*Joseph Franklin Barton and Harriet Ann Richards*

Joseph Franklin Barton and Harriet Ann Richards

Joseph Franklin Barton Born: March 31, 1855 at Parowan, Iron, Utah, USA
Parents: Joseph Penn and Eliza Anderson Barton
Died: April 10, 1926
Married: Harriet Ann Richards, May 15, 1876, at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
Married (2): Eugenia Johnson, April 7, 1907
Harriet Ann Richards
Born: September 14, 1855 at Parowan, Iron County, Utah, USA
Parents: Morgan and Harriet Evans Richards
Died: May 29, 1896

LIFE SKETCH OF JOSEPH FRANKLIN BARTON AND HARRIET ANN RICHARDS

The Early Years:

Joseph Franklin Barton’s father came to Utah in 1852 at the age of twenty-one, bringing his widowed mother and two younger brothers, Stephen and John Samuel. Two sisters, Julia and Matilda, stayed behind in Iowa, since they could not accept the concept of plural marriage. In the summer of 1855 the Barton family moved back to Paragonah, which had earlier been abandoned due to Indian troubles.

Harriet Ann Richards’ parents were natives of Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, and emigrated to Utah in 1854 and were sent to Parowan. She was the third child of a family of seven, two sons having been born in Wales. She acquired her education in the public school of that day and in private study. Being of a scholastic temperament she later was engaged to teach school in Parowan. She was a member of Alfred Durham’s choir, recognized as having a voice of unusual quality.

Few family records have been found to tell of Joseph and Harriet Ann’s early years, nor of events prior to their marriage, nor of their call to be part of the mission to San Juan County. It is known that they were both born of goodly parents, who were honest, hard working, staunch defenders of the faith and diligent to all callings in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Their parents were pillars in the community, tending to the sick, craftsmen in their trades and active in community affairs. Joseph and Harriet Ann exemplified this by honoring their parents in this same devotion to family and to all members of the church and community.

They were both born into loving families but into a frontier environment that could only be described as hostile. Homes had to be built, the logs coming from the nearby mountains; the land cleared of brush, plowed and planted. A fort was built to protect these early settlers from the Indians, log cabins forming part of the perimeter. As children they endured the suffering along with parents, friends and neighbors. They grew wise at an early age by providing for the necessities of life in a frontier community, learning all the skills required to not only sustain but to improve the quality of life. Schooling was not neglected and Harriet’s brother Morgan, Jr. wrote in his history, “The school benches were made of slabs, with oak or birch legs driven into the slab, four or six according to the length. They weren’t very steady. Boys and girls were pretty well mixed up; there was no aim to separate them. The floor was made of lumber. The log walls were chinked. The teacher collected tuition each month for each pupil. It was paid in commodities. Wheat was $2.00 a bushel; oats and shelled corn the same; potatoes $1.00; wood $3.00 a load; lumber $40.00 a thousand.

Several times in the year the choir had a program at 2:00pm, followed by a dinner at 4:00pm. After going home to do the chores, they would return to spend the evening. Dances and social affairs generally began in the afternoon. Celebrations were held on the Fourth of July, Christmas and New Years. Guns were fired at daybreak. There would be a meeting at 10:00am, a dance at 2:00pm and another dance or festivities in the evening. Tickets were fifty-cents, usually one peck of wheat or other grain. On Christmas and New Years the children at daylight went from one home to another and were given cookies and doughnuts. In the winter of 1864-1865 Morgan commenced teaching school and Harriet being nine years of age probably became one of his pupils.

Since Paragonah and Parowan are only four miles apart, Joseph and Harriet Ann most likely knew each other all of their early lives, through school, church, community activities and relatives in both communities. On May 15, 1876, Joseph Franklin Barton, and the beautiful dark-haired Harriet Ann Richards, (with a voice that would let her sing with the angels, as she was a member of Alfred Durham’s’ choir), were married in the Endowment House at Salt Lake City. Their first child, a daughter, was born on February 21, 1877 and was named Harriet Ann for her mother and both grandmothers. Another daughter was born on October 23, 1878 and named Mary Viola.

