The Gathering Place!

The History of Moroni “Rone” Shirts & Sarah Ann Gates

Most of this history was written by their daughters, Meleta Shirts Cottam and Elizabeth Ann Shirts Lay. Original was Retyped by Ronald Huges.

This copy was retyped by myself, Anavon Harris, on March 8, 2019. Moroni & Sarah are my Great-Great Grandparents. Updates and notes have been added through the years by other family members with the sources included.

In a Humble little home in Old Harmony, Utah on December 23, 1857 Moroni Shirts was born to King Derius Shirts and Margaret Haslam Shirts, making the second child in their family. Moroni have 11 brothers and sisters. His mother, Margaret was born in England, and his father in Ohio. He, with his family of twelve moved to Virgin City, Utah where they lived until Moroni was twelve years old, then they were asked to move to Kanarraaville,, Iron County, Utah, and like all Latter-day Saints, they obeyed.

In his growing years he helped his father, Darius Shirts, on their farm at Kanarraville, Utah where he attended school until he was called to help guard their livestock and homes. He was called at the early age of fourteen; one of his fellow guards was Mr. Sam Polket of Kanarraville, who is still alive, and Mr. Wallace Roundy of Escalante, now dead. While Moroni lived in Kanarraville, Moroni along with other pioneer boys herded cows for the towns’ people and walked miles to where better feed was. One place they dreaded to herd cattle was in the mountain meadow, where the massacre took place. Each fall all the boys would gather pine nuts, which seemed a tedious task. One year they discovered a large cache of pine nuts, which belonged to the Indians. They were so happy with their find that they told their parents how hard they had worked each day until they had gathered enough for their winter nut parties. Moroni’s parents knew the truth would soon come out, and one day a visitor came to tell them how the boys had robbed the Indians with his pine nuts, which was their winter food. Of course, he had to repay the Indians with his pine nuts.

Moroni never knew what a pair of shoes were, his feet were so hardened that rocks had no effect on his walking at all. His parents had such a large family to support, so when Moroni got older, he lived with a man by the name of Cy Reeves until the family moved to Escalante, Utah in 1877. The Reeves family loved him as their own son. He has told us how mother Reece would make Bread Pudding and when it was cold, she would slice it like cake. When he would return from herding cows, how delicious it would taste.

When Moro

ni was between 16 and 18 he was called to stand guard over the lakes, in the Black Hawks War, which was about 18 months. Like many pioneer boys he had little schooling, his closest friend was Andrew Cory. When his own family came to Escalante, he came with them and worked along with his father to help support his brothers and sisters.

All the young people called him “Rone” or “Tall Slim Red”. He had red hair and beard because his face was scarred by gun powder blasts. Another story that can be found in the Escalante history, shared by Nethella Griffin Woolsey on p. 391 says Moroni and Alonzo Shirts were setting off gunpowder "pops' after each number in the July 4 celebration program and accidentally exploded the whole bottle of powder in their faces. This may have been what scarred his face. In the Family history records of Nile and Norene Mitchell, it was stated that the Old Harmony Ward records destroyed the first baptism record of Moroni and that Moroni had an Indian name "Intruckties" meaning the red one.

One Sunday afternoon he was invited to a corn parching party, that was the time he met a little girl with black hair and eyes. She too had moved to Escalante form Orderville where she had worked in the United Order. Her name was Sarah Ann Gates. Just a little bit of history about a corn parching party, which is one of the staples of the early long hunters and native Americans. It was said that one could live on parched corn and nothing else but water for weeks. It was used when no game was found. It was part of the celebrations in the United Order. The United Order was a group of Members who voluntarily chose to enter the United Order community would deed (consecrate) all their property to the United Order, which would in turn deed back an "inheritance" (or "stewardship") which allowed members to control the property; private property was not eradicated but was rather a fundamental principle of this system. At the end of each year, any excess that the family produced from their stewardship was voluntarily given back to the Order. The Order in each community was operated by the local Bishop.)

