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Not Without Honor

COLONIA JUAREZ along with the other Mormon colonies in Mexico was settled under the supervision of President John Taylor. He detailed six of the apostles at various times to assist, keeping them in the country for long or short periods and using them where their particular talents were most needed. With the exception of Francis M. Lyman all lived in Colonia Juarez, bought property there and left their mark on the early colonization. They are therefore included in this story.

John W. Taylor and Brigham Young, Jr., with the help of Moses Thatcher were instrumental in getting the order for expulsion revoked. In trip after trip to Mexico City they removed barriers incident to settlement. Francis M. Lyman headed an expedition into the mountains when land-purchase problems were most acute to give the Corrales basin official inspection and to authorize purchase should it prove satisfactory. Moses Thatcher was the authorized land purchasing agent for the Church. As appointed leader of the settlers, shoulder to shoulder with A. F. MacDonald, he piloted the way past difficulty after difficulty, thus carrying out a mission assigned him when he was made an apostle in 1879. He had organized the Mexican mission in Mexico City and had put great energy and imagination into the missionary work there. His contacts with key men in Mexico and his acquaintance with Mexico and her people especially prepared him to settle crucial problems as they appeared, to revive flagging spirits and to keep before the others the magnitude of their mission and of colonization possibilities. He had explored northern Chihuahua with Erastus Snow as soon as the Edmunds-Tucker bill had been passed. When Erastus Snow was released his mantle had fallen on the shoulders of Moses Thatcher. Together they went to Mexico City to adjust titles of land purchases already made and to purchase other lands: the Corrales basin, Strawberry and Hop Valley and 75,000 acres of timber land surrounding them. He was there when the new townsite of Colonia Juarez was dedicated, and gave the dedicatory prayer. He ever remained near the people of Colonia Juarez in spirit and came back again and again to visit them although property he had acquired there he had already disposed of-for colony benefit.

Erastus Snow had headed the Mexican mission in 1886, and for a brief period had cast his lot with the people of Colonia Juarez. With full intention of taking residence with them he chose a lot when they were apportioned out and was among the first to begin building. The rectangular two-story adobe house under the shelter of the eastern hill and facing the public square and later owned by Brigham Stowell still stands, a silent reminder that only his unexpected death in 1888 kept him from returning to occupy it. Brief as his sojourn was it exposed early settlers to his colonizing traits and left with them his faith and endurance.

George Teasdale, taking the place of Erastus Snow, moved into the Snow home and became the ecclesiastical head of the mission until it was made a stake. Earlier he had affiliated himself with Camp Diaz where he arrived April 1, 1885, and from where he was called to succeed Daniel H. Wells as president of the British mission, early in 1887. During his stay in Colonia Diaz he was advisor on camp problems, ecclesiastical director of meetings and conferences held, and helped officially in settling the expulsion order. He made the trip from Camp Diaz to Camp Turley on horseback, and by slow team travel from there to the railroad station at San Jose. He was chaplain in the exploration party headed by Francis M. Lyman, and approved purchase of the Corrales basin, the site for Colonia Juarez on the Piedras Verde river and Camp Diaz on the Casas Grandes river. He was preparing to move his family to Colonia Juarez when he was called to the European mission. Released in September 1890, he went to Colonia Juarez once more with full powers to direct Mexican mission affairs. He made regular visits to Colonia Diaz, Colonia Pacheco and Colonia Dublan. In 1894 he organized Colonia Oaxaca, the first colony to be established in the state of Sonora.