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Junius Romney

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Junius Romney

1878-1971

Born March 12, 1878, in St. George, Utah, Junius Romney was the son of Miles Park and Catherine Cottam Romney.

Miles Park’s father, Miles, had moved to St. George under the direction of Church leaders and was playing a significant role as a builder, supervising, for example, the construction of the tabernacle.  Miles Park assisted in that construction as head of the carpentry shop.  He had other business interests and civic commitments, most notable in drama, and served in various church administrative capacities.  Catherine, Junius’s mother, was born to a family which had settled in St. George in 1862.  Because Miles Park had five wives, several of whom had large families, brothers, sisters, and cousins abounded.

When he was three years old, Junius accompanied his his family to St. Johns, Arizona, one of several centers of Mormon settlement on the Little Colorado River.  They first settled in town in a log cabin with a dirt floor, later replaced with a nice frame home.  The Romney family was in the middle of an intense anti-Mormon campaign to which Miles P. responded vigorously as editor of a newspaper and which forced Catherine and others to flee their homes periodically.  This persecution became so intense that Junius and most of his family returned to St. George in 1884.

This second period in St. George was temporary while Miles P.  and others investigated places in Mexico to which they could flee for safety.  Junius and his family lived with Catherine’s parents, the Cottams, who at the same time furnished a hiding place for Wilford Woodruff who was being pursued by government authorities.  To help support the family, Junuius tended cows in the surrounding desert.  So hot was the sand at the time that he recollects moving from the shade of one bush to another, crying as he stood on one bare foot and then the other to allow each an opportunity to cool.  When he reached eight years of age, he was baptized in the temple font.  Then in 1886, Catherine and her children were instructed to join Miles P. and others in Mexico.  The Cottams generously outfitted them with clothing and, following blessing from Wilford Woodruff, Junius Romney and the others left for their new home in Mexico. 

During January of 1887, they traveled by train to Deming, New Mexico, then by wagon into Mexico.  ON the way, Junuius was thrown from the wagon and run over.  His ear, torn almost completely from his head, was replaced and bandaged in place by his mother.  On arriving in Colonia Juarez, the newcomers joined two of Miles P.’s other families—Annie’s, who was living in a dugout beside the river in the “Old Town,” and Hannah’s, who lived in a house of vertical poles called a “stockade house.”  Catherine’s house was their wagon box to which were attached a bowery and a small wooden room.

Life was simple and family centered—simple clothes, straw or husk tick on the beds, a diet of corn, beans, molasses, greens and thinned milk, and occasional treats of wheat flour bread.  In his later years, Junius still enjoyed the simplicity of a sweet apple off a tree or a dinner of cheese, bread, and milk.

After about a year in Colonia Juarez, the three Romney wives and the family of Helaman Pratt moved to Cliff Ranch, a small valley along the Piedras Verdes Riverin the mountains.  Here they lived for about two years in seclusion.  This required independence and innovation.  Junius Romney recalls how his mother and the other adults provided religious and intellectual instruction in addition to the necessities of life.  Work included herding cows barefoot in the snow and building irrigation systems.  Natural greens, potatoes, and grains were staples with treats of molasses cake, nuts and potato pie.  In addition to other qualities he may have developed there, Cliff Ranch increased Junius Romney’s appreciation of his family.

In the fall of 1890, the Romney’s returned to Colonia Juarez, and not long thereafter, Junius Romney moved to a farm which his father had purchased about a mile west of Casas Grandes.  There, with his Aunt Hannah and her family, he worked for three years and received the benefit of three months’ formal schooling per year in Colonia Juarez.

In his 16th year, Junius Romney became an employee of the Juarez Cooperative Mercantile Institution.  This led him into his vocation as a businessman and into a close association with Henry Eyring, the manager.  In that occupation, he became acquainted with the Mexican people, merchandising procedures, Mexican law, bookkeeping, Spanish, and the postal service.  He soon became postmaster, a position he held for 13 years.  Junius later observed how much he owed to Henry Eyring, who also taught frugality through making bags out of newspapers in order to save buying them commercially.

It was during this time that Junius Romney became acquainted with Gertude Stowell, daughter of Brigham and Olive Bybee Stowell.  Brigham operated the mill on the east side of the river south of town and owned a cattle ranch north of town.  Gertrude grew up willing to work hard, a trait she preserved throughout her life, and was also interested in intellectual activities and things of beauty. After she broke her engagement to another young man, Junius courted her earnestly.  His correspondence with her progressed from “Dear Friend” to Dearest Gertrude” and culminated in their marriage in the Salt Lake Temple on October 10, 1900. 

Junius Romney continued his work in the Juarez Mercantile as their family began to grow.  Olive was born in 1901, Junius Stowell, called J.S., in 1903, and Catherine (Kathleen), in 1905.  That Kathleen survived, having been born at only two and one-half pounds while both parents were suffering from typhoid fever, is something of a miracle.  Margaret was born in 1909.  Catherine, Junius’s mother, lived with them for a time after the death of Miles P. in 1904. 

The typhoid fever that both Junius and Gertrude suffered was accompanied with pneumonia for Junius, but after limited professional medical care and extensive aid from family and friends, they recovered.

More important, for Junius, was the fact that an early administration by Church Elders did not heal him. He concluded that the Lord needed to impress him that he indeed had typhoid fever and his eventual recovery indicated that the Lord had a purpose for his life, a purpose he saw fulfilled in his role as leader during the Exodus of 1912. Successful healings from priesthood administration shortly thereafter reinforced this opinion.

The young couple lived in an adobe house directly north of the lot upon which the Anthony W. Ivins house once stood and the Ward building now stands. In about 1906, a substantial brick house, which still stands, was built. The bricks were cooperatively prepared with several other families.

The resulting structure with its clean lines and decorative wooden trim was equal to any similar sized house built in Salt Lake City at the time, and, in fact, reflected the strong North American orientation of the colonists.

Junius continued to work in the Juarez Mercantile store until about 1902. He thereafter worked for the Juarez Tanning and Manufacturing Company until about 1907. He continued as postmaster, handling business from a room made on their front porch. In addition to this work, Junius was very much involved in other business activities such as buying and selling animals and land, and supervising some agricultural production. He handled some legal matters for colonists and taught bookkeeping and Spanish at the Juarez Academy.

For two months during the summer of 1903, while Gertrude tended the post office and their two young children, Junius Romney went to Salt Lake City where he attended the LDS Business College. His studies included penmanship, bookkeeping, and typing. Among his extra-curricular activities were attendance at bicycle races at Saltair, as well as visiting relatives. In addition to the three three-month periods of schooling while he lived on the farm near Casas Grandes, and about three years of taking classes at the Academy just before his marriage, this stay at the business college concluded his formal education.

During these early years of marriage, Junius served as Second Counselor in the Stake Sunday School Superintendency. During a very busy January, 1902, he served as an MIA Missionary in which calling he participated in a flurry of meetings in Colonia Juarez. He also served as Stake Clerk, which with his Sunday School calling, led him to visit throughout the colonies and to become acquainted with the conditions of the Church and the people. He also learned much of Church administration.

Two major recreational activities occurred during these years. The first was a visit in 1904 by Junius Romney and a friend to the World’s Fair in St. Louis. The second was a trip in company with the Stake President, Anthony W. Ivins, into the Sierra Madres where President Ivins owned some land. Junius fished and hunted and, more significantly, enjoyed the association of the man whom he was soon to succeed as Stake President.

As the government of President Diaz came under attack and was eventually defeated by the forces of Francisco I. Madero, the Mormon colonies were drawn into the struggle. Junius processed various damage claims submitted by the colonists to contending parties, and, as President of the Stake, he became directly involved in the aftermath of the death of Juan Sosa, which occurred in Colonia Juarez in 1911. In the Sosa matter, he assisted in hiding colonists who, as deputies, had participated in the shooting. He eventually met with a local judge and sent a letter to President Madero on behalf of the fugitives. This letter at last reached Abraham Gonzales, formerly Governor of Chihuahua and then Secretary of the Interior in Mexico City. Gonzales directed that the prosecution of the Mormon deputies be discontinued. Eventually the matter was forgotten as the military struggle increased in intensity.

