Verl I Alldredge 1918-2008: How Verl got to his beloved Arizona Strip

How Verl got to his beloved Arizona Strip
-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 15^th 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”.

52 Ancestors: #12 Mariah Elizabeth Durfee Van Leuven 1852-1940

My husband's great grandmother was Mariah Durfee Van Leuven. She is the mother of his grandmother, Delila Alldredge.

SKETCH OF THE LIFE OF
MARIAH ELIZABETH DURFEE
VAN LEUVEN

Mariah was born to Jabez and Celestia Curtis Durfee in Springville, Utah on 31 March 1852. Mariah's father was called to help settle Cedar City, Utah when she was very young. The family lived a fort there at first because of problems with the Indians.  So Mariah's early years were spent in Cedar City - her father planted the first orchard in the area. Mariah's brother, Eliel died while they were in Cedar City. He was just 18 months old.
The Durfee family was released from their call to Cedar City and returned to Springville. On the journey home a storm hit the family and they lost all of their belongings. After several years of deprivations and hard work the family was able to get back on their feet. Mariah was always a great worker, helping her father like a man in the fields, hoeing cane corn and gathering it.  She helped him make delicious molasses
Mariah's father was later able to build a larger two-story brick home with a large orchard for the family on Main street in the south part of town. There was a large room upstairs where people from town put on plays and held dances.
Mariah's husband, Newman Van Leuven also grew up in Springville. They were married on November 7, 1870, in the Old Endowment House in Salt Lake City. Mariah and Newman spent the first five years of their marriage in Springville where their first three children were born.
In 1875 Mariah, Newman and their children moved to Willow Bend (now Aurora) in Sevier County, where they homesteaded 160 acres of land. They pioneered in that valley for 22 years.   Newman later named the town, Aurora.  Mariah's parents and some of her other family members also moved  to this new community.

Mariah's daughter, Delilah tells that "Mariah raised a bounteous garden, and chickens, geese, and sometimes turkeys.  Every six weeks she and her girls picked the geese and used the feathers for lovely feather beds and pillows.  They husked and shelled corn, and washed and carded wool for quilts.  They knitted socks and sweaters and hoods.  Mariah never let anything go to waste."
All through these struggling days she was active in the church.  She and her cousin were Relief Society teachers together for twenty years.  Their district at times was across the river two and a half miles.  They would take their children with them – pulling in an express wagon [holding] the ones who were too small to walk so far, and carrying their babies in their arms.  Mariah was always ready and willing to help her neighbors, often going two miles to help with a quilt. Newman and Mariah loved to dance the waltzes, the schottish and good old square dances, and could dance with any of them.
Mariah's husband took a plural wife in 1979. He married Adelaide Broadhead in polygamy. Ten years later he served 4 months in the penitentiary (from Oct. 10 1889 to 17, Feb. 1890), for living in polygamy.
In November 24, 1897 the family sold all in Aurora and left for Old Mexico, where it was pioneering and struggle and hard work all over again. Many other family members moved to this area where they could practice their religion freely. Newman's second wife did not go with them.
Mariah, Newman and family lived in different parts of Mexico the first two years. They finally settled in Morelos, Sonora which was a Mormon community. From the stories of those who lived there they worked hard but also had many good and happy times.
Newman had to go to Salt Lake City as he had bone cancer in his leg. He ended up having the leg removed to save his life.
Shortly after Newman left those remaining in Mexico had to leave their prosperous farms and home and move back to the United States because of the Mexican insurrection in 1912.  They just turned their cows, pigs, and chickens loose and left their homes and belongings. Mariah and her family left with very sad hearts. The family members moved around to get back on their feet again. They lived in Utah, Nevada and Arizona eventually settling out on the Arizona Strip at Mt. Trumbull in 1919 where their daughter Chloe (Bundy) lived.
Newman only lived six months at this new home. He was buried in the Mt. Trumbull cemetery on a hill near their homestead.  By 1921 several of Mariah's children and their families were living at Mt. Trumbull.
Mariah was very involved in the small community. She served as Relief Society president at Mt. Trumbull at age 75. She was known for her thrift and her fearless compliance to her faith. She endured many hardships as she helped to pioneer several new communities.

Mariah remained living in Mt. Trumbull surrounded by her children until 1936 when drought cased many of the family to move 60 miles north to St. George, Utah.
Mariah died March 13, 1940 at the home of her daughter, Delila in St. George and was buried next to her husband in the Mt. Trumbull cemetery.

She lived a most useful life of faithfulness and integrity, and was a wonderful mother to all her family.

Mariah's Funeral

Obituary for Mariah

I love this headstone. There is now a modern one also.

