JOHN (JOHANNES) GEORGE AND SOPHIA HABERLI STAHELI AND CHILDREN WILHELMINA, ELIZABETH, GEORGE, MARY, AND JOHN In the Swiss village of Amriswil, Thurgau, Switzerland, George Staheli was born on 6 February 1825 to Johannes Staheli and Elizabeth Thalmann Staheli. In this village he grew to manhood. He was blessed with entrepreneurial skills and owned a small, water powered factory on the outskirts of Amriswil. This factory made cotton yarns. Although this was his vocation his avocation was music, a genetic talent inherent in almost all of the Stahelis. He belonged to a quartet of young musicians who were in demand to play for dances, festivals and other celebrations. Their musical ability would cause them to travel throughout Switzerland and into Germany. When 24 years of age, George married Sophia Haberli in Amriswil on 17 July 1849. She was the daughter of Johannes Haberli and Anna Barbara Haberli and was born in Ilighausen, Thurgau, on 25 April 1826. Nine children blessed this union with two of them dying in infancy in Switzerland. Their children were: Wilhelmina (1849); Jacob (1850, died, age four-months in Switzerland); Elizabeth (1851); George (1854); Mary (1855); John (1857); another unnamed child dying in infancy in Switzerland, date of birth unknown; Sophia (1860, died when just over a-year- old on the Monarch of the Sea); and Barbara (1861), reputed to be the first girl of the Swiss Company to be born in Santa Clara. She was born on 25 December 1861, just 27 days after their arrival. Thomas B.H. Stenhouse began preaching in Geneva, Switzerland, in December of 1850, having been sent there from Italy by Apostle Lorenzo Snow. After several years of preaching in this area of Switzerland, frustration mounted as they had no one to preach to the German speaking Swiss. In 1853, they requested a German speaking missionary to come to Switzerland. George Mayer was sent from the German Mission to begin the work among the German speaking Swiss. He and others immediately had much success in their preaching. The work progressed nicely and in 1854 the first of the Staheli’s, John’s father, Johannes, was baptized and confirmed on 23 January in the Aach stream by local Swiss Elder Johannes Alder. Five years later George and Sophia were baptized in the Aach stream by John Keller, one of the original settlers of Santa Clara, on 6 June 1859. George was confirmed by mission president Jabez Woodard and Sophia by Keller. Their oldest daughter, Wilhelmina, was baptized and confirmed by Johannes Diethelm, another local Swiss Elder on 13 March 1860, just a year before they began their journey to America.1 George’s father John was the first to respond to the gathering, leaving for America in the spring of 1860. He would take his wife, daughters Elizabeth and Susanna, and three grandchildren with him; namely his son Georges oldest daughter, nine-year-old Wilhelmina; daughter Susanna’s, 4-year-old, John Bianchi; and daughter Barbara’s son, 5-year-old Sebastian Strasser. The following spring George and his family were on their way to America, joining a group of Swiss Saints who traveled by rail and river boat to the English Channel and then by steamboat to Hull, England, completing their journey to Liverpool by rail. Among these Saints there would be a large number, including the Staheli’s, who would become the original Swiss settlers of Santa Clara. They included he follow members:

Susetta Bosshard (would marry John G. Hafen) and siblings Paulina (would marry Ignaz Willi), and Herman Catherine Ence (would marry John Keller)

1Records of Members Collection, Reel 6816. LDS Church Archives, Family and Church History Department, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereafter LDS Church Archives or Family History Library.

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Catherine’s brother John Ence (would marry Amelia Neeser) Andreas Feldman Jacob Tobler and wife Katharina Pressig Hans George Hafen and son John G. (would marry Susetta Bosshard) and daughter, Barbara (would marry Ignaz Willi) Maria Justet (would marry Christian Moosman) Conrad and Elizabeth Naegeli Magdalena Wintsch (would marry John Mathis in the fall of 1862 and live with him in the “Swiss Block” in St. George) Magdalena Schneider (would marry John R. Itten)

