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. a6 l Spectwm!s,CedaF Bir.thd~Yl~ .. pplement.. b!Pyember,6\ '1 98.0 First Home of Cedar Families Inez S. Cooper and ZelIa B. Matheson The little log cabin under the bowery in the City Park could tell a book of stories if its walls could talk. It was the first house built in Iron County, having been erected in the fort in Parowan by George A. Smith and George Wood in ~. ~ George Wood came to Parowan as a member of the first company of Iron Mission pioneers with George A. Smith, arriving January 13, 1851. He and his family lived in the cabin in Fort Parowan until November ll, 1851, when George came with, the Henry Lunt Company to Cedar City. ' From available histories, we know that the Wood cabin was moved to Old Fort and then to Cedar City. Since George Wood was one of the first company to come to Coal Creek, it is reasonable to suppose that either he brought his family with him or he came alone and brought his family from Parowan when the move was made from the 'Wagon-box Encampment to Little (Old) Fot in April, 1852, as others did, and moved the ,cabin from Parowan at that time. It is probable, therefore, that it was also moved to Old (Cedar) Fort at tile time of the removal to that location. The Wood family lived in Old Fort until, on the advice of Brigham Young, the community moved to ,higher ground, . the present site of Cedar City. Although this advice was giyen in 1854, it took until 1861 to complete the move ; and we do not know exactly when Wood moved his cabin to his ground on the east side of Main Street. However, until it was moved to the City Park, the cabin stood on the lot at Fourth North and Main south of the tall brick home that now accomdates the Clothes Closet. The Wood family lived at the Fourth North location until George built a long adobe house on the corner lot of Second North and Main, across the street from the Tithing Office which occupied the lot on w,hich the Town and Country now stands. One account states that, at this location, George sold " choice wines, IXL Bitters, and other general items of merchandise." Another accQunt states that, while living in the adobe house, George ran a furniture store which was the forerunner of the Leigh Furniture store of today. Twenty babies were born in the little one-room log cabin Wood Cabin Interior with Spinning Wheel and Two D.U.P. members Alice Bladen Bulloch and Elizabeth Wood Leigh and child Roberta Leigh in pioneer costume. Taken at Dedication, November 3, 1928. Courtesy D.U.P. Museum, Cedar City. that George Wood built. Six of them were the children of George Henry' Wood, his son, who was born in the cabin himself when it was still in Old Fort. George H. was married in 1878, and he and his family lived in the cabin until he built their tall brick home north of the cabin. George Henry's son, John, and his wife, Agnes, also lived in t he cabin (or a time ; and it is said that their son, Elmer, was born there. Elizabeth Wood Leigh w.as among the family members born 1'n the old cabin. She was the mother of Dr. Rufus W09d Leigh and Harry Wood Leigh. Dr. Leigh was a noted dentist and anthropologist. , Nephi L. Morris, an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, was also born in the Wood cabin. His father, Elias MorriS, was head stone mason when the original blast furnace was built on Coal Creek ; and he came to Cedar City again to build the Tithing Office in 1861. Richard Palmer, father of Zoella Palmer Benson, was another whose life began in the cabin. He was 'an early day blacksmith and a respected leader in the community.. He, with James Simkins, supervised the blacksmithing done on the Tabernacle ; and 'he was one of those who covert~d wagons to sleighs and did the blacksmithing for the lumber expedition in connection with the building of ' OidMain. . Although there is no record of a member of the Dalley family having been born there, it is said that Parley Dalley's family lived in the cabin for a while when his mother brought some of the older brothers and si~ters to Cedar City from Summit to attend the Branch Normal TH'E eED~R PO$T . GIFT SHOP , '- Souvenirs - Guns - Mocassins 'PawnShop School. She brought Parley, a young child at the time, , with her ; hence, the Wood cabin was his first Cedar City home. At the time, Parley's father was probably serving a jail sentence for living in polygamy. Parley himself attended the BNS, graduated from the University of Utah, and returned to teach at his alma mater. Besides being acting director of the college twice, he served as Iron County's superintendent of schools and as Cedar City's mayor. The reason given by George Wood's grandson. George Albert (Bert) Wood that so many babies were born in his , . grandfather's cabin and so many families called it home was that, when not occupied by family members, the cabin was made available to immigrants coming into Cedar City to help the iron workers. They would live there until they were able to get homes of their own. This fact . gives us an insight into the generosity of the cabin's builder. . In 1927, the children of George and Mary Davis <Davies) Wood gave the cabin to the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and it was moved to the City Park. Alva Matheson and Lydia M. Harter both remember its first location on the park to have been where the 'Chamber of Commerce building now stands. No date is available for the last move of the cabin from that spot to its present location in the park ; but the bronze plaque that graces it was erected by the DUP on June 18, 1938. Here is a building that has seen the' entire scope of history celebrated by Iron Mission Days. If only it could speak, we'd love to tape its memories. Center Post Market 24 HOUR SERVICE'- TDA YSA WEEK -S~lf Service'Phi.llips Gas Indian Jewelry . ' SOOA, -Groceries · -Beer -SbftDrinks ~Sundr i es Fast Service ft Convenience ,1098 West 200 North (Nextto McDonalds) Center Post - CedarCity