Mormons in Mexico: Refuge, Revolution and Rejection (pp. 6-11 Vol. 1)

by Annette Carroll, San Juan High Senior

Imagine a dusty, hot desert, cactus waste, and rocky hill to clamber over. Off in the distance isa clump of trees and a stream. Further ahead are cooling mountains with a blue and purplish hue. Youhurry toward the cool shade of the cottonwood and walnut trees and find yourself in Colonia Diaz. OldMexico. It's a beautiful little town with a few whitewashed adobe homes, a store, church/schoolbuilding, and a few nice red brick homes. A wide river of cool, clear water that you thought was a merestream, runs along the edge of town. Around the outskirts of the settlement are many orchards andbeautiful gardens. Further out are a few scattered farm houses with huge acreages of farmland andmesquite brush for trees. Imagine this peaceful but busy town of Colonia Diaz and then picture anumber of similar villages in the early 1900's close by. These small settlements were called "thecolonies."

Because of the Edmund Tucker Act passed in 1887, which outlawed polygamy, the Latter-DaySaints or Mormons were harassed by the government and the people of the United States. LDSChurch president John Taylor advised many of the polygamous families to migrate to Mexico wherePresident Porfirio Diaz assured the Church there were no laws against polygamy. (1) This articlediscusses what it was like to live in Mexico, why some of the Mormons returned to the United Statesand why many of them eventually came to San Juan County, Utah to live.

Saints in Mexico

President Brigham Youngwas the first to make theimportant move to help establisha refuge in Mexico for thepolygamous Saints. He sent aparty of missionaries toChihuahua, to ask for theprivilege of starting a mission andcolonies there. The Mexicangovernment favored theMormons and a few years laterMexican President Porfirio Diazgave permission to PresidentJohn Taylor, to allow the churchto proselyte and settle among theMexican people. Hence, theMexican Mormon colonies were

born. (2)

A scouting party was formed to find suitable places to settle and build towns. It took nearly ayear to find good places to settle. Some people left for Mexico during the dead of winter hoping to finda place of refuge away from their enemies. Others arrived later joining the first pioneers In Mexico,buying land, and settling down to form new communities. A couple of the early town sites wererelocated because of unclear titles and incorrectly surveyed boundary lines but finally all wereestablished. (3) There were six main colonies, three of which-- Colonia Dublan, Colonia Juarez, andColonia Diaz--were on the northern plateau. The other three--Pacheco, Garcia, and Chuichupa --weresettled in the Sierra Tarahumare Mountains. Other people settled in town of Colonia Diaz and theCorralitos Cattle Ranch.

When the Mormons first moved to Mexico, the land was a "cactus waste" and hard to tame.But they were an industrious people and began immediately to improve the land for their convenienceand comfort. They did not have wood to build good homes when they first came to Mexico. Thesettlers of Colonia Diaz settled by a river, instead of using the crude wagon boxes as a home, theymade dugouts along the bank of the river. They plastered them with mud and let it dry, then coveredthem with the wagon covers. Next the fronts of the dugouts were rocked up, providing adequatetemporary homes until they could build better ones.(4)

The Mormons planted crops and orchards usually every member of the family helped to plant,water, weed, and harvest. Ida Nielson remembers going out every morning with her brothers andsisters and parents to help plant, hoe weeds, or irrigate. Even if her mother had a small baby, shewould help out in the garden and fields and go in about 11 Am to prepared the noon-day meal. Everyone then came in and had dinner. (5) They raised everything they ate except flour, sugar, and saltwhich were purchased at the store.

Not having all of the conveniences found in the States, the women soon learned to improvise. Mormon cooks used a lot of vinegar in food preparation. Maggie Harvey remembers how her motherused it as flavoring for lemon pies and cobblers. Ground corn was used to make omelets, cornbread,muffins, and mush. (6) Because of their morning to night schedule in the fields, the women often mixedtheir bread in the evening and let it rise overnight, then baked it in the morning. (7) Most mothersweren’t “satisfied” to just make a little ordinary thing out of what they had. They would ‘vary it” indifferent ways.” (8)

Sometimes people would experiment eating unusual things, such as clams. Britta Bradford tellsof her father cleaning out a ditch and brining home a quarter of a gunnysack full of clams. It was herjob to open the tough shells and to get the soft meat inside. (9)

