Nauvoo, Illinois, on Saturday, and we rested the Sabbath. I strolled through the streets of the city. Many of the homes were vacant. Those that were inhabited were occupied by people whose language was strange to me. I was told that the builders of the city were a lawless sect who for their crime had been driven out; and their beautiful substantial homes and become a prey, almost without price, to a community of French Icarians who purchased from the mob at low prices the homes of the exited Mormons. Here we crossed the Mississippi River and followed westward the roads made three years previous by the fleeing fugitives from Nauvoo. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Icarians#Nauvoo.2C_Illinois

On the 24^th of July we entered Salt Lake Valley emerging from Emigration Canyon. We were all on tip-toe, anxiously waiting to see what kind of civilization the Mormons would exhibit to us. Descending from the bench lands, we soon encountered well-cultivated fields that extended westward, evidently small compact holdings, to the very doors of their homes. Every field was bordered by a newly-made irrigation canal. And the scarcity of weeds gave evidence of careful culture. Passing through city, I saw the marking of several blacksmith shops but not a saloon, barber pole, tavern or even a hotel could I see. But in the northern and thickest settled part of the city we passed a large brush bowery constructed evidently as a screen from the sun and used for public gatherings, and today it looked as if the entire community, both young and old, male and female, were assembled there. At first I thought we had lost of reckoning and that this was the Sabbath day – but this could not be as the Mormons were an unchristian lawless sect and doubtless paid no heed to the Sabbath. Passing the city we camped on open ground on the bank of a small stream called the Jordan. Across the street opposite us stood a low two-roomed dirt-roofed adobe house. The laughter of children announced to us that the inmates of the home had come. I met the father whom they familiarly called “Uncle Buck Smith.” I asked if myself and companion could get supper with them. He hesitated and finally said, “I am fearful our simple supper would not please you gentlemen. We can give you a supper of meat, milk, and pigweed greens, but bread we have not. You see, the flour we brought a year agoa has given out. We have not had bread for three weeks and have not hopes of any until our harvest comes off.” I gave them a pan of flour and in return partook of a very relishable meal. The dirt floor was cleanly swept. In fact, everything, though crude and primitive, was neat and tidy. When seated at the table Uncle Buck said, “Be quiet, children,” then he gave thanks for the amply supply of food and asked the Father to bless it to our use. This was the first time in my life that I had heard a blessing asked on our daily food and this prayer fell from the lips of an uncultured Mormon.

Toward evening I met another Mormon, a Mr. William Wordsworth. He was a man of pleasing dress, evidently well educated. He explained to me the nature of the gathering in the bowery. Two years ago today the pioneer company of the Mormon people, the fugitives from Nauvoo, entered this uninhabited and almost unknown valley, and their thankfulness was enhanced by the hope that they were beyond the reach and power of their old enemies who had cruelly mobbed and persecuted them for the last 15 years. Their suffering and martyrdom of their Prophet was all news to me and I wished to know the nature of their worship — which, as they affirm, was the primal cause of all their suffering. To my surprise Mr. Wordsworth invited us to attend their church services the next day. I accepted the invitation and he promised to call for me.

Sunday, July 25, 1849 is the day ever to be remembered by me. Mr. Wordsworth called early and after chatting 10 or 15 minutes with members of the company and again extending an invitation to us all to attend their church, he and I walked together to the bowery. We secured seats near the front of the congregation. On the west was a raised platform of lumber on which were seated some 20 of their leading Elders, on neatly-made slab benches were the choir and congregation. Services opened with singing and prayer, and the sacrament (bread and water)of the Lord’s Supper was blessed and passed to all the people. Then a man of noble, princely bearing addressed the meeting. As he arose Mr. Wordsworth said, “That is Apostle John Taylor, one of the two men who were with our Prophet and Patriarch when they were martyred in Carthage jail.” The word “Apostle” thrilled me, and the sermon, powerful, and testimony that followed filled my soul with a joy and satisfaction that I never felt before and I said to Mr. W., “If that is Mormonism then I am a Mormon. How can I become a member of your church?”

“By baptism,” he answered.

“I am ready for that ordinance.”

He replied, “Do not be in a hurry. Stay here and get acquainted with our people. Study more fully the principles of the gospel. Then if you wish to cast your lot with us it will be a pleasure to me to baptize you.” That night I slept but little, I was too happy to sleep. A revelation had come to me and its light filled my soul. My desire and ambition for gold was swept away. I had found the Pearl of Great Price, and I resolved to purchase it, let it cost what it would.

After a few days rest the company pushed on for California, but another man drove my team. I gave them my all, and in exchange received Baptism at the hands of Levi Jackman. I had lost the world and become a “Mormon.” “He that putteth his hand to the plow and turneth back, is not worthy of me.” As they continued their journey, it was a little painful; their warm cheery good-byes touched me in a tender place; as neighbors and companions for 1400 miles on the plains, they had become dear to me and the parting turned my thoughts back to home and loved ones. A shade of homesickness rested upon me. I stood alone with strangers, but “Uncle Buck Smith” sensed the situation and strengthened my young faith with brotherly sympathy inviting me to take my home with them, and he contrived to set me to work which is a sure antidote for the blues.

