(Back Row)
Phillip, John (Johnie), William, Edmund
(Front Row)
Alice, Ruth, Mary (Grandma), John (Grandpa), Lewis, Lydia (Bel)

The following story was written by John Jenkins (Grandpa above) and printed in the Cache Valley Herald on June 22, 1927. (Johnie, his son, is the Father of all the Jenkins' who now hold their Family Reunion each June in Wyoming or Utah.)

Recently, John Jenkins, 82 years of age was in the office of the Cache Valley Herald. He had just returned from a horse back trip to the reservation where he delivered a bull right side up with care and seemed none the worse for his hard trip. While we were talking, we suggested to him that he give us a story of his varied experiences since coming to the west and he agreed to do so. Mr. Jenkins promised to do so and here is the narrative in his own words:

"I was born in Cowbridge. Clamorganshire, South Wales on the 9th day of May 1845. My parents joined the church before I was born, my father used to go out on the streets and preach the strange doctrine called Mormonism and he would take me up in his arms so the people would not throw rotten eggs at him, as it was such a new thing to them they thought he was crazy.

When nearly five years of age, I with my parents, left our native land leaving Liverpool March 2nd, 1850 and crossed the ocean which took eight weeks on The Good Ship Hartley. We arrived in New Orleans May 2nd and went up the Mississippi and Missouri river landing just below Winters Quarters. From there we journeyed four miles east to Council Bluffs and five miles east to Mosquito Creek where we lived for 11 years. When we arrived there our earthly belongings consisted of a few dishes and 2 feather beds, one of which they traded for a cow, first we ever owned.

Having no means to proceed to Utah, Apostle Ezra T. Benson advised my father to stay in Iowa until such time as he could get equipment to take us on. And in that time my mother gave birth to two pairs of twins, the first pair were born in May 1851 and the second pair on May 16, 1855. When the first pair was born the family was driven from there home by a flood and then lived in a dirt roofed house that leaked so badly that an umbrella had to be placed over the bed to shelter mother who lay confined with the babies. As soon as possible my father took out his naturalization papers. He then homesteaded a quarter section of land on which we lived for eleven years.

While there, (in Iowa) with the exception of a family named Fisher our neighbors were Mormon apostates and Josephites who were very bitter against the church. These people succeeded in influencing Mrs. Fisher and my mother to the extent that they refused to move on to Utah which means had been provided. Mother, refusing to sign the deeds when father might have sold his land. About 1859 or 1860 Brother Fisher took some grits to the mill one day, left it there and stated that he would call for it. When he called for the grits he continued on to Utah leaving his family behind him. On the morning of the Fisher episode my mother changed her mind in regard to signing the deed and my father sold the land for $500, equipped an outfit and we started for Utah in may 1861 in Homer Duncans company.

Our train was an independent outfit. We had two wagons, two yoke of oxen, eight cows and two or three horses. Father drove our wagon and I drove one. The family was in the wagon father drove. I drove one yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows. We worked the cows as well as the oxen. Starting in the morning the milk would be placed in the churns and by noon when we stopped it would be churned to butter. The Indians caused us no trouble although they often came begging for flour and sugar. One of our sports was to stand a dime in the slit end of a stick, place the stick on end at about 25 paces and let the Indians shoot the dime from the stick. The Indian hitting the dime got it. It was remarkable how often they hit the target. In the company, I was known as the Little Hunter, and with an old mussel loading rifle I obtained more meat than our family could use and we of ten had some to spare for others.

Once between the Platte and the Sweetwater I wounded an antelope and after tracking it I got another shot and killed it and dressed it and started for the train. Then I realized I was lost and I had wondered around until nearly sundown. On reaching the top of a knoll I thought I saw what might be the road so hurriedly went in that direction. Soon I saw a man and started running toward him. On seeing me, he ran from me thinking I was an Indian and my efforts to get him to stay he thought were signals to other Indians to close in on him. I finally overtook him and found him to be a member of our own company. When I told him about the antelope nothing could stop him going back for it. We went back and found the game. I split the cord in one front leg, slipped the opposite hind leg through the slit and then put his lead through the legs so that the antelope hung on his back. I carried the guns and together we made our way back to the train, arriving at camp late at night. I have often been out alone in the hills but have never again had the feeling of being lost. I was then a boy of 16 and remember among other members of the company were President Charles W. Penrose, Francis W. Armstrong and Samuel Russell. President Penrose often gave part in the programs held around the campfire.

