The Utah Knowltons

Frontispiece

A true identification of the smallest man in his scene of pilgrimage through life is capable of interesting the greates man. All men are to an unspeakable degree brothers, and each man’s life is a strange emblem of every man’s: and human portraits fathfully drawn are, of all pictures, the welcomest on human walls. (Thomas Carlyle)

When men are concerned only about their present condition and individual interests, caring nothing for ancestry or posterity, they live in a very small worl, and, like the squirrel playing in its cage, fancy they are happy. But that which now is, is the result of what has been. “No man liveth unto himself and no man dieth unto himself” was the conclusion of an ancient and revered Philosopher, and he who cares nothing for those whose transmitted name he bears, and who have written that name high up among the records of the races, is lacking in the essentials of a self-respecting manhood. And the world has too many of this sort of people. (Excerpt from “Preface,” Stocking’s Knowlton Ancestry.)

Foreword

For upwards of thirty years, beginning in 1937, which period was the most active and demanding of his career, Ezra Clark Knowlton, to the limit of his ability, consistent with his other manifold duties and responsibilities, has devoted himself to the interests of the Knowlton Family. This interest has been centered in the continued existence and stimulation of an organized local family association. From this has flowed encouragement to the historical and genealogical research and temple ordinance work traditional with the religious activities of our people. Such interest has not been limited solely to the Utah branch of this distinguished family, but at times has also been extended outward to family membership throughout the United States and Canada.

During the past four years, in his retirement, he has devoted all his available time gratuitously to the necessary research and writing of this family history. The present officers of the Sidney A. Knowlton Family Association express for the family deep appreciation for his long years of service to the family. This historical effort is an appropriate climax to that labor of love and devotions.

Sidney A. Knowlton Family Association

Authors Previous Publications

• History of Utah Sand and Gravel
• History of Highway Development in Utah
• Autobiography Volume I — Progenitors
• Autobiography Volume II — Personal History

Introduction

It is not unusual for family records of this type to be limited in scope to bare portrayals of names, date and places, which after all do form the skeletons of biographical history. Here the writer, in those cases, at least, where sufficient information could be obtained, has attempted to go beyond that to a description of the significant events in the lives of family members herein treated, and also the circumstances surrounding them. Sufficient justification for the assumption of such a difficult and often sensitive role, has been sustained where possible by authentic, direct quotations and supporting footnotes. This position has been further supported by personal knowledge, at least relating to those who are or were his contemporaries.

Three generations of the family of Sidney Algernon Knowlton and Harriet Burnham will be included in this history, each one forming a chapter, beginning with them. The period of about a century of time in which the active lives of most of the membership of these generations were spent approximately encompasses the great foundation period of Mormonism. This period includes: its struggle for survival, the western migration, the conquering of a desert environment, the historic confrontation with the Federal Government over the practice of polygamy and finally, the successful integration with the broad spectrum of the cultural life of America. Most of the members of these three generations of the Knowlton family were, in their turn, active participants in the contemporary phases of this historic development. Moreover, throughout that period, with some lapses of inactivity, the Utah Knowltons have continued a commendable support of the church’s matchless program in the filed of family historical and genealogical research, together with temple work.

Few other branches of the New England family of Knowltons, then or since, are known to have embraced Mormonism. The only other early converts of record were the sons of Sidney’s sister, Mary Knowlton Hanks. Their unusual contributions in its interest will be identified later in this work.

It may be properly asserted, therefore, that the earthly careers of the members of these three generations of Knowltons represent this family’s distinguished contribution to the Mormon religion and the culture of its people. To emphasize this contribution, with the natural limitations surrounding a work of this nature, has been this writer’s basic motivation.

Of inestimable assistance in the preparation of this work, indeed, a background for it, have been the available family histories of this family. The large and distinguished family of Knowltons, from which Sidney came, settled in New England. He was of the seventh generation from the founder of the family in America. Its members played important and significant roles in the early settlement of America and the establishment of its independence.

There are few families which have been favored with such outstanding written family histories as are enjoyed by the American Knowltons, together with such reasonable authentic connections with England, their mother country. These histories include the monumental work, The Knowlton Ancestry, by Charles H. W. Stocking, D.D., which was published in 1897, and Errata and Addenda to it published six years later by George Henry Knowlton.

The former comprehensive volume traces Sidney’s ancestry from the American founder right down to his parents’ family, including himself. He is numbered 2665 within the code numbering system used therein, followed by the terse comment: “Sidney . Rem. to Utah, and d. there.” The latter volume is mainly devoted to making corrections and filling gaps, where possible, in the former one. It includes most of Sidney’s children, as well as some of his grandchildren.

Temple ordinance work and the prior necessary genealogical research have been systematically fostered by Sidney and family, beginning at Nauvoo and continuing in Utah as the temples here became available. However, there is unmistakable evidence that the communications between the Utah branch of the family and the family historians in New England resulted in a great stimulation to the gathering of necessary family records by the members of the Utah branch of the family, to be followed by encouragement to perform related temple work.

This commendable genealogical and historical research activity, continuously inspired and encouraged by the church, has been a sustaining influence of great value down to the present time. Indeed, the completeness and accuracy of these individual family records have been the indispensable foundation to this history. To follow under its own heading in this introduction, will be found a brief chronological portrayal of the organized efforts of the Utah Knowltons in accomplishing this church inspired activity.

Along with the aforementioned advantages, however, there have been found the usual handicaps and frustrations which characterize this type of history writing, namely, the inability to establish contact with some branches of the family concerned, or, even more seriously, their lack of interest in the project itself.

Fortunately all of the children of Sidney and Harriet except Ruhamah Knowlton Derby, their oldest child, came with them to Utah. But one of Ruhamah’s children, Louis Phillip, came later with his family, remaining in Utah for a short time, and some of his children married here. These will be included herein, but the remainder of the Derbys remaining in the east are of necessity only briefly mentioned. Some of the grandchildren of Sidney and Harriet left Utah in the normal courses of their lives, and it has been especially difficult in many cases to obtain needed biographical information from their posterity.

