On January 1, 1872, Zemira started a daily diary. He was 40 years old, and was living at Dry Valley, in Lincoln County, Nevada (which at that time was in Utah territory).
A careful study of his diary indicates that by 1872 his wife Sally and her children were living in Panguitch, but no mention of when or why. Three entries from his journal suggest this:
May 29, 1872- At home, my boys, Alma and James arrived from Panguitch.
July 20, 1872- Nooned at Red Creek, left 10 sacks of flour to be sent to Panguitch, to my family.
Oct. 27, 1872, Wrote letter to my wife at Panguitch.
There were at least three other Pioneer families whom the Palmers would surely have known who had lived in the Panaca area and later had moved to Panguitch, so the Palmers had friends already living in Panguitch. Andrew Peter Schow and wife, as a young couple moved to Panaca in 1867, then when difficulties with the Indians and the miners became a problem, they moved to Panguitch. Morgan and Elizabeth Richards moved their family to Panaca from Long Valley (probably Mt. Carmel when Indians drove them out before their crops were harvested.) They built five rock stores in Panaca, and then moved to Panguitch in 1870. Thomas and Suzanna Heaps had been called by Brigham Young to help settle Toquerville. Later they moved to Lincoln County and assisted in settling Spring Valley and Panaca, and after the Black Hawk War they moved to Panguitch, later settling in Escalante. (See History of Garfield County)
Zemira’s oldest son, Alma Zemira, had already gone to Panguitch. There very probably were other relatives or friends who lived at Panguitch, at that time, also. Quoting from Alma Zemira’s autobiography: “At 14 years of age I with my parents moved to Panaca Nevada, and in all of this time was helping my Father to make a living for the Family and Building up a new Country, helping to grub Brush and Kill the snakes off and done a little at all kinds of work. At about 20 years of age I started out for myself in life, went to Panguitch, Utah and there obtained some land and started to farm for myself, and there got married and got a little home started.”80
Alma, born at Provo in 1853 would by this time have been a robust strong lad about 19 or 20 years of age, tried and trained through rugged years of pioneer life, and he had undoubtedly carried a big share of responsibility while helping his father. Zemira’s next oldest son was James, born 1860, making him 12 or 13, barely in his teens, and now he was also in Panguitch, so Zemira’s best helpers were gone.
His loved ones in Panguitch were very dear to him, and it is evident from his diary that he kept in touch with them, such as writing to his wife at Panguitch, and writing to their son Alma and receiving letters from him.
80- Autobiography of Alma Zemira Palmer
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