Tag Archives: Mormon Colonies in Mexico

Edward Elsey Bradshaw

1860-1936

Edward Elsey Bradshaw was the fifth of nine children born to Samuel and Mary Ann Elsey Bradshaw. He was born May 29, 1860 in Tooele, Tooele County, Utah.

Mary Ann was an English convert and lived in Virgin, Utah,, but at the time had gone to Tooele to see her mother and step-father. They had just arrived from England. Here is where her son Edward Elsey Bradsahw, was born. Soon after his birth they returned home. His brothers and sisters were Sarah Ann, Samuel, Ira Elsey, William A., Mary Ann, Emma Elsey, David Elsey and Joseph Elsey.

Mary Ann, the mother, died of pneumonia when Edward was 11 years old, and young Edward’s grandmother, Ann White, cared for the children for a while after her death.

Samuel Bradshaw was a mason by trade, and Edward probably helped him build houses in and around Virgin. He went to school very little. After Mary Ann’s death, Samuel married a widow, Annie Ballard, with five children. She was later killed by a fall from a wagon. He then married an immigrant from Switzerland, Annie Bruppacker, who was a convert to the Church. They had four children: Benjamin, Esther and a pair of twins, Ugene and Unis, who died in infancy. Nothing else is known of them.

At age 21, Edward married Mary Ellen (May) Owens, daughter of Horace Burr and Sally Ann Layne Owens. Their courtship took place in Virgin. May was born July 14, 1864 in Fillmore, Utah. They took their endowments and were married October 12, 1881 in the St. George Temple. They left and went to Salt Lake City for their household things, then went on to Virgin. There they rented a room where their first baby, Ellen Elsie (Nelle), was born, October 2, 1882.

Virgin was a small town on the banks of the Virgin River, about three of four blocks wide. There was no room for more homes. The original owners did not want to leave so young couples were forced to go elsewhere.

Edward Elsey Bradshaw and May Bradshaw joined a company that left for Arizona to colonize new land. Her father, Horace Burr Owens Sr., and brother, Burr Jr., left with their families in November, 1882. Although they had a pleasant trip traveling by wagon, it was a little cold for their one-month-old child. When the baby needed a bath, Edward would take a kettle from the fire, put coals in it and put it in the wagon, which made it nice and cozy.

They arrived in Woodruff, Arizona on December 12, 1882 where May’s uncle James Clark Owens, welcomed them. After a visit they went on to Snowflake to visit May’s aunt, Martha Layne Stratton. Then they went on to Pinedale to visit her brother, Ardene, and family and sister, Medora Gardner. They had nice visits before returning to Woodruff where they bought a lot and built a small frame house, moving into their home April 4, 1883. They started immediately making improvements on it.

The dam on the Little Colorado went out repeatedly for several years. People kept hoping each one built would be the last, but it proved to be a continuing occurrence.

On February 28, 1884 their first son, Samuel Silas, was born. May then had a severe sick spell which affected her memory, and it was never very good after that time.

In June they made a trip to Utah taking May’s sister, Alameda, and J.D. Smithson to be married in the St. George Temple. After their return another son, Edward Estelven was born, June 6, 1885. He was a very sick baby and died January 9, 1887. Ira Reynold was born July 31, 1886 and died July 27, 1887. Vilate was born February 18, 1888 and died February 12, 1890. Emma was born October 1, 1889 and Hyrum, April 6, 1891. Many of the babies died during these years because of measles, whooping cough, croup and grippe.

In May 1891 the family decided to homestead a farm in Pinetop, Arizona taking merchandise from the ACMI mercantile store. The store later gave out so much on credit that it went broke. The Bradshaw family sheared sheep, freighted, cut timber, plowed, as well as made fences and ditches during this time.

On November 7, 1892 Ellis Delon was born. Then another daughter, Annie, was born December 16, 1894, and David Burr was born on November 20, 1896. Lois was born, May 13, 1898. Then on January 27, 1900 they had towns; one of them, Mary, was stillborn but the other, Martha, grew strong and healthy.

Because the children had to go to Woodruff to go to school, they decided to sell their homestead and move to Mexico. Several families made a company and started May 22, 1900. They went by horse and wagon, camping out at night, some 1,000 miles over very bad roads. Edward and May traveled with eight children under 16 years of age. They left one married daughter in St. Joseph, Arizona. They arrived June 17, 1900 at Colonia Morelos in Sonora where they broke new land, made ditches and homes.

Their first home was a tent, then they made adobes and had a home with dirt floors. Lumber was too expensive so they used bamboo cane to hold up the dirt roof.

Until they raised a crop, their main food was boiled wheat, beans and redroot (pigweed greens). When their crop matured, Edward took surplus foot to Douglas, Arizona, 60 miles away, and to mining camps to trade for clothing and other food.

Mexico was a beautiful country with tall grass and yellow poppies. They cut the grass and used it for hay (stock food). We did not know it then, but the poppies caused sore eyes.

On December 1, 1901 John Elmer was born in Colonia Morelos. Preston Clark was born March 11, 1904. Then Joseph Glendon was born January 10, 1906 in Colonia Morelos. He died April 11, 1913 in Hurricane, Utah. Richard, the last of 11 children, was born March 18, 1908 at Fort Apache, Arizona.

In 1905 there were terrific floods down the Bavispe River, practically washing away the town of Colonia Oaxaca.

The Bavispe River took away the Bradshaw’s orchard of about 100 trees, potato crops, horses and heifers, and even the wall of their kitchen was washed out. Losing everything, they decided to leave Mexico and go back to Arizona. They took the post laundry job at Fort Apache. They did the laundry for 110 soldiers, with a washer run by horses, and a mangle ironer. Many of the soldiers, when they found they were being transferred, would leave without paying their bills. The family also had a nice garden spot where Edward raised melons, fruits and vegetables to sell.

There was a new colony opening in San Jose, Sonora, Mexico, so they left Fort Apache on November 1, 1908. It took them three weeks by wagon with little Glendon who had the croup. People were coming from Oaxaca and Morelos up the river to make the San Jose de Rosebello their home. The Bradshaws went there and took 100 acres of land, partly cleared but mostly brushland, mesquite, catclaw, and cactus. There were bulls that hid in bushes in the daytime and at night ate their crops.

In San Jose the family worked very hard, making adobes, housing, ditches, planting and harvesting crops and gardens. They all worked on the new church and school. At the end of four years the Mexican Revolution forced another move. Things became so bad, they were forced to leave in such a hurry, that they left almost everything behind. They left August 12, 1912 and lived in a government camp in Douglas, Arizona, in tents. They lived on government rations, and after a month the government gave free transportation to families who had relatives with home to live. Edward took his family back to Hurricane, Utah. They took a farm there and raised bumper crops, made a nice home, which was the best home they ever had. They all worked in the Ward there, were good singers and always sang in the choir, as they did wherever they lived. They held many positions and always enjoyed their callings. They tried to teach their family the same way.

Edward and May enjoyed doing temple work as much as they could, when they felt like it. They always went to church and kept the Sabbath day holy. On Christmas day 1915, May had a stroke paralyzing her left side. Her limbs were always numb and her moth drawn a little on that side. She kept going to the temple.

The next year October 23, 1916 as they were going to the farm on the dugway between Hurricane and LaVerkin, the team started to run away and May, not wanting to go into the canyon, jumped out, broke her arm and got badly bruised.

When May died, this left Edward very lonely, with two boys to raise. Richard was 10 years old and Preston 14. They had their home there, and had always been very happy in it. Everywhere the family lived they always raised a garden. Edward took great pride in his gardens, lawns, and flowers and loved sharing his fruits and vegetables with family and friends. May’s health had not been too good since she had the stroke and she died February 7, 1919 in Hurricane.

After a while Edward Elsey Bradshaw sold his home to his daughter Lois and husband, just recently married. He took his two boys and went to Arizona, where he visited with his son Sam. Not being able to find contentment there, after several months, they returned to Hurricane. For the next several years he and one or more of his boys lived in different places. They went to Idaho and Wyoming, and finally to St. George, where they lived one year, so he could spend more time in the temple. Each time he’d become restless and go back to Hurricane.

After his boys were old enough to care for themselves, Edward built himself a small cabin on the river near the hot springs. He loved to bathe in them. He had a horse that he rode back and forth to Hurricane. He had two daughters and three sons living there and he’d ride in to visit and do his shopping. He loved to take his accordion and serenade his children, especially on Christmas morning.

Edward Elsey Bradshaw had two or three spells of erysipelas. When this happened, he would go to one of his children’s homes until he felt better. He never let it keep him down long. He also suffered for quite some time with the hemorrhoids, until he finally decided to go to the hospital and have them operated on. It was a very painful operation and he was very sick. However, he didn’t like the treatment he received at the hospital, so he left before being released. He got a ride to Hurricane and went to his daughter’s place. As a result, infection set in and by the time they summoned a doctor it was too late to save him. He suffered so much before he died, November 27, 1936. They buried him beside his wife in Hurricane.

Anita Joy Bradshaw Rheis, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, pg 59

Charles Whipple

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Charles Whipple

1863-1919

Charles Whipple, son of Edson Whipple and Harriet Yeager, was born on September 9, 1863 in Provo, Utah, on the Bench, now called Orem. Edson Whipple was acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith and with Brigham Young and helped build the Nauvoo Temple. He crossed the plains in the first company, driving Heber C. Kimball’s team and wagon and after the Saints landed in the Salt Lake Valley, he managed Kimball’s farm for him.

Edson was the husband of five wives and it is said that he had hoped to establish a colony of his sons and daughters on the shores of Utah Lake, west of Spanish Fork. He was a cattleman and farmer and an influential man in the early days of Provo. He was friendly to everyone and said he would not have an enemy.

