The following life sketch of Jesse Alvin Washburn is in the book, John Fleming Wakefield His Ancestors and Posterity, by Melvin Wakefield, on page 60:
Jesse Alvin Washburn was born 30 April 1873 at Shonesburg, Kane County, Utah, the son of Daniel Abraham and Margaret Ann Washburn.
While he was yet in his teens, the family moved to Huntington, Utah. There he was active in church work, school, and in the usual work of pioneering.
Early in his maturity he became afflicted with a strange malady in his digestive system. Eventually, for no reason that was ever diagnosed, his esophagus was so constricted that almost no food reached his stomach. Normally a man of about 175 pounds, for many years he was little more than skin and bones. During that time, he existed mainly on plum juice and raw eggs.
In later years, with a system of rubber tubes under water pressure, docwere able to expand the passage into his stomach so that he was able to eat normally.
Jesse Alvin Washburn and Luella Wakefield were married 2 September, 1896, in the Manti Temple.
In 1899 Jesse was called to serve in the Western States Mission where he labored in Arizona and new Mexico.
One of the New Mexico communities near which he worked needed a school teacher who had to be a Mormon. Luella applied and was accepted.
With young [their first son] Alvin Verd in tow she boarded the train for Bush Valley, where she taught one year. Shortly after Jesse's departure for the mission, Lela, the second child, died.
In 1905, the Washburns moved to the Uinta Basin, to the new town of Theodore. They remained there until 1921, when Jesse was offered the positon of Superintendant of Schools in Emery County. He had already served in that capacity in the county of Duchesne.
In 1923, Superintendant Adam S. Bennion invited Jesse to start the LDS Seminary at Provo High School, and again the family moved.
While living in Provo, Jesse earned his bachelor's and master's degrees at BYU. Jesse was a distinguished schoolman and writer.
He died 14 March 1951, and was buried in the Huntington Cemetery.
Jesse and Luella had the following children:
Alvin Verd Washburn
Lela Washburn
Jesse Nile Washburn
Thomas Daniel Washburn
Donald Elden Washburn
Barr Valentine Washburn
Victor Fred Washburn
Hyrum Clyde Washburn
Roland Washburn
Clinton Woodrow Washburn
Margaret Marie Washburn
Click on the name of any child that is highlighted in blue to see a life sketch.
