Son of Thomas Mercer and Margaret Embly
Married Nancy Ann Wilson, 2 Dec 1844, Christ Church, Whalley, Lancaster, England
Married Mary Ann Griffin, 3 Jun 1852, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Ann Capstick, 9 Nov 1852, American Fork, Utah, Utah
Married Emma Julian, 17 May 1856, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Jane Capstick, later divorced
Biography - John Mercer was born 7 Sept. 1818 at Bashall Eaves, Yorkshire, Eng. He heard the gospel from some of the first Latter Day Saint missionaries to England, accepted it, and was baptized on 19 Feb. 1843. In 1844 he married Nancy Wilson and the same year they emigrated to the United States.
John was the only one of his family to join the church and he never saw any of them again. John and Nancy sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans, then by riverboat up the Mississippi to Nauvoo, the Mormon City, arriving in the fall of 1844.
When the Mormons were driven from Nauvoo in 1846 they left with them to cross the plains by ox team. On the road through Iowa, between Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, their little daughter Margaret, who was born in Nauvoo, 14 July 1845, died, and was buried on the plains.
They remained at Winter Quarters until the summer of 1848 when they continued their journey to Utah. They had a second daughter, Mariam, born at Winter Quarters, Dec. 1846. As they neared Salt Lake Valley their third child was born in the covered wagon in Echo Canyon, 11 Oct, 1848. She was named Elizabeth echo. She was the only one of their first five children to grow past childhood.
They lived in Salt Lake City for a time. John Mercer was one of a group who re-crossed the plains to assist one of the handcart companies. He also went with Pres. Brigham Young and party to begin a Moron settlement on the Salmon River in Idaho. This was not carried on to the building of cities but exploration was done at this time.
In the summer of 1850 John was called to go south to help establish a new settlement on Utah Lake. This was at first called “Lake City”, but being too much like “Salt Lake City” the name was later changed to American Fork. Here he accumulated land took up farming and stock raising. He was successful in his work, also as a citizen and in the church. He was elected alderman in 1853 when Lake City first got its charter. He became first councilor to the first bishop. L.E. Harrington. He also was a bishop of the ward at American Fork, holding that position at the time of his demise in 1860. At the time of his death he was but forty-two years of age.
John Mercer deserves great credit for what he accomplished, for he met difficulties cheerfully and bravely overcame obstacle and by energy and perseverance worked his way to success.
Nancy Wilson raised Ammon Mercer. She came to this land and endured many sorrows and hardships for the gospel’s sake. She opened her home and her heart to children other than her own.
John Mercer married Emma Julian in May, 1856. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Shelford, Nottingham, 16 July 1834. In 1853, she, her parents, and one brother and one sister were baptized into the church, and in 1855 they left England for Utah. One brother stayed in England that we know of and there were two other brothers in the family that must have died young for there is not record of them but their birth dates.
The Julian family came first to St. Louis, Missouri, where they worked to earn money to outfit themselves for the trip across the plains. They left by ox team 1856 and arrived in American Fork the same year. William Julian, the father was a skilled tailor and a fine gardener and he did well in the new settlement. He lived to be 93 years old.
Emma Julian Mercer was left a widow when she was 26. She was the mother of two boys and in Sept. of the hear her husband died another son, William Julian Greenwood was born to her. She died of scarlet fever on Feb. 12, 1865, at the age of 31 leaving four little boys orphan. Nancy Wilson Mercer took them into her home and brought them up with her five daughters who were their half-sisters. They also had their Julian grandparents and Aunt Ellen Julian Barrett who were very kind to them. However, times were hard for all of them, but they accepted it and adapted themselves very well.
Ammon Mercer was the second son of John Mercer and Emma Julian Mercer. He was born 25 Nov., 1858, in American Fork, Utah. He wasn’t two yet when his father died and scarcely six when his mother died. He and his brothers then went to live with “Aunt Nancy”. They always loved her as a mother and she did all she could for them.
In spite of hard times Ammon got what education he could. He even managed to have a year at the Brigham Young Academy (now University) in Provo, where he paid his tuition and board by acting as a janitor. He was always a good student and encouraged his children later, to be interested in learning and cultural things.
He married Sarah Shelley of American Fork on January 20th, 1881 in Salt Lake City at the Endowment House. In company with Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCarty (Mrs. McCarty was Ammon’s sister) they drove to Salt Lake with a team and wagon for the wedding. Ammon filled a mission in the Southern States from 1887 to 1890. Sarah, with her three children, Jared, Mary Ellen (Mae) and Ammon, managed at home. She moved to a log house on her father’s lot, and there in one room cared for her children, and went out to work to keep them and to keep her husband on his mission. Joseph Alston and his wife, Louise, lived on Ammon’s farm while he was gone, and there must have been some revenue from that, but still times were hard.
In his journal, Ammon write: “in looking over my journal I find in my 28 months and 17 days sojourn in the mission field I have held or attended 133 meetings with my companions, 3 funeral services, 17 Sunday School Services, 9 Confirming Services when 18 persons who had been baptized by self and companions were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S., assisted in blessing a number of children, cut one man off, walked about 3,718 miles and rode about 6,000 miles with the distance home added or included. I will put down right here that whatever good has resulted or will result from my labors it is on account of the power of God attending the humble efforts of His servants and let the honor be with Him “That no flesh shall glory in His presence”.
His journal continues “About 9:00 a.m., March 23rd, 1890 we arrived in American Fork… my folks were not looking for me so it was a complete surprise. They thought we would go around by New York and not be home ‘till Conference. All were well, however, and delighted to see me. Pen is inadequate to express my joy in having the privilege of associating with family and saints in the “Lasting Hills” after an absence of 2 years, 4 months and 23 days.
“As it was Sunday a great many came to see us, in my father-in-law’s log house where my family had lived since my departure. In p.m. Bro. Gerber and I attended meeting and partook of the Sacrament for the first time since leaving…..(there is much expression here of meeting people and visiting)…and playing with my children who had grown very much, little Am out of my remembrance.”
After Ammon returned from his mission, he was quite settled again, farming, raising stock and six children. James Lee, Sarah (Sade) and Emma were born after he returned from his mission.
Then a call came to move to Canada where a Mormon settlement had been established in South West, North West Territories. He came to Cardston N.W.T. in Nov. 1897, and his family came in April, 1898. Sarah and five children came on the train to Lethbridge. Jared, the oldest boy, drove a wagon overland to bring their goods. He was only sixteen and had a lonely trip of six weeks. At Boulder he saw the train go by. His mother saw him from the train window and he saw her. It only made them both more lonely. Then at Wolf Creek he lost his dog and had to go on without it and that made trip sadder for him.
Ammon met his family at the train in Lethbridge, with a wagon, and they had 50 miles to go to Cardston, the only settlement south of Lethbridge. They stayed at Taylor’s sheep ranch the first night, then on to Cardston the next day. Here he built a two room house, near where the temple is now.
At this time transportation from Cardston to Lethbridge depended on horses. Ammon and his brother-in-law, Charles McCarthy, acquired some good horses and established a stage and freight service between Cardston and Lethbridge. They also carried the mail. Part of their equipment was a real stage coach of which they were very proud. They built a half-way stage station and barn on Dry Coulee near St. Mary’s River north of what has become Magrath. There were no fences, no bridges, just prairie road. Here at Dry Coulee they kept their change of horses and fee for them. The freighters carried their own food and sleeping outfits, but stopped over night at the station, taking two days for the trip to Lethbridge and two days to return to Cardston. The stage coach, carrying passengers and the mail, made a trip each way every other day with Ammon Mercer driving. The stage stopped at the Dry Coulee station at noon for rest and food and to change horses. Bert Strong took care of the station and stock. He and his wife, Rosie, and their children lived there at the station.