After the dedication of the St. George Temple in April of 1877, Harriet Ann, acting as proxy for her grandmother, Ann Phillips, and her brother Morgan, acting as proxy for his grandfather Morgan Richards, did the necessary work including sealing. Unable to leave their Baptist faith for Mormonism, these grandparents remained in Wales.

The Call to San Juan Mission:

The LDS Church, under the leadership of Brigham Young, had branched out in all directions following their arrival in the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. By the middle 1870’s one area that the Saints had not expanded into was the southeastern part of Utah, the San Juan portion. Perhaps this was because it was isolated and not easily accessible. Good farming ground was also not abundant. Nevertheless, this region was targeted for colonization. The Barton and Richards families were staunch and dedicated defenders of the faith, willing to accept and support any and all calls that came from their leaders.

The summer of 1879 was used to prepare for what was supposed to be a six-week trek. How hard it must have been to select what could be taken and the treasures that had to be left behind, and to bid farewell to family and friends and leave on a bleak November day, heading toward an unknown destiny in a part of the state that had not been charted, whose only known inhabitants were hostile Indians and outlaws.

In the early part of the year 1879, I was called by Erastus Snow [under the direction of President John Taylor] to be one of a company of about fifty men to establish a colony somewhere across the Colorado River. At the time [I] was residing at my native town, Paragonah, Iron County, Utah, (I say “native,” having been born only 4½ miles distant at Parowan). [I] was twenty-four years of age, married and had a family of two children. The company was made up mainly from Iron County, Utah.

As soon as spring opened, about twenty men were selected from the company to do exploring work across the Colorado River in the southeastern part of Utah, which up to this time was a very wild and unexplored tract of country. The exploring party going out by way of Lee's Ferry and Moan Copy [sic], Arizona, landed on the San Juan River, about twenty-five miles down the river or northwesterly from the noted “Four Corners,” a very conspicuous point in the United States.

In the early fall of 1879, the explorers returning to their homes gave good reports of land, water and grass. Now came the busy time as it was the desire of Erastus Snow that the company proceed on their journey to the new land immediately. Consequently, I with my family and brother, Amasa M. Barton, on the 3rd of November, 1879, bid farewell to our fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters and friends, whom were very dear to us, and joined in with the band of missionaries who were going out to subdue a barren waste, build homes and establish new colonies, chiefly for the purpose of commencing the civilization of the wild and powerful tribes of Navahos who for a number of years had been raiding and committing many depredations in Southern Utah.

Reaching the Butler Ranch a few miles above the town of Panguitch on Sevier River, we encountered a heavy snow storm which lasted four days, which put four feet of snow on the Escalante Mountain and made it almost impassible for the outfit. However, our cattle were put to the front and the cowboys succeeded in leaving a fairly good trail. After reaching the town of Escalante we turned toward the desert to the sunny south, pulling in at 40 Mile (Spring) where we had the first general round-up of the whole company, which was made up of some 80 wagons.

We found it necessary to call a council meeting as we now found that our proposed route south to the San Juan country, while somewhat shorter than either of the routes traveled by the exploring party in the spring and early fall in going to and returning from the San Juan country, is wholly unexplored. At the meeting, a company of ten young men were selected to do some exploring work beyond the Colorado River and consequently the next morning the company of ten, myself included, having a small boat that had been brought from Escalante by Charles Hall, started for the river, arriving that evening at the rim about 1500 feet above the river and about two miles from it by the trail we would have to travel.

The next day we enjoyed considerable experience in getting our boat to the river by way of the rough trail. Having accomplished this feat, we took three days of provisions and our blankets upon our backs and commenced exploring for a route by which we could gain the summit or main tableland. After exploring to our satisfaction, we returned to the main camp, with the report that without shooting our way through, it would be impossible for the company to reach their destination on the short-cut road. This proved to be rather discouraging as the company had not been provided with powder nor steel whereby to blow to pieces the ledges that we might pass on.

