David Alma Stevens
Born: 10 February 1859: Holden, Millard, Utah USA (i)
Parents: Walter Stevens and Abigail Elizabeth Holman
Married: Sariah Agnes Johnson, 1881, Fruitland, San Juan, New Mexico.
(2) Mary Ann Boice, 13 Nov 1902, Casas Grandes, Chihuahua, Mexico
(3) Laura Stevens, 1930, Manti, Sanpete, Utah
Died: 14 June 1947: Holden, Millard, Utah USA
LIFE SKETCH OF DAVID ALMA STEVENS
Early Life
David Alma Stevens.
"I was born in the old fort at Holden, Utah, 10 February, 1859. My grandfather, William Stevens, and family were called by President Brigham Young to move from Pleasant Grove to Provo in the early '50's. Two years later they were called to come to Holden, or "Cedar Springs" it was called then, to start a settlement. As Indians were very treacherous, they built a fort, 'Buttermilk Fort.' The walls were made of adobes, and the people lived in this fort for a number of years before building and moving onto their city lots.
"The Stevens family suffered many trials and hardships incident to crossing the plains and helping to settle different places in Utah.
"In 1877-78, I attended the Brigham Young Academy. In the fall of 1879, I and my brother, Joshua and David Savage were called to go to San Juan, Utah, to help settle that country. We left Holden for that mission 29th of October, 1879. I helped make the road down the "Hole in the Rock" to the Colorado River and up the opposite side of the river until the wagons were on top of the Summit.
Then, as we had two good yoke of oxen to pull our wagon, I took five head of horses and my pack outfit in company with two Robb brothers from Cedar City, and started out to find the San Juan River. On arriving there, I was very much disappointed in the country and moved on up the river 100 miles into New Mexico where I bought squatter's rights to 160 acres of land. I worked the water assessment in the ditch and cleared some land for planting, and then returned to meet the wagons which I found on April 12th, at the mouth of the Rencone [sic] Canyon where it empties into the San Juan River, about twelve miles west of the location later chosen for Bluff City. I helped work the road on up [from] the San Juan River to Bluff, where the main body settled, arriving there about noon April 19th, 1880. [April 6, 1880]
"My brother and his wife then proceeded on up the river into New Mexico, (where they arrived April 25, 1880). Joshua was very much pleased with my purchase and the location of the valley. We had with us some seeds wheat, corn and potatoes, also garden seeds, which we planted, and all yielded a good crop.
(An uncle, Roswell Stevens, had accompanied David and Joshua to Bluff, but remained there due to poor health.)
"In the fall of 1880, six families from Moencopy, Arizona, were called to come there and establish
a colony. Four of the families responded. One, L. C. Burnham, was to be the Presiding Elder. The
town was called Fruitland, and I was appointed Postmaster.
Alma married Sariah Agnes Johnson in 1881 at Fruitland. They became parents to nine children.
Trouble in New Mexico
In the fall of 1880, my father sold out in Holden and moved ..." both wives and their children to
Fruitland. He then moved the second family to Bluff in 1885 in an attempt to avoid increasing
religious persecution which often took the form of property disputes, as titles were based on "squatter's
rights" until the early 1890s
One disagreement over property rights near Fruitland led to armed conflict and near-mortal wounding
of David Alma Stevens. One man was killed in the dispute and his friends sought charges against Alma, who,
wounded, himself seemed near death. A contingent of the Army was stationed nearby, and their surgeon was called to
treat the wound. He removed the bullet from Alma's thigh, but was not hopeful of his recovery. He
instructed Alma's mother of care of the wound and left him in her care. Warrants for the arrests of
Alma and Joshua were issued, but that against Alma was never served, as it appeared doing so would
be useless.
Joshua was held while an investigation was conducted, which resulted in the finding that the death
was caused by a bullet from one of the dead man's friends. Charges were dropped, but the judge
suggested both Stevens would better off somewhere else until the sentiment died down among the
deceased's friends. Alma was transported by wagon to Bluff to be attended to by his father's second
wife who was living there with her family. Joshua also went to Bluff for a short while.
As the U.S. government tightened laws which were intended to eliminate plural marriage, those
who believed that practice was acceptable to God sought ways to remain in the country, but outside
the juridiction of those charged with enforcing the law. Thus while illegal in Utah Territory, it was not
illegal in Arizona, New Mexico, or Wyoming Territories. As an example, polygamous husband could
house one family safely in Utah and another in New Mexico. Providing for both was more
difficult, but seemed to meet the "letter of the law." In 1887, the Edmunds Tucker Act was passed
by the United States Congress, set down much tighter regulations and threatened those who practiced
with fines and imprisonment. Greater consequences began to be imposed upon the "Church."
Experiments began in the 1880s with settlements in northern Mexico, and later in Canada, in part
because plural marriage was not illegal in those nations. By 1889-90, settlements in Mexico were
growing, and Walter Stevens and his son, Joshua, moved all or part of their families to these
"colonies." Alma, and their sisters also moved south of the border. In 1902, Alma married a widow,
Mary Ann Almira Boice Sprague, as a plural wife in Mexico. [Her father had also brought his polygamous families
to Mexico from southern Colorado.]
David's first wife wanted to live in the USA, so she and her children moved across the border to
El Paso, Texas, leaving David and Mary in Mexico. Agnes eventually moved in with her daughter, Melissa, and
lived in her home in Provo and Salt Lake City, and for a time with her son in Ohio. By the time
of the Mexican revolution (1912), the practice of plural marriage had ceased, and negative issues
surrounding polygamous families in the US had subsided, so being forced out of Mexico by the revolution,
the rest of the Stevens family returned to the States in 1917.
After living for a time in southern Arizona, (Chandler, 1920), Mary and son, Alma Boice, followed
her daughter, Lucille, to Los Angeles, while David Alma returned to Holden and continued stock raising
there. He eventually married his cousin, Laura Stevens, in 1930 and remained in Holden until his death in
1947.
Compiled and adapted for the Hole-in-the-Rock Foundation by:
David L. Walton.
Sources:
1. Autobiographical sketch of David Alma Stevens, FamilySearch
2. Melissa: An Autobiography, by five granddaughters, 2006
3. Autobiography of Abbie (Abigail) Stevens Young, FamilySearch 4. US Census 1920, 1930
5. Border Crossings: From Mexico to U.S., 1895-1964: Mary Boice, Lucille Stevens & Alma B Stevens,
A. David Stevens (11-28, 11-30 and 12-5-1917) [Ancestry.com]
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