James May

&

Martha Allen

JAMES MAY & FAMILY

THE EPIC

Top: Andrew Evelyn James Ira (Insert George) Frank Margaret (Maggie) Richard

Middle: Harriett (Hattie) Jude Martha Allen May James May Emma

Bottom: Ellen Joseph Mary Ann (Tottie)

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ONE MAN‟S FAMILY

Martha Allen James May Rhoda Lang Married: 24 August 1856 Married: 21 November 1877

March 20, 1974

Well, here is, the life story of James May, and his two wives, Martha Allen and Rhoda Ann Lang.

There is probably much more that could be written, but this is all the material

available to me. I have tried to treat the story of each family with complete impartiality and have used every source to give them equal space in this narrative.

To those of you who helped with pictures and information I am grateful. You have added much to the sketchy outline that we started out with.

I don't use the word proud, but we can be grateful for the good solid background of faith and integrity that came to us from these, our ancestors.

My Love to all of you,

Joseph Herbert May The James May family historian,

775 East Stetson Avenue, Hemet, Calif. 92343

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Prologue

Gathering the information for this story of James May and his family came about in sort of a loose jointed way. I frequently wake up in the middle of a night, and think

about things. How I came to start wondering about his leaving Calls Fort with Rhoda and her children to go to Canada, I'll never know. But I did, and that's how

all started. I've gathered everything I could find out about him and his wives and his times, as

they related to his life. In the course of the narrative, I've given credit to the various sources as the story developed. So it's been pretty much like “topsy” -- " It just

growed". Probably the most unrelated and most vital single thing that has contributed to this

story was the fact that way back in 1922 I took a course in typing at the old BYC (Brigham Young College) in all Logan Utah. During the succeeding years I have become more or less proficient in the use of the typewriter, and consequently it is

not a big job to write something. I hope you will notice that I say I have become "More or less proficient" in the use of the typewriter. And as you read a long you'll

find a word misspelled or a word left out that you will have to supply. Now and again you may even have to guess at a word that is covered by the margin. So, if we may proceed with the full understanding that this is a homemade product, which

use applying the needed leniency as a critic, I hope you enjoy learning more about some of your ancestors.

I thought you would be interested in the place that the "May" family has placed in my life. It might bring back memories of your association with the family.

My father was Richard C May, the 11th child born to James May and Martha Allen. I, Joseph Herbert May, am the fourth child born to Richard C May and Ella Snell. I

was born 25 and February 1906 at Lovell, Big Horn, Wyoming.

My earliest memories include May relatives, in the form of Uncle Jude's family. They had 13 kids, 10 of whom live to maturity, and they only lived a couple blocks from us. So I was often in and out of their home, which was made of logs, just like ours.

One of the things I remember was the big wonderful garden that Uncle Jude always

had. I especially remember when the corn came on. Aunt Rose used to cook corn on the cob in the wash boiler, and it seemed to be a matter of family pride to have a dozen cobs left in each plate when the meal was over.

In 1917 father and uncle Jude decided to go home and visit Grandma. They took

the younger children from each family. There was Alden and me from our family and I believe, Gladys and Allen with Uncle Jude and Aunt Rose. Each family had a Model T Ford, and traveling in those days was pretty much of the venture. I

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remember when we tried to go out the dugway out of Cody, everybody had to get out and walk while the men backed the “model T‟s” up the hill. (The Model T Ford

had more power in reverse than it did in the forward gears - - that‟s why they had to back up the hill.).

We finally wound up at All Jimmy's Place in Jackson Hole. And this was the first time I have ever met these people. It seemed like the most romantic place, in all the

world, with those Teton peaks as a backdrop to everyday living. They had little haystacks all over the ranch, each with a high poll fence around it to keep the Elk out. We had a great time there, and my association with the family doubled with

just that one visit.

When we left Uncle Jimmy's we headed for Idaho Falls over the Teton Pass by the way of Wilson. At the bottom of the hill a rancher kept some teams of horses available to pull cars about 4 miles up the hill, as I remember. It seems like it cost

$5 a car for this service, but there was no place else to go.

We stayed overnight with Aunt Rose‟s brother, somewhere around Rigby. And from there we went on over to Rockland to visit with Uncle Andrew and Uncle Joe and Aunt Hattie Kelly. It was the first time I had ever met these people too. “Foosh”, -- I

did know there could be that many cousins. We stayed there a couple of days, and I simply wallowed in all of the relatives.

Aunt Tottie and Uncle John Arbon were the next in line, and we stopped in Snowville to visit them. And so the list of relatives continued to grow, until finally,

we got to grandma's place at Call‟s Fort. This was the first time that I remember seeing Grandma, and she was almost 80 years old at the time. There had been along a procession of children and grandchildren prior to that, and when four more

dropped in, it didn't create much of a splash in her life. However, Uncle George and his family lived nearby and there were enough kids in his family to keep us entertained.

While there, we visited with Aunt Ellen and Aunt Eveline Hunsaker and their

families in the Honeyville, and with Aunt Maggie Barnard and her family in Garland, Utah. So that was a complete coverage of the family, with the exception of Uncle Frank and his family. They were living in Canada at the time.

We left Lovell, Wyoming in February of 1921 for Rupert, Idaho. On the way the folks

stopped off at Grandma May's, and it was decided that I should stay with her to finish my first year of high school. Aunt Emma was taking care of Grandma, and living at the old home with her. Also staying there, and going to high school, was a

cousin Theodore Arbon who had come in from Snowville for this purpose. It was fun getting better acquainted with these relatives, and I learned to appreciate All of George‟s kids. There were Leon and Arvilla, Zelma, Byron and Stanley. For those of

them who are still with us, we have remained good friends to this time. And it is still good to get together with Theodore and his family.

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When school was out I met my brother Alden, who was attending the school for the deaf in the Ogden Utah, and we went to our new home in Rupert.

Shortly after we move to Rupert, " Little George" May (Uncle George‟s son) moved

there and they lived about a half-mile from our farm, where I eventually settled down. During the years there, "Georgie" and I saw a lot of each other. We traded work on the farm, work together during the haying season, and the harvesting

season. As I would go by their place with a load of sugar beets, almost every day I would drop off the wagon, and jump over the fence, for a piece of cake or pie. "Teen” (Christine Garrett, Little George‟s wife), always had something on hand.

Georgie was a great storyteller, and as the smoke curled up from one of his cigarettes, he would seem to pull story out of it. He had spent most of his early life

herding his father's sheep, and during those years he got addicted to cigarettes. They made him the Superintendent of the Sunday School, and he was a right good

one too, but he never could quit those cigarettes. One time he had been working at it for about a week, and it was about to drive him crazy, so he took off at down the

canal bank to Paul, about 2 miles distant to get him a smoke. Some time later I helped him with the night watch, as he slowly suffocated from the cancer, and I was with him the night he died. That was a real loss to me. I loved that man.

Another plus, that developed while living there, was the fact that A. Lionel May, also moved a couple of miles away. He is the oldest son of Uncle Andrew, and a big

fellow, as strong as an ox, and just as big hearted. His wife Myrtle Harris was a bulwark of strength to Lionel in all that he did. We didn't work together, but we did

go to the same Ward, and he served for some years as my Bishop. Anybody good enough to be a Bishop, has to be a good man. He is 79 years old now, and one of my favorite people. His kids are good friends, too, and they all live the same

neighborhood, except Chester. I have kept up an acquaintance with the family whenever and wherever possible,

and count many of you among my friends. One time I was in Cour d‟Alene, and because I knew he was there, I was able to meet Leland W. May, and his wife. He is

the son of James Henrie May from Jackson, Wyoming. The main road from Rupert to Salt Lake City runs through Snowville, and it was

always a treat to stop and visit with Aunt Tottie. One time we pulled up in front of her place, and she was out in front scrubbing out a milk can with all her might. She

didn't notice us stop and she was scrubbing and arguing is hard as she could. It turned out that she had a can of milk sent back by the creamery because it was dirty, and she was about to show those people that they could accuse of "May" of

being dirty. She is a real somebody. If you haven't known Aunt Tottie, you missed one of the good things of life.

Of course I shouldn't conclude this without saying something about my own family. My father was one of the Lord's noblemen. I honor him for his goodness, his

honesty, his integrity, his complete devotion to the church, and his unwavering support of the General Authorities. My mother was also a great influence in our lives. 5

My brothers and sister have been the kind of people that have brought only honor

and respect during their lives. My own children are the joy in light of my life. I don't use the term "Capital proud", but I am grateful for my heritage. (Joseph Herbert

May)

ONE MAN‟S FAMILY

James May of Chieveley, Berkshire, England

Where do you begin the story of one man's family? With himself or of any information you might have of his forbearers? That information doesn't go back very

far with James. We know that his father was George May, and his mother was Hannah Hobson. But he puts his birth as June 1, 1832 at, Chieveley, Berkshire, England. And so it is at listed in the family records.

There are those by the name of May who think that there might be a coat of arms

somewhere in the family history, but from what we know of this branch of the family, that seems to be rather unlikely. In fact from the Autobiography of James May, we read the following:

" We were of the laboring class, my father was a shepherd the greater part of his life. I was a common farm labor. At 17 years of age I labored

for three shillings per week, or about 75¢. With this immense sum I had to buy my clothes and food, so you may see how we had to live. My

father‟s wage was about $2 per week, some times as much as $2.50, and during the harvest it would go as high as $3.

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" At nine or ten years of age I receive 25¢ per week; at 12 years of age it

went up to 50¢ a week, and the latter part of that year it went to 60¢. Every member of a family who could earn four 5¢ per day had to labor to

add a mite to the family income. Being brought up on such small rations, I never could bear to see anything wasted.

" About the year of 1844, my father joined the Methodist religion, in which he was very zealous for four years. Then in 1848 (its listed as November 24, 1847 in the Church Records) a man came along by the

name of Allen (Abraham Allen), with what is called “Mormonism”. After hearing it a few times father gladly accepted. This changed the aspect of

our after lives. " In the latter part of 1851, Elder Eli B Kelsey, who was associated with

Elders Franklin D. Richards and Erastus Snow and Lorenzo Snow, came to our home and offered a chance for father and family to emigrate to

Zion early in 1852 on these conditions. That after arriving in St. Louis, we should labor for that company three and half years, food and clothing furnish. So preparations were made and on the 10th of January 1852 we

saw last of our native land as we headed out into the broad Atlantic, where, what with the head winds and the bad weather we had a long and ruffled voyage".

From the " Millennial Star" dated February 1, 1852, page 41, we read:

"Sailing of the Kennebec. This large a new and commodious ship of 1,070 ton register, went out of the Bramley- Moore Dock, on the morning of the 10th

instant, having been detained two day's by adverse winds, which blew a heavy gale outside. She had 333 souls all of the Saints on board. We had chartered the ship Devonshire, but being a little disappointed in her qualifications for sea, we

also blew a headwind and secured the Kennebec, which is an unusually specious and commodious vessel. After getting their luggage put to rights the Saints

seemed very cheerful, and gave vent to their feelings in songs and praises, as the noble Ship passed out upon the Mersey, (a River in northwest England), and left the shore fading in the distance. In this company were Elders John S. Higbee,

John Spiers, Thomas Smith, and W. C. Dunbar, each President's of Conference's, faithful to their callings, and going up to the Zion of the Lord, having done a

great work in this land. Many thousands, who will have obtained the gift of eternal life through the instrumentality of these faithful men, will rejoice with them in the Kingdom of God. We have pleasure also announcing the departure of

Elder John Pack of the French Mission, with about a dozen of the Saints from the Channel Islands. How joyous to witness the departure of the Saints of the different tongues and families of the earth from their native lands, to mingle with

God's people in establishing his purpose on the earth. Elder Higbee was appointed President of the company, and several elders above named were called

to be his counselors, under whose excellence superintendence the Saints will doubtlessly enjoy a much of the Spirit of God during their passage on the waters." 7

From another source we learn that there were about as many Irish immigrants on

board the Kennebec as there were Latter Day Saints. Every person had to furnish his own food for the trip and many of the Irish had come with short supplies.

During the voyage the Irish managed to steal some of the supplies of the Saints, which accounts for James's next entry:

" Before the end of the voyage we reached the point where we were without food and water. All the food that remained was rice and oatmeal. Which we had to cook without Salt in the brackish waters of the

Mississippi River, as the old ship Kennebec got fast in the mud where she stayed for 10 days.

" The man who is now, and has been for 30 years the Bishop of the Logan Second Ward, Henry Ballard, and myself used to go down in the hold of

the ships and pick out of the debris, where the hard tack was served up, little bits covered with mold, as hunger knew no law. We ate it and asked

no questions. We two lived on that for three days, and then I took oatmeal four or five days. At the end of the 10 days, and after having three large steam tugs pulling at the ship, we were all put on one of

them, and taken up the river 110 miles to New Orleans, leaving our home of 10 weeks stuck in the mud at the mouth of the " Father of Waters".

" One incident occurred here worthy of mention after we had been fast

there about one week, a full rated Ship which have been fast three weeks, about 1 mile east of us, on the morning of a strong east wind which drove the waters in shore, so much so that she floated them. With

a little maneuvering of the sails both fore and aft she plowed their way out of the mud and stood out to sea amidst the yelling, screaming, and waving of hats. A person might have thought bedlam had broken loose,

and it was a grand sight to see her spread her sails to the breeze, and heeling over to the wind and plow the mighty ocean and she was soon

lost his sight, with the many a God-speed, safe to her harbor. " While out in the mid Ocean the following occurred: An Irishman fell

overboard and the awful cry rang out "Man overboard". Amid great excitement the cutter was hung in the davits (davit either of a pair of

curved up rights projecting over the side of the ship for suspending or lowering a small boat), men with eight "jolly tars" (English Sailors) swung out. The ship was “hove to” - that is brought up side to the wind, so that

she will not run, but drift sideways. Away went the boat with all eyes on it, and with bated breath it was watched with the most intense interest. At times it would be down in the trough of this sea, and then the

expression would be heard "Oh, she is gone". Then she would rise on the top of a wave as though a mile further away. But as all things have end

then, so did the race for the man overboard. Soon we could see the boat was nearing the ship, and all breathed easier. When they found him he

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had taken off shoes, and was taking off his pants. But as good luck would have it they saved him, and his pants. His shoes went for fish bait. He

came on board and acted as if nothing happened. This ship again headed for the West, bowling along and a fine rate, and the excitement was over.

We arrived at the St. Louis, where our company of about 700 Saints were scattered about. A goodly number, after about one week stay, boarded

the condemned steamer “Saluda” for the Bluffs, Iowa. Arriving at Brunswick, a small town on the side of the Missouri River some 200 miles from St. Louis, E. B. Kelsey, my father and myself and 10 others

left the boat and went overland for the Bluffs." (Council Bluffs)

This trip took them overland and some miles inland from the river. It seems that each Captain was responsible for seeing to it that his company was supplied and outfitted for the trip across the plains. This group was to buy the outfits and

supplies for their company, and they were 2 1/2 months covering the 200 plus miles between Brunswick and the Bluffs. The rest of the company, who had gone by

boat, reached their destination two months earlier. The supply train was slow in accumulating, and many hours were spent in dickering for cattle and wagons and tents and yokes of oxen and the numerous other things that go into outfitting a

wagon train. One can imagine that their task was not made easier by having to deal with those same Missourians who had driven the Saints a lot of their midst 15 years before.

One brief Journal of the Kelsey Company stated, “There were 100 people listed.

Among those were, " The George May Family". To equip such a company would require about 20 wagons with in the necessary oxen, including some extras, horses, cows, and sheep and such other animals and fowls as could be acquired. They

would need camping equipment, bedding and food. Guns and ammunition were essential also. So this group was engaged in a vital job necessary for the successful journey across the plains.

James continues his story after leaving of the Soluda.

"About one week later as we were in (Gallatin) Davies County, Missouri. The awful news came about the “Saluda”, our family and Henry Ballard among

them. As may be supposed there was great consternation in our little camp, and everything bad was thought of. Eli B. Kelsey, had several thousand dollars'

worth of merchandise on board, and he was off to the river, about 60 miles. We learn shortly that our family with Henry Ballard was safe with the exception of sister Harriet who had her left foot injured some. All the little we add was lost

but Sister Elizabeth saw that everyone was saving anything and everything they could lay their hands on, and she did the same, thereby saving about as much as had been lost, which was not much.”

It would seem that mother Hannah, must have been very sick at this time as no

mention is made of her activity.

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Here is an account taken from the Millennial Start, for a Saturday May 29, 1852, on the Saluda disaster: a reprint from the Lexington Express of April 13, 1852.

" On Friday morning, a little after 7:00, the steamer “Saluda”, F T Belt, Master, which has been lying at this port since Monday morning, the fifth, having on

board about 175 passengers, principally Mormons, bound for Salt Lake City, made an effort to get under way. About the second revolution of her wheels, her boilers burst with a tremendous explosion, which was heard and felt in every

part of the city, completely wrecking the whole boat, and throwing her chimneys, and part of the boilers and timbers in every direction. This much is certainly

known, but how many human beings without a moment's notice, were hastened in the world of spirits, will perhaps never been known till the great day of accountability. We have not heart to attempt to describe the scene. Twenty six

mangled corpses collected together, and as many more with lambs broken, and torn off, and bodies badly scalded -wives and mothers frantic at the loss of

husbands and children - husbands bereaved, orphans engaged in searching among the dead and dying for wives and parents, - are scenes which we can neither behold or described; citizens of Lexington on Friday, Good Friday, a day

forever memorable in the annals of Christianity as the day that witness to the redemption of man from endless death, will long be remembered by the passengers on the ill-fated “Saluda”, as a day of sorrow and privation. Below we

give a list of the cabin passengers as far as known. The probability is that a number of killed and badly wounded is about 100." No register of the deck

passengers is given. " As will be seen, the citizens of Lexington and vicinity promptly

assembled and adopted measures for the relief of the sufferers and such survivors as were stripped of their goods and supplies. The sum of $300 was immediately subscribed by the city and 500 of the Citizens for the

burial of the dead, the care and comfort of the wounded and the relief of the distressed survivors. The ladies of our city were active and affording

relief to the wounded females, laying out the dead, and securing protection for the children were saved......

" We learn a that the “Saluda” was not insured, but that a considerable part of the merchandise on board was insured in St. Louis. Some portion

of the freight has been saved by an injured, such as whiskey, molasses and other goods in tight barrels. Iron etc. in the hold of the boat."

From the 1952 lessons for the D U P page 443, we find, " When the boat (Saluda) arrived at Lexington on Sunday April 4 she was met by an immense mass of ice, and the captain and crew although making desperate efforts to proceed, found it

impossible to make headway against the current and the ice. Consequently, after fighting with the stubborn elements for several hours they were compelled to cross

the River and tie up for the night, on the opposite side from Lexington. On Friday morning, April 9, the “Saluda” made another effort to get under way, the ice by this

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time having ceased running. But in getting up steam to around a point just above Lexington, the engineers carelessly let the boilers get dry and red hot, and as the

engine started, and the pumps forced the cold water in, the boilers burst to pieces with the tremendous noise as the paddle wheels were making their second or third

revolution." The balance of the story is a sense of the same as that reported in the Star.

Back to James again:

"In about two hours after the explosion another boat came along. The

captain shouted that he would take anyone to the "Bluffs" free who wish to go. So a sister gathered together what little she could, and went on

board with the family, arriving safely at the " Bluffs".

In reading the events preceding this it seems that this company from England was presided over by E. B. Kelsey and A 0 Smoot. The Smoot contingent sailed

on the Ellen Marie from England a few days after the Kennebec, but the two groups got together at St. Louis where Brother Kelsey took Smoot aboard the “Saluda” to show him the boat he had chartered. Brother Smoot wasn't satisfied

with the conditions of the “Saluda” and warned Brother Kelsey that he should make other arrangements. But Brother Kelsey said that it was the only vessel he could afford and he intended to use it. Brother Smoot refuse to trust his people

to such a ramshackle boat, and waited for better transportation. The small boat was the one that came into sight just in time to see the “Saluda” blow to pieces,

and was the one that took the survivors to the "Bluffs". James again:

"Father and I and the little company arrived safely about the middle of June and found all well and glad to meet again. Here father, our oldest

and youngest sisters died of Cholera. About the first of July we start for the ferry on the Big River (Missouri), and here my poor mother died of

consumption and was buried without a coffin. On the fourth of June the camp started for the Elk Horn River in what is now Nebraska. (I wonder if these people might not have been in such poor physical condition from

their long and wearisome trip, together with the poor and skimpy food, that they just didn't have the resistance needed to combat the terrible

disease of cholera). "Now there were four of us of orphaned children who started in the

Kelsey Company for Utah, a journey of 1,036 miles. (James was 20, Harriet was 17, Thomas was 15 and Richard was 13 according to James's records). Most of the distance I walked driving a team of two yoke of

oxen or to yoke of cows. That was a long and tiresome journey; long to be remembered by us. It took us three and one-half months. We arrived

in Salt Lake City October 14, 1852. Some members of the company were taken with the Cholera in Nebraska, and 12 of them died. Brother Ballard drove the sheep across the plains."

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To give a more detailed account of that trip across the plains I quote from the

autobiography of Augusta Stevens who was in the same company.

