Life of Ammon Meshach Tenney Sr
LIFE OF AMMON MESHACH TENNEY SR.
By Roger Lee Tenney, great-great-grandson
Ammon Meshach Tenney was born November 16, 1844 in Rand, Lee County, Iowa.
Nathan C. Tenney and Olive Strong were sealed in the Nauvoo Temple February 3, 1946.
Nathan Cram Tenney, Jr. was born April 4, 1846 in Florence, Nebraska and died the same day.
Brigham Young, with the first company of saints left Winter Quarters April 5, 1847 and headed west.
Willard Richards Company including Nathan and Olive left Winter Quarters July 3, 1848 and headed for Salt Lake City. After 108 days on the plains and across the Rocky Mountains they arrived in Salt Lake October 19, 1848.
August 14, 1852 Parley P. Pratt arrived in San Bernardino from his travels to Chile, South America to San Francisco and Southern California, where he stayed until September 14, 1852. At that time the three Apostles there, Parley P. Pratt, Charles C. Rich, and Francis Lyman, appointed certain young men to study the Spanish language. Ammon was almost certainly one of them. Before he left, Parley P. Pratt blessed Ammon to be a missionary to the Spanish speaking peoples.
Nathan was given charge of all agricultural operations in the mission lands in San Bernardino.
In 1852 Nathan was ordained Bishop of the San Bernardino Ward.
Ammon was baptized November 16, 1852.
Ammon was a very active young man and rode horses often in the grasslands of the Santa Ana flats. One time he was nearly killed while rounding up horses for his father when his horse passed under a horizontal branch at full gallop which nearly swept Ammon off his horse and killed him. He had the presence of mind to slide down the side of the horse keeping one leg over the horses back which allowed him to pass through the obstical.
Nathan C. Tenney was again sustained as Bishop of San Bernardino Ward October 9, 1854.
Nathan Tenney was a member of the 5th Quorum of the Seventy.
Nathan introduced goats in California by taking 800 head there from Arizona.
In April, 1856 Nathan Tenney and John Harris were designated to work among native Americans from San Bernardino and the Colorado River.
Brigham Young sent 30 young men to Las Vegas in 1855 to build a fort to protect immigrants and the U. S mail from the Indians and to teach the latter how to raise corn, wheat, potatoes, squash and melons. They arrived at Las Vegas June 14, 1855 and began the construction of an adobe fort on the California road. They constructed the fort 150 feet square and walls 14 feet high with bastions on the southeast and northwest corners. Houses were built against the inside of the walls. There was a garden plot on the creek and small farms nearby. Inside the fort was a school house in which many meetings were held including preaching the gospel to the Indians. Many Indians were converted and baptized. In January 1958 Ira Hatch was sent alone into the area of Muddy Creek and was with the savages for two weeks. Thales Haskell was then sent by Jacob Hamblin to accompany him and the two spent the winter at the fort. Ammon spent several months in Las Vegas at this time. He may have had the opportunity of spending time with Ira Hatch and continuing his education in the Spanish and Indian languages including Paiute.
In December 1857 Nathan and Olive followed the counsel of Brigham Young and left San Bernardino, heading for southern Utah.
Nathan C. Tenney and Olive Strong Tenney were sealed together for eternity by Apostle Amasa Lyman August 5, 1858.
Ammon grew up with a number of Indian as well as Spanish speaking children and knew a number of Indian dialects as well as Spanish. Ammon had learned Spanish in San Bernardino and was to spend years with Jacob Hamblin as interpreter among the Indians. Ammon said he learned Spanish by talking and playing with the Mexican children. He talked eight different Indian languages. There wasn’t a nation of Indians west of the Mississippi River that he could not talk with to some extent. He learned a little of all those languages. Jacob Hamblin used to say Ammon was his mouth and ear.
Ammon describes himself in his younger years as puny and small, yet wirey and active, and a horseman of rare ability. Ammon said he was born in 1844, the year the prophet Joseph Smith was killed and his mother, Olive, gave him the fighting spirit. That it was perfectly natural that he should have this spirit being born under those conditions, his people being driven and robbed and mobbed. He had met death a hundred times but was always perfectly fearless.
Ammon said, “I was sent for from hundreds of miles away to settle troubles among the Indians. President Young’s policy was better to feed the Indians than to fight them. There was never a man lived who was more loyal to this government than President Brigham Young was. He was loyal and true to the government and always taught us that we were part of it. He never sanctioned giving arms or ammunition to the Indians. In fact he prohibited it saying ‘if you give an Indian a gun he will turn around and shoot you with it.’ Our mission was to the Indians to tell them of the Book of Mormon and convert them. This missionary work was our primary purpose. President Young said sacrifice anything rather than kill a single Indian. The whole spirit and instruction from President Young was do not kill, respect the government, take the good side of everything. It is far better to give them food, a shirt, and clothing than to fight them.”
Ammon related, “While getting ready one night it pleased the Lord to give me a dream, to awaken within my little bosom the importance of my mission for as yet I was in my fifteenth [thirteenth] year and weighed less than ninety pounds and was not prepared in my mind to grasp the grand and glorious opportunities that this would be if I acted my part in the labors allotted me. By this time the emotions of my loving mother over my near departure among the blood thirsty and uncivilized people were beyond control while my father took more quiet the incident and labored with all his faculty to assuage the tender feelings which sprang from the mothers part of her heart. Oh, how well I remember the parting scene on my first mission …that beautiful autumn morning was clothed in the effulgent rays of a warming sun. While my loving parents had arose early from a sleepless night their hearts were swollen with emotions over my departure, partly in consequence of my unhealthy condition but especially over my age. These [concerns] coupled with the perils incident to our journey which they well knew would be strewn at every turn of my pathway brought to my dear mother forebodings not easily endured but they finally came to my bed and awoke me as tenderly as though I had been lying at death’s door. I arose and soon discovered that the grief and foreboding of my dear mother was almost beyond control while my father bore bravely up under the trying hour and sought with all his loving heart to comfort my mother. Soon the hour of breakfast arrived and as usual we bowed our trembley knees while father led in prayer, a humble and short outpouring of his heart. My dear mother then continued following after my father had concluded, and being more eloquent she circumscribed heaven and earth, with which she enshrouded my pathway, my little feet, and every turn of my body as with a mantle, and called on heaven and earth to witness her sacrifice and that I should be returned to her again. Oh, how I longed for the words of that prayer as it flowed from my sainted mother in my behalf, but it ascended and brought the fruits of my safe return.”
When all had arrived at the appointed gathering place, thirteen in all including, Jacob Hamblin, William Hamblin, Fred Hamblin, Ira Hatch, Thales Haskell, Samuel Knight, Andrew S. Gibbons, Darius Davis, Benjamin Nell, Lute Fuller, William Leavitt, Dudley Leavitt, and Ammon M. Tenney they journeyed eastward. On the fourth day they arrived at a beautiful spring flowing out of the abrupt corner of a mountain. The spring resembled in a way a pipe in the face of a mountain. Here they lay over and enjoyed this fine mountain water while their animals feasted on the small meadow below. This was an interesting place. The eye could see for many miles northeast, south, east, and west and all of this open country with its waving grasses.
Continuing they camped on Pariah Creek where it empties into the Big Colorado River having passed two small streams not yet named. They here climbed the mountain and in three days forded the Big Colorado River at the only crossing then known. The natives took the lead at the ford grasping hands and stretching out side by side so that when any number were in swimming water the others could help them. Jacob’s party with horses would weave and go towards those that were not in swimming water. Little Ammon was overcome with anxiety and his little bosom burst with excitement over the adventure and his little head began to go dizzy. Ammon remembered his father’s advice instructing him that if he got dizzy to close his eyes and he would regain his composure. He then briefly closed his eyes and regained his senses.
