Essentials
Born: 2 May 1831; Bungay, Suffolk, England
Son of: John BLOOMFIELD and Martha RICHES (or RICHARDS)
Married: 1. Harriet WILKINSON; 16 Nov 1857; Chanceville, Monmouth, New Jersey; 2. Elizabeth Ann BARTON (Ashcroft); 11 Jan 1869; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, UT
Buried: 7 Jan 1916; Ramah, McKinley, New Mexico

Descending family line:

3G Grandfather 2G Grandmother G grandfather Grandfather

John BLOOMFIELD (Harriet WILKINSON) Mary E. BLOOMFIELD (Joseph H. JAMES) George Heber JAMES (Sarah L. NELSON) George Heber JAMES (Norma MORRIS)

b. 1831 b. 1863 b. 1883 b. 1910

Page contents
One-minute history
Story of Elizabeth Ann Barton
John Bloomfield autobiography
Child's account: Autobiography of J.P.W. Bloomfield

External link
Cindy's Family History Place
(a collection of related biographies)

COMPILED BY DARYL JAMES
2002, USING VARIOUS SOURCES
     John Bloomfield was born May 2, 1831, in Bungay, Suffolk, England, to John Bloomfield Sr. and Martha Riches. John Jr. was the youngest of six children. He joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with his parents at age 19 in 1850 and was soon ordained a priest. He served as a missionary in England until his immigration to the United States a few years later. He sailed aboard the Thornton from Liverpool to New York City, traveling ahead of his parents, who did not arrive in the United States until 1862.
     Once in America, John Jr. made his way to Chanceville, N.J., where he met and married another British immigrant and Mormon convert named Harriet Wilkinson. She had immigrated from England with her parents and siblings and had arrived in New York on Jan. 1, 1856. The couple were married Nov. 16, 1857, when John was 26 and Harriet was 18.
     In 1859, John, Harriet, and their first daughter, Ellen Marie, went to Omaha, Neb., to prepare for the journey to Utah. While there, Ellen Marie died and Harriet's father also died, leaving her mother and family.
     In 1860, John and Harriet crossed the Plains with the Oscar Stoddard handcart company, walking all of the way. This was the 10th and final handcart company. In "Handcarts to Zion," LeRoy R. and Ann W. Hafen report that the Stoddard group was the smallest of the handcart companies. It included 124 persons, 21 handcarts and seven wagons with six oxen per wagon. George Q. Cannon promised the members of this company at the start, "If they would be humble and faithful, not one of them should die on the road to the Valley." This was literally fulfilled.
     John and Harriet, however, suffered many hardships. They were short on food and water and were always afraid of the Indians. At Three Crossings of the Sweetwater, 1,400 pounds of flour awaited the company, and rations were increased to one-and-a-half pounds of flour per person per day the rest of the trip.
     The company left Florence (Winter Quarters), Neb., on July 6, and never camped twice in the same spot until they reached the Valley on Sept. 24, 1860.
     Mary Ann Stucki Hafen, age 6, a member of the company, remembered, "At times we met or were passed by the overland stage coach with its passengers and mail bags and drawn by four fine horses. When the Pony Express dashed past it seemed almost like the wind racing over the prairie."
     Once in Utah, John and Harriet went to the church offices and inquired about some of Harriet's relatives who had come to Utah earlier. They found that they had settled in Hyde Park, Utah, so John and Harriet traveled on to Hyde Park, arriving Oct. 9, 1860. They settled in Hyde Park and had their final three children there. During this period they helped John's parents immigrate from England to settle near them in Hyde Park.
     The passenger list from the ship, John C. Boyd, shows a John and Martha Bloomfield aboard (almost certainly John Jr.'s parents). This ship, which carried 702 passengers, left April 23, 1862, from Liverpool and arrived June 1 of the same year at New York City. The presiding Latter-day Saint official on board was James S. Brown.
     Harriet and John were sealed in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on Nov. 14, 1862. But then, when John's youngest son was less than two years old, Harriet died, Jan. 2, 1868, at age 28, leaving John with three small children to raise.
     About one year later in Salt Lake City, John married a widow named Elizabeth Ann Barton, who also had three small children. She had been a plural wife of Henry Ashcroft, who had died May 9, 1867. John and Elizabeth Ann combined their families and had seven more children together.
     They stayed in Hyde Park until 1876, when the Church called them to help colonize Arizona along the Little Colorado River. While here in Sunset, Ariz., John and Harriet's daughter Elizabeth Salome married Joseph Henry James in 1877, and about 18 months later their youngest daughter, Mary Eliza, also married Joseph Henry James.
     John and Elizabeth Ann did not stay long in Sunset, however. Flooding and other problems created difficulties, so in 1881 they moved to a Mormon settlement at Ramah, N.M. They built a home here, but moved again in 1885 to assist in the Mormon colonization of northern Mexico. Their final child, Alexander Finley, was born Aug. 4, 1887, in Colonia Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico, near the colony where Joseph Henry James and the two Bloomfield sisters had settled.
     In 1894, John and Elizabeth Ann returned to Ramah, where they remained the rest of their lives. In 1912, after Joseph Henry James had died in a logging accident and the Mexican Revolution had made conditions unsafe south of the border, Mary Eliza Bloomfield moved with eight children to Ramah, where she also lived the remainder of her life. John Bloomfield died at Ramah and was buried Jan. 7, 1916, at age 84.
     Elizabeth Ann had died about two years earlier at the age of 74.

