MATHIAS
FAMILY FROM WALES TO BRIGHAM
1849--1857
Had
you been a news-reading Welshman of Swansea, Glamorganshire, South Wales, on
Friday, February 16 in the year of our Lord 1849, the following news item in
the Cambrian would have met your eyes:
"Emigration to California"
"On Tuesday last, Swansea was quite enlivened
in consequence of the arrival of several waggons,
loaded with luggage, attended by some score of the 'bold peasantry' of
Carmarthenshire and an almost equal number of the inhabitants of Merthyr and the surrounding districts, together with their
families. The formidable party were nearly all 'Latter-day Saints' and came to
this town for the purpose of proceeding to Liver-pool in the Troubadour
steamer, where a-ship is in readiness to trans-port them next week to the
glittering regions of California.
"This goodly company is under the command of a
popular Saint, known as Captain Dan Jones, a hardy
traveler ... He arrived in the town on Tuesday night and seems to enjoy the
respect and confidence of his faith-ful band. He
entered the town under the gaze of hundreds of spectators, and in the evening
he delivered his valedictory address at the Traders' Hall to a numerous
audience, the majority of whom were led by curiosity to hear his doctrines,
which are quite novel in this town.
"Amongst the group were many substantial
farmers from the neighborhood of Brechfa and Llanybydder, Carmarthenshire, and although they were
well-to-do, they dispossed of their possessions to
get to California, their New Jerusalem, as them deem it .... -They seem
animated only by the most devout feelings and aspirations, which seem to flow
from no other source (judging from their conversation) than a sincere belief
that the End of the World is at hand, and that their Great Captain of Salvation
is soon to visit his bobl yng
ngngwlad ySaint
(people in the country of the Saints). .
"Amongst the number who carne were several aged
men varying from 70 to 90 years of age and 'whose hoary locks' make it very
improbable they will live to see America ...
"On Wednesday morning, after being addressed by
their leaders, all repaired on board in admirable order and with extraordinary
resignation. Their departure was witnessed by hundreds of spectators, and
whilst the steamer gaily passed down _the river, the
Saints commenced singing a favorite hymn. On entering the piers, however, they
abruptly stopped singing and lustily responed to the
cheering with which they were greeted by the inhabitants." (1)
Of
all those aboard the Troubadour that Wednesdav
morning February 14 1 -' ' 849, one family from Carmarthenshire must have
watched the receding shore with extremely mixed feelings. Ever since they had
embraced the new religion brought them by Latter-day Saint missionaries (2),
they had planned for and looked forward to this day when they would be on their
way to America and Zion to join the Saints in their mountain valley. True, they
were leaving familiar scenes for a strange land with an unfamiliar tongue, and
a long, hard journey through wilderness and rugged mountains lay before them.
There had been sad farewells with kindred and life-long friends, though some
few were going with them. But these joys and sorrows were common to all on
board. This family's deep concern was for one of their number who had missed
the sailing and was being left behind.
As
the ship weighed anchor and moved from the shore Thomas Mathias and his wife
Margaret searched the faces of those lining the dock for that of their
seventeen-year-old son Jared who had been sent ashore earlier for some article
accidentally left behind. (What it was is not known). For some reason he had
not returned in time for the sailing. Sisters Ada, thirteen, and Zillah, ten,
watched with tears in their eyes, while six-year-old Jonah couldn't quite
understand what it was all about. (3)
Later
efforts to locate Jared by letter and through the efforts of Welsh missionaries
proved fruitless. Many years later he was accidentally found as will be given
subsequently.
In
due time the steamer Troubadour reached Liverpool they were to embark
for New Orleans together with other emigrants assembled there from other parts
of the British mission.
"All the Welsh emigrants were housed in one
large six-storyed building in Liverpool where they
spent six days at the cost of one shilling and sixpence a day for each person.
Due to the efforts of Captain Dan Jones, advantageous terms were secured for
the voyage, namely, three pounds twelve shillings and sixpence (including food)
for all over fourteen, and three pounds for under-fourteens, as against the sum
of five pounds (without food) which was charged in other ships.
"A service was held on board the Buena Vista
on Sunday, the 25th day of February, under the direction of Captain Dan Jones.
A branch of the Church was effected aboard ship.
Permission was given to use the ship Captain's deck for the chorister and
'orchestra' to render 'The Saints Farewell for the last time." (4)
The
Buena Vista (with 240 Welshmen, excluding children) left Liverpool on
Monday, February 26. As the ship moved away, later wrote one of the emigrants,
'We were followed by our dear brethern ---William
Phillips (Merthyr), Abel Evans, Eliezer
Edwards, and several other faithful Elders, together with David Jeremy, of Brechfa ... By the time the ship was passing the Isle of
Anglesey, everybody was sea- sick except Captain Dan.Jones
and Daniel Daniles ... "(4)
"The boar was a leaky one that the English
said, 'Let them have it and it will go down with all the damned Mormons on
board.' But Jones, being sea-worthy and wise, repaired the ship, and with
prayers each day for their safety, they came across the ocean, unloaded
everything upon the docks (much of it water soaked and spoiled) and the ship
sank in the harbor. With their wealth of melody and song, the Welsh Saints came
ashore, carrying, some of them, their crude harps with strings of hair
and leather, even though they knew space in wagons would be limited. But they
couldn't leave their music behind." (5)
"Cholera was prevalent at that time in New
Orleans, as it was in many other places. These Welsh Saints had only one death
from cholera there. Two others had died from other causes aboard ship" (4)
"Leaving New Orleans, the Welshmen took a
steamer, Highland Mary up the Mississippi. But death rode with them, for
cholera claimed sixty lives, about one fourth of the company.(5) "One Welsh convert, Thomas E. Jeremy,
who had studied for the ministry before being converted to Mormonism, lost
three little daughters in one night during the tragic journey." (6)
Late in April, they arrived at St. Louis. Here
Dan Jones engaged a special steamboat to convey his company to Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, which was the usual
starting point for the long trek westward. They arrived there in May, and a
quantity of iron was bought to make wagons for the journey across the plains.
