Memories of James Rowan Donaldson by Verma

MY MEMORIES OF JAMES ROWAN DONALDSON

Written by Verma L. Donaldson, Daughter-in law

January 1991

The first time I saw Dad Donaldson was when Ozz introduced me to him at the Virden Cemetery, March 1935, the day of Carl and Flossie Donaldson’s baby son’s (Kendal) funeral. He was sociable, pleasant and friendly.

The next time I saw Dad D. was that summer when Darwin, Emma, Margret (Emma’s mother) and I went to visit Ozz at his home in Hachita, New Mexico. Ozz’s dad warmly welcomed us into his home. He was around six feet tall, fairly slender, blue eyes, with thick dark curly hair which was graying. He had on bib overalls and a Stetson hat. As I found out he didn’t spend much on clothes but he always had a good Stetson hat.

I don’t recall seeing him again until we were married and I went to Hachita to live. However he did write me one letter thanking me for some peaches Ozz and I had canned for him.

Dad S. seemed pleased to have me as a daughter-in-law. He always treated me with kindness, respect and love. He also encouraged Ozz to be thoughtful, kind and loving to me. In fact he would get after Ozz if he thought he was mistreating me, unkind, or not showing me respect.

Whenever Ozz and I were in town close to meal time nothing to do but we eat with him. I don’t recall anything particular that he fed us but a potato stew he made with chorizo, which was delicious. I got Dad D. to tell me how he made it but mine never did taste as good as his.

He wasn’t a heavy eater. One thing that really impressed me was that he had to have a piece of steak everyday but it was a very small piece. He liked red salmon but didn’t care for pink.

One day shortly after we were married and living in a little tin shanty on Ozz’s homestead, he came out to visit with us. He started laughing after I said something and it embarrassed me for I didn’t think what I said was funny. Then he told me that he hadn’t heard anyone else say what I said. It was one of his pet sayings. It amused us both when we found out that we both had pet sayings that were the same that nobody else had. I can not remember what they were except, “Am I right or am I wrong?”

Even when Ozz was gone Dad D. would come to see me when he was out riding to check on his stock. We lived about four miles from his home in Hachita. Sometimes I would be doing something outside and never see or hear him ride up. He loved to tease and tell me that it was a good thing I didn’t live when the Indians were savage and roaming around, for they would have captured me without any trouble.

He liked to get up early and read the newspaper. Just as soon as the store was open he would go get his mail and buy his steak and whatever else he wanted. During warm weather he had no way of keeping his meat very long for he had no refrigerator. In fact he didn’t have electricity either. He used kerosene lamps to see by.

I had always loved riding horses as a girl so one day when we went to see Dad D. He had Telegas saddled up and I asked him if I could ride him. He wouldn’t let me saying he wasn’t safe enough for me to ride. He had another horse that he would let me ride.

In visiting with him one day, it really surprised me when he told me that he had not seen his girls since they left home which was about 12 years, for I knew he really loved and missed them. I was curious why he hadn’t gone to see them. He said that it had been such a painful and heartbreaking experience for him when they left, that he just couldn’t stand the thought of being separated from them again after seeing them.

Quite often when he came to see me he would bring me some candy. I was getting quite a supply on hand for I was pregnant and candy didn’t agree with me. I said something about him bringing me so much candy. He replied, “I want to bring you something.” Knowing that he went to the little store in Hachita early every morning and that was the only time they had any fresh vegetables if they had any. I said, “How about bringing me some kind of fresh vegetables.” This pleased him to think that he could bring me something I could enjoy and liked. I can still remember how I enjoyed the radishes he brought me.

Dad was thrilled when he had Lavinia and oh how he would love to come and play with her. She really enjoyed his and would cry when he would put her down to leave. So he would always give her back to me and let me get her amused in something else before he left. Quite often he would come out to see us on Sunday and we all would take a walk up to his windmill about one half mile from our house. I don’t ever recall us carrying Lavinia on these walks for he wanted and liked to carry her on his shoulders, which she dearly loved doing.

Before Ozz and I were married he had drilled a well on his homestead and got a small stream of water between 60 and 70 feet. Even though it was a small stream he was glad for it. The wells around Hachita were 400 feet deep. He felt that he could make it a better well by digging a larger well around the drilled well and also make a tunnel at the bottom of the well for a greater storage capcity. Ozz’s dad helped him some and then when we were married I helped too. It was a real slow process especially when he got down eighteen feet for he hit solid rock and had to use dynamite to break up the rock. One day when we were in Hachita at the garage, Ozz got to talking about how hard it was to dig his well since it was in solid rock. He made the comment that he would be glad to pay anyone $10 a foot to dig it. Thinking Ozz didn’t know much about drilling and using dynamite, Frank, Creed McKinney, and Mike Eaves took Ozz up on the offer thinking they could make some easy money. Then dollars sounded like a lot of money then. It amused Ozz and I for they didn’t last long on the job. Instead of making the well walls straight down they kept making them smaller.

