Payson, Utah - Utah County: a Graphic Account of Its Foundings, Its Wonderful Growth

Elevation, 4,610 Feet

This interesting little city, about sixteen miles south of Provo, and about two miles from the Wasatch mountains, lies between Spanish Fork and Santaquin.

The first white settlers appear to have been James Pace, Andrew Jackson Stewart and John Courtland Searle, who located with their families upon its present site October 20, 1850, and from that small colony, by additional arrivals which there is any record was a nail factory and machine shop, operated by David Sabin, William A. Beebe, et al., but it being found that it was cheaper to import than to manufacture, the enterprise was discontinued. In 1859 Walter H. Huish located in Payson, establishing himself as a machinist and manufacturer of furniture. He is still in business there, supplying glass, paints, crockery, oils, furniture and gen-

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Payson derived its name from its first settler, James Pace; being originally spelled Pacen, but afterward changed to its present form. The town was incorporated January 21, 1853, by act of the Legislature, The first manufacturing of eral household supplies. From this time on the town gradually grew, until in the census taken in 1866, it showed a population of 1,139 persons. The Deseret Telegraph office opened December 3d of this year, with John D. Stark as operator.

Agricultural pursuits were greatly facilitated in lHiiH by the construction of a canal eight miles in length, fur the purpose of conveying water from the Spauisb Fork river to Payson, which placed a vast tract of hind available for cultivation

There are two ecclesiastical wards in Payson, Bishop John E, lluish presiding over the first, and Jonathan S. Page, Jr., having charge of the second.

The days of Payson's infancy can be recalled by some of its residents, those who have made it their home for many years being: Amasa Potter, C. Kearls, Ellison Hill, W. C. McLellan, George Hancock, Joseph Crook, J. Todd and Charles Wright, who has been postmaster for many years.

Payson has had many school houses during its time. In lWrl a building was erected upon the site where the Central School house now stands, and in the winter of WAi-iYJ we find four schools erected and furnished, each one having its compliment of pupils, and thus each succeeding year has seen some improvement, the crowning point being the erection of the Central School house, a building which bears favorable comparison with any other of its kind.

Payson has a good, rich soil, which has been considerably improved by irrigation and cultivation, and its revenue each year from farm products form no small item to its wealth.

The city is lighted by electricity, has several large business houses, a population of about three thousand, and is situated on the lines of two railroads, and these advantages ought to insure a great increase in every way to Payson in the very near future.

This well known firm began business in 1891 as a hardware and grocery store, under the firm name of S. & J. S. Douglass. A large and influential trade was developed and enjoyed prosto the already large stock an addition was made of dry goods, boots and shoes, also a handsome line of crockery and glassware. The premises occupied is a large two-story brick, thirty feet front by eighty-two deep, in connection with which is a large and commodious dance hall, erected with a view to safety, being on the ground floor, with an area of 30x60 feet.

Orrawell Simons

Perhaps there is no citizen of Payson who has, during his residence there, so closely identified himself with the interests of that town as Mr. Orrawell Simons. He was born in Alexandria, Grafton County, N. H., being the son of Aaron and Abigail Buell Simons, April 21, 1821. His father was comfortably situated in life, his occupation being farming and brickmaking.

Orrawell lived in Alexandria with his parents until he was eleven years of age, attending the village school, when they moved to Crompton, in Lower Canada, where they remained six years, returning to New Hampshire and finally locating in Mentor, Lake County, Ohio. His early labors were mostly farming and clearing land, until, at twenty-one years of age, he learned the trade of a blacksmith at Kirtland under the instructions of a Mr. Charles Wightman, the first six months of his time receiving only $2 per month. In this town he formed the acquaintanceship of Mr. Charles Dixon, whose daughter Martha he married October 11, 1846, becoming the father of nine children, as follows: Ida F. and Ada Amelia (twins), Elizabeth A., Edward, Orrawell, Martha, Albert L., Enos W. and Major G. It being the custom of Mr. Dixon to allow each of his children, upon the occasion of their marriage, the use of his large, well-stocked farm for a period of two years, Mr. Simons and his wife availed themselves of the offer and living with his wife's parents, still working at blacksmithing, he was able to save considerable money and feel happy and independent. Mr. and Mrs. Dixon at this time being well advanced in years and Martha being their youngest child, the young couple

At this period a Mormon missionary, Mr. Benjamin Mitchell, visited Kirtland, receiving a kindly reception at the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Dixon, who had already joined the Church, and in time Orrawell became so convinced that the doctrine of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints was correct that one day, in a little stream running through the farm, he was baptized by Mr. Mitchell.

