william thomas pickeringlarryeasley.org/pdf/01pickering.pdfmary elizabeth decon (1833-1890) william...
TRANSCRIPT
MARY ELIZABETH DECON (1833-1890)
WILLIAM THOMAS PICKERING (1873-1962)
1. Marguerite Mary Pickering (1897-1982)
2. Gladys Gleniva Pickering (1898-1952)
3. Clarence William Pickering (1902-1966)
3. Joseph H. Pickering (1864- ??)
4. Sidney James Pickering (1867-1935)
5. Mary Elizabeth Pickering (1869-??)
6. Robert Pickering (1871-1923)
7. William Thomas Pickering (1873-1962)
Joseph Pickering (1838-1879)
1. Anna Butt (1855- 1919)
Patrick Quinlan
Margaret Quinlan
Newton N. Smith
Frank Smith
Belle Smith
Newton Smith
2. Thomas Butt (1859- ??)
John Butt (1832 – 1859) . . . Husbands. . .
Mary Elizabeth Beemer (1878-1939) Mary Elizabeth Sheffield (1878-1971)
William Thomas PickeringJuly 29, 1873 - March 23, 1962
William Thomas Pickering was proud of his English heritage – 100% English he always said. His
mother, Mary Elizabeth Decon was born in Sheffield, England in 1833. Mary was married to John
Butt and they had two children, Anna and Thomas. He died in Nottingham, England. Following
his death, she married Joseph Pickering and migrated to the United States. She died in Grand
Junction in 1890.
Joseph Pickering Jr. & Sr.Elizabeth & William Pickering Mary Elizabeth Pickering
. . . Wives . . .
Joseph Pickering/Pickrine (in his Bible he spells it "Pickrine") was also born in England and he
and his wife came to the United States in the late 1850's or early 1860's. It seems likely that the
couple crossed the great plains on a wagon train sometime between 1860 and 1864. Thomas,
Elizabeth's son by her first marriage, was, according to the 1870 census, born in 1859 in England
and Joseph, her eldest son by her second husband, was born in Utah in 1864. Given the fact that
the Civil War was raging, it must have been a difficult transit. William Pickering's father was an
accomplished fiddler and he "fiddled" across the country. There is some confusion in the census
records about the family movements. In the 1870 census taken in Parowan, Utah, Joseph and
Sidney were listed as being born in Parowan. In the 1900 census taken in Idaho, Sidney's
birthplace is listed as Nevada.
The family settled near Parawon, Utah. This area of Utah was know for iron mining and smelting,
but the occupation the elder Pickering listed in the 1870 census was "cowherder." Given his
profession, the family surely did not live in town. In the newspaper article related to Sidney's trial,
it refers to him as a young man from Paguitch, a small town at the other end of Parowan Canyon
roughly twenty miles away.
Names, dates, and census documents: One of the most
difficult aspects of family history research lies in the
often confusing world of census and other records. Birth
certificates and marriages were often not officially
recorded. Census documents are always a challenge
since names are often spelled the way the enumerator
hears them and, unless the family is looking over his
shoulder to insure accuracy, the information is listed the
way he records it in the official record. For example,
what is the family's last name? Pickering; Pickrine;
Pickerin; or Pickerine? All four are listed in
documents related to the family. In Joseph's Bible, he
writes Pickrine -- surely a person should know how to
spell their last name. In the 1870 Census, the records
are very hard to read and ancestory.com interpreted the
record as that of "John D. Pickerine." Closer
examination of the census sheet seems to indicate that
the enumerator may indeed have listed the head of
household as John rather than Joseph. In documents
related to Sidney and Robert they list their last name as
Pickerin. In the Utah death index it indicates Robert
"Pickerin" died in 1923. In the 1900 census, Sidney is Robert & Wm. Pickering
listed as Sidney "Pickerin." Even first names can be problematic. The 1880 census document
lists the eldest child as H. Joseph and the second son as J. "Sydna" For whatever reason the
document lists middle initials first. Since his parents were English the spelling of their second
son's name could have been either Sydney or Sidney, though Sidney was the more common
spelling in America and thus the confusion. Sidney or Sydney's first name may have been James.
