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The Grants lived in 13 ward as we did. I think it was the first Primary Conference that I remember going to, I was 5 years old.
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People used their rags to make carpets of but they needed them just then for paper badly so people supplied them liberally. At that time, we would get such books as the Faith promoting series. They were stories of marvelous blessings & preserving care of our Father in Heaven to his obedient children. I remember Bishop Nelson A. Empies when we were back in the 13 ward again his beautiful daughter with her long blond braids of hair. I remember taking our basket of fast donation as we went to fast meeting to Bishop Wooley, later.
One time President Grant's mother invited the girls of the Primary to go to sew carpet rags one afternoon for her, she was a beautiful woman. We got new thimbles for the occasion. As we went that afternoon, I remember those women who were the leaders of that day, Eliza R Snow, Bathsheba Smith, Emiline B. Wells & Zina DH Young, the Apostles & seeing Brigham Young before he died & how sunken President John Taylor's eyes were. Leah Dunford used to come to our house to play & we would go to hers. She had such wonderful playthings. She is now Apostle Widsoe's wife. She was a very fine little girl so I know she is a fine woman.
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& seeing Brigham Young's grave.
Moody & Sanky were not Mormons but men trying to get people to be good.
John McDonald, a half brother of Aggie's who wore long hair had cut it off when it was needed for a lady to wear in a play. He is the father of the man who started the famous McDonald Candy & Chocolates in Salt Lake City. We got our groceries from this McDonald's store.
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We girls, Aggie, my sister Lizzie & I went through & past the Eagle Gate to Brigham Young's school house one winter. I remember seeing & hearing William C Dunbar play his Bagpipes, & going to hear Preachers Moody & Sanky in the Tabernacle. One winter we went to school in the Old Social Hall across the street & up the hill from the Old Playhouse Theater. At recess we used to walk along its water shed. It was quite high but we could keep our balance for a while by putting one hand on the wall for balance. I remember the first play I went to in it, the Grand Duchess. I saw the Mosiah & other plays there. When Evan Stephens was taking students from all the wards & teaching them music my sisters & I were chosen for students. He taught them free then gave concerts to met expenses. We were in one in the theater before we moved. We passed the theater every time we went to town & back. I loved to run up the steps on one side & down the other, these were steps on 3 sides in front. In 1877 I was 5 years old, I remember seeing Brigham Young on the street walking with his cane & seeing Daniel H Wells & all the Apostles of that day quite often.
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George Goddard lived in our ward, he loved to sing Who's on the Lords Side Who. His son led the Singing in S. School. We had to pass the beautiful house & grounds of Feremorz Lettle, he baptized me. Horis L Eldridge lived across the street, they had such a lovely home, had Shetland ponies & a Cart.
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Our home in the 13th Ward was one of the central wards. The wards in the S.L.City Stake had Primary Fairs, the children doing their nicest work to exhibit. Georgia Spencer, our President, took Aggie, myself & 4 other girls & taught them, us to draw & paint flowers. We enjoyed it so much & being at her lovely home. She was such a sweet woman but there wasn't a fair before we moved away. Alice Merrell & Mamie Carns were my S. School teachers. Allie Burt was a very dear friend. One of our greatest joys was to go to Grandfather Chapman's place & visit with Grandma, Aunt Ann, Aunt Catherine & play with their children. They lived in a different ward & a number of those long blocks east of us. Grandma had slipped on the ice that was around the outdoor water tap & broken her hip about a year before we left. We used to go to see her when she was in bed at Aunt Catherine's, later they moved her to the L.D.S. Hospital just across the block east of their home. When we visited her she would tell us stories & sing to us, the first time I heard Old Dog Tray & Paddle Your Own Canoe. She was in bed 3 years with that broken hip before she died.
