ALTA JENSEN'S 3rd GRADE 1955

 

THE SYNOPSIS OF THE THIRTY SIXTH ANNUAL CELEBRATION OF THE MT. PLEASANT PIONEER HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION

This Synopsis was read at the thirty sixth Annual Celebration of the

 Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Historical Association.

Read by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf

Exercises held in Mt. Pleasant North Ward Chapel

James Larsen presided.

Guests of Honor seated on the stand:

Oldest Lady:  Mrs Mary Willcox aged 95 years 9 months (a pioneer of Utah 1847, a pioneer of Hambleton in 1852, and Mt. Pleasant in 1860)

Oldest Man:  Rudolph N. Bennett age 83 years and 5 months (a pioneer of 1859 the only man still living whose name is on the Pioneer Monument.

The program:

Selection: North Sanpete High School Band led by Henry Terry

Prayer:  R. N. Bennett (a beautiful impressive prayer)

Vocal Solo with orchestra accompaniment:  "Calm is the Night" by Wilma Hafen

Talk:  James Monsen "Caring for our relics" (made in the Danish language and interpreted by C. W. Sorensen.

He extended thanks of the Association to J.H. Stansfield, a Norman, Amelia Jensen and Hilda Longsdorf for the part played by them in reconstructing the Fort Wall in miniature for the Association.

A paper prepared by Mrs Melvina Crane "Fun in the Good Old Days" was read by her.

A paper "Memories of Freighting Days" was read by N.S. Nielson.

Address:  Judge Ferdinand Ericksen of Salt Lake City.  Judge Ericksen was a former member of the Board of Directors and the Treasurer during construction of the Pioneer Monument.  He also read a sketch of schools as he knew them to 1890.

Vocal Solo:  Floyd Young of Fairview with piano accompaniment by Ernest Staker

Talks:  Dr. Samuel H. Allen and Amasa Aldrich both former residents; now of Salt Lake.  The spoke reminiscently of school days, dance days, and wash days, etc. in Mt. Pleasant.  (Dr. Allen died the following September)

Overture:  North Sanpete High School Orchestra 

Benediction:  Pres. S. M. Nielsen of North Sanpete Stake

The meeting adjourned to Mt. Pleasant Carnegie Library where relics were displayed and old-time refreshments served.

The days activities were concluded by a dance in the Hansen Armory Hall where the receipts of the dance were $77.50, expenses were $71.70 with cookies donated by member of the committee.

Members who had passed to the beyond during the year 1925-26:

Mr. Hazzard Willcox

Mr. Washington Averett

Mrs. Hannah Anderson

Mr. John Knudson

Mrs Isaac Phipps Smith

Mr. William H. Seely

Mrs Peter Micklesen

Mrs. Dorothy Bramstead Swensen

During 1926 Mrs Annie Peel Candland, a board member died and James Borg, a board member removed to Salt Lake City.

signed:  Hilda M. Longsdorf, Secretary

 

Volunteer Fire Department 1950's - From Alice's Photo Collection -----A treasure trove of history

Left: Jim Fillis; Right: Pat Willcox

 

Left to Right: Jim Fillis, Lou Hansen, Alvin Christensen, Lorraine Beck, Pat Wilcox, Neil Hafen


Neil Hafen, Fire Chief

 

Home of Hans Christian Davidson and his Wife Johanna Marie Nielsen ~~~ Researched and Compiled By Tudy Barentsen Standlee

 

SOMEBODY'S BIRTHDAY ~~~ GUESS WHO ???

 

1907 Grade 7 Hamilton Elementary

 

MAIN STREET throug h the years ~~~ Wrtten by Dorothy Willcox ~~ 1991

 

First Grade 1953 .....Fern Jacobs, Teacher

This is my class (Kathy Rigby Hafen)  and I don't even recognize me.  I think I might be # 12 or #21.  Anyway, If anyone out there can help identify these, please do.