One day when Ozz and his dad were working on the well, part of the dynamite didn’t go off. It wouldn’t be safe to leave it for if they hit the dynamite with a pick, it would probably go off and kill them. Ozz was going to go back down in the well and set the rest of the dynamite off. Dad said that he would go down. Ozz and I both said it would be best for Ozz wince he was younger and he could move faster, but Dad insisted on going down, saying that he didn’t want to take a chance on Lavinia not having a father and me being a widow. I’ll never forget how concerned and worried Ozz and I were, not knowing whether the fuse had just gone out or was slow burning. It seemed an eternity before he gave us a signal to pull him up out of the well. Oh how thankful and grateful we were when he got out of the well and we were all safely away from the well when the dynamite went off.

Back when Dad D had started ranching they had what they called open range, where different rancher’s stock could graze. Then sometime after we were married, the Taylor Grazing Act went into effect. This is where ranchers could get land to lease for just their stock and they could fence it. A special meeting was held in Deming where they could get Taylor Grazing Land. Ozz’s dad was glad that they were able to get several sections without having a lawyer to help them. To celebrate he took us to the best restaurant in Deming for dinner.

A Pilot with a two passenger plane came to Hachita and was taking people for rides in his plane. We invited Ozz’s dad to go with us when we went to the airport to get a ride. He didn’t say anything about when Ozz took his ride but when I went to go he asked me not to. I don’t know whether it scared him to see Ozz take a ride or not but he was afraid that Lavinia would become motherless. He looked so worried I didn’t have the heart to go even though I wanted to and wasn’t afraid. The next day when Ozz came home from checking the engines that provided lights for the airport, he told me the pilot was still there and would take me for a ride. Ozz knew how much I wanted to take a ride and see our homestead from the air. We didn’t let Dad D. know I was going for we didn’t want to worry him.

Amy wrote her dad and wanted to come home after graduation from high school. He didn’t know what to think. Oh such mixed feelings and emotions, wanting to see her and afraid of how they would respond to each other. They hadn’t seen each other since she was a small child. Would she be happy there even for a short time. Hachita was just a small ranch town with a combination store and Post Office, Saloon, Chinese Restaurant (hangout for gamblers), and a garage. No church or anything for young people. Amy was used to living in an active Utah Mormon town. How would she feel living with just her father and bachelor brothers. Then how would it be if she left or if she stayed.

He was glad to see that his little girl had been well trained in womanly arts and that she had grown into such a lovely beautiful young lady. Oh he was glad to see her. I can still see her sitting on his lap cuddled up to him as if trying to capture the tender love of a father and a child they both had missed so.

Dad D. sure enjoyed having her home. He not only enjoyed her cooking and her cleaning the house but having her to ride with when he went to check his stock on the range.

I am thankful that I had a chance to get acquainted with Ozz’s dad and the fine example he set for us in goodness, honesty, love, kindness and especially grateful for him risking his own life for Ozz and I when he went down into the well to set off the dynamite that didn’t’ go off the first time it was lit.

Remembrances of James Rowan Donaldson by Christine

DAD

In 1987 Christine Donaldson Grover wrote her memories of her father,

James Rowan Donaldson

I remember Dad as having dark curly hair. I always loved him so much. He let me go down to his store and stay with him all day long. He ordered some ice cream to sell at the store, but on its journey to Hachita, salt got into the ice cream and Clifford and I tried to eat it. That great big freezer just couldn’t go to waste. I can still remember the rock salt on my tongue. I imagine this was very devastating to Dad.

I didn’t want to go to school so Dad didn’t make me. Consequently, I was seven years old when I started the first grade.

He rode horses and always had a water bag on the saddle. I loved drinking out of it. He would let me.

When we lived on the Homestead, he would travel by train to El Paso and the chimney would rattle when the wind blew and I would be so lonesome for him. To this very day, when I hear a lonesome train whistle especially off in the distance I think of my Dad.

I remember a Mexican girl my age living next door but Dad refused to ever let me play with her.

One day I got a sliver under my finger nail. It festered but I wouldn’t let Dad pull it out. Finally it was rotting my finger and my nail was coming off. Then I let Dad take it out. Today I have a ribbed nail; my own fault.

When we left for Utah I was eight years old. That was the last time I saw my father.

When we came to Utah, he wrote to me and sent me a dollar. I always appreciated having some change through the years. A dollar went a long way those days.

I missed him and my brothers for a long time. Too bad we had to be raised apart. But I feel it was for the best. I have learned so many things and have a very happy life.

James Rowan Donaldson (1877-1938)

James Rowan Donaldson, b. April 6, 1877
son of John and Christina Comb Sim Donaldson
husband of Frances Cora Harris Donaldson, b. 1881
father of Carl Maeser Donaldson, b. 1897
grandfather of Chad Klaron Donaldson, b. 1943

JAMES ROWAN DONALDSON

1877-1938

By Verma L. Donaldson, 1990

James Rowan Donaldson was born at West Porterville, Utah on April 6, 1877 to John Donaldson and Christina Comb Sim. He was their third child. He had a sister, Mary Janet and a brother, John William.

