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.

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.

GEORGE WASHINGTON HANCOCK--PART 8

GEORGE WASHINGTON HANCOCK–PART 8

    During the Johnson Army invasion the saints moved south in 1857. The Hancock home was a place of refuge for many on the unfortunate people. His house was full and his yard was full of tents pitched and on his fields wagons were drawn and in them homes maintained and he and his family were a source of comfort and help to the weary driven travelers.
    At this time George was serving as constable of Utah County. In this work he was involved in many Indian troubles as a peacemaker and his life was often in great peril. He did a great deal of trading with the Indians, trading merchandise for furs and buckskins. When the Indian affairs became too troublesome to solve he would invite them to his store and let them have blankets and provisions on credit, of which he never lost a cent as the Indians were very honest with their dealings with him. In this way he could keep them contented for a time. He would also take them to his home and feed them at his table and was always sought as a peacemaker between them and the white men. The Indians gave his great respect and consulted with him in their difficulties and called him their "White God."

    Because of the office he held as constable he was away from home a great deal of his time and his life was in constant danger. During these trying days of the Johnson Army trouble, lawlessness prevailed and to some degree the people were prone to take the law into their own hands and execute justice as they saw fit. During the move south impostors took shelter under the cloak of religion and professed sincerity while in reality they lived by unlawful and dishonorable acts.
    Oct. 9, 1869 a Zion's camp reunion was held in Social Hall in Salt Lake City and George and his brother Charles joined as representatives of the Saints who were driven out of Missouri. Memories brought back those days of hardships and suffering and they gave thanks for their present blessings and for their deliverance.
    About this time George was serving as guard in protecting the people from organized cattle thieves operating in the settlements in the southern part of the state, many in California. The people were losing stock every night and special guards were stationed at different high points overlooking the town. A lot of the stock was kept in a large corral. One night 2 boys planned to steal some horses out of this corral, but one boy became frightened and gave the plot away. So the guards were watching for them and George was one of the detailed men. One of the boys came to the enclosure in the night and George and another guard (Geo. Patten) started after them. The boy fired his gun at them. Mr. Patten & George pursued the boy as far as Salem where they caught him and brought him back to Payson. When they reached there a large mob had gathered and great excitement prevailed. While they were holding this boy, George one arm and Patten the other, someone in the crowd shot the boy in the back. No one at that time seemed to know who it has as there was so much confusion and excitement at that time as the mob had already been to the shack of a woman who had been in ill repute for a long time and who was the mother of this boy outlaw. The mob had been so enraged and incensed that they had torn down the dugout or shack over the head of this woman and had killed her while Patten and George were after the boy. At the time of all this nothing was done to apprehend the guilty party or persons involved, but 32 years later, just before the assembly of the National Legislative Congress which met in December, when National prejudice was at its peak on the anti-poligamy, the case was recalled. As one reporter recorded it the Deseret News of November 22, 1889. "The anti-Mormon bloody shirt must be washed in front of the National Legislative Congress which meets in December and in the absence of no live coals concerning the Mormons, the dead coals are fanned into Life."
    A son Asael Hancock living in Payson gives an account of this trouble. He says, "One night a messenger came to our house and called my father to the door and said are you George Hancock, and he answered yes. I have a paper for you to read. Mr. Hancock invited him to come into the house so he could read it better in the light but he preferred to have him accompany him to his hotel. He was then taken from his home under arrest where he was kept all night in a home about 5 blocks away and made to sit up all night in a chair while these men played cards with the woman who owned the place and drank whiskey. This place was an inn which had a bad reputation. In the morning he was taken to a jail at Provo. Mr. Patten and gotten word of this and left that night for Nephi and later went on to Mexico to his ranch. This woman and her son had been in ill repute for a long time, her husband had killed an emigrant at Kanesville, Iowa in the early forties by striking his head with an iron bar. George's brother, Charles, was at this time a bishop and had seen that this family had been furnished with food many times. But the mob had been incensed and aroused while the guardians of the law were busy protecting the people from cattle thieves. This woman also had a daughter who grew to womanhood and always came into George's store after the trouble and always said she considered George innocent of any of the trouble. Quoting from one of the papers "There is a good reason to regard the arrest of Mr. Hancock as a work of malice." He is an aged man and a highly respected citizen and has given many active years of service.