Edson was called with his families to help settle Arizona. They settled around Show Low in the northern part of the state. Hans Hansen had also been called with his family to settle there. That is where Charles met Annie Catherine Hansen, daughter of Hans Hansen and Mary Andersen. Although Charles was eight years older than Annie, they were married in Snowflake when she was just past 15 by President Jesse N. Smith and went by team and wagon back to the St. George Temple. There they received their endowments and were sealed on November 3, 1885.

In the spring of 1887 they went up to Park City where Charles got a job cutting ties. After two years they were both back in Show Low. Charles worked one season in Fort Apache with his father-in-law, Hans Hansen, doing mason work. While they were in Provo, his own father, Edson Whipple, on account of polygamy, had moved with his two wives, Harriet and Amelia, to Mexico. He had quite a few cattle and being an old man of 84, he needed Charles to help him.

They loaded their belongings in a wagon with a bed and stove in it. After a long tiresome journey, they arrived in Colonia Juarez in the fall of 1889. When they reached the top of the hill looking into Colonia Juarez they said it looked like a little paradise. They moved out on the Whipple ranch eight miles from town where they milked cows and Annie made butter and cheese to sell. They also served many free meals to people going and coming who liked to drop in. Charles liked to have company and he liked Annie to cook up a good meal for his friends. He was very free-hearted and liked to entertain. In later years as his family grew he liked to invite young people in from the neighborhood. They would gather around the organ and sing, or just sing without the organ, maybe with a guitar or two. He liked singing and music. He always sang when he got out of bed in the morning. If others were not awake they soon would be. He was a religious man, too. His children remember how he would get them up early in the morning and gather around the fireplace and read from the Bible or Book of Mormon.

While they were on this ranch, Annie was alone much of the time and she had many frightening experiences. The following is one she and Charles had, quoted from her own biography.

It was during the summer of 1892, while we were living on the Palo Quemado ranch about 8 miles from Colonia Juarez, up toward the mouth of the canyon, tho we had been warned to move into tow. But our cows were there and we were making butter and cheese –our only source of income. Apache Indians had been on raids in the mountains of Mexico stealing crops, cattle and horses.

Two weeks after the warning we were awakened by a horse tramping around the house. My husband got up to see about it, and found it to be a horse with a saddle on it, so he tied it to the wagon wheel. After daylight he went out and examined it and found it to have a United States government saddle with rawhide shoes and rawhide lariat. We knew it to be stolen by the Indians. We thought it had just strayed away. The fact was, it had escaped from some Apaches camped a short distance from the wash. We were sure they had planned a daylight raid, but losing the horse had prevented it. The next morning, while Charles and Sam Hawkins, a hired boy, were out gathering calves which were allowed to graze at night while the cows were corralled, I stepped out just before sunup to see if I could see them. I saw an Indian lassoing our riding mare which we had hobbled and left to graze. Their horses were staked nearby in the tall grass which waved like a grain field. He got on another horse, lassoed it and led it for a little way then got down, removed the hobbles, and started toward the mountains.

After he had taken the hobbles off, my husband discovered him and ran toward the house. The boy came running in breathless to tell us he had seen a bunch of Indians down in the wash. Charles wanted to follow him to recover the horse, but I begged him not to go.

After the Indians had gone we sent Sam to town to tell the people and to get help. Mexican soldiers were sent from San Diego, about 8 miles away to search for the Indians. Since my husband accompanied them I was left with a ten-year-old girl who was helping me and my two-year-old Jennie. The soldiers lost the trail of the Indians and returned the same night. We were left alone, Charles having his gun beside the bed in case of attack.

The next night we heard a horseman coming and thought perhaps it was Indians. But before he got there he started to whistle to relieve our fears. He brought word that the whole Thompson family had been killed the morning after they (the Indians) had been scared away from our place.

The next morning, while Charles with his gun on his shoulder was out hunting calves he saw about six horsemen coming over the ridge from the mountains. He thought they might be Indians and ran to the wash to head them off. When he turned to climb down into the wash he saw they were white men. Soon the Helaman Pratt family from the mouth of the canyon, about 8 miles away, came and stayed all night with us. The next morning we all moved into town.

For awhile Charles and his family lived in town where they bought a lot and planted an orchard. Later they traded this for a bigger place about three miles up the Piedras Verdes River. This place also had a young orchard planted on it. There was no house on the place, so Charles bought brick and hauled lumber from the canyon. He hired a man to help him build the structure. This four-room brick house was their first real home in Mexico. While the house was being built the family lived in a shanty, the roof of which consisted of boards, and it had a dirt floor. When it rained they had to roll up the bedding and set pans around to catch the water. While living in the shanty Charles’s father, Edson Whipple, died at the age of 89.

When the family moved into their little, new home, they had neighbors all around. Bishop George W. Sevey and the Alfred Bakers lived on one side. The James Dartons, and Vance Shaffers and the Brigham H. Pierces lived on the other, downriver, side. All of them lived close by. Not long after moving, Annie was looking for another visit from the stork. They were quite worried because during September it rained, rained, rained, and the river rose higher and higher. The town was on the other side of the river and no bridge across it. Charles came in one evening and said that if the stork held off for another day he would be able to cross the river in a boat to get to the midwife. But the stork couldn’t wait, and on October 4, 1895, Charles Hansen, the first son was born, with just a neighbor woman in attendance.

It was soon after this that Aunt Mary Louise Walser came into the family. She was the daughter of John Jacob Walser and Mary Louisa Frischknect. It was not exactly easy for any of the three of them, but Charles was a fair-minded man, and he always called his family tighter to talk things over and to straighten out difficulties.

One autumn Charles Whipple went to Sonora with a load of apples to sell and was brought home sick. The doctor pronounced it appendicitis and recommended an operation. But in that day operations were not common and the results were unsure, so he put it off for awhile. Finally he decided to go to Salt Lake City to have it done. His wife Mary accompanied him on this trip and also received her endowments. The children remember how before he left he gathered them around him and told them that if there was any quarreling while he was gone he might not get well. Of course, they didn’t quarrel! The operation was successful and he recovered his health.

After the return Annie continued to live on the ranch, and Charles bought a place in town and moved Mary there. Pearl and Jennie stayed in town with Mary and went to school, but they usually walked home on Friday evenings. The boys, Charley and Ted, either walked to school or rode a horse.

During the summer of 1900, Grandma Whipple came to the ranch to make her home with Charles and Annie. She remained only about a year and then went to Thatcher, Arizona to visit a daughter. There she died in 1901. Soon after this Charles began to ship fruit to El Paso and to different parts of Mexico. He was just getting started when a call came from “Box B.” Quoting from Annie’s history:

In the spring of 1905, Charley came in with a letter from “Box B.” We all knew what that meant… a call to a mission. He opened it and read it and asked “What shall I do?” I wouldn’t think of having him turn it down. He wondered what we would do without him with our big families. I said “We will get along alright.” [By this time Annie had six children and Mary had four.]

He wrote to headquarters and asked for a few months to get ready. They told him he could wait till his fruit crop was harvested and he could straighten out his affairs. Then, to top it off, I was in a delicate condition and as expecting another visit from the stork about the middle of January, so he asked to stay till I was over with it, and that was granted. On January 4, 1906, Augustus was born.

Charles Whipple left for his mission while Annie was still in bed with baby Gus, only eight days old. Sometimes Charles Hansen and Jennie took loads of fruit to sell at Casas Grandes, about 12 miles away. The boys plowed about an acre and planted corn and a garden. For the first year after Charles left, things went rather smoothly. The family kept well and got on very well financially. In the fall, Annie and Sister Sevey went to El Paso to do some shopping. They stopped overnight in Dublan where Annie’s daughter was exposed to the measles. Ten days after returning from El Paso, she came down with the disease. I (author) was the only one that had them before. Annie as well as the other children were all exposed from Cleah. Even though Annie didn’t feel very well, she took care of them all. She herself was soon afflicted with the disease. They could not get a doctor or a nurse but Mary brought three children and helped care for Annie and the others. Annie was very, very sick before they could get the measles to break out. The, about the time she got well, Mary’s three children became sick. In the fall when the boys started school, they got whooping cough. In the spring Baby Gus took pneumonia and was very sick. Jennie remembers sitting all night with him in her arms. Annie still was not very well.

From Annie’s history, we receive an account of another exciting incident:

In the fall of the same year (Charles was still in the Central States Mission), I was getting ready to go to town to do some shopping… Young Charley was driving and I sat in the spring seat besied him and held the baby in my arms. Edson, Cleah, and Clyde sat in the back on a quilt watching the butter and eggs. We had gone about two-thirds of the way to town when the horses started to run away. Charley put on the brake and tried to hold them, but he could not stop them. I was afraid the baby would be thrown off my lap so I handed him back to Cleah. I took hold of the lines and thought maybe I could stop them, but I could not. Then I discovered the cause of the runaway. One of the horses had slipped his bridle off onto his neck and we could not guide them. About the time I felt myself slipping, but I didn’t know when I hit the ground.

When I came to, I heard Charley crying, “I’m killed, I’m killed.” He was lying about 5 feet from me, and I could see the other children strung along the road. But when I tried to get up everything went black before me. When Charley saw that I could not get up he came to me. He picked up one of the buckets we had brought eggs in and brought water from the river and wet my head. As soon as I tried to move everything went black again. By this time Cleah, Edson, and Clyde came to me. Edson and Clyde had cuts on their heads but Cleah didn’t have any cuts, just bruises. None of them had any broken bones. We couldn’t see the baby anyplace, and the wagon was turned bottom side up and the horses had stopped. I was afraid the baby was under the wagon, but we finally found him under the overturned seat. He must have been stunned, but when they picked him up he was all right. I was thankful we were all alive. Edson rode one of the horses to town and Brig Pierce and Ernest Turley put a cot in a wagon and came for me.