When Grandfather Chapman lived in Manti,
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Grandfather Chapman had cut stone for all the other Temples & Brigham Young always knew what people could do
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southern Utah, he was president of the Stake. James Richey was one of his Councilors. When the stone for the S.L. Temple was ready to cut, Grandfather was called to S.L. City to cut stone for it. He & his oldest son Joseph were stone masons, all there were was needed. Brigham Young called all who could to cut stone. Uncle Hyrum & father also were stone masons & cut stone for the Temple, but not as regular or steady as Grandfather & Uncle Joseph, When the Temple was to the square & no more stone to be cut grandfather moved back to Manti. It was there Grandmother died. Our Father loved his brother Joseph & when we lived in S.L. City, we often went to Uncle Joseph's. He was quite deaf, hadn't married until quite late in life & his children were about our age, Don Carlos, Josephine & John. Aunt Jane had been married before & had 2 sons Fred & Ernest Tullage, very nice boys. Their father was a drunkard so Aunt Jane & her boys appreciated Uncle Joseph for he was a good kind man. He & Father often played checkers together. Uncle Joseph never made a sound but Father would whistle all the time all through the game.
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Their place was up on the bench near the Cemetery, there were many wild flowers, some bluebells. I used to gather them & take them over to my mothers grave. It had a white marble stone with clasped hands. None of our father's sisters lived in Salt Lake City & we only saw them at times. Grandma's hair was a creamy gray not the white that some get. My grandmothers were very nice & wonderful to me whenever my mother's mother Grandma Brown & Aunt Rozelie came to see us they always brought us presents. One time when I went to Little Cottonwood to visit them Aunt Rozelie took me to the house where we lived when mother died. When I got in I could tell her just where every piece of furniture was. She said it was as I remembered it & I could remember her propped up in bed. I was only 1 year & 10 months old when she died, but it all came back to me when I saw the room. When I was 12 years old, when we were moving to Arizona, Grandma, Aunt Rozelie & Uncle Hyrum Lord her husband, brought Aggie, & Lizzie & I big dolls with Bisque heads,
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repeat)
I had meny dolls. When I had to have my first teeth pulled I had to go to a dentist they had such long roots I dreaded it so bad that the doll would be given to comfort me I had toothache so much of the time
Aunt Rozellie & I had many visits when I went back to conference to S.L. City & visit my Sister Lizzie
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wax faces & nice hair, the biggest ones we had ever had. I was 12 years old & enjoyed making clothes for them. It was the last time I saw Grandma but I had many good visits years later with Aunt Rozelie. She could tell me so much about their lives that I was glad to hear, Uncle Hyrum Lord was a very fine man. They had 2 children live to be grown that I knew & loved, Dan & Ada, & all of my relatives, I loved the relatives I ever saw.
The last Christmas in SL City was such a happy one, it was the best one I remember, (for our dear momma was buried the day before the next one in St Johns). We lived so near, our tree was in Aggies Grandma's upstair parlor & how it was loaded with lovely things & we enjoyed it so much. Before it had to be taken down, on New Year Day we put a big 1884 up on the top of it. Little did we think it would be our last time together in the City or State, for in the spring in 1884 when they were having so much trouble between Mormons & Mexicans in St Johns, Ariz. the Church called for volunteers to go to settle & help the Mormons.
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Bro. Tenney was trying to make Peace. Bro. Tenney had been killed & they were trying to drive the Mormons out. I think there were white men into it for they were having land trouble too,
& we were told it would be a second Carthage to this people if it wasn't settled. There were so many outsiders in the vicinity & Snowflake country too, taking part with the Mexicans.
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If there were not enough volunteers they called more. My father volunteered from the 13th ward in April & the ward furnished him a team of mules & wagon to go in. I do not know if they gave more but I think they did, some of our things were shipped by railroad. We girls slept in one end of the wagon box (back), our parents in the front end so we didn't have to make our beds on the ground. Aggie came with us. I knit a pair of brown cotton stockings on the road there were days we had trouble traveling in the mountains where there was high water & mud. The first night out we camped at the point of the mountain south of the City. It was wonderful to me. Near where we camped father told us the people had a young deer in the barn. It was my first to see, they are beautiful. I did not realize the heartaches my Mother & Father had leaving their people. It was all very new & thrilling to me, I know now that it is the ones left behind who suffer most. There are so many new things to take the mind off the travelers sorrow at parting, but I longed so much to see the dear ones & places for many years after.
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The trouble in St Johns started between the Cow Boys & Mexicans. The Greers & their outfit with Cowboys & Cattle came from Texas & there was trouble between them because of the Texas & Mexican war.
