William Pace Goddard
Born: 10 Apr 1853, Provo, Utah, USA
Died: 21 Jan 1923, El Paso, El Paso, Texas, USA
Parents: William Pettibone Goddard and Mary Ann Pace
Married: 1 Jan. 1876, Harmony, Iron, Utah, USA
Anna Kirrilla (Karrilla) Taylor
Born: 16 Aug 1859, Kaysville, Davis, Utah, USA
Died: 13 Jan 1955, Benson, Cochise, Arizona, USA
Parents: Allen Taylor and Hannah Egbert
William Pace Goddard Family History
Not all of the Hole-in-the-Rock (HIR) pioneers planned to stay in San Juan County. Some saw the expedition as a way in getting to a more distant destination. The William Pace Goddard family was one of those who travelled on to their ultimate destination of New Mexico. Their first 6 months was spent getting to Bluff, Utah. It was another 18 months before they finally arrived at their new home in western Socorro County, New Mexico.
William was 26 years old when he left Harmony, Utah with his wife Kirilla and 2-year-old William Herbert and 1-year old Maud Anna to join the HIR expedition.
Although he was born in in Provo, Utah in 1853, he had moved to Payson, Utah and is noted in the 1860 census as living there as a 7-year-old, the oldest child of three children. Hannah, age 4 is his sister, and (Sidney) Cometeris, age 1 is his brother
Later on, in the mid 1860’s his family moved to New Harmony. At age 16 William was serving as a volunteer in the militia in the Iron Military District Utah Volunteers during the Indian wars. The Iron Military District was led by Erastus Snow who took effective action against the Navajo and Ute raids during 1869-70. The July 1870 US Census finds William in Harmony, Kane County, Utah at age 17, living with his mother, sister Hannah and brother Sidney. William is listed as working in a saw mill.
William married Anna Kirilla Taylor, daughter of Allen and Hannah Taylor, January 1, 1876 in Harmony, Utah.
The June 1880 US Census lists William, his wife Kirilla, and son William H. (age 2) and daughter Maud A (age 1) living in Bluff, San Juan, Utah. His brother Sidney is also living with them. They are farming. He is listed as having been unemployed for 6 months during the previous year. This would be the time of the move from New Harmony to Bluff, a six-month journey.
On her 80th birthday Kirilla recalled their trip from Harmony to New Mexico in 1879-1882. “They were on the journey for two years having to blaze their own trails most of the way. The wagon train crossed the Colorado River on improvised rafts made of logs tied together.
They had little trouble with Indians, for at that time most of the Indians whose territory they pass through were friendly. They would often go to the wagon camps to beg food and tease and annoy the women knowing the women were afraid of them, according to Mrs. Goddard.
The wagon train went to Durango, Colorado where it stopped while the men of the families worked on the D & R & G Railroad which was then under construction.
After leaving Durango, they journeyed on to Gallup, New Mexico which was nothing more than a blacksmith shop under a tree, she recalls.
After going through Winslow, Arizona, the group went to Alma, New Mexico, arriving there the day after an Indian raid led by the famous chief, Victorio. In the raid, the brother of Captain Clooney of the town’s little garrison was killed, and Mrs. Goddard remembers that he was buried in a solid rock tomb, which is still a landmark there.
From Alma, the wagon train journeyed on to Pleasanton, New Mexico where the Goddards decided to make their home. They built a two-room home of solid concrete with small “portholes” for windows, the house being designed to withstand the many raids of Geronimo and his band of Apaches. The house was built in 1882, the year they arrived.
Later, after the colony of Mormons there moved to Mexico, Mr. Goddard (William Pace) bought the land of both those who moved away, and then that where the soldiers were garrisoned, so that the Goddards acquired nearly all the property in the district, for ranching and farming.”
The 1885 New Mexico Territorial Census lists them in Socorro County with William as a farmer.
In October of 1896 W. P. Goddard appointed election judge for precinct #10 in Socorro County. He would also be appointed an election judge in the same place in 1908.