He was called Sidney in the family but took James later in life. Though Margurite Pickering
-2-
always referred to the third son as Robert, he is listed in that document as Reuben. In Anna
Smith's obituary, it mentions her brother Robert. Birth locations are also a trial. The 1900
census would have galled William Pickering had he seen it. It lists his mother and father as
both being born in Missouri!! He is listed by his daughter Gladys as being born in Idaho in
both the 1920 and 1930 census.
In the stories he told his eldest daughter, Marguerite, William Pickering gave her the
flavor of the far west in the 1870's and 1880's. He told her that even at a young age he and
his brothers carried six shooters and would often practice on whatever was available. He
told her a story about one of his older brothers shooting a bear and the beast chased him
home. His father, in fact, became the victim of gun violence in 1879. Someone standing
outside his home late one evening shot him to death through a window. The Pickering’s
son, Sidney, was charged with the crime and sent to prison, but William Pickering never
believed his brother was guilty. If the census data is accurate, Sidney was 12 at the time
of the murder
-3-
Dee Billings-Gonzales, the grand-daughter of Gladys Pickering had a person with the
Deseret News do some research for her on the murder of William Pickering's father. The
researcher from the newspaper wrote, "While we do have prison commitment registers
from the Utah State Penitentiary, there is a gap in coverage from 1878-1880 which,
according to a newspaper article and supporting court records I found would be the time
period of sentencing for the young Pickering. The newspaper article notes, 'Sentenced--
Trial Set. Young Pickering, of Panguitch, who shot his father dead last fall, has been tried
in the Second District for the crime, and on pleading guilty, was sentenced to two years
imprisonment in the Penitentiary.' The Deseret News researcher also wrote that she
"located three entries in the Territorial Second District Court minute entry books relating
to a Sidney Pickering being indicted for murder. The dates range from 20 July 1880 to
approximately the beginning of September 1880. I believe this may be the same individual.
On 20 July 1880 Pickering is arraigned and pleads
not guilty. On 2 August 1880 he is indicted for
murder and changes to a guilty plea to voluntarily
manslaughter. Sometime between 4 August and 1
September 1880 he is sentenced for manslaughter. He
was later pardoned by Territorial Governor Eli H.
Murray on 6 March 1882.“1
Dee Billings Gonzales believes the family lived for awhile in Salt Lake City. They are still
listed as living in Parowan in the census taken in June, 1880, but this was a month before
the trial. It would make sense that Elizabeth moved her family to Salt Lake to be close to
her son and, when he was released, she moved her family to Blackfoot, Idaho. The 1900
census reported "Sidney Pickerin" was living in Albion, Idaho (about 100 miles from
Blackfoot) so he evidently remained behind when they moved to Grand Junction. There is
no documentation available to prove the Idaho move but a newspaper story celebrating the
1 Deseret News (September 1, 1880)
-4-
87th birthday of William Pickering noted that he had lived in Idaho as a young
man. Marguerite Weaver remembered her dad saying they had lived in Blackfoot. To further
prove the Idaho connection, in the 1920 and 1930 census Gladys Pickering listed his birthplace
as Idaho and he likely told her he'd come to Grand Junction from that state (in the same
census, whoever talked to the enumerator at 118 Grand listed it as Utah). Sidney James
Pickering died in Montana in 1935. According to Marguerite Weaver, Robert Pickering
became a copper miner in the digs near Salt Lake. He later lost a leg in an accident and died in
Salt Lake City, Utah in 1923. Thomas Butt eventually moved to Portland, Oregon. No
indication what happened to Joseph Pickering, Jr. or Mary Elizabeth Pickering, but they were
not listed as surviving in Anna Smith’s obituary in 1919.
