William Elliott Higginbotham was of Scotch birth, and was born at Liberty Hill in Tazewell County, Virginia. Later on, when married, he moved to Burke's Garden in Tazewell County, Virginia. He was a farmer by occupation, and was a large, tall, light complexioned, red haired, dark eyed man. he was of fine appearance, and was a strictly good and moral man; and, as the subject of this sketch says, as good a man as ever lived. He was of a religious nature, and was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Jedediah M. Grant. His wife, Louisa Ward Higginbotham, was also baptized at the same time by Jedediah M. Grant.
William Elliott Higginbotham was a very pleasant, genial man, and made friends readily. He was highly esteemed in the county where he lived. His friends called him Billy Higginbotham. he was very kind to the poor, and the widows, and the distressed; he would always help in trouble and in time of need. He was also very kind to his family. I do not remember my father scolding me in my life, although my mother was more strict.
My parents moved to Nauvoo, Illinois, to join the Saints; they were in Nauvoo when the Prophet Joseph Smith was killed. My father worked on the Nauvoo Temple. I was three months old when my parents left Nauvoo, and with the Saints we went to Council Bluffs. From Council Bluffs we went to Missouri in order to obtain food supplies. My brother, Frank, was born in Andrew County, Missouri; he being two years younger than I. Soon thereafter my parents returned to Burke's Garden, Virginia, and rented the old Floyd Farm in Burke's Garden, and my childhood days were mostly passed on the Floyd place.
David Harold Peery married my sister, Nancy Campbell Higginbotham, on the Floyd place in Burke's Garden, Virginia, December 30, 1852. They were married by Reverend J.J. Greever.
Nancy Campbell Higginbotham was a beautiful girl not quite eighteen years of age when married. She had a cheerful, happy disposition and was universally liked, and was a very strong Latter-day Saint. She lost three children, and died shortly after the birth of her last baby. Her only living child is Louisa Letitia Peery, now the wife of C.C. Richards of Ogden, Utah, born July 14, 1860, in Burke's Garden, Virginia; endowed August 24, 1874; died July 29, 1930. Louisa Letitia's weight at birth was four and one-half pounds. My sister's other children were Thomas Carnahan Peery, who was born Saturday, October 9, 185, in Burke's Garden, Virginia, and who died at 4 o'clock P.M. on Wednesday, May 1, 1861, in Burke's Garden, Virginia; also William Harold Peery, who was born on Sunday, September 21, 1862, in Burke's Garden, Virginia, who died at 9 o'clock A.M. on Sunday, September 21, 1862, in Burke's Garden, Virginia.
At the time of her marriage, her husband, David Harold Peery, did not belong to the Church, and would never agree for her to be baptized until after the death of her little son Tommy. He was quite exercised over her belonging to the Mormons, and sent and brought celebrated preachers from Richmond and Washington City to convince her of the error of her religion. When they arrived, and began to reason with her, she was far the superior to them in her knowledge of the Bible, and, as D.H. Peery often remarked, she was much better and more conclusive in argument than they, and they were glad to stop the argument and depart.
My sister, Nancy Campbell Peery, died at Seventeen minutes past 7 o'clock on Thursday, September 30, 1862, in Burke's Garden, Virginia, being strong in her belief. She was born in Tazewell County, Virginia, May 19, 1835, endowed in the Salt Lake Temple, November 4, 1929, sealed to David Harold Peery, November 9, 1965 in the Endowment House.
My mother, Louisa Ward Higginbotham, was a kind, good woman; strong in her belief , and who was always anxious to gather with the Saints, and rear her family as Latter-day Saints should be reared. She advised her children and grandchildren repeatedly to read the Bible. She was a general favorite with children. In fact, my children were always glad to be with their grandmother; and at home, her room was the nursery and gathering place of the children. She would tell them stories and amuse them. She was kind and gentle and affectionate, and had an even, beautiful disposition.
At the time of the death of my father, the Civil War was in progress; and my mother felt that she would like to get away from the war, and with her children, gather with the Saints. So on March 30, 1864, she left Virginia for Utah with my brother Frank, myself, and Louisa Letitia, who was at that time four years old. As the war was in progress, Colonel Swan, who was Colonel of the Confederate Forces, and who was a friend of my mother, and had often stopped at her home and received her hospitality, escorted her and her small children to the State line. After the Colonel left, we were in the mountains between Virginia and Kentucky. The mountains were filled with robbers at that time. We were going down the Big Sandy River in Kentucky, but it was up so high that we could not get across, because it had covered the road.