(7)
Council
Bluffs, called Kanesville by the Latter-day Saints in
1846, is situated on the east bank of the Missouri River, opposite Omaha,
Nebraska. It was a typical pioneer settlement ... and was founded at them h of
the so-called Miller's Hollow. Here a large cabin was erected in December 1847.
* Shortly after its settlement, a majority of the exiled Saints crossed the
Missouri River and located at Winter Quarters (Florence, Nebraska) on its west
bank, while a number of the Saints remained in Kanesville.
(8)
''After
the evacuation of Winter Quarters in 1848, the Saints who did not cross the
plains that year to the mountains, recrossed the
Missouri "River to Pottawattamie" (8) where a county organization was
effected in 1851 and a post office established and where some forty temporary
branches of the Church were organized. "For several years there were more
Saints in Pottawattomie County, Iowa, than in the
Great Salt Lake Valley; and from 1849 to 18 52, a newspaper called the Frontier
Guardian was published in Kanesville, with Orson
Hyde as editor. In 1853 the name of Kanesville was
changed to Council Bluffs." (8)
During
the summer of 1849, George A. Smith was in "charge of the emigration in
Council Bluffs, organizing and starting the companies.'' (9) The immigration of
the Saints came in five companies of about 500 wagons and. 1400 people led by
Orson Spenser, Allen Taylor, Silas Richards, George A. Smith and Ezra T.
Benson. Many others came in independent companies as well as some members of
the Mormon Battalion. (10) On July 4, 1849, George A. Smith and his family and
Ezra T. Benson left Kanesville with the last
companies, comprising 447 souls and 120 wagons. (10) Dan Jones and a number of
his emigrant Welshmen formed part of the 4th company under George A. Smith. (8)
"Before leaving Council Bluffs, Dan Jones
arranged for some of the company to stay at that place for the time being and
for a branch of the Church to be organized (known as Cambria's Camp) with
William Morgans (of Rhymney,
South Wales) in charge. A Welsh newspaper was published there." (11)
The
Mathias family, with the exception of Ada (who turned fourteen during the trek
west) were of the number to remain in Council Bluffs.
Ada crossed the plains with the Daniel Daniels family, in the 4th company of
George A. Smith, (12)
*
This log cabin was a large building 40 x 60 feet and seated a thousand persons.
It was dedicated December 24, 1847, by Orson Pratt. Conference commenced that
day and continued for four days. On the last day (Dec. 27, l847) Brigham Young
was unanimously sustained as president of the Church with Heber C. Kimball and
Willard Richards as counselors. Brigham Young had presided with the Council of
the Twelve since Joseph Smith's death, June 27, 1844.
"In a
letter to William Phillips, dated July 13, 1849, Dan Jones mentioned that he
was in 'Omaha, the land of Indians.' There was no time to describe the scene
fully as 'the mosquitoes were biting.' He was on the point of venturing 'into
the depths of the westerly regions, out of touch with civilization, and in the
midst of red Indians in the forest lands.' With him were one hundred wagons.
The journey from Liverpool to Council Bluffs had cost each emigrant between six
and seven pounds." (13).
It
was not an easy journey. "They encountered hail and ·rain storms. Their
cattle also stampeded, and at South Pass they were overtaken by a heavy storm
in which 70 animals were frozen. They made the journey to Great Salt Lake City,
1034 miles, in 155 days, arriving October 27th." (14)
"Arriving in the Salt Lake
Valley, the so-called Welsh settlement was formed on the west bank of the
Jordon River, about 48th South. Many of them later
went to Wales, Sanpete County, where their descendants still reside. Those on
the west bank of the Jordon moved to the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Wards in Salt
Lake City. (15) The arrival of the Welsh company under Dan Jones was
practically the introduction of the Welsh element into the Church, and was the
first foreign speaking company to enter the valley. Shortly after, Brigham
Young called together some of Dan Jones' Welshmen to form a choral group, and
appointed John Parry from Jones' own native Flint-shire in northern Wales to
lead the song group. He was a gifted musician. The first General Conference of
the Church was held in the Bowery, first Tabernacle in the desert, in April
1850. At that conference the Welsh choir sang their way into history and into
the hearts of all who listened. Thus, was founded the present famed Tabernacle
Choir." (16)
Meanwhile,
William Morgans and his company of Welshmen remained
in Council Bluffs gathering the necessary equipment and provisions with which
to make the journey across the plains to Utah. "The gold rush to
California was making a very busy place of Council Bluffs. As
William Morgans said in a letter to Wales: “Our town
is like a seething cauldron these days, and as full as Merthyr
Market on a Saturday.” (13)
The
Mathias family was busy in this preparation. On March 9, 1850, a baby son was
born and given the name of Ephraim Smith Mathias. Zillah, though only eleven
years old, mothered her two younger brothers --- Jonah, seven, and little
Ephraim, carrying the latter "nursing baby one mile each day to his mother
who was employed that distance from home. (17) Their activities in the Church
continued, and in 1850 Thomas was ordained an elder by William Morgans. (18)
"In 1852, William Morgans
and his company, which included some post-1849 emigrants, moved westward. With
them were fifty wagons and ten carts. In a letter to his native Wales, William Morgan
stated that he was captain of the whole camp, Abel
Evans was captain of the guards and William Beddoe
(of Penydarren, Merthyr)
the clerk of the camp. Among other officers named by him were Captain D. Evans
(Llanelly, South Wales), John Rees (Merthyr Tydfil) (19), H. Evans,
the former president of the West Glamorganshire Conference. One gathers from
his letter that conditions on the western trek were less formidable than they
had been in 1849. "'The Saints are in good health; everyone has his canvas
tent as white as snow. Much milk in our camp is being thrown away as casually
as is the bathwater used by two or three Merthyr
colliers. We have more milk than we can use.'