Twenty-five miles eastward and across and over a level country lay Kaibavits mountain, more commonly known as Buckskin Mountain directly on our route. Here they came to the largest camp of Paiutes on their journey whose chief Naraguates was a man of large stature and noble character. This people seemed to live on the principle of all things common as the daily ration for the camp was gathered and divided among the people by the chief. Here was turned over to the chief fifty pounds of flour to guard against the party’s return. Jacob made arrangement s for this chief to go with them across the Big Colorado River and on to the village peoples of the Moqui or Hopi tribes.
They continued their journey across this Lay Down Mountain and arrived at House Rock Springs. The spring burst forth from a crack in the solid rock that stands fifty feet high in some places and much higher in others. After watering their horses they moved on to a spring that Jacob had been to before and where he had made by means of a sharp stick little pools of water to obtain the water for horses from which came the name of Jacob’s Pools.
In consequence of such good treatment by the Indians they had depended on securing supplies at the moment from them, but the Hopi combined against the explorers and gradually demanded a measure of the party’s gunpowder for a measure of the Indian’s cornmeal. The result was that the explorers were compelled to go without one quarter of what they needed. Jacob had allowed Naragautes and his eighteen warriors to return before them. All of the missionaries began to feel the pangs of hunger. They rationed their remaining food and started on their back trail. They crossed back over the Big Colorado River without incident and arrived on the mouth of Pariah Creek almost perishing from hunger.
The villages numbered seven and were always located on top of some perpendicular rock formation so as to afford these more peaceable people a better protection. The Hopi cultivated the soil and were in every way homogenous. They found a number of males and females that were white, but a milky white with blue eyes and white hair. They saw dark children nursing their mothers that were white and white children nursing their mother who was dark as any Indian.
While at the king’s or Kasikies home and interpreting for Jacob, Ammon learned that this king had only one daughter. She had become a little sweet on Ammon and offered herself to marry him. Jacob and the other boys taunted Ammon over this event. Jacob finally offered the excuse that Ammon was only fourteen years old and that their customs would not allow a boy so young to marry. This young princess waved this excuse, however, the time of their departure had arrived which precluded any further acquaintance. This young maid later married and on a subsequent visit Jacob made without Ammon she held up her first born boy and said to Jacob, “see what Mormon boy could have had if he had married me.”
One time the entire party of missionaries Ammon was in would have been killed if not for two squaws. Every time the Indian braves started for them those two squaws ran in front of them and screamed and pled for them until a mule stampeded. This mule was loaded with beads and other trinkets which scattered all along the road behind it and while the Indians were gathering up these things Ammon’s party escaped and got away.
The next day they found a camp of Paiutes who gave them some grass and sunflower seeds to eat. Some of the Paiute braves accompanied them across this same Lay Down Mountain to the place of this noble chief, Naraguates where they found their fifty pounds of flour safely returned. They continued on their way but journeyed very slowly with their poor and badly worn men and horses. At Pipe Springs, where they were merry and happy as they came out, were now hungry and worn, literally starving inch by inch. They had on various occasions sent two men at a time back after those that had had been compelled to dismount from their horses and brought them into camp. Samuel Knight especially suffered beyond all description. He had eaten pears that grow in those regions to assuage the pangs of hunger.
Finally, it began to snow which increased their perilous condition. It snowed sixteen inches which covered their trail and every vestige of grass for the horses. They struggled on and bent their worn and almost naked bodies to their task but could only reach eight miles to what is known now as Cedar Ridge. They again sent back two of the stoutest to help others into camp who had about given up hope. Every man in camp was starving to death and it was apparent that nothing short of commencing to eat the poor and worn horses could save us. They led up a white mare whose back had been chaffed on her withers by the pack saddle to a running sore. They ate her without salt and continued as best they could and traveled on, arriving at a little town in southern Utah called Washington where their wants and needs were supplied and where they separated each to his own home.
Ammon went with Jacob on the first two trips to the Hopi Indians to the Orabi Village. Nathan Tenney was directed to commence a new settlement at an area they named Grafton, Utah in December 1859.
Ammon was called to go on a third mission with Jacob Hamblin to the Indians of Orabi. When the call was made to go on that mission, Jacob Hamblin had a dream that if Ammon went he would be killed. Jacob sent him back against his wish fearing for his safety. Later that mission, on November 2, 1860, George A. Smith Jr. was killed by these Indians. He and Ammon had been chums together and played together as boys.
March 20, 1864 Jacob Hamblin first crossed the Colorado River at the mouth of the Pahreah River chasing Navaho raiders. Presumably Ammon Tenney was along to interpret. March 5, 1865 Ammon arrived with Jacob Hamblin at the Orabi Village.
Meanwhile Nathan presided at Grafton during the winter of 1860-1861. In October 1861 Jacob Hamblin went on an expedition to bring George A. Smith Jr.’s bones back home.
Marvelous Flood Tenney was born to Nathan and Olive Tenney January 2, 1862 in Grafton, Utah.
Ammon rode out from Grafton on a large and fine 4 year old horse his father desired him to work with and gentle. He passed eight miles from his home riding up and down trails until he reached the Virgin River and from there on to within two miles of Virgin City on the north side of the road that runs over the barren hills to Toquerville. He rode and worked the animal until he was exerted to his limit. Realizing he was nearing the end of his ability to control and exercise this beast Ammon looked for a place to rest and recover his strength. He soon found a huge cedar tree that satisfied his purpose and he rode up. He forced the ferocious animal in between the branches and blinded and deafened him so he could not see or hear Ammon when he dismounted. Ammon then tied him securely to the trunk of the tree and walked around to the opposite side of the tree and lay down. Suffering from thirst and exhausted Ammon immediately went to sleep and slept for two hours. Ammon was aroused by this ferocious animal pawing him with his front feet. Ammon started and bolted upright to a sitting position at the excitement. The action so frightened the powerful animal that he reared and broke the rope and wheeled and kicked at Ammon with both feet. Each hoof passed on either side of Ammon’s head touching each ear but not his head which stunned Ammon for a short period of time. The horse ran down into the level below Ammon and stood still. Ammon recovered and got up and walked up to him which the animal allowed without moving. Ammon again blinded and deafened him and mounted and rode him back to Grafton.
After the flood that destroyed the settlement Nathan was released from Grafton and sent to Short Creek, Arizona for a few months.
Later in 1862 Nathan and Olive lived at Pipe Springs, Arizona for a short time.
Toward the end of 1862 Nathan and family left Short Creek, Arizona and moved to Toquerville, Utah, where Nathan built a large home.
In October 1862 Nathan’s name was read out in LDS Conference to go on an Indian mission for 1 year. Also during October 1862 Jacob Hamblin went on another mission, this time around the Grand Canyon, Arizona. Ammon probably went with him. Nathan Tenney’s mission was to the Moqui Indians. January 10, 1863 Jacob Hamblin arrived back in St. George, Utah after his trip around the Grand Canyon, Arizona.
In October 1863 Nathan Tenney arrived back from his mission to the Moqui Indians.
Afterward Ammon traveled with Major John Wesley Powell for two years and was his interpreter and got the stories of the Indians for him and their legends of the creation of the world and so forth during his study of the Indian culture. Ammon said Jacob Hamblin had instructions from Brigham Young to help Major Powell in every way possible. Jacob got sixty dollars a month for this service but he could not talk with the Indians so Ammon did the work and Jacob got the pay. Major Powell did not give Ammon any credit at all and yet he was absolutely dependent on him. He could talk Paiute better than any of the Paiutes themselves because he could understand the various dialects while each Indian could only understand his own dialect. Ammon said, “So it may sound strange for me to say that I could talk the Indians language better than the Indians themselves but it is true just the same.”
The Berry Brothers are ambushed and killed by Navajo raiders in April, 1866.
In December, 1866 Nathan Tenney, with his son Ammon and Enoch Dodge go in search of horses that strayed to their old pasture at Short Creek. They are ambushed by a war party of 18 Navajo warriors who chase them and capture their horses. Nathan is thrown from his horse and dislocates his shoulder and Dodge is wounded. Ammon leads them into hiding and safety. December 28, 1866 Navajo Indian raiders steal horses along the frontier.