While in Mexico several natural disasters affected the Mormon’s crops, the growing season,and their newly built homes. One such disaster was the earthquake of May 1887. One account tellswhat happened. James, Myrtle, and Eva Palmer, a polygamous family, had just moved from the Unitedstates to a stockade in Mexico called Stringtown. One day white they were peacefully enjoying theirnoonday meal, the whole earth began to shake. Everyone was excited and thought that their time hadcome to go to heaven. One woman said, “I am going to finish eating my soup before I die,” and shedid. The earthquake did not damage Stringtown much, but scared a year’s growth out if its

Britta Bradford

inhabitants.(10)In her book, Heartbeats of Colonia Diaz, Annie R. Johnson recounts the experience of Mexico

Mormons during these terrifying, but revealing moments. Sister Verona Whiting was practicing with agroup of Primary girls for a church program when the earthquake hit. She rushed them outside andthey all fell to their knees in frantic prayer. As her husband Charles, “abandoning his job of roofing abuilding, rushed past” she pled with him to join them in prayer. “Oh, I’m one ahead of you. I prayedthis morning!” he jolted back to her, as he rushed inside to “rescue the swaying clock and nervousfurniture.” (11)

Many had similar experiences and reactions to the earthquake;. The Mormon Colonies in the mountains just west of Colonia Juarezwere the hardest hit. Landslides roaring down into the canyon filled theair with dust almost to the suffocation point and friction ignited a forestfire to add to the dilemma. It is reported that a fissure opened up tosallow a milk house and then closed itself again. Permanent fissuresopened through which new streams of water flowed into the PiedrasVerdes River to supply the suffering mountain colonies and ColoniaJuarez with sufficient water for irrigation and culinary purposes. (12)

Another disaster was a year of heavy snowfall and heavyrainfall. Britta Bradford tells of the time when the great flood occurredin Colonia Diaz. She lived on a farm four miles out of town in a houseset on high ground with the fields below. When the river flooded itcovered her fields too. She remembers her brothers going out to thefields and herding their crop of melons in like cattle because the water

was so deep. (13)Annie Johnson tells more about he flood in Colonia Diaz. In 1905 the river overflowed and

many people refused to leave their few priceless possessions. They could only watch as their hard-earned homes and furniture were being washed away by the muddy, swirling waters. Even thoughmany precautions were taken such as sandbags and a levee, these were just washed away, too. Afterthe flood, everyone moved out of the one-room school house that they had all been staying in becauseit was on high ground and started to rebuild their washed away “city of refuge.” (14)

Many Mormons lost their businesses in the great flood. Some were shoemakers, blacksmiths,tanners, gristmill owners, carpenters, masons, and a few were store owners, but the majority of the menwere either miners, farmers, or cattle ranchers. Many others worked on cattle ranches for theMexicans.

While working on the Corralitos cattle ranch, Maggie Harvey’s father, Oscar Hurst, shoedPancho Villa’s horse. Some time later, when the Revolution was going on, the soldiers came throughand took Hurst and others captive. But Pancho Villa got angry and interfered when he found that theyhad taken Hurst, telling them to leave him alone because, “He’s my friend.” (15)

The Mormons were able to rent part of the land at the Corralitos Ranch and farm it. This ranchwas also headquarters in Mexico fora large mining and cattle company in New York. It was run largelyby Mexicans under the direction of a Mr. Slocum, and was a miniature city with “all kinds of shops,gristmills, and factories where harness, saddles, shoes and other things were manufactured.” (16)

The Mexicans, as a general rule, were quite friendly to the Mormons, but there were also

unpleasant incidents. For example, Myrtle Palmer had a trunk in which she kept clothes, valuables, andmoney. One day she noticed that a ribbon was hanging out of the closed trunk. Her first thought wasof the hard-earned money she’d hidden in there. As she searched, she knew that her children, herhusband’s other wife and family could not have taken it. When she couldn’t find the money she went tolook for the hired Mexican. When she could not find him, she assumed he had taken the money. Shefound his day-old tracks leading to Casa Grandes, his hometown. Mrs. Palmer sent for her brother,David Black. He and two other men set out to track the Mexican and send him back home with themoney. After trailing him for awhile, his tracks led off the main road in a semi-circle into the pine trees. About halfway into the trees, they found a rock that had been moved. They shoved the rock out of theway and found the money. Black and his friends then caught up with Mexican and made him go back,return the money and apologize.