Sarah Ann Gates was the daughter of Charles Henry Gates and Elizabeth Butler Gates and the wife of Moroni Shirts. She was born 17 September 1861 in Providence, Cache County, Utah. The first great and dreadful thing in her life that she remembered was when at 23 months old her father was killed by a large grizzly bear in 1863, making her step-grandfather, Ira Rice’s 21st bear that he had killed. Her mother then being left a widow with 3 children two years later her mother married Dave Campbell. It was at this time they were called to Dixie to settle Beaver Dam, Washington County, Utah. They lived there from fall until the next Dec.1865. Food was scarce and hard to get, so for their greens they would gather greasewood greens to eat. While there in Beaver Dam they had a large cloudburst that washed their homes and everything away with the flood. Then they had to move up into the hills and live in a wagon box boarded up for 2 feet and a wagon-cover for a roof, which answered the purpose of a home. Next, the Company came down with chills and fever. The family had them for 2 1/2 years, which left her very weak and delicate. Brother Erastus Snow released them to go back to their homes in Cache Valley, but her 80 year old grandfather died when they reached Washington, Utah and he was buried in 1867. They lived there for two years. In her 9th year, 1870, her mother and stepfather, with the rest of the children moved to Panguitch, Utah.

Even though, she had always preferred living with her grandmother but was taken by her mom and Step-father to live in a fort so to be protected from the tribe of Indians led by Black Hawk Chief for they had so much trouble with them year after year. She lived there until she was 16 in 1877. She waded the Panguitch River to get to the field to glean (to gather the useful remnants of (a crop) after harvesting) Barley. She and her 2 brothers, William Henry and Hyrum Gates would go early in the morning and glean until sundown, having a lunch, no cookies or sandwiches, but a little bread and molasses. They’d wade back across again to get home. This would be there daily job, but Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday they’d wind their Barley and take it to the store to sell for shoes and material for clothes to wear to school and also to help to clothe the smaller children. She also spent her young life scrubbing floors and tending babies to help get clothes. She taught the Testaments class in Sunday school in 1876 and 1877.

In the fall after her birthday she went to Orderville in 1877 to live with her Grandmother Butler Rice and Uncle William Butler again. Here she took her turn with the rest of the girls of Orderville working in the United Order. She worked in the dining room a week keeping the tables scrubbed for they had no table linen of floor covering, so they had to put sand on the floor to cut the grease then scrub it with oose root (Also known as “Soap Root” Looks like a Yucca Plant) scrubbing brushes. Then for a week she could go to school. After a week in school she’d work a week in the kitchen, then to school again, then a week at the Bakery, molding large vats of bread into loaves of yeast, salt risen. A man mixed all the bread by the name of Charlie Carl. The group consisted of 6 girls. Then the cooking utensils were washed for the next group. She’d also help with the family knitting and piece quilt blocks.

While working in Orderville her parents moved to Escalante, Utah. The next spring, she again came to live with her mother in 1878. After they had lived from fall until spring again the first year in Escalante, Utah, she did washings and worked for women who couldn’t do it for themselves. First, she worked for Jane Ellen Spencer when her 6th child was born (Jane’s) for a $1.50 per week. Here she learned to milk cows. When her job was finished, she’d go with the town girls and women over to Pine Creek to burn cottonwood trees to get ashes to use for Lye to cleanse their wash water and make soft soap. They’d burn all day then when the ashes got cold, they’d sack them and carry them home and put a double handful in a little water the night before wash day then drain the water off to use as Lye. She stripped sugar cane to make molasses and picked up potatoes.

It was in this year her first courting was done. The young Man, Will Stokes, was very attentive to her and as lovers for two years spent many happy hours together horseback riding. She was never allowed to go to a big dance until she was 17. Her stepfather lived in Panguitch then again with her mother and his second wife. That made life not so pleasant for her and her brothers. He was unkind and selfish to them and finally deserted her mother, and then they had to work to get clothes for themselves and the new baby that was coming. They were then living in the little one room rock house near the bank of the creek.

She met her next sweetheart in 1879 while visiting with a female friend in Escalante on a Sunday in August. Her friend’s brother, Moroni Shirts ask if he could dance with her. They were married on December 23, 1879, Moroni’s twenty-first birthday. Moroni married Sarah Ann Gates a short time later, on Moroni’s twenty-first birthday, December 23, 1878, in Escalante; Mr. Adams performe


