History of Milford Jay Wiltbank Sr- Known to Friends and Relatives As Uncle Mitt

History of Milford Jay Wiltbank Sr.
Known to Friends and Relatives as Uncle Mitt

He was born April 15, 1890 in the town of Amity, Apache County, Arizona to Ellis Whitney and Hannah Mary Hall Wiltbank. He was the youngest boy of a family of 9 children. He became an expert horseman early in life. He started as a teamster at the early age of sixteen and developed into manhood at an early age. His first job was with his oldest brother "Pacer" (William Ellis) at Navajo Arizona driving a "4 up team". He mostly grew up in Greer, as his father had a sawmill there (on Benny Creek).

He went as far as the 6th grade in his formal schooling. However, he filled a 3 year LDS mission to the Northern States Mission and spent a great deal of his mission in the state of Indiana. After his mission he worked for the Railroad building railroad and again working with horses. At that time his mother Hannah Mary had been called to manage the LDS Academy boarding house in St. Johns. He came into St. Johns on the weekends to the dances and to see his family. That is where he met his bride to be.

He met and married Geneva Julia Plumb in St. Johns Arizona. We don't know much about their romance. It was told to mother that dad's mother, Hannah Mary picked her out for him. They were married 22 August 1913. She taught school in Greer, and shortly after their marriage they homesteaded O'Cote Ranch. Born to their union were 5 children. H. Clive, Elen, Milford J., Jr. (Jay), Harold Hews and Mary Elizabeth (Bess).

Clive recalls his first recollection of the ranch was a "honeymooned" old log house from Hall Creek. They later moved it back around the hill ( to meet Desert Entry Requirements) to where it now stands.

Clive recalls that they lived in Greer in 1920-21. I remember going back to the Ranch and hauling drinking water from Bigelow Crossing located on the lIttle Colorado River about six miles away. We hauled the water by team and wagon. The water was put in barrels and later dad got a specially constructed tank and we continued to haul water by team and wagon.

Jay was born in Greer (23 December). We had a Christmas party there and they pulled him out of a little box ( from under a Christmas tree) that said M. J. Wiltbank. It was quite a surprise to us kids (Clive and Elene) because we suspected nothing.

Dad worked for J. E. Thompson, a lodge owner in Greer. We moved to Eagar sometime in 1922. Hews was born in Eagar, April 30, 1926. During this time, dad was homesteading, farming and hauling freight for Julius Becker. He hauled freight to pay off debts for ranch and homesteading expenses.

Julius Becker would carry the debt for a year and then he would take all of their grain harvest for payment. Dad didn't quite raise enough grain to pay his bill so he would haul freight in a two ton Model T truck. He also paid off debts at ACMI (Arizona Cooperative Mercantile Inc.) On his freighting trips he generally took Clive with him. The truck would stall on the steep mountain road out of Concho. Clive would follow along and block the wheels and then they would start up again and they would gain a few feet, repeating this process until they reached the top. If Clive was not on the trip then dad would have to unload half the load at the bottom and take one half to the top, unload, then return to the bottom for the other half.

2 Ton Model T Ford

Later the family moved to Holbrook as dad got a job with the Highway Department at the Petrified Forest maintaining the highway. Then later, he got a job with the Union Oil company in Holbrook and dad became the plant manager. Mary Bess was born in Holbrook, August 24, 1928. What a blessed event for the family. We moved to McNary in 1930 as dad started a new Distributing Company there for the Union Oil. He resigned from his job with the Union Oil company and we moved to the Ranch in 1932. Grandfather Plumb died at the Ranch while visiting there.

During this time dad ran for Sheriff of Apache County but lost the election. There was too much opposition in McNary, however. He received over 90% of the vote in Eagar and Springerville. He bought a house in Eagar from his brother-in-law H. T. Brawley. He took out a free-use permit (timber) and dad and Clive cut and hauled the logs with horses and had them sawed up into lumber at the Fred Burk sawmill in Greer. He used this lumber to make part payment on the house he bought from Uncle Hank. At this time dad made his living mostly from cattle and farming.

During this time, we lived at Eagar in grandfather Wiltbank's house. It was a large house as they planned on having a boarding house, but grandmother died before they could get the thing done.

At the beginning of his career as a Rancher he organized a group of men to establish a water compnay called Fish Creek Irrigation Company. This was the origin of the Wiltbank Reservoir and Fish Creek Irrigation Ditches which delivered water to the Robinson Place, Ashley Hall and Roy Hall Homesteads, the Mike Hale Place, Fred Hoffman, Marion Lund, Hyrum Wiltbank and the O'Cote Ranch. He did a great dael of work there and became the principal stockholder in the Company.