Later Mrs. Palmer was cooking the noon meal and felt prompted to turn around. When shedid, she found the Mexican with the butcher knife in his hand, about to stab her in the back. Shequickly backed out the door, talking to him the whole time.

Charles Harvey also had an experience with a Mexican thief. As Harvey was coming off themountain, he stopped one night to camp. He pegged out his four horses. During the night, someonestole two of them. The next morning, he continued on his two remaining horses. When he got intotown, a Mexican asked him if he wanted to buy two horses for $5. When he said “yes”, the Mexicanbrought him his two stolen horses. (18) Many people had valuables, clothes and food stolen and neverreturned.

RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL LIFE

Religion was at the very center of their lives. It controlled both spiritual and social occasions. They held church services in a one-room schoolhouse that had a little stage or platform at one end. This building was also used for public socials and gatherings. Curtains could be pulled to divide theschoolhouse into four separate rooms. (19) Religious meeting were much the same as they are today inthe LDS church.

Most of the Mormon colonists’ social life was centered around their church activities. Theyhad dances every Friday night, birthday parties, Mutual (Youth meetings for LDS youth) parties, candypulls, hay rides, and other fun activities. They danced the Virginia Reel, the Danish Slide-Off and otherdances with only hands touching. They could not put their arms around each others’ waists.

The children played many games that are still used today, such as a round and squarehopscotch, marbles, jump-the-rope, jacks and kick-the-can. One game was “Pretty Bird In My Cup”. It is much like “Water in a Thimble” played by children today. One person would put a tiny bit ofwater in a cup then they would all sit in a row. The person that was “it” would go to the first personand ask “Pretty bird in my cup, which color is yours?” The person would say a color and if that personsaid the color that “it” was thinking about, then they got the water splashed in their face. If not, then“it”would move on to the next person until “it” guessed the right person. Then that person was “it” andthe game went on until the children got tired. (20)

Another game was “Old Mother Goose is Dead.” All the people would sit in a row and onperson was “it”. “It” would go to the first person and say, “Old Mother Goose is dead.” The personwould say, “how did she die?” “It” would say, “just like this.” And “It” would start nodding his head.

The whole row would have to do this. Then “it” would go to the next person and do the same thing,except he might stomp his feet and so on. (21)

The communities also celebrated holidays, though most of the time they did not have much togive or celebrate with. The Mormons always celebrated May Day (the 5th of May) or “Cinco DeMayo”, a Mexican holiday much like the 4th of July. The teenage girls of the colonies usually got a newdress every May Day. For the celebration they all braided the Maypole with long strips of coloredmaterial, weaving it around the pole. The girls paraded around in beautiful full white dresses with widebrightly colored sashes. (22)

They also celebrated Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the 24th of July (the day the Mormonpioneers arrived in Salt Lake Valley). Many people reminisce about the bare but happy Christmases inMexico. One man put up two stockings on year in hopes of getting something extra. He only got apigtail in one stocking. Another year he got an orange which was quite expensive.(23) Sometimes aperson would hit a streak of good luck. Britta Bradford received a poetry book from her mother oneChristmas and still remembers it and can cite “Twenty Little Froggies.” (24)

Ida Nielson remembers the days of the community Christmas tree. The community got one treeand set it in the corner of the school house. Everyone helped decorate it. On Christmas eve, they’dhave a big party and on the tree would be one wrapped present for each child in the community. Sheremembers well one Christmas when she got a big pink bow from Santa and how proud she was of it.(25).

Another form of entertainment was theater– melodramas, dramas, and comedies. A fewpeople remember having little parts like a daffodil (26) and a little Japanese girl wearing a kimono andpeeking around a fan. (27) Luella Rogers was about 14 when she came out of Mexico. Sheremembers one particular melodrama that she went to with her little sister. Her father was quite anactor and was selected many times to be in plays. In this particular play, he was the villain. Asmelodramas go, the last and final scene was suspenseful, the point in the action when the villain comesin to take away the lovely heroine against her will. The hero then saunters in and shoots him. As thiswas occurring, there was a blood-curdling scream that rent the air. Mrs. Rogers turned around to lookin horror at her sister, as did everybody else, including the cast. “They killed my dad!” she wailed. Luella turned bright pink from head to toe and calmed her sister down. The scream had ruined thewhole effect of the play. (28)

In addition to having fun, the children also had to study. Their subjects included geography,reading, writing, arithmetic, and American and Mexican history. Many times they had spelling matches. (29) Sometimes, the teachers were very strict, but most people have pleasant memories of theirteachers.

