William Philo Ellsworth

1863 - 1939  (75 years)  Submit Photo / Document    Has 2 ancestors but no descendants in this family tree.

• Name	William Philo Ellsworth
  Birth	22 Oct 1863	Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States
  Gender	Male
  Death	3 Mar 1939	Leota, Uintah, Utah, United States
  Burial	5 Mar 1939	Leota Cemetery, Randlett, Uintah, Utah, United States
  Initiatory (LDS)	4 Mar 1940	MANTI
  FamilySearch ID	KWCD-5RS
  Headstones	Submit Headstone Photo
  Person ID	I174567	mytree
  Last Modified	25 Feb 2024

  
  

  Father	Ephraim Edgar Ellsworth,   b. 25 Jul 1841, Attica, Lapeer, Michigan, United States d. 4 Mar 1887, Spring Lake, Utah, Utah, United States (Age 45 years)
  Mother	Elizabeth Rachel Edwards,   b. 14 Sep 1844, Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, United States d. 19 Feb 1878, Whitney, Franklin, Idaho, United States (Age 33 years)
  Marriage	22 Nov 1862	Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States
  Family ID	F18807	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Event Map

  Birth - 22 Oct 1863 - Franklin, Franklin, Idaho, United States Death - 3 Mar 1939 - Leota, Uintah, Utah, United States Burial - 5 Mar 1939 - Leota Cemetery, Randlett, Uintah, Utah, United States Initiatory (LDS) - 4 Mar 1940 - MANTI  = Link to Google Earth

  
  