Annie was taken to Apostle Taylor’s home where his wives Roxey and Rhoda cared for her. In fact they took in the whole family. After about three weeks, when Annie was a little better, she insisted on going home so they could pick the fruit and take care of things. The children stayed out of school until the fruit was harvested and the corn gathered. They rented a house and moved into town, where they stayed until Charles returned.

Charles Whipple began shipping fruit again, mostly apples and pears, in carloads all over Mexico. He built a house in town, which the family lived in only about a year when they had to leave because of the Revolution.

Annie was ill with typhoid fever at that time. Charles returned one night about eleven o’clock from the town meeting where it had been decided that the whole town would leave for El Paso in the morning. He told the family to pack their clothes, bedding and a few things. This was in July and baby Catherine was about one year old. They expected to be back in about three or four weeks at the most. Annie was not told until they were ready to go because of her illness. Third class coaches were waiting on the track. A bed was made for Annie on one of the benches. After arriving in El Paso, they were taken to a newly finished, but unfurnished, apartment building along with a number of families. Annie continued to be sick. When the doctor was sent to see her, he told her she had typhoid fever and would have to go to the hospital. She told him she had no money, but he said she would be cared for anyway.

Charles Whipple was one of the men chosen to remain in Colonia Juarez to see about rounding up his cattle and horses, and closing the houses or leaving them in charge of Mexican neighbors. The family was very glad to see Charles when he came bringing the team and wagon. Since the United States was furnishing transportation for many families who could find homes with relatives, Annie and her family went to Holbrook on the Santa Fe Railroad. There, two of Charles’ brothers, Ned and Willard, met them and took them to Show Low. Annie’s brother, Hans, took them from therer to Lakeside, Arizona. Later, Charles brought Mary and her family to Lakeside as well. We all lived on the ranch near the little town of Shumway, Arizona where Jennie taught a country school.

In mean time, Mary’s father and his families had returned to Mexico and was urging all to return. Charles finally consented and Mary and her family went back to live in the old home. She was sure Annie and her children would follow later, but before they could bet arrangements made, Mary suddenly died. Annie had rented a place in Snowflake, serving meals and renting rooms to help make a living. About a year after Mary’s death, Charles Whipple was killed. He had taken a load of wood to Holbrook and was to haul freight back, a distance of about 25 miles. Something frightened the horses. He was thrown to the hard ground, suffered a fractured skull and in ten days died on April 13, 1919. He was taken to Snowflake for burial. Annie was left to care for her own younger children, with no home except the evacuated one in Mexico. She accepted the responsibility of the seven motherless and now fatherless children and with the help of the Walser’s was able to care for them until they were grown. She not only survived her 43 years of widowhood, but creditably maintained herself in her home in Mexico for a time, then managed to build a duplex in Mesa, Arizona, renting one part to enable herself to subsist. There she died on October 25, 1962. She had ably earned for herself a place among the stalwarts of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico.

Jennie W. Brown and Pearl W. Cooley, daughters

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 764

Franklin Scott

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Franklin Scott

1851 – 1901

Franklin Scott, first son of Andrew Hunter Scott and Sarah Ann Humphrey-Roe, was born December 1, 1851, in Salt Lake City, Utah. In the spring of 1852 his parents moved to Provo, Utah. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on May 21, 1861, by Edson Whipple.

Franklin Scott grew up on the farm, learning by experience how to turn barren desert land into fruitful fields. He was a sickly child on account of his parents not being able to provide the proper food and clothing for him. From the time he was eight years old until he was 14 he attended a log cabin school during the winter months.

He was ordained a Deacon when he was 14 years old and presided over a quorum of Deacons in the Second Ward of Provo for two years. Franklin Scott was ordained an Elder in April, 1866. In this same year he drove an ox team in the company of his father to the Missouri River to help Saints coming to Utah.

On April 4, 1870 he married Sarah Ellendor Stubbs in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. To this union 11 children were born, 5 sons and 6 daughters. On May 2, 1877, he married Eliza Rachel Stubbs, sister of his first wife. By this married he had 9 children, 5 sons and 4 daughters.

In 1873 he took up some land and built a home in the river bottoms of Provo, near Vineyard. Here Franklin Scott farmed and hauled farm products to the mining camps. When the Fifth Ward was organized he was ordained a High Priest and was set apart as Second Counselor to Bishop O. Madsen, where he served until he was called to go to St. Johns, Arizona, in 1881. He helped build the first meetinghouse in St. Johns and asked the blessing on the first sacrament administered in that meetinghouse. He was also First Counselor to the YMMIA and a teacher in the Sunday School for four years.

On account of being a polygamist, he went to Mexico in May 1884. After being in Mexico three weeks he was advised to return to the Gila River where he contracted chills and fever and had to remain eight months. He then returned to Provo, Utah in May 1885. He worked in Spanish Fork Canyon buying charcoal. In 1886 he was arrested for unlawful cohabitation with his wives. But when placed on trial, he was discharged for lack of evidence. He worked in the Manti Temple during June of 1889.

In 1890 Franklin Scott went to Mexico and settled in Pacheco, where he built the first house in this settlement. On April 11, 1894 at the organization of the Oaxaca Ward, he was set apart as Bishop by Brigham Young, Jr. He labored faithfully for six years, and helped build the first meetinghouse in Oaxaca.

About 6:00 p.m. on August 7, 1901, at age 49, he was killed by lightning while on his way home from his farm. He was buried August 8, 1901, in Oaxaca, Sonora, Mexico, leaving 2 wives, 10 sons and 10 daughters.

Inez Haymore Standage

Stalwarts South of the Border, page 602

Miles Park Romney

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Miles Park Romney

1843 – 1904

The family tree from which Miles Park Romney sprang had its roots planted in English soil centuries before the family came to America. They belonged to the middle class. Miles Romney, father of Miles Park, married Elizabeth Gaskell. Miles P. was the 5^th child of seven children and 4^th born to this couple.

Miles and Elizabeth, on their way to market, saw a group of people assembled on a street corner. They were curious as to what attracted the crowd. They discovered it was a religious gathering and that the preacher was a Mormon missionary from America. They learned later that it was Orson Hyde, an Apostle, to whom they had listened. This was in 1837. In September, 1839, Miles Romney, his wife and son George were baptized.

The family left England in 1841 to gather with the Saints in Nauvoo. It took 51 days to reach New Orleans. Miles Park Romney was born August 18, 1843, in Nauvoo, Illinois, a little less than one year before the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother, Hyrum. Three years after his birth, the Saints were driven from their beloved city.

Destitute, the family sought employment among strangers in three or four places, finally finding temporary employment in St. Louis, Missouri, where they remained until 1850. Then they were on the move again, this time to join the Saints in Salt Lake City, a distance of nearly 2,000 miles. The hardships and trials of this journey no doubt had a profound effect in molding the character of this lad. While a young, barefoot boy, he herded cows at the base of the Wasatch Mountains with other boys. One of them was Joseph F. Smith, who later became President of the Church.

Because of the need to help support the family, Miles P.’s education was neglected. He went to school but a few terms in his entered life. In fact, he never entered a schoolroom after he was 12. Yet, through his own efforts he became a well-educated man.

During the Johnston’s Army episode, he brother George was a captain among those sent by President Young to harass the federal army and keep them from entering the city. Miles P., only 14 then, had great aspirations for military service and followed his brother several miles up the canyon east of the city, much to his brother’s displeasure. No argument proved sufficient until Captain George thought of a scheme which worked. He wrote a letter President Young asking that the boy be kept home. He told Miles he had a special message for the President which should be delivered. Miles accepted the mission proudly, having no idea of the contents. He was kept home.

In those early days great stress was placed by President Young and other leaders upon the importance of early marriage. At one time President Young said, “Let every man over 18 years of age take a wife and then go to work with your hands and cultivate the land or labor in some mechanical business or some honest trade to make a living for yourself and those who are dependent on you for subsistence.” An ardent admirer of President Young, Miles P., at the age of 18, married Hannah Hill. Just three weeks after the marriage, Miles P. was called on a mission to the British Isles.

On April 9, 1862, he left and on the 26^th day of July arrived in Liverpool. He labored first in the Manchester and London districts, and finally was made President of the Cheltenham Conference, a position he held until his release in April 1865. Miles P. had barley arrived in the mission field when called to speak. He stood faced the audience, but not one word could he say. He got up the 2^nd time with the same result. He did not give up. The 3^rd time words came haltingly from his quivering lips. The audience may not have been much enlightened, but they would not forget. The young missionary had achieved a victory that was of untold value to him in his ministry and throughout his life. His fluent speech and magnetic personality, with his implicit faith in the Gospel, contributed to his success as a missionary. During his mission he became very ill and was forced to go to a doctor, who told him he had but six months to live. But he did not give up. Every night he prayed that he might be able to complete his mission and return to his loved ones. His prayers were answered.

On the ship Belle Wood, on which he sailed for home, were a large number of Saints, organized into nine wards. Miles P. presided over one of them. In November 1865, on his return to Salt Lake City, he was greeted by his wife and daughter, Isabell, who was only two years old, and whom he had never seen.

In 1867 he entered plural marriage by taking to wife Carrie Lambourne. In October 1867, with 157 other heads of families, he was called to settle St. George, where he was employed as a skilled workman. He worked on the St. George Tabernacle which was completed in 1871. When it was decided that a temple should be built in St. George, his father, Miles Romney, was appointed to superintend the work. He was assisted by Miles P. On one occasion President Young in a public meeting thus addressed Elder Romney: “Brother Romney, would you like to go to Heaven?” The answer came, “Yes, Brother Brigham, I think I should like to go there.” “Then,” said President Young, “You must join the Order and take charge of all the building in southern Utah.”