Mercer and McCarty grew the first grain in the district. In 1899 they enclosed a plot of ground west of their stage station with barbed wire, using for fence posts old locomotive flue pipes which they obtained from the rail road co. in Lethbridge. There they planted oats to raise for the horses. This grain was hailed to the ground in July but came back a fine crop and was harvested 10th of October with no frost. Bishop Harker brought his new thresher down from Cardston and threshed the grain in January, 1900.
At a Conference in June 1899 in Cardston it was decided to settle a new town on the plain. The Mormons had signed a contract with the government to build a canal and bring in settlers. This town was named Magrath. Ammon Mercer was called to be first counselor to Bishop Harker and so moved to the new settlement, along with the rest of the first settlers.
He and a crew of volunteers hauled his stage station by teams from Dry Coulee and set it down on a ten-acre block in the new town and this became their home. Magrath was now the half-way stop and Sarah Mercer the hostess of the station.
A Post Office was established in 1900. Ammon Mercer was appointed the first Post Master and a corner of the kitchen was partitioned off as the Post Office. Later an addition was added to the house and the larger room of the station was converted to the Post Office.
During the years it was moved to several other places, including a brick building Ammon had built for it but in 1912 it passed to another Post Master. But while Ammon was Post Master, his wife, Sarah, daughter Mae, and son Ammon Julian were all assistants to the Post Master, and all the younger children learned a lot about the business. It was part of their lives. It was interesting to see the mail come in and to see the people flock in to get it.
Ammon also operated the Magrath coal mine and continued to be engaged in quartz mining in Utah and as a consequence made many trips to Utah and Sarah kept the “home fires burning” while he was away. My father, Ammon’s son James Lee, said that Ammon was a dreamer, always looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He wanted so much for his family and he gave to his family things that were much more valuable than the monetary things he was seeking for them.
Ammon was one of the organizers of the Magrath Trading Company with Bishop Harker. He was also secretary of the first school board. He was a loyal Canadian and a good citizen. He did much to help build up the town of Magrath and to encourage interest in the finer things of life. He was a worthy pioneer of a new country. He always served the church faithfully. He was a comfort to the sorrowing and the sick and did not spare himself when others needed him. He died the 12 Nov., 1934 after a long and eventful life.
Ammon’s wife, Sarah Amelia Shelley Mercer, was a loyal helpmate and filled her place nobly as a pioneer I this new country. She was always industrious and met life with courage and fortitude. As a girl she helped her mother in the home and her father in the fields when necessary. She made the twelve candles each Saturday that did them the next week. She also helped her father to harvest the grain by the ”Cradle Method”. This was much different than the combine harvesters of today.
After she came to this country she went through many hard times. She was homesick at first. Conditions were primitive and the climate was very cold in the winter. She adjusted herself cheerfully and did everything she could to make a home for her husband and children. She kept the halfway station and entertained many fine and interesting people. She had only the two rooms at first, and a granary, but on one was ever turned away. Her boys called the place “The King Hotel”.
In 1901 the railroad came to Magrath so the half way station ceased to operate. But their home was still the headquarters for many visitors, old and young, and they were always welcome and they loved to come. In 1902 her seventh child, Alberta, was born on the 4th of July.
Sarah Mercer was a woman of fine tastes and a cultured mind. She read much and acquired a large store of knowledge and was able to converse intelligently on many subjects. She was always keenly interested in community and world affairs, and ready and willing to do her part to make the world a better place in which to live. During World War I she was superintendent of work for the Red Cross, and served faithfully until the Armistice was signed in 1918.
During the flu epidemic in 1918, she and her husband helped in many homes, walking through the snow, often late at night. She and Ammon were a blessing to the sick and afflicted in their community.
Sarah Mercer was a faithful church member. She was a member of the first Relief Society presidency in 1899 in company with Mrs. Maria Bennett and Mrs. Alice Rich. In August, 1910 Sister Maria Bennett was called to be the President of the Taylor Stake Relief Society and she called Sarah to work with her. In May, 1912 she was called to be the third president of the Taylor Stake Relief Society where she served for three years. Her counselors were Mary McCarty of Raymond and Zehzeel Merkley of Magrath. Then she was a counselor again in the Ward Relief Society to Eliza Toomer until the ward was divided in 1922.
The responsibilities of the Relief Society were quite a bit different then than they are now. In the first years there were no planned lessons sent from the General Board. The Stake Boards gave counsel suggestions but the wards planned their own meetings. The Programs consisted of testimony bearing, talks, readings, discussions, quilting days, sewing days and other services. There was not Relief Society Magazine then, the Woman’s exponent was the magazine for the Relief Society from which they received their instructions from the General Board.
In the beginning there was no doctor in Magrath, but the Relief Society visited and cared for the sick. Many times these sisters walked through storms and darkness over bad roads to help the sick and sorrowing. And if death came, they made the clothes, trimmed the casket and laid out the dead. During the war they supported the Red Cross Service generously.
The following is a copy of a letter written to Sarah Mercer on May 24th, 1922: “It would be impossible for us to express in words our appreciation for your past faithful labors and devotion to the great cause of the Relief work in our organization. The many hours spent in relieving others of pain and suffering, and comforting the aching hearts of the orphan and the widow, while perhaps you felt the weight of your own grief, (for all have our share of sorrow) but you smiled on for the sake of others, and went silently to God for comfort.
Thin not because our ward is divided that your work is finished. Your labors will always be needed, for the Lord said, “The poor you will always have with you.” Such spirits as yours and your husband’s will find much to do both here and on the other side. Think of your reward for the Lord said, “For in as much as you do it unto the least of one of these ye do it unto me”.
Accept this little token of remembrance with our love woven in every thread and when you wear it think of it as a mantle of love from your brothers and sisters. The Magrath Wards.”
In 1931 she and Ammon celebrated their golden wedding when many friends called at her home to offer their congratulations.
Sarah Mercer passed away on the 13th of March, 1935 at the age of 75. Since her husband’s death four months previously her health gradually failed and she passed away about 10 o’clock in the morning at the family residence.
“Her children arise up and call her blessed”. Proverbs 31: 28.
James Shelley was born in Claverly, Shropshire, England, 14th May, 1828. He joined the church in England and emigrated to Utah in Feb. 1851 with his parents and brothers and sisters. They came by sailing vessel to New Orleans. After a voyage of 10 weeks they went up the Mississippi by river boat. Near Memphis, Tenn, in April 1851 their mother, Elizabeth Bray Shelley, fell from the boat into the river. The captain said it would be impossible to turn around in time to save her, nor could they find her body. So they left her to the river and sadly finished their journey. They crossed the plains by ox team and settled in American Fork.
James Shelley married Mary Lee, 29th October, 1852. They were the first couple married in American Fork. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Southam, Warwickshire, 1 May, 1827, one of thirteen children who came with their parents to Utah and settled in American Fork.
They were fine industrious people and were welcome settlers of the town. James and Mary Lee Shelley were good people to their family and their neighbors and are remembered with honor. They were parents of 7 children, among them Sarah Shelley Mercer.