"When the appointed time came for the journey across the plains, we and the wagons were taken across the Missouri on the ferries, but the animals had to swim across as there were no ferries for them, and there

was no other way. There were representatives from several nations including Americans, but in our particular company there were 28 from Copenhagen. We were presided over by Captain John Butler. The entire

50 wagons, which included five Companies, were presided over by Capt. Eli B. Kelsey. (They must've put both the Smoot and Kelsey companies

together for the trip). The women generally rode in the wagons and always slept in the wagons. Personally I thought they were the most remarkable vehicles I had ever seen. Upon nearing the Rocky Mountains

we all had to walk. Being young and (in my 15th year), it became part of my regular duty to gather, “buffalo chips” for the campfires. One man

had a fiddle and in the evening all joined in the fun of dancing and singing. After walking a good deal during the day, I felt so tired I should often have been glad to go to bed without my supper, but I always had to

help with the supper dishes and help with the camp duties, including preparing the beds.

"One singular incident in route was the occasion of a buffalo stampede which came directly towards our wagon train. The stampede ran just in

front of the wagon train and it appeared almost a cyclone of dust. This caused a great commotion and almost a stampede among the horses and the oxen of the train. The few rifles available were used and fortunately

enough for the emigrants, a few buffalo fell which were prepared and this gave us an extra provision on the long journey. On another occasion nearly a dozen Indians came on their horses, and approached the train.

There was a great deal of apprehension felt by the people, as they felt that an impending disaster was before them. They thought this was the

first contingent of Indians that lurk in the ravines near the trail. But our daily prayers were answered and we were assured that Heavenly Father was mindful of the needs and protection of the Saints. The Indians

spread their blankets by the side of the trail, and each wagon was required to give its toll of food to the Indians as it passed.

When we reached the Green River Station, now Green River, Wyoming the supply of flour had been exhausted. The snow commenced to fall,

bringing a cold blizzard, and wintry blast, all of which added to the perils of the journey. It became necessary to send a man with the best and fastest equipment on to Salt Lake City to get flour and rushed back to

Green River, which was only sufficient to sustain the party for the balance of the trip."

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Most of these immigrants were totally inexperienced in the handling of oxen or horses, and some rather amusing things occurred as they and their newly hatched

oxen got acquainted and together learn the ropes of driving and hauling a cumbersome prairie schooner. To give an idea of what many of these "Greenhorns"

went through in the learning process here is a quote from the story of Mary Ann Stearns Winters. Her mother was the wife of Parley P Pratt. Her father having died previously:

"Our teams were considered too light for the journey, and another yoke of oxen was furnished us from the company's cattle, but they were young

and had not been worked much, and there was still the problem of managing an unruly team. Brother Murie propose that we get a very

early start the next morning, and trust to those following us for any help we might be in need of-And we did not fail to be ready. He let three teams lead out to be encouragement for ours, and then he drove into line

and the team walked up quite straight and lively and our hopes rose accordingly till we could seem to hear the greetings of our friends at the

other end of the journey, but presently they stop still in the road as if their eyes plainly told that they did want to go any further. The team behind had to stop too, and the driver, a stranger inquired what was the

matter-his team was quiet and gentle. His wife and children sat in the front of the wagon looking contented and happy, but all anxious to continue on their way.

"Soon our team gave a start, went for a few rods and turned clear out of

the road. This was a good chance, and three teams passed us by without comment, but the fourth man, came and help us drive back into the road again, and the team went on for a longer distance than at any time

previous. We were now coming to the open ground, and the cattle saw opportunity, started on the run, and made a big circle like a racetrack, and looked as though they were bound to take the prize. Brother Murie

was still holding to the long rope and running to keep up with them, with mother following as best she could to look after the things that kept

dropping from a wagon in that wild flight-and I following her for fear she would be hurt, or that she would get sick from her long walk, and hot rays of the sun. Oh the agony of those hours, words would fail me to

depict. Sometimes Mother would hold the rope and brother Murie would try to get the oxen back into the road again, and once in while they

wheeled around and came near crushing her between their bodies and the wagon. Brother Murie all the while trying to send us far away from the dangers of the situation. But which way should we turn? We had left

the place we call home, and were adrift with strong headwinds to encounter-but I will not say we were blown back, as if by magic, and just missed us by hairsbreadth, running us off a little bridge in the middle of

a ravine. After going a few lengths they stopped stock still right in the middle of the road, and refuse to stir another foot. Mother advised that

we would stop right where we were till someone should come along and

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we would hire them to help us in the camp, and then we would have to make some other arrangements, before we tried to go any further. It was

then 2:00 in the afternoon-we had been on the way since early morning, we were very tired, and glad to rest a little. Brother Murie still stood at

his post of duty near the head of the team, while the rest of us sought a little shelter from the sun at the back of the wagon called all watching the road in both directions for signs of the help we were so much in need

of." (I'm wondering why the rest of the company went on without them). "After a time mother decried a horsemen coming towards us-and while

this did not portend very promising help, still we waited hopefully this see. The traveler proved to be brother Winters, and after inquiring what

the difficulty was, he dismounted and asked Brother Murie for the whip, and with a gentle Whoa-haw, the team started out and with a toss of the horns that their backs to the yoke, and walked off in quite a respectable

manner. This last stop was about a mile and a quarter from River, and after the team had gone three-quarters of a mile in this peaceful manner,

Mother said to Brother Winters, "I believe we can get to camp now, and will not detain you from your journey any longer". It was 4:00 p.m. when we halted on the bank. Of course, being so late we had to take our place

at the foot of the line, and be the last to cross the ferry, but we were glad reach there at all, and thankful for the need for rest we could now have.

"It was the afternoon of the next day when it came our turn to cross a river, and as they had gentled teams to place the wagons on the boat, we

got along as well as any other people up ferry, and we camped a few rods from the lending that night, on the west side of the Missouri River. The next day was Saturday, and all were counseled to move to higher land a

few miles west to camp over Sunday. Here was to take place the final organization of the company, and after we left this point it would not be safe to travel except in large companies.

Sometime later: "We had walked this far, some of time in a steady rain,

but now the sun was shining, the day was fair and bright, and the thought of going onward filled our hearts with joy Supreme, and our souls with gratitude. Our team became a little better every day following

in the train, and we will not condemn them, nor yet find fault with the driver, for they were all unused to labor they had to perform. Brother

Murie, being a native of Scotland, was not used to oxen from his boyhood, as were most of the young men of the company, and as a team was to be our companions on the journey perhaps it would not be out of

place to introduce them by name. Dick and Darby were the names of our team, and Block and Bright were the names of the company cattle".

Only one who has worked with animals can know the feeling of trust and friendship that grows between him and his team.

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To continue with Sister Winters:

"We made a nice camp one night-pitch the tent which Brother Murie and James had all to themselves, and we retired with the prospect of a good

night's rest, but in the night a thunderstorm a rose - It rained and lightninged and blew a small hurricane and as the storm increased Mother propose that we should be ready for an emergency. Our wagons stood

broadside to the wind and with every fresh guest it seemed as if the bows would snap in spite of us. We tried to hold against the wind, but our strength was puny. Brother Murie had taken the same precautions that we

had-was up and dressed and holding on to the tent to keep it to its fastenings. Jimmy, covered up in bed, was still asleep as were the children

in our wagon. As the ground was Sandy some of the pins pulled loose, and a tent collapsed and buried them in its wet folds. This aroused Jimmy, and he scrambled around but could not find his clothes, and it was with difficulty

that they could get out from under the heavy, wet tent. Mother handed out a big shawl to wrap Jimmy in, and they climbed into the wagon, and with

our united efforts we pressed against the bows until the storm subsided. Mother fixed place on the foot of the bed for Jimmy, and covered him with some extra bedding, and the rest of us sat and nodded until daylight. The

sun came out warm and smiling as if nothing had ever happened to disturb our peace."

One of the great terrors for the pioneers was Cholera. There were thousands who died from this plague during the years of emigration. Most of the deaths occurred in

St. Louis and Kanesville and westward just past the Loup Fork River. To quote from one Journal: "The graves were so many that it seemed that we were in deaths valley itself". It would seem pertinent here to learn some of the medicines

they took trying to cure the disease. To continue the Journal of Sister Winters:

"Mother's preparation consisted of charcoal and molasses, laudanum and

paregoric, camphor and a little cayenne pepper with as much raw flour as charcoal, and it proved to be a good remedy, for all who took it recovered except Brother Robison. He passed away after two day's

suffering and was buried near the banks of the Loup Fork River, where he had so faithfully labored to help assist his brother and sisters across that

river." James again:

"I spent the winter of 1852 and 53 herding stock across the Jordan River opposite the Hot Springs in Salt Lake County. I helped Abraham

Hunsaker move the stock "12 miles south on the west side of the Jordan in April 1853. I drove cattle on foot from early morning until late night

without one bite to eat, and then to break my fast, I had some buttermilk “pop”. I think it was flour boiled in buttermilk - sour as swill.

15

"Martha (James May‟s Wife) was re-baptized that year by Thomas Harper, and confirmed by Jude Allen.

James Again:

"At that time I lost sight of Brother Ballard for many years. I worked for Apostle Lorenzo Snow two months in Salt Lake City. In July I went to

Bountiful, and hired out to Joseph Holbrook for $12 per month for one year. I went on the even temper of my way until August 1, 1854. I was called to go on the plains, quite a company of us, with teams and

provisions to meet immigrants. Returning on October 17, for which I was credited in labor tithing. Those were hard times. About this time I was

ordained to the Aaronic Priesthood. I stayed again with Brother Holbrook for nearly one year."

From the story of Martha Allen:

"When the Kimball grist mill was finished, a big celebration was held-dancing, singing and feasting being enjoyed. During the fun of three girls Mary and Martha Allen, and Hannah Jones, chumming together as girls

will, were standing together beneath some stair steps, laughing at the awkwardness of three young English immigrant boys trying to dance - little dreaming that they would be their future husbands. But such

proved to be so in the persons of John Dewey, James May, and Thomas Harper".

James continues:

"August 24, 1856, I married Martha Allen (Martha was 17 at the time), daughter of Jude Allen and Mary Ann Nicholas. In this and the next year a great deal of labor was spent in building mud walls. We built them after

the fashion of building concrete houses, making box 16 ft. long, 6 ft. wide at the bottom, 4 ft. at top and 6 ft. high, with the intention of going

up 6 ft. higher. But that was never done to any extent. "At that time the great reformation occurred at which time many people

did reform. Still with some, it was a spasmodic effort and did not last. In the spring of 1857, I rented a small farm from a Brother Anson Call of

Bountiful. It was located in Box Elder County. In the fall of this year, the Mormon War occurred.

"The idea of an army of the United States government on our borders with the avowed intention of using us up, cause considerable excitement. We were all soldiers in short order. President Brigham Young

was appointed as governor of the territory, and was such until his successor was appointed, and took his seat. So he put the Territory

under martial law. Then every able-bodied man had to fall into line.

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Three companies of cavalry were organized and equipped under the leadership of Captain Lot Smith, Porter Rockwell and some others. They

burned wagons, ran off stock, burned the grass and harassed the troops in every conceivable way for several months, or until they went into

winter quarters at Fort Bridger. The snow became so deep that the Mormons couldn„t stay out there. Most of the man came home, and just a guard was left. A few were left at the Bear River, some and Echo

Canyon, and some on the Weber. I believe Thomas L. Kane came in the Salt Lake City by the southern route, sent from Washington D.C. to inquire about the trouble between the Mormons and the United States

government. He soon learned that the reports carried east by District Judge named "Drummond", were all a lie. He then went east to the Army

at Fort Bridger and told commanding officer not to move those troops until they heard from him. Now my long and short story. I had my share of that."

James doesn‟t say directly that he was involved in this action, but the implication is

that he was. The diary of John C. Dewey, tells us of a part taken by troops from Bountiful, which included himself, and James's father-in-law, Jude Allen. The to circumstances would indicate that James took part in the following action as told by

Dewey:

"Bountiful, Davis County, Utah, September 25, 1857. Major John Stoker

received orders from General Daniel H. Wells to have 25 men all ready with arms and ammunition and camp equipment and one baggage wagon

to be ready and in Salt Lake City by sundown the same day. I, John C. Dewey, was one of the men selected. All was ready by midnight and we were ready for the march.

"Saturday, September 26. We arrived in Salt Lake City about 3:00 a.m. Camped back of the Tithing Office. By 9:00 a.m. we were organized into

a company under the command of Captain Thomas Ricks, who took charge of our company of fifty.

Major McAllister took command a whole company, five in number. We traveled over the Little and Big Mountain at dark. (Little and Big Mountain are located

just north and little east of downtown Salt Lake City).

Sunday, September 27. We took up our line of march at 7:00 a.m. and traveled at great speed. Two of our horses gave out, and died. We camped about 3 miles up in Echo Canyon. We held a meeting, it being Sunday

evening. A good spirit was among the boys. About 9:00 p.m., an express brought word that the troops were on the march, and near Fort Bridger. We were ordered to get up, get our animals and prepared to march. Some

of the boys were in bed. I had just pulled my boots off. We soon got ready and traveled as far as Cache Cave, which was about 25 miles away. We

traveled all night and reached the Cave and about daybreak. 17

Monday, September 28. We left our baggage wagons here. We packed our horses with our blankets, provisions, etc. and by 9:00 a.m. we were again

on the march. We travel all day till near sundown. We stopped to rest and let our horses' feed for about one hour, and then took up our line of

march. We traveled till midnight and camped on what is called the Little Muddy.

Tuesday, September 29. At daylight we got our animals up and marched till we came to Fort Bridger at 8:00 A M where we stayed all day and prepared for further orders.

September 30. We moved a mile and half southwest and camped.

October 1. We remained encamped 4 p.m. and then mounted our horses and rode to Fort Bridger. There we receive some instructions from

Brother Wells, Brother George A. Smith and Brother John Taylor. A message was sent to the soldiers requesting them to give up their arms

or return back. We then moved three-fourths of a mile further up Black Fork, and camped there for the night.

October 2. We saddled up our horses and rode down to Fort Bridger. Fifty of the best horses and riders were selected to go back and meet Harneys and his company, to stampede their animals. This group of 50 was under

the command of Lot Smith. Fifty others were sent back under the command of Major McAllister to watch the movements of the camp and

of the troops. The balance of the company, except the guard of 20 men, went and camped near Fort Supply. I was one of those selected to guard at Fort Supply. (Remember that this is taken from the diary of John C.

Dewey.) Jude Allen was Captain of ten of the guard. Saturday October 3. Remaining at Fort supply as a guard on duty. An

express came to say that the troops were on the march, going by the North Route. About sundown we set fire to the Fort Bridger, and Brother

Burton and company set fire to Fort Supply. Sunday October 4. Myself with about 75, were selected to go around the

country to head the soldiers and burn the feed. We started from Fort Bridger at 9:00 a.m. arrived at Muddy Creek while 25 miles from Fort

Bridger at 4:00 p.m. We stayed there about two hours and then marched up the Creek about 10 miles, and camped for the night. I was set on picket guard.

Monday October 5. Remained in Camp till McCallister's company arrived. Moved up the Creek 20 miles and camped.

Tuesday October 6. Eighteen men were selected to go and annoy the

company of soldiers, and burn the feed. I was one of the number chosen. Our journey lead over the mountains to Hams Fork, where we met Porter

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Rockwell and the Company and we all camped together.

October 7. We remained in camp today. A deserter from the Soldiers camp came to us.

October 8. We left Hams Fork, and rode over to the Black Fork, a distance of 25 miles and camped.

October 9. The firing of about 60 rounds, from cannons, alarmed us. We got our animals up and went into the hills. We thought they were

preparing for the march. Porter and a few others went out see if they had started, but they had not. We arose in the morning, and found ourselves

in snow about 4 inches deep. We then moved to Fort Bridger, a distance of 15 miles. It was snowing all the time and freezing. We were sent up to Fort Supply, a distance of 25 miles. We arrived there just at dark. It was

bitter cold, snowing in freezing. We were almost frozen the death. There was nothing to eat but some beef that we toasted on the stick. This

composed our supper. We ate it with thanks and retired. We stayed at Fort supplied till about 4:00 p.m. and then move down to the Island field, a distance of three miles and camped.

October 20. Fifty men with good horses and suitable clothing were to go with Lot Smith to Bear River to watch the soldiers. Thirty more men

were to be left at Fort Supply. The balance of the men were to go home. I was one to go home. We moved up to Fort Supply that night, so as to be

ready to move in the morning, for the City of Salt Lake. That night about dark an express came to was to say that soldiers had turned around and were coming down Hams Fork. We did not know whether they were

coming in by Fort Bridger or not. October 21. We arrived at the Fort at about 4:00 p.m. We were organized

to go under the direction of Captain Milo Andrews. I was the Captain of the fourth group of ten.

October 22. Seven AM started on our way home, and all little after

sundown we arrived on the Bear River and camped.

October 24. We started little after daylight, and came to where the General was camped on the Weber River. We listened to some letters read by Brother Ferguson that came from Colonel Alexander to Governor

Young. We then moved down the canyon of the Weber, and took breakfast. Then we traveled past Little Camp about 3:00 p.m. The General was there. We camped in East Canyon.

Sunday October 25. We Travel and arrived at home sweet home, in the

afternoon. We found all well, there. We were very glad to get home after our fatiguing journey".

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Barely a month had passed after their return home, before the birth of their first child at Bountiful. His name was James Ira, after his father, with Ira being a well-

used Allen name. The big event was November 29, 1857.

Negotiations were carried out with the troops all winter long, and it was finally settled that they would come into the valley, and passed on through without stopping, and make their camp in Skull Valley, about 40 miles west and south of

Salt Lake City. However, Brother Brigham had had too many dealings with the U.S. government to put much trust in their solemn word. So he ordered all the settlers north of Utah County to pack of their belongings and move south. They were to

leave enough men the to chop down every tree, and burn every fence and building. They were to leave with the same desolation they had found when they came 10

years earlier. Maybe at this point it would be good to let John Henry Evans tell the story of the

move south from his book "The story of Utah", page 121.

"So Brigham Young, as president of the Church, requested everybody in Salt Lake Valley, and to the north, to pack up his belongings and begin the march southward. This was during the first days of April in 1858.

From now on, what ever was a movable, found its way to the road that led southward. Where to? No one seemed to know. There was every sort of vehicle - heavy wagons, light wagons, carriages, even handcarts - all

loaded with clothing, provisions, furniture, and women and children, who were unable to walk. They were drawn mostly by oxen, and in a

smaller part by horses and mules -except handcarts, which were pushed pulled by manpower.

There were men in shirtsleeves, some with hats and some without, good home-made goulashes. Mean time some folks were holding up their trousers with their hands. There were women with long skirts, of course

their faces hidden in the back of the Gingham sunbonnets, the pokes, of which, were held stiff by pieces of wire or wood sewed into the folds of

the cloth. And there were children of all ages and sizes, some of arms, some of whose legs were too short and tender to allow for their walking, some trudging along bravely by the side of an animal.

Also there were dogs of every size and description, smelling their way

and making a wide detour, nose to the ground, because of the slowness of the procession; chickens and ducks and geese tied on their rear of the wagon and carriages, making funny noises every bump and the road;

flocks of sheep crowding and bleating and wondering in their dumb way what it was all about; great herds of cows and calves, bellowing and mooing, and insisting that their course lay somewhere else other than

where their drivers, who were on horseback, wanted them to go. A long line, almost continuous, they made, these wagons and cattle and people,

from Logan to Provo. Great clouds of dust rose in the air meanwhile, hung in there over the road a very long time, and then at last settled

20

down on man and beast and vehicle, until you would have thought they

had been dipped like sheep in some whitening liquid. For these were the sun shiny April days. It had not rained for week or so, and the air was

very still. The political successor of Brigham Young, when they saw this parade of

animals and man, was beside himself. Here he was, the Governor of the people who were on the move to no one knew where, and he could follow them only to the limits of the territory. Was there ever another Governor

in this sad plight?

He got into a carriage and went south. Everywhere he begged people to return. He pleaded with Brigham Young. All to no purpose. The great leader was firm. Where were the people going, the Governor wanted to

know? There was no satisfactory answer. The fact is that already men had been sent somewhere to the south of the territory to search for

place to which this moving nation might go. And the fact is too, that President Young had no idea that it would be necessary for the people to go very far. This is evidenced from remarks he made to George A. Smith.

"I think this move we are now making will cause a reaction in the government policy", he said. Besides, his people would be out of the way of the troops, when they entered the valley. That was the main thing.

But then, in all the houses in the City, were men who, at a given signal,

would cut down every tree and set fire to every house and barn. Neither ax nor torch, however, was necessary, for the soldiers marched straight through the City, and out into their camp be on the Jordan. It was a

strange sight - this army marching through a town full of houses with no people in them, of streets full of trees waiting to be cut down. Colonel St. George Cooke walked through with his hat in his hand, either because he

wanted to honor the battalion boys who he had led to California, or because he respected the people who had courage, and heroism enough

to abandon their homes rather than surrender their political rights.

The troops safe in Camp Floyd, President Young gave the order for the people to return to their homes. And with that done, he shut himself up

for many days, and refuse to see anyone except his most intimate friends."