When he was around three years old his family which now included a baby brother, Samuel Alexander, moved to Grand Valley, Emery County, Utah. While there his brother Joseph Smith was born. Then the family moved to Castle Dale, Emery County, Utah. It was here that Margret Ellen was born but she didn’t live. In a couple of years they were blessed with another son, Hyrum.

On April 28, 1886 his mother passed away and then the very next year his little brother Joseph died. It was a heartbreaking, sad and hard time for the family to lose them both in such a short time.

The fall of 1887 the family sold their home in Castle Dale and moved to Old Mexico in the hopes of having a better and easier life but it didn’t work out that way. Times were hard and food was scarce. They all had to work to provide for themselves. The brothers got 50 cents a day for grubbing mesquite to clear land for farming. Dad Donaldson told me that he was doing some freighting for James Mortenson before he got married.

When he was around 19 ½ years old he married Frances Cora Harris. Their first home was a two room adobe house. Later they add three more lumber rooms on to it. One room was used for their kitchen, one for storage and the other for the boys’ bedroom. Their mattress was made out of ticking stuffed with corn shucks. Their pajamas were made out of muslin. Ozz remembers four of the brothers sleeping in one bed; two at the head of the bed and two at the foot. Quite often he would get kicked.

While living in this home in Diaz they had eight children; Carl, November 13, 1897; Richard (Dick), September 15, 1899; John, January 10, 1901; Conrad (Tim), August 9, 1902; Vearl, April 29, 1904; Oswald (Ozz), December 16, 1906; Marvin, May 27, 1910; and Clifford (Cliff), May 20, 1912.

Dad was very industrious. He and several other men went into the cattle business. He also farmed, had a meat shop and did barbering. He worked hard and provided a good living for his family for those times. He liked to improve his property and himself. Ozz remembers helping this father plant fruit trees that he had started from seed. He also remembers seeing his dad read by kerosene lamp. Tim said his dad could speak Spanish and write it. (Note: He butchered every Thursday).

He really loved his children but was stern with them. How he loved to pick up the baby when he came in from work and amuse it while Fanny finished preparing a meal. Then he would like to hold the baby while they ate and feed it.

It really tickled Ozz when his dad would play ball or catch with him. His dad got some rubber some place and melted it and made it into a ball which bounced better than the string balls they made by wadding up a piece of cloth and wrapping it with string until it was the size they wanted. The rubber ball was heavier and not quite as round as the string ball but Ozz was really proud to think his dad could make a rubber ball.

In the spring he would make his children whistles out of cotton wood which they enjoyed immensely.

He could really whistle loud with just his lips. None of the boys were able to learn how to whistle like their dad except John.

When Sunday came dad would take the family all to church when they were living in Old Mexico.

Ozz said that his father really tried to teach his children at an early age to work. When Ozz was about four years old he had been helping pick up potatoes but he had become bored and tired and was sitting on the spring seat of the wagon. He started grumbling and coaxing to go home. After quite a few, “Let’s go home”, his dad picked him up and gave him a few swats with a potato vine from the seat, telling him to help pick up potatoes and they would all go home. Ozz learned at an early age that when his dad told him to do something that he meant it.

A wild steer of his would hide out and evade being caught when they rounded up the stock. One day he decided to get this steer so he could butcher it. He got Jimmy Jacobson to help him. He thought that if he backed his horse up toward the steer, maybe it would charge him, which it did. He had his rope all ready and lassoed it. They had quite a time getting it to the corral. It even gored his horse on the shoulder. When they got it in the corral, he put up the bars that they had for a gate, believing that a steer wouldn’t attack if you stood still. That didn’t mean a thing to the steer; he charged him and caught his horn in the hobble ropes he had tied around his waist. Around the corral went the steer with dad D. dangling in front. When he saw that the steer was going towards the pole gates, he untied the rope and was able to roll to safety under the poles. Some children that had seen them drive the steer into the slaughter corral were eager to watch so dad had them hide in some brush. Just as he had his gun aimed the children let out a yell. This startled him and he lowered the gun missing the steer. This excited the steer and over the fence he went galloping into town. He played havoc all night until they shot him.

In 1912 daddy D. purchased a brand new home from James Jacobson which was on the other side of what they called the box pasture from their present home. Ozz’s mother was thrilled with this new home and she made or had made for it new curtains and rugs. She was only able to live in it for a coupe of weeks when she had to leave Mexico.

On Sunday morning at 3 o’clock, July 28, 1912, the peaceful sleeping town had a rude awakening when Levi Tenney rode into town with a letter from the stake presidency telling them that Diaz was in great danger, as the rebels were demanding that all the guns and ammunition held by the Mormons be delivered to them (July 28) and they were supporting their demand with ruthless force. The upper colonies were already sending their women and children to El Paso and he advised them to immediately leave and cross the border into the United States.

Immediately the bishop called the men to a meeting and it was decided that a few men would stay and watch over the town. The rest would take enough supplies for a few days and those that had space would take those that didn’t have a means of going.