One strict teacher almost got himself fired. It seems there were two brothers, on of whom wasquiet and shy. The other was talkative, noisy, and outgoing. During an assignment on day, one of theseboys talked to his neighbor, irritating the teacher. The teacher got angry, scooped up a geographybook and whacked the noisy boy on the back of the neck with the edge of a book, making blood spurtout of his nose. The other, usually quiet brother jumped up, saying that he was the one who had beentalking. So the noisy one got in a fist fight with the teacher and the quiet brother had been hurt for noreason at all. (30)

Because of interest in higher education a large academy was built in Juarez and families savedfor several years in order that their children would be able to go. Some children lived out of town or on

farms several miles away and could not get to school easily. Therefore their mothers taught them thebasic subjects. After about the eighth grade the children who had saved enough money and had thedesire to get more education went to Juarez Academy.

Besides their studies and parties, the children also went on nature walks and short field trips. One man recalls going on a field trip with his class while living in Colonia Dublan. They went tot hehouse of a man named Walker, who had been murdered with a claw hammer while living there. (31)Ida Nielson remembers the nature walks in Pacheco. The children walked in pairs, usually a boy and agirl. When they saw something along the trail such as a bird or squirrel, they’d stop and talk about it,then continue on. When they came to the end of the trail there was a large clay hill. The children hadfun sliding down the hill on sticks, boards, and anything else they could find. They also molded littleanimals and dishes out of the clay and then returned following the river and crossing a bridge tot heschool house. (32) At recess besides playing games, they gathered up all the pine needles behind theschoolhouse in Pacheco, and made pine-needle houses out of them. (33) School was fun and mostlyexciting to those who loved to learn.

Most children had chores besides their studies. Sometimes they helped card and spin wool. They helped with the crops, fed chickens and animals, milked cows and goats, cleaned house, churnedbutter and dried preserved food. Delores Hurst of Blanding remembers a job that his brothers andsisters did while in Mexico. On wash day, he went into an empty lot nearby and gathered cow chips forheating the big black pot of wash water. His family washed their clothes on a wash board as dideveryone else back then. (34)

Ida Nielson remembers th days when a little Mexican neighbor boy would come over everymorning with a little pail. He’d say, “Cinco centavos por leche.” [Five cents for the milk] Then they’dgive him the five cents and he’d fill the pail full of milk. (35)

Mothers in Mexico, as mothers everywhere, had many jobs to do. They made all of theirclothes, cooked and preserved food, helped with the animals and crops, cleaned house, and borechildren in often hard circumstances. Some even picked up extra jobs as school teachers, nurses, andstorekeepers.

It took a lot of material to make clothes for a family, at a time when fabric was hard to obtain. The women had long gathered skirts with many petticoats. Consequently, most people did not havevery many clothes. At times two wives shared three dresses. They made their clothes, quilt linings, andbloomers out of dyed flour sacks. They also spun wool for clothing. (36)

Ida Nielson said, “Our dresses were what they called pinafores. They’d have a little yoke infront and kind of long gathered sleeves. Then it would go below your knee.” The boys wore denimjeans or short pants. The women wore two piece dresses. When they were pregnant, they worematernity dresses that had no waist and were loose all the way down. (37)

Rogers says that “they used to dress different. If you were young you showed it, in the lengthof your skirts and in your hair style and everything.”(38) They put their hair up into buns most of thetime, when they were older, but when young, they wore it in braids and ringlets. Boys and men all hadshort hair, but some wore beard. The hair style for women was usually long and thick with a bun at thetop of the head or at the nape of the neck. (39)