Of those listed above only John R. Itten, John Keller, and Samuel Reber did not sail on this vessel. George’s daughter Elizabeth, only nine years of age, stated they left Switzerland when the cherry blossoms were in bloom and on arriving in Liverpool they found it to be a smoky, dirty city.2 On 16 May they boarded the Monarch of the Sea the largest sailing vessel which crossed the ocean at that time. This vessel also had the largest number of Saints (960), to ever sail on a vessel to America. The Swiss Company’s mission president, Jabez Woodard, was appointed as president of the company.3 The voyage was not without incident as during a storm the sailors were afraid the ship would go down. They prepared all the long boats (six) and swore that no Mormon would get on them. A Mormon overheard the sailors and informed Elder Woodard who called all the elders to meet on the deck. Here they prayed and rebuked the wind and waves and in a short time the storm abated.4 It was also on this voyage that the Staheli’s little daughter, Sophia, passed away just three days (13 June) before reaching Castle Garden, New York, on 16 June 1861.5 From there the Swiss Company traveled by rail and river steamboat to Florence, Nebraska. The Stahelis joined the Sixtus E. Johnson Wagon Train and began their overland journey of 1,000 miles.6 They left on 14-15 July and arrived in Great Salt Lake City on 27 September. On this journey George was the bugler and sounded the bugle to awaken the travelers and again when they were ready, to have them proceed on their journey. George also played his coronet for dances and singing. As there was a goodly number of Swiss in the company, George organized a Swiss Choir which he also conducted and which was called upon to sing during Sunday services. On one occasion the company met US Army troops who had been sent to Utah during the “Utah War,” but who were now on their way east to join either the Union or Confederate Armies.7 Buffalo herds proved to be dangerous, and these Saints experienced several stampedes. Reaching their destination, they were greeted with watermelons which many of the Swiss Saints had never seen or eaten and by fresh peaches which were joyfully downed after going so long without any fresh fruits or vegetables.8 It is of interest that the Staheli’s with their large family had nearly

2Elizabeth Staheli Walker, History of Barbara Sophia Haberli Staheli, LDS Church Archives. Copy in author’s possession. 3Mormon Immigration Index, Family Resource File, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, hereafter cited as Mormon Immigration Index. Monarch of the Sea, 1861. 4William Probert Jr. Autobiography, LDS Church Archives. 5Walker, History of Barbara Sophia Haberli Staheli, LDS Archives. 6Sixtus E. Johnson Wagon Train, 1861, LDS Church Archives. 7Walker, History of Sophia Haberli Staheli, LDS Church Archives. 8Walker, History. LDS Church Archives.

128 enough money to make the journey but George was debited $67.60 by the Perpetual Emigrating Company and first cousin Barbara $41.00.9 In Great Salt Lake City, George was temporarily housed on the old Tithing Block, near where the Joseph Smith Memorial Center now stands. He was invited by President Brigham Young to stay in the city and put his musical skills to use by teaching music. Shortly thereafter at the October General Conference of the Church many Swiss were called to help build up the Southern Utah Mission. George was reluctant to stay behind as he desired to join with his parents and with his Swiss brethren who had been called to help settle this mission. They were in the city for only three weeks and before leaving to go south, many of the Swiss couples were married in the Endowment House. On the difficult journey south, the Staheli families, including his father John, and his mother Elizabeth, now completely destitute, were provided teams and oxen by bishops along the journey who would take them to the next town. In Beaver where they stayed two days, George and many of the Swiss brethren played musical instruments for those who wished to dance.10 The journey was extremely difficult as the primitive roads made passage an adventure. A personal tragedy for George occurred when on arriving in Washington; his coronet fell out of the wagon and was run over by one of its wheels, damaging it beyond repair. Arriving at Fort Clara on November 28, they joined the 20 families already living at this site. Ira Hatch allowed them to live in his upper rooms at the fort. Here George’s daughter, Barbara, was born on 25 December 1861. Later George participated in a drawing presided over by Daniel Bonelli in which the Stahelis received their building lot and farm land. In the beginning they had problems with their English brethren as communication was extremely difficult due to the language barrier. George’s daughter, Wilhelmina, who had learned the English language during her years stay with her grandparents in Great Salt Lake City, and a few Swiss who had mastered the English language were a great help to the others. Another source of discord was that the original settlers were careless in allowing their stock to roam wherever they chose while the Swiss’s life style was more structured they felt that all stock should be corralled or left to graze only in selected, supervised, areas. In time these problems were worked out for the good of all concerned. Rain which began to fall went unnoticed for many days until the Santa Clara Creek suddenly began to rise from its bed and to flood surrounding areas. By 19 January it was a raging torrent.11 That morning George began to gather driftwood as a ready fuel source. Later, returning to the now vacated fort except for his wife and children, he found water flooding throughout its length and around it. Sophia was found upstairs with the baby and later the children were found huddled together in a room downstairs praying for deliverance. Cut off from escape by the roaring waters surrounding the fort George looked across to the bank and saw Jacob Hamblin who threw a rope across to George who fastened it to a gatepost and Hamblin anchored it to a stump on the bank. Hamblin, using the rope as a guide, brought each of the children to safely to shore and then tying Sophia’s hands around his neck brought her to safety, following which the bank on which