James says that they camped on the Provo bottoms.

"We had just arrived there with no tent or wagon cover. We laid some

canes over the deep wagon box, and it rained all night. In the morning we were as wet as dishrags, and came out of our beds steaming like pigs

out of hot manure pile." 21

He also says that when, "We arrived home we found fine crops on nearly all the farms. Wheat especially had grown without plow or sowing, for

which we thanks the Giver of all Blessings." Another report says that the crops were properly prepared and planted. James wrote about it years

afterwards, and the story may have improved with age. In the fall of 1855 I was ordained to the office of Teacher. In November

of 1858 I was ordained to the 13th Quorum of Seventy. Brother August Farnham was President.

"During the fall of 1858 I, with the William Cleaveland of Centerville, Davis County, and old Father Lowe and his son William, who now lives at

Willard, went to Camp Floyd and made adobes. The first $100 I ever earned was there. In fact it was about a $130, and that gave me my start in life. I bought one yoke of oxen, and a two wheeled cart in 1859. In

drawing a long log out of the canyon, I broke the axle on my cart, and oh how bad I felt about it. In the fore part of this winter I had my right big

toe badly frozen, so I could not wear a boot or shoe all winter, but went to the timber all the same. (He kept it in warm and dry). I got out some wood and poles and sold them. In March of 1860, Ma and me received

our Endowments and were sealed at the altar. In the spring of 1860 I struck out for Cache Valley to locate and make me a home, with William __________and William Woodward. We inquired at Logan, Hyde Park,

Smithfield, and Richmond for land, but as there was none to be had, we went on to a new site, which we named Franklin. We planted, fenced,

took out water, and put in three months of hard work, and the following winter sold all for 4 sheep valued at $6 each. I thought it better than money, as in a few years I had a fine little flock of sheep, from which we

made nearly all of our clothes ". From Martha Allen May,

"Their second son, Jude Allen, was born at Bountiful, Davis County, Utah on

October 14, 1859. In the spring of 1859 they rented a small farm from Anson Call of Bountiful. It was located in Box Elder County, north of Brigham City. They did not move to Call‟s Fort permanently until 1861when her father and

family and brother-in-law, John C. Dewey, and wife came with them to find a home".

Apparently after three months proving up on his claim at Franklin, James decided to return to Bountiful for he writes: "In July 1860 I returned to Bountiful, traded my

oxen for pair of mustang ponies and worked on one of Walton's threshing machines for three months."

Apparently their venture end Call‟s Fort didn't prove too successful. Nothing is said of it, and it was in the spring of 1860 that James went to Cache Valley to look for a

location. Since nothing is said of Martha going with him she probably remain with her family to prepare for the arrival of their second child. Jude Allen was born the 14th of October 1859.

22

After returning from Cache Valley they spent the winter months preparing for the

move north to Call‟s Fort. Their years in Zion had taught them the fundamentals of frontier life. Martha had learned how to make a home with practically nothing

except some rudimentary cooking utensils, and some bedding, which of course, she had made. James had some experience in farming from his days as a farmhand in England, and his skills had been broadened in improvising the tools needed for

farming in a new land. That year he was 29 and Martha was 22. They had been married for nearly five years and as parents of two children they have learned to work in double harness. So the future must've looked bright as they set out that

lovely spring morning of 1861 in their own little wagon train. There was James and Martha with their team of Mustang ponies, which were probably seasoned

workhorses, by this time, and he had undoubtedly traded his oxcart with a broken axle for a more usable wagon. The second wagon was occupied by Jude Allen, Martha's father, and his second wife Martha Anglesey, together with the seven

children that Mary Ann Nicholas had left at her death the year before with the birth of their last child. The third wagon was occupied by John C. Dewey, with his two

wives Mary Allen and Harriet May. Mary had two children, Eliza and John, and Harriet also had two children, George and Matilda.

Their outfits were typical pioneer, festooned with pots and pans and crates of poultry. A plow would have been one of a prominent implements lashed securely in place. A milk cow dangled at the end of a rope behind each wagon, and the older

Allen children would drive the extra cattle, sheep or hogs that they might have had. And so they began another pioneer journey - just a short one this time - only about

60 miles which should have been completed in three or four days. The first need at the new home site was for shelter and this was soon provided with

a "Dug-out" in the side of the hill. Just a hand made cave really, but it was warm and it was dry and the door was provided with a steer hide or a piece of canvas. There must've been a fireplace with a chimney to provide heat and light and a place

to cook. There were plenty of rocks nearby to construct such a fireplace, and James had certainly learned how to do this during his general education is a pioneer. In

any event, life went on, and the evidence of this arrived with the birth of little George on the 28th of November 1861.

They were not far from the still roving bands of Indians who occasionally burned

and plundered and immigrant trains headed for Oregon or California. James tells of this incident:

"In August 1862 I was stacking wheat and my wife came out to me and in a rather excited tone said, "Jim, there are two men in the dugout who say they belong to a party of immigrants going to California via Soda Springs and the

Sublette route." They had been robbed by Indians, somewhere on or near Raft River, Idaho. Early one morning while at breakfast the "Reds" came with a whoop

and a yell, and edged between the camp and the cattle, and away they went with all but two oxen and two cows, which were scattered in the brush. A number

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shots were fired but so far, as proved, no one was hurt. They hunted up the four head, and with great difficulty they yoked them up. That had eight wagons, so

they took the best one, their guns, ammunition, bedding, and a little flour and set out.

"About 4 in the afternoon, the "Reds" swooped down on them again. The people, men and women and children, ran for a bunch of willows, but the

Indians headed them off, and all of the shelter the company had was a little wide swale about 2 feet deep. There the "Reds" rode around and around, firing all the time. The wagon Company numbered 33 souls. Two

men were killed and five others wounded. One man was lost, but turned up after some months. A child, 10 years old, died within a few days. The

mother was shot through, but recovered; the father was shot through the fleshy part of his leg, and suffered terribly but recovered. These two men had come for aid, and we - well we were about as poor as they were, but

we threw off our hayracks, and put on the wagon boxes, (Most wagons at that time had a running gear which included the wagon tongue, and the

front and rear axels that were connected by a strong wooden shaft. The wagon box could be removed and replaced with some other “container” such as the hayrack.) We took a little flour and off we went. We got over

the Malad River and camped. We found two other men from the same company. Then we learned that

one man, by the name of Shaw, had lost his family in this way. He had his wife, two children and a sister-in-law. He thought if they parted

company, and the Indians came upon them again, one of the party might escape. They traveled and nights and laid up days so as to avoid observation. About daybreak he thought he saw some willows a short way

off in the distance. He told the rest of the party to sit down, and he would go and see. When he started back he lost his bearings and could not find them. He hunted until 10:00 p.m., and then he laid up again

until 4:00 p.m. Then he set out again until 10:00 p.m. Now he had not eaten anything for 48 hours, and was about done up. He decided his

family was no more, and that if he stayed there he would be a goner too, so he started for Salt Lake City. After 72 hours of fasting, he fell in with two of another party called the Smith party, and they gave him about 2

ounces of bread. When we met him he was nearly like a madman, almost starve to death and lost his family. So we forged ahead, and in three days

came to some springs out in the Deep Creek Valley, and as we were unhitching to water the teams, our attention was attracted to an object off about four rods. All eyes were on it. It was the head of a little boy,

and soon another little head popped up, then a woman, then another woman. Mr. Shaw was dumbfounded. He cried out, "Oh! There is my family." Sure enough it was his family in tact, but so poor, like

skeletons. They had lived mostly on rose limbs.

24

"We then learned that the Smith family was 7 miles farther west. We arrived about 4:00 p.m. and found such a poor lot of folks. I need not tell

you how pleased they were to find relief at hand. The Shaw family, consisting of four men and two women and two children, were taken

back to Calls Fort, and nursed back to health. One of the women had been shot with a rifle ball through the breast. Mrs. Elizabeth Lasley acted as a nurse. At the Bear River ford, there was a company of merchants

who had come from the east by way of Soda Springs to the Snake River, in search of a place by the name of Bannock, a gold camp, but they could not find it. So they went back to the south into Utah. When we found

them, they were a wealthy company, and when they heard of the misfortunes of the Smith Co. they offered to take all, or any of them, to

California. They took 20 odd of this ill-fated company on to California, and that was the last we ever heard of them."

From Martha's story we read this: "To make ends meet Martha made pies which her husband took to the Soldiers camp to sell. It was in the year of 1862 that James

met a young soldier boy, Luther Burnham, camped at Hamptons Bridge, north of Brigham City some 20 plus miles. James invited Luther to come spend the evening at his home. After staying all night, Luther joined the company of soldiers, on their

way to Salt Lake City. Luther stayed in Salt Lake City for a month, and then he, with part of his company, was sent to quiet some Indian trouble in Cache Valley. While on his way he again visited with James and Martha, and became very

interested in the Book of Mormon. One day while he was reading it Chief Pocatello and 12 of his Braves came to deliver a saw that James had bought from them. At

this time James was away from home and gathering iron for plowshares, and other farm implements, from the remains of an immigrant camp that had been massacred, and burned out west in the Raft River country.

Martha was on her knees scrubbing the floor, when a shadow passed over her shoulder. Upon looking up to see the cause, she saw the Chief. When he reached in

the door to give her the saw, the chief saw this soldier boy. With one word "To Quash" all of his Braves were head and shoulders inside the door. Through the

pleadings of Martha, making known to the boy was, she said at "sick boy", homesick to see his mother, no bad man, no kill Indians, no kill papoose", his life was spared.

James returned in the evening, and escorted Luther under the cover of darkness; part way home (It was through Mantua, as Martha remembers.) after James

returned in the early morning three of the Indians, all known to Pocatello, came back again and search the room, attic, and cellar for the soldier, intending to kill him, after more pleading and persuading they finally left, satisfied that the soldier

was not hidden anywhere." It must've been about this time that James had built his first house. It was made

from logs taken from the nearby mountains, and must have had a gabled roof, for Martha mentions that the Indians searched the attic. The rest of the place

25

apparently consisted of one room and a cellar. So it wasn't very big, but it certainly was better than that dugout they had been living in when George was born the

previous November. And surely Martha was proud of it, for she was on her knees scrubbing the floor, when the Chief arrived.

So the year of 1862 was anything but the humdrum existence. A crop was planted, a house was built, and immigrant train was rescued, the wheat was stacked in

thrashed and the family was snuggled into their new home for the winter. And love itself was fulfilled for barely had the New Year dawned when another baby boy was born to them on January 25, 1863. They named him Henry Lyman, and had just

settled into the routine of a new baby, when he died two weeks later on February the eighth. They said it was from a cold.

For many years Call‟s Fort was the northern frontier. Alexander Toponce, in his autobiography, says that in 1863 Call‟s Fort, was the first settlement he came to

after leaving Virginia City, Montana. He relates a very interesting episode in this connection. It seems that the winter 1863 was a very severe one. The snow was from

3 to 4 feet deep, and the temperature below zero. While Mr. Toponce work encamped at what is Malad, they lost their animals because of the cold. He and his men set out on foot for Call‟s Fort. Most of the man gave out along the way. Mr. Toponce,

however reach the fort and with the aid of the Chester Loveland and his son Carlos, formed rescuing party and saved all of the man and some of their possessions, among which was several thousand dollars in gold dust which they had hidden in

the exact spot where Peck‟s Hotel later stood." I guess James just forgot to tell about this, for surely he was one of the rescuing party. These Mormon pioneers didn't

come into this isolated land to languish in seclusion from each other. They were a sociable lot, and love to get together for dances and any other excuse.

At the very early date military and marshal bands were organized, so we are told in the " History of Box Elder County, page 175, at Brigham City and Willard - at that time the only large communities in the county. As stated elsewhere, the territory

was divided into military districts in 1852, but it was not until after redistricting all of the territory in 1857, and after the move south, that the Brigham Young Martial

Band was organized. The band was really part of the organization known as the Territorial Militia, and as such took an active part in the yearly encampments of the Brigham City division. Whenever the people of Brigham City formed into procession

and went to meet President Brigham Young and company, the Martial Band always led the way, and they of course, always took part in every patriotic celebration the

following were members of this band at different times. . . . . James May was listed among one of the fifers.

Every able-bodied man in the district was enrolled and mustard into service. Samuel Smith was elected first Major all of the Cavalry, and was also appointed the Commander of the Northern Post. He commanded the citizen soldiers of that district

in all their expeditions against hostile Indians.

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In the Box Elder District there were 100 enlisted men ranging in age from 18 to 40 years. The company in Brigham City was called Company A, and the one in Willard

was called Company B. The companies were divided into two bodies - Cavalry or Minute Men, and infantry.

Each minute man was required to furnish himself with a good saddle horse, and be well equipped; also a set of firearms and provisions suitable to carry on a hurried

march. From the records on file in the state headquarters of the National Guard, we found

the following names of men from Box Elder County who served in the Territorial Militia. . . among the Minuteman was the name of James May, and his brother in

law Joseph Allen. Other things transpired in 1862 that would affect the lives of people along "The

string". They construct a log schoolhouse, which was also used for a meetinghouse, and entertainment hall. An LDS Branch organization was formed with Chester

Loveland as Presiding Elder.

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The desire for education ran strongly through the lives of these people. Some of

them had never learned to read or write, and few of them had more than the rudiments of education. Hence one of the first things done, in each community, was the establishment of some sort of school. Whoever had some knowledge, and a place

to teach, was given the opportunity and responsibility for teaching. The first teacher in the new log schoolhouse was the non-Mormon.

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To get an idea of what school in was like at that time let's look at the school of William L. Watkins, Brigham City‟s fourth schoolteacher, who was called for that

purpose on March 12, 1861, by Lorenzo Snow. He taught school in the downstairs East Room of the courthouse, and was assisted by his daughters Susan and Maria,

who conducted class is for the small children. The school hours were from nine till 12 and from 1 till 4, with a recess morning and afternoon. The curriculum consisted of reading, writing, spelling and grammar. Night school was conducted for the

benefit of the older people, and many men spent their evenings there, learning to write, and getting and knowledge of the four basic processes in arithmetic.

At that time there were no grade schools, children of all ages were in the same room. Try to imagine 60 pupils, ranging in age from 6 to 18 years, seated on long benches,

just slabs without backs -say from six to eight on a bench, no desks, and no particular order of arrangement. Each student studying from any kind a book they could get, and each reciting his lesson when learned. When one lesson was

completed, another was assigned to him for the next day.

At intervals a number boys who were in about the same place in arithmetic, would be called up before the small blackboard, to recite. At the same time, Miss Susan, would be teaching the letters to a group of little people.

When ever the writing period came to, the grown boys and girls would surround a long table, which stood in the center of the room, and did their they would try to

imitate with bluing ink, and all sorts of pens, the copy which was "Set" before them by the teacher. Many of these copies were taken from the “National Blue Back

Speller." Isn't it amazing to see the things that could be done by just a handful of people -

probably no more than two dozen families? Each of them had the same personal problems of providing houses and barns and food and clothing - practically all of which had to be produced by them. And still was time for helping with the sick,

burying the dead, or rescuing those unfortunate souls who had been stricken with catastrophe after several days of travel to West. And all this with the spirit of

brotherhood and fellowship nurtured by a firm belief in the sacredness of their new religion, and a real conviction that their leaders were divinely called to their posts. In the light of such conviction, that their leaders were divinely called, nothing was

impossible. And with plenty of faith and hard work anything could be done.

Nothing was listed for 1863 except the birth and death of Henrie Lyman. "1864, the gold excitement raged first in Bannock, Idaho and then in Montana. This

made a demand for produce at a fair price". This was all the James had to say about that year, but there were other things happening that would have a profound effect on the lives of all the people involved.

Quoting from of the Evans "Story of Utah" we read: "Lorenzo Snow, had the face of a

poet, and the affable manners of a college professor. But he was a man of large practical views. Originally he was from Ohio, and had attended Oberlin College in the Buckeye State. Upon moving to Brigham City in 1853 with 50 families, he

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proceeded to work out a plan by which the people might get together in their financial undertakings so as to eliminate, if possible, the evils of the competitive

system of modern life. The result was the Organization of what he called the Brigham City Mercantile-and Manufacturing Association. This was in 1864, but it

did not become perfected until sometime afterwards. The association did not spring up overnight, like Jonah's gourd. Its growth was very

gradual, for its organizer was feeling his way. At the time of its creation, in 1864, there were but four stockholders, including Lorenzo Snow. As the years passed, however, the number of stockholders in increased till practically every head of a

family in the community was a member." James finally wound up with $1,900 worth of this stock.

First a tannery was built. This was 45 ft. by 80 ft. in dimension, and cost $10,000. The work, which was done during slack periods, was paid for in stock. In connection

with the tannery, a boot and shoe shop was maintained. This institution was one of those that was put out of business by the coming of a railroad in 1869.

After the tannery, a woolen mill was established at a cost of $35,000. The machinery was bought from the profits made by the Association. In some years it

did a business of around $40,000. In order to keep the mill going, however, there had to be wool. So the organization bought a ranch, stocked with sheep, which grew in numbers from 150 to 5000, and produced the necessary wool. Cotton was also

made up later in the same factory, and this material was obtained from a farm in Southern Utah, owned by the Association, and cared for by 20 young men sent

down there for that purpose. "Next came a dairy and a millinery works. The Association bought some grazing

land, put 500 cows on it, erected suitable buildings, and made their own butter and cheese, also they sold some on the general market. In the millinery department, 25 girls were employed. They turn out a very credible sort of straw hat with artificial

flowers.

"Thus the colony had Brigham City became practically an economically independent community. They grew their own cereals, fruits and vegetables; they produce their own milk and butter and eggs and cheese; they made their own clothes, as well as

the cloth that went into them, together with hats that they wore in the summer and their boots and their shoes; to exchange for cash they needed to pay the workers

and for dividends. All the employees were paid every week." This was a time of growing, a time of the experimenting. Everyone was living in a

shiny new world, and there was no limit to his horizon. The drudgery of the moment was not even considered, when thinking of the beautiful Zion yet to come. A Zion so near, and it was only to be peopled by those who were pure in heart. What a

glorious vision the future held. Why shouldn't a man or woman truly become "Latter Day Saint"? No wonder there wasn't time to record the mundane events, of living,

there were too many exciting things to do.

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"Martha Ellen was born March the 14th, 1865". This was the only event entered into

the autobiography. That year the Branch Presidency was reorganized with James May as the Branch President. A year later James was released, and Thomas Harper

became the branch president with James as his First Councilor. This organization continued until 1877, then the Branch was made a Ward, and the Branch Presidency was ordained High Priests by Lorenzo Snow and sustained as the new

Bishopric. An interesting thing about this bishopric is that it continued until 1896 when James was replaced. This was 8 years after he had moved to Canada with his second family. This Thomas Harper was the same young man that Martha mentions

in her account of the celebration of the completion of the Kimball mill in Bountiful. He had married his childhood girlfriend Hannah Jones. The new Ward was named

the Harper Ward for him, and he remained a bishop for 31 years. Again we read from the Autobiography:

"In 1866, I bought a farm from H. P. Jensen of Brigham City for $800, and

traded it to Chester Loveland for land at Calls Fort". This was probably in addition to the original site where they had built their home. "Also I built a sawmill on what is called Cold Springs, it cost $1,000".

These two projects would indicate that James was doing very well on his farm at Calls Fort, and with the extra money he was earning from logging, and such other

enterprises as he could promote. We know from what we have already learned that he was usually in the timber during the months when he was not busy on the farm.

However, it seems that the new sawmill was one more place than he could be at the time and "In 1867 Frederick J. Graham came from Brigham City to run a sawmill owned by James May of Call‟s Fort".

Oh yes, "1867, Sarah Margaret was born, on September the 22nd. Also I built a barn this year 30 ft. by 40 ft.". That old barn was still standing in 1921, and on a

cold and blustery or rainy day it was a favorite place for the grandchildren of James with their friends to gather and play in the hayloft. We used to play " hide and seek"

in the stalls and the grain bins below. Little knowing that "Grandpa" had built their playground over 50 years before.

One wonders when the " Autobiography" was written. The last entry in it was in 1888 when James took his second family to Canada. Was it written as a continuing

thing, or a matter of reminiscing after the passage of 35 years? From the sketchy entrances during the middle and late '60s, it would appear that it was all remembering, with the only sure dates being the birth of the children, or perhaps

some outstanding event such as the building of a barn. 1868 has no entry of all, but during these years James was assuming his share of

responsibilities in the Ward and the community. Thomas Wheatley reported that he got acquainted with " Father May", as he called him, when Tom was 19 years old. He

labored with him in the harvest field - had gone "Ward Teaching" with him - had gone into his home where Brother May had taught him the gospel, and given him

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the testimony, so that he desired to learn for himself that the Book of Mormon was true and that Joseph Smith truly was a Prophet.

The children were now growing up. Jimmy was 11 and old enough to be a big help

with the chores. He could do anything that needed to be done around the yard, and many things that had to be done in the field. One thing to those pioneer kids learn to do was to work. " An idle mind is the Devil's workshop" was one of the tenants

that they lived by, and what went for the mind and also held true for hands. At about age 6 they learn to milk a cow. Prior to that, they would be feeding on hogs and calves in cows and horses, and pulling weeds in the garden. Even the toddlers

could hunt for hen‟s nests, and gather eggs that they found hidden away in some well-chosen spot.