Soon after President Ivins was called to be a member of the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, John Henry Smith and George F. Richards of the same quorum came to Colonia Juarez to reorganize the Stake. In the meetings of March 7 and 8, 1908, these visiting authorities selected Junius Romney as the new Stake President with Hyrum H. Harris and Charles E. McClellan as Counselors. The visiting authorities indicated that plural marriages were no longer to be performed in Mexico as they had been since 1890. Because he had not been directly involved in these recent plural marriages and was living in monogamy, Junius was a good choice to implement that policy.

As Stake President, Junius traveled to Mexico City to review the missionary work there and at least twice attended general conference in Salt Lake City. He also traveled to Chihuahua City where he talked with the President of Mexico, Porfirio Diaz, who exhibited considerable interest in and affection for the Mormon colonists. The authoritarian government under Diaz and the work of the Mormon colonists were complementary. The government provided the climate in which the Church members could live in relative security with little interference. The colonists contributed to political and social stability and grew outstanding agricultural products, both qualities that Diaz wanted demonstrated to the native Mexicans.

Routine church business was also handled. His correspondence notes action on a possible Branch of the Church near Chihuahua City, operation of the Church auxiliaries with a Stake activity calendar for the four months through August of 1912, concern in one Ward over lagging tithing payments and pride of another Ward over anticipated benefits from a newly completed reservoir. That the Revolution was intruding upon Church work is indicated by the inability of President Romney to obtain signatures of all Ward Bishops on a document, and instructions to avoid purchasing grain from native Mexicans since the soldiers might need it.

Although the tempo of the Revolution demanded increasingly more attention, Junius still pursued his business interests in a way that indicated he intended to stay indefinitely in Mexico. He was involved in agreements to buy and sell land, a proposal to build a fruit cannery in Colonia Juarez, and the purchase of some 715 fruit trees to be planted on his land.

One of the first direct confrontations between the Revolutionaries and Mormons came in February, 1912, with a demand by Enrique Portillo for weapons. Portillo was a local leader of rebels under Pascual Orozco who by that time was opposing Madero. In company with Joseph C. Bentley and Guy C. Wilson, Junius told Portillo that the only way he would get Mormon guns was with smoke coming out of the barrels. After Junius reported this incident to the First Presidency in Salt Lake City, he received a letter from them which he considered very important. The First Presidency approved the action taken, but said that a different set of circumstances might call for a different response. They advised that the foremost concern should be the safety of members of the Church. A letter from Anthony W. Ivins at this time promised no loss of lives if the Saints were faithful. Some, not including Junius, interpreted this to mean that the colonists could always safely remain in Mexico.

Besides the admonition to care for the safety of the colonists, the policy of neutrality urged on the Saints was important to Junius. This policy was directed to all U. S. citizens from authorities in Washington, D.C. Moreover, the General Authorities advocated neutrality for Church members in Mexico. Regardless of personal feelings, Junius and other leaders attempted to be neutral. This was not an easy policy to follow since soldiers from both sides often forcibly requisitioned horses and other supplies. During the early stages of the Revolution, the soldiers were urged to respect neutrality.

While attempting to remain neutral, the colonists recognized a need to obtain weapons equal in quality to those possessed by the warring factions around them. Accordingly, the Stake leaders attempted unsuccessfully to import high powered rifles in December of 1911. Then in April, 1912, after the U.S. embargo was proclaimed, rifles were smuggled in and distributed to the various colonies from Junius’s home in Colonia Juarez.

After initial success against the government, Orozco was defeated in several battles in May, 1912, and retreated northward toward the colonies. At the same time, Mexicans responded to the killing of a Mexican, surprised during a robbery in Colonia Diaz, by killing James Harvey, a colonist. President Romney in company with several Mexican officials from Casas Grandes rode in a buggy to Colonia Diaz and defused the threatening situation. This experience further impressed Junius with the explosive conditions in which they found themselves and the danger of resorting to an armed defense. As a result, he reaffirmed his belief in the policy of neutrality and the necessity of the Mormons getting through the conflict with a minimal loss of life.

Junius wrote to the First Presidency requesting instruction on what to do and asking that Anthony W. Ivins be sent to the colonies to counsel with them. The First Presidency told Junius to do what he thought best after counseling with other Church leaders in the Stake. Elder Ivins traveled to the colonies and returned to El Paso where he remained throughout the Exodus.

After being defeated by federal forces in early July, 1912, the Orozco rebels moved to El Paso where they made their headquarters. This was usually a place where Revolutionaries could be resupplied with arms and ammunition, but because of the U. S. embargo, Orozco was unable to rebuild his army. So the rebels turned to the Mormon colonists who, they believed, had weapons they could obtain.

General Salazar, a local rebel leader, called Junius to his headquarters in Casas Grandes and there demanded a list of the colonists’ guns. After consultation with the leaders in Colonia Juarez and Colonia Dublan, Junius requested the information from each colony.

Faced with this increased pressure, representatives from throughout the colonies met with the Stake Presidency to decide how to proceed. The group decided to continue to pursue a policy of neutrality and to act unitedly under the direction of the Stake Presidency.

On July 13, 1912, when news reached Colonia Juarez that rebels in Colonia Diaz were demanding guns from the colonists, a meeting of eleven local men and two members of the Stake Presidency was convened at Junius’s home. The group sent messengers to Colonia Diaz with letters previously issued by rebel leaders urging respect for the neutrality of the Mormons. Junius Romney and Hyrum Harris of the Stake Presidency were instructed to confer with General Salazar to persuade him to call off the rebels. Junius prepared a letter to General Orozco in EI Paso which he sent with Ed Richardson.

That same night Junius and Hyrum Harris rode to Casas Grandes where they located General Salazar. Having prevailed upon a guard to awake the general, Romney described the crisis. Salazar lashed out at the rebel leader in Colonia Diaz, saying that he should not have made that demand, todavia no (not yet). Junius reports that those last two words caused a chill to run up his back, since it seemed to be the general’s intention to sometime require weapons of the colonists. Such a demand, Junius foresaw, would perpetrate a crisis. Romney and Harris received an order from Salazar which they took to Colonia Dublan for delivery to Colonia Diaz.

The next day, Junius traveled by train to El Paso to confer with Elder Ivins. On the way he had a conversation with General Salazar who said he intended to do something to force the U.S. to intervene militarily in the Revolution. In El Paso, Elder Ivins seemed to think that Junius was overly concerned. Still, they jointly sent a telegram to the First Presidency requesting instructions. The reply said that “the course to be pursued by our people in Mexico must be determined by yourself, Romney and the leading men of the Juarez Stake.” Romney was looking for specific instructions, but received none. He later reflected that if the Lord intended to have his people removed from Mexico, it was better that he, rather than Elder Ivins who had put his life into building the colonies, should lead that evacuation. Although Ivins visited the colonies for several days during the next two weeks, he gave no more specific instructions on what to do.

Orson P. Brown, the colonists’ representative in El Paso, wrote Junius that the State Department had indicated that the Mormons could not expect U.S. governmental support in the event they defended themselves. Brown predicted that the colonists would have to leave their homes.

Fearing the worst, Junius wrote a letter on July 24, advising the mountain colonies to be prepared to leave on a moment’s notice, should the need arise.

Two days later, Junius, in company with four other colonists, traveled to Casas Grandes for a meeting with General Salazar. The general and his aid, Demetrio Ponce, a Mexican who lived among the Mormons, ordered Junius Romney and Henry E. Bowman to deliver Mormon owned guns and ammunition to the rebels. Junius refused to do so and was supported in his decision by Bowman. Bowman’s support was further evidence to Junius that the Lord was directing things since such support was essential to the later evacuation, and the older man had previously been somewhat critical of the young Stake President. Salazar then directed some soldiers to accompany the Mormons to Colonia Dublan where they were ordered to collect weapons, by force if necessary.

In Dublan, Junius Romney conferred with Bishop Thurber and other men. They decided that some compliance was required, so instructions were sent for colonists to bring in their poorest weapons. The rebels were temporarily pacified when these deliveries were made at the schoolhouse.

In the same meeting, it was decided to send the Mormon women and children to EI Paso for their safety. Henry Bowman left at once for Texas to arrange for their arrival and a few colonists departed with him that very day. Junius composed a letter to Colonia Diaz describing what had occurred and directing the colonists in that community to follow the same procedure for evacuation.

That same evening, Romney returned to Colonia Juarez where he joined a meeting of the men already in progress. Bishop Joseph C. Bentley and others were not in favor of anyone leaving the colonies, but after some discussion and a recommendation from President Romney that they evacuate their women and children, he and the others agreed to comply and to urge others to do the same. Those at the meeting also agreed to relinquish their poorest weapons to the rebels.

