Original Writings of Watkin Rees

This copy is made from the original writings of my Grandfather Watkin Rees.

I arrived in Utah Oct 1852, The year after the Black Hawk War. In Provo Utah. I hired to Carter to work on a ranch at the point of the mountain, about 15 miles south of Salt Lake City, There were two other men there besides me and my wife, Four Armed and sousy, Indian, came one day and demanded food, It was the only house within ten miles, at that time, We were so frightened that we would give up everything to please the Indians, and this frightened my wife so that she could not sleep at night, So I left there and went to Cedar City, Iron Co and in 1855 Enlisted in Elizier Edwards co, Elizer Edwards being Captain of the Co Robert Keys Colonel, Spelled (Kernel) in orig. Christopher Arythym Adj Under Carnel Bane, of Parowan, Was placed on duty pattolling the street from one station to the other meeting the Guard halfway. All of the towns had a fort wall around them This was kept up during the winter of 1855, and owing to the unrest of the Indians the people had to go armed, and in company of from Half a dozen to a dozen te ams for mutual protection, whenthen went after firewood, This unrest among the Indians Continued, and they were waylaying and killing travelers until 1856, I had moved by this time to Greenville, Beaver Co Utah, The war having broken out, between the Black hawks and the whites, every available man was mustered into service, so there was a company in Greenville, Under Captain David Adams, A part of the number was sent to strengthen Fort Samford, on the Sevier River, The few of us that were left had to act in double capacity, some of us had horses. There was so few people that had horses, that those that had were called out by Major James Low to patrol the hills. Looking for deprading Indians, Being called on this scouting expedition, Patrolled the big Canyon in the West Mountains with Joseph Simpkinsnow being in Circleville, Garfield Do. Utah. Also the South Hills. with Benjamin A Arthyr, who is now dead. Beside standing guard. was kept up during the year 1866 in the fall of 67 I made a report to Captain Adams of what arms and ammunition we had on hand and we were disbanded, this repott was handed to Major Westwood whe when I proved up in St George in 1914. My name is enrolled Under Capt. Elizer Edwards, doing service as a guardsman in 1855 & 1856. This was published in the Cedar News Paper in 1911 by Adj, Christopher Arthyr.

In the spring of 1858 I hired a man by the name of Charles Stapley, that had come in with
Emigration from California, to move my family to Beaver, having no available mean that I could pay him with but my home, such as was I turned it over to him, it consisted of a fenced lot with a dugout on it in which we lived the lot was fenced all around with a mud wall, and under cultivation, it also had a mud corral on it, and after arriving in Beaver I settled on the South West Corner, of the block that Jogn and William Robindsn lived on, My first dwelling there was also a dugout, but it was not long before I had a log cabin built on it, and had the log fenced by working around by team for my neighbors. I worked around also at grubbing land to Orson Tyler, to get him to plow some land for me, for a small crop of grain, but brother tyler was so late before he could get to mine that the 3 or 4 acres that I had worked so hard to get in did not mature. we had had an early frost it was about the 7^th or 10^th of Sept, I realized from the crop about 30 bushels of frost bitten wheat,

1860

and succeded in putting twelve acres of wheat and two acres of corn and from now on the struggle to live was not so hard, and during the summer of 1860 I built a small log cabin, and we were measurably in a comfortable way of living. In 1861I did better than I had done heretofore. raising 300 bushels of wheat. In the fall of the year I was taken sick with a slight attact of Erisiplas in my right eye and side of my face, and I became prejudiced against the place (Minersville) I thought it was unhealthy. and so I sold out there and bough dome land at Greenville, that had just been settled the year before, I built a house and corrals here, and our being here a couple of years I made a very foolish move.

