Parley Pratt Sabin was born on Oct. 20, 1848 in Clinton, Illinois. He immigrated to Utah on Oct. 14, 1850. He was first married to Eliza Jane Bates on Dec. 11, 1871 in Payson, Utah Territory. She died the following November. They had no children. On Jan. 12, 1873 he married my ancestor, Octavia Jacosa Sims, in SLC, Utah Territory. They had 5 children. She died March 14, 1886. His third wife was Sarah Cecelia Smith and they were married Oct. 19, 1887 in St. George, Utah Territory. They had 8 children.
Early Life in Salt Lake City – Crickets and Johnston Army
Contributed By: Charlene Olson · 10 January 2015 · shared on familysearch.org
Parley was born in 1848 Clinton County, Illinois. He was the youngest of 11 children and born to parents who were Mormon Pioneers. He crossed the plains with his family and arrived in Utah at the age of 2.
The Sabin family endured many hardships crossing the plains, but their trials did not end after they arrived at their destination. Crickets came in hordes. The crickets ate their crops and clothing, and the Saints began to pray the seagulls (that had arrived earlier in 1848) would again come to their aid from the Great Salt Lake.
These insects ate the crops of the pioneers. Settlers described them as looking like a heavy snow storm and so numerous as to cover the sky and darken the sun. The crickets landed all over the house, garden and yard, they could be heard bumping and thumbing against doors and window pains – gnawing on everything in sight. Worse, the grasshoppers or crickets did not leave quickly as they came, but often stayed on for weeks, even though rainy weather. The grasshoppers would gather on the tree trunks, fence poles and posts and every other object that might afford shelter for them, they covered everything.
Their clothes were rags, Parley had nothing to wear, so his mother wove fabric out of string and made him a little frock or dress. His brothers teased him, but they had no room for remarks – as for themselves, they were dressed in patches. They wore shoes of untanned cowhide to cover their bare feet. They ate segos lilies, (a bulb that grew along the hill sides of Salt Lake City.) These could and did sustain life for many pioneers. They also ate dark bread and molasses. Somehow, they managed to grow up big and strong without the aid of vitamins.
When Parley was near the age of 10, President Buchanan had received missed guided reports about the Saints in Utah so he sent an army of 2,500 men to Utah to restore order. When Johnston’s army arrived the Saints were prepared. As part of the preparation, the Saints built huge bon-fires located on the east bench of the valley. Parley, as a boy and other boys, were needed to carry sticks (or whatever else might resemble the silhouette of a gun) over their shoulders so the army spies would think that the Salt Lake Valley was swarming with soldiers. At night he circled around the campfire and slept during the day.
Early Life in Salt Lake City – Crickets and Johnston Army
History of Parley Pratt Sabin
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Parley Pratt Sabin was born 20 October 1848 in Clinton County, Illinois. The son of David and Elizabeth Dorwart Sabin, he was the eighth child of a family of eleven children. He came to Utah with his parents and brothers and sisters in 1850.
When about twelve or thirteen years old he helped his father in manufacturing the first cut nails in Utah, for which his father received a silver medal for their being the best nails made in Utah.
At the age of eighteen he enlisted in the Black Hawk War - a fight against the Black Hawk Indians. While still a very young man he was oiling a tumbling rod to the molasses mill in Payson, Utah, when his shirt caught on a set screw and turned him round and round and broke his leg. When healed one leg was shorter than the other which caused him to walk with a limp the rest of his life. He was 5' 11" on his left leg and 5' 9" on his right leg. His father had been stripping the cane and had a big cane knife in his hand, so he cut the belt and stopped the machine. After Parley's leg healed, he tried to go back through the machine the way he had been carried in before, but could not get in.
Parley's father, David, had a gun shop and as a young man, Parley worked in that shop helping to make revolving pistols and rifles. He helped in building the St. George Temple. He hauled lumber more than eighty miles.
He married Eliza Jane Bates. She was a sickly girl and did not live long after their marriage, dying while trying to give birth to their first child. He later married Octavia Jacosa Sims. They lived in Payson, Utah. Four children were born to them while they were living there: Octavia Caroline, who died while a very small baby; Pearl Elizabeth; Parley John; and Florette Mabel.