We had two wagons, and my brother Frank drove one team, and Oscar Harman drove the other. We were camped near an old man by the name Blackburn, about one hundred yards from his house; it was about ten miles above Pikeville, Kentucky, where David Harold Peery's nephew, Andrew Hatcher lived.
In our possession, we had $1,300 in gold belonging to D.H. Peery, and $500 in gold belonging to my mother. This gold money was put in a box with a false bottom. We also had two teams of horses, two wagons, and a number of trunks, including two trunks belonging to my sister, containing her clothes. We also had with us Sally Harman Nichols, sister of James Harman, and wife of Thomas Nichols. Mrs. Nichols had three small children with her. She was sick, so we had her and her children to look out for. As she could not camp out, she went to the Blackburn house.
In the afternoon, we heard that the robbers would come to steal the horses; in order to avoid having the horses stolen, my brother Frank, a boy about sixteen years old, and Oscar Harman, about eighteen years old, took the horses in a roundabout way to Pikeville, Kentucky, to notify Daniel Harman to bring the flat boat up the Big Sandy River and get us. They had a perilous trip through the mountains and woods, and notified Daniel Harman.
That night at about 8 o'clock, after my brother Frank and Oscar Harman had left, the robbers came. There were about fifteen mean, vicious, desperate men, all heavily armed. They were renegades, who did not belong to either Army. They came to our wagons, and wanted to know where the horses were. My mother told them that she had sent them down the river to be put on feed, as there was no feed near the camp. They commenced cursing, and said they knew she was lying, and accused us of having arms concealed in the wagons. My mother told them that there was nothing of the kind. They then started to look in the wagons, and pulled out the trunks, and attempted to break them open. My mother said, "Don't break them open, I will give you the keys so you can unlock them." Thereupon, they began carrying the trunks off; taking two of ours and one belonging to Mrs. Nichols. Among the trunks taken, was the best one of my deceased sister Nancy, containing all her best clothing and family pictures. When they began to pull the trunks out of the wagons my mother commenced screaming at the top of her voice. Her screams attracted Mrs. Blackburn, who came to the wagons. As she knew all the robbers, they went away a short distance from the wagons, and stood around all night cursing us. Every once in awhile they fired their guns. It was an awful night, and of course we were greatly alarmed and distressed. The robbers left about four o'clock in the morning. They were mountaineers who lived in the neighborhood.
The next morning at daylight, old Mr. Blackburn brought his yoke of oxen to our wagons, and took us to his cabin. We took our things out of the wagons, including the money which had not been stolen, and piled them in the cabin.
The next night the robbers returned, and finding that we had moved the wagons and brought our goods into Blackburn's cabin, they began cursing and firing their guns. We were again terrified. Mr. Blackburn insisted on shooting, but the women begged him not to do so, and held him and prevented him from shooting. We knew that if he had shot, the robbers would have killed us all. They did not enter the cabin, but remained near it most of the night, firing their guns and swearing, using vile and terrible language. They left sometime in the night.
The next morning about daylight, Daniel Harman came with two large flat boats and several men. All the men on the flat boats were heavily armed. We were overjoyed to see them; and it was not long before our goods and chattels were loaded on the flat boats. During the night the robbers had pushed our wagons into the river, but Daniel Harman and men succeeded in getting the wagons out of the river, and loaded them on the flat boats. The robbers also showed their spite and vengeance on Mr. Blackburn by throwing his bee stands into the river.
We arrived in Pikeville safely on the flat boats, and there we met Andrew Hatcher, D.H. Peery's nephew, and Mrs. Christina Hatcher, D.H. Peery's sister. We remained with the Hatchers a few days in Pikeville and were delighted to see a Company of soldiers there. There were Union soldiers, and we felt secure when we saw them. I was never so pleased to see soldiers in my life.
