John William Heder left Sweden at the age of five with his parents and older brother and sister in 1863 for America. They arrived in New York City on June 20, 1863 after a two-and-a-half month journey. It took them another four and one-half monthss to travel from New York to Salt Lake City, Utah. THe family lived in a small, one-room adobe house in the area now known as Millcreek. In the fall of 1865, the Heders moved to Huntsville, about 20 miles northeast of Ogden, Utah. John married Anna Jorgena Christina Madsen in Salt Lkae City on May 22, 1879. He moved his family and his sawmill business to Colonia Chuichupa, Mexico in 1895. In 1912, John moved to the Arizona in the United States because of the Mexican Revolution. John William Heder died November 6, 1940, and was buried November 10th; his wife, Anna, died June 9, 1955 and was buried in Mesa, Arizona.

Anna Christina Heder was born in Huntsville, Weber County, Utah, on October 19, 1885. While in Huntsville, she had Thomas E. McKay and David O. McKay, later President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, as school teachers. In 1896 Anna's family move to a little town in the mountains of northern Mexico—Colonia Chuichupa. She met George Sevey, whom she married at the age of fifteen, in Colonia Chuichupa. Anna passed away on February 16, 1954.