Time and effort have not been spared in the attempts to fill the gaps both as to textual material and pictures either of family groups or individuals. It is obvious that there are but two sources of information, the printed word and data from living members. It is of deep and lasting regret that the failure to obtain this needed information has, of necessity, resulted in great disparity as to space and emphasis given to individual family members. The only solace for this lack of uniformity seems to come from the realization that nearly all works of this nature suffer this common deficiency.

Brief Resume of Genealogical and Temple Work — Family Organizational and Historical Activities. Sidney Algernon Knowlton and Harriet Burnham Family — 1840–1968

During the year 1840 Sidney, Harriet and several of their children living at Bear Creek, Hancock County, Illinois, were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1845 their endowment work was performed in the Nauvoo Temple.

After arrival in Utah, Martha Jane Knowlton Coray endeavored to have records prepared for the continuation of endowment work as soon as church facilities were available, and Mary Ann Hooper followed her with ordinance work in the Logan Temple, beginning in 1885. This activity was continued after Mary Ann’s death in 1887 by her daughter, Mary Hooper Jennings.

The Knowlton Ancestry, the outstanding history of this family in England, United States and Canada, written by Charles H. W. Stocking, was published in Boston in 1897. Utah family records indicate that Benjamin Franklin Knowlton purchased a Stocking History for the price of ten dollars “via Pacific Express” March 21, 1899. His handwritten, enthusiastic comment justifies including here:

My object in getting the Book is that me and my wives and children may be enabled to do work in the Temple for our ancestors and it is my great desire that they all make themselves worthy to do this work. With love,

B. F. Knowlton

The possession of this 600 page comprehensive history, and the lines of communication opened by the Knowltons in Utah with the eastern family historians, relating to the succeeding volume to be known as the Errata and Addenda thereto published in 1906, proved very stimulating to the Utah members of the family. A veritable flood of eligible family names for temple work became available at once, and in 1905 the “first” Knowlton family organization meeting was held in Utah. This convened at Lagoon August 26, 1905. The following excerpts are taken from the available handwritten minutes:

At the invitation of Mrs. T. B. Lewis forty of the Knowltons met at Lagoon and…effected an organization for social, genealogical and historical purposes. The following officers and directors were elected…to act during year 1905 and 1906…

• Mrs. T. B. Lewis — President
• Mrs. Martha K. Clark — 1st Vice President
• Frank Forrest Knowlton — 2nd Vice President
• Lizzie Knowlton — Secretary and Treasurer
• Rhoda Knowlton — Historian

Pursuant to the above action a detailed questionnaire was mailed by the president to every known family of the Utah Knowltons requesting complete information be provided about every family member, with the following objective:

Publication in book form of Knowlton Family in America…

It is your interest as well as your duty to assist all you can in having your grandfather’s descendants accurately recorded.

Thus was begun the gathering of family history of the posterity of Sidney A. Knowlton on an individual family basis, which has been continued intermittently down to the present time. Through the past sixty-five years countless hours of time have been spent gratuitously by dedicated and inspired members of this family in order to accomplish this monumental task.

It should be kept in mind that the aim of most of these local family researchers has been to fold: that of preparing acceptable records mainly of the ancestors of Sidney and Harriet preparatory to performing ordinance work in the temple; the gathering of authentic data covering their posterity, for both temple ordinance work where necessary, and for family history purposes.

Continuing from 1905, the gathering of individual family histories continued under the direction of Rhoda Knowlton Wells until early in the nineteen twenties. Then her mother, Minerva Edmeresa Richards, began in earnest the copying of names from the Stocking history for temple work. Assisted by her youthful granddaughter, Rhoda Wells, twelve years were devoted to the task of organizing, preparing sheets, compiling them for the temple and they were instrumental in having hundreds of endowments and sealings performed. Nineteen thousand four hundred names were indexed alphabetically.

Although genealogical work continued from time to time on an individual basis, it was not until 1937 that united family effort was resumed. November 14, 1937, an organizational meeting was held at the home of Marcia Knowlton Howells in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was termed by its minutes the “First Meeting of the Sidney Algernon Knowlton Family in the West,” and its stated purpose was defined as follows:

gathering records and data together and seeing that all Knowlton kin were accounted for since the publication of the Knowlton Ancestry book and Errata and Addenda

The following officers were elected:

• President — Ezra Clark Knowlton
• Vice Presidents — Mary Knowlton Pack, Bryant Knowlton, Inez Knowlton Nelson, Birdie Knowlton Ekman, Chloe Hess, Alice Knowlton Seiler, Ida Knowlton Lee, A. B. Knowlton, Edna Coray, Lou Lewis, Alice Young Spencer, ——— Lewis, Francis Layton, Louis Derby
• Secretary-Treasurer—Gwen Knowlton

The above vice-presidents were nominated to contact their branch of the family and see that a family group sheet was sent in for each family member, in order that the organization could function efficiently and carry on the necessary research work necessary to secure the names, so that temple work could be accomplished as well as to keep a record of all families then living.

Among the action committees appointed was a Genealogical Committee consisting of:

Rhoda Knowlton (Wells) Latham, Leland Latham, Mary Pack, Ada Pack Ford

Although faced with the danger of overlooking the valuable contributions of many members of the family during the intervening years, there seems justification to include below brief mention of some whose services are of record. About 1940 Chloe Hess, Gwen Knowlton, Edwina Knowlton and Joan Leigh started to recheck and complete the temple records from the Stocking book, and many hours were spent compiling and preparing these records. At the same time historians of the organization were gathering up the records of the living and compiling them into a large family record book that had been commenced before by Martha Coray Lewis. This work continued and grew in importance and enthusiasm. At each meeting historian, Chloe Hess, presented histories and records while the genealogical committee reported on work accomplished.

In September 1959 S. Roland Lindsay and his wife, Alta Knowlton Lindsay, who had just returned from their second full time mission in the Hawaiian Islands were given a call to do genealogical work. Their daughter, Barbara Lindsay Roper, was already seriously involved in this important activity. Alta, made a typed copy of this large family record book of Martha Coray Lewis, Martha’s book passed from family to family, and additional records were added. Alta then went over the original record the second time to bring it up to date.