Married Nancy Ann Wilson, 2 Dec 1844, Christ Church, Whalley, Lancaster, England
Married Mary Ann Griffin, 3 Jun 1852, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Ann Capstick, 9 Nov 1852, American Fork, Utah, Utah
Married Emma Julian, 17 May 1856, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Jane Capstick, later divorced
Biography - John Mercer was born 7 Sept. 1818 at Bashall Eaves, Yorkshire, Eng. He heard the gospel from some of the first Latter Day Saint missionaries to England, accepted it, and was baptized on 19 Feb. 1843. In 1844 he married Nancy Wilson and the same year they emigrated to the United States.
John was the only one of his family to join the church and he never saw any of them again. John and Nancy sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans, then by riverboat up the Mississippi to Nauvoo, the Mormon City, arriving in the fall of 1844.
When the Mormons were driven from Nauvoo in 1846 they left with them to cross the plains by ox team. On the road through Iowa, between Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, their little daughter Margaret, who was born in Nauvoo, 14 July 1845, died, and was buried on the plains.
They remained at Winter Quarters until the summer of 1848 when they continued their journey to Utah. They had a second daughter, Mariam, born at Winter Quarters, Dec. 1846. As they neared Salt Lake Valley their third child was born in the covered wagon in Echo Canyon, 11 Oct, 1848. She was named Elizabeth echo. She was the only one of their first five children to grow past childhood.
They lived in Salt Lake City for a time. John Mercer was one of a group who re-crossed the plains to assist one of the handcart companies. He also went with Pres. Brigham Young and party to begin a Moron settlement on the Salmon River in Idaho. This was not carried on to the building of cities but exploration was done at this time.
In the summer of 1850 John was called to go south to help establish a new settlement on Utah Lake. This was at first called “Lake City”, but being too much like “Salt Lake City” the name was later changed to American Fork. Here he accumulated land took up farming and stock raising. He was successful in his work, also as a citizen and in the church. He was elected alderman in 1853 when Lake City first got its charter. He became first councilor to the first bishop. L.E. Harrington. He also was a bishop of the ward at American Fork, holding that position at the time of his demise in 1860. At the time of his death he was but forty-two years of age.
John Mercer deserves great credit for what he accomplished, for he met difficulties cheerfully and bravely overcame obstacle and by energy and perseverance worked his way to success.
Nancy Wilson raised Ammon Mercer. She came to this land and endured many sorrows and hardships for the gospel’s sake. She opened her home and her heart to children other than her own.
John Mercer married Emma Julian in May, 1856. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Shelford, Nottingham, 16 July 1834. In 1853, she, her parents, and one brother and one sister were baptized into the church, and in 1855 they left England for Utah. One brother stayed in England that we know of and there were two other brothers in the family that must have died young for there is not record of them but their birth dates.
The Julian family came first to St. Louis, Missouri, where they worked to earn money to outfit themselves for the trip across the plains. They left by ox team 1856 and arrived in American Fork the same year. William Julian, the father was a skilled tailor and a fine gardener and he did well in the new settlement. He lived to be 93 years old.
Emma Julian Mercer was left a widow when she was 26. She was the mother of two boys and in Sept. of the hear her husband died another son, William Julian Greenwood was born to her. She died of scarlet fever on Feb. 12, 1865, at the age of 31 leaving four little boys orphan. Nancy Wilson Mercer took them into her home and brought them up with her five daughters who were their half-sisters. They also had their Julian grandparents and Aunt Ellen Julian Barrett who were very kind to them. However, times were hard for all of them, but they accepted it and adapted themselves very well.
Ammon Mercer was the second son of John Mercer and Emma Julian Mercer. He was born 25 Nov., 1858, in American Fork, Utah. He wasn’t two yet when his father died and scarcely six when his mother died. He and his brothers then went to live with “Aunt Nancy”. They always loved her as a mother and she did all she could for them.
In spite of hard times Ammon got what education he could. He even managed to have a year at the Brigham Young Academy (now University) in Provo, where he paid his tuition and board by acting as a janitor. He was always a good student and encouraged his children later, to be interested in learning and cultural things.
He married Sarah Shelley of American Fork on January 20th, 1881 in Salt Lake City at the Endowment House. In company with Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCarty (Mrs. McCarty was Ammon’s sister) they drove to Salt Lake with a team and wagon for the wedding. Ammon filled a mission in the Southern States from 1887 to 1890. Sarah, with her three children, Jared, Mary Ellen (Mae) and Ammon, managed at home. She moved to a log house on her father’s lot, and there in one room cared for her children, and went out to work to keep them and to keep her husband on his mission. Joseph Alston and his wife, Louise, lived on Ammon’s farm while he was gone, and there must have been some revenue from that, but still times were hard.
In his journal, Ammon write: “in looking over my journal I find in my 28 months and 17 days sojourn in the mission field I have held or attended 133 meetings with my companions, 3 funeral services, 17 Sunday School Services, 9 Confirming Services when 18 persons who had been baptized by self and companions were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S., assisted in blessing a number of children, cut one man off, walked about 3,718 miles and rode about 6,000 miles with the distance home added or included. I will put down right here that whatever good has resulted or will result from my labors it is on account of the power of God attending the humble efforts of His servants and let the honor be with Him “That no flesh shall glory in His presence”.
His journal continues “About 9:00 a.m., March 23rd, 1890 we arrived in American Fork… my folks were not looking for me so it was a complete surprise. They thought we would go around by New York and not be home ‘till Conference. All were well, however, and delighted to see me. Pen is inadequate to express my joy in having the privilege of associating with family and saints in the “Lasting Hills” after an absence of 2 years, 4 months and 23 days.
“As it was Sunday a great many came to see us, in my father-in-law’s log house where my family had lived since my departure. In p.m. Bro. Gerber and I attended meeting and partook of the Sacrament for the first time since leaving…..(there is much expression here of meeting people and visiting)…and playing with my children who had grown very much, little Am out of my remembrance.”
After Ammon returned from his mission, he was quite settled again, farming, raising stock and six children. James Lee, Sarah (Sade) and Emma were born after he returned from his mission.
Then a call came to move to Canada where a Mormon settlement had been established in South West, North West Territories. He came to Cardston N.W.T. in Nov. 1897, and his family came in April, 1898. Sarah and five children came on the train to Lethbridge. Jared, the oldest boy, drove a wagon overland to bring their goods. He was only sixteen and had a lonely trip of six weeks. At Boulder he saw the train go by. His mother saw him from the train window and he saw her. It only made them both more lonely. Then at Wolf Creek he lost his dog and had to go on without it and that made trip sadder for him.
Ammon met his family at the train in Lethbridge, with a wagon, and they had 50 miles to go to Cardston, the only settlement south of Lethbridge. They stayed at Taylor’s sheep ranch the first night, then on to Cardston the next day. Here he built a two room house, near where the temple is now.
At this time transportation from Cardston to Lethbridge depended on horses. Ammon and his brother-in-law, Charles McCarthy, acquired some good horses and established a stage and freight service between Cardston and Lethbridge. They also carried the mail. Part of their equipment was a real stage coach of which they were very proud. They built a half-way stage station and barn on Dry Coulee near St. Mary’s River north of what has become Magrath. There were no fences, no bridges, just prairie road. Here at Dry Coulee they kept their change of horses and fee for them. The freighters carried their own food and sleeping outfits, but stopped over night at the station, taking two days for the trip to Lethbridge and two days to return to Cardston. The stage coach, carrying passengers and the mail, made a trip each way every other day with Ammon Mercer driving. The stage stopped at the Dry Coulee station at noon for rest and food and to change horses. Bert Strong took care of the station and stock. He and his wife, Rosie, and their children lived there at the station.