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An undated photo of Elizabeth Ann Barton.

Story of Elizabeth Ann Barton

AUTHOR UNLISTED
FROM "PIONEER WOMEN OF FAITH AND FORTITUDE" VOL. I
DAUGHTERS OF UTAH PIONEERS (1998) PG. 294-95
     Elizabeth's family lived by the wharf in Liverpool, as her family was quite poor. Her mother was ill a great deal of the time, so the work fell to Elizabeth since she was the oldest child.
     She heard missionaries speaking on the street, became interested in what they were saying, and began attending their meetings whenever she could. Her father learned of her attendance at these meetings and beat her soundly. When her father learned of her baptism, he beat her again.
     After her mother died, she went to live with her uncle. She worked hard in a pub to earn money to pay her passage to America. The saints gave her assistance and she was able to board as a steerage passenger on the ship, "Monarch of the Sea," which left Liverpool on May 21, 1861, and arrived in New York, June 19, 1861.
     From New York she traveled by cattle car on the railroad until she reached Florence, Nebraska. There she joined a wagon team to cross the Plains, although she was pushing a handcart in the company. When she arrived in Salt Lake Valley on September 11, 1861, she had worn out her shoes. Her feet were sore, bleeding and calloused.
     After her arrival, she went to Hyde Park to work in the home of William Hyde. One month after she was there, she married Henry Ashcroft, who had been a missionary she had known in England. She was sealed to him in the Endowment House. She was his second wife. Henry died just five months before their third son was born. Two years later, she married a widower with three children.
     In 1876, they took their combined families and answered a call to help colonize in Arizona along the Little Colorado. They were not very successful because of the flooding and other problems. In 1881, they were called to establish a colony in New Mexico, which was given the name of Navajo and later ranamed Ramah. They later moved to Old Mexico, in 1885, to assist in the colonization of that country. In 1894, they decided to return to Ramah where they could raise their children in the United States.
     Elizabeth always worked hard. She was also determined and courageous. She allowed nothing to stand in the way of her doing what she felt was the right thing to do -- not poor health, discomfort, hardship, nor heartache. Her life revealed this.

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John Bloomfield Autobiography

