George Brigham Hobbs & Sisters

George Hobbs was one of several single young adults called to participate in the San Juan Mission and the only person assigned to all three of its major scouting expeditions. The first expedition established sites for the mission, took more than five months, and covered over 900 miles. The second, a six-day exploration, located and designated the Hole-in-the-Rock crevice as the pioneers' access into the Colorado River gorge. In the third expedition, George Hobbs and three fellow scouts searched for and plotted a path from the Colorado River to the Bluff valley; over 24 days they encountered freezing blizzards, became lost, and ran out of food, but survived and returned to guide the San Juan pioneers to the Bluff valley. Kumen Jones described George Hobbs as "strong sturdy stock" who was "sure to be a first class citizen." A carpenter by trade, he later moved to Nephi, Utah, married Julia Broadhead, and they had 11 children, including triplets and two sets of twins. George Hobbs' sisters, Sarah Elizabeth Hobbs Harriman and Ellen Agnes Hobbs Fielding, and their families also played important and challenging roles in settling San Juan County. A year before the main contingent of pioneers arrived in the Bluff valley, Henry and Sarah Harriman traveled with George in the first scouting expedition with a three-month-old baby and children ages three and six, helping establish an early foothold for the pioneers at Montezuma Fort, 18 miles east. Ellen and Hyrum Fielding, with their four children ages one to seven, were part of the main contingent of pioneers who came via the Hole-in-the-Rock with George, and Ellen and her family joined her sister at Montezuma Fort.

Bluff, Utah · United States