Mercer and McCarty grew the first grain in the district. In 1899 they enclosed a plot of ground west of their stage station with barbed wire, using for fence posts old locomotive flue pipes which they obtained from the rail road co. in Lethbridge. There they planted oats to raise for the horses. This grain was hailed to the ground in July but came back a fine crop and was harvested 10th of October with no frost. Bishop Harker brought his new thresher down from Cardston and threshed the grain in January, 1900.
At a Conference in June 1899 in Cardston it was decided to settle a new town on the plain. The Mormons had signed a contract with the government to build a canal and bring in settlers. This town was named Magrath. Ammon Mercer was called to be first counselor to Bishop Harker and so moved to the new settlement, along with the rest of the first settlers.
He and a crew of volunteers hauled his stage station by teams from Dry Coulee and set it down on a ten-acre block in the new town and this became their home. Magrath was now the half-way stop and Sarah Mercer the hostess of the station.
A Post Office was established in 1900. Ammon Mercer was appointed the first Post Master and a corner of the kitchen was partitioned off as the Post Office. Later an addition was added to the house and the larger room of the station was converted to the Post Office.
During the years it was moved to several other places, including a brick building Ammon had built for it but in 1912 it passed to another Post Master. But while Ammon was Post Master, his wife, Sarah, daughter Mae, and son Ammon Julian were all assistants to the Post Master, and all the younger children learned a lot about the business. It was part of their lives. It was interesting to see the mail come in and to see the people flock in to get it.
Ammon also operated the Magrath coal mine and continued to be engaged in quartz mining in Utah and as a consequence made many trips to Utah and Sarah kept the “home fires burning” while he was away. My father, Ammon’s son James Lee, said that Ammon was a dreamer, always looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He wanted so much for his family and he gave to his family things that were much more valuable than the monetary things he was seeking for them.
Ammon was one of the organizers of the Magrath Trading Company with Bishop Harker. He was also secretary of the first school board. He was a loyal Canadian and a good citizen. He did much to help build up the town of Magrath and to encourage interest in the finer things of life. He was a worthy pioneer of a new country. He always served the church faithfully. He was a comfort to the sorrowing and the sick and did not spare himself when others needed him. He died the 12 Nov., 1934 after a long and eventful life.
Ammon’s wife, Sarah Amelia Shelley Mercer, was a loyal helpmate and filled her place nobly as a pioneer I this new country. She was always industrious and met life with courage and fortitude. As a girl she helped her mother in the home and her father in the fields when necessary. She made the twelve candles each Saturday that did them the next week. She also helped her father to harvest the grain by the ”Cradle Method”. This was much different than the combine harvesters of today.
After she came to this country she went through many hard times. She was homesick at first. Conditions were primitive and the climate was very cold in the winter. She adjusted herself cheerfully and did everything she could to make a home for her husband and children. She kept the halfway station and entertained many fine and interesting people. She had only the two rooms at first, and a granary, but on one was ever turned away. Her boys called the place “The King Hotel”.
In 1901 the railroad came to Magrath so the half way station ceased to operate. But their home was still the headquarters for many visitors, old and young, and they were always welcome and they loved to come. In 1902 her seventh child, Alberta, was born on the 4th of July.
Sarah Mercer was a woman of fine tastes and a cultured mind. She read much and acquired a large store of knowledge and was able to converse intelligently on many subjects. She was always keenly interested in community and world affairs, and ready and willing to do her part to make the world a better place in which to live. During World War I she was superintendent of work for the Red Cross, and served faithfully until the Armistice was signed in 1918.
During the flu epidemic in 1918, she and her husband helped in many homes, walking through the snow, often late at night. She and Ammon were a blessing to the sick and afflicted in their community.
Sarah Mercer was a faithful church member. She was a member of the first Relief Society presidency in 1899 in company with Mrs. Maria Bennett and Mrs. Alice Rich. In August, 1910 Sister Maria Bennett was called to be the President of the Taylor Stake Relief Society and she called Sarah to work with her. In May, 1912 she was called to be the third president of the Taylor Stake Relief Society where she served for three years. Her counselors were Mary McCarty of Raymond and Zehzeel Merkley of Magrath. Then she was a counselor again in the Ward Relief Society to Eliza Toomer until the ward was divided in 1922.
The responsibilities of the Relief Society were quite a bit different then than they are now. In the first years there were no planned lessons sent from the General Board. The Stake Boards gave counsel suggestions but the wards planned their own meetings. The Programs consisted of testimony bearing, talks, readings, discussions, quilting days, sewing days and other services. There was not Relief Society Magazine then, the Woman’s exponent was the magazine for the Relief Society from which they received their instructions from the General Board.
In the beginning there was no doctor in Magrath, but the Relief Society visited and cared for the sick. Many times these sisters walked through storms and darkness over bad roads to help the sick and sorrowing. And if death came, they made the clothes, trimmed the casket and laid out the dead. During the war they supported the Red Cross Service generously.
The following is a copy of a letter written to Sarah Mercer on May 24th, 1922: “It would be impossible for us to express in words our appreciation for your past faithful labors and devotion to the great cause of the Relief work in our organization. The many hours spent in relieving others of pain and suffering, and comforting the aching hearts of the orphan and the widow, while perhaps you felt the weight of your own grief, (for all have our share of sorrow) but you smiled on for the sake of others, and went silently to God for comfort.
Thin not because our ward is divided that your work is finished. Your labors will always be needed, for the Lord said, “The poor you will always have with you.” Such spirits as yours and your husband’s will find much to do both here and on the other side. Think of your reward for the Lord said, “For in as much as you do it unto the least of one of these ye do it unto me”.
Accept this little token of remembrance with our love woven in every thread and when you wear it think of it as a mantle of love from your brothers and sisters. The Magrath Wards.”
In 1931 she and Ammon celebrated their golden wedding when many friends called at her home to offer their congratulations.
Sarah Mercer passed away on the 13th of March, 1935 at the age of 75. Since her husband’s death four months previously her health gradually failed and she passed away about 10 o’clock in the morning at the family residence.
“Her children arise up and call her blessed”. Proverbs 31: 28.
James Shelley was born in Claverly, Shropshire, England, 14th May, 1828. He joined the church in England and emigrated to Utah in Feb. 1851 with his parents and brothers and sisters. They came by sailing vessel to New Orleans. After a voyage of 10 weeks they went up the Mississippi by river boat. Near Memphis, Tenn, in April 1851 their mother, Elizabeth Bray Shelley, fell from the boat into the river. The captain said it would be impossible to turn around in time to save her, nor could they find her body. So they left her to the river and sadly finished their journey. They crossed the plains by ox team and settled in American Fork.
James Shelley married Mary Lee, 29th October, 1852. They were the first couple married in American Fork. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Southam, Warwickshire, 1 May, 1827, one of thirteen children who came with their parents to Utah and settled in American Fork.
They were fine industrious people and were welcome settlers of the town. James and Mary Lee Shelley were good people to their family and their neighbors and are remembered with honor. They were parents of 7 children, among them Sarah Shelley Mercer.