However, another council was called, and from the fact that the Escalante Mountain was now so full of snow that it would be impossible to take the back trail any farther than the town of Escalante, it was resolved to send pack animals back for powder and steel and in the meantime move the company to the Colorado rim. But on account of scarcity of wood, water and grass, it was deemed advisable to divide the company, leaving one half back at 50 Mile Spring, five miles from the rim, from which camp we would walk to our work Monday morning, remain all week and walk back Saturday evening. This work continued for about two months.

It was here that we spent our Christmas holidays in dancing, singing and merry making. For all that it was the hardest winter ever known in Utah, everybody in both camps enjoyed the best of health, and generally a good spirit prevailed.

When the road work was so far completed that we could get out across the Colorado, some four or five miles, a general breakup of both camps was indulged in. Of course everybody was very anxious to try the new road down the celebrated Hole in the Rock which is crack or gap through the rim rock (barely wide enough for the passage of a wagon) which led to a narrow canyon that wound it is way to the river. The first descent of the Hole in the Rock being twenty-six feet and which took several days blasting to fill, and even then was thought to be a very dangerous piece of wagon road. However, by means of a long rope and ten men, the wagons of the first camp were lowered through the hole and set on their way for the river, ¾ of a mile distant before any of the teams of camp # 2 put in an appearance.

I happened to be some distance in advance of the balance of company #2, and reached the dreaded road just at sundown, and knowing that if I waited for the ten men and rope, I would camp on the rim another night. But after taking a survey of the cavity and putting on ruff lock and urging my team considerably, I finally got them to face what seemed almost next to death. However the next ½ minute landed team wagon and driver at the first station about 300 feet down the hole in the rock, right side up, where upon examination I found that the chain to ruff lock had broken, but through a providential act, the chain had flipped a lap around the felloe in such a manner as to serve for a lock”.

Barton had an especially dependable team of horses. A great great grandson Tad Barton said: "my great great great grandfather Joseph Franklin Barton's team of horses pulled many wagon on the original trek...they were blind from an out break of pink eye that hit Iron county so they couldn't see how steep the road was...they just did what they were told to "(1/19/2010). They are also mentioned in Gerald Lund's book, “The Undaunted.”

It was at the ‘Hole’ that the term between a rock and a hard spot was born; impossible to go back and too terrifying to go on. Harriet Ann must have been paralyzed with fear as she stood at the top with her two small daughters and watched as the wagon dropped, then lurched to a stop three hundred feet down in a cloud of dust. Prayers were answered for the Barton family on this day.

With all the wagons down through the hole and across the river, no doubt this weary band breathed a sigh of relief that the hard part of the journey was over. Had they known what lay ahead it would not be hard to imagine that they would have fled up through the hole and back to Escalante. Equipment was beginning to break down, and was in need of constant repair. Keeping horses shod was an endless task. Being a blacksmith, Amasa must have kept his back bent over every moment that the caravan was not on the move. Both man and beast showed the effects of not having enough to eat or enough rest. The women not only had to push and struggle with the men to keep the wagons moving, but cook, wash, mend, tend the children, patch scraped knees, wash cuts and bruises, and wonder where the next meal was coming from.

Little did they know that the roughest, hardest part of the trek was yet to come. Before them lay land masses with names they had never heard of. Cottonwood Hill was an impossible land mass - miles of slick rock. At the Dug-way, steps had to be blasted out. Little Hole was as forbidding as the “Hole” encountered at the river. During February and March they struggled through The Chute, Clay Hill Pass, contended with two feet of snow and endless miles of mud and sand. Late March found them in Comb Wash and facing a solid rock barrier called Comb Ridge. Some means had to be found to their destination. Days were required to hammer out a road that angled up to what was called San Juan Hill. Here the worn-out teams, wagons and equipment would almost be defeated. Several span of horses or oxen had to be hitched together to drag one wagon to the top. Many tears were shed as the last ounce of strength was forced from the struggling animals, and their blood marked a trail as they stumbled, fell and lunged to gain a footing on the steep, slick rocks. Early April found them building dug-ways to get in and out of Butler Wash and by April 6, 1880, they were in a flat river bottom that was to be named Bluff City. Here they could go no farther. Man, beast and equipment had been tested to the very limits. They had extricated themselves from a situation that could only be described as a nightmare and a living hell.