In 1877, Parley was called by President John Taylor on a mission to bring his family to Arizona to help pioneer this country. (Church Historian's Office, under date of 7 April 1877, page 3, Parley Pratt Sabin is listed among a group called on a mission to Arizona.) To prepare for the trip he made butter crackers which had to be pounded with a wooden mallet. Neighbors brought in food to help with the trip. Parley's brother-in-law, Samuel John Sims, with his family was in the group that left Payson. Also in the group were his mother-in-law and his step-father-in-law, Caroline Gill Sims Cochrane and John Cochrane, and Brother and Sister Killian. John Cochrane became ill on the way to Arizona, so when the group reached a small settlement in the northern part of Arizona where one of his children lived, he stayed there while the rest went on. He intended to join them later when his health improved, but he never made the trip. He died shortly after the others left.
It was in early spring when this group started this journey. Mud and snow were still on the ground. They crossed the Colorado River on a ferry boat. When the family reached the Black River, the water was up even with the river banks. Their only means of crossing the river was small raft which would only float two wagon wheels at a time. The wagons had to be taken apart to be ferried across. The raft landed about a half-mile downstream. It took two or three days to cross in this manner. When the task of crossing the river was completed, two soldiers met them and warned them to return to Fort Apache as a family had been killed by Indians. It would take three days to go back and it was three days on into the Gila Valley River Fort, so they decided to go ahead and try to reach the Fort. They hid during the day, traveling only at night. They never made a fire and always erased all signs. They hid in the willows in the day time. Jacosa drove while Parley sat with his rifle across his lap. When they reached the Gila River Fort the people were surprised that they had made it without harm.
Parley and his family lived in the Southwest corner of the Fort, which was rounded and had port-holes for guarding the surrounding country. While here they had one little room and their wagon-bed to live in. From here they moved into the town-site, a place called Curtis - after Parley's brother-in-law, Monroe Curtis.
Parley was disgusted with what he found there and said, "So this is the garden of Eden", and the name stuck. The place was no longer called Curtis, but Eden. When a post office was placed there, it was called the "Eden Post Office" and it is still called Eden.
It was a forbidding place. The ground was full of alkali, the water was brackish and the air was filled with mosquitos. Many of the people came down with malaria ("chills and fever" - as they called it). Parley would mix up a dose they called "Kill or Cure." It never killed anyone, but would cure those who had the courage to take it. Some thought the remedy was worse, or as bad, as the disease. After this he was nicknamed "Doc".
Four years after they arrived in Eden, another child was born, a girl whom they named Irene Mae. When the baby was a little over nine months old, Jacosa died of pneumonia, leaving Parley with four small children, the oldest less than ten years and the youngest a small sickly baby a little over nine months old. Grandmother Caroline Sims Cochrane, came to live with the family, but she was a cripple from rheumatism, so Pearl, the oldest daughter, was kept busy from morning until night doing the many things necessary for the young family - at the tender age of only nine years.
Parley helped to build the log school house, which also served as the church and amusement hall. He also helped build a dam and irrigation ditch, built a home, planted an orchard, had the town blacksmith shop and made all of the molasses for the settlement. At one time when a poor fanily, the Castos, came to town, he moved all of his things from the blacksmith shop to give them lodging.
About two years after Jacosa's death, Parley married a young woman, Sarah Cecelia Smith, who had a little girl, Alice. They were married in the St. George Temple and Alice was sealed to them.
Many of the men in the Gila Valley started freighting to help make a living, as it was very hard to live on what they could make on their small farms. Parley bought horses and wagons and fitted himself out with two freight teams and hired Mr. Truman Tryon to drive one team. He hauled ore from Tombstone to Wilcox where it was loaded on the train and shipped to the smelter. He would haul groceries and dry goods back to Tombstone. It was a two-day journey each way.
