MOVE TO TONTO BASIN, ARIZONA, 1883
In 1883 Elam, Jr., Aaron Elijah, their families and their mother Margaret planned to move to Arizona and settle in the Tonto Basin where Margaret's married daughters, Elizabeth Ellen Sanders and Louisa Smith Sanders, had recently moved. Elizabeth Ellen was the wife of Moses Martin "Mort" Sanders and Louisa, known as Lyd or Lydia, had married David (Dave) Sanders, Mort Sanders' brother, after Edward Yank Smith had died in Minersville, Utah. As an interesting note, Dave Sanders was the father, by a previous marriage, of Sarah Jane who was married to Aaron Elijah. At the same time that Elam, Jr., and Aaron Elijah were planning their move, Elam was preparing to go to Mexico to get away from the Law. Harriet spent some time visiting her mother at Nephi, Utah, and Elam sold everything he could. He also made arrangements to visit his daughters, Elizabeth Ellen and Louisa, and their families in the Tonto Basin as they traveled to Mexico. Elam's sons, Franklin and Theodore, agreed to drive their father's teams to the Tonto Basin in the caravan composed of the family of Elam, Jr., the family of Aaron Elijah, their mother Margaret. There must have been five or six wagons and a large number of livestock.
Elam had been very sick for some time and he thought it best that he, Harriet and their daughters travel by train. They boarded the train at Salt Lake City going to California. In San Diego they changed trains to go to Yuma, Arizona. From there they went by stage to Mesa, Arizona, which was then called Lehi. They waited in Mesa until Mort and Dave brought teams from Tonto Basin to pick them up. It would be weeks before the caravan arrived from Payson with their personal household goods. According to Margaret, Elam's daughter: "My father did not plan to stay at the Tonto Basin when he went there, as he was staying out of reach of the law for practicing polygamy and felt if he could go on to Mexico he could live in freedom from fear and his health would improve." When they arrived at the Tonto Basin there were a few other ranchers besides the Sanders families. At that time the Tonto Basin was not a town but a few scattered ranches. There were no roads, just a wagon trail south to Lehi. The ranchers would arrive their cattle in herds when taking them to market. There were not enough people there to have a school and there was no church there.
Elam's home was a large tent set up next to Mort Sanders’ house. The floor was the ground. Elam put the tent up securely and Harriet kept it very clean and it was comfortable during the winter also. They were sheltered from the storms by the house next door. A stream came through the valley from the mountains and the frame houses were all quite close to the creek. The water was good as it came from the creek. There were fish in the creek and beef was plentiful from the Sanders. If other supplies were needed, a team was sent to Lehi for some. Clothing was either purchased at Lehi or made by the women there from material purchased at Lehi. The women all got together and made quilts. Elam worked for everything his family needed as he refused to sponge off his daughters and their husbands. Elam did many kinds of work. Besides farming, he did carpenter work. His experience as a cooper enabled him make chairs, tubs, buckets, barrels and churns out of cedar. They raised a good garden there also. The watermelons that were raised in the Tonto Basin were delicious and there were lots of them that summer.
Elam's knowledge of medicine and surgery enabled him to help many in sickness and accidents. He gave his time freely wherever needed. Shortly after their arrival a tragedy left a lasting impression on Margaret Ellen. She relates, "I remember one little girl who lived there [Tonto Basin] but not her name. A bowery had been built and it had been covered to make it nice and cool for the summer weather. The people who had built it didn't have a house. A wind came up, a bad storm, and as they hadn't built the bowery strong enough it was blown down and the little girl died from the roof falling on her." Since there were no Church meetings in Tonto Basin that year Elam would tell his family interesting stories of his remembrances of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and other early church leaders and pioneers, as well as his own experiences as a pioneer. His stories were so fascinating that many of them have been preserved. Harriet would sing to her children and teach them to sing as a family.
MOVE TO PINEDALE, ARIZONA, 1884
November 2, 1883, Hyrum Elam was born to Harriet at the Tonto Basin. Margaret Ellen remembers, "The tent house we lived in was cozy and comfortable and Hyrum came into our lives in a clean, warm home and we were happy to have our new baby brother." Alpheus (Alfred) Montesville Gillespie got Elam interested in moving to Pinedale. Two years later on December 23, 1886 Alfred would marry Rozalia Smith, who was Louise Cheney Smith Sanders’ daughter. Elam's health had greatly improved so he and Harriet left the Tonto Basin in 1884 when Hyrum was still a baby, going over the rough trail of boulders and ruts up over the mountains and into Pinedale. Father loved the smell of the pines and although his original intention was to move into Mexico, he settled down among the pines. His homestead was one-half mile east of the town of Pinedale and he built his first house there without nails. The summer of 1885 Elam farmed the Jessup Ranch and later the Scott Ranch.
