William Francis LeSueur

William Francis LeSueur

William Francis LeSueur, son of John and Caroline LeGresley LeSueur, was born 12 November 1856 in Bountiful, Utah. He was the 4th son and 8th child born to John and Caroline. The other 7 children were born in the Jersey Islands before the family migrated to Utah in 1855. His parents had been converted to the Mormon Church in 1849 by missionaries John Taylor and William Dunbar.

The first child born in his family was a brother, name not known, who died in infancy. Then came Mary Ann (Fackrell), born 23rd of September 1838; John Phillip, born May 1840 and died in April 1845; Jane C. (Davis), born 7 October 1842; Caroline (Mallory), born 27 January 1847; and John Taylor, born 4 December 1852. Harriet Ellen (Warner), born 18 June 1850. These are his 3 brothers and 4 sisters, five of whom remained to make the planned journey to America.

The John LeSueur family with five other relatives from the Jersey Islands arrived in Salt Lake City in October 1855. Shortly after their arrival they settled in Bountiful, Utah. On the journey to America, while crossing the Atlantic, John DuHamel, one of the relatives, Caroline's sister Mary's husband, passed away. Mary DuHamel was later married to a man named Philip Marat. The widow of John LeGresley, Eliza, lived with the LeSueur's until she died in 1872.

One year after the John LeSueur family settled in Bountiful, their last child, a son, was born and named William Francis LeSueur. In 1857, his father rented a piece of land for a while, worked for wages, and then bought a small parcel of land on which he began to build a house. In 1858, however, they heard of the coming of Johnston's Army, and decided to move to American Fork. In American Fork, his father worked for wages in the construction of houses for the U.S. Army. Then again in 1859, they returned to Bountiful where they purchased a 30 acre farm with a two room house.

We shall now quote from the Autobiography of William Francis LeSueur.

My father's life was cut short as he took seriously ill in 1862 and under doctor's care in the Salt Lake Hospital, passed away on November 24, at the age of 49, seven years after arriving in America. In his short life in America with the Saints he was very happy and had accumulated a very nice farm, several teams and some cows and a comfortable home. Father was tall and stood erect and walked a fast gait. Although I was only five years old when he died, I have a few memories of him, especially when he was sick. I stood by his bed and he would hold my hand and talk to me, and pull me close to him and talk kind to me. On one occasion he got an apple from a sack under the cover and gave it to me. This thrilled me greatly and though I am now in my eighties I still get a thrill when I think to it. And oh how I long to see my dear father which I had such a short time that my recollections of him are so meager. But I do recall he was very kind to us and played with us.

In 1865, my mother sold our farm at a rather low figure, and part of that was to be paid with wheat as it was harvested each year. From Bountiful , we moved to Montpelier, Idaho, located on the east side of Bear River near Bear Lake on the old Oregon Trail. My second oldest sister, Jane, was now married to John Davis, and they lived at Montpelier. At this time my mother's family consisted of two girls, two boys, and the aged Aunt Eliza. Two of the girls were now married, Mary Jane Fackrell remained at Bountiful.

Not too long after we moved to Montpelier, my sister Caroline, married Charles Mallory. Later my sister, Harriet married Charles Warner, leaving my brother John and I and Mother alone. All of my married sisters and their husbands have been good hard working people and helpful to us.

The wheat that we were to receive from selling our home in Bountiful was transferred to Logan where it would be closer for us to pick up. Each year John and I would drive our yoke of oxen down to Logan to get a load of this wheat. On one occasion I vividly recall we met a caravan of buggies and light wagon. The first one was a white topped buggy, it stopped beside us (we had pulled to the roadside so they could go by us.) To our surprise and thrill it was President Brigham Young. He greeted us and asked if we thought our oxen would be able to pull the load on up the dugway. Then he asked us our names, and was very concerned to see us two young boys on such a long arduous trip. He gave us his blessing and went on his way. We were so thrilled to have our great President show such an interest in two small boys.