    While George was interviewed at the jail he emphatically said, "I am not guilty." He was confined in jail without bail for a period of 4 months waiting trial and the courts refused to hear his case, but fanned it before the public eye in every newspaper as "Mormon criminal". Being brought to justice after 32 years when in reality he was at all times available in the little town of Payson, engaged in public enterprises. The case was taken before the Supreme Court of the Territory of Utah and after one year a new trial was held and Pres. Cleveland reviewed the evidence and the case was dismissed. The testimony of one of the witnesses was questionable and the other witness at the time was serving a sentence of 2 years for an immoral crime. So George was finally vindicated. George showed his wonderful character and influence for good while he was confined in jail. He had such a peaceful and spiritual influence and commanded such great respect from the prisoners that they kept themselves cleaned and washed up and George said a blessing for them on all the food served to them.
    While he was thus confined his son, Asael, was brought home from Tintic where he was working to look after his father's store and to see him in his trouble. About that time he telegraphed to Asael that a man had been to see him and had offered him $4,000 for his store building. Asael was renting the upstairs at that time for $:200 per month and asked his father to hold out for a better price. Asael had been given power of attorney in his father's affairs. After much dickering back and forth Asael finally sold the property for $8,000 cash. This enabled his father to pay off the mortgage on his home and gave him $6,000 to start again in business. He then started a creamery forming a company. But it proved failure as the people would often put water in their milk and with other discouraging features they gave it up. Going back to the year 1847, after the woman and her sons had been killed. George continued his useful and active life in full confidence of his fellowmen and the authorities of the church, and having no guilt upon his conscience pursued his life in the usual manner, helping and serving all who came across his path. His only regret was that his beloved church would come into the limelight through this trouble.
    At conference 1871 George was called upon to fulfill a mission to the eastern states and was set apart by Lorenzo Snow. After he had successfully fulfilled this mission and was returning home he brought a carload of hogs as he had heard there was a scarcity of pork at home. He brought them as far as Lehi. The railroad was only built that far so he had men help him drive them on the road from there to Payson. He got a good price for them which was a big help to him financially, later his merchandise business increased so much he was able to build a nice store building where he carried on his business. It was well stocked with dry goods, groceries, hardware, etc. He brought in stoves by the carloads from the east. In later years he built a lovely home, about the year l875. This home is still standing and was purchased by Asael his son. Then the cruel years that followed grieved and aged him far beyond his years and involved him financially and taxed his strength and tried his soul. The injustice of it all in the guide of justice. On the 9 March 1897, a host of his relatives and friends met at his home to celebrate his 71st birthday and this report of it was given in the Desert News. "By request he sang songs composed by Patriarch Levi W. Hancock, his uncle, and also related many, experiences while serving in the Battalion. He told of their march to Sante Fe and California and upon their release, to Fort Hall and Thence south in search of the pioneers and how he found them in Salt Lake Valley in 1847. He told them of his trip back east through the snows of winter with but a few companions, crossing the mountains and plains, exhausted by privation finally reaching the settlements of Missouri, having been sustained nearly all the way by game from his rifle, seeds and corn bartered by Indians and now and then gristly mule meat and raw hide strips cut from the pack saddle and cooked over the camp fire without salt and from the wayside shrubs in place of vegetables and bread. The family were so interested they begged to hear more and stayed on listening until one o'clock in the morning. George Hancock bore his testimony to the truth of Mormonism and the prophetic mission of Joseph Smith whom he had know so well. He said "I have seen 500 of the strength of Israel volunteer into active service. I have seen the saints settled in a new land in the desert of the mountains. I have see the crusade of Johnson's army and its departure to the southern states at the great rebellion of the Civil War. I have witnessed the building and dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. I have known all five of the presidents of the church and have seen the growth of the church from its very beginning. I have gone through so many trials but I still love the Gospel of Jesus Christ." He urged his children and grandchildren to be faithful to the cause for which he went through so many privations and in which his heart still throbbed in full fellowship and sympathy.
    George W. Hancock was 5 feet 8 inches tall - weighed 133 pounds, chest measurements 45 inches. Eyes were blue and his hair was jet black. He possessed a cheerful disposition and was agreeable company, well informed and intelligent with a fair education for his day. It is said that he had but 3 months of schooling in his life but this did not keep him from studying. He and his brother, Charles, after a hard day's work, would gather birch bark to make a light by which they could study. He had been a hard worker and passed through so many experiences which made him older than his years. Although he had been wealthy and prosperous at one time he suffered great losses but lives to pay every debt he owed but dies a poor man, leaving only about $500 in cash and his home and the memory of a life well lived and a posterity that is proud to bear his name. His life may be called a grand success.
    Of him his daughter, Betsey Jane wrote "My father was a good man and I wish my son to emulate him." What greater tribute could be paid a father then that?
    His daughter, Alta, wrote of him from Albuquerque, N.M. January 6, 1925 "Father spent his life and substance in helping the poor and needy. He tried to create employment for all in their own trade, yet with all these cares and business worries he never shirked his religious duties. He was a kind husband and father. He would not eat unless every child was at the table for the blessing and prayer. The best I can say of my father is that he was one who loved his fellowmen."
    Although he had been ailing for the past few weeks, he passed away on January 15, 1901.
He was buried in the Payson City Cemetery.

