Newell Dayton Green 1856-1931
Grandfather of Jesse Grant Green
I’ve seen much of the west in my lifetime – The scorchin’ heat of the southern deserts, the stagnant winter deep-freeze of Idaho winters, even the annual flooding of the giant fertile valley in California where I was born. You see, I saw more of this raw untamed country than most, mainly because of the wanderlust of my father, who always seemed to be lookin’ at the other side of the pond – you know, he would look right past this opportunity just for a chance at the next. That’s why I was born in Brighton California; my dad, bless his heart, ignored all counsel and rolled right through Salt Lake City to answer the lure of the goldfields. He wasn’t the only one either, more than a few of his kin sampled life in “Gold Country”. My older brother and sister were borne in California, same as me, and my folks had 5 more kids in Brighton, and we had lots of cousins to play with. There were a pretty good group of us there but in (18)’79 they all busted out of there, and it seems, all in different directions. My dad headed for the free land that was to be had in Texas. He didn’t get there though – he was robbed and left with nothin’ in Arizona. My baby sister Charlotte was with them, and Ida and Allen Jr., and George maybe…can’t recall for sure. Don’t know what he saw in that desolate country but he stayed ‘till he died. My mom outlived him by several years – she lived her last years at my sister’s place in Idaho. I had already left for Idaho by the time of the Green family exodus from California. You see, my dad kindly favored me with that same restless trait that run him all over the place. I was married at 19 and we had a child with no hesitation. She already had a son from her life previous to me. We gave it a go for a while bit it didn’t work for too long. I did get to know my son from that marriage as we had him off and on, but it was mostly when he was a young man. He spent a lot of his childhood around his mother’s family – they’re good people. I had grown a little from my experiences and I got a lucky break when God steered me to my best friend and sweetheart. I’ll never know what Amanda ever saw in me but she helped me see the good in others and I no longer wanted to “look across the pond”. We were married in the Endowment house in Salt Lake when I was 25. The desire I had to see the world wasn’t completely dead but it was apparent that any future exploring would include Amanda.
We moved every couple of years after we were married. From Sandy to Leamington, to Salt Lake and finally to Vernal. We moved for the promise or work, or to be near family, or just to see what was ‘round the next corner. I worked at everything but did more than my share of keeping a sheep camp. My son Jesse was about six when Butch Cassidy and his boys came through my camp one time; I fed them and carried-on but was relieved to see them go. Sometimes no company is better than bad company – even in a sheep camp.
We tried a homestead in Bridger Wyoming but mother nature won-out, nearly kill’t us in fact so we struck out for a railroad work camp in Aspen Wyoming where we all got work. Ernest and Avery worked on the crew and Jesse carried water and run errands. We bounced a little still after Aspen: Jordan, Echo, Smith Fork, back to Fort Bridger, Evanston, Almy Wyoming, Woodruff, then Randolph. Our last child was born in Montpelier – a bit of a surprise it was, poor ‘Manda was 48-yrs old and had been “grandma” for 10-yrs or so.
Well…just as well, it took me about that long to figure out that the things I was chasin’ for my whole life weren’t elusive or beyond my reach – they were right in front of me. I finally learned that the only important things in this life are family and that things don’t fall by my hand alone, no matter how hard I keep pushin’. God kept showin’ me the right path, the right things, and blessing me all along despite me being slow to catch on. If you can learn anything from my hard knocks you will learn early on to enjoy your family – life’s too short to be chasin’ anything else.
