B. 12 June 1847 Marietta, Cobb County, Georgia
D. 31 July 1929 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah
Larkin Tolliver Waters, Jr. 1859
Mar. 30 November 1864 Mary Jakeman (1844-1893)
Mar. 29 August 1894 Betsy Alice Briggs
Allen was the oldest of six children. When he was about six years old his parents decided to venture to the California goldfields. When they got there, Allen was seven, George was five, and John was two years old. Three more children were born in California: Marietta, Martha, and Larkin Jr. An adopted sister, Elizabeth, is also mentioned in Larkin Tolliver Water's will.
Larkin died just before Allen's 14th birthday. The baby Larkin has just turned two. His mother was a long way from her family. They had been in California for about eight years. Going back to Georgia was not an option. Allen's father had been a hard worker and a very good provider. He had many assets that needed attention. It was a very difficult time for the family. His mother married Edmund S. Barnes on 18 September 1861. Their son Edmund was born in 1863. After a lengthy legal battle to settle Larkin's estate, the family left California.
In 1864, Allen was in Utah where he married Mary Jakeman on 30 November. Allen and Mary are found in the 1870 census of Minersville, Utah, with three children. His occupation is listed as farmer. Early LDS church records show that Allen was baptized in 1866 by Mary's uncle, Joseph Field.
[The following was written about Larkin Tolliver Waters, Jr., Allen Benson Waters' youngest brother. This would have been Alta Sterndahl's great-uncle. I am including it because I think it gives an idea of what life in Utah was like in those days.]
Larkin Tolliver Waters, Jr. was born on 10 May 1859, in El Dorado county, California, the sixth child of Larkin Tolliver Waters and Elizabeth Melinda Benson. His father died when he was less than a year old. Larkin is shown with his widowed mother and brothers and sisters in the 1860 census at Mud Creek, El Dorado County, California. His mother subsequently married to a Mr. Barnes.
The family moved to Utah about 1863 and settled in the Beaver County area. In about a year, his mother and Mr. Barnes moved to Nebraska for a short stay before returning to Utah and homesteading near Joseph, in Sevier County.
Larkin's whereabouts is not further accounted until the 1880 census, when he is shown at 21 years old, single, working as a laborer, and living with his brother, Allen Benson Waters and his family, north of Minersville in Beaver County.
About 26 December 1882, Larkin Jr. was married in Beaver, Utah, to Lucy Ann Roberts, who was born 24 November 1863, in Beaver, a daughter of Williams and Damaris Roberts, immigrants from England. Larkin and Lucy had seven children, six boys and one girl, all born in Beaver.
About the turn of the century, Larkin changed the spelling of his surname to Watters, adding an additional 'T'. This was to avoid a nephew by the same name from receiving and opening his mail and inadvertently cashing his checks.
Larkin Jr. was an experienced timber man. He cleared out dead timber from the mountains, cut new trees, and hauled the lumber to Beaver and throughout Utah and Nevada. The lumber was needed for building homes and barns, for fence posts, and to shore up mines. He took specifications and orders for the building of barns. The poles and framework were cut and numbered so they could be erected methodically.
He could fell a tree on a "handkerchief", according to the words of his grandson. Because of his skill he was asked to remove a tree that was growing between two houses and causing damage. He cut down the tree with ease and accuracy. In later years, when trucks were available for hauling lumber, he persisted in using a team and wagon for the job - this, at the age of 79.
He liked to work with wood; it held a peculiar fascination for him. He liked to whittle and carve. He made chains, animals, and many different things as he sat and spent the time of day with his friends. Children were delighted with the whistles he carved from green limbs for them to blow and play with.
While Larkin Jr. and his boys were out cutting timber, they took time to fish. Kents Lake, up Beaver Canyon, was a favorite spot. They caught bucketsful. Rabbit and deer hunting were also popular. He taught the skills of hunting and fishing to his sons, and they were also avid sportsmen throughout their lives.
Freighting was a profitable business in early Utah, and Milford was regarded as a freighting center after the advent of the railroad. Many young men earned enough money to help support their families. Sanpete and Sevier Valleys had an abundance of farm produce - grain, flour, cured meats, dried fruits, eggs, molasses, hay and lumber - all of which were needed in Nevada and distant mining towns. On return trips, freighters carried gold and silver bullion, whiskey, and, often, passengers.
Long before and after the railroad came to Milford in 1880, it was a focal point of all freighting by team and wagons. Some of the old roads are still traceable, and, in some places, are 100 yards wide. The freighters always stopped where there was water, if possible, but they always hauled water along with them in case night overtook them where there was no water. They tried to travel in groups so they would have help over bad roads and in case of robbery. Stories of his experiences were obtained from him when he was 81 years old and living in Beaver, and are excepted below.
On one occasion, Larkin carried several passengers and an unusual commodity over a road fraught with robbers.There was a barber who wished to take his barber chair from Pioche, Nevada, to Frisco, Utah. He offered Mr. Watters $75 to do this for him. Besides the chair, there were three men who traveled with him, and the trip netted him $400. It was rumored that on the road by way of Desert Springs, a trench had been dug, probably by robbers who planned to hold up the wagons. The barber was very nervous and begged Mr. Watters to take a different route, but Mr. Watters was determined to go by way of Desert Springs, so that was the road they took. Sure enough, the trench was there. How could they get across? They took the end gates from the wagon and made a bridge across the trench. They pushed the wagon over the bridge and made the horses jump the trench. Soon they were on their way. The men didn't get much sleep the rest of the trip; they were watching for desparados along the way.