9Perpetual Emigrating Fund Ledger, LDS Church Archives. 10Mrs. Albert Perkins Diary. LDS Church Archives. Mrs. Albert Perkins is a pseudonym for Hannah Gold Perkins, wife of William Gant Perkins. She is the author of this diary. 11Daniel Bonelli, Santa Clara, Utah, to Brigham Young, 19 January 1862. Brigham Young Collection, LDS Church Archives. Bonelli gives us the exact date the flood destroyed the fort and grist mill thus settling a long standing dispute.

129 they had been standing collapsed. The onlookers had watched earlier as the grist mill was washed away and now saw the walls of the fort collapse and disappear into the angry waters.12 Moving south and east around the bend a new town site was chosen. The Staheli’s along with others built dugouts into the hill with the projecting part being made of willows covered with mud. Later as times improved they were able to build a home of adobe. They participated in the early years of hunger where they were reduced to eating sego lily bulbs, berries, the heads of beef or hogs, and pigweeds cooked in water with no shortening or seasoning except salt. George contacted typhoid fever but after several months recovered. His wife, Sophia, not well since the flood and with poor resistance became ill with this same disease and died on 3 June 1862. This left George with six motherless children, the oldest 12 and the youngest, an infant, not quite six-months of age. Adding to his sorrow was the death of his father, Johannes, who died on 12 December 1862 just two and a half weeks short of his 71st birthday. Fortunately, Johannes’s wife would help George and his family as best as she could. Seeking not only a mother for his children but also companionship for himself George was able to persuade Anna Barbara Meier Blickenstorfer to marry him (pictured left). She had been married to Solomon Blickenstorfer, had one son Gottlieb, now 16, and had been a widow for eight months. She had been troubled by rheumatism most of her life but tried to make the best of this very difficult health situation. George, 37, and Barbara, 35, were married six-months after the death of his first wife in December of 1862. Putting his musical ability to excellent use, Staheli organized a band and also conducted a Swiss choir. The bands main problem was that they had no instruments. Several years after their arrival in Santa Clara, John R. Itten (he later changed his name to Eaton) received an inheritance from Switzerland.13 He was forever memorialized as he was able to furnish musical instruments for the participants in George Staheli’s band. This inheritance with a value of $80.00 consisted of a tuba, two B-flat cornets, a tenor horn, an alto, a bass, and a valve trombone. In the absence of sheet music George wrote the music for each instrument and then would help the band members learn to play this music. With no organ or piano to demonstrate the pitch he would use his perfect pitch and excellent singing voice and have participants follow his voice to learn the music. The choir would sing for Sunday worship services and on special occasions such as the Fourth and Twenty- Fourth of July. Jabez Woodard, their former mission president and their leader as they crossed the Atlantic Ocean, wrote to the Salt Lake City Semi-Weekly Telegraph where he praised the choir: “In Santa Clara there is a Swiss Choir of marked excellence and they have instruments and music that have recently been brought from their native land. So the Alpine horn will wake the echoes of the Rocky Mountains as it once was want to startle us in our lonely wanderings . . .”14 Three months later (May1868) at the General Conference of the Southern Utah Mission, choirs from St. George, Cedar City, Washington and a Swiss choir from Santa Clara all sang.15 When the site for the St. George

12There are several different versions of the above incident. I have used the account of George’s daughter, Elizabeth Staheli Walker (Mrs. Frank Walker), given in a pioneer interview by Mary Lyman Reeves in Hinckley, Utah, on 21 March 1937, copy in author’s possession. 13 Probably 1864. 14Semi-Weekly Telegraph, 10 February 1868. Woodard was a school teacher in Rockville at this time. 15James G. Bleak, Journal of the Southern Utah Mission, 265.

