Pioneer Ancestors, by Dr. Sheldon B. Johnson

Pioneer Ancestors, by Dr. Sheldon B. Johnson

(As told to wife LaVerna, 1996, St. George, Utah)

All of my grandparents were pioneers to the west. Most came across the plains within a few years of the first wagons that traveled west from 1846 through 1861. They were young children or teenagers at that time, but still remembered many experiences.

My mother's father was James A. Watson. He was fourteen years old when he left England to come to the United States. His family had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the LDS Church or the "Mormons"). Several hundred converts had gotten together to charter the ship "Amazon" to take them to America. As they got ready to sail from Liverpool England, the most famous celebrity writer of England at the time, the author Charles Dickens, wrote an essay in his weekly magazine, 'All the Year Round'. The essays were later published in the chapter entitled 'Bound for the Great Salt Lake' in 'The Uncommercial Traveller.

He had come to see what would cause so many people to leave England for the new land of America. He wrote: "I ...had come aboard this Emigrant Ship to see what eight hundred Latter-day Saints were like...,"

He wrote quite a detailed description of what the ship and people were like, and my Grandfather Watson was there to see and hear Charles Dickens' reaction. It is certainly interesting reading to me, today.

I remember my Grandfather Watson telling me about his trip across the ocean on the Amazon when I was a young boy. He came across the country by wagon train. I remember him as a very proper English gentleman, always dressed in coat and tie. I remember him to be gentle, kindly, and pleasant as he teased and played with me.

After Grandfather Watson married and settled in Southern Utah he was called upon to fight in the Black Hawk Indian War. I remember Grandfather talking about his experiences. A lot of small settlements were being attacked by the Utes and Piute Indians under the leadership of Black Hawk, the Indian Chief.

Grandfather had an assignment to spy on where the Indian forces were and to report back. His only mode of travel was an old mule that was stubborn. When Grandfather came to the highest peak where he wanted to look for the Indian forces, the mule wouldn't climb the hill so he tied the mule in a secure place and walked up the hill. Toward evening he spotted the Indian forces and they were coming right up the hill where he was. He quickly climbed the tallest tree he could find. The Indians met and pow-wowed right under him, and he had to sit very still for hours. Toward morning Grandfather climbed down the tree and went down the hill to the secluded spot where his mule was. He was very thankful the mule would not climb the hill where the Indians would have found him.

I now have a medal presented to Grandfather for his service in the Black Hawk war.

My father's father was named Joseph Hills Johnson, and he was born to Joel Hills Johnson who was an early Mormon pioneer. Joel Hills Johnson is known for many poems and songs written for the early pioneers, one of which is "High On a Mountain Top". Joel Hills has written a book of 1001 poems, and several books have been written about his life and his many contributions.

My father, Joseph Hills Johnson Jr., was born in Pioneer times in the settlement near Kanab, Utah...a settlement named after his father, and it's still called Johnson Canyon. (Both of them were named after Joseph Smith, of course, who became a close family friend as well as the prophet who brought the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to them.)

When my father was a young boy the family decided to settle a new location over near what is now the rim of Bryce Canyon. The whole family moved there by horse and wagon and homesteaded property. They were the first pioneers to be in that area. This place was called Tropic because it was a lower elevation beneath the rim of the place now called Bryce Canyon, and warmer than the higher elevation. It was thought to be "more tropic in nature" than the top of the rim.

Life was difficult and hard financially so grandfather worked for ranchers, herding cattle, sheep, horses and goats. He would take care for the animals for twenty or thirty dollars a month.

There were six children and Dad was the oldest boy in the family. My father was quite a studious lad, and because school only went to seventh grade in Tropic Valley Dad had a strong desire to go to the nearest school to further his education. That nearest school for eighth grade and above was Murdock Academy in Beaver, Utah.

So when Dad became fourteen he got on his horse and headed for Beaver which was one hundred and twenty miles away. A friend of his father took him in as a boarder and Dad worked for his tuition and board and room.

When Christmas came Dad wanted to come home for Christmas so he saddled his horse and started for home.

Unfortunately a cold snow storm blanketed the country and it was difficult to travel. On Christmas Day he finally arrived . As he entered the Tropic Valley he was met by other residents of Tropic and told that the storm had also got to his father in bad circumstances...to where his father had gotten pneumonia and died.

Leone (Jess Jolley) was eldest. Dad (Mabel Watson), Maggie (Loran Pollack), Karma (Leo Barton), Amasa (Rose Clark), Ellen (Harold Heaton), and Eldon (Wilford Woodruff's niece Phoebe Worded) composed the children left to our widowed grandmother, Mary Glover Johnson.

Leone had married at seventeen. Dad was the oldest boy, and had to take over the responsibility of making a living for the family. He took his fathers place herding cattle, sheep and other animals until he had the opportunity to form his own freight company, hauling freight into the valley in wagons with teams of horses.

His older sister was married but the other children were under twelve. So while Dad was freighting his mother and the younger children moved herds of cows up to John's Valley every summer where they lived in a sod cave. They milked cows and made butter and cheese. It was a tough life.

Dad got freight at a railroad station in Marysvale and hauled necessary supplies between Tropic, Panguitch, Cannonville, and Henriville. Building products and many essential things needed to be hauled in to these isolated places. He also hauled them into the lower country, earning money to help support his mother, his brothers and sisters.

When my father (Joseph Hills Johnson Jr.) was about 21 or 22 a young school teacher named Mabel Watson came to teach school in Tropic. They fell in love and were married.

By this time Dad had accumulated a few cows and horses (and all kinds of animals), and had established a ranch up in the mouth of Bryce Canyon. It seems to be that a Rappley began to homestead it and Dad bought him out and traded for part of it. Ground cost about three dollars an acre or so at that time.

By the time my older brother and sister were born Dad had worked and gotten part ownership in a sawmill. Sawmills were not new to the Johnson family. His grandfather, Joel Hills Johnson, had started sawmills...some of the first in the whole west. He came to Utah in 1847 with his first sawmill. He has an original patent for shingles granted by the U.S. Patent Office.

Great Grandfather Joel Hills Johnson can be read of in many books. He is well known for his pioneering work, and for writing many poems and songs loved by the early members of the Church. His most famous song might be "High on the Mountain Top". It is one that our family loves.