ANDREW L. PETERSON AND WIFE LETTIE PHIPPS PETERSON ~~~ PIONEERS OF THE MONTH ~~~ AUGUST 2025

 

 

Andrew Lysander Peterson - biography

Contributed By

Andrew Lysander Peterson

23 Dec. 1887 - 24 Dec. 1963

Son of Peter Peterson and Celestia Melissa Terry

From a compilation of three life stories, only one listing a date (June 2, 1979) B they were very similar, this document was combined to include all the information available.

Andrew Lysander Peterson was born December 23, 1887 in Fairview, Sanpete County, Utah to Peter and Celestia Melissa Terry Peterson, who were the first baby boy and second baby girl born in Fairview.

He spent ten years of his early boyhood in Indianola, or Thistle Valley as it was called then, going there at the age of four when his father was called and sent there by the church to serve as a Bishop and Peace-maker between the white people and the Ute Indians. His father was called to fill this position just two years after returning home from a full time mission to the Southern State of Virginia.

While Andrew's father was in Virginia serving the church, his mother cared for their five small children and operated the farm to provide a living for them. His father was Bishop in Indianola for 10 years and was then released to return to Fairview when Andrew was 14 years of age. Andrew remembers how he helped carry pickets from the lumber yard with his father at the age of four to build a fence in front of their home, just before going to Indianola.

Of his early years, Andrew wrote: "When I was four years of age my father was chosen Bishop of Indianola, and we moved there June 29, 1892, where we remained for ten years. Our first home there was a small one-room frame house. Within a year father built a brick house. There were about forty families living in Indianola at the time, about ten of whom were Indians. We became very friendly with most of them, as they came to see father very often about their affairs and for assistance in food. I hunted groundhogs, attended school, milked cows, herded cows, hunted rabbits, etc., and attended church duties quite religiously. Among the Indians I became well acquainted with were Nephi, Moroni, James Onump, Toke, Panawatts, Charley Toke, Sam Nephi, Jim Pant, Mountain, Peggy, Nancy Panawatts, and Aby Lehi."

The Community of Indianola had 65 Indians and 35 white families as their total population. Andrew remembered many of the idiosyncrasies of the Indian people and how he and other boys would catch ground-hogs and trade them to the Indians for sinew. They would then throw them into an open fire and roast them whole, then eat them by only rubbing off the burned hair.

Andrew often told his grandchildren many stories about "Old Jim Pant" and "Old Peggy". "Old Peggy" offered to give him a Pinto riding pony if he would stay with him one full moon, which was a month. Andrew said he would do this if he could go to his own home to eat and sleep, but of course that was not the bargain, so he didn't get the pony. He said he didn't want the pony badly enough to pay that kind of price.

A boyfriend of his, Mirt Spencer, and he would often tease "Jim Pant" as Jim would get drunk because of his great weakness for whisky. One day, they mixed a bottle of brew made of "mustard", "vinegar", and "Watkins Lineament" and gave it to Jim. After he drank some of it, he became very angry, picked up a club, and chased the boys down through a lot to Henry Spencer's farm, where they hid. Jim Pant was so drunk he could not find a place to get through, into the barn, so the boys were safe.

Many times, Indians would come to the Bishop and ask for food when they were drunk, but he would tell them to go home and sober up, and then come back later. They didn't like that kind of advice, so they would call his father a "heap bad" Bishop in the Indian language.

Several times, Andrew and his brother Peter would take a lunch with them while they were herding cows, and generally the lunch was made up of bread and milk. They would put it into a stream of cold water to keep it fresh and cool, but always an Indian girl would come and steal it. They conceived of an idea to cover it over with "Thaw" bushes (a place along the stream) and then put the lunch up high in a tree. The Indian girl came by, stepped into the thaw bushes, which made her feet bleed, so she looked around until she found the lunch in the tree and was so angry she kept stealing their lunches every day until they finally gave up taking one. He had many interesting experiences while living among these people.

One day, when Andrew was a little older, and in his teens, he was driving some cattle, along with three or four other men (white men) who were drinking and using fowl language in shouting at the cattle, and they insisted that Andrew should drink with them. However, he refused, so one of them said, "Oh, I thought Peter Peterson would have one Asport" in his family". So when they found Andrew refused to drink, they left him alone after that.

Andrew said: A March 28, 1902 we returned from Indianola to Fairview where I spent the next few years of my life. After graduating from the Eighth Grade in 1905, I attended Snow Academy (now Snow College) in Ephraim, Utah and completed a three-year business course in May 1908. Prior to this I worked summers at Clear Creek at the saw mill."

Andrew received his education at Indianola, Fairview, Snow College and Henager=s Business College in Salt Lake City. It was while attending Snow College in Ephraim, Utah that he met Lettie "Smith" Phipps. Phipps was the real name but the family was known as "Smith" because her father, Isaac Newton Phipps was raised by a Smith family. Andrew and Lettie were married two years later in the Manti LDS Temple for time and all eternity by President Lewis Anderson.

This couple was blessed by five wonderful children: Rhoda May (Christensen), Dean Andrew, Roid Harold, Elden Jay and Wayne Leo. During their courting days they had a great deal of fun dating and dancing. Andrew went to Snow College a year before Lettie did and of course dated girls there. One in particular that Lettie remembers was May Nielsen, daughter of the family where he boarded. Mr. Nielsen would never eat with the boys, so one day Berkley Larsen went into the kitchen where he saw him eating by himself and made the comment, "Looks like you pick your own company!" Mr. Nielsen retorted, A Company, company. That's vot I don=t vant!"

During the summers, Andrew worked at Clear Creek in the coal mines to earn money for his schooling. Every other Friday when he was finished with his work, he would hike all the way over the mountains, a distance of 20 miles, to Fairview. Here he would clean up, eat his dinner, and go to Mt. Pleasant in his father's horse and buggy to date Lettie and take her dancing. In those days there was a dance in town every Friday night, and they had a great deal of fun and enjoyment when they could attend.