On November 8, 1869, Miles P. was ordained a High Priest and set apart as a member of the High Council. In September 1873, he married Catherine Cottam in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City and again, scarcely four years later, he married Annie W. Woodbury. In 1875, he was called on a mission to the Northern States. Part of the time he was appointed to preside over the Mission. He was gone 10 months, and baptized 33 converts. On April 17, 1877, he was ordained Bishop of the St. George 1^st Ward. He also served as Superintendent of the Sunday School and Stake Superintendent of the YMMIA. On September 15, 1878 he was release as Bishop as his request.

In 1881 he was called by the First Presidency to leave St. George and settle in St. Johns, Arizona. While there he acted as First Counselor to Bishop David King Udall and edited and published a newspaper. He was a member of Dramatic Association and leading contractor and builder in this area. But on account of trouble with land claim jumpers, and with the consent of the First Presidency, he returned with his plural families to St. George. There, political conditions made it necessary to leave that section of the country.

After only three weeks, he left with his wife Annie and her three children for Mexico. There they settled in Camp Turley on the Casas Grandes River, but moved with the camps to Old Town on the Piedras Verdes River and were among the first settlers of Colonia Juarez. On June 15, 1887, when the Juarez Ward was organized, he became First Counselor to Bishop George W. Sevey. One of his first cultural moves in this new community was to organize a Dramatic Association. He was fresh from St. George where, according to reports, he “bestrode the theatrical world like a giant colossus.” He was eager to reproduce some of his successes. He wanted to set a standard for excellence in play production and introduce refugee settlers to a high standard of entertainment.

He and his boys made a stage for his plays. On it were presented high classed dramas to an appreciative audience, the climax of which was Othello, in which he played the leading role of the swarthy Moor, a crowing to previous roles he had directed and acted. He was ever the actor, rising to heights of oratory on patriotic occasions, thundering Gospel and moral teachings from the pulpit, dramatically acting as Marshal of the Day for national celebrations. He led parades with plumes waving and sword flashing with military precision, and all done so enthusiastically that one was to wonder if the occasion was created for him, or was he created to make the occasion something special. The fruits of his efforts are still alive in posterity rich with public speakers, dramatic coaches and play readers, all bordering on the professional. All point back to his reverence for the spoken word and his love for pu0re undefiled speech.

Miles P. Romney had direct supervision over the building of the initial Juarez Stake Academy structure, which later became the elementary school. One year after the laying of the foundation of the building, it was ready for occupancy. By the turn of the century, Miles found his carpenter shop against the eastern hills too small to permit expansion necessary for his growing family. He sold his holdings in Colonia Juarez, bought a huge tract of land on the eastern bank of the Casas Grandes River, and moved his families into homes built separately for them on this property. Here he lived for the remainder of his life in relative comfort and affluence. In 1902 he was appointed President of the Stake High Priest Quorum and ordained a Patriarch by Apostle Matthias Cowley.

In February 1904, acting in his office as President of the High Priest Quorum, he went to Morelos. His wife Catherine and son Vernon accompanied him on this trip. The strain of the trip was wearing, and he was not feeling well when he left Sonora. But they arrived home safely. As he returned that night a strange feeling came over him. Fearful he was going to die, he suggested that the rest of the family be sent for. Before they arrived, he passed away. His wives, having seen him miraculously restored to life once before, sent for the Dublan Bishopric who administered to him, but without results. This was on February 25, 1904. He was buried in Colonia Dublan.

High-minded ambition still lives in his posterity, many of whom have given further distinction to his name. A grandson is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve , and a granddaughter is the wife of a member of the same Quorum. Two sons and two grandsons have been Stake Presidents. Two grandsons have in turn been Bishops of the Juarez Ward where he officiated as a Counselor. Missionaries by the dozens have carried the Gospel to nations in honor. Politically, a grandson was governor of a state and considered a candidate for President of the United States. Another grandson is a millionaire farm implement dealer. Others of his descendants are pioneering in colony orcharding, and packing and marketing fruit. Their orchards have spread through the Casas Grandes Valley. Another grandson operates a several million peso turkey processing plant. One son is an author of note. Another grandson is an internationally famous physical chemist with many distinctive awards for his contributions to the scientific world. There are deans of universities, teachers at many levels,, as well as craftsmen and artists. All of these display Miles P. Romney’s devotion to excellence.

Ethel Romney Peterson, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 594

Josiah Guile Hardy

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Josiah Guile Hardy

1813-1894

Josiah Guile Hardy was born March 17, 1813 in Bradford, Massachusetts, the son of Sylvanus and Polly Boynton Hardy. He as a boy was robust and equal to any size in athletics. He learned to work early and was industrious all his life. He learned as an apprentice the carpenter and shoe making trades, but followed carpentry all his life.

He was religious and as early as 12 years left the Presbyterian faith for the Freewill Baptists, and at 19 turned to the Methodist congregation where he held the office of Steward and Clap Master.

On March 17, 1835 at the age of 22 years he was married to Sarah Clark. They were converted to the LDS faith the sixth of November, 1842. He was ordained to the Priesthood and held positions in the Church at Bradford. He left for the West on May 10, 1850 after enduring hardships incident to religious persecution he arrived in Salt Lake City on August 20, 1852.

He was active in military and police duties, being a member of the Bradford Light Brigade for seven years and missed only two drills during that time, being orderly sergeant for five of these years. In Salt Lake City he was a member of the city police for six years and as such was present at the breaking of the ground and laying of the cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple. Also in this capacity he was present at the funeral of Jedidiah M. Grant. He served in the First Independent Rifle Company and the reorganized Nauvoo Legion and served during the Johnston Army episode. He was adjutant in the Legion.

He was sealed to his wife, Sarah Clark, in the Endowment House in 1855 and in 1857 he married as a second wife Ann Denston and was sealed to her by Brigham Young on October 23, 1857, also in the Endowment House.

Ann Denston was born February 24, 1838 in Birmingham, England the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Wardell Denston. She and her mother with her stepfather William Taylor were converted to the Mormon Church in England and emigrated to America via New Orleans. William Taylor declared on hearing that polygamy was being taught that he would turn back if this were true.

Yellow fever prevented his carrying out his threat as he was buried somewhere between New Orleans and the plains. Ann Denston Hardy relates that as a girl of 12 with her widowed mother and younger half-brother, she continued their journey across the plains. A son was born to Elizabeth and alone she with her he children landed in Great Salt Lake City.

To Josiah Guile Hardy and Sarah Clark were born nine children and to Ann Denston ten came to grace their home. Josiah Guile Hardy and his son Warren were called to St. George where they spent years of service on the St. George Temple. Josiah’s services and contributions were generous and even though he had a large family and his flour was coming from the tithing office along with other contributions of loyal members. He and Warren did most of the turning work on the St. George Temple.

In 1892 Josiah Guile Hardy and his wife Ann and sons George, John, Aaron and Abel and daughters Laura and Mary moved to Mexico. He died in 1894 in Colonia Pacheco of dry gangrene of the foot.

Left widowed, Ann Denston Hardy turned to her rug loom and quilting to help the family income. Few are the homes in the colonies that were not carpeted by her. He loom remained in the colonies to do service after she left them and others were trained in this unique trade.

Josiah Guile Hardy and Ann Denston left an impression on the lives of the colonists in their devotion and faith and set an example of energy and thrift to be emulated. They raised a family of faithful and stalwart sons and daughters and their posterity live to do them homage and bear their name and faith.

Ann Denston Hardy was with the Saints in the Exodus during the 1912 Revolution and after a short stay in Douglas, Arizona went to live with her son John in Orderville, Utah, where she passed away at the age of 77 years.

Lucian M. Mecham, Jr. grandson

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch pg 219

Finding Refuge in El Paso

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Here is a great video about the 1912 Mormon Colonies Exodus to El Paso, Texas. Watch it here.

Benjamin Louis Croff

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Benjamin Louis Croff

1847-1937

Benjamin Louis Croff was born March 6th, 1847 at Northfield, Summit County, Ohio, to William Cowe and Julia Ann Boughy. The family moved to the wilds of Sheboygan County, Wisconsin, in 1847, then on to Noble County, Indiana. After two years they move to Cass County, Iowa.

Ben’s father was a blacksmith and wagon maker who, with the help of the oldest son, William, set up blacksmithing on a large scale and did a thriving business with California and Utah immigrants as they moved West. In 1852 Ben’s father started for Oregon but went only as far as Council Bluffs, Iowa, where he decided to build a hotel. This was an important stopping place on the newly-developed Oregon Trail. One of Ben’s childhood memories were those of Mormon handcart companies setting out across the desolate plains.

After two years the Croff family moved to Kansas. They moved to a 160 acre farm that had belonged to an old Dutch plantation owner. It was located in the heavy timber bottom of the Missouri River across from St. Joseph, Missouri. Abraham Lincoln came there, stumping for political office, and seeing wide-eyed Ben standing by the coach, offered his carpet bag to be carried into the hotel. This Ben excitedly did and Lincoln handed him a quarter for it. It was only the second quarter he had earned. Not long after that Ben went to St. Joseph to see a play featuring the actor John Wilkes Booth who later assassinated President Lincoln.

The Civil War came along, scattering father and boys, each finding his own way to the West. Though just a stripling of a boy, at 16, Ben found his way through some of the wildest camps of the Western frontier as a teamster and mine worker. He said of those days, “I never took up any of the bad practices of that environment except swearing, mule-skinner’s vocabulary, but not profanity. I did not smoke, drink, chew or submit myself to loose moral conduct.”

In 1862 Ben reached Denver, then a town of 600 population. He worked in the Black Hawk mines in central Colorado in 1863 to 1864, then drove six yoke of oxen to Camp Douglas, Utah, then trudged on alone to Salt Lake City, half frozen and starved. A kindly Mormon family took him in and fed and lodged him until he could work.

