Andrew Andersen

1851 - 1938  (87 years)

• Name	Andrew Andersen
  Birth	24 Oct 1851	Norre Naeraa, Bredstrup, Odense, Denmark   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Death	12 Nov 1938	Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico   [1]
  Burial	14 Nov 1938	Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico   [1]
  Person ID	I8581	Scudder
  Last Modified	9 Oct 1999

  
  

  Family	Mariah Missilva Curtis,   b. 20 Oct 1865, Salem, Utah, Utah d. 6 Feb 1890, Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico (Age 24 years)
  Marriage	25 Oct 1882	St. George, Washington, Utah   [1]
  Children	1. Moses Monroe Anderson,   b. 5 Jul 1884, Graham, Graham, Arizona d. 12 Feb 1960, Virden, Hidalgo, New Mexico (Age 75 years)   2. Ami Lorenzo Anderson,   b. 6 Sep 1887, Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico d. 16 Sep 1983, Colonia Dublan, Chihuahua, Mexico (Age 96 years)   3. Martha Anderson,   b. 24 Jan 1890, Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico d. 1 Feb 1890, Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico (Age 0 years)
  Family ID	F3095	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart
  Last Modified	3 Mar 2024

  
  

• Notes

  Andrew, George Lake, and George Skinner were sent by the Mormon church leaders in Brigham City, Arizona, in 1880 to explore the Gila River area. There they purchased a water ditch and quit claim to four quarter sections of land that had been farmed by non-Mormons. This purchase was described as "a rustlers' ranch, possessed by horsethieves and speculators who had a small house on it, for which the brethren paid about $1800, in cows vallued at $35 per head." George Lake remained in the valley, and Andrew and George Skinner returned in December 1880 to Brigham City. The authorities of the United Order accepted the purchase, and sent Andrew and George, with others, back to the Gila. They returned with their families, by Moses M. Curtis and William Hawkins and their families, and a number of unmarried men, taking with them seed grain, farming implements, cows, sheep and other animals. Transportation was by ox teams. Christmas Day was spent at St. Joseph on the Little Colorado River, and New Years Day at Showlow. The party arrived on the Gila in January 1881. The new arrivals at once set at work, clearing their lands and putting in grain. The manual labor was performed under the conditions of the United Order and on a diet principally of bread and beans. The sheep bank was turned over to the Church, as profits of the Order, and the wheat and other products were divided according to the number of families and the number of persons. A stockade fort was built, but the homes for months consisted of sheds or tents and even of the wagons. In 1884, on the newly-surveyed townsite of Graham, was built a meeting house, called the "factory house," with mesquite posts and dirt roof and with walls only of heavy unbleached muslin, which appears to have been called "factory."

  
  

• Sources

  [S213] Family Group Record for Anders (Andrew) Andersen and Mariah Missilva Curtis.