We then took a boat and went to Cattlesburg, Kentucky, at the mouth of the Big Sandy River, where we were joined by David Harold Peery and Mr. Thomas Nichols, who had left Virginia for Utah January 22, 1864, and who had gone down into Kentucky and waited for us. They had been in the Confederate Army, and could not go with us from Virginia, as it was not allowed for men to go from a southern state into a northern state. As D.H. Peery had sisters in Kentucky, they rode along in daylight and he told the people that he was going to Kentucky to see his sisters on business, and that his father had died and he wanted to see them about settling the Estate. Thereby, he had no trouble. My brother Simon ad James Harman had gone to Missouri to buy oxen and wagons and an outfit to take us across the plains to Utah.
We did not remain long in Cattlesburg; and with D.H. Peery and James Harman, my mother, myself, brother Frank and Oscar Harman, son of Wilburn Harman who had been raised by James Harman, took a steamboat, and were on the boat for about twelve days enroute to Omaha, Nebraska. The times were perilous; we were in continuous dread of being fired upon by the guerrillas; and, as my mother said, we passed through the fiery furnace on the way to Utah. The boat could not travel much at night on account of the fear of being fired upon by the guerrillas. We had no adventures, but were in constant fear all the way to Omaha.
We finally landed at Omaha where we met my brother Simon and James Harman with the teams; also William Pritchett and family, and Napoleon Pritchett and family from Missouri, who had started for Utah. We reamined in Bluff City near Omaha and visited with Adam Ritter and family for awhile. They were very kind to us.
The outfit was all ready at Florence near Omaha. We bought our provisions in Omaha. We also camped at Florence for awhile. We left Omaha and Florence about June 4, 1864, and traveled for a few days until we reached Fort Kearney. Our outfit consisted of ox-teams for three wagons, each having two yoke of cattle; making twelve oxen in all. In addition, we had two cows. None of our family had ever driven oxen; it was very awkward and hard for them to learn. William and Napoleon Pritchett, however, had had experience in driving oxen, and they were very kind in teaching the others how to do so. In addition to our wagons, there were four other wagons including Sam Williams and family. He had married a Pritchett; also Ben Garr and family, who had married a Pritchett.
At Fort Kearney we met a company of Missourians who were on their way to Oregon and the gold fields of California. Among the Missourians were Mr. Frank Easterday, his wife and children, consisting of four daughters and two sons. We were much pleased with the Easterdays, and made friends with them. They were nice, good people.
After traveling a few days, D.H. Peery proposed that we organize into a Company and elect a captain; he succeeded in having William Pritchett made captain. William Pritchett was a hard-working, capable man. Many of the Missourians opposed him being made captain because he was a Mormon. Mr. Easterday, a non-Mormon, sided with D.H. Peery to make William Pritchett captain. The other Missourians were so angry that the Mormon had been made captain, that they showed their feelings by naming their oxen, Brigham, Heber. They would say, "Get up Brig. Go along Hebe." And finally they left our Company after traveling with us about a week or two. They had many horses, and they said that they would not stay with us, but that they would go on ahead. The Easterdays remained with us, also some other Missourians who were nice people.
After leaving Fort Kearney, there were no more settlements and the country was wild and in its native state. We followed the old trail which the Mormons had made years before. We arrived at the Black Hills without very much trouble.
Our custom was to camp over Sunday; and in the Black Hills we camped near another freight train which happened to be near an old fort, when we got there. This fort was at the foot of the Black Hills; there were no soldiers at the fort.
Near our camping place was a bank of Sioux Indians. One of our party, Oscar Harman, was a joker. Two young Indian men came over to our camp, and Oscar Harman in a joke, asked them if they would like to buy Susan Pritchett, Captain Pritchett's daughter. She was a beautiful girl about sixteen years old; a brunette with very black hair and black eyes, she had been tanned until she looked almost like an Indian. The Indians said that they would like to buy her; they would give two ponies for her. Harman said, "All right," and they started off to get the ponies. One of the freighters, who happened to near and hear the conversation, asked Harman if he did not know that the Indians were in earnest and they never joked. Harman said "No." The freighter thereupon said that the Indians were in earnest and would be back after the girl. So Susan then ran to her father's wagon, and her mother hid her under the springs of the bed in the wagon. Soon the two Indians came back with their horses, and jumped off their horses and asked for the girl stating that they had brought the horses in exchange for the girl. Captain Pritchett tried to tell the Indians that the other man did not own the girl, but the Indians would not understand it that way and went away very angry. In a short time we saw the Indians all packed up leaving, and we felt that there would be trouble ahead. This was the beginning of the Sioux Indian War.