Eveline was born June 26, 1869.

"I put up a rock house this season, that is the walls and the roof. I finished the kitchen part. I was called on mission this fall to which I responded.

Went to the state of New York. I spent six weeks in Steuben County with relations of J. P. Barnard, with whom I had gone. He went east, and I for the lack of the need full, started west into Ohio, about 16 miles south of

Cleveland. I found my wife's uncle, Ira Allen, stayed one night, then went south to the Medina and was there alone. I never lacked for friend or a meal. I held about 36 meetings. I had a very nice time until the first of

March, and then I left for Chicago. I went to the railroad ticket office and ask for the fair to Salt Lake City. I was very much astonished at the answer.

It cost $90 and I had but $65. Here I was 1,500 miles from home and lacking $35 of the fare. Well, said I, "I want to go to Salt Lake City and must go". The agent said, "Call in a few minutes and I will see what I can do for

you". I did not fail the call. He said "I have a ticket for San Francisco very cheap, you could have it for $60, then at odds and you can sell balance of that, of course I took it and now “hurrah” for home. In a few minutes we

were on our way."

After the train reached Council Bluffs, James was in familiar territory - country that he had examined on foot at an earlier time. It was just over there that he had buried his father and two sisters. In that cemetery where so many of those early Saints,

who had died of Cholera, were buried. And only short distance further on, before they cross the Missouri, his mother lay; wrapped only in the clothes she wore - in

an unmarked grave. She who had suffered from "Consumption" all the way from her home in Chieveley England, only to die before she had reached the object of her quest.

The new Zion now established in the mountain of the Lord's House. But you are not forgotten Hannah Hobson, nor are you and George May. Your children and your

children‟s children will remember your sacrifice, for generations of time. Your son James, even now is returning from carrying the beacon of the Gospel light, to his

fellow man and there will be another army of your descendants yet go forth with that same message - no you are not forgotten.

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The train followed the same general route as the old "Mormon Trail". The trail James had first trudged across 17 years before with the Kelsey Company, and then had

crossed twice more in 1854 when he had been called to go as a teamster with a large company to assist yet other immigrants to Zion.

As the train rolled across the plains of Nebraska, they pass many sites that brought back memories to him. It was there where the terrible thunderstorm had threatened

the destruction of their wagons. And yonder where the buffalo herd had stampeded pass their train, being guided just beyond the point of danger, and rather than proving a catastrophe, they brought Manna to their tables. It was here that the

small group of Indians had stopped them and demanded tribute in the form of food from each wagon.

When they reached the Green River, he relived those anxious days when the fastest outfit had gone ahead to Salt Lake City for food to replenish their supplies, and how

grateful, when a new supply of flour reach them - just flour. To them, it was a very staff of life.

The train was thundering along at such speed is never dreamed of by those earlier pioneers. Here they were covering in three days a trip that taken the pioneers 3 1/2

months the first time across. It was less than one year ago that that band of steel from sea to sea was still an unfinished dream. Things had changed.

"In Ogden I sold the fair to San Francisco very cheap. I went to the Corrine, and from there walked across the swamp to my home. I arrived home about 9:00 p.m.

on March 4, 1870". “Nothing to it”. "Put up a rock house this season, that is the walls of the room.

Finished the kitchen part." and then the Prophet called "We want you to go on mission". Now there was still lots of work to be done on the new house, but this was a lesson James was learning well “When the Prophet Calls you go”. Martha

had been living in that log house now for eight years, and another few months more wouldn‟t would make that much difference. And Martha would be the first

to say, "You go, we'll get along just fine". So he was stretching his legs and broadening his horizons. He could teach the

Gospel to the neighbor boys, and conduct meetings in his own Ward, but now he had to learn to meet strangers, “hostile strangers” - right back into the area near

Kirtland, where the Saints had been driven out only a few years before. He must not have the received a very warm welcome by Uncle Ira Allen, for he stayed only one night. But he got along very well "For I never lacked for meal or a friend". And so we

find our English, convert, immigrant, letting the Gospel work in his life, as is intended to work in the lives of all people -grow, grow, grow, for the majesty of all eternity lies before you.

In spite of the fact that there are no journal entries between 1869 and 1874, there

were some rather interesting things happening, that were to change the face of the land. How could we possibly pass by the coming of the railroad in 1869? It was not only a time of excitement and rejoicing, but it was a time of harvest for the Saints.

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John Henry Evans writes, page 229, "The Story of Utah”:

Part of the railroad was built by Utah labor - about 250 miles. It was that

part which came through Echo Canyon and that part of the leading into Ogden from the west. At least, Utah men made the grading and cut the ties for that part of the road.

"And a blessing it was too, to the people here, for it caused money to circulate among them as it had never done before. The farmers got $100

for a ton of their hay, and $7 a bushel for their potatoes. A man with a wagon and the team received $10 a day and his keep. This was on the

Union Pacific. On the Central Pacific, $120 a ton was paid for hay and $14 a hundredweight for oats".

Now I can imagine a man of the sawmill located that closes the scene of action not getting in on some of the railroad tie cutting. Perhaps this is what Orson Loveland,

of Honeyville, alluded to at James's funeral in 1910, when he said that he "Had labored with him at the Marsh Valley mill, when he handled and ox team for Brother May, who was a man who labored with honor and not for the dollar."

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The coming of the railroad had some adverse effects on the economy of this almost self-sustaining community. The Brigham City Mercantile Association had been going

for five years, and had been growing all the time. One of its successful ventures was of boot and shoe shop that had made practically all of the footwear for the

community for the past five years. The boot shop was the first casualty of the railroad. No longer could it compete with factory made shoes that could be shipped in great quantity, and for less money than handmade shoes could be produced for.

However, there was a very definite plus also. No longer would the wagons need to go east each year for the emigrants. Now they could come all the way on the "Cars" of

the railroad. "This was the end of the pioneer era".

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From the History of Call‟s Fort, as written in the D U P (Daughters of the Utah Pioneers) story of Box Elder County, the following items are noted of the Allen and

May families.

"Martha Anglesey Allen and Martha Allen May used to spin and color yarns and knit it into socks, which they sold to the freighters who procured their loads at Corrine. Butter, eggs, garden stuff, and other

produce was disposed of to the same freighters for which they paid money, and it was about the only money housewives saw in those days.

"The daughters of the Jude Allen family have done their share in alleviating suffering. Mary, the oldest daughter married to John C.

Dewey, founder of Deweyville. All during her married life she served her friends and neighbors as doctor and nurse in confinement cases as well as caring for the sick babies, and even adults. Anyone who had sickness,

in his or her homes, felt free to send for a Sister Dewey. She went forth from Honeyville on the south to far beyond Deweyville on the north.

Martha May, another daughter of Jude Allen, and wife of James May, served her friends and neighbors in a similar manner throughout her lifetime. A third daughter, Sarah Lasley, wife of Heber Warren Lasley, was

well known as a practical nurse and midwife in the section of the country known as Rockland, Idaho.”

“In the early '70s, Jude Allen of Calls Fort, organized a debating society for the

benefit of his sons and the young men of the vicinity. They studied history and then chose sides and debated different historical situations. Often the boys would spend the evening at the Allen home, and Brother Allen would lay aside his many duties to

study and be a boy with them. Joseph and Andrew Allen, William Baty, Joseph and William Yates, Don, Heber, and Anson Loveland, William Lasley, James Ira May, and Ephraim and William Harper were among the boys that attended the class."

There is so little written of these pioneer women that it would be a matter of

grasping at bits and pieces to try and give them the place they so richly deserve. They lived in places and under conditions that no modern American woman would consider tolerable. They took their places at the side of their men in the fields as

well as doing most of the womanly chores, such as caring for the chickens the hogs, and milking the cows. They cared for the garden and the orchard, and harvested the

produce, when it was ready. When the men were called away for church activities, such as going to the Missouri to help bring the new converts to Zion; taking off at a moment's notice to rescue stranded freighters or going on full-time missions. Then

those women did double duty, taking the place of a man of the house as well as continuing the things that mother's must do. They bore their children under primitive conditions and sometimes they died young because of the hardships and

privations. When you read the story of one of them it is usually centered about births of their children, and too frequently, about the deaths of their newborn

babies.

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The memories of Harriet (Hattie), the fourth daughter and the ninth child of Martha

Allen May, are appropriate, at this point:

"The art and skills of homemaking were taught to Harriet by her wonderful mother. She was taught how to cook and sew. She was taught to clean, card and spin wool, which was made into cloth and then sewed in the clothes. From this

same wool yarn she was also taught to knit stockings. Someone in the family always was in need of a pair of stockings. She learned how to cure the hams and render the lard. From the cracklings, (the brown crisp rind of a pork roast) she

learned to make lye soap. She helped preserve the fruit from the orchard, and vegetables from a garden. She took her turn in stirring the gallons of apple

butter, which was cooked for hours in a huge iron kettle. She was taught to churn and molded butter, to pluck chickens and geese, from which every feather there was saved, cleaned and made into pillows, and feather beds.

"With so many mouths to feed nothing was ever wasted. Each child was

taught to be thrifty, to take good care of his clothes and when they were old and no more wearable, they were washed, cut into strips and braided, or woven into rugs and carpets. Very few things to eat or wear were a

"Store Bought" in those days.” James and Martha discipline their children with kindness and love. They taught

their children the Gospel in their home. The children were taught to respect the Authorities of the Church, to pray and to keep the Sabbath Day Holy. Harriet was

baptized into the Church on the 13th day of August 1882, and was a devout member all of her life.

"Many parties and social were held with cousins and young friends living along the "North String". Harriet's brother, Richard, was her constant companion at all social functions. She was very close to this brother and shared all her secrets with him".

In 1871 Andrew was born on February 22, (George Washington's birthday). Dear

lovable, joyous, irrepressible Uncle Andrew. At his funeral 87 years later in 1958, the new Rockland Chapel was bulging with friends and family who had gathered from far and near. There wasn't a wet eye in the crowd. It was that happy, joyous

gathering of friends who wanted to exchange memories of this man, who had meant so much to all of them. He had been in the Bishop to many of them for 17 years.

Well, to get back to the theme of the story, in 1871 the people saw the completion of a new rock schoolhouse. According to Brother Wight, at the funeral of James "the

rock schoolhouse in the north end of the Ward was a monument to Brother May". Frank was born on November the 10th, 1872.

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Our next contact was in 1873 when James wrote a letter to the Deseret News on July the first, regarding the people in Call‟s Fort:

"The people are healthy, prosperous and happy. The crops look fine and the

cattle are fat. A good schoolhouse has been built, and no one desires to leave".

In the excitement of the "Call to Dixie", no one remembered to mention that Hattie was born on the seventh of August 1874. Up until that time it was just another year and another baby. But this was the year that was the turning point in the lives of

James and Martha. Never again would things be the same. Oh, the change didn't come all at once, and nothing was suspected until toward the end of this three-year

mission. James took the 12 young men who were called to accompany him, and set up a

cotton farm, for the Brigham City Mercantile Association down in southern Utah by St. George.

He labored diligently and from the time they left on the first of October 1874 until a dam was built and the ditches dug, and the crops planted the next spring. When a

break came in the work so that he could be spared, James went home to see how things were coming along there. How long he was home on this trip, we don't know, nor just when he came, but we do know that Richard was born of the next year, on

the 27th of June 1876. Is quite likely the James came home each summer so that he could help with the crops and see that things were going, as they should.

The summer of 1877 brought him home again, and this time there was a new burden on his mind. He had been called to take a second wife. The usual procedure

was that when a man was considered worthy, and capable of caring for another family, his leaders call him to enter the Law of Celestial Marriage, or polygamy. It is quite likely that he had received this call sometime before, and that just now found

the right woman, but he could not take that second wife until he had discussed the matter with Martha.

Polygamy was not a new thing in the life of Martha. Her father, Jude Allen had married his second wife, about a year before the death of her mother, Mary Ann

Nickolas, who died with the birth of her last child. The new wife was Martha Anglesey, a 25 year-old convert from England, who crossed the plains with the Willy

Handcart Company in 1856. Martha Anglesey never had any children of her own, but she was busy with the family Jude already had. In 1861 Martha's sister Sarah came from England, and made her home with the Allen's. She became the third wife

of Jude, in 1865, and raised him a family of several children. Besides the plural wives of her father, she had two sisters who were married in

polygamy, Nancy and Mary. Mary shared her husband with Harriet May, the sister of her husband James. So polygamy was not new in the life of Martha Allen May,

but this was the first time she had been faced with being a polygamous wife herself.

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How well did she face new role? Listen to the story is told by Aunt Eveline, who was 10 years old the time. (I got this from Liona May, wife of Orlin May (Joseph Herbert

May). James said he let Martha know what day he would be home with his new bride, whom he had married in 1877. Martha was 38 years old, the mother of 11

children, so it would have been easy for her to have shown some jealousy, and spite, in this new arrangement. But this is the way she met the situation.

For some time before the arrival of the newlyweds, she had the children working at polishing up the place. They cleaned the barns and the corrals, the front yard and the backyard, and polished the house inside and out. Then Martha prepared the

ground floor bedroom - her bedroom - for the bride and groom, and she moved upstairs with the children. She gathered the children on the stairway, and told them

what was about that happen, and warned them that they were never to say one word against "Aunt Rhoda", or of their father. In fact they were to call her "Aunt Rhoda" right from the start. Apparently this attitude prevailed in the family, as the

children later said, that they felt as much at home in "Aunt Rhoda„s" home as their own.

This was a difficult time to start living the law of plural wives. Martha was pregnant again and "Tottie" would be born the following April. Then too, there was an

uneasiness throughout Zion. Their beloved leader, Brigham Young, had died the past summer. Brother George Reynolds, had been selected as a test case for the federal law against plural marriage, and had been convicted in fined $500 and

sentenced to two years in the state penitentiary. The case was then before the United States Supreme Court for final adjudication and the Saints were hopeful that

the conviction would be reversed and the First Amendment allowing freedom of worship. But the Saints had had dealings with the high court before, and had failed to receive justice in their efforts to get relief from their enemies in Missouri and

Illinois. So James and Martha and Rhoda had entered into the sacred calling feeling it their duty to do so, and hoping that everything would work out for the best.

Rhoda remembers, "That she went with her husband to Call‟s Fort after their marriage and moved in with Martha and her family." She lived there for three years

and during that time two children were born to her, William Lervon, and Mary Angleline (who was known throughout her life as "Minnie"). She then moved into her own home just a short distance away, where four more children were born, Jane,

Artemissia, Ben Hugh, and Agnes. She had to part with two children while there, William Lervon who died at the age of 7, and Baby Jane, just three months old".

Rhoda had her first baby, William Lervon, who was born on the 28th of August 1878; just four months after Martha had "Tottie". William lived only seven years and

was buried beside his baby sister Jane, in the Call‟s Fort Cemetery. They were the only part or of Rhoda that remains to witness that she had at one time lived in that community.

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(Martha Allen May and her family at the time James was called to the Cotton Mission.)

It was a real trial leaving Martha with her nine children. Hattie was less than two months old and Jimmy, the oldest, was only seventeen. But then there were Jude

and George who were fifteen and thirteen and with what help Martha and the girls could give with the chores and the garden, and always relying on the Lord for help

and guidance, they felt that they could get along. It didn‟t occur to James or Martha to refuse the call. After all it had come from a

servant of the Lord and He would care for those who served Him faithfully and well.

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Standing: Andrew, Emma, James Ira, ( Insert George ) Frank, Margaret (Maggie), Richard Middle: Harriett ( Hattie), Jude, Martha Allen May James May, Ellen

Seated on floor: Evelyn, Joseph, Mary Ann (Tottie)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It might be well to tell hear what little we know about Rhoda Ann Lang. "She was born at Mill Creek in Salt Lake County, one of 11 children were born to William and Mary Pugsley Lang. There was only one or a born in this family, and he died one

lesson three years old. One Rhoda was just six years old, her father and mother were called to help settle "Dixie" in 1862. She was born in 1856, the same year that

James May and Martha Allen were married.

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"The first few years of her life in the Dixie were spent in very humble circumstances, accompanied by a great deal hard work. Owing to there being no boys in the family,

it became necessary for the girls to assist their father in the fields, with the planting and care of the crops. They were therefore unable to attend school more than three

months in the winter, and that for only a few years. It is also recorded in her story, that sometime before she was married, James May was heard to make the remark, "That if he was looking for a wife, and she was the last woman on earth, he would

not have her". One can only wonder what caused him to make such a remark. Was it because her hands were hardened from toil in the fields and her face blistered from bought Dixie sun, but then she was young, only 21, strong, and used to the

work and care in a pioneer life. Sex appeal wasn't counted as and necessity in a polygamous marriage.

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James May

Chapter 2

James records in his biography: "1878. I was called to go and take charge of a

sawmill and a tie camp 12 miles north of Malad City in Idaho. I labored there with fair success for nine months. I sold out and went back to my farm. In the meantime I had finished my house and taken care of my farm". The House was finally finished

10 years after it had been moved into.

The following information was taken from the story of George May's life, written by his son Byron Wayne May.

"George was the third child a large family of fine people, eight boys and six girls, all of whom live to maturity except the fourth child, Henrie

Lyman, who lived from the January 25, 1918 Latter 63 to February 8, 1863.

"This seemed to be a very happy family who receive their early training from parents who were very gifted in the art of rearing children. As far as

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I know no mention was ever made of a child delinquency or youth problem.

"They were raised on a piece of ground that was virgin in every respect.

Ground that had never felt the touch of a plow or harrow; ground covered with sagebrush, cedar trees, June grass and other native growth. After this land was cleared and put into use of farming, it proved to be

fairly good farmland, but much work had to be done to make it more productive. Rocks had to be hauled away. These same rocks were put to use in building rock walls and that served as fences.

"The ground had wet spots that had to be drained before they could be

farmed. This draining was done by the only means they had at that time. This was done by digging out by hand, a deep trench that ran from the area to be drained, to the bottom land where it would be brought to the

surface gradually, grading it to the surface. After the trench was completed and the drain water was flowing properly, cedar limbs brought

from the hills were placed in the bottom of the trench in a manner to form a channel for the water flow through after the shoveled out earth was replaced. Sometimes rocks were used instead of cedar boughs, but

the cedar boughs were used mostly. After some time, quite a number of years, these drains clogged up and failed to function and had to be replaced. I can remember back to this time some 45 or 50 years ago

when they had to be replaced, and they were dug into, and the old cedar limbs were still found in good condition, but the earth had filtered down

into them stopping the flow of the water. "George, my father, had told me of one of the highlights of his boyhood

days. This would be in fall of the year after the harvest was over, and the wheat and other grain were in the granary. His father would give each of the boys a grain sack and tell them they could have a sack of wheat for

their summers pay. This would be a great time; every effort was made to get the last kernel of grain into the bag. Oh how they would jig and

shake and bounce these grain bags to get just a little bit more wheat into them.

"George lived at the old home in Call‟s Fort until he became a grown man. After leaving home he worked for a time for the “Giant Bar M

Cattle Co.” as a cowboy. He told of the time when hundreds of cattle perished in the Great Salt Lake, where a great herd of cattle was driven by a raging blizzard out of the North that stampeded them into the lake.

"There was another time when they took a herd of cattle to a place called Twin Creek, near Holbrook, Idaho. As they neared the Creek and the

cattle made a run for it, and in no time and all, they had drunk the creek dry".

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"George is married February 15, 1882, to Alice Hall, and they move to Rockland Idaho, where they live for six years, during which time they

had three children, George Absalom, Martha Lillian, and James Eugene."

Alice died March 7, 1888, so when his father left for Canada that fall, George was called to come back and manage the farm of Call‟s Fort. This was a happy arrangement for him as he brought his three motherless children with him for his

mother to care for and to raise, which she did. They never knew any other home after that than the home of "Grandma May"." I can still remember George Absalom (Little George, who was about 6 ft. 3) speaking with great affection of "Grandma

May" all the days of his life.

James Ira (Jimmy) was married to Elizabeth Ann Henrie, in Logan Utah, on December 29, 1876. James took his bride to the new community of Rockland, Idaho to homestead at a farm of his own.

Jude was the next to go, and he married Rosalie Elvira Perry on December 22, 1881,

just five years after Jimmy was married. Jude and Rosalie followed Jimmy and Ann to Rockland.

The George and Alice Hall were married less than two months later and they likewise set out for new pastures in Rockland. This gave the May boys a good representation for the beginning of that settlement.

Martha Ellen was married to Enoch (Nucky) Hunsacker on the 25th of October

1883, and they bought a lot in Honeyville, which was pretty well populated with the Hunsakers, and they spent their entire lives right there on that same lot.

Margaret (Maggie) was married to Osro Barnard in the Honeyville on the December 21, 1885.

Eveline married Elzarous (Zade) Hunsaker on the ninth of March 1887. They spent their lives in Honeyville, and are buried in that cemetery along with Allen and

Nucky. So six of the children had married, and establish homes of their own while their

father was still living with his two wives on the old homestead.