One time while he was away his wife, Sarah, became very ill with pneumonia. When she was well he moved the family to a small settlement called Wilgus, on the Turkey Creek at the foot of the Chiricahua Mountains. Sarah's parents and brothers and sisters moved with them. There Parley and Sarah's first child was born, a boy named Walter Leroy. The place was more healthful than Eden, but there was more danger of Indians. When the renegade Indians would get on the war-path and leave the Apache reservation, they would head for those mountains, as it was a good hiding place. They would steal and rob the ranchers and sometimes kill them.
Parley left one morning for Wilcox. It was in June and the evenings were warm. Sarah and the children were sitting on the steps of the small house where they lived when an old Chinese man by the name of Sam Coy, who cooked for the cowboys at the 3C ranch, came by. He had been up the canyon where there were some truck gardens to get vegetables. He told Sarah that some Indians had left the reservation and were coming that way. When he learned Parley wasn't home he asked Sarah to let him take her and the family down to the 3C ranch where there was a high adobe wall all around the house and corrals with port holes where one or two men could guard off a dozen or more Indians. But Sarah said she thought it was just another Indian scare and was probably like many others - not true - so she stayed home. But this one proved to be true. The Indians came to their ranch. They were after fresh horses as the soldiers from Fort Thomas and Fort Grant were close behind them.
Parley had left an old grey mare and a young animal home. The Indians tried to catch them, but could not and the two dogs kept them away from the house. Apache Indians are superstitious about killing a dog so a dog was a good protection. It was about 11 o'clock when the Indians left the ranch. They went up the creek where Sarah's people lived and there they stole two horses which were in the corral.
Parley was about half way between the ranch and Wilcox when a man at a ranch told him about the Indians, so he left Mr. Tryon and a small boy to take the loads on and he got a horse and went home. He passed two ranches on the way - one was burned to the ground and the other had been deserted, but apparently the Indians had not been there. It was about 4:00 a.m. when he arrived home.
The next day when the wagons and horses came back, the family's belongings were loaded in and the family went to St. David on the San Pedro River. Parley and Sarah had been there before to look the place over. Here Parley rented a small two-roomed house from Mr. Ruben Bingham. While living there, in August, Walter died. Parley afterward bought a ranch of about 300 acres from Philemon C. Merrill and his two sons, Thomas A. and Seth Adelbert Merrill.
Two sons were born while living on this ranch, Joseph Henry and David Hyrum. Here they had a five-room house, which was something special for those days as most people lived in one and two-roomed houses.
It was very hard to keep a dam in the San Pedro River and oft-times the crops would dry up for want of water, so when the McRae boys (John and Joseph Alexander) struck artesian water further down the river at a place then called Marquis, Parley filed on 160 acres of land. Being of an inventive nature like his father, David, Parley built himself a machine to dig wells with and started digging, first on his own land and then for other people. He sold his farm up the river to a Mr. John Doudle and moved to Marquis, which was afterward called St. David.
Four children were born while they were living there: Sarah Cecilia; Wallace Dewey; Theresa Constance; and William Roger. The artesian water proved not to be a success. A well would start decreasing and finally dry up, leaving orchards, vineyards and gardens to dry up and die, so Parley moved his family to a place called Pomerene, about 4 miles from Benson, on the opposite side of the river. Here he tried getting water from the river again and was quite successful this time.
He built himself a nice house near the church and school house. There he entertained leaders of the Church when they came to visit the Pomerene Branch. There he was a counselor to the Branch President, Powell Cosby, for many years. He helped in getting a school and in any other activities that took place, as well as in church activities. He was a 100% tithe payer all of his life. He always had a blacksmith shop and did all the blacksmithing that was done in every communuty where he lived as long as he was able to work. Even after he was unable to do much work, he would get up early in the mornings and go down to the shop. He seemed to love that old shop. He was a civil engineer and did all the surveying of ditches and land wherever he lived. His surveying was always very accurate. He invented and made his own instruments for surveying.
In June of 1924, Parley took a trip to Provo, Utah. There he obtained the necessary information to get a pension for his work in the Black Hawk War. He did not get the pension while he was living, but Sarah was able to get it, together with all back pay, which was a big help to her after he died.
