PETEETNEET MUSEUM TO REOPEN

(Photo courtesy of Payson Chronicle)

 

 

 

ALEXANDER COWAN

 ALEXANDER COWAN

Alexander Cowan was born in Campsie, Scotland on December 18, 1830. His parents were John B. and Agnes Barry Cowan. John B. was a weaver of fine textiles including lace curtains and other decorative articles.
    John B. was taught the gospel by early missionaries in Scotland.  He and his family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- day Saints.
    Soon after joining the Church, John B. disposed of his property and with his family started for America. His family consisted of his wife, four sons and one daughter.
    The trip was made in a sailing vessel and took at least six weeks to cross the ocean. Agnes, John B.’s wife, became ill and died. She was buried at sea. They reached New Orleans and sailed up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, Missouri.
    The Church authorities had caused a port to be opened at New Orleans in 1844 so that the trip across the plains might be shortened. This port remained open until 1855.
Upon arriving in St. Louis, the family resources were about gone. The two single boys, Alexander and William remained there to work for two years, so that they might assist the family to get established in Utah.
    John B., his daughter, two married sons and their families started for Salt Lake City. They crossed the plains in Levi Stewart’s Company, arriving in Salt Lake September 17, 1850. The daughter died and was buried on the plains. John B. lived in Salt Lake City for a while and then moved to Spanish Fork. His sons Andrew and James stayed in Salt Lake City. James later moved to Slaterville in Weber County.
    Alexander helped on the public work in Salt Lake, and 1852 with a pardner John Charford, contracted to make the adobes for the wall around the Temple block.  He crossed the plains 7 times.  In 1861 he went to states with two yoke of oxen to assist the Saints to come to Utah.
    In 1864 he was sent to Fort Bridger to assist colonizing and later to Carson Nevada, 1855 where he took up a ranch which had some very rich mines in it.  It is claimed while there he dug the first irrigation ditch to water his land, and in 1858 was called home on account of Johnson Army trouble.
    Alexander married Eilley Orrum Hunter, a widow,(divorcee) in Salt Lake City. They were among those who President Brigham Young sent to Washoe Valley, Nevada to establish a branch of the Church in Carson City. Alexander purchased 350 acres of land for $100.00 from Orson Hyde where they built a small home.
    As gold seekers came to Virginia City, Alexander and Eilley also went there. Eilley operated a cafe and Alexander went prospecting. He and Sandy Bowers struck and staked their claim on the Comstock Lode, one of the richest gold mines in the world.
    One day Alexander came back from the mine unexpectedly. He heard Sandy and Eilley plotting to kill him. Alexander quietly left Virginia City in the latter part of 1859. He had to cross the Sierra Nevada mountains on snowshoes. He made one misstep, went over an embankment and was buried in snow to his neck. He always felt that it was a miracle that he was able to get out.
    Alexander arrived in Salt Lake City during the Christmas holidays in 1859. He met Jane Mitchell who had arrived in Salt Lake City with a handcart company late in September or October 1859. After a courtship of three weeks, they were married in January 1860.
     After divorcing Alexander, Eilley got claim to the ranch after she divorced Alexander Cowan.  Later, Eilley married Sandy Bowers and became one of the first millionaires of the Comstock Lode. The built the Bowers' Mansion on the property that once bThey visited  kings in France and England. They built a beautiful mansion on Alexander and Eilley's property and furnished it with the best the world had to offer, buying many beautiful pieces of furniture and carpets from France and England. Even the door knobs were gold. Nothing was too expensive for them. The estate also had two large swimming pools. They lived a royal life for a while.
    Sandy and Eilley had a little girl. One day when the daughter had nothing to do, Eilley gave her a bucket of silver dollars to play with, which kept her happy the rest of the day. She died when she was only nine or ten years old and is buried in the family cemetery behind the mansion. Later, Sandy Bowers died of miner's consumption at the age of 36. Some men talked Eilley into investing her money and she lost everything. Eilley ended up a fortune teller on the streets of San Francisco and died a penniless pauper. She was buried next to Sandy and their daughter.
