James Herron

Family of James Herron/Catherine Bouck Herron

Since their son, Orlando, was the only one of the family to come to Utah, we knew little of his brothers and sisters, except that they were orphaned during the winter of 1847, and not only the parents dies, but also their baby brother Daniel. We owe much to Orlando's daughter, Grace Herron Peterson, who persisted in her search to learn something about her fathers, brothers, and sisters. Through correspondence and visits with some of her cousins she learned the following:

(1) Elmira, the eldest child of James and Catharine, who had married at the early age of 16, was still living at Carthage, when her parents were drive out of Nauvoo, so when they died, she took care of the children until they could be on their own.

Elmira married Daniel Mullen, an Irish Catholic, by whom she had two daughters, Emma and Martha. Martha died when only five months old, and Daniel the father died the same year. Emma died at age 15, and her father was around 50 when he passed away. They were all buried in the Catholic cemetery, at Carthage, Illinois.

Elmira married John Edmond Gaule, also a Catholic. He was a very strict one, so she, too, became a Catholic and was married in their church on Easter Sunday 1864. By Mr. Gaule, she had two children, James Edward and Margaret Anastatia. At age 14, Margaret took care of the house, and at age 16, James tended to the farm. The mother Elmira died in 1882, and three years later, the father passed away. James was now 20 years old and Margaret was 18. They both desired an education, so they sold everything except their personal belongings, each took one trunk and they left for college. James went to St. Francis Salamus College and she went to St. Mary's Academy, 50 miles south of Carthage. James got his Bachelors of Arts degree in 1891, and law in 1894. He traveled extensively, for example, to Italy, Naples, and France, and had an audience with the Pope in Sorrento.

He went to the Cuban War, and while there, contracted TB. He was sent to a hospital until cured. He also edited a paper for the Catholic church. He often spoke of his mother and her beauty. He said she had finely-chiseled features. He died in 1935 at the age of 70.

His sister joined the nuns and became a novice. She was a beautiful girl, wrote poetry, and was well educated. She took sick and died at the sister's hospital in Denver at the age of 25. The nuns wrote that she was uncommonly cheerful to the last and very prayerful.

James married a Cummings, of Forest Grove, Illinois. She came from a well-to-do family. Who put out cars for the railroad. James and wife had one child, Mary Elizabeth. James, with wife and child, went to Ireland to visit the Gaule home. He collected genealogy of his father's people. He gave Grace Herron Peterson $20 to help with her genealogy. Although they are strict Catholics, they have many Mormon friend It is from him that Grace has received most of the information about the family. She visited him in Colorado, and he has called on her in Utah. He died in 1935 at the age of 70.

Mary Elizabeth, a college graduate, married Joseph E. Barry, when in her 50's, she adopted two sons, Steven Gaule Barry and James Edward Barry. She died 11 March 1975. At this time in 1976, her husband is still living. David, the second child of James and Catharine, was known as the best shot in the country. He killed 13 deer one winter for food. There were no game laws at that time. Benjamin Swope, a neighbor, told how David went on a turkey shoot out, wild turkey, that is, and how he came home with his horse loaded with twenty turkeys.

He was also a mechanical genius. He made a rifle of his own, he made new teeth for a sawmill. He letters were beautiful, and he used good English. He died from wounds that he received while fighting a duel in Launderdale, Mississippi. He was 27 years old and had never married.

Sarah, the third child of James and Catharine, George Wallace. They lived in Jefferson City, Cole County, Missouri. They had two sons, Barton and Franklin Monroe. George, the father, died when the boys were 5 and 2 years of age, George was only 25. Sarah died four years later at the age of 28. We don't know who took care of the two little boys, but Barton, at the age of 21, went on a Sunday school picnic, and was drowned. It is said that he had beautiful black wavy hair. He had been a photographer.

Franklin married Margaret Sowers, a school teacher. They had seven children. Franklin died in 1830 at the age of 74. His wife died the following year at age 70.

Orlando is the next child, but we have his history, so I will not repeat it here.

The fifth child was John. He was a member of the Methodist faith. He married Jane Eggleston. They first lived at Carthage, Illinois, where their first three children were born, then moved to Ferris, Illinois, where six more children were born, including twins. Five out of the nine dies as infants, in ...