An undated photo of Margaret Jane Casteel, first wife of William D. Kartchner.

Essentials
Born: 1 September 1825; Cooper County, Missouri
Daughter of: Jacob Israel CASTEEL and Sarah NOWLIN
Married: William Decatar KARTCHNER; 21 March 1844; Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois
Died: 11 August 1881; Snowflake, Navajo, Arizona

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One-minute history
Longer biography

BY DARYL JAMES
FROM 'JAMES/HATCH ONE MINUTE HISTORIES' (1994)
     Margaret Jane Casteel was born Sept. 1, 1825, in Cooper County, Missouri. She joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pike County, Illinois, at 14 and moved to Nauvoo sometime during her teens. In Nauvoo she met William Decatar Kartchner and married him on March 21, 1844, at 18.
     She and William began a westward journey in September 1844, but went only as far as Iowa City that year. They spent the winter in Iowa doing work to build rations but finally returned east in March 1845 due to lack of supplies.
     Their rations dwindled to one ear of corn per day per person on this return trip, and in this condition they walked in water and mud up the Iowa River. Margaret and William turned west across a large prairie toward Sioux country and traveled this direction until some Frenchmen and Sioux came to their wagon and invited them to camp near their fort. The Sioux pointed to Margaret's and William's cheeks, realizing how near starvation they were, and gave them dried buffalo meat and roasted corn. A Frenchman, M. Henrie, allowed the Kartchners to stay with him on the condition Margaret would cook while his Sioux wife was away. The Kartchners gladly took this kind offer and stayed with M. Henrie until July 1845, when the chance came for them to go on a steamboat down the Missouri River to St. Louis. In the spring of 1846, the Kartchners joined a company of pioneers in St. Louis headed for the Rocky Mountains.
     William and Margaret spent the winter of 1846-47 in Pueblo, Colorado, where they had their first child. This baby, Sarah Emma, was the first caucasian born in the territory of Colorado. Finally, on July 27, 1847, the young family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley -- just three days after the company of Brigham Young.
     Around 1850 Brigham Young asked the Kartchners to help settle San Bernardino, Calif., and the family crossed the Mohave Desert to the coast. By this time William and Margaret had two girls and a boy. They lived near San Bernardino about seven years until Brigham Young called the Mormons in the area back to Utah near the end of 1857. Margaret's parents had immigrated to San Bernardino but chose to stay behind.
     On the journey back to Utah Margaret gave birth to Alzada Sophia, her seventh child. Her joy was short-lived, however, because the next day her two-year-old son James Peter died while the family was still camped. Margaret had already lost her eldest son, William Ammon, in San Bernar-dino, and the pain of losing James Peter was great. She refused to have him buried in the middle of the desert away from civilization, so William placed the body in a large milk urn and sealed the top. They carried the urn on the wagon the rest of the trip and buried James Peter in the urn at their new home in Beaver City, Utah. The Kartchners later spent a short time in Nevada and then moved again to Utah around 1870.
     During these years Margaret had four more children, giving her and William a total of 11; however, of these 11, only eight lived to adulthood. Margaret was always busy raising chickens, spinning, weaving, and putting up fruit.
     In 1877, the Church called the Kartchners to help settle Arizona, and they responded by moving to Snow-flake, Ariz. By this time Margaret had spent 34 years helping to colonize four western territories; she had walked thousands of miles behind slow, plodding oxen with no roads to follow and only a wagon box for her home. Now, in Snowflake, she hoped to have a haven of rest. A permanent home was built, but Margaret lived only three years to enjoy it. She died in Snowflake on Aug. 11, 1881, at age 56.

-- Sources: 1. "Margaret Jane Casteel Kartchner." Pioneer Women of Arizona, pps. 291-295. (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah; BX8670.07.C579p). 2. 1992 interview with Merle Kartchner Shumway, a great-granddaughter of Mary Ann Argyle who helped publish John Henry Standifird's journal (interview took place in Provo, Utah). 3. Descendants of George Palmer and Phoebe Draper, pps. 445-461. (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, BYU, Provo, Utah.)

