Stowell, Brigham, 1854-1943

File — Box: 10, Folder: 2

Identifier: VIII

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Sketch of the life of Brigham Stowell compiled for the Stowell reunion held April 23, 1966.

April 24, 1854: Brigham Stowell was born in Fillmore, Utah. His father worked on the State House for Utah Territory. Congress had appropriated 20,000 dollars for the building.
1855: The family moved back to Bingham's Fort (a few miles from Ogden). They suffered from the loss of crops from the grasshoppers.
1857: Brigham's father was ordered to the mountains to meet the United States troops. His father was captured and held prisoner for "many long winter months."
1858: The family consisting of the mother and seven children moved south to Provo.
1859: The family returned to Ogden where Brigham grew to manhood.
1875: Brigham Young called 150 men (some single) to go to Arizona. Brigham Stowell was twenty-one years of age. His partner was John Chambers.
1876: In February Brigham left Ogden and started south. He describes the trip south. He arrived at the Little Colorado in May. Late in the summer nine wagons returned to Utah for supplies. Brigham Stowell was among those who returned.
1877: In early spring they returned to Arizona. While camped at the river John D. Lee spent the night with them. After his second trip to Arizona, Brigham was released from his mission. He had a contract with the Union Pacific Railroad to furnish ties. He worked at this in Mountain Green.
1879: He married Olive Bybee and lived in Ogden for ten years where he farmed.
1889: Because the United States marshals were hunting polygamists, Brigham decided to sell his farm and move to Mexico where a flour mill had been built for them. The dust from the flour mill was unhealthy for Brigham so we was assigned to take care of the cows and dairy for the settlement of Juarez.
1890-1910: Brigham took another wife, Ellen Marie Skousen.
1910: The beginning of trouble for colonists in Mexico; President Junius Romney put in prison.
1912: Brigham describes in detail the exodus of the Mormons from Mexico (July). The United States government sent food to El Paso, Texas, where the Mormons were temporarily housed.
1913: In the spring Brigham Stowell returned to Mexico but could salvage nothing. He was shot in the face by a Mexican.
1914: Brigham began work on Senator A. B. Fall's ranch in New Mexico caring for the sheep.
1915: Brigham had typhoid fever; the family moved to Thatcher, Arizona.
1919: Brigham purchased the Heber Maxham place in Thatcher where they lived twenty-two years.
1935: Rhoda Bybee Stowell died.
1941: Olive Bybee Stowell died.
July 29, 1943: Brigham Stowell died at ninety years of age, an honored pioneer of the State of Arizona.
1943: In August Ella Skousen Stowell died.

Dates

1854-1943

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.