Son of Thomas Mercer and Margaret Embly
Married Nancy Ann Wilson, 2 Dec 1844, Christ Church, Whalley, Lancaster, England
Married Mary Ann Griffin, 3 Jun 1852, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Ann Capstick, 9 Nov 1852, American Fork, Utah, Utah
Married Emma Julian, 17 May 1856, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Jane Capstick, later divorced
Biography - John Mercer was born 7 Sept. 1818 at Bashall Eaves, Yorkshire, Eng. He heard the gospel from some of the first Latter Day Saint missionaries to England, accepted it, and was baptized on 19 Feb. 1843. In 1844 he married Nancy Wilson and the same year they emigrated to the United States.
John was the only one of his family to join the church and he never saw any of them again. John and Nancy sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans, then by riverboat up the Mississippi to Nauvoo, the Mormon City, arriving in the fall of 1844.
When the Mormons were driven from Nauvoo in 1846 they left with them to cross the plains by ox team. On the road through Iowa, between Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, their little daughter Margaret, who was born in Nauvoo, 14 July 1845, died, and was buried on the plains.
They remained at Winter Quarters until the summer of 1848 when they continued their journey to Utah. They had a second daughter, Mariam, born at Winter Quarters, Dec. 1846. As they neared Salt Lake Valley their third child was born in the covered wagon in Echo Canyon, 11 Oct, 1848. She was named Elizabeth echo. She was the only one of their first five children to grow past childhood.
They lived in Salt Lake City for a time. John Mercer was one of a group who re-crossed the plains to assist one of the handcart companies. He also went with Pres. Brigham Young and party to begin a Moron settlement on the Salmon River in Idaho. This was not carried on to the building of cities but exploration was done at this time.
In the summer of 1850 John was called to go south to help establish a new settlement on Utah Lake. This was at first called “Lake City”, but being too much like “Salt Lake City” the name was later changed to American Fork. Here he accumulated land took up farming and stock raising. He was successful in his work, also as a citizen and in the church. He was elected alderman in 1853 when Lake City first got its charter. He became first councilor to the first bishop. L.E. Harrington. He also was a bishop of the ward at American Fork, holding that position at the time of his demise in 1860. At the time of his death he was but forty-two years of age.
John Mercer deserves great credit for what he accomplished, for he met difficulties cheerfully and bravely overcame obstacle and by energy and perseverance worked his way to success.
Nancy Wilson raised Ammon Mercer. She came to this land and endured many sorrows and hardships for the gospel’s sake. She opened her home and her heart to children other than her own.
John Mercer married Emma Julian in May, 1856. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Shelford, Nottingham, 16 July 1834. In 1853, she, her parents, and one brother and one sister were baptized into the church, and in 1855 they left England for Utah. One brother stayed in England that we know of and there were two other brothers in the family that must have died young for there is not record of them but their birth dates.
The Julian family came first to St. Louis, Missouri, where they worked to earn money to outfit themselves for the trip across the plains. They left by ox team 1856 and arrived in American Fork the same year. William Julian, the father was a skilled tailor and a fine gardener and he did well in the new settlement. He lived to be 93 years old.
Emma Julian Mercer was left a widow when she was 26. She was the mother of two boys and in Sept. of the hear her husband died another son, William Julian Greenwood was born to her. She died of scarlet fever on Feb. 12, 1865, at the age of 31 leaving four little boys orphan. Nancy Wilson Mercer took them into her home and brought them up with her five daughters who were their half-sisters. They also had their Julian grandparents and Aunt Ellen Julian Barrett who were very kind to them. However, times were hard for all of them, but they accepted it and adapted themselves very well.
Ammon Mercer was the second son of John Mercer and Emma Julian Mercer. He was born 25 Nov., 1858, in American Fork, Utah. He wasn’t two yet when his father died and scarcely six when his mother died. He and his brothers then went to live with “Aunt Nancy”. They always loved her as a mother and she did all she could for them.
In spite of hard times Ammon got what education he could. He even managed to have a year at the Brigham Young Academy (now University) in Provo, where he paid his tuition and board by acting as a janitor. He was always a good student and encouraged his children later, to be interested in learning and cultural things.
He married Sarah Shelley of American Fork on January 20th, 1881 in Salt Lake City at the Endowment House. In company with Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCarty (Mrs. McCarty was Ammon’s sister) they drove to Salt Lake with a team and wagon for the wedding. Ammon filled a mission in the Southern States from 1887 to 1890. Sarah, with her three children, Jared, Mary Ellen (Mae) and Ammon, managed at home. She moved to a log house on her father’s lot, and there in one room cared for her children, and went out to work to keep them and to keep her husband on his mission. Joseph Alston and his wife, Louise, lived on Ammon’s farm while he was gone, and there must have been some revenue from that, but still times were hard.
In his journal, Ammon write: “in looking over my journal I find in my 28 months and 17 days sojourn in the mission field I have held or attended 133 meetings with my companions, 3 funeral services, 17 Sunday School Services, 9 Confirming Services when 18 persons who had been baptized by self and companions were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S., assisted in blessing a number of children, cut one man off, walked about 3,718 miles and rode about 6,000 miles with the distance home added or included. I will put down right here that whatever good has resulted or will result from my labors it is on account of the power of God attending the humble efforts of His servants and let the honor be with Him “That no flesh shall glory in His presence”.
His journal continues “About 9:00 a.m., March 23rd, 1890 we arrived in American Fork… my folks were not looking for me so it was a complete surprise. They thought we would go around by New York and not be home ‘till Conference. All were well, however, and delighted to see me. Pen is inadequate to express my joy in having the privilege of associating with family and saints in the “Lasting Hills” after an absence of 2 years, 4 months and 23 days.
“As it was Sunday a great many came to see us, in my father-in-law’s log house where my family had lived since my departure. In p.m. Bro. Gerber and I attended meeting and partook of the Sacrament for the first time since leaving…..(there is much expression here of meeting people and visiting)…and playing with my children who had grown very much, little Am out of my remembrance.”
After Ammon returned from his mission, he was quite settled again, farming, raising stock and six children. James Lee, Sarah (Sade) and Emma were born after he returned from his mission.
Then a call came to move to Canada where a Mormon settlement had been established in South West, North West Territories. He came to Cardston N.W.T. in Nov. 1897, and his family came in April, 1898. Sarah and five children came on the train to Lethbridge. Jared, the oldest boy, drove a wagon overland to bring their goods. He was only sixteen and had a lonely trip of six weeks. At Boulder he saw the train go by. His mother saw him from the train window and he saw her. It only made them both more lonely. Then at Wolf Creek he lost his dog and had to go on without it and that made trip sadder for him.
Ammon met his family at the train in Lethbridge, with a wagon, and they had 50 miles to go to Cardston, the only settlement south of Lethbridge. They stayed at Taylor’s sheep ranch the first night, then on to Cardston the next day. Here he built a two room house, near where the temple is now.
At this time transportation from Cardston to Lethbridge depended on horses. Ammon and his brother-in-law, Charles McCarthy, acquired some good horses and established a stage and freight service between Cardston and Lethbridge. They also carried the mail. Part of their equipment was a real stage coach of which they were very proud. They built a half-way stage station and barn on Dry Coulee near St. Mary’s River north of what has become Magrath. There were no fences, no bridges, just prairie road. Here at Dry Coulee they kept their change of horses and fee for them. The freighters carried their own food and sleeping outfits, but stopped over night at the station, taking two days for the trip to Lethbridge and two days to return to Cardston. The stage coach, carrying passengers and the mail, made a trip each way every other day with Ammon Mercer driving. The stage stopped at the Dry Coulee station at noon for rest and food and to change horses. Bert Strong took care of the station and stock. He and his wife, Rosie, and their children lived there at the station.
