Beaver Utah
Photo by Randy W. Lewis
Butch
Cassidy was born Robert LeRoy Parker on Friday the 13th
of April, 1866, at Beaver, Utah, the eldest of thirteen children born to Maximillian and Ann Campbell
(Gillies) Parker, English converts to the Mormon Church. The family moved from Beaver to the ranch in Circle
Valley in 1879 when Butch was thirteen. Here, under the tutelage of an amiable part-time rustler named Mike
Cassidy, he learned to ride and rope and shoot, and gained the alias which he would make famous.
This is the House that Robert LeRoy Parker lived In, In Beaver , Utah about 300 West 355 South. Of course it probably didn't have a TV antenna and aluminum screen door, and swamp cooler but this old block house has allot of history and as you can see, someone lives there today.
Butch's House and grainery
Photograph by Randy W. Lewis
Butch's apple Tree
Butch Cassidy's Childhood Home
photograph by Randy W. Lewis
Front View
photograph by Randy W. Lewis
Grainery
The Stove is sitting outside under a Tree
The Loft is where the Kids usually slept
view inside the house
Rock Slab that the wood burning cook stove sat on in the house
Photograph by Randy W. Lewis
Carving by Butch Cassidy on the Green River on the Outlaw Trail
BUTCH
CASSIDY'S BOYHOOD HOME
by
Kerry Ross
Boren
Three
miles south of the small town of Circleville, Utah near the mouth of Circleville Canyon, at the base of a
small hill, there is a rustic two-room log cabin with a shingled roof. The cabin was built 134 years ago, and
is beginning to show signs of neglect. The doors are missing and the window panes are gone. Cattle have been
using the building for a barn. Behind the old cabin is a row of Lombardy poplars, their branches twisted with
age. Nearby is an old abandoned wagon and several pieces of rusty farm equipment, attesting to a time when the
Circle Valley ranch was productive. This was the boyhood home of Butch
Cassidy,
In
recent years, following the appearance of a major motion picture and a plethora of books and magazines
articles, the notoriety of the amiable Utah-born outlaw has come to equal, if not surpass, that of Jesse James
or Billy the Kid. During the heyday of the Wild West until nearly a decade after the turn of the last century,
he rode at the head of the largest and best organized gang of bank and train robbers in the history of the
American West, collectively known as the Wild Bunch. While decidedly a criminal, he never killed a man of
record, and was well-liked-even admired- in his own time,
No
name in all of Western history has incited as much interest and as much controversy as that of Butch Cassidy.
The debate still rages among historians as to whether or not Cassidy died next to his compadre, The Sundance
Kid, in the little mountain village of San Vicente, Bolivia, in 1908, or whether he lived to return to the
United States in later years. Butch's sister, Lula Parker Betenson, wrote a book in 1975 in which she claimed
that her brother returned home to Circleville to visit his aged father in 1925. If the story is true, then he
probably visited the old two-room log cabin 'that had once been his boyhood home.
Butch
Cassidy was born Robert Leroy Parker on Friday the 13th
of April, 1866, at Beaver, Utah, the eldest of thirteen children born to Maximillian and Ann Campbell
(Gillies) Parker, English converts to the Mormon Church. The family moved from Beaver to the ranch in Circle
Valley in 1879 when Butch was thirteen. Here, under the tutelage of an amiable part-time rustler named Mike
Cassidy, he learned to ride and rope and shoot, and gained the alias which he would make famous.
The
history of the cabin which became the Parker family home began some fourteen years earlier with a tragedy.
During
the year 1865, Indians throughout the territory went to war against the settlers under the leadership of Chief
Black Hawk. On July 14, Robert Gillespie and Anthony Robinson had been killed near Salina in Sevier County. On
July 18, the militia under Col. Warren S. Snow had routed the hostiles in Grass Valley, killing twelve of
them. On July 26 the Indians attacked Glenwood, Sevier County, wounding one man and driving off cattle. They
retreated through Circle Valley.