During these years I attended short term school during the winters. Our principal subjects were writing, reading and arithmetic. The teacher was usually selected from the town and one that could write well and cipher.

Machinery and other conveniences were very few. We cut hay with a cythe, our grain with a cradle, but before we left Montpelier improved machinery began to come in. In the early 70?’s, John T. was given a job as clerk in a small CO-OP store. I looked after the cattle and did some farming. The Ox teams were traded for machinery. We were now living in a better location in town on main street. Our aged aunt that had lived with us all these years had now passed away.

Our life in Montpelier was fun. We had lots of good times and everyone seemed to be interested in each other. They had dances, sleigh rides, hay rack rides to picnics, etc. Some of the out¬standing events were when the General Authorities of the Church would come to Montpelier on their visits at conference time. The people of the town would really go out to welcome them and make a big affair of it. They dressed their best, cooked their best, and all that had horses would ride out to the mouth of the canyon to meet them. We had practiced songs to sing to them when they appeared in sight for we were really thankful to have them come. It was on one of these occasions that I was able to join the group that went to meet them, as I had a fine little pony which I had traded my two year old cow for. As I remember, I was the youngest boy along, and I had to do some hard old kicking to keep up with the rest but I felt important and happy. On another occasion, I remember standing in line with the rest of my Sunday School Class to greet them as they came by.

As I grew up I took on more responsibility around the home. My brother John was 4 years older than I was, and he went out of town to work; but we had worked hard cutting poles and posts to build fences, sheds and other shelter for our stock. We raised hay and feed for them and we were now getting quite a herd. Mother had chickens, made butter to sell and with our good vegetable garden we lived well. My brother John hauled grain from Montpelier to Blackfoot for the Stage Coach Company and the rail¬road, which was being built through Wyoming. I traded ponies and horses around until I had a good team, the one I drove to Arizona later.

By this time I was getting where I wanted to step out with the girls. I thought I had to follow in the footsteps of my brother. I had gone out with one of the Holmes girls, but for some reason I had my mind made up for one of the Bingham girls. Their father had a blacksmith shop down the street from us and I liked to go down there and sit around with the other fellows and hoped I might get to see Anner. I was a bit scared of her mother, as she drove a bunch of us away when we went shivareeing one of the other girls and her husband; so I didn't dare go to the house. But one morning I made up my mind I was going to ask Anner to go to the dance with me that night. So down the street I started, and who should I see but Anner coming towards me. She was going to her sisters house. So this was my chance, I could not ask for a better one. But as I neared her I got faint hearted and went past her. Then I realized I would never have a better time to ask her, so I whirled around and said "Oh say, will you go to the dance with me tonight?" She went with me, and that was the beginning of our courtship.

In 1876 my brother John and Geneva Castro were married. This left mother and I alone. January 16, 1878, I married Anner Mari Bingham, the fifth daughter of Calvin and Lucretia Thorn Bingham. The ceremony being performed by Charles C. Rich, in Paris, Idaho. The dinner was given by the brides parents, in their home in Montpelier, and of course, a wedding dance in the hall that night.

During the summer of 1878, we heard encouraging words from a colony of Bear Lakers who had moved to the Salt River Valley in Arizona the previous year. That colony included my sister Caroline LeSueur Mallory and her husband, Charles and family. With assurance of finding a warmer climate, a company of eleven families from Montpelier decided to move there also. These were the families of Hyrum Phelps, John Hibbert, Charles Dana, George Dana, Calvin Bingham, Perry Bingham, Robert Williams, John Davis, Charles Warner, John T. LeSueur and William F. LeSueur. (This means that five of the six families children of John and Caroline LeSueur were to migrate to Arizona, with Mary Ann and James Fackrell the lone family re¬maining in Utah).

