Jonita- OK, do you want to go ahead and give me your name and birthplace and date and address and parents?

Emett- This is Emett Williams, born December 28, 1943, to parents Paul and Eline Williams.  Grew up in the Lucerne Valley area or on the Henry's Fork which is now under approximately 200 feet of water.  I spent approximately 12 or 13 years of my life or even up to 16 years there until ths water from the dam flooded the ranch out at that time.  This was about in 1957-58 as about the last year that the Williams Brothers Ranch was operated.  I also went to school in this area at Manila High School and grade school.  Later on from 8th grade through high school I attended a private school in Mt.  Pleasant, UT.  After 1957-58 in that area the government prior to this time had come in and purchased the ranch and ground that would be covered by the water.  This was the main place which consisted of about 1200 acres.  Most of it was hay ground and it was also deeded ground.  There was 2 other places that was not covered by the water that the government did not buy or the range rights which were in Wyoming.  As a result of the water being backed up this separated the ground that the Williams Brothers had from the range rights which would have made it almost impossible to even continue ranching.  The 4 Williams brothers at that time was Henry W., Jer W., Paul Williams, who was my father, and Bill Williams.  At this time it was decided that Jerg and Henry was getting up in years.  They weren't too interested in continuing on in the ranching business and that they would just sell everything out.  What the government bought plus the other places the people were interested in and at that time the end of an era of ranching for the Williams brothers came to an end.
   Jerg and Henry at this time roughly retired.  Henry retained one of the places that the Williams Brothers owned just below Manila, UT which all he done was live there, moving a couple of buildings from the old ranch.  And during his stay there just irrigated the ground, selling the hay to whomever was interested in it.  Jerg Williams moved to what became the town of Dutch John, Utah where the dam was being constructed and lived with Paul and Eline Williams.
   Bill Williams and his wife moved to Pinedale, Wyoming, where Bill had grown up during his younger years not too far from the Big Sandy area.  Going back to a little bit of history on the place, the Williams brothers and my grandpa Williams moved from the Big Sandy area to the Glenwood area in 1930 at which time they purchased the ranch from the Finches and prior to that time the ranch had belonged to a guy by the name of Drisco.  The brand that the Williams Bros. used at this time was JHF brand which was located on the left hip of both horses and cattle.  It also used what they called a britchem, or just a straight bar right under the tail which came around both flanks of the animal.  This made it very convenient if an animal was turning away from you or you would want on the side of the brand and could not located a brand on the opposite side that you were on.  The animal...usually the animal would turn to run away from you.  It was easy to spot this britchem so it was very handy in that sense.  This britchem was never recorded in any brand book that I have seen.  This brand goes back to records that have been in the family and also that Jonita Sommers has found that the brand was originally recorded in 1888.  This was a certificate of record, May 20, and it lists John T. Huff as the one who recorded this brand, who was a resident of Atlantic City.
   There is not too much known at this time beyond..... what any history beyond this date of the brand that we've found so far, although it is still being researched.  Whether this was the actual ... the actual brand that was actually being used before this time was not recorded until this date .... no one knows.
   The next records that show a transfer of ownership .... when, I'll back up a little bit .... this brand was used ... recorded for horses and cattle somewhere in this time period and thereafter.  Through family history John Huff had owned some sheep.  Now whether this brand was ever used on a sheep we have no records of it. The next owner of the brand was his daughter, which was Maude, who later on became the wife of my grandfather, Henry Williams.  This brand, as far as we know from the history of the family, was given to Maude from her father, John T. Huff.  The first records we have of the transfer was April 30, 1902 and this brand both being used on horses and cattle.
   This brand would have been used by John Huff over in Atlantic City and South Pass.  This is the first records that we have.  Where he came to in Wyoming and would have used the brand there.  After it was transferred to Maude, somewhere in the late 1800's to early 1900's, the homestead was taken up in the Big Sandy area just northwest of the Buckskin Crossing.  This brand would have been used there on what livestock they had or on cattle or horses.
   We have another record here of where the brand was recorded in the state of Wyoming by the livestock commission on November 11, 1915.  I don't know the exact dates but from information passed on to me that when the state started recording the brands in before then there were counties that would have had recordings somewhere either in the early 1900's or the state started recording them.

Jonita- What did they mostly use this brand on over there on Big Sandy?

Emett- The only thing they would have had would be horses mainly and then whatever few cattle they would have had, would have been what it was used on in the Big Sandy area.  I would say more horses than cattle at that point.  After 1930 when they moved to Glenwood, Utah, to take over the Finch ranch the records show that it was registered to Henry Williams in December 18, 1931.  There on the Henry' s Fork the brand was primarily used on cattle and horses.
   After the Williams Bros. went out of business then around 1957-58, they kept the brand recorded.  And it was recorded in both Utah and Wyoming since we did have deeded ground in both states so it was recorded in both brand books.
   The brand has been passed on down to....... was passed on to me as one of the Williams which there are only 2 of us left now, me and my son; and this is the reason I have ownership of it.
   Since the late 1950's the brand has not been used on any livestock, just the recording has been kept up in the books, for the sake of history, I guess.  And I will pass the brand on to my sone, Monty Williams who will, if he has any children, be passed on to them so to help keep a long lost memory alive.