Show t 2BThe SunNews Wednesday July Pi Jewish pioneers 1QQ3 leaves all behind to follow prophet to new land Lowrv family Cynthia Lowry Andrcason Editor's Note: Cindy's story of her ancestors John Lowry Sr and John Lowry Jr and their fam ics earned h er the top award in the SunNews pioneer story contest Cindy will receive Dinner for Two at the Cedar Creek Restaurant and a night’s lodging in one of the beautifully decorated rooms in Salina's Victorian Inn John Lowry Jr was bom Janu829 in Lewis County Misary 3 souri to John Lowry Sr and Mary Wilcox Lowry and was the third of ten children John was nearly five when his family became members of the LDS Church in 1833 and following Church leaders moved from Lewis County to Jackson County Missouri then to Clay County John and his family were all subjected to suffered by the same persecution other members of the Church and later moved to Caldwell County near Far West John remembered ‘‘My life on the farm for four years simply consisted of hard work and It was a new country hard living and we had been on the move almost constantly from the time we joined the Church” John’s family was among the very last to leave Far West to esorder of cape the extermination General Clark His father had been onthe road almost continually moving families who were unable The family to move themselves journeyed to Nauvoo and John Sr was advised by Joseph Smith to go into Iowa and purchase land that the church was about to buy The the word purfamily followed chased the land and improvements and lived there three years before Joseph Smith advised them to go to Nauvoo The Lowry’s left Nauvoo in August of 1846 for their journey west They had travelled less than 50 miles to Bonapart on the Des Moines River when their youngest daughter Elizabeth age 4 was stricken with feveranddied August 18 Before reaching Mt Pisgah their baby boy William who was five months old also became sick He died September 16 1846 They traveled on to WintcrQuar-ter- s where they quickly built a house and corrals and prepared for the winter John Sr and sons John Jr and Abner took their cattle up to Rush Valley to winter leaving another son Hyrum to care for the family They returned in the spring of 847 and learned that Hyrum had drowned while trying to cross the river On June 21 1847 The Lowry’s became part of the John Taylor Company and left Winter Quarters for the trek to the Great Salt Lake They reached their destiValley nation in September and a short time later they received a call from church authorities to settle the John Jr now Sanpitch Valley almost 21 agreed to go with his father to settle the new land The company was organized and started late in the fall They made roads built bridges and successfully passed through Salt Creek Canyon and moved south looking for a suitable location on which to build a After much consideration town they decided on the present site of Manti The first night it began to snow and by morning the snow was three feet deep The company decided to move to the south side of Temple Hill which gave them some shelter Some made dugouts in the hillside other scraped away the snow and put their wagon boxes on the ground - and lived in them all winter long Some managed to find logs enough to build crude cabins with dirt floors Indians living in and no windows the valley said they had never seen the snow so deep Every day the men and boys shoveled snow to help the cattle find grass They even sharpened the tips of the horns of the cattle with files so they could plow into the snow and find food as well as defend themselves from wild animals They were scarcely settled when an exploration party led by Parley P Pratt arrived asking for volunteers MD Hamilton Gamer Porter S y ves ter Hule Edward Everell and John Lowry Jr agreed to go with him John kept an account of the trip and wrote that they started from Manti and travelled up the Sevier River for about 30 miles There they met the great Indian with his band of Chief Walkara Indians Many of Walkara’s band were sick and the Chief wanted Pratt and his party to buy some of the children Pratt declined as graciously as he could trying to explain that they were traveling and couldn’t take the children with them Walkara said he would have to kill the children if Pratt wouldn’t take them and promptly shot one Pratt somehow of the children persuaded Walkara not to kill any more of the children before the party left They traveled up the Sevier Riverand camped where Circleville is now Snow was falling and the river was blocked with ice but the men managed to cross it They continued on to a place they named “Little Salt Lake Valley” now They also explored Lhc country going as far as the Virgin River The men made snow shoes of an The ox bow and raw hide strings tiny band suffered from snow blindness and frostbite as