    The homestead was sold several times and then bought by the State of Nevada. The mansion is now a museum where tour guides tell you their story. There are swimming pools and picnic areas for all to enjoy. The Bowers Mansion is located 19 miles south of Reno.
    On the hill just above the mansion is a cemetery. Their little daughter, about 9 years old, was first buried there. Then when Sandy died of miner's consumption at age 36, Sandy was also behied there.
    It was in the summer of 1861 while Alexander was on this trip, that his first baby, a daughter died. Jane had to go through this trying experience without her husband, but she was not alone. Kind and loving family and friends stood by her.
    It was on this trip that Alexander met Elizabeth Raetz and soon after their arrival in Utah on Nov. 20, 1861, they were married and she became a plural wife.  Jane went with them to the Endowment House and witnessed the ceremony. Elizabeth had joined the L, D. S.  Church when she was 25 years old in December 1859 in Berne County, Switzerland. She left for America in June 1860 with her deceased brother's five year old daughter.
    At an early date the pioneers realized that the lowlands to the south and west of Salt Lake City had to be drained in order for it to be suitable for cultivating. Alexander Cowan was one of the first to lead out in this undertaking. So, strong and purposeful men with ox teams and shovels drained and made useful hundreds of acres of soil. Most of the land prepared at that time is within the city limits today.
    When preparations for the building of the Salt Lake Temple were being made, it was such sturdy men as Alexander Cowan who went forth to bring the granite for the foundation from the granite deposits in the nearby mountains. He often told of the experiences he had with this noble group. When the wall around the temple block was built, John Croffer and Alexander made a lot of the cobble rock foundation which was three feet by three feet. The adobes were mortared in as well as the cobble rock and all were capped with sandstone blocks.
    In the fall of 1862, Alexander Cowan moved his family to Payson. His family then consisted of himself, Jane Mitchell Cowan and John M, then six weeks old, and Elizabeth Raetz Cowan. They came with ox team and arrived in Payson early in October.
    Alexander had traded an ox team for a peach orchard ready for bearing to a man by the name of Rube Jolly. This was the first peach orchard in Payson and was located at 3rd East and 3rd North. It was about two and one-half acres and people came from as far away as Sanpete County to get a supply of peaches. Many people came and dried peaches on shares. In peach blossom time, it was a beautiful sight to stand on the east hill and look down on the mass of pink blossoms.
    Later, Alexander obtained a homestead claim southeast of Payson which he sold to a Mr. Erlandson. A portion of this homestead is where the Erlandson peach orchard was for many years. He also owned a 150 acre ranch northeast of Payson. Here the two families took turns living for a period of a year. Jane decided rather than to move so often, she would rather stay on the ranch permanently. Elizabeth remained in town.
    At the time of the Indian trouble with Chief Black Hawk and Chief Walker Wars, Alexander Cowan was, on one occasion, returning from Sanpete County on horseback. He was prompted to leave the road and ride behind some brush. He had just gone behind the brush when a band of Indians, whooping and yelling, came galloping by. They overtook a man driving a wagon and killed him and his family.
    In about 1870, the people of Payson community decided to build a tabernacle. It was a spacious building built of adobes which were molded by Joseph Crook and Alexander Cowan. William McClellan was the carpenter.
    In the early days, much of the tithing was paid in kind, which means it was paid by giving ten percent of produce and animals raised to be used for food for the needy. It had to be hauled to Salt Lake City by team. These trips were usually in the fall of the year and Alexander Cowan made many of these trips. When it was necessary for two wagons to go, his son John M. went along as the second teamster. These trips took about four days.
    Alexander Cowan built many houses, mainly of logs. His last home was of brick. It was built on the corner of 5th East and 4th North in Payson. He was the father of fifteen children. Eight of them grew to maturity. He died December 25, 1918 at the age of 88 and is buried in the Payson City Cemetery.
 