In preparation for the trip we disposed of our surplus cattle and real estate and became outfitted with horses, wagons, tents, heating provisions etc. necessary for the long journey. So on October 3, 1878, the eleven families left for Arizona, taking with us 150 cows with five young men as drivers. The Bishop from Montpelier came out the first night and camped with us and organized our company with Hyrum Phelps, Captain and John Hibbert as chaplain.

Just before we left we received word that our beloved sister Caroline had passed away in Arizona. This saddened our hearts, but we decided we'd still go.

The route followed up Bear River about 75 miles near the Wyoming line, thence into Utah, down Echo Canyon, then up the Weber River, via Coalville, Rockville, and Kamas then over to Reber City and down Provo Canyon into Utah Valley. My wife and I with several other couples left the company and went to Salt Lake City where we went to the Endowment House and were sealed by Daniel H. Wells, on October 28, 1878. Then we joined the main company at Salem, Utah where we found that the two Bingham families and Robert Williams family were going no farther, being persuaded by relatives that they should stay in Salem.

This was a great disappointment to my dear wife to have all of her family so far away from her, and especially as she was so young. But her two sisters, Clarinda and Mary Elizabeth Phelps continued on. We continued our journey south through Southern Utah and Northern Arizona. We found the country very dry and water very scarce. Feed was poor and the ground was sandy which made it very hard pulling. We arrived at Brigham City, Arizona on the Little Colorado after first crossing the main Colorado River at Lee's Ferry, where we were delayed for a couple of days, having difficulty in crossing our cattle as they would not swim the river. We finally had to ferry them on the boat. We arrived at Brigham City on Christmas Day. Our route was then to the west via Jarvis Pass, Sunset Pass, Stoneman's Lake and Rattlesnake Tanks over the roughest road we had encountered on the whole route, then down to Beaverhead at the foot of the mountain. Here we found good camping, plenty of grass and water. Here we spent New Year's Day, and with the hospitality of the station keeper, we had a dance, our captain, Hyrum S. Phelps, being a good fiddler. My wife and myself and two of the frover boys were left here for about a week to strengthen some of our most tenderfooted cattle.

We arrived at what is now Mesa, on the Salt River, about a week later than the main company, about January 17, 1879. We found the colony that had preceded us the previous year and had located a townsite and had divided it into skirt land and town lots. Charles Mallory, our brother in law, gave my brother John T. and I a town lot, upon which we built a two room house, which stands on the comer of First Avenue and Sirrine Street. It was one of the first adobe houses built in Mesa.

William and Anner's first child, William Calvin LeSueur was born there September 2, 1879.

During this time we did a little farming, and freighted some for Charles T. Hayden to Tucson and to some of the mining camps in the state.

In the spring of 1880, having become somewhat discouraged with the prospects and climate being rather warm, four families of us John Davis, Charles Warner, John T. LeSueur, and myself picked up and left sunny Mesa and moved to St. Johns, Arizona. We arrived there the 21 of April 1880. I obtained a small farm and raised some corn that year. In June with a number of other settlers, we loaded wool for a Mexican to deliver in Albuquerque. N. M., and other supplies, as the necessities of life were very scarce at St. Johns. Flour was $15 per hundred pounds.

About this time the construction of the Atlantic and Pacific Railroad (now Santa Fe) was commencing from Albuquerque on the west. I obtained employment on this construction job and did grading from Fort Wingate East. Later in 1881 and 1882 I worked at freighting in the area. At this time I moved my family to Brigham City Fort, where our second child, LeRoy, was born 9 April 1882.

I returned to St. Johns in the summer of the same year as the grading and freighting contracts were completed. During the winter of 1882 3, I built a two room frame house lined with adobe. I also contracted the freighting for the CO OP consolidated with the ACMI. In 1911, the Springerville store divided its stock and opened a store in Eagar. In 1913, I sold my home and moved to Eagar. I continued to work in Springerville till 1916, when I transferred to Eagar. I was with the Eagar Store until 1924 having served 33 years. I had made many friends among the Mexicans as well as white people and many of them came to Eagar to trade with me after I left Springerville.