In the meantime Ora Lee Knecht was doing genealogical research work in New England. Upon moving to Utah she graciously tendered her appropriate family records. All the fore mentioned typed records were delivered to Barbara who has continued to add all information as it was received. This comprehensive record of individual Knowlton families not only is serving as the very literal foundation for this work, but will be available as historical background for its continuation through coming time.

During the nineteen fifties, about five hundred letters were sent out to Knowltons all over the United States asking for genealogical records, and Gwen Knowlton received the answers and compiled them. This undertaking had for its object a continuation of the family wide scope of Stocking’s Knowlton Ancestry.

From 1937 until the present time the Sidney A. Knowlton Family Association has continued as a viable, purposeful organization, and as far as can be determined, it is the only branch of the Knowlton family in America which has been active. It has maintained officers at all times, an executive committee composed of representatives of the various units of the family, with special action committees as condition justified. Through the years meetings of the broad family membership have been sponsored to encourage family solidarity and other objectives emphasized by the church programs. At many of these meetings, the life story of worthy family members have been presented. As is common with such loosely knit organizations with such scattered membership, many of the objectives, the hopes and dreams of its officers have not materialized. However, considering the many natural handicaps facing such efforts, the membership of the family has greatly benefited.

Acknowledgments

The preceding introduction to this work includes mention of the names of many members of the Knowlton family who, through the past many years, have rendered unselfish dedicated services in the interest of historical genealogical research and temple work relating to this family. As was mentioned the result of these combined efforts has served as inspiration for and as the foundation of the structure upon which this history rests. To each and all of these mentioned, or unmentioned, heartfelt gratitude is expressed.

This same feeling of deep appreciation is extended to the respective members of the several branches of the family who could be contacted and who have responded so generously to more recent requests made by the officers of the Family Association for needed biographical data for this historical project, including appropriate pictures, so that it could be brought to its present state of completion.

But special mention must here be made to those who have personally assisted very importantly in the preparation of this manuscript. Elsie Petersen Knowlton typed it in its entirety. Alta Knowlton Lindsay likewise performed the needed editing assistance to the manuscript as well as contributing valuable research material. Barbara Lindsay Roper’s most valuable contribution, always cheerfully rendered, has been the careful intermittent checking of names, dates and places, and the other related technical genealogical relationships so necessary to the reliability of works of this nature. Sincere thanks are extended to Jannetta Knowlton Robinson for untiring assistance and encouragement in overcoming many obstacles during the latter stages of this project. The proof reading and preparation of the index was done by Jerry Knowlton Niederhauser, Marilyn McKay Nath and others of our immediate family.

Representatives of the Church Historian’s Office and of the Genealogical Society have always been found willing to lend valuable assistance as have those of the State Historical Society staff.

Publication of this history would have been impossible without the continued help and encouragement rendered by the Knowlton Family Executive Committee, and especially by its chairman, Dr. Ute Knowlton. For its untiring efforts in advancing the necessary financial aid, intended to be eventually repaid by the sale of volumes of the completed work, this writer expresses deep appreciation.

Chapter One

1—Sidney Algernon Knowlton, Harriet Burnham and Charlotte Regina Artegren

Sidney Algernon Knowlton was born at Ashford, Connecticut, May 24, 1792. He was the oldest of six children born to Ephraim Knowlton and Jemima Farnham. Ephraim was the son of Lieutenant Daniel Knowlton of Revolutionary war fame. The early part of his life was spent at Ashford. The last reference in the Ashford Town records to Ephraim is his sale, on May 5, 1802, to Joshua Farnham of “land mill and buildings.”¹ At that time the practice of living on rented property was practically unknown. Ephraim and family doubtless moved away. Sidney was the oldest, and Ephraim, Jr., the youngest of this family. Authentic records of the lives of these two brothers have been found beginning with their activities near Cincinnati, Ohio, in the 1820s. This association will be treated later. The interim of about a score of years in the lives of Ephraim’s family is one of those gaps in family history during which only the barest of details are as yet discovered. It is known that Sidney married Harriet Burnham, the locality undetermined, on June 30, 1816.² Harriet was born March 7, 1797, in Dunbarton, Merrimack County, New Hampshire, of a long line of New England Burnham progenitors extending back to the seventeenth century. Her father was John Burnham, born at Old Hopkinton, Norfolk, Massachusetts, December 22, 1745. Her mother was Sarah Andrews, born April 29, 1755, at Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts.

They were the parents of ten children. Their places of residence during the first ten years of their married life is at present only known by the record of the places and dates of the birth of their children. In 1820, at the birth of their second child, they were residing in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. The next two were born in Boone County, Kentucky, and by the birth of the fifth child, March 22, 1827, they had established themselves at Cumminsville, a suburb of Cincinnati, Ohio, where Ephraim, Sidney’s younger brother, had settled in 1822.³ After 1827 the important events in the lives of the family of Sidney and Harriet are quite well established.⁴

The following information was copied by this writer from an excerpt of city history at the main public library in Cincinnati:

During the period 1825–27 under supervision of Ephraim Knowlton, the Miami Canal was built through the settlement of Cumminsville, along the bank of Mill Creek. Ephraim and brother Sidney owned the first boat, Hannibal of Carthage, plying the canal at Cumminsville. At about this time Knowlton established his famous store at what is now Knowlton’s Corner. (Located at the north east corner of Spring Grove and Hamilton Avenue)…It was built in 1834, Ephraim maintained it until 1844. In early days it was the most famous road house north of Cincinnati. In 1838 it housed the first post office. Knowlton was the first postmaster. On the third floor of the store building were held many social and religious functions in early days. More than two generations of thirsty travelers refreshed themselves at the old wooden pump, with a trough made of logs. The original building burned down in 1847, was rebuilt and later, converted into a comfort station. The great Ohio flood of 1847 created a back water which reached up to the front door of the store…Sidney and Ephraim for a time were pork merchants, afterwards they were in the canal business. In 1845 Ephraim subdivided his holdings into village lots and called the settlement Cumminsville, in honor of David Cummins, a tanner.