"When the group was within eighty miles of Salt
Lake City, whom did they meet but Captain Dan Jones who was returning from Utah
to Wales. When Mountain Creek was reached, some noise from a westerly direction
was heard. That 'noise' marked the coming of three of the early Welsh emigrants
who had traveled be-tween thirty and forty miles from the 'valley' to meet the
newcomers. Those three were Thomas Jones (Hirwaud,
Glamorganshire), Morgan Hugh (Pontyatis,
Carmarthenshire), and William Jones (son of Evan Jones, Aberdare,
Glamorgan). With them was a load of fruit, including
watermelons, potatoes, and onions. A little further on, the emigrants met
another group of Welshmen who had likewise come to meet them, and in that group
were John Parry (Newmarket, North Wales), Daniel
Leigh, Owen Roberts, Thomas Jones, and Cadwaladr
Owens.
"This particular letter from William Morgans gave some further details of the journey across the
plains. Hundreds of buffaloes were seen coming down to drink at the Platte
River. The Indians were 'kindly folk' if approached in the right spirit. When
William Morgans and his company happened to meet some
hundreds of Sioux Indians, they were welcomed with the greeting, "How do? Mormon good." The Indians spread their blankets on the
ground and invited the Welshmen to sit down with them to smoke 'the pipe of
peace.' When these Welshmen reached the 'valley' they were surprised to find
that the roads in Salt Lake City were 130 feet wide, and that there were trees
between the carriage way and the pedestrian way. Along each road there was
running water which could be turned on and off by the inhabitants. According to
William Morgans the daily wage of an ordinary laborer
was three shillings and threepence, and that of
masons twelve shillings and sixpence. No wonder his comment was: 'Isn't this a
better place for workmen than Merthyr is?" (20)
Thomas
Mathias and family crossed the plains with a wagon, one yoke of oxen, one yoke
of steers, two cows, and provisions to last the three months' journey. Zillah
walked the entire distance except when they crossed rivers or streams, when she
rode in the wagon. (21) Esther (*) remembers Grandmother's telling her how sore
her feet got and how much she appreciated a lift a little way. Esther is also
under the impression that Grandmother told her of helping to push a hand-cart
part of the way, with some children in it, and that once in a while she got a
little lift herself.
Family
tradition says that they arrived in Farmington, Utah, in November 1852 and
remained there until March of 1853 (22), when they were called with a company
to settle farther north in -the locality later designated as Box Elder, and
still later as Brigham City. (23)
"In the fall of 1850, William Davis had come to
Box Elder and selected a site for his future home, then went back to Salt Lake
City to spend the winter. On March 11, 1851, he and his family (24), together
with James Brooks and Thomas Pierce arrived at what is now Brigham City. They
built a row of log rooms down by the fork of Box Elder Creek, now about Seventh
North and Sixth West Streets. Within a year they were joined by George H. Hamson, Sr., and family; Simon Carter, Sr., and family; and
later by Simeon Hamson, Sr., and family; Simon
Carter, Sr., and family; and later by Simeon Dunn, Eli Harvey Pierce, Martin L.
Ensign, Henry Boothe, and others. (25) Samuel Paine
was a member of the Dunn family." (26)
"For the first two years, 1851 and 1852 .... the major threat besides where the next cottontail was
coming from for soup, was a band of 500 Indians who had lived from the buffalo
that roamed the area." (27) In the spring of 1851 and for their protection
they converted their row of houses into a fort, known as Davis Fort, with
William Davis as its pre-siding officer. About the same time, Porter Rockwell
took up Porter Springs in Three Mile Creek. (28)
"The county was survedyed
by Jesse W. Fox in 1851 when it was part of Weber County. In the spring of the
following year (1852), the Indians having ceased to be hostile, the farmers
moved out of the fort and took up their farms according to the survey." (28)
On
''March 11, 1853, in obedience to a call of Brigham Young, Thomas Young, Alex
Perry, and Robert Henderson left Salt Lake City and came to Three Mile
Creek," (29) or Perry as it was later called. (30) "They took up land
about one mile south of the Tippett's property."
