James Hughes

James Hughes was ten years old when he, his parents, and his five younger sisters departed Pembrokeshire, South Wales. It had been the Hughes family homeland for more than seven generations, but they were drawn by testimonies of their newly discovered faith. The family was intent on settling in America. In 1848, James’ father became ill with cholera and died in St. Louis, Missouri. His mother, Ann Picton Hughes, was left with their children. However, with James’ dedicated help, she pressed on westward.

Destitute by the time they reached the Salt Lake Valley, the family was kept from starvation by the generosity of Wilford Woodruff. In his small autobiography, James wrote, “We had to work hard without much to eat. I worked wherever I could find work to make a living for my mother and five sisters.”

At age 22, James Hughes married Carmelia Mariah Burgess, age 16, and began a family. The couple would go on to have 12 children and many grandchildren, many of whom played a role as community-builders in the Virgin Valley.

In 1870, James and Carmelia were called to Pine Valley to join Carmelia’s father, William Burgess Jr., in a sawmill. The venture would furnish wood for the famed Salt Lake Tabernacle Organ. In addition, the St. George Temple and St. George Tabernacle used wood sourced from the Pine Valley mill. 

James and Carmelia moved from Pine Valley to Gunlock, and finally to their largest venture of all in the Henry Mountains. There, they built another sawmill, raised cattle, farmed, and produced dairy goods. James wrote, “For three years, we made money right and left; then the Robbers Roost gang came in and cleaned us out.” James’ writing refers to the Wild Bunch, an infamous gang of young, wild bandits that terrorized the American West in the late 1800s. The trauma influenced the Hughes family to find a more family-friendly place where their children could attend school.

In 1895, they moved to Bunkerville, Nevada, and lived through their first winter in a tent. The following spring, they became one of the first six families in Mesquite. James lived out the rest of life, fulfilling many civic and church responsibilities, always engaged in serving for the greater good.

James Hughes died in 1912, at age 74. Carmelia lived to be 87, enjoying time spent with their posterity.

Abram Nelson Woodbury

It is generally accepted that all Woodburys in America are descendants of either William or John Woodbury. William was born in 1589 in Devonshire, England and John was born in 1543 in Devon, England. John Woodbury was one of the original four settlers or “Old Planters” of Salem, Massachusetts. William was also instrumental in establishing the community over the following years.

Nearly 250 years later, their descendants were still hard at work settling the American West. Abram Nelson Woodbury was born in the newly settled St. George, Utah, and later learned carpentry as an apprentice. His carpentry skills would later make him a much sought-after settler.

In 1887, at age 20, Abram and Maria Fuller were married in the St. George Temple. They established their first home in St. George, where three children were born to them. Soon after the birth of their third child, they moved to Bunkerville, Nevada, and were among the first to begin settling what would become Mesquite. Abram cleared his land and created a farm where he ran free range cattle while also working as a carpenter, building homes for himself and others in the fledgling town.

Later, Abram became a large-scale beekeeper, building his own extracting house and selling honey to the community and outlying towns. He made and sold vinegar, and produced melons, grapes, and almonds.

Just as the family’s survival and comfort were assured, Abram was called as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In October 1902, he left his courageous and supportive wife with their 6 children, ages 5 months to 13 years. Maria was just as industrious and hard-working as her husband, so upon his return Abram found their farm and home in remarkable condition.

During the winter of 1910, Maria Woodbury died in childbirth. The child also perished. After three years, Abram married Clara Eveline Canfield Thurston, a widow with three children. Abram and Clara had two children. Abram died at age 81, leaving his large posterity a legacy of faith and good works.

Clara Elizabeth Woodbury

By all accounts, Clara was prepared for the path her life would take her with her disposition and personality. As a little girl, she was remembered as being friendly, sweet, and most happy when she was helping.

Her mother, Ann Cannon Woodbury, and her father Orin Nelson Woodbury, provided much opportunity for her to develop these attributes. Ann Woodbury was one of the first people in Utah to make a success of the silk industry. It was a labor intensive process. Clara Elizabeth became skilled at picking mulberry leaves and feeding silk worms as she worked alongside her mother.