Life in Bluff:

There was to be no rest for this weary little band since crops had to be planted, shelters erected and some form of defense put in place to protect them from the Indians. On the day of arrival a site for the town was selected, an irrigation ditch laid out and work commenced. Joseph was assigned to this project. Each family was given a field for farming and a city lot. Cabins were faced inward, using their outer wall to form a fort. The logs from the cottonwood tress were not straight, but with effort they provided solid material with which to build. The Barton abode, with its mud thatched roof still stands, but in varying stages of disrepair. The lonely looking exterior in no way tells the story of their life within the cozy walls. Mary often recalled the happy and the worrisome days as a child in this home. Standing in the remains of this humble home gives new meaning to the trials they endured as well as to the comforts that we enjoy today. It is located just across the street from the new post office.

The formidable task of building homes, a church, school, barns, and digging wells, planting fruit trees and doing all those tasks to provide a comfortable living base did not deter the growth of families. Joseph Franklin Jr. was born August 1, 1881, and “red-headed” Morgan Amasa was born August 28, 1883. All of this was managed while being called upon to pursue Indians and outlaws who found the livestock easy prey.

In the fall of 1883 the family went back to Paragonah and Parowan, avoiding the Hole-in-the-Rock crossing by crossing the river several miles upstream. They visited grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins until April 1884. Mary told many stories relative to this visit, especially those associated with young cousins in the Morgan Richards family.

Good farming land was in short supply and other interests had to be developed individually and collectively. Livestock interests were established, as well as work in freight hauling, working in the mines and working on the railroad in Colorado. Joseph was Superintendent of the Co-op store, Secretary-Treasurer of the Bluff Cattle Pool, Postmaster for many years and was San Juan County’s second Probate Judge. He was a partner with Amasa and William Hyde, who was Amasa’s father-in-law, in a trading post located at Rincon, ten miles down river at a natural crossing of the San Juan River. He was also an exemplary neighbor, a good veterinarian and he had all the attributes to make him the fine colonizer that he was.

Two beautiful girls were added to the Barton family. Josephine born December 3, 1886, and Isabel born September 11, 1888. Harriet was assisted in keeping clothing for the children by her mother who sent things from Paragonah where they were easier to obtain. Carding wool, spinning yarn and sewing clothes for a growing family required all around effort of the family.

Days were long and work was never ending, but life was filled with chilling experiences, but none as dramatic as the occurrence on the morning of June 9, 1887. Amasa Barton, his wife Harriet Parthenia (Fennie), their two small sons and Fennie's mother had moved to the site of the store at Rincon where a home, barns, milk house and a water wheel to lift water from the river had been finished. A freight line had been established to bring supplies from Colorado to the community and the trading post.

Early on this day two Indians came to the post to redeem some jewelry taken as pawn. A price could not be established for the return of the goods and an argument ensued. Amasa was a large, powerful man who was absolutely fearless and was not intimidated by the pair. Seeing that the disagreement could not be settled, he ordered them from the store. The Indians got an advantage over Amasa and eventually shot him in the head and shot him again right in front of Fennie (Amasa’s wife) and her mother. The Piute Indian Posey, took a note to Bluff requesting Joseph come quickly. “This all took place about 12:30 o”clock. I didn’t get there until about 5:30 or 6:00.” Joseph stayed by his brother’s side except “what little time I was obliged to sleep, and that would not have been so much, had it not been for the persuasion of the folks.” Amasa passed away Thursday, June 16th at 2:40pm. Edited excerpts from letters Joseph wrote to his mother, Eliza Anderson Barton, relating the event of his brother, Amasa’s, death can be seen in more detail in Amasa’s history.