In January, 1867 Captain Andrus with Ammon as guide pursues the Navajo raiders back to the Colorado River but no further.
In October, 1867 and through the fall and winter, Jacob Hamblin, with Paiute allies patrols the eastern frontier to guard against Navajo raiders.
November 9, 1867 Ammon M. Tenney and Anna Sarah Eagar are endowed in Salt Lake.
Ammon spent the next two or three years as a scout and Indian fighter helping to protect the frontier from Indian raiders.
Ammon Meshach Tenney Jr. was born to Ammon Tenney and Anna Sarah Eagar Tenney December 6, 1868.
October 3, 1869 Jacob Hamblin and presumably Ammon Tenney with 47 men pursue Navajo raiders to the Colorado River crossing.
Anna Sarah (Minnie) Tenney is born to Ammon Tenney and Anna Tenney March 23, 1870.
Kanab is resettled by Levi Stewart and 14 other families June 6, 1870. Nathan Tenney and Ammon Tenney and families settle in Kanab, Utah. September 10, 1870 Brigham Young selected the permanent townsite of Kanab.
In September, 1870 Ammon is called upon by Jacob Hamblin and Major John Westley Powell to act as interpreter on an expedition to seek peace Mormon people and the Navajo Nation. They meet at Fort Defiance, Arizona and sign a peace treaty. During that trip Ammon and a Mr. Graves build Canon Maid, and launch her in the Colorado River at the Pahreah, becoming the first ferry on the Colorado River. October 17, 1870 Ammon and Graves meet Jacob Hamblin and Major Powell at Jacob’s Pools. November 1, 1870 Hamblin and Powell and company arrive at Fort Defiance. November 5, 1870 a council is held with the Indians and Hamblin and Powell. Through Ammon being able to converse in Spanish, we accomplished much good. November 21, 1870 Jacob Hamblin arrived back in Kanab after return from the treaty. Of these experiences Ammon says, “I could talk Paiute better than the Paiute themselves.”
Nathan Cram Tenney was born to Ammon and Anna Tenney December 25, 1871.
Ammon Meshach Tenney married Eliza Ann Udall June 20, 1872.
In 1872 Nathan Tenney moves from Toquerville, Utah to Kanab, Utah.
Levi Stewart Tenney is born to Ammon and Anna Tenney December 23, 1873.
February 6, 1874 To Moen Copi with Hatch, Hamblin and families; later returned leaving Hatch, Hamblin, Tenney.
April 5, 1874 Jacob Hamblin sold his House Rock Springs ranch to Ammon Tenney.
April 6, 1874 Ammon Tenney and others were called on to cross the Colorado River and assist the colony at Moencoppi. Hamblin persisted in braving all dangers, and with Ammon and others to Orabi.
Olive Eliza Tenney is born to Ammon and Eliza Tenney June 14, 1874. Hamblin and Ammon at Fort Defiance re Indian relations.
Ammon splits with Jacob Hamblin.
Ammon and family were not well received by the local land owner at Savoia. Several were sheep barons who ran their sheep all over the valley. The sheep ate up all the grass in sight and came right up to the front door of the Tenney homes. Ammon made several attempts to convince the sheepherders to keep the sheep away from the land around their houses so they could feed their own animals. Finally, Ammon could stand it no longer and challenged the sheepherders and roughed them up and sent them off. Two cowboys were sent to scare Ammon and the family off but Ammon roughed them up also and sent them on their way. On one of the next Sunday’s, Nathan and his sons and families went off to church and Ammon and Eliza stayed behind. As the family left eight desperados came into view and rode up to the house. Ammon opened the door and argued with the leader and stood his ground in the face of very threatening circumstances. Eliza called out to him from inside with worry and concern. Things looked desperate but Ammon continued to fend off the eight men at one time telling them to get back where he could see them or he would begin shooting. The leader was drunk and frothing at the mouth and spitting his curses at Ammon. Ammon continued to face him down telling him he was a coward and that Ammon would shoot him down if he made a move. He told the party he would take two or three of them with him if it came to gunfire. The group acknowledged Ammon’s courage and retreated, telling their leader to leave Ammon alone. The desperados had planned to burn the house and the property in it, but were surprised by Ammon. Later on Ammon made friends with the leader who had quit the group.
June 26, 1875 Ammon sold his ranch at House Rock Springs to A. L. McDonald to prepare for his mission to Mexico.
Ammon was connected with the establishment of all the early settlements in northern Arizona as well as with their breaking up in retreating from the Indians. He was in every fight and every company. He had something to do with nearly every incident of importance. There was trouble after trouble and those troubles continued from the very first effort to make a settlement right up to the time Ammon went to Kanab. It was continual warfare all that time.
Ammon Tenney begins his first Mexican mission with Daniel W. Jones October 20, 1875. Brigham Young had asked the missionaries to explore the Salt River Valley in Arizona. Brigham Young directed them to look for places to settle and places of refuge. Ammon joined the expedition in Toquerville. Jones, Ammon and missionaries explore Salt River Valley.
Phoebe Relief Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Eliza Tenney February 10, 1876.
Ammon baptizes the first Zuni Indians in the Zuni mission. Frequent grasshopper infestations at Ramah, New Mexico.
Brigham Young at Kanab, Utah in late June, 1876.
Abby Celestia Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Anna Tenney July 13, 1876.
Ammon and Stewart head for Zuni with Lorenzo Hatch.
Ammon Tenney released from his first Mexican mission September 10, 1876. Ammon and Stewart receive Patriarchial Blessing from Lorenzo Hatch at Little Colorado River October 4, 1876. Ammon left Lorenzo Hatch in Zuni and headed for Kanab October 5, 1976. Ammon called to Southern mission October 8, 1876.
In January, 1877 Ammon received instructions from Brigham Young to go into Arizona and select places for colonization. Ammon was appointed and then given a long letter of instruction to explore northern Arizona reaching up into New Mexico and establish such claims as circumstances would permit and to return to recommend to President Young his findings. President Young passed away while Ammon was on this mission but Nathan and Ammon continued to labor along the lines marked out by him.
By February 3, 1877 Ammon was passing through San Lorenzo, the home of Lorenzo Hatch. Ammon continued on passing through a valley later known as Woodruff. On his way Ammon visited many points in Western New Mexico and Eastern Arizona. In March and April 1877 Nathan Tenney relocated from Kanab, Utah to Tenney’s Camp later called Woodruff with his sons John and Samuel.
Brigham Young passed away August 29, 1877. October 4, 1877 the Saints from Arkansas bring small pox into Arizona after passing through Savoia, New Mexico.
Ammon was called on another mission to New Mexico among the Zuni and Navajo Indians.
In February 1878 Lorenzo Hatch was appointed to take charge of Tenney’s Camp, which was renamed Woodruff. Nathan Tenney and his sons John and Samuel were among the colonists who relocated to Savoia, New Mexico leaving their property in Tenney’s Camp to Lorenzo Hatch.
Story of healing 400 Zuni of small pox.
President Jesse N. Smith unable to make terms for the purchasing of St. Johns.
March 16, 1879 Nathan Tenney was called to serve a mission in Minnesota.
In 1879 Ammon traded for the Windmill Ranch, 25 miles north northeast of St. Johns.
In August 1879 Wilford Woodruff visited Ammon at the ranch to discuss the purchase of St. Johns. September 4, 1879 Ammon and Greer were in Woodruff.
In October 1879 conference Ammon was again called on another mission.