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We traveled alone a few days, then others joined us as we traveled. The Thompsons, Aggie's Aunt Clara was engaged as second wife to Bro Thompson, but didn't want to go with them to St Johns. The families of George & Garlie soon joined us, also Dave McKay, a young single man driving a team & load of goods for a family who came later by Rail, by the name of Walters, who had girls about our ages named Pearl & Ruby. When we got to Provo, Momma took me with her to see a friend. I was sick or rather the shaking of the wagon kept me seasick, I couldn't keep breakfast or dinner down. It was all right when we camped at night, supper stayed with me. This friend at Provo told Momma to cut off my hair short & it would help my sickness. It did help, altho I had to ride near the front where I could look out. If I looked down at anything in the wagon while it was going I got as sick as ever. My hair was thick & long. I was so thankful when I was better. I loved the scenery, one place we camped in Arizona for dinner the beautiful Catus, pale yellow & shades of pink, silky petals & are so dainty. Years later I tasted the delicious fruit that has to be handled so careful
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to keep from getting Cactus slivers that fester & make such nasty sores that children shouldn't handle them.
When we could we got milk as we camped near ranches one time the cows had eaten wild onion or garlic the milk couldnt be eaten. the Gorge & Garlie sisters sang so beautifully together & often sang evenings around camp fires. Water was high from snows when we got to the Sevier river we had trouble crossing it & they had to several times, one day mud was so bad the company only got across it & 5 miles on our way that day by doubling teams laying brush in the mud & other ways we got along, one bad place our mules balked we girls cried when father had to beat them & he told us to go on down the road, he always got out & walked up hill to lighten the load & if it was a steep pull he had us get out & walk he was always kind to his animals thats why we girls cried when he had to beat the mules in watering them one time he told us to go in a certain direction to see Cactus blossoms & at times we saw them along the road. It was the first we ever saw, they were so lovely. As we got in the wagon to leave S.L. City the cat jumped up in the wagon & we took it. It amused us girls on the road. We went through Kanab & one noon we stopped at Johnson, there was such a pretty spring coming out of a high rock. At the foot of it was a place that held the water &
pretty flowers moss & plants growing at the edge of the water.
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As we neared the Big Colorado River we met travelers who told us it was high & that a Brother Roundy in a boat had been caught in a whirlpool & was drowned. They kept telling of the rapids that were so dangerous. I thought the rapids were falls & we had to go over or through them. Things need to be explained to children so they wont dread as I did, the rapids.
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Then we went on to Buckskin mountain. It was a steep long drive & we girls enjoyed walking. Then we camped at Houserock & it did resemble a house. The spring water was good as it came spouting out of the rock. our next water was Soapsprings a desolate place with its high cliffs & sand the road was loose sand which made hard traveling, then on to Lees ferry there our cat left us we never saw it again always before on our journey it was ready to get in the wagon as we left camp, the Colorado River was very high so we had to take the wagons to ferries & cross in a rowboat, but before we got to the crossing we had to cross the Paree River & the Colorado being so high had backed water up in to it so it was level with its banks, there was quite a company of us traveling together, the men made a raft to drive the wagons onto then rowed the raft across but when our wagon was rolled onto the raft it wasnt even & slipped off one side into the Paree the men & father got into the water & hitched horses that were up on the bank to our wagon with chains & ropes the horses pulled it out, the other wagons went on the raft across safely but our
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clothes & provisions were soaked Mamma spread them out on rocks & bushes to dry I remember their temple clothes spread out with everything else a crate of crackers was spoiled & other things from the soaking, things had plenty of time to dry as the sun shone bright & every wagon had to be taken to pieces to go across the river a little at a time then the wagons put together to go on our journey, as father reached out to pull the rowboat to shore one time the bank caved off & he was in the river I was very scared but many hands were there to reach for him & get him out, When everything was ready the company went on over Lees Backbone as the road around the cliff was called the horses had been swam across in a place where there were no Rapids, our next camp was at Navajo Springs, I remember walking over Lees Backbone how narrow the road was no wagons could pass each other it was solid rock & so far down the cliff to the bottom. Next camp was Bitter Springs but we always had big barrels of water fastened to the sides of the wagons for our use & the horses to drink we always stopped at noon to rest the horses, give them grain & water & get our dinners, After Bitter Springs the camp was Limestone Tanks where there were places in the rocks that held water from rains & floods that came from the hillside into the wash, Our next water was Willow Springs, we came by Sunset a Mormon settlement & on to the crossing of the Little Colorado. Here were many Indians decked out in their best with red bands around