A new chapel was being built in Pomerene and Parley was anxious to get his share of the work done. It was very hot and he was overcome with the heat. He took sick on August 8th and died 12 August 1924.
Thus ended the life of a good noble man.
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| Parley Pratt Sabin & children (from left to right) John, Irene, Pearl Elizabeth and Florette. |
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| Parley Pratt Sabin with Roger, Dewey, and Theresa and ? |
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Parley Pratt Sabin with his daughter, Pearl & children Edith Annie & Ralph Charles Trejo.
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Life Story of David Sabin
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Apprenticed to Roswell Beckwith at about 7 years old. He ran away seven years later and eventually made it to Lancaster Pennsylvania. David bought land in Lancaster and married Elizabeth Dorwart in 1832. Six children were born there (Elizabeth, Ambrose, Henry Dowart, Daniel Dorwart, David Dorwart, & Mary Ann). He became a partner in the Lancaster Machine Shop in 1840. Daniel died.
David joined the church in 1843, baptized by William C. Stuart. He patented a truss and sold the rights to it for $17,000. Moved to Nauvoo in 1844. Ordained a High Priest and obtained a Partiarical Blessing in Nauvoo on 8 Feb 1845.
Moved to St. Louis in 1846, the next year one child born there (Anna Maria). Then moved to Clinton county Illinois, one child born in 1848 (Parley Pratt). The next year, bought land there. Then in 1850, Sabin family traveled in the William Snow / Joseph Young wagon company to Salt Lake. He became a black smith, gunmaker, and inventor. Last three children born in Salt Lake City (Sarah Eleanor, Amanda Catherine, & Lydia Deseret).
Moved to Payson Utah in 1858 and lived there the rest of his life. Lydia Deseret died. Started a nail factory and machine shop, also a mill. Bought land in Benjamine Utah and located mines in the Tintic Mining District, Juab county. Became a bee keeper. Married a second wife in 1879 (Anna Magdalena Baer Ott).
PARLEY PRATT SABIN
Composed by his daughter Irene M. Merrill
In Iowa, Clinton County, a husky yell was heard
It was not a frog a croaking, or the cry of a startled bird,
But just a little boy baby, telling that he had come along,
He had left his home in Heaven to join the Earthly throng.
Sometime he was an angel, sometime a little brat,
But the Sabin family loved him, and they called him Parley Pratt.
His parents heard the Gospel, and knew that it was true;
They made the journey far our West, when Parley was but two.
It was a long hard journey, for that tired weary band,
But Parley was always ready to lend a helping hand.
He would stand up in the wagon, and try to drive the team,
"Dit up ol' Bill and Bolley, Ou dot to whim dat tweam!"
"Wes doin out to outah to doin the Mormons, where
We tan do bout as we pease an ou dot to take us dare."
They reached the Salt Lake Valley. The times were very hard -
And to add to their discomfort, the crickets came in hordes.
They ate their crops and clothing, until the Father heard them pray,
And sent the seagulls from the lake, which really saved the day.
Their clothes grew thin and thinner, until in their despair,
They found that little Parley hadn't a darn thing to wear.
But his mother came to the rescue and wove cloth out of string,
And made Parley a little frock which was quite the thing;
But his brothers liked to tease him and called him "Carpet Rag,"
Their clothes were all in patches so they had no room to brag.
They had shoes of untanned cowhide to cover their bare feet,
Sagoes, dark bread and sorghum was all they had to eat.
Of course some of them murmured at these hard and cruel times,
But they all grew up tall and strong without any vitimines.
Their father was an inventor. He made guns and nails and kegs.
He even made a molasses mill in which Parley broke his leg.
Now Parley was a handsome guy, and soon found him a wife,
Sweet Eliza Jane whom he thought would stay with him through life.
But the father in Heaven had other plans, and soon took her away,
And left poor Parley sad and blue for many, many a day.
But as time passed by, this handsome guy wooed and wed another,
Gecoza Sims, an English lass, who in time became my mother.