David K. Udall arrived at Detroit House of Corrections the 2nd of September 1885. At the prison, the bell was rung and David was admitted into a small room where he gave his name and personal information and was searched and weighed and shoes removed. He was taken to a large hall about 200 feet long, 60 feet wide and 30 feet high with 200 cells in it. Each cell was 4 by 7 by 7 feet high. There was one large rock for the floor and one for the ceiling. The doors were made of heavy iron bars. Each cell contained an iron bed made to fold up into the wall, a mattress, one pair of blankets, a pillow and a sheet. The bed linen was washed once a week. There was also a wash dish and towel, chair, looking glass and comb, and a “what-not” for books and so forth and carpet on the floor. Ventilation was to a flue reaching to the top of the building. Two more halls of similar build made up the prison with the east hall being for women.
November 16, 1879 Ammon succeeds in effecting the purchase of the Barth’s interests in St. Johns.
In December 1879 Ammon is made the head of the colony in St. Johns which was started in December. Ammon is made acting Bishop of St. Johns.
Lois Janet Tenney is born to Ammon Tenney and Anna Tenney December 28, 1879.
March 6, 1880 Ammon met Lorenzo Hatch in St. Johns.
In April 1880 Ammon Tenney, Smith and Young took a railroad contract for grading 5 miles to secure bread for the people.
July 3, 1880 Ammon was sustained President of the Indian Mission. September 19, 1880 Ammon Tenney arrives in St. Johns on election matters.
September 28, 1880 David K. Udall was officially called as Bishop of St. Johns. October 9, 1880 David K. Udall arrived in St. Johns from Utah.
Ammon Tenney returning from the railroad within one week. Indian troubles cause abandonment of Savoia, New Mexico colony.
In November 1880 Ammon Tenney moved his families to St. Johns.
January 12, 1881 Ammon Tenney’s mother Olive Strong Tenney passed away.
Later in January Nathan C. Tenney returned from his mission in Minnesota. In April 1881 Ammon Tenney and Young filled a railroad contract for the grading of 100 miles. The Mormons of Eastern Arizona had little trouble with Indians. They were frequent visitors and were treated with usual Mormon hospitality.
April 20, 1882 Abbey Celestia Tenney, daughter to Ammon and Anna died.
June 24, 1882 Nathan C. Tenney, father of Ammon, was killed while inducing Greer’s men to surrender to Sheriff.
October 16, 1882 Lula Maude Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Anna Tenney. Lula passed away December 8, 1882.
Rosalia Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Anna Tenney October 23, 1884.
Ammon was tried and sentenced to Detroit House of Corrections for polygamy for a term of 3 ½ years.
November 6, 1884 Ammon M. Tenney was sent to prison at Detroit Correctional Facility. Ammon had a prison experience similar to David K. Udall, his brother-in-law and Bishop of St. Johns Ward. They were for a time housed together in the same prison cell.
As for the routine at the prison and rules for prisoners, at 5:30 A.M. the gong sounded three times and the prisoners got up, dressed, washed, and tended their personal care. At 6:00 A.M two gongs sounded and the men prepared for breakfast. At 6:30 A.M. one gong sounded and the men went upstairs to breakfast. At 7:00 A.M. they went to work taking their night pails. They were required to walk in lines of about 50 men with right hands on the shoulder of the man in the front of them as close as possible to one another. Work was commenced and five hours passed in total silence, no talking. Two whistle blows were then sounded and the men washed and put on their coats. Another whistle and the men formed a line. Another whistle and the men marched in line to their cells. The men were locked in their cells for one half hour. The gong sounded again and the men went to dinner. At 1:00 P.M. it was back to the work shops where they worked until six in total silence, no talking. The men were then returned to their cells where they were locked in and given a piece of bread to eat along with coffee or water. At a quarter to 9:00 P.M. all were required to be in bed.
John Eager Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Anna Tenney September 14, 1887.
Silence was maintained throughout the day until the men were locked up at dinner time. On Sunday the men did not work but were allowed to go to the chapel for a service at 9:00 A.M. and a Bible class at 5:00 P.M. The chapel was situated in the north wing of the prison over four tiers of cells. The prison hospital adjoined to the chapel. Tuesday night at 6:30 P.M. was a prison school where reading and arithmetic was taught. The prisoners taught different classes under one general teacher.
On arriving David was put in cell 170. The rock floor was filthy as was the tick mattress. At 9:00 A.M. the next day David was taken to the basement and shaved and shingled and allowed a bath. He was given prison clothes of a hickory shirt, coat, pants, cap, brogan shoes, and cotton socks. The Overseer took David to the shop his first day and made him stand beside his table for two or three hours. The Overseer’s table is on an elevated stand that allows him to keep watch over the 30 inmates that are his responsibility. No prisoner was allowed to leave his bench or machine to get a drink or go to the closet without the Overseer’s permission which he obtains by raising his hand. David’s name was put in the shop book and he was given instructions from the Overseer. The shop foreman put him to work at a cut-off saw machine and chuck machine with a half breed Indian from Indian Territory. On his return from work David was put in cell 148.
Prisoners were generally not allowed to speak to one another outside of their cells. It was three weeks before David was allowed to speak to Peter J. Christofferson, Ammon M. Tenney or C. I. Kempe. Brother Tenney worked in shop B and Brother Kempe in shop C. David saw Brother Christofferson in shop A every day and went to his bench but could not talk to him.
The prison was not a safe place to be and the work in the shop was dangerous. One of the prisoners died from lock jaw brought on by an injury by the machine David was using which cut his thumb. Another died at the same machine. In early October a young man attempted suicide and stabbed himself in the side with a knife a short distance from David’s machine. Another man had a fit. There was no more notice taken of these things than if they were natural. In December one of two turners within 15 feet of David’s saw threw a chisel at the shop foreman and the overseer and then ran out of the shop to the hall above. He smashed the large library window with a chair leg. He was knocked down and put in solitary confinement.
After a short time a deputy put David and Ammon in the same cell together which gave them great comfort and company for both of them. Brother Kempe and Christofferson were soon put in cell 102 adjoining the cell of David and Ammon.
David and his brethren were sometimes visited by leaders of the church and friends including Brother J. S. Summerhays, Brother James Dwyer, Mr. Bayer President of Michigan Stove and Manufacturing Company, Brother John W. Young, and Bishop R. T. Burton. On these visits they were cheered and sometimes given gifts of fruit and food.
Work was constantly being done to free them from prison. Ammon M. Tenney received news from his wife Anna that the Supreme Court of Arizona had given a rehearing for next January for Ammon and the other brethren. David received letters from attorney F. S. Richards of Salt Lake who was in Washington D.C. working for his release. He had seen the federal pardon clerk who told him the petition letters and paperwork from Arizona asking for a presidential pardon were all satisfactory. Brother Richards thought David would be pardoned by the end of the month.
December 17th David was delivered the news that his presidential pardon had come. He was sent to the hall where he was measured for a new suit of clothes. He visited with his brethren for an hour and was sorry to leave them in their circumstances in prison. The brethren had suffered much in humiliation, loneliness, and lowliness of spirit. They had constantly been concerned for their families in their temporal and spiritual needs. David’s daughter, Mary died three weeks after he arrived at the prison. Still, they had been well treated by the officers who had done much to make their stay tolerable by allowing them to be together and treating them kindly. David put on civilian clothes and the chief clerk of the house escorted him to the railroad depot. David arrived home December 22nd.
May 10, 1885 Ammon caught his hand in woodworking machinery which mangled it. October 17, 1886 Ammon M. Tenney was pardoned by President Grover Cleveland, one year eleven months and 12 days in prison.
Ammon spent the next year hiding from marshals around St. Johns.
July 25, 1887 President John Taylor passed away.
Ammon was very active in the local branch and spoke in church Sunday, January 11, 1914. Ammon returned to Thatcher, Arizona March 5, 1914.
Ammon Tenney was called on another Mexican mission and started November 30, 1887. They labored among the Papago and Pima Indians and did an excellent work having registered five hundred names of baptisms and blessings. However, the Elders were released one by one to take care of their families and at last the mission was turned over to President C. T. Robson of the Mesa Stake.
January 7, 1889 Ammon Tenney was released from his Sonora Mexico mission. January 24, 1889 Ammon ended his mission in Sonora.