Sidney moved from Cumminsville prior to the birth of his eighth child, John Quincy, who was born July 9, 1835, in Hancock County, Illinois. Ephraim, however, at least maintained his headquarters at Cumminsville where he died February 1, 1880, at the age of 84.⁵

Newspaper obituaries at the time of his death, published probably in Cincinnati, recount his record in glowing terms: “That the community (Cumminsville) loses its foremost citizen…coming to the unnamed community two generations ago, he at once engaged in the business which was continued to the time of his death…”⁶

The record of Ephraim, Sidney’s brother, has been included here for two reasons: First, I believe that he exercised a stabilizing influence on Sidney; secondly, as will be mentioned later, he was doubtless of help to Sidney in assisting him to dispose of his property when in 1846 he was forced from Illinois by mob violence; and still later, his home was doubtless a point of call on at least one journey of some of Sidney’s family to Washington, D.C. These included Sidney’s youngest son, Benjamin F. Knowlton.⁷

The move of Sidney, Harriet and their family from Cumminsville, Ohio, to Hancock County, Illinois, proved to be of fateful consequence for it was here that they were converted to Mormonism. Deed records at Hancock include many entries covering his buying and selling transactions beginning August 19, 1836, and ending April 19, 1846. Most of these relate to land known as the Bear Creek area of that county. The last two sales to Nelson and James Ball,⁸ and to his brother, Ephraim,⁹ were, no doubt, the closing out of what Sidney could dispose of before being driven from Hancock County.

Mormonism Enters Their Lives

The conversion of Sidney’s family to Mormonism was not attended by the desperate soul-stirring stresses and strains which so often resulted when only parts of well-knit families took this fateful step. This painful breaking of family ties was especially acute when children of a family were converted against their parents’ wishes. Fortunately for the family record, this event, in some detail, is well authenticated:

We learn verbally from Elder John E. Page, that within a few weeks past, he has baptized nine in the lower part of this county, about 8 miles south west from Carthage, and twenty from this place. Among those who embraced the gospel in that place is Mr. Sidney Knowlton and family, who have for several years been zealous members of the Campbellite society, and are personally acquainted with all the principles of that doctrine; they are of the opinion that if Messrs. Campbell, Scott, and others, had been attentive hearers to the lectures which had been delivered in their place, they would have become Mormons also. Br. Knowlton is one of the first citizens of Hancock Co. and ranks with the first class of scientific farmers. Elder Page, by the voice of that branch of the church, ordained John J. DeGraw to the office of an Elder.¹⁰

The frequent moves of Sidney through several states, from Connecticut to Illinois, reflect a period of ferment and change, especially along the western frontier. Not only was the Great Revival in religion taking place throughout western America, but the population growth was crowding that frontier rapidly westward. Mormonism entered the lives of Sidney’s family during the Missouri-Nauvoo period, certainly the most stirring and exciting period in all of its stirring history. If indecision had characterized Sidney’s movements in the past, from then on, while many moves of greater distance were in store, there was to be in them a real sense of purpose. Indeed, this branch of the Knowlton family now found itself on the threshold of a new and meaningful adventure.

It was not long after Sidney joined the church that his reputation as a successful farmer reached its leaders. Under the sponsorship of the church the Nauvoo Agricultural and Manufacturing Association was officially established by an act of the Illinois legislature and approved by Governor Carlin on February 27, 1841. Sidney A. Knowlton was included as one of its incorporators. The purpose of this association, as defined in the act, was as follows: “For the promotion of agriculture and husbandry in all its branches, and for the manufacture of flour, lumber, and such other useful articles as are necessary for the ordinary purposes of life.”¹¹

Howard Coray, who married Sidney’s daughter Martha Jane on February 6, 1841, includes the following interesting missionary experience in his scholarly, well-written autobiography:

I was called to go on a mission: my father in law was called at the same time. We got ready and started about the first of November (1842) and went as far east as the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania.

We were gone six months without accomplishing much; as it was a time of heavy persecution—the time when John C. Bennett apostatized and published his expose of the spiritual wife doctrine, as he called it. While on this mission, we were turned out of doors, late in the evening by a man by the name of Brown; and had to lay out on a cold, frosty night; on account of which I took cold in my eyes and the effects of which lasted me many years.

As far as I am aware that vigorous six months mission was the only foreign one performed by Sidney A. Knowlton.

As the terrible days of late 1845 approached, as a measure of the confidence the church leaders had in Sidney, he was appointed as one of a committee of three to “sell houses, farms, lots, etc. that they can be referred to for sale.”¹² Sidney’s brother, Ephraim, may have helped him in the sale of his lands and the protection of his livestock. In any event, Sidney did not suffer the fate of so many for Howard Coray records that he spent the winter of 1846–47 on the banks of the Missouri River “assisting my father in law (Sidney) in taking care of his stock.”

The most complete description of the one-thousand mile journey of Sidney and family from the Missouri River to the Great Basin available is furnished in a short excerpt from the brief autobiography of the youngest son Benjamin Franklin Knowlton, which follows:

I remember very distinctly the Prophet Joseph Smith and his associates, also the mobbings and burnings when the people broke up and left their homes. We came with them as far as the Bonio, a stream near the Missouri River, at Winter Quarters. In 1848, my parents with their family, came on west as far as Grand Island, where now stands Fort Kearney. My father built the first house that was built a Ft. Kearney. Our folks boarded the officers and father took care of the Government beef cattle and got out much of the timber used in building the Fort.

On the 6th of July, 1849, he left there to come to Utah. Arriving on the 11 of Sept. 1849.

My father built the first lime kiln and burnt the first lime in Utah…¹³

In looking back through the hundred years and more since those early Mormon pioneer journeys, on cannot escape the deep feelings of regret at not having a first-hand written account of the tremendous hardships and difficulties encountered by representatives of his own progenitors, which not only characterized the journeys themselves, but also those associated with establishing themselves in this uninviting natural environment. As far as is known there is not extant even a line of history written by Sidney himself, and only the foregoing brief account of the pioneer journey written by his son, Benjamin. It seems to be a safe assumption that this family was better off than most. Their journey was more deliberate for they stopped along the way to obtain work and thus doubtless replenished their stock of needed provisions. They probably arrived quite well supplied with vital necessities, livestock, etc., to assist in making a fair start in their new surroundings.

Of the original ten children of Sidney and Harriet, at the time of their arrival, seven had survived the rather common general hazards of that time, and the added stresses and strains through which they had passed during the preceding ten years. Three had died in infancy or childhood.