Parley just took one long look and said to the folks who had come to stay,
"So this is the Garden of Eden, huh?" and the town's called "Eden" to this day.
The ground was filled with alkali, mosquitos filled the air,
Sickness, chills and fever was present everywhere.
But Parley mixed them up a dose, they called it "Kill or cure";
Take one swig and by gosh! you would ne're want any more.
But just the same it cured them. They became a healthy flock,
So the people of that little town nicknamed Parley "Doc."
The Father soon called Cozy home and left Parley sad and grim,
Now he had four little kids to love and comfort him.
But as time passed by this handsome guy found him another wife,
This time he married Sarah Smith who stayed with him the remainder of his life.
Parley would lend a helping hand to a neighbor in his need,
He was always willing and ready to do a kindly deed.
He lived unto a ripe old age, And when his life on earth did end,
The people mourned because they lost a good, kind father, neighbor, friend.
Life Story of P.P. Sabin
Contributed By: GeneS · 3 April 2013 · shared on familysearch.org
Parley is born in Clinton county Illinois as given by his parents. The year after he is born his father buys land in Clinton county Illinois.
Then in 1850, he travels with his family in the William Snow / Joseph Young wagon company to Salt Lake City. Baptized there on 1 January 1856. Took part in Utah war. Moved to Payson UT in 1858. Took part in Black Hawk Indian war. Hauled lumber to build St. George Temple.
Married in 1871 (Eliza Jane Bates), but she died in childbirth the next year. Married again in 1874 (Octavia Jecoza Sims), four children born in Payson (Octavia, Pearl, John, & Florette) oldest died. Moved to Eden AZ in 1882, one child born (Irene). Then second wife died.
Married a third time in 1887 (Sarah Cecilia Smith), adopted previous child (Alice). Moved to Wilgus AZ, one child born (Walter). Moved to St. David AZ in 1889, Walter died and six children born (Joe, David, Sarah, Dewey, Theresa, & Roger). Moved to Pomerene AZ in 1911, helped build the Pomerene canal. He died and was buried in St. David Cemetery.
BIOGRAPHY OF PARLEY PRATT SABIN
Composed by his daughter, Irene M. Merrill
Parley Pratt Sabin was born of good parents, October 20, 1848, in Clinton County, Iowa. He
was the son of David Sabin and Elizabeth Darwart Sabin. Parley was the eighth child in a
family of eleven. He came to Utah with his parents and brothers and sisters in 1850. Parleys
father was an inventor.
Parley helped his father in his nail factory when he was a boy of about 13 years old. His father received a silver medal for making the best cut nails in Utah. Parley also worked in his fathers gun shop. When Parley was 18 years old he enlisted in the Black Hawk War which was a war between the whites and Indians. While a very young man he had his leg broken in his father’s molasses mill which caused his right leg to be shorter than the left leg and caused him to walk with a limp the rest of his life.
He married Eliza Jane Bates who was a sickly girl and did not live long after their marriage. In May 1874, he married Gecoza Otava Sims. A little girl was born to them by the name of Octava Carolin who died while yet a small baby. The 6th of august 1876 another girl was born by the name of Pearl Elizabeth. The 27th of September a boy was born by the name of Parley John. The 7th of October a girl was born by the name of Florette Mabel. All were born in Payson, Utah.
Parley hauled lumber more than 80 miles to be used in building the St. George Temple; also did other work in helping to build the St. George Temple. Parley was called by President John Taylor to bring his family to Arizona and help to build up Mormon settlements down here. His brother-in-law John Sims and family, his mother-in-law, and husband were in the company that left Payson in 1881. On the way down his father-in-law, Brother Killian, took very sick and they left him at one of his daughters home in the northern part of Arizona. The rest of the group came on intending to go back and get him when he was well enough to travel, but he died shortly after they left him. When they arrived on the Gila at a place called Curtersville after Parley’s brother-in-law, Monroe Curtis, Parley was disgusted at what he found and said, “So this is the Garden of Eden, huh?” The name Eden stuck and the place was no more called Curtisville, but Eden and when a Post Office was placed there it was
called the Eden Post Office. It was a very forbidding place. The ground was filled with alkali.