Uncle Sam had just sold his wagon, so it was decided that he would use his team and daddy D’s wagon and take both families. Dad and Carl would stay. Hurriedly they loaded what worldly goods they could on the wagon, besides the thirteen passengers, which included the following: Uncle Sam, Aunt Nora, Erva, Clem and Merlin, Fanny (Ozz’s mother), Richard, John, Conrad, Veral, Ozz, Marvin, and Clifford who was only 6 weeks old. They bid goodbye to dad and drove off with the other saints as they fled to the United States for safety.

After the last wagon of the caravan of refugees had left town, Bishop Ernest Romney called a meeting of the remaining men and boys, explaining to them that they were left to take care of the town and to guard the rear of the towns departing inhabitants. A plan was formulated dividing the responsibilities between them.

Two or three hours later a group of Mexican rebels came galloping into town demanding the rest of the guns which the Mormons had. They told them the people who had left had taken them. The rebels were going to go after the fleeing Mormons and get the guns, but Edmund Richardson, who could speak Spanish fluently, convinced them that it would be useless to try and get the guns. It was with great relief to see the rebels ride off toward La Ascension.

Feeling quite certain the order for guns would be repeated, the men stacked some old guns at Dad D’s home, and Carl (about 14 ½ years old) was left to deliver them upon demand.

August 2nd, five days after the general exodus, a band of 150 loot crazed rebels came into town. They entered the store where Bishop Romney and Charles Edmund Richardson were. After making havoc of the store they took the two men prisoners and demanded $1,000 and guns. Dad D brought a few old guns and explained to them that they would need more time to raise $1,000 for ransom. They let the two men go and demanded that they have the money for them the next day.

Shortly after 5:00 p.m. the same day, two messengers came (one was Willie Young) to town with a message from the church authorities to flee from the country.

Quietly and under cover, the Diaz men and the two messengers prepared to leave. Orson Richens and Lorin Johnson were put in charge of the ammunition wagon. The other men were divided into three groups: one was to drive the horses, one to take some outfits and the rest were to guard the flight. Bishop Romney, Edmund Richardson and dad went into a huddle to formulate precautionary measures in case of an attack. Luckily they didn’t have to fight and were able to travel by moonlight. They hurried forward without resting until they reached tent city where their families were.

The refugees didn’t get to go back to their homes in a few weeks as they had hoped to. Now they were faced with finding new homes. The government offered them free tickets on the train to where they wanted to go. Some went to Utah, some to Idaho, some to Arizona. Dad and Uncle Sam decided on staying there at Hachita and in time took up ranching.

Dad D. got a job cutting posts down on the U-Bar Ranch southeast of Alamo Hueco which lasted a month. They lived in a tent. One day Vearl and Ozz were carrying lunch to their father and brothers who were cutting posts, when they heard a lion roar. It really scared them and also their dad, for he heard it too. He ran in the direction they would be coming to check for their safety. What a relief to find them safe.

The family then lived at Four Mile Mill near Hachita, in a tent and a shelter they had made of soapweeds, while Dad D. looked around to see what opportunities there were for making a living.

They moved to Hachita and built a one room rock house. Ozz remembers going with his dad and brothers to get rock from a small hill near Table Top Mountain. They just used mud and possibly straw to hold the rocks together. His dad built the bottom of the walls quite wide. They used the tent and possibly the wagon for some of them to sleep in.

While they were living in this rock house (across the railroad in Hachita) the blacksmith and the sheriff, George Richards came to see Dad D, accused him of stealing the blacksmith’s wood stove, and told him he was going to search for it. It must have really angered dad D. to be accused of stealing for him to say, “Be sure and search the s--- house too. This infuriated sheriff Richards and he drew his gun and said, “I’ll put you where the dogs won’t bark at you.”

Mother D. heard him and came running out of the house and stood in front of dad. Very loudly she said, “Don’t you dare shoot my husband.”

Without stopping to search their place the sheriff and the blacksmith rode off.

Dad D. liked to farm so they moved to Franklin planning on farming, June 1914. That summer he worked for farmers in general; pitching hay, hoeing, etc. He and Carl also hauled lumber for Bud Spiller to build his home on the 24 Ranch. (Note: Carl bought the 24 Ranch in 1929 and moved the house in sections across the Gila River to the farm he bought. The house is the one Carl is now living in and raised his family in.)

Dad D’s asthma really bothered him here in the valley, so they moved back to Hachita in September. Uncle Sam had written him telling him there was a lot of prairie grass and thought that there would be ranchers who would hire to have it cut. The hay cutting didn’t turn out to be very profitable. So Dad D., Carl, Dick, and John started hauling ore for Senior Albert Fitch for 90 cents a ton. They could haul three tons on the larger wagons and 2 ½ tons on the smaller wagons. They had six wagons that they hauled ore with. They had four horses that would pull two wagons, one trailing behind the other. John usually rode a horse and helped load all the wagons.

Tim usually ran the water wagon which took water to the Mexicans that worked at the mine for drinking, washing, etc. They hauled water in wooden barrels which were quite a problem to keep from leaking when they got dry. They bought the water for 10 cents a barrel. Don’t know how much they sold it for. Ozz helped in the summertime.