We arrived in Salt Lake City in Sept. 13, 1861 and went from there to Farmingham where father bought 40 acres of land for $900. The following year the Morrosite trouble occurred. When the militia was called out to quell the trouble, I was standing on the Court House steps when Bishop John Hess came out and stated he was three men short of his quota. I spoke up and said I would go if needed so was sent home for my gun and then joined the company. The first night I slept on the ground without shelter. It rained all night and from the exposure I contracted rheumatism from which I have never been entirely free. The next day we went on to the Weber and found the Morrisites encampment what was called the Morrisite Fort located at a point about where Uinta now is. It seemed that Morris prophesied that we, the enemy, would be unable to approach nearer a certain point because the Lord would smite us should we try. The prophesy failed.

In 1863 (19 yrs. old) I was called by the church to go to the Missouri River for immigrants and drove a team of four yoke of oxen along with a Company of 60-80 teams. Thomas Ricks was captain of the Company. It took 5 months to make the round trip, leaving in May and returning in September. I went in 1864 with Captain Israel Canfield of Ogden. We had a pretty good year except that the Indians stole some of our horses which were used only for riding. Each wagon being pulled by four yoke of oxen. In 1865, the Indians being very hostile, the church sent no trains back.

But in 1866 I went again this time with Captain Horton Haight. The South Platt at Julesburg where we crossed was three fourths of a mile wide and we ferried our stuff over by caulking the wagon boxes and lashing four together. After about four hours of milling around and with the help of the entire company, we got the cattle started across. The captain called for volunteers and eight of us who volunteered, followed them swimming behind to keep them going. We were in the water about 6 hours before we got them across. At the time there were about 500 teams of outsiders headed west who were unable to cross. When we started back we were loaded with immigrants and wire. Some apostates placed an attachment on the wire after it was loaded and a law suit followed which merely a scheme to hold us back until we could not get through the mountains for snow.

At Fort Kearney, our train was held up for some time. The officers said it was not safe to proceed, but we were allowed to go on by traveling with two trains together making 150 teamsters all armed beside the immigrants. When we got about 25 miles west of Fort Kearney, I was driving the lead wagon as I usually did, we came to a trading station called Plum Creek and I saw a man lying stretched across the road dead with a double barrel shot gun across his chest and two buckets of alcohol by him. The Indians had killed him. We camped nearby for the night and some men were detailed to bury the man. Next morning after driving about 5 miles we found 11 men who had just been killed by the Indians. Their 12 wagons burned, and a woman & 2 children were carried away by the Indians.

Coming on West we camped on the bank of the Platte river by a knoll and that night we could see the Indians on a knoll and hear them fording the river all night. No one in camp slept that night. The next morning, the Indians were all gone. That day, the Indians were all going North on the other side of the river and we were going West. That was the last we saw of the Indians on that trip.

On December 28, 1867, I was married to Mary Oviatt and in the winter of 1868 I camped in Weber Canyon working for the railroad to obtain money enough to buy a team of oxen. In May 1869, I went to Cache Valley with James Wilcox to look for a home and after looking over the place where Newton is now located I decided it was good enough for me. I went to Clarkeston for a few days visit, then I returned to Farmington for my wife and came back to Clarkeston by ox team and camped in my wagon box with my wife while I got logs from the canyon with which to build a house in Newton, which consisted of log walls, dirt roof and mother earth for a floor. It was in September when I came to Newton which has been my permanent home since. I was one of the first settlers of this place and save being identified in all the moves for the progress.

One incident was I was making a trip to Salt Lake by ox team with a load of grain, taking it to Heber C. Kimballs mill to sell. On my return home, my wife's mother, Mrs. Oviatt, from Farmington, came back to pay her daughter a visit. Nearing home on the mountains west of Newton, one of my oxen gave out and I was compelled to leave Mrs. Oviatt and the outfit on the mountain and walked to Newton through the snow and get a fresh team to go back and get the wagon and Mrs. Oviatt. After which I had to fiddle for a dance that night.