The following year, 1854, he decided to go to California and there engage in the business of stockraising, and in company with his brotherin-law he invested in 100 head of stock cattle, four yoke of oxen, one span of horses and three wagons, with sufficient supplies, and started May 15th with this large outfit from northern Indiana, traveling by way of Joliet and Rock Island to Council Bluffs, thence via Pacific Springs to Salt Lake City, arriving there September 1st. In many places the buffalo were so numerous, particularly upon the Platte river, that it often necessitated them preceding their cattle to prevent their stock becoming mixed.

His first place of residence was in Spanish Fork, where the season being so late, he decided to remain for a time and rest his cattle, intending to take them to the gold fields in California. The following spring he decided not to go any further, but to make his home in Utah. There his first son was born October 22, 1854.

The next summer the grasshoppers destroyed most of the feed and he was compelled to move with his family as far south as Payson, then a settlement with a population of 200, strongly fortified to protect themselves against Indian attacks, and where he has since resided, watching the place grow year by year from a little village until today it is one of the most prosperous towns in Utah. Soon after he went east, returning with three teams loaded with merchandise, which were gladly welcomed, as the people were almost destitute, and having at the same time all they could do to detain the United States troops at Fort Bridger until a compromise could be effected. They were upon the verge of famine, and here it was that Mr. Simons had an opportunity to display his nobility and freedom from avarice. Flour was at a premium, as much as $25 per sack being offered, and as the owner of a grist mill in which was stored considerable grain and flour, he could have realized an enormous sum by taking advantage of the misfortunes and suffer, ings of others, but his belief in his religion being stronger than his greed for gain, he sold his flour at the unifoam rate of $6 per hundred, and limiting his sales to those who were in the greatest distress, a course of action not often witnessed in the present day. He was elected

He erected three ^rrist mills and three saw mills an.l assisted considerably in the building of school and meeting houses. In IHi;o, incompliance with th<' teachings of the Church, he married Jane Luca, having two children - Emma .lane and George Grant. Two years later he espoused Katie Baldwin, who raised a family of nine, whose names were: Ruth Elvers, Katie Viola, Hyrum 0., Charles 13., Minnie J., Frank li., Ord and Omer.

The family lived in perfect harmony until the laws of the country necessitated some change, and Mr, Simons therefore retaining his first wife Martha, provided homes for the other two, settling upon each a comfortable allowance. In 189G Mr. Simons and his wife Martha celebrated their golden wedding, having been married fifty years, and the occasion by a fitting reception of families and friends.

He has fifty-four grandchildren and five great grandceildren. He has made a success of his life financially and otherwise, having accumulated sufficient to keep him comfortable in his declining years without worry, a pleasing state of affairs which, considering the upright character of the man and the many years of hard labor he has performed, is no more than is justly his due.

Martha Dixon Simons

grandfather, Charles Dixon, having emigrated from Yorkshire to Nova Scotia in the year 1772, before the revolutionary war. Her parents were Charles and Elizabeth Humphrey Dixon, and at the time of her birth, June 27, 1826, they lived in Sarkville, N. Ii. She lived at her birthplace with Iht parents, who were engaged in was 12 years old, when her family becoming convinced of the truths of Mormonism, emmigrated to Kirtland, Ohio, making the journey by team, where they purchased a farm about two miles south of where the Mormon Temple now stands. She seceived a good common school education, in consequence of which she was employed in later years as a teacher for several years. On October 11th. 1846, she was married to Orrawell Simens, a blacksmith, whom she had known several years, living with her husband upon her parents's farm until they decided to seek their fortunes in California, leaving Kirtland in 1854.

She was the mother of nine children, three of whom (daughters) were born to her upon the old farm, and soon after her arrival in Utah, her first son Edward arrived October 2'2d. being born in the first house erected upon the site where Spanish Fork now stands, and built by her husband. Mrs. Simons was appointed in 1870 by Eliza R. Snow as superintendent of the first Young Ladies' Retrenchment Society organized in Payson, and in 1893 she was elected president of the Female Relief Society, a position she still holds.

July 1, 189(3, she with her husband, went to the Centennial Exposition at Philadelphia, and while east visited the scenes of her early youth in Kirtland, Oh:o, and Sackville, N. B.

She has been a Sabbath school teacher for twenty years, and has performed considerable work in the Logan and Salt Lake Temples in the interests of deceased friends.

