Newsletter February 2011

January’s Event: This evening was, in many ways, a tremendously successful event, and also in a way a sad event. The sadness of the event was that there were comparatively few members there as compared to times past. However, this event was just very special. One of our own, Jay Evans, who is a professional singer, donated his time and talents to bring to us an evening of Western music that will long be remembered. Jay has a voice that is so clear, and easy to listen to. He brought some of his new equipment to help him, and as he began to sing, all present wondered where he had his back-up singers. It looked like he was singing solo, but sounded like he had at least three other people singing with him, and their voices blended in so well with his.

There was plenty of good food, and the company was pleasant. All who came found that their coming was not in vain. We had a hard time letting Jay go at the end. He sang many an old western, and several of his own songs. Thank you Jay for your talent, and for your generosity in blessing our lives with your talent.

February’s Event: Will be held at the American Legion Hall, Wednesday night the 16^th at 6:30 p.m. The event will be pot-luck, and after a great meal, we will be graced to hear from Mrs. Lynn Clark, who will give a pictorial view of the history of Hurricane. She has probably the largest collection of early pictures of this area, and is very conversant with what was happening at the time of each picture. She has put together some of her collection, and you can view them if you go to Hurricane City Hall. You will be amazed at what she has done. I heard her as she spoke to the Dixie Encampment Chapter several months ago, and found her presentation to be very stimulating. This is a must see event

Upcoming events: The events in January, February, April, May, July, and one date in August have been confirmed. All other dates are tentative at this point. All dinner meetings will be on the 3^rd Wednesday of the month. If there is to be a trek, it will be on a Saturday, probably the 3^rd Saturday.

February 16, 2011 Lynn Clark Pictorial History

March 16, 2011 V. Dallas Merrill

“Pioneering the Vatican”

April 20, 2011 Pioneer Essays

May 21, 2011 Trek to Peter’s Leap

                                               June 18, 2011 Trek to Colorado City

                                               July 20, 2011 Modern-day Pioneer Award

                                               August 17, 2011 To be determined

                                              August 25 – 27, 2011 Nat’l Convention in SLC

                                              September 2 – 3, 2011 Peach Days

                                             September 21, 2011 Clive Romney

                                             October 19, 2011 To be determined

                                            November 16, 2011 To be determined

                                            December 3^rd or 10^th Christmas Dinner

Windows From the Past:

