JAMES FAYETTE SHULER, the eighth child of Emanuel and Jane Shuler, was born 11 June 1837 in Buncombe or Cherokee County, North Carolina. He grew up in North Carolina and northern Georgia, and left there when he and some of his brothers came west to California to work in the gold fields. In the 1860 census George, William, and Goldman Shuler were listed in California (James was not found in this census; he may have been traveling).

In 1870 James Fayette Shuler was listed in the census in California as a miner, unmarried. (It was just recently noticed that his location in this census was San Quentin prison. Upon contacting the office of the California State Archives, copies of many letters and documents have been obtained, pertaining to his troubles in California.)

See Researcher's Notes

After being pardoned and released from prison, James came to Utah to work in the mines in the Tintic mining district in Juab County. There he met a young widow, Mary Ann Olive Warthen Davis. They were married on 27 November 1873 in Silver City, Juab County, Utah. He was a 36 year old bachelor, and she was 24 years old, with a four-year-old daughter from her previous marriage. Mary Ann had been born 23 March 1849 in Kanesville, Pottawattamie County, Iowa; the daughter of Mormon pioneers Joseph Warthen (1811-1852) and Lutitia Shearer (1822-1903). She had married the first time at age 19 to William Walker Davis, 22 November 1868; he passed away less than a year later, 31 Oct 1869. Their daughter, Susan Lutitia Davis ("Aunt Lu"), had been born in August 1869 to Mary Ann and her first husband, so James F. Shuler raised Lu as his stepdaughter.

JAMES FAYETTE SHULER


James was already quite elderly before any of his grandchildren were born. The family of his son, George, lived in the same house with their grandparents for several years. They remember him fondly. Some of the other grandchildren remember that he would sit and smoke his pipe, and didn't talk very much. None of them seems to remember him speaking of his activities before he came to Utah, or very much about his family back in North Carolina, Georgia and Arkansas. He probably never told anyone about the years he had spent in prison.

James and Mary Ann Shuler lived in the Tintic area until the mid 1880's, James being a miner in various mines and Mary Ann running a boarding house. In the mid-1880's, the family moved to Payson, Utah for the children to go to school, but they continued to live and mine in Tintic in the summers. Mary Ann also ran a boarding house in Payson for much of the rest of her life.

They had seven children: 

