Morgan Pioneer History Binds Us Together ashes, and that was the lye used. It was put into a barrel with bones and scraps of grease to make the soap. Cooking utensils and dishes were scarce. The dishes from which we ate our bread and milk were wooden bowels. We ate with wooden spoons and were glad to have them. From this you can see that everything was crude in those early pioneer days, and this made life dreadfully hard for a mother with a large family. At one time we were without bread for three months, and we lived on segos and other roots and greens, and if any of us children wished we had bread, Mother would say, 'Be thankful for segos for many children do not even have them. Be patient and we will have bread after a while,' and we did get it. Father got some wheat somewhere. Part of it was boiled and ate whole, and part of it we ground in a coffee-mill. This was sifted through a sieve to take out the coarsest part. Mother made bread of the flour thus obtained, and if she ever fretted or worried over our condition, she never let us children know it. She was always a kind, good-natured mother, even up to the time of her death. Not only did the sewing have to be done by hand, but stockings had to be knit to cover all those feet. She would even take the old worn out felt hats, and the tops of old worn out boots, and make shoes for the little tots. The girls were taught to work and to do their part in the home...things went on the same way until 1857 when father got a small flock of sheep. Then Mother's work increased as she had to wash and card the wool into rolls and spin it into yam to be woven into cloth to make our clothes. Some of the yam was used for knitting the stockings. The girls were taught to card, spin and do some weaving." When trouble came in the form of the Utah War the family left their home and moved south to Santequin. Ann was expecting a baby at any time. She walked most of the way and would pick up the new- bom lambs and carry them in her apron. On June 24th, her son Joseph Smith Peterson, was born in a cane wikiup. Once the soldiers arrived in the Salt Lake Valley and a peace settlement was made the family returned to Peterson, Ann carrying her tiny newborn son. Conditions in the valley remained much the same until the railroad came in 1869. Charles and some of his grown sons contracted with the railroad to furnish ties for the tracks; Ann took in some of the workers as boarders; and goods became cheaper and more available. During the early years Charles was established as a leader in the community. In 1860 he was set apart as presiding elder over the settlements in the north- em part of the valley, and in 1861 he was set apart as bishop. He was postmaster and selected probate judge by the Territorial Legislature. On February 17,1862, Morgan County was organized and Weber City became the county seat. He was the peoples' representative to the Territorial Legislature from 1864 to 1866, and in 1868 was elected to the office of selectman. After serving as bishop for eighteen years, he was honorable released in the summer of 1878. Ann, too, served in positions of leadership. She was called to serve as the Relief Society president of the Weber City Ward (later changed to the Peterson Ward). She served in that calling for more than ten years and was dearly loved. In 1870, Charles married Margaret Crispin who bore him two children, and then in 1872 he married Mary Thompson, who later bore him ten children. Farming in Peterson was difficult, and in the fall of 1878, Charles moved to the northern part of Box Elder County hoping to get his sons settled on farms there, but they returned to Peterson in 1880. In 1882, he with his wives and unmarried children moved to Mesa, Arizona, then in 1884 he, with Apostle Young, A.F. McDonald, and others, negotiated with the Mexican government for land for a Mormon settlement. He spent the next four years serving in the Indian mission near Mesa and living in Mexico. Charles passed from this life on September 26,1889. As quoted from his history, "When he felt that his time had come, he called those of his children around him that were living in the vicinity, blessed them and bore his testimony to them. He sent his love and blessings to those who were not present, and admonished all of his family to be faithful in the gospel, and to use the talents with which the Lord had blessed them for the good of their fellowmen and for the building up of the church and kingdom." When Charles had moved to Mexico with one wife and family, Ann stayed on their homestead near Mesa. He returned to the homestead prior to his death. Not long after Charles' death, Ann's home burned to the ground and all her belongings went up in smoke. She sold off part of the land to provide shelter for herself and her youngest daughters who were still living at home. A widow now, she continued to work hard. Hard earned money was saved to pay for trips to Utah where she did temple work for both Charles' and her ancestors. Much of her time was taken up in nursing the sick, a task to which she had dedicated a lifetime. On January 28th, she passed to her reward. In the words of her daughter, "We feel that when she meets her maker, she can truthfully say, T have fought the good fight, I have finished the work Thou didst give me to do,' and that she will receive the glad word, 'Well and faithfully done.'"