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Show Interesting Information Taken From the Langston Autobiography By Marcia Terry John Langston, the son of Francis B. Langston and Elizabeth Heath-cote, Heath-cote, was born at Stepney London, England, on March 8, 1822. He came to America with his parents when he was seven years of age. Then his father went back the next year with his family. They came to America again when John was 17. He married Clearinda Phillips when he was 44, in Caldwell county, Missouri. He came to Utah about June 1, 1856, was in Echo Canyon with Lot Smith, and also went to California in the Gold Rush before coming to Utah. (Taken from his autobiography) I was called on a mission, having hav-ing volunteered to go, so I got ready and started with my family on October 22, 1862, and set out for the southern part of the territory called Dixie. After a very severe journey of about three weeks, we arrived in Dixie on November 12, and on November 20, settled down at Rockville. We were the first family in connection with William R. Crawford to settle the place. The town had been previously surveyed into lots, so we went right to work building houses, fences, clearing off the land, and digging ditches to bring the water to our lots. After a tremendous amount of labor, almost night and day, in the year of 1863, we raised 220 pounds of cotton, some little wheat corn and molasses. Having raised this, we had to travel 100 miles north and beg the people to take our stuff and give a little wheat, in return, which some did. I don't think any country was ever settled by white people who suffered or worked harder than did the first settlers of Dixie county, and what made it still harder, we could not raise wheat because there was not land enough that every one could raise enough for bread. We kept on at work, and in the year 1866, we raised 550 pounds of lint cotton, 18 bushels of wheat, and 60 bushels of corn. Jacob H. Langston was born January 20, 1863, at Rockville, and blessed by C. N. Smith. He was the first child born in Rockville. Rock-ville. I was elected school trustee in January, 1865, and in the spring of 1866 I was appointed water-master water-master of the Rockville town ditch I spent a good deal of time this year on the ditch. The Indians In-dians were very troublesome and we had to stand guard at night. We went to Berry Valley in September of 1866 to help the people save their stock and provisions pro-visions from the Indians. They had shot one man right through the chest, but he got welL I helped build a fort to protect the people from the Indians. I spent the rest of the winter improving im-proving my buildings, teaching the people the gospel and standing guard. This year I raised 500 pounds of cotton and set five telegraph tele-graph poles at Toquerville, the first ever set in that town. In the spring of 1867, I spent a good deal of time on the ditch, raised 250 pounds of cotton and other things. In the spring of 1868, we had a good deal of new ditch to make. This spring, May 10, Charles N. Smith was chosen president by Erastus Snow. Joseph Langston was born on March 9, 1868, was blessed on May 7 by W. Y. Black and died on May 8, 1869. In 1870, the Indians were very troublesome. We followed farming farm-ing and building from 1871 to 1875. In 1875 we had peace with the Indians." |