(The rest of this Chapter is written in Grandfathers ledger)

In 1859, Philo T. Farnsworth, then being Bishop over Beaver Co. Ross R. Rogers and Orsen Tyler, being his counselors, suggested that a settlement be made in Lower Beaver Valley, about six miles North of where Minersville, stands. So for the sake of adding another cow to my stock, I concluded to sell my house and lot to Thomas Muir, for a cow, knowing that I was making a sacrifice, for the lot was fenced. I gave him also, two acres of good hay land also for the cow. We moved down to the Lower Valley, in the Spring of 1859, with about 30 more families, We made a dam in the River, and made ditches to cover about two thousand acres of land, and we put in a crop, and was successful in matureing it, But the River dried up on us early in July, what little water we could get for culinary purposes was very unhealthy, and many were made sick by using it, and we all saw that our position was unbearable, and we all left some going back to Cedar Some to Beaver and some to Minersville, being above where the Water sankin the River. Became permanent.

I was one that moved to Minersville, they just had their land surveyed, and in the draw for land I drew 20 acres which had to be fehced the following summer, and to fence this land I changed work with Jessie N. Smith, another good man that saw my helpless position, for I had no wagon as yet, but managed through changing work with Mr Smith to put up my portion of the fence

(The rest of this Chapter is written in Grandfathers ledger)

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1858.

I now felt elated over the chance to become a farmer, for I ahd realized while working in the Iron works, that it was difficult to get bread, unless you had raised i it yourself. the first few farmers pioneer just came from Foreign countries were not able as yet to hire, to did their own work as much as possible, so a man that had no land or team was poor indeed. I was one of those, having nothing but my two hands to depend on, But I was fortunate in Beaver, meeting a good philantrophic man, in Orsen Tyler, He said to me, Brother Rees, we better change work. seeing that you have no team, you can come and grub some land for me, and I will come and plow your ground and plant it for you, so I managed to put in about 3 acres of wheat, but it proved to be to late to mature in the Beaver climate and on the night of Sept 7^th 1858, we had a frost that killed the wheat, being in the dough at the time I had about 10 bushels an acre of Shrunk wheat where otherwise it would have been a good crop.

Those were trying times, for I had my wife and three children to provide for, my whole labor this year had been applied to preparing land to put in a crop, and preparing first a dugout to live in, and then a log cabin which, I accomplished by changing work, but it left me without provisions to live on, the 30 bushels of frostbitten wheat that I had raised, was owing to John X Smith, who had been good to lend me that much wheat to live on thru the summer, for when I left Cedar, we had absolutely nothing excepting the clothes we wore and out bedding, except that we still had the cow we bought during the famine 1855, and her increase, this cow had been a great help to us, for we kept her milking on from the time she had her first calf, and the butter we made from her we sold to those that were able to buy it, it was out only source of revenue, small as it was, and it was a great help to have us moved to Beaver, I had to hire an immigrant Charley Stapley, just arrived from Calif. orhia. to move us.

On Nov 20^th 1874, we had an experience in which the Indians that we had befriended on the Ranch, manifested their love and Sympathy for us, when we lost a dear son near 17 years old. who had accidentally shot himself, by stooping down on his knees to drink water out of a spring, his pistol dropping on the ground exploding a cap, and shooting him thru the bowels, causing his death in about 24 hours, This happened on Twitchells Farm on Indian Creek. And when taking our dead son home the wailing of the Indians of the Indians was most pitiful. They sat around with theri faces covered wailing “Watching Papoose” Watching Papoose” after my son was shot he told his brother that was with him, Thomas two years younger than him to go tell Brother Twitchell that he had shot himself, They happened to be digging potatoes in the field not far off, and they came with their Wagon and took him to their home, where everything that could be done for him was done, his brother rode to Beaver for a Doctor, and brought thim to Indian Creek and then rode to Minersville after me, I had that day taken grist to the minersville mill.

It was then about five O’Clock in the afternoon, and we arrived at brother Twitchells late in the evening, and my son died the next day about noon, After we quit ranching about 1879 I hired Frank Clayton to make a hay bailer Hay was about $35.00 a ton at Frisco, we charged about $4.00 a ton for bailing The year following I bought a patent bailer from William Matthews of Pancake and payed him 27 milch cows for it, it was the first of its kind ever brought to this county, We did very well bailing hay, and the little boys (four of them) working with me, it it was the only baler at that time and we had all that we could do, and it helped to build a better house.