On Sunday, July 28, some weapons and ammunition from the Juarez colonists were delivered at the bandstand to the rebels. Junius sent messages to the mountain colonies of Colonia Pacheco, Garcia, and Chuhuichupa advising them to be prepared to give up some of their weapons and to send their women and children to EI Paso. He told his wife, Gertrude, that the Bishop was in charge of the evacuation and would help them leave. He bid his family farewell and departed to Casas Grandes to meet with General Salazar.

The actions on July 27 and 28 left the colonies occupied only by adult men. Each town was furnished with a small contingent of rebel soldiers who were responsible for keeping the peace and protecting the colonists who had presumably relinquished their weapons. During the next few days of relative calm, Junius wrote to the various colonies to apprise them of the situation and to advise them to act moderately, with the highest priority being given to safeguarding the lives of the men.

The situation took a turn for the worse when other rebel soldiers began moving through the colonies after having been defeated in a battle with the federals in Sonora on July 31. Uncertain about the intentions of these new arrivals, Junius and other men met in the store on August 2 and decided to call a general meeting for that night. Junius and some others understood that the night meeting was to decide on a course of action. However, as men were notified of the meeting, some understood that they were to leave town that night and go into the mountains.

That night, as Junius started toward the designated meeting place north of town, he was told that some men had already gone into the mountains. He was convinced that the rebels in town would conclude that those who left were on their way to join the federals and any men who remained would be in serious danger. Junius was unable to consult with other leaders as he had previously done, but what he needed to do seemed clear to him. His decision was to have all the men remaining in the colonies congregate at the Stairs, a previously designated site in the mountains farther up the Piedras Verdes River. Then he sat under a lantern in the bottom of the Macdonald Springs Canyon and prepared letters for Colonia Dublan and the mountain colonies, instructing the men to meet at once at the Stairs.

On the other side of the river, a significant number of the Juarez men had met at the designated site north of town, but when they did not find President Romney or the others there, they returned to their homes. When Junius discovered this later in the morning of August 3, he attempted to countermand his instructions to Dublan, but the men had already left. Later, Junius, his brother Park, and Samuel B. McClellan encountered these Dublan men and accompanied them to the Stairs.

The men who remained in Juarez, including Bishop Bentley, initially decided to go to the Stairs, but when the rebels were frightened away by the news of approaching federals, they wrote to those in the mountains expecting that they would return to the colonies. Later, when the men in town received pointed instructions from President Romney that they should go to the Stairs, Bishop Bentley and others complied.

After a preliminary meeting of the Church leaders at the Stairs, a mass meeting of all the men was held on August 5. At that time, those who had most recently arrived from Colonia Juarez urged the men to return to their homes. A majority of those there, including President Junius Romney, favored going to the United States. Junius had several reasons for his decision. He had witnessed the strong anti-American feeling among the Mexicans. He recognized the danger of international repercussions if American citizens were killed in Mexico. He wanted the smuggled guns they were carrying to reach the U.S. A vote to leave was made unanimous. The movement was made under the military leadership of Albert D. Thurber and the men crossed into New Mexico on August 9, 1912.

The fact that the colonists were out of Mexico did not release Junius as Stake President. He continued such functions as issuing recommends, counseling Ward leaders, and gathering information to help him decide what future action he would suggest. He interviewed the colonists themselves, talked with generals of the federal army, and took a three week trip back into Mexico.

The overall supervision of the refugees came under the control of a committee which included various colonists, Junius Romney, Anthony W. Ivins, and other Church representatives. This committee first concerned itself with the evacuation of the colonists in Sonora. Quite independently of the Chihuahua colonists, they evacuated their homes and were in the U.S. by the end of August.

The committee also considered whether the colonies should be reoccupied. Some returned soon after they left, mostly to recover cattle and other property. It was eventually decided that the colonists should be released from any Church obligation to live in Mexico, so that each family could make its own decision. Junius and his family decided not to return.

Gertrude and their four children had initially stayed in a Lumberyard in EI Paso with many others, but they soon moved to a single-room apartment. In the winter of 1912, they moved to Los Angeles with one of Junius’s brothers.

Junius traveled to Salt Lake City where he reported his stewardship to a meeting of the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve. He reports that he “assured President Smith that I had lived up to the best light that I had been able to receive and consequently if the move was not right I disavowed any responsibility inasmuch as I had lived up to the best inspiration I could get and had fearlessly discharged my duty as I saw it in every trying situation which had arisen.” After hearing this report as well as those of other men and assessing other information they possessed, the General Authorities decided to release Junius as Stake President and to dissolve the Juarez Stake.

While in Salt Lake City, Junius was convinced by Lorenzo Stohl of the Beneficial Life Insurance Company that he ought to try selling life insurance. Junius was dubious about this proposal, but while he traveled on the train back to Mexico, he diligently studied the material he was furnished. Shortly after arriving in El Paso, he was confronted by his brother, Orin, and D. B. Farnsworth, who were looking for a particular Beneficial agent. Junius Romney identified himself as an agent and immediately embarked on a career in which he would be a marked success. During his first year of this work he saw his family only twice, a condition he deplored, but he was determined to succeed. He learned of a contest with a $300 prize for which he would have to sell $60,000 in insurance before the end of 1912. When he won, Junius endorsed the check directly to a creditor to whom he owed money for the purchase of land in Mexico. In the next year, he won prizes totaling $550, which he likewise applied on his debts. Not only did his work help him support his family, but it also resulted in his being given the job of superintendent of agents for Beneficial Life, a position he held for ten years.

By the end of 1913, Junius was able to move his family from Los Angeles to a rented home in Salt Lake City, and six years later, to a home they purchased on Douglas Street on the east side of Salt Lake City. To the four children they brought with them out of Mexico were later added two sons, Eldon and Paul.

While most of Junius’s time during these years after the Exodus was spent in selling insurance, he continued to be concerned with those he knew in Mexico. One project in which he took considerable pride was a resettlement project along the Gila River in Arizona. With Ed Lunt, he borrowed money from Beneficial Life to buy land which was divided into twenty and forty acre parcels and sold with little or no down payment to families from the colonies.

In order to spend more time with his family, Junius left Beneficial Life. Following work in several sales ventures and a few years handling real estate for Zion’s Savings Bank, he became manager of State Building and Loan Association in 1927. He continued in that position until 1957 when his age and ill health compelled retirement. Under his management, the company had expanded to Hawaii and became a leading financial institution in Utah. As part of this work, he sold sufficient insurance to be a member of the Kansas City Life Million Dollar Roundtable three times. He was also involved in various other business enterprises, often in real estate in partnership with others.

He continued to be a faithful Church member throughout his life. He served in various Ward and Stake positions, including the Stake High Council, and as a temple worker in his later years. In later years he suffered from a variety of ailments, perhaps the most serious of which was the loss of his sight. Because he was a man of action, this was especially difficult for him. He was also much troubled by the loss of his wife who served as his companion for sixty-five years in mortality.

He was always very thoughtful of friends and neighbors, as well as his family. As he grew older he expanded his philanthropy. Probably his most noted gift was a rather expensive machine to be used in open heart surgery at the Primary Children’s Hospital.

He kept his sense of humor. For his ninetieth birthday celebration, he appeared in a rather nice hair piece. His family cautiously complimented him on his youthful appearance until the joke became apparent. At that time no one laughed more heartily than Junius.

As his health failed, he began in the late 1950s to talk and write more about the colonies. He dictated and wrote several separate reminiscences about people and events and he gave some talks centering on the Exodus from Mexico to Church groups in the Salt Lake City area. Finally, in 1957, he returned to the colonies. He was interested in reliving that part of his life, but more important to him was explaining it to others, which he did by distributing copies of one of his talks.

When he died in 1971 at ninety-three years of age, he left a significant heritage. His impact on the Mormon colonies was monumental. In business he was a personal success and a builder. In the Church he was a faithful member and significant leader. Among many he was a friend and benefactor.

To his six children, thirty grandchildren, and forty-four great-grandchildren alive at his death, he was a living symbol of much that is good about life.

Joseph Romney, grandson

Stalwarts South of the Border, Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Page 579

George Washington Patten

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George Washington Patten

1853-1863

George Washington Patten, son of George Patten, born October 26, 1828, in Chester County, Pennsylvania and Mary Nelson, born March 8, 1832, in Mt. Vernon, Jefferson, Illinois.

