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| Joseph Hastings 1869-1945 |
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| Joseph on left and Hyrum on right. Hastings twins |
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| Remaining structures in the now ghost town of Grafton, Utah |
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| The adobe meeting house in Grafton built in 1886 served as a church, school, and hall for social gatherings |
The next spring 1862, they brought some land and a dugout home. The home had been made by digging a hole in a hill and putting a west-facing rock wall in the front. The room was about twelve by fourteen feet and had two windows and a door. In the west wall was the door and a window on the north side. On the south side of the room were a stove and fireplace, with another window in that southwest corner.
A table was in the southeast corner, above which were shelves. The bed lay along the north wall, with Sarah's trunk at the foot of it.
The Hasting family were farmers. They had two large plots of land and a large garden with orchards of fruit trees (apples, plums, pears, and peaches) and berries. They sold their fruit to nearby mining camps and also traded it for other food and supplies. The field was for grain and alfalfa, which was used to feed their livestock. They also had a herd of dairy cattle.
They raised their eight children on that farm, with five of the children born in the dugout home, including Joseph. Every child was expected to participate with the farming work. In the summer, the hot sun reflected off the solid rock canyon walls, making the valley extremely hot, so early in life he learned the reality of the Bible teaching "by the seat of thy brow, shalt thou earn thy bread." Joseph was one of those that worked on the digging of the historic Hurricane Canal which was so important to the farmers of that area. The canal was the first source of water from the Virgin River to that area. It was finished in 1904 and led to the establishment of the new town of Hurricane.
After five weeks sick in bed, Joseph's father, William, died 8 November 1882 with chills and fever and was said he died "because the necessities of living were so scarce." Showing the fact that at times food was scarce and conditions extreme and difficult.
Shortly thereafter, Sarah lost her eyesight due to an infection leaving the family of 7 young children without a father and a mother without eyesight. Because there was no doctor in Grafton, Sarah left for Salt Lake City for treatment but on the way went completely blind. She made the comment the last thing she saw was the sunset.
With these tragic events unfolding, the oldest child was 22 and the youngest was 10. Our Joseph was 14 years old during this difficult time.
William and Sarah's hardships in Grafton explain why the town is now deserted. Farming there was difficult, because it's proximity to the Virgin River made it vulnerable to the river's yearly flooding.
The banks of the river were only a short walk away from their fields and houses. This was also an area inhabited by Indians- a danger to the town residents. Several townspeople were killed by them during attacks. By the 1930's, the town was completely abandoned. Still remaining are the old church house a few wooden shacks and the cemetery.
These conditions in Grafton may have given Joseph reasons to search for a more fruitful land. One of Joseph's married sisters, Mary Johnson, had moved to Mesa, Arizona in the 1880's. His twin brother Hyrum had married Maggie Dennett in 1893 and had also moved down to Mesa. It was a promising land for those interested in farming, Mesa probably looked like a place of opportunity for him.
We don't know the year Joseph moved to Mesa, but it was before the spring of 1898 when he was called from the Alma Ward in Mesa to serve as a missionary in the Southern States Mission. He was not a young man that we see going on missions nowadays, but rather, he was older at twenty-nine years of age. To fund this mission call, Joseph's blind mother, dear Sarah, sold some of her cattle and worked at anything else she could to earn money-she even took in washings to help him pay his expenses. Joseph was set apart 18 May 1898.
Of his mission, Elder Hastings reported in the Deseret Evening News,
1 September 1900, "Returned Missionaries", page 16
When Joseph returned to his Mesa home from his mission, he and Amanda Kempe became acquainted and began doing things together (these first few dates feel like a foreshadowing of their future life). On their first date Amanda reports, "the buggie tongue was all broken and yes I had to go home with Will Brundage." Their second date didn't end any better, Amanda writes, "Went with Joe to a theater, someone turned the horse loose and we walked home." During the first six months Amanda spent in Mesa, Joseph and Amanda only went out a few times, their relationship didn't begin to develop until Amanda returned from a nine month visit to St Johns. By January 1902, Joe took more interest and took her to church meetings, horseback rides and visited her home. Several months of courting proved to be favorable for the two to find love in each other.