The next day we started on through the Black Hills. It was a very hard day's travel. Toward night we met a man on horseback and asked him where we could find water. He told us that down between two high hills there was a little spring, which was the only water within five miles. We thereupon camped in the place he designated. The man was on horseback and had a bucket on his arm, no doubt he was an emissary of the Indians.
After we had camped, the men started to take the oxen and horses off to feed; taking the oxen in one direction, and the horses in another. They had not gone far until the Indians appeared and tried to stamped the horses. The Indians fired their arrows and wounded one of our party, a young Missourian, shooting him in the shoulder with an arrow; he could not pull the arrow from his shoulder as it was jagged. The men, however, succeeded in turning their horses back camp, also getting the oxen back to camp. That night all stood guard.
The next morning before daylight we left there, and did not go more than a mile until we came to a beautiful stream of water with fine feed. We camped in order to feed and water the animals, and waited for other freight trains, remaining there two days. That afternoon the Indians came again and fired upon us with their arrows, but our men met them with guns and drove them away. The Indians would lie over on the sides of their horses to protect themselves, when they came near. But there being so many freighters with our party at that time, the Indians did not dare come too near. From that time on the men in our camp had to organize to stand guard until we nearly reached Utah.
Two days after we left there, we overtook the Missourians who had left us before. The Indians had taken all their horses and left them stranded with but a few oxen, but not enough to take them on. Captain Pritchett told our party that we must divide up and bring the Missourians along with us. We did so, pulling their wagons with the our animals until we got to Green River, where they could buy cattle, there being ranches at Green River. Before meeting the stranded Missourians, two large freight trains came up and also joined our party. After the adventure with the Indians, we were in constant fear of another attack. We could see their signals in the night, indicated by fire, and could see the Indians in a distance on the hills.
About two weeks after the trouble with the Indians, we were startled by the appearance of about three hundred coming toward us on horseback. They were dressed in war attire. All they had on was their breech-clouts, and their bodies were painted; they had feathers in their hair. I shall never forget how they looked. We were all startled and terrified by their appearance, and expected an immediate battle. Captain Pritchett at once ordered the wagons to form into a corral. We put the horses and oxen on the inside of the corral; the men with their guns prepared to meet the Indians.
When the band had come within a short distance of our camp, a single rider came toward us waving a white cloth. We sent out an Indian Interpreter, also Captain Pritchett to meet them. The Indians told Captain Pritchett that they were friends, Arapahoes, and were looking for the Sioux in order to give battle to the Sioux, and wanted to know where we had last seen the Sioux Indians. Captain Pritchett told them, and they went on. We did not hear of the Sioux Indians any more, and did not have any more trouble. We felt that the Arapahoes were sent to us by Providence to protect us from further harm, and gave thanks accordingly.
As it was bad for so many trains to be together on account of feed, our parties separated. The conclusion was that there would be no more trouble with the Indians, and the freight trains went on and left us with the Missourians who had remained with us all the way. We had no more trouble, particularly from then on. The stranded Missourians who had bought oxen at Green River left us and started for Oregon; but the Easterdays and our other Missouri friends remained with us until we arrived at Salt Lake City.
We kept pretty well and had no serious sickness. I was about eighteen years of age; my mother was in poor health and weak, therefore I had to do most of the cooking. My mother and I cooked morning and night for four men, David Harold Peery, Oscar Harman, and my brothers, Simon and Frank. I remained well, although I was not a strong girl. The boys would get the wood and water and help all they could. We got quite tired of the dry food, such as bacon and ham, beans, dried applies and flour. We did not have any wild game. We would get so tired of riding that we would walk about half the distance. The girls and women would run bullets for the men to use in their guns.
We we arrived at Echo Canyon, some peddlers from utah brought some fresh vegetables and sold them to us. They consisted mostly of potatoes and onions, and though I had never liked onions and had not eaten one before, I was so delighted to see fresh vegetables, that I ate a large onion as soon as I got it in my hands.
