Happy Pioneer Day!

John Harris Greer’s father, Thomas Lacy Greer, was 28 when he travelled to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. He came with his parents, Nathaniel Hunt and Nancy Ann Terry Roberts Greer, and many other family members in the Seth Blair/Edward Stevenson Company of 1855. They had recently arrived at the outfitting post at Mormon Grove, Kansas, (near Atchison) with a large group of fellow converts from Texas. They departed from there on 15 June and arrived between 10-13 September. A third of this company died of cholera enroute, including Thomas’ father.

Catherine Ellen Camp, Harris’ mother, travelled as a child at the age of twelve in the Shadrach Roundy Company of 1850. They departed Council Bluffs, Iowa, on 22 June and arrived between 10-19 September. She travelled in style with her family, comprised of her father, Williams W. Camp, her mother, Diannah Greer Camp, and siblings John (age 16), Harriet (age 8), Emma (age 6), Richard (age 3), and Margaret (age 1). They also brought two slaves with them, Dan and Charlotte. Little Emma died after less than a week on the trail in a cholera epidemic that swept the company.

It is not known which company Orpha Elzetta Nicoll’s father, Alexander Nicoll, travelled with to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, but it is known that he came before 1850 because he is listed on the Utah Census for that year with his brothers John and William as well as his stepbrother Hugh Lisonbee. His father, Peter Nicoll, went to California with the Gold Rush and died in a mine there. His mother, Margaret McPhail Nicoll, had died a few years earlier in Keokuk, Iowa.

 

Orpha’s mother, Sabina Ann Adams, was also twelve when she travelled to Utah in the Samuel Gully/Orson Spencer Company of 1849, which left from Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iowa, on 28 May and arrived between 22-25 September. With her were her parents, Arza M. Adams and Sabina Clark Adams, and her siblings Nathan (age 17), Joshua (age 15), Nancy (age 7), Theothan (age 4), and Joseph Smith (age 2). Another sibling was born just about a month after they arrived.

Remembering Raymond Hogue Greer

Ray Greer & his sister Bina Law

Ray was born 19 October 1911 in St. Johns, Apache County, Arizona, the youngest in the large family of John Harris and Orpha Nicoll Greer. He had a happy childhood growing up on Greer Ranch and attending school in St. Johns. As a teenager, he had a job herding sheep for Marion Haws of St. Johns. After his father died, Ray left home to work (against the wishes of his mother since he was only fifteen years old). He traveled around the country a great deal, returning for a few days at a time to visit.

Remembering Leland Camp Greer

Leland Camp Greer, the thirteenth child born to John Harris and Orpha Nicoll Greer,

was born in his Grandmother Nicoll’s home in St. Johns, Arizona, on 13 February 1908. His sister Flossie was the first to hold him and spent long hours with him and their other siblings playing about the hills and sandy washes near Greer Ranch.  They always went barefoot in the summer months. One of Flossie’s jobs was to see that her brothers scrubbed their feet and put salve on them every evening before going to bed.

During his boyhood, Leland helped with herding and milking the cows as well as making the cheese and butter. He went to school in St. Johns through high school, but never attended college. When he was eighteen years old, his father passed away, and Leland went to work to support himself and help support his mother.

He married Alice Geneva Crosby on 28 July 1930 in Holbrook, Arizona. They had six children: Milford Leland, John Harris, Terry Reginald, Laurie Jo, Michael Howard, and Nickolas LeSueur. Leland had great love for his family and provided well for them. His special interests included stock raising and farming, though he spent much of his life employed by Apache County in the road maintenance department. He is remembered as being efficient, trustworthy, and having many friends. He died on 7 August 1981 at the age of seventy-three.

Remembering Nathan Edward Greer

Nathan Edward Greer 

by his son Milton Greer

Nathan was the twelfth child of John Harris and Orpha Nicoll Greer. He was born on Greer Ranch 21 June 1906 and spent his early childhood there with schooling in St. Johns.  He was twenty years old when his father died in May of 1926. 

The following year he married Blanche Hamblin and lived for a short time in Farmington, New Mexico, working in the Blackburn fruit orchards. At other times Nathan was employed by John H. Udall (who had some grazing land near Hunt) and did plumbing work in St. Johns for Nello Greer. When Nathan worked for the highway department on Highway 66, the couple lived in Ash Fork and Oatman, Arizona.  They later settled in Mesa and built a home at 228 East 2nd Street.  Nathan worked as a plumber.

Remembering Irvin Babe Greer

Florence & Irvin Greer in the 1930's

Irvin Babe Greer 1904-1945

Irvin Babe Greer was the eleventh child in the family of John Harris and Orpha Greer. He was born 8 July 1904 in Concho. Irvin had a happy childhood on Greer Ranch with his brothers and sisters and attended school in St. Johns, Arizona. He was of happy disposition, a hard worker, and often said, if he lived long enough, he would have as many children as his father. As a young boy, he loved to ride horseback over the hills near his ranch home. Often he remained overnight, and sometimes two or three days, in cattle or sheep camps near the ranch. He could speak Spanish and had many friends among the people.

While working in Holbrook, Arizona, Irvin met beautiful, red-haired, Florence Virginia Rosenfield, who was divorced and had a six-year-old son, Albert Francis. Irvin married Florence and to them were born two sons and four daughters. The family lived in Holbrook and St. Johns until about 1937. For a short time in 1940, Irvin lived with Errol and Marilla Brown in Salt Lake City. The family also lived in Sunnyside, Utah, about twenty-five miles east of Price. Irvin and Florence later located in American Fork with their young children where he worked in the steel mills until his death on 14 July 1945. His death resulted from being shot following an altercation with a neighbor.

Children of Irvin & Florence Greer and their age at the time of their father’s death: Irvin Harris (14), Chester Lee (12), Lillian Marlene (9), Florence Virginia (7), Cheree Sandra (5), and Thomas Neldon (4). A daughter, Millicent, who was born in 1935 died at seven months of age, thus preceded her father in death.