(29)
"While these people were building homes on
Three Mile Creek, Welsh families were locating farther north in what was then
known as the Welsh Settlement. Among these settlers, who came in March 1853,
were David Peters, Thomas Mathias, Benjamin Jones, David Evans, and Cadwalandr Owens. Sometime later Dan Davis took up land in
the Settlement." (31) These families affiliated themselves with the Box
Elder Ward, often walking to Brigham to attend Sunday services. (31)
Leah
(Woolley) remembers Grandmother Zillah's telling of living in a dugout for a
time, and it would seem logical that it was during this period when the family
was in the Welsh Settlement north of Three Mile Creek during the spring of
1853. (32) For years, the ravine in the mountains east of this area (now near
the Indian School) was known as Mathias Canyon. (33)
"In
l852, some transients had camped among the trees in what was later known as Reeders Grove. In a quarrel with some Indians a white man
was killed, and the settlers became somewhat alarmed, fearing further
incidents, (34) and in the summer of 18.53, Brigham Young, president of the
L.D.S. Church, ordered the families again to build a fort for protection from
the Indians.''. He advised them to move up away from the trees, and they began
the erection of Box Elder Fort on the present location of the Lincoln school.
(34)
The
following account of the Fort is taken from a life sketch of Lewis H. Boothe. He says:
"In the spring of 1853, we moved to the North
String, now Harper. In July of the same year we were ordered to come and fort
up at Box Elder, now Brigham City, on account of trouble with the Indians.
Everyone brought their house in except Joseph Davis and family." (36)
"The site of the fort was out in the open, the
ground around being covered with bunch grass with here and there a clump of
grease brush. The nearest underbrush and trees were several blocks away to the
east and north on the bank of Box Elder Creek." (36)
Another
reason for moving the fort location was the unsanitary conditions of the log
houses at the old fort which "were infested with bedbugs and other pestiferour insects." (37)
"The fort was constructed of logs. As the
families arrived, another addition would be added to the end until it reached
across the block then the wings extended to the south at both ends" which
was eventually filled 1n. A rock wall was bu1lt at the rear as a protection
with holes to shoot through in case of an Indian attach." (38)
"The houses were all jointed together, forming
a block about an acre square, the only openings being at the north and south
ends, which had to be guarded...There was a small stream of water running through
the center from south to north. The water was taken out of Box Elder Creek near
where Batt's marble mill now stands." (39)
About
seventy-five feet south of the fort, a meetinghouse, also used as a
schoolhouse, was built. Later, an addition to the fort was made directly south
surround1ng the meet1nghouse and housing new families as they arrived. Box
Elder Fort was located between 2nd and 3rd North and lst
and 2nd West streets of the present city. (40) It was
said to run 8 rods east and west and 25 rods north and south." (41) Tullidge says in his History of Utah and Southern Idaho
that the fort occupied one and one-half blocks.
Among
the families that moved into the fort from the Welsh settlement was that of the
Mathiases: father Thomas, his wife Margaret, and
their four children --- Ada, (who had joined them after their arrival in the
Valley), Zillah, Jonah, and Ephraim. (42) A meeting for blessing children was
held at the house of Thomas Mathias in the fort on Sunday, September 25, 1853,
and among those blessed was Ephraim Mathias. (43)
The
residents of the original part of the Fort, as given by Sarah P. Squires
(herself a resident as a girl), were ''William Davis, George F. Hamson, Sr., William Williams, Daniel Thomas, Simeon
Carter, M. L. Ensign, Benjamin Jones, Thomas Mathias D. R. Evans, Thomas
Pierce, Harvey Pierce, Thomas Williams, David Williams, John Clifford, Leander
Clifford, and the Boothe families." (44)
Another
tabulation from an article in the Summer 1951 Welcome Edition of the Box
Elder News and Journal gives the following: "A list of families who
lived in the second fort included: William Davis and his sons, mother and
daughters; Eli Harvey Pierce and his family; Cadwalandr
Owens and his family; Benjamin Thomas; Richard Jones and his family; Captain
David R. Evans; Thomas Mathias and his family; William P. Thomas (possibly
Tippets) and his family; Simeon A. Dunn; William Harris; John Gibbs and family;
four families of
Ristons (45); William Dees and his family; Jefferson
Wright and his family; David Peters and his family, and the family of Henry Boothe."
"Late in the fall of 1853, John E. Forsgren arrived here with part of the first organized
company of Latter-day Saints from Scandinavia. William Knudson, August
Valentine, Peter A. Forsgren, Erika Forsgren, James Olson, and some others came in this company
and were first housed by the residents of the fort." (
46) Still other settlers were to follow whem
"in _the fall of 1853, Lorenzo Snow was called with fifth families to come
and strengthen the settlement of Box Elder. These families came a few at a
time, and as they came, the fort was gradually extended south. Jonathan C.
Wright, John D. Rees, Samuel Smith, William Bcx,
William Wrighton, James Pett
families were among the fifty. In 1854, the second Scandinavian company arrived
and the fort continued to grow." (46)
The
Thomas Mathias family had cabin No. 30, at the south end of the fort proper.