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Sources:

family records in possession of D. Larsen

vanleuven.forefamilies.com

FamilySearch.org

Ancestry.com

Life History of Newman Van Leuven by his daughter, Delila Alldredge

History of Jabez Durfee and Celestia Curtis Durfee

Washington County News on Utah Digital Newspapers

52 Ancestors: #11 Newman Van Leuven 1848-1919

(I am going to try the 52 Ancestors challenge again this year. Last year I only got to number 10 but I'll do better this year... -cba)
Newman Van Leuven is my husband's great grandfather: Michael - Verl -Delila - Newman
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A BRIEF HISTORY OF 
NEWMAN 
VAN LEUVEN
Newman Van Leuven was born in Atcheson, County, Missouri on November 24, 1848.  He was the 13th child of Cornelius and Lovina Draper Van Leuven. His parents were living in Missouri after being forced from their homes in Illinois because of their religion. They lived in Missouri while working to get teams and supplies so they could join their fellow Saints in Salt Lake City. Newman's mother had 13 children of which he was the last. However only he and his two brothers, Dunham and Calvin, lived out of the thirteen.
Newman was still three years old when he journeyed across the plains with his family in the Robert Wimmer Company arriving in Salt Lake City on September 15, 1852. His family settled in Springville which is fifty miles south of Salt Lake City.
Newman received a good education for those times while growing up in Springville. He liked to wrestle, write poetry, and was a good carpenter. He became a school teacher. When Newman was 17 his pistol accidentally went off when he was riding a horse. He was hit in the leg above his ankle. He'd earlier hurt his knee while wrestling. These injuries bothered him for years.

1879

Newman married Mariah Elizabeth Durfee on November 7, 1870 in the Endowment House in Salt
Lake City. They were both raised in Springville and had known each other since childhood. They made their home in Springville for the first five years of their marriage. Their first two children were born in Springville. In 1875 they moved to Willow Bend, Sevier County, Utah where he was postmaster and homesteaded 160 acres. He pioneered in that valley for 22 years. The town was later named, Aurora, by Newman. He and Mariah had seven more children while in Aurora. Sadly they lost their 3 year old son, Newman Franklin, when he accidentally drank lye.
Newman took a second wife as was the custom at that time. He married Adelaide Broadhead on 27 November 1879. They had five children. Ten years later he served four months in the penitentiary from October 10 1889 to February 17. 1890 for living in polygamy as he would not give up his family.

This is an 1889 picture of men in the penitentiarymconvicted of polygamy.
(I don't think Newman is in this photo.)

On November 24, 1897 Newman moved to Mexico with Mariah and their children. His second wife, Adelaide chose not to go with him. In Mexico it was pioneering and struggle and hard work all over again.  Newman sold his farm and home in Aurora and chartered a freight car to take the household goods and the animals, wagons and tools, and sent his son, Lafe along with the belongings.  The rest of the family went on the passenger train via Denver, Colorado to Demming, Texas.  At Demming, the wagons were fixed up and loaded with their belongings.  After a two week layover they got through customs at the border, where President Ivins met with them and assisted in getting them through the customs check.
They lived in different parts of Mexico the first two years, finally settling in Morelos, Sonora which was a Mormon community. They built a home; were flooded out; moved and built again. They worked hard to build a new life in Mexico. They were forced to leave with others by the leaders of the Mexican revolution.

Newman in 1898

In 1912 just before they had to leave Mexico, Newman had to go to Salt Lake to the hospital for his leg, he had carcinoma, or bone cancer and had to be operated on twice to prevent it from creeping into his blood system. They soon amputated and so he stayed in Salt Lake with his daughter, Lavina Ashby until late in 1914 when he came to Kaolin, Nevada where his wife and oldest son, Lafayette, had taken up some land and were trying to make a home. In late fall of 1916, Lafayette had Newman and Mariah come to Eureka, Utah where he had found work. They lived there until March 1919 when they came to Mt. Trumbull, Arizona where they made their final home.
Newman was a great sportsman.  He liked to hunt and fish.  He loved to play baseball and pitch horseshoes.  Until he lost one leg he went hunting with his boys.  He loved the gospel, and worked in it all through his life.  He was always jovial, making merriment wherever he was.  He believed that a good laugh was better than a dose of medicine. Newman and Mariah were hard-working pioneers who loved to dance when he was able to do so - square dancing, waltzes, the schottish.
Newman was always a source of inspiration to his family and all who knew him. Although he had only one leg and had to go on crutches, he certainly led an interesting and active life. He had been a carpenter by trade and made innumerable beautiful articles in the last years of his life. His hobby, however, was writing poetry.
Newman loved his Trumbull mountain home on the Arizona Strip. He was happy there and said that it would be his last home on earth. It was he who laid out the cemetery for Mt. Trumbull on a lovely knoll in one corner of his own homestead. Newman died at the age of seventy-one on October 14, 1919 and was the first to be laid in that cemetery. Up to the time of his death he was full of spirit and even with the loss of one eye and one leg he still did many interesting things – went to all socials and took part.  The last social gathering he went to was a wedding at which he gave two or three comic readings, keeping everyone laughing.  He lived only two weeks after that.

Newman always advised his children to keep their eyes, ears, and minds open, as there was something new and good to be learned every day.


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Newman wrote poetry throughout his life. It was said he wrote a poem at the death of his son that I have not been able to find. Please let me know if you have a copy of that poem. Here are links to a couple of his poems: 
The Two Roads - Their Consequences by Newman Van Leuven
The Normal Class by Newman Van Leuven

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Sources:
Family records held by D. Larsen at this time.
vanleuven.forefamilies.com
A Brief History of Newman Van Leuven by his daughter, Delila Van Leuven Alldredge
FamilySearch.org
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel website
Prisoner List - bottom of page