His parents, as teenagers, had joined the LDS Church and were in the midst of the persecutions of the Saints in Missouri and Illinois.  They, with their families, were driven from their homes at the time of the exodus from Nauvoo and crossed the plains, arriving in the Salt Lake Valley in the summer of 1850, settling in Mountainville, (now Alpine, Utah).  It was here that his father met and married Mary Jane Nelson.  To this union were born eight children. George Washington Patten being the second child, born on January 12, 1853 in Alpine, Utah.  His family later moved and settled in various places in and around Payson, Utah.

So far little has been learned about the early childhood of George Washington Patten, but it is believed that most of his time was spent in Payson, Utah.  It was here that he met Lillian Sophia Beckstead who had come from Annabelle, Utah, in 1870 to live with her sister Sarah.  Their friendship grew and they were married on July 24, 1871, she at the age of 15, and he at 18.  Lillian was the daughter of Sidney Marcus Beckstead and Ann Sophia Rollins who were also pioneers in the exodus from Nauvoo. 

The Pattens moved to various locations trying to make a living and settle down.  They found it difficult because of a shortage of water, and soil conditions.  They had many experiences with the Indians..  One one occasion, George had to go to Payson overnight, leaving Lillian with three small children alone.  Early in the evening a crowd of Indians passed the house, and Lillian knew they were drunk.  She was very frightened.  Barring the doors and windows, she prepared to spend the night alone.  Later a knock was heard at the door.  She asked who was there and Chief Santaquin answered, saying some of the Indians had been to Payson and returned drunk and that it would be safer for her to bring the children over to his house and stay all night.   She took the children and spent the night at Chief Santaquin’s home.  He was very good to them while they lived in Thistle Valley. 

In 1890 George decided to move to Mexico.  Their family consisted of ten children, two of which were married.  With very little means to travel he managed to trade a race horse for a wagon and mule team and they started on their long journey with other members of the family.  They had many experiences on this journey, because of traveling conditions, roads and lack of food.  At Lee’s Ferry, the teams, wagons and children were taken over in a large boat run by cable.  In crossing some of the rivers some of the things were lost in quicksand.  They finally arrived in Colonia Dublan on January 10, 1891.  They were on the road two months with their teams and wagons.

They lived in Mexico 21 years before returning to Payson to live.  At first their life in Mexico was very rugged.  When they arrived they were in very poor circumstances, living mostly on corn bread, beans and molasses, using sweetened water on their mush.  Beef was five cents per pound, but money was hard to get and there were things that could not be bought, even if one had the money.

George bought an ox team and his boys would plow with it and go into the mountains for wood.  He served as Deputy Sheriff for a number of years.

It was a terrible struggle for many years but finally the farm was well equipped with machinery and good horses.  The family raised hay, oats, barley, wheat, and cane, making their own molasses—from 400 to 500 gallons at a time.  We had a good orchard and garden, raising our own peanuts.

George died on February 22, 1896, after being kicked by a horse, causing acute Brights Disease.  Lillian was left with nine children and one more was born four months after her husband died.  She had many problems during the ensuing years as one can imagine with such a large family.  But the entire family worked together.  One by one the children were married, and sad events took place on occasions when a dear one was taken away.  Lillian passed December 1, 1916 at Payson, Utah.

Mary Jane McClellan, daughter, and Thelma Patten Allen, granddaughter

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 517

Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt of the Mormon Colonies in Mexico

Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt

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Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt

1841-1914

I was born on September 8, 1841 at Vinding Land on the beautiful shore of Vejle Bay, about 8 miles from the city of Vejle, Jylland, Denmark.  My father’s name was Lauers Jensen and my mother, Ane Sophie Nielsen.

My parents belonged to the Lutheran protestant church and in accordance with the customs of denomination, I was at the age of about one and one-half months taken to the church, sprinkled with water which act was called baptism by that church, christened and given the name of Jens Christian Lauersen.  The reason why I don’t bear exactly the same name now will be explained later.

My parents were both conscientious, God-fearing people, honest, upright, and industrious.  They were kind and loving toward their children of which they had 10 in number—five boys and five girls. I was the first child.  Having been reared by googly parents I presume that I naturally inherited the same tendencies.  Especially did I at an early age acquire a reverence for God. In my early youth in mingling with people of the world, I did not exhibit my inward convictions in outward manifestations and during the years of my minority I sowed a good deal of wild oats.

By the time I had grown to the age of 20 I had become somewhat disgusted with the religions of the day, deeming them in most cases only hypocrisy.  I consequently took no stock in them.

At the age of 11½ I was hired out to work for my living.  The nature of my work was tending horses, cows, and sheep.  As I remember, the wages for my first summer’s work was less than five dollars (American money) plus by board.  During my early years I hired out to various farmers and also acquired the customary schooling.  In the spring of 1856 when I was 15 years old, I commenced as an apprentice with my father to learn bricklaying and plastering, which occupation I followed more or less as long as I stayed in my native land and also when I came to America.

Inn the spring of 1861 I was introduced by a chym to aman by the name of Niels Jensen, a bricklayer.  This man was a Mormon, a fact which my young fried cunningly concealed from my knowledge until I had bargained with him.  Had I known before hand that he wa a Mormon I would have had nothing to do with him.  On telling my friend so, he assured me it wouldn’t have made any difference, for though a Mormon; he was a pretty good fellow.

Here came the turning point in my life, for although I had been reared in a Christian church by Christian parents and Christian ministers, I did not know what a true Christian was until this man told me.  It did not take very long after my acquaintance with Niels Jensen, through conversing with him on religious matters, that I was convinced that Mormonism was true.  I did not however become humble enough to receive baptism until 1863 when on the 11th day of January I was baptized in a broke on the borders of the city of Vejle by Elder Anders Hansen and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The conference held in the fall of 1863 in Vejle I was ordained a teacher and sent on a mission to the Horsens Branch to labor under the direction of Gustav Pegan.  I was by him ordained a Priest. Shortly after, I was ordained Elder and set apart to preside over the Horsens Branch. On account of the war between Prussia and Denmark, my work as a messenger of the Gospel did not last long as I, being 22 ½ years old was eligible to be drafted into the army. Therefore, the spring of 1864 I was released from my mission with the privilege of emigrating to Zion. I have built myself of the opportunity. My father, although not a member of the Church at the time was liberal with means to enable me to go. On 4 April 1864 I bade goodbye to my parents, brothers and sisters in Nebsager Mark in on 6 April, I bade adieu to my native land, Jutland, and proceeded on until we arrived at Liverpool, England.

On 28 April 1864 I boarded a large sail ship called the Monarch of the Sea in company with about 1,000 Saints. The captain in charge was John Smith. We found ourselves pretty low crowded. Especially did we experience a great deal of inconveniencing the cooking department and it was chance work if we got anything to eat. It took about 35 days from Liverpool to Castle Garden, New York.

We proceeded on by boat and trail until we landed on the west bank of the Missouri River at a place called Wyoming, where we laid in waiting about a week before the ox trains from Utah arrived which were to take us across the dreary plains. Instead of going with the church teams, I am for other men decided to go as teamsters for a man named Soren Christofferson from Manti so we would not be in debt to the Church for passage.

Her company numbered eight souls with six wagons and 20 yolk of cattle. During the summers of’64,’65 and ’66, the Indians were very hostile on the plains and we were greatly exposed to being massacred by them, being so if you traveling alone and guarded. But God preserved our lives many of our cattle down the plains. When we got to Fort Bridger we were compelled to leave two of our wagons there.

I enjoyed the trip across the plains very much, enjoying good health all the way. We saw no Indians and they did not molest us but many depredations were committed on the plains that summer. We entered the valleys of the mountains by way of Provo Canyon 13 October 1864 and proceeded right onto Manti.

My first job in my adopted country was digging the seller for a Miller who live south of Manti. The next hired out for a year to Peter Rasmussen, Bishop of Salina, Sevier County, Utah.

Manti on 29 October and traveled on foot towards my new home. Went about four miles south of Manti, I retired to a secluded place and kneel down before the Lord in secret prayer and thanksgiving and to him who preserve me over land and sea to the land of Zion and the home of the Saints. I asked my heavenly father on this occasion to bless me with a gift of speedily acquiring the English language and the Gila my lungs which for several years before leaving Denmark had been very weak and at this time would often bleed profusely. I prayed for my mother and father, brothers and sisters, all of whom were left in my native land. I asked God to lead them all into the fold of Christ. I asked him to bless me and all my labors and travels in the land of Zion. I covenanted anew that if he would hear and answer these my humble petitions that I would serve him all days my life. I can say to the praise of the name of God that he has bestowed upon me every gift I asked on this occasion.