In the year 1902, my dear wife, Anner Mari, was stricken with appoplexy, which rendered her a helpless invalid for eight years until she passed away June 11, 1910. These were years of great sorrow and worry in our family.

With my dear wife gone after so many years of close and almost constant attention, what was I to do. I was very much lost. Before she was sick we were making plans to build us a new house. But during her sickness I knew not which way to turn. I had some thought of taking her to another location in hopes the climatic change might help, but that never materialized. But I first did want to better our living conditions by building a new and better home.

First I decided to take time off and go around the country and see if I would like to settle some other place. I went to Mesa, California, Utah and Idaho where I looked prospects over while visiting friends and relatives, but came back convinced to spend the remainder of my days in Eagar. Will and the boys began gathering and hauling malpi rock from around town to the quarry where we had a man cutting them for facing stone a¬round the foundation above the ground. It took an awful lot of rock 2 feet thick and 6 feet from the bottom of the foundation to where the brick started. Bruce went to John Sherwood's sawmill and worked for the lumber and John and Ruel helped make the brick. So you can see that the boys had earned their home though they were home very little to enjoy it. Will passed away before its completion. Ruel was with the United States Army following his return from a two year mission in the Central States. Bruce was away to school. Emma and I were in that large house alone a good share of the first year.

On February 10, 1915, 1 married Elna 1. Hansen in the Salt Lake Temple. Two boys, Carl Gordon and Woodrow Francis, and one girl, Genevieve, were born of this union.

During my adult life I served in several positions in both civic and religious capacities. I was elected a County Supervisor in the fall of 1924 and served for three years. But the job I enjoyed the most was chairman of the Old Folk Committee. We really put on some outstanding entertainments and lovely dinners involving the Mexicans as well as our own Church members.

In Montpelier, I was ordained a Deacon, Teacher, and Elder. In St. Johns, I served considerable time as a Ward Teacher and presided over the YMMIA for 3 years, during which time we were successful in building up an excellent attendance. At Eagar Ward. I was 2nd Counselor to Bishop Goo. H. Crosby from June 1894. to November 1899, when I became Ist Counselor to Bishop Joseph Udall. I had the responsibility of the Bishop 3 years while Bishop Udall served on a mission in England and served until June 1913 when my son Roy was sustained in my place and I was sustained a High Counsellor in the St Johns Stake, which position I held until 1931.

On January 6, 1927, 1 was called to serve a short term mission to the Jersey and Guernsey Islands. I returned in July of the same year. My parents, brother, and sisters were all born on the Jersey Island, and it was surely a thrill to me to have the privilege to visit these channel islands. Of our kin, I found two first and seven second cousins. The two first cousins were very hospitable, but the second cousins were not too concerned about their American cousin. Perhaps mostly because of the differences in our religious belief. I did have the pleasure of living in my father's old home with my missionary companion, boarding with an elderly lady who owned the home.

The Island was a beautiful place and so quaint. People living much the same as they had done for many years. No automobiles or modern conveniences, no hustle and bustle like we have in America. I spent most of my time searching for and taking the names of our ancestry, and obtained a list of about 3, 000 names. In July when I was just ready to embark for the home journey, I received the shocking news of the death of our little girl, Genevieve.

Since my return from Europe, my time has been spent at home in Eagar, doing a little farming and stock raising up to April 1939, at which time I became seriously ill and was taken to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix where a minor operation was performed. Since this time I have been a semi invalid under the care of my wife.

William Francis LeSueur, one of Arizona's greatest pioneers, a stalwart Of the restored Gospel, devoted, successful family man, and highly respected merchant and business man, passed away in Eagar, Arizona, June 13, 1941. He was buried in the Eagar Cemetery.

William Francis LeSueur, Anner Mari Bingham LeSueur, and Elna I. Hansen LeSueur have left behind a great posterity. May we bring honor to them.