SARAH SLUSSER NISONGER

 

 

SARAH  SLUSSER  NISONGER

     Sarah Slusser was born in Clear Creek, Warren County, Ohio, near Dayton, on April 26, 1812.  Her father’s name was Peter and her mother’s name was Mary Deam (Diehm) .  The Slusser family was large and included nine children.  They lived on a farm about seven miles from Dayton.  They had many cows, chickens, horses and were considered prosperous.  
    Near their home, was in a thick wood with many kinds of nuts.  There were walnuts and almonds that were gathered in for the winter.  They also raised popcorn and enjoyed apples and popcorn around the fireplace during the wintertime.  When they wanted turkey, they went into the woods and killed them, as they were wild.
    Sarah married Henry Nisonger on March 3, 1836 and from that time on she led an unsettled life.  When they were first married,  she went with her husband into the woods where he cut wood.  She cooked  for workers while they were thus employed.  It was about this time they met the Mormon Elders and immediately joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and where faithful members from that time forward.    
     Sarah and Henry had  nine children: David, born in 1837, Mary, born in 1840, Chester, born in 1841, Carmen, born in 1842, Airon, born in 1845, Sarah Jane, born in1846, Lydia Ellen, born in 1849, Phoebe, born in 1851 and Elisie, born in 1854.
    They moved to Saint Louis, Missouri where they were forced to live in a log house with several other families.  The children of the other families tormented her children all the time because they were Mormons.  Her husband couldn’t get work, so Sarah went to work at a shirt factory to help support the family.  They were planning to go to Utah so her husband took a contract to cut wood for the railroad.  This job lasted for two years.   She cooked for the men and cared for her family.  In this way they earned enough money to be able to travel to Utah.  Their outfit included two wagons and eight head of oxen.  One wagon was without a box and was loaned to a man by the name of Knox.  They got along with just the one wagon.
    They came west with the Milo Andrew’s Company and arrived in Ogden, Utah in the fall of 1856.  They rented their first home.  It was only one room which they shared with another family as it was hard to find a place to live.  The winter was long and cold.  It was very inconvenient as the children had whooping cough and one little girl died.  Henry was away working in the canyon a good part of the winter.
    Sarah joined the Relief Society while they were in Ogden.  On one occasion a neighbor had a baby and she had no pins for the baby’s clothing, so Sarah went to Relief Society and asked for pins which the sisters took from their own clothing and sent them to be used for the new baby.
    The next spring they moved to the bench where they rented a house for several years.  They bought a lot and started to build a dugout, but before it was finished her husband, Henry, was called to go to Echo Canyon to help keep the United States Army out of Utah.  Sarah and the children were left in an unfinished dugout.  Henry was gone all winter and the dugout was cold and leaked everywhere.  They were forced to sleep in wet beds a lot of the time.
    When Henry returned, they moved to Payson, Utah, where they lived in a brush shack in the southeast part of the city, for a short time.  They then moved to Camp Floyd where they lived for eighteen months.  Here Sarah washed clothes for the soldiers and baked pies and sold them.  They then moved to a ranch located at Pelican Point on the west side of Utah Lake.
    When Sarah wasn’t cooking, she cored wool, spun the yarn, and wove the thread into cloth to make clothes for her family.   She was alone with her two girls a lot of the time and it was ten miles from the nearest neighbor.  
    On one occasion, ten to fifteen Indians came along the road.  There were no Squaws or Papooses with them and Sarah was very frightened.  She put on a brave front and got out a large flint lock gun and put it on the loom where she was weaving.  The Indians came and saw the gun and started laughing and slapping their legs and talked in their own language.  Presently, her daughters came down off the hill where they had been tending sheep.  As they came near the house their dogs and the Indian’s dogs began to fight.   Sarah got up from her loom got a bucket of water and threw it at on the dogs causing the Indians to really laugh.  To the great relief of the family they soon left.  Sarah and her family went up into the hills that night and took the bedding from the dugout so if the Indians came back they wouldn’t find them.
    From the ranch at Pelican Point,  they moved to Goshen and from there to Santaquin.  Their first home in Santaquin was in the southeast end of town.   It was a one room log house.  Two of her children, Chester and Sarah Jane, were married there.  She continued to cord, spin, and weave.  A few years later Phoebe was married.   They moved to Diamond in the Tintic District.
    Sarah lived with her daughter Phoebe in Santaquin for the last two years of her life.  She passed away on April 2, 1900 at the age of 88.  She is buried in the Santaquin Cemetery.  Her husband Henry died November 27, 1872 in Salt Lake City, Utah where he is buried.

 

 

DAVID CROCKETT

 

 