In 1893, although nearly seventy years of age, she was still vigorous enough to share the enthusiasm most people felt at that time, and undertook with Mr. Simons the long journey to Chicago to witness the many wonders displayed at the World's Fair Exposition, and October 11, 1896, at her home in Payson, she was tendered a reception by her friends and relatives in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of her marriage to Mr. Simons, and in commemoration of the auspicious event, she and her husband were presented, by her children, with a gold-headed umbrella and cane, respectively, each article being appropriately engraved with name and date.

Mrs. Simons has been, and still is, an active worker in church matters, and the prospects are that she will continue to be an honored and respected resident of Payson for many years.

George Patten

Another pioneer who performed his part in the labors which in a comparatively few years have transformed a barren waste into its present productive state is George Patten. He was born in Chester County, Pennsylvania, October 26, 1828, his parents being William Cornwell and Julianna Bench Patten. Being the child of people in humble circumstances, and his mother dying when George was only six years old, his education was of the most elementary nature, and at eight years of age we find him beginning to labor for his support on a farm in the state of and seek shelter at Winter Quarters, five miles above Omaha. This was in 1847. In 1848, being on Indian lands, they crossed over into the state of Iowa, making another home nine miles from their previous one. The following year was spent in St. Louis, where he was engaged in the stonecutting trade, returning in the fall of 1849 to St. Jo, Mo., where his father was then living.

June of 1850 saw him starting for Utah, a member of Wilford Woodruff's and Edson Whippel's fifty, leaving the Missouri river in the latter part of that month and reaching Salt Lake City October 3rd.

Delaware, sixty miles south of Philadelphia. He lived in this place with one of his father's cousin until the fall of 1842, when his father, having joined the Mormon Church, took him to Nauvoo, arriving there October 4th. In 1844 he commenced to learn the stonecutter's trade, and began his labors in that direction upon the Nauvoo Temple, working there one year.

In the spring of 1856 he was called to help the pioneer company, going with them as far as Mount Pisgah, and in the latter part of August of the same year he was at Mount Pisgah again assisting in the removal of the families of those who enlisted in the Mormon Battalion.

He was married to Mary Jane Nelson February 20, 1851, and three years later, in the fall of 1854, he removed to Pay son, where his father had lived since his arrival in Utah in 1850. In 1856 he was called into service by United States Deputy Marshal Thomas Johnson, serving under him, and was engaged in what was known as the Tintic war. Having on October 27th taken a load of tithing grain to Salt Lake City, Daniel H. Wells asked him to help In the handcart companies and was gone about six weeks, his wife in the meantime being obliged to wade in from twelve to eighteen inches of snow in order to feed the stock during his absence.

latter purl of May, \w>~, going with him to Omaha to bring immigrants, making the round trip in 130 days. May 8, 1866, he was appointed major of infantry in the Nauvoo Legion, reoeiving his commission from Acting Governor Edwin Siggins. In October, lwih, his assistance whs invoked to strengthen the southern settlements mid in response to the call he whs sent to St. Thomas on the "Muddy." While engaged in this work he put up a molasses mill, a cotton «in and a mill for (grinding rock salt.

He was assigned to a mission in the winter of 1871-2 to the States of Pennsylvania, Delaware and Indiana, and upon his return in 1873 he was appointed constable in and for the precinct of Payson by Governor George L. Woods. During the time he was south he planted trees and vines in a city lot in St. George, which he later exchanged for property in Harrisburg, a town about ten miles north of that place.

He assisted in the construction of the first telegraph line in Utah county and contributed $7111) worth of labor in the erection of the Provo Woolen Mills. At the time of the building of the Utah Southern railroad Mr. Patten was placed in charge of one of the construction forces doing the grading from Payson, anil at a later period lie furnished ties and timbers for the Provo bridge, amounting to about $1,000,

Many are the improvements in Utah county, which could be (raced to this gentleman. The well known t'heeny Hanch, between Payson and Nephi, consisting of about 800 acres, was bought by him for $4,<HK>, which, by driving wells, one of which supplies the railroad tank. tin1 erection of buildings for the accommodation of travelers and otherwise improving it, he was able to dispose of for double its purchcse price He has sent his aid in the erection of five temples, viz: At Nauvoo, St. George, Salt Lake City, Logan and Manti.

In 1890 he went to Mexico and there helped to build up the town of Dublan in Chihuahua, purchasing the laud from some fifteen Mexicans and establishing a Mormon colony there.

His life all through has been one of considerable activity, and although he is now nearly seventy years of age, still possesses much of that youthful vigor and spirit of enterprise which has made Utah what it is, and this brief review of the life of George Patten will show that he was no exception to the rule.