David Adam Burr
David spent his young life in Burrville and Teasdale, two years in Mancos, Colorado, then back to Burrville. In Nov 1887, David was hurt under a wagon. While in Burrville, the family would go to Fish Lake in the summers to work on the family's dairy farm. They would make cheese and butter to sell. One summer, David was chased by a bear.
When David was 15, he was allowed to help his father by carrying the mail. One day on the run to Peter Springs near the Colorado River in the Monticello area, he was stopped by the Robber's Roost gang, or the Butch Cassidy gang. One of the gang members made David trade horses with him because his horse was tired. Another time in the same area, he was shot at by the gang. He was not hurt, but the horn of his saddle was shot off.
Dave spent his school days in Burrville, and completed the eighth grade.
Dave married Etta Gazier and they had one son before they were divorced.
Dave met his future second wife while he was working as a farmhand on the Nelson Farm (later the Henry Ranch), about 15-20 miles southeast of Marysvale, Utah. They met at a dance in town and they double dated with a couple named Ferral Smoot and Mame Ross.
Dave and Ferral invited Mame and Annie to go to Fish Lake with them, a three-day trip. The girls accepted, but on the way, they decided to go to Junction, Piute County, Utah and get married first. Annie's parents heard about their marriage before they returned and weren't very happy about it.
When the two couples returned, the men didn't have their jobs any longer, so they went to Lee's Ferry on the Colorado River and found jobs there. They then sent for their wives to come. Annie and Mame started down to meet them with Dave's brother-in-law in his wagon. On their way down, it was such a windy and sandy country that all their flour was filled with sand, but they had to eat it anyway. Before they reached their destination, they met Dave and Ferral coming back because they had lost their jobs there.
Dave and Annie went to Grass Valley to stay with his parents for a while. Then they returned to Grandpa Howes' ranch to rent and run his farm, Ten Mile farm.
In 1919, they moved to Ephraim so their children could go to school. Dave did some trapping that year and got pneumonia. They left their oldest child, Neldon with Aunt Violet, Annie's sister, so he could continue school, and they went to Marysvale to take care of Uncle Tom Howes' home.
The next year, Dave got work at the Poverty Flat mine near Monroe, Utah. The family, including Neldon, moved to Monroe.
In 1922 they moved back to Marysvale, first to one house then in 1925 to another house on top of a hill, which became their permanent home. While they lived in Marysvale, they had five children, three of which died shortly after birth. They were very small, and probably premature.
David worked as a farmer, miner, and sheepherder until his health no longer permitted. He was a quiet, easy going, kind, gentle man, sometimes maybe too kind. He was much loved by his children and grandchildren.
Ref: "A History of the Burr Pioneers" - by W. R. & R. J. Burr - p. 375-376
Courtesy Sydney Roberts