130 temple was dedicated on Thursday 9 November 1871, the Swiss Brass Band, led by Staheli performed. Elders in the band were Staheli, Gottlieb Blickenstorfer, Henry Kuhn, John Keller, and Jacob Tobler.16 At the dedication of the St. George temple later in 1877, George, who had helped to build the temple, also led the band in several musical numbers as they were stationed on top of the temple. Seeking another source of income, Staheli, in 1866 along with John Hug and Conrad Hafen were granted a license to distill at Santa Clara by the Court in St. George at its September meeting.17 How long this venture persisted and whether it proved to be economically feasible is not known. Staheli’s mother, Elizabeth Thalmann Staheli, in failing health, passed away on 4 December1870 in Santa Clara, seven-weeks before her 79th birthday. Anna Barbara as the new step-mother to the Staheli children soon won their hearts and proved to be a devoted parent. The children loved and respected her. Staheli, 46, after nine childless years of marriage to Anna Barbara, married Rosina Reber, 20, on 5 June 1871 (pictured together left). She was the daughter of fellow Swiss settlers, John Reber and Barbara Stucki Reber. Together they would have four children: Karl Henry (13 January 1872), Franklin (3 May 1874), Rosina (26 March 1876), and Georgina (February 1878). Of these four children, only Franklin and Rosina would live to adulthood. Finally after 17 years of married life to Staheli, Anna Barbara would die on 9 February 1880. Shortly thereafter, Staheli would follow her in death, dying on 28 April 1881 at age 56. At this time all of Staheli’s children by his first wife were all mature adults, the youngest being, Barbara, who was 19. She was unmarried as was her brother George and sister Maria. Minutes before Staheli’s death, Lydia Charlotte Roulet18 relates that “when he was dying he wanted me [Lydia], Emma [Graf], and the three children [Barbara, George and John] to sing:

“Go when the morning shineth Go when the moon is bright Go where the eve declineth Go in the hush of night.” “Barbara was crying and he was trying to move his hand to beat time. “Go with pure mind and feeling

16Ibid, 127. 17Ibid, 240. 18Grant Graff, Oral Interview on 1 June 1956 in St. George, “A Brief Sketch of the Life of Juliet Charlotte Roulet Graff, Including a Sketch of the Life of Her Father and Mother, Frances Frederick and Regula (Rachel) Hug Roulet,” Dixie State College, copy in author’s possession. Grant Graff is a son of Juliet Graff. Juliet was 94 years of age when this interview was conducted. Juliet belonged to a singing group comprised of “Nader [Niederer] a tenor and yodeler; Troug [Traugott] Graff, bass; John Stahlie [Staheli] George’s son, tenor; George Stahlie, bass; Frehner [Albert] (beautiful bass, couldn’t be beat); Emma, alto; Barbara [George’s daughter]; I was always the lead soprano; Nora [Lenora] Knight, my closest friend, soprano and Salena Gubler, soprano. We were the main ones. If Emma and I went up the street Father Stahlie used to come out. His trumpet was a clarion call from the field for any entertainment. He led the choir for a good many years.”

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Put earthly thoughts away – “I guess I’ve just forgotten [the rest of the song]. He died a few minutes later.”19 His wife Rosena, following Staheli’s death took their two living children and moved in with her mother, Barbara Stucki Reber while the Staheli children continued to live in the Staheli home. Jacob Tobler, a counselor to Marius Ensign in the bishopric, was frequently called upon to help Rosena with her problems. After some time, realizing that the best solution would be if he married her, Tobler and Rosena were married for time in the St. George Temple a little over five- months later on 8 October 1881. Together she and Tobler would have six children: Alfred (19 November 1882); Edward (17 July 1885); Josephine (31 January 1888); Vernon (5 August 1890); Lillie (2 January 1893); and Rhoda (15 January 1899). Rosena proved to be an excellent wife and an excellent mother to their children. Unexpectedly she would die from an attack of appendicitis on 24 April 1900 and would be buried at Santa Clara on the same day as her first husband, George Staheli, only 19 years later. She was the mother of ten children, eight of whom were still living, the youngest being 15-months of age. She was only 48, much too young to die from this untimely death.

