History of Edwin and Mary Bronson Contributed By Keith Fraser

EDWIN RUTHVEN BRONSON AND MARY CLARK

My Father, Edwin Ruthven Bronson, was born October 14, 1817, in Mentor, Geauga (now Lake County) Ohio. He was the oldest son of Lehman and Lucy Brass Bronson. When a small boy he went with his parents to Michigan and lived on a farm. At the age of eighteen he went on the Great Lakes as a sailor and later he became a captain on a boat that belonged to my mother’s brother, John Persons Clark. He stayed there for a number of years both before and after he married my mother, Mary Clark Bronson.

At one time, one of his ship mates, a young man by the name of Everice Fisher, persuaded him to go to sea with him. My father was anxious to go because he loved the water. He made all preparations and when he was ready to leave he went home to bid his mother good-bye, but her sorrow was so great at the thought of him leaving, that he decided not to go. It continued to be a great disappointment to him, but his friend who went to sea was never heard of again.

On February 9, 1849, he married my mother, Mary Clark. She was born October 25, 1823 at Wyandotte, Michigan. To them was born seven children, four boys and three girls. Their names are Everice Ruthven, Charles Isaac, (both born in Wyandotte, Michigan) Sarah Eliza, Avis Mary, Alice Naomi, George Clark and Alvin Tracy Bronson.

The missionaries of the Latter-day Saint Church, while laboring in Wyandotte, were very kindly treated by the Bronson and Clark families. My parents were converted by these missionaries and were baptized into the church.

When my brother Charles was about three years old, in 1856, my parents sold their comfortable home and all of their cherished belongings and started with a company of saints for Utah. My mother’s brothers were much opposed to her joining the church. They felt that she had disgraced them all. She had always been sickly and had been loved and tenderly cared for by all her brothers and sisters.

My mother and the children were to ride in a light wagon and she was to drive a team of horses.

My father drove an ox team hitched to a heavy wagon. In the wagon he had packed all the necessary things to use on that long journey. They stopped at the town of Florence, Nebraska, to rest and prepare for the remainder of the journey. They were with Captain Merrill’s Company. While in Florence they met a man and his wife who were very anxious to get to Utah, and who were willing to work and pay their way across the plains. My father was glad to accommodate them and before they came to their journeys end that couple proved to be a great blessing to them. They had not been traveling long when my mother took typhoid fever and was very ill for many weeks. Much of the time she was delirious, and many times given up to die, but through her faith and the faith of the Mormon Elders, her life was spared and she came with the saints to Zion. During her illness, the lady they had befriended took care of mother and the two little boys. They were ten weeks crossing the plains and six weeks of that time mother was confined to her bed. Many, many times during their trip over the dreary country, my father would ask her if they should turn and go back where she could get proper care, but her answer was always, “No, I must get to Utah. “

They reached Utah and settled in Cache Valley to be near my mother’s cousin, Dr. Ezra Williams, and after only a short stay at this place, moved to Provo City where they built a two-room adobe house. In that home, I Eliza Bonner, was born on July 4, 1858. I remember the house well. It was located about two blocks south of the Brigham Young University on Academy Avenue.

During that same year, 1858, Johnsons Army was sent by the United States Government to do away with the Mormons. President Brigham Young called my father, along with many others, to go to Echo Canyon to guard the pass.

In 1859 my folks moved back to Cache Valley through the persuasion of Dr. Williams, as my mother was not strong and the sickness and hardships had weakened her. About that time the Indians were on the war path and a battle was fought. It frightened and disheartened mother so much that they moved back again to Provo.

In the spring of 1861, my folks moved to Provo Valley, (now Wasatch County) and settled on Snake Creek in Midway, between what was known as the upper and lower settlements. There we made true and lasting friends. Among them was Jeramiah Roby and Sidney Epperson and their families.

The next winter in 1862 was called the “Hard Winter”. My sister Avis was born December 1, 1861. The snow began to fall very early in the fall, then it turned to rain and a part of each day, for six weeks, it rained. The first day my mother sat up to dress her little, new baby, the chimney which was laid up with rock and mud, fell into the room; water, soot and mud came with it.

Mother had related many times that little incident. Father put her to bed while he rebuilt the chimney.

The snow came very deep – so deep that it was impossible to get to the grist mill during the winter. That meant a lot of work for father. He washed and dried ten bushel of wheat and ground it in a coffee mill that held only about one pint. It was a long and tedious job, but he did it uncomplainingly. All that winter they were kept in the house, however, they were able to keep the cows and chickens from suffering for feed. That winter Father built a small vessel with sails, life boats, and all parts perfected. It was patterned after the vessels he had operated on the Great Lakes. He painted it and I can remember what a beautiful ornament it was and how proud my father was of it. He always had a longing for the sea and always loved to take us upon his knee and talk about it and sing sailor songs to us.

My mother’s oldest sister, Sarah Clark Button, joined the Mormon church about the same time that my parents accepted the gospel, and she was a very sincere believer, having a great desire to come to Utah and live there with the saints. Her husband was very much opposed to her having anything to do with the Mormons and would not allow any of their literature in his home. Aunt Sarah was grieved because she was deprived of attending meetings and reading the books and tracts which contained the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.

She was taken seriously ill and came near to death. One night she prayed earnestly to the Lord to spare her life. She promised that if her prayers were answered she would gather with the saints to Zion. When she was well again she remembered her promise and it was so sacred to her, she knew she must keep it. But how? She had a son and also a little girl twelve years old, and she knew if she came to Utah it meant to sacrifice her children, her husband and her home. She spent days and weeks praying, planning and wondering what to do. At last she decided she must keep her promise, so she packed her trunk unbeknown to her husband, and sent it on to her brother who lived only a few miles away, then several days later made some excuse to visit with her brother. Her little daughter Alice, drove her to his home and it was then that she bid her little girl goodbye. The long years went by and she never saw her again or never ever received a letter from either of her children. Her husband died a few years later.

In the year 1863, just after the first railroad came to Utah, my father drove to Echo to meet the train and bring Aunt Sarah to our home. My mother was overjoyed to see her, and she was a great help and comfort to her. Two weeks after her arrival, my sister Alice was born October 11, 1863.

A short time after, the people of the two settlements were called together on account of the Indians. They were unfriendly and were stealing the horses and cattle that belonged to the settlers. The houses were built to form a square. Inside the square was a high pole fence to corral the stock at night. I remember very distinctly of my father taking his turn walking around that fence at night with his gun to guard them from the Indians.

My brother George was born July 28, 1865, while we lived in the Fort. Two years later we moved out a little way on a farm where my youngest brother Tracy was born. He died when about two years old.

My Aunt Sarah taught school and later she remarried and moved to Glenwood. My mother was President of the Relief Society for a number of years. Later she was Stake Secretary until her health failed and she had to resign. She went among the sick and comforted those who were in trouble. She also helped take care of the dead.

In 1875 my parents moved to Glenwood, Sevier County. They stayed two years with my aunt Sarah. My mother’s health improved enough that she, with my help, taught school for one summer. After we came home she enjoyed better health for a few years. She died February 9, 1886. My father died March 19, 1889. Both died at their home in Midway, Wasatch County, Utah.

Review of Homestead records revealed that Edwin Bronson was granted 120 acres on 23 August 1879 by then U. S. President Ulysses S. Grant . The property is shown below in darker orange overlayed on a current map of Midway, Utah.