HISTORY OF JAMES HURREN AND ELIZA REEDER HURREN
AFTER REACHING THE SALT LAKE VALLEY
When James and Eliza Hurren reached the valley their first concern was little Mary's frozen legs. She was placed on a bed in the Tithing Office and a doctor examined her. He said he could do nothing for her as mortification had already set in. He visited her the next morning with his instruments expecting to amputate her legs.
"She will die easier," he said. Her father protested.
"This little girl didn't walk a thousand miles to have her legs cut off. If she dies, she will die with her legs on."
The Hurrens were taken into the keeping of the bishop of the Third Ward. Robert Reeder, in remembering the kind care that he received, explained further,
"I did not stay long. I had a brother, George, in Brigham City and with my brother-in-law, James Hurren, I started to walk there. My brother-in-law was stronger than I and he soon left me behind. I remember a good lady who took me in one night and fed me when I was almost worn out. That was Sister Bankhead and she lives in Wellsville now (1917). Someday I hope to see her again and let her know that I shall always be thankful for the food and shelter she gave me that night." Because of weakness, Robert was unable to walk erect for many weeks after his arrival at Brigham City.
We can assume from the fact that Robert made no mention of Eliza and the children when he told of his and James' 60-mile walk to Brigham City, that she and the girls remained in Salt Lake City while James procured the help of George Reeder and that George took a wagon back to get the four. Mary's children remembered being told that the family went to Brigham City in a wagon.
After their arrival at George's home, a pioneer nurse, Mrs. Snyder, looked at Mary's limbs and recommended trying fresh raw beefsteak on them. Fresh meat was not available in Brigham City (then called Box Elder) so James walked 20 miles to Ogden and obtained some round steak. This was placed on the frozen parts and in several days the rotten flesh dropped off. They trimmed the sinews and applied a homemade ointment to assist in the healing. Mary was able to walk again in two years. When she grew up she married, became the mother of a large family and was a great nurse in Brigham City and surrounding areas. Her testimony was that if she had her life to live over again she would not want to avoid any of the hardships that had come her way. She believed trials were good to teach us to be humble and to appreciate our earthly existence.
James and Eliza too, many times, when inquiry was made as to how they felt about their handcart ordeal were quick to reply.
"With all our trials, our weary traveling, burying our dear ones, piling our clothing and bedding by the wayside and setting fire to them, we have never once felt to murmur or complain or regret the steps we have taken." Adolph Reeder wrote the following:
"The question has been asked, Why was not their lot made easier in the great effort of crossing the plains? No one except Providence might give the completely satisfying answer, but it can be pointed out they grew in character and understanding. They were patient and long suffering. Their faith in God and in their church was unshakable. Their great endurance made great people of them and their faith was sufficient to sustain them and establish an ideal for their descendants to follow."
In the fall of 1855 George Reeder had moved to Brigham City (Box Elder). This settlement was under the direction of Lorenzo Snow. For the two years before that he had lived and worked in Salt Lake City. The move was made in company with his sister Mary, her husband Anthony Metcalf and a friend, James Bywater, whose journal enlightens us:
"Anthony Metcalf … was married and was ready to move up to Box Elder in company with his brother-in-law George B. Reeder, and they were prepared to locate in the North Indian Country in a new settlement of Box Elder Creek… I joined with them about September 20, 1855. We journeyed to Fort Box Elder--walking the trail together and our baggage came in the wagon of a friend. The fort was crowded and President Lorenzo Snow advised the people to settle on lots and build permanent homes. We secured or filed one each--namely 4-5-6--Plot A Blk 27 Brigham City survey. We formed a partnership and agreed to help each other build three homes during the fall and summer of 1856. We rented the Adobe Mill from Father Watkins, paying 1/16th of all we made. Reeder prepared the clay and we soon made several thousand adobes and dried them in the sun, tromping the mud with bared feet. All the houses were to be 12 x 24 feet long and one story high. Built first on lot 5 for Brother Metcalf, hauling rock for foundation and the needed timber from the mountains, put on a willow and sod roof with a bare floor or dirt. We all lived together the winter of 1856. A hard winter, Brother Reeder's cow got mired and we killed her and ate her along with the vegetables he drew from the Willard tithing office using credit he had received for produce in Salt Lake City. But the provisions were short. We built two houses in 1856 and made several thousand adobes for construction of the social hall opera house. Food was scarce and we ate the cattle that died or drowned from the ice breaking with them."