The water was brackish. Insects, flies, and mosquitoes filled the air.
Many of the people were sick with malaria (chills and fever) they called it. Parley had never
studied medicine, but he had learned some about it by watching and listening to others so he mixed up a medicine that he had seen used with success other places. It was terrible tasting dose and they gave it the name of kill or cure. I don’t think it ever killed anyone, but it did cure those who had the courage to drink it. Some thought the remedy was worse than the disease. Father Parley was often sent for when there was sickness in a family and with some of the (old wife) remedies he had learned from his mother and others he would often cure very sick people so they give him the name of Doctor Sabin.
Four years after they arrived in Eden on the 23 of May 1885 another girl was born, Irene Mae. When the baby was just 10 months old Gecoza died of pneumonia, leaving Parley with four little children – the oldest not yet 10 years old and the youngest, a little sickly baby. Grandmother Sims came and lived with the family, although she was badly crippled with arthritis.
About two years later he married a young widow named Sarah Cecelia Smith who had a little girl, Alice. They were married in the St. George Temple and Alice was sealed to him.
Many of the men in the Gila Valley started freighting to help make a living as it was very hard to live on what they could make on their small farms, so Parley bought horses, wagons, and fitted himself with two freight teams and hired Mr. Truman Tryan to drive one while he drove the other. He hauled one from Tombstone to Wilcox where it was loaded on the train and shipped to a smelter and he would haul groceries and dry goods back to Tombstone.
It was a two-day journey each way and he was seldom home. Sarah his wife became very ill
with pneumonia while he was away. When she was well enough to travel, he moved the family to a small village called Wilgus. It was on Turkey Creek at the foot of the Chiricahuca
Mountains. Sarah’s parents, brothers, and sisters also a married sister, Mary Plum, and family moved with them.
There, Parley and Sarah’s first child was born – a sweet little boy named Walter Leroy.
While living there, Parley could be home every other night. The place was more healthful than Eden, but there were many drawbacks. There was no school for the children to go to and no church to attend and there was great danger of the Indians. When the Apache renegade Indians would get on the warpath they would leave the reservation and go for the Chiricahuca Mountains, as it was a good hiding place. They would steal and rob the ranchers and sometimes kill them.
Parley had been home one night and left the next day to go take his load to Wilcox. On the way back with a load of groceries and dry goods they stopped at a ranch and he was told the Indians were on the warpath. They had killed a rancher about 20 miles from Turkey Creek and were headed for Turkey Creek. Parley had a good faithful saddle horse along, so he put the saddle on him and told Mr. Tryan and a boy that was with them to bring the load and he started out for home as fast as his horse could travel. Mr. Tryan told him it was foolish for him to go, he would probably over take the Indians and they would kill him if he was alone. But Parley said if there was danger, his place was with his family.
Parley was riding home as fast as he could, not sparing horseflesh, poor old Bill gave completely out. So Parley got off and led him to the closest ranch. When he got there he intended to get a fresh horse, but he found the ranch deserted and there were no horses. So he left Bill there and taking his saddle on his back walked to the next ranch, about three miles, and found it deserted and the buildings burned to the ground – they were still smoking so he knew he wasn’t far behind the Indians. He left his saddle there and walked the rest of the way. You can imagine his feelings not knowing how he would find his home and family.
When he reached his home he found that the Indians had been there only a few hours before and as they were after fresh horses and could not catch the one gray mare father had left home they had left and gone to ranches up the creek. Sara and the children had surely had a terrible scare,but the two faithful dogs had kept the Indians away from the house.
The Apache Indians are superstitious about killing a dog. I have heard that they believe in
reincarnation and that if you have been wicked and displeased the Great Spirit when you die, youwill return to earth in the body of a dog and if they kill a dog they may be killing one of theirancestors. So a dog is one of the best protections against the Apache’s and we had two goodsavage dogs.
Sarah said the thing she was most afraid of was that the Indians would throw fire branches and set the house on fire, but the soldiers from Fort Thomas were close on their track and when theIndians found they couldn’t catch our horse they had no time to waste.