John D. Rees and family had cabin No. 2, in the addition. (41)
"With
a bit more diplomacy than General Custer, the settlers adhered to Brigham
Young's advice to feed the Indians and not to fight them, and the threat they
offered never materialized into a 'last stand' or even a battle a Hollywood
producer would consider filming: This was true only of the settlers, for
farther north two great Indian battles saw the blood of many Indian braves and
travelers soak into the desert sands." (47)
"0n
the 31st of April 1852, William Davis had been ordained and set apart to the
office of Bishop of the Box Elder Ward of the Weber Stake of Zion" and
"he believed in President Young's policy of feeding them (the Indians) and
being kind to them rather than fighting them. He and Simeon Carter settled many
Indian disturbances. These men won the hearts of the Redman, and their
friendship grew and remained," ( 48) but it took
time and long-suffering.
"This
little fort constituted at that time (1853) the farthest north outpost of the
pioneers. Hundreds of Shoshones and Bannocks came and camped in their fields.
These Indians were called peaceable, but the settlers were afraid of them just
the same, and crowded into their little fort for protection. And well they
might be afraid, for the Shoshones, for all their reputation, were the same as
all other Indians; only a spark was needed to explode the dynamite of their
wild nature. Volatile, violent, and pitiless, they were likely to avenge the
smallest injury in deeds of ferocious barbarity. They were there.to live off
the products of the white settlers' labor and under pretense of gleaning helped
themselves to the standing grain, beef, clothing or anything else
belonging to the pioneers they could lay
their hands on. Occasionally they killed a lone herder or wood hauler."
(49)
Mrs.
Mary Dunn Ensign, a pioneer of Brigham City relates the following experience
from these times:
"In 1853 we had our first Indian scare. Harvey
Pierce was returning home from Salt Lake City when two Indians came down from
the mountains near Perry and fired at him. It was eleven o'clock P.M. He lay
down in his wagon and drove his team on the run into camp. The people became
very excited and called on someone to go out to warn the people to get together
for self protection. Bro. Ensign volunteered to go if
someone would lend him a horse, and Bro. Carter said, 'Take my gray mare.' The
people were so excited that when Bro. Ensign came back, one of the brethern was going to strike him with a pitchfork, thinking
he was an Indian, but Bro. Ensign called out just in time to save his life.
"The people got together in two partly built
log houses. They put the children under the beds and piled trunks and bedding
around to hide them. This scare kept up for three days. We were on the watch
always for Indians, and when the sages would wave on the brow of the hills we
thought sure the Indians were coming. All of this hill
where the city stands now was covered with large sagebrushes.
It was the end of the third day that a band of young Indians came up from
Willard riding like mad. They jumped off their horses and demanded biscuits. We
gave them all we had in camp, then they rode off
hooting and howling." (50)
One
of the stories Grandmother Zillah's grandchildren loved to hear her tell was
how they would put their feather bedticks up at the
cracks in the fort walls in case of an Indian attach; the arrows wouldn't go
through the feathers.
Mrs. Ensign continues: "At another time, a band
of thirty warriors in paint and feathers rode in, jumped off their horses,
threw down a blanket, and motioned for the people to put bread on it. They
formed a circle and had a war dance; they had eighteen scalps of white people
tied to poles. These they danced with, all the time giving their war whoops.
They then demanded more bread, and when they thought they had all there was, they rode off. I tell you we were frightened." (50)
The
Redman's fondness for the Whiteman's bread and his demand for it worked a real
hardship on the pioneers. Grandmother Zillah would tell how "the ground
was plowed and planted, and when the wheat crop was ready to harvest, the hungry
grasshoppers came in swarms and began to devour it. It was Zillah's daily task
to guard the wheat field and drive the swarms of grasshoppers from the grain;
but her efforts proved futile when the great army of crickets appeared, clearing
away everything before it. However, before the entire crop was eaten,
Providence intervened and the heaven-sent sea gulls came and devoured the
crickets." (51)
Loss
of grain from grasshoppers, pilfering Indians, and crop failure from one cause
or another left the pioneer farmer with precious little grain for his own use.
While they were still living in the fort, they baked their bread in bake
kettles over an open fire in the fort square. This took some time, and
Marjorie* remembers Grandmother telling how a man or boy (sometimes her brother
Jonah) was left to watch and give warning of the approach of Indians who might
have caught the aroma on the air and who would come to steal it if they could.
Esther,
who spent many hours with Grandmother Zillah, gives us another incident from
Grandmother's girlhood in the fort. One of her cherished possessions was a doll
made of wood with a face painted on it. One day she was left alone, and as she
was playing with the doll, she turned at a slight noise and was terrified to
see an Indian who had come in, watching her. He took the doll from her and was
just leaving, when her mother, Margaret, returned. She scolded the Indian for
taking the doll and frightening Zillah. She made him return it in exchange for
some food.
This
was a courageous woman who dared face up to the Indians who molested them.
Another story I, as a child, loved to hear Grandmother Zillah tell was how on
another occasion, at a later date, an Indian brave appeared at their door and
demanded food. When Mother Margaret refused his request and was about to close
the door, he put his foot in the opening and would not move it. While she held
the door on one side and he pushed on the other, she asked Zillah to bring her
the kettle which was hanging on the crane in the fireplace. When Zillah brought
it to her, Margaret poured the boiling water over the brave's foot, which was qujckly withdrawn as he went away howling with pain.
Grandmother said he was seen, limping, in the town on later occasions, but he
never appeared at the Mathias household again.