WILHELMINA STAHELI HILDEBRAND What happened to George’s original pioneer children who came with him to Santa Clara? Wilhelmina (pictured left), born in 1849, at age ten came across the ocean and plains in 1860 with her grandparents and arrived in Santa Clara on 28 November 186l. Growing to adulthood she married Karl or Charles Hildebrand in 1867. The census records of San Gabriel Township, California, confirm the 1867 marriage date.20 Charles had come to America in 1863 although he is not listed on any of the ship’s rosters or in any of the wagon trains crossing the plains. She was 17 and he 37. Hildebrand, John R. Itten, and Christian Moosman of Santa Clara were called to the Muddy Mission and all were in St. Thomas in January of 1865.21 Charles and Wilhelmina’s first child, Mary Elizabeth was born there on 21 December 1867 and was blessed by Andrew S. Gibbons. Mary Elizabeth died on 14 June 1868 and is therefore not listed in the 1870 census of Santa Clara but her sister, Rachel Selina, who was born on the Muddy on 17 May 1869 is listed.22 This child was blessed by Warren Foote. With the break-up of the Muddy Settlements in February of 1871 the settlers all returned to Utah. It is possible that Hildebrand returned to Santa Clara a year before this as he is found in the 1870 United States Census of Santa Clara and not the St. Thomas census. There were four additional children: Emma was born in 1871; Sophia Matilda (Tilda) in 1873, Julia in 1876, and Dora in 1879. They apparently moved to California following Dora’s birth in December as they are found in the census of San Gabriel Township the following year (1880). It is possible that Sebastian Strasser with new wife, Anna Elizabeth Frehner accompanied them on their journey. There Wilhelmina’s husband, Charles, would become a fruit grower. They lived next door to Wilhelmina’s first cousin, Strasser, who had been her companion on the sea voyage and the journey across the plains with their grandparents in 1860. In their California home the Hildebrand’s welcomed, Charles, born in 1881, Caroline in 1884, and Alice in 1886.

19Ibid. 201880 United States Census, San Gabriel Township, Los Angeles, California. 21St. Thomas Ward, Muddy Mission, Record of Members and Historical Record, copy in author’s possession. 221870 United States Census, Santa Clara, Washington, Utah Territory.

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Sometime between 1882 and 1885 they were joined by Wilhelmina’s sister, Mary, and her husband Hans Olsen and their children. San Gabriel Township was now home to two of George Staheli’s daughters and their first cousin, Sebastian Strasser. Charles was a successful farmer and the family prospered. Unfortunately Wilhelmina would die on 2 December 1915 in Alhambra, a community which had been formed in 1903 in the San Gabriel Valley

ELIZABETH WALKER Elizabeth (pictured left), the next daughter was born on Christmas day 1851. Coming to Santa Clara from Switzerland she recalls as a child gathering pigweeds, sego lily bulbs, wild parsnips and berries and how the family would make edible food out of the heads of cattle and hogs.23 She also relates that after a tannery was built in St. George, Brother Hafen (Conrad) would make shoes for them which would last for two years. Being self reliant they would also make their own straw hats. After living through all of the trying times, most of the early settlers married on reaching marriageable age. Elizabeth married Clemons Bernhard Focke who had changed his name to Francis (Frank) Clemons Walker. Walker, a farmer and cooper (barrel maker) had come to Santa Clara. There, Bishop Edward Bunker knowing that Elizabeth was available suggested they get together. The end result was that she was married in St. George to Walker on 18 April 1870 when he was 36 and she was 18. Southern Utah Mission Leader Erastus Snow performed the ceremony.24 Shortly after their marriage they moved to Pine Valley where their first child, Francis Clemons Walker Jr., was born on 20 January 1871. Within a year they had moved to Desert Springs (present day Modena) and then to Spring Valley, Nevada, where there were greater opportunities for ranching. Purchasing a ranch from Althie Meeks they began farming and were blessed to have a daughter, Mary Elizabeth on 25 November 1872. Unfortunately she lived only one day because of the complications of childbirth. Successive children were born to them while living there: Wilhelmina Barbara,(18 October 1873); George Henry (21 November 1875); Annie Sophia (7 February 1878;, Joseph Antone (17 March 1880) who would die at age 12; Emma Rosina (20 September 1882) who would die at age 9; Louisa Lemira on 7 February 1885, the same birth date as her sister, Annie Sophia; Laura Barbara, (28 March 1888); and Clara May (7 April 1890). Following this birth they moved first to southern Utah for a short time and then to Hinckley, Utah, in 189025 where John Karl, their last child was born on 3 July 1893. He would die there nine months later. 26 While living in Spring Valley they were joined by Elizabeth’s sister Mary and her husband Hans Olsen in 1877 who stayed only three years and then moved to Oregon sometime after 1880. Elizabeth’s brother, John, lived and worked for them in 1877. 27 Elizabeth’s sister, Barbara, also lived with them in 1880 and she helped with the children and the family chores.28