Soon they were engaged and a wedding soon followed in Amanda's home town of St Johns, Apache County, Arizona on 7 August 1902.
At two p.m. the Justice of the Peace, Charles Jarvis performed the marriage ceremony. Amanda says "The great eventful wedding day, ha! ha! yes gave myself to dear Joseph Hastings and became his happy bride". They had a large gathering (the adult guests in attendance numbered forty-four, not counting the children). That night, they held a dance to celebrate. This was a highlight in Amanda's life and no doubt Joseph's as well.
There is no record of a honeymoon, rather they stayed in St Johns helping the family on the farm and visiting friends.
Joseph left later in August 1902 to work in Higley, Arizona area. Amanda stayed in St Johns helping her family sew clothes and help preserve fruit and made currant and apply jelly and called in one day canned forty-two quarts of peaches. WOW!
Finally 5 November 1902, they moved into their first home- a farm in Higley. Amanda's sharp eyes caught sight of a shiny brass bucket in the corner. This was a precious gift to her and remained among her most prized possessions. [side note on brass buckets: due to no running water, the bucket was an invaluable part of the household. They used it to bring water out of the well, as a washbasin for their hands and for their dishes, to water the plants and to feed the cows. In Amanda's home growing up, brass buckets were used daily, and they had many of them in all different sizes.]
After busily fixing up their home, just over a month later, Joseph left for four months to work in the oil mines. Amanda left alone so much so early on in the marriage and also had to spend their first Christmas apart with Amanda spending her holidays with her married sister Thea Lewis.
By July 1903, Amanda was eight months pregnant with her first child, Elmer Joseph, and decided to have her child in St Johns where the weather was cooler. Joseph did not go, rather he stayed behind in Higley to work on the farm. The baby arrived and after hearing of the news, Joseph wrote a letter to Amanda (one of the few letters from Joseph we have left); spellings left as written
After two months following the birth of Elmer, Amanda returned to their home to learn Joseph had rented out their farm on a one year contract, so sadly and oddly Amanda and young baby didn't have their own home to come to. Joseph and Amanda instead stayed with George Lewis' brother, Malin Lewis, this was 7 October 1903.
Three years later, their next child was born, William Grant, on 26 November 1906 was born in their Mesa home.
Six years passed since Joseph and Amanda had been married in St Johns. They wanted to enjoy the blessings of having a temple marriage. It was a long journey, but in 1908 they decided to make the horse-drawn journey to St George, Utah to do just that. After a long journey they arrived 13 October 1908 and were sealed together for eternity. It wasn't until 21 November 1908 until they arrived back home- a more than eleven week venture. (Amanda was seven months pregnant at the time of these events).
23 January 1909, a daughter Leila May was born. There were complications and difficulties with the delivery, this required the midwife to use forceps and may have caused injury to Lila May. She was permanently brain injured.
18 June 1911 another baby girl came Della. Just months later, pneumonia struck her tiny body and she passed away at the age of 10 months of age.
One last daughter would join the Hastings family, Emmeline on 2 December 1913. Joseph and Amanda have had their five children with four to live on to adulthood.
The children remember spending time with their father out in the fields. They would go out with their father to plow, plant and cultivate the land. Grant also remembered sitting on the buckboard and listening to his father's stories. Emmeline also has recollections of her father. She had a playhouse in a large mesquite tree, and Joseph used to come out there and sit under that tree while Leila May and her decorated him with mesquite beans. When he was well covered, he would sneeze or shake them off, much to their dismay.
The Hasting family were farmers. They had two large plots of land and a large garden with orchards of fruit trees (apples, plums, pears, and peaches) and berries. They sold their fruit to nearby mining camps and also traded it for other food and supplies. The field was for grain and alfalfa, which was used to feed their livestock. They also had a herd of dairy cattle.
They raised their eight children on that farm, with five of the children born in the dugout home, including Joseph. Every child was expected to participate with the farming work. In the summer, the hot sun reflected off the solid rock canyon walls, making the valley extremely hot, so early in life he learned the reality of the Bible teaching "by the seat of thy brow, shalt thou earn thy bread." Joseph was one of those that worked on the digging of the historic Hurricane Canal which was so important to the farmers of that area. The canal was the first source of water from the Virgin River to that area. It was finished in 1904 and led to the establishment of the new town of Hurricane.