When they moved back to Hachita (September 1914) they rented a small lumber house near Fitch’s on the South westerly side of Hachita. Dad D. slept in a tent on account of his asthma. One day he noticed a v-shape cut in his tent. He thought sure the children had done it and was very surprised when he found out they hadn’t. Some man had done it during the night. He slipped into the tent and ransacked a trunk that was in the tent without waking Dad D.

Very rarely would Ozz’s dad let him sleep in the tent with him; but when he did, it really thrilled Ozz.

One day a man with a big white bulldog came to see Ozz’s dad about some business. When he saw their dog, he said, “You better put your dog up or my dog will kill it.” Before they could do anything, Old Watch (their dog) spied the bulldog on his dominion. He didn’t like that. Quick as a wink, he grabbed the bulldog by the throat and started shaking him and tearing him up. Boy did he start yelping. The man was shocked and started yelling, “Please call off your dog.” This tickled Ozz and his brothers to think their dog could whip this bulldog that was supposed to be such a good fighter.

I am not sure when they stopped hauling ore for Fitch but I think it was in 1917 or 1918. Carl said the most money they made in a month hauling ore was in January 1917, when they made $748.00.

Dad D. told me that he and his boys ran a freight outfit in Hachita from 1915 to 1920. I was asking Ozz about this and he said that after they quit hauling Ore for Fitch, they had hauled lumber for different ranchers. He didn’t remember what else, unless it was ore for another mine.

Christine was born in the little house near Fitch, September 17, 1914. Dr. Thornberry (Railroad Dr.) was the attending doctor.

Dad D. homesteaded some land east of Hachita and moved a two room frame house on the homestead on the running gears of two wagons. Later on he moved another two room house for the boys to sleep in.

Dad started raising cattle in 1915 and spent the rest of his life doing so.

They used to get oat straw and left over feed, after the army horses and mules had eaten all they wanted. One day when Dick came home with a load of waste feed, he also brought some good oats. Dad D. asked him where he got them. Dick said that he had bought them, for he knew the soldier had stolen them. He told Dick that he didn’t want anything stolen on his place.

Ozz thinks it was around 1917 when his dad had the large four room adobe house built in town. He had hired the work done and was sure disgusted when he saw the guy had made little narrow eaves. They rented the house for awhile since they needed to stay on the homestead to finish proving up on it.

Mother D. didn’t get to live in the new house very long, only a year or so. Amy was born in the new adobe home March 19, 1920. That fall, Oct 23, 1920, Mother passed away after being in poor health for some time, she had Bright’s disease. This was a hard blow to Dad D. to lose his dear wife and the mother of his ten children.

Ozz remembers how broken-hearted his dad was in losing his wife, but he didn’t let his sorrow stop him from trying to help fill the void of losing our mother to us children. He was more thoughtful, gentle and loving to us. Dad would do quite a bit of the cooking but Vearl would nearly always make a cake for Sunday.

Ozz remembers Veral, Tim and him working in his dad’s store and taking care of it when he couldn’t be there. Sometimes all three of them would, and then other times, just one of them. The family would really get a kick out of when Amy came to the store. She would get a candy bar or something and who ever was working at the store would ask her where her money was to pay for it. She would answer, “Just charge it . . .” She had heard some of the customers say that. (Amy was less than three years old).

Dad D. didn’t keep the store long after Vearl and the girls left. He told me that he bought the store in 1921 and sold it in 1923.

Vearl wanted to go to Utah and to take the girls with her for she had promised her mother, just before she died, that she would take care of them. It was with great reluctance that dad let the girls go, for he could hardly stand the thought of being separated from them, whom he loved very dearly. Wanting to be sure that nothing happened to them on the way to Utah he had Tim go with them on the train. It was really lonesome without the sisters but one thing that helped Ozz not feel bad was that he didn’t like the riff-raff that was trying to take up with Vearl.

Ozz doesn’t remember who was living at home with his dad, during any particular time, after the girls left and went to Utah.

Carl and Flossie were married June 16, 1921, just a little less than a year after his mother died. They lived in Hachita until around 1927 or 1928, when they sold their Homestead and moved to the farm they bought in Virden Valley, New Mexico.

About 1923, Tim and Ozz went to Douglas to work. Ozz stayed about three years and then went back to Hachita; after receiving a letter from his dad asking him to come back home and to take up a homestead, which would be a good way for Ozz to acquire some land. He also encouraged Tim and Dick to do likewise. With them all having homesteads, it would help them to acquire more government land to run stock on, thus making a larger and better ranch.

Dad D. never married again feeling a great responsibility to provide and take care of Marvin himself and not put him in a home or institution for mentally handicapped.

Tired and weary from the many problems, trials and struggles he had in his life, he passed away quietly November 26, 1938.

