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Show nj.ft,J7 -- Pleasant Grove's "First Families" Leave a Legacy i i . - ' - t ' ' ..... . .. .... by Geri Taylor Three years after the first wagon train entered Salt Lake valley, Brigham Young sent William Henry Adams, Philo T. Farnsworth and John Mercer south to find a suitable place to colonize. When they gave their report at a special conference on September 8, President Young asked for volunteers to establish the first settlement in the next valley, and seven families answered an-swered the call. Five had arrived only three days before and most were young and eager to finally have a place of their own. During his scouting expedition expedi-tion in July, Adams had surveyed the town site and staked out a farm for himself, but the birth of his son on August 5 delayed the families departure until October. While waiting for his wife to recover, he befriended a fellow Englishman, John Banks, and offered to share his land with the family. By the time they reached the new settlement, winter had set in making it impossible to build a home. The industrious Adams took the wagon boxes off the running gears, set them on two logs near each other and the families spent the winter in their makeshift box home. The snow and cold did not hinder these men from working their oxen to haul cottonwood logs from the Provo river area and cedar posts from the sand hills to the west. When Spring arrived they were ready and eager to begin building their cabins and establishing their home in Pleasant Grove. William Wil-liam Adams was the only one of the three scouts who lived out his life in this new community. com-munity. While hundreds of people came and left during the early years of the settlement, many others sunk their roots deep into the soil and hearts of the community, creating a heritage that has' shaped our city. Clark, Holman and Harvey are names from the original seven families that have remained through the years and although we may not recognize their posterity, we can still see their handiwork and influence. in-fluence. George Sheffer Clark was a member of the Mormon Battalion Bat-talion and during his journey through New Mexico and California Cali-fornia he learned how to make adobes. This skill was later used to build the first school and other structures, but their value wasn't realized until several years later when the rebuilt school burned down leaving the adobe walls standing, stronger than ever from their "firing". According to a granddaughter, granddaugh-ter, Clark wrote to- Brigham Young not long after the community com-munity was begun, asking the leader to send more people to build and strengthen the town. The heading of his letter was "Pleasant Grove" and the name was quickly adopted. George S. Clark Susan M. Mc Arthur Duncan McArthur George S. Clark was called to be the first Bishop of the tiny settlement, and throughout his lifetime was a leader and innovator in-novator in the community. The fourth home he built still stands on Center Street, a testament to his keen work ethic. Eighteen-year-old John Greenleaf Holman was a member mem-ber of the vanguard company of pioneers that entered Salt Lake valley in July 1847. At age 11 he reportedly drove Emma Smith from Far West to Quincy, Illinois, in a wagon, indicating his abilities were being honed at an early age. On this first trek West, John provided valuable service to Brigham Young by driving the animals and teams and performing various other tasks for the Saints. He had the dubious distinction of accidentally acci-dentally killing one of Brigham Young's horses, but the President Presi-dent of the Church was just glad "Old John" was his horse and not John P. Green. Instead of settling in the valley, val-ley, John returned to the East and married George Clark's young- " Families" continued on Page 9 "Families " continued from Page 4 est sister Nancy and was part of the wagon train that answered the call to settle a new colony in September of 1850. Young and full of ambition, John and Nancy moved to the North Field where they began a successful farm. John, George Clark and Duncan McArthur dug a ditch that brought water from the American Fork creek to the L ' bench' areas' 'and 'turned barren ' land into productive farms and orchards. Holman also operated the first sawmill located at the mouth of Battle Creek Canyon. ' John G: Holman was a respected re-spected leader, not only in the Church, but in civic matters as well and was called "mopage" by the Ute and Shoshone Indians which indicated their regard for him. In 1868 at age 39, he captained cap-tained the last large contingent of saints, mostly from Sweden and Denmark, from the terminus of the Union Pacific Railroad just outside of Rawlings, Wyoming, Wyo-ming, to the Salt Lake Valley. Of the more than 600 travelers, only a small number died on the way to their new home. Although he left Pleasant Grove near the end of his life, most of his children remained here and have left their mark on the community. By 1853 the population had increased to 290 with families fami-lies that would fill the pages of history to the present: Triggs, Roundy, West, Swenson, Loader, Bezzant, Brown, Hayes, Harper, Harp-er, Warnick, 'Cullimore, Cob-bley, Cob-bley, Ash, Tomlinson, Gillman, Richens, Fowlke and Armitstead to name a few. While they may not have earned fame, each in |