A year later Ben’s father and brother Will arrived, and were baptized, but Ben was not yet converted. In the spring of 1867 a party was made up to prospect for gold in the Wind River Mountains of Wyoming, 100 miles east and north of Fort Bridger. Twelve miles east of Fremont Peak the Indians unexpectedly came upon them, and killed seven of the party, as well as nine other men at the Sweetwater Station ten miles east, one at Little Sandy Station, and one more at Big Sandy Station. All three stations were burned, Ben said, “Providence seemed to be caring for me, though I didn’t understand it at the time.”

In 1868 he carried his blankets to Green River crossing, now Green River City. A group of gamblers and entertainment girls with portable halls and dressing rooms were going to a grading camp. They let him load his blankets on their wagon while they all walked to the railroad camp. There were 160 men of all nationalities there. Ben and one or two others took a tape and hand compass, and surveyed a street six blocks long, driving stakes on each side of street. That was the beginning of Evanston, Wyoming. He took a block and could have had any amount more just for staking it out. Still very young, and impatient for faster monetary return, he left it all and moved on to Big Rock at Yellow Creek, near Bear River about six miles west.

There were some 300 men at Yellow Creek, all nationalities, and learning Ben was from Salt Lake City, secretly planned to hang him along with their superintendent. Ben discovered the plot and fled to Salt Lake City, arriving August of 1868 to find great excitement over the new apostate group called the Godbeites. Ben almost joined their following for they had a well edited periodical and were made up of wealthy converts from the cultured class in Great Britain. But before he became a member, the movement fizzled out.

On September 26, 1870 he married Mary Jane Davis, a precious little Welsh girl, in the old Endowment House. Bishop Hoagland had baptized him almost a year before. He and his brother helped build the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads. They were among the first in the Cottonwood and Park City mining district of Utah, 1870-1873, and first to pen the Leeds (sandstone) mining district of southern Utah between 1874-1878.

Benjamin Louis Croff opened a blacksmith shop with Oscar Young, a son of Brigham Young. They made wagons and buggies. Ben shod horses to earn $300.00 for a donation to the tabernacle building; the shop financed his mining. When Oscar was called on a mission, Ben bought his interest and did a good business with government contracts from Camp Douglas and other preferred trade with the leading authorities of the Church. Ben could always get good credit wherever he went. He and his brother Will took a contract with Benson and Farr for the Union Pacific Railroad to do a stretch on the Promontory northwest of Ogden. They had moved to Payson, south of Provo, and Ben became critically ill at the time of departure. Bishop Hoagland and Ben’s father administered to him and he felt better, ordered his brother to make a bed in their wagon for him, and they left in spite of pleadings from his father, and others, not to. They encountered such severe weather that Ben almost died. Their supplies never arrived and the project had to be abandoned for the time being. Ben and Will lived in a cave for a while waiting for the supplies, during which time they were given what they needed in feed for the horses and food for themselves by a branch of a Salt Lake City trading company. They were told, “Take all you want and pay when you get back to Salt Lake headquarters. We know all about you and your credit is good.” They had never seen this man before. They lost all they had in this venture but managed to pay off their debts and their indebtedness on their father’s home.

On April 25, 1885, Benjamin Louis Croff married Hannah Elizabeth McKnight, daughter of Bishop James McKnight of Minersville, Utah, who in his later years became Patriarch. Bishop McKnight was the first Bishop of Minersville. Ben and Hannah were married in the St. George Temple. They had a baby daughter whom they named Mary Jane after Ben’s first wife, she being unable to bear children. This being a polygamous marriage, secrecy was necessary. When it was apparent that Hannah was with child the three decided to hide her in the tunnel of mines so Ben could be free to provide for them. This seemed the only way out for them but it was a great hardship for Hannah and she lost her health.

Apostle Erastus Snow had been involved in the purchase of lands for colonization in Mexico and wrote Benjamin to come, promising him he would make a good living if he did, and saying that he was needed. Ben and Hannah left all their worldly possessions with Jane, hitched a beautiful span of buff horses with black flowing tails and manes to a buckboard, loaded in Hannah with her baby daughter and drove off for Mexico. His huge St. Bernard dog trailed behind. Hannah was well known in that section of the country for her looks and talents in singing and ballroom dancing. She was a small woman, as was Jane. Ben looked very young, had coal black wavy hair and snapping eyes, a well-balanced face and fine features, was six feet, one inch tall, and slender. They excited much attention wherever they went.

It was a hard trip, and took all the strength they had to reach Colonia Juarez. It was almost more than Hannah could bear to lay her little one to rest in desert country near Gallup, New Mexico, never to see the spot again. Further discouragement met them on arrival at the colonies. The poverty of those just getting settled was dire, living in ragged tents, propped-up driftwood cast up from the Piedras Verdes River, caves in the river bank, etcetera.

Brother and Sister Snow welcomed them into their two-room adobe house until a parcel of land was allotted to them. The one they received turned out to be the worst place in the colony, half of it running up the side of a rocky hill. A third of the way down Ben leveled off a strip large enough for a sizable corral and stock sheds. He also terraced off a fine vineyard. The irrigation ditch which he helped construct ran a few feet below the corral, and another branch higher up. The house was built on the next level with a barn at the side. A hundred yards below this was his shop and a lovely orchard. He had the first winter apples and pears raised in the area. He provided handsomely for his family, working 12 hours a day in the shop, taking care of the chores and his place in the few hours remaining. This left scarcely enough time for rest. Their strength became depleted and they had much sickness.

Ben stayed up nights for a week with Jane who was three-and-a-half years old and who had spinal meningitis, which had broken out in the colonies. With ho doctors but Benjamin, the Elders were called in, as always, and she was one of the very few that recovered. There were no after effects of any kind to mar her. He never took his clothes off to sleep in all the time until her crisis was over. Although he was a very stern and exacting man with his family, he was always at the bedside when accident, illness or harm struck. At times he himself became critically ill but always took command and dictated what was to be done.

He participated actively in all the civic affairs of the colonies and helped in getting the schools, tannery, power house, cannery, and telephone company started. He had his own private telephone lines to the mines over 40 miles away. He at one time operated a mercantile store in Colonia Juarez, but had to close it down due to mismanagement by the man he placed in charge of it. He opened up the Guaynopa mining district near the State of Sonora in the high and rugged Sierra Madre Mountains. This was at one time described in leading mining journals as the copper bonanza of North America.

He and Hannah had a large family as follows: Mary Jane, Jane Elizabeth, Julia Maude, Benjamin Louis, Paul Loraine, Ruth, Hannah Eve, and Charles Gordon. After several children arrived, Jane wrote from Utah that although she had been doing well, she wanted to be with the family. Ben told her to sell the home and come to Mexico, leaving his brother Will to manage his property and mine there. Hannah welcomed her into her home as Jane had done years before. They loved each other and liked to be together. Jane loved to do things for the children and they loved her next to their mother. Jane and Hannah would take each other’s part in any issue with Benjamin, and in spite of his high temper, he seemed to think this was all right. When the two of them got together he usually yielded. We know of no other family where this was so much the case.

Ben’s business grew and he found a larger residence was necessary. He bought the large, white, stone house of Apostle John W. Taylor, who had been called back to Salt Lake. Time and space will not permit a full description of all the unusual feathers of this home of two master and many other bedrooms, a large powder room at the foot of the wide oak staircase, a large office for Ben, parlor, a family room, great dining hall, kitchen, pantry, large cellar, two bathrooms (one inside was a luxury in those days), and many closets plus an attic and under-house space that could accommodate several additional rooms. On the second floor the stairway opened through double ornate oak doors to a foyer and large entertainment hall. A very large bay window at the far end of the hall served as a stage when desired, and yet other double doors opened to a 10×14 foot veranda.

Hannah made the old home look almost like a fairy land, and to this new place she applied her taste and skill with great effect, making it the show place of the State of Chihuahua. Many Europeans and North Americans came to Pearson in connection with the lumber business, the mines, and to hunt. They were always given a tour of this place by Dave Spilsbury, a close friend, who ran a tourist and hunting business in Pearson and Nuevo Casas Grandes. There were imported golden maples from Canada and bordering the sidewalks, 85 varieties of tea roses, potted ferns of every kind, mock orange arbors from California, moon-flowers as large as dinner plates, and many other novelties too numerous to mention. Weddings and funerals carried away flowers by the tubful and were hardly missed.

Benjamin Louis Croff and the boys sometimes helped with the flowers but generally hired help was brought in. Once Ben brought a young Yaqui Indian down from the mines to help. It was felt necessary to clothe him at the house, but this was a great disadvantage to him. When only the boys or small children were around he hung shirt and pants on some limb, retaining breech cloth only. But the girls and their friends were always encountering him, shrieking at his nudeness, and embarrassing him. He was a very nice young man and otherwise well behaved. He was fond of Ben and wanted to please him, but begged to go back to the mines, so he was taken back.

Benjamin Louis Croff always signed his name as B.L. Croff, and was soon known simply as B.L. That was the way almost all people referred to him.

Another amusing episode, as told by daughter Hannah, follows:

Father did much buying from a merchant in Casas Grandes named Mari Hilda Pari [Ermeregildo Parra]. He was European (not Mormon)who prospered there, married ten women, had children by all fo them, and could afford many servants, carriages and mounts. Their residence surrounded an entire block with a large lovely patio in the center. Knowing of our new home, they decided to pay us a social visit, never doubting we could cope with the situation. At about 10:30 one morning the colonists were startled to glance up at the dugway coming into town and witness a caravan the likes of which they had never before beheld. There was conjecture as to whether or not the town was being taken over, but by whom and why? No one was able to fathom this phenomenon until the procession wound itself leisurely down and across the river bridge and up to our place. When we recognized who it was, we took what control we could of our surprised expressions and performed such hospitality as we were able to think of on short notice.