Lockie Duncan told us that Brother Jeremiah Robey and family were living in Provo Valley. Brother Robey and family and my mother were friends and neighbors in Nauvoo. Simon wrote Brother Robey that we were there. On receipt of the letter he came right over to see us, and would have us go with him to his home in Midway, Provo Valley. We remained in Midway during the winter. he took us into his home and fed us and was very kind to us. He and his sons went with our boys to the Canyon to get out logs and built us a home. D.H. Peery remained in Cottonwood and taught school that winter. Oscar Harman also remained in Cottonwood.
The winter was very severe and cold. In March, D.H. Peery came over and had us move back to Cottonwood. In the meantime, he had bought the old Doctor Lee's home on Spring Creek, Cottonwood. We were engaged to marry that winter. After we went over to our new quarters in Cottonwood, David Harold Peery and I were married in Holladay, Utah, about eight miles South of Salt Lake City, on Monday, April 10, 1865, by Elder Winslow Farr, father of Winslow, Lorin and Aaron Farr of Ogden, Utah. (The groom was forty-one and the bride nineteen.) On November 9, 1865, in the Endowment House, President Heber C. Kimball sealed and united forever David Harold Peery and Nancy Campbell Higginbotham, and married for time and all eternity David Harold Peery and Elizabeth Letitia Higginbotham.
The summer of our marriage, John C. Thompson and wife Polly of Riverdale, Weber County, Utah, visited us and invited us to come to Ogden to visit them. We did so, and were impressed favorably with Ogden and surroundings. My mother and my brother Frank remained in Riverdale at the George Ritter place. George Ritter was not married then, but his present residence was erected and he was living in it.
We returned to Cottonwood where we remained until the fall of 1866. My son, David Henry Peery, was born at 5 o'clock A.M. Friday, April 13, 1866 in Holladay, Utah; he weighed 8 1/4 lbs. In those days there were no doctors, and I was confined to bed for about one month. Then I gradually became stronger, and my health gradually returned after the birth of my children, until now I am strong and well for a woman of my age. I sleep well and eat well.
During the summer of 1865, we hardly knew what it was to have meat to eat. We lived principally on potatoes and sorghum molasses. I had always been used to meat and plenty to eat, and I craved meat and felt the hardship more in not having it.
D.H. Peery farmed during the summer of 1865. He had not worked any for years in the field, and it was very hard on him. However, we raised a good crop, and raised some fine fat hogs, and thereafter, we have always been blessed with plenty to eat.
Upon our arrival in Weber County, Mr. Peery, in partnership with John C. Thompson, bought and ran a threshing machine. We moved to Weber County in the fall of 1866, During that winter we lived in John C. Thompson's house on the corner of Main and 7th Streets, now being the corner of Washington Avenue and 27th Streets. D.H. Peery had to shingle the house before we could move into it, as it was in bad repair. My mother and brother Frank and also Simon and his wife lived in the same house the first year after we moved to Ogden. It was a large adobe, two-story house.
That winter Mr. Peery taught school in the Second Ward; he also taught night school, which many of the grown men attended, and who afterwards were numbered among the leading business men of Ogden. Mr. Peery was particularly quick in figures. He could work difficult problems in his head much quicker than others could work them out on paper. Mental arithmetic was his hobby. He afterwards taught his sons in business to mentally calculate the rate percent of profit on each article they sold.
The next spring we planted a garden of vegetables and corn. The garden came up beautifully. But during the summer, before the garden matured, myriads of grasshoppers came so thick that they darkened the sun, and took all the vegetation in the garden and swept it clean.
My husband had made friends with L.J. Herrick and wife Sally. They were very kind to us, and lived near us. Mr. Peery and Mr. Herrick were comrades together. They would meet very often, and would visit each other, and took a great liking for each other. Brother Herrick and W.W. Burton attended my husband's night school. Brother Herrick was impressed with D.H. Peery's brightness and business ability that he spoke to Bishop West recommending him to work in Bishop West's store, the principal store in Ogden at that time. In the spring of the year, Bishop West asked Mr. Peery to work in his store, which he did.
