Show history of east millard county under my direction the students atu denta of the citizenship classes have compiled a history by towns ol of east millard county they have done such a good job that I 1 thought the people would be interested in reading it hence the progress has consented to run this history each week until it Is finished I 1 hope you will be interested as readers 0 of this paper in this account ot at the history of 0 east millard county it there are any mistakes you see please notify the social science department ot of the millard high school and we will be glad to corent them writing these histories Is considerable of a task and they are bein being g run in the order 0 at completion milton A melville teacher social science millard high school HISTORY OF HOLDEN compiled february 1936 the following committee of students compiled this history homer stephenson Stephe naon chairman wallace stevens secretary thomas stephenson marlon marion stevens june johnson stanford johnson george hunter rose johnson elaine bennett dale harmon dorothy wood bly mcgeo dori don dobson the beautiful little town of holden Is located in the eastern part of a largo large fertile vall valley ey surrounded by the house range of mountains on the west the cannon range on the north and the Pa livant range on oil the south and east the climate Is typical of the north temperate zone it Is too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter holden orcelar or cedar springs agit ag as it tt was formerly called was settled june 15 1855 by ten families called by the church leaders to leave their homes in fillmore and go about eight miles north and make a settlement either on the creek or by the springs these people had formerly been called by president brigham young to help settle fillmore they were not satisfied with the rock soli sell of 0 fillmore and president young gave them permission to start a now new settlement the first families to arrive were those of william stevens and richard johnson they were soon followed by eight other families thomas green philo farnsworth charles williams james brooks john webb edward holden joseph call slid and william stevens Bt evens jr they first lived in dugouts and wagon boxes but they immediately began to make preparations tor for a tort fort to serve as a home for or the several families and also to serve as a protection against the indians they found a strip of clay soil which they used tor for making the adobe bricks these families did most of the work but they had a mason from fillmore help lay up the walls the logs wore were taken out of the canyons nearby and wore were hauled to fillmore fellmore to bo be sawed into lumber lumber the tort fort was put together with wooden pegs made of oak the tort fort had windows and wooden floors and nothing but adobe walls the houses or rooms of the tort fort were built in two rows one hundred and fifty feet long north and south and seventy feet wide east and west with a space of thirty feet between the east and west walls served as enclosures and the north and south walls wore were bault with openings tor for large gates which were made of planks but these were never hung as they had no occasion tor for using them richard johnson and his wife fanny were the first ones to move into the this being in february ot of 1856 just after tho the tort fort was finished the other families soon moved in also the first store was in tho the tort fort and was owned and operated by william stevens Sl ovens the father of at the stevens family produce was exchanged tor for merchandise the peole had to bring their own pans to put sugar in because there were no sacks backs or wrappings wrapping the families of william stevens and richard johnson have always been among the foremost builders of the town there are no children of william stevens now living but a ot t the johnson family elizabeth H nixon born november 1 1849 an and hyrum B johnson born juno june 6 1856 are still alive george W nixon whose mother married richard johnson was also one of the first settlers lie ile was wag one ot of the most prominent stock ral sers of 0 millard county ile he served as county commissioner six years was county sheriff tour four years and was one of 0 tho the promoters of 0 the state bank ot of millard county ile he was vice president with almond robison as president and was president after almond resigned heber johnson was born march 20 1856 ile he was the first child born in the new settlement ills w wife to ellen stevens St ovens was the first girl to live to maturity two girls were born before her but they died while very young the first year a few crops were raised by the settlers bottlers but those these were mostly doi destroyed troyed by grasshoppers Ele because cause of at the scarcity of water some of at the people moved away thomas groen green sold ills his claim to al aason colby while others relinquish ed their rights tor for there seemed to be no hope of getting water the first settlers had built a house of cottonwood logs on pioneer creek when they were compelled to move by lack of water the house was abandoned bando ned after the tort fort was finished the old house was moved put in the fort and used as a church and school house delilah king was the first appointed school teacher hyrum johnson now uses part of this old school house as a pig pen edward holden was returning home september 5 1857 from a mission and froze to death about ten ratios miles north of town