One day President Wells told me that I had been selected, as one of a party, to go to Sanpete Valley and aid in making a settlement. I did not wish to go as I had been told that it was a cold frosty place, too high in altitude for agricultural purposes and I felt that my condition would not be bettered again. I could not see just what right the President had to call me. I understood and expected them to guide me in spiritual matters but this was of a temporal nature and beyond their jurisdiction. These were my thoughts and this Pioneer Call was the first trial to my faith. I am pleased to say the pause was only for a moment. On reflection, God’s dealings with Noah, Abraham, Moses, Lehi and Nephi was strong evidence that reasoning and tradition were incorrect. Was not God the Author of the world, as well as the Gospel? If he builded the earth, why not govern it? If it requires union of spirit and matter to bring the exaltation of man then it must be that the Priesthood has a right to direct in material and temporal things, as well as in Spiritual things. The next time I met Brother Wells I told him I was willing to go to Sanpete or anywhere else.

I want my descendants, who may read this sketch, to bear in mind that I was a new disciple and in my mind was still wrapped in the ideas and thoughts of sectarianism, and obedience to the requirements of the Priesthood was a new doctrine to me. But the call set me to thinking, and studying, and led to an increase in knowledge.

Today I cannot recall the exact date of my starting to Sanpete, but sometime in February 1850 in company of Ephraim Hanks, William Porter and four others the start was made. There were no settlements south of Salt Lake City until we reached Provo, where the settlers were living in a fort. Our progress was slow on account of muddy roads from the melting snows and frequent storms that came at that season of the year. At the crossing of the Spanish Fork Creek, as we were moving in a narrow road cut through heavy willows, a troop of Indians appeared on the opposite bluff and opened fire on us. I was driving the lead team and I am free to confess that I halted as soon as I could. Eph Hanks, the leading spirit of the company, stepped fearlessly to the front and in Spanish held a parley with the Red men, who under the leadership of Josephine, a reputed half-brother of Walker (Chief Wakara) The Indians refused to let us advance unless we would pay tribute. We gave them one sack of flour and three sacks of corn meal as a peace offering, which was in harmony with President Young’s axiom that it is cheaper to feed them than it is to fight them. It was by President Young’s wisdom and foresight that Hanks was along. He is by nature an athlete of wonderful power. He loved excitement and danger, qualities that gave him influence with the Indians. On this occasion they had the advantage of us — and had they continued — we could not have escaped. The whistling of bullets was new music to me, and I was glad when the music ceased and we received no further harm than by scare and the loss of four sacks of provisions.

The trip was a hard one. Mud and bottomless roads in the valleys. And over the divide at the head of Salt Creek the snow was from two to four feet deep; for several miles we could move but two wagons at a time. I have often thought how wise it is that we cannot see the end from the beginning for often the difficulties would be greater than our faith, and we would fail to make the progress that we do. After two weeks hard struggling, we reached Manti on Sunday and received the heartiest of welcomes — old and young turned out to greet us. In a short time all of our little company was made to feel at home with old accountancies. I alone a stranger without kin or acquaintance so when Father Morley, who presided at Manti came and asked if I had friends to stop with, I told him I was an entire stranger. “Well, then come and live with me and be my boy.”

I went for two years and my home was with Father Morley. I learned to love him as my own father. No bargains ever made. I never asked for wages and never received any. I worked at whatever was most needed; as harvest approach we saw the need for grist mill, as there was none within 100 miles of us. Phineas W. Cook and I undertook to build one. We went to the canyon, cut and hewed timber, then hauled it to the mill site at the mouth of the canyon one mile above the Fort. With broad axes and whip saw me prepared and directed to frame the mill. In the meantime Charles Shumway and John D. Chance have built a sawmill just below us. From there we got lumber to finish our mill and President Young came to our assistance by furnishing a pair of Utah homemade burrs. My Christmas our little mill is running improved a great blessing to the infant settlement of Sanpete.

All this time I made my home at Father Morley’s and had learned that Adam and Eve were married before Adam’s fall. Hence, marriage for Eternity, as well as for time, and the union till death do you part, is of human origin. Then he pointed to Abraham and Jacob who founded the house of Israel; then he cited the revelation given to the Prophet Joseph Smith, which says, “I reveal unto you a new and everlasting covenant, and if you abide not the covenant then ye are damned, for all who will have of blessing at my hands will abide law that was appointed for that blessing.” To my understanding at that time, that meant “plural marriage.” I accepted it. I met a young lady of good family who please me and I pleased her. I told her of my wife and two children and of my desire to go and bring them to Utah. With this information and understanding she was willing to marry me, and in February 1851 I married Mary Ann Washburn. Patriarch Isaac Morley performed the ceremony.

I started back to the states for my family and on 20^th of December reached South Canton. To my joy I found my wife Margaret and the children, Martin and Martha there, well. She received me as one from the dead though I had written to her. Yet her friends had prophesied that I would never return. I will be brief and relating the outcome of my return. I was full of love and zeal for Mormonism and my wife’s family, especially her parents, were full of bitterness toward Mormonism. One evening in answer to a question of mother Banks, I told them I had been baptized in the Mormon Church. My mother-in-law was wild with rage and abused me without stint. I was prepared for the outburst and calmly and kindly made explanations and tried to turn away her wrath with mild answers. Father Banks refused to talk further than to give me to understand that, as a Mormon, I was not welcome beneath his roof. Then they retired without bidding us good night. There was no sleep for myself or Margaret that night.