Lettie says, "We were married January 20, 1909, and lived with my family for a while. Andrew worked for the City of Mt. Pleasant, and after getting this employment, we moved into a little apartment east on Main Street that was owned by a nice little old German lady. Andrew's father gave us a cow. Sometimes we would go out to the farm and stay overnight and when we returned home the next morning, Mrs. Ficher would meet us at the gate and say, "Our cow has yust been hollerin". I doxxt she wants to be milked." And sure enough, she did, and was hungry, too. We didn't have cars in those days, so we had to walk every place we went."

After living here for just about one month Andrew decided he wanted to go to Salt Lake City and attend Henager's Business College, so they moved there and attended school. It was while in Salt Lake City that their first child, Rhoda May was born, February 24, 1910. Then after graduating from College, Andrew taught school at Henager's for a few months when an opportunity came to him to move back to Mt. Pleasant and work in the Consolidated Wagon Company. Then about a year later he obtained a position with the North Sanpete Bank, where he then worked for the next 20 years. Ten years as Assistant Cashier and ten years as Cashier.

They bought a small home on 6th south and State Street in Mt. Pleasant and lived there for 7 years. It was here that Dean Andrew and Roid Harold were born. Roid passed away at the age of 2 years and 11 months B and then they sold their home and purchased a new one from Bent Hansen on 3rd south and State Street, where Lettie still lived at this time, June 1979. It was in this home that Elden Jay and Wayne Leo were born.

Lettie reports that Andrew was a kind, loving and considerate husband and father, always working and doing things for the welfare of his family. He held many positions in the church, and always honored his Priesthood. He served as Ward Clerk for 10 years in the Mt. Pleasant South Ward, Sunday School Superintendent 3 years, Counselor to Bishop Abraham McIntosh for 5 years, Bishop of the Ward for 17 years with C.L. Stewart and Joseph Johansen as his counselors and Emil Rutishauser, Ward Clerk. He later, after being released as Bishop, served as a Counselor to Reed H. Allred in the Stake High Priest Quorum and was then called to labor in the Manti Temple as Ordinance worker for 5 years. Both Andrew and Lettie were Home Missionaries for 2 years.

He then served on the North Sanpete School Board and the Mt. Pleasant City Council when John Gunderson was the Mayor. He worked in the Post Office for 2 2 years under H. C. Jacobs, Postmaster. This was during the early 1930s when the nation's greatest depression was on. Two banks in Mt. Pleasant had closed, and their son Dean, was called to serve the church in Norway as a missionary. With earning only $85.00 per month and sending Dean $50.00 of that, it was difficult times financially. It was during this time that Jay Rulon Christensen was born to Dr. H. Reed Christensen and Rhoda May Peterson Christensen at the home in Mt. Pleasant, 268 South State Street. This became Andrew's and Lettie's first grandchild.

Andrew was a charter member of the Mt. Pleasant Lions Club and served as a member of it for many years. He and Verg Johnson were chosen as delegates to the National Lion's Club Convention in San Francisco B and went there to represent Mt. Pleasant Club.

In 1943, he began working for the Consolidated Furniture Company in Mt. Pleasant and worked there for the following 20 years. He started out as a clerk and later became the manager following the death of Jorgan Madsen.

He was chairman of the Republican Party in Mt. Pleasant for several years, was a notary public and did income tax reports for many people. He taught the Gospel Doctrine Sunday School Class for many years after he was released as Bishop.

Andrew served as a Bishop during the 20s and 30s before the church started building Bishop's offices in the buildings. Therefore, his home had to serve as a Bishop's office so everyone had to go to his home to talk with him about their problems, pay their tithes and offerings, and apply for Temple recommends. The "old red brick South Ward Chapel" burned down in 1937, and a new building had to be erected, which still stands to this date.

During the construction of this new building, Andrew became very ill and nearly lost his life. The ward held a prayer circle in his behalf . After that Mrs. John K. Madsen came and told him about a doctor in Salt Lake City who she thought could help him. The three doctors out here didn't help him any. They were Dr. Monk of Manti, Dr. Limebaugh from Moroni and Dr. Bert Madsen of Mt. Pleasant.

Mrs. John K. Madsen took us into Salt Lake City. She made a bed for Andrew in the back seat of her big car. Dr. Remington said he could help him. So Andrew stayed at the home of Delmer Tripp in Salt Lake. Delmer took him to the doctor every day. After twelve treatments, he came home feeling much better and was soon back helping with the church. John Gunderson, Chairman of the Building Committee, did a great job as his stand-by. He reported to Andrew every day on the progress of the work and kept things going.

Elden helped on the church before going to California on his mission. He and Kay Schovelle saved the large red velvet stage curtains while the old red brick church burned down.

Andrew gave humorous readings at parties, mostly at church parties, where they would ask him to be on the programs. He gave readings such as: "Sockery Setting a Hen", A Levinsky at the Vedding", Poor Rastmus", "Andy and Madan Queen", and others. He was also in a quartet with Opal Schovelle, Atta Jensen, and George Squires. They sang at funerals and church gatherings. Andrew spoke at many funerals.

Andrew road a bicycle to work most of the time. His first car was a Dodge, second a Plymouth, third a Ford, fourth a Ford, fifth a Mercury Montery.

He raised a good vegetable garden every summer and kept his lot clean and neat. Lettie planted the flowers and cared for them. She also planted all the vegetable seeds while Andrew did the digging.

Nina Johnson said of Andrew, "He wasn't only kind to his family, he was kind to everyone."

Andrew made good honey candy. He would cook the honey. Then when it was cool enough he would pull it until it was golden white and fluffy. He and his sister Sarah were experts in making honey candy. We as a family had this treat quite often.

Old Peggy was an Indian doctor. He was the one who wanted Andrew to live with him for one moon. One day, Andrew's father brought a load of wood from the mountains. Old Peggy told him he would send his squaw Keyanna over to unload it for him. The buck Indians didn't work, it was the squaws that did most of the work.

Peggy's little boy died, and Andrew's father made a wooden box for them to bury him in, but they wouldn't use it. Instead, they sat him on the wagon seat between them and drove off to the mountains with him. Peter tried to teach the Indians to bury their dead like the white people did.