BY JOHN BLOOMFIELD
APPARENTLY WRITTEN OVER A PERIOD OF TIME
(THE LATEST REFERENCE IS TO 1913)
COMPILED AND EDITRED BY DOUG BLOOMFIELD OF RAMAH, NEW MEXICO
     I am John Bloomfield. I was born at Bungay Field, Suffolk County, England on May 2, 1831. My grandfather was Richard Bloomfield and my grandmother was Elizabeth Smith. From this union there were born three children, William, the oldest; John, who was my father; and Robert, the baby. Uncle William married Amy Page and they had ten children. My father married Martha Riches; Uncle Robert never married.
     My mother and father, John Bloomfield and Martha Riches, had six children; five girls and myself. I was the youngest.
     We lived in Bungay, Suffolk County, England, during the years I was growing up. My father was a farmer and we lived a very comfortable life having those material things that made life very pleasant.
     I helped my father on the farm and visited with my Uncle Robert. Uncle Robert had acquired a great deal of property in Suffolk County and in London, England. He gave me to understand that at his death I would inherit all he owned.
     The year I reach my 19th birthday proved to be the crossroad of life for me. I chose the road that was to completely change my whole life and that of my posterity. I had heard the Mormon Elders preach the gospel and had decided in my own mind that it was the true church. Uncle Robert told me that if I was baptized into the Mormon Church, he would disinherit me. The realization that the gospel was true meant more to me than all the property and money in the world. I chose to be baptized into the church. Elder Job Smith baptized me at Homersfield, September 1, 1850. My father and mother were baptized with me on the same date.
     About this same time I got small pox, and the doctor said I could not peaceably live until morning. I asked my mother to have the Mormon Elders come and administer to me. They came and they laid on each side of me and talked to me for a long time. They anointed me all over with olive oil, laid their hands upon me, and prayed for me. They promised me I would recover and not one scar would be left on my body. The next morning I was up and walking around outside when the doctor came. When he first saw me he was frightened because he thought he was looking at my ghost. I calmly reassured him I was alive and completely well. About three months after my baptism I was ordained a priest on December 1, 1850, by Thomas Smith. I labored as a missionary in Norwhich conference. About two years later, while accompanying some Saints, there came upon us a mob who were waiting for us. They swore they would take my life; they threw me down and tried to choke me with my tie. But there was a Deliverer. When they had almost accomplished their desire, one of their own party attacked those who were holding me down, with a walking stick, saying that he was out to have some fun, not to commit murder. This called their attention away from me and they all attacked my rescuer, leaving me in the street alone.
     In the year 1854, Elder Horace Jackson and myself gave notice that we would hold a meeting at the old gravel pit. A short time before the meeting was to begin, a sectarian minister gathered a large congregation and proceeded to our place of meeting. He then chose as his subject, "Who's on the Lord's Side?" and began speaking to the people, thinking in this way to prohibit us from holding our meeting. The meeting was well under way when we arrived; therefore, we waited until he had finished his discourse. When he walked off singing I took his place, choosing for my text the same subject he had spoken upon, and endeavored to show that those who were on the Lord's side were those who kept his commandments, also what those commandments were. The minister disappeared in the congregation. No sooner had he done so than rocks began whizzing around us; they fell at our feet and all around us. One brushed Brother Jackson's head and yet we were not hit once. One man filled his hat with rocks and advanced to within a few steps of us said he would hit me and threw all at me. The rocks fell all around my feet but not one hit me. The man crawled to my feet and picked up his hat and beat a retreat. This ended the disturbance, and we then continued speaking to a congregation of about 500 people; thanks to the minister for the same, for he gathered the people for us to speak to.
     This persecution, if so it may be called, served to strengthen my testimony as it proved to me that the Lord will protect His servants, if they will do His will.
     I labored in the Norwich conference until May 4, 1856, when with a company of Saints, I started across the Atlantic leaving Liverpool, England on the ship Thornton, arriving in New York on June 14, 1856, after a voyage of nearly six weeks. There were 764 passengers on this ship. Elder James G. Willie was president of the group.
     I then went to Chanceville, Monmouth County, New Jersey, where I was ordained an Elder by John Taylor in 1857. While residing at this place I was promised a coat of tar and feathers like they gave Joseph Smith. I never did receive the coat. In this same year of 1857, I decided to get married. I chose as my bride Miss Harriet Wilkinson, whom I shall now introduce to you. She will tell you of our life together.