Next day Parley went back to get his horse and saddle and found that the people at the rancheshad heard of the Indians and got in their wagons and left, so had escaped from being killed, butone rancher found his buildings burned down and the other one found a strange horse in hiscorral and cared for it until the owner came for it, which was Parley
A few days later they, Parley and Sarah, were on their way to the San Pedro river and to a little town on its banks called St. David St. David, it was in the month of June, 1890. They had thought of moving there so we children could go to school and the church activities. So after father got home, about 4:00 PM, he and Sarah talked the rest of the night and decided as soon as the empty wagons came home they would load up and leave for St. David. Parley tried to talk Sara’s people into leaving, but they decided to stay, thinking that there would never be any more Indian raids, and there never were.
At first Parley rented a small two-room house from Mr. Rubin Bingham. While living there,
little Walter died, August 30, 1890. Parley bought a 300-acre ranch from Philemon C. Merrill
and his two sons, Thomas and Seth Adelbert (Dell), and moved the family on it. While living
there, two boys were born; Joseph Henry, 28 April 1891, and David Hyram, 31 December 1894.
While there we had a five-room house which was something then, as most people lived in one and two rooms – a few had more. Parley moved Thomas Merrill’s house which was made of lumber and was two rooms, and added it to Philemons house which was three adobe rooms and was also porched on three sides with an underground cellar under one porch.
Parley was a blacksmith – he had a shop and did the entire blacksmith work in the town. The San Pedro River was very hard to keep a dam in and there were many sand washes through which the canal from the dam had to run through, so when a heavy storm came it would either wash out the dam or places in the ditch and just about the time the crops were needing water there was no water. Parley became very discouraged. So when the McRae boys struck artesian water about six miles down the river, Parley filed on 160 acres at a place called Marquis (later St. David).
Parley, like his father, was of an inventive nature. He built himself a machine to dig wells with and started digging artesian wells first for himself and then for other people.
Parley sold his farm to a Mr. John Doudle and moved his family to Marquis afterwards called St.David. Four children were born while living there: Sara Cecilia, 10 July 1896; Wallace Dewey,21 December 1898; Theresa Constance, 21 July 1901; William Roger, 18 February 1904.
Parley helped to move a schoolhouse from upper St. David to lower St. David as they were
called. He also helped to build a house that was used for church activities and all amusements.
Parley, like his father, was a machinist and a very good one. Parley’s brother-in-law, Brannock Riggs, had a sawmill in the Chiricahuca Mountains. One day the boiler got so hot it blew up and blew the machinery all to pieces. Brannock sent for Parley to come and see what he could do about it. Although Parley had never worked in a saw mill he was able to put it together and it ran smoothly. While Parley was over there, about two months, he was able to get his brother-in-law,who was not a Mormon, interested in investigating the gospel. He later joined the Church and was a faithful Latter-day Saint the rest of his life.
Parley was also a surveyor, who surveyed land and also ditches. At one time when he had
surveyed for a canal some of the men refused to work on it saying the water would never rundown it as it looked to them like it was up hill. Parley told them if it didn’t run down the canalhe would pay them the going wage for their labor; when the canal was finished the water randown it very nicely. One man, Mr. Elijah Clifford, stood and watched it and then said, “Daggonif Parley Sabin can’t do anything he puts his hand to do even to make water run up hill.”
Parley was always willing to do his part in donating to the Church and was always an honest
tithe payer. He was once asked by the people of St. David to be their Bishop, but he begged off.The artesian water did not prove to be successful. Just about the time Parley would get a nice orchard and vineyard growing good the well’s would start decreasing and then dry up. Parley moved three times on his land digging new wells with the same results.
