7.
ROCCO VINCENZO SARLI IN IDAHO
Elmer Mott stated, "Soon after they came to the USA, Father and his uncle became separated in Denver. Father always thought his uncle was killed, but never did know exactly what happened to him. Father went into Idaho then, where he got a start in cattle, but an extremely bad winter wiped his small herd out. He met the Beers family there and came with them to Manassa (CO)."
Except for this brief account from his son Elmer, Rocco Vincenzo Sarli's life between 1875 and 1880 is undocumented. In late October, 1880, we believe he arrived with the Robert Henry Beers family of St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho, as a drover for their livestock. By this time, it seems apparent that the name he was using was Joseph Louis Mott.
The obituary of Robert H. Beers II includes the following:
Robert Beers came to Conejos county with his father, Robert H., and family, from St. Charles, Idaho, at the age of 10 years, early in November 1880. They came overall and pitched camp near where the town of Antonito now stands and proceeded on to their destination with the Manassa colony on the day of the election of James A Garfield as president of the United States. (*Nov 2, 1880)
ROBERT HENRY BEERS I
Robert Henry Beers was born April 24, 1832, in Banberry, Oxfordshire, England. His parents brought him to the United States when he was a young boy. He was educated in the public schools of New York City. When he was sixteen, he and his parents traveled west, overland by ox-team, to Salt Lake City, Utah, with the Brigham Young Company that left Winter Quarters, Nebraska, in 1848 and arrived on September 29, 1848, in Salt Lake City.
From the article at this link is a summation:
http://thomastolmanfamily.org/brigham-youngs-1848-company-arriving-in-the-salt-lake-valley-and-settling-the-tooele-valley/
" . . . members of Lorenzo Snow’s Third Company of Brigham Young’s Company that left Winter Quarters in 1848. They left the Elkhorn River on June 1 and arrived in Salt Lake City September 20, having spent one hundred twelve days on the journey.
The company consisted of 1,220 souls, 397 wagons, 74 horses, 19 mules, 1,275 oxen (a ratio of more than ten oxen for every horse in the company), 688 cows, 184 loose cattle, 411 sheep, 141 pigs, 605 chickens, 37 cats, 82 dogs, 3 goats, 10 geese, 2 hives of bees, 8 doves and 1 crow.
Robert remained at Salt Lake City for four years, helping his father to clear new land. In 1852, at age 20, he spent two years in California, engaging in mining and merchandizing on the American River. The next years, he worked to farm 160 acres in Oakland, California. Between 1860 and 1863, he ran a freight business between Salt Lake and Sacramento. In 1863, he relocated to Utah Valley and continued freighting to Nevada.
In the spring of 1864, he went to Bear Lake, Utah - now Idaho. He opened a store and began farming and raising stock. Beers was one of Bear Lake Valley's pioneers, and remained there until 1880, when he disposed of his interests and went to the new settlement of Manassa, Colorado.
Eventually, he owned 823 acres there, devoted to farming and raising stock. between 1881 and 1889, he was the manager of Manassa Co-Operative Mercantile and Milling Company. In 1894, he bought the Manassa flour mill. On his ranch, he had from 80 to 100 horses and a large number of cattle. He was also a stockholder in the Manassa Canal Company, the Northeastern Canal Company, Ephraim Canal Company, and Richfield Canal Company. He and his partner E. L. Meyers, who married his daughter Emma, built and operated the Palace Hotel in Antonito.
Beer's first wife was Mehetabel Bennet. She died in 1888, leaving five children: Robert H., Herbert W., Charlotte H., wife of William C. McGregor; Emma J., and Eva Adelia, wife of Louis Rinehart. The children from his union with Jane Vance were: Frank, Myrtle, Melvin, and Arnold. Robert Henry Beers I died March 6, 1907 in Thatcher, Arizona.
(Info from page 822, Portrait & Biological Records of the State of Colorado, Part 2, published 1899)
