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William Jasper Boren
b.29 Nov 1837 Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, USA
d.16 May 1900 Wallsburg, Wasatch, Utah, USA
Family tree▼ (edit)
m. 7 Mar 1830
(edit)
m. 3 Jul 1859
Facts and Events
William Jasper Boren Sr. William Jasper Boren was the oldest living child of Colman and Mlinda Keller Boren. He was born November 30, 1837, at Peoria Illinois. His father had come from Tennessee. They moved to Nauvoo when he was a small boy, as they had joined the Church and wanted to be with the Saints. He remembered the Prophet Joseph Smith and remembered when the Prophet and his brother were killed. His father was a wealthy man at this time but it wasn’t long until they were going through the trials with the rest of the Saints. When he was a lad of ten years, they were driven from their home and they started for Utah from Nauvoo. They stopped for a while. He walked all the way across the plains and drove his fathers oxen, three cows and the sheep. They started with plenty of food and clothes. His father was bringing them food, were not molested. At one time they were delayed two days as their oxen had strayed, but they found them all. Through sharing their food with others, they didn’t have much left by the time they reached the valley. They reached Utah in 1851 and settled in Salt Lake, Later settling in Provo. Their home was between first and second south on third west. He being the oldest child, he had many tasks to perform, among them was herding the sheep and cattle. He also went to the canyon with his father for wood. One time while heading the flock, a fellow came and started to ask about the people of Provo, later on he found out the was a man who had left the Church in Nauvoo and had come with Johnstons Army. He went to Echo Canyon and was in the Echo Canyon War. He saw and talked with chief Blackhawk. When he grew to young manhood, he worked at the carpenter trade, also was a cabinet maker. He made bedsteads, cupboards, tables, wash-stands and chairs. He also made wooden dolls and sheds and he sold all he could make, especially at Christmas time. After his father died, he looked after his mother and her interests. When he was twenty-one years old, he met Lucina Mecham and after keeping company with her one year they were married July 3, 1859 in Provo, by Johnathan O. Duke, a very dear friend of the family. He was very ambitious, he wanted always to get the best for his family. He helped build the road in Provo Canyon. He was one of the first settlers of Wallsburg. William Wall and George Brown were the first. While working one day, the Indians came and they had to leave their home in Wallsburg where they went to Heber and stayed in a granary. His wifes sister, Emily and family stayed with them. The Allred family also stayed in the granary, but they had a carpet hung as a partition between them. After staying in Heber a while, they went back to Provo. But when there was no more danger of Indians, they moved back to Wallsburg. One time he was in Provo Canyon five days without food, but they finally worked their way out, but they had a narrow escape. He sent his mother her winter potatoes with his brother but that brother took the credit for the potatoes. His mother died very suddenly with a heart attack. He was always ready to help the poor and needy. One Spring a lady said, “We would have starved to death in the winter if it hadn’t been for William J. Boren giving us food”. At one time there was a poor family near the Borens. The Boren children said they felt sorry for them. Their father said “How sorry are you? Are you willing to divide what you have with them?” The children thought for some time, the one of them said, “I guess I can give a dress.” It was a few minutes until another spoke up and after another, when all had offered to give something that belonged to them their father said, “We will make it in a bundle and take it to them.” It made the Boren children happy. He learned to use tobacco before they knew it was wrong, and it was hard for him to overcome the habit. But he succeeded in doing it. He always felt like he would gain a blessing by doing it. One morning his wife was going to do the family wash, she had her clothes piled in different piles. Just after she started she missed one of the boys. She looked for him and then her husband looked, but they could not find him. They got the neighbors out looking too. They thought he had been stolen by an Indian. The men decided to take their gun and if one found him, he was to shoot the gun. The hunt went on for two hours, when he thought he ought to go back and see how his wife was. He had just been back a few minutes, then the little boy woke up and crawled from under a pile of clothes. It didn’t take the father long to shoot his gun and call the men back again. When William Wall was chosen as Bishop of the Wallsburg, grandfather was chosen as his first counselor. He also worked in the Sunday School and in the Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Association. He was a High Priest. When he took his wife and family to Wallsburg, he had built a one room cabin, but he wasn’t long in building a farm house. He bought stock in a cannery and lost what he put in. Then he bought stock in a co-op store, but one man got all the benefits of that. He freighted from For Laramie to Salt Lake. One time while in Parleys Canyon, one of his oxen got its leg broken and they had to kill it. He had to borrow an ox to finish his trip. He bought a Shingle Mill and made shingles for a few years. He was successful ar farming and cattle raising. He and some friends bought a threshing machine, it was run by hoursepower. His two brothers lived with him after their mother died, until they had homes of their own. His father had two wives, his second wife married Robert Broadhead. When she married, his mother divided everything with her and she looked after his second wifes children. She felt it was her duty. He often said his mother was the best looking woman he ever saw and he also thought she was one the best. Although his mother left a great deal of property, he never received any of it. His three sisters got it. His brother Alma died a young man, he was not married. At one time he was selling grain and as he was scooping the measure up the men said, “You sure believe in giving a good measure.” He agreed, “Well, I don’t want to have to go back and give somebody a few pounds of grain when I get on the other side.” It was a lesson that some of his children never forgot. He was honest in all his dealings and his word was as good as his bond. On March 7, 1870, he took his wife and went to the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. After a few years, his brother Bryant came from Arizona and his brothers and sisters went to Salt Lake and were sealed to their parents. He also had a half-sister and for half-brothers. One time his wife said she would like some cucumbers. His team was out on the range. She thought he had gone for his team, but the next day he came home with a sack of cucumbers. He had walked the twenty-five miles to Provo and back for the cucumbers. At one time his neighbor needed a doctor, he got his cart and rode forty-eight miles and got the doctor. Then he took him home again. He bought the first Surrey in Wallsburg, They sure were a proud family that could ride in a surrey in place of a cart on White Top. His wife was President of the Primary and as there was no place for the children to meet, he made benches and moved them in and out on Primary day, so his wife could hold Primary in her own home. He built a large room on the North of his house, they held meetings, parties and even dances there. One Christmas he surprised his family with a hanging lamp. He fixed it up Christmas eve after the family had retired. Christmas morning all were thrilled to see the Lamp, to see those glass pendants hanging on it. It was something to own one in those days. He was always giving the family something nice. They were the second in Wallsburg to have an organ. He built many houses, at one time he built a house at Deer Creek, where the cannery is now. When his oldest boys got married, he gave them each ten arces of ground, a team, 3 cows, sheep and a pig and told them if they wanted to, they could get rich. He also made cupboards and wash-stands for his daughter-in-laws. The youngest boy had to make his own without a fathers help for in 1892 he trusted a friend which took everything he had in land, but the home and two lots. He had to sell his cattle at a sacrifice as he had no wasy to deed them that fall. The next summer, he was ill and he never was well after that. He had diabetes. After being ill for seven years, he died May 16, 1900. He was a firm believer in the Latter Day Saint Church until the day he died. References
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