The
courage of Margaret Williams Mathias was not unique. These Welsh pioneers were
strong and willing to do their part. The women quickly adapted themselves to
their new environment. With courage they went forth to build new homes. We find
this tribute to them in the History of Box Elder County, edited by Lydia
Forsgren for the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, pages 17-18:
"These pioneer women were qualified home builders. Their simple faith in
God's power and willingness to aid them, their dauntless courage and their
implicit obedience to authority made them strong in purpose, and gave them the
poise and steady nerve required to do the daily tasks of spinning, weaving,
sewing, knitting, and baking. However not many days passed but they called
their children around them and gave them lessons in faith and prayer, in the history
of their country: and the rudiments of reading writing and arithmetic."
"In
those days of stress and strain, when the father's time was taken in providing
food, shelter, and protection, the work of home making and character building
were left up to the mother, and these women of culture and refinement builded well." (52)
There were tasks, too, to keep the children busy.
"As the crops were gathered, they were brought
to the fort and stacked either on the east or west, a little distance from the inclosure and surrounded by pole corrals. While the men
were busy gathering the food, the women were just as busy laying up such
supplies as they could gather. Some of the girls (Zillah among them) and women
went up where the cemetery is now located and burned large piles of sagebrush, then heaped the ashes in a pile. Some piled up maple limbs
in the creek bed and made ashes. When the ashes were cool, they were hauled to
the fort by boys, including Jonah Mathias, and placed in ash leaches. Water was
poured over them, and as it trickled through, the water drew out the lye from
the ashes. The lye was used to make soap which was made in large iron kettles,
hung on cranes over bonfires built in front of the cabins." (52)
From
these early experiences, Zillah learned the art of soap making which she
employed for many years of her life. Marjorie* and other grandchildren remember
soap making days at Grandmother's in her later years. A big black, iron kettle
was brought out of the granary and suspended over an open fire in the yard. The
children gathered little wood chips for the fire so it would boil the mixture
of tallow and lye evenly. At first, Grandmother leached the lye, but later
purchased it at the store.
Cooking,
too, was done in the bake kettles over wood fires in the rude fireplaces or
over campfires built in the yards.
"Early
in the spring of 1855, the townsite of Brigham City
was platted. This first survey, knows as 'Plat A,' extended from what is now
Second North to Second South, four blocks east of Main Street and the same
distance west.
"The first lots consisted of one half acre,
eight by ten rods. Anyone wishing to procure a lot in 'Plat A' was given title
to the lot of his choice after he had built four rods of rock wall which was
being built around the city.
''Thomas Mathias … carried the front end of the
chain in laying out the city and was permitted to have first choice of lots. He
chose Lot One in Block One 'Plat A'. It is now located at the southwest corner
of Third East and Second South.'' (53) His granddaughter, Sarah Mathias gave
the reason for his choice, a fine stream of water flowed by it.
John
Davis Rees, Zillah's future husband, built the first house on the surveyed lots
in the fall of 1854.
"Shortly after Brigham City was platted, on the
24th day of July, 1855, the citizens of Box Elder who were still living in the
fort planned to celebrate in real earnest. As the site of the city and the
intervening distance was covered with bunch grass, they made a road to where
the Court House now stands and there erected a bowery.
"Early in the morning of the gala day salutes
were fired, and in a remarkably short time the fort was alive and prepared for
the march to the bowery.
Charles
Porter Squires had painted banners bearing suitable motoes
and the young men and maidens, attired in their best, formed lines and marched
two abreast to the scene of the festivities. Porter Squires carried the banner and led
the young men, while Eleanor Snow and
Margaret Davis with another banner, headed the line of young ladies. At the
bowery a program was carried out in which they sang 'Hard Times Come Again No More'
and listened to Lorenze Snow read the Declaration of
Independence. After the dinner was served, the bowery was cleared and all
enjoyed themselves dancing until 'chore time.' In the evening they took picnic
and held a dance in the long log school house, located just outside the fort
limits. The hall was lighted with candles placed in rows on the window ledges.
Both young and old were in attendance; they danced to the strains of violons played by Owen Jones, George F. Hamson,
and Hyrum Hendricks. They felt rich in seclusion, love and union. There was no
class distinction then." (54)
We
can be sure that Zillah, now a young lady of fifteen, participated with enthusiasm.
In her younger days, she was a skilled dancer, and we are told that at her
eightieth birthday anniversary party "she danced a step dance for which
she was famed in her youth, and there was still grace in her movements."
(55)
"We can scarcely realize that there was a time
when all the bedding, the clothing of all kinds, the table linen, the hand
towels, the rugs, curtains, and every article made of cloth or leather, even
the cloth itself was made right in the home." (56) "Before the
freighters brought goods from the Missouri River or from the West coast,
anything except home-made materials for clothing was very scarce. Factory and calico
were the first cotton materials imported here (Brigham). Later there were blue
denims and blue and white fine checked hickory cloth. This was an evolution
from buckskin to hickory to home spun. At that time, the problem of getting
material to make a dress was more vexing than the style of making it. Twelve
year old girls were women by then and sewed their clothes by hand as there were
no sewing machines here until the railroad came in 1869." (57) "Each
family owned from ten to twenty sheep. At the proper season of the year, these
sheep were sheared. Then the women's work began; the wool was washed and dried,
then cleaned and picked free from burrs, sticks, etc., after which it was
combed and carded into 'rolls--little oblong strips of wool about one-half inch
wide and from eight to ten inches in length.(56)
One
of my most vivid memories of Grandmother Zillah is the image of her carding
wool into little bats in preparation for making a wool quilt. I can still see
her there in our home, sitting in the rocking chair by the kitchen window as
she took a handful of the newly washed and dried but matted wool and combed it
this way and that on the carding combs and patted it into fluffy little pillows
of wool. Her hands had not forgotten the skills she had learned as a young girl
in those frontier days.