I soon acquired the use of the English language, the Bishop taking great pains to instruct me.  While living at Salina, the Black Hawk War broke out in April 1865.  There were several men killed which stirred up great resentment amongst the settlers. I rode bareback on a pony to Glenwood, 15 miles away to warn the settlers of that vicinity that the Indians were on the rampage. I carried a small rifle already loaded as there was no place to carry a ramrod. I returned safely quite late in the day.

During my stay at Salina I heard news about a girl, Joanne Hansen, whom I had known in Denmark. I had shunned her on account of it being rumored that she was going to become a Mormon. She did join the Church and came to Zion with her brother. She was now living alone out in circle Valley since her brother had been killed by the Indians. I renewed my acquaintance with her and after the necessary proposals, we were married by Bishop William Allred on 13 February 1866 and I moved to Circle Valley and join together in building a fort for protection against the savages. I moved our house into the floor for protection and we lived there until the early part of June. Then my order general Daniel H. Wells, the place was vacated. We left our land, crops and all we never returned.

We made our about it Manti for a few weeks and then moved to Ephraim, Sanpete County, where we lived in a little log house. We both worked in the harvest fields cradling and binding wheat and oats to help us acquire a few of the necessities of life. On July 11, 1867 our first son was born, but he died when 11 months old in 1868. Grasshoppers ate most of the wheat crop this year and I spent much of my time in fighting these destroyers. There was however enough we took bread the people and my family did not suffer.

This fall I had the pleasure of meeting my brother Peter and my sister Ane and her husband as emigrant Saints to this land.

This fall, 1868, a call was made by President Brigham Young for volunteers to go work on the Union Pacific Railroad in Weber Canyon. My brother and I and a great many more went, but it was cold and the work was dangerous, being in a a deep stone cut called Slate point near the 1,000 mile tree West of Omaha, Nebraska. The majority the men soon went home, many of them not clearing expenses. I stayed until spring and then left without my pay afterwards and afterwards had considerable difficulty in getting it and finally had to take it mostly and goods.

In February 1869 I was ordained a Seventy of the 47th Quorum of Seventies by Thora Thurstesen.  In the fall of 1869 I went to Salt Lake to meet my parents and family and learn my mother had died while crossing the plains.

In 1870 I took my wife to the endowment house in Salt Lake City to be sealed for time and all eternity. With my wife’s consent in full approval I married a young lady from Laaland, Denmark, named Christine Larsen and she was also sealed to me in the Endowment House.  She bore me two daughters, one of whom died in childhood of Diphtheria. My wife Christine also died in April, 1873.

In December 1873 a call came from the First Presidency of the Church for masons and laborers to go work on the St. George Temple. I felt that my duty to go. Thus with approval of my family I left them on 1 December and joined a company of 25 men and boys who arrived in St. George after very difficult weather and bad roads. I worked on the St. George Temple at this time a little over three months giving my time as a free will offering for the erection of the house of the Lord. In the middle of October 1874 I again went to work on the St. George Temple and worked until the stonework was completed which was in March 1875. My wife Christiana whom I had married 30 March 1874 in the Endowment House, accompanied me and also my little daughter Sophia. I then returned home to see from where lived for several years and where several of my children were born.

The spring of 1879 I went to work on the Manti Temple cutting stone in the winter and laying it in the summer for seven continuous years. My wages were $3.50 a day.

Well any from, I and my brothers and my father desired to have our name changed. The reason for doing so was because there were so many families named Larsen living any from that our mail matters went to the wrong persons, and also because the various spellings are names since coming to America. We petitioned the legislative assembly of the Territory Utah asking the privilege of adopting the name of Breinholt as a surname for ourselves and posterity. The privileges granted us by the last legislature in which polygamists were allowed to serve in 1882.

I bought some property in Redmond, Sevier County and move my families there in 1886 and tending to settle down to farming, but I was unable to live in peace on account of the pressure from the US Marshall and forcing the Edmunds law and the charter amendment which required a man to abandon all but one wife. For conscience sake it could not abandon my wife Christiana and her five little children and thus I was tried and found guilty of the crime of unlawful cohabitation. I served hundred five days in the state penitentiary along with many great and good men of the Church. I felt proud that I had been numbered among so many staunch man and true, who were willing to suffer imprisonment for the sake of their families rather than to make the unholy promise to obey the law made by man on purpose to persecute the Mormons.

In 1889 I was asked to take charge and conduct the stonework of the Stake Tabernacle being built in Richfield, so after I put in my spring crop on the farm in Redmond and leaving it to my sons to care for, I began work on the Tabernacle and continued to work there until November 1891.

During this time I had made plans to leave the United States and traveled down to old Mexico and thus in connection with Simon Hansen of Mayfield and Soren Thyggersen of Ephraim, I chartered a Rio Grande freight car to be loaded at you from 24 November 1891. My wife Johanne and family prefer to stay with the home in Redmond and this was a sad parting. I loaded some furniture, provisions, one cow, a team, and some farm implements in the boxcar along with those of my brethren and I wrote on this car being allowed free passage for taking care of the animals.

I arrived at Deming, New Mexico on 3 December to join my family and friends who had arrived by passenger train. From Deming we were to proceed the remainder of our journey by our teams. We also were to receive pass papers from the Mexican Consul and have everything classified, numbered and listed in shape to passed the custom house at Ascensión. This proved to be a very tedious and laborious ordeal, besides its being expensive. On 9 November we started for old Mexico and had an uneventful journey over the barren country to the first Mormon settlement, Colonia Diaz. On 17 December we passed the last guardhouse at Carlito’s and proceeded on to Colonia Dublan, arriving after dark.

On 18 December 1891 we drove onto Joseph Jackson’s flour mill near Casas Grandes, Chihuahua. Here we were made welcome by William Morley Black and his wife who was a sister to my wife Christiana. The following day we pitched our tents beside their house which was a lumber building about 12’ x 14’. The ground was so dry and Rocky that it was difficult to drive stakes in it. We were now thankful to our heavenly father that we had reached the end of our journey without any sickness or harm. The year 1891 was a very dry year and it was difficult to get feed for our livestock and also flour and other food was very scarce. Shortly after the new year I got to build a dry stone wall for brother Jackson around an enclosure of his home. With the help of my two small sons we earned about $3.00 a day.

Shortly after my arrival in Mexico, Brother Black moved to the mountains and he sold me his house. I proceeded to tear it apart and moved it on to a 25 acre tract of farmland in San Jose that I had bought for Brother Jackson. I pitched my tent in the riverbed ownership trees until I got the house built. I continue to work as a stonemason for Joseph Jackson for about two years until his new grist mill was completed.

My family and I became members of the Colonia Dublan Ward, Juarez Stake. We hear joined in the activities of the Ward in my children attended school here until 1899. I did amazing construction on several of the early built homes in Dublan. To mention a few: Helaman Pratt, Gaskel Romney, Lewis Cardon (Louis Cardon)and many others.

Note:  After 1894, this journal history was never completed by J. C. L. Breinholt in his own handwriting, but there were many important things that are necessary to record about his activity and honorable life.

My father, J. C. L. Breinholt, with his wife Christiana and their children on their farm in San Jose, Mexico. Here he cared for his farm and always worked at his trade of masonry and stone cutting. He almost always more to and from work every day, sometimes a total of ten miles.

In the fall of 1894 while at San Jose, Christopher B. Heaton was operating a molasses mill at the adjoining farm. One day some Mexicans were seen loitering around. After Heaton had left for the night the Mexicans returned and rolled barrel of molasses to the pummis pile and covered it with pummis (the pulp of the sugar cane) in preparation for coming back the following night. He decided to try to have them arrested. He went to the officers of the law and asked them to come and arrest these natives when they came back, but he was disappointed as the authors never came. He attempted to handle the situation alone and concealed himself to wait for them to return. Shortly after dark they arrived in ox team and wagon on which the load of the barrel of molasses. When they started to leave, Heaton stepped out and ordered them to stop. They were prepared for trouble and shot Mr. Heaton through the shoulder, then beat him to death of the club. They took his gun robbed him of his watch. Breinholt heard the shot and knew that there was trouble. He immediately sent his two oldest boys to go after the horses in the field instructed them to go to Dublan for help. He then went on foot to the scene of the tragedy. The murderers had left and dragged tree limbs behind the wagon to try to cover up their tracks. These thieves were apprehended but turned free in a day or two without being punished.