It was one of the sorrows of my life. It was not a trial, my faith is not shaken. I received life and I knew my duty and was as well-to-do it. As daylight approached I said, “You are my wife and I love you, but I love God better. I’m going to harness my horses and leave your father’s roof. If you want to go with me happier things ready. Otherwise, I shall take Martin, leaving Martha and did you goodbye.” At daylight I drove up to the door. Her bedding was tied and everything packed and ready. I lifted her and the children into the wagon, wrap them in quilts for it was storming furiously. By her suggestions I drove to William Biers, who had married one of her schoolmates. They lived two miles away. They were surprised and amazed that received us kindly. We stayed that day, thankful for the hospitality for it was one of the worst blizzards that I ever have seen. I shall never forget the day and the incident. That time on Margaret’s trust in me was a great comfort. I resolved the heed President Young’s parting counsel, “Be a good boy and come back as soon as you can.” By the time we returned to Utah, Margaret had been baptized and was prepared to meet the new conditions and accepted cheerfully her share of the increase responsibilities that plural marriage brings to all. Margaret and Amy lived together cheerfully and our lives were happy and contented.

In 1874 President Young and George A. Smith visited southern Utah put forth their best efforts to organize us into working companies called United Order. Those who join the order, consecrating all that well, seemed baptized with the new zeal that fill their souls with energy, goodwill and brotherly love, while those who oppose that were filled with jealousy and hatred. In the Order people sold their homes in choosing flat uncultivated land two and a half miles north of Carmel, laid out a town and named it Orderville. Under Brigham Young’s watchful eye and counsel they were greatly prospered. I cast my lot with the Orderville community consecrating my farm, teams, and interest in the Kanab mill. In fact, my earthly all was put upon the altar and sacrificed in a cause that I believe was instituted for the good of the human family. I was placed in charge of the boardinghouse with seven assistants. We prepared the food for all community, numbering it first 200 but increasing to 600. We got to the system and method so that our meals were served as regular as clockwork. On economic lines the hotel is a grand success. No waste of substance and eight persons served breakfast to a hundred families for one year. The work was confining, yet I was contented.

In 1871 I married Louise Washburn, daughter of Abraham and Clarinda Washburn. My families live together in Orderville. We had good schools and well attended meetings. Indeed life there was a spiritual feast. Our wisest men had been called to the front as directors and above them was in the church was Brigham Young. That stood as a beacon of light to us — and when the lights went out, we were a ship that had lost its pilot. The sailors remained, but they were soon divided in counsel and with division can weakness. When the Orderville United Order dissolved, I moved to Huntington, Castle Valley, bought me a farm of 80 acres which my sons cared for while I worked in Seeley Brothers Grist Mill for three years.

Then I spent one year playing “hide and seek” with the U. S. deputy marshals; but I got tired of the play so I took Louise, the youngest family and skipped for Old Mexico. I went with two teams, leaving Huntington November 13, 1888, passing through Rabbit Valley and up the Sevier by Johnson’s, then across the Buckskin Mount into Lee’s Ferry. The nights were cold, but no storms. We passed up the Little Colorado in Arizona in the day before Christmas to reach St. Johns, where my own son William G. lived. We spent a pleasant week with them and then moved on. The 4^th of June 1889 I reached Colonia Diaz, Old Mexico. So here I am in a foreign land, not a choice but of necessity, in mt own land made a criminal; yet I have not injured any living person. The law that makes me a sinner was enacted on purpose to convict me and was retro-active in its operations. To me it is legally unjust, which adds a sting to the cruelty; but what can’t be cured must be endured so I take as little of the medicine as possible and try to be cheerful.

November I received a letter from W.R.R. Stowell of Colonia Juarez, pushing me to come and help put the machinery into his grist mill. I went at once and then cared for the mill for three years. I then found employment at Jackson’s old mill near Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. I had charge of it for two years and for a year I was superintendent of his new roller mill. When Jackson sold to Memmott and Co., I continued as superintendent. In 1897, feeling the need for a rest, I left the milling business and had a one year of Jubilee like the patriarchs of old. I spent the 24^th of July — Pioneer Day — in Salt Lake City, then visited my sister Rachel in Beaver. From Beaver I returned to Mexico in found employment in Stowell’s grist mill. For nearly 2 years I attended the mill, sometimes night and day, but the best of my days were passed. The evening of life was approaching. My lungs commenced leading in one day I broke completely down. Father Stowell came to see me and pronounced my condition serious. He hurriedly brought Dr. Keats. They administered to me and the doctor gave me medicine that check the bleeding, but he forbade my working in the mill; so I parted with the labor that I love and that I had followed most of my life. My son David took me to Colonia Pacheco where I made my home with my wife Maria; and for two years of exercise I worked in the garden or with David or Morley. I rode the range helping to look after our stock.

I visited my children and my sons-in-law in Fruitland, New Mexico. While residing there and just before returning to Mexico, I attended the San Juan stake conference at Mancos, Colorado. Apostle Mathias F. Cowley was in attendance, and on the 16^th day of May 1903, he ordained me a Patriarch and gave me a highly treasured blessing.

In the winter of 1906, in mounting a saddle horse, my gloved hand slipped from the horn of the saddle giving me a heavy fall. I had to be carefully nursed for three months. From 1906 and 1912 I remained at Pacheco and during that time, with the assistance of David and Morley, I built a good comfortable four-roomed brick house.