I accept the doctrine of plural marriage and was married on 21 Sept. 1873 to Annie Clark in Salt Lake City making the trip by ox team with Annie and her mother. The following was very hard snow being 3 feet deep on the level. Feed became scarce and before spring came, I fed all the hay and the straw off the old sheds and no spring in sight. In order to try to save the stock, I broke a trail through the deep snow to the south slope of the Little Mountain, here the snow having been blown off and some dry grass could be found. I finally got my cattle and sheep through to the mountains and built me a wind break of bushes and there I stayed night and day, trying to pull my stock through until spring. I finally saved some of them, but my losses were heavy.

In the Spring of 1882, I was laid up with rheumatism about 6 weeks. That following Fall I was called on a mission to Southern Wales. Before leaving Salt Lake City, I was married to my third wife, Maria Jenson, 17 October 1882. From there I left on my mission and my wife, Maria, returned to Newton. After serving about one year, I was released on account of poor health, returning home in the Fall of 1883.

In May 1884, I took a squatters right in the hill north of Clarkeston called Big Meadows. Here I ran a dairy ranch shipping butter and cheese besides pasturing horses and cattle for other people. I owned this ranch for 13 years when I was finally run out by herds of sheep trailing through and eating all the feed. In 1885 and 1886 I was running cattle in the Big Meadow and looking after the farm in Newton and dodging the marshals who were ever on my trail.

I was sentenced to the penitentiary November 19, 1887, serving 5 months and paying a fine of $380 for practicing plural marriage.

In May, 1888, I went to Star Valley to look over the country for a cattle ranch but returned home without buying. I stayed home the remainder of the year looking after the farm and stock.

In May, 1889, with Maria, my third wife, I took 113 head of cattle and went to Teton Basin ferrying the wagon over Snake River and swimming the cattle through. Reaching the basin, I took a squatters right on a piece of land and built a log house and fenced part of the land. In the Fall, I had to take some cattle into Newton to feed for the Winter. The next Spring when my son Johnny and I went back, we found a survey had been made and my house was on another man's land and my claim jumped. So I lost my previous year's labor.

In 1890 with Annie, my second wife, I went back to Star Valley, bought a squatters right and improvements and then filed a homestead claim and settled on this land in the lower valley near where Freedom in Wyoming is located. Then we returned to Newton and I went back to Star Valley with a bunch of cattle and bought hay and hired a man to feed them the coming Winter. I have been running cattle there up to the time of this writing.

In 1891, now owning a place in Star Valley and the Big Meadows, also in Newton, I was kept busy looking after them. I also owned 40 acres of land in Idaho near Weston. Hay was my main crop, starting first to put up hay in Newton then going to Weston and then to Star Valley putting up almost 200 tons in Newton, 50 in Weston and several tons in Star Valley. I could drive cattle to Star Valley in the Spring and come back in the Fall to Winter. I bought cattle with what means I could spare to keep the range stocked. I bought calves and yearlings and in doing so I always had a bunch to drive out in the Spring, and raised them there. In the Fall I always selected what I wanted to sell and a few to milk and drove them to Newton to feed. I continued this for several years. Sometimes it being late in the Fall and the deep snow and cold making it quite a job to drive out.

In the spring of 1894 when the marshals were after me I went to Weston and found that they had been looking for me and were on their way to the ranch in Big Meadows where Maria then lived. On learning this I started to look for them, and when I got to Ricks ranch I got one of the Ricks boys to go to my ranch with me. When we got to the ridge south of the house, I stayed there while Ricks went to the house to look for Maria and the marshals, but found no one there.

On learning this I did not know what had become of Maria so I decided to go to my bed, which I had on a little mahogany ridge north and west of the house. This was my hiding place from the marshals. There I found Maria and the two children. The children were in bed and she was watching them. So I went out and found a horse and getting her on one horse and I on the other, we started for Michael Clarks where we arrived about daylight and from there I took her to Weston and I started for the Mink Creek Mountains. There I stayed in hiding for the summer.

