Walker Boot

By Eva C. Thorne Fage–granddaughter

Sophrona Clark Walker was born July 14^th 1829 in Chautauqua County, New York.  She was the daughter of Joseph and Phylinda Carpenter Clark.  They joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in their native state and came to Utah about 1851.  They settled in Pleasant Grove and lived on the lot on which the Alhambra Theatre now stands.  Sophrona’s mother was the first woman to be buried in the present Pleasant Grove Cemetery. Read More »

James Sawyer Holman was born in Templeton, Worcester, Massachusetts, on 17 September 1805 to Jonathan Holman, Jr. and Zilpha Sawyer.  Her early life was spent on his father’s farm.  When he was thirteen years old his mother died, causing a great trial to him.  Lather his father married again but no children were born in this union.  In his young manhood he went to New York where he continued his farm work.  Here he met Naomi R. LeBaron, the daughter of David LeBaron and Azuba King.  She was born on the 7^th October 1816, in LeRoy, Genessee, New York.  They were married 24^th March 1833.  Their oldest child, Harriet Naomi, was born on the 28^th of January 1834 in Stafford, Genessee, New York.  The young couple joined the church soon after its organization, being baptized the 22^nd of September 1834.  He received his patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith Sr. in February of 1835 in Kirtland, Ohio. Read More »

by Charles Walker from stories told by Pearl Cobbley Rodebuck

Grandma Davis was born 17 October 1861 in Pleasant Grove, Utah in a little adobe house.  She was born of pioneer parentage.  Her Father, Joseph Davis, and her mother Harriet Shoell were converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  They accepted the gospel in England and they crossed the ocean in a ship chartered expressly for the saints.  In the year 1856, Harriet Shoell crossed the plains, straining at heavy-laden handcarts.  Their company was one that was caught in the icy blasts of winter by the time it had reached the Sweetwater River.

Grandma had two brothers, Joseph and Fred.  When she was only four years old, Emma Louise was bereft of her father.  So at an early age she became accustomed to work and learned to practice self denial, to be thrifty and resourceful and these attributes proved to be of inestimable value to her in her womanhood, as a homemaker and mother of a large family. Read More »

Calvin A. Walker
Born August 29, 1906
Died April 18, 1980

• Born in Pleasant Grove in parent’s home
• Seventh child out of 14
• Raised on a farm
• Went to Pleasant Grove elementary and high school
• Knew Lucille in his childhood
• Quit school at age 16 for a year, but went back
• Went to USAC and majored first in civil engineering and then education for junior high
• B.S. degree in 1929
• Worked in Yellowstone in 1928: boss trusted him to pick up drunken workers in the evening
• Was kicked by a mule—damaged his spleen and kidney
• Married Lucille August 29, 1929 in Salt Lake Temple
• Taught in Duchesne: everything from P. E. to shop to math and science
• Loved to hike
• Taught high school in Lehi for three years
• 1932 got elementary certificate and taught in Spence School in Orem
• Loved the mountains
• Knew how to name wild plants and knew which ones were edible or not
• Active and taught children how to play ski, tennis, and basketball
• Taught in Central School in Pleasant Grove—fifth and sixth grade
• Became principal in 1954—retired May 1972
• Took the sixth grade children up Grove Creek in the morning, crossing the falls and into the meadow for lunch, and down Battle Creek in the afternoon
• Received his master’s degree in 1949 from BYU.
• 1918: Registered for Boy Scout, involved in scouting all his life. Eagle Scout
• Sliver Beaver in 1942
• Called Gus in scouting
• Bishop of the Pleasant Grove Third Ward, the same ward where he grew up
• Told Legend of Timpanogos
• Traveled to Statue of Liberty, Boston, Nauvoo, Haun’s Mill, Adam-ondi-ahman, Carthage, Liberty Jail, and Hill Cumorah Pageant, and Israel
• Temple worker in Provo Temple
• Liked art and pottery

(From information elsewhere on this site and conversation. Pictures from the Henson Walker book.)

Henson Walker, Jr.