After five weeks sick in bed, Joseph's father, William, died 8 November 1882 with chills and fever and was said he died "because the necessities of living were so scarce." Showing the fact that at times food was scarce and conditions extreme and difficult.
Shortly thereafter, Sarah lost her eyesight due to an infection leaving the family of 7 young children without a father and a mother without eyesight. Because there was no doctor in Grafton, Sarah left for Salt Lake City for treatment but on the way went completely blind. She made the comment the last thing she saw was the sunset.
With these tragic events unfolding, the oldest child was 22 and the youngest was 10. Our Joseph was 14 years old during this difficult time.
William and Sarah's hardships in Grafton explain why the town is now deserted. Farming there was difficult, because it's proximity to the Virgin River made it vulnerable to the river's yearly flooding.
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| This historic photo shows Grafton across the Virgin River. Once the center of farming area, this photo shows washed out banks along the river. Grafton, Utah Sept. 6, 1929 |
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| Grave stone of Sarah Smith Hastings and William Hastings |
The banks of the river were only a short walk away from their fields and houses. This was also an area inhabited by Indians- a danger to the town residents. Several townspeople were killed by them during attacks. By the 1930's, the town was completely abandoned. Still remaining are the old church house a few wooden shacks and the cemetery.
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| The Grafton Cemetery is an actual historic pioneer burial ground. Located on a spur off the approach road leading to Grafton, the cemetery is tucked on high ground away from the river. |
We don't know the year Joseph moved to Mesa, but it was before the spring of 1898 when he was called from the Alma Ward in Mesa to serve as a missionary in the Southern States Mission. He was not a young man that we see going on missions nowadays, but rather, he was older at twenty-nine years of age. To fund this mission call, Joseph's blind mother, dear Sarah, sold some of her cattle and worked at anything else she could to earn money-she even took in washings to help him pay his expenses. Joseph was set apart 18 May 1898.
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| Joseph Hastings is 2nd row from the bottom, first on the left, seated in chair. Chattanooga Tennessee mission. 1898 |
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| Southern States Mission" O. S. Stapley (Mission President) seated in the middle and Joseph is just to the right. |
1 September 1900, "Returned Missionaries", page 16
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| Southern states mission. Elder Hastings mostly served in North Alabama and part of Mississippi. 1898-1900 |
"Elder Joseph Hastings, of Mesa, Arizona was set apart on the 18th of May 1898 for a mission to the Southern States. He arrived in this city on the 30th of Aug. [1900] last, returning home from that conference, embracing part of Alabama and part of Mississippi. He says he met with much success, although his health was not at all times the best. He organized a Sunday school, and assisted at the baptism of twenty persons."
When Joseph returned to his Mesa home from his mission, he and Amanda Kempe became acquainted and began doing things together (these first few dates feel like a foreshadowing of their future life). On their first date Amanda reports, "the buggie tongue was all broken and yes I had to go home with Will Brundage." Their second date didn't end any better, Amanda writes, "Went with Joe to a theater, someone turned the horse loose and we walked home." During the first six months Amanda spent in Mesa, Joseph and Amanda only went out a few times, their relationship didn't begin to develop until Amanda returned from a nine month visit to St Johns. By January 1902, Joe took more interest and took her to church meetings, horseback rides and visited her home. Several months of courting proved to be favorable for the two to find love in each other.
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| Wedding invitation of Joseph and Amanda |
Soon they were engaged and a wedding soon followed in Amanda's home town of St Johns, Apache County, Arizona on 7 August 1902.
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| Happy wedding day 7 August 1902, St Johns, Apache county, Arizona Joseph and Amanda. |
At two p.m. the Justice of the Peace, Charles Jarvis performed the marriage ceremony. Amanda says "The great eventful wedding day, ha! ha! yes gave myself to dear Joseph Hastings and became his happy bride". They had a large gathering (the adult guests in attendance numbered forty-four, not counting the children). That night, they held a dance to celebrate. This was a highlight in Amanda's life and no doubt Joseph's as well.