President Wilford Woodruff recommended Ammon remove to the colonies in Mexico. By March 1889 Ammon was in the Mormon colony of Colonia Diaz.
During the first year in Mexico Ammon contracted to saw lumber at San Pedro and there presided over a small branch.
March 20, 1890 Ammon Tenney and Hettie Adams were married.
Millicent Tenney was born to Ammon and Hettie Tenney December 25, 1890.
Luriline Tenney was born to Ammon and Anna Tenney May 19, 1891.
Eugene Adams Tenney was born to Ammon and Hettie Tenney August 23, 1892.
May 10, 1894 the Maricopa Stake (Mesa, Arizona), Papago Ward included 1,219 Indians.
Heleman Pratt Tenney was born to Ammon and Hettie Tenney April 4, 1895. In 1895 Ammon and Anna separated over a family dispute and Ammon moved to Colonia Dublan with Eliza and Hettie.
John Eager Tenney, son of Ammon and Anna died September 13, 1896.
Paul Frost Tenney was born to Ammon and Hettie Tenney March 25, 1897.
President Wilford Woodruff passed away September 2, 1898.
Anthony Ivins Tenney was born to Ammon and Hettie Tenney February 10, 1899.
August 16, 1899 Ammon M. Tenney Jr. was called on a mission to Colorado.
Udall Adams Tenney was born to Ammon and Hettie Tenney May 22, 1901.
Ammon M. Tenney was called by President Lorenzo Snow to another Mexican mission in Mexico City where he was to reopen the mission that had been closed for 12 years. Ammon started on his mission with Apostle John Henry Smith and Henry Eyring May 28, 1901.
President Lorenzo Snow passed away October 10, 1901.
March 4, 1903 Ammon was released from his mission in Mexico City.
Ezra Strong Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Hettie Tenney August 4, 1903.
In May 1905 Ammon’s son Nathan C. Tenney was called on a mission to Mexico City, Mexico.
Allen Dwight Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Hettie Tenney August 27, 1905.
September 16, 1906 there rang out the first hints of the revolution to come to Mexico.
March 9, 1907 Ammon M. Tenney was formally sustained to look after and take charge of missionary labors around the Mormon Colonies of Mexico. Later that day Ammon was set apart by Apostle Heber J. Grant and Anthony W. Ivins, President of the Juarez Stake.
Story of Ammon Tenney and Eugene Tenney and the loaded pistol.
Meshach Tenney was born to Ammon Tenney and Hettie Tenney November 16, 1907.
Sadie Tenney was born to Ammon and Hettie Tenney September 28, 1910.
The revolution broke out in San Geronomo December 13, 1910.
Sadie Tenney, daughter of Ammon and Hettie, passed away December 23, 1911, aged 15 months.
July 28, 1912 the Mormon Exodus began from the Mormon Colonies. Ammon was driven out from his home and all he had. His hat was taken from his head and his glasses from his eyes. Ammon was a close friend of the Apostle Francis M. Lyman. He knew well of Ammon’s fighting spirit and when all of the trouble came up in the Mexican revolution and without Ammon writing him, Elder Lyman wrote Ammon and said, “Ammon, far better to lose everything you have in the world than to kill one of them.” Ammon said, “That was simply the very same spirit that was taught me all my life by the authorities of the Church. I never heard an imitation of bad or otherwise instruction from them. It was Bill Hickman who carried to the world the idea that we had a band of Danites. He himself was an outlaw. He was so disreputable and such a scoundrel that even his own band would not trust or join with him and they all left him. But for a time they terrorized the people until the outlaws had trouble among themselves and commenced killing one another. For many years Hickman was a terror to all classes of people in Utah, but he lied and accused the Mormon people of the very things which he was guilty of himself.
August 12, 1912 Ammon went to the Gila Valley to settle on 80 acres but the deal fell through.
April 21, 1913 Eliza Ann Udall Tenney, second wife of Ammon, passed away.
November 4, 1913 Ammon left Thatcher, Arizona for El Paso, Texas to look for work.
June 10, 1814 Ammon was appointed Home Missionary in the St. Joseph’s stake in Thatcher, Arizona.
October 10, 1914 Ammon visited with Poncho Villa, who was then President of Mexico, about colonizing the Mexican Mormon saints in Mexico.
Ammon M. Tenney died October 28, 1925 in Thatcher, Graham County, Arizona. He was buried in Thatcher October 30, 1925. October 31, 1925 Ammon’s death was announced in the Deseret News and mentioned that Ammon was with Andrus in the fight at Kaibab Mountain, battle of Bull Rush.
September 12, 1915 Ammon was back in Lebanon, Arizona.
July 27, 1918 Ammon was on leave from the Utah Idaho Sugar Company in Sugar City, Idaho.
President Joseph F. Smith died November 19, 1918.
December 2, 1918 Ammon Tenney was on his way to Arizona from his home in Shelley, Idaho, employed as interpreter in the sugar factory. Ammon was temporarily connected with the Utah Idaho Sugar Company in looking after their Mexican laborers and in keeping peace harmony among them. Ammon secured these laborers in Mexico and brought up a trainload of them himself.
January 6, 1919 Ammon was home writing his memoirs.
May 1920 Ammon arrived in Mesa, Arizona. October 25, 1920 Ammon was still visiting in Mesa, Arizona.
December 17, 1920 Ammon left on a trip to visit the Yaqui Indians, traveling by railroad through Tucson, Nogales, and Hermosillo. Ammon traveled through Guymas, Vican, Vican Switch, Potum. He then traveled 100 miles up and down the Yaqui River. From December 31, 1920 to January 9, 1921 Ammon visited with the Yaqui people and leaders
By February 22, 1921 Ammon was in El Paso, Texas visiting with his son Ammon M. Tenney, Jr.
Beginning February 13, 1921, at age 76, Ammon began a three week mission to Chihuahua, Mexico for President Rey L. Pratt to help reopen the mission in Mexico after the revolution.
August 4, 1921 Ammon returned to El Paso, Texas for a short visit before traveling by railroad to Provo, Utah. August 20, 1921 Ammon traveled to Salt Lake City from Provo to visit with LDS General Authorities.
Ammon checked into the Salt Lake Hospital for an operation for Prostate Cancer September 10, 1921. On December 7, 1921 Ammon left Salt Lake for Provo. By 1923 Ammon was writing his memoirs.
Ammon M. Tenney and Anna Sariah Egar - 1867Letter from Ammon M. TenneyContributed By: · 1 July 2014 · on family search.orgMesa, ArizonaJuly 20th, 1920Joseph E. Mangum, Esq.Bicknell, UtahI surely regret to be compelled to write you that they have refused me my pension on the grounds that my name is not on the Millitary Roll of the Utah Report. I tell you we needed it and who earnt it better than I did. Will you notify your brother, John and also Bro. Lige Maxfield. I have not seen my lawyer yet, but I think it is off.Dear Bro. JoeRemember me to all old friends and believe me that I have a tender spot in my heart for you all.Your Brother,Ammon M. Tenney |
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Tenney Bible Page |
Letter 1920 |
Tenney Family Apple of Love
Contributed By: Phelps Metzie · 11 October 2013 · on familysearch.org
This story originates in the year of 1901 my Grandmother Ruth Tenney Lamoreaux was only 6 years old.
The Samuel Benjamin & Belle Brown Tenney Family was living in Luna, New Mexico. Grandpa Samuel Benjamin describes his 4th child Ida Mae as a cheerful person and a happy disposition. Ida Mae fell in love at the tender age of 16 with a charming cowboy who played the fiddle his name was Todd Browning.
