The Buchanan-Young Family Exodus to Mexico in 1890
The 1890 Exodus to Mexico -- Our family members who joined together to flee to Mexico did so to avoid family-wide persecution and fines and prison time for the head of each family who was being saught by law enforcement on charges of unlawful cohabitation with their plural wives. Over a period of several weeks and months during 1889 and 1890, several Buchanan and Young family members traveled to Mancus, Colorado, where they assembled their resources in preparation for the six hundred mile trek to the Mormon Colonies in northern Mexico.
In what I have called the Buchanan-Young Party, there were seven wagons pulled by teams of horses and 18 persons from three families. The collage at left was created from seven separate photos from various family sources and includes all but four of the individuals who went. Top center right is John R. Young; the foursome in the top right photo are John R's second wife Lydia Knight and her three sons from left, Howard Spencer, Edward Webb and Newel K. Young. At the bottom center right is John R's third wife Tamar and below her are two cutouts of a later photo taken at Kirtland. In the bottom right cutout stands Thomas Robertson (left) and Samuel Claridge Young. In the center cutout can be seen Martin Ray, John R. and Tamar. Center left is Archibald Waller Overton Buchanan behind the small center oval of his son Eugene Delos from second wife Mary Ann Brown. Below Archie is his fourth wife Caroline Sophia Sorensen who is also in the bottom left oval with her children who are clockwise from the left Anna Delilah (Lyle), Carrie Myrl, Archie Earl, and Mary Ann. Archie Earl and Carrie Myrl were twins born in Colonia Dublan on 25 March 1892.
The story of this interesting segment of our family's history was stimulated by a life history written about Mary (May) Whipple Young by her granddaughter, Luana Porter Bunnell. May Young was the second child and second daughter of Tamar Black Young and John R. Young. Luana's writings about her grandmother were based on personal interviews she held shortly before May died in Provo, Utah in 1959. The story of John R. and Tamar's circumstances during the exodus to Mexico and their return to Kirtland, New Mexico only a few months later, was so enlightening that I felt compelled to write this piece to treat the broader story affecting the future of both the Buchanan and the Young families. The need to do so was enhanced by the fact that two of Archibald Buchanan's children married three of John R. Young's children -- and of course one set of those marriages was my grandparents Newel K. Young and Castina Maria Buchanan.
Click here for a 23 page PDF copy of this story.
The story in digital format follows:
In what I have called the Buchanan-Young Party, there were seven wagons pulled by teams of horses and 18 persons from three families. The collage at left was created from seven separate photos from various family sources and includes all but four of the individuals who went. Top center right is John R. Young; the foursome in the top right photo are John R's second wife Lydia Knight and her three sons from left, Howard Spencer, Edward Webb and Newel K. Young. At the bottom center right is John R's third wife Tamar and below her are two cutouts of a later photo taken at Kirtland. In the bottom right cutout stands Thomas Robertson (left) and Samuel Claridge Young. In the center cutout can be seen Martin Ray, John R. and Tamar. Center left is Archibald Waller Overton Buchanan behind the small center oval of his son Eugene Delos from second wife Mary Ann Brown. Below Archie is his fourth wife Caroline Sophia Sorensen who is also in the bottom left oval with her children who are clockwise from the left Anna Delilah (Lyle), Carrie Myrl, Archie Earl, and Mary Ann. Archie Earl and Carrie Myrl were twins born in Colonia Dublan on 25 March 1892.
The story of this interesting segment of our family's history was stimulated by a life history written about Mary (May) Whipple Young by her granddaughter, Luana Porter Bunnell. May Young was the second child and second daughter of Tamar Black Young and John R. Young. Luana's writings about her grandmother were based on personal interviews she held shortly before May died in Provo, Utah in 1959. The story of John R. and Tamar's circumstances during the exodus to Mexico and their return to Kirtland, New Mexico only a few months later, was so enlightening that I felt compelled to write this piece to treat the broader story affecting the future of both the Buchanan and the Young families. The need to do so was enhanced by the fact that two of Archibald Buchanan's children married three of John R. Young's children -- and of course one set of those marriages was my grandparents Newel K. Young and Castina Maria Buchanan.
Click here for a 23 page PDF copy of this story.
The story in digital format follows: