William Wesley Hawkins was born July, 15, 1848 in Liberty, Gentry, Missouri, to Augustine D. Hawkins and Sarah Bernetta Hutton. On June 20, 1863, he enlisted at Booneville, Missouri, in the Union Army. He was discharged May 29, 1865 in St. Louis, Missouri. William was one of the mountaineers that met Major Powell at Jack Summer's outfitting shack in 1868. William served Major Powell loyally in the first exploration trip down the Colorado River as cook. He was the youngest man on the exploration. He married Rozelia Huntly Bartholomeu on June 12, 1874 in Iron County, Utah. They were the parents of three children: Cathren Maranda (died young), Loretta Jane (1. William Plumb 2. Leo Alonzo Colvin), and John Nelson (Irene Colvin). Sometime around 1880, William and Rozelia moved to Arizona, stopping first at Brigham City where they lived the United Order. When the Order was released to go to the Gila Valley in the late fall of 1880, William and Rozelia were among those who brought the livestock to Graham, with which the land was purchased. They arrived in Graham in January 1881 but didn't stay long. William and Moses Monroe Curtis purchased land in what would be know as Curtis (Eden) in February 1881. In March, William and Rozelia moved to their new homestead and started to clear the land and build the canal while Moses Monroe farmed the Humphry farm in what is now Hubbard. Monroe joined them with his three families in July. The settlement grew as more settlers arrived. William was called the town's "medicine man" in those early days. The town was raging with chills and fever and most of the people suffered from it. William would get the medicine, usually quinine, from Smithville (Pima) and Fort Thomas and give it to the settlers. He sometimes had to swim the flooded Gila River to get the much needed quinine.
William's family also contracted the chills and fever (malaria) and were very sick. Rozelia and Cathren Maranda were taken to Smithville where they could receive better care. However, Cathren died on August 18, 1883 and Rozelia died two days later on August 20, 1883. On November 27, 1883, William married Elizabeth Bowman Page (aka Anna Elizabetha Beaumann) in the St. George Temple in Utah. She was a divorced young woman with two young children: Mary Page (died unmarried) and James J. Page (died young). She was born in Heirsau, Appenzell, Switzerland. Her parents were Abraham Baumann, Sr. and Anna Stricker. William and Elizabeth were the parents of seven children: Burnetta Jane (died infant), William Franklin (Elda Eliza Curtis), Lafayette (Elsie Jane Colvin), Abraham Lincoln (Lillie Jane Palmer), Daniel Elijah ( Amy Palmer), David Elisha (Lulu Pearl Colvin) and Albert Wesley (Mary Jane Kempton). After the death of Elizabeth on March 18, 1898, William married Mary Louisa Colvin Busby, widow of John Killian Busby. Mary Louisa was born October 10, 1865 in Payson , Utah, the daughter of David Sands Colvin and Harriet Ann Dillabaugh. William and Mary Louisa had two sons: Amos Sands (Mary Payne) and Robert Andy (died unmarried). While living in Eden, William Wesley was the Justice of the Peace for many years. He performed the marriages of many young couples in the community. He died on June 7, 1919 while living in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona and was buried in the Eden Cemetery. Mary Louise died on October 22, 1941 while living in Coolidge, Pinal, Arizona and is also buried in the Eden Cemetery. Info from "The Garden and How it Grew **** Eden 1881-1891"
Complied by Verna Rae Colvin, and from personal knowledge.