After almost an hour of salutations Mother excused herself to give instructions for the preparation of dinner, but they restrained her, saying they had come well prepared with food of their own. It was not too unusual for us to seat 32 persons at meal time, but this time the dining hall was taxed to the limit. However, we had an enjoyable visit, and they departed a few hours before dark.

When the terrible news that the Mormons were to leave Mexico came in 1912, the family was given an hour to throw things in trunks and rush to Pearson where cattle cars waited to transport them to the United States and safety. They left 300 acres of pasture, 70 acres of farm land, two nice orchards, horses, cattle, tow homes, and mines operating at an ambitious rate. Some of the men at the mines were killed, the mill strung all over the hills, and finally, the ore dump, which was rich in gold was raided.

Ben and his two oldest boys stayed behind to protect things from raiders and vandals, hoping the others would return in only a short while, but they finally had to leave with other men, crossing the desert to El Paso. Ben was one of the group captains. Benjamin, Jr. had his beloved dog, Bud, along (son of old Judge, the St. Bernard and a shepherd dog). A rabid coyote attacked the camp and Bud fought it off, receiving wounds. When the dog became sick they had to shoot him, which was almost too much for Benjamin Jr. to bear.

Benjamin Louis Croff was going blind, and trying to recover business losses seemed an impossibility. However, he acquired a big cattle ranch operation in the northern part of the Panhandle in Texas. The drought of 1921 bankrupted this operation along with other cattlemen and several large banks. This left him without hope of keeping up taxes on his mines in Mexico and he lost them by default, being unable to operate them during the long Revolution. He was honored with a fine banquet on his 90^th birthday by his priesthood quorum. He died, almost 91, in the home of his third son, Paul, in El Paso, Texas, having lived the last 10 years of his life in almost total blindness. His wife Hannah had preceded him in death almost six years before. Jane still lived with Maude, but died later, and was buried in Virden, New Mexico. She was a fine nurse, and lovingly remembered by many families. All of Hannah’s children loved them both dearly as well as their father.

Hannah Croff Putnam, daughter

Compiled by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch,

Stalwarts South of the Border pg 126

John Menzies Macfarlane

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John Menzies Macfarlane

1833-1892

Stirling Castle, built on a rocky promontory overlooking the River Forth in the Scottish Highlands, was the birthplace of John Macfarlane, October 11, 1833.

Like his father, he was given the single name of John, to which she later added the middle name of Menzies. Later, two other children were born to John and Anna Bella Sinclair Macfarlane: Ann and Daniel.

By 1842, most of the family had been baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and, as a member of the new church, Annabella became one of its most active missionaries. With her older son, John M., she sang hymns and preached on street corners. It is thought by many that this was where he first found his love and gift for music.

When their father died, Annabella moved her children to Glasgow, where she took up midwifery and nursing to support her family. Many years later, John M’s descendants, in an effort to substantiate the theory that he had obtained a university education, discovered that in deed John M. Macfarlane from Stirling had studied at the University member, but the date was 1857, several years after John Menzies Macfarlane had already emigrated to Utah.

That he was a learned man there could be no doubt, but it is now believed that the extensive and varied knowledge he gained beyond the sixth grade was entirely self-taught.

The family was helped to emigrate to Utah through the perpetual emigration fund. On February 11, 1852, they set sail for America on the Ellen Marie. After eight weeks and three days, to Garden City, and being stuck on a sidebar in Mississippi River, they finally arrived in New Orleans on April 7, 1852. By September 1852, they had reached the valley of the Great Salt Lake.

As families moved out of the Salt Lake Valley, the Macfarlane’s went to the Cedar City area, where John Menzies Macfarlane taught school in the meeting house which was built against the wall of the Old Fort. His pay was $2-$5 a quarter for each student. In 1854, a choir was organized at the Old Fort, among its members were John M. and his brother Dan played in numerous productions.

When Brigham Young made a trip to the old Fort, he drove east out of town, and there indicated a new piece of ground which he ordered be surveyed. On the surveying team was John Menzies Macfarlane.

In the midst of all this activity, John Menzies Macfarlane found time to begin showing interest in and Chatterley, a young girl of 17. They were married in the Old Fort, they were later sealed to each other in the Salt Lake Endowment House on November 3, 1857.

Several years after his marriage to a man, John attended the priesthood meeting in which Brigham Young sorted young married men to marry the single women. That night he discussed the matter with him, and much to his surprise— for she had openly expressed her opposition to polygamy— she suggested that she could get along with Agnes Eliza(Tillie) Hayborne, a member of the Cedar City choir which John than directed. But, saying, she doubted that two women could live in harmony in one room. There in the morning John started to work to build another room onto their cabin. He and Tillie were sealed in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on October 9, 1866.

It is not known when John M. Studied music in composition, but it is known that he owned of well-worn book on harmony instruction. Since nor it was available to accompany the Cedar City choir, he used a tuning fork or pitch pipe to guide the choir members. McGuire traveled throughout the settlements in southern Utah and became well-known. In the late summer of 1868, Erastus Snow called John M. To move to St. George, Utah as director of the St. George choir, which had been started by Charles J. Thomas, the leader of the Salt Lake Tabernacle Choir.

After settling his family in St. George, John Menzies Macfarlane started up a school was some 90 students, among whom was Elizabeth Jane (Lizzie) Adams. The story is told that one day as she jumped over bench, she exposed the rather shapely ankle, and the teacher observed that someday she would make him a good wife.

Having helped to settle some legal questions in Cedar City, John was also sought after in this regard in St. George, and on January 13, 1869, was admitted to practice law in Washington County.

The purpose for which John Menzies Macfarlane had been called to St. George, to direct the choir and to organize a band, expanded with his organization of the St. George Harmonic Society. He also taught singing lessons.

A friend of John’s, Charles L. Walker, a convert from England and blacksmith in St. George, was also a poet, and John took to putting his friend’s poetry to music or adapting the poetry to already-known sacred music.

This Christmas season of 1869 approach, John Menzies Macfarlane began to think about the music available for a special program. He discussed the matter with his friend Charles and asked Charles to write some poetry for which he, John, would compose music. But the poetry Charles wrote did not seem to fit any music that John had in mind. He finally prayed fervently for help and in the middle of one night it came suddenly in a dream. He awakened his wife, Ann, and told her that he thought he had the words in mind as well as the music.

Together they got up. Ann lighted the “bitch” lamp (a large lantern-type lamp) and held it up so that he could see. As he hummed, wrote, erased, and wrote again, she became chilled, as she was only in a thin nightgown, and, thinking out loud, said: “Let it go for now and finish it in the morning.” But he brushed her off and continued writing until he finished.

Because he had asked Charles Walker to collaborate with him in the test, John went immediately to Charles the following morning and showed him the music and words and asked Charles to put his name to the manuscript is author of the words, but Charles refused, saying that the words were not his. John never wrote both words and music to another song. But this, “Far Far Away on Judea’s Plains,” which he expected would be sung for that Christmas program and forgotten, has become a traditional Christmas hymn, not only for the LDS Church but for other denominations as well. It was first published in the Juvenile Instructor on December 15, 1889, 20 years after it was written and the December 1961 issue of The Instructor John M. Macfarlane on its cover composing the music.

John may have written many of the pieces of music to Charles L Walker’s poetry, only one such him is known today: “Dearest Children, God is Near You.”

John Menzies Macfarlane conducted the St. George choir at the groundbreaking ceremony for the St. George temple, and again when the last known was laid. He also conducted acquire in a special high mass for the Catholic Church, which is conducted by special permission of LDS Church Authorities, in the St. George Tabernacle.

At the same time that he was occupied with the choir and with teaching, he was becoming a prominent community leader. In 1876, he was elected to the St. George City Council. As he became not respected, he ran for a number of public offices and was never defeated. In 1878, he was elected probate judge. As a surveyor, his services were constantly in demand. He mapped parts of Cedar City and St. George, private properties for individuals, and, in 1870, was elected Washington County Surveyor.

John had long known the family of Samuel L. Adams, and he had watched Elizabeth Jane (Lizzie) from the day her ankle had caught his attention when she jumped over a bench in his schoolroom. When she became unhappy over the failure of her marriage plans to a Bentley boy, she and her family turned to John to help her. His two wives were concerned that he might be giving Lizzie too much comfort, but they actually had no idea of his intentions to marry Elizabeth Jane Adams, which he did in the St. George Temple on January 30, 1879 — without informing Ann and Tillie until after the ceremony. Whether or not this was responsible for creating the coolness with which the other wives accepted her is not known, but it appears that Lizzie did not have the close bond with Ann and Tillie that they had developed with each other.

With the passage of the Edmunds-Tucker Act, John Menzies Macfarlane became increasingly apprehensive about his polygamous situation, and for a time he and his first wife, Ann, hid out at St. Thomas, near Overton, Nevada. But both ended up contracting malaria and had to return to hid out in and near Cedar City. Having encouraged by Erastus Snow to join the Mormon colonists in Mexico, John finally decided that it was the only thing to do. He invited Ann to accompany him, but her recent unpleasant experience of hiding out decided against another such venture. Tillie was steadfast in wanting to remain with Ann. So, at the latter’s suggestion, he took the youngest wife, Lizzie, and their children and departed, via, Kanab, to there await the arrival of Erastus Snow, who had been attending to business matters in Salt Lake City and would travel with them to Mexico. When a messenger brought news that Brother Snow had succumbed, John M. leaned over his wagon wheel and wept. It was Erastus Snow who had called him to move to St. George. They had been close friends, and it was mainly through his encouragement that the Macfarlanes were undertaking this move to Mexico. But they must go on.

Three months and many miles later, they arrived in Colonia Juarez, a settlement not yet 18 months old. John M. pitched a tent for the family to live in until they could erect a permanent abode on the lot assigned to them southwest across the street from the public square. As they crossed the border, the customs officials allowed them to take in surveying instruments and his organ and their personal belongings after payment of considerable duty, but confiscated their furniture. All they had to sit on in their tent was the spring seat of their wagon.