When the Civil War between Francisco I. Madero and Porfirio Diaz broke out, it was understood by both parties are people would remain neutral and they were assured he would not be disturbed; but when Huerta seize the reins of government and Venustiano Carranza took the field as leader of the Constitutionalists, conditions became so violent that President Wilson advised all Americans to leave Mexico. Still the Mormon colonists hesitated, hoping the war would soon pass in peace return without their having to abandon their homes. But it was not to be. As the strife went on, robbings and plundering’s of our people by both parties became so frequent, property rights were not respected, and life was not secure. Conditions were becoming unbearable, and it was feared resistance to unjust demands would be made and then a general massacre of the Mormon people might follow. To avoid that calamity it was deemed best to sacrifice their homes. On the 28^th day of July 1912 just as our Sabbath meeting with closing, a messenger arrived and gave public notice that the entire community must be ready to leave at seven the next morning.

Wagons had to be coupled together and the best put on. Every vehicle in the town was brought out and put to use. At last when all was done that could be done in the darkness of night, the weary, anxious community sat down for a few hours rest. They were awakened by the rumbling storm that swept in fury over the mountain. All day it rain poured ‘til every hollow was a river and no move could be made; with the results of the days carrying would be, no one could tell. Monday night brought rest and then Tuesday morning bright and clear came, all accepted it as a good omen and the pilgrimage was started in a more cheerful mood. My son David P. Was made guide to direct the movements of the company. Thirty-two wagons were lined up all crammed full of the aged and the young but mostly with women and children, because many of the men were in the mountains looking after their stock. Promptly at 7:00 a.m. The train moved. With tearful eyes about 300 persons bade adieu to their earthly all, the homes of comfort and graves of their loved ones.

At Corrales we were joined by another small company of refugees. Then commenced in earnest a hard day’s drive of 30 miles to Pearson. Nine miles out a company of Red Flag Cavalry dashed across the road, haulted our train and demanded our guns and ammunition. Upon giving solemn promise of protection their demands were complied with and we were permitted to pass on. We reached Pearson without further interruption but too late to take the train for El Paso. The inhabitants of Pearson had abandoned their homes and they were thrown open to us. So we found a grateful shelter for the night.

On the 31^st of July we were put on the cars at Pearson. There was a limited number of cars, and in order to take all the refugees, the cars were packed to the utmost limit of their carrying capacity. About 10:00 a.m. the train moved with the load of human freight and at sunset reached Ciudad Juárez. It was dark when they passed the Custom House and swept into El Paso. Here wonderful reception greeted us. Automobiles, streetcars and private vehicles were placed free for our service. Everything was done that could be done to make us welcome. We were soon transferred to a lumber yard two miles from El Paso where we were served a plentiful supper. True, we were proud, the multitude is great, and in the throng the sick, feeble and aged could not help but suffer. Several women were rushed to the hospital where kindly and skillful assistance given there saved mothers and babes. Soon after our camping in the lumber sheds we had a heavy rain and the yard became a mud puddle, making it very unpleasant for several days. I faced these discomforts and although I felt my strength failing, I made no complaint.

Harry Payne came and said, “Father Black, this is no place for you. You must go to better quarters.” I replied, “I must stay here for I have no money to go anywhere else with.” He leaned forward and whispered, “I remember seeing your name of the Tithing record. You are going to be cared for.”

The next day Apostle Ivins came and talked kindly with me. He called a Brother Sevey and directed him to take me and Maria and see that we were well cared for. The instructions were carried out. I remember with pleasure the Hotel Alberta where for eight days we rested and were treated royally. I feel thankful to the good citizens of El Paso for the aid and sympathy they gave us, and I feel thankful to our government and to President William H. Taft for the prompt appropriation of the magnificent sum of $100,000 to be used in giving aid to the American citizens who were expelled from Mexico. Of those, about 4,000 were Latter Day Saints and the hearts of all were gladdened by this generous assistance.

On the 10^th day of August, Maria and I were furnished with a railroad pass that would take us to Price, Utah. There was sorrow mixed with joy when we parted our friends and fellow sufferers, the colonists. We had gone to Mexico in a common cause and for 25 years we had toiled together and had endeared to each other by sacrifices we had made. As a finishing touch to our experiences, we had drunk together from the bitter cup of expulsion from our homes. A two-day ride brought us to Price and to our children living in Huntington.

Patriarch William Morley Black died at 4:00 a.m., June 21, 1915 at Blanding, Utah. He left a wife and 28 living children, 214 living grandchildren and 206 great-grandchildren.

Submitted by Thora Bradford

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 42

James Andrew Jesperson

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James Andrew Jesperson

1883-1970

James Andrew Jesperson came with his parents, James Peter Jesperson and Emma Ida Johnson, to the colonies in 1896 at the age of 13. Although the first colonists arrived a number of years before his family, James, my father, was indeed one of the true pioneers of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. He lived in all the colonies of Chihuahua at one time or another because his father James Peter had one of the worst cases of pioneer fever the West had ever known. He finally settled in Colonia Chuhuichupa because his sons were old enough to have a voice in the matter of moving. When his father left Richfield for the colonies, Great-grandfather Christian Jesperson told him that if he ever found a place where he was certain he would stay to let them know and they would come join him. Grandfather was their only child and they wanted to be near him. After his sons refused to move any more, Grandfather decided this was the time to send for his parents.