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their heads & so much silver decorating them & their saddles there were so many on ponies so different from Indians in Utah around Salt Lake City where they would come into the city & towns & beg for food years before Brigham Young had told the people it was better to feed them than to fight them, many times they came to our house & suddenly put out their hands saying 'Biscuit' it always startled me they were Utes, these at the Colorado River did not beg like the Utah Indians they were more independent, these were Navajos. I remember in the early days of St. Johns, the Zuni Indians brought Peaches & grapes to sell & it was a treat before trees had started to bear in St. Johns. We arrived in St. Johns about the middle of June we started from Salt Lake City soon after the first of May so we were about 6 weeks on the road. The people were very nice to us sociable & kind & we didnt feel like strangers long, at first we camped west of the Public Square it was only a block from the Richeys & father felt like he had met old friends because James Richey the father of them had been called to Manti when my fathers father was called to Manti but they hadnt seen each other for years for James Richey was called from Manti to raise cotton in St. George because he was raised in the south where it grew & my Grandfather had cut stone for the temples the Saints had to leave so the Chapmans moved to Salt Lake City for cutting stone for the Salt Lake Temple
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James Richey is my husband Moroni Richeys
father they knew each other in Manti. from the 13 Ward S. L. City 1884
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he cut stone all the time it was being built my father cut stone for it but not steady as grandfather & uncle Joseph his oldest son did I remember taking my fathers dinner many times & seeing he & Grandfather & Uncle Joseph cutting those beautiful points around the Sun stones they were so perfect Grandfather was President of the Stake at Manti & James Richey was one of his counselors then my father & James Richey met in St. Johns when they had been so far separated. The Richeys & will Sherwood were bringing a sawmill to Ariz. when Apostle Snow called them to bring it just as near to St. Johns as possibel to build up the place & my father was called to come help settle St. Johns. Father got to haul lumber to St. Johns for lumber from the sawmill & built a 2 roomed house on main St. with the lumber he earned meanwhile the Harrises who had a shingle mill in the mountain let us live in their house during the summer, someone loaned us a cow to milk & Sister Bjorkman let us milk it in their corral but the other cows did not like the strange cow & one time while mamma was milking a cow hooked her & she was very sick Uncle Hyrum fathers brother moved to St. Johns during the summer, Mamma was sick so long she knew she could not
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live & she did not want Aggie to go back to her aunt & Grandmother to grow up in Salt Lake City & Bro & Sister Willard Farr Adopted her & promised if they ever went back to visit their people they would take Aggie to visit her grandmother & aunt. We had many good friends by then & many helped & were very kind during mammas sickness it was a terrible trial to us when mamma died she was buried the day before Christmas Bro & Sister Farr took us home from the funeral & did all they could to make things pleasant for us, the Farrs made a good home for Aggie her mother didnt want her to go back to Salt Lake City to live & she knew if Aggie stayed with our father that her Aunt & grandmother would get her Sister Farr promised to take Aggie to see her Aunt & Grandmother if they ever went to Utah & they did but they & Aggie made such a fuss about her going back with Sister Farr that they knew Aggie would never be happy again with them so they left her with her Aunt & Grandmother I felt like I had lost a sister for I loved her but not with the strong love I had for my own sister Lizzie who was younger than I. Our father hauled wood & went into the hills being gone overnight he hated to leave us girls alone so he found families where we could help tend children & have a home he bought our clothes & came to see us often, one summer he was digging a well at home so we lived at home with him
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About this time I had a dream, that as I stood on the shore of Salt Lake where we used to go, the ground kept caving away around me. I was in great danger when Moroni came & took me away I was so thankful for his help it wasnt long before we were engaged.