Mercer and McCarty grew the first grain in the district. In 1899 they enclosed a plot of ground west of their stage station with barbed wire, using for fence posts old locomotive flue pipes which they obtained from the rail road co. in Lethbridge. There they planted oats to raise for the horses. This grain was hailed to the ground in July but came back a fine crop and was harvested 10th of October with no frost. Bishop Harker brought his new thresher down from Cardston and threshed the grain in January, 1900.
At a Conference in June 1899 in Cardston it was decided to settle a new town on the plain. The Mormons had signed a contract with the government to build a canal and bring in settlers. This town was named Magrath. Ammon Mercer was called to be first counselor to Bishop Harker and so moved to the new settlement, along with the rest of the first settlers.
He and a crew of volunteers hauled his stage station by teams from Dry Coulee and set it down on a ten-acre block in the new town and this became their home. Magrath was now the half-way stop and Sarah Mercer the hostess of the station.
A Post Office was established in 1900. Ammon Mercer was appointed the first Post Master and a corner of the kitchen was partitioned off as the Post Office. Later an addition was added to the house and the larger room of the station was converted to the Post Office.
During the years it was moved to several other places, including a brick building Ammon had built for it but in 1912 it passed to another Post Master. But while Ammon was Post Master, his wife, Sarah, daughter Mae, and son Ammon Julian were all assistants to the Post Master, and all the younger children learned a lot about the business. It was part of their lives. It was interesting to see the mail come in and to see the people flock in to get it.
Ammon also operated the Magrath coal mine and continued to be engaged in quartz mining in Utah and as a consequence made many trips to Utah and Sarah kept the “home fires burning” while he was away. My father, Ammon’s son James Lee, said that Ammon was a dreamer, always looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He wanted so much for his family and he gave to his family things that were much more valuable than the monetary things he was seeking for them.
Ammon was one of the organizers of the Magrath Trading Company with Bishop Harker. He was also secretary of the first school board. He was a loyal Canadian and a good citizen. He did much to help build up the town of Magrath and to encourage interest in the finer things of life. He was a worthy pioneer of a new country. He always served the church faithfully. He was a comfort to the sorrowing and the sick and did not spare himself when others needed him. He died the 12 Nov., 1934 after a long and eventful life.
Ammon’s wife, Sarah Amelia Shelley Mercer, was a loyal helpmate and filled her place nobly as a pioneer I this new country. She was always industrious and met life with courage and fortitude. As a girl she helped her mother in the home and her father in the fields when necessary. She made the twelve candles each Saturday that did them the next week. She also helped her father to harvest the grain by the ”Cradle Method”. This was much different than the combine harvesters of today.
After she came to this country she went through many hard times. She was homesick at first. Conditions were primitive and the climate was very cold in the winter. She adjusted herself cheerfully and did everything she could to make a home for her husband and children. She kept the halfway station and entertained many fine and interesting people. She had only the two rooms at first, and a granary, but on one was ever turned away. Her boys called the place “The King Hotel”.
In 1901 the railroad came to Magrath so the half way station ceased to operate. But their home was still the headquarters for many visitors, old and young, and they were always welcome and they loved to come. In 1902 her seventh child, Alberta, was born on the 4th of July.
Sarah Mercer was a woman of fine tastes and a cultured mind. She read much and acquired a large store of knowledge and was able to converse intelligently on many subjects. She was always keenly interested in community and world affairs, and ready and willing to do her part to make the world a better place in which to live. During World War I she was superintendent of work for the Red Cross, and served faithfully until the Armistice was signed in 1918.
During the flu epidemic in 1918, she and her husband helped in many homes, walking through the snow, often late at night. She and Ammon were a blessing to the sick and afflicted in their community.
Sarah Mercer was a faithful church member. She was a member of the first Relief Society presidency in 1899 in company with Mrs. Maria Bennett and Mrs. Alice Rich. In August, 1910 Sister Maria Bennett was called to be the President of the Taylor Stake Relief Society and she called Sarah to work with her. In May, 1912 she was called to be the third president of the Taylor Stake Relief Society where she served for three years. Her counselors were Mary McCarty of Raymond and Zehzeel Merkley of Magrath. Then she was a counselor again in the Ward Relief Society to Eliza Toomer until the ward was divided in 1922.
The responsibilities of the Relief Society were quite a bit different then than they are now. In the first years there were no planned lessons sent from the General Board. The Stake Boards gave counsel suggestions but the wards planned their own meetings. The Programs consisted of testimony bearing, talks, readings, discussions, quilting days, sewing days and other services. There was not Relief Society Magazine then, the Woman’s exponent was the magazine for the Relief Society from which they received their instructions from the General Board.
In the beginning there was no doctor in Magrath, but the Relief Society visited and cared for the sick. Many times these sisters walked through storms and darkness over bad roads to help the sick and sorrowing. And if death came, they made the clothes, trimmed the casket and laid out the dead. During the war they supported the Red Cross Service generously.
The following is a copy of a letter written to Sarah Mercer on May 24th, 1922: “It would be impossible for us to express in words our appreciation for your past faithful labors and devotion to the great cause of the Relief work in our organization. The many hours spent in relieving others of pain and suffering, and comforting the aching hearts of the orphan and the widow, while perhaps you felt the weight of your own grief, (for all have our share of sorrow) but you smiled on for the sake of others, and went silently to God for comfort.
Thin not because our ward is divided that your work is finished. Your labors will always be needed, for the Lord said, “The poor you will always have with you.” Such spirits as yours and your husband’s will find much to do both here and on the other side. Think of your reward for the Lord said, “For in as much as you do it unto the least of one of these ye do it unto me”.
Accept this little token of remembrance with our love woven in every thread and when you wear it think of it as a mantle of love from your brothers and sisters. The Magrath Wards.”
In 1931 she and Ammon celebrated their golden wedding when many friends called at her home to offer their congratulations.
Sarah Mercer passed away on the 13th of March, 1935 at the age of 75. Since her husband’s death four months previously her health gradually failed and she passed away about 10 o’clock in the morning at the family residence.
“Her children arise up and call her blessed”. Proverbs 31: 28.
James Shelley was born in Claverly, Shropshire, England, 14th May, 1828. He joined the church in England and emigrated to Utah in Feb. 1851 with his parents and brothers and sisters. They came by sailing vessel to New Orleans. After a voyage of 10 weeks they went up the Mississippi by river boat. Near Memphis, Tenn, in April 1851 their mother, Elizabeth Bray Shelley, fell from the boat into the river. The captain said it would be impossible to turn around in time to save her, nor could they find her body. So they left her to the river and sadly finished their journey. They crossed the plains by ox team and settled in American Fork.
James Shelley married Mary Lee, 29th October, 1852. They were the first couple married in American Fork. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Southam, Warwickshire, 1 May, 1827, one of thirteen children who came with their parents to Utah and settled in American Fork.
They were fine industrious people and were welcome settlers of the town. James and Mary Lee Shelley were good people to their family and their neighbors and are remembered with honor. They were parents of 7 children, among them Sarah Shelley Mercer.
