Uintah County, Utah Pioneers
Born in Pike County, Kentucky, Jan 22, 1862, a son of Moses and Louisa Branham Sowards. He completed his elementary education in Kentucky and later attended private schools in penmanship and music. He came to Colorado in 1881, settling at Manassa where he taught school for eight years. He filled a two-year mission for the L.D.S. Church in the southern states. Following his mission, he came west again and attended B.Y.U. at Provo. He later attended the University of Utah and University of California
He married Mary E. Gibson in the Salt Lake Temple in 1893. He came to Vernal in 1892 and served as principal of the Uintah Academy in 1892-93. He served as Uintah County superintendent of schools for seventeen years and during his office schools were first graded, then consolidated. He (taught) school for fifty years. He died Jan 14, 1946 at the age of 83 and is buried in the Gibson private cemetery. (note- Those buried in the Gibson Cemetery were later moved to the Vernal City Cemetery)
-From 'The Builders of Uintah' courtesy of the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers
Transcribed by Lori Reynolds Weinstein