During the depression, Andrew lost his job when the banks closed, also his bank stock and had to pay $100.00 a share, which was seven hundred dollars. Besides sending Dean on a mission to Norway for three years and he had to have three hundred dollars over there by the time he arrived in Norway. Those were tough days for all of us. Andrew drew his life insurance out to live on and to have the money for Dean's mission.

Lettie says that during their many years of marriage, they had many faith promoting experiences where the power of the Priesthood was manifest. Two of the outstanding times were when Rhoda nearly passed away with pneumonia and when Elden was very ill with pneumonia. They were both healed by the power of the Priesthood and by faith. In those days, the early 20's and prior, penicillin and other healing medications were not yet known.

In 1962 Andrew wrote: "I am happy in my church work and have a firm testimony of the gospel and rejoice in it. I feel that the Church has been a wonderful help to me and my family. I am very active in my various labors with my store work, church work, insurance business, and taking care of home duties. I manage to put in about 15 hours a day, but I enjoy good health and as long as I feel as well as I do, I want to keep active."

A short statement now concerning the Children of Andrew and Lettie Peterson:

Rhoda was a Primary President, a Relief Society Class Leader and a Stake Relief Society President in the South Sanpete Stake for several years and has been a very devoted daughter to her mother. Elden filled a mission for the Church in California 1940 B 1942 and Wayne was a missionary in the Southern States 1942 B 1944. During World War II Elden served in the United States Air Force and Wayne in the United States Navy. Dean, Elden and Wayne have all served as Bishops and Dean was President of the Norwegian Mission and a Regional Representative of the Twelve Apostles.

Andrew Lysander Peterson passed away December 24, 1963 after suffering a massive heart attack. He died in the Salt Lake LDS Hospital. As of this date, June 2, 1979 Andrew and Lettie Peterson have 19 grandchildren and 55 great-grand children. Their posterity continues to grow!

Peter and Celestia Peterson
Parents of Andrew L. Peterson
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

Lettie's  family
Father Mother 
Brother and Sisters 

Peter and Celestia Peterson

Parents of Andrew L. Peterson 

MORONI SEELY AND EMILY ALICE SEELY ~~~ PIONEERS OF THE MONTH ~~~ JULY 2025

 

 Moroni Seely was one of our first "Pioneers of the Month"; I decided to post him again with more information about his wife Emily Alice 

The following history is taken from the Seely Family History, and written by Deloy F. Seely

Moroni Seely and Emily Alice Seely

Moroni Seely was born 29 May 1848, the son of William Stewart Seely and Elizabeth DeHart in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He dictated his own story to Ada Larson:

In 1851 my parents moved to Pleasant Grove, Utah.  There I received my first schooling but it did not amount to much as I was not able to attend regularly.  I was just at the useful age of eleven when I had to herd sheep and ride after the cattle.  It was very hard times, food was very scarce and our daily diet consisted of greens of different kinds.  During the summer months my oldest sister's task was to gather enough wild greens for the family.  Many times I had to get up in the morning and hunt until I could find a bush of thistles, and then take my knife and peel the stalks and eat them for breakfast.  I was thankful I could get thistles.  Other times I would dig segos and wild onions.  We didn't know what  it was to have bread in those days.  You mothers who read this, just think what it would mean to you to call your children out of bed in the morning and have to tell them to go out and dig their own breakfast.  There were many who had to do that every day, but the Lord was good to us.  We are and thrived on that kind of food, and it satisfied our hunger.

About this time,  Johnston's army which you have all heard of camped near Pleasant Grove.  Some of our citizens were kept on the alert watching their movements as we did not want them in our town.  I became acquainted with them, and used to run errands for them.  The men would send me to the pasture for their horses.  They would describe the horse they wanted and I would always bring the one I was sent  after.  When they went riding they would pick me up and put me on behind them.  They told me if I wanted to be a man, I must chew tobacco.  Child as I was, I thought it would be a great honor to be a man, so I did my best to learn to chew.

Again, my father decided to move, this time to Mt. Pleasant, Utah, in 1859.  There I attended school in the Fort which was built to protect all the settlers from the Indians.  When I was 17 years old, I began riding and looking after my Father's cattle.  The Indians were still causing much trouble.  They were not satisfied with the treatment they were getting from the settlers.  They claimed they were not getting enough for their land.  Every chance they got, they would steal cattle, horses and sheep.

Several stories are told of the cause of the Black Hawk War.  During the winter of 1864-65, a small band of Indians camped near Gunnison, Sanpete County.  They contracted smallpox and quite a number died.  They seemed to think the pale faced people were to blame, and they made threats to kill the people and steal their horses and cattle.  The whites heard of this and arranged a meeting with the Indians to try to pacify them.

They met at Jerome Kempton's place at Manti.  The Indians seemed to be willing to settle without trouble except for one young chief known as Yenewood, also called Arropene.  He could not be quieted down; he kept trying to excite the Indians and would not let them talk peace.  There were to interpreters, John Lowry and Archibald Buchanan.  It is said the Indians were very angry someone called, "Look out, he is going for his arrows?.  At that, Lowry stepped up, caught hold of his arm, and pulled him from his horse.  Lowry was prevented  from abusing the chief by bystanders.  This news spread quickly among the Indians, and it did not take long for them to be on the warpath.

I acted as one of the minutemen in this  Indian war from 1866-68.  My experiences alone would fill a book, but as a history of this war has already been written I will not dwell upon it to any great length.  But I will relate one instance that was very sad; a murderous band of Indians in Thistle Valley attacked a family by the name of Givens.  John Givens had moved his family out there for the summer months.  They consisted of John, his wife, a son nineteen, and three daughters.  Mary age nine,  Annie five, and  Martha three years old. There were two men staying over night; they escaped to the little town of Fairview about six miles distant.

A dispatch was sent to Mt. Pleasant and quickly twenty men were in their saddles andon their way to Thistle Valley.  We arrived before noon.  This is what we found.  Mrs. Givens outside the cabin, stripped and laying on her back with her head toward the door; John Jr. lying on the floor of the cabin on his back with his feet toward the door and shot in the breast; the father was shot through the heart.  The little girls had been sleeping in a wagon; each little head had split with a tomahawk; they had been stripped of their clothing except a little shirt waist they had on.

