The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1903-07-12
UTAH SHOWS HER OLD FOLKS
A GATHERING THAT rs CALEB
A WORLD BEATER.
There Were sl3 Men and women who,s
Ages Were S3,AI4 Years-They Hays
As,sSO Descendants Recipe for Lon.
geNity--MOst or Them Mormon Pioneer,

%@'sSV OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES for Lon.
geNity--Most or Them Mormon Pioneer,
SALT LAKE Grey, July ia remarkable
gathering attended the reunion Of the old
folks Of the Mormon Church Just held at
American Fork In il we're s13 persona
whose cohbned ages aggregated 83Ala
years.
OF the old folks present forty-one ars
more than 90, 1853 are between 80 and 90
| and OH are between 10 and 50 These sI3
old folks esSe $3.50 descendants in Titan
and the atfMining States
DO not drink intoxicants, never go 10
excess in anything, live in Ike oren air
and lead gody life," that is tho recre
for longevity as it was prepared bv these
wonderful old people
There never was such "A gathering an
| this, declared John s. Smith Of Kaysyile.
the oldest person in the assemhlage. eft
lis without parallel in history. and there
is not a person here who is not good for
twenty years more"
Mr. Smith is 05. He is certainly the vounR-
est old man that ever went out on an old
peoples excursion.
He might easily pass for rs or even n.
He is tall and erect, and with the exception
of slight deafness in his left ear has pos
| session of all his faculties. He is one Of tho
most successful farmers of Davis county
He still manages his own farm Of about
four hundred acres Recently he waa
thrown out Of his buggy and seriously
injured. He did not make much of that,
however, and is now as sound as ever
1T was my own fault. said Mr. Smith in
kot 90 Dc
buggy without picking up the lines before
l got in The horse started off and the lines
slipped down around his feet. lie was a
young, spirited horse. and he ran away
and dumped me out"
Mr.. Smith started from Nsrvoo with tho
pioneers. He was taken i'll at Council
Bluffs and consequently did not reach
Utah until Oct 5, 1850, three years after the
pioneers settled in the Great Salt Lake
Valley.
That winter he lived in Salt Lake City, and
the following spring he moved to Draper
and took up small farm and orchard
He married Jane Wadley in England
In 1888, and they had eleven children--four
SONS and seven daughters. Two of the
sons and two of the daughters are dead
Mr.. Smith has given all his attention 10
his business OF farming, and has never
bothered his head with politics The ONLY
public Office he ever held was that of school
trustee, and that was In the early days
OF Kaysville, He went to Echo with the
Mormon army when Gen. Johnston in
vaded Utah.
The oldest woman was Mrs. Cordeia
Carter of East Bountiful. She was %
on Feb. II. She was born In Vermont.
Her husband had four wives. Mrs. Carter.
who was the first, never bore any children.
The Carriers came to Salt Lake in 1850
and went on at once to Bountiful. where
Mr.. Carter died fifteen years ago. He was
q farmer and planted the first orchard in
Bountiful.
Mrs Phoebe Atkinson, one of tho women
who wore the white badge indicative OF
having passed her ninetieth year, was
% last October. She is a resident of East
Bountiful. She came from New Br1lns-
wick to Salt Lake in 1853. Her husband,
Will am Atkinson, died on Aug. IL, 1878.
There are five generations OF the At
kinson family living in Bountiful. Mrs.
Atkinson has fifteen children, seventy
seven grandchildren, 252 great-grandchi-
dren and twenty-three great-great-grand-
children.
She was president OF the woman's relief
society in South Bountiful for fifteen years.
and teacher In the same society for if
teen years in East Bountiful. Mrs. Atkin-
son has been a Woodworking woman.
For fifteen summers she was forewoman
OF a dairy at Bountful.
Mrs. Samantha Wiley of East Bountiful
Ia %. Her husband, Jeremiah Wiley, who
died thirty-three years ago, was one Of the
old Mormon battalion. He went to Cali
fornia as a member OF the battalion and re-
turned to Fort Laramie as one of Gen
kearny's guards.
Here he was discharged from the army
| and went back to Iowa for his wife. They
came to Utah in 1851 and settled in Bounti
full: Mr.. w Hey took up small farm.
| which he enlarged from time to time. His
| five sons live on it now
! Mrs Susan Green aged SO, was another
notable figure at the gathering. She is
the widow of John Green. who died in 1856,
and resident of Layton. She has fifteen
children and 1913 grandchildren,
| The Greens emigrated to Salt Lake in
1873 the year after the coming of ne
| pioneers, and went right on TO kaysvlllc.
Mr. Green owned quite large farm, which
was divided among his fifteen children
Mrs. Ruth Talbot of Layton. aged 80.
is the widow of Henry Talbot, a farmer
| of that district. who died Two years age.
| The Talbots came to Utah in lsr0 from
| Africa. They We're both natives of England
| and Mrs. Talbot was but 2 years old when
| her parents emigraed to South Afrca.
! Mrs. Talbot has cghty-two grandchil-
dren.
Another very old man is Ben iamin James
Beers of Salt Lake. He lacks two months
| Of being 90 He was born in London
He sailed from Liverpool to Boston in 1864.
| on the sailing vessel Horizon.
He has had six wives, but only three
| children. He joined the Mormon Church
in England six months before Joseph Smith
was killed
When he came to Salt Lake the Bishop
Of the ward sent him TO Provo, WHIT"
driving wagon with team of oxen Their"
| he slipped and was RIM over by his waSutr
The surgeon did very poor job on ms
lacerated shoulder blaze and IN" old man
| has very perceptible cleft in that bone Too
! day; After be got well he went 10 WORK
| Tor EDWARD Martin, painter. ana corr
| tinued in his employ till Martin died
Mr.. Beers's wife died year after he can"
10 Utah. During the Johnston trouble hr
| was put on guard when the women NJ
| children were sent out of Salt LAX" CIV
| with the provisions
He says that they called the city the 500
ond Moscow, for Brigham Young had AZ
! ranged that all the houses in the city cou'd
| be set afire simultaneously il Johnston COM
| menced an attack The signal was "a l."
the firing of a small cannon behind y"