William Sim (1817) and Janet Eddie (1822)

William Sim (1817) and Janet Eddie (1822) were
parents of Christina Comb Sim Donaldson b 1851
grandparents of James Rowan Donaldson, b 1877
great-grandparents of Karl Maeser Donaldson, b 1897
great-great grandparents of Chad Klaron Donaldson, b 1943

A Sketch of the Life of my Grandparents,

WILLIAM SIM AND JANET EDDIE

by Janet Sim

(with some additions by Karl M Donaldson, Jr. at her request)

1956, revised 1997

My grandfather, William Sim, son of John Sim and Elizabeth Sim (first cousins), was born 4 July 1817 in Elie, Fife, Scotland. He was a mason by trade.

My grandmother, Janet Eddie, daughter of William Eddie and Christian Comb, was born 30 January 1822 at Aberlady, East Lothian, Scotland. (This date is from the Aberlady Parish Register).

Janet’s father, a farmer, was employed on the estate of the Earl of Wemyss, which gave his children some educational advantages not enjoyed by the children of the average working man of that day. She could read and write fluently, could mend beautifully, and had received some training in practical nursing.

William could also read and write and had been taught the trade of mason by his father. It was while following his trade that he came to the village of Aberlady, and straightway he began to court the vivacious Janet of the sparkling black eyes and raven hair. He married her the 8th of June 1846. He seems to have been a man of few words, but direct action.

In due course of time eight children came to bless their home. Two of the boys died in their “teens,” and a daughter in infancy. Janet passed through this bereavement with the same faith, courage and fortitude that was so evident in the many trials through which she passed, both before and after she reached the valleys of the mountains.

One evening in 1851, while they were living in Glasgow, William was walking down the street with some male companions on their way to a cockfight (a popular sport in those days), when he was attracted by the singing of two Mormon Elders who were holding a street meeting. It seems that he greatly enjoyed singing, as in later years he often sang in duets with his daughter Christina.

The sincerity of the prayer which followed the singing caused him to remain, while his companions continued on to the cockfight. Seeds of truth were planted in his soul that night through the short sermons given by the two Elders, which changed the course of his whole future life. Until that night he had not responded to any religious service he had heard, so was not affiliated with any church organization. Now his heart was pricked; he investigated and soon joined this unpopular religion. He was baptized the 8th of March 1851 by G. Pringle, and was confirmed the next day.

Janet, a devout member of the Presbyterian Church, was greatly distressed, but as usual went to the Holy Book for inspiration and counsel. The first passage to meet her eyes on this occasion was: “This is the way, walk ye therein.” Ever a person of action, she began at once to investigate. Later being fully convinced of the truth of “Mormonism” she was baptized; the date being the 15th of March, 1851. She was baptized by J. Henderson, and was confirmed the following day.

Being a very capable and faithful saint, she was chosen to take charge of the conference house (as the mission home was called at that time), first for about four years in Edinburg (to about May 1866), then for two years in Liverpool, England, where many homesick missionaries from Zion received a mother’s loving and thoughtful attention after the weary weeks crossing the plains and the ocean.

After much planning and saving, the great day arrived for them to emigrate to Zion. With over 700 saints and missionaries they set sail on Thursday the 4th of June 1868 on the good ship John Bright, a sailing vessel of 1,440 tons. John Bailey was captain.

The members of the family who embarked at this time were William and Janet and their children Christina, Sarah, Alexander and James. (The oldest son, William, had already crossed on a steamship, about May 1867.)

For five weeks and four days they were tossed by the mighty waves before they reached “Castle Gardens,” as it was then called. It is now known as Ellis Island. The date of their arrival was July 13th.

After crossing the Hudson River on a ferryboat, they next loaded into cattle cars and rode as far as Laramie City, Wyoming arriving there July 23rd. This was as far west as the railroad had been completed at that time. At Laramie their bedding, provisions and other articles were loaded onto wagons drawn by mules. The trains of about fifty wagons, which had been sent from Salt Lake City to meet the immigrants, left Laramie July 27th. William and Janet walked most of the way.

Under the able direction of Captain John R. Murdock they arrived in Salt Lake City, Wednesday, the 19th of August 1868, all in good spirits and thankful that their lives had been spared. Several persons died on the journey.

After spending the winter in Salt Lake City with some friends they had made while living in the conference house, William and his family settled in South Morgan, Utah, living for a time in a dugout in the side of a hill just south of town.

William worked on the railroad then being built across the continent, assisting in laying the sandstone rock pillars which still support the railroad bridges in Weber Canyon (if I have been correctly informed). After a lingering illness (it seems he suffered with dusted lungs, a result of his following the trade of stonemason), William died on the 23rd of March 1870. This left Janet a widow with five children (one of whom was an invalid all through childhood), a one-room log house with a sod roof which leaked when they had a heavy rainstorm, and three city lots, not yet paid for.

With the same courage and enduring faith which had sustained her on other like occasions, she proceeded to gain a livelihood by going out nursing, having received some training before her marriage, as mentioned before. She also did fancy mending, at which she was an expert. For some time she and her daughters Christina and Sarah obtained employment in Salt Lake City. When the daughters married and her son Alexander had managed to provide her with a two-room concrete house with a shingle roof, he sent for her as he had promised when his father died. From that time on she lived in Morgan.