Karl Stephen Barton was born on November 17, 1891, and his grandmother Eliza Anderson Barton was present for his birth. She had delivered nearly five hundred babies in Iron County and never lost either a mother or a baby. This had to be a very special event for the Barton family, not only for the birth of Karl, but also for a visit from a dear and loved mother and grandmother. Eliza was fifty-six years of age, had endured the long trek to Utah, worked to establish a new home in Parowan and yet found the strength to visit a part of her family from which they had been separated for so long. The travel to Bluff and the return home took weeks over this rough inhospitable land. We know where the men who matched the mountains came from.

The Mormon settlers may have worked from daybreak to dark, but they made time for recreation and the pursuit of the finer aspects of life, even in such a far away place as Bluff. Church socials were in vogue, musical groups formed, sewing circles, and picnics held, even though most homes were little more than picnic areas. They accepted the long wagon trip to Thompson Springs to catch the train to Salt Lake City for Temple marriages and to enjoy the cultural offerings of the time. The Bluff Riding Club was a popular group activity, though we may question their motivation, considering the only mode of travel was by horseback, buggy, or wagon. All the grandchildren can remember taking these long trips by team and wagon and buggy. Fun came from the huge swing tree, fishing with Aunt Jennie in the San Juan River and the old swimming pool that had the softest water in the world. They may not have explored the Indian dwellings that abounded around the Bluff area as they may have still been occupied, but they certainly were under the watchful eye of the Navajos. Holidays in Bluff were celebrated in the same manner as the early settlers in America, complete with Indian guests. They never became accustomed to seeing Indians in town or red faces peering through windows at all hours of the day or night. They showed as much compassion as their meager means would allow to feed, clothe and render medical assistance when they were permitted to give it. Some long time friendships developed and many grandchildren remember meeting some of the Indian friends years after their parents died.

In September of 1895, Joseph, Harriet Ann and the three youngest children went to Iron County for another visit. The four oldest Barton children remained in Bluff. They were a close knit family and made sacrifices to again enjoy reunions with their parents, family members and friends.

May 12, 1896, was a happy day for the Barton family. A son, Wesley Ray, was born. But this joyous occasion was soon followed by a most sorrowful event. On May 29, 1896, Harriet Ann died from complications following the birth of her eighth child. Her lovely soprano voice had been stilled, as well as her active involvement in the Relief Society, as were the cries of her little son, on June 7, 1896.

Joseph’s letters to his mother tell of this event and reveal a deep love and respect he had for Harriet Ann. Harriet Ann had been ill and had been to Salt Lake to the doctor and felt her time was short. She did not want to be taken to the cemetery by wagon. Joseph and men of the community carried her coffin to the cemetery. When baby Wesley died, Harriet Ann’s grave was opened and his coffin set on top of hers.

Loving Bluff settlers put their arms around this family and the strength of their father was miraculous as he comforted and encouraged his family. Josephine (Josie) often told Golda that she grew up “sleep starved” because she was too lonesome to go to bed at night and she would tease her father to let her sit near him while he worked by lamp light on his many ledgers.

The family struggled through the next two years. Time will not erase, only ease the loss of an important loved one. Perhaps having accepted and staying with the call to help establish a community and when the family felt they were back on their feet, a new and very challenging event came into their lives. In mid 1898 a second mission call came for Joseph Franklin Barton, which he accepted. He was to serve in the South Central States Mission. He moved his children to Provo to attend school. Comfortably settled in housekeeping quarters in the home of Professor and Sister John Swenson, the Barton family carried on.

The Barton children enjoyed their schooling and at all times appreciated the friendliness and kindness of the Swenson family who assisted in any emergency or when the older children were engaged in after school activities. The confidence of Joseph manifested in them certainly speaks for their dependability and stability. Certainly the guidance of their Heavenly Father was with them and letters from their good father helped sustain them. Since letters took four or five months (one way), much thought was given as to the advice and instructions for the family. Letters also indicate that the family went back to Bluff for the summer in order to take care of the ranch and home, as instructions were given for what the boys needed to do on the ranch.

Harriet had met Fletcher B. Hammond from Moab and upon his return from the Southern States Mission, they met again in Provo where they were both attending school. Their courtship continued and they were married December 14, 1899.