 DAVID CROCKETT

    David Crockett was born on December 30, 1806 on one of the Fox Islands off the Atlantic coast of Maine.  The place is called Vinalhaven and is in Knox County.   The islands are covered with pine trees and the main industry is fishing.   James was the son of James Crockett and Elizabeth Breckett and the grandson of Isaac Crockett, who was also born on the island in 1746.   David married Lydia Young on December 20, 1830 when he was twenty-three years old.
    David was among the first people on the Eastern seaboard who accepted the gospel as taught by the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.   The missionary who taught David and his family was Wilford Woodruff when he was on his first church mission;
    Wilford noted in his missionary journal about the receptiveness of the people and they had been able to convert the entire congregation after preaching to them, The Crocketts had been attending a church where the minister was Baptist.
    In 1847, the Crockett family had a strong desire to be associated with the main body of saints.  ,  So with a team and a wagon, they started for Nauvoo, Illinois.  They arrived there during October of 1841.   They had seven children at that time, the oldest, Alvin, was ten years old and the youngest Wilford Woodruff Crockett was only a few months old at the time.   The baby was three months old when they reached Nauvoo.   They became eye witnesses to and shared in the hardships that were endured prior to the great exodus to the west in 1846.
    During the entire winter during their stay in Nauvoo, the whole Crockett except for Alvin, was confined to their beds with the fever that was probably malaria.   Twelve-year-old Alvin took care of them as best he could.   He chopped wood in the nearby forest and brought t home in a wagon for  fuel to keep the family warm during the cold winter months.
    When the saints were driven from their home in Nauvoo, the Crockett family settled in Dover, Davis County, Iowa. They made their living by farming on shares until April 1849.   They then traveled to the Missouri River where they remained until July 4, 1849.   On that day, they left for the Great Salt Lake Valley with the Williard Richards Wagon Train Company.
    By this time, they had added three more children and they now had a total of ten children.   David William was just fifteen months old.   Lydia, who was now thirty-seven years old was pregnant while crossing the plains in the heat of the summer.
    David Crockett,  arrived in the Salt Lake Valley October 19, 1849, on the 18th birthday of his son, Alvin.  In 1851 he was sent by Brigham Young to help colonize the settlement at Peteetneet.  
    When they arrived, they were told that all of the land had been taken up that could be watered by the creek.  Disappointed, they and the David Fairbank family turned eastward and became the first settlers of Pond Town.
    Later, the people at Fort Peteetneet reconsidered and the Crocketts returned when more land was opened for settlement.  The city was incorporated January 1, 1853, and David Crockett was elected first mayor of Payson.  He served the term of 1853-54, and was reelected for two additional terms, 1855-56 and 1857-58.  He was later elected alderman and served the term of 1859-60.
    David's wife Lydia,  was a midwife.  The family moved to Logan about 1860, where Alvin Crockett became the first mayor of that city.
    The Payson City was incorporated on January 21, 1853 and the first Mayor elected in the new     city was David Crockett.   Payson had been  incorporated, through action of the Territorial Legislature of Utah.  The settlement then included Spring Lake Villa to the south and Summit (Santaquin) to the southwest.   He was elected immediately after the  incorporation of the city.   He served the term of 1853-1854.  Later, he was re-elected and served two additional terms, 1855-56 and 1857-58.  After this he served a term as alderman in 1859-60 and then moved his family to northern Utah.  His son, Alvin, became the first mayor of the City of Logan.  
    The year 1855 was ushered in with all the peace and prospects of a good life that one could expect in a new country with the people surrounded with tribes of Indians, almost shut out from the knowledge of the world, subject to plagues of insects, droughts and so on.
    The "Reformation" was faithfully preached into the first part of 1857, and its constantly burn¬ing fire finally began to make havoc in the ranks of the unbelievers.   The work was so successful that on March 16th of that year some 228 persons went down to Peteetneet Creek and were re-baptized in the icy waters that flowed from the snow banks in the canyon.  Public and private confessions of faults and sins were common and a very happy state of affairs existed.  Every man was inspired with a desire to do right, make restitution for injuries to others, and accept peace offerings from his neighbor.  Meetings were well attended and speakers spoke as men with authority.
    Immense quantities of grain were sown that year and a large harvest was reaped.  It is possible the Lord saw the humbleness of the people and rewarded them accordingly.
    Now word reached the settlers that James Buchanan, president of the United States, was sending an army to quell an uprising of the Mormons in Utah Territory.
    Because of the pressing need for doctors and midwives, a few Payson women went to Salt Lake City to take a course in obstetrics offered by the Relief Society.  Romania Hyde was instructor.  Those attending were Lucinda Patten, Mrs.  John (Sarah) Koonz and Mary Oberhansly
The colonists at Peteetneet (Payson) were among the first to use irrigation as a means of watering their crops.
    Only three years earlier, Brigham Young's pioneers of 1847 had been some of the first Anglo- Saxons to use irrigation in the North American continent.   So it was that when John C.  Searle plowed the first irrigation ditch in Payson, he was among the first in the New World to try this method of turning water onto arid lands.   Within a few months after their arrival, the first seventeen families believed the water supply too low to support additional settlers.  Thus it was that they directed newcomers to the springs three miles east of Peteetneet.
    The situation was serious, more settlers were coming into the colony almost every week, and the people began to look about for means of developing additional water.
    In 1854 Mayor David Crockett  and other city officials caused a dam to be built at the spring where Spring Lake Villa would be established three miles south of Payson.  Water could be stored in this man-made lake and used as needed.  It was channeled through what has always been known as Spring Creek and used to irrigate lands southwest of Payson..
    David married Lucinda Sophronia Ellsowrth Pierce I 1856, who was divorced from her prvious husband.   She was one of Payso’s first school teachers.   David's wife, Lydia, was a midwife.   They family moved to Logan about 1860, where his son, Alvin Crockett, became the first mayor of that city.
    David Crockett died on April 12, 1876, and Lydia died March 11, 1888,   Lucinda died December 11, 1915.  David and both of his wives are buried in the Logan City Cemetery.

THOMAS POLSON CLOWARD

 