Hamilton School 1907=1908 ~ Seventh Grade ~ Submitted by Betty Gunderson Woodbury

Photos From the Johanna Madsen Hafen Collection

Isabell Wilcox

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 On the back:

Parley Brotherson, 

Will Willcox,

????

PIONEER STORY OF MARY YOUNG WILCOX ~ taken from History of Mt. Pleasant by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf.

 

1847 PIONEER TO UTAH - 1852 PIONEER TO HAMBLETON - 1860 PIONEER TO MT. PLEASANT 

By Annie Carlson Bills

       Mary Young Wilcox was born June 6, 1831, in Upper Canada, daughter of James and Elizabeth Seely Young.

       In the spring of 1846 they started from Kainsville, Iowa, on their westward journey across the plains to Utah.

After traveling about three hundred miles, the call carne from the government for five hundred of their young men to go to Mexico. This was the choosing of the "Mormon Battalion."

       The Battalion was packed with their packs, which weighed about thirty-five pounds.

The scene which followed, Mrs. Wilcox says, she can never forget. Widowed mothers parting with, sometimes, their only son, sweethearts, husbands and wives, a scene which only the ones who witnessed can realize the sadness of.

After the Battalion marched away, they resumed their journey, traveling as far as Winter Quarters, where they camped for the winter.

They built log cabins, with no windows, and taking their wagon boxes off the wagons, placed them inside of the houses, replacing the bows and covers. These they slept in. They had no stoves so a hole was dug in the center of the house and a fire was made in it. A hole in the center of the roof served as a place for the smoke to escape and light to enter. Thus they lived during the winter, suffering with cold and hunger. Many died from disease, through being so poorly nourished and clothed. Wher­ever a grove of timber and trees could be found, as many as could made cabins and stayed there through the winter.

Mary left Winter Quarters in May 1847. Traveling on the plains from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake Valley, she yoked and unyoked her oxen and drove them every step of the way, and was only sixteen years old. Suffering with the rest on the journey, she reached the valley on September 29, 1847. After resting a couple of weeks, they began making preparations for winter. She went with her father to get logs for their cabin. She also made the adobes that made the chimney for their cabin. She says, "No kings could be happier than we, when we reached the valley and had built our first log cabin."

The houses were so built as to form a fort, it being two blocks long and one block wide when completed. Two gates, one at the north and one at the south, were made. It being located about where the Seventh ward is.  About Christmas of 1847, their cabins were ready to move into.

On March 14, 1848, she was married to John Henry Wilcox. Spring came and they began to survey the land and let each couple have a chance to draw for the land. They drew the land where the Sugarhouse Ward is.

They made a brush "shanty" and began to work on their land. Her husband grubbed the brush and she piled and burned it, and prepared the land for plowing. They sowed a nice piece of the land and had a nice garden planted, having brought the seed across the plains with them. The seeds took root and grew and looked very prosperous. But by this time the crickets had hatched out and they soon consumed the whole crop. Then came the blessed "Sea Gulls." They came in great Hocks and devoured the crickets. They would stay a few hours at a time, then fly away

 with a squawk, and after a while return for more crickets. It was not too late to replant, but no more seed could be had.

After the crickets had destroyed their crops, the people went back to the fort for the rest of the summer.

After the people of the northern sections had harvested their crops, they allowed them to go and glean. Her husband grubbed oak brush for a peck of corn a day and boarded himself out of what little they had. In this way they saved a little for winter. Later her husband went to the canyon and got a big load of poles. A man offered him forty pounds of wheat and he sold the poles to him for the wheat. He sowed one and one-fourth acres of ground where the crickets had eaten his crop the spring before. The next summer they threshed seventy bushels of wheat from the forty pounds of seed.

The first potatoes were brought from California on pack animals and sold to the people for twenty five cents a piece and only four being allowed to each man.

       In the spring of 1849 they planted a peck of potatoes; when they dug them they got thirty bushels.

       In the fall of 1850 they were called to settle Manti. They stayed there three years. Built homes and raised a crop.

