Table of Contents

Friends and Family   ..............................        1 -15

 

          1878            ................................      16-23

 

          1879            ................................      24-45

 

          1880            ...............................       46-72

 

          1881            ...............................       73-114

 

          1882            ...............................       115-148

 

          1883            .............................         149-180

 

          1884            ..............................        181-220

 

          1885            .............................         221-263

 

          1886            ..............................        264-307

 

          1887            ..............................        308-343

 

          1888            .............................         344-353

 

    Epilogue            ..............................        354-355

 

   Genealogy ...............................                 356

Family members of Joseph William Watkins  mentioned in his Day Books

 

Joseph William Watkins was born in Sugar House 26 March 1854. That same year his family moved to Alpine.  His father, Robert Watkins (1808-1869) was born in Hereford, England.  Robert was an early pioneer to Alpine and left a legacy of hard work and a belief  in his “Mormon”religion.  Joseph’s Day Books give a good account of his life from 1878 to 1888.  He died on his 34th birthday , and is buried in the Alpine, Utah, Cemetery.

 

Joseph remembers when Brigham Young came to Alpine and requested the name be changed .  Joseph was the owner of 5 acres of ground about 1 ˝ miles south east of Alpine, and later took up a homestead of a quarter section described as Quarter Section 30, Township 4 South Range 2 East and a little South of Alpine.  He built his own house and granary and other buildings. The house was built at the base of the mountain next to a spring that he had fixed as a place for butter, milk and eggs. In 1884 he received the title of the patent for the mineral rights and did not allow anyone to mine on his land.

 

Mary Smallman, referred to as “Mother” was  born in 1818, in Dudley, Stafford, England.  She had rheumatism and was very crippled, and she also suffered from exposure as they left Nauvoo in Feb 1846. Her son Jim, lived with her until his marriage in 1882.  Her son John married in 1891, but they continued to live with her until her death in 1900.  Mary and Roberts home is still standing in 2003.