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he was always very kind & gentle with us I made a dress for Lizzie & for myself there was cloth mamma had. that summer father dug a well for house use he made a pulley with big buckets to wind the rope around a big wooden rod or pole, when he would get the bucket full of dust or rock, we girls would wind up the windlass that wound the rope around it & get hold of the bucket & empty it then let it down to him again I was always so afraid we would let it down on him or not get it up or pull him up safely or let him down safely, then he got into a ledge of rock he made the holes for the blasting powder & would set powder in them & light the fuse then we would pull him up & run to get away so the blast wouldnt send the rock up & hit us, the noise always hurt me & getting father up & away in time was quite nerve racking to me! After that he was away at work & we went to live with others until after he & Aunt Harriet were married then we were at home with them for awhile then Lizzie did things that bothered Aunt Harriet & we went off again, it must have been very hard on
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father to tell Lizzie she must go because she did things that hurt Aunt Harriet's feelings & when Lizzie couldnt stay I went too we found places to work I worked for Sister Farr & for Emily Patterson at her place I became so well acquainted with Moroni Richey & engaged to him, then I worked for Sister Farr later she wasnt strong & I often helped her, she & Brother Willard Farr were very kind to me so were many others Sister Freeman was very kind & Anne Freeman was a very dear friend of mine her mother had died & Mattie Romney was a motherless girl Signe Bjorkmans Father was dead they & Lizzie & I ran together & were such close friends, then Minnie Tenney & her brother Ammon used to take me to parties & dances before Moroni did, Amelia & Amanda Kemp were
dear friends & when I needed a dress Signe & her mother would help me & Sister Farr made dresses while I did her housework
At Emily Pattersons when I was working for her Moroni often came to see Emily she was a favorite sister of his so we were well acquainted he took me to a dance as we were going he put his arm around my waist I took it away & took his arm it was a very pleasant dance & after we went home he came into the dining room we talked & before he left we were engaged
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It was Signe who made my wedding dress I had nothing to buy it with &
Moroni gave me five dollars to buy it. Alice Platt was engaged to Benjamin Moroni's brother Alice & I had our dresses alike & we all traveled to St. George five hundred miles to be married in the Temple. Before I was married Mother Richey & Moroni's sister Ruth took me to Richville with them that summer we made quilts for me & how I did enjoy the beautiful farm & being with Moroni day after day he was tending the crop & milking cows while Benjamin was away freighting with their teams for money for the trip to St. George it was a lovely trip riding beside my sweetheart day after day camping out I always enjoyed the scenery while traveling Alice & I slept in one wagon Moroni & Ben in the other Moroni tended the horses Benjamin did the cooking when we arrived in St. George on Tuesday, it was a beautiful City after being so long on the road, when I first caught sight of the Temple so white in the green setting of the City I was thrilled, we stayed with Brother & Sister Long they were Alice's brothers
wife's parents. Alice grew up in St. George, Moroni & Benjamin in Washington five miles east of St. George So they were all well acquainted for it
was only 4 years since the Richeys had moved
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Moroni, in 1888, was 39.
I was 16 when married after we were married & visited in St.George we went to Washington the Richey's old home & got some things they had left with their Aunt Jane they brought a five gallon can of honey & got provisions for our home trip we were 5 weeks going & coming home.
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35 to Arizona, the old friends had parties for us, Wednesday the 12th of September 1888 Moroni & I were married for Time & Eternity in the St. George Temple he was so kind & considerate of me & how very thankful I was for I was so young & no mother to tell me what married life & raising a family was like but Mother Richey was a lovely mother to me I hope I have been as good to my sons wives as she was to me. She helped me in every way,
Moroni had his homestead house & furniture ready for us on his side of the river where the springs were the others got their water from the ditch that was taken from the river to water the farm land
we lived at the farm it was called Walnut Grove then there was a grove of Walnut trees in the upper or South end of the Valey & a few trees of them on Moroni's part of the farm he had homesteaded the west side of the little Colorado River Benjaman Homesteaded the east side of the river the West side had Springs all along the hillside below the mesa of Volanic Rock that ran along the length of the place the Springs made the hillside green.
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