When Joseph returned in October of 1900, he was right fresh from the vicinity of the devastating Galveston hurricane of September 1900, and the stories that he had to tell were not tall tales. He had contracted malaria months before returning home, so he remained in Provo with the family until February 1901, when Morgan drove him to Buff, while the family remained to finish the school term. Morgan recounts the events of this trip and events that followed in his writings.

Move to Verdure: Joseph returned to Bluff in February to be present at a conference, which was presided over by Brigham Young, Jr. It was at this conference that those called to the San Juan Mission were released. Bluff was so situated that expansion there was very limited, so while retaining their homes in Bluff, many acquired land and interests toward what was to become Grayson, later named Blanding, and on the foot of the Blue Mountains where Monticello would be established. Cattle outfits and some lone settlers were already in these areas.

In 1902 Frank was called to a mission in Belgium and in the fall of that year, Joseph purchased the ranch and cattle holding of P.H. Butt at Verdure and then the adjoining ranch and cattle interests of R.P. Holt (Hott). He also acquired additional land from State and Federal Governments. In the late fall or early winter the Barton family moved to Verdure, Utah.

In the fall of 1905, Mary went to Moab to be with Hannie (Harriet) for the arrival of her baby. While there she met John Parley Larsen and after a year of courtship they were married on January 31, 1906. As the older children began to leave home, the younger children, each in their turn, stepped into the lead position in keeping the household running.

Move to Verdure:

In 1905 Frank returned from Belgium just in time to bid Morgan farewell as he prepared to report to the Southern States Mission, serving in Georgia. Frank married Hattie Ellen Redd on February 27, 1907, and they made their first home at Verdure. They subsequently lived in the Barton home at Bluff for several years, returned to Verdure and then lived in Blanding.

Two sisters from Lowell, Massachusetts, Minnie and Eugenia Johnson, came to Bluff. Minnie was probably a schoolteacher and Eugenia had accompanied her. For whatever the reason they came, Eugenia (Jennie) was to become the wife of Joseph and a most loved and dear member of the Barton family. She became not only a wife, but she filled the void left by Harriet Ann and became the grandmother on the Barton side that the family had not had. Joseph and Eugenia were married on April 7, 1907. This was not a temple marriage because Eugenia had given her word to her mother that she would not accept the Mormon faith, which word she honored to her death.

Josephine and Isabel attend Brigham Young Academy. Josie became a schoolteacher and Isabel a nurse. Morgan returned from Georgia and was called to another mission there. Isabel married Leroy Wood on March 12, 1912, and they settled in Monticello. Karl attended the Agriculture College in Logan prior to his marriage to Ella Christina Mackelsprang Jones on November 12, 1914. They made their home in Verdure, living there the remainder of their lives. Josephine taught school for four years prior to her marriage to Harold Empey Young on August 26, 1916, and settled in Salt Lake City. Morgan married Sarah Rhae Mecham on April 21, 1917, living in Verdure before establishing their home in Monticello.

In 1914 Joseph, J.P. Larsen and F.B. Hammond Sr. joined with a group of men to purchase the holdings of Carpenter and Cunningham at La Sal, Utah, which later became known as the La Sal Live Stock and Store Company. Several yeas later when the ranch was unable to meet mortgage payments and assessments were levied against the stockholders, they dropped from the venture.

Morgan indicated that his father’s only vice was work. He indeed worked hard and made Verdure a literal Garden of Eden. No one who descended the dug-way to Verdure will ever forget the huge red barn that he built, corals, blacksmith shop, granary, the homes, the well-kept yards and green fields. He was meticulous in all that he did, going about his business in a quiet and orderly manner. Everything was trim and proper, in its place and well cared for, right down to his well-trimmed, distinctive mustache. One day Wesley was meandering over this well manicured landscape in his distinctive gait when his Grandpa took hold of his shoulders and said, “Young man, when you walk, walk as though you are going someplace, even if you are only going to the out-house.”

In early June of 1919, Joseph was in Salt Lake City to see the doctor. In a letter to Morgan dated June 14, 1919, he said that he would be in the hospital for several days getting in condition for an operation. Following prostate surgery he stopped in Moab on his return home and shocked the young Larsen children with the horrible wound that had not healed.