Sidney and family settled in the original Nineteenth Ward and built their home on Lot 8, Block 114, this being the southwest corner of 3rd North and 1st West. His name is also shown on pioneer plats as being owner of Lot 7, Block 117 which faces 4th West between 2nd and 3rd North.¹⁴ Upon this home location Sidney built a commodious residence which was retained during his entire life, and it was Harriet’s home as long as she was able to care for herself. During this time and later it served a vital purpose as a city headquarters for member of the family whose livestock and other interests took them into other parts of the state.¹⁵

Closing Years

For Sidney’s activities in the remaining fourteen years of his life one is dependent upon items concerning him in the public records. Benjamin it will be remembered, commented on his building a lime processing works. In the Journal History of the church are two references to the subject as follows:

May 31, 1850, Pres. Young advised Bros. Sidney A. Knowlton and Stephen Winchester to commence burning lime at the mouth of Red Butte Canyon. Thought it economy to quarry the rock for public buildings and burn the chips and fragments.

Oct. 5, 1850 by an unanimous vote of the people assembled at the Bowery, it was decided that the Red Butte Canyon should be given to Knowlton and Co., in consideration of their engaging in the business of lime burning, and furnishing lime for the public.¹⁶

While there are no other references to the lime burning project or Sidney’s relationship to Red Butte Canyon, his name has been permanently recognized in the canyon by having one of its tributaries named after him.

Sidney undoubtedly continued his interest in agriculture and stock raising and was recognized in this field by being appointed by the Deseret Agricultural and Manufacturing Society as the chairman of a committee to award premium for class A vegetables at the fifth annual exhibition in Great Salt Lake City, October 8–9, 1860.¹⁷

In 1919 John W. Young, a son of President Brigham Young, who was very prominent in Utah affairs just prior to his father’s death, told this writer in New York City that he was well acquainted with Sidney. He spoke highly of his integrity and ability.

In church work Sidney was recognized July 13, 1851, by being appointed with Alonzo H. Raleigh as counselors to Bishop James Hendricks. He retained this position until the reorganization of the bishopric, May 6,1856.¹⁸

Sidney received another singular recognition in being appointed in 1861 for one year as a commissioner to locate university lands in Utah Territory. This was an elective position. His commission was issued on a page size certificate carrying the seal of the territory and signed by Governor Alfred Cummings.¹⁹

The available records of Sidney’s public activities indicate that his home on North Third West remained his headquarters during his entire life in Utah. There is quite conclusive evidence that he engaged in stock raising activities in Skull Valley, Tooele County, for his three surviving sons were active in this area, as will be mentioned later.

Sidney married a number of plural wives during the last few years of his life. At this time under the extreme conditions of privation which existed, men of recognized stability and integrity, and financially able to support more than one family were encouraged by church authorities to marry wives, often with the primary purpose of supporting them and their families. Church records indicate that he took the following plural wives:

• Margaret Slater—March 25, 1855
• Cecelia Verston Johnson—March 25, 1855
• Mary Ann Wood—November 16, 1856 (annulled March 12, 1857)
• Charlotte Regina Artegren—January 19, 1863
• Mary Mortenson—January 17, 1863

Charlotte Artegren bore Sidney one son, Abraham Benjamin from plural marriage. He was born October 30, 1863, six months after his father died. Abraham, or “Abe,” as he was well and favorably known, was life-long resident of Salt Lake City. He carried mail for a generation and thousands of people remember his tall imposing bearing. He died April 20, 1944, at the age of eighty-one years. Additional comment regarding Abraham will be included later in this chapter.

Sidney and Harriet Burnham Knowlton, the representatives of two vigorous Puritan families, destined to accept an unpopular religion and to endure persecutions and hardships resulting therefrom, deserve more than the foregoing treatment which is such a meager skeleton of the structure of their lives. However, some comfort can be drawn from the realization that, after a century of time, their descendants by the hundreds honor their memory and are devoted to the cause for which they rendered such extreme sacrifice. After all, this is the fact of supreme importance.

On Sidney’s passing from this life April 20, 1863, at the age of seventy, the following was written of him:

Deceased has been long and favorably known to most of the citizens of this territory as an energetic and useful member of the community. He was one of those whose deeds perpetuate their memory after their earthly pilgrimage has ended.²⁰

He died without leaving a will and the burden fell upon Harriet, with the authority of the probate court, to administer and distribute his estate and also that of their son George who had acquired property in Skull Valley, and who had died previously. Sidney’s estate, consisting of city lots, the family home, some farm land, some livestock and personal property was appraised at about $9,000. It was distributed December 10, 1868.²¹

Invaluable assistance was rendered Harriet by her son-in-law, William Henry Hooper. Meager available records, as well as family traditions, justifies the assumption that Captain Hooper was of great assistance to the family throughout his life. It seems definite that his financial assistance enabled Sidney and his sons to establish their stock raising activities in Skull Valley, Tooele County, and for a time he was in partnership with them.

Harriet died, at the ripe age of 84 years, September 10, 1881. Her obituary follows:

Passed away: Sister Harriet B. Knowlton, the aged widow of the late Sidney A. Knowlton, and mother to Messrs. B.F. Knowlton and J.Q. Knowlton, and also Mrs. W.H. Hooper, of this city; died at Farmington on Saturday evening at ten minutes past 8 o’clock, at the residence of her son B.F. Knowlton, Esq. Her own house is in the 19th Ward of this city, and for some time she has lived with her daughter, Mrs. Hooper. The family, starting for Soda Springs a few weeks ago, were anxious for her to accompany them, but not feeling well enough to undertake the trip, she concluded to visit her son’s family in Farmington until the party returned. While there the recent radical change in the weather gave her a severe cold, which developed into pneumonia, and being very feeble and at the advance age of 81 years, she finally succumbed to her illness. Her remains were brought to Salt Lake last evening and the funeral will take place at the residence of Hon. Wm. H. Hooper at 3 P.M. on Wednesday the 14th. We extend our deepest sympathy to all who are called upon to mourn but are assured that she, after a long life of usefulness, has proceeded to a sphere of happiness where pain and sorrow are known no more forever.²²

Elders Geo. Q. Cannon and Jos. F. Smith, of the First Presidency, spoke at her funeral services and she was buried in the Knowlton family plot in the city cemetery.²³

Charlotte Regina Artegren was the daughter of Allen Artegren. She was born in Sweden, December 25, 1825. She died at Salt Lake City, Utah, July 30, 1908.