Joseph left later in August 1902 to work in Higley, Arizona area. Amanda stayed in St Johns helping her family sew clothes and help preserve fruit and made currant and apply jelly and called in one day canned forty-two quarts of peaches. WOW!
Finally 5 November 1902, they moved into their first home- a farm in Higley. Amanda's sharp eyes caught sight of a shiny brass bucket in the corner. This was a precious gift to her and remained among her most prized possessions. [side note on brass buckets: due to no running water, the bucket was an invaluable part of the household. They used it to bring water out of the well, as a washbasin for their hands and for their dishes, to water the plants and to feed the cows. In Amanda's home growing up, brass buckets were used daily, and they had many of them in all different sizes.]
After busily fixing up their home, just over a month later, Joseph left for four months to work in the oil mines. Amanda left alone so much so early on in the marriage and also had to spend their first Christmas apart with Amanda spending her holidays with her married sister Thea Lewis.
By July 1903, Amanda was eight months pregnant with her first child, Elmer Joseph, and decided to have her child in St Johns where the weather was cooler. Joseph did not go, rather he stayed behind in Higley to work on the farm. The baby arrived and after hearing of the news, Joseph wrote a letter to Amanda (one of the few letters from Joseph we have left); spellings left as written
"August 12, 1903 Horrah for mama and son. glad you are geting along so nicely. Just read the glad tidings yesterday. I was flooding ditch yesterday and irrigating last night so I didn't have time to get my letter off. There is lots of water now. I am going onto Geo's today to get the little mare to Dr (drive) and machine to finish cutting alfalfa seed. The cl- having around get fourth crop of hay growing fine. The chicken ranch is for sale without chicks and - wire. $200.25. Manda how does it seem to be mama? It must be quite a change. I have got two hens setting. Think I will set another today. I must get more jars to fruit pears if in some are ready. Now I have about four cases of plums and grape fruit just think Jos[eph] Jr must be counted. I recon four or five more will be enough wont it? Good by. Love to all. Your loving husband. Jos Hastings. Just read your letter dated Aug 8. glad to hear all is well. Good bye."
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| Joseph Hastings not long after marriage |
Three years later, their next child was born, William Grant, on 26 November 1906 was born in their Mesa home.
Six years passed since Joseph and Amanda had been married in St Johns. They wanted to enjoy the blessings of having a temple marriage. It was a long journey, but in 1908 they decided to make the horse-drawn journey to St George, Utah to do just that. After a long journey they arrived 13 October 1908 and were sealed together for eternity. It wasn't until 21 November 1908 until they arrived back home- a more than eleven week venture. (Amanda was seven months pregnant at the time of these events).
23 January 1909, a daughter Leila May was born. There were complications and difficulties with the delivery, this required the midwife to use forceps and may have caused injury to Lila May. She was permanently brain injured.
18 June 1911 another baby girl came Della. Just months later, pneumonia struck her tiny body and she passed away at the age of 10 months of age.
One last daughter would join the Hastings family, Emmeline on 2 December 1913. Joseph and Amanda have had their five children with four to live on to adulthood.
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Amanda Kempe with her four children,
Grant, Leila, Elmer and Emmeline.
Emmeline is holding a picture of their father, Joseph Hastings.
Emmeline also remembered when her father and his brother Hyrum were employed with many others to tear down her old elementary school: "Upon the completion of my first year of school, plans for a new school building were completed. Immediately the work began. My father and his twin brother were employed with many other laborers in severing the old brick building. Leila May and I took lunch to father and watched the work proceed. The memory of father up in the attic with his heavy wrecking bar is yet quite dominant."
After eight previous moves, living in Mesa, Alma, Queen Creek and Lehi, in September 1917, Joseph once again moved his family to a house on South Lebaron Street in Mesa. This home was the style of a shanty house in a poor part of town. The probable reason for the numerous moves was that Joseph couldn't make enough money to pay the rent on each of their farms.