Ida was Ruth’s bed-fellow….and one cold morning, Ruth awoke to find Ida gone. She had slipped out during the night and gone with her handsome cowboy, Todd Browning to become his wife. Samuel Benjamin organized a posse and sent riders to bring them home - he was Angry & Hurt that his young daughter would go and get married against his wishes. MANY words were said in anger and feelings were hurt. Ida’s mother Lora Isabelle Brown Tenney called family members together so the two could wed before they started their life in Felice, New Mexico. Grandma Ruth felt the deep hurts and witnessed the tears of her ailing mother, Belle. ELEVEN years later in 1912 in Colonia Diaz word reached the members of the colony that their lives were in danger. The rebels led by Poncho Villa were demanding that all the guns and ammunition held by the Mormons be delivered to them on the 28th of July, and that they flee Mexico. The women and children were being evacuated to El Paso, Texas. The Diaz people were advised to flee immediately across the border. They were only to take the basics and leave their doors unlocked and open. Discouraging word came from the men that looters had poked Ammon Meshach Tenney in the ribs with a gun and threaten his life while ransacking his home. The colonist had lost all of their homes and worldly goods—all they were left with was each other.
But they were finally back in the United States of America. Ammon stayed in El Paso for a short while before journeying to Thatcher Arizona to visit his brother Samuel Benjamin Tenney and then to try and purchase some land in Pima Arizona.
The two Brothers, Ammon Meshach Tenney & Samuel Benjamin Tenney had been separated for nearly 30 years. Samuel Benjamin Tenney was so grateful that his brother’s family was safe under the Stars and Stripes, that he gave a banquet in their honor. Samuel sent out invitations to all the relatives and choice friends. Many attended & they received letters from family members who couldn’t come.
Ida Mae Tenney Browning was desirous of attending the banquet, but was unable to do so, however Ida sent a large box of Delicious Apples. The smell of all those delicious bright red apples filled the whole house. She had gone out into her orchard and picked the largest and the very best to send to her father. She love and missed her family and wanted to come be with them. Samuel Benjamin Tenney was so grateful for the uniting of his brothers family and the love of his daughter, Ida, that when the apples arrived his heart was touched and he was a forgiving man with a tender heart, that he wept with joy. After the banquet, he served the apples and Christened them the “Apple of Love”
Prior to this Samuel Benjamin Tenney and Ida Mae Tenney Browning were able to make “PEACE” although hurts still lingered, it seems to us that those “APPLES” were given and accepted as a final token of mended hearts and hurts.
It was Samuel Benjamin Tenney’s desire that every member of his family and descendants serve the Apple of Love at Christmas time and at every reunion. And as they eat the apple, remember to have a desire in their hearts to promote more love, more understanding, and forgiveness for each other and for
all mankind and especially for our immediate family.
Aunt Ida lived away on Ranches with her cowboy Todd they had three Children. Grandma Ruth married David C Lamoreaux they had four children. Of the descendants of SB Tenney the majority have carried out his wish of celebration, his daughter Ruth Tenney Lamoreaux’s family has continually celebrated the Apple of Love at Family Christmas Home Evenings and Reunions.
May we all remember the legacy we live is to Love and to Forgive.
-Shelli Lamoreaux daughter of Alvin C Lamoreaux & Melba Riggs
The following transcribed letter was in answer to a letter Joseph has written to give varification of his service in the Blackhawk War. (The original can be seen on familysearch.org. I wasnt able to copy it here).
Mr. Tenney writes: Am always pleased to hear from you. Speaking of serving 60 days under Captain A. M. Tenney, my boy you served under me at and around Kanab about six months and at various times after that. I'll keep you posted if I change my address. I’ll help you all I can far you are sure entitled to a pension and I hope you get it.
I shall try and get my pension and will probably want you and John to sign for me. There are few people left that lived in those early days.
... all you old boy if we could and have a few days to visit, we would sure make times hot. But we are going to meet up where moth and rust don't corrupt, and thieves break through and steal and where we will receive a different Pension than the one here, in this sin stricken world. Which I humbly crave and wish may be your happy lot, for it is a wish free from guile. From your brother, Ammon M. Tenney
Ammon M Tenney
Contributed By: PayneCraig · on familysearch.org
Life sketch, stories, testimony, obituary, and other interesting things.
Born: November 16, 1844 in Rand, Lee County, Iowa. His Parents: Nathan Cram Tenney and Olive Strong.
Married: Anna Sariah Eager on November 9, 1867 in Salt Lake City, Utah Her Parents: John Eager and Sariah Anna Johnson
Children: (1) Ammon Meshach born: 12/6/1868 Married: Amanda Louise Thayne (2) Anna Sariah born: 3/23/1870 Married: Prime Thornton Coleman (3) Nathan Cram born: 12/25/1871 Married: Isabel Pearl Walters (4) Levi Stewart born: 12/22/1873 Married: Clara Emma Acord (5) Abby Celestia born: 7/13/1873 (6) Olive Eliza born: 6/14/1874 Married: Albert James Curtis (7) Phoebe Relief born: 2/10/1876 Married: Horace Bela Gardner (8) Lois Jenett born: 12/28/1879 Married: Peter Kimball Lemmon (9) Lula Maude born: 10/16/1882 (10) Rosalia born: 10/23/1884 Married: Edward William Payne (11) John Eager born: 9/14/1887 (12) Lurline born: 5/19/1891 Married: Fredrick Arhtur Whiting.
Other wives: Eliza Ann Udall and Hettie Millicent Adams.
Came to Utah in 1848 with his family. Went with his parents to San Bernardino and learned Spanish on account of all his playmates spoke Spanish. His parents moved back to Utah around 1857. They settled at Old Fort Harmony, Iron County, Utah. Was ordained and Elder and sent with Jacob Hamblin as an interpreter among the Indians in 1858. (THAT MAKES HIM ABOUT FOURTEEN YEARS OLD) He wrote, "The decendents of Father Lehi . . . for many years was a source of peril, the very Elements seemed imPregnated with the spirit of war and Theft and Robery." He spent fifteen years traveling with Jacob Hamblin. Was called to go on mission ti Mexico in 1875. Was assigned to explore northern Arizona in 1877. Colonized Woodruff, Arizona. Was sent by Church to purchase St. Johns, Arizona. Was acting Bishop of St. Johns for a year and a half. Was called as the President of the Lamanite Mission of Arizona and New Mexico. Spent two years in the Detroit House of Corrections for polygamy until pardoned by President Grover Cleveland. Was sent to settle in Mexico, lived in Colonial Dublan. Was called to reopen the Mexican Mission and it is said he had seventeen local elders working by the time missionaries began arriving. Was released after two years. Was later called to preside over the Chihuahua area of the mission. Was later driven out of Mexico with the rest of the American Saints. Some stories or accounts of above mentioned incidents follow:
Some passages from "Mormon Settlement in Arizona" by James H. McClintock
First visit with Hopi: Page 63 Paragraph 3 "There was serious consideration by the Church authorities of a declaration that the Moqui (Hopi) Indians of northern Arizona had a dialect that at least embraced many Welsh words. President Young had heard that a group of Welshmen, several hundred years before, had disappeared into the western wilds, so, with his usual quick inquiry into matters that interested him, he sent southward, led by Hamblin (Jacob Hamblin) in the autumn of 1858, a linguistic expedition, also including Durias Davis and Ammon M. Tenney. Davis was a Welshman, familiar with the language of his native land. Tenney, then only 15, knew a number of Indian dialects, as well as Spanish, the last learned in San Bernardino. They made diligent investigation and found nothing whatever to sustain the assertion. Not a word could they find that was similar in anywise to any European language."