In the spring of 1853 her husband went to Hambleton. The Indians killed all his cattle and oxen and burned the wagons, saw. mill. and all the lumber, and they were left once more without anything. They moved to the fort at Manti.

In 1853 they gave all they had for one yoke of oxen and wagon, and moved to Pleasant Grove. In 1860 they moved to Mt. Pleasant. They lived in Mt. Pleasant ever after. 

There are five living generations. Her mother also lived to see five generations. Mrs. Wilcox died May 16, 1929.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The following additional information comes from:

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=139581 

Birth: Jun. 6, 1832
Whitby
Ontario, Canada

Death: May 16, 1929
Mount Pleasant
Sanpete County
Utah, USA
Parents: James Young and Elizabeth Seely
Married John Henry Wilcox
COD: Myocarditis, chronic

Death certificate State of Utah

Records may also be found under Wilcox


Family links:
 Parents:
  James Young (1804 - 1894)
  Elizabeth Seely Young (1807 - 1900)

 Spouse:
  John Henry Owen Willcox (1824 - 1909)

 Children:
  Hazzard Wilcox (1849 - 1925)*
  Sarah Wilcox Bills (1853 - 1936)*
  James Henery Wilcox (1855 - 1939)*
  John Carlos Wilcox (1858 - 1938)*
  Mary H Wilcox Day (1860 - 1946)*
  Clarissa Jane Wilcox Meiling (1863 - 1951)*
  Sabra Ellen Willcox Oliver (1865 - 1914)*
  Hannah Wilcox Carlston (1868 - 1943)*
  Martha Anna Wilcox Westwood Foy (1871 - 1962)*
  Justus Azel Wilcox (1874 - 1945)*

*Calculated relationship
 Burial:
Mount Pleasant City Cemetery
Mount Pleasant
Sanpete County
Utah, USA
Plot: A_128_2_7
Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?]
Maintained by: Penne Magnusson Cartrigh...
Originally Created by: Utah State Historical So...
Record added: Feb 02, 2000
Find A Grave Memorial# 139581

Three Gentleman from Mt. Pleasant ~ From the Johannah Madsen Hafen Collection

Hamilton Elementary 1953 ~ Fern Jacobs First Grade

This is my class (Kathy Rigby Hafen)  and I don't even recognize me.  I think I might be # 12 or #21.  Anyway, If anyone out there can help identify these, please do.

Hamilton Elementary 1956-57 Mrs Dase 5th Grade

Hamilton Elementary 1957-58 Fifth Grade

Hamilton Elementary Sixth Grade 1958-59

Black Hawk Camp ~ Daughters of Utah Pioneers ~ 2000

Mina Simpson Bjelke ~ letters of the flood of 1946

Mina and Max Bjelke lived at approximately 44 West and 100 North, Mt. Pleasant

July 26, 1946 ~ "I can't begin to tell you how terrible the flood was.  Our front yard is completely covered with mud and debris, and part of the garden.  We are hemmed in all around, except we have taken a board out of the fence between Etinger's fence right in the north corner, and we can get out there and get over to Mary's house. (Mary Cloward, their daughter) 

It was the State Highway bridge that closgged and made a dam, and that sent the boulders and mud down our street and Main Street.  It carried Pat Willcox's barn down against Ursenbach's garage, hay and all.  Well, its indescribable! We are thankful it didn't get into our house; it got to the front porch and under the porch, but didn't get on the floor.  Dan (Cloward) happened to be here when it came and as he heard the roar, he said, "Grandma, let's go to the bridge and see the flood come down the channel."  So we both started out.  He got to the bridge before I got to the corner, and Max Rosenlof got out of his car and said, "You had better get home, Aunt Mina, the flood is coming down the street." So I called Dan and he came  and we had just stepped on the porch when it came.  He got his bicycle to the back of the house just in time.  Max Rosenlof's car was sailing down the street and went into the main channel down by Carlson's, and it sailed in the mud and was thrown back on the bank down where Estella (Bjelke's Niece) lives ....They say there will be a very big crew of men soon to help people dig out.  Our main worry now is water.

