Tithing of one-tenth was stipulated as in the interest of the people. The new leader was advised that, "God has placed you as a watchman on the walls of Zion and He will hold you accountable for your acts," and he was directed to see that the laws of God were carried out in his community, irrespective of persons or families. Layton Soldier and Pioneer Christopher Layton was a rough diamond, almost illiterate, yet possessed of much energy and a keen, practical judgment that served him and his people well through the course of a long life. He was an Englishman, born in Bedfordshire, March 8, 1821. His first practical experience was at 7 years of age, when he kept crows from the wheatfields for the large salary of 56 cents a week, boarding himself. In 1843 he crossed the ocean. Elsewhere is noted his experience with the Mormon Battalion. Following discharge, for a few years he lived in California, finally taking ship from San Francisco back to Liverpool, where he arrived in March, 1850. On the same ship's return, James Pennell led 250 converts to America, landing at New Orleans proceeding by river to St. Louis, and then Utah. In September, 1852, Layton first saw Salt Lake, arriving at the head of an expedition of 52 wagons, including the first threshing outfit in Utah. In 1856 he was in the Carson Valley of Nevada, where he proceeded toward the very notable undertaking of building a wagon road across the Sierra Nevadas to Hangtown, early Placerville. With the rest of the Utah Saints, he was recalled to Salt Lake in the fall of 1857. Layton arrived at St. David February 24, 1883. In May he organized wards on the Gila, at Pima, Thatcher, Graham and Curtis, under Jos. K. Rogers, John M. Moody, Jorgen Jorgensen and Moses Curtis. In March of the next year, he organized Layton branch near Safford. President Layton's own story of his advent in the Gila Valley includes: "The Saints were wanting to settle close together, so I bought a 600-acre tract of land of a syndicate living in Tucson. Then I bought out the squatters' rights and improvements by taking quit-claim deeds of them. Thus I was in a position to help the Saints to get homes. In July I bought 320 acres of Peter Anderson (adjoining the other tract) and laid it out in a townsite which we named Thatcher. I built a three-roomed adobe house in Thatcher ward (it being the second house built on the townsite) and we moved into it. I gave a lot for a schoolhouse and the few Saints who were settling here then built an adobe building on it. The mesquite was so thick that when we tried to go any place we were very fortunate if we did not get lost. I gave the Seventies a lot, but they never made any use of it; also gave the bishop a lot for tithing purposes. The Academy was afterward built on it."