Matthew Despain and Fred R. Gowans Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 James Bridger was one of the greatest frontiersmen of Utah and American history. During his lifetime he was a hunter, trapper, trader, Indian fighter, and guide, and one of only a few trappers to remain in the Rockies after the demise of the fur trade. In 1822 young Bridger heeded …
John Charles Fremont
Mary Lee Spence Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 John C. Fremont was born in Savannah, Georgia, in 1813, the son of Charles Fremont, a French emigre, and Ann Beverly Whiting of Virginia. Fremont spent his boyhood in Charleston and was educated in the Scientific Department of the College of Charleston before his expulsion in 1831, three months short of graduation. In …
Miles Goodyear
Richard W. SadlerUtah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Miles Goodyear was a mountain man during the last years of the fur trade who built and occupied Fort Buenaventura in what is now Ogden, Utah. Goodyear was born in Hamden, Connecticut, on 24 February 1817 and was orphaned at the age of four. After serving much of his youth as a “bound Boy,” …
Maurice Abravanel
Cherie WillisUtah History Encyclopedia, 1994 The development of the arts and the enhancement of the cultural quality of life in Utah owe much to Maurice Abravanel, Music Director of the Utah Symphony for more than three decades. A true internationalist, Abravanel was born in Greece of Spanish and Portuguese parents in 1903. His early life was spent in Switzerland and …
Leonard J. Arrington
Davis Bitton Utah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Leonard James Arrington was born in 1917 on a farm near Twin Falls, Idaho, and spent his childhood and youth in an agricultural environment. After graduating from high school and the University of Idaho, he began graduate study in economics at the University of North Carolina. After military service in North Africa and Italy …
Hoskannini
HOSKANINNI AVOIDED THE NAVAJO ORDEAL AT BOSQUE REDONDO AND PROSPEREDW. Paul ReeveHistory Blazer, July 1995 The scenic area known as Monument Valley in the extreme southeastern corner of Utah was at one time dominated by a little known Navajo chief called Hush-Kaaney (anglicized “Hoskaninni” and also “Hoskinnini”). From 1862 until his death in 1912 Hoskaninni was “emperor” of the valley …
Edwina Booth
This mysterious Hollywood actress was a native of Provo. Josephine Constance Woodruff was born in Provo, Utah, September 13, 1904, to James Lloyd and Josephine (Booth) Woodruff, the oldest of five children. According to an article in the Salt Lake Tribune by Harold Schindler, she suffered from hypoglycemia, which often left her with little energy for normal childhood activities. She …
Reva Beck Bosone
K. L. MacKayUtah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Reva Beck Bosone was born on 2 April 1895 to Christian Mateus Beck and Zilpha Chipman Beck, who managed the Grant Hotel and the Pioneer Opera House in American Fork, Utah. The tall redhead early manifested oratorical abilities and considered a career in the theater but instead turned to teaching. After receiving her education …
Juanita Brooks
Matthew Despain and Fred R. GowansUtah History Encyclopedia, 1994 Juanita Brooks, a noted Utah historian, is famous for the integrity with which she insisted upon recounting the saga of the Mountain Meadows Massacre. She was born in Bunkerville, Nevada, in 1898, descending through both her father, Henry Leavitt, and her mother, Mary Hafen, from Mormon pioneers of southwestern Utah and …
Harold Drake, Sr.
He was a preacher, teacher, and leader in the Navajo Nation. Harold Drake, Sr., was born Christmas Day 1922 in Paiute Canyon, 20 miles southeast of Navajo Mountain, a large laccolithic dome that straddles the Utah/Arizona border on the Navajo Indian Reservation. Four days after Christmas, medicine man Richard Drake carried his premature son out of the hogan to give …