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Show Volume XXII Issue XI The Ogden Valley news Page 9 August 1, 2014 A History of Liberty Note: The following are remarks offered by Elder Marlin K. Jensen on July 4, 2014 at the Liberty Park Pioneer Monument dedication. Greetings – I appreciate my dear uncle, Clair Hill, inviting a Huntsville boy to sing Liberty’s praises on such a significant occasion! With a mother born in Liberty and an assortment of Hills, Montgomerys, Shaws, Storey’s and other familiar Liberty names in my pedigree, I feel like a native son who was just unlucky enough to land six miles too far east! My assignment is to capture the essence of Liberty’s history in ten minutes, and one of those has already elapsed, so I’ll hurry along. The earliest visitors to Liberty were likely American Indians. At least four major tribes— the Shoshoni, Ute, Cheyenne, and Blackfeet— used this area. In May of 1825, along existing Indian trails, came the first whites, the mountain men, led by Peter Skeen Ogden, an agent of the Hudson Bay Company of London, England. Ogden came with a large cohort of fellow trappers from Cache Valley over the Cache Valley Divide, stayed long enough to trap over 500 beaver, and then moved on over the Valley’s south hills to a trappers’ rendezvous in Mountain Green. Because the valley appeared to Ogden to be a large hollowedout hole in the Wasatch Mountains, he called it “New Hole.” Later it became known as Ogden’s Hole, which eventually morphed into “Ogden Valley.” Ironically, it appears that Ogden never set foot in the little town just over the hill to the west that still bears his name! After the Mormons came west in the summer of 1847, Brigham Young began to send exploring expeditions throughout the Great Basin. One of these groups, originating in Farmington and led by Thomas Abbot, first entered Ogden Valley in 1848. In August of 1849, Captain Howard Stansbury of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers came through the Valley on his way to survey the Great Salt Lake. He came down the South Fork canyon, traversed the Valley, crossed the divide, and dropped into what is now North Ogden. In June of 1854, Brigham Young sent a second expedition into the Valley. Led by Charles F. Middleton, this party came over the North Ogden pass. Later, in 1856, Middleton and his father, William, in company with two other men, brought the first herd of cattle over the North Ogden divide. The area was used thereafter as a summer range until 1860 when the Dan and Ammon Campbell families became the first permanent settlers in Liberty. The previous winter there had been one family—Moroni Campbell and his wife Leora, and his grandmother—who had attempted to settle. By December of 1859 they had built the first log home in Liberty in Pine Canyon. It had no windows, and only a hole in the roof to let smoke out. The roof was made of wheatgrass and dirt. The stove consisted of rocks piled against logs to keep them from burning. The cabin was chinked but not plastered. When storms came, the wind blew through and the cabin leaked all over, not clear water, but mud. There was one place from about the middle to the head of the bed that didn’t leak. During a particularly intense storm during that first winter, Leora gave birth on this bed to the first white child born in Liberty. They named her Rozilla. The next spring this Campbell family moved back to North Ogden! After 1860, a steady trickle of settlers came. Most of these pioneer families are still represented by their descendants living here today—all the more reason to remember and memorialize the stout-hearted ancestors whose names grace this impressive monument that Elder Cook will shortly dedicate: Burts, Lindseys, Marshalls, Atkinsons, Armstrongs, Shaws, Campbells, Ferrins, Southwicks, Holmes, Chards, Dunbars, Jones, Judkins, Davis, Berretts, Gardners, Clarks, Penrods, Wades, Baileys, Shupes, Chadwicks, Rhodes, Wards, Whiteleys, Storeys, Montgomerys, Hills—this is the “Who’s Who of early Liberty and, to some extent, of current-day Liberty. By the sweat of their brows they dug the ditches out of which we still irrigate, constructed the roads on which we yet travel, and by 1892 were here in sufficient numbers that the community of Liberty could be officially organized. Perhaps as early as 1857 the area had been called Liberty. This apparently came about when an early settler of unknown origins, Thomas Freeman, remarked that cattle grazing in the largely unfenced Valley had full liberty. He went on to say that “this is sure one place where the people take full liberty;” and apparently because he had had some difficulty with the law in his own life, he added, “This is the place where I got my liberty too.” When the Liberty LDS Ward was organized in 1892, the name “Mountain Dell” was briefly considered, but “Liberty” prevailed. As