The Indians took axes, cooking utensils, in  fact everything they could get their hands on, including their horses and between one and two hundred head of cattle.  They left the calves in the corral and  had chopped  each one above the hips with a tomahawk.  There we found them dragging their hind parts.  We do not know why the did this inhuman thing, unless it was to prevent them from following the cows.  We took the bodies of the family to Fairview and  buried them.  This story stands out as one of the most terrible crimes that was committed during the war, one I cannot erase from my  memory.

During the war I took part in one battle.  I acted as express rider, carrying messages from one  place to another and did considerable skirmishing and scouting until peace was restored.

In 1888, the railroad came down Echo Canyon.  I took Father's teams and went up there to work for a few weeks, grading on the road, etc.  I worked under Cyrus H.  Wheelock, he being the boss.  Brigham Young was the contractor.  I returned home for Christmas holidays.

Then I was called to go back east to help the poor immigrants who were unable to come west on their own; a large company was called to go.  My Father was captain of the group/ some  drove oxen and some drove mules.  I drove four mules on a wagon.  We had a very sad accident on the way.  We had to cross the Green River which is very large, as many as could would get on the ferry and were ferried across the river.  Nearly all were across when a cable broke, letting the ferry go down the river.  There were eighteen head of oxen and several men aboard.  In spite of all efforts, seven men and one yoke of oxen drowned.  I took a handful of matches, jumped on my horse and with Lynn Beach hurried downstream to see if we could save someone.  We found one man washed up on a small island.  I shouted to him.  He said he was alright but was freezing.  I wrapped some matches and a stone in my handkerchief and threw it to him.  There was driftwood there and he soon had a fire going which kept him warm until he could be rescued the next morning.  We found another man lodged in some brush, he looked like he was standing up.  Lynn was a good swimmer; he made several attempts to swim out to him, but the current would pull him under and he had to return to shore.  I told Lynn to stay there and I would get a rope and try to lasso the man in the river.  I returned and was ready to throw the rope when he sank.  We looked for him a long while, but he never came in sight again.

We went on to Laramie, Wyoming; there we had to wait four to six weeks for more immigrants.  I drove Father's outfit part of the time, and the rest of the time I spent scouting on horseback.  We returned to Salt Lake without any accident.  Father and I  returned home to Mt. Pleasant.

In those days money was very scarce.  When a man worked for another, he  was paid with something he could use, such as land, building materials, etc.

Sometimes he would have to trade two or three times with others to get the things he needed.

In 1870 I began  to build a house of adobe brick.  It had three rooms downstairs and two upstairs, and still stands in a splendid state of preservation.

Through all my boyhood years we had a neighbor, Oscar Barton, who lived across the street from Father's home; we children grew up together.  In those days people spun and wove their own cloth for clothing, blankets, bedspreads, etc.  There were only two girls in the Barton family, so they usually had hired help.  I liked to watch the girls at the spinning wheel, but the one that interested me the most was the youngest; she with her pretty  brown eyes and auburn hair, parted and combed into two lovely braids.  Her industrious ways appealed to me.  She was very small for her age, so her father cut down the legs of her spinning wheel and by standing on a box, she could spin with the rest of them.  I used to tease all the girls, but Alice was my favorite, and I was easy with her.  So it was as we grew up together.

When Alice was twenty and I was twenty-two, we drove to Salt Lake City by team and wagon and were married in the Endowment House on April 10, 1871.  We returned to our new home in Mt. Pleasant.

That spring I started freighting to some mining towns in surrounding areas.  I took a load of potatoes and eggs to White Pine, Nevada, for which I received a tidy sum of money.  I reloaded there with all kinds of fright and went on to Pioche, another mining town two hundred miles farther south.  This trip was very  discouraging, as I only had about twenty dollars left when I got home.

I decided not to drive mules again, so I traded my pony for a yoke of oxen, one was lame so I traded it for a yoke of little black steers.  I now had three head.  Father told me I could have all I wanted of his steers, so I took five head of unbroken steers.

Father loaned me a wagon  and Lyman Peters loaned me another.  I loaded them with flour.  Joseph Page loaded his outfit and went with me.  My wild steers traveled right strong with my broken ones.  We reached Salt Creek about thirty five miles  from home and had to double up our teams to cross it.  Everything went fine; we had only gone a short distance when Mr. Page discovered he had left his log chain at the creek.  So we went back, found the chain and returned to our wagons.  He had thrown the chain across his shoulders to carry it back.  As it slid to the ground, it caught on his pistol, discharging it.  The bullet passed through his knee, and he lay on the ground groaning with pain.  I didn't know what to do, with government wagons loaded heavily and slow ox teams.  As I stood wondering if I should unload the wagon, I could hear a wagon coming from the direction we were going.  The teamster was a stranger.  I explained what had happened, and he said he would gladly take us back to Mt. Pleasant, so I unyoked the oxen and turned them loose to graze around the wagons.  We put Mr. Page in the wagon.  He had a good mule team, so it was not many hours until we returned home.  This accident happened between sunset and dark.  I might say that Mr. Page's leg never did heal properly and he could not straighten it out, so he always walked on a peg.

Mr. Page sent Conderset Rowe to drive his teams.  We went back to our wagons the next day and  found everything as we had left it.  We  went to Pioche, Nevada.  We disposed of our loads at a good price, and I returned home with three hundred dollars in my pocket.  That seemed a large sum to me then.

I felt rich, so I bought calves, and that was the beginning of the cattle business for me.  I also looked after Father's cattle.  In 1872 or 73 I took up  a homestead in Thistle Valley, eighteen miles from home.  The land was covered with black ant hills.  I rigged up an outfit that I could hitch a team to and drive along and cut the tops off these hills.  In that way I hot rid of the ants; then I had as good a meadow as there was in the valley. There were other men  in the area, but because of the Indians we dared not take our families up there.

In the latter part of the year President Brigham Young sent word to Stake President Canute Peterson to call men to go to San Juan River area and explore it to see if it was a fit place to send people to start new homes.  President Peterson sent a call to me.  It was late afternoon when this call came.  I was very busy haying as it was ready to haul, a bumper crop.  I had worked hard for it.  My brother-in-law was with me.  I handed him the paper, saying, "what would you do?"  He said, "And leave all this?" waving his hand toward the meadow.