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Many weary miles

AUTHOR UNKNOWN
     Margaret Jane Casteel was born September 1, 1825. In Cooper County, Missouri. Her parents were Jacob Israel Casteel and Sarah Newlin. There were more then 6 children, but those whose names are known are: Mary (St. Mary), Emeline (Savage), Margaret Jane (Kartchner), James, Joshua, Francis Steven, called Frank. His fate was never known, and this was a great cause for mourning by his Mother and brother and sisters.
     The Casteel blood was of French extraction with mixture of English, Dutch, and Irish. They were evidently of devout Christian faith, for Margaret’s fathers family consisting of eight brothers and one sister were given Bible names through-out. They were Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Israel, Shadrack, Meshack, Abednigo, Daniel, Benjamin and Mary.
     Very little is known of Margaret’s life until she was 18 years of age, when she married William Decator Kartchner, on March 17, 1814, in the city of Nauvoo, Illinois. She was a skilled operator and weaver. One square piece of her home-spun cloth is still in possession of her youngest son. He tells of his brothers shearing their own sheep, then watching his Mother wash each fleece, card, spin, and weave it into cloth.
     From all evidence known, Margaret didn’t have much schooling, but she was a woman of fine intellect and sterling character, modest and refined in manner and deeply religious. She was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the age of 14 in Pike County Illinois.
     She and her husband began a Westward journey in company with a pioneer group in September 1844, but traveled only as far as Iowa City that year. They spent the winter there doing any work possible for means of subsistence, until another start was made in 1845. There was much hardship and short rations of food, Margaret walked for many miles of the journey because she was young and able bodied, at one time during this hard journey, when their rations had been reduced to one gill of corn a day per person with no salt, they walked in water and deep mud up the Ohio River with no road. Then leaving the river they turned westward across a large prairie toward the Sioux Indian country. One day some French men and Indians came to their camp and invited them to come and camp near their fort. They pointed to their thin cheeks, realizing how near starvation they were, the Indians gave them dried buffalo meat which the pioneers thought to be the best they had ever tasted. They also brought them roasting ears of corn, and finally a Frenchman, M. Henry, told the young Kartchner that his Indian wife was away, and offered them a boarding place, if Margaret would do the cooking. They gladly accepted the offer and sincerely appreciated this kindness.
     About the middle of July, a chance came to them, to go on a steamboat down the Missouri to St. Louis. They decided this was a good move under the circumstances. They had very few possessions to take aboard with them, but Mr. Henry and the Indians prepared two large bundles of meat for them, and provided them with food and clothing. A rich French gentleman, traveling for his health, gave them a pair of blankets and ten dollars in silver, for which they gave sincere thanks.
     William D. Kartchner had an elder sister living in St. Louis, but she was proud and haughty and considered the young pioneer couple scarcely worth any notice from her. Margaret became seriously ill with intermittent fever, but the sister, Mrs. James Webb, seldom came to see her. However, a Mrs. Powell, a wife of a rich southern planter, from whom they rented a small room, came and cared for Margaret, administering medicine and attending her needs. When she was finally out of danger her husband crossed the river and went on foot 60 miles to see his brother, John Kartchner. He came in his wagon and the young couple ferried their belongings across the river in a skiff, where he gave them welcome and a comfortable home for the winter of 1845.
     William learned of a company leaving for the Rocky Mountains in the spring of 1846. His determination to join this company annoyed his brother who had made a fine offer of land if he would stay with him for 5 years. They finally parted in anger, and William and Margaret joined the Mississippi Company in March of 1846. They hired out to drive a wagon loaded with a 1,000 pounds of provisions for a Mr. Crow. They traveled to Fort Pueblo, on the Arkansas River, arriving the latter part of July. Here Mr. Crow broke his obligation, fearing his provisions would run short. This left the young Kartchners again stranded, without even a wagon to camp in. The Company had halted here to wait for instructions from their leader, Brigham Young, and the Kartchners made camp under a large cottonwood tree. Under these destitute conditions, their baby daughter was born August 17th, 1846, the first white child to be born in the state of Colorado, an honor for which, many years later, the state presented to her, Sarah Emma Kartchner Miller, of Snowflake, Arizona, a gold metal. Not long after the birth of their daughter, the father obtained work as a blacksmith in which line he was skilled, at Bents Fort, 80 miles from the river. The young wife and child were left to the kindness of a Mrs. Catherine Holladay, and the journey to Bents Fort was made on horseback. The work was heavy, largely consisting of work for the U.S.Army troops, under General Kearney, on the way to the Mexican war. William worked there until the fall, and thankfully receiving $2.00 a day for his labors, but