Great-grandfather Christian Jesperson and Great-grandmother Ane Marie Johansen arrived in Casas Grandes in 1898 on the Noroeste train from El Paso. It was an exciting time for all the family to go down from the mountains to Casas Grandes to meet their grandparents. A new wagon was unloaded from the train and assembled and all their belongings loaded into it. There was a stove, brass beds, a sewing machine, plow and harnesses and many items with which to start life again on a new frontier. As soon as the wagon was loaded they drove over to the cooperative mercantile store in Colonia Dublan. Many necessary items like flour, sugar, and spices were not yet available in “Chupie” (Chuhuichupa) so these things were purchased in large enough quantities to last three or four months.

Grandfather James Peter Jesperson owned a block of four acres on the northwest corner of “Chupie.” Great-grandfather bought two acres to the north. They were closer to the church house. Grandfather Jesperson also owned 40 acres of farm land in the fenced off property of the valley. The fence belonged to the community but each family owned their own land within the fence. No one could own more than 40 acres in this area. The fence kept out the animals which were turned loose to graze around the town lots. After the harvest the animals were put inside the fence. Some of the families owned large cattle ranches in the mountain areas.

Christian and Ane Marie Jesperson took great pride in their vegetable garden. They both spent long hours during the growing season weeding, watering and tending their gardens. They soon had the reputation for the best crops in town. They are both buried in “Chupie.” Great-grandfather died before the Exodus, from a horse kick, and Great-grandmother died after the Exodus. She returned to “Chupie” with her son and his family in 1922.

When my father, James Andrew Jesperson, was 15 years old he went with Erick Jorgensen and his 15-year-old son, Hyrum, to Nogales, Arizona. Brother Jorgensen had contracted to make 16 miles of railroad bed from Nogales into Mexico. They had a hand scraper pulled by horses. They started work at 7:00 a.m. every morning, working six days a week, 10 hours a day. Father worked for two pesos a day, or one dollar and meals. There was thick dust moving through the air and dust was on everything. They had to shoo flies with one hand while eating with the other. He worked a month here and then went to Douglas, Arizona to a freighting job. They hauled freight from Douglas to a mining town in Mexico. His sister Ida was married to John Whetten and living in a camp halfway between Douglas and the mining town. John was also hauling freight. They would drive into Douglas, load the wagons, drive back to camp, stay overnight, then drive out to the mining town and back during the day. Father remembered this camp as a pleasant place under cottonwood trees and by a pretty stream. When the job was finished, Father went back to “Chupie” on horseback, traveling with Bert Whetten who had been working there also. Brother Whetten stopped at his home in Garcia and Father went on alone to “Chupie.” He was now 16 and with the money he earned he bought the lot next to Grandfather’s.

The only high school in the colonies was in Colonia Juarez and Father was anxious to get back in school. It was springtime so Father spent the summer working El Paso, Texas building a railroad bridge.

About this time there is a big economic boom around “Chupie” because of the sawmill industry. William Greene’s Gold-Silver company was building a town around them mother sawmill at Madera. The town mushroomed with the needs of the company and its employees. They were building offices, hospital and homes for the workers. Madera was up in the forest country about 30 miles from the railroad stop at Temosachic. After school was out father got a job bringing supplies by wagon from Temosachic to Madera. He made three trips a week hauling flour, vegetables, tools and other items to the growing town. After this job it was back to school again and the following summer he went back to the same company as a “pony express” rider.

The company was surveying land from Casas Grandes to Madera for a railroad that could close the gap from Chihuahua City to Madera and from Madera to Casas Grandes. They were sending out several surveying groups to survey two different lines. One line went east from Casas Grandes, making a big loop through the valley to Galeana on the south to El valle then to Namiquipa and from there to Temosachic. Father and three other Academy boys got jobs carrying mail. Two of them were Lee Memmott and Earl McClellan. Lee took the mail from Casas Grandes to Galeana. Earl rode all night from Galeana to El Valle. The next carrier took it from El Valle to Namiquipa. Every 10 miles a Mexican had a fresh horse ready. The company had set up small adobe station posts. Father took the mail the longest route from Namiquipa on, about 60 miles to Temosachic. He would ride all night and get in before noon the next day. Another writer took the mail on to Madera which completed the circuit. The other route the company was surveying went through San Diego by the San Miguel River. The mail job lasted only a month because the San Diego surveyors had finished and the company decided to run the railroad straight up through the mountains from Casas Grandes to San Diego and on to Madera.

In 1906, before the Revolution, a Mr. Pomroy of the same company hired father as a scout to lead a group of company men to hunt out the best timberland. In the party was an engineer to decide the most accessible heavy timber locations for the Madera sawmill. There was also a timber expert and a man to cook and pack the mules. The company had leased a large tract of land with timber rights. Large cement monuments were built on the corners to mark the property. Some of the monuments were from 75 to 100 miles apart. The group father was guiding would travel on the leased land until they ran out of supplies and then return for more.

The first place father took them became the first portable sawmill. This was called Chico and became a railroad stop in small town. From Chico he took them to the mountain south of “Chupie,” called the Candelaria Peaks. They started sawing there and workers made a road for the wagons to take the logs about 5 miles to “Chupie” where they started a third sawmill which gave added income to some of the colony men. From “Chupie” he took them to Mound Valley where the timber was high all around the valley. Here they located the fourth sawmill. West of Mound Valley, down across the head of the Gavilan River, they traveled next to the Big Blues covered with timber. They located sawmills on all the main places father took them.