He made a successful operation out of O'Cote Ranch. That is, he eveloped raw land and including the entire irrigation system which included construction of reservoirs, dirt water tanks, and ditches located tem miles from the Ranch. This was no small fete, considering it was all done by horses and by hand labor. He was tough when it came to physical work and endurance, but also highly generous and compassionate.

Grandmother Plumb was an invalid for 15 years. He was strong and he picked her up and carried her in and out of the house and many other places. He did much to see that she was properly cared for.

In his home life he was loving and kind. He especially loved little children. He was an excellent barber and the children of neighbors and relatives would line up on Saturday s for hair cuts from Uncle Mitt, for which he refused any payment. He was very conscientious of the needy and the sick. When he killed a beef there was always needy families to share with. He spent many hours night and day sitting by the bedside of the sick. He and mother took care of the dying who had no close relatives to take care of them. They brought them into our home and cared for them and saw they had proper burial at the time of their passing.

He had a good singing voice and sang fun songs like "My Pearl Is a Bowery Girl, she's all this whole world to me. She's in it with any of the gals around town and cocking good looka see. With a walla walla hall she beats them all, waltzing together we twirl. She sends them all crazy to speal her a daisy, does my Pearl the Bowery girl." He sang Saur Kraut am bully it sure am fine, we tromps 'em and we tromps 'em and we tromps 'em all the time." He loved saur kraut and he and Aunt Nannie used to see who could whistle the refrain to "See the Merry Farmer Boy" the best. And he also sang "Indian Napanee" and the refrain goes thus: Although you are a dark little Indian maid, I'll sunburn to a darker shade, I'll wear feathers on my head and paint my face an Indian red, if you will only be my Napanee.

He loved to dance, and taught his children all the old time dances. When Hews and Mary Bess were quite small he taught them to dance together- the Waltz and the Schottish, the Virginia Reel and the Chicago Glide.  He and mother were great dance partners and attended all the Old Folks Parties. They were in a performing group of four couples wearing old fashioned dress demonstrating many pioneer dances.

He made friends very easily and it seemed he knew every person in Navajo and Apache Counties and also down on the Gila. Anyone who descended from those pioneers that were called to settle Arizona and New Mexico, he seemed to know. He became acquainted with lots of tourists that came to the White Mountains to hunt and fish. He had somewhat a disliking for the Forest Service men and when he killed a beef he took all the edible inside parts like the marrow gut and sweet breads, he cooked up a dish that most regular people wouldn't eat and called it "Sun of a Gun" and sometimes without affection called it "Forest Ranger". It was really quite tasty if you were used to it.

He provided our family with wonderful tasting beef. He loved pie and made the best mincemeat I have ever tasted as he put real beef in it. When we didn't have fruits and vegetables he would invite the peddlers to come and spend the night at our house as they were always in neeed of a place to stay. He loved fresh tomatoes eaten like strawberries, with sugar and cream.

He liked to dabble in politics. He and Roscoe Hamblin were companions at this time. The State Highway jobs were highly sought after and he and Roscoe thought they could control the situation as Democrats in the Round Valley area. However, there was too much opposition by other groups who were also seeking political jobs. This included two of his brother-in-laws. He was a very staunch Democrat and sometimes when in heated discussion referred to them as "Dogs". Anyone who voted Republican was a "Pinto".

He held a state job as District Road Foreman for six months. But the opposition put so much pressure on the state that they had to let him go and his brother-in-law, Roy Hall was appointed in his place and that ended his political career for some time- until Jim Smith ran for governor. He became very active in that campaign. He also held a state job at the State Highway Commission while living in Phoenix in an effort to live in a different climate to treat his declining health in the 1940s.

These dabblings in politics seems to show his sincere patriotism and his feelings for the progress of Apache County and the State of Arizona. He made a special trip to Las Vegas when Hoover Dam was completed. He also expressed and showed his active political support for Senator Carl Hayden who is credited with pioneering and seeing that project to its completion. Dad stood in awe when he saw the dam and the immensity of it and felt his political support played a part in the completion of it.

Hoover Dam

He was very successful at his own farm and cattle operation. He received an award as Conservationist of the year from the Soil Conservation Service. He was intensely interested in water managment and pasture development.

He was also dedicated to teaching chilren moral values, hard work, the importance of obtaining an education and the development of self-reliance and importance of thinking out and resolving problems of their own. In the eyes of his children he was truly a "Great Man". He upheld the principles of great men.

He and mother made a trip down to Mexico to visit Elene. During this trip bone cancer developed in his mouth and he had to stay there a couple of months before they could make it home. He had it operated on and it got better, but subsequently his health deteriorated during the early 1960s. He died of cancer and heart failure January 16, 1965 and is buried in the Eagar, Arizona Cemetery.