THOMAS POLSON  CLOWARD
SHOEMAKER

    Thomas Polson Cloward  was born in Pottstown, Chester County, Pennsylvania on December 10, 1823 and lived with his parents, Jacob and Anne Pluck Cloward, until he was fifteen years of age.   He was the fifth child and had nine brothers and sisters, Catherine   Ann, Charlotte, Daniel Henry.  William, James Mason, Jacob Elijah, Albert Wilson, Hannah Jane.  and   Eliza Ann.    They lived in Pottstown until after his brother Jacob Elijah was born, then they moved to Wilmington,   New Castle,  Delaware where Albert Wilson, Hannah Jane and Eliza Ann were born.  He was then apprenticed to Mr.  Poulson, a shoemaker.  Thomas remained with him until the spring of 1844, and it was at this time that he added Poulson to his name.
    After accepting the Mormon faith, he went to Nauvoo, Illoinois, After his arrival in Winter Quarters with the exiled saints, he became aquainted with a young lady, Mary Page, whom he courted and later married on the 25th of March, 1847.
    Two weeks later, oftThe same year there was a company organized, and he was chosen one of a band of 143 to come west to the Rocky Mountains and find a resting place for the saints.  They left in the sixth day of April, arriving in Salt Lake Valley July 24, 1847.  He left his wife in Winter Quarters and Thomas  left to head west  with the Brigham Young Company of pioneers.  He was one of eight scouts who came to the Salt Lake Valley July 22, 1847, looked over the country and reported their findings to Brigham Young.
    After his arrival in the valley with the Pioneer Company,  Thomas is credited with making the first pair of shoes in the Salt Lake Valley.  The wife of Heber C.  Kimball, Ellen Saunders Kimball, was badly in need of shoes after the long journey.  Thomas took an old pair of boot tops, sat down on the ground where the old Z.C.M.I, later in what would become the downtown area of the ciity.   He made her a pair of shoes, also a pair of moccasins from the scraps for the little one she was expecting,.
    In the fall of the same year, Mr.  Cloward returned to Winter Quarters to assist other saints in their exodus west.  The following spring,  he crossed over to the east side of the Missouri river, there built a house and made some small improvements on government land.  The winter of 1848 Thomas moved to St.  Joseph, Missouri and remained there until the year 1852.   He then fitted himself out with a yoke of oxen, a yoke of cows, and a wagon.  With his wife and two children, he joined Captain David Wood's Company leaving Kanesville, Iowa in June and again crossed the plains to Utah.

    Thomas left Salt Lake that same year and settled in Provo, and here he took a plural wife.   He met and married Mary Amelia Gardner, daughter of Elias and Amy Pritchard Gardner in the year 1853.  He remained in Provo nine years then moved to Payson, Utah where he set up a shoemaking establishment.   A pair of high heeled ladies shoes made by this artisan was  highly prized; and "there was not a child in the settlement who wore neater footwear, or a young man at the dance who was more proud of his boots, than the boys whose father was Thomas P.  Cloward.  After the boys were married.  he made shoes for their wives.  Often the young boys' boots were made of brown leather with bright red trim around the top."
    When Mr.  Cloward  moved to Payson from Provo he erected a cabin on the current highway, east of town.  Later,  he built a cabin further west and still later built a fine brick home.
    He had eight children with his first wife and eleven children with his second wife.  After coming to Payson, heI built a  cabin out in the fields east of town.   He worked as a  shoe maker until the Salem Canal was started.  He  took an active part in building this canal which brought the much needed water to this little valley.  I\
    He was called to go to Echo Canyon to take part in what was called the Buchanan War of Utah War.  The President of the United States, James Buchanan, sent out a  large army to invade Utah, as it was reported that Mormons were not loyal to the Government.  This happened to be one of the coldest winters, and many hardships were encountered.  Food and clothing were scarce.  Some had to wear rawhide on their feet and boiled rawhide for food.  They had no woolen clothing to wear and standing guard in the wind and snow while their clothing froze to their  bodies.  In the Spring of 1858, they were called home with the loss of only one man. 
     Although driven from home by mobs under the guise of law.  he never felt disloyal to the flag and Constitution of the United States.  In 1852,  he came to Provo, and there assisted in building a fort to protect the people from the Indians.  He served in the Walker War under General Conover.  He also served in the Black Hawk Indian War under General William McClellan, and was always to the front in defending the homes of the people.  He was also one of the prime movers in the construction of the Salem Canal, which cost in the neighborhood of $45,000 and made possible one of the richest fields in the wes tern country.  He has always been identfied in many ways with building up of this section of the country. 
    Thomas Poulson Clowardlived a  long life.  and was a  joy to his numerous posterity.  He died the 16th of January 1909 in Payson, Utah, and is buried in the Payson City Cemetery in the family plot along with this two wives.

 

 

WILLIAM CLAYSON

 

