First Settlement of Weber County

First Settlement of Weber County

Captain James Brown came into Weber County, bought the Goodyear ranch between Weber and Ogden rivers for the sum of _____.  Packed his seed wheat on horses from California and other supplies from Fort Hall.  That fall, 1848, some six or eight more families came in.  The winter following was severe and hard on the stock.  Captain Brown succeeded in raising a small crop in 1848. 

In the fall of 1849 several more families were sent into Weber County to settle, to wit: David Moore and family, George and Fredrick Barker and families, Robert Porter and family, arrived the 24th of October.  Isaac Clark, John Thompson, Philip Garner and some one or two more arrived in November, making an addition to the little settlement of some ten or twelve families.  About the beginning of 1850 Lorin Farr came to Weber and took charge of affairs.  In February 1850 the first military company was organized, twenty-five in all, Cyrus C. Canfield, Captain. 

The crops grown in 1849 were good, supplying most of the wants of the settlers.  The Indians camped on Weber River were quiet and peaceable, they numbered some one hundred and fifty warriors.  In the Spring, many of them went away, some died with the measles and many more of them suffered much with that disease.  They were nursed and fed by some of the settlers, and those who remained of the Indians remember the kindnesses dealt out to them at that time.