May 2018 36 A GRANDDAUGHTER TELLS OF HER PIONEER GRANDMA AND ‘INDIAN MARY’ So much has been made of grandpa. I feel Grandma was just as important. She had to endure so much. Grandpa went on his forays often. Sometimes he was gone for weeks or months. Grandma was left with the kids to pretty much shift for herself. My grandmother’s name was Ida Elizabeth Hester Smith Genung. She went by Ida, or Ida H or Ida E. Mostly, everybody just called her “Gram.” My strongest memories of Gram are her telling stories. I slept with her at the ranch when things were crowded. I always had to have a story before I went to sleep. I would say “Grandma, tell me a story.” And she was full of tales of crossing the plains to California and her early days on the ranch in Peeples Valley. Born In Iowa Born Ida Smith on October 7, 1848, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, her parents decided to move to California in 1852 when she was four years old. Ida’s father, Dr. Isaac Smith, headed the wagon train west. My great grandfather warned those on the train to try to be friendly to the Indians and to not do anything to harm them. When they encountered Indians and took Dr. Smith’s advice they got along fine with them. But there was a young man in his teens on the train. He bragged he was going to kill the next Indian he saw. And he did. The next Indian he saw was a woman getting water at a pond. The young man shot her for no good reason. Grandma told me that that evening a band of about fifty Indian braves came into camp. They asked who shot the Indian woman and were told. The Indians threatened to kill everyone in camp unless the train gave up the guilty young man. Dr. Smith and the train leaders gave up the young killer. They had no choice. If they had not, every man, woman, and child in the train would have been slaughtered. Murder Revenged The braves then took the young man, staked him out, and skinned him alive as his parents watched. Gram told me that people in the wagon train ahead of the Smith train some five miles distant could hear the young man’s screams as he slowly died from the punishment the braves inflicted on him for his crime. The following article on Mrs. Ida Genung is from her granddaughter, Helen Chapman Wilburn. Helen is the daughter of Grace Chapman, whose parents Charles B. and Ida Genung pioneered Arizona Territory. My great grandfather Dr. Smith was the cousin of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church. Joseph Smith tried repeatedly to get Dr. Smith to join the Mormons, but he never did. The Smith train passed through Salt Lake City on the trail to California and the train camped there for a while for a rest and to replenish supplies. Gram said they had no flour or other staples and were living on game shot on the trail but they were nearly out of ammunition. The Mormons, however, refused to give them supplies. Dr. Smith realized that the Mormon men were trying to force the train to abandon the trail for California and remain in Salt Lake City and the Mormon community there. Great grandpa was determined not to abandon the trail, but they had to obtain supplies. Gram said while they waited, one morning there was scratching on the outside of their tent. It was a group of Mormon women. They were sneaking supplies out of their own stocks such as flour, sugar, coffee, and cornmeal. These were supplies that the Mormon women hoped would not be missed from their stockpiles for some time after the train had continued on its way. The women said they felt the people on the wagon train should not be forced to do something they did not want to do. Little by little, the women brought enough supplies to the train so it could make it through to the next place where supplies were available and the train left Salt Lake City. Meeting Pauline Weaver Ahead, a fateful meeting was in store for Dr. Smith and his family. The first person they met when the train moved into California was old mountain man Pauline Weaver. Pauline had a huge ranch he had received through a land grant from the Mexican government for helping them with the Indians in the area. It was at San Gorgonio Pass on the trail through the mountains to San Bernardino. The old mountain man was in bad shape. He was crippled with rheumatism. My great grandpa was a doctor, an Army doctor. Pauline invited the Smith’s to stay at his ranch. They accepted and Dr. Smith built up Pauline’s health and got him back on his feet. Pauline Weaver was so appreciative that he gave great grandpa half of his land grant. The Smith family remained there for years. Learning from Weaver The old mountain man took a real shine to Gram. He taught her, as she grew into her teens, how to rope, shoot and ride. He also taught her how to swear and smoke cigarettes. Gram said her mother put a stop to that when she learned of it. Both Pauline Weaver and Ida were destined to continue their lives in what was to become Arizona territory. Both would end up in the Walnut Grove and Peeples Valley region in later years but neither had a hint of the future then. Attracts Charles Genung Ida was about 15 when a young man named Charles Genung came riding into the Smith station at San Gorgonio Pass. That was about 1863 or 64. Grandpa was already living in Walnut Grove in the new territory then. Six years later, Charles and Ida were married in San Francisco. It was February 16, 1869. He then took Gram, a girl who had been living in security in California and set her down in the wilds of Arizona Territory. She had to carry a gun with her everywhere she went. A year later, in 1870, Charles and Ida moved to Peeples Valley, where Elijah Smith, Genung’s partner in mining and farming ventures, had continued on page 39 Above: Ida Genung Right: Ida with Sharlot Hall