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, the stories, and the principles that they teach become lost to time.
In This Month's Issue
- Hyrum Albert Cluff
- Andrew Duthie
¡Feliz Navidad!
Hyrum Cluff's history gives us a glimpse into what Pre-Exodus Colonies' Christmas was like.
He mentions playing a clown alongside Santa Claus at a Christmas party in Pacheco. In many European traditions St. Nicholas was accompanied by a mischievous helper who acted as a foil to accentuate the generosity of St. Nicholas. You may have recently seen in the news the accusations of racism in the Netherlands over Sinterklaas’s black-faced helper Black Pete.
In a later Chirstmas, he Hyrum tells of a costume Christmas party in Colonia Juarez where he and his wife, Rhoda, won first place dressing as George and Martha Washington.
The biography of Hyrum Albert Cluff is taken from his diary. Hyrum’s diary parallels other colonists’ lives with accounts of Indian attacks, bears, hunting trips, banditos, and revolution. But his diary also gives us insight into both Colonies’ society and overall Mormon society of the time.
Hyrum talks about Mormon history by mentioning his wife Rhoda’s struggle with Hyrum taking a 2nd wife. He also tells of his rebuke to fellow members for teaching the Adam-God theory and of his brother Benjamin being accused of adultery.
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.
Learn more about Las Colonias
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Hyrum Albert Cluff
(1866 - 1913)
I was born in Provo City, Utah, October 26, 1866, and was baptized when I was eight years old by David Jones. I was confirmed by Henry Rogers.
My father, Moses Cluff, moved to Arizona in 1877 in Apache County, to Show Low. We cleared off the pine timber and fenced our farm, built large houses and ground are corn in hammer mills. For nearly 2 years, I herded cattle for Mr. Cooley with the Apache Indians, during the summers. In the year 1878, we moved to Forest Dale.
In 1879 my father went to Provo, Utah. My mother, Jane Margia Johnson Cluff, and the family moved to Arizona. My oldest sister got married that winter to James Clark Owens. Then my mother moved to Woodruff on the Little Colorado, and my father moved to the Gila River in Arizona, Graham County.
I worked on the Woodruff dam and bought me a span of horses, then worked on the railroad and bought mother of rock house in the Woodruff Fort.
In 1881 the Woodruff dam went out and I helped put it in again. In September 1882, I worked for J. C. Owens putting up hay and in October 1882, mother and I moved to the Gila in Graham County, Arizona, where my father was. There was quite a settlement and lots of mesquite brush all over the town and you could hardly see from house to house…
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Hyrum Albert Cluff posing on a cliff
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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.
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