John Menzies Macfarlane had little ready cash, even though food items were cheap in Mexico; so he and his son Urie dug post holes, hauled rocks for the foundation for the Co-op Store and helped paint the new store. He and Louis Cardon laid up the adobes for the gristmill south of town.

Miles P. Romney helped John M. build a one-room log house on their lot, and although it was bare of furnishings and had only cheesecloth-like material, called “factory,” at the windows, it was much better than the tent. Two days after they moved into the house, their son John Adams was born, but because they now lived in Mexico, they called him Juan.

Soon after their arrival in Colonia, Juarez, John Menzies Macfarlane organized a choir, with rehearsals, as usual, in his home. He also took up surveying again, and he was responsible for surveying the west side of the Juarez Valley and a “city” in Upper Corrales Valley. He was drawn again and again to the beauty of Pacheco and dear friends who lived there, among them the Lunts. He also taught school in Colonia Juarez and he represented the colonists in legal matters at the state capital in Chihuahua City.

In one protracted absence from home, he wrote his wife that she would not know him, for he had lost 32 pounds and now weighed only 206 ½ pounds! He was remembered as a big man with dark hair and a beard; but when he returned to Salt Lake City for conference in October, 1890, and a reunion with his wife Ann, he had lost considerable weight, his beard had been shaved, and he carried a heavy scar below his left eye, the result of his trying to apprehend someone stealing his wheat. The thief had struck him with a pitchfork, the blow not only scarring him, but impairing the vision of his eye.

Although he would have liked to remain in Utah with his family there, he returned to Mexico, and had been home just a month when, Almon B. Johnson accepted an invitation to supper at John M.’s so that the two could discuss some surveying Almon wanted done. As they talked, Almon played with little Juan. The following morning, Almon, his wife, and two of their children were ill with smallpox. They were moved to a pesthouse two miles north of town and Agnes Macdonald and one of her sons and Annie Jonson Hilton and Asa Johnson took care of the quarantined family. In spite of their ministrations, the family died one by one, but miraculously no one else contracted the disease.

In 1890 John M. agreed to operate a store owned by H. L. Hall in Casas Grandes, and he moved Lizzie and the family into the store compound there. With this new venture he dreamed of expanding into a mercantile business in several northern Mexican towns, with members of his family running each store. With this in mind he wrote Ann to sell everything possible to raise the money to send Tillie and her family to him and thereafter to raise money so that she and her family could also join him.

Lizzie was unhappy and afraid in Casas Grandes and prevailed on him to let her move back to Colonia Juarez. With that, and an unsuccessful attempt to open a store in Dublan, his dreams of a thriving mercantile business faded.

Tillie, however, had followed his instructions to ready her family to move to Mexico. She raised much of the money for the trip by cooking for a construction crew and by catering for weddings and feasts in St. George. On November 13, 1891 she and six of her children—her oldest son, Urie, was already with his father in Colonia Juarez—arrived to join the others. IN preparation for her arrival, John Menzies Macfarlane had built a more commodious house than he had for Lizzie. The two houses, a corral, vegetable gardens and a young orchard occupied the town lot in Colonia Juarez.

In February 1892, he returned to the mountains above Pacheco to survey. Because of poisonous snakes and insects in the rocky area in which they camped, the men slept with their boots on, but John M. could not stand his tight boots and so one night removed them to have a good night’s rest. He awoke during the night experiencing terrible pain in one of his toes. He was sure he had been bitten by a snake. In the morning he laboriously put his boots back on, was helped to mount a horse, and somehow rode back to Colonia Juarez, where he collapsed from pain, his foot so swollen that the boot had to be cut off. He was in such misery from the pain, from asthma, and from insatiable thirst which was followed by nausea and vomiting, that he seldom lay down. Rather, he sat on the edge of his bed and cradled his head in his arms on a nearby tabletop.

He felt that if he could only return to St. George to Dr. Higgins, he could be cured. So, when he was well enough to travel, Tillie remained at home in Colonia Juarez to take care of the small children, and Lizzie, Urie, and daughter Caddie accompanied him as far as Deming, from where he traveled by train to Salt Lake City. He seemed some better there, attended spring conference, and was one of a huge crowd who witnessed the laying of the capstone on the Salt Lake Temple.

From Salt Lake City he returned to St. George, where he was ministered to by Dr. Higgins and family members who took turns helping him out to the porch to get fresh air and making him as comfortable as possible. Medications and ministrations were in vain, however, and on June 4, 1892, he died. Telegrams were sent to Tillie and Lizzie in Mexico, but they would not be able to arrive in time for the huge funeral held for him the following day in the St. George Tabernacle, a funeral at which the choir sang, and at which dear friends preached. Shortly thereafter, Tillie and Lizzie disposed of all the family property in Colonia Juarez, except their husband’s transit and organ, and with help from Utah family members and others, returned to southern Utah to live.

Excerpted by Jeanne J. Hatch from Yours Sincerely, John M. Macfarlane, by L.W. Macfarlane, M.D. Published by L. W. Macfarlane, M.D. Salt Lake City, Utah 1980.

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 449

Robert Logan Scott

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Robert Logan Scott

1853-1940

Robert Logan Scott was born in Fenwick, Ayrshire, Scotland, April 18, 2853, the son of John Ferguson Scott and Ann Shields. He was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 5, 1871 by Thomas Godfry. Ice in the River Clyde had to be broken for his baptism. He was confirmed by Alexander Rankin.

He emigrated to Utah and there married Catherine Latimer, also from Scotland, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, August 11, 1876. His first two children, Robert Latimer and Margaret Dougal, were born there. He obtained work as a section boss on the railroad near Deseret, Millard County, Utah, and homesteaded a farm there. Five children were born at Deseret to his wife Catherine, and a son, John, was born by a plural wife, Rosilla Alexander, whom he married while living in Deseret.

Being hounded by the United States Marshals because of his plural marriage, Robert moved to the newly formed colonies in the northern part of Chihuahua, Mexico. He located in Colonia Juarez, arriving there October 3, 1901. A son, Walter, was born to his wife, Catherine, and a daughter, Agnes, was born to Rosilla at Colonia Juarez.

The colony was in its early pioneering stage when Robert and his family moved there, and many skills which were essential to its developmental were contributed by him. He was accomplished in any finishing skills required in the homes, such as carpentry, plastering and whitewashing. He was hired for such tasks in the Dennis E. Harris homes, among others. He was an able craftsman, and with his scroll saw, made many useful and decorative pieces of furniture such as bookcases and shelves which at that time were not commonly available in the colonies. He made outstanding floats for many of the holiday parades. He kept the town clocks in repair and did much other repair work. For several years he ran the cannery owned by Joseph C. Bentley, cutting out the cans from sheets of tin as well as filling them when made.

His home was located on the east side of the Piedras Verdes River south of town beyond the Peter Wood home, near the Stowell gristmill on the west side of the river. A quiet stretch water in the river near his home created by means of a low dam formed a long pond for boating and swimming. Large cottonwood trees lined the banks of the river. From these he suspended high swings. With two rowboats, which he made, his place became a recreation retreat for the community and especially for the young people. Boating, swinging, swimming and singing were enjoyed by groups on moonlit evenings. He also built an icehouse and placed flat pans of water on the riverbank on cold nights to collect ice which he buried in sawdust and kept until spring. With the ice he made ice cream, popcorn balls, cookies and lemonade.

Robert Logan Scott had a pleasant tenor voice and enjoyed singing in the Ward choir and other occasions when given the opportunity. He was an avid reader, especially of religious and scientific matter. In his homes he was diligent in teaching the doctrines of the Church, good manners and cleanliness. Slang, profanity and stories of questionable taste were never tolerated in his homes. Of Robert Logan Scott it might truly be said that by his fruits he was known.

As of 1966, he had a growing posterity numbering 238. Among these were many Church officers: two Mission Presidents, two Stake Presidents, six Bishops, many Counselors in Bishoprics: 32 on foreign missions and many on Stake missions. Among his descendants have been many successful men in industry and politics and one vice-consul in the United States Foreign Service. His talent for singing was also passed on to children and grandchildren.

Robert Logan Scott died and was buried at Colonia Dublan September 24, 1940 at the age of 87.

Katherine S. Brown, daughter

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch, page 603

Samuel Edwin McClellan

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Samuel Edwin McClellan

1867-1957

Samuel Edwin McClellan was born July 23, 1867, in Payson, Utah and was ten years old when his father, William C. McClellan, accepted a call to settle Sunset, Arizona.

He was old enough to remember his school days in Payson and his teacher, Annie Ride, who was again his teacher in Colonia Juarez, Mexico, as the wife of Dennison E. Harris. Other memories of life in relatively prosperous and fast growing Payson lingered. He remembered with pride the reputation his father earned as a builder and as town councilman; how hard it was for William C. to sell out, because the Payson people wanted the man to stay more than they wanted to buy his property; that when he did sell, four wagons were required to carry his household goods and merchandise with six yoke of oxen, and a team to hitch to a light wagon to transport the family. Ed remembered riding a horse and driving the loose stock until he got a saddle boil after which he walked and drove them until the boil healed. From September 24 to November 20, 1877, he had the excitement of seeing a new country, then, the anxieties of poor feed for animals most of the time, frequent dry camps because the water holes were far apart, straying animals to look for and delays until they were found, and always rough, jolting roads.