Most of Joseph's farming ventures ended in frustration. He spent some time raising a small herd of dairy cattle. Just when he had established good herd, the neighbors trimmed their oleander hedge an threw the trimmings over the fence, effectively killing every cow and ending their dairy business. Joseph also planted cantaloupes but year after year; rain came during harvest time, making it impossible to get into the fields with the horses and sleds to take the melons out. He also tried farming southeast of Queen Creek. Both he and his twin brother Hyrum staked out a 160 acre homestead claim there, where they farmed a few years. Joseph had built a large one room house with a gable roof where the family moved to in October 1907. Here Joseph and his brother tried to dig a well to over 100 feet, but still they found no water and they eventually failed loosing this farm as well. These failures led Joseph to give up farming completely in 1917 and focused solely on out of town work where he would be away from his family for long stretches of time.
His wife, Amanda, wrote that he worked in Roosevelt for a time. The Roosevelt dam was being built and his brother Hyrum hauled freight and machinery for the power plant. Joseph may have helped him do this. The trip from Mesa took four days going up and three days back along the dangerous Apache Trail. Joseph worked in other places like the oil mines, the Pine Air Road, Florence, Benson, Chandler, Superior, Holbrook, California and Phoenix.
From about 1917, Amanda would raised her four children as a single mother. Joseph would occasionally visit on weekends, but he didn't stay long. His visits were a treat for the family as Amanda and the children loved Joseph and wanted to be near him.
While he was working in California, we see hints that the relationship between Joseph and Amanda was strained. In early 1918, Joseph wrote a letter to Amanda telling her that he wanted to live separately. Further, we see in a newspaper clipping from 29 May 1918 that Amanda sought a divorce based on desertion and non-support.
Even though Joseph was working full-time, he still didn't send enough money home to the family to provide for their needs. Amanda would have to take in washing laundry and do whatever she could to tend to and feed her children.
February 1922, Joseph came home from one of his out of town jobs to find a man out back chopping wood-a vagrant in need of a meal who had knocked on the door asking for help. Amanda never turned away anyone in need, but she didn't have much to give, so she made an exchange with the man she would feed him dinner if he would chop firewood for the family. But when Joseph saw the man out back, he made a terrible assumption that Amanda was having a relationship with him. Of course this was not true. Amanda tried in vain to explain the situation, but his anger prevented him from listening to reason.
This incident motivated Joseph to finalize the divorce from Amanda. In the following weeks, Joseph sold the family plow and left for Phoenix to get work. The plow was needed to work their land for gardens. The family would have to borrow a plow from now on. Joseph returned from Phoenix a week later and "piled his things in the light wagon, even my two only rugs when we needed one of them so bad, he was off with them before I knew it." Eventually, the divorce was granted 10 January 1923.
Amanda and the children would live in poverty from now on. During these times, meals were often scant. The usual dinner was mashed potatoes, sometimes meat (not very often) and gravy made by browning flour and shortening and water in a frying pan. The main diet for supper was bread and milk. Amanda baked excellent bread. If any of the bread got old, died out and went hard, Amanda would toast in in the oven to a light brown and serve it in milk and sugar. It wasn't unusual for Amanda and the children to go to bed hungry.
March 1923, during one of Joseph's visits, Amanda noticed he wasn't doing well. He had been under some considerable stress with financial difficulties and a divorce in addition, Joseph stopped attending church meetings regularly and this may have been the beginning of his mental problems. December of 1924, Joseph was committed to the state mental hospital, apparently against his will by a complaint filed by R. H. Close. Exact reasons are still unclear for his committal.
After being in the mental hospital almost three months, Joseph showed up at the Hastings home one day saying the Ku Klux Klan had helped free him.
Later in 1924, Grant went to visit his father. Joseph was probably having a hard time finding work, so Grant asked him to come work with him in the melons for a week. Joseph agreed and Grant brought Joseph home which turned into a nine month stay. Joseph and Grant worked together at home, clearing the back lot, hauling the trash and straightening the lumber. In May 1925 Joseph went to work with Elmer in Queen Creek. By Thanksgiving of 1925, Joseph was living in Higley.