• Notes

  Obituary: FUNERAL SERVICES HELD FOR OURAY VALLEY PIONEER Funeral services were held Sunday March 5, in the Leota ward chapel fo r W m. Philo Ellsworth 76, pioneer of Ouray Valley. The deceased died at his home Friday March 3, followi n g a lingering illness. The services were under the direction of Bishop I. S. Eksund and the mus i c was furnished by the Avalon ward. Speakers were Jesse Brough and Bis ho p Lawrence Wall. Interment was in the Leota cemetery . History of William Philo and Matilda Ann Goaslind Ellsworth William Philo Ellsworth and Matilda Ann Goaslind William Philo Ellsworth was the son of Ephraim Edgar Ellsworth and Eliza b eth Edwards born Oct 22, 1864 at Franklin, Oneida, Idaho . He left home when he was between 12 and 16 years of age, because his mot h er had died, and his father had remarried and his stepmother was very c ru el to him and his little 2 year old sister. The story is told of how she kicked them out of the house in November . W illiam built a fire to keep them warm and to tend to his little siste r. ( Not much is known of what happened to them or to her.) We do know that William worked in mining camps and herded sheep. He we n t to White River before any white settlers lived on the Ute Reservatio n . He spent the winter of 1878 when he was fifteen years old, with the T ho mas Smart family. Here he saw tall grass that grew along the riverban k u p to the horses’ back. In 1879 about forty cowboys and several larg e herd s of cattle wintered on the White River. There was plenty of fee d availab le, but the cold was so intense the cattle would often freeze t o death wh ile lying on bed-ground. The ice attained a thickness of thirt y-three inc hes that year. Pioneers, including Ephraim Ellsworth, (William father;) Lydia , Willi a m, and Rodney B. Remington; Samuel Joseph, and Heber Campbell; Willia m Da rling; and a man by the name of Fisher, established a settlement abo ut on e and one half miles up the White River. They built cabins and sett led th eir families in the White river colony. The winter of 1879-1880 wa s a ver y hard on the settlers, and they endured many trials. Their anima ls, eith er starved, froze, or were lost in quicksand. To fend off thei r own starv ation, they traded their only team in Whiterocks for fourtee n bushels o f wheat. The wheat was ground into flour in a coffee mill. After the White River settlement closed and William quite chasing wil d h orses, he went back to Preston, Idaho. But the tall green grass up t o th e horses’ back was something he never forgot. When he came back he n eve r saw it like that again. While living in Preston he made acquaintance with Matilda Ann Goaslind. Matilda says that William had such a strong personality that she could n o t resist him and so they got married. We have learned the William had a dark complexion, black heavy hair a n d brown eyes. At the prime of his age he measured 6 feet 2 inches in h i s stocking feet. He had a large frame, quick tempered, cruel when angr y o r crossed from his ways or ideas. He had generous disposition especia ll y if he knew anyone was in want. He loved to be praised in all his un der takings. He enjoyed being the boss of construction work of differen t kind s. He liked people who would make a fuss over him. He felt that on ly thos e people who worked continually were any good . Matilda Ann Goaslind, b. 6 Apr 1875, Franklin, Oneida, Idaho, d . 1 1 May 1963, Salt Lake City, Utah, bur. Leota, Uintah, Utah, dau. of J oh n Goaslind and Mary Jane Alder; md. (1) 21 Mar 1893, div., Joseph Neph i C ornish, b. 17 Jan 1866, Franklin, Oneida, Idaho, (2) 4 Nov 1893, Loga n, C ache, Utah, William Philo Ellsworth, d. 22 Oct 1864, Franklin, Oneid a, Id aho, d. 3 Mar 1939, Leota, Uintah, Utah, bur. Leota Cemetery, Uinta h, Uta h, son of Ephraim Edgar Ellsworth and Elizabeth Rachel Edwards . Matilda lived with her grandparents until she married William Phi l o Ellsworth in the fall of 1893. They moved to Camas, Idaho, where they had purchased land and beg a n farming and raising stock. They had a thriving ranch in Idaho, but h e c ould not forget Uintah Basin. William had continued trouble with rheu mati sm so they thought that Utah would be a warmer climate. They left Soldier, Idaho, in the fall of 1911. They were driving t h ree outfits. William P. drove one team and wagon. Thirteen year old Dick drove anoth e r team and wagon; however, he says he “tried to drive one team but they ’ d generally drive me before the day was gone…” Matilda drove the smal l te am and buggy with the help of her daughter Alene. The small childre n: In a, Edna, Florine, John, Bill and Nannie, ages: 11, 9, 7, 5, and 2 , respec tively, helping out with the baby, Lester, and as otherwise need ed. Dick says: ”I don’t know how long we were on the road. All I remembe r i s that it was summer time when we left and it was winter when we go t ther e. I know when we came over Kamas, (Wolf Creek Pass), the snow wa s up t o our waists. It was deep all across the pass. It took all day t o pull i t up the other side to the top, pull one outfit up, then go bac k and ge t the other one. The old team pulling the buggy couldn’t hack i t in the h eavy snow. We had to go back with another team and help then o ut. We didn ’t bring any other livestock, except the two colts, which fol lowed alon g with their mothers. We took what