It was to this environment that the Hurren family came. They lived in George's small two-room adobe house for the remainder of the winter, and were deeply grateful for the warmth and shelter it afforded. The few pieces of furniture in the house were homemade and simple. Dishes were of tin and when it rained were used to catch the water that leaked through the willow and sod roof. Any inconveniences such as this that they had were had also by the neighbors around, and a spirit of helpfulness and mutual understanding prevailed in the young community.
George had raised a little corn the previous summer. After picking it he piled it on his dirt floor where it molded quite badly. He also had a cow that had eaten poison parsnips and died. In speaking of the poisoned meat Eliza later recalled that before eating any themselves they gave the cat a piece and if it did not die then her husband and sister Mary were the next to eat it. By cooking the moldy corn and poisoned cow they got along reasonably well.
More than once, undoubtedly, James and Eliza were told of how the Box Elder saints of a few years previously had survived. Christian Hansen recorded the miracle:
"We were on very short rations at the new settlement at Box Elder. The settlers got a light crop. The crickets came like a cloud until they darkened the sun. It looked possible that they might starve, had they not found a patch of Segos in the meadow about a mile west of the Brigham depot. The patch covered an acre or more at the corner where the road turns to the north. They grew thick and some were as large as a hen's egg. All the people of the settlement would go there and dig the ground over and return next day to see if they might have missed a few. They would find the patch as full of Segos as it was the day before when they arrived. Thus the digging continued for the period of short rations. The blessed Segos were as good raw as when cooked and served as manna from heaven to encourage the hungry pioneers when food was gone." He goes on to explain that sego lilies generally grow only on the hillsides, it being an extremely rare occurrence to find them in the meadows.
The winter that came early in 1856 continued severe and even in Salt Lake Valley there was much suffering. At the Box Elder settlement many cattle died of hunger or of eating poison parsnips. Those that survived were lean in flesh. The settlers, too, were forced to go on short rations and many a man tightened his belt with determination to stick it out until crops could be raised.
When the 1857 spring arrived food stores were mostly depleted and the settlers had to improvise for food. Sego lilies were again plentiful, nourishing and flavorsome and a new treat for James, Eliza and their daughters. Many other plants as well became a blessing to them. They ate the roots of bulrushes and thistles. They searched the hillsides and unplowed plots for tender young plants which they cooked as vegetables. There was a little salt pork in the community and the owners generously shared with those less fortunate then they. By careful rationing the people managed to live through the summer until the next harvest.
James Hurren worked for Lorenzo Snow that first winter. In the spring he made adobes and put up one small dirt-floored room with only an opening for a door and with one miniature window. Little 5-year old Emma helped make and stack the adobes. Eliza's brother George married in April and her brother Robert made his residence with the Hurrens. The family planted a modest garden with such things in it as squash, beans, ground cherries and native currants. When harvest time came Eliza and her daughters dried for the approaching winter all their own surplus fruits and vegetables and all the wild ones they could find. As soon as he could James put a floor in their little home and as time went on they were able to provide themselves with additional comforts and space. While living in Brigham City four more children were born to James and Eliza: Roseanna in November, 1857, James William David in December 1859, Martin Francis (or Frank) in September 1862, and Eliza Marietta in January, 1865. Martin died as a toddler at the age of 13 months.
The Brigham City area continued to grow in population. Underbrush and thickets began to disappear and homes and farms adorned the landscape. Crops, including many kinds of fruits and vegetables, grew well. The little community prospered, soon boasting a flour mill, shoe shop, blacksmith shop, cabinet maker, and stores, as well as a number of other enterprises.