The importance of hair is illustrated by the following incident: While the Palmers were comingout of Mexico, Mrs. Myrtle Palmer got very sick and her hair became very tangled and matted, so thatit seemed impossible to get a comb through it. A lady offered to buy her hair if she would just cut it off

and be rid of the tangles. Her daughters pleaded with her because they sorely needed the money butMrs. Palmer stood firm. Even in her sickened and weakened condition, she suffered through the weeksit took her daughters to comb out her hair. (40)

Most people had only one pair of shoes back then, and these were only for Sundays, specialoccasions and during winter. At one dance, a lady was the only one with shoes. She had just comefrom Salt Lake City where her parents had given her an extra pair. She was the envy of the group thatnight. (41)

By the fall of 1910, Colonia Juarez was at a high level of prosperity and industry. The Co-ophad a stock of merchandise valued at $10,000. Orders were accepted by telephone and deliverieswere made free of charge. The shoe and harness shop and tannery, operated by the Taylor brothers,manufactured saddles and harnesses. The gristmill ground day and night, supplying a good grade offlour. Homes were well stocked with provisions: pantries contained barreled pork, beans, flour, andcornmeal. Apples, root vegetables and squash were stored in cellars. The Pearson Lumber Companyten miles to the south was connected with the border city of El Paso by daily trains.” (42)

This pleasant but strenuous life in Mexico with its share of problems, however, was soon to beshattered. The Mexican government was unstable and a revolution had started which soon engulfed theMormon colonies in raiding and plundering and forcing many to leave.

REFERENCES

1. Johnson, Annie R., Heartbeats of Colonial Diaz, (Salt Lake City, Utah; Publishers Press, 1972)pp. 13-16

2. Young, Karl E., Ordeal in Mexico, (Salt Lake City, Utah; Desert Book company, 1968)pp.3,5

3. Ibid.4. Johnson, p.395. Nielson, Ida Palmer. Interview by Annette Carroll 28 July 1987, Blanding, Utah. Blue

Mountain Shadows Oral History project, San Juan County Historical Commission, p.3.6. Harvey, Maggie Hurst. Interview by Annette Carroll 29 June 1987, Blanding, Utah. Blue

Mountain Shadows Oral History Project, San Juan County Historical Commission, pp.7-87. Bradford, Britta Harvey. Interview by Annette Carroll 14 July 1987, Blanding, Utah. Blue

Mountain Shadows Oral History project, San Juan County Historical Commission p. 58. Harvey, p.89. Bradford, p.510. Nelson, Chice Amelia Palmer, “Personal History of James William Palmer and Olive Myrtle

Black.” (Tucson, Arizona, 15 October 1950), pp. 5-611. Johnson, p.8512. Ibid., p. 8613. Bradford, p.114. Johnson, pp.87-8915. Harvey, p.916. Johnson, p.16

17. Nelson, pp.12-1418. Harvey, Niel. Interview by Annette Carroll 22 June 1987, Blanding, Utah. Blue Mountain

Shadows Oral History project, San Juan County Historical Commission, p.519. Nielson, p.220. Ibid., pp.4-521. Ibid., p.222. Ibid.23. Wright, Lucille Palmer. Interview by Annette Carroll 17 July 1987 Blanding, Utah. Blue

Mountain Oral History Project, San Juan Historical Commission, p.924. Bradford, p.725. Nielson, p.226. Ibid.27. Bradford, p.1028. Rogers, Luella Hurst. Personal communication with Annette Carroll, 3 July 1987, Blanding,

Utah29. Wright, p.1230. Black, Jenny Palmer. Personal communication with Annette Carroll 30 July 1987, Blanding,

Utah31. Hurst, Delores. Interview by Annette Carroll 23 June 1987, Blanding, Utah. Blue Mountain

Shadows Oral History Project, San Juan Historical commission, p.132. Nielson, pp.2-333. Ibd.34. Hurst, p.635. Nielson, p.1036. Wright, p.637. Nielson, p. 338. Rogers, Luella Hurst. Interview by Annette Carroll 1 July 1987, Blanding, Utah. Blue

Mountain Shadows Oral History Project, San Juan County Historical Commission, pp.8-939. Nelson, pp. 14-1540. Nielson, p.441. Nelson, p.1342. Wilson, Jacqueline Redd. “The Parley Redds; Recollections of the Lives of Ruth Hurst and

Parley Redd”, p.3