Sitting in a wagon, driving a team of horses, in all kinds of weather, the heat of the desert and driving rain and snow were trying ordeals. Larkin told of the clothing needed at times and the value of human life. Sometimes the weather was extremely cold, roads muddy, and snow deep. In this kind of weather men had to be dressed warmly. They wore blue or red flannel drawers (long sleeves and long legs), heavy knit hose, ear muffs, heavy caps. They carried extra fur robes and heavy bedding. It was one of these very cold nights spent on the desert when Mr. Watters had this experience. The snow was drifting and it was extremely cold. He knew it was foolish to go further so he prepared to settle down for the night. He made his bed in the wagon. His feet were so cold that he had to take off his boots and wrap his feet up in old pieces of bedding and clothing to keep them warm. Even then he couldn't sleep, so he got up, built a fire, and made some hotcakes and had something warm to drink. While doing this he heard some shots. Looking up he saw a stranger carrying the body of a man. He saw him throw the body into a nearby gulch. Mr. Watters said it would have been quite unwise for anyone to be curious enough to investigate such an incident.
The great distanced traveled necessitated his staying at hotels and roadway inns some nights. There was usually plenty of excitement at these stopover places where all types of individuals found shelter, especially in mining areas. there were plenty of badmen all along the road. One evening a number of men were visiting in the hotel bar in a Nevada town. A stranger entered the room, throwing a knife at the bartender. Fortunately, the knife lodged in the edge of the bar. Someone shot out the lights; all was in darkness. The next morning very early, Mr. Watters crawled out on his hands and knees so as not to be seen. Outside he saw five men lying dead. There were too many dead men for him, so he hurried on his way.
Not all of the stopover rest places were exciting and so full of commotion. Those closer to his home in Utah were highly regarded. Scattered ranches along the way were welcome sights. Martha Armstrong - lovingly called Auntie by people of Milford - lived at here father's ranch, Smyth Springs, the stopping place of travelers. Here was good water, a good meal and bed. A lantern was always lighted and hung outside to guide the weary traveler. Later, John Williams built a hotel, with a bar and dance hall, where the miner and freighter found recreation and would swing their partners in a lively quadrille. Larkin liked to tell about an excellent Negro cook at the Milford roadhouse. The cook would go out hunting chicken hawks and prepare them so that they were the best chicken dinners Larkin had ever tasted.
For shorter and lighter hauls, Larkin used the buckboard wagon. The buckboard was a lighter wagon and could be drawn over the ground much faster than the ordinary one. Either one or two teams were used according to the size of the load. It was later used to haul supplies to and from the mines, mills and ranches. Seats could be swung across the wagon to accommodate passengers. Mr. Watters drove one of these wagons to the RobRoy mine north of Beaver from Milford or Frisco with supplies and passengers.
Mr. Watters told a vivid story about how a fellow freighter, a Scandinavian from Richfield, outfoxed a would-be robber. The freighter was about to return home from Pioche, Nevada, after having sold a very valuable cargo and a team, receiving his payment in gold. Fearing he might be robbed on his return trip, he ingeniously hid his gold by boring a hole in the holster of the wagon and hiding the gold there. This seemed almost a premonition, for he had not traveled very far when he saw a lone rider coming over the brow of the hill. The rider soon caught up with him and demanded the gold that he had seen him receive for his cargo and team. The teamster produced all he had in his purse, some thirty dollars, and truthfully said that was all he had on his person. The rider, unable to find more and sorely disappointed, ordered the Scandinavian to get off the wagon and dance. He danced until he was almost exhausted and told the bandit that he could dance no more. He might as well kill him outright than to torture him that way. He was then ordered to get back on the wagon, and as he did, he managed to get hold of an old sawed-off shotgun. Quickly he turned the gun on the robber and ordered him to dance. The robber then danced until he could no longer dance, and the freighter took his horse, tied it to his wagon, and drove away, leaving the bandit behind and too tired to follow. After catching up with another freighter, he turned the horse loose.
Larkin Jr. and his sons did only light farming. They were away from home much of the time, involved with lumber and freighting jobs. This left his wife Lucy alone for months at a time. The family had a charge account at the local co-op were Lucy could purchase anything she needed. Larkin Jr. had good credit and he always paid his bills and debts. Lucy sewed, cooked, and helped others to pass the time while Larkin and the boys were away. She was very particular in the preparation of meals and in everything she did. Sometimes toward evening, she would stand by the gate for hours, waiting and hoping to see Larkin coming down the road.
In 1909, Lucy and Larkin moved to St. George, Utah. They lived there for over a year and Larkin freighted from there to sustain the family.
About 1910, they moved to Richfield. He hauled timber and salt from the Redmond area near Richfield, With Larkin in the freighting business, he liked to be on the go. He was used to traveling and moving. The family lived various other places, but in 1920 they returned to Beaver to stay. They purchased a four-room log cabin at the northern end of Beaver, just out of the city limits.
Lucy was baptized a member of the LDS church on her eighth birthday. Larkin Jr, was baptized when he was 65 years old.