He filed on some land about ten miles down the river where some Mormons from Mexico had settled and helped make a dam in the river and build a ditch to water the land – the place was called Pomerine. There he built himself a nice home. He was counselor to the Branch President,Powel Cosby, he helped in building a nice chapel. He lived close by the chapel and entertained leaders of the church when they came to visit Pomerine Branch. Parley also helped in getting a school in Pomerine and in many other civic activities that needed his help.He always kept his blacksmith shop and did such work as needed to be done as long as he was able; even after he was unable to do much work he would get up early in the morning and go down to his ship. He seemed to love that old shop although he was unable to do much more than just putter around in it.
In 1924 Parley took a trip to Payson, Utah, his old hometown. There he learned that he was
entitled to a pension for the work he had done in the Blackhawk War. He did not get it while hewas living, but Sarah, his widow, got it with back pay, which was a great help to her.
The Pomerine chapel was not completed and Parley was very anxious to do his share. It was very hot and he became overcome with the heat and was very sick. He took sick August 8th and four days later, August 12, 1924, he died. His children were all able to reach his bedside before he passed away. The funeral services were held in Pomerine and the internment was in St. David Cemetery. Thus ended the life of a good, noble, and useful man.
The following is a poem that was composed by Parley’s daughter, Irene, on Parley’s life:
In Iowa Clinton County, a husky yell was heard,
It was not a frog a croaking, or the cry of a startled bird.
But just a little boy baby, telling that he had come along.
He had left his home in heaven to join the earthly throng.
Some time he was an angel, some time a little brat,
But the Sabin family loved him, and they called him Parley Pratt.
His parents heard the Gospel, and knew that it was true;
They made the journey far out West, when Parley was but two.
It was a long hard journey, for that tired weary band.
But Parley was always ready, to lend a helping hand.
He would stand up in the wagon, and try to drive the team,
Dit up ol’ Bill and Bolley, Ou dot to whim dat tweam.
Wes doing out to Outah to doin the Mormons, were
We tan do about as we pease an ou dot to take dare.
They reached the Salt Lake valley. The times were very hard –
And to add to their discomfort, the crickets came in hords.
They ate their crops and clothing, until The Father heard them pray.
And sent the seagulls from the lake which really saved the day.
Their clothes grew thin and thinner, until in their despair,
They found that little Parley hadn’t a darn thing to wear.
But his mother came to the rescue and wove cloth out of string,
And made Parley a little frock which was quite the thing;
But his brothers liked to tease him and called him carpet rag,
Their clothes were all in patches so they had no room to brag.
They had shoes of untanned cowhide to cover their bare feet,
Sago’s dark bread and sorghum was all they had to eat.
Of course, some of them murmured at these hard and crucial times;
But they all grew up tall and strong without any vitamins.
Their father was an inventor, He made guns and nails and kegs,
He even made a molasses mill in which Parley broke his leg.
Now Parley was a hansom guy, and soon found him a wife,
Sweet Eliza Jane whom he thought would stay with him through life.
But The father in Heaven had other plans, and soon took her away,
And left poor Parley sad and blue for many many a day.
But time passed by this handsome buy wooed and wed another,
Gecoza Sims an English lass, who in time became my mother.
Parley was always willing to obey the Church’s command,
He was sent to Arizona to help settle up this land.
They landed on the Gila at a place called Curtisville,
You’ll never find it on the map for it isn’t Curtis still.
Parley just took one long look, and said to the folks who had come to stay,
“So this is the Garden of Eden, Huh?” and the town’s called Eden to this day.
The ground was filled with alkali, Mosquitoes filled the air,
Sickness, chills and fever, was prevalent everywhere.
But Parley mixed them up a dose they called it kill or cure,
Take on swig and by gosh! You would ne’er want any more.
But just the same it cured them, They became a healthy flock,
So the people of that little town nicknamed Parley “Doc.”
The Father soon called Cozy home and left Parley sad and grim,
Now he had four little kids to love and comfort him.
But time passed by this handsome guy found him another wife,
This time he married Sarah smith who stayed with him the remainder of his life.
Parley would lend a helping hand to a neighbor in his need,
He was always willing and ready to do a kindly deed.
He lived unto a ripe old age. And when his life on earth did end
The people mourned because they lost a good, kind, father, neighbor, and friend.
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| Death Certificate of Parley Pratt Sabin |
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