Family tradition says Wilford “Will” Luce (1838-1906) rode Pony Express. His daughter Nan (Luce) Leonard wrote in her autobiography: “Before my Father married my Mother he carried mail on the Pony Express from Utah to Nevada. The ride was rough and dangerous, and I can remember him telling us children how in Skull Valley he…
Author: Justin Durand
Our Shifting Indian Heritage
When I was growing up my mom told me my dad’s mother (Evelyn Horn) was full-blooded Cherokee, so I was 1/4. I had no reason to doubt it. We all lived with Grandma for awhile when I was a baby, so Mom knew the family story first-hand. When I was 15, I met my dad….
Howery Brands
Sometime between and 1950 and 1955 my grandfather Dudley Howery and cowboy dad Dudley Jr. (aka Ridge Durand) bought a ranch property near Tie Siding, Wyoming. That’s the best date I’ve come up with so far. The 1950 Census shows them both in Laramie, but when I was born we were already living on the…
Loyalist Ancestry
I joined the United Empire Loyalist Association as a descendant of Anthony Walliser. I’ve been wanting to do that for a long time. As we approach the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, a reminder that many old American families have ancestors who fought on both sides of the Revolutionary War. The Wallisers had…
1852 Utah Slave Code
I knew, vaguely and in the back of my mind, that Utah was a slave territory before the Civil War. It’s one of bits of trivia I trot out from time to time to serve as a reminder that I’m a history nerd. Not that anyone really cares. Not that it matters to Civil War…