CHIEF GERONIMO, 1885
In Arizona Elam knew Chief Geronimo and they became friends. On one occasion three men were out looking for hay to cut, two of them were Elam, Jr. and Theodore. The three men forded a river as far as an island and there they stopped and built a camp fire. Ted looked across the river at the river bank and said, "Look! The side of the mountain is covered with warriors. What will we do?" Elam, Jr. said, "Let's pray." They prayed, asking for a solution to their problem. Chief Geronimo and two braves crossed the river to the island. Chief Geronimo asked the men who they were. They explained that they were Elam Cheney's sons, and that Elam, their father, was a friend of the Indians and had often worked with Chief Geronino. Chief Geronimo knew their father and was satisfied with their explanation.
Elam, Jr., and Theodore knew that Chief Geronimo loved horses and knew much about doctoring them. They asked Geronimo to take a look at a sick horse they had with them. They showed the chief a horse which had a cataract that completely covered one eye. The chief asked for a knife to be heated and then he carefully lifted the eyelid of the horse and cut around the eye peeling the cataract off the eye, like a peach skin. The chief, his two braves and the Cheneys sat down around their fire and smoked a peace pipe. When they finished there were no longer any Indians on the side of the hill. Chief Geronimo told the men to ride out of there fast, which they did. Later the Cheney Family heard that the same day, Chief Geronimo and his braves had attacked a wagon train of 500 people, killing them all.
On March 25, 1885, in Fairview, Utah, Martha's daughter, Mehitable, married William Edward Brady. He died March 1, 1886, and Mehitable later married John Anderson. On December 15, 1886, Franklin married Edith Jane Hilton at Virgin City, Utah, on December 15, 1886, one day before Edith's sixteenth birthday, and they lived in Pinedale, Arizona for a while. In the summer of 1887 Peter Wimmer and Keziah moved with their family from Manassa, Conejos County, Colorado, to the Tonto Basin. They came in from Stone Man Lake which is at the top of one of the White Mountains. They slid their wagon down from the ledge. Aaron Elijah and Sarah Jane with their family were still living in the Tonto Basin at that time. Moses Martin and Elizabeth Sanders and their family had moved on by then to Colonia Diaz, Mexico. Elam Jr. and Emily Elizabeth and their children had moved to Concho. The next year Peter Wimmer and Keziah moved their family to the Salt River settlement which was near Lehi, Arizona, while Aaron Elijah and Sarah Jane moved to Concho, Arizona.
Margaret Ellen and her younger sister, Juliette, always played together. Elam did not allow his children to quarrel or fight. On one occasion Margaret Ellen and Juliette got into a fight, and while they were quarrelling the shadow of their father fell on them. They immediately stopped but there was no escape. Elam pulled his strap from his back pocket and Margaret Ellen pleaded that he not give Juliette a whipping because she, Margaret Ellen, was to blame and to "strike me plenty hard." While they lived in Pinedale, Elam and Harriet loved to entertain. Many parties were held in their home in Pinedale. Harriet sang beautifully and Elam's stories were very interesting. It was a lot of fun for the young people to be in their home. It was there in Pinedale that Harriet's last child was born, a son, Charles, born on January 20, 1887. Harriet could sew very well and had learned to make embroidery in the factory before leaving England. She was an excellent cook and housekeeper. She was a clean and tidy woman, keeping everything spic and span, and she did not tolerate messiness in those around her.
MEDICAL CASES
Margaret Ellen was her father's right hand "man." She was the only child permitted in his shop. She kept excellent care of his tools, keeping them sharp and oiled so that they did not rust. Once her mother wanted a cupboard built to close up the drafty chimney which had been the fireplace. Elam said Margaret Ellen could build the cupboard and she did. Elam practiced medicine and surgery and in doing so was a helper to many. One case is especially notable. George Bryant had been given up as a hopeless case. Elam set his broken and disjointed neck and saved his life. Elam's Grandson, Carl Fish, thought Elam knew more about medicine than any other man at that time. Elam even performed surgery on himself. The second toe on one of his feet had broken and not healed properly. It became a rider on the toe next to it and in his later life caused significant pain and difficulty in wearing shoes. One day he spread his toes on a chopping block and with a chisel that Margaret Ellen kept sharp he cut off the offending toe.
