Life Story of William Henry Simmons

William Henry Simmons (Will)

Daddy's favorite Uncle

The Life History of William Henry Simmons (Will)

as told and compiled by Roland E Simmons,

 son of Vernal Simmons and nephew of Will Simmons

William Henry Simmons was born October 14, 1884, in Morgan, Utah. He was the oldest child of William George Simmons and Clara Alice Olpin Simmons. He was named after his father, being the oldest child and his middle name comes from his grandfather on his mother’s side, Henry Olpin. To distinguish his name from his father’s he was most often called Will, though to his nieces and nephews he was always known as Uncle Bill.

Being the oldest child in the family, and a boy, Will was no doubt at his father’s side helping with the farm work as well as helping out with the family business. Will’s father and grandfather had a business called “Simmons and Sons” that did building construction in the Morgan area. The family also built and operated a community amusement hall “Simmons Hall) where dances and other social events were held. Will probably helped build the hall as well as helping with the operation and upkeep.

Schools had been established in Morgan in 1864, by the time Will would have been of school age, in 1890, certainly adequate schooling was available. It is likely that Will attended the first eight years of school in Morgan.

In 1900, when Will was sixteen years old, his parents accepted a call from the church to settle a new land in Wyoming. The first part of April 1900, Will said goodbye to his friends and the only home he had ever known and with his parents, brothers and sisters headed for Wyoming. The family traveled in a covered wagon, which held all their possessions and a sheep wagon, which Will drove and the family slept in. It took about a month to make the trip from Morgan, Utah to the family’s new home that would become Cowley, Wyoming.

Cowley did not exist when they arrived in the Shoshone River Valley. The first order of business for the families that had come to this new area was to build a canal. It would be known as the Sidon Canal. Will and his father would spend all summer working on the canal. Will’s job was to operate a slip scraper, which was pulled by a team of horses and was used to move dirt from the canal. This was heavy manual labor and each man put in ten hours per day, six days per week. Though only sixteen, Will worked right along with the older men. It was during the construction of the Sidon Canal that Will was an eyewitness of “The Miracle of Prayer Rock”.

Horses could work about 2 hours before needing rest

Along with helping build the Sidon Canal, Will helped work on the railroad north of Frannie. From this work he earned Canal Stock, which entitled him to farmland that would be watered by the canal when complete. During the fall of 1900, Will helped his father build a log home for the family. They hauled the logs from the Pryor Mountains and the family moved into their new home February 1901. For the next three years Will was kept busy completing the 30 mile long canal as it wound its way slowly around the sand hill, several miles west toward Deaver, then north and east again above Cowley and finally on out east of Cowley to its destination.



Mary Ellen Wilson circa 1904
just prior to marriage

 The year 1903 was a good one for Will. A new family moved to Cowley from Escalante, Utah. The father’s name was George Boyd Wilson and the mother’s was Ellen Matilda Young Wilson. The best part was they had a daughter named Mary Ellen. She was born September 22, 1886, in Escalante, Utah. She was sixteen when the family moved to Cowley, and drove a team and buggy all the way from Escalante to Cowley. Also during the trip she took care of the team, assisted with the younger children and helped with the cooking. It probably was not long after Ellen’s arrival in Cowley that she and Will met. They probably courted during the next year and chose each other for eternal companions by being married in the Salt Lake City Temple October 5, 1904. We are not sure where in Cowley they lived as a married couple, but we do know that soon they were expecting their first child. The arrival date of the first child was June 1, 1906, however, complications developed during childbirth and the baby and Mary Ellen both died. Will’s heart was no doubt broken with the reality that his lovely bride of only eighteen months and his child were not going to be able to help, love and support him through his mortal days on earth. Though Will was only 22 when he lost his wife and child, he never remarried.

Mary Ellen Simmons Monument
Cowley Cemetery

In the fall of 1907, Will and his friend Charles H. Tucker left Cowley on October 4th for Provo, Utah. Their plans were to enroll at Brigham Young University and take the Commercial courses offered there.

Unfortunately, three weeks later Wills mother was taken sick with Typhoid and died on October 30th. Will had to cancel his plans for attending college and returned home for his mother’s funeral and to help out. His father was taken sick at the same time so Will operated the meat market in his absence. Will remained in Cowley to help his father and soon the “Simmons Meat Market” took on the name of “Simmons and Sons”.

During the next ten years, along with helping at the meat market, Will spent his time farming, working with the sheep, and had several other different jobs. Several accounts of his activities and comings and goings were recorded in “The Cowley Progress” and are as follows. July 9, 1909, “Will Simmons (and others) returned home from Big Timber, Montana, where they were working for Tebbs and Taggart on a canal project.” October 10, 1913, our old friend William H. Simmons, who has been away from Cowley for over a year, the greater part was spent in California, arrived home Tuesday evening. We are indeed glad to welcome the good scout home once more and hope he will stay with us. Mr. Simmons is one of the Progress Editor’s particular friends and it pleases me very much to see his genial smile on our streets again.” August 21, 1914, “Will Simmons came down from Mann and Johnson’s sheep camp Sat. long enough to take a spin to Billings for a little recreation, pleasure and business.” May 15, 1915, “Our old friend W.H. Simmons “blew into town” on Thursday, after several weeks spent in the lambing pens of some of our local wool growers. Bill, as usual, looking mighty fine and dandy for one who has been so long among the woolies.”



William Henry Simmons Monument
Cowley Cemetery

Will was undoubtedly my father,Walter Robb's favorite Uncle. He is the only one I recall him mentioning regularly,  and he always referred to him as "Uncle Will."  On Memorial Day, as we visited the gravesites at the Cowley, Lovell and Penrose Cemeteries, daddy would always remember and find Uncle Will’s. He would often tell me of Will’s wife Mary Ellen, who had died in childbirth, mother and baby laid to rest  together with the babe in the arms of its mother. It has left a strong image in my mind and heart of Uncle Will and Aunt Mary Ellen.  Their gravesites are nearly hidden by an overgrown bush in the northwestern section of the Cowley Cemetery.
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Source: "In the Shadow of the Big Horns" One Families Story, William George and Clara Alice Olpin Simmons, authored and compiled by Roland Simmons