![]() Payson, Utah County, UtahPAYSON was founded in the fall of 1850. A few other settlements already existed in Utah Valley. Fort Utah had been built in 1849 in the area where the Provo River empties into Utah Lake. It was built along the banks of the river, on low ground, and flooding occurred periodically. The next year a second fort was built farther east, where the ground was higher. (This was at about 500 West and 500 North, in the vicinity of present-day North Park in Provo.)
Then in 1850 pioneers were sent to establish several more settlements
in Utah Valley -- every place where a stream flowed down from the Wasatch
Mountains towards Utah Lake. Through the summer and fall of 1850 the
following locations were settled: Alpine, Lehi (Dry Creek), American Fork,
Pleasant Grove (Battle Creek), and Springville (Hobble Creek).
A couple of months later, in December 1850, a meeting was held in James Pace's cabin and a branch of the church was organized (the Pacen Branch), with James Pace as president. Later the spelling was changed to "Payson". By the time the settlement was a year old, about 400 people were living there. More settlers came to the area during the next few years, including five men from the 143 who had accompanied Brigham Young and the First Pioneer Company into Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847. BENJAMIN FRANKLIN STEWART, 7th Ten (1817-1885) Moved to Payson in 1852 Later settled in Benjamin (which was named after him), about 3 miles north of Payson JOSEPH HANCOCK, 12th Ten (1800-1893) Lived intermittently in Payson after about 1852 Also lived in California and in the midwest for several years LYMAN CURTIS, 13th Ten (1812-1897) Settled at Pond Town (3 miles east of Payson) in about 1855 The name of Pond Town was later changed to "Salem" in honor of Curtis' birthplace PHILO JOHNSON, 9th Ten (1814-1896) Moved to Payson in 1857 (his wife says 1858) Previously had lived in Salt Lake, until "the Move South" THOMAS P. CLOWARD, 9th Ten (1823-1909) Moved to Payson in 1859 Had previously lived in Provo
PHILO JOHNSON EXPERIENCE ("SPEEDY") BROWN ELLSWORTH JOHNSON EMILY JOHNSON WIGHTMAN CHARLES BILLINGS WIGHTMAN JOSEPH WIGHTMAN MARY ANN DIXON WIGHTMAN ELIZABETH HUMPHREY DIXON MARY ANN OLIVE WARTHEN SHULER JAMES FAYETTE SHULER DAVID LANT ELSIE TANNER LANT
JOSEPH WARTHEN LUTITIA SHEARER WARTHEN JAMES MILLER MARGARET ANN ANDERSON MILLER MARGARET ANN MILLER DAVIS JOHN TUCKER DAVIS LETITIA ANN GEORGE DAVIS ALMA CHARLES DAVIS
JOHN TANNER JOHN JOSHUA TANNER REBECCA SMITH TANNER WILLIAM ANDERSON ELIZABETH GOURLEY ANDERSON
AMY SHOLES WIGHTMAN -- died in Kirtland, Ohio; buried near the temple CHARLES DIXON - died at Rock Island, Illinois; buried across the river in Davenport, Iowa JOEL SHEARER - died in Council Bluffs, Iowa PHOEBE BLACKWELL SHEARER - died in Pike County, Illinois CHARLES STEWART MILLER - died of cholera near St. Louis, Missouri MARY McGOWAN MILLER -- died of cholera near St. Louis, Missouri ![]()
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