a Huntsville boy, I can’t help but note parenthetically at this point that the good people of Liberty have always impressed me as being a little more independent, free-thinking, and, dare we say, “libertarian” than the residents of the other two Ogden Valley settlements. I say this sincerely and by way of compliment, and must add that, as a result, Liberty, to my way of thinking, has the most colorful, diverse, and in many ways, appealing mix of people in the Valley. At the very least, I think we can all agree that the community has certainly lived up to its unique name. And, it has, without doubt, produced the best basketball teams and cowboys and cowgirls! In many respects, life in Liberty during its first 100 years resembled that of other Utah communities. Everyday life revolved around the LDS Church and the seasonal agricultural cycles of planting, harvesting, and struggling through the harsh winters. The high altitude Historical Names Identified and difficult routes of travel in and out of the Valley presented special challenges. A strong sense of community and cooperation developed. Often great faith in God was exercised. Schools were established, water companies were organized, and mail delivery, the automobile, some mercantile concerns, and electricity and the telephone all made their appearance. During all these years, men and women went forth from Liberty who have distinguished themselves as educators, businessmen, farmers, servicemen, and solid citizens By the time my own memory is of assistance—the early 1950’s—there were 181 people, comprising 42 families, living in Liberty. Today, nearly 1400 people live in Liberty in 437 family units. From that time until the present day, the changes in vocations, religious diversity, recreational offerings, and in many other economic, cultural and social aspects of Liberty have been substantial. And yet the incomparable beauty of this part of the Valley, its essentially rural character, and the neighborliness of its sturdy inhabitants remain largely unchanged. On the occasion of dedicating this monument to Liberty’s founders, I suggest we ask ourselves three questions: • Have we sufficiently honored the priceless legacy we were bequeathed by Liberty’s pioneers? • Do we adequately appreciate the grit, hard work, and sacrifice they demonstrated in their time to make our lives as comfortable and full of opportunity as they are? • Do we, in our everyday walk, exemplify the sterling attributes of character that they possessed? Virtue, sadly, is not hereditary. It must be acquired by each succeeding generation. Fifty years ago, J. Reuben Clark, a member of the LDS Church’s First Presidency, stated this thought in this way: In living our lives let us never forget that the deeds of our fathers and mothers are theirs, not ours; that their works cannot be counted to our glory; that we can claim no excellence and no place because of what they did, that we must rise by our own labor, and that labor failing, we must fail. We may claim no honor, no reward, no respect, or special position or recognition, no credit because of what our fathers [and mothers] were or what they wrought. We stand on our own feet in our own shoes [and in our own time]. It is my hope that in the years to come the proceedings of this program, the existence of this monument, and the repeated telling of our community and family stories around the hearthside of every home in Liberty, will make us more worthy of our rich heritage. And, as in my own case, if we can’t all be from Liberty, we can at least be grateful that there was and is such a place—and such a people! Thank you. From The Past . . . Shown are James Alma Chambers (dad) family members: Aggie Stallings Chambers (mother). Younger or earlier picture of the William Pollock Jr. and Catherine Letitia Pritchett Chambers Family to, and including, the birth of Rose (Connie). From left to right: James Alma (Mick), Wm. Leonidas (Jack), William P. Chambers Jr. (Bill or Billie), Parley Burton (Burt), Elizabeth Montgomery (Bessie or Betty), Catherine Letitia (Kate), Rose Ellen (Connie), Lottie Irene (Dot), & Nancy M (Mae). Photo courtesy of DeVon Chambers of Eden. Historical names have been identified for the “From the Past . . .” photo from the July 15, 2014 issue of The Ogden Valley news. Thanks to DeVon Chambers of Eden for submitting the names. The Wm. Pollock Jr. and Catherine Letitia Pritchett Chambers Family. Back row, left to right: Rose, Mae, William L., Elizabeth, James Alma, Lottie and Parley Burton. Front row: Chester Arthur (Chet or Art), William Pollock Jr., Irma (Ernie), Catherine (Toot), and Catherine Letitia. (All family members are present in this photo except for Margaret Letitia and a stillborn son). Fitness Classes in the Valley Fitness Classes at High Altitude GET FIT TODAY! 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