"These days of washing and cleaning the wool
came only once a year· The days of carding, spinning,
and weaving were part of every days labor.
''The work of housekeeping was done up very early in
the morning. The girls went to spinning and in many homes the mother went to
her loom to weave the woolen threads, spun by the girls, into cloth for dresses
for the ladies and suits for the men and boys. Even head wear in the shape of
hoods and caps was made from this cloth.
"Sometimes it was blankets that the mother
wove, sometimes bedspreads, and when all other needs were supplied, she wove
rugs and carpets from strips cut from worn out clothing and sewed together in
long lengths.
"However, between the time of spinning and
weaving came the days when the mother's time was devoted to dyeing and coloring
the thread to make beautiful shades of cloth. Just remember there was no drug
store this side of the Mississippi at this time, so she couldn’t get packages
of Diamond or other dye with which to do it. However, she or her mother had
brought with them, when they came from the east, some logwood, copperas, indigo
and madder; with these she mixed native leaves and barks to make the desired
shades...
"The task of dyeing many hundreds of pounds of
yarn would be a herculean one if only the primary colors were wanted, hut try
to imagine the task of coloring shades to make a different one for the clothing
of each member of the then large families, not to mention the stocking yarn,
the cloth for caps and hoods, the bedspreads, etc.
"Each year the men planted flax, and from the
fine fibrous threads of the plant, the housewife spun linen thread which she
later wove into linen cloth from which towels, sheets, pillow cases, and underwear
were made.
"Sometimes the woolen threads, as first spun,
were doubled and twisted into yarn from which socks and stockings for the
family were knit dur1ng the long winter evenings. The pioneer woman could knit
and talk or read; she was a past master in the art, and need not watch her
needles or think of her knitting.
"As stated above, many housewives did weaving,
but there was in every community some few who made a specialty of this
business. Robert Dock, Sr. a Scotsman who had learned
the weavers' trade in his native land, did all the weaving of fine cloth for
the people of Willard and for people of nearby communities. Mrs. Sylvia
Beecher, wife of Ransom A. Beecher, and Sophia Hubbard, wife of Bishop Charles
Hubbard, wove carpets, bedspreads, and the more common weaves of cloth ... Some
families raised cotton on their lots in Brigham First Ward. In the fall they
gathered and spun it and used the thread of cotton warp in making cloth for
men's clothing." (59)
There
is no family tradition which tells of a loom in the Mathias home, but we know
there were spinning and weaving, skills developed by Zillah as she grew up which
she was to use for many years and pass on to her daughters.
"Hardships, yes, but in the midst of all, they
danced in Mr. Hutchin's house to violin music played
by George F. Hamson, Sr., and Owen Jones (Blind
Jones), or they found joy from social chats while hands were busy with homely
tasks of knitting, wool picking, carding and spinning. On the Sabbath Day they met .. to praise their Maker and
rejoice over their future prospects. Even scholastic training was not
overlooked, for during the winter, Henry Evans, one of Box Elder's first
teachers, taught school in different homes.'' (60)
Carpet
Rag and Quilting Bees were popular to lighten labor and make work a pleasure. If
quilting was the object of the bee, the mothers would be invited since they
excelled in the art of quilting. The best pieces were always cut out of all
discarded clothing and used in piecing quilts.
"Many of
the ladies would arrange for carpet bees. All worn out clothing, sheets, and
blankets would be washed and the faded pieces colored, torn into narrow strips,
and sacked ready for the bee. Invitations would be sent out to all the girls in
the neighborhood. The mother and older girls would prepare a veritable banquet.
"The sewers would assemble about nine o'clock
and vie with each other to see who could sew the most balls before dinner.
During the noon hour out-of-door sports would be indulged in, then sewing again
until chore time. Sometimes the young men would be invited to spend the evening
while the girls finished the rags; especially would this be the case if the
rags were to be woven into a carpet for the home of a bride." (61)
Yes,
there was romance and courting among the young people even while they were
still surviving in the fort, and there were brides and bridegrooms. During the
winter of 1853-54, romance had come to the Mathias household, and, according to
tradition, the first marriage in Box Elder fort was that of Ada Mathias and
Leander Holeman Clifford (62) which took place in the
spring of 1854. The second couple to be married there was James Davis and
Susannah Clapper. (63)
It
is assumed that Ada and her husband remained in Box Elder for several years. Alexander
Clifford is listed as a family head among the first occupants of the fort (see
page 9) and their first two children (Leander Thomas and Ada Margaret) are
listed the family group sheet as having been born in Brigham City. Mary Jerusha and, according to one family record, a twin brother
Amos were born in Providence, Cache County, Utah, on February 2, 1859. It would
seem, then, that sometime between May 1857 (Ada Margaret's birth) and February
1859, the family left Brigham City for Providence. Ada Mathias Clifford died 2
April 1861, and Providence is listed as the place of her death and burial. In
search of confirmation of this date, a letter to the sexton of Providence, Mr.