in a post office was established and through the above mentioned tragedy the town name was wag changed to holden instead of cedar springs mrs airs rose roge harmon as postmistress handled the mall while the people were living in the tort fort later the post office was operated in connection with the coop p store after the store was moved the post postoffice office was operated in connection with woods store A new post office was built about 1324 1924 and harold A wood has been postmaster since then in 1861 william stevens stevena was call ed upon to furnish three yoke of at oxen and richard johnson one yoke of oxen and a wagon to cross the plains and assist the immigrants to utah david R stevens was called to take the outfit through at different times time tor for several years people were called to do this work among those who accepted the calls were william am stevens jr george W nixon edward stevens Sl ovens and matthew wc me cune cane richard johnson fitted george W nixon with two yoke of oxen when he was sixteen years old ile he went back to missouri Misso url after immigrants and did the work of a full grown man after his return he worked tor for the church tor for some time william robins and charlotte nixon were the first holden couple to be married they were married in 1858 richard johnson was tho the first pro pre siding elder of 0 holden and in 1862 he was succeeded by walter stevens because of buttermilk butter milk being the chlof chief refreshment offered to freighters traveling through the settlement was nicknamed nick named buttermilk fort in 1867 edwin king surveyed the to after which the families began to leave the fort to occupy the small log homes they had built on their lots after a wile most of them built fine brick homos homes the house built outside of the tort fort was tin the ono one belonging to william stevens St ovens it was made of adobe and stood tor for many years on the lot whore where william T stevens now lives richard johnson tore down the east row ot of the fort and built in its place his largo large brick home where his son hyrum B johnson now lives tell teh west row was lett left standing to house bouno those who had not yet built their own homes the whole structure was wan finally torn lorn down somo some of the abodes were used to build u L room tor for the sibley family who came here and were in need of help some were used la in the william 11 ashby home and somo some were used la in the construction of david R stevens barn these buildings ore all still standing and ono one of the doors used in the fort la is still in use in the T 11 sibley house now owned by leo probert in 1867 bishop thomas C callister of 0 fillmore advised the people to convey the pioneer creole creek water on the south and the wild goose creek water on the north into the settlement which was soon done soon boon after this the dam went out of 0 the sevier evler clr and rainy many people moved to td ridden Holde ii because hear heir water supply was diminished in 1864 just nine years yeara after the settlement was wan begun they built in adobe school chool bouso just wet of 0 our present school house this building was twenty four tt feet long and elgh eighteen teen feet wide facing north the only door was on the north endi end and there were two windows window on each aide between the two wat windows was a small stand for thatis in charge two long lone tables and home made beach benchea without paint or polish served aa school furniture A large tire place in the south end sent forth heat and chew chear while home made tallow candi candled give gave light to this cozy little building some years later the south wall and tire place were removed and the room was lengthened A large box bor stove was then thea used in place at the tire place this building served as it a school amusement hall ball and meeting house tor for more than twenty years they had many good timea together in this old building the music for or their damoes was furnished by william wood ot of holden and free man giles ot at fillmore who played accordions dan olson olaen who played the violin and joseph ot of fillmore and john barot Bc rot were also players pl ayera the singing for or chur church b services serviced was waa conducted by richard johnson the bennett family were prominent on t choir leaders and members after coming to holden from deseret in 1867 in 18 as the first sunday school was wag organized with joseph S giles as superintendent other superintendents ten ton dents have been joseph turner william ashby richard nixon and the present one Is mark stephenson Step benson albert stevena walter stevens Sl ovens willlam william stevens sr richard john son ran matthew mccune and edward holden were among the first citizens elt liens ot of holden to begin raising livestock in ia that early time the people just juat raised their livestock to give them rood food and clothing bebau there ws wis no market tor for cattle each family had bad a few ew chickens piga sheep aud and oxen the men ben would turn their cattle out on the grass arn ia pastur tures and lot let them stay there the year around the grass tor for miles around holden grew two or three feet high md d the vion would cut it and use ue it tor for winter feed the indians would steal and kill many of the early set bet tiers livestock and it was very hard tor for them to get a good start in the livestock industry duttry In continued 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