Draper Utah Endangered Historic Buildings 2

A History of James Ashburton
Bayard Crossgrove
Compiled by Hulda Crossgrove, a Granddaughter,
June 12, 1980

My granfather, James Ashburton Bayard Crossgrove was born on
December 31, 1831 at Pennsbury, Chester County Pennsylvania.
He was the eldest child of Charles Wright and Theresa Raymond
Crossgrove. He said he was born on the last day of the year, the last
day of the month and the last hour of the day. He added that he was
small enough to fit in a granite iron quart cup and that a good sized
tom cat could have carried him away.

James Father died in 1852, leaving him a head of the household.
He, along with his mother and four of his sisters, were baptized in
1856. He migrated to Utah with his mother and four of his sisters -
Mary, Sarah, Josephine and Olive. Rebecca and Elizabeth had
married and were left behind. He never saw them again.

He arrived in Utah in 1857. It was the same year that Johnston's
Army was sent to Utah. He went with others of the Mormon men to
meet the army. He said this was one of the acts of his life which he
regretted. The fact that he had taken up arms against the United
States Government shamed him.

He loved horses and took good care of them. He was a kind man
and when he was older with not much to do he would go to the barn
and feed them several times a day. They were fat and sleek and he
loved to brush and curry them. He had a horse and buggy, which he
drove to the post office to pick up the mail and get the semi-weekly
edition of the Deseret News. Sometimes he would pick me up at
school and, as the buggy hadn't a top, it was fun to ride with him.

He lived with our family for sixteen years. He had an upstairs room of
his own with a parlor stove with a glass front. We children loved to go
up to his room when we were invited and listen to him tell stories of
his boyhood days and about crossing the plains. He has a long
colored map showing the route the pioneers traveled coming to
Utah. It had the scheduled stops and he told us about them.

He also told us about harvesting the grain in Delaware with scythes.
A crew of men would go from field to field cutting an shocking the
grain by hand.

The fire would crackle and we would eat apples or popcorn until
bedtime. Apples were plentiful as there were apple orchards on the
farm. He slept in a bed with a huge feather mattress and when we
made the bed we shook it until it was soft and fluffy.

My brother Ralph was a particular favorite of his. He called him
Jimmie. Granddad's first name was James and I always suspected
that he would have liked to have had my brother named for him.

Grandfather always thought of Utah as part of the Mexican Territory
and, at times, he would long to go back to America. He said most of
his male cousins and friends had been killed in the Civil War but he
still would like to see the place of his birth and his sisters, Elizabeth
and Rebecca.

At times, I suppose we children would get on his nerves and he
would hitch up his horse and go on short visits to his sisters Mary
and Sarah, or to his daughter Nells. He always said he'd be gone a
week but would return in a day or two to his own bed.

He was a High Priest and the monthly Stake meetings were held in
Sandy. The Draper members would catch the twelve PM train going
North and return on the five PM train running South. He and his friend
had a short time after the meeting before boarding the train and
usually they would go to the town pub and enjoy some "spirits". My
father said the reason one of the windows in our house was a bit on
the slanted side was that granddad and his friend had set it after
returning from High Priest Meeting.

He, with his wife, Martha Ellen, and his five children moved to Draper
in 1873. He purchased twelve acres of land from Nephi and
Emaranda Heward for $23. He was a stone mason and he and
Uncle Jas and my father operated a brick yard. They made the
bricks for the house he built and he and Bill Boulter did all of the
constuction work on it except the stairs in the entry hall. Uncle Lewis
Mousely, my grandmother's brother, was a carpenter and he put
them in. Uncle Lewis was incarcerated in the territorial prison for
engaging in polygamy. He was fined the sum of three hundred
dollars and, as he didn't have the money, granddad paid his fine. In
return, Uncle Lewis built the stairs.

Grandfather went with my father whenever dad took a team and
wagon to do the business at hand. One day, instead of taking the
wagon bed they used the running gears to take some grain to the
mill to have it ground into flour. All went well until they were almost
home when the bridle came off from one of the horses. The team
bolted and ran away. Dad was afraid for his father's safety and, as
grandfather was sitting on the back with his legs hung over, dad
pushed him off and drove the team through the gate and into the
barn. Granddad was not hurt but was a bit surprised.

When the street car came to Midvale on our visits to Salt Lake City,
we would drive to Mr. Sharp's place and leave the buggy horse and
then catch the street car to Salt Lake. This man, as a teen age boy,
had come to Utah with grandfather. All of the men in the wagon train
or company were required to stand watch. They would take their
turns and punishment was dealt out if they slept on duty. This boy
was on duty and went to sleep. The wagon master said he was to be
flogged as his punishment. No allowance was made for the age of
the boy. Granddad was indignant and stepped forward and said "If
this boy is flogged, you'll have to flog me too!". The boy was not hurt
and he was ever grateful to Granddad.

Grandfather had a full white beard. Sometimes it was stained with
tobacco which seemed to fade right into his white hair. He was
stooped over and appeared to be much shorter than he was. In early
manhood he was six feet tall. He had done hard physical labor and
his hands were gnarled and his back was bent. He carried a cane
and did much walking.

One Sunday afternoon in early September, September 6, 1914 to be
exact, we were all out on the lawn talking. We were seated in a circle
and mostly remembering. Europe was soon to be engulfed in World
War I. Granddad's oldest daughter was terminally ill and we were
discussing her plight. He remarked that she would die when the
autumn leaves began to fall. He then began to talk about his second
daughter, Mary Euenia, who had died in 1875. She had married and
with her husband had moved to a town near Richfield. She died of
typhoid fever and left three children. He and Grandmother had gone
the hundred plus miles with a team and white top to bring the baby
home to Draper. It was rather a day of remembrance.

On the following Wednesday - September 9, he complained of a
pain in his chest. He'd been out and fed the horses and, as he had
scarcely had a sick day in his life, he was put to bed to rest. At about
three PM, after a visit from the town doctor (who said he would be
fine) he peacefully died. He asked for a drink of water, took two
deep breaths and was gone.

On September 12, 1914 services were held for him. He was placed
in a white hearse drawn by two white horses and the driver had a
stove pipe hat. My brother Avar rode with the driver to direct him to
the church. He was buried in the Draper Cemetary next to his wife -
who died in 1898. It was done quietly and with dignity, in much the
same way he lived.

This story about my grandfather are the incidents and things that I
remember about him.

Hulda Crossgrove