I asked  him to get my horse while I packed up.  This call said I was to report at Ephraim the next morning at ten o'clock.  I was eighteen miles from home.  I arrived home in the early evening.  A friend was waiting there  to take my horses to the blacksmith shop to have them  shod.

I reported to President Peterson at ten o'clock.  There were seven of us in the Party.  After explaining to us what was required of us he said, "I want you to attend to your prayers night and morning; do your swearing in between times.  If you do this, you will return safely."  That was asking a lot; I was not a religious man and had not attended  to my prayers.  Each man hand to take two horses, one for riding and a  pack horse for supplies.  Each man was allowed to take his guns, but not to use them except in self defense.  This was  hard; there were all kinds of game, but the report of a gun would probably arouse the Indians and cause trouble for us.

We traveled from Manti to the Wasatch mountains  the first day.  The next day we moved on down through  Castle Valley and Rock Canyon, and we camped on the Cottonwood Creek for the night.  The next day we went to Cottonwood Springs; the fourth day we came to the very large and treacherous Green River.  The men asked me to take the lead.  I told them to keep their eyes upstream; we crossed safely.

We went out through alkali flat, and we came to another large stream called the Grand River.  We followed it  for three days ; we camped and fished as we went.  We came to Grand  Junction, Colorado,  where the Grand and the Gunnison Rivers meet.  We had to  cross both.

After another day's ride, we came to Uncompahgre River; after following it for two or three days, we came to the Ouray Reservation.  The chief advised us to go southwest, as we could find bad Indians south.  We took his advice and traveled many days until we came to the Dallas River.  The next day we passed over the foot of the LaSal Mts. and onto Coyote Creek.  There we met Bill McCarty and three others; they were outlaws.  We camped there, but asked no questions.  We were afraid of those men, although they treated us well.

We came to a large valley.  There we found large rocks hollowed out just like a well full of water.  We watered our horses.  The next day we found streams of water coming from the Blue Mts.  Our next camp was on the San Juan River.  One day, as we followed the River, we saw a large cave, so we crossed the river to investigate.  The cave was about seventy five feet high and had seven rooms, the walls were very smooth and had hand marks like someone had dipped their hand in blood and, while climbing the ladder, had touched the wall at every step.  We also found corn cobs, we went back to our camp.

Next morning we started up the north side of the river.  We saw big cliffs lowering hundreds of feet where there were lots of cliff dwellings which we could not get to.  We followed the river several days and came upon some sand hills, looking like the ruins of an ancient city.  We went up to the mouth of the canyon; there we found evidence of pottery at one time.  There were quantities of broken dishes about, beautifully decorated and of good quality.  I filled a salt sack with the pieces of dishes and took them home to my little girl.  I have always regretted that I did not keep them, as they would be highly-prized now.  We followed on up the river until we came to the Dolores River; there we found numberless Indian tracks.  That was as far as we were told to go.  For the first time we stood guard over our horses.  We were then near the four corners of  Utah, Colorado, Arizona and New  Mexico.

We began our journey west.  We cut across country to the Blue Mts. ~~ they were our guide.  There is some very fine country through there.  We camped at Cane Springs the first night.  The next night to Grand Valley, where we  found a Negro and Frenchman,  two outlaws; we asked no  questions.  The next morning we crossed Grand River and traveled on to Saleratus Wash. The next day we went to Green River, which we crossed, then to the  big rocks with pockets of water, from there to Joe's Valley and arrived home the next day.

My family was well, my hay put up in fine shape, and a splendid woodpile.  In our company was a man who did not believe in anything--not even  God--when we left home.  We had all promised to take our turn at prayer; returning thanks to our Father in Heaven.  He took his regular turn, at prayer and could pray as well as any of us. (This story thus far was dictated to Ada Larsen and was not completed at the time of Moroni's death).

As stated before, Moroni married Emily Alice Barton in the Endowment House in  Salt Lake City April 10, 1871.  She was the daughter of John and Susannah Barton, born in Bountiful, Utah, May 2, 1850.  To this couple were born nine children.

Alice Vilate married Edward Allen Ericksen; they had six children
Cyrus Moroni, married Mattie Lenora Neilson, they had one child.  He married a second wife, Alice Nellie Thomas Galpin; they had one child.
Clara Elizabeth married Nels Henry Nelson; they had twelve children
George Lafayette married Tina Neilson; they had nine children.
Lucinda May married James Draper Bradley, they had seven children.
Orson Ray married Myrtle May Kiddle, they had nine children.
Mell Gay married Edith Elinor Dunwoody; they had four children
Artie J. married Ovedia (Veda) Fawns; they had six children.
Catherine Verda married Charles Ellis Fawns, they had five children

All nine of these children are now deceased (1986).  (This family has the unusual distinction that all nine children grew to adulthood, married, and had children of their own.  Moroni and Alice had 60 grandchildren)

Moroni and Alice purchased land and farmed and ranched at or near Mt. Pleasant, Utah.  He became a large property owner in the city and vicinity.  He had about 200 acres of land, besides city property and much leased land.  He increased his cattle herd to about 1000 head, and he also had about 400 sheep.  Besides, he still did much scouting for the Church.

In the late eighteen hundreds many people were immigrating to Canada (southern Alberta).  In 1902 Moroni decided to go see what the country was like.  H stayed with his brother Joseph Nephi, who had gone to Canada in 1899 and had built a hotel at Stirling, Alberta.  In February 1903 Moroni went back to Mt. Pleasant and gathered their household effects and some Livestock. They  moved to Canada with all their family, except one son,  Cyrus.  Cyrus stayed in Utah and worked in many areas; he later came to Canada after his first wife died  (about 1925).

Moroni bought a farm near Stirling, but he was not able to work it long.  In 1905 he had an operation and a nerve was severed, leaving his legs paralyzed for the rest of his life.  He liked to have visitors and play games from the wheelchair.  Their home was always open to visitors, who laughed and joked with him.