To get a further picture of what life was like let us refer again to the story of daughter Harriet: "Harriet's childhood was a happy time.

“Being one of 14 children, there were always brothers and sisters to play with. What fun they had playing in her father's large barn and climbing the apple trees and the large shade trees, which grew in back of the

house. In the evening when the supper dishes were cleared away, and all the chores finish, her father would gather his family in the parlor and

read to them, or tell them stories of his boyhood in far away England. He also sang to them in his fine, clear voice and taught them folk songs and his favorite hymns. Very often he would conduct a " spelling bee". It was

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great fun to see which child could stay up the longest and not be "spelled the down". In this way he taught his children to be fine spellers."

Emma says:

"Our home was a favorite gathering place of all the young people of the neighborhood. We always kept honeybees so there were many candy

pulls. We always had a large field of corn, and we kids surely had fun playing "Pomp, pomp, pull-away; hide and seek, and other games among the shocks after the corn was harvested. The yard was a large one, so we

all became good at baseball.

"In the fall, too, there was the hog butchering, where we help mother as she ground the sausage meat, and rendered the many big jars of lard, (earthen jars they were). The pork was cured and in the early spring we

took turns putting apple twigs on the fire in the Smoke House where that Hams, shoulders, and bacon were hung. This gave us meat all

summer. Then the fun we had seeing who would be the first to the old apple orchard to pick up the ripe apples that had fallen during the night. There never were such delicious apples as those we called the "June

Apples", because they ripened so early. From June until frost, there were always ripe apples, and in the fall we would take the Winter Pair Mains, and put them in pits dug in the ground and lined with straw. Then we

put straw over them and covered it with dirt. The apples came out crisp and were so good".

One thing that I remember my father (Richard C) say was that his father tried to keep Saturday afternoon free so the kids could get their playing done and leave

Sunday for Church work. On Saturday they went fishing, played baseball, or horseback riding, sometimes they went to Brigham City shopping. There were lots of kids in the neighborhood and they're fun was all home made. They had debating

societies, put on plays, like to sing a lot, had wrestling matches, Indian wrestling and footraces. Of course whenever boys got together on horses there had to be a

horse race. So life had it's fun as well as its work. During the years the two families were living in Call‟s Fort, the children became the

best of friends. It seemed that it didn't make much difference which house they were at when mealtime came, that is where they ate. And one thing the Martha would not

tolerate was any criticism of "Aunt Rhoda" or her children or their father. Nor would she tolerate any criticism of the Church Authorities. I suppose the same thing applied to Rhoda and her family. Martha was a thoroughly converted Latter Day

Saint, and she held a short rein on her family as long as they were in her home. Because of this standard, her family remained staunch in their convictions and firm in the faith all the days of their lives. I don't know much about Rhoda‟s family.

(Joseph Herbert May)

Martha sent five sons into the mission field, and help finance grandson's and others -some 21 missionaries in all. She worked in the Relief Society as the First Councilor

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for many years and was a relief society Teacher. She was the President of the Young and Ladies Mutual Improvement Association from 1900-1902.

The Ward records all replete with accounts of the activities of her children. Tottie

and Emma seemed to be in everything. Ellen was a councilor in the Primary when she was only 17. Andrew was President of the Deacons Quorum, councilor in the Sunday School, treasurer of the primary, as well as the Sunday School chorister.

Frank was the Sunday School chorister after he returned from Canada, and was called on mission in 1897.

From Martha's story:

"Although she could not read to spend the time, her hands were never idle. There was always knitting to do. Needles were knitting and purling, a stocking for a son, son-in-law, or a grandchild. She almost always had a pair

around Christmas time. Sunday was a Holy Day for her - a day of rest and of worship. She never touched her knitting or did any work more than

necessary on the Sabbath. She had a big "White topped" buggy and Sunday morning always found it pulled up in front of the chapel with her whole family in it for Sunday school. She took her seat with her brood well to the

front of the chapel, dressed in her black taffeta dress with a white collar. She loved to sing and her voice blended with the others in " High On The Mountain Tops" or " We Thank The Oh God for A Prophet". They were all

back again for a Sacrament Meeting later in the afternoon.”

During these years the railroad town of Corrine, only a short walk from the back door of the May home, 5 or 6 miles, became are roaring hotbed of gentile hostility. It probably had in it some of the same people who had persecuted the Saints during

their stay in Missouri and Illinois. There were also plenty of saloons and whorehouses, and it became a matter of real concern for the Saints, to keep their sons and daughters from being drawn to its attractions. It was also the freight

terminal where the wagon trains loaded up for their journey to the mines and settlements in Montana and Idaho. There was good money to be made in freighting

and hauling passengers. The freighting schedule at that time between Corrine and Helena, Montana was 20 days and nights, 1,000 miles round trip. The fare for passengers was $75.00 one way, at $7 per hundred pounds lured some of the

younger men into this enterprise. Again there was a general frontal attack against the Saints by their enemies.

These attacks took the form of a concerted effort on the part of the gentiles to get laws passed by Congress to curtail the Civil Liberties of the Saints. The first of these

with teeth in it was the "Edmonds' Act" of 1882, which made a practice of polygamy illegal with a maximum jail sentence of six months and or a maximum fine of $300. The law was made retroactive, so it included those who had been married for years.

All the legal officers of the state were federally appointed, and none of these were

members of the church. Every effort was made to make these penalties more severe. Even though the "Crime" was listed as a misdemeanor, they were sometimes set as high as $40,000. Then too, the courts ruled that a separate penalty could be levied

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for every offence. In the case of Lorenzo Snow, he was given the maximum penalty for three offenses -18 months in the state penitentiary, and a $1,800 fine. This case

was carried to the United States Supreme Court, where it was overruled, and only one set of penalties was allowed.

In 1877, the "Edmonds' Tucker Act" was passed which was construed to take a vote from any polygamist or anyone who believed in polygamy. In actual practice this

worked out to mean any "Mormon". With fewer than 40 percent of the population in Ogden and Salt Lake, the gentiles were able to take over the government of those two cities, and they proceeded to practice the "Carpet Bagging" they have learned so

well in the south after the Civil war. They looted the treasury and put their cronies in all the public jobs.

Dozens of Federal Marshals were brought in to hunt down the "Polygs”. They would break into homes without warrants in the middle of a night, and go into bedrooms,

and pull the covers of the occupants, this see you might be there. Wives were jailed for refusing to testify against their husbands, and children were likewise pressured

to testify against their fathers. All the property of the Church was confiscated, its leaders outlawed, and its

members hounded beyond belief. There was even an effort on the part of the gentiles to get all of the property of the Saints thrown open to homesteading, with the original owners not eligible to file. This legalizing of open confiscation and robbery

was too much even for the Congress, and it died an aborning (at or before birth). But there were plenty of congressmen willing to introduce such legislation, and

there was a constant drain on the Church and its members for legal fees. These are the thoughts of James on the subject:

"In 1862 Congress passed the Edmunds law and then commence the raids against polygamists which lasted for eight years. The men fled to

every point of a compass to escape the wrath of those righteous Pharisees, " who would strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel". About

1500 Saints were incarcerated and the raids cost the Church and its people nearly $1,500,000.

"1886. I was among the number who served a term of six months in the state penitentiary, and paid a fine of $100, much against my will".

Rhoda says:

"The women suffered great deal as the husband was constantly being sought by the officers. On the 13th of December 1886, the day she was 30 years old, her husband was taken to the penitentiary. The evening

before he left home, there was a party given for him in the schoolhouse, and of course the wives wanted to be present. Rhoda had a baby Agnes,

who was just two weeks old. It was raining terribly, and very cold, and she was taken in a rig and enjoyed the party. Coming home she was taken with chills, and was confined to her bed with a severe illness.

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While in the "Pen", Brother May attended school and receive more education than any other time in his life". (Sounds just like little old

Englishmen. He never wasted any time grieving, but put his misfortune to good use and came out better prepare for what lay ahead. Joseph

Herbert May) Rhoda‟s record continues:

"At the end of six months her husband was released, but for 6 months he never dared enter her house in the daytime. Whenever he came it was

after dark. The children, of course, noticed and when he would be passing the place they would go I then tried to call him in. One of them

said one day, "Momma, when poppa gets tired of Aunt Martha, he will come to see you won't he?"

Well, we'll have to go back a few years and catch up on the children. On September

19, 1880 Emma was born to Martha. Aunt Emma, she, with a bright little shoe-button eyes that were always crinkled in a smile. She who left her husband, to care for her mother, for 14 years before Martha died in 1923.

The Last to come was Joseph Eugene, who arrived on the 24th of May 1882. He was No. 14, with 13 of them still alive. It is quite probable that Martha's sister, Mary

Dewey, delivered every one of Martha's children. And so Martha, as Leah all old, "Left off bearing". She had given birth to one more child than all the for wives of

Jacob the father of the "Twelve tribes of Israel, and out of that brood only one had succumbed to the rigors of pioneer life. Jimmy and Jude and George were the only ones who had married. There were still four sons and six daughters left at home.

Rhoda had not been idle during those years herself. "Minnie" was born in 1880 and Jane in 1882. Barely 13 months later, Artemissia arrived, on the 27th of March

1883, and Ben Hugh put in his appearance on the fifth of January 1885. With the arrival of Agnes on the 29th of November 1887, Rhoda had the last of her children

who were born at Call‟s Fort. Can't you imagine the heart-ache of those involved as they made their plans to

break- up their home and move to a totally new community in a new land because of the bigotry and brutality of the people and leaders of their homeland. It wasn't

just the moving of a family to a new home, but it meant the breaking up of a family of two parts, equally reliant on each other. It meant leaving Martha with her family to shift for herself and her children, although they were older than the family of

Rhoda and so more able to care for themselves. It meant taking the father away from the children left behind with Martha, and those six sons and daughters who had married and were now bringing grandchildren into the world for James to enjoy.

They were, a close-knit family who loved and enjoyed each other and it was no small

thing for them to be torn apart. But it was a sacrifice they were willing to make in their determination to "do what-so-ever the Lord should, command them".

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The families were separated from that time on and have had only casual relation-ships after that time.

This little gem came to me after the rest of this history was all printed and ready to be put together. (JHM)

It is a picture of the children of Rhoda Ann Lang and James May, and must have

been taken just before they left for Canada in 1888. The baby, Agnes, was less than one year old, Ben Hugh was three, Minnie was seven and Mishie was five.

Gladys May Wilkerson (Uncle Jude's daughter) sent this picture, which was received

March 11, 1974. If there are any more such treasures any of you might have please send them to me.

J Herbert May,

James May Family Historian, 775 East Stetson Hemet Ca 92343

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Ibey May, Rhoda‟s 10th child, wrote a brief history on the life of James May in

Canada, and he reiterates the information that James had an enemy that was trying to get him back behind bars. The only place a name shows up before this enemy, is

in the Ibey‟s story. He says, "The informant was Laconius Barnard". Now the father of Osro Barnard, who married Margaret (Aunt Maggie) May, was named Laconius Barnard. It is unusual name and he was probably the man they were talking about.

Likely the reason James didn't mention the name was because he was Maggie's father in law. Anyway Ibey says:

"I heard this story one day in Brigham City, about one of the close calls with the officers. An old timer who knew father well said, " The two of

them, James and Laconius, started running when the officers apprehended them, and in going over the fence father cleared the fence and just kept on going, the other fellow's boot got caught in the fence,

and he said "Your dad just went to Canada, and I went to jail at Fort Douglas. (Fort Douglas is in Salt Lake City).

Rhoda said concerning the same thing: "One man there said, “that he would have Jim May looking through the bars again inside the six

months, and he tried very hard to do so". James version was this:

"1888. In order to escape another turn in the pan, on September the

20th, I loaded my wife Rhoda, four children; Minnie, Missia, Ben and Agnes into a light wagon and without any order of going, we left about 10:00 p.m. We started south to throw a bitter enemy of my track, and

went half a mile, and then turned north and didn't take any pains to tell anyone, where I was going. We traveled most of three nights, and then took it a little slower, three more days and then we took our time. We

reached Cardston, Alberta, Canada in 23 and one half days.

"I afterwards learned that this enemy of mine got on the track I made going south, and rushed in the Brigham City and told the United States Commissioner Carrington, that I've gone south with my second family.

The deputy commissioner had just returned from Salt Lake City and said, "Hey by G _ _, I met just such an outfit, describing me. Why in H_ _

_ didn't I think of that?" He then telegraphed to the deputy in Salt Lake City to be on the lookout for such an outfit. Carlos C Loveland heard of the fix I was supposed to be in, and went to President Snow and asked

what could be done about it. President Snow crossed one leg or the other And-as usual with him, at times, shook his foot and whittled. Carlos looked a little bit surprised and when President Snow said, "I guess he is

on the north side of the Snake River, He was much more surprise, and joyfully too. President Snow was a man of justice; a man who always

appeared to know just what to do at the right time. Many men that know what ought to have been done, but he knew just what to do.

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"This enemy of mine (to whom I had given $35 when his house burned down) said he would give $500 to have me behind bars again.

"As we jog along over the 700 miles to Cardston, nothing of importance

happened. We were alone all the way, but Rhoda was always afraid that something was going to happen. Not a day past but that we implored the aid of the Almighty. We got off the road two or three times, and lost one

half days but that was all. One rather strange thing did happen. In shooting as sage hen one day, I shot rather over the horse's head and stunned them so they could scarcely hear for several days".

I'd like to stop here for a little speculation - a favorite sport. It was late in the

evening when they left home and started south. James said they went about half a mile. This should have brought them to a road that went down past the old fort to the railroad tracks, where they could have turned north again. They had to be

covering ground they were familiar with to drive in the dark, and they had have a safe haven in mind when daylight came. Now where could they have been more

discreetly received than in the home of John C. Dewey, which was about the right distance, and on the way. Bishop Dewey was a double brother-in-law, having married James's sister Hattie, and Martha's sister Mary Allen. So they could expect

a welcome in this home, and be sure that their presence would be carefully guarded. The next night they had to get beyond Hamptons Bridge, which was another eight or

10 miles further up the road. This would require the payment of a toll and possible recognition, as James had gone this way many times to his sawmill operations up

around Malad City, Idaho. A 20 mile drive to that second night would have put them on the Washakie Indian Reservation, with probable friends at that point. The next night would put them into Idaho with a stop at the home of some friends in the

Malad area. Now this country, by this time was pretty well settled, so it is much more likely that they stayed with friends or relatives than that they tried to find and out of the way place to camp. Then too, they would have been much more

conspicuous camping than they would with their wagon drawn up behind some friendly barn, and their horses well fed on the inside of that same barn.

Beyond Malad they would have been in pretty much open country, with the road leading them over the regular freight route to the Montana mines over Monida Pass

to Dillon, Butte and Wolf Creek. Then they would go towards the Blackfoot Indian Reservation Headquarters at Browning, Montana, and so on over the Canadian

border to put themselves securely be on the long arm of law of the United States. Looking over the vastness of the map of Montana, is easy to see how they could have "Gotten off the road a couple of times and lost a day and half".

According to Rhoda, "The trip was made among many hardships and trials, and Rhoda, being a nervous woman, spent a great many of her nights sitting up,

watching the horses, and listening for anything that might molest them. One night they had to Indians for company, but they were not appreciated. However, the Lord

was with them, and they were brought safely through. They were three weeks on the way, arriving in Cardston, Alberta Canada on October 14, 1888.

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Since James give so little information about the trip to Cardston, and the kind of country they went through, I'd like to give some excerpts from the " Founding of

Cardston Vicinity" By Jane Eliza Wolf Bates, and Zina Alberta Hickman.

Charles Ora Card, President of the Cache Stake, was called in 1886 by President John Taylor, to go to Canada, and find a place that would be suitable for settlement by the persecuted Saints. He, with two or three other spent most of that summer in

looking for such a place, and finally decided on area centered on the Lee‟s Creek. President Card spent the next winter recruiting families to go with him to Canada.

When spring came 13 families were ready to go. They left early in March. This notation comes from that book.

"One of our to wagons had a set of bedsprings fitted to the extension of the wagon box. This was for mother and the children. Aunt "Zina‟s” wagon was arranged the

same way. All the wagons had boxes and were well packed. These extension wagons carried prepared sandwiches and rusks (oven dried bread) in case it was necessary

to go far before finding a campsite. Fastened on the back, on the outside of the extension wagons, were Mother's

rocking chair and Aunt Zina‟s camp chair. Our second wagon held bags of oats, flour, potatoes and other vegetables, the packed trunks of clothing, wooden washtubs and washboards, and such things as hand plows, camp stoves, shovels,

axes wrenches, wagon grease, pewter and tin table utensils, candle molds, bullet molds, nose bags for feeding oats to the horses; cooking pots and utensils, all iron,

tea kettle, a bake oven, frying pans; A rack made at one stop to accommodate a newborn calf. Other wagons had small coops containing a few chickens on the back of their wagons.

There were endless miles of sage brush, rough roads and often mud holes from which it took four and sometimes six horses to drag us out. I must mention the fact

that the clothing we wore was most substantial and warm. The women and girls wore homespun dresses with linsay-woolsey petticoats, high top laced shoes,

handed tailored, homespun suits for the men. Their shirts were of strong homespun cotton, handmade, and socks of home knit wool.

The cows sometimes became lame with cracked hoofs or with gravel in them. At such times days stopover was necessary. The hooves were washed clean of gravel,

filled with tar and wrapped with gunny sacking. Wagon wheels screeched and groaned over long stretches of prairie where “prairie

dogs” came out in numbers and barked at the intruders as they passed. A lone wolverine drank without fear from a stream that we crossed. There were many coyotes and badgers. There were often days of long, hard driving before water, grass

and wood, the three necessities, were found. Often, wood had to be carried along with us. From now on there were no roads, only old trails with ruts, stones, stumps

and tree roots to keep us bumping. There were often stormy days with both snow and rain to add to our discomfort. It was at Eagle Rock, now Idaho Falls, where we crossed our first toll bridge.

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Weather permitting, we spent our evenings around the campfires. Sitting on spring

seats from the wagons, or on packing boxes or fallen logs, we listen to the sweet strains of the mouth organ played by Will Rigby and by Brother John. One of the

favorite songs of all was "Hard Times Come Again No More", though often we sang hymns such as “All is well", (now known as “Come, Come Ye Saints”), and "O Ye Mountains High". After prayers of praise and thanksgiving, and petitioning for

continued guidance, we retired to rest as best we might in cramped and crowded spaces.

Sagebrush had been left behind. Instead there were wide, rolling prairies covered with tall waving prairie bunch grass, and wildflowers in profusion - bluebells, yellow

sweet peas, Indian paintbrush, cranebills, and buttercups. There was one thing resembling home - the Rocky Mountains - a wondrous range, with majestic, square topped Chief Mountain stationed in front as if to give strength and courage to our

undertaking. There was the morning sun coming up out of the prairie, the long days, numerous lakes dotting the landscape, and teeming with a variety of wild fowl.

Some were seen nesting near the water's edge. Prairie chickens, frightened from their nests along the way, ran swiftly in front as though racing with the teams. Badgers with treacherous holes, along the roadside, and hidden in deep grass,

provided a menace to man and beast. There was also the howl of the coyotes so dreaded in the middle of a night.

There was now talk of home. "Will be home tonight", "How good it will seem to be home", or "just wait till we get home". On arriving at the location in the rain, with

the long, sodden grass lying flat, the trees drooping and dripping, one wagon box in sight on the ground, on the east side of Lee‟s Creek, Wilford, age 4 clasped his arms around mother and looking into her face said, woefully, "MA, you said we'd be home

tonight". "Yes, dear, she said, this is home from now on". With quivering lips and brimming eyes he asked, "If this is home, where are all of the houses?" Mother gazed around too, who can tell with what longing, but bravely and cheerfully she

reassured him with promises of a home and happiness until all felt that spirit. A new country to subdue, wet weather over head and underfoot could not dampen the

spirits of that dauntless company. The first Sacrament meeting: In the tent, a large packing case was set up, covered

with and Zina‟s red flowered chenille tablecloth to cover as a pulpit. Another box was covered with of white lace trimmed bureau scarf, was used for the Sacrament

table. A few chairs, spring seeds from the wagons, boxes, nail kegs, and bags of oats were used to seat the congregation of all the little colony, and except for the drivers who were still in search of a horses. President Card presided at the meeting. The

service was one long to be remembered by those present. All the men spoke to an express their satisfaction in the hand of the Lord towards them for preserving them during their journey to this land. Here they could do his will in establishing a colony

of Latter Day Saints, as had the pioneers in Utah, under the leadership of Brigham Young in 1847, just 40 years earlier. All present were from the Cache Stake of which

Brother Card was President. The Lee‟s Creek Colony was now to be a branch of the Cache Stake.

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The future: ---- From a letter from Mary L. Woolf to her mother Elizabeth Hyde of Hyde Park, Utah.

"William says we must not like the place so well that we forget our old

associates. Dear boy, he doesn't know all. We have all lovely summer places here, better than we expected, for which we feel thankful, but we have left the dearest friends on earth, to come here. But we wish to do good

wherever we are, and make the best of everything. This is a trying time for the Saints, and under the present circumstances it will try the faith of many. But knowing as we do, I hope we will be among those to stand firm,

and in a short time, rejoice in each other society with the Saints of God.”