Harriet Wilkinson comments

     I am Harriet Wilkinson. My father and mother are Nathaniel Wilkinson and Lydia Daines. They were married on October 26, 1831 at Wissett, Suffolk County, England. Of this union there were born four sons and four daughters, all of who were born in England. I was the sixth child. I was born July 4, 1839 at Chediston, Suffolk County, England. ....... I was 13 when the Mormon Elders first visited our locality. My mother attended their meetings and said it appeared to her that they were preaching the truth and she invited them home to dinner. She was very good to the Elders, making them welcome in our home. ....... In 1855 our family, in company with other Saints from our locality, left our homes to join the Saints in Zion, arriving in New Yolk on New Years Day, 1856. ....... We lived in Chanceville, Monmouth County, New Jersey for three years. It was here that I fell in love with my future husband, John Bloomfield. We were married November 11, 1857. On the 10th of October, 1858 a little girl came to bless our home. We called her Ellen Maria. ....... In 1858, my husband John and myself, together with my mother and father, traveled with the Saints westward to Omaha, Nebraska and remained there during the winter of 1859-1860. ....... This winter was to bring great sorrow into our lives. Our baby girl Ellen Maria, who had only been with us one short year, was called home on the 14th of October, 1859. As if this were not enough sorrow, my dear father passed away the same winter, leaving my mother with my sister Lydia and brother William to care for. ....... We remained in Omaha for one year at which time the whole company began the long journey across the plains. ....... I'll let John tell you of the hardships we went through

John Bloomfield continues

     On our trip across the plains we suffered the usual hardships of insufficient food and water and constant fear of attack by unfriendly Indians. One night I recall vividly: I was watchman over the camp, when I heard a wailing noise. I thought at first it was a panther, then was afraid it was an Indian call, but I listened and finally decided it was neither and went to investigate. Some distance from the camp, in a wash or arroya, I found a mother and newborn baby. The mother was dead and the wailing was the half starved, cold baby. There was nothing to identify either. I gathered up the baby and took it to camp where it was fed and cared for by the women. The next morning the men buried the mother, who seemed to have been dead several days. Our only guess was that she had strayed from another party and got lost and had had her baby all alone and then died. Just one of the unsolved tragedies of our early pioneer days.
     We arrived in Salt Lake City safely in the fall of 1860. We went immediately to the Church Office Building and inquired about some of my wife's relatives who had preceded us. We found they had settled in Hyde Park, Utah; we went there, reaching Hyde Park on October 9, 1860. It was certainly a joyous reunion.
     In the next few years, a great deal happened to Harriet and me. First, we had another daughter born to us on September 17, 1861; we named her Elizabeth Salome. My mother and father arrived in Hyde Park in 1862 after the long journey from England. They left England April 23, 1862 on the ship John J. Boyd. They crossed the plains with Captain Isaac Canfield's ox train. My father gave his age as 62 and mother 61 years at that time.
     For two years we had wanted to go back to Salt Lake City and be sealed to each other. On November 14, 1862, Harriet and I journeyed to Salt Lake City where we were sealed to each other in the Endowment House for time and all eternity (1863-64).
     About this time the Indians began giving us a lot of trouble, and I was commissioned an officer in the Black Hawk Indian War. I was also sent back to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to help another company of Saints coming to Salt Lake City. On January 21, 1864, Mary Eliza was born to us. Another two years passed before anything of importance happened. On March 23, 1866, a son was born to us; we called him John Parley William.
     (Note: The following came with the other papers but was not part of this text. It does belong here, however: The story goes that when John and Harriet Bloomfield were expecting their second child, she stitched into her pin cushion the name John. On September 17, 1862 they had a daughter and named her Elizabeth. When they were expecting again she stitched the name Parley after the John in her pin cushion. They had another girl, named Mary Eliza on January 21, 1864. The next time they were expecting she stitched in William, they had a boy, so she named him John Parley William. JPW's dad lived nearly 50 years after his birth, so he couldn't be called John. The people here (Ramah) all called him JPW.)
     Two months after this, my mother passed away on the 3rd of May, 1866. My wife Harriet was with me on this earth only 11 years. On the 2nd of January, 1868, she left this world to join our baby girl who had died in Omaha. Three months later on April 1, 1868, her mother (Lydia Daines) went quietly to join them. In another eight months, on November 30, 1869, my father left this earth to join mother.
     After so many of my loved ones had passed away, I was filled with sorrow and a great loss, facing the future with three small children to raise. If it hadn't been for my strong testimony and faith in the Lord, I am sure I could not have gone on. About this same time my good friend, Henry Ashcroft, was very ill. He called for Robert Daines and myself, who were his ward teachers, to administer to him. He knew he was dying, and he asked us if we would care for his families; we promised him that we would. Brother Ashcroft died May 9, 1867, at Hyde Park, Utah, age 32 years, 4 months, and 4 days. Almost two years later, on January 11, 1869, I married his widow, Elizabeth Ann Barton Ashcroft, who had three small boys. Brother Daines married Mary Glover Ashcroft, Brother Ashcroft's first wife. Here is Elizabeth. Let her tell you her story.

