The People

THE PEOPLE


I will write what I know and can find out about the people of Highland. Many people wrote their own stories and they are included in the book by Ruby Buhler, which I have used extensively. Melba Strasburg was responsible for collecting many of them. Other histories were written by Cora Adamson, David Durfey, O. C. Day, Jean Perkins, Boyd Stice and several others. I have used these histories and added many others from my own remembrances and research.

Numbers, e.g. (Number35), refer to the home shown on the 1958 aerial photograph of Highland that I donated to Highland City. NOI means there is no other information found about this person. (q.v.) indicates those people are mentioned elsewhere in the work.

Their stories will be in alphabetic order but the groups I write about will be in six categories:

1) First Homesteaders-included in the 1880 census: John Poole, Edward Winn, John Hegan, George Y Myers, Jacob Beck, Stephen Moyle, Edwin Sawyer, John Heber Preece, Peter Beck, John Whiting, Minnie Jenkins, Ann Preece, Harry Savill, John Hart, Thomas Gray, James Pullen (Pulley), William Householder, and Hyrum Healey.

2) Homesteaders who weren't on the 1880 census: George C. Munns, Peter Smith and Edward W. Winn.

3) Homesteaders who never lived on Highland: Arza Adams, George D Robinson, George Spratley, Hannah Briggs, Edward Harrison, George L Comer, Niels C Heiselt, George Cunningham, Richard Healey, William Chadwick, James Freestone, Richard Baker, James Davis, Lewis Davis, Alexander Adamson, James W. McDaniel and William T Brown-although his homestead was taken in his name by his step-father, John Whiting, who did live there.

This section is hard to explain because homestead patents were not supposed to be issued unless the person established residence on the homesteaded property. In Utah there was a great deal of leniency in the enforcement of that rule. All that may have been required, for instance, is that you stay on the property overnight once in six months or so. The non-resident homesteaders took advantage of that leniency by farming the land but not living on it. Based on the affidavits they had to file to receive their patents, they must all have been pretty good at bending the truth because most of people on this list signed affidavits that they had built a home on their property and were living in it for several years before the patent was issued.

4) First and Early Settlers as listed by Ruby Buhler in her history: Peter Adamson, Tom Adamson, David Adamson, Robert Booth, James Brown, Lewis Cherrington, Samuel A. Eastman, Hodge Gillett, Charles T Greenland, Hyrum Harmon, Brigham and William Whiting, John and Sarah Marvin, Abraham Martin, Charles W Nielsen, William Loveridge, Robert Jones, Sam Webb, Niels Peter Johnson, Mr. Van Noy, John and Mary van Steeter, Mr. Jex, Billie Walker, James C Orr, Mr. Manning, William Sharp, Louis Henry Strasburg, William Warren, Cyrus Jensen, Fred Peterson, Clarence Burgess, Tom Warren, William Shipley, Jeff Vance, Tobe Woods, Boise Wells, Mr. Powell (gate keeper), Hyrum Smith, Jack Smith and Emil Jerling. Her list did not include 9 of the people mentioned in the 1880 census so it is not an all-inclusive list-there could be many others. It does include some people who moved here within several years after the turn of the century. Others that I found who lived in Highland before 1900 are: Richey Harkness, James J Bolin, S. M. Groff, William Wilcox, Andrew Thompson and Martha Givens.

5) Other Early Settlers-before 1915: William Telford, William A Bringhurst, Joseph Bringhurst, Samuel Bringhurst, Archie Graham, George Zabriskie, Charlie Watson, Mary Ann Creswell Weston, Rufus Stice, William Hobbs, William Davis, Ollie DeLoach, Moses Gordon, Milton Groo, William Hattaway, Harry Manning, Sylvester Marsh, James Nielson, Charles Patterson, Anders Pherson, Mary Ann Scott, Ollie Wilcot, William Willimott, Lawson Wilson, Maria Wortley, Harold Hallet, Mather McGivens, Nathan Davis, Paul Fredrickson, Niels Pherson, William Weston, Harold Smith, Albert Marsh and Lemuel Francis.

6) Those who arrived at or after the organization of the Highland Ward in 1915: All those not named in categories 1 to 5. I found old Form E until 1940. This was the form the LDS Church used to track changes in leadership and membership. It didn't record records of people leaving the Ward-only incoming records. I assume that occasionally some records were received in error-that the people didn't really live here.

Alphabetical List of Highland Family Histories (with links) 

Source: HIGHLAND HISTORY: A compilation by Charles T Greenland II for the Highland Historical Society

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Highland Historical Society Home Page
Highland Historical Society Mission Statement
Highland History Chapters (compiled by: Charles T Greenland II):

  1. Highland History
  2. The 1st Highland LDS Ward
  3. History of Highland by Cora Beck Adamson
  4. Highland Residents Poem by Cora Beck Adamson
  5. Ecclesiastical History by Cora Beck Adamson
  6. Record and History of the Highland Sunday School by Ruby B. Day
  7. Highland Oldsters by O.C. Day 1959
  8. Highland Ward History by Beth Roundy Day Hyde 1954
  9. Early Recollections of Highland by Della Miller Hatch
  10. Beloved Highland by Jean Day Perkins 2005
  11. History of the Highland Church by Eva Buhler Turner 1991
  12. Water
  13. Mining
  14. The Highland School
  15. Electricity Comes to Highland
  16. Peas and Peaviners in Highland
  17. Famous Feature
  18. The People

Highland Family Histories
1958 Highland Aerial Map 
1958 Highland Homes and Families (table with addresses)
Homesteaders' Map
Highland Censuses (and LDS Ward Membership List)
Link to: David T. Durfey 1992 Master's Thesis - Aberrant Mormon Settlers: The Homesteaders of Highland, Utah