HEY WE GOT BRICK

Nortonville is the small ranching settlement four miles north of Nephi, Utah. Pioneers started to ranch there in an organized fashion when the Norton brothers(Wesley, Isaac and John) gave it a whirl. The water from Birch remains the most pristine anywhere and back in those days, it helped crops to flourish abundantly. In about 1881, Edward Jones Sr. and Wm. Fisher Tolley bought up most of the land owned by the Norton's, and their combined efforts brought more settlers in. It wasn't long before there were families of Thomas and Edward Ingram; Worwood's, John Kienke, Tolley, Jacob Gibson, Elisha Russell, Wm. Bowles, Zee Whittaker, John Norton, Jr. Fred Parkin, Israel Bale; Wm. and Edward Jones, William Cazier, and the Jacksons. Back then, when people started to do the Virginia Reel, Polkas, or the Waltz Guadrille, marriages automatically came, then followed with a herd of kids. In 1888, the local folks had no choice other than to build a school, which was located along the main road between Nephi and Mona; on the east side, and about a block north of where the crashed car yard presently is. Back then, studies were under the direction of the Nephi School Board. Several years ago, after obtaining the landowners permission, I was able to unearth some of the desk parts and other artifacts, doing a little wanna be archaeological digging. That land was once owed by Wm. Jones, who donated a half acre of ground for the building of that school house, which also doubled for a church. The first  photo is courtesy of the book "Grandpas and Goldmines" by Richard Wm. Jones. In it's hey day, 66 students were enrolled in that school, the first teacher being Miss Lucy Evans of Nephi.  In about 1912, Nortonville School District No. 9 was taken over by the Juab School District and some of the families moved in to town to get more than a 6th grade education. It wasn't long before the schoolhouse was torn down, but the bricks were once again used, similar to the recycling efforts of ancient Romans or what the Mayans did in the Senahu jungles of Guatemala. The Nortonville bricks were hauled to Nephi, where part of them were used to build a home at 495 E. 600 North, which, when I was a youngin, was owned by Gene(World War Two recipient of two purple hearts) and Adele(Tidwell) Jackson, who brought their kids up there. As noted in the photos, that hundred year old plus home stands noble, just like the bricks and the people of Nortonville and Juab County.