we could pile on the two wa gons. ” The Ellsworth family moved into one of the Government housing in Randle t t. The children went to school for nearly two years. Sunday, October 20, 1912 President Smart (Stake President of the Uint a h Stake in which they now resided.) took William P. and Matilda to insp ec t Ouray Valley. They were impressed and filed on a homestead. When the measles broke out in Randlett, William decided to mov e o n to there own land in Ouray Valley. They made their move on the 1 2 of F ebruary 1913. They had small tents for sleeping quarters and a bi g roun d tent where they did the cooking and eat their meals. This tent w ould so metimes blow down during an extra strong windstorm, but the child ren thou ght it was fun. It was a cold winter, the temperature went down to twenty below, then t h e thermometer broke. It was in one of these tents that Ray, the first white baby, was bor n . He was born May 1, 1913. His father and his oldest sister Alene too k c are of Matilda’s delivery. They pioneer life for Matilda was very lonely, as she never saw anoth e r women for three years. The Indians did not treat them badly but they took whatever they wante d . When Matilda would bake bread, she made 12 loaves at a time, the Indi a n braves would simple ride up take all the bread and ride off. She wou l d have to start all over again. The Ellsworth's wasn’t able to raise a crop that year. The canal wasn ’ t completed and when it was, little water found its way to the end of t h e ditch. J. Winter Smith, an engineer for the Ouray Valley Irrigation Company, c a me into Leota after the Ellsworth's. He hired them to assist him i n a ca nal building project. Everyone helped on the construction of the c anal . J. Winter Smith, the Engineer said that little, nine year old, Fl orin e even helped him with some of the surveying. And the Ellsworth's wo rke d with their teams on the construction and continued to work on the c ana l maintenance for years. Dick Ellsworth says, “You might say we worked for nothing. You got cred i t. You didn’t get cash. You worked for credits" (water stock). The Indians had the primary water rights while the white people in Our a y Valley held only secondary rights, which meant that they were only en ti tled to water during high water and after high water only enough for t hei r gardens. The first public building was built of blocks and a dirt roof. This w a s used for church and school. The first school had fifteen students attending who ranged in grades fr o m the first to the eighth and were: Forrest, Wayman, Harold, Dorothy Bi rt cher; and Dick, John, Edna, Ina, Florine, Alene, and Bill Ellsworth; a n d two others. The first teacher who taught in the one-room schoolhouse was Mi s s Ruth Steinaker, an 18 year old high school graduate from Vernal. Sh e bo arded in with the Ellsworth's. The building was of rough, hewn logs , wit h one door and one window, and equipped with the old-style benches . A hug e stove was used and the boys had to split wood and cut it into l ogs pie ces for fuel. When the pupils graduated from the 8th grade the y left Leot a and found homes in Vernal or Roosevelt where they could boa rd and atten d the high school. The Ellsworth’s hauled water for their household purposes from the Gre e n River in barrels. They had a garden and an orchard of fruit trees. Th e y would turn their herd of cows out in the morning to graze and to g o t o the river for water and then in the evening one of the children wou ld b ring them in. Later they dug a well west of their home and put i n a trou gh for the cattle to drink from. This well was also used for al l water pu rposes. This article appeared in the Vernal Express on January 29, 1915: W.P. Ellsworth was up from the Ouray Valley this week with a load of wheat. The first to be raised with water from the Ne w Ouray Valley Canal. It is of fine quality and the yield is heav y . A few new families have recently moved into the valley an d several more are planning to move into the area when sprin g opens. One newcomer has brought in a new first class steam-threshin g outfit and some large farming implements. The canal is nearly completed and water will be ready for thi s years crops. The district school is progressing nicely and a new grade ha s just been added. With the coming of a few more families the Glines Ward of Uint a h Stake set up a Sunday School organization in Leota, with James L. Hut ch ens as Superintendent. The Ellsworth's had been away from any churc h org anization for several years and some of the family had not been bap tized . James L. Hutchens took care of this on Aug 29, 1915, by baptizin g Ina , Edna, Florine and John. The Ellsworth's built the first home in Leota. It was a single- r oom cabin made of cottonwood logs and had a dirt roof. Mary Eva was bo r n in the cabin December 3, 1915, with Mrs Graham, a new neighbor, acti n g as midwife. Later on they built a large house between the one-room log house and t h e pond to the west. Their home had a large porch on the south, which so m e of the children slept on in the summertime. During the years that Green River over flowed, they would watch to se e w hen the water went back into the channel and then go down and pick u p tub s of live fish and brought them home and bottle them for their foo d suppl y. When there was water they raised very good