23Walker, Pioneer Interview. 24One source states that they were married by Snow in the St. George Temple but this was not a possibility since the temple was not dedicated until 1877. 25Walker, Pioneer Interview. 26Ibid. 271880 United States Census, Spring Valley, Lincoln County, Nevada 28John Staheli, The Life of John and Barbara Staheli, LDS Church Archives, copy in author’s possession.

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During their years in Spring Valley, Walker was a cattle rancher. They had excellent grazing rights but were plagued continuously by cattle rustlers. They also had a dispute over water rights with Eagle Valley. In a lawsuit which followed, Eagle Valley won the water rights. Thereafter they were not guaranteed water rights and could only have water which was left over. The water problem, the change of boundaries placing them in Nevada instead of Utah, and the continued rustling of cattle, were major reasons for their leaving Spring Valley. 29 As previously stated, after moving to Hinckley in 1890 a son, John Carl, was born there in 1893, living only nine months. Her husband, Frank Walker, farmed in Hinckley until his retirement. Death came to this pioneer in 1907 at age 73. Apparently, four years after her husband’s death, Elizabeth made a trip to see her sisters Wilhelmina and Mary in Alhambra, California, as it was there that she saw her first automobile.30 Her remaining days were spent in Hinckley, where she would write several histories and be interviewed as one of the early pioneers of Utah. Her death came in Hinckley on 10 December 1939 at age 88.

GEORGE JR. In Amriswil, Thurgau, Switzerland George Staheli Jr. (pictured left) was born on 28 May 1854. When only seven, he left Switzerland and came with his Mormon convert parents to America where he made his way to Great Salt Lake City. Three weeks later he was on his way to Santa Clara in the Southern Utah Mission. Here he went through the trying times of the early settlement. Not one to be hasty in marrying, he finally succumbed on 27 December 1897 when he was 43 years old and married 36-year-old Emma Barbara Graf. This was not her first marriage as she had been married first to Traugott Graf. Both were original Swiss settlers of Santa Clara. Graf when 20 accompanied Edward Bunker to Bunkerville, Nevada, to participate in an attempt to form a more perfect United Order. Not happy with the way things were going in Bunkerville, he moved to Littlefield, Arizona, in 1880 and joined fellow Santa Clarans, including his brother John, Gottlieb Blickenstorfer, John Ence, Christian Stucki, and Christians uncle, John Stucki.31 Graf married his distant cousin, Emma Barbara Graf in St. George on 10 May 1881. After moving back to Littlefield, a daughter, Lillian Emma, was born to them on 21 February 1882. With things not working out in Littlefield, the family moved to Santa Clara where a second daughter, Hulda Barbara, was born to Emma Barbara on 29 August 1883. Unfortunately while attending a 24th July celebration a year later, Traugott was kicked by a mule which resulted in his death on 18 August 1884. This left Emma Barbara a widow with two small children to rear. Less than two and one-half years later, Emma Barbara was in the St. George Temple where she was married to Joseph Elijah Fordham on 1 January 1887. From this marriage there were three children: Karl Emil (13 October 1887); George Albert ( 29 August 1889); and John Eugene (18 October 1891; all born in Escalante, Garfield County, Utah, where the couple had moved shortly after their marriage. Her marriage to Fordham was fraught with domestic problems which resulted in divorce. Struggling through the next six years with five children to raise, she finally found comfort and stability when she married George Staheli Jr. on 27 December 1897 as her third husband. It

29Walker, Pioneer Interview. 30Ibid. 311880 United States Census Not stated, District 34, Pahute, Arizona Territory.