My husband had been a successful merchant in Virginia before the war. He had accumulated by his own endeavors a fortune of about $50,000, and was considered one of the best business men in the South. He had a splendid standing with the wholesale merchants of Baltimore and other Centers. In Virginia, he first started in business at Clear Fork, and people came from miles around to trade with him. Afterwards he moved to Burke's Garden, Virginia; people would come from forty miles around to trade with him. In that backwoods country, he worked up a large business that was remarkable.
D.H. Peery was really ahead of Ogden; if he had settled in Chicago he would have been one of the leading merchants. He was strictly upright and honest and prompt in all his dealings, and demanded the same of others who dealt with him. It was common talk that in later years when he loaned money, a man would rather stand a law-suit than be talked to by D.H. Peery, if he did not pay his debt. In fact, he talked to the people of confidence, honesty, and uprightness in their dealings so much, that he was a strong deterrent to many men who were dishonest, and was a great help and encouragement to hundreds who were honest and upright in their dealings. He has said to me more than once that though he had loaned hundreds of thousands of dollars, he had never had a law suit, and he was uniformly successful in collecting. His losses from his loans were very light. He seemed to understand the peoples financial condition better than they did themselves, and was never hard on them and would give them plenty of time to pay.
He was also very energetic, and was a powerful worker. It was said that he could do the work of two men. He never put anything off, it had to be attended to at once, and then he would have his leisure moments to talk to his friends. With his wonderful capacity for business and a previous thorough training in business, he went to Bishop West's store as a clerk under all the rest of the clerks to start with.
He would go to the store at 6 o'clock in the morning and have it all swept and cleaned and dusted by the time the other clerks got there. At that time, Mr. Hopkins was the manager, an elegant gentleman of fine appearance. Mr. Peery has related that one morning Mr. Hopkins came to the store about 9 o'clock with his silk hat on and said "Mr. Peery, in one year from now I will be the owner of this store." Mr. Peery answered, "If you do Mr. Hopkins, you will have to be up earlier in the morning." As it developed, one year from that time D.H. Peery was manager of the store, and soon thereafter became the owner. He sold his land in Virginia and acquired enough money to buy out Bishop West. He then took Lester Herrick in as partner, because Mr. Herrick was better acquainted with the people than he. The firm was called "Peery and Herrick." They did the main business of the county.
While D.H. Peery was manager of the Z.C.M.I., Mr. Robert Harris came to Ogden, he being the nephew of D.H. Peery, and wished to come out West. Robert Harris was very fine in bookkeeping, and D.H. Peery made him bookkeeper in the Z.C.M.I. He was so quick and proficient, that he did the work of two or three ordinary bookkeepers. Robert Harris was a friendly man of great ability. He had a large head, and was a bright man; as long as he stayed with D.H. Peery he was very successful.
In this store under him, Mr. Peery had as clerks: Warren G. Childs, Job Pingree, James Allen, Simon Higginbotham, William Wright, the head of the firm of W.H. Wright & Sons Co., Richard Taylor, Luke Croshaw and others.
About one year after we had moved to Ogden, Mr. Peery traded his Cottonwood farm to Westley Browning for his Main Street business property, now occupied by J.S. lewis & Co., and Last & Thomas, later by the Peery Egyptian Theater. At that time an adobe house one and a half stories high stood on the property, set back from the road with a yard in front. My son, Joseph Stras Peery, was born in this house at 2 o'clock P.M. Monday, October 5, 1868. He weighed at birth ten and one-half pounds. We named our son Joseph after Joseph Stras who was one of our particular friends in Virginia, and who had married my father's sister, Letitia Higginbotham.
Joseph Stras was one of the ablest men in Virginia. He was a lawyer and had a knowledge of the people of Tazewell County, Virginia, much as D.H. Peery had of Weber County, Utah. He also loaned money to the farmers in Tazewell County, Virginia, and was a very successful business man as well as a very able lawyer. About the close of the War, he went blind through over study. However, he continued practicing law, having people read the law to him. We have always been on very friendly terms with the Stras family, and have visited them in Virginia several times since we left there. They lived in a fine Virginia Mansion with wide halls and large rooms, and the darkies lived in the cabins behind the residence.
I was then in pretty good health. I kept a girl to assist me in the work around the house. She was Louisa Field, who married James Shupe. She came from Virginia. Grandma Williams waited on me.