Chapter Two

2—Ruhamah Burnham Knowlton and Erastus H. Derby

Ruhamah Burnham Knowlton, the oldest daughter of Sidney Algernon Knowlton and Harriet Burnham was born September 6, 1817, possibly at Dunbarton, New Hampshire. She was the oldest of the ten children who were born during the quite general western migration period of New England families. She married Erastus H. Derby August 10, 1834, which was about the time her parents moved from Cumminsville, Ohio (a suburb of Cincinnati), to Bear Creek, Hancock County, Illinois, this being located about eight miles south of Carthage, its county seat. It is quite likely that she and Erastus continued to reside in that county until the expulsion of the Mormons from Illinois early in 1846.

Between 1836 and 1860 she became the mother of twelve children, which equaled the number born to her sister Martha and which were the largest families of any of Sidney and Harriet’s children. Five of them were probably born in Hancock County. The very incomplete records now available to this writer indicate that after this family was driven from Hancock County its place of residence was very unstable indeed, being moved from place to place within several states of the upper middle west.

It is a safe assumption, however, that Erastus and Ruhamah were converted to Mormonism very early in the year 1840, along with her parents and brothers and sisters. Church records indicate their receiving patriarchal blessings during that year. As will be pointed out later herein Erastus served the Prophet Joseph in a very heroic manner during a critical time in the Prophet’s life, and later, for reasons not determined, became disaffected with the church, and his entire family did not join with the great western pioneer journey of the eighteen forties; rather, this family moved about as evidenced by the places and dates of the birth of the children, in Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Minnesota. Erastus and Ruhamah both died at Le Sueur, Minnesota, he December 3, 1890, and she December 29, 1896.

Only one of their children, Louis Phillip Derby, more than one-half century later, brought his family to Utah and established contact with the main body of Sidney and Harriet’s descendants. This resulted in some interesting and unusual developments which will be treated later at the appropriate places in this history.

It should be emphasized of Ruhamah, that this stalwart woman, throughout a long life on the wester frontier, amid unusual stresses and strains, kept her large family intact and was faithful to her husband and children to the end. It is to be hoped future research will bring to light the badly needed gaps in this family’s history and genealogy, a project worthy of their descendants in Utah.

Erastus H. Derby was born in Hawley, Massachusetts, September 14, 1810, to Edward and (Ruth) Phoebe Hitchcock. The first reference to him in church records is a patriarchal blessing given him by Hyrum Smith in 1840. During the next six years he is mentioned many times, some of these references being very favorable indeed and others of an unfavorable nature. It is so unfortunate, especially to the posterity of this unusual man, that a more complete record of his life is not available; and one attempting even a sketch portrayal of his life based upon such meager known facts, of necessity senses the danger involved in such efforts.

For these reasons it is felt that the record of an outstandingly faithful service of Erastus to the Prophet Joseph Smith should be emphasized. This occurred during the late summer of 1842, when the Prophet was compelled to go into hiding to escape the unjust indictments file against him by both the governors of Missouri and Illinois, growing out of the prior Missouri persecutions of the Mormon people. This sequence of events and its revealment of the breadth and scope of the Prophet’s character is well described by Brigham H. Roberts. There also will be found the glowing tributes so earnestly portrayed by the Prophet, from the depths of his soul, to the integrity of his faithful friends, including Erastus H. Derby, who so valiantly assisted him. The Prophet began this general dramatic portrayal with his tribute to Erastus H. Derby as follows:

Brother Derby has taken the greatest interest in my welfare, and I feel to bless him.

Blessed is Brother Erastus H. Derby, and he shall be blessed of the Lord. He possesses a sober mind, and a faithful heart. The snares therefore that will subsequently befall other men, who are treacherous and rotten hearted, shall not come nigh unto his doors, but shall be far from the paths of his feet. he loveth wisdom and shall be found possessed of her. Let there be a crown of glory and a diadem upon his head. Let the light of eternal truth shine forth upon his understanding; let his name be had in everlasting remembrance; let the blessings of Jehovah be crowned upon his posterity after him, for he rendered me consolation in the lonely places of my retreat. How good and glorious it has seemed unto me, to find pure and holy friends, who are faithful, just and true, and whose hearts fail not; and whose knees are confirmed and do not falter, while they wait upon the Lord, in administering to my necessities, in the day when the wrath of mine enemies was poured out upon me.

In the name of the Lord, I feel in my heart to bless them, and to say in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, that these are the ones that shall inherit eternal life. I say it by virtue of the Holy Priesthood, and by the ministering of the holy angels, and by the gift and power of the Holy Ghost.²⁴

It would be difficult to overestimate the terrifying impact upon the faithful saints in Nauvoo of those soul stirring events which transpired between 1842 and early in 1846 when they were driven from Nauvoo. In addition to the fearful opposition of their enemies, many were faced with what to them were doubtless even more terrifying experiences: those flowing from the promulgation of new and soul testing doctrines and the establishment of new leadership following the martyrdom of the Prophet, all of which involved fateful decisions. Many faithful leaders and members of the church, some very prominent ones, as is well known, were found to be unwilling or unable to accept these changes and join the majority of faithful saints on this journey westward. Erastus, Ruhamah and their family of four living children remained behind. The Journal History of the Church records a few unfavorable references to him, and the official history of the seventies quorum, of which he probably was a president, indicates his apostasy from the church.²⁵ It is indeed regrettable that so few facts are available about the history of Sidney Knowlton’s oldest child and her family. It would appear that the one tragic circumstance is the fact that they did not come west with the remainder of Sidney’s family. Surely this become evidently clear as this history unfolds.

The sterling character, the lasting integrity and the virile strength of this Derby family is well authenticated by the fact that Ruhamah and Erastus lived to be 79 and 80 years of age respectively, and that their marriage apparently endured for 56 years, a record in these respects not equaled by any other of Sidney’s children.

