William Burgess, Jr.

"In the fall of 1862 I was called to go to southern Utah and take my saw mill to Pine Valley to saw timber for the pipe organ (for the Salt Lake Temple.)  That was the first saw mill in that part of the state.

(Pine Valley is about 20 plus miles north of St. George and is a beautiful mountain valley.  The Burgess family settled there and my great grandfather, James William Burgess was born there.  William Burgess, Sr. helped settle the town and was known as "Grandad" by all the residents.  He and his wives are buried in the cemetery there.  The church building in Pine Valley is a historic building and one of the oldest LDS churches still in use.  Elder Jeffrey Holland rededicated it several years ago after a remodeling.  His ancestors worked side by side with ours to establish the community of Pine Valley.  There is a monument that still stands today to honor the Burgess men and their contributions to the community via the saw mill.)

"There was extra good timber in the Pine Valley mountains.  Some of the timber was sent to help with the tabernacle in Salt Lake.  We were called by President Brigham Young.  We lived in Pine Valley about twenty years, meanwhile building the first grist mill.  Some time in 1882 we moved to Thurber, Wayne County, with a few settlers to open up that part of the state for new homes as population was increasing all the time.  We farmed and raised cattle for a livelihood.

(When he says they were called by Brigham Young, this is what he meant.  In the October 1861 General Conference, Pres. Young announced several names from the pulpit as those he wanted to go south to help establish the Dixie Mission.  The Pulsiphers and Burgesses were called in this manner.  They had no warning, just the call from the pulpit.  And they went, Zerah and William were in their sixties, as were their wives, and once again, they packed up everything they owned, sold their comfortable homes and businesses and traveled to St. George and it's outlying areas.  Exercising incredible faith and commitment to what they believed.)

"In 1885 I took my family and moved to Huntington, Emery County, where my wife's folks had settled.  The Pulsipher's had a saw mill in Huntington Canyon.  I went into the bee business and also bought into the Co-op Mercantile Company.  (One of the principal stockholders, he served as president for seven years.)  I made this town my home the rest of my life.  We had a family of nine children, five girls and four boys.  My wife (Mariah Pulsipher Burgess) passed away on December 26, 1892.  She was seventy years, six months and nine days old.  She was buried at the Huntington Cemetery.

William Burgess, Jr. passed away on September 26, 1904 at the age of eighty-one years.  He was buried near his wife in the Huntington Cemetery.


My mom, Bonnie Jean Petty Higginson, talks about going camping and fishing in the mountains near Huntington as a child.  She says the country there is beautiful.