In 1910, the family still at home went to Utah for the winter.  Moroni had to ride in the baggage car where he could have a cot to rest on.  Artie was always at his side to do for him the things he could not do for himself. Artie also ran his father's farm.  At that time,  some of the springs were so wet that they had to broadcast the grain from a wagon.

Alice Barton Seely  died 18 January 1930 in Stirling Alberta., Canada.  Moroni died 5 May 1930 in Stirling Alberta, Canada.  Both were buried in Mt. Pleasant,  Utah cemetery, as they had requested.

by Deloy F. Seely

BIOGRAPHY OF EMILY ALICE BARTON SEELY

Contributed By

Emily Alice Barton was born on 2 May 1850 in Bountiful, Davis, Utah Territory to John and Susannah Wilkinson Barton. She was the sixth of ten children, six girls and four boys. She was also the first of her family to be born in the Utah Territory.

Her father John was born on 22 June 1808 in Sunbury, Northumberland, Pennsylvania tp Noah and Mary Cooley Barton. Susannah was born on 16 March 1814 in North Sunbury,Northumberland, Pennsylvania. He married Susannah on 29 December 1835 in West Sunbury. John and Susannah were both baptized on 1 December 1841. Shortly after their baptism they left Pennsylvania and moved to Nauvoo.

They lived on a ¼ acre in the south half of Lot 56 in Kimball’s first addition to Nauvoo. He had a house and apparently operated a store because he paid taxes for“stock and trade” to the east of the temple site. They were able to receive their endowments on 31 January 1846 just five days before the saints were driven from Nauvoo. Two of their daughter Elizabeth Jane and Phebe Elen did in Nauvoo, Elizabeth on the 17 September 1843 and Phebe 4 December 1846. Most of their extended family couldn’t handle the trials so they returned to their former homes or went elsewhere, but John and Susannah remained firm in the faith.

John Oscar was born on 29 October 1847 at Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie,Iowa before they came west. They came to Great Salt Lake City, with the Brigham Young Company in 1848. He help with the Camp of Israel in preparing roads and helping the saints to work their way to Winter Quarters prior to their trek west to Great Salt Lake City. They arrived in the Great Salt Lake City on 20 September 1848. Brigham Young had them locate to Bountiful, Davis, Deseret.

Emily Alice was born on 2 May 1850; Sylvester Aaron was born 25 December 1852; Ann was born about 1855 and died shortly after; Elisha Kembur was born on 23 December 1856; and Libby was born in 1865.

They moved to Mount Pleasant by the fall of 1860. Their oldest daughter Mary Catherine had married and was living in Mt. Pleasant. Her father farmed about twenty acres northwest of the town and another twenty acres further south. They lived out of a log hut and soon replaced it with a new adobe house.

Emil Alice was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 1 July 1862 at the age of twelve. She married Moroni Seely on 10 April 1871 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake,Utah Territory at the age of 20.

Moroni Seely was born 29 May 1848 in Great Salt Lake City, Deseret to William Stewart and Elizabeth De Hart Seely. They had nine children,six girls and three boys. Emily was the sixth child born to them.

His father married Elizabeth De Hart on 22 December 1836 at the age of his endowments on 3 February 1846 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois just a day before the Saints were expelled from Nauvoo. He was 33 years old.

They traveled the Great Salt Lake City with the Edward Hunter/Jacob Foutz Company in 1847. Her father was 3; her mother Elizabeth was 31; Elizabeth was 9; and Emily was 1. They had lost three children, George, Mary, and Jane between 1841 and 1845. In addition to his family was also his father Justus Azel age 67;his mother Mehitabel, age 67; his brother Justus Wellington age 32; his brother David age 27 and their families.

They departed on 19 June 1847 with 158 individuals and 59 wagons in the company which began from the outfitting post on the Elkhorn River about 27 miles west of Winter Quarters, Nebraska. They stayed on the north side of the Platte River in Nebraska. His brother David brought down the second buffalo killed for meat for the pioneers. In addition to their families, they would also have provisions for the year along with seed grain and farming utensils to be used in the valley. They reached Great Salt Lake City on 8 September 1847.

William Stewart and Elizabeth first settled in Salt Lake City where Moroni and Emeline were born in 1848 and 1851, then moved to Pleasant Grove and Mount Pleasant where the last two children, Joseph Nephi and Lucinda were born.

Moroni was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on1 January 1856 at the age of seven. He received his endowments on 15 June 1868 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory at the age of 20. He was 22 years old when they married.

Moroni didn’t have a lot of schooling because he had to herd sheep and ride after the cattle. They were very poor and he often had to find a bush of thistles, and peel the stalks and eat that for his breakfast. They also ate wild onions and sego lillies. They moved to Mt. Pleasant in 1859. He was able to attend some schooling at the Fort. They had alot in Indian problems at the time. He was one of the minutemen in the Blackhawk Indian War from 1866-1868. He tol d of a family by the name of Given that lived way out in Thistle Valley. When the Indians were so bad, they sent several to help bring the family back to the fort. The whole family had been shot. The little girls had been sleeping in the wagon box and their heads had been split with a tomahawk. They took everything in sight from the area. They took cattle but left the calves in the corral and chopped each one above the hips with a tomahawk. The whole horrible sight stuck with hi m forever.

He also worked with his father in 1888 when the railroad came down Echo Canyon. He often went back east and helped bring poor immigrants

After they were married he started freighting to some mining towns. He also took a load of potatoes and eggs to White Pine, Nevada and received good wages. As he earned money he bought calves and that was the beginning of the cattle business for him. He purchased land and farmed and ranched near Mount Pleasant. He owned a lot of property in the city and he also leased a lot of land. He had about 1,000 head of cattle and about 400 sheep.

Moroni and Emily had nine children, four girls and five boys, all born in Mount Pleasant, Sanpete, Utah Territory. Alice Vilate was born on 2 June 1872; Cyrus Moroni was born on 24 February 1875; Clara Elizabeth was born on 17 October 1877; George Lafayette was born on 22 May 1880; Lucinda May was born on 25 September 1882; Orson Ray was born on 20 May 1885; Mell Gay was born on 7 August 1888; Artie J. was born on 20 December 1894; and Cathern Verda was born on 30 April 1896.

