During 1910 and 1911 I contracted on the Northwestern Railway of Mexico. I moved with my family for a short while to Colonia Dublan. Then in July of 1912, the people of Juarez Stake were counseled to leave Mexico by President Junius Romney and his counselors. Accordingly nearly all the women, children, and the aged men left by train for the port of El Paso, Texas. I was selected by the Stake presidency as one of a committee to look after the Saints. We were all placed in boxcars like cattle—some with a little bedding, some with a trunk full of belongings and some with scarcely anything at all. All the Saints were taken to the lumberyard in El Paso and there were fed by the U.S. government for about three weeks, all camping there together.

When the men were run out of Mexico by the Mexican bandits a few days after we left with the women and children, we decided that it may be some months or even years before we could return in safety, so the Saints began to disperse into various parts of the United States. It was on or about the first of September, that I moved my family to Tucson, Arizona and signed up for a piece of land (40 acres) with the Tucson Farms Co. I went to clearing the mesquite, timber and brush from the land and to carpentering for the company. While we were there, Minerva, was born on May 7, 1913.

In the early spring of 1914, we moved to the Salt River Valley near Mesa, Arizona. My brothers, George Thomas and William, and my wife’s father and myself, purchased about 160 acres of land, giving a mortgage on everything he had accumulated for money to make the first payment. That year of 1914 was a bad year. Hay went down to $7 a ton. We worked very hard but lost money and 40 acres of our land. In 1915-1916 I went to the mines at Superior, Arizona and worked at my trade of carpentry while my brother George Thomas ran the ranch. Brother Heder and William withdrew their interests and in 1916, Tom and I bought 22 head of dairy cows and went into the dairy business. Shortly after this the price of butter fat went down very low and we decided that we could not pay out our farm and cows through dairying, so we bought some brood sows and we raised a lot of pigs. Then the price of hogs dropped from 13 cents to 7 cents per pound. We sold our hogs and divided the land between Tom and me. In the meantime, we had purchased more cows so at the time of division we each had a nice herd. Tom sold his cows and ranch and moved his family back to Colonia Chuichupa, Mexico, where he went into the sawmill business.

From 1917 to 1921, the farming grew from bad to worse until in 1922, I went to Los Angeles to work at my trade as carpenter. Being very heavily involved in the ranch, I sold the balance of my interests there and in May 1923 I moved my family to Los Angeles. While we were in Gilbert, Arizona (near Mesa), we were blessed with four more children: Charles Junius, born August 11, 1915; Minnie Eileen, born August 2, 1917; Margaret, born September 19, 1919; and Phyllis, born September 2, 1921.

I did several things in the next few years trying to support my family. In June 1925, our youngest child, Ruth, was born. A year later I moved my family to Bowie, Arizona, where they remained for a year, at which time I moved them to Salt Lake City, Utah, arriving there about September 3, 1927. We lived for nearly a year at 703 First Avenue, later moving further east on First Avenue, and then still later we moved to the Sugarhouse area.

During the depression years, I had a struggle to take care of my family. It was almost impossible for older men to find work. Hard, even, for young men. Anna and I had a very bad time with asthma when we lived in California, but in order to make a living of any kind, I had to return to Los Angeles. Anna couldn’t live there so we were separated except for occasional visits. Finally, in the spring of 1936, Anna under strict supervision of a doctor, was able to go back to Los Angeles."

In 1941, George was sent in company with several other men, to Morenci, Arizona, to work on the building of a smelter. Then the 2nd World War started and he was kept there. He did quite well during those years. The company sent him down to Cananea, Mexico to work on one of their installations there. They had some happy visits from most of their children and grandchildren while living in Morenci.

After the War he was able to buy a nice little home in Mesa, Arizona, two miles east of the Temple. Their children were all married by this time, and there just remained the two of them. George worked hard to make this a lovely, comfortable home for Anna, with garden, orchard, grapes, chickens, etc. They worked together, taking great pride in their lovely place. George built more rooms, modernized the kitchen, and made it as nice for Anna as he could. After a fall from the roof of a building on which he was working, he was no longer able to make a living at carpentry. He became an insurance salesman and did very well at it.

He worked unceasingly in the ward and in the Temple. Their old friends (and many new ones), visits from their children and grandchildren and other relatives, and their work in the Church made these years full and happy. In October 1950, all their children and their families came to celebrate their Golden Wedding Anniversary and were filled with love and pride for this dear couple.