On March 19, 1897, Clara Woodbury married Herbert Arthur Barlow. She applied the homemaking arts she had learned as a girl as they welcomed six children. Everything altered when Herbert Arthur Barlow died on December 13, 1905. Widowed at age 30, she faced caring for her family while bearing medical debt resulting from the long illness that had taken Arthur. 

After three years, she married Joshua William Sylvester of Elsinore, Utah. He moved the family to a ranch a short distance from Mesquite. Isolation, lack of water, and other necessities made living hard, but Joshua proved to be a very caring father to her six children and their three they had together. When he died in 1925, she was again widowed with her large troop of children. Loneliness was overcome by her devoted work, nurturing them all to responsible adulthood. 

In 1936, she married Morgan W. Adams and for ten years lived with him in Washington, Utah. Widowed again in 1946, she returned to her old home at the ranch near Mesquite, where modern development made life much easier and appropriate for her age.

Noted always for her willingness to serve and her great ability to contribute, she left this life September 7, 1969, honored and loved by all who had known her.

The Bowler Brothers

The Bowler family in Virgin Valley descends from two brothers, married to two sisters, and therefore produced a large family of double cousins. George Hebron Bowler and Francis Joseph Bowler were sons of Samuel Page Bowler and Matilda Hill of Leicester, England.

The Bowler family was introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England. Their parents embraced the doctrines, accepted baptism and experienced the trials attendant to leaving the traditional faith. With their large family, they immigrated to America. They were intent on settling in Hebron, as a result of having promised the missionary who baptized them they would apply their talents there.

Samuel Page and Matilda Hill Bowler went immediately to Hebron, where George Hebron Bowler was born during their first year as a brother to then two-year-old Francis Joseph Bowler. These two brothers grew to manhood, and we follow their lives primarily. 

Francis Joseph Bowler married Annie Parthenia Holt. They were parents of 12 children. Two of their children, Joseph LeGrand and Emma Estella, became prominent members of Virgin Valley society.

George Hebron Bowler married Nancy Elizabeth Holt. They were parents of 13 children. In the early years of their marriage, they lived in Gunlock. Their last six children were born while the family lived in Mesquite.

The Bowlers were contributors to the progress of the valley in many ways. They were leaders and participants in education, commerce and music.

In addition to his extensive ranching interests, George Hebron Bowler served his community in many and varied ways. He was an educator in Lincoln and Clark County districts for more than 50 years. He was the first Justice of the Peace in Mesquite and also Postmaster. He supervised the installation and operated the Rio Virgin Milling Company during and after World War I. He was secretary and manager of Mesquite Farmstead Water Company. 

The Bowler children, descending from both brothers, married into many of the families whose names are associated with pioneering and building Virgin Valley and surrounds. 

The closeness of the Hebron/Gunlock Saints was enhanced by their interfamilial ties. Two daughters of the Bowler family, Anne Elizabeth Bowler and Kate Bowler married John David Pulsipher and Charles Zera Pulsipher. All four families were close associates and friends through all their Mesquite Flats trials and adventures.

The Pulsipher Brothers

In March of 1862, three Pulsipher brothers, John, Charles and William, in search of an adequate feed ground for the new Dixie Mission herds, discovered the abundant untouched grass of the Shoal Creek drainage. The three brothers were part of the new pioneer company called in the fall of 1861 to help develop the Dixie Mission. They had accepted the responsibility of caring for the growing pioneer herds.

In April 1862, they moved their families to some lush springs at the first of the lower settlements three miles down Shoal Creek.

John David Pulsipher was born December 28, 1861, in St. George. The records show that he was the first white child born in St. George. Charles Zerah Pulsipher was born February 4, 1864, in Hebron. Life as pioneer cattlemen in Hebron would shape the rest of their lives.

In 1881, the James Samuel Page Bowler family arrived from England. They had committed to their baptizing missionary that they would settle in Hebron. The contrast between their lush, green English home and the harsh desert of Hebron surprised the Bowlers but they settled among the saints.