GEORGE WASHINGTON HANCOCK--PART 7

 George W. Hancock–Payson Pioneer
Life in Early Payson--Part 7

    On the 6th of April 1855 at the annual conference of the church held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle, 53 elders were appointed to go on missions for the Church. George W. Hancock was one of those called. He was called on a special mission to assist in surveying a route from Utah to California. Like former calls made upon him by his church,  he responded cheerfully. During his absence his beloved wife, Amy, was left with the responsibility of his 2 motherless children and the care of her own 2 babies. Before his return,  death called their baby son, George Jr. from them and Amy was left alone in her sorrow. In March 1856,  President Brigham Young called George to go down to Payson, Utah to make work for the emigrants who were settling in this place and to employ them and to handle their wares. This call was filled and George moved his family and established himself in Payson where he spent the rest of his life.
    On the 20th  of April,  he became a member of the 2Oth Quorum of Seventies and in May 1857,  when the 46th Quorum of Seventies was organized at Payson and Santaquin,  he became one of its presidents with James B. Bracken, John Thomas Hardy, Benjamin P. Stewart, Wm. B. Maxwell. Payson, at the time George moved there, was a small town with a mud wall surrounding part of it built as a fort for the protection for the people against the Indians. The growth of Payson in the early days was largely due to the thrift and industry of George W. Hancock in establishing enterprises and employing the emigrants and help them to get started in life.
    During the Battalion days,  he had acquired a good understanding of the Spanish language, and also the language of the Indian and this helped him with his future dealings with the Indians. When he moved his family to Payson,  he built them a house and opened up a store in half of it. The house was the largest house in the settlement, therefore all the church authorities and Indian chiefs who visited Payson were guests at his home. He was the first and only merchant in Payson at that time.
    He soon became overstocked with hides and in order to avoid serious loss he built a tannery and set emigrants to work who understood tanning. It was not long before he became overstocked with leather so he hired a skilled Englishman to open a shoe shop and make shoes. He then built a harness factory and hired a harness maker to make harnesses and saddles. He also built and operated a glove factory and later a hat factory. His business enterprises grew until at one time he employed 20 shoemakers to make shoes and fine riding boots, about 6 men making saddles and harnesses, 2 men making saddle trees and covering, them with rawhide, several men tanning the hides and making leather. From the buckskin he bought from the Indians he employed several men and women in making fine gloves and hats from the furs. He owned and operated a lumber yard, a grist mill, and later a creamery and a canning factory. He built the first electric light plant in Payson and donated land for the opera house and helped to build it and operate it. At the time of his death he was engaged in a coal and lumber business. All through his life he found employment for the poor and many owed him their first start in life. He was a firm believer in President Brigham Young and obeyed his call and prospered.