well as hunger - but finally arrived back in Manti 1850 on February John Lowry Jr married Sarah Jane Brown on November 27 852 in the log home of the bride’s parents James P and Eunice Reeser Brown To this union were bom nine children Walkara and his band had been giving some trouble to the settlers The trouble since mid 1850 known as Parowan I reached a crisis in 1853 and in 854 a treaty was signed ending the Walker War Chief Walkara died January 29 1885 and his brother Arropine became Chief of the band of Indians John Jr had been involved in one way or another with every Indian trouble in the early history of the region including the first battle fought with Indians under the comHe mand of Capt John Scott and often learned their language acted as interpreter and messenger between Brigham Young and a Arropine Arropine developed great respect and love for John saying that he loved him as a son Arropine always claimed ownership of a warm spring just south of Manti and during his last illness called John to his side and gave him the land Arropine told his people that they were never to shed blood on that ground or injure John in any way because he had never lied to them and he desired their welfare the same as he did for the white people John Lowry Jr is credited with starting the Black Hawk Indian wars in the Spring of 1864 However veterans of this war held an 1908 and voted unanimously to accept a statement correcting the erroneous impression The statement is found in the History of Indian Depredation in Utah compiled by Peter Gottfredson In 1864 a small band of Indians were wintering in Gunnison and The many became ill and died Indians blamed the white settlers and made it known that when the snows melted the Indians would “kill Mormons and eat Mormon beef” In February 1864 Chief Black Hawk informed John Lowry of his tribe’s intentions Shortly afterward the Indians began killJohn had some of his ing cattle cattle on the range and found the carcass of one of his animals He operated a grist mill at the time and some of the Indians would come there for grinding Around March he told the Indians that he had found the remains of his animal and reminded them of Arropine’s words The indians said they would pay for the animal by bringing John a horse which they did the next day John agreed to meet with them at Manti on April 8 1864 and discuss the killing of cattle The council took place as scheduled It appeared the matter would be settled peacefully but one young Indian whose father had died during the win ter continued to insist he would kill Mormons and eat Mormon beef when the snows thawed He was asked to quiet down and let the council continue Suddenly someone called out “Look out he’s getting his arrows!” John rode up to him turned him off his horse pulled him to the ground The two men started to wrestle but bystand-o- n property north of town and the humble site of their lone graves served as the beginning of Salina’s ’St r 3" This little boy was having a great time watching the team penning last Saturday evening at the Salina arena The event was a fund rasier with proceeds going to the EquestrianCivic Center Nature Notes concert set for July 25 The second in the Utah Symphony’s new Snowbird Classics scries will feature classical music based on themes in nature “Natures Notes” will be Sunday July 25 at 3:30 pm at Snowbird and the orchestra will be led by associate conductor Robert Henderson ers interfered and separated them The next day as the men were out hunting their cattle settled in Sanpete Jewish Pioneers As early as the beginning of the century people began to tire of the rat race in the big eastern cities and longed to get away from it all The Utah State Land Board in 9 sold 6000 acres of land in the Gunnison Valley to the Jewish Colonial Association and shortly a dozen men arrived and some with families began to prepare 1500 acres for Jewish busiplanting Seventy-fivnessmen and their families mostly from the Philadelphia Pennsylvania area came to settle in the area Each family lived on a farm which had been laid out by a ci vilVngincer in the advance group The farms were strung out along the main road in the new town called Clarion facing one another and along a few roads Besides plan ting their wheat oats and alfalfa the people built many attractive frame homes bams and corrals Being people of means and taste they brought with them their fine furniture china rugs and art work in order to make their rugged life more comfortable Thecommunity produced a good harvest in 9 2 and Governor S pry praised them for their efforts during the first harvest celebration A schoolhousc was built in the center of town in 1913 a community well was dug and shade tress planted along the streets Unfortunately the soil was too alkaline to support the trees and most of them died A