Part 1 1805 - 1831 Youth

Part 2 1831 - 1847 Army

Part 3 1847 Courtship & Marriage

Part 4 1847 - 1852 Marriage, Baptism and the End of a Career

Part 5 1853 - 1855 Isle of Malta mission

Part 6 1855 - Going to Zion

Part 7 1855 - 1857 Hard times

Part 8 1857 - 1860 (?) Johnson's army and back to Rush Valley

Part 9 1866 - 1867 Patriarchal blessings, Mission call and departure

Part 10 1867 Journey to the British mission

Part 11 1867 - Mission

Part 12 1868 - Mission

Part 13 1868 - Return Home

Part 14 1868 - 1888 Bishop, Storekeeper, and Iindians - oh my

Part 15 As seen by others

Part 16 1880 -1888 The culmination of a lifetime

Part 17 1888 -1891 Patriarch and Death

Part 18 Miscellaneous

Much excitement and worry seethed through the small town as rumors flew fast about the Army being sent out from the States to drive the Saints from their homes again. George was building an adobe house. It was 12' X 20'. He was justly proud of this first home he was making in the desert. It was much needed by his family. They had been in comfortable circumstances when they received the gospel. But ready cash was hard to come by and his had been used on keeping a home for the missionaries while on the Island of Malta.

Nevertheless, when a Military Company was organized, this home was left standing while George took his place in the ranks of a battalion commanded by Major John Rowberry in Captain Thomas Lee's Company. George was made Captain of 50 and of the Company of Infantry in Rush Valley, Tooele County, Utah.

They trained and camped on Union Square and went to do their part in guarding in Echo Canyon under the command of Franklin D. Richards.

When the call came from President Brigham Young for them to come in, George returned to Tooele and finished the house, which they found a very comfortable place to live after living in a dug-out.

On February 26, 1858, another daughter came to this little family. She was named Pauline. She was a fine healthy child.

On April 7, 1858, they joined the long caravan of Saints on their move south. They stayed in the town of Lehi where they made a dug-out house for a temporary place to abide. Again George found work to sustain his family until the 7th of July, the call came for them to return to their homes. How full of thankfulness and rejoicing they were as they wound their way along Utah Lake up through the hills and over the deserty miles to Tooele.

George had not been able to obtain a team so he found it extremely difficult to get on in Tooele.

After serious consideration he determined to sell out there and purchase a yoke of cattle and a wagon and move back into Rush Valley where he was going to take up a 10 acre farm and a city lot. The business was transacted. George sold all of his property in Tooele except for the worthless sandy lot.

After making the move he was appointed a teacher in the new Branch of the Church. He also was appointed Clerk of the Branch.

In 1866, he was called to be first councilor to Enos Stooky of the Branch in Shambip.

[Editor's note - Shambip, also known as Clover was the first Rush Valley settlement. Apostle George A. Smith suggested that they move two miles further down the creek. "The majority of the people carried out the suggestion under the direction of Bishop John Rowberry by moving to the present site of St. John in the autumn of 1867. A new townsite was surveyed and James Staples and David Henry Leonard built the first houses (log cabins) on it. The place was named St. John, in honor of Bishop John Rowberry. " President Stooky was one of those who chose not to make the move and George was chosen to succeed him. See the Saint John Ward article in the Infobase Library Classics at http:www.ldsworld.com ]

His days were full tilling his land, building a home, lending a helping hand to those who needed it and working with all his might for his Church.

Family Newsletter
Burridgete - May, 2006 Word document or Web (html) page