He worked at the scouting job for five months then went back to the Juarez Academy for the last semester of 1907. This is where he met Flora May Williams. They were married September 6, 1908 just after father received a “Box B” letter calling them on a mission to Mexico City. Mother took a job teaching school in “Chupie” and Father went on his mission, which lasted two and a half years. Mother received $25 a month and food donations.

When Father returned from his mission he farmed his land and purchase cattle. The first year he planted vegetables because he knew the sawmill’s paid good prices for fresh produce. The first crop was a wagon load of turnips. He drove to Chico with the wagon bulging with his freshly harvested load and didn’t even have to get out of the wagon to sell it. At the sawmill they bought the whole wagon full for 80 pesos or 40 dollars. Father was certain he would be a rich man with the next season’s harvest, but then came the Revolution and the Exodus of the Mormons.

Father, along with Bishop Tom Sevey and Howard (Howd) Veater, was chosen to be one of the captains to lead the 30 to 40 men down out of the mountains to the border and safety. He was a young man for this job but with much experience for what he had to do. After the women and children had been sent out on the last train to the border, the younger men stayed behind with the hope of protecting the homes in fields and cattle. When the rebels came, the men were far outnumbered and from their lookout point on North Peak all they could do was watch their homes being plundered and burned and their animals killed and crops destroyed.

Father accumulated considerable wealth in his later years in spite of the fact that he had started over again several times in his life. The Exodus from Mexico left him destitute of properties. And the moved from Tucson to San Diego, California some 25 years later, for the sake of mother’s health forced him to sell during depression times. His love of the land and the pride of ownership and his early experience in the colonies gave him outstanding business acumen. When he died February 7, 1970, he left an income for each of his nine children the property that they could look to with pride. The fact that he wrote a letter to each of his children stating he would prefer the first priority on this income be given to sending his grandchildren on missions is a good indication of his values relating to the sharing of the Gospel.

Leanor Jesperson Brown, Granddaughter

Stalwart’s South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 334

Albert Stephen Farnsworth

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Albert Stephen Farnsworth

1844-1904

Albert Stephen Farnsworth was born May 22, 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois, a few short weeks before the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. He was the third son of Stephen Martindale Farnsworth and Julia Anne Clark and the seventh generation of Farnsworth’s in the United States.

His ancestors came from Farnsworth, England and if our genealogical recrods are accurate, were descended from English kings of the Plantagenet line. The Farnsworth’s were among the early settlers of Massachusetts. We find record of them as early as 1638 taking an active part in the settling of Massachusetts. Matthias Farnsworth, Albert’s immediate ancestor, settled in Groton, Massachusetts. He was a freeman and took active part in the civic and religious affairs of the community. Men of this family fought and died bravely for freedom in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars. One of these received commendation from his commanding officer and was posthumously honored after he fell at Gettysburg. The family sought after freedom of religion and high education and it became traditional for males of this line to attend Harvard.

Stephen Martindale, Albert’s father, was born October 8, 1810, in Dorset, Vermont. He was the first of the family to join the Mormons. He joined in the early days of the Church, moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, and endured the trials and persecutions suffered there by the Saints. He was a carpenter and builder and helped to build the Nauvoo Temple. A short time before the martyrdom of the Prophet, he had the “Farnsworth Vision” in which he saw the exodus of Saints from Nauvoo under the leadership of Brigham Young, the blessings and abundance that would come to the Mormons in the West, and their triumphant return to Jackson County in the last days. He went west from Nauvoo and settled first in Iowa, and later emigrated to Utah and settled in Pleasant Grove He was called from there to help settle Richfield and Joseph City, Utah. He died September 19, 1855.

Albert’s mother, Julia Anne Clark, was the daughter of Richard and Anne Elizabeth Sheffer Clark and a descendant of William Clark who came to Pennsylvania with William Penn in 1682 and helped to establish the village of Chester and later the city of Philadelphia. These early Clarks belonged to the Society of Friends, commonly called the Quakers. According to family genealogical records, they were of Scotch-Irish lineage descended from the Stuart line of the kings of England. William Clark served as judge and a member of the first governing body of Pennsylvania. Members of the family served in both the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

Richard and his family heard the gospel from Franklin D. Richards in 1842. They joined the Church and moved to Nauvoo and helped in the building of the Nauvoo Temple. In May of 1850, they crossed the plains and became the first permanent residents of a community which they called Pleasant Grove. Julia Anne went with her husband to settle southern Utah and Arizona and after his death, moved with her sons to Mexico where she lived, until she died on October 24, 1898 in Colonia Pacheco. She loved flowers and patiently carried seeds and potted plans as she moved from place to place. These she planted between the rows of vegetables, and her garden was thus a place of beauty. She took with her to Pacheco a yellow climbing rose she had carried with her on her many travels and it is said that yellow roses now grow wild all over the Pacheco Valley.

Albert Stephen Farnsworth crossed the plains with his parents and grew to manhood in Richfield, Utah. He was a great athlete, a foot racer, and wrestler. Brigham Pierce, boyhood acquaintance, often told about Albert Farnsworth. He said the first time he ever saw him, he was with his older brothers and they were challenging anyone who would to race or wrestle against Albert. He said that as far as he knew he was never beaten. Albert also loved to sing and dance. From his early youth he showed remarkable civic leadership. He built the recreation hall in Richfield and served as recreation manager. He had a way with young people and they loved and respected him. His religion, it would seem, was the dearest thing in his life. His loyalty in support of Church Authorities set an example to the youth of the community who loved and emulated him. He was a man of good judgement whose counsel was often sought.