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d the Ceremony. In those days, no license was required, just the couple, a bishop or one of his counselors and two witnesses. He had worked all autumn to get money to be married on, but his sister Margaret Ann was being married and needed a wedding dress. So he gave her most of his money. He had no shoes; he danced barefoot. The day of his wedding his good friend Rile Porter loaned him his boots so that he would feel properly dressed for the occasion. All the town, young and old, were invited to the wedding dinner which consisted of potatoes and gravy, white bread, which was a treat it itself, squash, and a suet pudding the bride had cooked in a black kettle hanging in the fireplace. His father Darius was the violinist for their wedding dance. His suit was a pair of trousers made from dark linsey clothe, with a black and white striped hickory shirt. His suspenders were made of buckskin he had tanned himself. His everyday trousers were made from seamless sacks, and his wife made many a pair for him, all by hand of course and the next October 24, 1879, they traveled by team and wagon with a company of three other young couples for a temple marriage to the St. George Endowment house where they received their endowments. It took them six days to go from Escalante to St. George. They felt like they were finally really married.

Their first bedroom was a covered wagon box and corn crib, with a cover on it, setting at the side of his mother’s house. They lived in this for the time between September until January, when they moved into their own little home near his parents’ home. By March, Moroni had made a dugout on the lot where Lane Liston now lives, formerly the John Shirts place. Sarah Ann’s cellar home was neat. They had a four-holed stove, a bed with white spread and white foot-curtains. She had a shuck tick, two pillows, two sheets and a few quilts. There was a cupboard made from rough timber, two home-made chairs, a few dishes, and a chest. They then resided in Escalante for two years where their first baby, Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Shirts Lay, was born on May 18, 1881.

Elizabeth shared the following story about her father. “In 1882 my father and his brother-in-law, Hyrum Gates, hired out to a company of settlers, under the direction of Holyoak from Parowan, Utah. They were enroute to Arizona, going by way of the Escalante Desert, through to the Colorado River by way of "The Hole in the Rock" which was, and still is, a very dangerous place. When they came to the river, they ferried the wagons across the old Lee's Ferry boat; but father and Uncle drove the cattle across, swimming the cattle and their horses. It took them three weeks to make the trip as they had to make their own roads as they went along. While enroute on this trip one little boy wandered away from the company when they stopped, and although they hunted all night with lighted torches, the child was not found until sun up the next morning. The next spring, in the month of March, my father and family moved to Teasdale, Wayne County, Utah, and being the first white settlers there took up their farms, and built log houses”. While in Teasdale, Wayne County where he bought a piece of land. Moroni, Fred Moyers and Isaac Goodwin were the first to harvest wheat with a hand cradler, in 1882.

The next year they decided to move to Teasdale along with other members of Rone’s family. They sold their home to Edward Wilcock. In 1883 their second child was born; Mrs. Jane Shirts Mitchell. At this time, they had no church house in Teasdale, so they took turns holding meetings in their different homes. George Coleman acted as their presiding Elder. There was no Bishop because Teasdale went under the Thurber Ward. My father was an active ward teacher. When the first Primary was organized, Sister Jane Coleman, was president Mrs. Sarah Ann Shirts was first counselor and Lydia Adams was second counselor. Emma Jane Coleman was secretary and treasurer.

For two years in succession their crops were frozen, so he moved his wife and two little girls back to Escalante. In the spring Moroni rented Joseph Spencer’s farm north of town and raised corn, potatoes and cane that they made into Molasses, squash and some wheat in order to have a change from corn bread. Sarah Ann helped with the harvesting. She knitted for different people for milk and butter. When the crops were harvested, the wheat was taken to Panguitch to be ground. That fall they took up a lot that was the farthest lot south of town which now belongs to Blake Robinson. Moroni went to the mountains and cut and hewed the logs to build the one room house. He cut and hued the logs with an axe. This is where their son William Moroni Shirts was born, August 7, 1885; That winter they had white bread instead of corndodger. She had dried squash and a little dried fruit that had come from the Dixie country. Orchards had not yet started bearing in Escalante.

(These photos are of their first house that they built in Cedar Wash ---- I am just not sure yet where Cedar Wash is located, so I am not sure which story this home goes with.)

They now had three children and before the fourth child arrived, he bought a lot where Randall Lyman lives. On the northeast corner he built a log room with half dirt floor, the other half had lumber. There was not enough lumber, so they covered the roof with straw and willows. Sarah Ann sewed rags on shares to get enough rag carpet to cover the large floor, 15 by 24 feet. Straw and willows made the roof. After he built the west room that is now standing on the lot, he turned the first one into a stable. In this one called the stable, there forth child, Margaret Shirts Mitchell, was born September 9, 1887, much to his wife’s disappointment. She had looked forward to being in their new home for this event. Even though she was busy with her life and four children; she took part in ward plays, dances, and other activities.

