Erastus Snow Carpenter, Emma Millard and Julia Ann Van Orden

Erastus Snow Carpenter, 1845-1918
husband of Emma Millard
husband of Julia Ann Van Orden 1857-1920
father of Frank Carpenter, 1886-1972
grandfather of Ora Carpenter Omerza, 1912-1886
great grandfather of Emerick Jay Omerza

Old Erastus Snow Carpenter Home in Thatcher. Left to Right: Raymond K, Carpenter,  Leland and Lenore, children of Will Carpenter;  Margaret Carpenter Talley, Dorothy, daughter of Ross Carpenter, and Harley Carpenter.

Erastus Snow Carpenter

--Submitted by Bertha Burkett and Mrs. Howard Williams,

to Mt. Graham Profiles Vol 1: Graham County, Arizona, 1870-1977.

published by Graham County Historical Society, 1977. p. 66-67.

I, Erastus Snow Carpenter, was born 31 March 1845, in Centerville, Newcastle County, State of Delaware, U.S.A. My father, John Steel Carpenter was born 6 August 1822, in Pennsylvania and died in Centerville, Newcastle, Delaware, at the age of 30. My mother, Margaret McCullough, was born 15 December 1822, in Centerville, Newcastle County, Delaware. After my father's death we went to live with my mother's parents, John and Eliza Stilly McCullough, in Centerville, Newcastle, Delaware. Since my father and mother were members of the L.D.S. Church, my mother wanted to go to Utah where she could live with other saints. With the help of an uncle, Joseph Crossgrove, we (my mother, myself, my sister, Elizabeth, and brothers, John Stilly and James Deloplane) made the long trip to Utah in the year 1857.

I worked at different occupations such as freighting, farming and herding cattle. I did considerable work on the Salt Lake Temple as a teamster for the ward in which I lived. During the fall of 1877, I labored for sometime on the foundations grounds at the site of the Manti Temple.

While going back and forth on my freighting trips I made the acquaintance of Emma Millard of Nephi, Juab County, Utah. We were married 6 November 1871 in the old Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah. Later, I met and married my second wife, Julia Ann Van Orden, 16 March 1877, in the St. George, Utah Temple.

My wife, Emma, and I had eight children, all born in Glendale, Kane County, Utah. They are: Erastus, Millard, William, Charles, Robert and Boyd (twins), George and Samuel. The twins and Samuel died in infancy and were buried in Glendale. The others came to the Gila Valley with us in 1883.

My wife, Julia Ann, and I had ten children. They are: Edmond, Julia and Joseph, born in Utah and John, Frank, Lester, Emma Lillian, Margaret, James Harley, and Raymond Knight, all born in Thatcher, Graham County, Arizona.

Thinking to better my condition financially, I with Brothers Samuel Claridge and Hyrum Brinkerhoff, concluded to try the sunny South, so we moved to the Gila Valley, then almost a wilderness. I sold my interest in our farm (my brother's and mine) and with the means I received I fitted up two pretty good teams and wagons with a good supply of provisions and supplies. We had three good cows and a little money. On 17 October, 1883 we said goodbye to relatives and friends and started out.

We landed in Pima, a newly made Mormon settlement, on 29 November 1883. We camped by the side of my brother, James' house, he having come to the valley a year to two previous to this time. We bought and located in Thatcher, paying $1350.00 for our farms.

We (Brothers Claridge and Brinkerhoff and myself) landed on our new purchase on day before Christmas, 1883. On our farms was considerable grain, several stands of been and a number of hogs, besides some old nearly worn out farm tools. We proceeded to make ourselves comfortable with our wagons and tents and a small log cabin that was on the place. We killed a hog that evening and had a genuine Christmas dinner next day.

I was ordained a High Priest, 4 November 1884, by Joseph H. Martineau, and set apart as first counselor to Bishop Samuel Claridge, which place I occupied until the spring of 1891.

There were four families in Thatcher, we three making seven. Now, in 1909, after twenty-six years, there are in Thatcher 115 families, besides five good sized mercantile establishments, one millinery shop, one barber shop, two confectionaries, a bank in the course of construction, two blacksmith shops and a good sized hotel. Besides these there is a $26,000 church house built in 1902-04 and we also have an up-to-date Academy, costing $40,000, and some very nice dwelling houses."

Erastus Snow Carpenter died 16 January 1918, and was buried in the Thatcher Cemetery.

Carpenter's first wife, Emma, passed away 9 September 1896. The five living sons were then joined with the nine living children of his second wife, Julia Ann. Caring for fourteen children is not an easy task at any time but in Julia Ann's time it was particularly difficult.

The water for the household use had to be drawn by hand from a well in the back yard. The water for the laundry was then heated in a tub over an outside fire. The clothes were then scrubbed by hand on a washboard. the white clothes were then boiled to keep them snowy white. The well water was hard and was sometimes softened by the addition of ashes from the fireplace or cook stove. Later, Julia Ann obtained a washing machine that was set on top of the cook stove and turned by hand. Now she could "take in washings" to help with the family finances. Julia Ann's "refrigerator" consisted on a tin bucket tied to the end of a rope and let down in the well. This kept the butter from melting. the milk was set to cool in large flat pans in the cellar. The cream was skimmed off and made into butter with a hand churn. the cellar was also the storage place for the apples from Erastus' large orchard and for vegetables from his garden.

Even with all this hard work, Julia Ann found time to do much work in the L.D.S. Church, serving in the Primary and Relief Society Organizations. Julia Ann died 24 April 1920 and was buried in the Thatcher Cemetery.

Erastus had only about six months of formal schooling but he loved to collect and read school books. Probably because of this he was assigned to teach the first school in Thatcher. It was held in his chicken coop. The building had been built for chickens but was not used for them until later. Erastus occasionally played the violin for community dances. Some other church assignments besides bishop's counselor were ward teacher, Sunday School teacher, and a member of the St. Joseph Stake high council under president Christopher Layton.