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Show Page 18 THE OGDEN VALLEY NEWS Volume III, Issue IV December 15, 2000 Biography of Jakob Bachman Note: This information was taken from the book, “History of the Eden Ward, Ogden Stake, Utah” researched and compiled by Melba and Ren Colvin, formerly of Eden. Jakob Bachman was the son of Hans Rudolf Bachman and Elisabetha Aerney. Born April 26, 1830 in Willeyberg in the parish Bottenurl, Canton Aargau, Switzerland. He went to the parish of Boezberg for his first wife Elisabetha Suter. They were married October 3, 1852 by the parish minister. About the year 1854 [LDS] missionaries came to the neighborhood and found good friends in Willeyberg. Jakob and Elisabetha joined the church in 1855, as did also his brother Johann Rudolf and his family. Jakob and Elisabetha and their five children sailed from La Harve, France May 15, 1862. The trip took six weeks. They stayed in Winter Quarters [Nebraska] for the next year, where Elisabetha gave birth to her sixth child, Sarah, who died soon after birth. The family left Florence, Nebraska August 14, 1963 and arrived in Great Salt Lake October 15, 1863. They went first to Ogden and later to Harrisville and then to Liberty in the Ogden Valley. Jakob was very discouraged with the hard journey and severe suffering that he had to endure. The extreme cold and lack of food caused him to complain bitterly. Several times he was on the verge of returning to Switzerland. One time after he had made that decision he became very ill, near unto death. He said he saw an evil spirit enter his room and felt he was about to be destroyed. He repented of the error he had made in complaining and prayed for forgiveness. The evil power was withdrawn and he felt a wonderful peace. He was healed and thought no more of returning to Switzerland. Jakob and his family later moved from Liberty to Eden. They built a one room log cabin and cellar on a five acre plot of ground. The benches and stools were homemade. They scrubbed the pine floors with sand and there were bunks in the north end of the cabin where they all slept. The Eccles family lived a block away and they baked their bread on Jakob’s stove. Jakob walked over the mountain to Ogden and carried flour and sometimes a little molasses. One of the Eccles boys, David, who later became a multi-millionaire, sometimes went with him. Elisabetha had given birth to two daughters, Rosilla, born February 26, 1864 and Bertha, born April 19, 1865. She died November 1966 at the birth of Alma and is buried in the Mountain View Cemetery. There were nine children in all. There was no permanent tribe of Indians in the Valley, but there were some roving bands during the summers. Many times they rode in full war paint to make themselves more impressive and frightful to the scattered pioneers. Sometimes as many as four hundred were in a band. The Utes and the Washakee were the most numerous. They were treacherous and stealthy and once in a while killed and scalped a person. Means of communication were meager and tiresome. Most of the traffic was on foot or horseback. To get to Ogden it was necessary to walk. Many men saved their families from starvation by walking to Ogden and carrying back bags of flour. The early days of the Valley are replete with stories of hardship, poverty and courage. Ogden Canyon was primeval, filled with huge boulders, high cliffs and a winding unnavigable river. In 1862 the road was started from Ogden and made as far as Leur’s Resort where a small saw mill took care of the logs cut from the canyons. The people in the Valley did their part by making the road to the Hermitage where another saw mill was built. The canyon between the mills was so narrow that it was not until the following year that the road was completed. It was so narrow and dangerous that traffic was scarce and to the men who hauled logs goes the honor of improving it bit by bit. As the settlements grew and trade was established the roads were improved. Now a paved road with a protecting wall lines the canyon. The completion of this road was celebrated Pioneer Day, July 24, 1921. The only old landmark that remains in the canyon is where a fireplace was chiseled in a rocky ledge and a cabin built over it that serves as the home of Mr. and Mrs. Willis Boss. Their charity, hospitality and humanity saved the lives of many who might otherwise have died by blizzard, freezing or hunger, as they tried to travel through the canyon. Farming was not the first occupation in the Valley. Hauling logs and rough sawed lumber was the early vocation as the land was covered with wheat grass so high that the hat of a man on horseback could hardly be seen. The hills were barren except for a few bunches of sagebrush, bushes and wild berries. Only in the canyons was nature gentle enough to offer provender. Then only by hard work could the logs be cut and hauled. It took many