    While operating these various enterprises it was now always easy to dispose of his products. He, therefore fitted up two freight wagons and teams and drivers and when his supply was greater than the demand he sent them on a selling tour. The market for most of these goods
 was in California. He kept a tavern or stopping place for travelers on their way to the gold fields and sold his goods to these prospectors. Sometimes he sent trucks into Idaho and Nevada.
    Upon one of these trips to Nevada and when gold was discovered there,  he went himself and took his young nephew, Charles Hancock Jr. with him. They had 2 wagons of flour, dressed pork, and other merchandise and went as far as Pioche. There he sold his load for $460. He tucked the money, save for a few dollars for expense money, away and started home. He drove the head team and Charles drove the team behind. As he jogged along the road he saw in the distance men moving behind huge rocks. He knew at once their intentions and stopped his team and got out of his wagon and went behind the rear wagon as if to examine the wheels. As he did so he said to the boy, Charles, that there were robbers ahead. What do you think we had better do? The sleepy boy said, "What?" At this time, not wanting to wait, the robbers dashed from behind the rocks mounted their horses and galloped toward the defenseless victims. George, seeing their approach put his hand into his pocket and let the few dollars he had down the leg of his trousers into the wagon wheel track and shuffled his feet, stamping it into the dust. When the five masked bandits drew up their horses, flourishing their revolvers and demanding their money and valuables. George realizing their lives were in peril, surrendered all he possessed, but the gold dollars hidden in the wagon track and covered with dust. One of the bandits struck him over the head with the butt of his revolver, cutting a ghastly hole in his head from which he suffered all the rest of his life. The robbers then knocked young Charles down and covered him completely with blankets and threatened his life if he opened his eyes or moved for one hour after their departure. They cut the harness lines and tied George's hand and foot to the wheel of the wagon and left him in an unconscious condition under the scorching sun to bleed and die. They also cut the tugs of the harness and turned the horses loose and then mounting their horses rode toward Pioche.
    When George recovered consciousness, he could not persuade Charles to untie him or render any assistance, so great was the boy's fear, until he thought the hour was up. George was faint from loss of blood and the intense heat and it was with difficulty they made their 6 miles to Pine Valley to Cyrus Hancock, George's cousin's place. Upon reaching there George fell in a faint. Cyrus came to his rescue and carried him into the house and rounded up his horses and helped him on his way home. One of these pieces of money saved was a gold dollar coined in 1860. George carried this dollar for good luck all the rest of his life until just before he passed away he gave it to his daughter, Betsey. She wore it on her watch chain for many years until prior to her death she gave it to her granddaughter, Virginia Shurtliff, who kept as a sacred relic of her ancestor.

