Lyman, Joseph Alvin and Nellie Grayson Roper

Joseph Alvin was born December 13, 1856 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, UT.  His parents were Eliza Maria Partridge and Amasa Mason Lyman.  He married Nellie Grayson Roper 25 Apr 1878 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah.   Photo on left was taken in 1880, the same year as the trek.
Joseph along with Platte and Walter C Lyman and Kumen Jones formed a corporation to create a White Mesa Canal Company in 1897 (Saga of San Juan p 136) Jody, as Joseph was called, bought the L.C. Ranch from Walter and Jim Woods of Colorado.  He became the first postmaster of Grayson at this time. He named the first post office, Grayson after his wife; the future town of Blanding also carried her name until 1915. The mail was delivered on horse twice a week, going to and from Bluff (Saga of San Juan p 139).  He moved his family to the Ranch Feb. 22, 1902.  They had to pitch tents to live in, as the Lacey house had burned down some time before. 

Along with his wife came their young children: Henry M. Alton A., Carlie, Ezra De, Wayne R., Lucy, Angie.  His maried son Alvin and his wife, Vin and their adopted son Joseph Platte Callister also moved to the ranch as did their daughter Nellie May and her husband Hans C.H. Bogh.  Some alfalfa had been raised on the ranch earlier, and the Lymans expanded those fields and also planted vegetable gardens, and some wheat.  The ranch at this point served as headquarters for those working on the Johnson Creek ditch, until spring of 1903 when water finally ran through the completed ditch into the "park land" above Grayson (Saga of San Juan p 137).

  In Oct. of 1904, Joseph moved his family from the L. C. Ranch to the Mesa, four miles north of where the town was to be, to an area called the "Park"  He also moved the cabin for the Grayson post office to the same area. In about 1905 Benjamin Perkins, or his hired men, brough the mail there in a buckboard (Saga of San Juan p 139).
   On Nov. 13, 1904 the first branch of the LDS church was organized in Grayson.  The meeting was held out doors on the Hans Bogh lot west of the 2nd reservoir.  Joseph was the 1st president of the branch, Bogh was superintendent of the Sunday School and Albert R. Lyman was president of the YMMIA.  The next year, in 1905 AR Lyman's family became the first to settle in Blanding, and Jody and Nellie's family joined them, moving the post office cabin yet again, placed north of the South Chapel near the corner of Main and 2nd south (Saga of San Juan p 140).  Joseph died 18 Dec 1925 Mayfield, Sanpete, Ut

(See Article: The Prickly Pear Poultice: How Baililly Saved Jody Lyman, And Taught the Mormons Some Medicine, Blue Mountain Shadows Vol 11, p. 44)

Nellie Grayson was the 12th of 14 children of Henry Roper and Mary Ann Grayson who were from Sheffield, Yorkshire, England.  (Were they the prototypes for the Dickerson family in Undaunted?)

She was born 13 Apr 1862 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah and died 22 Dec 1931 Place Mayfield, Sanpete, Utah

Roper family, Nellie's parents

Partridge and Lyman connections

Parentage and other siblings Joseph's mother was first sealed to the Prophet Joseph, note that many of the children have Smith family names.

Burial list  How is Waddoups, Carlie connected to Joseph and Nellie?
Pedigree chart

Wonderful Photo of Oak City Sunday School Oak City Sunday School, 1880. Also includes many others connected with Hole in the Rock

Back Row, Left to Right: Joseph Alvin Lyman, Harry Roper, Ann Elizabeth Lovell Lyman, Olie Jacobson, John Dutson, Brigham Lovell, Sylvia Lovell Lyman, Charlie Rawlinson. Middle Row, L-R: Joseph Smith Anderson, George Finlinson, Ann Jane Dutson Roper, Hannah Rawlinson Tumbo, Christian Jensen, Harriet Jane Lyman Lovell, Anthony Christensen.Front row, L-R: Walter Clisbe Lyman, Edward Leo Lyman Sr., Joseph Dutson, Hyrum Jensen, Eve Jensen, Martha Lovell Dutson, Mary Ann Jensen, Libby Finlinson Lyman, John Edmund Lovell.