William Waite & Rebecca Gibbons
The story of Rebecca Gibbons Waite is a saga of love, faith, hardship, and courage. It begins in Moulton, Lincolnshire, England, where two young people fell in love, married, embraced a new faith, and ventured their fortunes far across the sea.
William Noble Waite and his wife, Rebecca, and their first four children, arrived in their new land poor and deeply in debt, but filled with hope. Two more children came in two years. Then came a call that would test their mettle but not their faith. William and Rebecca were called to join the United Order, take their family to the far end of the territory, and help in building the St. George Temple.
That assignment satisfactorily accomplished, they took a meager plot along Santa Clara Creek, called Five Mile Place. They began to make a place to plant. On the 18th of January, Rebecca gave birth to Moroni, their eighth child. With the help of the older boys, 11, 10, and 8, William struggled to bring water to their ground.
Tragedy struck on April 10, 1879, when William Noble Waite died. Rebecca was 36. The eldest of the 7 living children was 12, the youngest 3 months. Assisted by neighbors and church members, they barely survived.
Once again, Lemuel Leavitt came to the fore. In a short while, Lemuel S. Leavitt and Rebecca Gibbons Waite formed a polygamous union, to which his other wives and children acceded. A home was prepared in Bunkerville for the young widow and her seven children, offering the peace and security of a strong, kind husband and father, albeit one already burdened with great responsibility.
Rebecca Gibbons Waite Leavitt lived out her life in the valley, known for her willing heart and grateful demeanor.
Mary Ann Morgan Adams
Mary Ann Morgan was born in Whitecliff, Gloucestershire, England on January 16, 1833. As a teen she left her girlhood home finding work and some simple sophistication serving in aristocratic houses. Working and saving, she came to America, eventually arriving in Salt Lake City. In 1863, she became the second wife of Samuel Lorenzo Adams, a stalwart pioneer missionary and colonizer.
In November 1864, their son just a few weeks old, they were called to the Cotton Mission. True to their covenants, they accepted the call. Years of pioneering and polygamy chafed at Mary Ann. Her angst boiled over.
By her description, “A sudden flare of temper and steadfast determination,” caused her to take her two boys, now eight and four, and leave the marriage. Samuel Adams continued to provide for them, though inevitable privations ensued.
The tender story of Mary Ann’s next marriage demonstrates Samuel’s continued care. At work in his blacksmith shop, a twice-widowed customer entered. “Well Leavitt (Lemuel) have you found yourself a wife yet?” he queried. Lemuel admitted that he needed to find someone to help raise his many motherless children.
Said Samuel Adams, “I can recommend to you a splendid woman who will make you an excellent wife.” Upon Lemuel’s eager inquiry Brother Adams replied, “The woman I divorced, Mary Ann Morgan.”
He left the shop thinking deeply about the conversation. In a short time, he made a freighting trip north, taking his son, Lemuel, with him. After finishing their business in Salt Lake City, they went through Salt Creek [Nephi] where Mary Ann was living with her two sons.
Stopping to see Mary Ann, he asked her to marry him. She accepted his proposal. They loaded her belongings, her two sons, Thomas Henry Adams and William Morgan Adams, and what flour she had into his wagons and headed out into the winter weather. Mary Ann again bound south.
To this marriage was born two children. One died at birth. The other, named Lorenzo, thereby honoring Samuel Lorenzo Adams, who had befriended them both. The Adams boys grew to maturity, members of the large Lemuel Leavitt family. As young men, they married Santa Clara girls of Swiss heritage. The call of colonization in their blood, they migrated to the harsh desert and began a generational contribution to the budding society.
Conrad Naegeli
Conrad was born 21 January 1832 in Landschlact, Thurgau, Switzerland to Hans Jacob Naegeli and Anna Margreth Mast. Both father and son were fishermen. Young Conrad joined the church in 1860, his two sisters soon after.
By early 1861, Conrad and his sister, Marguerita, had sailed to America, found their way to Florence, Nebraska and joined a wagon train going to the Salt Lake Valley. They arrived in the valley in September 1861, and had been in the valley only a short time when they were among those called by President Brigham Young to go to the Southern Utah Mission.
Margaretha had married Rudolph Frei on October 25, 1860. Traveling in the wagon train led by Daniel Bonelli, they arrived at Fort Clara November 28, 1861.
In Santa Clara, Bonelli set up a drawing system for the people to draw lots for property. Conrad received a building lot, a garden lot, and three acres of farm land. Sometime after his arrival in Santa Clara, Conrad changed the spelling of his last name from Naegeli to Nageli.
Conrad married Mary Huerni on January 8, 1863. He was a hard working farmer and wine maker. His wine was used in the ward sacrament meetings until the practice of using wine was abolished. He then sold his wine at the mines in Nevada, making a nice income.
Conrad’s daughter, Mary, married Thomas Henry Adams on December 10, 1885, and moved to Bunkerville, Nevada. They were joined by his son, Conrad Martin, and his wife, Ruth Bennett. The two Naegeli couples were lifetime residents there. On December 31, 1907, Conrad’s wife, Mary, died. Conrad was left a widower for 12 1/2 years. With his health failing, Conrad moved to Bunkerville and lived next door to his daughter, Mary. He died May 19, 1920. Due to lack of funds and harsh travel conditions, he was buried in Bunkerville.