For the next period of their lives they spent the summers at the Hog Ranch on North creek along with her mother Elizabeth Butler Gates Campbell and children. As was usual at these summer dairies, the women and children did most of the labor of milking thirty or forty cows and making cheese and butter. Rone rented farms near town and was finally able in 1907 to buy most of the Hall farm three miles north-west of town. Rone also headed sheep and carried mail. In 1885 or 86 Moroni started to carry the U.S. Mail from Escalante to Henrieville and Tropic for about five years. They carried the mail then through the upper valley thinking it would never be possible to build a road over the big mountain. In summertime there was high waters to prevent easy going: and, in winter the snow was so deep he had to mark the way with lathe, going over fences and all, and wearing snow shoes. After the snow became settled, he made himself a sort of boat out of cow hides. He would fill this full of chap to keep him warm and would ride in this, making the going easier and faster. Many nights my mother and I would sit up until two or three o'clock in the morning waiting and listening for the thump, thump, thump of his old cow hide boat. Hearing this we knew that once more father had arrived home safely. Many times, he came home wet past his waist, and after one such exposure he was taken ill with pneumonia. Many weary days passed and almost each day he despaired of ever being well again. Many times, he told my mother that he was afraid that he would have to leave her; but, through their constant faith and the prayers of the Elders when called to administer to him, saved his life. He carried mail for years, leaving home at 4 Am with his mail sack on his back and would return about 2 AM the next morning. His pay was $1.00 per day until his health began to break and he almost lost his life with pneumonia.

During the next few years a child arrived about every two years, until his family numbered nine. Their names are as follows: Sarah May Shirts Alvey, January 2, 1890; Charles Henry Shirts, March 17, 1893: Ersell Shirts, August 26, 1895; Meleta Shirts Cottam, January 6, 1899; Morris Shirts, August 11, 1900. All grew to maturity with the exception of their sixth, Charles Henry, who was run over by a team and wagon and killed at 18 months old. There is an article posted in the Deseret News, February 1, 1901, “Escalante Wedding of Miss Lizzie Shirtz and W.V. Lay Jr. A wedding took place at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Moroni Shirtz on Wednesday, the 23rd inst., in which their daughter Lizzie and Wm. V. Lay Jr. took prominent parts. A host of relatives and friends gathered and a very enjoyable day was spent. A wedding party was also given in the evening. It is rumored that others are going to pattern after these young people's example in the near future.” Source of this article was found in some News Clippings from Kanab Utah 1859-1925 in the possession of David Andersen and Kaylene Canfield 2016

After he recovered from the pneumonia, he hired out to Joe Barley to herd sheep for a dollar a day and he raised and supported our family on that small amount. Moroni started herding sheep for different men, sometimes his pay was only .30 Cents per day to support a family of ten. To save money, he boarded himself and spent time sleeping in his saddle blankets under a tree for shelter. Why did he use saddle blankets for his bed? Because quilt materials were so scarce and unable to be purchased at that time. Later his wife made him a camp bed and cords the wool from their own sheep for the quilts.

In the summer the family would move to the mountains up North Creek to what was the Hog Ranch. They lived at the farm from April to November where they produced butter and cheese as well as field crops and livestock. Sarah Ann would bring a bucket of butter to town wrapped in wet white cloths and covered with fresh alfalfa to keep it cool. There they would milk 50 to 60 range cows twice a day. Joe Lay let them have the milk in exchange for caring for them. This way they had their meat, butter and cheese for the winter. The whey was fed to the pigs to provide them with meat. Elizabeth shared “We hauled our cheese and butter to Salt Lake City--the trip taking three weeks. Cheese and Butter was sent to Salt Lake in exchange for clothing or cloth to be made into clothes for the entire family.” Generally, she came on Sunday morning so that the children could go to Sunday school. At this time in his life, Moroni bought a small farm northwest from town. He had no house on his farm but moved his family into a little log room on his neighbors’ farm, his wife cooked for the owner Benjamin Tanner. They lived there a number of summers, and Mr. Tanner would move into town and live with them during the winters. Moroni’s house was never too small for one more! One of his brothers and two brothers in law lived with them in the winter making 14 people in three rooms. Then he bought a larger farm connected to his small one, from William Spencer. They lived on this farm, then. By then he had gotten a sheep herd started by adding a few head each year, and taking sheep as some of his pay, until he found himself the largest sheep owner in Escalante, and then he would help other men by hiring herders or renting his herd to them. He now had two teams of horses, which he would transport his wool to Marysvale; it would take from 7 to 10 days to make the trip. How we children loved to see our daddy return with the wagon overflowing with sugar, by the 100-pound bags, and tons of flour, and canned goods enough to last a year. Shoes, too, if they were the right sizes, and cloth for mother to make more warm quilts.