Anna Butt left home before the death of her step-father. She married Patrick Quinlan in 1876
and had a daughter, Margaret, by him in 1877. She divorced Quinlan in 1883 and married
Newton N. Smith in Grand Junction in 1885. Newton Smith was one of the founding fathers of
Mesa County and Grand Junction. The area that had once been the Ute Indian reservation
was opened in the fall of 1881 and Grand Junction was incorporated the next year. Newton
Smith was one of three "Commissioners for Election for the Incorporation of the City of
Grand Junction" and that same year he and his brother opened a grocery and sundries store.
He was the first county treasurer and became assessor in 1906.2 The town really started to
grow when the D&RG railroad came through the area. In 1885, when Newton Smith brought
his new bride home, there were 385 people living in the city limits but by 1900 the population
grew to 1,000 with fruit, sugar beets, and other industries starting to prosper in the Grand
Valley. For Grand Junction, two of those prospering industries were drinking and
prostitution. In 1882, there were twenty-two saloons in Grand Junction and so many brothels
they were confined to a special red light district nicknamed "the Barbary coast" along
Colorado Avenue.3
-4-
2. Garry Brewer, Mesa County Assessors, 1883-2008 (Grand Junction, 2008)
3. Stephen Mehls, Valley of Opportunity: A History of Western Colorado, Chapter VIII, "The
Urban Frontier" BLM Cultural Resource Series No. 12 (1982)
Grand Junction (1884)
Grand Junction (1900)
Anna and Newton had three children; Frank E. (1886), Belle (1889), and Newton, Jr. (1892) all
born in Grand Junction. Among their other enterprises, Anna and her husband owned a
large rooming house for two decades at 459 Pitkin (across the street from Maple Park) that
catered to Railroad employees. Marguerite Weaver remembers her aunt Anna's home as
large and friendly and both her and Gladys always felt welcome there. The Smiths had close
ties to the railway industry besides their rooming facility. Both Newton Jr. and Frank worked
for the railroad. One wonders if Newton Smith helped his brother-in-law, William Pickering,
find work there as well. In 1918, Anna and Newton moved to Santa Ana, California hoping
the change in climate would help Newton's health. Their son Frank lived there and Newton,
since he was a Civil War veteran, could also use the medical ministrations at the Old Soldier’s
Home. He died in California in October, 1918, and is buried in the Veteran's Cemetery
Sawtelle. Anna died in Grand Junction on December 26, 1919 and is buried in the family
plot on Orchard Mesa
-5-
Anna Butt-Smith and her daughter
Margaret Quinlan
Elizabeth
Pickering Anna Butt-Smith
Newton Smith, Jr.
Margaret Quinlan-
Deacon
Smith family plot at Orchard Mesa Cemetery in Grand Junction
Elizabeth Pickering and her son William moved to Grand Junction in 1887 to a small "ranch"
along Kannah Creek near Whitewater, Colorado. The 1900 census indicates William rented
the property. According to Kathy Jordan, a Grand Junction historian, "In 1888, after the
completion of the bridge over the Grand (now Colorado) River allowed easy access for horse
and buggy travel to Orchard Mesa, Elizabeth Butt4 filed on the 40 acres of land that would
become the Orchard Mesa Cemetery. Then she sold the acreage to N. N. Smith and George
Thurston.5" Marguerite Weaver believed her grandmother had a stroke and spent the rest of
4. For whatever reason, Elizabeth Pickering was listed as Butt in the cemetery sale. In her obituary
she is also listed as "Mrs. Elizabeth Butt, the mother of Mrs. N.N. Smith.”
5. Kathy Jordan, "Orchard Mesa site contains 9 cemeteries," GJ Sentinel (June 11, 2010)
http://www.gjsentinel.com/lifestyle/articles/orchard_mesa_site_contains_9_c
-6
her life in a wheel chair, but Elizabeth's obituary lists the cause of death as stomach cancer.