134 must have been challenging for Staheli to have the responsibilities of a wife and five children for a man who had never been married before. Three children were added to the five in this family: Rulon Harvey (24 June 1898); Vera Grace (4 October 1900); and lastly Lorraine (1902). Unfortunately Lorraine would die at age 26. After this marriage the Staheli family would live together in relative peace and harmony for the next 33 years. George was an excellent gardener and had multiple fruit trees on his lot with a beautiful grape arbor which ran the length of his lot. Emma Barbara was kept busy with her herbs and flowers and in drying and bottling fruit for the winter ahead. They were both engaged in the nourishing, rearing, feeding, and educating of this multi-parented family. Their oldest own son, Harvey Rulon, recalled how she disciplined the children when needed but made sure her love would show through. She expected each of her children to obey her requests. His father’s way of handling was much different. He never spoke a cross word to Harvey, nor was a rude hand ever laid upon him. His way of getting the children to work was to start the work himself and then have the children pitch in and help.32 Death would come to Emma Barbara on 16 May 1830 at age 69. George would outlive her by 4 and one-half years, dying on 30 December 1934 at age 80.

MARY OLSEN Mary (pictured left) blessed the Staheli family with her arrival on 1 October 1855. Coming from Switzerland to America as a little girl of five, she was called with her parents to Santa Clara in the Southern Utah Mission. Growing to maturity she was swept off her feet by Hans Olsen, a husky, blond Norwegian miner who attended dances in Santa Clara. They were married on 11 April 1875 by Marius Ensign.33 She was approaching 20 and he was 43. With job opportunities scarce and in order to continue work as a miner they moved to the mining town of Jackrabbit not far from Pioche where ore was found in 1876. There, a daughter, Josephine was born in June of 1876 followed by another daughter, Ida on 15 December 1877. With mining conditions doing poorly they moved to Spring Valley where her sister Elizabeth and husband Frank C. Walker and their five children were farming. Also another sister, Barbara, 19, was helping the Walkers in their home. There a son, Henry was born in December of 1880. Not liking farming and not being happy with their lot in Spring Valley they moved near to Jacksonville, Jackson County, Oregon, where George was born on 26 September 1882. They then moved to San Gabriel Township where they joined Mary’s sister’s family, the Hildebrand’s and Sebastian Strasser. That May (9 May 1885), a son, Alex Frank was born to them, followed by Lillie, and Mabel who were born on 31 August 1887, and 10 September 1889 respectively. Josephine (Josie) born in 1890 was the last child born to this couple. By 1900 the entire family was living on Wilson Avenue in what was to become later Alhambra three years later. While living there Hans farmed and made a fairly comfortable living. Hans died in Alhambra in 1921 living to be 89 years of age. Mary would follow him in death, in 1937 at age 82.

32Harvey Rulon Staheli, An Autobiography and Stories of Childhood, published privately, copy in author’s possession. 33Although family tradition states they were married by Erastus Snow, the Record of Members Collection of the Santa Clara Ward, St. George Stake, lists Marius Ensign as the man who married them on the date given above.

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JOHN When John (pictured right) was only four-years of age the family came to America. The trip from Switzerland to Liverpool and across the ocean and plains must have been a great adventure for him. Arriving in Great Salt Lake City and then traveling to Santa Clara three weeks later, one could sense that he was tired of the hardships of the journeys and was ready to settle down. He was able to survive the great flood of 1862, the primitive living conditions, the many days of going to bed hungry, the typhoid and malaria epidemics, Indian troubles, and the unbearable heat. While growing up he observed that clothing was made out of cloth that was much thicker than canvas and awls were used to punch holes in the cloth. The girl’s dresses would stand alone in the middle of the floor. Educational opportunities were few and far between as there was so much work to do and insufficient money for tuition.34 In 1877 when John was 20, he moved to Spring Valley, Nevada, which was taken from Utah Territory and given to the state of Nevada in 1867. Most likely he lived with his sister, Elizabeth, who was the wife of Frank Walker. There he earned enough money to pay for a saddle, a coronet, and a suit of clothes and had $250.00 left over to pay on a farm in Santa Clara which his father had purchased in his absence.35 With the death of his father in 1881 he began looking for a companion to start a family of his own. His search ended in 1882, and on 18 January he was wed to Barbara Tobler, a daughter of Swiss original pioneer settlers Jacob and Anna Barbara Staeheli36 Tobler. John and Barbara were careful to start their marriage on a solid footing as they were married in the newly constructed St. George Temple. As a place to live was high on their priority list they purchased a small home consisting of one adobe room and a porch for $225.00.37 During their marriage they were blessed to have 11 children all of whom were born in Santa Clara: John Henry (4 March 1883); George Jacob (17 January 1885); Ida Barbara (9 July 1866); Charles William (28 February 1888); Frank (10 June 1890); Clarence (16 July 1893); Jesse Le Roy (21 March 1895); Laura Sophia (26 June 1897); Raymond Albert (30 July 1899); Vilate (11 December 1902); and Lafayette (21 January 1905). Of these children John Henry died at 17 months of age, and Frank at age two days.38 The remaining children lived to maturity. John responded to a mission call to his home country in 1887. Due to poor health he was forced to return home after nine-months. A second call was issued in 1895 and he journeyed to Switzerland where he fulfilled his two-year mission.39 The town of Enterprise beckoned them, and in 1917 they sold their possessions in Santa Clara and moved to this small community north of Santa Clara. At this time their youngest child was 12-years old. After farming in Enterprise John experienced serious health problems which necessitated their moving to St. George where medical treatment was readily available. Arriving in September of 1920 they devoted most of their remaining days to working in the temple. Their final years were spent in Enterprise. Death came to Barbara on 19 September 1941 in Cedar City