Joseph was a healthy, strong baby. When he was about a year old we moved up on the hill overlooking the city in a small adobe house, erected, I think, by old Brother Daney, who had lived in the house. My husband had bought the place from Bishop Barnard White's brother. The reason we happened to move was that our home on Main Street was situated in a low, wet place. The cellar was filled with water most of the time, and the well water was unhealthful and not fit to drink. My husband took down with typhoid fever, and while he was sick and lying on the second floor upstairs, he looked up at the hill and saw the adobe house there surrounded by the locust trees, and said to me, "Letitia, when I get well I will buy that place on the hill and we will move up there." He did so, and bought all the property on the hill that we now occupy for $3,000. We lived in the adobe house about two years.
After we had lived there for awhile, Mr. Peery concluded to build a larger one adjoining on the South. He did so, and the residence was the finest and largest house in the city. It was built by N.C. Flygare, now one of the presidents of Weber Stake. The lumber was sawed in Ogden Canyon, east of Ogden. One feature of the house which attracted a great deal of attention was the painting of the doors in the parlor. This painting was done by Mr. Morris, the father of T.C. Morris. A lion's head was grained on one of the double doors, and is considered by experts as one of the finest pieces of graining they have seen. The house is built on the southern idea of architecture. The rooms are large and the house is square; full two stories in height with plenty of porch room.
About three months after we moved into the larger residence on the hill, my daughter Nancy May Peery was born on Tuesday, May 2, 1871. She was a very sweet child and lived until 1:30 o'clock Monday, March 30, 1873, when she died of the measles.
From the time we moved into the house, we always had a great deal of company. We entertained many strangers, among them noted men as senators, judges, and prominent merchants who were passing through the country. Nearly every day my husband would bring home somebody to eat with us, and nearly every evening someone would stay all night. President Brigham Young and authorities would always make our house their home when they came to Ogden. I kept but one girl, and had to do a great deal of the work myself. Even when we moved in the small adobe house, we had President John Taylor and many others visit us.
On Friday, November 14, 1873, my son Horace Eldredge Peery was born. He weighed at birth eleven pounds. We named him after Horace Eldredge, a prominent merchant and banker in Salt Lake City, and a particular friend of my husband.
At the suggestion of President Young, Mr. Eldredge and Mr. Peery bought property on Fifth Street between Main and Spring Streets, now the property on 25th Street between Washington and Adams Avenues. President Young wished them to buy the property to aid Brother Jonathan Browning, who was in hard financial condition at the time. President Young stated to them that if they bought the property, they would never lose anything by it. The did so, and sold the corner lot soon thereafter for more than they had paid for the whole piece. (It is on block twenty-six, the center block of Ogden.)
Eleanor Virginia Peery, my daughter, was born Saturday, April 29, 1876; she died at 6:30 o'clock A.M. on Wednesday, January 3, 1877 of stomach trouble. John Harold Peery, my son, was born February 19, 1878. He weighed ten pounds at birth, and when he was three months old he weighed sixteen pounds. Doctor Carnahan waited on me at that time.
Dr. J.D. Carnahan is a nephew of my husband. His mother's name was Letitia Peery. She married Dr. Thomas Carnahan. The lived in Clear Fork, Virginia, during her lifetime after which Dr. Carnahan Sr. made his home with my husband and sister Nancy in Burke's Garden, Virginia. He was a very able and a very noble man, and an excellent doctor. His son, Dr. Carnahan, is very much like him. Dr. Carnahan, the son, came to Utah in 1876, the centennial year, to visit us. They moved out the next year. For years Dr. Carnahan had the leading practice in Ogden. He was well liked here and had more practice than he could attend to.
My son, John Harold Peery, was named after my husband's brother John, and my husband Harold. My daughter Margaret Louisa Peery was born February 20, 1881, and weighed at birth nine pounds. She was named after my mother Louisa Higginbotham, and my brother Simon's wife, Margaret.
My son, Simon Francis Higginbotham Peery, was born August 18, 1884, and weighed at birth five and three-quarters pounds. He was a seven months baby, and was very weak. His life was despaired of for several months. In fact, the doctors said that he would not live. But Apostle Franklin D. Richards blessed and administered to him and promised him that he would live and grow to be a great man, and be the seer of his father's family. At this time he is as strong a boy as I have. He is now attending school in Richmond, Virginia.
