• • • HISTORY OF BULA DICKSON March 15, 1815 - January 30, 1878 My Great-Grandfather, Billa Dickson was born on March 15, 1815 to John Dickson and Mary Henderson in Elizabeth, Ontario, Canada. He was the third born of eight children. In the year 1836, or 1837 Billa' s father John opened the door to two Mormon missionaries, Elders John E. Page and James Blakeley. The Dicksons accepted their message and joined the church. Billa married Mary Ann Stoddard, who had previously joined the church also, on May 10, 183 7 in Brockville, Leeds, Grenville, Ontario, Canada. Billa' s father, John made a trip to Kirtland in the fall of 1837 and received a patriarchal blessing from Joseph Smith, Sr. in the Kirtland Temple. John then returned to Canada. Following this the extended family moved to Far West Missouri and built homes along with the other saints. They were there when the Prophet Joseph was taken prisoner at the time Col. Geo. M . Hinckle surrendered the Mormons at Far West to the mob and betrayed his honored trust causing a number of the brethren and the Prophet to be taken prisoners. The local Missouri residents formed mobs and drove the Mormons from their homes. The family spent that winter night out of doors, and were kept from their homes for several weeks. The Prophet Joseph Smith slipped into town under cover of darkness and organized the saints. Food was scarce among the saints. The Documentary History of the church records that the Prophet Joseph Smith approached Billa' s mother, Mary Henderson's wagon and asked if she had any bread. She shared a loaf with him, and he promised her that from that time on none of her posterity would want for bread. This prophecy would be fulfilled in the winter of 1858 when food was so very scarce for the saints , there was still food on the Dickson Table. After the terrorism at Far West the Dicksons moved to Hancock County, Illinois. While they were there Billa used his skills at black smithing, owned property there and I'm sure helped with the building of the wagons for the Westward Trek. One of our times in Nauvoo, we went to the Lands and Records Office and looked up where Billa had property in Nauvoo, where he had built a bridge. Made it all seem very real. To obtain means to travel to Zion the family moved to Wisconsin to work in the lead mines. They remained there a couple of years. They succeeded in obtaining an outfit and a small flock of sheep which they brought to Utah. From Wisconsin the family moved to Monroe County, Iowa, where they lived two years. It was here that my Grandfather, William Henderson Dickson was born. In 1850 they moved to Pig Pigeon, Iowa. Here they raised seventeen acres of com which helped other members of the Church who traveled Westward. The fall of 1851 found them in Kanesville, Iowa, where they bought a farm. Later the selling of this farm enabled them to make their move to Zion. It was here his mother, Mary Henderson died and was buried . Finally in 1852, the family was ready to make its move West. Billa and Mary Ann sold the farm 8/ • • and bought a yoke of oxen and two yokes of cows. They were part of John Dickson, his father's extended family that made the journey. In 1853 they went to the Missouri River where Ezra T. Benson organized the saints which gathered there and became what was known as the 14th Company to leave for Salt Lake. They crossed the Missouri on a large flat boat, two wagons to a trip. The Company consisted of 50 wagons and 5 tens and each ten had a captain and their captain was David M. Conley. They went over to the Elkhorn River, Neb. The next camp was on the Platte River, Neb.,where the cholera broke out and two of their number succumbed to the dread disease, which did not leave the company until they reached Loup Fork, which was on up the river from their first camp on the Platte, and ten more of the company died of cholera. At this point someone threw out a buffalo robe and stampeded about 40 wagon and one woman was thrown out and killed. They traveled along up to the Grand Island, where they saw and killed their first buffalo. The meat caused unexpected joy to the entire company. They continued on their journey, passed Independence Rock and Devil's Gate. Went up to the three crossings of Sweetwater. The next point on route was Big Sandy. Traveled down this until they came to Green River, crossed the river and went over on to Black's Fork. Traveled up this a few days and came to Fort Bridger, from there over the Pioneer ridges. Finally coming to where Henefer now stands. Went up East Canyon and then up a hollow to the right nearly to the top of Big