From Harriet Burnham Knowlton’s undated letter, as well as from the papers relating to the settlement of Sidney’s estate, both previously referred to herein, it is a safe assumption that communication with the Derby family was maintained during the remainder of their lives and most likely thereafter.

The text of the obituaries of Erastus and Ruhamah included below indicate that this branch of the family moved to the Borough of Le Sueur, Le Sueur County, Minnesota, in 1871. The U.S. Census of 1880 include the following member residing there:

There being no other biographical information available, relating to Erastus and Ruhamah, it is deemed appropriate that the entire texts be included here.

OBITUARY

Erastus H. Derby

DEATH OF ERASTUS H. DERBY

Shortly after eight o’clock last Wednesday evening, without a moments warning and while apparently enjoying better health than usual, Erastus H. Derby, and old and respected resident, dropped dead at his home in this city. He had been down town during the day and appeared far more cheerful than for many weeks: when death’s summons came he was in the act of picking up a poker to fix the fire, and fell back in his son’s arms and expired without a word and apparently without pain. The cause of his death was heart failure. Deceased was born in the town of Holly, Mass., on Sept. 14th, 1810, and was therefore, 80 years, 2 mos. and 19 days old; moved to Ohio when a young man and was there married to the faithful companion who survives him over 56 years ago: the came to Le Sueur in 1871 and have since continuously resided here: thirteen children were born to them—seven of whom are now living—four being present at the funeral, as follows: Freeman E., of this city, Joseph E., of Chicago: Geo. Q. of New Ulm and Mrs. Robt. Iten, of Fargo. The absent ones are, Louis P., of North Platte, Nebr.; Edward F., of Good Land, Kan., and Mrs. Russell, of Toledo, Ohio.

Deceased was a man of more than ordinary intelligence and enjoyed the confidence and esteem of all who knew him. He had been a member of the Masonic order for fifty years, and served his country with honor and distinction for three years with the 68th Ohio regiment.

A kind and faithful husband and an indulgent and loving father has been gathered home in the fullness of his years. In nature’s course his time has come: the season’s were complete in him: the measure for his years was full. When the old oak is visited in vain by spring—when the rains no longer thrill—it is not well to stand leafless, desolate and alone; it is better far to fall where nature softly covers all with woven moss and creeping vine.

The sympathy of the community goes out to the bereaved family in their hour of sorrow.

— Le Sueur Minnesota News, Dec. 10, 1890, page 5

OBITUARY

Ruhamah Burnham Knowlton Derby

IT WAS HEART FAILURE

The family of Robert Iten were very much shocked and surprised on Tuesday morning to find upon awaking that the aged mother of Mrs. Iten, Mrs. E.H. Derby, was dead in bed. Some time in August last the deceased lady fell and sustained a fracture of the hip bone, since which time she has been an invalid. Although somewhat emaciated she has enjoyed and ordinary degree of health and was feeling as well as usual on Monday evening at the time the family retired. Dr. W.H. Fisher was called as soon as the fact of her death was discovered, who pronounces death to have resulted from heart failure.

The deceased came to Le Sueur in 1872 with her husband from Ohio and resided here since then until the death of her husband, E.H. Derby, some six years ago, since which time she has resided with her daughter, Mrs. Robt. Iten, at Fargo, N.D., Detroit, Mich. and this city. She was the mother of thirteen children, seven of whom, five sons and two daughters, now survive her. The funeral will occur to-day.

4—Martha Jane Knowlton and Howard Coray

Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, the third child of Sidney Algernon and Harriet Burnham Knowlton, was born in Covington, Kentucky, across the Ohio River from Cincinnati, Ohio, June 3, 1822. During Martha’s childhood her parents first moved to Cumminsville, Ohio, and later, about 1835, to Bear Creek, Hancock County, Illinois. It was there early in 1840 that Mormonism entered the lives of her family. It is noted from her obituary that “in January, 1840, a hole was cut through the ice, and herself and a few others were baptized.”²⁶

During the summer that year Martha was introduced to her future husband, Howard Coray, while attending a church gathering in Nauvoo to which she had come in a one seated buggy. After a few months’ period of correspondence and with the recommendation of the Prophet Joseph Smith, she was married to Howard February 6, 1841. As with her elder sister, Ruhamah, she also became the mother of a large family, eight were sons, five were daughters, all thirteen grew to maturity. Her posterity up to the present doubtless exceeds any other of Sidney and Harriet Knowlton’s children.

Supplementing Martha’s unusual record as wife and mother, other significant accomplishments outside the house mark her as one of the outstanding women of the Mormon pioneer generation. Immediately after her marriage she assisted her husband in school teaching duties at Nauvoo which she continued on an intermittent basis until the winter of 1844–45.²⁷

About this time the mother of the late Prophet Joseph Smith visited Martha and requested that she assist in writing the history of the Prophet, which Martha agreed to do. It seems appropriate here to quote from Howard Coray’s Personal History which he framed within parenthesis:

(Sometime in the winter following 1844–45 Mother Smith came to see my wife, about getting her to help write the history of Joseph; to act in the matter, only as her, Mother Smith’s amanuensis. This my wife was persuaded to do; and so dropped the school. Not long had she worked in this direction, before, I was requested also to drop the school…and help her in the matter of the history. After consulting President Young, who advised me to do so, I consented; and immediately set to with my might. We labored together until the work was accomplished, which took us till near the close of 1845.)²⁸

This undertaking entitled, The History of Mother Smith by Herself, was published in England in 1853 by Elder Orson Pratt from a copy of the original manuscript, which he purchased from a third party, who had obtained it from a member of the Smith family after her death. For several reasons not thought appropriate to recount here, this publication was later suppressed—Martha brought the original to Utah and later delivered it to President Brigham Young.

Subsequently, after a small committee of church leaders appointed by President Young made some revisions in the text, it was published serially by the Improvement Era in 1900, and the following year it was printed in book form entitled History of Joseph Smith by His Mother, Lucy Mack Smith.²⁹

Martha, during her rather short life, made other significant contributions to her people beyond the strenuous duties required by her large family. Among these were services rendered the Brigham Young Academy which was organized in October, 1875. She became a member of its original Board of Trustees and was also its first Dean of Women. She served as a trustee until her death December 14, 1881.