post office was established in 1915 but closed in 1916 as finanAfter cial trouble became evident the first year the produce had not been as expected the settlers could the not make their loan payments people in the east who had loaned the money foreclosed and the colony wentbankrupt The settlers returned to the big cities after sellmost of ing out to local farmers whom were longstanding Mormon residents The town continued until 1934 when a prolonged drought lasting for several years took its toll and the town became deserted Much of the land is still being cultivated in old Clarion but very few people live there Two headstones with Hebraic inscriptions on a desolate hillside mark the graves of a Jewish man killed while hauling logs in 1913 and a baby who died in 1914 make our friends we but make our enemies God makes our next-doneighbor — GK Chesterton We Peter Ludvigson was killed It was believe by those present at the time that the Indians started their hostilities sooner than they would have done had the incident not taken place Others believed that many lives were saved because the people were put on guard Charles Whitlock of Ephraim said that Black Hawk had told him of the Indians’ plan concerning their hostilities toward Mormon settlers The Black Hawk Wars ended two later John Lowry Jr was a member of the Manti City Council for the years terms of 1851 53 57 and 59 He was Assessor and Collector of the county for four years and county clerk two years He Was elected to the first State Legislature on the Republican ticket and was always active in politics At age 16 he became a member of the Nauvoo Legion Hehadacommissiondated December31 1853 paymaster with rank of First Ll Battalion of Infantry Sanpete Military District of the Nauvoo Legion signed Brigham He died NoYoung Governor vember? 1915 and is buried in the Manti Cemetery My father John Lowry was born in the house on the hill given by Arropine to John Lowry Jr He is the last “John Lowry” in the line and is the of John Lowry Jr Utah pioneer Fun - In 15 One South Center Redmond - 2 - One has opened It's doors for snacks and video rentals It is located at 15 South Center Street In Redmond in the old church house New recreation activities to open shortly Include video arcades Indoor miniature golf $1 Nite movies and a supper dance club Fun - In - One is developing as a regional recreation center for both South Sanpete and North Sevier counties Long range plans Include Indoor swimming pool and watersiides Ice skatarea craft area iceing bowling cream parlor and a ’teen' center For more 2 information call Howard Merrell at Fun roller skating In O CZLL JJWD 8 423 South 100 West Solina Derek and Dana Andreason opened JJWD Hardware Inc four years ago When trying to decide on a name for their new business they finally came up with the idea to use the first letter In the name of each of their children Jennifer Jodi Wessley and Danielle Derek has been in the construction business for the past 16 years and the Hardware Store goes right along with the contracting business he says JJWD is affiliated with Trustworthy hardware systems and includes a wide variety of items such as paint and painting supplies plumbing heating and cooling equipment electrical housewares appliances tools toys tires hardware of all kinds sporting goods automotive supplies lumber bikes tubes and tires cleaning supplies lawn and garden supplies sprinkling systems and parts and more During the past year JJWD has worked to include better lumber selections and a wider range of tires Briaas Leavitt Insurance Inc 1 3 East Main Salina Utah Mel Briggs ownermanager of Briggs Leavitt Insurance Inc has been filling insurance needs In this area for the past 5 years The Agency began in 1976 with purchase of the Bernice Mickelsen Agency The office at that time Insurance was at 55 North State Salina In 978 the office merged with Dixie Leavitt becoming Inc Several years later the office was moved to the present location at 3 East Main Salina In December of 1988 the Southern Agency was purchased and merged with Briggs Leavitt and Health Insurance ‘We pride ourselves in being able to The agency offers represent Allstate and retain our Independent Agency status' said Briggs ‘This enables us to offer many more products and services to our clients' he added Also employed a Briggs Leavitt Insurance are Janet Hatch and Debra Yardley e Allstate computer and an Improvements to the organizations include the addition of an additional computer which ‘enables us to get auto and home quotes in a matter of minutes' Briggs said There is also now a toll free phone number for the convenience of customers ‘Our goals for the future Include serving our clients better through the use of automation However we will never remove the Dersonal touch from Insurance' Briaas concluded T Jf |