Joseph visited the Hastings home again by surprise July 1926. This time it wasn't a social visit. He had come to Mesa to receive treatment for kidney trouble, because he couldn't urinate. He had come to drop off his team of horses and wagon while he stayed at the Rex Hotel. Emmeline visited him at the hotel and found that his condition was quite serious, so Elmer went the next day and brought him home to stay with the family. After about a month of having his water drawn, he was admitted to the hospital for surgery. 19 Aug 1926, Joseph had an operation at Southside Community Hospital. After three weeks, Joseph was well enough to come home, but it took him longer than that to fully recover. He stayed with the family until at least mid-December 1926.
Little is known about the specifics of Joseph's life. We don't know what kinds of jobs he had when he left town to work and we don't know what he did in Queen Creek after the separation. But we do know the many disappointments in farming seemed to take a toll on him. Adding financial difficulties, leaving his family whom he cared for, may have all added to his mental instability.
In the late 1930's Joseph began acting strangely. He was still haunted by all of his financial failures, namely losing many farms to foreclosure and he began to think that someone had come and unlawfully taken over his farms; some kind of sabotage against him. He went back to some of these farms and claimed that the current owners were living on his land. He caused quite a bit of trouble.
Elmer and Grant realized that they had to do something. It was about 1938 when Elmer finally took Joseph to the mental hospital on 25th Street and VanBuren, Arizona State Hospital. They didn't want to commit their own father, but at the time it was the best and really the only option. Joseph's condition continue to deteriorate. He lost his sense of reality.
Joseph was in the state hospital for about seven years before finally passing away in 1945, the age of seventy-seven. On his death record it says one of his conditions other than mental illness was inanition which is a lack of mental or spiritual vigor and enthusiasm.
After eight previous moves, living in Mesa, Alma, Queen Creek and Lehi, in September 1917, Joseph once again moved his family to a house on South Lebaron Street in Mesa. This home was the style of a shanty house in a poor part of town. The probable reason for the numerous moves was that Joseph couldn't make enough money to pay the rent on each of their farms.
Most of Joseph's farming ventures ended in frustration. He spent some time raising a small herd of dairy cattle. Just when he had established good herd, the neighbors trimmed their oleander hedge an threw the trimmings over the fence, effectively killing every cow and ending their dairy business. Joseph also planted cantaloupes but year after year; rain came during harvest time, making it impossible to get into the fields with the horses and sleds to take the melons out. He also tried farming southeast of Queen Creek. Both he and his twin brother Hyrum staked out a 160 acre homestead claim there, where they farmed a few years. Joseph had built a large one room house with a gable roof where the family moved to in October 1907. Here Joseph and his brother tried to dig a well to over 100 feet, but still they found no water and they eventually failed loosing this farm as well. These failures led Joseph to give up farming completely in 1917 and focused solely on out of town work where he would be away from his family for long stretches of time.
His wife, Amanda, wrote that he worked in Roosevelt for a time. The Roosevelt dam was being built and his brother Hyrum hauled freight and machinery for the power plant. Joseph may have helped him do this. The trip from Mesa took four days going up and three days back along the dangerous Apache Trail. Joseph worked in other places like the oil mines, the Pine Air Road, Florence, Benson, Chandler, Superior, Holbrook, California and Phoenix.
From about 1917, Amanda would raised her four children as a single mother. Joseph would occasionally visit on weekends, but he didn't stay long. His visits were a treat for the family as Amanda and the children loved Joseph and wanted to be near him.
While he was working in California, we see hints that the relationship between Joseph and Amanda was strained. In early 1918, Joseph wrote a letter to Amanda telling her that he wanted to live separately. Further, we see in a newspaper clipping from 29 May 1918 that Amanda sought a divorce based on desertion and non-support.
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| handwritten date of 29 May 1918. (note, article has mistake, their marriage was in 1902) |
Even though Joseph was working full-time, he still didn't send enough money home to the family to provide for their needs. Amanda would have to take in washing laundry and do whatever she could to tend to and feed her children.