The pregnancy announcement:

“I had a little sewing bee, as the sisters wanted to help me. So I'm going to

tell you all I know. I hand cut and finished a nice Gingham Mother Hubbard, for comfort and to suit the occasion. I thought I would not tell you until

December, but I could not keep it. If I had remained at home another week, perhaps I would not have come. Now, when I tell you I am not very well, you will know there is a just cause. I know I will be better. I am stronger now

than I have been for a long time. We will have two log rooms by then.” The House:

The first homes are built to the square, gabled ends with beams and

floor joists. The roofs were covered with rough lumber, tarpaper and squares of sod placed closely together. The chimney was a 5 gallon coal oil can fitted in a square hole in the roof through which the stovepipe

was thrust. The walls were chinked with Split timber and plastered inside and out. The floors were made of rough lumber, either sawed with a “whipsaw” or hauled from Lethbridge with the doors, windows, nails

and tarpaper. The whipsaw was set up on a steep bank on the J A Hammer lot. Up to it was drug a log, which was marked with a string

dipped in flour or charcoal, and flipped along well like a log. One man operated his end of the saw by standing in the pit, and another man handled his end from the bank above.

All of a man could do carpentering of a sort, but four of them were

experienced carpenters, and gave assistance and advice to the others when necessary. These four were G L. Farrell, Robert Daines, J. E. Layne (my wife Doris Love‟s great Uncle) and Henry Hinman. None had reason

to be ashamed of his home or furniture, all were so nearly alike and the best to be had at the time. Homemade tables, benches, stools, wash benches and corner cupboards, nailed to the walls. For the beds some

small peeled logs were nailed to the walls and floor at the proper height for the beds. Poles were fitted and securely nailed to these and

bedsprings placed on top. Where there were not sufficient featherbeds or

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mattresses, bed ticks were filled with straw or hay, placed on the floor at night or on low trundle beds, which were pushed under the stationary

bed during the day, or on top of another bed.”

The colony continued in church affairs as a branch of the Cache Stake of Zion. Wherever the "Mormons" gathered, however small the group, there were close-knit bonds of community life. Their church tenets fostered

this and the strong belief in one of the tenets that "Man is that he might have the joy", brought them together often and regularly, not only for Church meetings on Sundays and at intervals through the week, but for

recreational purposes. They dance, and had spelling bees and singing practice; produced home dramatics, celebrated national and local

holiday; serenade each other at home, made their own Bob-sleighs and toboggans and engaged in winter sports. There were fun-loving and happy. But whatever they did was flavored with the religion with which

they were deeply imbued and from which they could not, under any circumstances be separated. Every gathering was opened with prayer,

tobacco and liquor were not tolerated; rowdyism and rough language were frowned upon and were decidedly unpopular. In their homes and at their banquets, tea and coffee were not used. Yet I cannot remember

among the Group, a single long face nor a piously fanatical person. They met together often to have good times, and good times they had a, both spiritually and temporally. We called each other “brother” and “sister”,

or the endearing terms of "Aunt" to a few of the older women “Aunt Zina”, Aunt Lizzie, Aunt Sarah, Aunt Rhoda, and felt the love the terms

suggested". So this is the kind of place and these were the kind of people by James and Rhoda

were going to live with only a year after the first colony moved to Canada. Rhoda may have even been the "Aunt Rhoda" referred to in the last paragraph. They had heard much about the new community, and knew that they would be welcome by

those already there.

To continue with this story: "The first night day, with four children, stayed at all of Uncle Henry

Hinman, who was then living in the William Aldridge house. The next day they moved into a one-room house without a floor and no plaster, and on

a lot where the family home stood until 1923. "Times were very hard with them for the first winter, everything being

freighted so far, and money was scarce, but the people were all very kind and all willing to help one another, and above all Lord, who had brought them here did not forsake them. So they got through the winter nicely.

Ibey says:

"Father homesteaded the northwest 1/4 of Section 36, just a mile south and 3 miles east of Cardston, and pre-empted a quarter section just on the

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southwest corner of this homestead, so that he had ½ section (320 Acres) of choice farmland. The first winter in Canada and they spent in the dugout

near the house of the Williams family, afterword belonging to the Stoddard family in my childhood the dugout was still there and was being used as a

henhouse. We kids used to play in it and on it and around it in our childhood days". This is different than the House Rhoda described, so draw your own conclusions.

"Because of his pioneering experiences in Utah, James was skilled somewhat in surveying, pan with a plank and the spirit level for a

transit, because that had nothing else, he was surveyor for the first irrigation ditch in Cardston, and very likely in all of Canada".

It might be interesting to insert here's some information gleaned from the "Manuscript History of the Church", about the early Canadian settlements.

"Cardston was settled in 1887 by a group of Mormons who fled from the

persecutions in Utah for polygamy. Some of the crops raised there were really quite fabulous. Root crops particularly did extraordinarily well. Cabbages grew to twenty pounds, and turnips from 18 to 24 pound's.

Potatoes 3 to 4 lbs. (at one District Fair, one display showed 59 pounds of potatoes from one hill), and carrots reach still length of eighteen inches. Onions would grow from seed up to 1 lb. in the season. There

were no fruit trees, but find shade trees. Oats and wheat were raised without irrigation and yielded from 25 to 63 bushels per acre.

"The houses were built of logs and lumber and the barns were of the same thing. A meetinghouse of lumber 26 by 40 ft. was one of the early

buildings, and thus schoolhouse of the same construction, 21 by 40 ft. was built next door. Jane Woolf taught the first school, at Lee‟s Creek, in 1888. She was called to teach, at age 13, by President Card. The people

are honest, thrifty, God-fearing and happy. They are not rich, but are comfortably housed, clothed and fed, and are full hearted and

hospitable." To continue with Ibey:

"Father was a good woodsman and especially clever with the hewing

hatchet, and he used to shape the corners of logs for many of the houses in Cardston. On one job he split his thumb with a hatchet on Saturday afternoon and went home to wrap it up. There were no doctors, so he

just pulled the thumb back together, wrapped it up, and dunked it in coal oil for a disinfectant. He never had the inside rag off for a month and kept it soaked karosene all of the time. I can still remember the

smell. However, when he took the wrapping off, the bone had knit and the skin had healed until there was only a small scar, and the split

thumb was as good as any of the rest of his digits. When the accident happened, one of the men said, "That is the last will see of Brother May

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on this job". Sam Matkin, our neighbor replied, "Don't worry, Brother May will be back on the job Monday morning", and he was too.

"He built a log house in 1889, added two more rooms to wit of the

following year, and had one of the most commodious homes in Cardston. That hauled fire would from the timber for many years, and many an amusing, interesting and near tragic story grew out of the experiences in

the timber and on the road". It is stated that when the fall work was done, and all was ship shape for the winter,

that James would take off for his home in Call‟s Fort. Uncle Joe lists the first of these trips:

"The winter of 1890 became back home for a visit. We were eating breakfast when he came in the House with a yell, and what a shock it

was to mother, also to the rest of the family, and what of visit we did at have.”

When he returned to Canada in the spring of 1891 he took be with him. I was 8 years old; would be nine on the 24th of the following May.

Uncle Joe Goes to Canada

"We left Honeyville, Utah about the first of March. Mother cried when she said goodbye to her baby, and the rest of the folks made quite an event

of it, but to me it was a great adventure. Mother had dressed me up in a new suit and overcoat, also a new cap, shoes and stockings. The latter she had knit herself. I had an old "Grip" filled with extra clothes.

"It was on the train going north, that father and I began to get acquainted. It was

like a new world to me, and I was bent on getting acquainted with it thoroughly, and as soon as possible. I talk to everyone and saw everything. Father was calling me, or hunting me most of the time. He said to me, "Now if anyone asks

you where you were going, you tell them you're going to Great Falls, Montana." I wondered why, and kept asking him why. He told me that the people were very bitter towards the "Mormons", and that we may get into trouble if it were known

who we were. He talked to me a good deal, and pointed out every campground that he and Rhoda used on their trip to Canada. In Pocatello he showed me

where Jimmy, George and Jude met him. George's wife, Alice Hall, had just passed away during childbirth. Grandfather was present and assisted with the funeral services.

"When we reached Great Falls, we found that we must wait for two or three days before the train left for Lethbridge, Canada. We spent this

time seeing the sights. Once while were crossing the Missouri River, on a steel bridge, we met a man who had a string of trout. We stopped and

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father and a man had a rather good conversation. I got tired of waiting and started looking for something to do. I looked up at the top of the

bridge and thought how fun it would be to get up on top of it. So up I went, and was soon as high as it was possible to get. Father commenced

looking for me up and down the bridge, then over the edges into the water. This must‟ve gotten him pretty scared as he began holler, "Joseph", "Joseph". He looked at me, and half angry and half glad, said ".

Come down from there, you young monkey". We then visited the electric power plant just below the city. The ice was just breaking up, but it was strong enough to hold my weight. I saw a tin can frozen in the ice out

over the tailrace, and went out to get it. While in the act, father and the man operating the plant, saw me and told me to get to shore at once,

which I did. I broke through the ice several times but reached the shore safely, but I was very frightened. I got my ears “cuffed”. I've visited this plant years afterwards, and saw water rushing, and boiling, where I had

once walked onto it. It was no wonder that the operator of a plant swore at me. Another time I got into a game of marbles with some boys about

my size on the street. We played " Knuckle Boston". (I have no idea of what "Knuckle Boston" is, and isn't that sad. Douglas L. May, April 2003). I won a dozen or so marbles.

The train was at last ready to move out of Great Falls for Canada. It was a mixed train of about 30 cars, two or three passenger cars and one

baggage car. It moved about 25 miles per hour, and stopped at every crossroad. We were held up at a station called, "Conrad", by a blizzard for

about 16 hours. And what a storm it was. The wind blew at a terrific rate, and the air was so full snow that we could see only a few feet from the train. We were taken aboard a passenger train that was going west, and

also got tied up. We were fed, and kept from freezing. When the storm cleared away, and the train dug out of the snow, we continued on our journey. We saw bands of antelope, and dry grass over the level prairie as

far as we could see. We were met at Lethbridge by father's team driven by either Dad Leavitt, or one of the twins, Edwin or Edward. The team, Sam

and Billy, where the same horses that took father and his family to Canada, and pulled the wagon, plow, harrows and all other equipment while I was in Canada. The two other horses, that assisted, were Pat and

Frank. It was and still is, 50 miles, from Lethbridge to Cardston we had to camp out one night on the way. The weather had changed from winter

to a wonderful balmy spring day. And the trip to Cardston was all pleasure. We followed pretty close to the St. Marie River, which we forded near the mouth of Lee's Creek the country was level and covered

with a heavy blanket of dry grass. Buffalo bones, horns and heads, in good condition, covered the ground. Coal cropped out of the ground at many places along the banks of the river, and at one place we build our

fire from the coal that we picked up. We arrived in Cardston after dark. I think it was Sunday night.

As we drove into town, the windows, lighted by coal oil lamps, could be seen in front of us covering a wide scope of the country. Father pointed

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out our house, and told me to run down over the hill, and surprise the folks, which I did. As I walked into the house and said "Hello,

everybody", I caused quite a stir. Aunt Rhoda said, "Well who are you?" And I said, "I am Joe". Then we all the hugged and kissed and got re-

acquainted. The house was a low log, two-room house that Father bought off of Jim Sherwood. There was a small log chicken coop, and a dugout barn for the horses. We sat up until late that night in visited. Many of

the neighbors came in to see father, and the children to see me. I went to bed with as many of the children as we could fit in. And so past the first night of my 31 months stay in Cardston.

"I soon became one of the family and one of the kids of the town. The

thing that gave me the most concern was the Indians. A tribe called the "Bloods", owned a reservation, which joined the town site and some of them could be found in the village at almost any time.

"The first morning at breakfast, I heard something at the window. I turn

my head to see what it was, and there, against the windowpane, were just as many faces as you could get in the space, and oh what faces. I almost fainted and could eat no more breakfast. The rest of the family

laughed at me, and paid no more attention to the Indians, than as though they had not been there. I had been filled up with Indian stories from my childhood, and could only think of Indians with white people's

scalps on their belts, feathers in their hair, and bows and arrows and tomahawks. I get used to the Indians however, and learned to speak

their language enough to get along with them in our games of play. In time I learned to like them very much. In fact years later, in February of 1910, while on a trip back to Canada, I met some of the same Indians

and enjoyed a visit with them as I would with any old friend. Many of my experiences while in Canada were with these Indian people.

"The people of the town were of a very fine type, and lived together in sickness, poverty, health and prosperity, in almost perfect harmony.

"Logs, of which the houses and barns were built, grew in the for some 20 to 25 miles out of Cardston. Much of the time we spent hauling these

logs out of the mountains. We usually use three horses, one on the lead, "Old Frank", and two others on the wagon tongue. I rode Old Frank

bareback; I suppose I rode him more than a thousand miles. We would always camp out one night on each trip to the timbers, so we always carried our bed and fry pan along with us. We hobbled the horses and

turn them out to feed. The grass was very good everywhere. "One trip, late in the fall, we were after a load of dry quaking aspen on

Fish Creek. We were just in back of your ranch where a Mr. Bright, who was a wealthy rancher, lived. While we were there a bad storm came up

just as we were leaving the woods. By the time we got to the gate of Mr. Bright's place, it was so cold and the air so full of wind and snow, that we could hardly get the horses to go into the gate at all. When we opened

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the gate, and turned them and they took a hold of the bit, and ran for the house, which was about 300 yards away. A man by the name of

Pearson met us, swearing like a trooper. "Good blankety blank”, why have you got this kid out in this kind of weather?" He took me into his

arms and we went in the house. It was the first time that I was ever in such a place. Everything but the stove was covered with fur. A fireplace and a nice fire made it so comfortable. There were three men and no

women or children. They took a special interest in me and showed me everything. Their guns took my eye in the most. They had eight or 10 different guns. Whisky was part of the daily food, and they had a 16-

gallon barrel. They made me at toddy, and gave father about pint. Father was a good entertainer, and everyone seemed to enjoy the evening. While

outside the wind and snow were howling. The next morning the wind had stopped, and the sky was clear, although it was quite cold. We had little trouble in getting our load of wood home.

"We use to load our mowing machine and rake onto the hayrack and go

out on the prairie and cut and put up hay. One year we were up in Buffalo Flats haying, and a storm came up one afternoon just as we were getting supper. A wolf let out a howl just a little way off, and then

another, and another, and another until we could count by the howls about a dozen. Every once in a while we could see one out in the darkness. Chills ran all over me. Father loaded the shotgun, and we sat

there waiting for something to happen, but nothing ever did happen except a scare that I will always remember. People who have never heard

a gray wolf howl have no conception of what a dismal, blood curdling sounded it is. The next morning Andrew Hinman came up to camped and told us that and old bull, nearby, had been killed and partly eaten by

wolves. "While we were hauling the hay into town, we camped on the road one

night, and made our bed on top of the load. A storm came up and father got me up to get down under the wagon out of the storm. I was still half

asleep and as a result I walked off of load and landed on the wagon tongue. I was bruised some, but no broken bones.

"One season I hired out to a man by the name of Baker, to fish for his hay crew. He had a contract to put up hay for the "44" Ranch that belong

to Billie Cochrane. I fished in Lee‟s Creek and many a fine mess of trout did I catch. Jim Anderson used to go with me on rainy days. He was the hay rake boy or one of them. On this job the men, women and boys sat

around a campfire each night and amused themselves by singing and telling stories. Sometimes we can hay our field, which was 160 acres, about 5 miles south of town.

"I was ordained a Deacon by Sterling Williams, and I will always

remember the fine meetings that were held in Cardston during those early days. (He must have been 11 years old when he was ordained a Deacon, J.H. May). The people live very close to the Lord, and were

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blessed accordingly. The ordinances of the Gospel were administered in great faith and humility. People bore testimony of the truth of the

Gospel, as restored through the Prophet Joseph Smith, with great power. The gift of prophecy and tongues and healings were not uncommon. I sat

in the Sacrament meeting on the front row (probably by his father's orders) and listen to a prophecy given by Apostle John W. Taylor, and have literally seen its fulfillment. At the time the people were very

discouraged, as the wheat had been frozen for two or three successive years. Some of the settlers had moved, and others were preparing to go. I can hardly remember of meeting any bread that was not made of frozen

wheat. The bread was dark and would have a peculiar odor, and it was always sticky or gum like. We ate in however. But the vegetables were

the best ever. To persuade people to stay, required some work, and it was for this purpose that Brother Taylor was speaking. Near the close of his sermon he said something that sounded like this. "I prophesy in the

name of the Lord Jesus Christ that you will raise wheat and have an abundance of it. A telephone and railroad will be built in the your town,

and you will become a prosperous people, and a Temple of God will be erected here, dependent upon your faithfulness". Everyone felt power of that speech, and believe de prediction to be from God.

"I attended Aunt Rhoda‟s funeral in Cardston last fall, and while there I went through the Cardston Temple. The Temple President, President

Wood, asked me to speak. I was impressed at to tell that same story. (This would have been in 1936). Others, who were present in the Temple

that day, were also present when the prophecy was made. The railroad is complete, and also the telephone. Several large grain elevators are evidence that wheat is grown in great abundance. Besides this, there has

been raised a very fine type of men and women, that are a credit to the Church and to the Dominion of Canada.

"I think Aunt Rhoda tried to be fair with us children, and gave me the same consideration that her own children received, but she could not. I

found myself much neglected. My brother Frank came to Cardston in the spring of 1893. He found me wearing a pair of Daddy's old overalls, and other clothes to match. He took me to the store, and fitted me out with

the new set of clothes.

"I was ready to come home that fall. Father made a deal with a Mr. Hanson for me to ride with him in a light wagon to Pocatello, Idaho. We left Cardston about September 1, 1893. Heber Hanson was a man about

30 years of age, his mother about 65, and myself. We traded teams several times on the way and had a pleasant trip. I left the wagon at Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls) and caught a freight train. I was soon in

Pocatello, and went to the Kelly and Cleaveland saloon where I expected to find Rob Kelley, which I did. My sister Hattie, Robb's wife, was living

there at that time. She with two of her children, Burt and either Charles or Eugene, brought me to the Honeyville.

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"I was full of hope. I had not seen mother for nearly three years, or any of my brothers or sisters. Meeting them again was surely a great joy to

me."

- - - - - - - - - - - I have listed verbatim all of Uncle Joe's report of his stay in Cardston. If it is one of

the first hand sources available to be included in the story of James May. Although it is seen through the eyes of a nine to 11 year-old boy, it tells pretty well the way that life went in the early days of Cardston. It also lets us know that there was no

trip home by grandfather between the years of 1890 and 1894, at least.

Uncle Joe states that Uncle Frank came to Cardston in 1893, and the records of the ward show his membership record as being read in in 1894. Frank had hardly arrived before the worst blizzard that they had experienced since the settlement was

founded hit the community lasting from May 17 till May 23. One big sheep ranch reported to have lost $40,000 worth of sheep. (At six to $10 ahead for sheep, you

can figure out the number that died). The people had been trying to get the money and materials for a bridge across the

St. Marie River, and had finally received some aid from the Dominion of Canada, with the government appointed engineer to supervise the construction. As the building progress, it became evident to some of those old practical pioneers that the

bridge was not going to be strong enough. Their warnings were not heeded, and the bridge was completed during 1893-94. The bridge was hardly finished before it

collapsed. It was just another one of those setbacks that they seem to be continually plagued with.

James didn't go back Call‟s Fort at the same time that Joe did, but it is reported that he was present at the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple, in the spring of 1893, so if he was present he went down the winter before without taking Joe with him.

There were a lot of Saints from Cardston that went down to Utah the fall before, so that they could be present for the Temple dedication. It is told that the children,

that had been born in Canada, had never tasted such fruit as peaches and apples, and they got to Utah in time for the peach and apple harvest, and thoroughly enjoyed their introduction to those fruits. However, one little guy when offered an

apple from of bowl, during the winter, wanted to know if his Aunt, where they were staying, didn't have some carrots.

Ibey again:

"Father was not too long on patience, but was quite a psychologist. He had one balky horse, and fellow travelers said when "Dud" would balk, Father would chew his ear for a while, and then tie up one front foot for

a while, and usually when the foot was released, "Dud" what lay in the his collar and take the load up the hill. The old dug-way, was the proving

grounds for the pulling qualities of the horses. I don't remember any trips to the timber, but I well remember the old woodpile and what a lot

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of coaxing it took to split up some of the tree stumps and windfalls that found their way into the pile.

"Father was a great lover of horses, and a good horseman. He never rode

an implement in all of his years of farming, and he would go out and plow all day without ever taking down a line. (He never stopped). His furrow's had to be perfectly straight, and his land was always well work

and free from weeds. I remember the other children of the family talking about pulling weeds out of the grain, and also helping in hauling a rock, although I didn't get in to that too much myself. Ben finally talk father

into buying a sulky plow (A plow that you would ride.), but father never plowed with it, and it always worried him that a good straight furrow

couldn't be made with a sulky plow. And he always felt it was said insult to a good respecting horse for a man to expect a horse to haul him around all day in the field. However, in his latter years, he owned of

wheat binder, one of the first ones in the District, but whether he ever used it, or had Ben do the cutting with it, I can't remember.