 WILLIAM CLAYSON

    He was born in the village of Wilby, near Wellingborough, Northampton shire, England, Feb. 9th, 1840.  He was the son of Thomas and Fanny Esson Clayson.  His father was a farm laborer, and his mother a farm house servant, but like many of the English converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints were of the best class of English peasantry.
    William was their second child but their first son, and was put to light farm work at a very early age.  When he was ten years of age, while working on a threshing machine feed table forking train to the feeding, one of the pitchers accidentally pushed him and his left foot was caught by the cylinders and was so mangled, one half of it had to be amputated, leaving it similar to a club foot. 
    When he regained his health and strength from his accident, he apprenticed to learn the shoemaking trade.  It was about this time he also started to learn to play the flute, and took lessons in Wellingborough from a good teacher and musician named John Hornsby.  While working in the shoe shop in Wellingborough, he heard of the Mormons and their religion. 
    While his parents attended the Established (Episcopal) Church, they were not communicants, and William, up to this time had not given much serious thought to religious matters.  He was rather inclined to make fun of the ministers and preachers. 
    When William and his sister Emma heard of the Latter-day Satins, they became interested.  They investigated, and were converted, and William was baptized by Elder Mark Lindsey, on May 26, 1855.  His sister was baptized a few months before him.  His parents were much opposed to their joining the Mormons, and his mother said to them, “That if they felt they must be baptized, she wished they would be baptized into a decent Church.
    But afterward his parents and the rest of their children (four boys: Thomas, Eli, Nathan, and John) joined the church and emigrated to Utah.  Soon after William was baptized, he was called to accompany the Elders laboring in Wellingborough and vicinity, one of these Elders was Aleck Sutherland father of George Sutherland, who was a member of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.
    In 1859,  William was ordained an Elder and was called to preside over the Wilby branch, and it was about this time he became acquainted with Susan Moulton, whose father, John Moulton was president of the Irchester branch in a nearby village.  Their acquaintance ripened into love, and they became betrothed.  Early in 1861 William was released as president of Wilby Branch, and sailed from Liverpool for Utah on a sailing ship, in April 1861.  It took about three weeks sailing to get to New York, then from New York to Florence (Omaha) Neb. They came by  rail, then by ox teams across the plains and mountains to Salt Lake City.  While on this part of his journey he would play his flute for the emigrants to dance in the evenings while camped for the night.  The company he traveled with arrived in Salt Lake City in Sept 1861.
    Soon after arriving in Salt Lake City, he started south with some other emigrants for Parowan, intending to there start a home for himself and his promised wife Susan Moulton.  When the company got to Payson he was met by an old friend and shipmate, Jesse Tye, who persuaded him to stop in Payson and work in the George W. Hancock Shoe Shop. 
    In a few months he was made foreman and worked at this trade of shoemaking all the rest of his life, most of the time having his own shop or in connection with a partner.  Some of his partners were John Butler, Father Marsh, Henry Terrort, William G. Ostler, Thomas P. Cloward and Andrew Thurstrup who also worked for him many years.
    By Sept. 1862 William had saved $500 dollars, but soon after was taken very ill with inflammatory rheumatism, and was quite helpless for some time, and all his savings were used up within the next year.  He was taken care of at the Hancock home part of the time, and then William Heaton and his wife took him to their home and nursed him back to health and strength, enough so he could work again, and so he could write to his parents, and sweetheart in England.
    In the meantime, Susan Moulton and his brother Thomas and sister Emma had decided to emigrate to Utah.  They arrived in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1863.  They immediately came to Payson and William Clayson and Susan Moulton were married December 16, 1863 by William Heaton, and in 1866 were remarried in the Endowment House.  Three children were born to them, William Jr. May 10th, 1865, Fanny Aug. 1st 1867 and Charles who died in infancy about 1869 or 1870.
    During his first years in Payson he played the flute in the ward choir also he played for dances and theaters.  He was appointed ward chorister in Dec. 1865 and continued so until his death in 1887.  He married Selina Heaton as a plural wife in Sept. 1865.  He had four or five piece orchestra that was very popular for dances and theaters until the Payson Opera House was built in 1883, when it was increased to nine pieces.
    Under the direction of Bishop John B. Fairbanks and his first counselor Orwell Simons the Payson Brass Band was organized July 1st 1869 with William Clayson as president and leader, but a teacher, a Swiss musician from Manti was engaged as a teacher for three weeks, while William was learning to play the cornet.  He was also leader of their organization until his death.  In 1805 he had turned the orchestral work over to younger musicians.
    During his early years with the orchestra it was sometimes necessary to have special music for some of the plays presented by the home dramatic companies and he would have to arrange this music and sometimes compose some for the orchestra, and also composed one hymn tune for the ward choir and one march for the band.  None of his music was ever published.
    Soon after Joseph L. Townsend came to Payson in the seventies.   They were called to act as Assistant Superintendents. in the Payson Sunday School.  Brother Townsend as 1st counselor and William Clayson as 2nd counselor and chorister.  It was soon after this and about 1876 0r 1877 that Brother Townsend started writing Sunday School Hymns.  Some of these he brought to William Clayson to have them set to music and he composed music for eight or nine of them, six of which are in the Deseret Sunday School Book.  The others are in other books now out of print.
    But in reality, his greatest work was his teaching music to the young people of Payson and thereby creating a musical culture that was far reaching to the benefit of Payson and also to the church, from the fact many of his students and those that worked with him were able to go with the work both in Payson and in other communities. 
    William Clayson was ordained a seventy Dec. 28th 1864, and ordained one of the Presidents of the 46th Quorum Sept. 19th 1886.  From 1879 until 1882 he was a member of Payson City Council when he was disqualified by the Edmunds Law.  He was also water master over the “Clayson Ditch” for many years. 
    He married his third wife Sarah A. Sheffield of Brigham City in 1876.  There were no children born to his two plural wives.  His wife Susan died Oct. 15th 1883.  His death was July 28th 1887, caused from Brights disease.  His wife Selina died Dec. 1915 and Sarah Dec. 3rd 1928.  William and all of his wives are buried in the Payson City Cemetery.