MOVE TO FRUITLAND, NEW MEXICO, 1894
In the spring of 1894 Elam moved to Fruitland, New Mexico, along with his son Peter Wimmer and family. They were 40 miles from any timber and the people lived in dug-outs, lean-tos, tents and other poor shelters. Franklin and Edith Jane, Theodore and Maude, George and Mary Elizabeth with their families joined them there. There is some suggestion that the families were sent by the Church to colonize the area. On September 8, 1896 Peter Wimmer sent his family back to Fairview, Utah, by wagon over the most arid country, while he remained in Fruitland taking care of his interest and share in the threshing machine. His pay would have been a part of the grain he threshed, called a "toll." Otis, Peter Wimmer's twelve year old son, drove the team, took care of the horses, checked their shoes and harnesses, and greased the wheels. There was probably a small caravan of about five families returning to Fairview with Keziah and her children that September. Moving seemed to be a part their yearly activities and they seemed to adjust to life on the trail readily.
RETURN TO PINEDALE, ARIZONA
Elam returned to his home in Pinedale and there he spent the rest of his life. Elam and Harriet lived very religiously. The only way hard liquor, whiskey, was used was as medicine. Card games were not allowed, nor swear words. Harriet was a good woman with a needle. Elam became quite deaf in his later years. Elam loved to wrestle and, in his prime, never was outrun in a foot race. He had a fine personality and made friends wherever he went. When Elam was 74 years old he drove his team from Pinedale, Arizona to St. George, Utah, and then onto the Manti Temple where he did temple work for his deceased family. Then to Fairview and on to Salt Lake City, then back to Pinedale, Arizona. This trip took him about a year and each way was about 500 miles. Harriet probably went with him.
PIONEER JUBILEE, SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, JULY 24, 1897
In 1897 Elam attended the Pioneer Jubilee in Salt Lake City and received a gold medal as a "Pioneer of 1847" Elam, while visiting his son Ezekiel in Fairview, Utah, probably in 1898, was helping him do some building and went and got his own hammer to use. While using this hammer he hit his thumb and said, "Damn the hammer!" This was the only time any of his family ever heard him swear. He then gave the hammer to Ezekiel as a keepsake, tell him that it was the hammer he had used while helping build the temple. Later the hammer became the possession of Aaron L. Cheney.
CHENEY FAMILY REUNION - BURLEY, IDAHO, 1911
In 1911, five months before Elam's death, he attended the Cheney family reunion at Burley, Idaho. At the reunion, Elam gathered his large family around him and bore a strong testimony to the divinity of the mission of the Prophet Joseph Smith having been personally acquainted with him from the year 1831 to the time of his martyrdom. While at the reunion Franklin Cheney played the violin and Elam step-danced for those in attendance. He read some of his grandchildren's hands. He told Tina (Clementine) Cheney, Theodore's daughter, that she would get a letter of proposal. She got it the next day and showed it to everyone. He told Lillian Wadsworth that she was going to walk through the forest and pick up the crookedest stick she could find. He would be dark complected and they would have five or six children. Lillian said that he wasn't the crookedest stick, but he did have a dark complexion and they had five living children—one died at birth. Elam told Aaron Cheney that he would get a nice little plump girl just a little darker than himself and that he would have to go north to get her. He did—six miles! The last of Elam's children to marry was Hyrum Elam who married Augusta Hill Crawford on December 17, 1911.
ELAM'S DEATH - PINEDALE, ARIZONA, MARCH 29, 1912
Elam returned to his home in Pinedale, Arizona where he died on March 29, 1912 at the age of 86 years and 10 months. His living children at the time of his death were: Matilda Anderson, daughter of Hannah Compton; Louisa Smith, Elam, Elizabeth Sanders, Peter, Franklin and Theodore, children of Margaret Wimmer; Olive Humble, David and Selah (Sealer), children of Talitha Garlick; William and Ezekiel, children of Martha Taylor; and Hyrum, Charles and Margaret Brewer children of Harriet Hedgehill. Elam was the father of 40 children and 168 grandchildren, of which 115 married and had children. After Elam died in 1912 Harriet sold her cow to buy the stone for Elam's grave. She had her son Hyrum and grandson Giles Cheney build her a home in the village of Pinedale. Harriet later sold her home in Pinedale and lived the remainder of her life with her daughter, Margaret Ellen. She died of a stroke in August 18, 1926, in Margaret Ellen's home. Elam's whole life was that of a pioneer, enduring hardships and meeting difficulties. He and his wives lived the Gospel of Jesus Christ as they understood it and taught their children to follow its teachings.