Fight with Navajos: Page 70-71: "Ammon M. Tenney in Phoenix lately told the Author that the Navajo were the only Indians who ever really fought the Mormons and the only tribe against which the Mormons were compelled to depart from their rule against shedding of blood. It is not intended in this work to go into history of the many encounters between the Utah Mormons and the Arizona Navajo, but there should be inclusion of a story told by Tenney of an experience in 1865 at a point eighteen miles west of Pipe Springs and six miles southwest of Canaan, Utah. There were three Americans from Toquerville, the elder Tenney (Nathan Cram), the narrator (Ammon M.), and Enoch Dodge, the last known as one of the bravest of southern Utah pioneers. The three were surrounded by sixteen Navajos, and, with their backs to the wall, fought for an hour or more, finally abandoning their thirteen horses and running for better shelter. Dodge was shot through the knee cap, a wound that incapacitated him from the fight thereafter. The elder Tenney fell and broke his shoulder blade and was stunned, though he was not shot. This left the fight upon the younger Tenney, who managed to climb a twelve-foot rocky escarpment. He reached down with his rifle and dragged up his father and Dodge. The three opportunely found a little cave in which they secreted themselves until reasonably rested, hearing the Indians
searching for them on the plateau above. Then, in the darkness, they made their way fifteen miles into Duncan's Retreat on the Virgin River in Utah. ‘There is one thing I will say for the Navajo,' Tenney declared with fervor. ‘He is a sure-enough fighting man. The sixteen of them stood shoulder to shoulder, not taking cover, as almost any other southwestern Indian would have done.'"
Account of great council with the Indians: Page 76-77 "A Great Conference with the Navajo -- One of the greatest of (Jacob) Hamblin's southern visitations was in the autumn of 1870, when he served as a guide for Major Powell eastward, by way of the Hopi villages and of Fort Defiance. Powell's invitation was the more readily accepted as this appeared to be an opening for the much desired peace talk with the Navajo. In the expedition were Ammon M. Tenney, Ashton Nebecker, Nathan Terry and Elijah Potter of the brethern, three of Powell's party and a Kaibab Indian. According to Tenney, in the previous year, the Navajo had stolen $1,000,000 worth of cattle, horses and sheep in southern Utah. Tenney, in a personal interview with the Author in 1920, told that the great council then called, was tremendously dramatic. About a dozen Americans were present, including Powell and Captain Bennett. Tenney estimated that about 8,000 Indians were on the council ground at Fort Defiance. This number would have included the entire tribe. It was found that the gathering was distinctly hostile. Powell and Hamblin led in the talking. The former had no authority whatever, but gave the Indians to understand that he was a commissioner on behalf of the whites and taht serious chastisement would come to them in a visit of troops if there should be continuation ofthe evil conditions complained of by the Mormons. Undoubtedly this talk had a strong effect upon the Indians . . . Powell introduced Hamblin as a representative of the Mormons . . . (Hamblin) informed the Indians that the young men of Utah wanted to come over to the Navajo country and kill, but 'had been told to stay at home until other means obtaining peace had been tried and failed . . .' (Hamblin in a) Low-voiced, but clearly, (stated) message concluded: 'What shall I tell my people, the Mormons, when I return home? That we may live in peace, live as friends, and trade with one another? Or shall we look for you to come prowling around our weak settlements, like wolves in the night? I hope we may live in peace in times to come. I have now my gray hairs on my head, and from my boyhood I have been on the frontiers doing all I could to preserve peace between white men and Indians. I despise this killing, this shedding of blood. I hope you will stop this and come and visit and trade with our people. We would like to hear what you have got to say before we go home.' Barbenceta, the principal chief, slowly approached as Jacob ended and, putting his arm around him, said, 'My friend and brother, I will do all that I can to bring about what you have advised. We will not give all our answer now. Many of the Navajo are here. We will talk to them tonight and will see you on your way home.' The chief addressed his people from a little eminence. The Americans understood little or nothing of what he was saying, but it was agreed that it was a great oration. The Indians hung upon every word and responded to every gesture and occasionally, in unison, there would come from the crowd a harsh 'Huh, Huh,' in approval of their cheiftain's advice and admonition. A number of days were spent at Fort Defiance in attempting to arrive at an understanding with the Navajo. Hamblin wrote, 'through Ammon M. Tenney being able to converse in Spanish, we accomplished much good."
With Hamblin at Oraibi: Page 86 Paragraph 3-4: "In April, 1874 understanding that the missionaries south ofthe river were in grave danger, a party of 35 m3n from Kanab and Long Valley, led by John R. Young, was dispatched southward. At Moen Copie was found a of about forty. It appeared the reinforcement was just in time, as a Navajo attack on the post had been planned. Hamblin persisted in braving all danger and set out with Ammon M. Tenney and a few others for Fort Defiance, but found it unnecessary to go beyond Oraibi. The Utah affair, after agency investigation, was brought up again at Fort Defiance, August 21, with Hamblin and Tenney present, and settled in a way that left Hamblin full of thanksgiving.
At Las Vegas: Page 108: States that in late 1856-early 1857 . . . "Ammon M. Tenney, a mere lad, spent several months in Las Vegas . . ."
On site of Woodruff: Page 161 Paragraph 3: "Closely following settlement of the ephemeral lower Little Colorado towns came the founding of Woodruff, about 25 miles upstream from St. Joseph . . . March, 1877, Ammon M. Tenney passed through the valley and determined it a good place for location. In the following month, however, (Lewis P.) Cardon and two sons, and Wm. A. Walker came upon the ground, with other families, followed three weeks later, by Nathan C. Tenney, father of Ammon M., with two sons, John T. and Samuel, Hans Gulbrandsen and Charles Riggs. For about a year the settlement was known simply as Tenney's Camp."
Sent to find colony sites: Page 178 Paragraph 3: "Ammon M. Tenney, a scout of Mormondom second only to Jacob Hamblin, in 1877 at Kanab received from President Brigham Young instructions to go into Arizona and select places for colonization. He visited many points in western New Mexico and eastern Arizona, but his recommendation was confined to St. Johns, The Meadows, eight miles northwest, and Woodruff. With the Tenney report in mind, in January, 1879, St. Johns was visited by Jesse N. Smith, just arrived in Arizona to be president ofthe Little Colorado Stake. But Smith was unable to make terms with Barth and his Mexican neighbors and turned back to Snowflake."
Land purchased by Mormons: Page 179 Paragraph 1 - 2: "Under instructions from the Church, Ammon M. Tenney returned to St. Johns late in 1879 and, November 16, succeeded in effecting the purchase of the Barth interests, including three claims at The Meadows. The purchase price was 770 head of American cows, furnished by the Church, though 100 were loaned by W. J. Flake. The value of the livestock, estimated at $19,000, in later years was donated by the Church toward the ******** of the St. Johns academy. Other land purchased later were made by arriving members. Tenney was the first head of the colony, which was started in December, by the arrival of Jos. H. Watkins and Wm. F. James, missionaries sent from Ogden, who came with their famalies."
165 Zuni baptisms in New Mexico settlement locations: Page 189: "A large degree of missionary success appears to have been achieved among the Zuni, with 165 baptisms by Ammon M. Tenney, but at times there was friction with Mexican residents."
Railroad Work brings Bread: Page 192 Paragraph 1: "John W. Young and Jesse N. Smith, joined by Ammon M. Tenney, in the spring of 1880 took a contract for grading five miles, . . . (for the Central and Union Pacific railroads) . . . simply to secure bread for the people of the Little Colorado Valley." Paragraph 2-3: "Tenney returned to the railroad the following year to assist Young in filling a contract for the grading of 100 miles and the furnishing of 50,000 ties. The work on the railroad, while securing food in a critical period, still caused neglect of agriculture at home, where the few men remaining, together with the women and children, had to labor hard.
Extension Toward Mexico: Page 197-199: Daniel W. Jones, after helping translate with the help of Meliton G. Trejo, the Book of Mormon into Spanish, and getting the printing done, ". . . a missionary party was started southward September 10, 1875, from Nephi, Utah, its members being, besides Jones, J. Z. Stewart, Helaman Pratt, Wiley C. Jones, a son of the leader, R. H. Smith, Ammon M. Tenney and A. W. Ivins. The journey was on horseback, by way of Lee's Ferry and the Hopi Indian villages and thence to the southwest. In January, 1876 the party passed the international line at Paso del Norte. Jones claimed this to have been the first missionary expedition that ever entered Mexico. The party found it a good land and started back in May with a rather favorable impression of the country for future settlement . . . President Young was met late in June, at Kanab, there expressing appreciation of the determination that had brought Jones through every
difficulty in the ten months of journeying."