BLESSINGS FOR THOSE WHO SERVE

Joseph Stewart Allen was born June 25, 1806 at White Town, Oneida (Cold Rain) New York. As a man, he was small in stature - about 5' 8" of blonde complexion, curly hair and unusually small feet and wearing boys size four shoes. He was a good mixer and as he grew older he went partly bald having only a rim of white hair left. He never would sit for a photograph! he said people could remember what he looked like.
He joined the church February 3, 1831, and moved with the Saints from New York to Kirtland, Ohio. There he met and married Lucy Diantha Morley.
He went with the brethren to Zion’s Camp in May 1834. They were organized into companies for the journey by Joseph Smith. Each company was divided as follows....a captain, two cooks, two firemen, two tent men, two water men, one runner, two wagon horsemen, one commissary - twelve men in all. At the sound of the bugle all bowed in prayer in their several tents and every morning about 4:00 at trumpets call, every man knelt again in prayer. They were followed by enemies and spies.
A delegation approached them from time to time to learn the meaning of their journey. The following questions were frequently asked them and they answered in this manner:
"Where are you going?"
"To the west."
"Where are you from?"
"From the east."
"What are you going for?"
"To see who can get the best land the cheapest."
"Who leads this camp?"
And so on. Sometimes one and then another.
It was about the first of June when the prophet had a revelation that a scourge would come upon the camp in consequence of some unruly spirits that appeared among them, and they would die like sheep with the rot. Still if they would repent and humble themselves before the Lord, the scourge might be turned away in a great measure. Yet some still murmured and they were stricken with cholera.
The following incident happened during this long tedious journey. Joseph's shoes wore out and he went on as long as he could. He didn't complain to the prophet about his shoes being gone and his feet sore and bleeding but one day he said to the companion he was traveling with, "I simply cannot go on any farther; my feet are too sore."
They sought out a fallen log (tree) and there sat down to rest. There, too, they knelt down to pray. They prayed for some shoes out there in that raw, bleak country away from stores or from any town where shoes could be bought if they had the money to buy them.
They must have had great faith for after sitting there awhile longer to rest they rose to go on and saw there beside the log a pair of shoes. "They were surely meant for you, Brother Allen," said his companion. "They would not do for me at all. They are too small." So Joseph put on the shoes which fit perfectly and they traveled on.
They always camped in a body even if they separated in the daytime. Someone in lead would select a camp site and they all came to it together at night sooner or later.
He was never one to complain to the prophet. For one so humble as he that prayed for shoes and had his prayers answered with a messenger from God bringing them to him, we who knew him best know how fine and true and dependable he was.
...During his mission in the South, Joseph and his companion had made an appointment for a meeting during the evening. It was in the spring of the year and on the day they were to fulfill their appointment they came to a stream which the day before they had crossed easily. However, it was now so swollen with a rushing torrent of water it was impossible to cross on foot. They knew about a ferry up stream some distance away but going to that crossing would make them late for their meeting. So they did what most Elders would do. They knelt down and prayed for help. On looking up they saw a big, fine man on an extra large horse coming across the stream towards them. They were simply floating, or so it seemed. The horse could not possibly reach the bottom of the stream bed.
"Do you gentlemen wish a crossing," he asked?
"We do."
"Then mount with me and I will take you over."
They got on the horse with the man and were soon safely over. After climbing off they turned to give their thanks to their kind and extraordinary beneficiary, but to their astonishment both horse and rider were no where to be seen. There was not a ripple in the water to indicate that he had gone back into the river. This event took place when Joseph was 29 years old on September 2, 1839.

Dear Members! Please, give me some of your short stories of ancestors and I will put them into this paper. Stories of our families can help to strengthen our resolve to continue, or to do better. Just send it to:

David Hinton

165 N. 100 E.

Hurricane, UT 84737

Or, e-mail it to me at dthinton@dreamwire.net

January 2011 Newsletter

December’s Event: Christmas was celebrated this year for our group at the Intermediate School just north of the Church Welfare Farm. Our most sincere apologies to our members who did not know where to find us, the mistake was mine. I am so sorry. I will try to do a better job of helping you know the exact address.

Our dinner was catered this year by Danny Beardall, and was delicious, consisting of smoked pork and Dutch oven potatoes, with carrots and fabulous green salad, and a variety of cakes. We had about 90 people in attendance to enjoy the meal. Along with eating, the Hurricane High School provided a wonderful string quartet to provide the proper ambiance for our meal. Thank you! After dinner we gathered in the amphitheater for more singing. Miss Hope Bringhurst sang a number of Christmas songs, concluding with “O Holy Night”, her personal favorite. Thank you Holly!

 

 

After the entertainment, David Hinton, our Area Vice President swore in the new board for 2011. They are: President-Elect Durward Wadsworth, President Darwin Leavitt, Past President, Larry LeBaron, Wayne Edwards, Antone Bringhurst, Garth Isom, Lee Beatty, DeLoy Evans, Steve Stout, Floyd Wilkinson, Don Tait, David Isom and David Hinton. We would like to extend our appreciation to these men for the many hours to put in to make this chapter fun and successful.

With a new year, we would like to give special recognition to the time and energy given to us by Larry LeBaron, our out-going president. We would also like to welcome our new president Darwin Leavitt. We wish him a successful year.

We would be grateful to Durward Wadsworth who has committed to be our president-elect for this next year. For those who don’t know, this requires a 3 year commitment to the board. So thank you Durward.

Upcoming events: The events in January, February, April, May, July, and one date in August have been confirmed. All other dates are tentative at this point. All dinner meetings will be on the 3^rd Wednesday of the month. If there is to be a trek, it will be on a Saturday, probably the 3^rd Saturday.