years to clear the land as the wheat grass was so hard to cut and so deeply embedded that often an ox team was required to pull out the bunches. Logs were exchanged for merchandise and money was unheard of. Later a tollgate was put at the south end of the canyon leading to Ogden. Because the “Valleyites” were unable to pay the toll, a trip became a greater rarity. The slow tireless oxen were used for cultivating the land. Meadowland was a precious acquisition as it furnished the only hay. Horses were scarce and not used for work until about 1885. Anyone who had a team of horses was considered among the wealthy. Until the turn of the century poverty was the rule among the people of the Valley. From then on the Valley progressed as other places did. It was into this little community that Jakob moved with his family. He was left with eight small children, the oldest Maria being twelve and the youngest, Alma a newborn baby. It was not possible for Maria and Verena, who was nine, to care for five small children and the new baby was given to Alma Taylor when he was three days old. There were no Swiss people in Eden but Jakob. But one day a girl came there to visit some of Jakob’s neighbors. Her name was Anna Sidler Hegetschweiler Stone. She was twenty years old and had a little son, William Henry Stone eighteen months old. Anna was alone, having secured a divorce from her son’s father, Samuel Stone. Jakob, now a man of thirtyseven, married Anna April 27, 1867. They were married by Heber C. Kimball in the Endowment House [Salt Lake]. Anna with her little son now moved into the one room log house with Jakob and his seven children. They had to endure all the hardships of pioneer life. Their crops were often destroyed by grasshoppers. Sometimes food was so scarce they had to dig Sego roots. The climate in the Valley was lovely in summer, but the winters were long and severe, the thermometer sometimes reading 40 degrees below zero and snow covering the ground to a depth of six feet. They could raise no fruit but berries, currents and a few apples. Their vegetables often froze before maturity. Jakob later purchased some land where he raised alfalfa and wheat. He also secured some pastureland about two miles south of his home, so he could have cattle. February 8, 1868 Anna gave birth to a son Joseph. She had no help but the little girls and kind neighbors, who came in when time could be spared from their large families. Jakob had to work very hard to get food and clothing for his family. At first he worked at lumbering, but as soon as he could secure a farm to raise hay and grain, he bought cows. It was a happy day when he could get a team of horses and a good wagon. August 19, 1870 Anna gave birth to a daughter, Annie. She was alone with the children and did not even have a match to light a candle. She had to tie the cord herself. In November 1874 another great sorrow came to Jakob when his oldest daughter, Maria, now twenty, died. Jakob was heartbroken. His children went to work as soon as they were old enough and it must not have hurt them for all but Rosilla were strong, grew to adulthood, and raised large families. Rosilla died at the birth of her first baby March 6, 1889. October 19, 1875 Anna gave birth to her fourth child John Rudolf. He was a strong baby. She nursed him until he was three years old. Now that most of the older children were working, Jakob’s circumstances became more prosperous. He was able to build a two story, four-room house by the log cabin. There were two bedrooms upstairs and two rooms and a pantry on the first floor. Jakob had about twenty cows, horses and chickens. They also raised hogs. The cows were taken to the pasture night and morning. The milk was put in pans where the cream was skimmed off and churned in a round churn with a dasher inside turned by a handle outside. The butter was molded into pound squares and Jakob took it to Ogden and traded it for other food. They killed the hogs and smoked the hams and bacon in a smokehouse. December t, 1887 Anna gave birth to her last child, Emma Josephine. Anna’s health was now very poor. She was troubled with asthma and chronic bronchitis the rest of her life. On Christmas day Jakob’s son Alma died at the age of twenty-four. All of Elisabeth’s children were now married except Jakob, Jr. who was deaf and dumb. As there were no institutions in Utah in that day to train deaf mutes, he remained a child mentally and helped Jakob on the farm. In 1901 Jakob sold the farm to his Joseph and moved to a home in Ogden . . . He went to the Salt Lake Temple June 16, 1904 and had Elisabetha’s children sealed to them. December 19, 1907 after a short illness with pneumonia he passed away peacefully. His remains were laid to rest in the family lot in Eden’s Mountain View Cemetery. ACCESS Realty Group Your Northern Utah Realty Connection 745-0551 Toll Free 888-489-0111 www.utahrealty4sale.com |