In the spring of 1899, J. C. L. Breinholt moved his family to Colonia Juarez. While living in Juarez he built some of the brick and stone houses of that area including one for Anthony W. Ivins and a large stone house for John W. Taylor.

In Juarez and took pride implanting choice fruit trees and other things. At the time they had no culinary water except from the irrigation ditch. An early morning chore, while the water was fresh and clear, was to fill the water barrels for household use. J. C. L. Breinholt was called to serve a mission for the Church in his native land, Denmark. He left November 5, 1900 and return from this mission November 22, 1902. He enjoyed excellent health even though he was at the time 60 years of age.

On account of the revolution in Mexico during the years 1910-1912 the people in the Mormon colonies were counseled by Church Authorities to leave Mexico until the trial was over. Many never returned. J. C. L. Breinholt and his family returned to Redmond, Utah leaving everything they owned except what could be packed in a couple of trunks and a suitcase.

It was difficult to leave his home at age 72 and face the necessity of taking charity from friends and relatives, although he was very happy to see them all again. During the two years that he lived at Redmond he spent considerable time fixing fences, gates, and other things for his eldest son who had remained in Utah and made the family welcome and provide for them with a log house. The summer carrying it was made quite comfortable and here Father and Mother Breinholt lived out the remainder of their lives. He died November 5, 1914 being sick just five days with pneumonia contracted while helping harvest beets. She died just a month later on December 7, 1914 and was buried beside him.  J. C. L. Breinholt was honest and forthright man in all his daily dealings with his fellow man. He was kind intemperate in his disposition. He was neat, clean, and systematic in his everyday habits in person. He observed the Sabbath Day and was regular with family prayers, and his blessings on the food. He paid an honest tithing and he was liberal in his contribution to the Church and the communities in which he lived. He kept his homes and lands in good repair and his orchard in garden were always well cared for. His manners were outstanding and he enjoyed the food that was prepared for the family. He was very particular about his appearance and kept his sandy-colored, medium length beard clean and trim. His penmanship was excellent and he was good in mathematics and tried to improve his education by reading a great deal. He lived the health rule of “Early to bed, early to rise, makes a man healthy wealthy and wise.”

Although he never acquired worldly goods in excess of the moderate living he left a good name for his 18 children and the numerous posterity that survived him.

Condensed from the personal Journal of Jens Christian Larsen Breinholt, and completed by Oliver C. Breinholt, son.

Stalwarts South of the Border Nelle Spilsbury Hatch page 63

 

Ernest Isaac Hatch

Ernest Isaac Hatch

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Ernest Isaac Hatch

1878 – 1952

Ernest Isaac Hatch, fourth child and second son of John and Maria Matilda McClellan, was born September 21, 1878 in Greenwich, Piute County, Utah, a small hamlet consisting of six widely separated families in Grass Valley lying in the tops of the snowbound Wasatch mountains.

Ernest’s father, John William Hatch, was born April 3, 1850, in the Old Union Fort, Salt Lake City, Utah, and grew up in Payson, Utah.  He met Maria Matilda McClellan, and they were married on March 14, 1874.  

In the early 1880’s, William C. McClellan, father of Maria was called by the Church leaders to move with others to New Mexico and settle on the San Francisco River.  The small town was named Pleasanton.  John and Maria left their home in Greenwich, Piute County, Utah and moved with four of their small children to Pleasanton.

The life of the settlers was hard. The Apache renegade, Geronimo, gave no little fear to the settlers of that area. John was called to carry, in his wagon, the bodies of four U. S. soldiers from where they were ambushed to their burial spot near the town of Alma.

John and Maria had two daughters, Myrtle and Pearl, born to them at Pleasanton. Pearl died soon after birth was buried there.  

As a Pleasanton project did not work out well for the settlers, they moved out, John Maria returning to their former home in Greenwich.

Except for three years spent in Pleasanton, New Mexico, Grass Valley was Ernest’s home until he was 20 years of age. He hearded a sheep in the summer, voluntarily being the soul shepherd for his grandfather’s sheep one summer when he was but nine years of age. His herding also included cows for his father’s dairy at Fish Lake where he helped with the milking and assisted in the making of butter and cheese for sale.

He went to school one term each winter, breaking fresh trail through the snow drifts each day. When he had finished all Grass Valley had to offer, his parents were able to send him to Ephraim, to the Snow Academy, for two years. This opportunity spurred plans to continue his education with his favorite cousin, Jim Bagley, at the Brigham Young Academy at Provo.

The long winter evenings for the Hatches were turned into a miniature factory when, seated around a blazing fire, they picked wool, sewed carpet rags, pieced quilt blocks, carded wool, knit socks and stockings as their mother read to them, propping open her book with the scissors, rocked the cradle and knit. Each child would be occupied in tasks best suited to his age.  Ernest served longest at the carpet rag sewing, saying in later years he could remember when he cut his first tooth, but not when he learn to sew carpet rags. He also took his turn at the washboard and at scrubbing the pine board floors and chair seats. His parents were thrifty and frugal and drafted every child into an organization that “kept the best side out.” “We may live in poverty,” his mother would often say, “but it will be slick poverty,” and use every child help make it so.

A crisis in Ernest’s life came when his mother suddenly decided she could no longer endure the long cold winters in Grass Valley. Of the nine children born after Ernest, including twins, five had died. I move to a warmer climate was imperative. Ernest’s strong objections to his interrupted education plans, and the need to sell everything just at the peak of prosperity, subsided as he saw affairs definitely moving toward Mexico, and he finally promised to go and help with the move, but found that nothing could make him stay. With that understanding, the move got underway.

They left their home, friends and relatives in Grass Valley in October, 1898, and arrived in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico in mid-December of the same year. The slow team travel had taken them through most of Utah and Arizona, across New Mexico to El Paso, Texas, where Maria’s father and brother met them to help with immigration and custom inspection. From there they all enjoyed their first train ride on the newly completed Mexico Noroeste railroad, with their wagons, teams and other traveling gear being shipped with them.

It was a good time to become members of the Juarez Ward. Holiday festivities were underway, giving all a chance to make quick acquaintances.  A large family with eight unmarried children, as well as a married daughter with her husband and three children, were welcome additions to the Ward. Each member of the family found friends of their own age, and all were soon happy over the move. All but Ernest, that is, who was still determined to return to Grass Valley.

Three things changed his mind. First, Professor Guy C. Wilson convinced him that his ninth grade could offer as many advantages as could the Snow Academy and he could remain at home as he studied. Second, Dennison and E. Harris offered him a job after school and on Saturdays clerking in  his store, to keep him going as he studied. Third, and most of all, he fell under the charm of fun-loving Lillian Haws. He canceled all his intentions to return to Grass Valley and enrolled in school.

He was soon under the spell of Professor Wilson’s psychology and from it was born a desire to make a teaching career. He graduated from the Juarez Stake Academy in May, 1901, he not only was a member of the first graduating class, but he also had two engagements, one to teach school in the institution from which he had gained his training, and the other to marry the girl he had courted through the years.

He was married to Lillian Haws, May 15, 1901, and spent the summer in Naco, Sonora, earning enough money to set them up in housekeeping. By fall they were established in the Olive Stolwell home and Ernest had started a career that kept him many years in the classroom. December 29, 1901, Lillian prematurely gave birth to a baby girl, and complications following its immediate death kept her hovering between life and death for six weeks as Ernest and the doctors fought off a stage of puerperal fever.  She survived, but was threatened by its recurrence with each succeeding birth.

By July, 1912, Ernest was certified as head of the commercial department in the Juarez Stake Academy, was teaching bookkeeping and rapid calculation, was School Registrar, and he knew and could call by name each registrant, and was a successful athletic coach, with basketball and baseball teams competing successfully with teams along the border of the United States. Business-wise he had invested in a cannery and had a car load of cans ready for use. Church-wise he was Sunday School Superintendent, a Stake YMMIA officer, and a teacher in his Priesthood class. Family-wise he had a neat brick bungalow, a family of five children:  Lillian, Fleeta, Ernest Seville, Genevieve, and Ernest LeRoy.