Since the 1890 census was destroyed in a fire, there is no indication if she moved into Grand
Junction to live with her daughter after the cancer was discovered, but that would certainly
seem likely. She died in August, 1890 and is buried in the Municipal Cemetery on Orchard
Mesa in Grand Junction. Her daughter Anna and grandchildren Margaret Deacon and
Newton Smith, Jr. are buried nearby. Marguerite Weaver believed her father wanted to be
buried near his mother but Mamie -- and perhaps Clarence -- would not allow it.
6. It does seem a little odd that William Pickering's mother and both his wives were named Mary
Elizabeth and that both wives were born in 1878.
7. There is some confusion about "Marguerite" Pickering's name. In her Bible, the fly leaf indicates
Mary Marguerite (written in her handwriting), but the dedication page (written in 1911 when the
Sunday School Scholars Bible was given) refers to her as Margaret M. Pickering. She is listed as
Margaret in the 1900 census. She claimed that birth certificates were the exception rather than the
norm and she went to considerable trouble to eventually get one. Her father and two other witnesses
who knew her mother were required to sign the application. Her birth certificate issued in 1949 lists
Marguerite Mary Pickering. In a 1977 interview, Norabelle Weaver-Easley noted that her mother’s
name was Mary Marguerite.
In September, 1895, the young rancher married Mary Elizabeth Beemer6. They were still
living on Kannah Creek in 1897 when their first child, Marguerite Mary7 was born at home.
Gladys Gleniva Pickering was born in 1898 and Clarence William Pickering in 1902.
William Pickering (1898)Mary Elizabeth Pickering Wedding Photo (1895)
Western Colorado became a nexus for the cattle industry and, when the Ute Reservation was
opened up, cattlemen came into Mesa county. Growing up in Mesa county I shared the same
negative opinion about the quality of the land south of Grand Junction with its dry, brown
-7-
8. Mehls, Chapter VI, "The Stockmen's Frontier, 1880-1920”
9. Mehls, Chapter IX, "The Federal Government in West-Central Colorado”
grama grasses. Like so many I thought green was nutritious and brown worthless, but the
conventional wisdom was wrong. The cattlemen who came into the Grand Valley in 1881
got a six year head start on William Pickering and thus had an advantage -- they were at the
beginning of the cattle bubble while he was late. Competition was stiff and sometimes
violent. Typically, stockmen had a summer and winter range. They drove their cattle to
higher altitudes during the summer and back down to the home place all winter utilizing
federal lands for grazing in both locations. Though there are no extant documents
verifying the Pickering business practices it is probable they followed the conventional
system on Kannah Creek; winters at the home place and driving the cattle up toward
Grand Mesa in the summer. The Homestead Act of 1862 plus the Timber Culture and
Desert Land Acts passed in 1873 allowed stockmen to get as much as 800 acres for a small
investment (they did have to irrigate the land). When the D&RG came through Grand
Junction cattlemen in western Colorado had a real advantage.8
In some ways, William Pickering picked a very difficult time to be in the ranching/farming
business. The 1870's and 1880's had been somewhat better but, starting in 1893, the country
entered the worst depression in its history. The depression was particularly hard on those
who lived off the land and they moved into urban areas by the tens of thousands. The so-
called "irrigators" were especially angry particularly over the role of the Federal government
in land management. They also felt they were victims of the Denver controlled banks and
water companies. Any farming/ranching enterprise at Whitewater would have been
dependent on water for success and each year's losses put them closer to bankruptcy.
Colorado was one of the states that responded to the economic troubles by turning to the
Populist party and Mesa County was the most radical.9 Long after Populism was dying in the
eastern part of the state it was still strong in Grand Junction. There is no evidence he
participated in the political uprising other than voting for Populist candidates, but William
Pickering did move his family into Grand Junction. For Mary and the children it must have
been a refreshing change
Gladys Pickering (1914) Gladys Pickering (1900)Gladys and Marguerite
Pickering
-8-
Clarence Pickering(1905) Clarence Pickering
Grand Junction rail yard (1904)
William Pickering (1936) working as a D&RG hostler
For thirty years (1908-1938) the
head of the Pickering clan worked
for the Denver and Rio Grande
Railroad. Grand Junction was a
major hub for D&RG with a large
rail yard to service the growing
company. They even had an eight
stall brick roundhouse as well as
machine shops and repair facilities.