Jesse Zollinger, was sent, which led to the following
reply: ''The new cemetery was established in 1875, in its present location; the
old cemetery has been abandoned --- no records kept." So we have no
confirmation of Ada's burial or of baby Amos who is reported to have died as an
infant.
Leander
Holeman Clifford later married Ester Neeser and they had four children---Frances, Levi Hilton,
William Henry, and Ephraim Karlnealius Clifford. We
may assume at Ada's children --- Leander Thomas, Mary Jerusha,
and Ada Margaret --- grew up with this family, but we have no certain knowledge
of what happened after their mother's death. In a conversation with John
Mathias, son of Jonah (Ada's brother) in May of 1963, he said: My memory is
that Margaret and Jerusha used to come down to
Brigham City to get fruit. They called Father Uncle Jonah. These two women
married two Dees brothers, John and Newton, and lived
in Weston, Idaho. I have not heard from any of the family for years. While in
my younger days, I used to write to Willie Dees (64), so no doubt there may be
some of the family still living there. "However to date (1965) attempts to
learn more of Ada's family and of her descendants have yielded little more than
some family group sheets which are in conflict on various points.
As the families left the fort and moved into homes
on the surveyed lots, the little settlement grew into a busy, thriving
community as the years went by -Main Street was only four blocks long in the
first survey and this distance on either side, was soon occupied mainly
"by dwelling houses except the open square which was comparable in width
to the space now occupied by the city hall and court house grounds, and
extended west to First West Street. On this open square were built the willow boweries in which conferences and celebrations were held.
Here, too, the Indians gathered to receive government supplies and donations
from the townspeople.
"Judge Samuel Smith lived on the west side of
Main Street directly north of this square. For many years his house was the
chief business center of the settlement. It was here he maintained the post
office after he received his appointment in 1855. For many years a portion of
the building served as a hotel. When Dr. Oliver C. Ormsby
established Brigham City's first drug store, he used a room in Judge Smith's
home. Mrs. Carry Smith used the north part of the home as a location for the
town's first milinery store. Directly north of his
home Judge Smith erected a building which for many years housed a carpenter
shop and a shoe shop." (65)
Other shops of various kinds were gradually added in
other locations. The Court House was begun in 1855, though not completed until
1861. It was a two-story adobe building, and served as a community center of
religious and social, as well as civic activity, the second floor serving for
the two former purposes for many years. On May 9, 1865, Brigham Young and Jesse
W. Fox, a pioneer surveyor, placed the corner stone for the Tabernacle.
Construction work began in 1876. The building was com-pleted
and dedicated fourteen years later, on October 26, 1890, long after the wards
had their own meeting houses.
"Very early in the history of Brigham City,
streams of water flowed down either side of Main Street and shade trees were
planted to make the boundary line between the street and sidewalks, neither of
which was graded." (66)
As the young city grew, Zillah Mathias witnessed and
shared in its development as she grew to young womanhood.
No family traditions have survived of Zillah's
courtship, but she became the plural wife of John Davis Rees in President
Young's office on December 13, 1857, only a few days short of her eighteenth
birthday. Her husband was forty-three the following March. They were sealed for
time and eternity. (67)
On the preceding July 24, while the Saints from the
Salt Lake area were celebrating the entry of the first pioneers into the
Valley, word reached them at Silver Lake, at the head of Big Cottonwood Canyon, that an army was on its way to Utah. It was decided
that a stand should be made and that if necessary the Saints would fight to
keep the approaching army out of the Valley. The months that followed were
tense ones as Colonel Thomas L. Kane reported to Washington the true situation,
exposing the misrepresentations of unfriendly officials who had been sent to
Utah to administer the law there. Salt Lake City was evacuated except for a
select guard left behind with instructions to burn the city to the ground
should the army enter the valley. This was also true of the northern settlements .
Under
date of May 10, 1858, in the New York Times, we find the following account:
…
The people from the north are all moving south. The roads are lined from Box
Elder to Provo
with horse, mule or ox team and cattle and sheep.
Simon
S. Epperson gives us another account when he says:
"Squatted through the town of Provo and for
miles along the northern and southern borders were families from the north in every
conceivable quality, form and material of habitation. Many lived in wagon beds
of their heavy covered wagons so frequently used in the country by merely
taking them off the wheels and placing them on the ground. A cook stove placed
in the open air prepared the food for the family. A few families had canvas
tents. More lived in cellars dug in the ground or side of a hill covered with
brush and earth. Some families had erected log or board shanties. All the
temporary buildings of the pioneers were very open and much exposed to the
weather. Within these crude cabins, tents, and sheds, the women were busily
engaged in carrying on all the duties pertaining to cooking, sewing, mending,
washing and many other things conducive to the welfare of their loved
ones". (69)
When
peace was restored between the government and the people of Utah, June 1858, Brigham
Young gave the word---"All who wish to return to their homes in Great Salt
Lake City are at liberty to do so.” President Young himself led the way. Some
had ready begun to return to the northern settlements.
Here,
again, we have no family traditions to give us details of the Rees and Mathias
families. We know they participated but that is all.