     RICHARD EMANUEL ("Manny") SHULER, b. 25 August 1874
        in one of the mining towns of Tintic District, Utah.
	Manny never married.
	He worked in the mines, and also later worked as
	a ranch hand.  He died 28 March 1909 in Moapa Valley,
	Nevada, at the age of 34.  He was found dead
	in the desert where his horse had fallen on him.
     PHEBE JANE SHULER, b. 14 March 1876 at Silver City,
        married CHILLIAN FAY PACKARD in 1897, had six children:
         ORA PACKARD CLYDE
	  (married George Dewey Clyde, who later became Governor of Utah)
         FAE PACKARD GOTTFREDSON
         JESSIE PACKARD CONDIE
         CHILLIAN MAX PACKARD
         REX SHULER PACKARD
         COE PACKARD DURRANT STRAW
        Aunt Phebe died 24 Dec 1968 in Springville, at age 92.
     MARY SUNBEAM SHULER, b. 18 April 1878
        near the Sunbeam mine at Tintic District,
        married HENRY FAIRBANKS Jr. in 1899, had three children:
         JENNIE FAIRBANKS
         MADGE FAIRBANKS
         BYRON EARL FAIRBANKS
        They lived in Payson, in Alberta, Canada, and later
	had a homestead in Duchesne County, Utah.
	Following Henry's death in 1918, Aunt Mary lived in Payson.
	She married George Wesley SEABURY in 1921, but had
	no more children. "Aunt Mary, although she had no
	grandchildren of her own, always acted as grandmother to
	all her nieces and nephews and their children. She was
	one of the sweetest dispositioned women that ever lived."
        She died of cancer 26 June 1948 in Payson, at age 71.
     MIRANDA ("Aunt Ran") SHULER, b. 5 August 1880 at Tintic District,
        married AMMON NEBEKER, Jr. in 1904, had two children:
         LEE SHULER NEBEKER
         RUTH NEBEKER
        In 1908 they moved to the Conner Basin (Nebeker) Ranch in
	Daggett County, Utah, near the Wyoming border.
	Ammon NEBEKER Jr. ranched here with his father and his
	brother Vaughn.  They lived there until 1951, when Ammon
	retired and they moved into Green River, Wyoming.
	Aunt Ran died 9 Jan 1972 at the age of 91.
	Lee Shuler Nebeker was an attorney in Green River.
     WILLIAM ALBERT ("Willy") SHULER, b. 22 September 1882 
        at Tintic District.
	He was dragged and kicked by a horse early in the summer 
	of 1893, when he was 10 years old, and died about a month 
	later, on 22 July 1893, in Tintic, Utah.
	He is buried in Payson.
     GEORGE SHULER, b. 15 Dec 1884 at Tintic District,
        married ESTHER ADELINE BARNEY in 1906, had 8 children:
         GOLDA SHULER ANDERSON RUTHERFORD
         FAY BARNEY SHULER
         FLOYD GEORGE SHULER
         EDITH PEARL SHULER LARSEN
         JAMES HENRY (J.H. or "Tub") SHULER
         DETA SHULER CRABB MORGAN
         HELEN SHULER BECKSTROM
         ELAINE SHULER VEST
        George farmed and later became a mechanic, working for
	his brother DAVE and other automobile dealers.
	He died of cancer 25 Nov 1957 in Payson, at age 72.
        (His sons Fay and Floyd Shuler had no children, but
        his third son, J.H., had two boys:
	   JIMMY DEAN SHULER
	   GORDON LeROY SHULER
	These are the only ones besides David Shuler's descendants
	to carry on the Shuler name from James Fayette Shuler's
	family.
     DAVID SHULER, b. 16 December 1887 in Payson, Utah,
        married DORA MAY WIGHTMAN (1890-1918) in 1909.
	She was the daughter of Joseph Wightman (1848-1930)
	and Emily Johnson (1853-1926).  They had three sons:
         HOWARD WAYNE SHULER
         MARVEL DAVID SHULER
         KEITH JACK ("Bish") SHULER
        Dora May died in the flu epidemic in 1918, and then
	Dave married Erma Nell WIGHTMAN Gardner(1897-1988),
	who was his first wife's niece (daughter of Dora May's
	brother Charles Philo Wightman).  Erma was a young
	widow who had also lost her spouse in the flu epidemic.
	She had two daughters by this earlier marriage:
         HELEN GARDNER
         GERALDINE GARDNER
        Erma and Dave had two sons after they were married:
         RUSSELL PHILO SHULER
         STERLING HAL SHULER

JAMES SHULER FAMILY -- NEAR THEIR HOME IN PAYSON
GEORGE -- MARY -- LUTITIA -- PHEBE -- MIRANDA -- DAVE
MARY ANN ---- JAMES


James Fayette and Mary Ann Olive Warthen Shuler lived year-round in Payson as they grew older. In the last years of his life, James had a cancer or tumor on his nose, which disfigured his face. He died 26 May 1923 in Payson at age 85. Mary Ann died 19 January 1936, at age 86. They are both buried in the Payson City Cemetery.

The old Shuler home, 280 E. 100 N. in Payson, stood empty for many years, until Jim & Julie Reece bought and restored it. The Reeces also purchased the building which had been used as the Payson depot for the old Orem-Eureka railroad line. This building was moved to a location immediately south of the house. A business called Payson Antiques is currently located in the old home.

Information Compiled
by Karen Bray Keeley

INTERNET Adaptation
by Sandra Shuler Bray