This page was started on 16 Sep 2011 as an index to the several topics about William Halls (born 25 May 1834 in Orsett, Essex, England, died 27 June 1920 in Mancos, Colorado) to be included in Through the Halls of History (website and book)
The following topics serve as links to other pages, both internal and external to this site. No link yet indicates that research / compilation is in progress or a topic that YOU or some other Wm Halls descendant can pursue. See What YOU Can Do if you would like to help with any particular topic which presently is not a link; for linked topics, follow the link and leave comments if you have additional information or wish to help.
Autobiography 1917
Chronology of events in the life of William Halls 1834-1920
Birth and Youth in Essex, England 1834-1851
Church and Missionary Service in England 1851-1861
Emigration from England departing Liverpool 23 Apr 1861
Immigration to Utah arriving 15 Sep 1861
Convalescence in Salt Lake City 1861
Teaching in Kaysville, Utah 1861-1862
Huntsville, Utah 1862-1885
Bluff, Utah 1885-1886
Mancos, Colorado 1886-1920
Select Writings (published 1911)
Other writings
Huntsville 1862
View from Wm Halls Jr Huntsville homesite 2003
I’d like to think that this was a view of Ogden Valley very much like that William and Louisa Halls had when they arrived to help settle Huntsville in the fall of 1862, one year after the coming to Utah on Sep 15, 1861. Since the dam was raised, the only way to get this same view is from a boat. Except in drought years…
I (Alan Phipps) took this picture in Oct 2003, during a prolonged drought, when the level of Pine View Reservoir was as low as I’ve ever seen it (except when drained 1956-57 for enlarging the dam). I was standing on what was once my grandfather William Halls Jr’s farm and homestead after his return from Mancos in 1901. He was born in Huntsville on Sep 6, 1863 but left Mar 7, 1885 to accompany his father to help settle San Juan country in southeast Utah / southwest Colorado. He returned to Huntsville to enroll his daughter Maud, then 6, in the deaf school in Ogden.
This land is now normally under water year-round. The stream is Spring Creek, which flowed through the 7-acre farm. My mother Pearl Halls was baptized in its waters on Feb 9, 1914 — no heated fonts in those days! Note that the stream bed survived 50 years of being part of the reservoir, so that with the reservoir water gone, Spring Creek found its old bed and claimed it anew.
The view is west to Ogden Canyon, which is on the right of the picture where the mountain sharply descends. A tree a block or two from the camera partially obscures the canyon entrance.
This must have been the daily view of Will and Ella Halls, and their 8 children (Earl, Ruth, Maud, Clyde, Nina, Dale, Ruby, and Pearl) when they looked out of their front window or left the house to walk up the hill to the south into the town.