In 1902 Moroni decided to see what the country was like in Canada where his brother Joseph Nephi had lived since 1899. He liked what he saw and in 1903, he went back to Mt. Pleasant and gathered their household effects and some cattle and moved to Canada. All the family went except for Cyrus. He came later after his wife died in 1925.They bought a farm near Stirling.

In 1905 he had an operation and a nerve was severed which left his legs paralyzed for the rest of his life. He used a wheelchair to get around.

Emily died on 16 January 1930 in Stirling, Alberta Canada at the age of 79. She was buried on 22 January 1930 in Mount Pleasant, Sanpete, Utah.

Moroni died just four months later on 5 May 1930 in Stirling, Alberta,Canada at the age of 81. He was buried on 12 May 1930 in Mount Pleasant,Sanpete, Utah.

John H. Seely and Margaret Peel Seely ~~~ Pioneers of the Month ~~~ June 2025

 

Photo Shared by Marlane Harless

John Henry Seely as remembered by his grandchildren, Margaret Merrill Nelson and Madeline Merrill Mills

Contributed By

John Henry Seely (1855-1920)

As remembered by his grandchildren,

Margaret Merrill Nelson and Madeline Merrill Mills

John Henry Seely was the son of Justus Wellington Seely (1815-1894) and Clarissa Jane Wilcox Seely (1821-1908). They were married on 10 March 1842 in Charleston, Iowa. Both of their families had earlier converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They lived across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo, Illinois in Iowa. They joined the exodus of the saints from Nauvoo in 1846 with their three children; Orange, Sarah and Don Carlos. They spent the winter of 1846-1847 in Pigeon Grove near Omaha, Nebraska. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in September, 1847 with the John Taylor Company.

In March 1851, Justus Wellington and Clarissa Jane were called by Brigham Young to take their family of five small children; Hyrum and Justus Wellington, Jr. had been born in Salt Lake City; to San Bernardino, California to make a settlement there and to grow olives. They traveled with the Charles Rich and Amasa Lyman groups. His brother, William Hazard, was born in 1852 in San Bernardino.

John Henry Seely was born on 29 April, 1855 in San Bernardino, California. When he was only two and one half years old, his parents responded to the call of Brigham Young to return to Utah at this time. His grandparents lived in Pleasant Grove, Utah and they first went there to live until they were called in the spring of 1859 to colonize Mt. Pleasant, Utah. He would spend the remainder of his life in Mt. Pleasant.

Life was hard and luxuries were non-existent in a pioneer settlement. Our mother told us that as a small boy, our grandfather had no shoes and played with things from the yard for toys. He had a toy made from a board with a nail half pounded in to which he attached a rope to pull it and he used it as a sled. When his little brother, David Alma Seely, died on 20 October, 1860, he gave up his sled to make a coffin for David.

The young children in the family worked hard. The boys went along with their father and learned from him to do a man's work. John Henry herded the sheep and cattle from the time he was a very small boy and he told Dwight Lincoln, a colleague in the Rambouillet Sheep Association that he had day-dreamed as a child of having his own great herd.

John Henry was a veteran of the Black Hawk Wars but we never heard about this from him. He was seventeen years old when he was honored in 1872 so he was a very young soldier having served before that. He hurt his arm about when he was fifteen when he was carrying his gun and climbed through a fence. The gun caught on the wire, discharged, and a bullet ripped through his arm. He injured a tendon and he had a stiff forefinger on his right hand for the rest of his life. Our mother told us that his mother insisted that he carry buckets of water, milk or whatever with his right hand to strengthen his right arm.

John Henry Seely and Margaret Folkman Peel were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on 15 January 1880. They had known each other most of their lives. Both were raised in Mt. Pleasant of pioneer parents. Margaret's parents, Peder Madsen Peel and Christiana Folkman Peel, were Danish converts who came to Utah in 1854 and settled in Lehi, Utah where she was born 1 March 1858. They were later sent to Mt. Pleasant to colonize and lived there the rest of their lives.

At the time of their marriage, John Henry was the owner of two horses, one cow and a small amount of money. With these two horses and a wagon, and in the company of many others, the couple left Mt. Pleasant on the 10th of January, 1880. A large amount of snow fell that day so they only got as far as Fountain Green, Utah. The next morning, the ladies in the group waited for the men to make a trail over the summit to Nephi, Utah. A friend from Castle Valley, Utah was driving the team until a young boy in the group contracted diphtheria and he and his father took the train so the friend took over driving their wagon so John Henry had to drive the rest of the way. They drove to Mona, Utah the second day and to Pleasant Grove the third day, and Cottonwood, Utah on the fourth day. The ladies in the group slept in the wagon and the men slept on piles of hay under the wagon.

On the 14th of January, the couple and others drove into Salt Lake City where they stayed with Patriarch Hyde. Patriarch Hyde's son notified all of his friends that there were "newlyweds" staying at the home so that a crowd came with noisemakers and "shivereed" them. John Henry gave the young boy money so he could buy shrimps for the participants.

While in Salt Lake, they purchased a stove, some dishes, a lamp and a clock at the ZCMI store. When they returned to Mt. Pleasant, her parents had a lovely wedding supper for them at their home. John Henry and another bridegroom, Peter Anderson, organized a big wedding dance to which the whole town was invited. John and Maggie went to Antone Beauman's furniture store and a bed, six chairs, a rocking chair, a table and a mirror. This cost $35.00.

At about this time several members of John Henry's family left to settle Castle Valley, Utah. John Henry bought the home of his brother, Justus Wellington, Jr. (Wink) for $200.00 giving his older brother some needed cash for the upcoming journey. He also traded a horse for 200 acres of land in Chester, Utah.

The home was on Main Street and about 500 West. Four children were born to this couple while they lived in this little home; Ethel Alberta, 7 October 1880; Zella Gertrude, 6 December 1882; Earl Henning, 10 December 1884 and John Leo, 4 April 1887.