To illustrate the importance of the
railroad in western Colorado, in
1912, twenty-seven people in nine
cars tried to drive from Grand
Junction to Salt Lake (285 miles).
It took them eleven days of very
arduous driving. Rather than drive
back they shipped their cars by
rail.
Pickering’s primary job was as a
hostler. He didn’t operate engines
on the road, but was in charge of
moving rolling stock in the yard
and the engines in the round house.
This allowed him to be home every
night. According to his eldest
daughter he was offered a
promotion to the more prestigious
and better paying job as a road
engineer but was forced to turn it
down because there was no one to
care for his children. He retired in
1938 at age sixty-five.
-9-
In a closer examination of the Pickering family dynamics, it might not have been the hard
scrabble existence at Kannah Creek that caused the move into town. For most of his marriage,
William Pickering had a cross to bear in his home life. He had a troubled marriage and his wife
was often absent. About 1908 he started at D&RGW and the 1910 census shows him living
alone on Crawford while his wife, Mary, was living on Pitkin Avenue. All three children spent
most of the time from at least 1910 to 1913 in Rifle, Colorado. William and Mary finally
divorced in 1915 after twenty years.
Norabelle Lough, William Pickering, Gladys
Billings holding Marguerite Lough, and
Marguerite Weaver (1938) Photo was taken in
front of 118 Grand about the time Wm.
Pickering retired.
His eldest daughter married Royal James Weaver in 1914 and Gladys married Delbert Billings
two years later. From 1920 until his retirement and move to California, his daughter Marguerite,
her husband Roy, and their five children lived with him at 421 Crawford and then 118 Grand (see
Marguerite Pickering-Weaver bio). It would be interesting to know the dynamics of the
household, but Marguerite did not say. For Marguerite and her children William Pickering
occupied a special place. His grandson, "Bud," saw him as a father figure. In fact, William
Pickering, his two daughters, and his ten grand children all lived within a one block radius -- the
Pickering/Weaver clan at 118 Grand and the Billings family at 117 White. His son, Clarence,
became a machinist and moved to Oklahoma. In 1927, he married Bessie Hoff, a beautician and
artist sixteen years his senior. In 1929 they moved to California and spent the rest of their lives
there.
Following his retirement, William Pickering
traveled to California to spend time with
Clarence and Bessie. It seems that there
was a widow named "Mamie" McKinney10
living next door. Marguerite Weaver always
believed Mamie trapped her father into
marriage11 and twenty-two years in
California. With an eligible bachelor next
door Mamie was always finding something
for the retired cowboy to fix. Marguerite
Weaver believed that some of those tasks
were invented. Marguerite Weaver went
from seeing her dad every day to an
occasional visit in the summer.
10. Mary Elizabeth ("Mamie") Sheffield was
born in 1878 in Camden County, Georgia. She
married Newton Stafford in 1897 until his death
in 1915. She then married Porter McKinney in
1919 until his death in 1937. According to her
grand-niece, Elizabeth Edwards Glick, "Aunt
Mamie raised my mother Lila Christine Clark
from the time my mother was 5 years old (my mother's father was killed when she was 10 months old).
The McKinneys and my mother came to California in 1923/4." Mamie had no children of her own
11. William Pickering had been a bachelor since 1915 when he and Mary divorced. Mary died in 1939,
the year before he married Mamie. In the Catholic faith remarriage was possible only after the death of
the spouse.
