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Bushman, Alonzo Ewing (1885-1967)
and
Smith, Edith (Mrs. Alonzo Ewing Bushman) (1888-1982)

By Lenore B. Carpenter
From Climbing Life�s Mountains:  Arizona Pioneer Stories and Faith-Promoting Experiences, collected by Edith Smith Bushman 1941-1972; compiled and published by The A. E. Bushman Family Organization, 1993. (See "Published Sources" on Table of Contents Page.)

Among early settlers was John Bushman who arrived at Allen�s Camp with the first group.  Two hundred men had been called in January 1876 by President Brigham Young to settle in northern Arizona.  Although they traveled together from Utah there were four groups of fifty men each under the supervision of four different captains.  On March 24, 1976 [sic] all arrived at a point just east of present Joseph City.  William C. Allen (John Bushman�s captain) decided to remain in that vicinity.  The other three moved on to nearby locations.  However, of the four colonies mentioned above, only Joseph City survived permanently.

John�s son, Alonzo Ewing Bushman�number eleven in a family of twelve children, married Edith Smith whose parents, Joseph West and Nellie Mardsen Smith, arrived in Snowflake on December 14, 1879�just eighteen months after that town was founded.  So it was that our parents, Alonzo and Edith, grew up on a frontier in communities where most of the residents had been called to Arizona for the same reason: to establish new homes for a growing church.

During the next thirty to forty years the slow mode of transportation before the advent of the automobile, made it necessary for them to stay in one another�s homes when they visited in another town.  During these visits, which might extend from two days to two weeks, one of the favorite pastimes was to exchange family stories and experiences with one another.  It is little wonder that both our parents developed an appreciation for the value of a good story.

Alonzo and Edith established their first home in Joseph City after their marriage in 1914.  They became the parents of seven children.  In 1941 when their first grandchild was born, Edith was impressed to begin a collection of true stories with the hope that she might preserve for her descendants a part of her early environment and also strengthen them spiritually through the great faith and example of others.