 

EMMA JANE DIXON DOUGLASS

 

 

EMMA  JANE  DIXON  DOUGLASS

    In the little farming community of Kirtland, Ohio, a green spot of rolling hills, Emma Jane was born on October 16, 1855, the sixth child of Christopher Flintoff Dixon and Jane Elizabeth Wightman Dixon. Her father had come from New Brunswick to Kirtland, bringing with him his wife from New York. Both belonged to the Latter-day Saints Church, which probably was their reason for coming to Kirtland.
    In Kirtland they lived in a long rambling frame house, one bought from Hyrum Smith. All of her brothers and sisters were born there. The house stood across across the street from the Mormon temple. A tall climbing rose  hungs to a corner of the house. When she later visited the spot, the owners were surprised when all she asked for was a rose clipping to take to Utah. Other visitors before her were chiefly interested in the house because of its connection with Hyrum Smit.  They had asked for souvenirs such as pieces of the wall or steps or fireplace.
    It was in that old house that Emma and brothers and sisters played Ring Around the Roses together. The ones old enough to play were Ruth Elizabeth, Charles Hyrum, John Henry, Mary Adelma, Erastus Wightman, and Emma. Her oldest brother Joseph had died in infancy. The two others, Estelle Victoria, and Christopher Flintoff were too small at the time.
    She could  remember her mother looking on at the children as she did with her lap full of sewing! She had no machine and stitched for her brood whenever she had time. Occasionally a woman was hired to help her.
    When Emma was not playing, she used to like to go out under the old chestnut grove with her  father to salt the sheep. Besides farming, he used to herd sheep nearby. Once when they were out there, a troop of Union soldiers appeared. They practiced jumping over their fence. Emma remembered they were all happy that her oldest brother Charles was too young for the Civil War. Then too, he was so sick there that they often feared for his life.
    Emma  remember that her oldest sister Ruth always had lots of beaus in Kirtland. She was glad for the recognition people gave her. But it was Emma’s sister May, who in her very quiet way, seemed closest to Emma.  Often Emma wished that she could sit as May did by her sick Grandmother Wightman’s side and sip tea. Maybe it was because she was too lively to be by her in her sickness. May gave her just that quiet ease that she desired. When Grandmother died, Emma stood with the others, watching her coffin being carried across the street to the temple burial ground.
    Once when Emma had her little sister Estelle with her, they got lost near the temple. Emma  remembered the tears they shed before someone found them and took them home
    Their neighbors in Kirtland were considerate ones. One Sabra Whitley used to help Emma’s mother with the children. When her brother returned home after the Civil War, he brought the smallpox with him to Sabra. When she stood at our gate afterwards, Emma’s mother  feared to invite her in because of the dreaded disease.
Another neighbor Hat Frank lived across the street from us. She was blinded in one eye by a boy who threw a snowball that hit a window, causing a piece of glass to blind her. Whenever Hat used to come over to our house she’d sing the song, “Oh, How I Wish I Were Single Again.” The line in the song about the husband wishing the children dead worried me when she sang it. I couldn’t imagine anyone wishing his children dead.
    Ella Green, another neighbor, was the child of a rather odd mother. When Ella left her dress on the floor as she hurried off to school, her mother sent after her and brought her home to pick it up. Emma was so surprised that she thought about the incident for a long time.
    About the only thing Emma could  remember in connection with their  plans to leave Kirtland and cross the plains to Utah was the friendliness of their neighbors. They took them into their homes,  shared their meals before our the Dixon Family’s departure. Next, they were on a pretty boat on Lake Erie. The light red carpet on the boat seemed very attractive to Emma. On the boat she remembered the captain asking where the mother of the children was. Emma’s mother was sick in her cabin. When they  reached Florence, Nebraska, her father left the family  to return to Kirtland to settle his affairs. When he rejoined them with an ox team, they made ready to start their long trek across the plains. Emma  remembered the many barrels of crackers they had. The two oxen were Bright and Golden. They drew the wagon. Ruth rode a pony part of the time. The rest of the maily rode in the wagon or walked. From Florence on, they rode in the company of Captain Canfield.
    Whenever the company halted, they  would all start hunting for buffalo chips to burn. Once when they stopped, some Indians looked in their wagon. They laughed when the children cried for fear of them. From June to October they rode over the plains with just two accidents that Emma could  remember. Rastus, her brother, had his foot run over and was left crippled  because they  had no doctor to aid them. Arthur Wightman, just a little boy, fell into the fire and burned the palm of his hand. He held his hand so tightly closed to ease the pain that it grew together. Even though Emma was just seven at the time, she remembered those two accidents.