Married Nancy Ann Wilson, 2 Dec 1844, Christ Church, Whalley, Lancaster, England
Married Mary Ann Griffin, 3 Jun 1852, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Ann Capstick, 9 Nov 1852, American Fork, Utah, Utah
Married Emma Julian, 17 May 1856, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Married Jane Capstick, later divorced
Biography - John Mercer was born 7 Sept. 1818 at Bashall Eaves, Yorkshire, Eng. He heard the gospel from some of the first Latter Day Saint missionaries to England, accepted it, and was baptized on 19 Feb. 1843. In 1844 he married Nancy Wilson and the same year they emigrated to the United States.
John was the only one of his family to join the church and he never saw any of them again. John and Nancy sailed from Liverpool to New Orleans, then by riverboat up the Mississippi to Nauvoo, the Mormon City, arriving in the fall of 1844.
When the Mormons were driven from Nauvoo in 1846 they left with them to cross the plains by ox team. On the road through Iowa, between Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, their little daughter Margaret, who was born in Nauvoo, 14 July 1845, died, and was buried on the plains.
They remained at Winter Quarters until the summer of 1848 when they continued their journey to Utah. They had a second daughter, Mariam, born at Winter Quarters, Dec. 1846. As they neared Salt Lake Valley their third child was born in the covered wagon in Echo Canyon, 11 Oct, 1848. She was named Elizabeth echo. She was the only one of their first five children to grow past childhood.
They lived in Salt Lake City for a time. John Mercer was one of a group who re-crossed the plains to assist one of the handcart companies. He also went with Pres. Brigham Young and party to begin a Moron settlement on the Salmon River in Idaho. This was not carried on to the building of cities but exploration was done at this time.
In the summer of 1850 John was called to go south to help establish a new settlement on Utah Lake. This was at first called “Lake City”, but being too much like “Salt Lake City” the name was later changed to American Fork. Here he accumulated land took up farming and stock raising. He was successful in his work, also as a citizen and in the church. He was elected alderman in 1853 when Lake City first got its charter. He became first councilor to the first bishop. L.E. Harrington. He also was a bishop of the ward at American Fork, holding that position at the time of his demise in 1860. At the time of his death he was but forty-two years of age.
John Mercer deserves great credit for what he accomplished, for he met difficulties cheerfully and bravely overcame obstacle and by energy and perseverance worked his way to success.
Nancy Wilson raised Ammon Mercer. She came to this land and endured many sorrows and hardships for the gospel’s sake. She opened her home and her heart to children other than her own.
John Mercer married Emma Julian in May, 1856. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Shelford, Nottingham, 16 July 1834. In 1853, she, her parents, and one brother and one sister were baptized into the church, and in 1855 they left England for Utah. One brother stayed in England that we know of and there were two other brothers in the family that must have died young for there is not record of them but their birth dates.
The Julian family came first to St. Louis, Missouri, where they worked to earn money to outfit themselves for the trip across the plains. They left by ox team 1856 and arrived in American Fork the same year. William Julian, the father was a skilled tailor and a fine gardener and he did well in the new settlement. He lived to be 93 years old.
Emma Julian Mercer was left a widow when she was 26. She was the mother of two boys and in Sept. of the hear her husband died another son, William Julian Greenwood was born to her. She died of scarlet fever on Feb. 12, 1865, at the age of 31 leaving four little boys orphan. Nancy Wilson Mercer took them into her home and brought them up with her five daughters who were their half-sisters. They also had their Julian grandparents and Aunt Ellen Julian Barrett who were very kind to them. However, times were hard for all of them, but they accepted it and adapted themselves very well.
Ammon Mercer was the second son of John Mercer and Emma Julian Mercer. He was born 25 Nov., 1858, in American Fork, Utah. He wasn’t two yet when his father died and scarcely six when his mother died. He and his brothers then went to live with “Aunt Nancy”. They always loved her as a mother and she did all she could for them.
In spite of hard times Ammon got what education he could. He even managed to have a year at the Brigham Young Academy (now University) in Provo, where he paid his tuition and board by acting as a janitor. He was always a good student and encouraged his children later, to be interested in learning and cultural things.
He married Sarah Shelley of American Fork on January 20th, 1881 in Salt Lake City at the Endowment House. In company with Mr. and Mrs. Charles McCarty (Mrs. McCarty was Ammon’s sister) they drove to Salt Lake with a team and wagon for the wedding. Ammon filled a mission in the Southern States from 1887 to 1890. Sarah, with her three children, Jared, Mary Ellen (Mae) and Ammon, managed at home. She moved to a log house on her father’s lot, and there in one room cared for her children, and went out to work to keep them and to keep her husband on his mission. Joseph Alston and his wife, Louise, lived on Ammon’s farm while he was gone, and there must have been some revenue from that, but still times were hard.
In his journal, Ammon write: “in looking over my journal I find in my 28 months and 17 days sojourn in the mission field I have held or attended 133 meetings with my companions, 3 funeral services, 17 Sunday School Services, 9 Confirming Services when 18 persons who had been baptized by self and companions were confirmed members of the Church of Jesus Christ of L.D.S., assisted in blessing a number of children, cut one man off, walked about 3,718 miles and rode about 6,000 miles with the distance home added or included. I will put down right here that whatever good has resulted or will result from my labors it is on account of the power of God attending the humble efforts of His servants and let the honor be with Him “That no flesh shall glory in His presence”.
His journal continues “About 9:00 a.m., March 23rd, 1890 we arrived in American Fork… my folks were not looking for me so it was a complete surprise. They thought we would go around by New York and not be home ‘till Conference. All were well, however, and delighted to see me. Pen is inadequate to express my joy in having the privilege of associating with family and saints in the “Lasting Hills” after an absence of 2 years, 4 months and 23 days.
“As it was Sunday a great many came to see us, in my father-in-law’s log house where my family had lived since my departure. In p.m. Bro. Gerber and I attended meeting and partook of the Sacrament for the first time since leaving…..(there is much expression here of meeting people and visiting)…and playing with my children who had grown very much, little Am out of my remembrance.”
After Ammon returned from his mission, he was quite settled again, farming, raising stock and six children. James Lee, Sarah (Sade) and Emma were born after he returned from his mission.
Then a call came to move to Canada where a Mormon settlement had been established in South West, North West Territories. He came to Cardston N.W.T. in Nov. 1897, and his family came in April, 1898. Sarah and five children came on the train to Lethbridge. Jared, the oldest boy, drove a wagon overland to bring their goods. He was only sixteen and had a lonely trip of six weeks. At Boulder he saw the train go by. His mother saw him from the train window and he saw her. It only made them both more lonely. Then at Wolf Creek he lost his dog and had to go on without it and that made trip sadder for him.
Ammon met his family at the train in Lethbridge, with a wagon, and they had 50 miles to go to Cardston, the only settlement south of Lethbridge. They stayed at Taylor’s sheep ranch the first night, then on to Cardston the next day. Here he built a two room house, near where the temple is now.
At this time transportation from Cardston to Lethbridge depended on horses. Ammon and his brother-in-law, Charles McCarthy, acquired some good horses and established a stage and freight service between Cardston and Lethbridge. They also carried the mail. Part of their equipment was a real stage coach of which they were very proud. They built a half-way stage station and barn on Dry Coulee near St. Mary’s River north of what has become Magrath. There were no fences, no bridges, just prairie road. Here at Dry Coulee they kept their change of horses and fee for them. The freighters carried their own food and sleeping outfits, but stopped over night at the station, taking two days for the trip to Lethbridge and two days to return to Cardston. The stage coach, carrying passengers and the mail, made a trip each way every other day with Ammon Mercer driving. The stage stopped at the Dry Coulee station at noon for rest and food and to change horses. Bert Strong took care of the station and stock. He and his wife, Rosie, and their children lived there at the station.
