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and ate our corn and everybody's crops in about three days..." John S. Stucki All indications were that the harvest of 1866 would be good to
the town. The record of the St. George State stated that as of
1866 Santa Clara had a total population of 247, of which 44 were
men. There were 234 acres under cultivation divided into:
Sarah moved back to Santa Clara from Clover Valley and kept
herself busy "taking in sewing, waited upon the sick, carding and
spinning, and weaving cloth for her own use and others." In April
of 1866 Sarah gave birth to her 6th child and 4th with Edward.
A map of Santa Clara by Nellie Gubler indicated that Bishop Bunker had two residences. The home where Emily and Mary lived was on the south side of Main Street, midway in the block west of the chapel. Sarah's home was a log cabin on the north side of Main Street, two blocks east of the chapel. The economy of the small town was fragile. The lack of sufficient water was still a problem, but added to that was the periodic struggle against sickness and insect infestation. John S. Stucki wrote in Family History of John S. Stucki: "One day my father sent me into the field to hoe out weeds. All at once the ground was shaded. I wondered if it was getting cloudy so I looked up and instead of clouds it was grasshoppers that darkened the sun. They were so thick and so many that in two days they ate the crops all up. There was nothing green left in the valley after the grasshoppers left." Once again, the crops were gone and Edward undoubtedly made plans to travel to the north for provisions to assist the small town. Sarah's health was not good and so requested that Edward let her go north with him. She had not seen her family in four years, since 1862, and yearned to see them. This would suggest that Sarah may have had some difficulty with the plural marriage relationship. Once in Ogden, Sarah prevailed upon Edward to let her remain there when he made his return trip to Santa Clara. He agreed, and Sarah stayed in Ogden for the next two years. Since Edward's arrival at Santa Clara, economic survival had been difficult. As early as 1862 President Brigham Young visited St. George and felt the need to instill a feeling of permanence in the settlers. To accomplish this, he initiated a building program of major community structures. In a letter in 1862 to Apostle Erastus Snow, who was the resident church leader in St. George, President Young stated: "As I have already informed you, I wish you and the brethren to build, as speedily as possible a good, substantial, commodious well-furnished meeting house, one large enough to comfortably seat at least 2,000 persons, and that will not only be useful, but also an ornament to your city, and credit to your energy and enterprise." "I hereby place at your disposal, expressly to aid in the building of aforesaid meeting house, the labor, molasses, vegetable and grain tithing of Cedar City and all other places south of that city. I hope you will begin the building at the earliest practicable date; and be able, with the aid thereby given, to speedily prosecute the work to completion." The years from 1862 to 1866 were years of scarcity. The people were not only asked to support themselves and build roads and common buildings, but to contribute teams, drivers, and outfits to assist in the transport of emigrants to Utah. In 1865 they were asked to contribute money, commodities, and labor to bring the telegraph to the Virgin River Basin. Because of all the other demands, the St. George Tabernacle project did not gain momentum until November of 1866. At the stake conference that month, President Erastus Snow called upon the workers and those living outside of St. George to be "energetic to the call" in support of building the Tabernacle. The saints responded. Not only were the saints asked to support the building of the Tabernacle, but in November of 1866 the decision was reached to build a Court House in St. George. In early 1867 the County Clerk sent out to the various precincts of the county a proposal to raise $10,000 to build the courthouse and jail cells for the use of the county. The struggles in Santa Clara continued into 1867, but Edward pushed his people to support the projects underway in St. George. Edward was now 45 years old. In May, Emily gave birth to
Edward's 14th child. Emily was almost 40 years of age and this was
her ninth child. The family was increasing in size and the town
continued to live on the fragile edge of poverty.
As the summer growing season came, the entire community prayed for an abundant crop. Once again John S. Stucki wrote of the success of their nest year's planting in Santa Clara: "The next year my father planted corn again. The grasshoppers came again and ate our corn and everybody's crops in about three days, so there was nothing green to be seen." Again Edward was called upon to find a way for the town to
support itself and survive. These years must have been very taxing
for Edward. As autumn came and the mild winter approached, the
threat of starvation was compounded by the ever-increasing size of
the family. In February, Mary gave birth to a baby girl. Even
though it was very difficult in the short run, the long-term blessing
of a large family and the faith that things would work out brought
hope to the community.
To strengthen the support structure of the community, the first organization of the Female Relief Society of Santa Clara Ward was effected. This took place on May 16th, 1868 and Emily Bunker was called to be President. Lydia Goldwaite Knight McClellan was selected 1st Counselor, Eliza Ann McNee Ensign selected 2nd Counselor, Miss Emily Bunker, Secretary, and Mary Ann Liston, Treasurer. In 1868, Edward again travelled to Ogden on what was an annual trek for supplies, to visit family and friends, and attend to business. At this time he brought Sarah back to Santa Clara. In the winter of 1868-69, Edward's 19-year-old daughter, Emily, became acquainted with Mohonri Steele of Toquerville. Their romance grew and they made plans to be married in March of 1869. This was the first of Edward's own children to be married. They made preparations for the long trip to Salt Lake for the wedding. It must have been an exciting time for the wedding party to climb into wagons and travel all the way to Salt Lake. The bride and groom were accompanied by chaperons on such a trip. Emily, the mother of the bride, was forty-two years old and two months pregnant with her tenth child, but may very well have travelled with the couple. p>The Mormon philosophy of marriage required faithful members to be married in a special ceremony only performed in a temple. They believed that temple marriage bonds would carry on beyond the grave into the afterlife. Since there was no temple yet constructed in the west, such marriages were performed only in Salt Lake City by someone having the proper authority in a special building called "The Endowment House". This was a two-story adobe building located on the temple block and completed in 1855. Sarah's seventh child and Edward's sixteenth was born in March.