It seems evident early in her life that it was her mission to serve, rather than to be served, and so faithful did she do this that she endeared herself to all with whom she came in contact, and the name of “Grannie Sim” was lovingly given her as a fitting tribute of love and respect by all those who knew her.

Considering that part of her life was one of hard work and privation, it is surprising that at the age of eighty-one years she still retained her mental faculties undimmed. She could see to read without her glasses, if necessary, and walk without the aid of her cane. At an old folks’ party in the year 1903 she recited (by special request) the Articles of Faith in the Scotch dialect, which was considered remarkable in the early 1900’s.

After a short illness she passed away the 12th of May 1904, at the home of her son Alexander at Morgan, with whom she had made her home for many years. She was mourned as a mother by her daughter-in-law Mary, and as a kind and understanding “Friend” by her grandchildren.

John Donaldson 1845-1916

John Donaldson
born 4 May 1845
married November 24, 1866 to Mary (Lee) Steel, divorced
married February 12, 1873 to Christina Comb Sim (a widow)
died June 25, 1916.

father of James Rowan Donaldson b 1877
grandfather of Karl Maeser Donaldson b 1897
great-grandfather of Chad Klaron Donaldson b 1943

JOHN DONALDSON

1845-1916

As Written by Verma Donaldson

With additions from Francelle, Ethella, and others

John Donaldson was born 4 May 1845 at Bridge of Johnston, Renfrew, Scotland. James and Mary Rowan took John to raise when he became an orphan at five years of age. Carl’s father was named James Rowan is appreciation of the kindness this family showed to Grandpa John.

Carl said that Grandpa had a beautiful handwriting and he could read, but Carl didn’t know how much schooling he had.

The following information is copied from a letter Uncle Ozz and Aunt Verma received from Ozz’s cousin, James Donaldson, July 7, 1948:

“I understand he (Grandfather Donaldson) was baptized in England and came to America on the high seas. Since he was an orphan (as I hear) he had a hard life. He was very strict, especially when the mother (Christina Sim) passed away. He did not spare the rod. He went to old Mexico not for Polygamy but because the Saints were told that grass grew to a horse’s belly or to the stirrups on a saddle. The place was called Zion down there, so Grandfather gave up his little home in Castle Dale and hit for Mexico with his trousers which stood up stiff from freezing. They walked from Castle Dale near the Mogollon Mountains. Dad used to tell of sailing hard dried biscuits off the sloping hills at Castle Dale, Utah, because he could not eat them. When he got to Old Mexico he wished more than once he had some hard biscuits. Cracked corn and sorghum kept them from starving to death in Old Mexico. Dad said they also had coal on their property in Castle Dale.”

We don’t know how long Grandpa lived in Scotland or when he went to England, but we know he was in England in 1866, for he married Mary (Lee) Steel November 24, 1866, at Bethal, Parish of Bethal, Northumberland, England.

As Ozz understood, his grandfather worked in the coal mines while he was living in England.

John was baptized in March of 1868. We have no record of his wife being baptized, but he is said to have divorced because she refused to join the Latter-day Saint Church and come to America with him. We are not sure when he came to America, but we know that his son William Steel Donaldson was born in England in 1869, and he also had a daughter Margaret. He was married to Christina Sim in Morgan, Utah, February 12, 1873, so he had to come to America sometime between 1869 and 1873. James Rowan Donaldson said that Mary Steel was a widow with two children, and that while he was living in England he was a sailor. Carl understood he worked on the ship that he came to America on to pay for his transportation. Before going west, he worked for awhile in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. Later he went to Bingham, Utah, and worked in the copper mines.

John first got acquainted with Christina at a boarding home where he was staying while he was sick. John and Christina Comb Sim were married in Morgan, Utah, February 1, 1851 (wrong). They lived at West Porterville, Utah. While there, they had four children, Mary Janet, John William, James Rowan, and Samuel Alexander. From there they moved to Grand Valley (Moab, Grand County, Utah) and had one child, Joseph Smith. Then they moved to Castle Dale, and there they had two more children, Margret Ellen, born March 26, 1883, who died the same day, and Hyrum Smith, born February 28, 1884.

The year 1886 was a rough year for the family. Christina was pregnant, and her health wasn’t good, for she had albumin. On April 25, 1886, she died, leaving her children motherless and John without a wife to love and support him.

It would be no little task to have the full responsibility of providing and taking care of a family of six children with the youngest being only a year old. No doubt a lot of the responsibility of cooking, washing clothes, cleaning house and especially taking care of the two younger children fell on the hands of Janet who was 13 years old.

Tragedy struck again when Joseph died on June 15, 1887. These last two years had been very traumatic for Grandpa and his family. When John heard the glowing stories of Old Mexico, how the grass grew to a horse’s belly, and that it was a warmer and more desirable climate, this must have sounded like an answer to prayer. It was called Zion so it should be a better place to provide for and raise his family.