"He was an expert with a scythe, and before lawnmowers became common, I remember him going around to cut lawns with his scythe, and

they would really let nice and even too. "As a Churchman, he was aggressive, dependable and immovable in his

testimony of the Gospel, and his allegiance to the leaders of the Church. He was on the Stake High Council for many years, and whenever he had

an appointment farther away than Leavett or Beaser, he would always go to his assignments on the Saturday afternoon before the meeting, and then come home Sunday afternoon, after Sacrament meeting. I

remember one or two of these trips to Bishop Beaser‟s and to Brother Earl's in Mountain View.”

Naomi, Uncle Frank's daughter says:

"In didn't cost a man much to build well there, except for nails, Windows, tarpaper, hardware and such. Mostly it took only hard work and long hours, hauling in the logs from mountains.

"The land was plowed with a walking plow, and harrowed with six head of

horses pulling the harrow. Grandpa spent the greater part of his life in Canada alone on that ranch at Aetna. He had 10 head of milk cows in town, and Aunt Rhoda and the children milked them, and they made and

sold the butter. "Frank, along with other young men of the town, would herd their cattle

on the Indian reservation. During the fall harvest, Grandpa May, with the other man boys, hauled the grain they raised, the 48 miles to Lethbridge.

They would leave long before daylight on Tuesday morning and on Wednesday morning they would start back, their wagons loaded with freight to replenish the co-op store, which was owned and operated by a

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large company of LDS people. As soon as possible grandpa built a good-sized house, and Aunt Rhoda and her daughters began to take in

boarders. She was a little, hard-working woman, not very religious, but she left some posterity that anyone could be proud of.

"Those freighting trips were really something. Four horses to a wagon, no roads, no bridges, often mud belly deep on the horses. They would take

for horses off of one wagon, fasten them in front to a stuck wagon, and pull it through the bad place, and then go back and get the other wagons through the same way.

"The fellows really enjoyed those trips and they especially enjoyed

Grandpa. He was witty and a good story teller and had lived through some very interesting experiences to tell about.

"The Book of Abraham was one of his dearest pieces of literature, and he bought as many books on astronomy as he could get, and would delight

in explaining his learning to the young men. He liked the 88th Section of the Doctrine and Covenants too, and tried to live its teachings and learn all he could about everything. Those old pioneer men had some fine

qualities, and there was almost no limit to their resourcefulness. The way they could care for themselves, their families, their farms and flocks with no outside help except as they depended on the Lord to give them

strength and wisdom for their needs. It was common for man to help deliver his neighbor's children, and then to fix a broken wagon or doctor

a sick cow, and then take charge of a meeting where the spirit of the Lord was present in rich abundance.

"Something here should be mentioned about the food in Canada. It consisted of grain, often frozen, which made a dark heavy loaf. The vegetables in season were wonderful. Those vegetables such as corn,

peas, lettuce, radishes, beets, turnips, were eaten during the season. And potatoes, carrots and rutabagas kept well for winter storage. The growing

season being from May through September made it impossible to raise tomatoes squash and melons etc. So this was a small part of the food. Mostly, it was wild berries and wild game, of which, there was an

abundance. The men would come home from duck hunting with hundred lb bags filled with ducks. Fishing was excellent to, and fish provided a

large part of the food. All of these things took many hours of time to provide. Then there were dry beans, rice, etc., which the men freighted in by wagon and teams."

James's daughter Eunice recalls:

"I remember one trip father made to McCleod for supplies for our family. One of those Canadians blizzards came up, and Mother was of course,

worried sick. She had us all say a prayer for our father's safe return. He was driving our old Sam and Billy. Pa thought he must be near our home, but suddenly the team stopped, and just wouldn't move. So he got down

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with lantern, and the team had stopped about a foot away from a wash. He said he was glad the horses had more sense than he did. I know he

was a hard-working man, and an honest one."

Ibey says:

"After settling in Cardston, the children kept coming. William and Jane

were buried in Call‟s Fort. Then after arriving in Cardston with the four already mentioned, five more children were born. They included Eunice, Zina, Alice, Ibey and Ross. Zina and Alice both died in childhood. Alice

died when she was about eight years old, and soon after Ross was born. I remember Alice sitting up end bed holding Ross during her last illness.

She had blond, or golden hair, shoulder length in curls, and sitting up in bed made a great impression on my young mind.

"Father used to spin his summers here, and when the work was wound up, and winter supplies in, he would take off for Utah, to spend for five

months with the other family, and work in the temple at Logan".

This finishes Ibey‟ contribution.

Here is more information about Aunt Rhoda‟s family. She was about two months pregnant when she and James left for Canada, and on April 12 1889 Eunice Effie

was born. She was later married to Claude Albert Ferguson.

Two years later, on July 10, 1891 Zina Lange arrived. She lived only until March 6 1894. Less than three years.

Rhoda Alice was number nine for Rhoda, and she put in her appearance October 24 1893 and died on May 7 1900.

Sterling Ibey, the third son, was born March 6, 1896. He married Edith Florence Quentin.

Ross Ronald was the last child but Rhoda had, and he was born April 6 1900, just a month before Alice died. Rhoda was 43 years old. She was the same age as Martha

was, when Martha had her last child.

The Alberta Stake was organized at the General Conference of the Church in Salt Lake City, with Charles O Card as its President on April 10, 1895. James May was sustained as the senior member of the High Council and supervisor of the visiting

teachers. Frank May was called as a missionary from the Harper Ward in 1897, and was

assigned to work in eastern Canada. He had been married on December 16, 1896, and received his mission called January 4, 1897. Frank was married to Emma

Jeanette Wight. She probably didn't know what one Frank laughed, but she was pregnant, and Orlin was born the following September.

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After more than eight years of widowhood, Uncle George married Martha Davis. They were married in the Salt Lake Temple December 17, 1896, the day after Frank

and Emma were married in the Logan Temple. George received a call to go to the mission field January 8, 1898, and served two years in the Southern States.

That James was back in his home at Calls Fort in the winter of 1898-99 is evident from a family picture that was taken at that time. The picture that has an insert

picture of George, so it had been taken after George had left, and after Frank had returned, which would have been after January 1899. This picture is one of the worthwhile momentos we have of James and Martha and their family.

I suppose this would be a good time to complete the recording of balance of

Martha's family and their marriage dates. Andrew was the first to marry after his father had left for Canada. On the 11th of

November 18 91, he took to wife Laura Summerill. She was so small, and I can't understand how she was able to put up with his nonsense all those years. But they

were indeed fruitful and multiplied and replenish the earth. Hattie was the next to Mary, and on October 6, 1892, she married Robert Charles

Kelly. Andrew and Laura had gone to Rockland, Idaho to live, they were followed there by Hattie and Bob. Hattie spent most of the rest of her life in Rockland, and was buried there September 7 1918.

Big Frank was next in 1896 as we have already stated above.

Richard C. had been going to school in Logan, where he attended the B Y C in 1896-97. And then went to the Agricultural College in 1897-98. It was here that he met a

girl from Spanish Fork Utah by the name of Eunice Ellen (Ella) Snell. She and Richard were married August 8 1898 at the home of her father in Spanish Fork.

Tottie went to Snowville to teach school, and there she met John Arbon, a local cowboy. They were married May 5 1900, and lived all their lives, in Snowville, until

John died. John was not active in the church most of his life, and Tottie felt it was her duty to do all work that the family should have done. So she was in everything. She was the last leaf on the tree this 95th year of her life in 1973.

Aunt Emma married Arthur Davis on May 5 1904 (or was it October 8 193?) I have

both dates. Emma didn't have any children of her own and they adopted a son, named Owen. She and Davis didn't live together much of their lives.

Joseph Eugene and was the last to go, and he married Agnes Louise Lee on August 9 1909. They also went to Rockland to live. Hattie and Andrew and Joe were the only ones in the family that stayed in Rockland.

Some more about Martha during this period: in the late nineties She made a trip by

her team to Yellowstone Park. This was a wonderful trip for her and she often talked about it. In July of 1900 at her son George and his wife Martha, and children Alice and Leon took her to Canada to visit her husband and Rhoda and their family.

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They went by rail, and while there they spent a week on Courtney Lake. Another trip she took of any distance was too Park City, Utah to visit her daughter Emma. She

traveled with her granddaughter Jenny Hunsakers, and they travel by rail also.

In researching this story the following article was found in the Church archives. "The Alberta Star",

Thursday March 15, 1906. (Parents Entertain the Band). This was evidence last Thursday night when they entertain their boys - members of the Cardston military band - at the home of Mr. and Mrs. James May.

It was undoubtedly one of the largest gatherings ever assembled within the residential precincts'. The boys were there in all their glory and

showed their great liberality in blowing themselves for all they‟re worth. They played and replayed and when they did play even and the delicate voice of the editor was hushed in silence. Someone was cruel enough to

suggest that the Military Band was the proper accompanist for the editors warbling. That maybe so, but the boys will turn blue in the face

up against a proposition like that. "Mishie and Agnes May were among the waitresses. Eunice May and

Rhoda Stoddard received the guests. Two of the Band members coming in late increase the number to 30, with Mr. and Mrs. Will Cleaveland (Aunt Minnie), Mr. and Mrs. James May. This made a grand total of 79.

"Short speeches were made by James May and Ben May. (Ben would have been 21 at this time). Everybody seemed to be more than delighted and

for the most part were literally, "To full for utterance". The boys will no doubt take great encouragement from the words of counsel and a eulogy given them".

Well, the available information has pretty well been brought together, up to the time of James's death. Earlier in 1910 James's health began to fail him, and he wanted

to be brought back to the old home in Calls Fort, so Martha sent their youngest son Joe, to Canada after him. They had to make a bed for him on the train and he

arrived home with his strength pretty well spent. He lingered on for a while after getting back where his heart had probably never left. He died on the 29th of March 1910. His funeral services were held in the Harper Ward Chapel on April 3 1910.

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Andrew Evelyn James Ira Frank Harriet Richard (Hattie)

(Insert - George)

Margaret Jude Martha Allen James May Martha Ellen (Maggie)

Emma Joseph Mary Ann (Tottie)

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Funeral Services of James May

Funeral services over the remains of Brother James May were held at the Harper Ward Meeting House April 3 1910. Councilor Joseph Gibbs, Presiding, and was in

charge of the services. Choir rendered the hymn " Rock of Ages" (My Refuge)

Opening prayer was offered by Abraham Wheatley Quartet rendered the song " Beautiful Isle of Somewhere"

Brother _______________ Christensen of Elwood was the first speaker. "It was rather unexpected to be called upon to speak to those present in view of so many

neighbors and friends who were more intimately associated with the deceased. He felt much honored and very grateful to the family who had invited him to be present. About 40 years ago since he became acquainted with Brother May, having met him

in the year of 1874. He was very much attached to this man by reason of conditions, which surrounded them at that time. President Lorenzo Snow, of the Quorum of the

Twelve Apostles, at that time was inspired to send several missionaries to Southern Utah. He was one of that number, with others, were sent with Brother May. Brother may seem to manifest much interest in him what was under his charge, which was

attributed to Brother Christensen‟s somewhat youthful age." "I have been very intimately acquainted with him ever since. It was to my mind the beginning of a

useful career in religious capacity. We are laying away one of the Jewels, who was called here to perform a great mission. Brother May was an honest man who had the Gospel at heart at all times. We can feel the satisfaction that we lay away man

who has earned a sure reward. Trusted that the family left behind and would cherish the memory of their father -would follow his example and conduct. There are none of them but could say his counsel was good. I had a conversation with the

son who said that he had never known his father to do the act that he should be ashamed of. He felt that this was a great satisfaction."

Brother Christensen all had words of encouragement to offer to the family and friends. He urged France offer words and acts of kindness and encouragement, to

the good wives and children left behind, so that we may truly feel that we are brothers and sisters indeed. We will all travel the same final road that Brother May

has traveled. Brother Thomas Wheatley of Honeyville rejoiced to see so many present. He was 19

years old when he became acquainted with "Father May" as he loved to call him. The Lord has blessed the Brother May through all his trials of life. He had taken him to his home and taught him the gospel -shared with him his testimony of the Gospel,

which had caused Brother Wheatley to investigate the church for himself. The Lord had manifest did great truths through the Book of Mormon which he found time to

search through during all his labors. I had labored with Brother May in the harvest field and with him as a Ward Teacher and elsewhere, and I'll always found him to be true.

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Brother May came here at about the year 1852. He had across the plains landed here as an orphan, a poor pioneer, and had endured all hardships and hard work

incident to pioneer work. I stayed with him while here on a visit last June, and talk during the hard work, which Brother May felt he could hardly avoid. I helped him

off to Canada during conflicting conditions of that time, and felt that he was doing his duty. Brother May considered his children to be faithful. The children felt that they were much indebted to their father for his counsel. Brother Wheatley

remembered all gathering in the old school house at Call‟s Fort, in which Brother May recounted the times and hardships he pass through. He had hoped to so live his life that the scales of justice would balance in his favor. Brother May was an

honest tithe payer. We should all live such a life as Brother May".

Brother Nels Madsen of Brigham City regretted he was late in attendance. It reminded him that Brother May was never late. He had always been prompt. "This Brother was a real man in his heart, I was the baby, instead of being Brother

Christiansen." Brother May had his faults. Every man has them or they would not be here. He had his burdens, but he was a "Strong wagon" so to speak, "And the tire

or fellow never loosened." and he never waited for others to go forward. His motto was, "Come on Boys". He never asked someone to do some chore he would not do himself. He was glad to be a friend of Brother May. He said he remembered

conditions on the farm, his order, and system and preparation. I could say all the good we could think about, and yet not tell all the good about Brother May by half. He was a jewel among men. He would not be ashamed of his life. His life was a

genuine reality. "I am thankful that he lived, for he was an example to follow". I can still hear him reading in teaching the Gospel in the camp. He was patient and slow

to anger. The time to know a man, he had concluded, was when they are in their overalls. (Cotton Farm)

Brother George A. Smith had said of George Reynolds, "Do as much you can and you cannot overtake Brother Reynolds". The same could be said of Brother May. Brother Madsen hoped that the Lord would bless us as he had Brother May. His life

was a matter of principle. We should prepare ourselves to meet him, a man who was a prince indeed.

Brother Wight, in reflecting on the past, recalled many interesting incidences'. He remembered as saying on Brother May, "The Sin of omission was as great as the sin

of commission". The Lord had blessed his industry. He had not earned $1 by speculation. He believed in paying Tithing and in improvements. The Rock School

House, at the north end of the Ward was a monument to his industry. Brother May was also instrumental in the erection of the new Meeting House. Brother Wight was not permitted to live the hardships with Brother May, but was thankful to have lived

close by. Brother Orson Loveland, of Honeyville, felt the degree of pleasure mangled with

sorrow in listening to the remarks of the others in extolling the life of Brother May. He had noted the conditions of his family in surroundings. He had labored with

Brother May at the Marsh Valley Mills, where he handled and ox team. He said, "Brother May was a man who labored with honor and not for the dollar". He had learned many a good lesson from him. He noted Brother May's industry and his care

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of tools and of others. He knew from his course in life, that Brother May, had taught his family the correct way.

Sister Lottie Cazier rendered, "O, my Father"!

Brother Merrill felt peculiar in associating with us today. His association with Brother May began in Bountiful. He had always learned to love and respect him. He

explained how they obtained his present residents through Anson Call and Colonel Loveland. He said he spent one year of his life with Brother May at the mills; related difficulties that happened there. For political purposes, he and others were arrested

in 1867. They were placed in the jail at Malad Idaho and later the jail was destroyed by a fire, while they were confined there in. this was followed with other difficulties

which did not amount to much. He considered Brother May this soul of honor. His life was like a machine and that had run down. He had looked upon him as a friend. The "Old people" are all going on, continued the speaker. The young must fill their

place. (These speakers were mostly with James on the Cotton Mission.)

Brother Dewey remembered that Brother May, had said, “it was battered wear out than the rest out”. His mother (Harriet) was Brother May's sister. Brother Dewey had lived with Brother May during some of the difficulties attending his life. He had

his faults as do all this. A great posterity was left. He was a good Councilor and an advisor.

"Who Are These Arrayed in White?”, was rendered by Victor Madsen, Isaac Jensen, and sisters Casier and Madsen.

As ye sew, so shall you Reap. As you mete out to others even so it shall be meted out to you, were the sentiments expressed by Brother P. Madsen. Happy is the man

who has earned his reward that is well with him. Brother Denmark Jensen of Brigham City was equated with Brother May when he

was a young man. His father had often spoken of Brother May and Jude Allen as great men. His father had known all the men up to Hamptons Bridge, and recalled

one trait exhibited in Brother May in his tithe paying. He always paid in the best. A small boy and ask him why he did not pay his tithe in corn as he had harvested it, or as it came. Another incident illustrates give of honesty was related of man in

Davis County who repenting of having "Struck the measure", thereafter he said the measure is not ull till not one grain would remain on the measure. These were good

examples, thought the Speaker, of the traits of an old pioneer who had come here. We are simply reaping the benefits of their toil and industry. We ought to reverence them and follow their counsel. While working on the farm north of Brigham City, he

had known that some of our good men were going on foot to attend Priesthood meeting, and that some who walked from Brigham City to Salt Lake City to attend a conference. Who will do this now? There is an absence of that kind of character in

the present age.

(Rhoda, his second wife, and their son Ben came from Canada to attend the funeral.) 72

Joseph Gibbs could bear his testimony to all that had been said of the good things of Brother May. He heard him talk to in relation to Tithing and his honest views in

relation to that matter. Much more could be further said, but time would not permit.

The funeral services were closed with the choir singing, "Nay Speak No Ill". Brother Jensen, of the High Council, offered the benediction.

Of course the passing of James May of Chieveley doesn't end the story of his life. As he had said way back in the beginning of this narrative when his father and mother

and family had joined a church to Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "This changed the aspect of our after lives". He couldn't have dreamed that there would have been such variety of experiences ahead of him.

Martha could have been well pleased with the family she had born and largely

influenced. In about 1918 they were all at home. This must've been shortly before the untimely death of Hattie. So while they were altogether she sat for a picture with her daughters and then her son's. On closer inspection of those two pictures were

taken at different times the one of the daughters must've been taken some years earlier. I would think that grandmother's face in the picture with the girls is at least 10 years younger. They are a fine looking group of women! And what about those

seven sons? Any one of them you could feel good to call your father.

Three of her son served as Bishops' in the Church, two of them were in the Bishopric, and one was the Stake President for 18 years, and in another Stake Presidency for 10 years prior that. Seven filled to missions for the church. They all

had good homes and good families. Many of their posterity have filled responsible positions in the church. There have been many missionaries among them.

Of the daughters, while all remained staunch in the faith, their success in the church was a mixed bag. Some of their children and their grandchildren are still

following the path way laid out for them by James May and Martha Allen, while others are not.

"Martha's eyes began to grow dim and dimmer until finally she was in total darkness do cataracts. This she endured for three years. Dr. Stauffer, in Salt Lake

City, who saved the sight in one eye, operated on her eyes. What a joy she felt when she saw the first train pass through the old cow pasture below the house, as she sat on the back porch. The old home had been fitted with electric lights, and later water

piped into it, affording her modern conveniences. Her first child to pass away was her daughter Harriet, who died while yet so young,

September 7 1918, at the age of 44. And again death came to the family taking Frank, her ninth child, the great “May Scouter”, October 23 at the age of 51. In her

declining years she wanted her daughter Emma to take care of her. In fact, she

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would have no other. Thus through Emma‟s love for mother, she sacrificed her home and husband to care for her mother, which covered a period of 14 years.

It was the month following her son Frank's death, on November the 17th, at 2:00

p.m. 1923 that her noble spirit left its earthly tabernacle. She was laid away by the side of her husband James and son Frank, in the Call‟s Fort Cemetery where her lifelong friends Hannah and Thomas Harper were buried."

The above account, of a life of Martha Allen May was written by her granddaughter Jenny Hunsaker Crowley, daughter of Eveline May and Elzarus Hunsaker, May

20th 1940.

Martha died in her eighty-fourth year after having lived in the same house for 54 years. As she joined James in their final resting place and the snows covered them over, they joined hands on the pathway to the Celestial Kingdom, which they had

striven for through their lifetime. They waited together for Rhoda, when her time should come.

The last tender 12 years of Rhoda is life were spent with less of the strenuous manual labor that characterized her early life. She was quiet and unassuming. Her

whole life was one of devotion to her family, and to the ideals of the Church of her choice. In earlier years in Canada, she took in boarders and roomers to make the necessary money to feed, clothe, and educate her children. They have all had the

privileges of every opportunity they would embrace in school, and also music and art, as far as finances would possibly permit.

Thanks to a kind and merciful father, she is spending her last days in ease and comfort, and was he suffered much from physical illnesses for many years; she has

been able to enjoy a good degree of health and strength for one of her age. Since the Temple (Cardston she has derived much joy and satisfaction from working there for dead ancestors. She still has the use of all her faculties and while her sight is

getting rather dim she can still read and do needlework, thereby finding something to occupy her time. She is still interested in her family and that nearly 76 years of

age (1932), is trying to carry the burdens of all children, and is interested in everything they attempt. Especially when it is in the cause of truth and righteousness.