Charles Zera Pulsipher was younger and his choice, Kate Bowler, younger still. Charles and Kate were married 1888 when he was 24 and Kate just 16.

Over the next almost 12 years, both young families lived between Hebron and Gunlock. As more children came and more settlers filled the limited land, two realities faced them. There were no schools for their children and the ability for economic expansion was restricted.

Charles and Kate were in Gunlock, where they would remain. John David and Ann Elizabeth made the decision to find new land and opportunity. They loaded five wagons with their household, drove their stock and made the 45-mile trip to Mesquite in three days. They grubbed away brush, pitched their tent and began their lives in the Rio Virgin Valley. 

Most of John David and Ann Elizabeth’s children stayed in Virgin Valley. Three of Charles and Kate’s children, Bill, James and John moved to the Virgin Valley and stayed connected with their parents in Gunlock. Together, the Pulsipher brothers’ legacy is strong and clear.

Hans C. Jenson & Bodil M. Andersen

Hans Christian Jenson was born April 6, 1843, in Orslev, Soro, Denmark, to Jens Hansen and Ane Sophie Hansdatter. After the death of his parents, Hans found work as a hired hand for the Anders Jorgen Jensen family, where he met and fell in love with their daughter Bodil Margrethe.

Bodil Margrethe Andersen was born on December 27, 1847, to Anders Jorgen Jensen and Anne Marie Pedersen at Bromby, Samso, Denmark. Hans Christian Jensen was a hired hand for Anders Jorgen Jensen, where he met and fell in love with Ander’s daughter Bodil Margrethe. Bodil’s father did not approve of the relationship, and Hans left his employ and joined the navy.

Some years later, Bodil visited Copenhagen. Walking along the wharf, she heard a group of sailors in conversation. There among them, she heard the voice of Hans! The romance rekindled, and they married in 1873.

On June 16, 1882, Hans and Bodil and their children began the perilous journey to America, arriving in New York City on July 2, 1882. They arrived in Ogden July 9, 1882, traveling to Salt Lake City the next day. A family named Rasmussen from Ephraim picked the family up at the Tithing Yard in Salt Lake City and took them to Ephraim. From there they went to Fountain Green, Utah, where Hans began work in a grist mill. 

Hans Christian Jensen died October 8, 1887, leaving his wife, Bodil, with six children – the baby, John Jensen, was only nine months old. As a widow with six children and no means of support, Bodil married Nephi Johnson on April 24, 1889. 

Nephi Johnson was born December 12, 1833, in Kirkland, Ohio. His father, Joel Hills Johnson, owned a sawmill in Kirkland. Joel heard the gospel and embraced the doctrines. After suffering the persecutions of the time, the Johnson family began the journey to the Salt Lake Valley, arriving October 19, 1848. Shortly, Joel H. Johnson was called to join George A. Smith to settle Parowan. His two young sons, Nephi and Sixtus, were sent ahead. When their father arrived, the family was assigned to herd the company cattle at what became known as Johnson’s Springs, later Johnson’s Fort, near Cedar City.

Nephi Johnson was called by Erastus Snow to serve as a missionary to the Paiute Indians. Nephi was trusted by the Paiutes and became fluent in their language. Noted as a stalwart pioneer and explorer, he was led by a Paiute, Nauguts, and became the first white man to see Zion Canyon. In his lifetime, Nephi is credited with building the first wagon road over Black Ridge and along the Hurricane Fault to establish the community of Virgin, Utah. He is also responsible for building bridges and passes in rugged terrain through southern Nevada on the trail to California.

Nephi Johnson first married Mandana Merrill. He then married Conradino A. Mariger. On April 24, 1889, Nephi married Bodil Margarethe Jensen, widow of Hans Christian Jensen by whom she had six children. He moved his families to Juarez, Mexico, where a baby girl was born to Margarethe. They named this baby Margaret Bodel. In 1894, he moved with this last family to Mesquite, Nevada.

After moving to Mesquite, Nevada, Nephi and Bodil became community and church leaders. He served in the bishopric and she as Relief Society President.