In the Fall of 1887, John left for Old Mexico with his five children: Janet, almost 14 years old, William, around 12 ½ years old, James, around 10 ½ years old, Samuel, who was a little past 8 ½ years old, and Hyrum, who was 2 ½ years old. It isn’t certain which route he took, but they must have taken the old Mormon wagon road through northern Arizona and crossed the Colorado River at Lee’s ferry. What makes me feel that they took this route is that Karl Junior found an inscription on a cliff on this route about 80 feet from House Rock Spring in Northern Arizona. Scratched in the sandstone was “J. R. Donelson.” My guess is that he took the same route my grandfather Lunt did going through Winslow and Joseph City, Arizona, and then when he got to Holbrook instead of going to Snowflake he went by St. Johns and from there by the Mogollon Mountains and through Silver City, New Mexico, Deming, and Columbus, New Mexico, and on to Colonia Diaz, Old Mexico. (Carl told me that they went through Silver City, Deming, and Columbus.)

Their first home in Old Mexico was just a dugout. It must have been very disappointing to find out that Mexico wasn’t a land of milk and honey as he had been led to believe. It was a real struggle for the family to survive.

Carl and Ozz neither one knew how Grandpa provided for his family. Ozz recalls of his dad telling about how he and his brothers earned fifty cents a day grubbing mesquite for someone who was clearing some land to farm. It was while doing this that Uncle Sam got his eye put out. There was one time when Grandpa carried mail from La Ascensión and Palomas to the Mormon Colonies.

As long as Carl and Ozz remembers, Grandpa lived in a little two room home southeast of Colonia Diaz about half a mile from their home. Quite often their mother would send the children to take food to him. One day she sent Vearl and Ozz with some food. In appreciation, he gave them each a slice of bread with some molasses on it.

Ozz said, “Grandpa, there are ants on it.”

Grandpa, who couldn’t see very well, replied, “You dad-burn little rascal, you go on and eat it. There are not ants on it.”

One time Carl’s younger brother John asked his grandfather, “Grandpa, why do you call Carl “cattle”?

His emphatic reply was, “Ya dad-burned rascal, I didn’t call him “cattle,” I called him “Cottle!”

While Grandpa was serving as some kind of officer or judge, he had put an outlaw who had caused some disturbances in jail. This outlaw’s name was Charles Parks, who had killed a man in United States and had fled to Mexico to get away from the law. It really made Parks mad to think Grandpa had put him in jail, and he threatened to kill him the first chance he got. One night Grandpa felt impressed to not sleep in his usual place but slept in the other room. He woke up suddenly to a loud bang and his house shaking. Charles Parks had slipped out of jail and got some dynamite and threw it where Grandpa’s bed had been. It didn’t hurt Grandpa except it nearly scared the fire out of him (an old expression).

He was nearly a nervous wreck after this experience, wondering when Parks would try to kill him again. Finally, he just left Mexico and went to St. Johns for a while. After James, his son, and family moved to Hachita, he visited with them a while and he also visited with his son Hyrum in Douglas, Arizona. He was living with his son William in Bisbee, Arizona, when he passed away June 25, 1916.

John and his children sold their property there at Castle Dale and moved to Old Mexico in 1889. They had to leave Mexico when the rest of the Mormons were driven out during the Mexican Revolution. He then went to Phoenix, Arizona, then to Vernon, Arizona, then to Raton, New Mexico, and then to Bisbee, Arizona, where he died June 25, 1916.

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On March 25, 1991, I was checking my family group sheets to make some copies to go in the books I gave our children and grandchildren for Christmas, I found the following information that Daddy (J.R.) Donaldson had told me about his father:


John Donaldson was born in Scotland when he got older he went to England and there met a widow with two children and they got married. He was a sailor while he lived in England. A few years later he came to America and worked in the Coal Mines in Pennsylvania. Later he went to Bingham, Utah and worked in the Copper mines.

He first got acquainted with Christina at a boarding house where he was staying while he was sick. John and Christina Comb Sim were married at Morgan, Utah, February 1, 1851.

They lived at West Porterville, Utah, while there they had four children. From there they moved to Grand Valley and had one child. Then they moved to Castle Dale and there they had two more children. Christina died there from child birth.

He and his children sold their property there at Castle Dale and moved to Old Mexico in 1889 and had to leave Mexico when the rest of the Mormons were driven out. He then went to Phoenix, Arizona, then to Vernon, Arizona, then to Raton, New Mexico, and then to Bisbee, Arizona where he died June 25, 1916.

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Ethelia Donaldson (Carl Donaldson’s daughter) came and visited with us, September 17, 1948. She brought the old family pictures that Amy Grogan had. One of the pictures was of a young couple. Dick told Flossie that the lady was Margaret Donaldson, daughter of John Donaldson by his first wife Mary Steel. Which wife he is said to have divorced because she refused to join the Latter-day Saint church and come to America with him. Ozz and I have a picture of a family who were living in England and were cousins of Ozz’s but we didn’t know their names etc. Ethelia and I believe the mother and the father in this family picture of ours is the same couple as in Amy’s picture.