In closing this sketch in looking back over life one cannot help but feel they she has

fought a good fight, and has kept the faith". I don't have the date of death for "Aunt Rhoda", but Uncle Joe says that he attended

her funeral in the fall of 1933 (?). It was held in Cardston where she had spent the last 45 years of her life. She died September 20 1936.

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Before starting research on this history was the general opinion of the family that all had been sweetness and light with the two families. But some of the things that

have come out lead me to think that the last few years of grandfather James's life must have been spent pretty much loneliness. Naomi Chandler says that when he

was in Cardston, that he spent much of his time alone on the farm. Lionel May remembers when he was a small boy, which would have been around 1900, that grandfather came to Rockland and spent three months with Uncle Andrew‟s family.

And Uncle Joe reports that when he came home from his mission in 1909, that grandfather was living in Garland that with Aunt Maggie. He soon became disgruntled with that and returned to Canada. (I wonder???)

Mary Ann May Arbon

The Last Leaf On The Tree!

Mary Ann May was born April 20, 1878. She was just 10 years old when her father took his second wife and her family, and they move to Canada. This move was

necessary in order to escape the persecutions, which were being heaped on those man, of the Church, who lived in polygamy. She saw little of her father after that,

and grew to womanhood in the little community of Call‟s Fort, Utah where she was born. She got her advanced schooling at the Brigham Young College in Logan Utah, and went from there to Snowville to teach school. Here she met and married John

Arbon - bore her children, and raise them in this same community. Here she buried Uncle John, and here she intends to rest beside him when her time comes. Her life has been one of hardship and trial, but few people have seen her when there wasn't

a smile and a cheery word of friendship. We honor and respect her for her integrity – 75

her testimony of the Gospel -her loving kindness to all of us who have given her the opportunity for such. We especially love her for deep down conviction that there is

nobody, but nobody, better than the "Mays".

When she was about 85, Lionel told me, he had heard she broken her leg. The next time I went through Snowville, I stopped to see how she was getting along. She met me at the door and explained that she had been helping Herschel brand some

calves. She was holding one end of the calf down, and he got away from her, and the rope wrapped around her leg and she was dragged around the corral. She was a

"mite" bruised from the experience, but no broken bones. Aunt "Tottie" we love you. She is the last leaf on the tree this sixth of December 1973. She was the last living child of James May. (Joseph Herbert May)

James May & The Dixie Cotton Mission

In September of 1874, thirteen men were called to go to Utah‟s Dixie and establish a Cotton farm to raise cotton for the mill at Brigham City. This cotton was needed to

provide the Warp for the large amount of woolen cloth that was then being produced each year by the Co-op mill. The leader of this group was James May, age 42, and the preparation for leaving were centered at his farm home, eight miles north of

Brigham City. On the morning of October 1, all was in readiness for the trip. Their supplies were loaded into three wagons drawn by four horse teams.

As the outfits pulled away from the old rock house they were facing east to the mountains that had sheltered his home and family for seven years - happy years

they had been. The farm was paid for and the house was built solidly with two-foot rock walls. The farm would provide food and clothing for the family he was leaving behind, and the house would keep them safe and comfortable both summer and

winter.

The little caravan moved south through Ogden and on into Salt Lake, and we can believe that they stopped to visit with Brother Brigham and get his instructions and blessings for their venture.

A few days later found them in Nephi where they loaded 5,000 lbs of flour for their journey. This would have to last them a year until they could get a crop from their

new farm. Flour was their main staple of food. With it they made bread and dumplings, and gravy to cover their bread. Their diet was varied with what meat and

dried fruits they were able to acquire from their new neighbors. Then too, come summertime they would have the fruits of a bountiful garden - Dixie was noted for its wonderful gardens.

The latter part of October they arrived in Washington and started their search for suitable land. This area had been settled for some twenty years and most of the

good land had already been put to use. However, after a search of some three weeks

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they found about one hundred and thirty acres at the head of the Washington valley, and some six miles east of the village of Washington.

As they crossed the Black Ridge they could see some distance away a flat-topped

butte and the gap where the Virgin River cut through the distant hills. It was there where they were to make their home. The new farm was located at a bend in the Virgin between two ridges, the one on the West being one of the hog-backed ridges

that are prevalent in that country. These ridges are sharp out-cropping of lava and remind one of some pre-historic monster that had laid down on it‟s belly and died, leaving its remains as they were with the spiny bones of his back forming the crest

and large flat rocks resembling the scales of his thick hide, sloping steeply to the valley floor some one or two hundred feet below.

This picture shows the second location and was taken from the top of the Lava “Hogsback” which formed the western boundary of the farm. It‟s too bad the picture couldn‟t be in the original color showing the red soil with the green

shrubbery and trees. In the right background are the trees remaining at the site of their farmstead. The larger trees are cottonwoods, which have grown to

enormous size and the others are peach, apple and plum. When I was there in 1965 the plums were just ripe and I had an especially good feast. I thought, “these plums might have been planted by my grandfather”. (J.

Herbert May)

The soil of their valley was a bright red sandy-loam, covered with a sparse growth desert chapparal. With the warm pleasant climate, all it needed was the life giving

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waters of the Virgin to bring it to full bounty. But first it must feel the bite of the axe and the turn of the plow and then the seed must be planted while there was still

moisture from the winter rains. While nature took her course in the sprouting of the seed the hardy little band of pioneers must hasten the job of building a dam and

ditches to provide the irrigation water so needful when the rains had stopped and the ground had dried and the hot summer sun beat mercilessly on their new and tender crops.

With a prayer of thanksgiving, a song of praise and a shout of enthusiasm they started to work. They didn't have a government aid project; they didn't have a

government subsidy; they didn't even have a government engineer. In fact they didn't even have a surveyors instrument. All they had was twelve head of horses,

thirteen strong, vigorous young men, and the will and ingenuity to accomplish the mission they had been called to perform. For a surveyors level they used a frying pan partly filled with water, and with a stick floating on the top. They sighted along

this stick to get their grade level for the canal.

The “Dixie Cotton Missionaries”, in the four years they were there took up and

cleared two locations. All that is left of their first effort is shown in this picture of the house they built. There is nothing to tell us when they made the change, but it must have been after the second year. They just couldn‟t

get their dam to hold, and of course, you can‟t raise crops with out a sure source of water.

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'How well did they do? Well, let's read the report of James May to the Deseret News, dated April 28,1875. Just about five months after they started to work.

"We are about five miles east of Washington on the Virgin River. We have

dug a ditch one and a half miles long, three feet wide, blasted through a point of rocks 55 feet long, five feet wide, 11 feet deep; built a dam across the river 150 feet long, 40 feet wide and 4 1/2 feet high; cleared

the brush off fifty acres of land, plowed thirty acres, put out 625 grape vines and 1800 grape cuttings; planted 100 peach trees, and are all well at this time. The Lord has blessed us in all our labors, for which we feel

truly thankful. There has been no swearing in camp. I have not heard an oath since I left home. We have no smoking, chewing or card playing; but

we have plenty of books and quite a variety, so we need not get lonesome for the want of amusements. Is not this a good showing for thirteen young men? We expect to plant 35 acres of cotton, 10 of corn

and 5 of lucerne (A type of hay)”.

The day they turned the water into the new ditch was one of great interest and concern. How well had they calculated their grade? Were the sides strong enough to hold the water_ whose probing fingers found every nook and cranny-every weak,

spot every low spot? A small stream was all they allowed down the ditch for the first time, but still there were breaks-the loose soil would soak and then just give away. After a day of exhausting labor they had to shut the water off and mended the ditch

and try another day. Finally this battle was won and the desert started to blossom.

I have tried to locate the diary kept by these Cotton Missionaries but have been unsuccessful in doing so. However, there are excerpts from the "Diary" in the History of Box Elder County add some light to what went on at the "camp".

"The first page of the Diary is headed:

"John Welch, 1877, July 1st. Cotton Farm.

Sunday 1st. - All well, beautiful day, very warm. Mon. 2nd. - Hoeing in the vines and tying.

Tues. 3rd. - Watered the vineyard, Peter watering the lucern, all the rest gone to spend the 4th at Washington. Sat. 7th. - Israel, Peter Christensen, and Simeon (Dunn) hoed the cotton. J.

Smith grubbed willows out of the corn. Thurs. 26. Israel (Hunsaker) had a chill and fever.

Aug. 16. J. P. Christensen, John Smith went to Reef with a load of melons and chickens. Fri. 24th. - J. P. Christensen got home from pine Valley with lumber. We sold

ten dollars worth of melons for lumber. Sun. Sep. 2nd. - Israel Hunsaker and wife and Mrs. Sorenson were to town, rest stayed in camp.

Mon. 3rd. Israel cleaned a place to put a stack, unloaded lumber, squeezed out melons for to make some syrup turned over hay and hoed cotton.

Sat. 23rd. J. Sorenson and Peter Halling quarried. Thurs. Oct 2nd. James J and Halling tended mason. Sun. 20th. Brother Cooington and John Chidister came up to preach to us."

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Mention is also made of topping cane, making wine, boxing raisins; of ball attended

at Washington and various other activities.

As the Diary indicates, the cotton was ginned and baled at the Brigham City Cotton Farm but was hauled to Washington to be spun into thread. From here it was hauled to the woolen mills at Brigham City and used in making cloth.

The following names appear on the payroll kept at the Camp:

Simeon A. Dunn, James May, Israel Hunsaker, James J. Sorenson, Niels Olsen, John Smith, Peter Halling, Thomas E. Harper, A. Sorenson, M. Hansen, Thomas

Peters, Elmer Loveland, J. P. Christensen, Cyrus Hunsaker, Jas. Lindsay, George Simmons, Charles Knudson, Thomas Blackburn, Niels Madsen, John Johnson, John L. Christensen, Anson Loveland, Joseph Hamson.

"We say payroll, but in justice to these men and women it should be understood

that this call was a working mission and that the mere pittance they received was in "Home D" and was negotiable only with the various departments of the C-op.

Traveling, between Brigham City and the Cotton Farm was done by team. Washing was done by hand on crude washboards. The memory of Lottie Neeley Hunsaker should be held in high esteem for the work she did for this body of men, cooking,

washing, ironing, caring for the sick, and above all, making a real home for these boys. Her name does not appear on the payroll, but it is often mentioned in the

Diary in an appreciative way. Mr. Israel Hunsaker finally rented the Cotton farm where he remained until 1881,

when he and his family returned to Honeyville. It will be noted that the first entry in the "Diary" was July 1st, 1877. Apparently

James May had returned to Calls Fort for his yearly visit, as his name doesn't appear in the excerpts from the "Diary". From the fact that "Aunt Tottie" was born

the next April we know that he was home about that time. And we also know that he returned to the Cotton Farm that same year, for he was married in November to Rhoda Lang in the St. George Temple.

The year of 1878 was the last year the "Farm" was operated as a Co-operative

enterprise, for it was rented to Israel Hunsaker and S.A. Dunn in March of 1879, and Israel Hunsaker was the last to leave in 1881.

The effort to make this a successful venture was fraught with failures almost from the beginning. The first crop they raised in 1875 was fairly good, but they had continuous trouble with their irrigation system washing out. So they abandoned

that first farm and moved a little farther up the river and broke up another tract of land, the one described in the beginning of this narrative.

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It is probable that they didn't even try to build a house at this site - waiting to see whether things would work out. This new farm was referred to as "the Camp".

James May left, or was released from his mission in 1877, and returned to his home at Call‟s Fort after his marriage to Rhoda Lang. The rest of the missionaries farmed

one more year and then they too left, leaving it to Israel Hunsaker to try his luck on his own.

The upper farm, the last one, still has plum, peach, and apple trees left over from the plantings of those pioneer missionaries. There are two or three giant cottonwood' trees left to remember their having been there. The remnant of the ditch they dug

for irrigation still follows the bluff that formed the eastern boundary of their farm. The dam they built is still in use, with much additional work to keep it intact. But

the reservoir is completely filled in with silt and there is only a channel left for the Virgin to divide itself between a canal that waters the land below and a spillway that takes the balance of the water back to the riverbed.

Other than those few trees, the desert has reclaimed it‟s own. (J. Herbert May)

LIFE OF RHODA ANN LANG

Rhoda Ann Lang was born at Mill Creek, Salt Lake County, Utah, December 13, 1856, and was the daughter of William and Mary Pugsley Lang. She was one of a family of eleven children, all girls except for one boy who died at the age of two and

a half years. She lived in Mill Creek until 1862, when the call came from President Brigham Young for men and families to go into the south of Utah and settle up that

part of the country. Her father, with several others, was called and, with their families, and belongings started out. They traveled by team from Salt Lake to Saint George, arriving there on Rhoda's sixth birthday, December 13, 1862.

The first few years of her life there were spent in very humble circumstances,

accompanied by a great deal of hard work, owing to there being no boys in the family, it became necessary for the girls to assist their father in the fields with the planting and care of the crops. They were therefore unable to attend school and

receive even a common school education. Rhoda was never able to attend school more than three months in the winter, and that for only a few years.

The Indians in those days were very hostile towards the white people, and they lived in constant fear of a raid for some years. Her father, with others, did picket duty,

marching back and forth with a gun, in the case of an attack during the night. She remembers distinctly the Mountain Meadows Massacre, which took place a short distance from St George. John D Lee, the man who was held responsible, and later

shot on the spot where the massacre took place used to often come to her father's

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house to be hidden from the officers. Of course the course of events put a great fear into the hearts of the people, especially the children.

On 21st of November 1877, she was married to Brother James May in the Saint

George Temple. Some time before this he made the remark, “that if he was looking for a wife and she was the last woman on earth he would not have her”. He later changed his mind. From there she went with her husband to live in Call‟s Fort,

about seven miles north of Brigham City, where he already had a wife and family of thirteen children. She lived with the family for three years, and while there two children were born to her, William Lervon and Mary Angeline. She then moved to

her own home just a short distance away where four more children were born, Jane, Artemissia, Ben Hugh and Agnes.

She had to part with two children while there, William Lervon who died at the age of seven, and Jane - just three months old.

It was while living in Call‟s Fort, that there was a “raid” made on the members of the

Church because of Polygamy. The women suffered a great deal as their husbands were constantly being sought by the Federal Officers.

On the 13 of December 1886, the day Rhoda was thirty years old, her husband was taken to the penitentiary at Fort Douglas, Salt Lake City, to serve a term of six months on a charge of having more than one wife. President Lorenzo Snow, George

Q Cannon and a number of others were serving at the same time.

While there, Brother May attended school and received more education than at any other time in his life. The evening before he left home there was a party given for him in the schoolhouse, and of course, the wives wanted to be present. Rhoda had a

baby, Agnes, just two weeks old. It was raining terribly and a very cold wind was blowing, and she was taken in a rig and enjoyed the party. Coming home she was taken with chills, and was confined to her bed with a severe illness.

At the end of the six months her husband was released, but for sixteen months he

never dared enter her house in the daytime. Whenever he came it was after dark. The children of course noticed it, and when he would be passing the place they would go and try to call him in. One of them said one day "Momma when Papa gets

tired of Aunt Martha he will come and see you won't he".

Owing to the circumstances at that time, Brother May was counseled to take his second wife and family and go to Canada, where a few families had already settled. On the 21st day of September 1888, they left Honeyville with one team and wagon,

and just enough provisions and bedding to do them on the trip. One man had said he would have Jim May looking through the bars again inside of

six months, and he tried very hard to do so. In order to avoid discovery and pursuit James and Rhoda left about ten o'clock at night and traveled a few miles south,

then turned north on a rock so that the tracks would not be followed. As soon as it was known that they were gone there were sheriffs and officers sent out to overtake

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them, but they took the wrong trail and thus missed them. The first two or three days out they traveled during the night and laid out in the daytime, at some out of

the way place.

The trip was made among many hardships and trials, and Rhoda being a nervous woman, spent a great many or her nights sitting up watching the horses, and listening for anything that might molest them. They were stopped a number of times

and questioned as to their destination, where they were from and what their names were, but they were not molested.

One night they had two Indians for company, but they weren't appreciated. However, the Lord was with them and they were brought through in safety. They

were three weeks on the way, arriving in Cardston, Alberta, on 14 October 1888. The first night they, with the four children stayed at the home of Uncle Henry

Hinman, who was then living in the William Aldridge house. The next day they moved into a one- room house without a floor and no plaster, and on the lot where

the family home stood until 1923. Times were very hard with them the first winter, everything being freighted so far,

and money was scarce; but the people were all very kind and all willing to help one another, and above all the Lord, who had brought them here did not forsake them, so they got through the winter nicely.

Rhoda's first business transaction was to trade a can of honey to Sister Senna

Matkin for potatoes. They milked cows on shares, planted and gathered crops on shares, and did various things in order to get along. When sister Mary Woolf was sustained as President of the Cardston Relief Society in about 1894, Rhoda was

called to act as a teacher and has acted in that capacity ever since. On March 29 1910, her husband, who had been ailing for some time passed away at his old home, and she and her son Ben went to Brigham City to attend the funeral.

While in Canada five children were born to her; Eunice, Alice, Sterling Ibey, and

Ross Ronald for a total of eleven. She had four boys and seven girls. The last ten or twelve years of Rhoda's life were spent with less of the strenuous manual labor that characterized her early life. She was quiet and unassuming, suffered in silence the

sharp words of criticism of those who judged unknowingly, and always felt to leave judgment to the Lord, "who doeth all things well".

Her whole life was one of devotion to her family, and to the ideals of the Church of her choice. In her earlier years in Canada, she took boarders and roomers to make

the necessary money to feed, clothe, and educate her children, who have all had the privileges of every opportunity they would embrace in school and also music and art, as far as finances would permit. Thanks to a kind and merciful father, she is

spending her last days in ease and comfort, and while she suffered much from physicals ills for many years she has been able to enjoy a good degree of health and

strength for one of her age, and since the Temple opened in Cardston she has derived much joy and satisfaction from working there for her dead ancestors. She

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still has use of all her faculties and while her sight is getting rather dim she can still read and do needle work, thereby finding something to occupy her time. She is still

interested in her family and at nearly seventy-six years of age, is trying to carry the burdens of all the children, and is interested in everything that they attempt, espec-

ially when it is in the cause of truth and righteousness. In closing this sketch and looking back over her life one cannot help but feel that

she has fought a good fight, and has kept the faith". Rhoda died the 20 September 1936 and is buried in the Cardston, Alberta, Canada,

Cemetery.

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IN RETROSPECT

This concludes my effort to bring together the story of James May of Berkshire, England, and his two wives, Martha Allen and Rhoda Ann Lang. It is rather an

incredible story of how the single event of the parents of these three people joining the newly found Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in different locations, almost half a world apart, could so "change the aspect of their after lives".

The lack of comment by James in his autobiography at the death of his father and mother and three sisters just before they started on the journey to Zion seems to

indicate the stoicism with which they accepted life as it came to them. Only one remark, "my poor mother died and was buried without a casket."

Martha's mother, (Grandmother Eunice Miner), had joined the Church in 1832 in

Ohio and most of her children were baptized, but not all of them went to Utah. They

were living in Nauvoo when the Prophet Joseph and Hyrum were murdered and

Martha remembered that as a five year old child her mother had taken the children

past the caskets of Joseph and Hyrum and she had been terrified by the tub full of

bloody water holding the clothes taken from the bodies of the martyrs. A scene she

never forgot.

She remembered when in 1852 the family was - finally ready to follow their leaders to Utah, that her grandfather, Andrew Allen, had decided not to go, and how grandmother, Eunice Allen, had packed a few things and taking the younger

children with her, had climbed into the wagon of her son-in-law Joseph Nicholas, and made the journey to Zion. She was seventy- two years old now, and never saw

her husband again. Martha was thirteen and helped drive a small band of sheep across the plains.

The one main fact of life with them was their testimonies of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It directed everything they did. They were certain that if they followed the admonition of the Authorities that all would be well with them. And if there were

trials and tribulations they were for their own good, as the Lord had comforted Joseph when he was in Liberty Jail.

They accepted the call to practice polygamy, as being a higher order, essential to their acceptance into the Celestial Kingdom. When persecution forced them into an

unwanted separation and they were obliged to live hundreds of miles apart, they made the best of it and continued their faithful support of their leaders.

It has been a humbling experience for me to get this intimately acquainted with those people that I knew so little about. They bear mute witness of the depth of their

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convictions that the Gospel is True. That adherence to its principles will bring to us, their descendents, the satisfaction of a joyful life here, and the perfect knowledge

that somewhere in the future there will be a “super” James May family re-union.

I want to bear you my witness that I have found that adherence to the principles of the Gospel does indeed lead to satisfaction in service to the Lord. My greatest joy has been to serve my God, my Church, my Country and my family. It has been a

good life. Joseph Herbert May 775 East Stetson Hemet Ca 92343 January 1, 1974

It is my hope that you will read this history to your children during family home

evening and make them aware of the heritage they have. It is my further hope that this history will strengthen your resolve to live a more useful life.

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