Mexican Mission Reopened From notes I put together off the Mexico Mission Home Page: Anthony W. Ivins, who was part of the original 1875-1876 exploration mission and who six years later served a full-time mission in Mexico. In 1833-1884 he presided over the Mexican Mission. Providentially in 1895 Brother Ivins was called by the First Presidency to leave his comfortable St. George home to preside over the stake to be organized in Mexico and headquartered in Colonial Juarez. This, incidentally, was the first stake created outside the United States, albeit the membership consisted of Anglo-Americans. Part of Elder Ivins' assignment was to check on the Church membership near Mexico City. (In 1907 Elder Ivins was called to be an Apostle, and in 1921 he was called to the First Presidency.) In 1901 President Ivins laid the matter of reopening the Mexican Mission before the First Presidency. He argued that the Mexican Saints deserved a closer shepherd and pointed out that the Chihuahua colonies now had many young men and women who spoke Spanish and who were acquainted with Mexican customs and culture. Elder Ivins also knew that the central Mexican members' heartaches had subsided a little. Brother Ivins even had a man to recommend as the new mission president: AMMON M. TENNEY. Ammon had also gone on that first mission and had headed the Mexican Indian Mission from 1887 to 1889. At the urging of Wilford Woodruff, Brother Tenney had gone to the Colonies to settle his families. President Lorenzo Snow and his counselors accepted Elder Ivins entreaties and reopened the Mexican Mission, this part of their renewed effort that same year to take the Gospel to all the world. When new mission President Tenney went to Mexico City, he was accompanied by Elder John Henry Smith of the Twelve and Anthony W. Ivins. The three arranged a visit with Mexico's president, Porfirio Diaz, who expressed his satisfaction with the Chihuahua Mormon colonies and who wished the missionaries every success. Definitely progress looked possible since the members they had found exhibited a thorough understanding of the doctrines and principles of the gospel. Yet when Elders Smith and Ivins returned to their homes, President Tenney discovered that while the members had maintained religious activity, they had done so in largely Protestant forms. Furthermore, some men had set up their own congergations and were reluctant to turn them loose to new leadership. But they relented when Tenney promised that the priesthood and the missionaries would never again be withdrawn. (Unfortunately, a civil war and the Mexican Revolution would make matters so dangerous twelve years later that President Tenney's promise could not be kept.) For nearly a year President Tenney and a few of the trusted local elders toured the entire mission visiting branches. Some members and leaders were overjoyed to see him; others were less enthusiastic. Then President Tenney called a number of local men, some of them married with children, on short-term missions.
Polygamy From his wife's history: While in Arizona . . . Bishop D. K. Udall came to say that the people who had accepted plural marraige were being persecuted beyond endurance. People were
hedged in, couldn't buy more land nor keep what they had in peace. Something must be done. He said it looked like it would have to be fought out in the court. But, they couldn't do anything with us because it is unconstitutional. "It will take someone who can handle it. Ammon, I want you to go," said the Bishop. Ammon looked up, surprised but never hesitated, "All right, David, if you want me to go, I will." Ammon did. He was duely arrested with three others, stood trial and was sentenced to three years six months in prison at hard labor and given an $8,500.00 fine. This was in the U.S. House of Correction in Detroit, Michigan. While he was gone Eliza went to Nephi, Utah to her people. Anna's eighth child, Rosalia, was two weeks old when Ammon left. Anna went to the farm in the summer and back to St. Johns to put the children in school in the winter. Anna's letters to Ammon have no complaints in them, only words comforting him. "Try to be patient," one letter said, "we are doing all we can to get you out. Night and day our prayers are for you." In a little less than two years, President Grover Cleveland pardoned all four in October 17, 1886. In Ammon's pardon it stated, "You have already more than paid for the crime if it was a crime." Ammon had been home about one year when another call came for a mission. This time it was for three years. When he was released, President Wilford Woodruff told him to take his family and go to Old Mexico.
THE MORMON COLONIES IN MEXICO
Page 48
... the same year the missionaries crossed over the boundary line into Arizona, but early
in June they recrossed again into Sonora to visit their recent converts. Late in June they returned again to the United States after having added a few more to the fold. Since leaving his home in Springerville, Elder A. M. Tenney reported that he had traveled over 2,000 miles, which is no mean distance when account is taken of the method of travel in those days.
The name of A. M. (Ammon M.) Tenney stands high among the valiant ones who gave of their services to the converting of the Lamanites (Indians). For about a quarter of a century he dedicated his life to that service and, like the faithful Catholic Fathers before him, who endured all to bring enlightenment to the aborigines of this continent, he suffered almost untold hardships and brooked the dangers of the deserts and mountains, wild animals and savage Indians to bring the Gospel of the Master to a benighted people. A report of his labors from November 1887 to
September 1890, shows that Elder Tenney traveled 5,000 miles by team, horseback and on foot. During that time he preached 137 times and baptized 111 souls. The missionary work
among the natives of Mexico continued until the turbulent times following the Madero Revolution when the Mormon elders were withdrawn because of intense opposition to all foreign ministers. At the time of the withdrawal of the Mormon elders, Rey L. Pratt was the President of the Mission. President Pratt was the son of Helaman Pratt and the grandson of Apostle Parley P. Pratt, one of the first group of Mormon missionaries to be called to preach to the Indians in this Dispensation.
HEARTBEATS OF COLONIA DIAZ
TALES FROM WHISPERING WALLS
Pages 407-408
There was the Ammon M. Tenney testimony in which he said:
There are some situations in life in which you work close with the Lord or you don't survive. I learned this in 1865, out eighteen miles west of Pipe Springs and six miles southwest of Canaan, Utah. Here my father, Nathan C. Tenney, Enoch Dodge, and I were attacked and surrounded by eighteen Navajo Indians whom we fought off for an hour or more with our backs to the wall. Finally, we abandoned our thirteen horses and ran for better shelter. By the time we reached a rocky escarpment, Dodge was shot in the knee and my father was stunned by a fall in which he broke his shoulder blade.
Realizing that I could not carry on that fight alone, talked mightily with the Lord as I climbed that twelve-foot escarpment. Reaching down with my gun I managed to pull the two men up after me and we hid in a little cave where we rested as we listened to the Indians searching for us on the plateau above. When darkness settled down we made our way fifteen miles to Duncan's Retreat on the Virgin River and safety, but we never would have made it without God's help."
When I became President of the Indian Mission, I learned to work with those people more effectively than working against them. I, with my missionaries; C. E. Richardson, C. J. Christofferson and G. D. Greer had many wonderful experiences, but the day we baptized our first Indian sister, Martina, wife of Captain Julian, was a glorious experience worth mentioning. When I confirmed her I was constrained to bless her to be a preacher and teacher to her Lamanite sisters. Immediately a glorious light shone around her head making her very beautiful as she arose'' and urged her sisters to come and be baptized saying: "My heart swells within me and my spirit is light since I was baptized. Come my sisters and be baptized. Four other ladies then came forward and partook of the ordinance.
Indeed these Indians had such great faith that an entire village who wanted baptism but had no water for it, dug an excavation and carried water from wells to fill it then assembled and were baptized.
In my later missions among the natives of Mexico, I have many times witnessed demonstrations of this great faith and its attendant blessings. When sixteen-year-old Manrique Gonzales was confirmed a member of the Church and given the gift of the Holy Ghost, the entire audience experienced an outpouring of the Spirit, and when Brother J. R. Holt rose to bear his testimony, all were electrified to find him speaking in tongues -- an experience new to everyone.
Much of his message was to Manrique, himself who was surprised that an interpretation was necessary for, said he, "I understood every word he said." Brothers and Sisters, there is no limit to the privileges and blessings we can receive if we prepare ourselves for them.
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