Mountain. From there they crossed over Little Mountain and down Emigration Canyon into Salt Lake Valley. Arriving there the first part of October 1851. After visiting relatives in Centerville, the family moved to American Fork where they built two houses and a blacksmith shop from which they received their living that winter. In the fall of 1854 they moved to Davis County. Billa and Alva Nickles and John Myers built the first thrashing machine in Layton and spent most of the winter of 1854-55 thrashing grain, oftentimes shoveling the snow from the stack. Billa made the cogs for the machine. During this time Billa, along with the William Lindseys, Shipleys, Crofts, and Marion Mark Witesides and their families lived on the little Fort Lane in Layton. The road led from the main road to the fort, the little fort was built in the shape of a square, the houses forming the outer walls with a court in the center. The fort was built of rocks and dried mud. In 1856 the family moved to Centerville where they raised a good crop on some land they rented from Henry Dalton. This was a hard year for the people of Utah. They nearly starved before harvest came. In 1859 Billa bought a small farm on the mountain road in Layton. In 1862 Billa moved to Richville, Morgan, Utah, where he spent the remaining years of his life. Five of their children were born while they were following the saints through Canada, Illinois, • Wisconsin, and Iowa. Their sixth child was born in American Fork. • • • Billa died on January 30, 1878, is buried in the Porterville Cemetery. His wife Mary Ann lived a widow until August 11 , 1902 when she died. She is buried beside him. Compiled by Jolene R. Price BILLA DICKSON--THE INDIAN PEACEMAKER When my ancestors crossed the plains, they spent the winter at Council Bluffs, Iowa, along with the other pioneers. It was there that John Dickson's mother died and was buried. John Dickson and his son Billa and my father, Albert Douglas Dickson, arrived in Utah in 1852. They made their home on the mountain road in Layton by the Adams, who were with them crossing the plains. After they had been there a short time, the Indians were giving them a little trouble. The white boys and the Indian boys got in a kind of a "sham battle" throwing mud-dobs at teach other. And it later ended up in a fist fight with some of the Indian boys going home with bloody noses. This greatly upset the Indians, and it was rumored around that they were getting on the warpath, and we' d have to look out. It so happened that Grandfather Dickson (Billa) was chosen to go down to make peace with the Indians. He took with the his little son, William Dickson who was then about four years old . The peace talks went on into the night, and Uncle Will laid down in the Indian's tepee and went to sleep. When Grandfather got ready to go home, he went over to pick him up to bring him home with him, the old Chief said, " leave papoose here. He' ll be all right until morning. Come back in the morning and get him. Needless to day, Grandfather tried to persuade the old Chief to let him take the boy home, but the more he talked the more determined the Chief was that he should leave the boy all night. When Grandfather got home, Grandmother was really upset and I'm sure there wasn' t much sleep in the Dickson home that night. As soon as daylight came, Grandmother Dickson got Grandfather up and told him to go down and bring that boy back. Grandfather arrived at the tepee (located where Ft. Lane is now) before any of the Indians were up. Then he waited and waited until finally the smoke started curling up out of the tepee, and the old chief came out. When he was questioned about the boy, he said, "Papoose is still asleep. You'll have to wait until he wakes up". So Grandfather waited again until finally Uncle Will woke up and was taken home. It was surely a grateful time. The important thing about this story is the fact that the old chief said, "Now we know we can trust you because you leave your papoose in our camp all night". To me, this was a great lesson in honoring people because Grandfather had the courage to leave the boy. It would be a great test to me to leave one of my children in the tepee of an Indian that didn' t feel very kindly toward the white people in general. It was about 1862 that Billa Dickson and my father, Albert Douglas Dickson, came to Morgan County from Layton and purchased the wilJow-covered land in Richville and built a house, then began clearing the acreage so that farming could be done. This is the same farm that I farm now and live on. It's a beautiful place to live Forde Dickson