In 1909 they traded lots with Riley Woolsey. Rone had a herd of sheep by this time and so was able to build a brick house with attractive grounds including a stone wall on two sides. In the year 1910 he had erected the brick house that W.R. Barker now owns, and he moved his wife and 4 remaining children at home, into this home the day before thanksgiving. The cost of this home was $3000.00 but he had paid for it with sheep and wool. He still had 1000 sheep left and he was out of debt. Around 1918, after their oldest daughter Lizzie Lay, became a widow, they bought a home in Richfield, to be near her and where he and his wife could spend their winters. Their daughter Lizzy and her family lived with them. This couple of old people was happy now enjoying their children and grandchildren. Through their combined efforts, and despite hardships of pioneer times, they had achieved a measure of comfort and security, and were able to relax a little and enjoy the fruits of their labors. Also, they were proud owners of one of the nicest homes in Escalante and he was faithful and devoted husband and father.

What did Moroni do for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints? He was at one time a counselor in the Sunday school. He paid his tithes and Fast Offerings; He donated $100.00 to the building of the North Ward Chapel. He sent two of his sons on missions and cared for their wives in their absence. His life was useful in caring for his own family as well as his mother-in-law and her orphan children.

Two years before his death, his family and friends helped Moroni and Sarah Ann celebrate their Golden Wedding Day; a banquet was served, and the evening was spent in dancing old time dances. When they celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary, they had 53 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren

In January 1932, he was transporting his daughter to Richfield in his Buick car as he had done for the sick many times, when he was stricken with an illness that caused his death. After 7 long weeks of being bedfast Moroni passed away at the age of 73 years, at sunrise, on March 7, 1931. His body was taken to Escalante to be buried in the Escalante Cemetery. This is what the article in the Richfield paper said: “Moroni Shirts dies here Tuesday at his daughter’s home. Moroni Shirts 7. An Indian war veteran and pioneer of Escalante passed away here Tuesday morning at the home of his daughter mars Elizabeth Ann Lay death resulting from a lingering illness with bladder trouble the body was taken to Escalante Wednesday morning and services will be held this afternoon in the Escalante South Ward, interment will be in the Escalante cemetery. Moroni Shirts was born December 23 1857 at Old Harmony Washington County Utah, a son of Darrius and Margaret Haslam Shirts. He attended the public schools there and as a young man served as a guard during the Black Hawk Indian War when he was 21 years of age he be moved with his parents to Escalante and there met and married Sarah Ann Gates they made Escalante their home with the exception of two years when they were called to led a group to Teasdale to help settle that locality Mr. Shirts was a prominent farmer and and stock raiser at Escalante. Surviving are the widow and the following sons and daughters Mrs. Elizabeth Ann Lay, Richfield; Mrs. Jane Mitchell, Shelley Idaho; Wm Moroni Shirts address unknown; Mrs. Margaret Mitchell, Escalante; Mrs. Sarah May Alvey, Escalante; Ersel Shirts Kelso, Washington; Mrs. Meleta Cottam, Escalante; Morris Shirts, Escalante surviving also are 52 grandchildren and 18 great grandchildren

In his funeral services it was said of him, “He was an honest man and believed all the principals of the Mormon Religion. Sarah Ann passed away eleven years later aged 83.

One memory that was shared by Susanna B Williams, (Garl Cottam’s wife) on Family Search, 21 May 2016 “Garl never knew his grandfather but he knew his grandmother, He said: I was young when I met her. She was a lovely lady. They had a hard life, I never got to go inside their home, but I know it was one of the nicest homes in Escalante.”

......all photos can be viewed and downloaded at Family Search. org.