My Mayfield
Website for the Town of MayfieldMayfield, Utah, located at the mouth of Twelve Mile Canyon. Incorporated 1909.

CHRISTIANSEN, BISHOP PARLEY

Bishop-Parley-ChristiansenCHRISTIANSEN, BISHOP PARLEY, farmer and stockraiser, son of Neils and Dorothy, was born in Salt Lake City December 7, 1857. According to an 1898 history of Sanpete county “His parents removed to Spanish Fork when he was about four months old, and after two years he and his mother moved to Ephraim. In 1890 he came to Mayfield, where he has since remained. While he was too young to take an active part in the Black Hawk war, he had quite an experience during that exciting time. While he and his brother were after wood in October, 1865, the Indians made a raid and killed five men, one woman and a girl. The brothers succeeded in eluding the savages and reached Ephraim in safety, though only a little distance from the massacre. He served as Constable of Ephraim in 1884-5-6, and was elected a member of the Constitutional convention in ’94. Is at present (1898) assistant postmaster, notary public and member of the district school board. He is one of the directors in the Mayfield and Gunnison Cattlemen’s Association, and is considerably interested in the cattle business. In 1887 he was called on a mission to the Northwestern States and returned in ’88. In ’76 be went to Arizona to help build up a town then called Brigham City, but since abandoned. He helped build a fort there, and on his return assisted in taking a sawmill to St George to cut lumber for the Temple. He is a member of the Elders, Seventies and High Priests’ quorums and has been a teacher in the Sunday-school theological class. In May, 1890, he was ordained bishop of Mayfield by Apostle Heber J. Grant and holds that position with credit to himself and honor to the ward. He is an enterprising, industrious and much-respected citizen. He was married in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, April 21, 1881, to Dorothea C, daughter of Niels and Dorothea Jensen Scow, born July 13, 1861. They have six children living: Dorothea G., Metta E., Parley A., Edna M., Nels W. and Ella L., and one deceased.”

A Brief History Of Mayfield

The first house in Mayfield was built by M. P. Sorensen in 1873. Other early settlers were Simon Hansen, Christian Hansen, Hans Tuft and C. A. Madsen. Twenty families from Ephraim joined the colony in 1875 and John Williams opened the first store. Mayfield is pleasantly situated on Twelve Mile Creek in the southern part of Sanpete County, about four miles east of Gunnison, which is the nearest railroad station. It has a municipal water system, a flour mill, a sawmill, a public school, general stores and some minor business enterprises. It was incorporated in 1909 and in 1918 had an estimated population of 550.

Utah since statehood, historical and biographical