Born March 13, 1820 in Manchester, Ontario, New York

Died January 24, 1904 in Pleasant Grove Utah

• Pleasant Grove’s first mayor
• Grew up on a farm in New York
• He studied his Bible carefully and went with the Minister around his circuit
• Enjoyed hunting and fishing
• Had black hair and eyes, was tall at six feet, straight and well built — much inclined to athletics and liked wrestling and was a good runner.
• Active and quick in thought and deed
• Moved to Michigan in 1835
• Often preached at Methodist services in a clear loud voice. He felt there was something lacking in his religion and heard the message of the Mormon Elders. Converted and baptized on April 16, 1840.
• His family didn’t follow him in his conversion, so he left them and went to Salem, Mich.
• Married another convert of the church, Martha Ann Bouck, on Aug. 24, 1841.
• Went to Nauvoo with his wife and her family and met the prophet. Said about that: “I was thrilled in every fiber of my being and I knew I was looking into the face of a prophet of God.”
• Worked on the temple and worked hard to build up the church. Member of Nauvoo Legion as a Major. Member of the Prophet’s body-guard.
• Spring of 1843, had a baby boy named John. Martha died in August. Henson moved to his in-laws house, where mother Bouck took care of the baby.
• Married Elizabeth Foutz on April 10, 1846 in the new Nauvoo temple by Orson Hyde.
• Short time after his marriage, his son, John, three years old, drowned.
• May 1846, Henson crossed the Mississippi with Elder Cutler’s company and went back and helped get people out of Nauvoo.
• Volunteered to join the Mormon Battalion, but President Young told Henson he had other plans for him.
• In the spring of 1847, just recovering from a fever, Henson was called to go west with the first band of pioneers. He left Elizabeth who was sick with the fever, not knowing if he would see her again. She stayed with the Boucks.
• His wife followed him there and she arrived in good care and improved health. Her parents went with her to give her a burial because they felt sure she was going to die on the trip since she was in such bad condition.
• A short time after Henson and his family arrive in Utah, he was called to go to California, but when he was about ready, he was released and given other work to do, as the pioneers began making Utah an inhabitable place to live. (farming, problems with Indians, etc.)
• Spring of 1850 went and build a ferry on the Platte River.
• One of the first inhabitants of Pleasant Grove, by the time he had two children, Henson III, and Victoreen Elizabeth.
• Summer of 1852 went with Pres. Brigham Young to St. George and did it cheerfully.
• Called to look after the spiritual affairs of the north end of Utah Valley as one of two leaders of the settlement.
• Married Sophronia Phylinda Clark in 1851 and Mary Green in 1856. Married Margaret Foutz (sister to Elizabeth) in 1857.
• Henson became the first mayor of pleasant grove in 1854, when Pleasant Grove became a city.
• Went on a mission to Great Britain from 1863 to 1865. Preside over Scottish Mission in 1864. Later filled two mission to the Northern States.
• Served as a bishop and president of the high priests quorum of the Utah and Alpine stakes.
• Died on Jan 24, 1904, 84 years old.
• Twenty children total: 11 sons, 9 daughters. One son with his first wife. 5 sons and 2 daughters with Elizabeth Foutz. 4 daughters with Sophronia Clark. 4 sons and 3 daughters with Mary Green and 1 son with Margaret Foutz.
• Had genial and pleasant ways and was popular with the people and highly respected.

(From information from the Henson Walker book)

• Had two wives: Adelaide and Leah. Married Adelaide on April 1, 1886
• Born on a big farm. Twentieth in Anson Call’s family.
• Six years old: milked cows and chopped wood
• Fourteen, drove hundred head of hogs into wheat fields.
• Became a member of the second primary association organized in the church
• Was a deacon, teacher, priest, elder, seventy, a high priest, and a bishop’s counselor in the East Bountiful Ward.
• Attended the university, taught school.
• “Partial to a book or the charm of a pretty girl” (Adelaide). Also liked horseback riding.
• Met Adelaide when he taught school—she was a student.
• Merchant for a living. Also was a city councilman in Bountiful, justice of the peace, and deputy sheriff in Davis County.
• Councilor in bishopric, ward clerk, ward teacher
• Claimed to be the first person to preach the gospel in the Philippines when he served in the military there during the Spanish-American War
• 1893 went on a mission to England and traveled in Norfolk, Suffolk, and Cambridge. Visited Scotland, and Ireland. Last seven months of mission president over Norwich conference and returned home July 26, 1895.
• Assisted in organizing a company of Infantry in the National Guard. Made a Sergeant.
• Said to his children about church: “Avoid the rear seats. You can sleep better on the front seats, there will be less to disturb you.”
• Spring of 1898 volunteered to join Spanish-American war. Went to the first presidency for approval of joining war. President Woodruff gave him a blessing and said that Willard would be preserved in war. He had broken ribs as a child that never properly healed, but since the blessing from President Woodruff, they never bothered him again.
• Arrived home from the war January 18, 1899, having been away for nine months, traveled 18,000 miles, and fought in six battles.
• Moved down to Mexico. There, he met and married Leah.
• Lived twelve happy years in Dublan, Mexico.
• Was ward teacher, presidency of young men’s mutual, superintendent of Sunday school, member of stake board of the Sunday school, and stake high council
• Worked at Union Mercantile Co. and then went into business for himself. Walked out on everything when they went back to United States.
• Had to leave Mexico due to strife.
• Willard developed cancer on his face.
• Ordinance worker in Salt Lake Temple.
• Had a policy of keeping out of debt
• Went blind in his old age due to cateracts.
• Always liked to wear a clean, starched white shirt so he was ready when someone would come.