As the blossoming town became more organized, each person who was willing to work was given responsibility. One of the projects undertaken was a large common field. In it James Hurren gladly did his share of the labor and soon became a leader in the co-operative endeavor. He was an industrious and steady worker and also one who ate plain food, never in excess. At haying time it was his practice to cut hay with a scythe to the end of the big field, stop and take a bit of a biscuit which he had on a post and then chew it as he worked his way to the other end. There he took a bite of his second biscuit which was also on a post and commenced to work back again across the field continuing on in this manner during the day.
In pioneer communities everyone had to work hard. The older Hurren daughters were a great help to their parents, both in the numerous household duties and out of doors. With their father, and going barefoot, they gleaned wheatheads in the harvest fields when the gold grain was very previous. They stripped sugar cane and made molasses. On occasion they helped their mother boil down molasses skimmings for candy and enjoyed stretching it at candy pulls. Sugar was a luxury and they seldom saw it. Eliza and her daughters, when the necessary raw materials became available, made their own starch, soap and tallow candles.
At first the only light the Hurrens had, other than their fireplace, was made by dipping a rag in grease such that it made a crude wick and burning it. They had no matches and started their fires from hot coals. Very often they borrowed embers from a neighbor's fire to start one of their own.
During the early times for them in Utah the girls' dresses were made of pounded hickory bark, which in texture was something like bed ticking. These dresses were worn all week , then washed Saturday afternoon to be clean for Sunday. After acquiring a few sheep they sheared them in season, washed the wool, made it into rolls and spun it into yarn. The spinning was done on shares as there were few spinning wheels in the community at first. Additionally, the girls learned to knit and sew to make dresses, stockings, mittens, and other clothing, enjoying working along with their mother. Everything they wore was stitched by hand. There was little opportunity for formal education but the girls were able to attain some schooling. Emma, at one period, wore her nightdress to Aunty Box's School as it was the only article of clothing she owned.
Emma especially enjoyed helping her father and because of it he called her his boy. Some of the experiences she later told to her own family help give us an insight into the times. Among these adventures was helping several neighbors break heifers to become milk cows. When she was but 13-years old one neighbor, George Thomas, who had an ill wife, arranged to each morning call for Emma at 4:00. She milked six cows for him and then cared for his four children with breakfast prepared at 6:00. For this she received .75 cents a week.
Indians were common visitors in the community and Eliza was as generous and helpful to them as her limited means would allow.
The Hurren abode was humble but no more so than the neighboring homes and it was filled with gospel light, making an atmosphere of joy and happiness. James and Eliza felt indeed blessed.
During the summer of 1865, being out of work, James went to Hyde Park, Cache Valley, to where Robert Reeder had moved after his marriage in 1861, and which had been first settled in 1860. There James worked in the canyon getting out logs. He acquired some land and in his spare time put up a one-room cabin of his own. He just laid up the whole logs and put a dirt roof on top. Each week he worked six days and walked back to Brigham City on Saturday night, carrying home his week's earnings in flour and provisions. He stayed at home until Sunday afternoon and then walked back to Hyde Park to be ready for work Monday morning. The trail he blazed was known as the Hurren trail.
In the fall of 1865 the family, except for Mary who by then was a bride, moved to Hyde Park and lived in the cabin James had built. Their one room had a fireplace in the end and their cooking utensils consisted of a bake kettle and an iron kettle. To prepare meals with her limited vessels Eliza scraped the coals down, set the bake kettle on the coals and hung the iron kettle over it. She was a good cook and could make tasty dishes with little cost. Chicken leg soup was a real treat. In later years James sometimes came home with a dirty crust of bread that he had picked up from the road. He couldn't bear to see anything wasted, remembering the times when he had been so desperately hungry.
The Hurrens were brought from England by the Perpetual Emigration Fund and they paid back every cent with interest. As long as the fund existed James contributed to it.
The Hurren home retained its spirituality. Daughter, Phebe Jane, born in April of 1866, later said that she was taught the virtues of hard work, dependability, honesty, and love by God-fearing parents who understood the value of good character.