January 19, 2011 Jay Evans Musical event

February 16, 2011 Lyn Clark Pictorial History

March 16, 2011 Charles Inouye Japanese Interment Camp

April 20, 2011 Pioneer Essays

May 21, 2011 Trek to Peter’s Leap

June 18, 2011 Trek to Colorado City

July 20, 2011 Modern-day Pioneer Award

August 17, 2011 V. Dallas Merrill - Mormon connection at the  Vatican

August 25 – 27, 2011 Nat’l Convention in SLC

September 2 – 3, 2011 Peach Days

September 21, 2011 To Be Determined...

October 19, 2011 Family Trek

November 16, 2011 To be determined

December 9th Christmas Dinner

A Window From the Past:

Excerpts from the Life of John Nock Hinton

After staying in Florence, Nebraska for a little while, two hundred teams and wagons loaded with provisions, arrived from Salt Lake City to bring them across the plains to Utah. The saints were divided into four companies. Brother and Sister Hinton being in Joseph Horn's company. They arrived in Salt Lake City on the 13th day of September 1861.

While in Salt Lake they rented a one room house and began to make a life for themselves. Brother Hinton went to work with Brother Capner, he being the main mechanic in Salt Lake at that time, and they made all of the furniture and caskets to be had in Salt Lake. While working there, he made himself some furniture for his own house. He made a nice table that everyone admired, but people were so poor and very few could afford such a nice piece of furniture. A Colonel Reece, who had been an officer to disburse provisions to the soldiers, had flour and bacon left, so he bought the table, paying them enough flour and bacon to do them the entire winter of 1861.

Their first child was a boy, John Maurice, born April 7, 1862. They remained in Salt Lake City a little more than a year, and Brother Hinton worked with Brother Capner all of that time, but the wages were small and fuel so hard to get, that they thought they might do better if they went south to Dixie.

John Nock had bought a city lot in Salt Lake, and was preparing to build, but sold it. He did not get anything for it at the time, as the man was too poor to pay him for it, but later sent a few things to Dixie. They sold the furniture that he had made for themselves, and among others, they sold a nice bureau. The man they sold it to owned a tin shop but had no money to pay them with, so they were able to barter for things out of his shop. From him they got a milk strainer and pans, a large camp kettle that was very useful on their trip to Dixie, and also a coffee mill that also came in handy as a wheat grinder.

After they arrived in Dixie, They used this mill to not only grind their own grain and cane seed but also allowed their neighbors to use it as well that they could all have flour for bread. They still had the old coffee mill at the time of their death and the children planned to send it to the museum in Salt Lake at the State Capital.

Sister Hinton bought two flat irons from some immigrants going through to California. She paid them with green beans and corn out of her garden. Late in December of 1862, they settled in Virgin. Their first home was a dugout, a hole dug in the ground or in a bank with dirt floor and dirt walls with ridge poles over the top then covered with brush first, then dirt.

Brother Hinton soon found employment, but wages were smaller than they were in Salt Lake City. He had to take anything he could use for his pay. In their poverty, they had to eat pigweed, and Lucerne greens. Many times they did not even have salt to put on them. It was very difficult for them when friends would come calling because they have very little to feed them with.

Brother Dorius Shirts owed Brother Hinton for work he had done, and was to pay him wheat when the threshing was done. The thresher was at Brother Shirts place that morning. After Brother Hinton had gone to work, Sister Hinton, with her baby in one arm and a sack in the other, went to Brother Shirts place and waited while they threshed, then took her wheat and baby home. Upon reaching home, she ground some wheat in the coffee mill, and then made mush, which they sprinkled with molasses for dinner.

This is just a small window view of life for the pioneers back in the early days of Utah and Washington County. Today I focused on John Nock Hinton because I have his life story as told by Leonora Meeks. I would like to be able to take a window view of other pioneers who helped settle this valley, and put it here in the newsletter. If you would contact me by phone 435-669-5993, or by e-mail: mcpinch@bajabb.com, I would be happy to come and pick the story up and place it in the newsletter.