How Verl got to his
beloved Arizona Strip
-September 6, 2016 – his birthday anniversary
-September 6, 2016 – his birthday anniversary
From
excerpts from “Verl I and Ada Helen Nelson Alldredge – This is our Story” by
Darlene Larsen and “Life Sketch of Maria Delila Van Leuven Alldredge” (Written
by Delila in January 1952)
This is the telling of how Verl got
to the Arizona Strip. Verl’s mother,
Delila was the second wife of Isaac (Ike) Alldredge in a polygamist family. His
first wife was Annie. The family/families were living in the Mexican colonies
and were forced from their homes during the Mexican Revolution in 1912. They
had to leave their home, land and everything they owned in Mexico. It was very
difficult for the refugees to start over with nothing. They lived many places
before Delila and her family were able to settle in Mt. Trumbull.
In
1912, the Alldredge family was driven out of Mexico by the Mexican Revolution.
Over the next nine years Delila and her children made their home in several
places in Utah and Nevada including Eureka, Aurora, Hinckley, Delta, Abraham,
St. Thomas, Kaolin, Mesquite and St. George. In 1913 a son, Lelan Dee was born
to the family while in Aurora, Utah.
Isaac
took Delila and her children to Eureka to stay with her mother and brother Lafe
while he and his first wife, Annie and their children went looking for a farm. Ike
was able to lease a grape vineyard in Mesquite, Nevada. Lafe and Ed, Delila’s
brothers, drove Delila and her four children to St. George. Her husband, Ike
met them there and took them on to Mesquite. The family lived there for a
couple of years.
Verl
was born to Isaac and Delila while they were living in Mesquite, Nevada on 6
September 1918. He was born in a tent on the west side of the town. Delila was
attended by a midwife. Verl’s older sister, Lurie said that her mother was in
labor all day and was happy that their father was with them at that time.
Delila had a hard time and so did the baby but they both survived the ordeal.
Isaac wanted to name the baby, Verl Isaac but Delila wouldn’t agree. So he was
named Verl I Alldredge. With just an initial for a middle name.
 |
| Dee and Verl in wagon - Hinckley area |
Ike was
discouraged in Mesquite and moved Annie and her family back to Hinckley, Utah
hoping to farm there. Delila stayed in Mesquite until February 1919. Verl was
five months old when Delila and her family moved to Hinckley by train. They didn’t
have a permanent home while there but stayed in the Delta/Hinckley area for two
years even living in the blacksmith shop at one point. The family was blessed
to survive the worldwide flu epidemic during this time. Verl contracted
whooping cough which developed into pneumonia. It was only through a priesthood
blessing that his life was spared.
Annie
and her children finally moved to St. George while Delila stayed in Delta to
cook and do the laundry for Ike and the men who were working at the sugar
factory there.
On
January 1, 1921 Ike loaded two wagons and headed to St. George with Delila and
family. It snowed a foot the night before they started. They were on the road
13 long, hard days. Fifteen-year-old Irvin drove one team and Delila,
two-year-old Verl and Lurie rode with him. Nora and Dee rode with their dad. It
snowed most of the way and was so cold. When they stopped to cook, Isaac would
scrape the snow away and make a circle for a fire and a place for the children
to sit. At night he heated rocks, wrapped them in blankets and put them in the
wagons where they slept to help keep them warm.
 |
| Verl - Mt. Trumbull |
One of
the horses pulling Irvin’s wagon slipped on ice going down dugway on the Black
Ridge above Bellevue (now Pintura). It scared them all but the horse managed to
get its footing and didn’t go over the edge of the ridge. Further down the
dugway they arrived in Bellevue (Pintura) and saw the sun shining after all the
snowy, icy days. What a happy bunch! The kids got out of the wagons and played
in the sand. The family arrived in St. George about the 15th of
January.
The
older children started school in St. George where they got the measles – except
Irvin, who’d had them as a baby in Mexico.
Delila contacted her family who were living 60 miles south of St. George
in Mt. Trumbull Arizona. Her parents and brothers moved there while Delila was
living in Hinckley. Her sister, Chloe and her family were already living there.
Delila’s father, Newman Van Leuven had died there on 14 October 1919. He was
the first person buried in the little Mt. Trumbull cemetery. The land for the
cemetery was donated by the Van Leuven family.
Delila
let her family know that she was in St. George and in March two of her
brothers, Lafe and Cornelius came to St. George to see her. They told her about
the land in Mt Trumbull and all of the crops they were growing. They had a
piece of land picked out for her to homestead if Isaac would let her use his
name. Irvin went back to Mt. Trumbull with her brothers at that time. The next month Delila’s brother, Cornelius, came back to
St. George and took Delila and her children to Mt. Trumbull on 17 April 1921.
She liked it so well that they decided to stay. She did take a homestead and
they lived in a little log house made out of posts until they were able to get
some lumber and built a 4-room house. Then they made a 2-room cellar and lived
in that while the boys made a 5-room and a bath adobe house. Delila and her
family lived there until 17 May 1936 and then moved back to St. George because
of the water situation. They could not dry farm when the rains stopped during
the 1930s.
Mt.
Trumbull or “The Strip” was a great place for a boy to grow up and Verl lived
there from age two to 17 – his formative years. He loved the Arizona Strip* all
of his life. The country was harsh and times were hard, but everyone who lived
there was in the same situation and didn’t know anything different. Verl’s
sister, Lurie said, “We were all poorer than church mice, but we didn’t know it
because everybody was the same.”
 |
| Verl and Dee and goats on the mountain. |
 |
| Dee and Verl under same tree 65 years later. |
*The area was cut off by the Grand Canyon from the rest of Arizona and that is why it is called the Arizona Strip or just “The Strip”.
No comments:
Post a Comment