-10-
William & Mamie Pickering Gladys Billings, William
Pickering, & Marguerite
Weaver
William Pickering in his
orchard in Baldwin Park
According to Elizabeth Edwards-Glick, Mamie's grand-niece, "My first memories of Aunt
Mamie and Uncle Bill are of visits to see them at their home in Huntington Beach. The house
was about two blocks from Coast Highway just across from the beach. Their yard was
mostly sand. Aunt Mamie had planted several succulents. About 1943 they purchased the
empty lot next to my parents house in Baldwin Park. They moved into a trailer on the lot
while Bill built their house. First he built the back half with bedroom and bath. They moved
into that part of the house while Bill finished building the front with living room and kitchen.
As soon as the house was finished, Mamie planted pansies along the front sidewalk. It was
the first time I had seen pansies. In time a summer house, garage, and work shed were
added. Most of the construction was completed with used lumber, some from used fruit
crates. The depression was fresh in their minds, war time rationing was in effect, and
nothing was wasted.”
Clarence Pickering, Marguerite Weaver, William
Pickering, & Gladys BillingsWilliam Pickering and his geese
-11-
One of the benefits of working for the D&RGW was a rail pass anywhere in the nation once a
year and the Easleys used it to visit Baldwin Park. During the mid-1950's the family drove to
California on their yearly visits so Grandma Weaver could go. For the Easley kids, this was
their only opportunity to get to know their great-grandfather. He had a large yard filled with
trees, flowering plants, cats, geese, a screened summer house, a little guest cottage, a turkey
farm and zoo across the street, close proximity to Huntington beach and the Pike, a short drive
to Knott’s Berry Farm, and, of course TELEVISION. In the late forties and early fifties
Grand Junction did not have a TV station. Baldwin Park, California had dozens and the TV-
starved Easleys ate it up.
Marge, Wayne, Ronald Edwards, & Larry at
Huntington Beach
Clarence & Bessie, Norabelle, Wm. Pickering,
Larry, Wayne, Marge, & Ronald
The Easleys always felt very comfortable at the Pickering residence. It was almost a ritual every
summer -- Mamie would pick us up at the train depot in Los Angeles and, on the way home, we
would stop at the Farmer's Market. We sort of wondered why Grandpa never came but,
according to Mamie's great-niece, he never drove anywhere. This may explain why he returned
to Grand Junction only once in twenty-two years. When they traveled, according to Marguerite
Weaver, it was to Georgia to see her relatives. For most of the Pickering grand/great-grand
children the situation meant no contact at all with the patriarch of the family.
Part of the ritual in California was one day at
Huntington Beach, a trip to the Pike at Long
Beach, another day at Knott’s Berry Farm, a trip
to see Uncle Clarence in Buena Park, and many
days enjoying the Baldwin Park residence. So
many things to do there in his little oasis away
from the world. Coming from arid Grand
Junction, the lush "jungle" gave a new experience
-- just watch out for the geese. We never realized
Grandpa Pickering built his home and all the
buildings surrounding it. We just realized it was
cool and cozy. We especially liked the fact that we
got to sleep in his little guest house.Weavers and Pickerings at Knott’s Berry
Farm
-12-
There was also Pinochle, and we spent countless hours playing Pinochle with a master. Since
Mamie played and all the Weaver-Easley clan did as well, the adults probably played in the
evening, but the important games were the ones played in the afternoon between Grandpa
Pickering and the Easley kids. He never pulled punches and always played to win. His
favorite phrases were, "bid em up or sleep in the streets,” “if only I had one more trump, I
would have made the bid,“ and "if the dog hadn't tripped on the stump he would have caught
the rabbit." ." Even poor Wayne, the baby of the family, went set if he forgot to discard
William T. Pickering died in California
on March 23, 1962. He is buried in
Westminster Memorial Park in
Westminster, California near his son,
Clarence. Mamie moved back to
Georgia where she died in 1971 at the
age of 93.
Five Generations 1960: William Pickering’s daughter,
grand daughter Norabelle, great-granddaughter
Marge, and great-great grand daughter Cendie