Mercer and McCarty grew the first grain in the district. In 1899 they enclosed a plot of ground west of their stage station with barbed wire, using for fence posts old locomotive flue pipes which they obtained from the rail road co. in Lethbridge. There they planted oats to raise for the horses. This grain was hailed to the ground in July but came back a fine crop and was harvested 10th of October with no frost. Bishop Harker brought his new thresher down from Cardston and threshed the grain in January, 1900.
At a Conference in June 1899 in Cardston it was decided to settle a new town on the plain. The Mormons had signed a contract with the government to build a canal and bring in settlers. This town was named Magrath. Ammon Mercer was called to be first counselor to Bishop Harker and so moved to the new settlement, along with the rest of the first settlers.
He and a crew of volunteers hauled his stage station by teams from Dry Coulee and set it down on a ten-acre block in the new town and this became their home. Magrath was now the half-way stop and Sarah Mercer the hostess of the station.
A Post Office was established in 1900. Ammon Mercer was appointed the first Post Master and a corner of the kitchen was partitioned off as the Post Office. Later an addition was added to the house and the larger room of the station was converted to the Post Office.
During the years it was moved to several other places, including a brick building Ammon had built for it but in 1912 it passed to another Post Master. But while Ammon was Post Master, his wife, Sarah, daughter Mae, and son Ammon Julian were all assistants to the Post Master, and all the younger children learned a lot about the business. It was part of their lives. It was interesting to see the mail come in and to see the people flock in to get it.
Ammon also operated the Magrath coal mine and continued to be engaged in quartz mining in Utah and as a consequence made many trips to Utah and Sarah kept the “home fires burning” while he was away. My father, Ammon’s son James Lee, said that Ammon was a dreamer, always looking for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. He wanted so much for his family and he gave to his family things that were much more valuable than the monetary things he was seeking for them.
Ammon was one of the organizers of the Magrath Trading Company with Bishop Harker. He was also secretary of the first school board. He was a loyal Canadian and a good citizen. He did much to help build up the town of Magrath and to encourage interest in the finer things of life. He was a worthy pioneer of a new country. He always served the church faithfully. He was a comfort to the sorrowing and the sick and did not spare himself when others needed him. He died the 12 Nov., 1934 after a long and eventful life.
Ammon’s wife, Sarah Amelia Shelley Mercer, was a loyal helpmate and filled her place nobly as a pioneer I this new country. She was always industrious and met life with courage and fortitude. As a girl she helped her mother in the home and her father in the fields when necessary. She made the twelve candles each Saturday that did them the next week. She also helped her father to harvest the grain by the ”Cradle Method”. This was much different than the combine harvesters of today.
After she came to this country she went through many hard times. She was homesick at first. Conditions were primitive and the climate was very cold in the winter. She adjusted herself cheerfully and did everything she could to make a home for her husband and children. She kept the halfway station and entertained many fine and interesting people. She had only the two rooms at first, and a granary, but on one was ever turned away. Her boys called the place “The King Hotel”.
In 1901 the railroad came to Magrath so the half way station ceased to operate. But their home was still the headquarters for many visitors, old and young, and they were always welcome and they loved to come. In 1902 her seventh child, Alberta, was born on the 4th of July.
Sarah Mercer was a woman of fine tastes and a cultured mind. She read much and acquired a large store of knowledge and was able to converse intelligently on many subjects. She was always keenly interested in community and world affairs, and ready and willing to do her part to make the world a better place in which to live. During World War I she was superintendent of work for the Red Cross, and served faithfully until the Armistice was signed in 1918.
During the flu epidemic in 1918, she and her husband helped in many homes, walking through the snow, often late at night. She and Ammon were a blessing to the sick and afflicted in their community.
Sarah Mercer was a faithful church member. She was a member of the first Relief Society presidency in 1899 in company with Mrs. Maria Bennett and Mrs. Alice Rich. In August, 1910 Sister Maria Bennett was called to be the President of the Taylor Stake Relief Society and she called Sarah to work with her. In May, 1912 she was called to be the third president of the Taylor Stake Relief Society where she served for three years. Her counselors were Mary McCarty of Raymond and Zehzeel Merkley of Magrath. Then she was a counselor again in the Ward Relief Society to Eliza Toomer until the ward was divided in 1922.
The responsibilities of the Relief Society were quite a bit different then than they are now. In the first years there were no planned lessons sent from the General Board. The Stake Boards gave counsel suggestions but the wards planned their own meetings. The Programs consisted of testimony bearing, talks, readings, discussions, quilting days, sewing days and other services. There was not Relief Society Magazine then, the Woman’s exponent was the magazine for the Relief Society from which they received their instructions from the General Board.
In the beginning there was no doctor in Magrath, but the Relief Society visited and cared for the sick. Many times these sisters walked through storms and darkness over bad roads to help the sick and sorrowing. And if death came, they made the clothes, trimmed the casket and laid out the dead. During the war they supported the Red Cross Service generously.
The following is a copy of a letter written to Sarah Mercer on May 24th, 1922: “It would be impossible for us to express in words our appreciation for your past faithful labors and devotion to the great cause of the Relief work in our organization. The many hours spent in relieving others of pain and suffering, and comforting the aching hearts of the orphan and the widow, while perhaps you felt the weight of your own grief, (for all have our share of sorrow) but you smiled on for the sake of others, and went silently to God for comfort.
Thin not because our ward is divided that your work is finished. Your labors will always be needed, for the Lord said, “The poor you will always have with you.” Such spirits as yours and your husband’s will find much to do both here and on the other side. Think of your reward for the Lord said, “For in as much as you do it unto the least of one of these ye do it unto me”.
Accept this little token of remembrance with our love woven in every thread and when you wear it think of it as a mantle of love from your brothers and sisters. The Magrath Wards.”
In 1931 she and Ammon celebrated their golden wedding when many friends called at her home to offer their congratulations.
Sarah Mercer passed away on the 13th of March, 1935 at the age of 75. Since her husband’s death four months previously her health gradually failed and she passed away about 10 o’clock in the morning at the family residence.
“Her children arise up and call her blessed”. Proverbs 31: 28.
James Shelley was born in Claverly, Shropshire, England, 14th May, 1828. He joined the church in England and emigrated to Utah in Feb. 1851 with his parents and brothers and sisters. They came by sailing vessel to New Orleans. After a voyage of 10 weeks they went up the Mississippi by river boat. Near Memphis, Tenn, in April 1851 their mother, Elizabeth Bray Shelley, fell from the boat into the river. The captain said it would be impossible to turn around in time to save her, nor could they find her body. So they left her to the river and sadly finished their journey. They crossed the plains by ox team and settled in American Fork.
James Shelley married Mary Lee, 29th October, 1852. They were the first couple married in American Fork. She too was an emigrant from England. She was born in Southam, Warwickshire, 1 May, 1827, one of thirteen children who came with their parents to Utah and settled in American Fork.
They were fine industrious people and were welcome settlers of the town. James and Mary Lee Shelley were good people to their family and their neighbors and are remembered with honor. They were parents of 7 children, among them Sarah Shelley Mercer.
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