Julia Edith Wilson, the first of David Johnson and Julia Didamia Johnson Wilson's eleven children, was born in Spring Lake, Utah, April 25, 1868, in the home of her grandfather Benjamin Franklin Johnson. Her grandfather had six wives and 40 children who were living in the Villa so Edith had plenty of cousins and even aunties her age to play with. Her aunts who were near Julia's age were Cassandra (Aunt "Cassy" Johnson who married Kimball Pomeroy, Winifred (Aunt "Winnie" Johnson who married Vaughn Guthrie) and Aunt Geneva. When Julia was eight years of age she was baptized in the Spring Lake.
Julia had a naturally sweet and loving personality. She was trained in her early years how to bottle, can and dry peaches, apricots, plums and berries and how to make preserves and pickles. She loved the wonderful watermelons, musk melons, apricots, peaches, plums and the garden vegetables they raised in abundance.
Julia Edith was a very industrious little lady always helpful and eager to do all kinds of work and especially helpful to her mother with the younger children. When she was eleven she moved with her family to Hillsdale, Utah, where she met and came to love her grandfather, George Deliverance Wilson and her Aunt Martha Ann Riste and a host of new Wilson cousins.
When Julia Edith was 14 years of age her father and mother decided to move to Tempe, Arizona, where the Benjamin Franklin Johnson family of Spring Lake, Utah, had moved. They arrived in Tempe sometime in 1882. They pitched their tents on the banks of the Salt River near the Hayden flour mill and ferry where the first railroad bridge was later to span the river bed. By summer their source of water was contaminated and Julia came down with typhoid fever. She was very sick for weeks and her mother thought that she was getting well. On the 4th of July she asked her mother if she might put on her new dress. Julia responded, "Yes, if you feel like it." As she went to put the dress over her head she said: "I feel too tired". Those were her last words. She died July 4, 1883. Julia was now 15, a beautiful girl with a kind disposition and who was very industrious worker. Her mother depended upon her to help with all the family duties. She was especially helpful in teaching, training and looking after the other children.
All the Johnson family were saddened by this great loss. She was buried on the banks of the Salt River, now an unknown grave.
(taken from the Wilson Family History Book)