During
the second week of August a wagon company of settlers approached Circle Valley where they hoped to take
up land and found a settlement. They came up from Kanab under the leadership of Charles Van Vleet. Van Vleet
had been born in Truxton, New York, on January 25, 1820, and as a young man moved with his family to Lawrence
County, Illinois, where, in 1845, at the age of twenty-five, he married fourteen year-old Rachel Ann Black.
They were baptized into the Mormon Church in 1864 and settled at Kanab, Kane County, Utah.
On
or about August 14, 1865, somewhere at the head of Circleville Canyon (then known as Sevier River Canyon)
south of Circle Valley, the wagon company encountered a lone rider carrying the mail from Panguitch, As it
happened, the mail carrier was none other than Maximillian "Maxy" Parker.
Gardner
G. Potter, the guide and scout for the wagon company, induced Maxy Parker to show them the most feasible wagon
route down the canyon, and they arrived in the valley on the evening of August 16th and made camp near the
base of a small hill.
The
wagons were pulled into a circle and the livestock were corralled in the middle. In the Van Vleet wagon,
sixteen year-old Mary Ann Van Vleet had made her bed on some sacks of flour over her body in an effort to
hide.
Several
Indians climbed inside the wagon and one of them began to rip the flour sacks open with his knife. Gardner
Potter leaped onto the end-gate and shot the intruder, while the second Indian attacked him with a knife and
the two men grappled and tumbled out onto the ground where the second Indian was dispatched. A third Indian
leaped upon the wagon tongue at the front and was shot to death by Maxy Parker.
When
the battle was over, the body of little Charles Van Vleet was discovered at the front of the wagon, scalped
and mutilated. Mary Ann Fainted, The little boy had been the only fatality among the settlers, though several
of the men had been wounded. At least six of the Indians had been killed and perhaps twice that number
wounded.
After
the attack, Charles Van Vleet, Garnder Potter, Maxy Parker, and a few others joined the militia under Col.
Warren S. Snow to pursue the renegades. After nearly a month of cat-and-mouse pursuit the Indians were
encountered on September 21st camped near Fish Lake, 80 miles east of Circle Valley. During the ensuing
battle, seven Indians were killed and Snow and two of his men were wounded. The Indians were completely routed
and the settlers returned to Circle Valley to establish their homes.
Charles
Van Vleet and John James decided to form a partnership and establish a ranch together on the site where Van
Vleet's little son had been killed. One report stated that the cabin they built was directly over the boy's
grave, to prevent desecration of the grave by the renegades. other accounts state that the boy was buried
"nearby."
The
two-room log cabin was constructed by Charles Van Vleet and John James, assisted by Gardner Potter (who
married Mary Ann Van Vleet the following year) in the as fall of 1865, just before the onset of
Maximillian
Parker settled on North Creek, a few miles from Beaver, where he had started a ranch shortly after marrying
Ann Gillies on her nineteenth birthday, July 12, 1865. Here at the North Creek ranch, on April 13, 1866, their
first child was born, whom they named Robert Leroy Parker-the future Butch Cassidy.
Continuing
Indian depredations drove the Van Vleets out of Circle Valley after about a year, and they took up a ranch
next to Maxy Parker on North Creek near Beaver. John James remained on the Circle Valley ranch somewhat
longer, but eventually he too evacuated the cabin and returned to Kanab.
By
1879, Maximillian Parker was disenchanted with life at Beaver and became determined to settle in Circle
Valley. Charles Van Vleet, believing himself to be the sole owner of the ranch there after John James
abandoned it, made an offer that Maxy Parker Gould not refuse: he offered to trade his ranch in Circle Valley
for Parker's ranch on North Creek. The deal was completed and Maxy Parker moved his growing family into the
two-room log cabin near Circleville in time to plant an early crop of wheat, But hot dry winds blew over the
Hurricane Cliffs and devastated the crop. The winter of 1879-80 was particularly severe, and a second crop was
late in being planted and nearly failed, Maxy Parker and his eldest son were both forced to take jobs away
from home to supplement their income.