Our taps are dry.  We had drawn a few kettles full whch we use so sparingly.  The water main was broken in five places.  I hope they get the pipes fixed soon.  There  are quite a  number of men working , but the damage  is so extensive, and people so depressed.  I hope a road crew starts  on our street soon.  The sea of rocks we have to look at and the barnyard wreckage closer than before  doesn't make a very nice picture.  Well, our petunias are doing all they can to make the scene brighter.  They loom up among the green shrubbery  that is against the porch.  Anyone looking at our place wouldn't believe the shrubbery is standing in more than two feet of mud and the flowers are in the porch box, so folks look and say, "they aren't hurt so bad."  Well we weren't hurt as bad as some are, it didn't get in the house, for that we are thankful.  Dad was up to the ball game when it came and I had been home all day.  I was getting a handcart float ready for the parade that was to be at 7:00 o'clock (p.m.) Mrs. Hugh Hansen had an old handcart just like the picture on the Relief Society (Magazine) cover.  Dad and I went up and got it that morning and I loaded it and tied kettles, skillets, bedding, ax, and shovel; and I was standing admiring my work when the roar of the flood reached our ears.  This was five o'clock (24 July Pioneer Day) I had also made a miniature handcart using my little green cart.  Our plan was to have Michael and Dan and some little girls draw that one and Mr. Winkelman and I were going to pull the large one...

Mary  (Cloward, Mina's daughter)  was visiting the hospital when the flood came and she left by the back door (because the front one was filled with debris.  She waded through the mud at the back door and through the street, and had to make her way up several blocks to Toby Candland's to get a bridge to cross.  She was almost hysterical as she and Estella had let Tommie and Michael go to the show.  She didn't know where any of her children were, and she could see we were surrounded by the flood.  So she just waded knee deep and got home somehow and tried to call me...."  (Luckily the phones were working and all the children were safe.  This Pioneer Day of stress was a reminder to our family of the hardships of the original family pioneers!)

31 July 1946 ~ "The state tractor was helping Pat Willcox remove a very large piece of timber that had lodged in his corral gate, and he said it was that timber that had saved our home from the main force of the flood.  It was the biggest log I have ever seen!  It had held the force back until it crowded the barn and it sailed down against Ursenbach's fence.  The  mud is dry enough so we have walked over the damaged places in town.  It makes one weep to see such destruction.  I wonder if it can be repaired in twenty years.  The state and county equipment are all humming and trucks are carrying mud and rocks away.  But its like moving mountains.  Oh God surely took care of us!  I see it more and more.  Francis and Marlen's team of horses with a scraper and a hired man and two boys, Steve and Tommie Peel, worked all day Monday scraping our big lawn.  They worked until they got it all off.  So I am thankful.  That was the day the Church had all the surrounding stake priesthood men to work.  ~ 300 of them - with shovels , buckets and pumps to clean out basements and dig paths for those who were unable to get in their homes ... It seems so strange looking back.  There I stood and watched it coming closer and closer and I didn't have a fear.  I was calm and never felt afraid, even when it came to the porch.  I am truly thankful no lives were lost.  Nature will soon cover the damaged parts that man and machinery can't mend, and right now I would rather live where I am than any place in the world.  Well, the Jubilee will still go on.  They have set up the Ferris Wheel and Merry-Go-Round Already. 
These remembrances are taken from the book "Utah Pioneers of the Second Generation" by James Pyper, a grandson of Mina Bjelke.

Volunteer Fire Department 1950's - From Alice's Photo Collection -----A treasure trove of history

Left: Jim Fillis; Right: Pat Willcox

Left to Right: Jim Fillis, Lou Hansen, Alvin Christensen, Lorraine Beck, Pat Wilcox, Neil Hafen

Neil Hafen, Fire Chief