The June US 1900 Census records William living in Socorro County, New Mexico in Precinct 10 (Alma) and his occupation is listed as stockman – He and Kirilla had 11 children, all still living at this time. John E. is 19 and working as a farm laborer, Dora is 17, Lois is 16, Effie is 14, Sydney C is 12, Alfred A is 8, Jettie L is 6, Gerold A is 4, and Mildred is 2. John E. is listed as being born in New Mexico in November of 1880. However, John E. was probably born in Colorado since his death certificate states that fact with the informant being his sister.
June 16, 1909 W. P. Goddard was in Socorro on court business according to The Socorro Chieftain newspaper. William said he “received a letter from his wife yesterday morning saying that a ranger had discovered Indian tracks in the Mogollon mountains in that vicinity. This signifies that a band of Indians are off their reservation and that the killing of stock or the stealing of horses or the possible killing of a white man may be looked for at any time. The authorities may have business on their hands.”
Later in 1909 the family moved to Mesilla Park, New Mexico so the seven younger children could attend college at New Mexico A & M.
The El Paso Times reported in January, 1910 that William had built a new livery barn in Mesilla Park, New Mexico and took thirty head of young horses there and moved his household effects there also.
The May US 1910 Census found William living in Mesilla Park, Dona Ana county, New Mexico with wife Kirilla and children, Sydney, Alfred, Jettie, Gerold and Mildred. William is listed as a farmer in a home he owns free of mortgage.
In 1918, William and Kirilla moved to El Paso and he invested in real estate there. In January of 1920 William and Kirilla are living in San Juan Precint 6, Dona Ana county, New Mexico. Living with them is their son Gerold, and daughter Mildred Wertz and her son Frank. William is listed as a farmer.
William Pace Goddard died on January 21, 1923 at the home of his son, G.A. Goddard, 3724 Dyer street in El Paso, Texas. Kirilla moved to Benson, Arizona in 1942.
Kirilla Anna Taylor Goddard died January 13, 1955 in Benson, Arizona where she had been living since 1942. She was survived by two sons, four daughters and more than 200 grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great grandchildren. Her daughter, Effie Williams also lived in Benson, Arizona. Effie was born in 1885 in Pleasanton, New Mexico and has an interesting history herself. She was a friend of Pancho Villa and helped “toughen up” John F. and Robert Kennedy when they were teenagers.
Researched and written for the Hole-in-the-Rock Foundation by:
C.S.M. Dean Phillips
Notes:
1 1860 US Census, Payson, Utah, Utah, p. 243
2 1870 US Census, Harmony, Kane, Utah, p. 4
3 Goddard, Kirilla, 80 th Birthday Reminiscences, El Paso times, El Paso, Texas, 17 August 1939, Thursday p 6
4 1880 US Census, San Juan County, Utah, 21 June 1880, p. 5
5 Goddard, Kirilla, 80 th Birthday Reminiscences, El Paso times, El Paso, Texas, 17 August 1939, Thursday p 6
6 1885 New Mexico Territorial Census, Socorro County, Precinct 10, p. 40
7 The Socorro Chieftan, Socorro, New Mexico, 9 Oct 1896, Friday, p 3
8 - The Socorro Chieftan, Socorro, New Mexico, 24 Oct, 1908, Saturday, p 1
9 1900 US Census, District 0143, Alma, Socorro, New Mexico, Sheet 7
10 The Socorro Chieftain, Socorro, New Mexico, 16 June 1906, Saturday p. 1
11 Goddard, Kirilla, 80 th Birthday Reminiscences, El Paso times, El Paso, Texas, 17 August 1939, Thursday p 6
12 Goddard, W. P., El Paso Times, El Paso, Texas, 17 January 1910, Monday, p 3
13 1910 US Census, Mesilla Park, Precinct 5, Dona Ana, New Mexico, May 10, 1910, Sheet 72
14 1920 US Census, San Juan Precinct 6, Dona Ana, New Mexico, 19 January 1920, Sheet 7In
15 Goddard, William P., Obituary, El Paso Herald, El Paso, Texas, 22 January 1923, Monday, p 11
16 Goddard, Kirilla, Obituary, El Paso Herald-Post, El Paso, Texas, 14 January 1955, Friday, p. 21
17 Williams, Effie, Obituary, Arizona Daily Star, Tucson, Arizona, 19 August, 1979, Sunday p. 35