February 1922, Joseph came home from one of his out of town jobs to find a man out back chopping wood-a vagrant in need of a meal who had knocked on the door asking for help. Amanda never turned away anyone in need, but she didn't have much to give, so she made an exchange with the man she would feed him dinner if he would chop firewood for the family. But when Joseph saw the man out back, he made a terrible assumption that Amanda was having a relationship with him. Of course this was not true. Amanda tried in vain to explain the situation, but his anger prevented him from listening to reason.
This incident motivated Joseph to finalize the divorce from Amanda. In the following weeks, Joseph sold the family plow and left for Phoenix to get work. The plow was needed to work their land for gardens. The family would have to borrow a plow from now on. Joseph returned from Phoenix a week later and "piled his things in the light wagon, even my two only rugs when we needed one of them so bad, he was off with them before I knew it." Eventually, the divorce was granted 10 January 1923.
Amanda and the children would live in poverty from now on. During these times, meals were often scant. The usual dinner was mashed potatoes, sometimes meat (not very often) and gravy made by browning flour and shortening and water in a frying pan. The main diet for supper was bread and milk. Amanda baked excellent bread. If any of the bread got old, died out and went hard, Amanda would toast in in the oven to a light brown and serve it in milk and sugar. It wasn't unusual for Amanda and the children to go to bed hungry.
March 1923, during one of Joseph's visits, Amanda noticed he wasn't doing well. He had been under some considerable stress with financial difficulties and a divorce in addition, Joseph stopped attending church meetings regularly and this may have been the beginning of his mental problems. December of 1924, Joseph was committed to the state mental hospital, apparently against his will by a complaint filed by R. H. Close. Exact reasons are still unclear for his committal.
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| Arizona Republic, 27 Jan 1924, Sun, Page 9 Joseph Hastings committed to state hospital 28 December 1924 |
Later in 1924, Grant went to visit his father. Joseph was probably having a hard time finding work, so Grant asked him to come work with him in the melons for a week. Joseph agreed and Grant brought Joseph home which turned into a nine month stay. Joseph and Grant worked together at home, clearing the back lot, hauling the trash and straightening the lumber. In May 1925 Joseph went to work with Elmer in Queen Creek. By Thanksgiving of 1925, Joseph was living in Higley.
Joseph visited the Hastings home again by surprise July 1926. This time it wasn't a social visit. He had come to Mesa to receive treatment for kidney trouble, because he couldn't urinate. He had come to drop off his team of horses and wagon while he stayed at the Rex Hotel. Emmeline visited him at the hotel and found that his condition was quite serious, so Elmer went the next day and brought him home to stay with the family. After about a month of having his water drawn, he was admitted to the hospital for surgery. 19 Aug 1926, Joseph had an operation at Southside Community Hospital. After three weeks, Joseph was well enough to come home, but it took him longer than that to fully recover. He stayed with the family until at least mid-December 1926.
Little is known about the specifics of Joseph's life. We don't know what kinds of jobs he had when he left town to work and we don't know what he did in Queen Creek after the separation. But we do know the many disappointments in farming seemed to take a toll on him. Adding financial difficulties, leaving his family whom he cared for, may have all added to his mental instability.
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| Brothers Hyrum and Joseph Hastings |
In the late 1930's Joseph began acting strangely. He was still haunted by all of his financial failures, namely losing many farms to foreclosure and he began to think that someone had come and unlawfully taken over his farms; some kind of sabotage against him. He went back to some of these farms and claimed that the current owners were living on his land. He caused quite a bit of trouble.
Elmer and Grant realized that they had to do something. It was about 1938 when Elmer finally took Joseph to the mental hospital on 25th Street and VanBuren, Arizona State Hospital. They didn't want to commit their own father, but at the time it was the best and really the only option. Joseph's condition continue to deteriorate. He lost his sense of reality.
Joseph was in the state hospital for about seven years before finally passing away in 1945, the age of seventy-seven. On his death record it says one of his conditions other than mental illness was inanition which is a lack of mental or spiritual vigor and enthusiasm.
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| Arizona Republic, 29 Sep 1945, Sat, [Third Edition], Page 3 |
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| Joseph Hastings death record 27 September 1945 |
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| Joseph Hastings is buried next to Amanda Kempe in the Mesa City Cemetery, Mesa Arizona |
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