His door was always open to those in need, and “Joe Barton” as he was known by all, could be depended upon in time of distress. When Reed was asked how he remembered his Grandpa, he said, “He could do what had to be done.” A cowboy came in one day with a mangled hand. Most of his fingers were missing after being caught between the saddle horn and rope while roping cattle. Joe Barton took out his pocketknife, sharpened it and proceeded to clean up the hand. Don recalls a Mr. Adams coming to the barnyard and asking, “Joe, if it isn’t too troublesome could you look after my arm”, an arm that had been laid open by an ax. He provided medical and dental services to whoever and whenever needed. He pulled teeth for most everyone in San Juan County. He was loved and respected by all members of the community.

Indian troubles had plagued the Bluff settlers from the day that they arrived and it continued through the years. Joseph sent a letter to the governor in 1907 asking what could be done. The Indian who killed Amasa was not brought to justice, even though he was known. These problems culminated with an uprising in 1923 and one of the leaders was Posey, the Indian who had ridden to Bluff from Rincon following the shooting of Amasa. In a letter to Mary dated November 18, 1924, Joseph told her that they were as prepared as they could be for whatever trouble followed. After so many years of strife, life was accepted as it came.

Joseph enjoyed very few modern conveniences. He never lived in a home with indoor plumbing, running water, electricity or central heating. Kindling and wood was made ready each night for the fire next morning, if the fire was allowed to go out. Water was fetched from the spring, creek or well and lucky were the homes that had a pump at the kitchen sink. A box with a burlap covering kept wet provided refrigeration, or the use of a springhouse. Keeping the lamps filled with kerosene and the chimney cleaned was a daily task. Getting ready for work each morning brought many chores, the animals had to be fed, horses harnessed and the cows milked. Life was a daylight to darkness routine. Most of his grandchildren got their start in life under these humble circumstances, but were able to move into better times.

Perhaps two things Joseph did enjoy. Many of the settlers to Southern Utah were from the south, as were the Barton's and they did take ‘pride’ in their horses. One of the reasons that many tears were shed was at the abuse their stock had to endure to extract them from the nightmare they lived in getting to Bluff. Horse racing was a popular activity with the community, as was the riding club. Just how good his horse, Pollex, was, no one can remember. Each community had a racetrack and public racing was a popular and regular activity. Joseph did own an automobile, maybe two. With the deep sand, the sticky mud and the steep grades, the first ones in use brought a new adventure to their lives. Reed remembers Grandpa leaving his 1925 Dodge parked by the black walnut trees in Moab and with mother’s consent and after much maneuvering, the family went for a ride, with Reed at the controls and being all of thirteen years of age. This was completely out of character for Mary, but then she did like to go for rides.

The cousins and grandchildren all remember vacations spent at Verdure and at aunt’s and uncle’s homes. The Barton’s were one large family and looked forward to visits in Moab, Monticello, Blanding, and Verdure. A stay with the Young’s in Salt Lake City was indeed a treat.

On April 10, 1926, following a visit from some family members, Joseph slept longer than his usual time and upon arising when Jennie called him to breakfast, he suffered a stroke and died later that day. Funeral services were held in Monticello and also in Bluff prior to burial on the hill above the town. Aunt Jennie did not stay long at Verdure, but returned to Bluff to live with her sister. She was a picturesque figure around town in her calico dress, straw hat, fishing pole and her charming Swedish accent. She was a friend to all the community, as well as to the Indians and loved by all. She died March 11, 1954, and is buried in the Bluff City Cemetery.

Text from “A Family History- Joseph Franklin Barton and Harriet Ann Richards Barton” –edited by Robin Young Goldthorpe and submitted to familysearch.org May 7, 2015, and Joseph F. Barton’s only personal writing about the long and arduous journey and descent through the “Hole in the Rock”. Written in Verdure, May 10, 1914.

Source:
1 Story at FamilySearch
2 Sketch on former HIRF website

Hole in the Rock Foundation
Bluff Fort Visitor Center

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