Chapter 10: Early Marriage Years in Juab County

Aurilla's Aunt Sophi's home in Nephi

It’s not known where George and Aurilla had their first home.  A January marriage would have made it difficult to build something new, and unless George A had constructed a cabin or other home the summer and fall before their wedding, it’s most likely the young couple took up residence in one of their parents’ homes or that of another relative.   Relying on the help of family, they would have begun their new life together.   While winter employment may have been hard to come by, with spring approaching, the industrious young husband would not have had trouble finding work in growing Nephi. 

Young George Armstrong Christensen, as he was known before his marriage, afterward elected to take the name of his biological father, George Chappell. 

By the time George and Aurilla Chappell were married in January 1879, Nephi had become a bustling community central to the social and economic life of the surround region.  The arrival of the railroad later that year in May of 1879 along with the discovery of gypsum at the mouth of Salt Creek Canyon solidified the small city’s position as the economic hub of Juab County.  Coal had been discovered in San Pete County and in 1880, a rail to Nephi was completed greatly enhancing the already improving economic circumstance of the town. 

Having plenty of work and being near family, the young couple remained in Nephi for the next four years.  As they neared their first anniversary, Aurilla was becoming large with child.  With her mother, sisters and cousins near to support and assist, Aurilla gave birth to a son, George Alvin, born December 29, 1879.  Another son, William Lamont, blessed their marriage on August 3, 1881.  Less than a year later, much to Aurilla’s delight, a little girl, Mary Lerolen, joined their little family on July 13, 1882.

Having provided for his family by working various jobs, George A began looking to establish a place of his own.  He wanted to work on his own place; to have his own land.  While most of the water resources and irrigable land in eastern Juab County had long since been settled, George and others in the area found an opportunity to develop some land southwest of Nephi in an area called Chicken Creek.

The original town of Chicken Creek was settled in 1860 about 3 miles southwest of present day Levan.  However, within just a few years, it became evident the soil was sub-optimal and the location too far away from the water needed for irrigation.   In 1867, LDS Apostle Erastus Snow recommended the residents of Chicken Creek relocate to the present site of Levan.  By the time George moved to the area looking for a start of their own, all that was left was a few foundations and rock fireplaces.  (A History of Juab County, Centeniall Series, p. 49.)

Sevier River in Juab County

While the exact location of the homestead is unknown, the nearby newly established town of Mills may well have been the place.  Located further west near where Chicken Creek joined the Sevier River, this community provided new opportunities for settlement in eastern Juab County in the 1880’s. According the George’s younger half-brother, Parley P. Christensen, their father Peter Christensen had a homestead in Mills which he worked from about 1880 to 1888 (History of Parly P. Christensen as found on Familysearch.com). It would stand to reason that George would join his father in developing this new area of settlement.   In 1877 a Mr. Winigar settled just west of the Sevier River about 24 miles southwest of Nephi.  The area had plenty of flat land, grass, and water for irrigation. However, the newly arriving settlers soon found the area had its problems. The soil was alkaline, snakes abundant and the mosquitos intolerable.  Soon the town was called Suckertown because of the mospuitos. Many early residents lived in Dugouts or cabins. There was a local general store owned by John Williams, for whom nearby John Williams Canyon was named.( http://www.ghosttowns.com/states/ut/mills.ht) Between 1883 and 1896, the location was officially listed as the Wellington Branch of the LDS Church.  (A History of Juab County, Centeniall Series, p. 53.)

Dugout Cabin (picture from nearby Sanpete County)

Like so many others settling in the area, George found the proposition of carving out a home in this land passed over for decades by earlier pioneers, difficult at best, impossible at worst.  Like his parents and grandparents before him, the first order of business for George A was to get the limited water available in this dry land, onto the sagebrush flats – flats that with hard work and consistent effort could one day be lovely fields of green hay and golden oats. 

While water coming from the eastern mountains was a source for irrigation, this source was limited.  The earliest settlers of Chicken Creek, and later Levan, had placed dams and ditches many miles upstream.  Spring runoff would have supplied the western reaches of Chicken Creek, but by mid-June water flow to any western projects would have been minimal at best.  However, a constant and abundant source of local water was the Sevier River.  