William Calvert Bowman
W.C. Bowman was born February 5, 1859, in Salt Lake City, Utah to Isaac and Martha Jane Calvert Bowman. As a young boy, he was energetic and known to be a hard, dependable worker. As a young man, he lived in several northern Utah communities and made his living farming and working as a teamster on several freight lines between Utah and Wyoming.
On January 3, 1883, he married Lydia Loretta Squire at Wah Wah Springs in Southern Utah. Together they had six children. After Lydia passed away, WC married Martha Elizabeth Waite. She brought two children from her marriage to Calvin Dudley Leavitt, who was accidentally killed in a horse race.
WC Bowman was an entrepreneur and always seemed to find a business deal wherever he went. Though he decided he couldn’t make a living farming, he always had a farm or ranch. He purchased and resold property, usually at a profit.
In the spring of 1910, WC owned a mercantile store in Moapa, Nevada. Around this same time, his son, Stephen, told him about a ranch for sale on Lewis Bottom, Arizona, just across and up the river from Mesquite. He investigated and bought the ranch. He also purchased the 14-acre Wilbur Earl farm in Bunkerville, Nevada.
Then, in January 1911, a huge flood came down the Virgin River and washed the Lewis Bottom farm and all its equipment away. WC sold his store in Moapa and moved his lumber business to Bunkerville, where he intended to start another store and a lumber yard.
WC Bowman was approached by Edward Bunker Jr., who owned a store in Bunkerville but was getting too old to take care of it. The two made a deal and went into partnership. WC Bowman bought out Edward Bunker, Jr. in 1915. The store changed ownership again in 1922 when WC Bowman sold it to Kenneth Earl and Albert Leavitt. However, he soon found it was a poor decision as the store was doing very well.
So, WC Bowman started a new store just up the street and went into partnership with Roy Waite. The new store was called the “Bowman and Waite General Store.” It had gasoline, merchandise, and 13 cabins out back for travelers stopping overnight. Later, Roy Waite bought out WC and changed the name to “Roy Waite Mercantile.”
William Calvert Bowman died April 7, 1944 in Bunkerville, Nevada and is buried in the Bunkerville Cemetery.
David Erastus Houston
Was the son of John H. Houston, who came into the territory originally as a member of Johnston’s Army sent by the United States to “quell the disobedient” residents of this newly settled territory. John liked it here, so he mustered out of the army and stayed the rest of his lifetime.
John married a recently widowed young English woman, Susan Ann Bennett Gardner, with one young child. They settled in American Fork and had nine children. Their fifth child and third son was David Erastus Houston, the subject of this memory.
David Erastus Houston married Mary Emily Leavitt, daughter of Edward Washington Leavitt and Eltheir Bunker. They settled in Gunlock where seven children were born to them, five of whom survived to adulthood. David Erastus Houston died when baby Birdie Houston was only two years old.
George Albert Huntsman
Was the son of Joseph Smith Huntsman and Lucy Elizabeth Truman. He married Effie Neil Leavitt, daughter of Edward Washington Leavitt and Elthier Bunker. Effie was the younger sister of Mary Emily Leavitt.
George and Effie had four children, three of whom lived and grew to adulthood. Effie Neil Leavitt Huntsman died in early October 1927, shortly after the death of her last child.
Mary Emily Leavitt Houston was widowed with four little children. George Albert Huntsman was widowed with three little children. In January 1928, George Albert and Mary Emily married, bringing together their seven children. In 1929, one more child joined his half-siblings and cousins, making their family once more complete.
Mary Emily Leavitt died in 1944. George Albert Huntsman lived almost 20 years longer and married two more times. In December 1944, he married Leah Leavitt Tobler. In 1962, he married Annie Charlotte Hansen. George Albert Huntsman died August 26, 1963.
Samuel Wittwer
Was born March 10, 1847, in Canton of Bern, Switzerland. He was the only child born to Christian Wittwer and Magdalena Pfister. His early childhood was spent in the beautiful Bern valley located in the majestic Alps. Samuel was 11 when his family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They became part of the 1861 Swiss Company migration to join the main body of the church in Utah.
After arriving in Utah, they learned in the October 1861 General Conference that Brigham Young was calling their company to travel south to the Southern Utah Mission. Samuel and his parents settled in Santa Clara, Utah in November of 1861. Samuel grew to be a hard-working and industrious man, and was skilled in masonry, carpentry and plastering as well as farming.
On November 22, 1869, Samuel married Ann Mary Gubler. Together, they had 10 children, 6 sons and 4 daughters, all born in Santa Clara.
When the law of plural marriage was instituted among the saints, Samuel and Mary were united in accepting the principle. On November 18, 1881, Samuel married 18-year-old Bertha Barbara Tobler. She was among the first Swiss Company children born in Santa Clara. Their first four children were born in Santa Clara, though one little girl died at birth.
In 1884, Samuel was called by President John Taylor to serve a mission to the Mennonite people in the Central States. He responded to the call and left both families. The two women with their children were exemplary in their cooperative management.
In 1887, President Wilford Woodruff, in a document called The Manifesto, declared the members of the church would no longer practice polygamy. In 1890, Samuel moved Bertha Barbara and their children to Bunkerville, Nevada, and built a two-story adobe house for their family. He divided his time between the two homes. Always exceptionally productive, he became an expert in growing grapes, vegetables, fruits, nuts, berries, corn, and grain. His farms were admired by all privileged to see them.
Samuel Wittwer was faithful, able, generous and diligent. He died June 5,1927 in St. George. Anna Mary Gubler died in 1926. Bertha Barbara Tobler died in 1937. Their descendants remain strong contributors to their communities.