It was still new country when Sunset was reached, where a new life awaited them. Five years in the United Order taught all the participants many things. The McClellans ate at the “Big Table” and were absorbed into the communal family plan that kept food supplied and prepared. Ed, along with other boys, hoed the corn, cane, and turnips, peeled peaches in the cannery, did chores about the sawmill and between times went to school. He learned to be self-reliant, trustworthy, capable, and cooperative, sometimes the hard way. His formal schooling was scattered from Payson to Sunset, to Pleasanton, to Colonia Juarez, a few snatches in the winter months between demands of work about the home or in the fields. This ended in his early teens, but he didn’t stop learning. With an alert mind and a love of reading, he gained wisdom and knowledge to compensate for the lack of formal school work. Later, when his father again became a building contractor in Colonia Juarez and pressed his son into service, Ed found his life’s work. He liked to make things, and the hum of the saw was music to his ears as it ripped through lumber. He was intrigued by the possibilities of the carpenter’s steel square and he took pride in making his work strong and true and expressive of the builder he longed to be. He soon learned, however, that there was more to building than measuring lengths of lumber or squaring timbers and he sought to learn more of the art of planning and blueprinting as the initial step in building. He found his help in a correspondence course to which he zealously subscribed and studied. By the time he had mastered the rudiments of his craft, there were amply opportunities in the furniture factory. It was while working here that he lost a finger to one of the power machines.

His first major engineering and construction job was given him by Anthony W. Ivins, the new Stake President. This was a wagon bridge across the Piedras Verdes River. Before the days of steel and cement girders such a project was a real challenge. Ed drew up plans for the bridge as he imagined it should be and set to work. Stones for the piers were cut and sized at the quarry and hauled in ready to use. While excavating for the solid foundation, unexpected difficulties arose. Underground water filled the holes as fast as the men could throw out the sand and gravel. An extra force of men set to bail the water and a “Chinese Pump” were to no avail. The excavation remained a well of water and flouted continuous attempts to lay the foundation stones. Discouraged and exhausted, the men quit.

In desperation, Ed searched his correspondence course for possible help. There he read how lumber and been used successfully in masonry construction. Although nothing was said of using lumber for underwater construction, he decided to try it. He remembered that embedded planks in a wooden turbine he had recently dug up at the powerhouse were in a perfect state of preservation after years of lying in the damp soil of the riverbed. He devised a heavy plank platform on the water. On this, the layer of stone was added. This procedure continued until the stone-covered platform settled squarely in the bottom of the hole. On this foundation, the pillar could be built up to the desired height. During the 75 years of constant use, these pillars have stood firm against heavy flood water hurled against them each year. They still stand firm as a mute tribute to a young, imaginative builder. When a new bridge to match the new highway was built, these same pillars designed by Samuel Edwin McClellan were used.

Growing prestige as a master builder established Ed as an authority on building problems. This along with genuine integrity made him good teaching material. Superintendent and principal Guy C. Wilson was quick to see this and made a position for Ed in the school system. In 1902, an appropriation was made to create a manual training department for the Juarez Academy designed to give both boys and girls a foundation in manual training. Ed was given charge of the department. His first shop-laboratory was the little brick building on the Bailey lot adjacent to the old Academy building and later, a .umber structure on the grounds of the present site of the Academy.

For ten years before the Exodus of 1912 and form many years afterward, Ed passed his craftsmanship on to young people. In addition to a good foundation in woodwork, mechanical drawing and use of the steel square, Ed dispensed lessons from his life on the frontier which had made him resourceful, honest, and forthright. Students learned that it was professionally sound to be dependable and important to do good, honest, work.

On the heels of this first major assignment, President Ivins gave Ed a second job, acceptance of which was a turning point in his life. The job was to construct a new Academy building. Ed considered it a staggering responsibility. He wrote to teachers of his correspondence courses for blueprint help. They, sensing the dimensions of the job and regarding Ed as a mere student, offered to take it off his hands and do the job for a price. President Ivins, before accepting such an offer, requested Ed to draw up the plans for both the first and second stories for consideration of the Board of Education. Since Ed knew the needs better than anyone else, President Ivins was confident that he would building best what they needed. For long hours, Ed poured over plans which gradually took shape. When a pencil sketch was made to his satisfaction, he presented it to Superintendent Wilson and the Board of Education. The plan was complete with specifications for number and size of classrooms, for stairways, windows, doors and scale drawing of the building.

The plan was accepted and cornerstone laid in January, 1904, and the building completed for school opening time in 1905. Ed kept on teaching his classes but supervised every detail of construction, not only directing the workmen but in off duty hours doing a large share himself. Not a detail was neglected, not a school need was overlooked and the end result was a building with large, ample space and well lighted classrooms, a study hall, a library, a principal’s private office, as well as appropriate entrance halls, laboratories, a stage for dramatic productions, an assembly hall, and a building for multiple services. The assembly hall was especially impressive with a stage at one end. Equipped with scenery and stage properties, it was suitable for presenting plays, operas, and similar performances. With chairs and tables in place, the Church Authorities could preside over conferences, the faculty over assembly programs. Under the stage could be stored the extra benches needed when a dance was to take place.

The building answered the social and educational needs of the community for more than a half-century. It enjoyed a charmed life during the Revolutionary years, left completely unharmed in any way, and still stands a monument to its builder.

The third major building job for Ed was the El Paso, Texas, Mormon chapel. Church architects prepared the plans after Ed and Bishop Arwell L. Pierce had inspected many chapels in the Southwest, studying their plans and costs. But Ed was given a free hand in using his own judgment to improve the building. Construction occurred at a time when materials were subject to many restrictions. Ed gave one-third of his wages as a contribution to the chapel building fund. With the loyal and resourceful support of Bishop Pierce and his Ward in maintaining high standards, notwithstanding great scarcity and panic through the calamity of a bank closing, the building was completed. When completed it drew the admiration and praise of the church building committee and local builders. Ed’s picture was afterwards placedin the finished chapel and he was given credit publicly.

In 1891, at the age of 25, Samuel Edwin McClellan married Bertha Lewis who had come to Mexico to visit her sister, Mrs. Peter McBride. Mrs. McBride, incidentally, was one of the first LDS women to cross the border when the colonies were first settled. Over the 64 years of their married life, Bertha stood by his side as a true helpmate and bore him 12 children. Her third baby was still young when she assumed responsibility for the family so that he husband could go on a mission to the United States. By her own thrifty hands and sale of eggs, butter, and fruit, she maintained her family and her missionary husband.

Ed’s activities in church, civic and social affairs fo the town are still another story. He served as an officer in Priesthood Quorums and Church auxiliaries, as a teacher, as Bishop’s Counselor, and as a member of the High Council. His sound judgment and discernment in times of crisis as well as tranquility were highly valued.

Ed’s early continued practice of reading prepared him to share his storehouse of information and to have unusual insight concerning international events, including American involvement abroad. His own love of freedom made him especially sympathetic to the struggles of people in countries not so free as his own.

Later in life when confined to his bed, Ed expressed his sentiments:

Lying in bed my mind goes round the world, picturing country after country, the people in them and conditions under which they live. It lingers longest in those satellite countries where the poor people can’t call their souls their own and I think how blest I am to be in a comfortable bed in my own home, with all I need within reach of my hand, surrounded by loved ones and friends who are free to come and go as they wish. How thankful I am in that freedom for me and my loved ones has been won by patriots who knew its worth.

Ed sang in the first town choir, played in the first band, was a member of the first dramatic association, and played on the first baseball nine. In choir, Ed’s bass voice was a pleasing support. When amateur operas or dramatic productions were presented, he was usually cast in one of the principal roles. Old-timers would remember best his interpretation of King Ahasuerus in the opera Queen Esther, and his sympathetic portrayal of “Uncle Tom.” In both, he justified the choice of the director.

In the band he played the baritone horn. His was significant part in every band concert, every band-wagon serenade, welcomes to visiting governors, farewells to missionaries, and when the band just played at the band stand in the town park. Music was in his soul as craftsmanship was in his hand. Yet, when a call to a Church mission came, he sold his horn and his tools for money to take him to his field of labor. He trusted to Providence that they would be replaced when he returned.

His deep interest in baseball was in reverse proportion to his smallness in stature. He became an excellent catcher and long after he served well on the town team he retained a lively interest in the game. This love for baseball kept him pouring over results of the World Series as reported in newspapers and radio. He studied the strategy of big league managers and recorded in his memory the names and capabilities of the players occupying the headlines in the news, keeping track of wins and losses of all. Seated in his armchair before the radio while the World Series was in progress with the newspaper on his knee, he kept up to the minute with the game’s progress. “This year was the greatest puzzle of them all,” he said chuckling. “Seven games that looked like any one of them could end the series, where non one scored until the 10^th inning, and where the Yanks beat the Dodgers 8-0.” This excitement as he approached his 90^th year.

Dancing was a favorite pastime with Ed. During his young manhood, he danced nothing but the quadrille and kindred folk dances. The waltz and other forms of “arm around the waist” dancing were barred by ruling of the Church. Ed still danced the quadrille wholeheartedly and became a foremost “pigeon wing cutter” as well as expert dance caller. He prepared the calls one by one and then added a spice and variety to the dance by his frequent introduction of new formations.

In his last years, years of physical infirmity, he remarked, “I think of everyone who has ever lived in this town, remember my work with many of them, feel sorry for those who were unfortunate and feel glad for those who attained success.”

He died of cancer, July 27, 1957 and was buried in the west cemetery of Colonia Juarez. Twelve children, eight girls, and four boys, survived him. They and the still standing structures of his superior workmanship are monuments to his active and productive life. He fills a unique and respected niche in the history of Colonia Juarez and may rightfully be regarded as one of the colonizers who was responsible for promoting high quality performances in every field of human endeavor.

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Stalwarts South of the Border, page 432

Las Colonias – The Mormon Colonies in Mexico

Everything You Need to Know about Mormon Colonies in Mexico

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Edward Elsey Bradshaw

Charles Whipple

Franklin Scott

Miles Park Romney

Josiah Guile Hardy

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Benjamin Louis Croff

John Menzies Macfarlane

Robert Logan Scott

Samuel Edwin McClellan