was stricken with a serious attack of rheumatism and was obliged to return to Pueblo. His wife was often compelled to wade as much as 100 yards through snow knee-deep to get cottonwood for fuel. Early in the spring of 1847 they began making preparations to resume their westward journey. With some of the money he had earned they bought an old wagon and provisions. Another man of the party permitted them to use a pair of oxen. William was still unable to walk, but did repairing of his own and other men’s wagons by means of his blacksmith tools screwed to his wagon tongue. Margaret carrying the pieces to him which were to be repaired. When they reached Fort Laramie they learned they were only 3 days behind the Pioneers under Brigham Young. The company traveled that distance behind all the rest of the journey, reaching the Great Salt Lake Valley on July 27, 1847.
     Margaret had another attack of Mountain Fever but recovered in less time than in the year before. They located at a spring about 9 miles SE of the city, and began the usual building of an adobe house, fencing, and farming the land allotted to them. Their food was very scarce but William went once into the city and bought flour at 50 cents a pound to make bread for their little girl. The parents were without bread of any kind for about 2 months, until new wheat and corn were ripe.
     In the winter of 1850 a call was made for a group to colonize San Bernardino. The Kartchners and the Casteels were among those called to go and a start was made in March 1851. They remained until the later part of 1857, when they were called to return to Utah. The Casteels did not make this sacrifice and Margaret left her people in California, she settled in Beaver, Utah with her husband and children.
     Another call was given to William to help colonize on the Muddy River, a location near the present settlement of Overton and Logandale, Nevada. Margaret and her children followed William there in May 1866, but after several locations were made, and much land was cleared and farmed, the settlements were abandoned. In February 1871, they now settled in Panguich, Utah. The hand planed log house which they built in 1871 is still standing and is in good enough condition for a family to be living in it at the present time. William was the first postmaster of Panguich, and the hole for posting letters is still to be seen, covered with a small board. Margaret was always busy raising chickens, spinning, weaving, and putting up fruit, both fresh and dried. By this time she had borne 3 other children, her family consisted of 6 sons and 5 daughters, 2 sons and a baby daughter died in infancy. One of the very saddest thing of her life occurred at Mohave Crossing, California. Her daughter Alzada Sophia (Palmer) was born the 5th of January 1858, and the next day James Peter, just past 2 years of age died. Not wishing to bury him in the desert, so far from human habitation the little boy was placed in a metal churn, the lid soldered on, and it was hauled to Parawan, Utah, where it was buried.
     In the spring of 1877, William Kartchner, son and sons-in-laws were called to help in the colonization of the little Colorado River Settlements. Several months were spent in gathering provisions and stock and teams, wagons, and supplies for 2 years, and on November 15th, 1877 they made for Arizona.
     The journey to Sunset, covered 2 months and 3 days, and Margaret was sick most of the way. The Kartchners settled 18 miles above Sunset, and called their settlement Taylor, but during 7 months there, no dam was proof against the floods which swept them away as if there was nothing there. After 5 dams had gone out, the entire settlement of Taylor was abandoned and the Kartchner family moved to the settlement of Snowflake, on Silver Creek, a tributary of the Colorado, in August 1878.
     Margaret had spent 34 years of her life in helping colonize 4 of the western states. She walked many weary miles, and had journeyed many thousands of miles over mountains and deserts, where no roads eased the rocky way, behind slow plodding oxen, months at a time having only a wagon for a home. A rather fine log house was built and life seemed now to have settled into a peaceful and less stressful pattern of living. She took part in the activities of the new settlement, especially in the religious affairs. But hard years had taken a severe toll, and she lived only 3 years, almost to the day, after she began her life in Snowflake. On the morning of August 5th 1881 she was taken with a very bad cough and severe pain in the head. Everything possible was done for her relief, but she grew worse every day until the morning of August 11, when she passed peacefully away with a pleasant smile on her countenance. Speakers at her funeral dwelt on the upright character and virtuous integrity of this good woman, she had lived only 56 years, but her life had been lived to a rich fullness in deeds if not in years.
     I am sorry, but I forgot to put this in where it belonged, but will now. On the 12th day of July 1880, the Relief Society of Snowflake was organized with Mary J. West as President, with Lucy H. Flake and Margaret Kartchner as her councilors. Sister Kartchner was faithful and punctual to meetings whenever her health would permit during the 13 months she served as 2nd councilor and several times edified and blessed the Sisters by the glorious gift of Tongues. She died August 11, 1881 to the sorrow of the whole community, for she was a noble good woman whose example was worthy of immitation by all.

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