Thirteen
year-old Robert Leroy Parker went to work for rancher Pat Ryan near Milford, It was here he had his first
brush with the law. On a particular Sunday, young Parker rode into Milford to purchase a new pair of jeans.
It had not occurred to him that the local mercantile would be closed. He jimmied the door, entered the store,
and selected a pair of jeans. He had no money on him, hoping to have the jeans put on account until payday, so
he left an I.O.U. As far as he was concerned, the matter was totally above reproach.
The
disgruntled storekeeper saw it differently. He noticed the sheriff who rode out to the Ryan ranch and placed
the boy under arrest for theft. It proved to be an major embarrassment to Butch, his employer, and his family.
After working two year for Ryan, Butch quit the job and returned home to Circle Valley.
For
a time, Butch stayed at home and helped his mother run the ranch in his father's absence. It was at this time
that he helped his mother plant the row of Lombardy poplars behind the log house for a windbreak and
landscaping.
Ann
Parker tried to raise her children in the influence of the Church, without much success. Her husband was a
"jack-Mormon," a term employed for inactive members, and the older boys-Robert, Daniel and
Arthur-all followed in their father's example, Ann did insist on holding family meetings in the home with
strong emphasis on religion and education. The meetings were opened with prayer, followed
Maxy
Parker's disaffection from the Mormon Church stemmed from an incident related to the Circle Valley ranch. When
Maxy returned home from his work in the mines, he had a few dollars saved for improvements to the ranch. He
filed for homestead on an adjoining 160 acres of land, originally part of the claim established by Charles Van
Vleet and his partner John James. James had vacated the land during the Indian troubles, and Maxy saw in it an
opportunity to double the size of his ranch.
No
sooner had Maxy Parker filed on the land, and after investing his savings in improvements and a crop, John
James suddenly reappeared and laid claim to the land. When Maxy defended his right to homestead the abandoned
property. James presented the matter to the local Mormon bishop for arbitration.
It
was customary in Utah at that time to have most civil and even some criminal matters resolved by a 'bishop's
court." In the instance of James vs Parker, the bishop ruled in favor of James, an active tithepaying
Church member, against Parker, a avowed inactive covenant breaker. Maxy lost his land, his savings, and his
last iota of respect for the Church. His eldest son shared his father's disdain and never forgave the Church
officials for throwing the family into abject poverty.
In
June 1884, eighteen year-old Robert Leroy Parker informed his mother that he was leaving home. "He had
craved a freedom he could never experience at our little ranch in Circle Valley," his sister Lula wrote.
When next they heard about him, he was a bank and train robber known as Butch Cassidy.
Ann
Parker died just after the turn of the century. In time, Maxy Parker left the old ranch home and moved into a
brick house in town where he lived out the rest of his life. The old two-room ranch lay vacant, though the
family kept some of the original furnishings inside and stayed there on occasion. In 1975 someone backed a
truck up to the front door of the old cabin and hauled away the furniture and mementoes of the Parker family.
Since that time the old cabin has fallen into decline and stands in need of restoration.
Today
the old cabin belongs to Mr. Afton Morgan. A coalition of interested parties has been actively engaged in
establishing a group dedicated to the restoration and preservation of this priceless relic of Utah's
fascinating past. After 134 years, it is the last physical link to the unique history of the enigmatic man
known as Butch Cassidy, and its loss would be tragic
and irreplaceable.
SOURCES:
Butch Cassidy. My Brother, Lula Betenson and Dora Flack, BYU Press, Provo, 1975.
Butch Cassidy, A Bioamphy, Richard Patterson, Univ. of Nebraska Press, Lincoln,
1998.
Potter and Van Vleet family histories in possession of the author.
"Butch Cassidy's Boyhood Home: End of An Era," Kerry Ross Boren &
Lisa Lee Boren, The Outia
Trail
Journal, winter 1999.
Indian Depredations in Utah, Peter Gottfredson, 1919 (Utah Hist. Soc.)
Research and preservation efforts of Ron Warner, Orem, Utah.