GEORGE WASHINGTON HANCOCK--PART 6

 GEORGE W. HANCOCK–PAYSON PIONEER

SALT LAKE VALLEY TO IOWA AND RETURN --PART 6

    George left his brother in Salt Lake Valley and on the 10th of October 1847 after but a brief rest from his long, toilsome journey of nearly 800 miles and with a small group of companions.   He pursued his way back over the mountains in falling snows and again across the great desert, depending upon his rifle, the only remnant of the war. Suffering with cold and hunger and a mental torture for the welfare of his father 's family. The impression which tortured George's mind night and day was that his father would not be there to greet him. He finally reached his home, if it could be called a home on the 12 December 1847 with his greatest fears realized. His dearly beloved and honored father had passed away 10 days before and had been buried on the banks of the Missouri River near Council Bluffs in Pottawattamie Co. of Iowa.
    Upon his arrival George possessed but one dollar. He paid this for an ax and then went into the woods and cut down trees and build a log house and move his stepmother and family of five small children from the wagon which had been their only home and which had sheltered them from the wintry blasts of 1846  and the burning sun of the summer of 1847..
    In the spring of 1848 George met and fell in love with Betsey Jane Fackrell daughter of James and Amy C. Fackrell, Mormon refugees from Bertrand, Michigan, who were now living with the saints at Council Bluffs. After a few brief months of courtship George and Betsey Jane were married on 14 May 1848 in the Bertrand branch camp of the Latter-day saints in Pott. Co. Iowa. At the time of their marriage George was 22 years old and Betsey was 24. George took his bride to the Hancock log cabin home and the next day, 15 of May, Betsey's family started upon their journey across the plains. George spent the next year in hard labor preparing an outfit so he could go west and join the saints in the spring.
    On the 24 of March 1849 this little cottage was made glad because of the arrival of a baby boy. They named the baby Charles in honor of the affection George bore for his brother, Charles. When the babe was about 2 months old, the family left their little log cabin home and in company with his father's wife and five children started upon their westward journey. With their earthly possessions loaded into a wagon which was drawn by a team consisting of a cow and a steer, they traveled over plains, rivers, mountains, and deserts and finally arrived in the valley of Great Salt Lake the last of September 1849.
    Betsey's father, James Fackrell Sr., owned a great deal of land in Woods Cross so the first of Oct. George and Betsey journeyed on to Woods Cross and there bought land and built them a log cabin. The next spring they planted crops and a garden and reaped a good harvest which provided well for his small family. On the 22 of Feb. 1851 their second child was born, a girl whom they named Betsey Jane after her mother. After this child's birth the mother was very ill and when the babe was but three weeks old the mother died Erysipelas.
    Thus at the age of 27 Betsey left two children and her heart broken husband with but a memory of 3 happy years spent together. George tenderly laid away his young wife in Salt Lake City Cemetery in Platt 3 Block 12. Their two motherless babies were cared for by kind friends and neighbors and finally George secured the services of his Uncle Thomas Hancock's widow, Annie Hancock, who had come into the valley with her two fatherless boys, John and Daniel. Thus George's home was maintained and his children cared for until 4 April 1852, when he married his 16 year old cousin, Amy Experience Hancock. Amy was the daughter of Joseph and Experience (Wheeler) Rudd Hancock and was born 12 May 1835 near Liberty, Clay Co. Missouri.
    Unto George and Amy 12 children were born of whom only 3 grew to maturity. Alta Marie, who married J. L. Townsend; Solomon and Asael. After his marriage to Amy, George took up his life, sharing the activities of the community and was prominent in all public projects. On March 9, 1852 Brigham Young, the Governor of Utah Territory, appointed him Captain of Co. B. of Regiment Infantry of Davis Military District. In this office he served in honor until he moved to Payson in 1856. (2 years previous to this time in 1854 he was called to go with Orson Hyde to help survey the line between California and Utah.
    On the 6 and 7 of Feb. 1855 the first general festival of the Mormon Battalion members was held in the Social Hall in Salt Lake City and upon that occasion all the members of the Battalion who were in the territory who could possibly attend met with the first presidency of the Church in a social gathering. President Heber C. Kimball addressed them and the following is taken from his speech: "This world was not made in a day, neither will our victory be obtained in one day, but it will take many years for it is a great work. I want to see you all honor yourselves and make your priesthood honorable in the sight of High Heaven. I wish to see you honor God and your calling as you did in the campaign when you went to California. I verily believe and know that you did then, generally speaking, and I know that resulted in the salvation of this people and had you not done this we should not have been here. I want to tell you, gentlemen, that we will have times and seasons yet, and you will be brought into closer quarters than you were on those occasions. I feel to warn you of these things. Do not sell your guns, but if you have not good ones, get some and rub up your swords and be ready, but fear not, for the Lord will prepare a ram in the thicket and he will save his people and overthrow the wicked if it takes everyone of these boys who were in Zion's Camp and the Battalion to do it. It was said in a revelation given to the prophet Joseph Smith, that we then offered a sacrifice equal to that of Abraham offering up Isaac (Zion's Camp) and Isaac's blessing shall be upon your brethren. Our prayers are lifted up day and night in your behalf and you will be blessed indeed, every man and every woman.
