Stoddard, Albert Leonard-------The death of Albert Leonard Stoddard which occurred at 4:20 a.m. on the morning of June 3rd, takes from the immediate relatives a kind father and grandfather, and from the town, county, and state, a respected and useful citizen. Mr. Stoddard was born in the district of Johnstown, Canada, April 26th, 1832. His parents joined the "Mormon", movement to the West in 1837 and from that time were participants in the activities connected with Kirkland, Nauvoo, Warsaw, Council Bluffs, and finally the exodus across the plains. At the age of 15, Mr. Stoddard crossed the plains and arrived in Salt Lake Valley in the fall of 1817.

He participated in the early settling and surveying of Salt Lake City until the spring of '49 when he went with the first teams into the gold fields of California. In company with his brothers and others he engaged in panning gold near Caloma on the American River. Gold was worth $16 per ounce, and they received as much as $116.00 per day.

In 1850 he again returned to Salt Lake, in constant danger from the Indians, but he was very tactful and fortunate in treating with and managing them. After a winter in Salt Lake and Provo, he returned to California, in company with Amassa Lyman and Charles C. Rich and settled in San Bernardino, the first white settlement in that section. On December 5th, 1885 he was married to Ellen Niece, also a pioneer of '47. In the fall of '57 he returned to Utah, stopping for a short time on the Santa Clara.

He arrived in Minersville in 1859, where he has resided since. He became engaged in farming, teaming and mining, participating in the smelting of the lead ore from the Lincoln district, the first in the state of Utah. Mr. Stoddard was the first marshal in the incorporated town of Minersville. Since that time he has held practically every civic position created under the municipal organization. He was elected County Commissioner twice in succession and later was County Road Supervisor. He had entire supervision of the building of the first permanent reservoir in the canyon above Minersville and he superintended the irrigation for over twenty years.

He was commissioned as Captain over a branch of the State Militia and saw active military service in pursuing Jauquin. the notorious Mexican bandit. Although connected with the church movement his excellent physique and frank, fearless disposition naturally led him into the rougher phases of pioneering and his energies have been directed far more along military, and civic lines than religious.

His wide range of acquaintances and friends speak in glowing terms of his honesty, integrity and fearlessness in a firm stand for justice and right. Throughout all his varied experiences as a sturdy frontiersman he cultivated and retained a cheerful, sunny and sympathetic disposition. He is survived by five daughters and one son. Mary Ellen Blackburn, Jane Bingham, Hellen Stoddard and Albert Stoddard, all of Minersville, and Mrs. Essie Branting of Salt Lake City; also by 35 grandchildren and 21 great grandchildren. Beaver County News June 16, 1916

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