crops of grain and Hay. Th e y had a large herd of cattle, some for milking and the rest for beef t o s ell. They also took the grain to Vernal to the mill for their flour a nd b ran. This took 3 days, one day to get there, one day to grind the gr ain , and one day to get back home. The year the crickets were so bad, Matilda had a hard time cooking an y m eal because the insects would hop up onto the stove as she cooked. William and Matilda loved to dance and they were very good at it. The o n ly one of his daughters that he really loved to dance with was Ina. H e ca lled her his “Princess”. In 1917 the Leota area was changed from the Uintah Stake to the Duches n e Stake under President Smart, who on Sunday, May 14, 1922, rode horseb ac k from Randlett to Leota and held a baptismal service in which Willia m P . Ellsworth was baptized. It was in the spring of 1922, that fourteen year old, Bill Ellsworth, h a d his accident. He was out doing chores and was on top of the haystac k f orking hay down to the livestock. In trying to pry loose a forkful o f hay , which was frozen to the hay below it, his fork slipped from the h ay an d he toppled backwards from the stack. They took him to Vernal bu t the do ctors did not discover all the damage which he had suffered. The y did wha t they could for him, but said that he had sleeping sickness be cause he c ouldn’t talk. It was six months before they took him to a chir opractor wh ose treatments caused a fifty percent improvement. Bill’s mother spent much time with him in Vernal and in Roosevelt whe r e they lived for a while in President Smart’s second house free of char ge . Then, Matilda Ellsworth’s mother died and left her a little inherita nce . With this money Matilda took her son, Bill, to Salt Lake City wher e h e was given the most-up-to-date examinations. He had had a broken sho ulde r, His back had been broken, pinching nerves which had paralyzed hi m fro m the waist down. The roots of his tongue had been injured which ma de i t impossible for him to approach normal speech. These impediments did not keep young Bill from participating in churc h . Although he got so he couldn’t hold his head up he was a studious rea de r and had a keen mind. Everybody had the patience to wait until he cou l d get his thoughts vocalized. They took him to the Manti temple wher e h e went through for hundreds of names. And all the time his devoted mo ther , Matilda, was with him. The Ellsworth's spent some $10,000 on medic al do ctors to help Bill. The oldest son, Dick, took jobs to supplement their income. He worked f o r J. Winter Smith and John G. Smith, whose land joined Ellsworth's on t h e west, In helping them make proof on their lands. He freighted for Uintah Railw a y Company. He did some freighting on his own with teams and wagons fro m P rice. But mostly, his time was spent on the Leota place, working on the cana l , and breaking horses. President Smart visited with Ellsworth's many times and records in hi s d iaries of at least six times that he spent the night with them. Willi am P . may not have lived up to everything that President Smart desired a s fa r as the church was concerned, but he was real active in any communi ty ef forts. As William got older and he became ill, and could not do all the farm w o rk, he would sit outside in the summer and try to supervise the farmin g . He could do very little. His sons Ray and Lester and his daughter Fra nc es did all the farming and tending to all effects of the farm. They al s o had sheep, pigs and chickens. When William’s daughter Ina died he furnished some beautiful lumber th a t he had saved for his own coffin and told them to use it to build hers . The last few days of his life he was in a great deal of pain and one d a y he asked his son-in-law, Oliver, to give him a blessing. He said he k ne w it would not heal him but it would ease the pain. March 9, 1939, Vernal Express Funeral Services for William Philo Ellsworth, age 76, pioneer of Our a y Valley was held Monday, March 5, 1939 in the Leota L.D.S. Ward Chapel, u n der the direction of Bishop I.S. Eklund. The music was furnished by the Avalon Ward. Jesse Brough and Bishop Lawrence Wall were the speakers. Interment was in the Leota Cemetery under the direction of the Swai n Funeral Home. Mr. Ellsworth died Friday at his home following a lingering illne s s. William Philo Ellsworth was born at Franklin, Idaho. He married Matild a A nn Goaslind. In 1912 they moved to Leota where they lived at the tim e o f his death. During the time of his residence there he has been active in commu n ity affairs and a promoter of good roads and canals. Surviving are his widow, Matilda Ann Ellsworth and eleven sons a n d daughters; Mrs. Luther (Alene) Swett, Lester, Ray, and John Ellswort h o f Vernal; Mrs. Leslie (Edna) Barney of Pleasant Grove; Dick Ellswort h o f Burnt Fork, Wyoming; Mrs. Lowell (Mary) Chivers; Mrs. Ray (Florine ) Bar ney and a daughter, Frances, and a son, William, all of Leota, Utah . William P. Ellsworth was the first one to settle in Leota and even duri n g his lifetime his name almost became a legend. After he died Matilda went to Manti to do temple work. (I imagine she s o ld the cattle to accomplish this.) She died many years later from a st ro ke. (Taken from Book written by Robert Cooper about William J. Smart and per s onal knowledge of the family. )