Day by day living in Hyde Park was little changed from what it had been before their move. Nearly all items eaten, worn, or used by the family were home-produced. And in Hyde Park, as well as Brigham City, various problems arose with the crops. Among these same difficulties were invasions of crickets which ate the tender green plants. The children helped their father fight the hordes. We can imagine that James was particularly pleased when his son, James, was big enough to help with the farm work.
A different type problem also came to the Hurren household. When daughter, Eliza, was a small girl she had sore eyes. While she was from 5 to 8 years of age they were especially sore and she wore a bonnet with a heavy green shade if she went outdoors. She had to stay in a darkened room all day, sleeping most of the time. At night she spent nervous sleepless hours that were very trying. Her father met a gentleman who told him that if he would pierce her ears and get her some gold earrings she would be better. James walked to Corinne and bought the earrings and her eyes got better. She wore gold earrings all of her life. At one time she lost an earring and her one eye became sore. She soon replaced the lost item and the inflamed eye cleared up.
Daughter, Emma, in later years told her own children of the choice friends she made when the family moved to Hyde Park. Seven or eight girls took their spinning wheels to the church house and spun for other people. With her earnings Emma bought a dozen hens and the material for a blue dress, a lovely dress for her wedding, which took place in 1869. The church house was the community center where many socials were enjoyed. The girls loved music and as they became old enough square dancing. Roseanna especially enjoyed the dancing. Often they danced until almost morning with violin and organ or accordion for accompaniment. Hyde Park had a school too which the children attended.
The Hurren home in Hyde Park was built one block south of the lane. Just west of their first log cabin they added another log room and lean-to, which made life much more comfortable. As time passed two adobe rooms were appended with upstairs rooms above them. A porch was built across the entire front. This was James and Eliza's home until they died. As in all the Hurren endeavors the children helped build the parts of the house including assisting to make the adobe bricks.
James and Eliza's 11th and last child was born in September of 1873 and was a boy that they named Frank Edmund. He lived less than two months.
The Hurrens, as did others in the community, went into the venture of raising silkworms. Their worms were housed in the granary placed on paper-covered rows of boards elevated three or four feet from the floor. Only half of the boards were used at a time so that the remaining ones could be covered with clean paper. Every other day James and one or more of his children walked to Smithfield, a distance of three miles to get fresh mulberry leaves. The children who most often went were Sarah, Phebe and Eliza, the latter doing it when she was 11 years old. They gathered 3 sacks of leaves each time and walked the three miles back home. Fresh mulberry leaves were scattered on the clean paper and then the silkworms were put there. The caretakers were particular to put out only the amount the silkworms would eat at one time so as not to waste any of the leaves. Daughter Eliza often said, in recalling those days, "When I see people shudder at a worm I wonder what they would do taking all those worms one at a time from one paper to a clean piece of paper."
Eliza learned to select good wheat straw, soak it in water and braid it. "Over one and under two, pull them tight and that will do," was what she said as she and her daughters braided it. They sewed the braids together and made straw hats. Daughter, Eliza, remembered that from the time she was 12 to 16 years of age she helped her mother braid the wheat straw and that the hats had a low crown with a medium brim.
Eliza was a good mother, not only to her own children, but to anyone who came into her home. Among those who partook of her kindness was a grandson, J.W. Seamons, who came to live with his grandparents when seven years of age and who stayed until he married.
Eliza had developed a cough while crossing the plains in Wyoming that stayed with her until her death. She spent most of her days at home as she had rheumatism and could not walk very well, but she never complained when her husband worked for the church. She took care of the Sunday eggs. People brought them to her home. She counted them and wrote out the receipts. She was a Relief Society teacher continually and was entirely dependable.
James became a counselor to Bishop Robert Daines in the Hyde Park Ward. Additionally, he was a dependable ward teacher over the years and worked in the Sunday School.
James was very different from his wife. He was always well and strong and enjoyed walking. He drove oxen but he walked by their side rather than ride in the wagon. Twice a year he walked to Salt Lake City to conference. He took three days to make the trip. He carried his food and bedding on his back and while there camped on the old Tithing Office yard. One time when he was walking along a road someone offered him a ride which he accepted, but as the driver chatted he let the oxen poke along. James became weary and said, "wait a minute. I'll walk. I'm in a hurry."