Elizabeth Ann Barton comments

     I am Elizabeth Ann Barton. My father and mother were Josiah Barton and Margaret Woods. They were married in Pemberton, Lancashire, England, June 24, 1838. I was born June 3, 1839. My dear sweet mother, who was very small, died March 24, 1854 and left us there with our irate father. I say irate because after mother passed away, we children and the work were almost too much for him. He would come home sometimes in a very bad temper. There were times I thought he had been drinking and not just water. When he was in this temper, we had to all be at home and be good too. If we quarreled he would whip us very hard. My sister and I talked it over one day and decided we would tend the children while I hurried up the work; that way we would get through before father came home and sometimes saved ourselves from a whipping. We seldom would attend church.
     Once or twice I went with a girlfriend and heard the Mormon missionaries talk; they usually spoke on the street. Once I went to a house where they were preaching to a small group. By the time I was 13 years old, I knew I wanted to join the Mormon Church, for I believed the things they told us at those meetings and felt it was a true gospel. On May 11, 1853, my sister Eliza and I were baptized by the Mormon missionaries. When my father found out about my baptism, he swore terribly and told me to go away. When I started away, he brought me back and whipped me so hard that I was very ill for days. He almost broke my fingers off trying to get my mother's ring from my finger. He had given me the ring the day they buried my mother. It was too large for me then and I put it on a string around my neck and wore it that way until my finger was large enough to keep it on. I had taken very good care of it, as it was the only thing of mother's that he ever gave to me. When he took it back, it almost broke my heart.
     He wouldn't let Eliza, my sister, come with me anymore when I went out to shop for food, and threatened me if I did not hurry home in almost no time at all. He made me work harder than ever before. For over a year my father kept all of us children virtual prisoners. I was not allowed to go to any meetings and my father stayed at home to see that we didn't go anywhere. He seemed to take delight in punishing the other children along with me. Home never seemed the same to me after that. Eliza and I became scared of him and wanted to run away.

John Bloomfield continues

     We continued to live in Hyde Park until October 2, 1876, when we were called to help colonize Arizona. I first located at Obed, now known as the Meadows. This was a very swampy place and soon every one was ill with the chills and fever, except Bishop George Lake and his wife Mary. Some became so weak that they were not able to help themselves, and the place was abandoned.
     Some moved to Joseph City just on the opposite side of the Colorado River. Some went to Brigham City, near Winslow, Arizona. In 1877, I moved to Sunset, which was then known as Lot Smith's Camp. It was while living here that I was ordained a high priest by Erastus Snow on January 27, 1878. We lived at Sunset for about four years. While we lived here we lived under the United Order. In 1881, I was called, together with others, to establish a colony at Cibola, New Mexico. When we reached Cibola, there were only two or three families living there. Others had become discouraged and left.
     A little later wed all moved to a larger valley a short distanced away, and established a colony. We named the place Navajo, Valencia County, New Mexico. Some time later Brigham Young, Francis M. Lyman, Jediah M. Grant and the presidency of the St. John's Stake came to visit and encourage the people. President Young changed the name from Navajo to Ramah, giving the colony the name by which the Hill Cumorah was know in Book of Mormon days.

Elizabeth Ann Barton continues

     John, let me tell a good joke on you.
     On one of the journeys when John was called to settle up a new place, we were traveling in a company and had some ox teams. John had a yoke of oxen. At night when camp was made the oxen were turned out to graze. Next morning when some of the men went to bring in the oxen, they ran across a long horn skull of a steer. They kicked at it and one of the horns fell off, so they got both horns. They then had the idea of playing a joke on John. they fitted the horns on over the horns of one of his oxen, drove them into camp and told John that his oxen was lost but they found another and brought it in place of the lost one. John looked at it and said: "It looks like my ox, but mine never had such horns as that." They told John to hitch it up and take it. He refused, telling them the Lord would not bless them if they stole. They delayed all they dared to, but finally had to pull off a horn. With everyone laughing, John was resolute in his honesty and was just going to turn the ox loose when they had to give in and show him the joke.

