Mormon Pioneers in the Family

Tarlton Lewis was a member of Brigham Young's first company of saints to arrive in the Great Salt Lake Valley in 1847. That company consisted mostly of men, their families remaining behind in Nebraska until the next spring. Sure enough, Tarlton was crossing the plains again in 1848, this time with his wife and two small children. Mary Younger Mayberry and her husband and two grown sons were also in the same company with the Lewises. In 1846, Haden Wells Church joined the Mormon Battallion in Nebraska, but didn't make it all the way to San Diego as planned. Instead, he became part of a detachment of sick soldiers who wintered over in Pueblo, Colorado. When the weather cleared, the soldiers, in company with saints from Mississippi, headed north to the Mormon Trail and then continued on into the Valley on the heels of Brigham Young's first company. None of these are direct ancestors but rather, close relatives just the same--just many generations removed.

Haden Wells Church-->Abraham M. Church-->Thomas A. Church
Daryl E. Hahn-->Hazel R. Lutes-->Robert E. Lutes-->Tennessee E. Younger-->Mary E. Church-->Charles C. Church--Thomas A. Church

Tarlton Lewis-->Neriah Lewis-->David Lewis
Nancy E. Thaden-->Nannie I. Moore-->William H. Moore-->Melvina Murphy-->Elizabeth Alexander-->Elizabeth Lewis-->David Lewis

Mary E. Younger-->Thomas Younger
Daryl E. Hahn-->Hazel R. Lutes-->Robert E. Lutes-->Tennessee E. Younger-->John W. Younger-->James N. Younger-->Thomas Younger

Trouble on the Border

The Punitive Expedition in 1916 was a military operation to secure U.S. borders from revolutionary bandits leaking over the border of Mexico and attacking U.S. towns and citizens. Poncho Villa was the Mexican folk hero of that time and the criminal who was the subject of a hot pursuit by both the American and Mexican presidents. Harry Boyd Kline was 21 years old and a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard when Woodrow Wilson called up the guard from across the nation to assist General Pershing's Army at the border. Reading old newspaper accounts of the progress of that operation causes one to reflect on the similarites of today's border situation. It took awhile for Harry's unit to organize and get equipped for the mission, and so it arrived at El Paso six months after Wilson's initial call in June. The guard units were not required to cross the border as the regular army did but rather, stayed on the alert, from the U.S. side, for attacks from Villa's bandits.

I am in the process now of seeking more information about Harry's specific unit, the 13th Infantry Regiment, Company I, and what their specific roll was in this military operation.

Interestingly, upon the arrival of the 13th back home to Bloomsburg, Pa., Harry's cousins in Kansas City were registering for the draft, as did Harry.

Harry B. Kline-->Mary E. Bright-->Richard B. Bright.
Nancy E. Bright-->Fred B. Bright-->Joseph F. Bright-->Richard B. Bright.