James was very kind to his oxen. In fact he was very loathe to part with them and it was only when his children insisted that he gave them up for a horse. He paid sixty bushels of wheat for his first horse. He cut his wheat with a cradle even after many others were using binders. He was reluctant to give up the old for the new until it was proven better. For his
fences he went to the canyon and got out wood and poles. He was a firm believer in the Word of Wisdom and he lived it. In regard to people using such things as tea or coffee in times of illness, James commented, "If these things are not good for a man it would not be good for a sick man." When cold he drank warm water poured over brown bread.
While still a boy he had trouble with his ears and became hard of hearing. Someone once said to him, "I'm sorry you can't hear. It must be inconvenient."
He answered, "Sometimes I think that I hear now more than I should." He used a horn but he couldn't hear much better with it and never missed anything by being deaf. He always kept a red silk handkerchief over the horn when not using it.
Granddaughter, Lyle Hyde Crandall, upon being asked about her grandfather, James Hurren, especially recalled the way he chopped and stacked kindling wood. The lengths were exact and the pile stacked neat, straight and square. This was marvel to her as a girl.
James took each of his grandchildren a candy ornament or a big stick of candy every Christmas and the family always celebrated James' and Eliza's birthdays. In later years as many as 150 children and grandchildren were seated at the table to enjoy a birthday dinner. Granddaughter Clara Hyde Turner remembers that she, and others of her family, went to Hyde Park from Logan about every week to see James and Eliza. Even though Clara was young she drove her mother, Roseanna, there. They went in the white top buggy and later in a surrey. Clara vividly recalls that they "always visited on grandfather's and grandmother's birthdays. They were in the winter and we went on the bobsleigh. Grandfather often had satin candy. After dinner he got the box of it out and let us children each have a piece. We thought it was wonderful! He had a cellar outside his house and always gave us each an apple from it. He also had black walnuts.
During the year 1903 Eliza enjoyed a most pleasant experience. As a surprise to her brother, George, she, her sister, Mary Metcalf, and her brother, Robert Reeder arranged to go as a group to Brigham City to visit him. They had often visited one another on various occasions but this was the first time the brothers and sisters had all been together for many years. Adolph M. Reeder wrote of the gathering:
"How happy these brothers and sisters were! They had all had harsh trials and hardships, yet none of them regretted having lived a life teeming with such thrilling experiences. They had seen the West develop from a frontier into a modern society. So great was that growth that they could scarcely understand it. They had each reared large families of honorable children. Their life's duties had been well done and in the eve of their mortal existence their happiness was full. So well did they enjoy this reunion that it was an inspiration to all who witnessed it."
The strains of honesty were outstanding in the lives of both James and Eliza. When James sold anything he did not take market price but just what he thought it was worth. He avoided debt and never speculated. As a result of energy and thrift he and Eliza became comfortable and prosperous, as well off as any of the Hyde Park people.
James Hurren was the only member of his father's family to join the Church. It was his ambition to live as long as his brothers and sisters. As far as we know this wish was fulfilled. One sister lived to be 69 and James was 82 when he died. He nevere had a doctor in his life
until he was on his death bed. Then he was just worn out and was only ill a few days. He had complete control of all his faculties until six hours before his passing which occurred on December 6, 1909. And so, again, Eliza buried a loved one, the dearest of all.
After James' death Eliza lived with her daughter, Eliza, for a year. Then daughter, Sarah moved into the back pat of the house, so Eliza returned and resided in the two front rooms. She died April 6, 1912, and was buried beside her husband in the Hyde Park Cemetery. She was loved and esteemed by all who knew her.
James and Eliza left a large number of descendants. Those living at the time of Eliza's death, according to her obituary, included one son and six daughters, 66 grandchildren, and 106 great grandchildren. As their posterity, let us echo and live worthy to realize the fulfillment of the words penned by James Hurren in 1852:
"The prayer of my soul is to my Lord and my God that we may all be Thine forever and ever."
Compiled by Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1876
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