He had also seeing how the breakup of law and order can change otherwise peaceful and friendly neighbors into enemies with murderous intent that came with the beginning of the 1910 Madero Revolution. He had been one of the deputized officers commissioned to arrest Juan Sosa, a belligerent malcontent, and was on the ground when the murderous attempt to kill Frank Lewis was stopped with a volley of shots that killed Sosa. He had lived through the aftermath, facing the shocking fact that when the licentious usurpers are in control, there is justice for no one and anything can happen. With turbulence quieted and a seemingly reliable recognition of neutrality for the colonists, a complete evacuation of the colonies from Mexico was a horn of the dilemma not then to be considered. Nothing could more definitely halt the progress and kill the prosperity they were enjoying.

When it came, however, no matter if it was disaster supreme to him, he followed the dictates of Priesthood leaders without a murmur.

The anguish she suffered as he sent Lillian, again in a delicate condition, to the U.S. border, was endured because he was sure the move was only temporary. Lonely vigil along with other men and boys was endured for the same reason. But conditions forced the men to follow their families.

Acting on the notion that there is “no luck without pluck,” he located and provide for his family until his return, and borded the first train for home, arriving again in Colonia Juarez by September first. There, with marshaled neighbors, he canned vegetables wasting in the gardens and preserve the fruit from the orchards.  Back in El Paso he earned money to pay doctors fees when their third son Ernest Sanford, was born November 25, 1912 and for his caring for Lillian, as they fought off another siege of puerperal fever. The little fellow died Christmas Day.

Six weeks later, in February 1913, he joined a pilgrimage, 65 strong, headed by Bishop Joseph C Bentley, that took them by team from Columbus, New Mexico back to their homes in Colonia Juarez, each one choosing the hazards of Revolutionary life in their own homes to insecurity and homelessness in the United States.

For three years they endured this strippings of roving bands. The incident most closely affecting Ernest was when his father, in self-defense, killed Guadalupe Treviso, and he and his brothers were forced to endure bullying from first one party then another until he could be cleared in a reasonable court session. Watching his neighbor Ernest L. Taylor he manhandled by an extortionist, and once stood up to be executed, was another ordeal that touched him, especially when he could do nothing about it. But he still faced situations as they came and found life reasonably good until the cruelest blow of all struck him. He lost his loved companion. Lillian, with the birth of their fourth son, Ernest Herman, March 27, 1916, succumbed to her old enemy, puerperal fever on April 29. He was bereft of a wife and was left with six motherless children.

By that time Pancho Villa had made his hit-and-run attack on Columbus, New Mexico, and the Punitive Expedition of 12,000 men, under General John J. Pershing, was engaged in the famous but unsuccessful manhunt.  In November of that year Ernest was ordained a High Priest and made Second Counselor to Bishop John J. Walser in Colonia Juarez, a position he held a short time. With a partnership offer from Lillian’s brothers, Jim and George Haws in Mesa, Arizona, in the dairy and poultry business, he moved his family there for five years.

At the end of the first two years, prospects for accumulating property, machinery and teams were good. Yet life was lonely. He needed a companion, his children needed a mother and home life. On August 19, 1918, he married Nelle Spilsbury, an associate teacher from the JSA and one month later they were sealed in the St. George Temple. Home life for Ernest went on as though uninterrupted.

The first crisis in their life came when Ernest contracted the Spanish flu and narrowly escaped death in the epidemic that swept the country, leaving countless victims in its wake. The only reason he survived was his intense desire to live and his faith in the power of the Priesthood. Nelle’s first daughter, Ernestine, was born May 25, 1919.

When the partnership with Lillian’s brothers dissolved, Ernest was in possession of a 40 acre tract of land, and his share of cows, teams, chickens and sheep. When an offer came to take over a couple of the farms in Colonia Dublan, he accepted. He left Nelle to dispose of his farm to the highest bidder and went to put in his first crops.

Then the bottom fell out of everything. The depression following World War I struck, farm after farm went falling into the hands of receivers, banks closed their doors, and Ernest’s valuable farm, almost overnight, became a liability. Even, produced on this farm was sidetracked on an Eastern market demanding demurrage. On top of it all, his crops in Dublan failed.

At the end of two years his rosy dream of a model dairy and poultry farm, fed by rich yields from his farm, collapsed, and with things going from bad to worse, he moved his family to Colonia Juarez. His farm in Mesa, his Ford car, his machinery, most of his teams and cows were lost in the final settlement. With his family he settled into a happy home and began again from scratch from that time, there was no direction to go but up, Nelle’s first son, Garth Spilsbury, was June 29, 1923.

One by one he tackled the problems besetting the half-paid for Junius Romney orchard. Coddling moth left its pollution in every apple, killing frost could in one night wipe out a crop, and apples shriveled on the trees during the dry season.  Finding himself in a vicious circle of needing a fruit crop to buy spray material, smudge pots, and sink a well, how could he get these things until he had a fruit crop?  Yet, whipping one problem after another, he soon realized that he had made the best investment in life.

Among the other challenges that Ernest faced was that of the death of his parents. His father, John William Hatch, died January 22, 1932, at the age of 82, after suffering a heart attack. Maria followed her husband and was laid to rest at his side in the cemetery of Colonia Juarez on July 27, 1940. They were the parents of 14 children: Lillian Maria, Minnie Almeda, John Alma, Ernest Isaac, Mary Agnes, Rhoda Evelyn, Myrtle, Pearl, Cynthia Irene, George Lynn, Frances Fern, Elmer Hugh, and twins Charles and Carroll.

In 1932 he entered the fruit market in Mexico City with the first carload of apples to be shipped from the colonies since 1896 as an exhibit in the Coyoacan Fair.  He re-established the quality of colony fruit and opened up a market that has since steadily grown and still flourishes.

With his original orchard paying off, other orchards on both sides of him were purchased and soon yielding handsomely. His family was soon enjoying the fruits of his labors, though going through “the narrows” had taught them many lessons such as the worth of the dollar and the value of family unity in solving family problems.

During those years of pulling himself up by his “bootstraps,” his last child, Madelyn, was born October 19, 1925.  He had taught school a couple of years to keep his family eating, had filled six months mission in California, had continued as Sunday School Superintendent, promoted the Boy Scout program, and had acted as watermaster for the East Canal. Hi0s family followed his example and fill positions in church work along with him. He was released from the High Council to be First Counselor to Bishop Anthony I. Bentley in 1934.

In September, 1937, he was set apart as Bishop of the Juarez Ward with David Samuel Brown and Velan Cal, and later Willard Shupe as Counselors. He was now in a position to continue a rehabilitation program that is still in progress (1966).  Blackened walls of burned buildings dotted the town, homes were windowless and porches were sagging and floorless. The elementary school building (original Juarez Stake Academy and the only Church house the Ward had known) was remodeled into a modern one-story building. Church functions were moved to the Ivins Hall in the JSA building, which did service until October, 1966 when a new chapel was built.

Home rehabilitation began with his own home by removing the rotting roof and changing it into a Spanish-style residence, adding a sleeping porch and a kitchen, and commencing a system of landscaping around the grounds that is still in progress.

Ernest’s term as Bishop ended in October, 1944. The remainder of his life was spent serving as High Councilman. His sons took over the management of his orchard. Life ended for him October 7, 1952 in Dalhart, Texas, where his tired heart suddenly stopped. Leaving a posterity that now numbers eight children, 43 grandchildren, and 32 great-grandchildren, he was buried in Colonia Juarez cemetery October 11, 1952. Typical of the regard in which he was held by the Mexican people, is a remark made by a neighbor boy: “I had lost a father, adviser, banker, neighbor and friend.”

A member of the first graduating class himself, he was the first to have a daughter graduate, and the first to have a granddaughter graduate, from the Juarez Stake Academy.

An officer in both Stake and Ward MIA, six of his children have been Ward Presidents, and one has been Stake Superintendent. One daughter is currently Stake Primary President, having served first as Ward President. Two of his sons are eminent physicians, one of them a specialist in obstetrics and gynecology, a daughter an accredited nurse and anesthetist, a grandson an oral surgeon, a son-in-law a dentist and a grandson-in-law a dermatologist. Himself a teacher, four of his children have done service in the classroom, while two have made it a career. Himself and one son having served as Bishop of the Juarez Ward, another has served in two Bishoprics. Himself a missionary, a son and daughter and two daughters-in-law have filled full-time missions while two sons have served as Mission Presidents, and his 13th grandson is now in the mission field.