John Bloomfield continues

     In 1885 when so many men were being arrested and tried for polygamy, Peter Nielson and I, with our families, left Ramah for Old Mexico. We camped first near Colonial Diaz. We then moved farther in and rented some land near Casas Grandes, where a number of families were camped. We raised a good crop of corn and cane. We also had some nice gardens there. The church was buying land near or at what is now called Conial Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. We lived here about five years and then moved to Sonora, later called Colonial Quxaca, Sonora, Mexico. We lived here for some time when Elizabeth and I decided that we would move back to Ramah. We had lived in Mexico for nine years, and with Apostle George Teasdale and Alex F. McDonald and others we assisted in the colonization of the country. We moved back to Ramah in 1894.
     We stayed in Ramah a short while, then moved to Kirtland, San Juan County, New Mexico in 1900. Here we planted more fruit trees and berry bushes. Elizabeth said: "I can't see what good all this tree planting will do." I told her it would teach our children how to take care of themselves, and even if we didn't get to harvest the fruit, perhaps our children or our grandchildren would. I have made it a practice in my life to always plant fruit trees and berry bushes whereever I went.
     We sold our home in Kirtland to my son-in-law, Jesse Biggs, and moved back to Ramah in January 1908. Some of our children needed our help there. I am home in Ramah. My dear wife Elizabeth has now left me for the Great Beyond; she passed away September 15, 1913 at 73 years of age. I have traveled a long way in my life and I have worked hard ever since I can remember. I have gone where ever the church has called me to go. I have had many wonderful experiences, and I have made lots of friends, many many of whom have stayed at our home through the night or through a storm, or just until they were strong enough to travel on their way.
     We have raised good honorable children; all of them have a good testimony of the gospel. I hope their children will be so blessed. I am now left alone, and I realize that I haven't many years left to live. But before I go, I wish to tell you how much the Gospel means to me. I gave up a lot in material things for the Church. I and my loved ones have gone without, we have suffered privation and want, sometimes barely existing. It hurt me most to see my family go without. But I know that the material things of this life are unimportant. The thing that really counts is to prepare ourselves for the life after death. If we could only be as faithful as our Father Abraham. He was called to sacrifice his son Isaac, but because of his faithfulness, the Lord sent an Angel to stay his hand before he had to take his son's life. Remember, it is only a step to the great beyond. Live your lives so that I will always be proud of you. Always stand for that which is right. Be honest in all your dealings. Try always to serve your God, with all your heart, might, mind and strength, and in so doing you will prepare yourselves for a glory that defies the description of man. This is my humble prayer for you. Amen.
     (John Bloomfield died January 7, 1916 at Ramah, McKinley Country, New Mexico, age 84 years 8 months, and 5 days.