While living in Richfield he married Martha Hall. She bore him four children before they were divorced. Later he married Mary Ann Johnson, Eliza Bertleson, and Sarah Ann Slade. All three of these wives went with him to Mexico and bore him large families.

In 1879 he was called to help settle St. Johns, Arizona. There the Farnsworth’s lived on a ranch quite a distance from town and their nearest neighbors were the Nathan Tenney’s who later also went to Mexico. During this time bands of Indians frequently came by the ranch and stopped for food. They were never turned away. Though the Farnsworth’s had very little for themselves, they always shared with the Indians. I remember Grandmother telling about an Indian brave who came to her one day and asked for food. She offered him what they had, cornbread and molasses, but he threw it down and demanded something better. Grandmother was so angered by seeing good food wasted when her own children often went hungry, that, forgetting her husband’s warnings to always treat the Indians with kindness, she picked up the broom and chased the man out of the house. He never returned. Grandmother’s eyes would flash with righteous indignation as she told the story to me. The picture of her with her broomstick in hand and the Indian fleeing before her has always stayed with me.

While still at the ranch, they also had an exciting experience with the famous outlaw, Billy the Kid. Brother Tenney had moved his family back into town and grandfather was away working at a logging camp. One day, becoming very worried about his family, he left work and rode the 75 miles to the ranch. He found the family safe, but decided to spend the night and return to work the next morning. Before sunrise a band of armed men rode into the ranch and demanded breakfast and feed for their horses. Grandpa recognized the leader as the notorious bandit, Billy the Kid. Grandmother hurriedly fixed a fine meal while Grandfather fed and watered the horses. After the meal, the leader asked what they owed and Grandfather named a small sum. The leaders refused to pay and as Grandfather moved to go into the house a dozen revolvers were drawn with heavy oaths and threats to blow out his brains if he moved. Quickly his terrified wife threw her arms around her husband’s neck, protecting his body with her own. The outlaws searched the Tenney home taking all their rifles. They took Albert’s new saddle, and, asking if he had guns in his house, moved toward it. Grandmother thinking only of their desperate situation dashed for the door and barricaded it with her arms, “Stand back!” She said. “Don’t you dare go in there.” With a cynical smile, but heeding her flashing brown eyes and her fearless attitude, the bandit turned away. With Grandfather still under guard, the outlaws rounded up a band of choice horses belonging to the people of St. Johns; but as soon as they started to ride away, he rushed into the house of his rifle determined to follow the outlaws and recover the horses. Grandmother pleaded with him not to go, fearing for his life and those of the children. But two other horses came in sight. Quickly Mary and Albert drove these into the corral.

“Mary, I will not see a single one of these horses taken,” Albert told her. “Take this gun and go into the cellar. Shoot the first man who tries to enter. I will stand guard here.”

A commanding figure he no doubt made as he walked back and forth, his Winchester shining in the sun. The outlaws paused to consider. This was no man to be trifled with, and the wife handled a gun as if she too knew how to use it. Apparently not wishing to take a chance, Billy the Kid gave orders for his men to go to the trail. Later help came and a posse was formed to pursue the bandit, but he escaped. For years afterword, Grandmother enjoyed a certain fame as the woman who stood off Billy the Kid.

In 1880 Stephen Albert was called from St. Johns to Fruitland, New Mexico. There he operated a store on the banks of the San Juan River, which divided the town of Fruitland. Because of his honesty and fairness in trading with the Indians, they became his friends and they helped him and protected him. Because of his influence with the Indians he was chosen as one of a party to accompany Heber J. Grant, who was then a young Apostle, on a tour of Arizona. The Indians gave Albert an Indian name, “Chis, Chily, Ixy,” which means that he was a pretty good man.

Albert was called to the colony of Mancos, Colorado, which was in need of strong leadership. He was made Presiding Elder and later sustained as Bishop. Arriving in Mancos he called the people together and asked them to all work together to build a church house. They agreed and although it was summer and they were busy with farm work, they began at once cutting and hauling logs. Actual building began on July 1, and by July 24, the building was far enough advanced to hold the traditional celebration there, and by the time winter set in it was completely finished.

Albert and the Saints prospered in Mancos. He built homes for his families, cleared land of farming, set a store, and bought a grist mill. But persecution by U.S. Marshals caught up with them again. Bishop Farnsworth had either to go underground or move again. He never hesitated. Believing in “the principle,” his wives and children were dear to him and they were his responsibility. He couldn’t leave them to fend for themselves, deny them the protection they needed or the right to his name. They decided to move to Mexico. This time there could be no open selling of property. Secretly he called his family together. Taking what little they had saved and food and clothing to last them for a while, they loaded wagons and began the long journey to a new land. This was in 1889.