In the autumn of 1869, Edward and Emily's third child, Abigail,
was married. Abigail had become acquainted with George Washington
Lee of Tooele, Utah, near Salt Lake City. How Abigail and George
met and romanced from such distant places we do not know. They
were married in Salt Lake City in the early part of October about a
week after Mother Emily gave birth to her tenth child. Because of her
confinement, it is doubtful she accompanied Abigail to her wedding.
Edward's household was in transition. His children were beginning to marry and establish their own homes, yet he was still fathering children of his own. With 1870 came the national census. It listed "Claratown" or Santa Clara with the following (it was hand written and difficult to decipher): | ||||||||||
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There were 233 people listed in "Claratown". The letter and number
in parenthesis following the name of each member of the Edward Bunker
family is to indicate their mother and which child of that mother. It
is interesting that the second and third wives, Sarah and Mary, are
not listed in the census. In the fall of 1870, Mary gave birth to her
third child.
On November 28th, 1870 Edward Jr., the oldest child of Edward and Emily, was married to Araminta Zarada McClellan in the Salt Lake Endowment House. He was 23 and she was 18 years old. The couple was accompanied to Salt Lake by Hannah, the groom's sister. They finally arrived back in Santa Clara, and no sooner were they settled than Edward, Jr. came down with measles and he nearly lost his life. As 1870 continued, the Court House in St. George was completed and stood as a monument to the efforts of the entire Virgin River Basin. Brigham Young arrived in early December of 1870. He had not been in good health and hoped the mild Dixie climate would aid in his recovery. He remained in St. George for nearly two months. In late January of 1871, he called together the Stake Presidency, High Council and local area Bishops in a meeting referred to as the "School of the Prophets" in St. George. After observing the people for two months he felt it was appropriate to ask "what they thought of building a Temple in St. George." The issue was put to a vote, and the assembly unanimously approved the matter. A local temple would mean the people wouldn't have to make the long trip to Salt Lake City for marriages and other temple blessings. It would also continue to add stability to the region. President Young left St. George in February. Not long after his
departure, Sarah gave birth to a baby boy.
In April the official announcement came of the construction of the Temple. Charles L. Walker, who was at the official reading of the letter, reported in his diary: "A thrill of joy seemed to pass over the assembly of Elders present...Brother Brigham and Geo. A. Smith will be down next October to commence the work and give directions concerning its erection. Br. Edward Bunker [and others] spoke on great blessings the Saints would receive in the Temple in administering for their dead and attending to other ordinances pertaining to the Gospel of Jesus Christ." During the summer of 1871, the Santa Clara Creek almost dried up. Edward and the Saints in Santa Clara claimed their full share of water "as an already acquired right", while those in St. George claimed their share based on the legislative assembly of 1862 when St. George was chartered. The water was not sufficient to provide for both communities' needs and a dispute arose. Two representatives were appointed to come before the county court and address the issue. Richard Bentley and John M. Macfarlane came representing St. George, and Edward Bunker and Samuel Knight came representing Santa Clara. They met on December 9th, 1871 before Judge William Snow who instructed them to "meet with a view of making an amicable compromise of the question before the court." The four met together and after some discussion resolved to form a water district along with other recommendations which the Judge accepted. From all indications the resolution was uniformly agreed upon, but in so doing Edward must have given up a portion of the town's claim to the precious water they needed. Surely he felt some internal frustration. In December of 1871 the last stone of the tower was laid on the Tabernacle in St. George. Still to be completed were the interior structure, doors, windows, etc. These years of Edward's life were filled with the struggle of raising his family and administering the affairs of Santa Clara. Children were born and married. It is appropriate to bring these years to a close with two more events that were typical. In the spring of 1872, Emily Bunker gave birth again.
Then on June 10th, Emily's daughter, Hannah Adelia, was married. Hannah relates in her autobiography: "I spent my girlhood days at Santa Clara, three miles from St. George, Utah, going to conference, shopping, etc., in St. George. This is where I met my husband. When nineteen years of age, I was married to Samuel Obed Crosby." "We made the trip from Santa Clara to Salt Lake (350 miles) by team; taking one week and was married in the Endowment House June 10th, 1872, by Daniel H. Wells. My husband's mother chaperoned us. My husband and his brother, Jesse, had been at Panguitch and put up a log house on my husband's lot. We went by way of Panguitch and left the things we later expected to use in our housekeeping." It must have been very difficult for Emily to see her daughter leave and not be able to accompany her to the place of the marriage. Panguitch was northeast of Santa Clara on the other side of a beautiful mountain range where Zions Canyon and Cedar Breaks were found. It was a time when Panguitch was opening up as a place for new settlement and Hannah was not the only Bunker who would end up there. |