Born: 7 May 1863 at Minersville, Beaver County, Utah
Parents: William Hyde and Angeline Harris
Married: Amasa Miles Barton, 28 November 1884 at Saint George, Washington, Utah
Married (2): Arthur Theophilus Dalley, 17 November 1894 at Ann Arbor, Washtenaw, Michigan
Died: 16 July 1950 at San Francisco, San Francisco, California
HARRIET HYDE BARTON -- A LIFE SKETCH
Seventeen-year-old Harriet Hyde accompanied her parents when they were called by Church
leaders to settle at Fort Montezuma. The Hyde family left Salt Lake on June 27, (1880)
with several wagon loads of supplies, with hired teamsters and guards. The written
account of one unidentified hired hand tells of their leaving half of their supplies at
Escalante, and blazing a new trail by way of Halls Crossing. They suffered many
hardships, and traveled long distances without water. He mentions how they sifted
wigglers and polliwogs from the water at first, but said they eventually gave up, and
just drank what water they could find, wigglers and all.
The group arived at Fort Montezuma on September 18th, making the trip from Salt Lake City
to Fort Montezuma in nine days short of three months.
They immediately went to work buiilding a substantial cabin, and later built the first
store in San Juan County. It was also called the Indian trading post. He built a second trading
post at Rincon, ten miles downstream of Bluff, near the base of San Juan Hill. Later, he
built two more stores, one on McElmo Creek and another at Aneth (River View).
The Hyde family had been asked by Church leaders to establish a wool depot, and to help
the Navajos market their wool. The Hyde family not only built the store, but they rigged
up a cable across the San Juan River with a boat attached, so the Navajo people could
cross the river and do business without having to swim. This boat-cable system became a
luxury to the Indians, and a great plaything for the Hyde children. William's son, Ernest,
enjoyed going hand over hand out the cable until he was over the middle. he would drop
into the river and swim back. During November of 1880, Harriet Parthenia Hyde,
affectionately called Feen, or Feenie, by the settlers, was given the assignment of
teaching school at Montezuma. Her class would soon grow to nearly thirty students of
diverse ages, some of whom were near her age of seventeen.
William Hyde and others built water wheels, and placed them in the San Juan River, to
lift water into the irrigation ditches.
During the spring of 1881, a young Ute man, the son of Sanop, fell in love with Parthenia.
Eventually Sanop approached William Hyde and asked for Parthenia, to be a wife for his son.
William refused, and Sanop threatened to kill him, but William was firm. Sanop backed down,
but it was a severe insult to the Indian. In Indian Culture, he had acted properly and
respectfully, as per Ute Indian custom.
Harriet married Amasa Miles Barton in 1884 and Amasa entered a partnership with Harriet's brothers,
Ernest and Frank. Amasa took over the Rincon trading post. His father-in-law, William,
served as the branch president in Montezuma, and was released in 1883. His home was washed
away during the floods of 1884, and he soon thereafter moved with Mary Ann's family to Colorado.
Angeline moved to Rincon to assist Harriet with her children; she never rejoined her husband.
In 1887, just a few days after the birth of Harriet's second son, Amasa was killed by two Navajos,
in a trade gone bad. Harriet and her mother tried to intervene prior to the shot which
mortally wounded Barton, but were waved off for their own safety. One Indian fired a shot,
killing the other Navajo. Mrs. Hyde tried to intercede again, pushing the surviving Indian
away from her son-in-law, however, the Navajo shot Barton point blank in the back of the neck.
He then carried his partner away, then returned to push Mrs. Hyde away from Barton, and
fired a second shot into Barton's neck. Amasa lingered for a week before he passed away.
Harriet eventually married Arthur T. Dalley in 1894 at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and died in 1950 in
San Francisco, California.
Sources: Blue Mountain Shadows, volume 30, Summer 2004
-- Contributed By Edward Christensen
“Fort on the Firing Line” by Albert R. Lyman, published in the Improvement Era between
October 1948 and March 1950: Chapters 13 and 14
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Harriet "Feenie" Hyde
Amasa M Barton
Harriet Hyde Barton, Angeline Hyde and Harriet's sons
Amasa Hyde and William Penn Barton
BYU Special Collections