Welcome to Las Colonias
Welcome to Las Colonias magazine. Las Colonias believes that the same pioneer spirit that first settled the Mormon Colonies still lives in the descendants of the original colonists. Sadly, with each passing generation. the biographies, then stories, and the principles that they teach become lost to time.
I had planned on publishing Las Colonias quarterly, but due to the warm reception and the belief that these incredible stories of the Mormon Colonists need to be shared, it will be published monthly.
This month's edition includes the histories of Daniel Skousen and Laura Ann Hardy Mecham. I asked my old friend Rick Skousen how he is related to Daniel Skousen. It turns out that he is more closely related to Laura Ann Hardy Mecham than he is Daniel Skousen.
Last summer my wife and I were looking for the headstone of George Wilson McConkie in the old Colonia Juarez cemetery above town. We promised my friend, Matt McConkie, we'd send him a picture of the headstone once we found it (after further research, I think he was actually buried in the Pacheco cemetery).
As we were looking, it started to rain, so we started running back and forth through the rock-covered graves, searching for the headstone. It reminded me of the cemetery scene from the spaghetti western The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.
During our frantic search I came across Lucian Mecham's headstone. It said that he'd been born in Milton, Utah which is just down the road from where we live in Mountain Green and is still inhabited by a several Mecham clans.
While Lucian's history wasn't included in Stalwarts, his wife Laura's was included; I'm glad because she was an amazing women.
Located at the end of Daniel Skousen stories you will find a tie between Daniel Skousen and Laura Ann Mecham.
Most of the histories are taken from Stalwarts South of the Border compiled by Nelle Spilsbury Hatch and Carmon Hardy. As far as possible, in order to preserve the author's voice, all spelling and syntax have been kept as the original text. Most numbers have been changed to numerals rather than the original text.
Las Colonias tells the amazing stories of the Mormon colonists, and introduces generations new and old to the incredible history and landscapes that act as a backdrop on which the colonists lived their lives.
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Daniel Skousen
1865 - 1940
Daniel Skousen was the sixth child and fourth son of James Niels Skousen and Sidsel Marie Pedersen. James Niels Skousen was born September 30, 1828, in Herslev, Vejle, Denmark. Sidsel Marie Pedersen was born August 23, 1826, in Leasby, Aarhus, Denmark.
They heard the message of the Elders after they were married, believed and were baptized. He was one of the King’s Guards in Denmark. Soon after they joined the Church they began saving to move to America. They had four children born in Denmark before they accumulate enough funds to make the journey. The oldest child, a girl, Petria, and the third child, Parley Pratt, died in Denmark.
On April 17, 1865, Daniel was born in Draper, Utah. He had eight brothers and sisters and had to help his parents make a living in a new and strange land. He went to school but a few months each year and all the formal schooling he gained was during those few months in Draper. The work Daniel did was to herd cows and as with most boys, he found time to swim, play and lie in the sun. But he learned early in life, as did the other members of his family, to obey. Sometimes he learned the hard way. His parents were very strict. His mother was especially strong willed, a characteristic passed on to Daniel. But also he inherited, among other things, wisdom and a desire to work.
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Daniel Skousen |
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Daniel Skousen stories
There is a funny story about Daniel Skousen. During the Revolution there was a Carranzista general who was exhorting money from the townspeople of Colonia Juarez.
Several mornings in a row he would park his team of horses at Daniel Skousen’s grist mill. He would commandeer Daniel and his car in order to threaten President Bentley and other Colony leaders with death and laying waste to the colony if they didn’t pay him money.
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Daniel Skousen stories
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Heaton Lunt of Colonia Pacheco
book review
Marian L Lunt’s book, Heaton Lunt of Colonia Pacheco, was a lot of fun to read. The biography was written from audiotapes recorded by her father-in-law, Heaton Lunt.
I don’t think that Louis L’Amour or Zane Grey could have written better stories than the life Heaton lived. It's like a Hollywood screenwriter had John Wayne or Clint Eastwood in mind as he created a script filled with banditos, hermits, army scouts, wild animals, and gunplay.
Heaton Lunt cont.
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