History of Julietta Evertt by Stella Lewis

HISTORY OF JULIA ETT EVERETT CURTIS
AND FAMILY PIONEERS, AURORA 1874
WRITTEN BY STELLA LEWIS

Julia Ett Everett was born the 15th of April 1839, Quincy Adams, Illinois. She was the daughter of Maria Curtis and Milo Everett. her mother had been previously married to Abram Brown and after bearing two children, Elizabeth (libby) and Isaac, her husband left her for his people in the extreme East, leaving her a widow. She then married Milo Everett and at the birth of her second child of this union, died. The grandmother, Ruth Franklin Curtis, took the four grandchildren, Libby and Isaac Brown and Julia and Seth Everett to care for, but after a short time Milo Everett went to England to marry a woman and took Seth, promising to come back for Julia, which he never did.


When Seth grew to manhood he started back to America to see Julia and died in route and was buried at Sea. Her half brother, when in his teens started East to find his father and get work. Libby and Julia watched him until he looked like a mere speck in the distance as he walked out of sight. They never saw him again except in a circus coming to Springville. One of their trapeeze actors was named Ike Brown. They recognized him and asked permis¬sion to talk to him, but were refused. They tried in every way they could think of but failed.

Julia's grandmother died when she was still very young, leaving the care of the orphans to their Aunt Savina; who had already taken the responsibility, as the grandmother was not very well from the persecutions. The grandmother was warned to move out of her home many times because they were going to bum it. Then they would allow her to move in again. This continued until she sickened and died. The Prophet said she would wear a mar¬tyers crown. She died and was buried at'the Bluffs in Iowa.

The rest of the family came to Utah in 1848. Savina Curtis, who was their foster mother and aunt took care of them until they were married.

Julia became the plural wife of Ezra H. Curtis at the age of 14 in the year 1853. She with her• husband and his first wife Lucinda Carter Curtis were called to settle Cedar City, Utah, where her oldest child Isaac was born. She returned to Provo in 1859 where she and her older sister Libby Carter lived at the mouth of Provo Canyon for a season or two in a dugout made in the side of the hill which formed three sides, this was covered with straw and dirt. Several times they had to stop getting a meal to dig a rattle snake out of the roof filling their meal with sifting sand.

In the year 1866 she cooked on the railroad up Echo Canyon, their oldest son now being ten years old. She took her family out to Spanish Fork Canyon to herd sheep for Smith Parker and from there to the Tintic District. She, though a very small woman, took charge of the camp, living in a tent and wagon box. Many times she, with her two boys, were alone with the sheep for several days. When the boys were not out with the sheep they would walk five miles from Wrights Springs to Cherry Creek, each cut 35 to 40 posts or stakes per day until they had chopped 1,000 of such timber for Parker to fence his pasture.

From here she went to Provo bottoms where Isaac and Jimmy herded for Reed Smoot's father until they moved to the Sevier in 1874.

Julia was the only woman here the first six months, during which time she never saw a white woman. Her first home was about two miles east of the present town site. At first she lived in a wagon box until the men could get time to build her a one room log house. At first this room just had openings left for door, window, and fireplace at which openings she would hang a quilt when necessary. The roof was made of brush and dirt. In this home Delbert was born, being the first white child in Willow Bend as the town was first called.

It was at this place Julia had a very thrilling experience. A man from Scipio was taking a herd of wild cattle through. A big red cow with big Texas horns made for Aunt. Julia. The man called to her "For G- sake run in and shut the door." She had no door to shut, no window and a large space open for fire place. Jimmie seeing her danger ran in between her and the cow. The cow then followed him and he being young and active was able to escape, after saving his mother.

Here her sons Isaac, Jimmie and Everet spent their first fifteen years grubbing brush leveling land etc. They helped build the Rocky Ford canal and enlarged the Windy from the head south of Richfield to Siguard 16 feet wide in bottom and five and a half feet deep on upper side, then helped make the Windy on to Willow Bend.

They dug a trench or cut 14 feet deep from the Annabell Spring through the swamp to the river then flummed across the river and into the canal to get a primary right.

Jimmie took a contract of herding the town cattle up Loss Creek and on the hills, for a calf per season from each man he herded for, which he did on foot and barefoot. He never did get all the calves due him and those he got went to the family herd.

In 1890 after she had gone through all the persecutions of the underground days, she and her husband decided for her to continue alone with her family. Isaac went to Grass Valley to work for Smith Parker who he had worked for in Utah County and stayed with him 20 years. Jimmie took up a homestead of 160 acres on Loss Creek, moving on to it in 1879 where again canals had to be enlarged, ditches made and a levy five and one half feet high, 18 feet wide and 500 feet long to get the water onto his land. This had to be cleaned out or the sand shoveled out every water turn.

The rattle snakes were bad but their land being below the salt beds made the water salty which helped to keep the rattle snakes down.

Isaac spent his homestead right in Sandy, Wayne County, Utah which during the last months while he came home to see his mother it was jumped. Julia Franklin and Delbert shared similar defeat in which they each homesteaded 160 acres at Fayette, Utah which was contested after five years of hard life on the land. By fraud they were losers.

Aunt Julia had her share of sorrow and trials as well as all the experiences of pioneer life. She lost two daughters, one an infant, Elnora one day old. The other Elzina, who after being a widow for a few years died leaving six small children. Julia and her sons took her grandchildren, and raised them until they were married. Julia had several serious sick spells and it was during an attack of Plurisy Pneumonia that her married son Everet died leaving a family. She was not told of his passing for a month. When they decided she was strong enough they undertook to tell her and she said, "I know all about it. I knew it at the time."

She bore seven children, five sons and two daughters and after taking care of her orphan grandchildren she also took care of her husband the last two years of his life. He died in her home on August the 15th, 1915 at Aurora.

She died the 16th of March 1923 after 84 years of toil and trials not withstanding a life of outstanding usefulness at Aurora, Utah.

She had a romance before her marriage in which she was engaged to a nice young man by cruel hands estranged. This young man proved his love for Julia in that he was broken hearted• and he never did marry.

Isaac died on 15 April 1928 at Greenriver, Utah but was brought to Aurora, Utah for burial. Franklin also died at Greenriver 11 August 1928 and was buried there. Although James had been in many serious accidents and had many broken bones such as collar bone twice, ribs and shoulder, arms and wrists, he is now 77 and just recovering from broken arm and shoulder socket.

Since that time Jimmie died at Greenriver, Utah on 3 January 1939 and Delbert died at Greenriver, Utah in March of 1947. I haven't the exact day of the month. I wrote to Amanda Curtis, his niece, for it.

I copied this history from the Daughter's of Pioneers Histories. it was written by Stella Lewis for that organization while she was Historian. She is still living and my neighbor and I have talked to her about the history. She obtained the information from James and Delbert and others.