All the posterity can truly say, “we are following in your footsteps.”

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

Stalwarts South of the Border, page 241

Mary Ellen Elizabeth Wilden Lillywhite

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Mary Ellen Elizabeth Wilden Lillywhite

(1850-1922)

Mary Ellen Elizabeth Wilden, daughter of Charles and Eleanor Turner Wilden, was born December 5, 1850 at Council Bluffs, Iowa. Her parents had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England and although Charles a better work for more than 14 months, they left their home with their six children, their relatives and friends to gather with other Mormons in Utah and establish a new home. They sailed from Liverpool, England, November 10, 1849 and arrived in New Orleans on December 24 of the same year. Then they went on to St. Louis, Missouri, where they spent two years preparing for the journey to Utah. Here the youngest child, Maria, died in the next year Mary Ellen Elizabeth was born in a dugout.

In 1852, when they started their journey across the plains to Utah, they had a 50 pound sack of cornmeal supply the family on this long journey, but the father was a good marksman and was able to exchange meat for other foodstuffs. The father and the oldest son were the only members of the family with shoes when the journey began, but they were able to make use of shoes, bedding and clothing discarded by a company of gold seekers on their way to California and lost many members due to cholera.

They were among the first settlers of Cove Creek (now Cedar), Utah. Times were hard indeed. They gathered segos and other roots for food, along with mushrooms and wild berries. The women and children gathered willow twigs on which they found honeydew and from which they were able to make a syrup for sweets. Charles Wilden took the first sheep into this area. These animals were a great help to the family, not only furnishing food but also wool from which they may clothing and blankets.

In 1866 the family moved to Beaver, about 25 miles from Cove Creek, where they established another frontier home and made life comfortable and pleasant. They planted fruit trees and Mary Ellen spent some of the happiest days of her life there. It was at Beaver that she met and fell in love with Joseph Lillywhite.  She went with a group of young girls to visit him while he was recovering from a gunshot wound in the chest. He had been working on John D. Lee’s ranch a few miles from Beaver, when they were attacked by Indians. Joseph was taken to Brother Lee’s home where he received the best care and it was there that Mary Ellen went to visit him. They were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, December 5, 1867, traveling in the company of others for protection from the Indians.

In Beaver they lived in a little one-room log house with the bare essentials of furniture consisting of a bedstead, (two trestles with boards across, a straw tick and another of cat tails), a table, one home each year, as though, no stone but a big oven, one iron kettle, a brass bucket and a few dishes, most of which were wedding presents. Their clothing was made at home, spun and woven in those days. But what mattered hard work and crude furniture so long as they had each other? For the young husband was a very kind, affectionate man. On October 25, 1868, their union was blessed with a baby boy who may need Joseph for his father. On January 28, 1871, another boy, Benjamin, was born, living only a few weeks.

July 4, 1872, the liberals, joined by a Mormon apostate group, tried to “gun” the town. Their yelling and cursing aroused the townspeople and they armed themselves with clubs, guns or any other implements they could lay their hands on and met the intruders at the saloon. They were cursing and threatening to kill President Young. Joseph Lillywhite left his wife and young family in their home on the edge of town to join with his brethren to help drive the unpleasant element from town. President Murdock was out of town so his 18-year-old son took charge and told the intruders that they would not be harmed if they would leave town, which they did.

Several days later, on the 13th, Mary Eleanor was born. By this time they had been able to buy a small farm and plant fruit trees. The textile factory was operating, so spinning and weaving at home where unnecessary. By 1874 they were able to build a two-story home and the orchard was bearing fruit to help with their needs. Charles Wilden was born this year, 26 December. Lawrence was born January 29, 1877 and John LeRoy was born April 6, 1879. Six months later they decided to move to the San Juan country. Her husband’s health was not good due to his collapsed lung, so they thought a move to a warmer climate might help.

They were the first company to go through the Hole-in-the-Rock to San Juan. They were six months on the road, having to use their seed wheat and corn for food on the way. It was too late to plant crops when they finally arrived and the water from the San Juan River was not available. So they went on to Bush Valley, Arizona. They found the altitude of Bush Valley too high for Joseph. So, in October 1881, they moved to Woodruff, Arizona, having worked on the Santa Fe Railroad with his older sons to earn enough to buy their year’s provisions. They were among the first families to settle in Woodruff and lived in the Fort. They spent a good part of their lives there.

October 24, 1882, Horace Franklin was born. The dam across the river which furnished water for their gardens and farms had to be rebuilt each year so they could have fresh vegetables and irrigate farmland. Mitchell Woodruff was born December 24, 1884 and Annie Louise on April 11, 1887. When the baby was three months old the whole family came down with the measles. Eight-year-old John died from complications, while his mother was that fast. Six months later, Mary owns husband Joseph died of pneumonia. This was on January 18, 1888.

Mary Ellen knew she needed to prepare herself to care for her six children, so she took a course in obstetrics and cared for the sick. President Jesse N. Smith set her apart to do this work. During her lifetime she delivered some 300 babies including 11 pairs of twins. She was 71 years old when she attended her last delivery.

In October, 1893, when her son Franklin was 16 years old, he went with some friends to the lake to kill geese. On the way home they were playing soldier when a friend, thinking his gun was empty, shot and killed Franklin. So much sorrow in such a few years would dishearten most people, but not Mary Ellen. She carried on in spite of difficulties.

When her son Charles came home from his mission, the entire family moved to Colonia Morelos, Sonora, Mexico. Arriving there November 5, 1900, Charles became Bishop of the ward until the Exodus in 1912. They built comfortable homes for each of the sons and their families and also for Mary Ellen and her children who were not married. They also built a flour mill which they operated along with their farms. There were the usual tasks confronting the settling of a new community; canals to be built to bring water onto the farms; land to be cleared; crops  planted and harvested; school and church houses to be built. In November 1905, the Bavispe River flooded and washed away many homes and farms. Soon after, the flour mill burned. All had to be rebuilt.

The Mexican Revolution began in 1910 and soon bandits and soldiers began arriving in around Colonia Morelos, first one faction and then another. All demanded food for themselves and their horses. They also needed arms and ammunition. The colonists stood firm to remain neutral, but finally it was necessary for all to pack up and leave on short notice. By August 1912 they were all in United States, living in tents provided by the government, taking with them only what they could hurriedly pack into their wagons.

The Lillywhite families moved to Mesa, Arizona in March 1913. Mary Ellen’s children were all married now, so she lived with her son Mitchell and family. She stayed on with Mitchell’s wife and children after his death in July 1913 from complications of typhoid.  In 1920 her health was so poor that she could not be left alone while her daughter-in-law worked, so she went to live with her son Horace.

Mary Ellen was small in stature, but large in spirit.  She had a dynamic personality and was very positive in her views.  Her judgment was always considered seriously by her family. Even in her later years she continued to be of service. One incident which showed the faith and courage of this remarkable woman occureed while the family still lived in Woodruff.  A man residing in town was thrown from his wagon, inflicting a large scalp wound.  There were no doctors available, so people just stood around not knowing what to do.  As soon as Mary Ellen arrived on the scene, she called for hot water, clean clothes, a needle and thread, and a strong man to help her.  But strong men became weak, fainted or turned away with nausea, and were helpless.  Joseph Lillywhite, her oldest son assisted her and the man’s life was saved.  Years later, after they had been many years in Mexico, Charles, the second son, was on the train going to Salt Lake City.  Someone called him by name and an old gentlemen in the next seat asked, “Do you happen to know Mary Ellen Lillywhite?”  Charles answered, “She’s my mother!”  The old man said, “I want to shake the hand of the son of the woman who saved my life.”

Her hair was white and her body bent from many years of bending over patients, caring for and lifting them.  But her dark eyes still had their sparkle.  She died July 6, 1922, at the age of 72, in the home of her son Horace in Chandler, Arizona.  She was preceded in death by her husband and five of her eight children.

Compiled by Ernestine Hatch from material submitted by Ethel Lillywhite, Georganna Lillywhite, daughters-in-law and Eleanor Romney, granddaughter. 

Stalwarts South of the Border page 405.

Pearson Ballinger

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                Pearson Ballinger

(1832-1910)Pearson Ballinger young

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stalwarts South of the Border  

Nelle Spilsbury Hatch

page 24