They first settled in Colonia Pacheco where Albert hoped to be able to support his families by building. He and his two brothers built many of the homes in Colonia Pacheco and Colonia Garcia. But times were hard and money and food were scarce. Albert bought a sawmill and his brother Alonzo operated it while Albert and his older sons began to work at railroad building for John W. Young. When the railroad venture went broke, he not only lost his job, but the little money he had invested in it. He and his boys turned to freighting and whenever they came home, they brought their wagons loaded with provisions which they divided with the hungry people in the town. Albert had always been generous to a fault. He could not see a woman or a child suffer in want, so often he gave away necessities and left home to find more work in order to help those in need. No one wife or family was every favored above the other. Each family took turns accompanying him while he worked for the railroad. When he received his pay he bought things to make his families comfortable. Aunt Bertha Romney says that she remembered at one time he bought three stoves, three bedroom sets, three organs, and several bolts of cloth.

On the rough frontier while he worked for the railroads he tried to keep his family free of bad environment and he himself lived up to the principles of the Church. Each day there were family prayers, singing hymns and reading the Bible. He tried to teach what was right and impressed his children with the importance of being honest and truthful. His loyalty to the Church was tested when Moses Thatcher was dropped from the Council of the Twelve. His son Reuben said that of this occasion, “Pa loved that man above all men and he couldn’t believe that he was in the wrong. For many days and nights, Pa fasted and prayed about it, and then one day he picked up the Doctrine and Covenants and read a passage where the Lord promised that the President of the Church would never lead the Saints astray. Albert knew this was an answer to his prayer. From that time on, he had no doubt. That little passage of scripture is why we are members of the Church today.”

In 1895, Albert with his wife Mary Ann and her family, moved to Sabinal where Albert took a contract with the Northwestern Railroad. The older boys freighted from Sabinal to Villa Ahumada, always resting on Sunday. When this railroad job was finished Mary Ann moved to Colonia Juarez where she could put her children in school. Albert sold the sawmill in Pacheco to his brother and invested the proceeds in farmland at Colonia Dublan. But again in 1904 he took a railroad job in the Oriente Sur Railroad and moved Mary Ann and her family to Guerrero, Chihuahua. During the years they had moved, Mary had lost five of her fourteen children. Here at Guerrero she lost her sixth. To relieve Mary Ann’s grieving, Albert sent her back to Dublan, where he had built her a lovely home. The younger children also needed to attend school. His wife Lide (Eliza) went out to stay with him and the boys. In November Albert became desperately ill. Mary Ann hurried to his side. Although he was unconscious when she arrived, he roused himself, spoke to her, and calling the boys to him, he exacted a promise from them that they would continue with the work, pay any debts that he might owe, care for his wives and children, see that their sisters were taken care of, and that the younger children were given an education. A promise the boys dutifully fulfilled.

He died on November 28, 1904 and was buried in Guerrero, Chihuahua, beside his daughter.

He was recognized as one of the great pioneers of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico. Of him it was said, “To know Albert Stephen Farnsworth was to love him.” He was clean and virtuous in thought and action, honest in all his dealings with his fellowmen, kind, charitable, and generous to a fault, particularly to those in need. Some men preach their virtues, only a few like Albert have no need for that. Their lives and their deeds speak for them. It can be truly said of him that he left every community in which he lived a better place than he found it.”

Albert Stephen Farnsworth: pioneer, builder, colonizer, leader of men, husband, and father from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Guerrero, Chihuahua. Thousands of rugged miles, years of hardships, suffering and privation to give a numerous posterity the heritage that is theirs. A grateful generation blesses him. My second son bears the name, in humble gratitude to the grandfather I never knew.

Floriene Farnsworth Taylor, granddaughter

Stalwart’s South of the Border, by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 159

Alma LaRue Lunt

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Alma LaRue Lunt 1927 ~ 2010 Alma LaRue Lunt, born June 8, 1927 in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, son of Clarence L. Lunt and LaVetta Cluff, passed from this life on 24 Nov 2010 from Mesothelioma Cancer. He is loved by many and will be greatly missed.He lived a full life of service to his Church, family, and friends. He served an LDS Mission to Mexico as a young man of 19 yr. and five Missions with his devoted wife in his later years. LaRue was called as Bishop in 1963 and as a Patriarch in 1974. He is survived by his sweetheart of 60 years, Carolyn Wagner Lunt and his five children: Ronald L. Lunt (DeAnn), Christine L. Jones (Tony), Vickie L. Andreason (Desslie), Sherrie L. Bender (Danny), Tricia L. Brown (Warren) and 22 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren. Preceded in death by parents, Clarence and LaVetta Cluff Lunt, sisters, Marza and Maurine and grandson Zachary L. Lunt. He was the fourth child of a family of nine children, Marza L. Hatch (Dr. E. LeRoy), Maurine L. Bowman (Donn), Ora L. Bluth (Gayle), twin, LaRee L. Bluth Shaw (the late Lynden Bluth, Dale), LuDean L. Cardon E.G. (Bob), Sylvia L. Heywood (Evans), C. Gary Lunt (Lorie) and R. Berkley Lunt (Sharon). A viewing will be held from 6:00-8:00 p.m. Monday, Nov. 29, 2010 at Redwood Memorial, 6500 S. Redwood Rd, West Jordan. Funeral services Tuesday, November 30, 2010 noon, preceded by viewing 10:00-11:30 a.m. Bennion Heights Stake Center, 3045 W. Bernina Dr. (3200 W. 5680 South) Taylorsville. Interment to follow at Redwood Memorial. Special Thanks to Dr. Patricia Legant and the loving, and caring CNS Hospice staff. – See more at: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/saltlaketribune/obituary.aspx?n=alma-lunt&pid=146828692#sthash.yE03spqt.dpuf

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