Johnny went with me to the saw mill on the Bar Lake Road, located my summer camping ground, I then showed him the location and told him he could find me there if he should want me. I had to make 2 trips with my horse to pack my supplies to camp there being no water in the camp. I got my supply from the snow drifts. This lasted until some time in August. I cut about 40,000 feet of saw logs while there. I stayed there until August. I then moved down to the saw mill and started hauling the logs to it. One day while loading, the top log rolled on my hand so as to pin it between that and the bottom log holding me fast. I had to send Oliver for the ax and then with the free hand chop the other loose, I finally got all my logs to the mill and got them sawed but lost nearly all of the lumber, thus loosing a summers work.

While there in Puly, Annie my second wife was arrested and taken to Ogden, her father going with her, but was released on account of the case being an Idaho offense and Utah having no jurisdiction over it. The case was dismissed.

In July, 1897, I moved Maria to Star Valley where she lived for a number of years then moved again to Newton where she is now living. In 1899 I was chosen First Counselor to Bishop William H. Griffin, being ordained a High Priest and set apart February 28th by Apostle George Teasdale. In this capacity I labored for about 4 years.

In 1901 while working on the L.D.S. Church in Freedom, I fell from the square of the building about 10 feet and struck on the floor joist dislocating four joints of my spine, which has caused a lot of suffering ever since when lying down and some positions while working. I have never been able to lie on my left side since that time. I was later kicked by a stallion which broke a rib and caused severe suffering. Later I fell from a header box and broke my left leg below the knee while unloading some roots of apple trees which caught my clothing and pulled me out.

In February, 1926, I had a wrestle with a bull and got the worst of it. He broke four ribs and bruised me quite badly which caused severe pain and suffering for several weeks. In September of the same year, while driving some cattle over near Malad near the highway, my horse became entangled in some loose wire left there by county work men and began jumping and pitching and getting tangled in the wire so that both the horse and myself was thrown. I struck on my head and was knocked out for some time. When I found the horse, she was standing down the road about 40 rods with one hind leg cut completely off, so I had to shoot her.

On February 4, 1927, I fell from the loft of the barn a distance of about 10 feet and landed on some ice on the frozen ground bruising my hip. I thought it was broken. For about fifteen days I had to lie on my stomach when I laid down, and kneel on my knees when up."

(John, Mary, and baby Floyd, 1983, Chicago World's Fair)

"Son of John Jenkins and Mary Jane Oviatt, born Sept 13, 1868, in Farmington, Utah. He was the oldest of ten children - 5 boys and 5 girls. He was educated in Newton, Utah District School. He went as far as the 8th grade. He was the eldest of the three families. Grandfather had 35 children. He was a polygamist and had three wives.

When the Manifesto was enacted, Grandfather wouldn't give up his wives, so he had to leave Utah and hide out in the hills so the law officers couldn't get him and lock him up in jail. Johnie always went with his father so he would know where to take the food and provisions to him, and to let him know how close the officers were to him. Then Johnie would go back home to Newton, Utah.

They would drive cattle up to Idaho to feed and they would live there, but soon found Idaho also had a law as Utah did, to catch the polygamist, so they moved their cattle over the line into Wyoming where there was no such law. Here they were free to live as they wanted. The town was named Freedom, Wyoming.

John Franklin Jenkins married Mary Elizabeth Haskell of Newton, Utah the 19th of March, 1890, in Logan, Cache County, Utah. After their marriage, they lived in Weston, Idaho, a while. Their son, Floyd Clifford, had diphtheria and died, August 18, 1894, in Weston. Then they, moved back to Newton where Leslie was born, 7 September, 1894. Some time after 1897 they went with grandfather to Star Valley, Wyoming, where his father helped him get settled on some land next to his, 360 acres, where they built a two-room log house to live in. They dug a well where they got their water for drinking and to water the stock.

Johnie and I worked with grandfather, who lived next to us, and together we bought cattle from Utah. We got some milk cows, which we milked twice a day.

My daughter (Claudia) was born the Spring of 1899, April 18. We were the first settlers in the lower Star Valley. We cleared raw land of sage brush and planted hay and grain for both our food and the animals. We planted wheat enough to last a year and we grew lucerne and timothy for the stock.

In the Spring of the year we took the dry stock to the hills to feed for the Summer, while the crops were growing in the fields."

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