    Emma never forget reaching Salt Lake City on October 16, 1862, which was her seventh birthday. The peaches were just getting ripe and a Mormon elder brought them  some. How good they tasted to to the family! In Emigration Canyon they  were met by Orawell Simons, who had preceded them to Utah. From Salt Lake they came right on to Payson, taking four days for the trip. In Payson they  were again with those that  knew.  Her father’s sisters were already established there.
    On the public square in Payson, they made their camp. Later they moved down to the “Old Place” as they later called it. Emma  remembered the large, clear stream of water that flowed near the house. They had to make adobes for the house and live with relatives until the house was built. It nestled in a green grove of box elder and cottonwood trees, close by Peteetneet Creek.
    When Emma was little, they made their our own candles. They  hung strings on sticks, dipped the strings in tallow, and then brought them out to cool. By repeating the process they  made candles the size they wished.
    They were taught thrift. Regularly they gleaned wheat that scratched their  hands. They  weeded too. Emma could  remember going with her Aunt Betsy McKinley, her father’s sister, out to pull the cockle weed from the wheat field. Iemma thought the cockle weed a pretty one.
    Emma  was always interested in the animals, both on their  “Old Place” and on their  second place over on the “Bench.” She often helped with the milking and did other farm chores. Her  father gave her many calves because of her interest.
    At home, they often made candy from the skimmings of molasses. Part of their work was in gathering saleratus from the hills to put in water for cooking purposes. They  made their soup too from extra grease drippings. Nearly always they had cheese in the making.
    Her  father’s estate in Kirtland had brought him a considerable sum, large enough for him to get well-fixed in Payson with his farmland, homes, cattle and sheep.
    When Emma was in her early teens, she went in a cart drawn by a horse that the family had bought from a man who had  it in a show in Montana, over the old Spanish Fork Road to the house on the Bench. Just as Emma got to the top of the hill, she saw a band of Indians running around on their horses in the pasture.  She was so frightened upon seeing them that she turned and hurried back to Payson, forgetting that her mission to the Bench was to bring back her sister May who was there, with some friends. Of course, nothing happened except that those at the Bench had to walk to Payson. May often joked with Emma about the incident, saying that she cared so little for her that she had left her to the Indians while Emma made my own safe getaway.
    The Douglass’  always feared the Indians. Even when they came to the door and knocked and said, “Wine,” the family was afraid.
    Down at the Old Place Emma’s  father planted a large orchard a few years after their arrival. They had apples of all kinds, peaches and plums. Emma thought the plums were delicious. She remembered cutting the peaches in the old granary for drying and laying them on a lath out in the sun to dry.
    If ever  Brigham Young or any of the church leaders were to be in town, the Douglass’ were dressed in their Sunday best and taken out to see the leaders go by. It was always an event for them.
    At the age of thirteen, Emma was quite a big girl and a tomboy. Her chief delight was riding horses and running races.  When she started to school, her first teacher was Lucretia Wightman. The schoolhouse was the old Wightman home across the street from the Old Place.
    Our Friday’s the  spelling matches were always an excitement event. Two students called up sides with John Tom Hardy for teacher. Isaiah Coombs, who taught them in the old Central School, was the  teacher of arithmetic. If ever Emma needed help, William Patten, who was good in figures, helped  her out. Mr. Coombs also taught reading, writing and grammar. They  had a grammar book for any questions in grammar.
    Later, I went to T. B. Lewis, who taught in the old tithing office upstairs. It was while she was in his school that she was voted by popular vote the best student, and she received for a prize Eliza r. Snow’s book of poems.
    After leaving Mr. Lewis’ school Emma  went to Provo, where Warren and Willson Dusenbury taught in the Lewis building. After that, she went to the Deseret University on Main Street in Salt Lake, where Dr. John R. Park was my teacher.
    When the Philomathion Society was organized by T. B. Lewis, Emma made her first public appearance, reciting from memory Saint Gadula’s Bells.  She always attended Sunday school regularly in the old Union Hall, a hall used for not only religious work but for dances and stage performances as well. In Sunday School they were taught the Bible by memorizing certain chapters.
    Emma was past 19 years old when Samuel Douglass and Emma were married in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake on October 26, 1874.  They returned  to Payson in a buggy the following day. When they reached Payson, her mother had a big dinner for them. They  were married a little sooner than they had planned because her father was going on a mission to New Brunswick.
    Soon after their marriage, they moved into the new house just built.  After her they had oil lamps in thier home.  They  used them until the night Emma and Samuel’s daughter Nell was married when their electric lights were installed.
Samule and Emma had eleven children:  Mary Estelle,  Armanella, Samuel, Charles, William, Emma, Henrietta, Edith, Stanley, Marguerite, and Kathryn.
    Emma Jane passed away on June 4, 1943 and was buried next to her husband in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.