Child's Account

BY JOHN PARLEY WILLIAM BLOOMFIELD
SON OF JOHN BLOOMFIELD AND HARRIET WILKINSON
RECEIVED 17 JULY 1995 FROM CAROL NICOLL ANSLEY,
A COUSIN OF LAWRENCE B. BLOOMFIELD
EDITED BY A GRANDDAUGHTER
     Editor's note: The following autobiography is transcribed exactly as received, but with minor pen-in-ink corrections. John Parley William Bloomfield was my paternal grandfather. My notes will be italicized.
     I was born in Hyde Park, Cache Country, Utah, 23 March 1866. I am short, about 5' 5". I have blue eyes and light brown hair.
     In the spring of 1875 my father volunteered to go to Arizona to help colonize that wild barren desert country. I was nine years old so I accompanied him. As I remember we had a pair of mules. One of them was lazy. About the first thing I remember of the trip was the ferry boat ride across the big Colorado. It was the largest river I had ever seen. We hit the little Colorado, near the Black Falls. We followed the river up to where Joseph City is now located, crossed the river a short distance and located with a small colony which was called Obed.
     In the fall as I remember (it may have been spring) we returned to our Utah home. I got short on milk so father bought me some goat milk, but I couldn't drink it. No cows milk was obtainable. We traveled with Bro. Sutter Burnham and Vance Teitjemn who was returning to Utah from the colony. When we got to the big Colorado it was full from bank to bank. As the ferry boat had been wrecked we had to cross in a small boat. Bro. Burham went up a piece and swam the river to get the man and his boat. (I think his name was John D. Lee.) The wagon was taken apart and taken over a piece at a time. Each load they asked me if I wanted to go but I said no. The last load I had to get on but was afraid it would sink. One of the men said I had better take off my shoes so I could swim out. But I said if I drowned I drowned with them, but we got across all o.k.
     Don't remember anything more until we got home. Preparations then started for our return to Arizona. All I remember is in 1876 we returned to our new home in Obed, Arizona. We arrived there o.k. and after about a year, maybe longer, Obed was abandoned. We moved to Sunset, and there made our home for about five years. Here we lived in the United Order. All ate at one table, raised sheep, cattle and horses. At that time the horses was the best in the territory. Contention crept in. The people were too prosperous. So a few families was called to go and help colonize Savoia, New Mexico., Father being in the company.
     The company consisted of John Bloomfield (father), James Ascroft, Peter Nielson, William Bond, Polk Pipkins Sr., Saler Pipkins, and Ira Hatch. We located at Savoia, but for only a short time. We then moved to Ramah, about five miles west of Savoia, where now stands the little town of Ramah.
     From there I went to old Mexico in about 1883 and help colonize the beautiful little town of Colonia Juarez. There I worked at odd jobs for a time making brick. I played first base on the Juarez base ball team, and for some time run cattle upon the Sierra Madre Mountains. I was among the first to locate in the wilds of the Sierra Madre.
     Returning to Colonia Juarez, I fell in love with Miss Sylvia Bailey. On March 1, 1891 we was tied in wedlock by Bishop George Seavy, at the home of the bride. Married life lasted only a short time. She gave birth to a six pound premature boy on November 7, 1891. On November 11, 1891 she passed to the great beyond. The child was taken care of by its grandma Cynthia Bailey. (This was my dad that grandpa was speaking of. The grandma, my great-grandma was Cynthia L. Bailey.)
     After about 3 years I got the rambley. I was no longer content in Mexico. So I returned to the U.S.A. to my old home at Ramah, New Mexico.
     Here I again fell in love with one Miss Alice Melissa Gallagher. In the fall of 1895 November 27, I was again married. This time to Miss Gallagher in the Salt Lake Temple by Pres. C. H. Richards, where the work for my first wife was done preceding the second.
     I returned from my trip arriving home with the some of fifteen cents, after paying $130.00 railroad fare.
     I started work for J.E. Ashcroft firing his sawmill for $1.50 a day (10 hours a day, from 7 to 6 at night.) Then moved to Kirtland, New Mexico. Worked here for J.B. Ashcroft for awhile. Hearing of a vacancy for a six mule skinner, I returned to Ft. Wingate, where I applied for a job. I was put on at $30.00 and ration and quarters for my family. That was in 1903. I made good, driving team for the government for 18 months. Then contracted the freight from Wingate station to Ft. Wingate. Later I bought out the milk ranch lease and furnished milk and butter to the officers and other employees and continued contracting. I followed up the milk business for twelve years. Built up a small bunch of cattle. When I found that there was others living off my herd I decided to move them to Ramah.
     So in the early fall I moved 160 head to Ramah and turned them loose on open range. The cattle not being used to the range, I had a loss of 75 head when spring came. I., again in 1909 got the freight contract at Ft. Wingate with Manassah Gallagher. Made good then turned to farming and cattle business after the death of M. Gallagher in 1911.
     We at different times bought out the acres of the Gallagher estate at the cost of $36,000.00. I continued farming as long as I was able to attend to the business.
     My wife died in January 29, 1934. I was left alone with my two daughters (twins) until they got married. In one year one of them moved to a home of her own.

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John BLOOMFIELD Jr.
John BLOOMFIELD Sr.
Mary Eliza BLOOMFIELD
Lydia DAINES
Harriet WILKINSON

CHILDREN WITH HARRIET WILKINSON

CHILDREN WITH ELIZABETH ANN BARTON