My son, Louis Harman Peery, was born April 11, 1887. He weighed ten pounds at birth. Beginning with Harold, Dr. Carnahan waited on me at the birth of all my children. We named Louis after Louis S. Hills and Hyrum Young, who are the president and cashier of the Deseret National Bank of Salt Lake City, and who were good friends of my husband.
Harman Ward Peery, my youngest son, was born August 23, 1891. He weighed at birth eight and one-half pounds. We named him after the Harman family, which was Mr. Peery's mother's name, and the Ward family, my mother's maiden name. Harman has always remained with me at home. He would never leave me at home alone, and even now, a boy of sixteen, he is devoted to me the same. He is an energetic boy and is mechanically inclined. All of my children with the exception of Henry and Joseph were born in the frame residence on the brow of the hill.
In 1893, we moved into our new residence on the corner of 24th Street and Adams Avenue in Ogden. This residence was built by D.H. Peery as a monument. It took two years to build it, and it cost about $60,000. The hard wood in "The Virginia," the name given to the residence, cost $10,000. It was put in by Andrews & Co. of Chicago. The hard wood work is among the best of its kind.
Each room is finished in different hard-wood. The roof and cornices and porch are made of copper, and the pillars are stone. The house is large, too large for a residence. After the death of my husband I build myself a small house immediately South of the Virginia, which suits my needs much better.
D.H. Peery was a very superior man. He was large in stature and large in brain. At the time of his death he weighed two-hundred thirty-five pounds. I note that I have put down in the Bible that on March 10, 1890, D.H. Peery weighed two-hundred twenty-four pounds, and on the same date I weighted one-hundred and forty pounds, and my daughter Louisa weighed fifty pounds.
D.H. Peery was a man who was very friendly and cordial with the people, especially with the common people. He would tell his sons that to be strong in the community they must be strong with the common people. That if they were strong with the common people, the great ones would be bound to come to them. He was not friendly with them for policy's sake, but he was a whole-souled good natured man, and he liked to mingle with the people. He enjoyed talking with them.
He was gifted in language, and would have made a fine orator if he had studied oratory more. In fact, his delivery was very good. His speeches were short and impressive and strong, and he always held the attention of his listeners. It is a common thing among the people of the county to quote what D.H. Peery said. He had the respect and confidence of everybody, and his word was as good as his bond.
He was uniformly successful in all his business affairs, although he had some very heavy losses. His property in Virginia consisting of large stores, warehouses, and a fine dwelling, were burned, entailing a loss to him of over $60,000. In Ogden, his Main Street store burned down making a loss of $20,000, and his Weber Mills were burned in which he lost about $60,000.
He was fond of reading, and had a wonderful memory. He could remember dates especially well, and could talk history by the hour. Plutarch was one of his favorite writers.
He was also a great talker on the Gospel. Every stranger that come to visit him would hear the Gospel explained by him. He was a strong believer, though he was broad in his views.
When President Young appointed him to be the President of Weber Stake, the people assembled in the Tabernacle and were in expectancy to know who would be named. President Young said, "I will name a man to be President of this stake whom you do not expect me to name. He is not a long prayer and not very religious apparently, but a man who will make you all rich if you will let him, and will be a good adviser to each and every one of you."
The people were delighted in the choice of D.H. Peery as President, and showed their appreciation by coming to him continually with their affairs. He was ever ready and willing to talk with the people, to counsel and advise them; to take them to his home; and he was always delighted to have his old friends call and see him. Among his friends who would visit him at our home were: Apostle Franklin D. Richards, Patriarch John Smith, Bishop Francis A. Hammond, Bishop P.G. Taylor of Harrisville, Bishop Hughes of Mendon, Bishop Samuel Parkinson of Franklin, Idaho, Senator Reed Smoot, Lorin Farr, Joseph Parry, Joseph Hall, Charles Welch, Abram Hatch of Heber City, Moses Thatcher, Brigham Young, Jr. William McIntire of Far West, Richard Williams, Samuel Francis of Morgan and many others.
Additional information, as prepared by Elizabeth Letitia Higginbotham Peery, has been published and may be found at the Utah State Historical Society, 300 South Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, Utah 84101. Telephone (801) 533-3500.