| Show M TRIBUTE IS PAID TO ABE MARCHANT OF PEOA BY DY LILY MARCHANT This tribute Is In mem memo Of cry of a man noted for his strength of character and civic and church accomplishments i Abraham Franklin Marchant was WM born Sept 30 1884 In 1 Peoa roa a B son ton of Albert George Henry and Harriet Matilda Casper March March- att A delicate cl child he suffered suffered suf suf- suffered from a bad case of erysipelas erysipelas elas a and n d occasional fainting spells ells But Dut he outgrew these ailments ail aU- ments by age 8 to become a B very strong and healthy youngster His lILs health Improved so much I in fact that he was able to skid logs at carpentry masonry mason masonn I Iry ry and other works developing unusual strength In his hands I 1 j jarms arms and shoulders Most of his life lite his hla general health was quite I good and he was Wa able to help with farm work at an advanced age Ills His diary states r I have had a number of accidents which could easily have been fatal I Ills His outstanding record of service service servo ice to his church and community Br are are highlighted by the following incidents taken partly from his diary Schooling months only until 17 two years at High School in Sati Lake City 1905 ARDENT CHURCH WORKER Church work Deacon 1896 secretary and president ordained Elder by brother Alonzo Alon- Alon zo 20 president of Elders' Elders Quorum and recently returned from an Irish mission 1901 05 mission to Western States 1911 13 met n a fellow missionary Mary Thomas Thom Thom- as 3 from Shelley Idaho and later married her in the Salt Lake j i 1 Temple Oct 8 1914 and they I reared seven children Bishop of ot Peoa Proa Ward 22 1916 34 1932 high councilman 32 1922 44 1934 Stake I Patriarch of South Summit 1945 until death June 18 1961 SemInary Seminary Seminary Sem- Sem f Inary head 38 1932 seeing to completion completion com com- and final payment for modern Seminary building THROUGH 6 FEET SNOW In March of 1902 he was returning returning returning re re- turning from taking 1 his s brother Duncan and his freight to Stock Stock- more Through Wo Wolf Creek Pass It was snowing heavily the snow measuring six feet Abe had a pair pall of under an empty wagon box and only one ona extra set of harness in the box One team and five men on horseback i were ahead of him and overtaking i Ing them at the pass he found their horses homes down in the snow They decided to return home Abes Abe's horses floundered and fell so he unhitched them and started to break road with them proceeding for about a mile When he returned to get 1 his s outfit he found the other men had bad overturned it so it had fallen fall faU fallen en below the road They seemed unaware that he would return Abe Aba worked and lifted and he somehow got his backup back backup backup up the hill and onto the road and then the wagon box back on the sleigh Riding on now In the falling snow he wondered how he be had ever accomplished It and he be prayed that he could find the road and his way home alone as BS he was His horses soon settled set tIed down to bucking the snow going over the top of the pass I and he arrived home In Peoa at 9 D pm p.m. He Ite had traveled 40 miles I 1 Mr Merchant Marchant was interested in sports and he caught many a baseball bl in his bare hands some I times on the tip of a finger He ne I would groan shake his hand per per- perhaps haps hags pull A joint back in plade pla e and proceed with the Ute g game me Along with a number of other men Mr Marchant opened Up the I high country to build lakes for Irrigation water a blessing to all concerned today From his records AMUSEMENT HALL BALL Peoa Ward was In need of an amusement hall halt and soon after fter I became Bishop Dishop for the first I time we started to make plans t to build one The walls were tobe to tobe o be of cement blocks Men who understood the work were hired Sand and cement were hauled to the the grounds and an an old building which stood south of the Ward House was cleared away Then men commenced making the blocks on the grounds The walls were laid up during the summer of 1916 with masons and local help We decided to get logs from the nto saw into lumber so a B number of men went into Smith and Canyon In Inthe inthe inthe the fall and chopped and skidded a quantity of logs In January of 1917 Oscar Jensen George Quince Neel Oral Miles Stephen Marchant Arthur LeRoy Marchant Clyde Marchant Roy Jorgenson and I hauled logs from the skidway to Shingle Mill crossing We camped in a log cabin below the mouth of Smith land and We had bad 10 teams of ot horses f or eight two horse Jwo-horse horse teams and one horse four k team m. m After we had been working afew a afew I few tew days we went up the gulch one morning after the there e had been beena I a blizzard most moot of ot the night andIon and andon andon j Ion on our way we e saw two small I snow slides come part of the way down to the road toad We had thought of ot staying in hi camp aUday all aU allday day on account of the weather weather but when a R calm came we went to work to bring out more logs When we wo had loaded five of ot the sleighs they were started down the canyon with four men remaining to load the other sleds sleda and follow THIRTY BELOW As we went down the canyon we caught up to the five sleighs and found they had come to a snow slide that had crossed the road We unhitched from our sleighs and started out with the horses We found th there re had been five rive slides across ho the nh n nV V one being io Y yards ds or more across We were very thankful that none of us had been caught In a B slide but knew we had a B serious serious serious se se- se- se rious problem to make a new road down below to get back to camp tEach J t Each slide would have completely completely com com- burled buried the sled train It was a slow ow process The weather became clear and as th the night came on it got colder and i colder until the temperature must have reached 30 below Our horses became tired bucking tho I four feet of snow and our clothIng clothIng clothing cloth- cloth Ing being wet froze on us We reached camp about 2 am a.m. thankful that no one was injured or frozen We had plenty of wood for the stove so spent the remaining h houri ud of the night in thawing out and drying off our clothes We had been 10 hours I getting around the slides and to I 4 v- v 1 the cabin I I Later Lacer in the winter when whEn th the sleigh roads got good M as far as M Peoa Proa these logs log's were were hauled to the sawmill In Oakley and made mad Into lumber The amusement hall hatt was finished In the spring of 1920 The work had been delayed delayed de de- de- de lared by so many men going into service In World War I. I t I To get the money to finish paying for the building a huge three day bazaar w was held and with the help of all the members of th the ward 2200 was WI raiS raised l. l FIRST ELECTRICITY D During ring the year 1919 1019 the Utah Power and Light Co be was WI bringing bringing bring bring- ing a t tUne line Une to furnish electric lights and power for Wanship and the towns north of Peoa James JamesA A A. Maxwell being a minded civic man became interested in having the line come up through Peoa A proposition was WM made malIc with the light company to extend theline tho the tholine tholine line on south through the towns of Peoa Peon Oakley and Marion Marlon it if a certain number of families would subscribe each A itA local committee committee was appointed appointed appointed ap ap- pointed to solicit subscribers but none of the members of this committee com com- committee was active except Ralph W. W Maxwell and myself We labored day after day to get this proposition proposition proposition through Finally We got gotas as many subscribers as needed and men set et to work to get the various houses house wired In the fall of 1921 the lights were turned on This was a happy day for tho the people |
