Freedom, Sanpete County, Utah is situated on Current Creek (a small mountain stream) at the foot of the West Mountain, about six mi 1 es west of Moroni . It is seven mi les south of Fountain Green, four miles north of Wales and twenty-two miles by the nearest road north of Manti. Freedom's Main Street is the gateway to Maple Canyon. The elevation of Freedom is 5,760. It was and still is strictly a farming district.
In the early days the people of Moroni claimed the land and the water, which was later owned by the people of Freedom. They had the idea of planting orchards there, because fruit trees did not do well in Moroni. A spring was located in Kern Canyon above Freedom and a ditch was made so it could be brought into town.
Freedom lies in a protected draw at the foot of the West Mountains maki ng a later frost possible. It is said as people left Moroni on horse back, heading for Freedom, they coultd smell the fragrant b7 os soms of the fruit trees in Freedom. She fru i t. orchards in Freedom were known as the best in Sanpete County. They grew apples, peaches, apricots, cher ries, pears and pl ums. At the top of the street at the foot of the mountain there was a large piece of ground planted in strawberries and raspberries. Sometimes the frost would take the blossoms of the apricots and cherries so they di din 't get a crop every year.
William L. Draper, known as "Doc Draper", moved his family to Freedom in 1870 because it was a very 7 ush, fert i 1 e val 7 ey where grain would grow very tall. William's brothers Henry, Grant, Parley and Albert followed him to homestead in Freedom. They originally called this place Draper. The postal authorities made them change the name because there was a town called Draper, Utah, south of Salt Lake. They called it Freedom because freedom was what they wanted and they felt free now to do anything they wanted. Freedom became a County Precinct in 1875. The Drapers filed on their homesteads in 1878. The town was never incorporated. William Draper di ed in Freedom.
Freedom grew as many people found it a desirable place to live. At one time there were as many as twenty families making a population of over 200 people residing in Freedom. There were approximately 30 houses in Freedom during the depression. Many of the families were polygamist families. There are those who say Freedom, in the springtime, looked like the Garden of Eden.
The railroad was run from Nephi through Freedom to the coal mines in Wales. Martin Van Buren Taylor had a contract to build some of the grade for the railroad. He took his boys and some other people and built the grade from Fountain Green to Wales. There was a little shack about a mile south of Freedom which was a depot where they could flag down the train so people could get on.
The town of Freedom had a school house, church, town hall, and a small store that was connected to Dorcey Draper's home. At first they had to go to town for their mail but eventually they had their own Post Office.
Those living in Freedom were farmers. Brigham Young sent three mulberry bushes to Freedom when he planned his state wide industry of silk worms. Edna Coates' father tried to start the industry but didn't have much success. Freedom was also the home of the Meadow View Creamery Dairy owned by Bishop Hon. M. W. Taylor.
When people first lived in Freedom there was just a stream running down the street for culinary purposes . They decided it wasn't very sanitary, so they built a culinary system that brought the water down to them in a half inch pipe. There are those who say this was the first culinary system in Sanpete County.
Those people who have lived in Freedom tell of the fun times they had at the dances. People would come from Manti, Ephraim and Moroni. They could ride the train to Freedom and when the dance was over they could ride the train back to their homes. The Christmas Celebration in Freedom was a three day affair because it was Martin Van Buren's Birthday on the Dec. 26. His family would cook for days to feed all who came for the celebration. The dance went on day and night the whole time, if someone went home to sleep they would go wake them up and bring them back Freedom also had its own ball team and they would compete against the teams from Moroni, Wales and Fountain Green. They were a very good team.
After the depression people started to move away from Freedom because the roads were bad and it was hard to get to Moroni for things they needed and they found there were more advantages to living in town. There was no electricity in Freedom until about 1935. They also had no running water in their hotnes, so people had to have an "outhouse".
Most of the land in Freedom was eventually bought by the cattlemen and turkey growers. Now Freedom is home to many turkey and Cattle Sheds.
At this time, in Freedom, there are only two of the original homes being lived in one of which was built from used brick from an old school house in Fountain Green, and one that was built with rai 1 road ties from the railroad. There are seven families living in Freedom, about 24 people. Most of the original homes have been torn down but there are a few that are partially standing. The people there now have Natural Gas to use for their homes. Those living in Freedom feel it is still a peaceful place to live. From the top of the street the view of the valley is beautiful.
After Doc Draper lost a four month old son and a five year old girl in 48 hours he buried them side by si de on his farm. This was the beginning of the Freedom Cemetery in 1885. Doc Draper 's father then came to live with them in Freedom, and he died one year later on May 28, 1886. He was the next person to be buried in the cemetery. Then Doc, himself died May 2, 1887 and was buried there too. There are many children buried in the cemetery because there vas an epidemic of Diphtheria which took the lives of many of them.
There is one Indian buried in the cemetery and his name is "Indian Jim” or Jim Wanup. The Mt. Pleasant DUP put a beautiful marble headstone on his grave in 1975 but his name is misspelled on it. It is spelled James Onump on his headstone. He was a full blooded Ute Indian. Indain Jim was a good friend to the people of Freedom and he would spy for them and let them know when the Indians were going to attack. The people of Freedom built him a dugout to live in on the west side of Freedom.
The cemetery is still visited by many people each Memorial Day and other times during the year. It is still a very peaceful and quaint little cemetery, where those that come can remember what Freedom used to be like.