Alvin Moroni Jensen Helped Notorious Butch Cassidy Visit His Family

Butch Cassidy, neighbor of  young Alvin Moroni Jensen.

  Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.

In a previous post I uploaded my Great Grandpa Alvin Moroni Jensen's autobiography.  Interestingly, he leaves out some interesting stories.  Perhaps they are best told by others, not oneself.

My dad, Gary Alvin Jensen (Alvin's grandson and namesake,) shared the following story in an email dated 27 January 2006.

Answering the question, "Who was it that helped Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid hide out in Utah?  I want to say it was Pop (Alvin Moroni Jensen,) but he seems too young."

Gary answered, "It was Alvin M. Jensen, my grandfather.  He was a young man in Circleville, Utah and Butch's parents lived on the next farm from him.  Butch would ride onto his parent's place and Alvin would tend his horse while Butch would sneak over to his parent's place.  He would hand Alvin his horses reins and give him a silver dollar.  Sometime later, Butch would sneak back to Alvin's house and get his horse."

Alvin's father was called to serve as Bishop of Circleville ward in 1896, although they had been living in Parowan.  They sold the family farm and moved to Circleville before Fall.  Alvin's family lived in three homes in the first few years of living in Circleville.  It's not clear which home was near the Parker family, so to put a date on this would be difficult.  First they rented a 500 acre ranch just outside of town from Ambrose Thompson, living there for 2 years.  In 1898, Alvin's dad Jorgen Peder Jensen built a family home on a small plot of land in the town center.  Soon afterward, Jorgen bought a small farm of 30 acres just outside of town and another 160 acres in what was then called 'Lost Creek.' 

Maximillion (Maxy) Parker had moved his family to Circleville area in 1879, living on a ranch outside of town.  It was there that Butch lived in a two room log cabin, supposedly adjoining the property that the Jensen family would later settle on.   

Looking at the 1900 census would be one way to verify that the families lived near each other.  They should appear on the same page or even be listed one after another.  In the 1900 census, we see the Jensen family in Circleville with Alvin listed at age 15.  There is no Maximillion Parker listed on the page showing the Jensen family.  But with such a notorious son, perhaps the family avoided the census taker.  Or they may have moved by 1900.  Butch's mom had died around the turn of the century and his father moved into town.

Considering Alvin's extreme prowess with horses, he was capable of managing Butch's horses while between the ages of 11 and 16, when the families may have lived next door and before Butch fled to Mexico in 1901.  A silver dollar was probably a lot of money in those days and a lot of the locals looked up to Butch.  Although I am unable to verify or discount this story, it's plausable and certainly livens up our family history .