During this period of time, John Henry and his father, Justus Wellington Seely, and several of his brothers, changed the spelling of their surname to Seely from Seelye for the purpose of securing a brand. It was cheaper to use less letters.

In May, 1887, they moved into a larger home on 400 West and 100 South. It was purchased from Peter Meiling. They later put on a second story. It was a very comfortable home and they lived in it until their deaths. Six more children were born to them in this home; Leonard Joseph, 13 June 1890; Abrelia Clarissa, 19 September 1892; Lucretia Vern, 26 January 1895; Chesley Peel, 20 March 1898; Margaret Rae, 27 September 1901 (she died young); and Oliver Dwight, 27 April 1902.

While they lived in the small house, Grandpa had started a small sheep herd but over the years, he acquired more animals, more land for grazing and through breeding obtained better quality animals for which he was recognized throughout the world by the people in his field. At the National Ram Sale in 1918, he sold a ram for $6200.00 at auction. This was the highest price ever paid!

Grandpa was an organized man, loving and kind, but high expectations for good behavior. He did not like rowdiness or disobedience. If he saw us sliding down the banister, we were pulled off and told in no uncertain terms that banisters were for hands. Once Uncle Will Candland was saying the blessing on the food and he prayed so long that the children got to tittering and we all were banished from the table.

He respected his children as individuals and allowed them to make their own decisions. They had many advantages that other young people in Mt. Pleasant did not have the opportunity to enjoy. Uncle Bob Hinckley related that when he went to ask Grandpa for permission to marry Aunt Arbrelia, Grandpa seemed to avoid him. Finally, Uncle Bob asked Grandpa and Grandpa responded, "Have you talked with her?" "Yes." "If it is alright with her, it is alright with me. I don't have to live with you."

Grandpa made annual trips to Salt Lake City to the Utah State Fair. He always came to our house to stay bringing suitcases filled with home-made casing sausages, hams, bacon and often he would bring the head of a dead animal so mother could make head cheese. It was gruesome to look into the big, dead eyes! Once when he was there, we were at the dinner table. The adults were talking and three-year old Madeline wanted some of his attention so she crawled under the table and tickled his ankle. He thought it was our dog, Brown Socks, and he kicked her right in the face. He felt terrible when she cried. He picked her up and loved her and soothed her but from this we knew that he did not want dogs under foot at the dinner table.

Grandpa had a gentle temperament and was darling with our Grandma. She knew he loved her and so did all the children. He never went on a trip - and he went on a lot of trips - that he did not bring her home a present, even if it was only to Salt Lake City. He was generous with his children, too. He was called Uncle John by a lot of his acquaintances and friends, especially those in the livestock trade.

This man was very community minded. He served as Constable Deputy in 1882, was a member of the Mt. Pleasant City Council from 1891 to 1893, and elected Mayor of Mt. Pleasant from 1899 to 1901. He was a Utah State Senator for Sanpete County from 1906 to 1910, and a member of the Utah State Fair Board from 1903 until his death. He served in the Rambouillet Sheep Association from 1900 until he died in 1920.

Even as we remember him now, he was not a big man physically. He stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall, and was the smallest son in his family. He was handsome with wide shoulders, brown hair and smiling brown eyes. He seemed a big man to us!

John Henry Seely, our grandfather, was a "great" grandfather. All of us who were at least three or four years old when he died remember him well. We have wonderful, warm memories of visiting with him and Grandma - the snuggles and hugs we enjoyed and "dry shaves" which we would struggle and try to get away from - but not really. It was nice to be his friend. He always carried XXX mints in his pockets and we were always free to reach in and take one.

He never learned to drive a car and the reason, he told Will Clos, his secretary, was because he would never have to go alone. Because he wanted company, the children and grandchildren who were around would be gathered up in a car or pickup truck and away we would go to the or to the hay field. He loved being with people and he was noted for his comradeship, generosity and sympathy, He was always helping someone. People came to him in times of need and he never turned them away. He gave them meals, beds, and very often found jobs for them. One man who had been convicted of rustling was eligible for parole but could not find a sponsor. Grandpa took him in and gave him responsible jobs and the man proved to be a good employee. He still worked for Grandpa when Grandpa died.

Grandpa was a good fisherman and he loved to go to Fish Lake. There are pictures of him showing large catches. There were several family reunions held at Fish Lake. Two of his friends, Doc Easton and his wife, ran the lodge at the southwest end of Fish Lake and the family stayed there. He died there from a stroke on July 31, 1920. It had been a hot summer and he wanted to go to Fish Lake to relax. So he and Grandma, Uncle Oliver, Aunt Abrelia Hinckley, and Aunt Vern Winters Erickson went to Fish Lake. He had been out fishing since early in the morning and when he came in about 11:00 am, he said he was tired and was going to lie down but to wake him when it was time to eat. When Grandma sent Uncle Oliver to wake him he was already in a deep coma. He died shortly thereafter. Our mother, Zella, was devastated. He died on Ina Morgan's 7th birthday and she was heard to say, "It wasn't very nice of Grandpa to die on my birthday."

His funeral is one of our most vivid remembrances. It was very hot in Mt. Pleasant and Grandpa was laid out under the west window of the parlor of their home. Ice was piled underneath the casket. Myriads of people passed by to pay their last respects. Three carloads of flowers were sent to express compassion and sympathy to Grandma and her family. There was a very long cortege to the services - 78 automobiles followed the hearse. The funeral was held in the L.D.S. Assembly Hall, sometimes called the Pavilion which was jammed with people - townspeople, shepherds (one had walked 30 miles to get there) and his large family, Utah State Senators, other notable people from around the state and the United States. The speakers included Senator Reed Smoot; former Governor, William Spry, W. D. Candland, President Lund, W. C. Winder of the State Farm Board. As children, we thought it was a very long funeral!

The McCall issue of August 7, 1920 had a long article about John Henry Seely, our grandfather. It began with:

"Speaking for the city -

Our friend is dead, his soul went out

And left its impress on our own;

Now life's more clear, and death less drear;

We'll reap where his clean hands have sown,

He is not dead to us!

And he is not dead to us either. We revere his name and are proud to be his progeny!

Rewritten by Katherine Mills Olsen, June 26, 2015.

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