    But every man that lifts his hand against you shall fall, and every nation and every president and king that lifts their hands against you and this people cannot prosper but the curse of the Almighty will rest upon them. These are my views and feelings upon the subject, May God bless you forever, amen."
    President J. M. Grant was the next speaker and these are parts taken from his speech. "I have read many narratives of the valor of men and the service they have rendered to their country; but I here see a set of men who have stood in defense of their country, under the most heartrending circumstances that human beings could be placed in; men having families and friends to leave on the open prairie; you not only saved a large tract of land for this country but you saved this people from being pounded upon by the militia of several states, for heartless villains had concocted plans to have all of this people murdered while upon the western frontiers. Yes, brethren, had it not been for this Battalion a terrible massacre would have taken place upon the banks of the Missouri river. Notwithstanding your hardships and the difficulties you passed through rendered service to the people of God that will ever be remembered, and such service as will bring blessings upon your heads in time and eternity. If your friends fell by the wayside and if you lost your families, your wives or your children and you sustain the people of God, you can depend upon a reward for all that you suffered, for you are the sons of God. You have done a good work and I say God bless you. When Isaac went to the alter he was called a lad and was 25 years old (and some of you are not much older now) he went cheerfully because he knew it was right, but he had no more of a task to perform than this Battalion for you had to live upon what you could get, eat hides, blood and all, and you had to eat your mules and walk over the scorching plains and go days and nights without water. I would as soon have carried Isaac's burden as yours. The burden laid upon you was hard to bear and it was harder than there was any need for it to be.-- We love the rights of the constitution guarantees to every citizen. What did the prophet Joseph say? When the constitution shall be tottering we shall be the people to save it from the hand of the foe. . You have been called upon to defend the Church of God and your country. I came here to Say-- thank you for your services in that Battalion."
    A dinner was then enjoyed after which President Brigham Young spoke and the following were part of his talk. "I now behold a part of the men who left their wives, children, fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, cattle, horses, and wagons upon a prairie in a wild savage country and took up arms and marched forth in defense, you men have constantly had a goodly share of my faith and prayers and sympathies from the time you volunteered. At the departure of the Mormon Battalion I am sure that no set of men or people have ever had more faith exercised for them than this people had. Perhaps also there have been no people on the face of the earth who according to their knowledge possessed more faith than these men when they left their families at Bluffs. The brethren that went into the Battalion went as good hearts and spirits, according ho the extent of their understanding, as ever men went upon missions to the world and they manifested a readiness to do anything required of them, these men now before me were the saviors of his people-- when I think of them the feeling bursts in my heart. God bless them. I bless you now and pray every good thing to bless you. I see your motto, the Mormon Battalion-- a ram in the thicket. Yes, and well caught. They made every sacrifice required-- they offered their lives to save this people from the evil designs by their enemies. They did everything that was required by the government of the United States and I am sorry to say that some few of them lost their lives in the sacrifice. I will tell you one thing, brethren and sisters, which is as true as the Lord Almighty lives, if the Battalion had done as I told them in every particular, there would not a single man have fallen in that service; I know that such would have been the result. Most of them did live and act well; but they had the world, the flesh and the devil to contend with and no wonder some should manifest their weakness in those times. Brethren, you will be blessed if you will live for the blessings which you have been taught to live. The Mormon Battalion will be held in honorable remembrance to the latest generation, and I will prophecy that the children of those who have been in the army in defense of their country will grow up and bless their fathers for what they did at that time, and men and nations will rise up and bless the men who went into the Battalion. As the Lord lives, if you will but live up to your privileges you will never be forgotten. Worlds without end will be had in honorable remembrance forever and ever." Is it any wonder that the posterity of George Washington Hancock proudly says, "He is a member of the Mormon Battalion."