34John Staheli, The Life of John and Barbara Staheli, LDS Church Archives. 35Ibid. 36She is a daughter of Joachim Staeheli, brother of Johann George, whose family uses this spelling. 37John Staheli, The Life of John and Barbara Staheli, LDS Church Archives. 38Family Group Record. 39John Staheli, The Life of John and Barbara Staheli, LDS Church Archives.

136 where she had gone for medical treatment. John’s death would follow on Christmas Day 1942. Both are buried in the Enterprise cemetery.40

BARBARA Although Barbara was not a Swiss pioneer of 1861, I have chosen to add her as she was the first female child born in the new Swiss settlement. She was born on Christmas Day 1861. She was the only one of George and Sophia’s children born in Santa Clara, Utah, and was the first Swiss baby born in this community. She had a very interesting childhood, and from her history41 she relates that when she was 10 days old42 a great flood came and washed the fort away. She is L to R: Barbara S. Graff, Wilhelmina S. wrong as her only knowledge of the flood would come Hildebrand, Elizabeth S. Walker, Mary S. Olsen from hear-say as she was too young to remember and the flood actually came when she was 25 days old on 19 January. After living in a tent for many years her father built a house. Unfortunately her mother died in July of 1862 and her father married the widow Blickenstorfer 6 months later. Although suffering from arthritis she proved to be an excellent mother to the Staheli children. Barbara relates that their dresses were made of canvas, and the boys had trousers which were made of the same material. Their shoes were made of leather, obtained from the tannery in St. George. As children they played, pomp-pomp-pull-away, steal sticks, and red line.43 The Staheli family struggled to have enough to eat. They had to make one loaf of bread last them for a week, had very little sugar, or spices and used molasses for cooking and sweetening and when they cooked pig-weed they did it without shortening.

40Ibid. 41Life Story of Barbara Staheli Graff Stucki, FHL 27:132-133. 42Ibid, p.132. 43Ibid, p.132.

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After reaching maturity she was nearly twenty-three when she was courted by Henry Graff, a son of Johan Henrich and Ana Magdalena Graff. They were married civilly on 15 May 1884 (pictured left on their wedding day). Together they became the parents of four children: George Albert (1884), John Henry (1886), Barbara Wilhelmina (1887), and Sophia Amanda (1890). Sadly after less than six years of marriage, her husband would die on 2 January 1891. Previous to his death they had been sealed to each other in the St. George temple on 14 August 1890. She was a widow for nine years, until she was courted by Edward Stucki, a son of Johannes and Katharina Rueggsegger Stucki. When the courtship turned to love, they were married on 13 December 1900 (pictured below). Unfortunately no children resulted from this marriage. They were happily married for 22 years, when the marriage ended with the death of Edward on 23 January 1923. Following his death, Barbara moved in with her daughter, Sophia Amanda, who lovingly and patiently cared for her until her death on 6 November 1943. She was indeed a true Santa Claran as she was born in Santa Clara and lived her all her days in this community.

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