Merle Alice Rees Call
Born July 2, 1911

• Born in Coalville, Utah in a white house, the third daughter of Joseph and Blanche Rees
• Lived before refrigerators or ice-boxes, and she remembers getting big blocks of ice from the river and storing them in the attic and covering them with sawdust.
• Moved to Devils Slide, Utah, when she was four. Her father worked in a general merchandise store and later managed the store.
• “Tomboy” (her word) as a girl.
• Left-handed.
• Moved to Croydon as a girl to the original Howard Thackeray home
• Liked to go to weekly movies. Paid eggs for admission and “they usually had a continued show that left someone falling out of a building, over a cliff, or drowning.”
• Had cows to mild, a horse to ride, pigs to feed, and chickens to hatch. Fished in irrigation ditch.
• Started school when she was five years old. First teacher was Miss Ethelyn Barns.
• Thin and sickly when she started school and had St. Vitus dance, a disease that made her twitch and jerk.
• Chosen for one the leads in the 8th grade operetta
• When to the senior banquet and dance in 8th grade. Only girl to do so. Said she was “embarrassed and timid” and would run and hide whenever her date tried to talk to her. Spilled on her dress she made for the occasion.
• Loved to sing.
• Graduated from Morgan High with a class of 13 people.
• Worked in the summer for her uncle cooking for hay men in high school. Made $4 a week.
• Later worked in a pea factor for the summer.
• Went to the Agriculture College in Logan. Waited tables to pay for room and board.
• Enjoyed studying art, design, interior decoration, and figure drawing.
• Went to Salt Lake and attended Utah High School of Beauty Culture.
• Married on February 10, 1932 to Helaman Call in the Salt Lake Temple. George F. Richards married her.
• Children: Marlene, Neil, Linda, Alan, Blane
• Took care of four children when her husband was drafted into WWII
• Taught spiritual living, social science, political science, and literature (Shakespeare) at week day Relief Society
• Counselor in Relief Society, served as ward librarian, in primary, as a teacher trainer. Taught early morning seminary.
• Regularly attended Sunday school and sacrament meetings
• Exercised her testimony
• On her death bed she claimed and held on to the belief that she didn’t have arthritis after doctors examined her and said she did
• Loved to shop and buy nice things on sale and then give them as gifts. Always had good supply of gifts
• Beautician–did hair for the ladies in the neighborhood and for her children
• Artist–charcoal, pastels, oils, acrylics. Gave art lessons to kids in the neighborhood on still life. Painted dancing dolls, flowers, animal, and landscapes
• Served others–took care of people, comforted them.
• Enjoyed reading.
• Enjoyed cooking, canning, and collected recipes. Made dinner rolls most Sundays.
• Very particular about her laundry–she got white things white and kept her clothes neat and mended. Also sewed.
• Enjoyed flowers and the beauties of nature.
• Could handle hard situations with a calming influence.
• She made her children clean windows one on each side when they were fighting. Marlene states: “You can’t stay mad when you have to look at the other person through the glass you are cleaning.”
• Was in some serious car accidents. In one of them, three people in the other car were killed. Face was cut to bits so she wasn’t recognizable. Right leg was cut to the bone. Nerve running through the hipbone was almost severed and she had to stay in bed for a while.
• Met her husband at a Halloween party in Salt Lake. Went to the movie Just Imagine, a futuristic film, for their first date.

Grave in Coalville, Utah:

Pictures from findagrave.com.