Jesse Thomas "Jess" DePriest (1892-1963)

Jesse Thomas DePriest was born on the 30th of April 1892 in Manassa, Conejos, Colorado, United States.  He was the third son and seventh child born to Thomas Walker"Tom" DePriest and Margaret "Ellen" Talley. He was named after his great grandfather, Jesse DePriest and his father, Thomas.

Jess' parents were converts of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and he was raised in the church.   He was ordained as a deacon on the 19th of October 1908 [1] and as a teacher on the 10th of January 1910 [2].  Both ordinations were done in Manassa, where the family attended church.

Jess & Pearl 1957

Jess  lived his early life in Manassa [3] [4] going to school with his siblings and cousins.  He continued to live in Manassa after he married Freda "Pearl" Von Cannon on the 9th of July 1912 [5] [6] [7].  Jess farmed in Manassa with his father and brothers.  On the 5th of  June 1917 he registered for the draft, but was never drafted into service.

Jess and Pearl had twelve children:  Jesse Grant DePriest (1913-1913), Bardsley DePriest (1913-1913), Randal Thomas DePriest (1914-1914), Bessie DePriest (1918-2011), Norma DePriest (1920-2007), Maurice Berneil "Deke" DePriest (1923-1975), Ruth DePriest (1924-1924), Ardell Roy "Dude" DePriest (1925-1986), Laura DePriest (1931), Clive Vance DePriest (1933-1933), Margaret Ann DePriest (1939-2007) and Carl Eugene DePriest (1944).

Jess was a good, kind man who was adored by his children.  He began working on the Norton Ranch and his family moved to Nortonville [8] before 1923 [9] [10] [11].  Jess and Pearl moved northeast of Alamosa in 1946 [12] and lived there the rest of their lives.  Jess sure had a "green thumb".  He grew vegetables and a variety of flowers.  His granddaughters loved his Hollyhocks.

Jess worked hard his whole life despite having severe anemia and bleeding ulcers.  Jess always felt weak and was most often chilled.  He could always be found wearing his old brown coat.  In 1938, Jess fell ill again and the family was told he would most certainly die if not taken to the hospital in Denver.  But the doctor didn't think that he would survive the trip due to the distance.  His sister, Mary "Pheobe" DePriest Reed, had just bought a new 1938 Buick and she insisted that her son, Othelle, take the Jess to the hospital in Pueblo.  (Othelle was known for his fast driving.)  Griff Grantham, the husband of Tabitha Egbert DePriest, another sister of Jess', jumped in with Othelle to take Jess.  Jess laid in the back seat with Griff keeping watch and Othelle speeding along.  Just before they reached Pueblo, they pulled over so Jess could use the restroom.  When they got him up, he vomited blood all over himself.  (Hopefully, it wasn't all over Aunt Phoebe's new seats!)  Afterwards, he felt much better and they decided to risk taking him all the way to Denver.  When they got to the hospital, Othelle ran in to get the nurse.  She grabbed a wheel chair and he said, "A gurney would be better".  She told him that he was not a nurse and that the wheel chair would be fine.  When they got Jess out of the car, he vomited again all over her.  She turned to Othelle and said, "You were right, he needs a gurney."  Jess' sister Iva was living in Denver and after turning Jess over to the doctors, Othelle and Griff went to pick her up.  When they returned, they found Jess sitting up in bed.  He was making a belt out of leather and was happy to see them.  He told them that he felt better than he had in years.  (This was probably because they had given him five pints of blood!)

Jess lost his one of his thumbs while working with a tractor.  The insurance company gave him $600 for the loss.  A friend jokingly told him he should cut off the other thumb so he could get another $600, but Jess said he wouldn't want to lose the other thumb for any amount of money.  Jess was greatly loved by his family and his nephew Othelle Reed, son of his sister Phoebe, said his "Uncle Jess was the bravest man he ever knew".  Othelle remembers when Jess had his appendix taken out, that he was not allowed to have any anesthesia or pain medicine.  So he told them to strap him down and he endured the surgery while he was awake [13].

Jess loved to run.  He was quite the athlete.  For the 24th of July celebration, he would run enough races to win money so he could really celebrate with his friend Jack Dempsey, who would have money from winning boxing matches.  His kids always tried to out race him or beat him at ball, but he always showed them up.

Jess died in Alamosa, Alamosa County on the 4th of August 1963.  He was buried the 7th of August 1963 in the Old Manassa Cemetery, Conejos County [14].

Footnotes:
1. 1908 San Luis Stake Record of Ordinations.
2. 1910 San Luis Stake Record of Ordinations.
3. 1900 United States Census: Manassa, Conejos, Colorado.
4. 1910 United States Census: Manassa, Conejos, Colorado.
5. State of Colorado Division of Vital Statistics 1912 Marriage Record Report.
6. 1912 San Luis Stake Record of Marriage.
7. 1920 United States Census:  Manassa, Conejos, Colorado.
8. Nortonville was a  small farming community northeast of Sanford still in Conejos County.  (The mailing address was Sanford.)
9. Maurice Berneil "Deke" DePriest (Jess's son) was born in Nortonville in 1923.
10. 1930 United States Census:  Sanford, Conejos, Colorado.
11. 1940 United States Census:  Conejos, Colorado.
12. Valley Courier November 29, 2011 Obituary Bessie DePriest Witten.
13. Recording in possession of Michelle Stubbs.
14. Headstone image from findagrave.com.