Water in the desert

Early history of Juab County describes how the settlers in the Mills area created irrigation systems to bring water from the Sevier River onto the nearby land.  The biggest challenge facing them was the creation of diversions to back the water up and into surrounding canals.  Big rocks, logs, and whatever else they could conceive of were pushed into the river to try and slow its flow.  The river was deep and dangerous as the brave men worked to keep their canals flowing against the varying ebs and flows of the largest river in southern Utah.  (Keith N. Worthington, Sadie H. Greenalgh, Fred J. Chapman, They Left a Record, 1851-1978) 

I the spring of 1880, George and his friend, Amos Chase, were working on their diversion works when Amos was tragically killed. According to recorded history by Amos's daughter, Ina P. Chase Garrett, George and Amos were working on their dam when a pole broke that was holding the log on which they were standing. Amos was thrown into the river. The date was May 26 and the Sevier River was running high and cold. Amos was not a good swimmer and was swept away and drowned. George jumped in to try and save his friend and almost lost his own life in the effort.  (See addendum at the end of this chapter)

Losing his friend was very difficult for George, but he continued to try and make a go of it. About 1884, George moved Aurilla and their three small children to their new home along Chicken Creek. Joining them in their new home, on July 21, 1885, their third son, Thomas Edwin, was born.

After years of hard work, realizing the futility of the task, and tiring of the inhospitable surroundings, George began looking elsewhere for a place to call his own. Now, approaching forty years since his Chappell relatives had arrived in Utah in 1849, land suitable for farming was becoming harder and harder to find.  The 1862 Homestead Act allowed that any citizen over age 21 could homestead up to 160 acres of public land by paying a filing fee and making certain improvements during a five-year period.  The challenge at hand was to find land to homestead.

Articles in the Deseret News in the spring of 1880 and again in 1881, described new land for settling in Rabbit Valley in eastern Piute County.  Franklin Wheeler Young, nephew of Brigham Young, authored the first article and described the abundance of pinyon trees for fuel, water for irrigation, and land for homesteading finishing his article wondering why people would remain in Salt Lake City  and the older settlements when they could  take up land for farms in the Fremont Valley “with but little exertion”.   The 1881 article by Elias Hicks Blackburn, the local bishop, expressed the need for skilled craftsmen such as shoemakers, blacksmiths and tanners.  (Miriam B. Murphy, A History of Wayne County, 1999, Utah State Historical Society, pp. 104-5) In the fall of 1886, George Armstrong Chappell headed south. 

 

Addendum: The following history was posted on the web site, familysearch.org:

typed from handwritten notes found in the effects of Ina P. Chase Garrett, a daughter of Amos Chase Amos Chase, son of John Darwin Chase and Pricilla McHenry Chase, was born 17 September 1841 at Nauvoo, Illinois. Amos’ mother didn’t come to Utah but when the Saints left Nauvoo she was persuaded by her people to go back to her parents’ home in Iowa and stay with them. She took her young son, James, with her. His father joined the Mormon Battalion and left Amos with his Aunt Amy Bigler (his father’s sister) and her husband Jacob G. Bigler, who raised him as their own child and brought him to Utah in 1847 or ‘48. He lived with them until his father married Almira Higgins — later his father married Elizabeth Tuttle, after which Amos lived for awhile at Nephi, Utah; then to Moroni, then to Ephraim, and then to Carson City, Nevada, the family having been called to go there. When Amos was a young boy his father went on a mission to England. Amos ran the farm and looked after the family for two and one half years. He married Eleanor Coolidge 2 November 1863, they lived in Moroni until after their first child, John H. Chase, was born; from Moroni they went to Payson and lived there until after their third child, James Chase, was born. Their second child Amos Jr. died at Payson when he was about 10 months old. From Payson he moved his family on a ranch on the Sevier River about 10 miles southwest of Juab. Here he struggled for ten years to provide for his family, during which time four more children were born to them; Solomon D., Ellen Elizabeth, Sisson C., and Eliza Ann. Here he met with an accident 26 May 1880, about 10 a.m., which caused his death. While he and George Chappel were putting in a dam in the Sevier River in order to get water on their land, a pole broke which was holding the log they were standing on and he was thrown into the river. Being a poor swimmer and the water was very high and very cold, he was unable to battle successfully with the stream and was drowned. Mr. Chappel went in the water to search for him, but almost lost his life in trying to save his friend. A large searching party from Nephi of 30 men with ropes and hooks dredged the river for 3 miles between two dams for 9 days in hopes of rescuing the body, but did not find it and they abandoned the search and all returned home but two. The body finally arose and was found by his half brother, Sisson A. Chase. His wife and children had left the ranch for Nephi and were at Juab when the word reached them that the body was found. He was brought to Nephi for burial, services were held at his Uncle Jacob G. Bigler’s home. His youngest daughter, Ina Pricilla was born 23 July 1880, not quite two months after her father’s death. *Edited March 2018 by Suzanne Juanita Garrett Iverson, granddaughter of Phil Garrett; originally typed by Phil Garrett, copy still in his Book of Remembrance; minor changes to spelling and grammar were made to improve readability.