Details of her significant domestic life will be given, following some comment about those of Howard, immediately following. In his history Howard said of her, “A more intelligent, self sacrificing and devoted wife, and mother, few men have been blessed with…and lived to see (her thirteen children) grow up to man and womanhood, educated, intelligent, virtuous and religious.”

Howard Coray was born May 6, 1817, in Steuben County, New York, to Silas and Mary Stephens Coray. At the age of ten his father moved the family to Pennsylvania and then in December, 1838, to Pike County in western Illinois. For a short period Howard continued his education by preparing to enter the college at nearby Jacksonville. In so doing he came in contact with the noted Henry Ward Beecher. Shortly after, failing to obtain from Reverend Beecher answers to questions in the area of religion which were agitating his mind, he chanced upon some Mormon missionaries who were in that neighborhood, and after some investigation by Howard, he and other members of his family, were converted. They were baptized in March, 1840.

Early the next month they went to Nauvoo to gain first hand acquaintance with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He, upon learning of Howard’s clerical ability, and being in such urgent need of such services, prevailed upon Howard to remain with him, and for several months he was intimately associated with the Prophet, devoting his entire time copying letters and writing church history.

It was while doing this work that he met and soon thereafter was married to Martha Jane Coray. Their working together at school teaching and assisting Mother Smith with her history has been previously described. From the time in April, 1840, when he met the Prophet Joseph Smith, throughout his entire life Howard never wavered in his devotion to the Prophet and to the restored gospel.

From Howard’s personal history is drawn the following significant events in his life and that of his family. In November, 1842, he and father-in-law Sidney A. Knowlton were called on a six months mission as far east as the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania “without accomplishing much,” and during which, due to sleeping out in the cold at night, “I took cold in my eyes and the effects of which…lasted many years, in fact, I can’t say, as I have yet altogether recovered.” Howard continues that upon his return he resumed school teaching until he began assisting Martha with Mother Smith’s history.

In January, 1846, Howard and Martha received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple and were sealed to their children. The following May they left Nauvoo with the main body of the Saints, spending the winter of 1846–47 on the Missouri River assisting Sidney Knowlton with his livestock.

The energy and initiative displayed by this distinctive family during the next thirty-three years of pioneering and establishing themselves in Utah deserves more than passing notice. During the two years 1847–49, Howard supported them mainly in agricultural pursuits, over a wide area from Kaneville on the east bank of the Missouri River westward to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, with varied success. A portion of his time Martha operated a ferry. Finally, leaving the latter point early in 1850, they reached Salt Lake City October of that year with the John Sharp Company. By then they had six children, ranging in ages from a few months to eight years.

Howard promptly obtained employment as a clerk in the tithing office, where he remained for the next four years, his salary being $1,000.00 per year. He next moved with family to E.T (Lakepoint) in Tooele County, where he remained for about two years.

In 1857, with eight living children, the ninth having died as an infant in 1856, they established a home in Provo. Howard colorfully describes his activities there:

…doing various kinds of work—farming, clerking, school teaching, building, a sawmill and sawing lumber—running a molasses factory, hauling lumber to Fairfield, etc. etc. I was getting along pretty, till I undertook the sawmill, which resulted in embarrassing me not a little.

In 1871 I home-steaded a gr. section in Juab Co. and moved on it;…

This rural location near the small community of Mona, north of Nephi, became the Coray family headquarters where they remained until the fall of 1880. That autumn marked a drastic change in the lives of several other members of the Coray family. In the late eighteen seventies, Church authorities encouraged its members to establish settlements in Southern Colorado and in Northern Arizona and New Mexico. This additional pioneering venture as it affected four sons and one daughter of this family will be detailed in the appropriate places hereafter in this history.

As to the parents, Howard and Martha, he recited that, “Then I returned to Provo, bringing with me a sick wife. She had been afflicted several years with a cough, which had now become so bad that I thought it best to come to Provo, in order to get where I could take better care of her, than was possible on the farm in Juab County; but with all, that care and medicine could do she left us. She lingered till Dec. 14, 1881, when her spirit took its flight.” In the family library will be found three of Martha’s letters written to her son, Sidney, during his missionary service, which reveal the sterling qualities of this remarkable woman.

The following, a pertinent part of her obituary carried in the local press, is a brief but appropriate tribute to her life’s record:

Deceased is the wife of Brother Howard Coray, sister to Mrs. Hooper and related by marriage to Prof. T.B. Lewis. She was 59 years of age, having been a woman of most indomitable energy, probably died from general debility. She was a woman among ten thousand. She became identified with the Church in Illinois, shortly after the Saints were expelled from Missouri; when she was a mere girl, being the first of the family to embrace the Gospel. Almost by her own exertion she reared a family of twelve children, eleven of whom are still living. She was possessed of great independence of character, marked natural intelligence and considerable culture. The nobler traits of womankind have been exhibited in her life to a degree that is seldom excelled. Sister Coray was intensely beloved by her children, to whose training she had devoted the greater portion of her life’s best energies. The same feeling exists in the hearts of her other connections, Capt. Hooper and his wife being deeply grieved at her departure. Sister Coray will be held in affectionate remembrance by a very large circle of friends. She came to Utah 31 years ago.³⁰

It also seems appropriate to include the full text from Howard’s diary of her funeral service:

Her funeral was held at the Provo Meeting House. Many of her friends and acquaintances came down from the City; among which were Wm. H. Hooper, Mrs. Hooper, her 2 daughters—Wilford Woodruff, Joseph F. Smith, and Horace L. Eldridge, also Frank Knowlton, his wife and T.B. Lewis. They came to pay their last respects to the remains of one who had led a very active, useful life—one who was widely known, and by all who knew her, highly esteemed. Her remains were card for—was clothed in her priestly robes and put into a casket, costing $150.00. Bishop Smoot preached her favorite discourse, others also speaking in the occasion. Her remains were then conveyed to the Provo burying ground and laid away to await the resurrection of the just.

Yea, she has gone to repose,
Where no noise shall disturb her,
Until the great day of the Lord, shall awake her.

For the next eighteen months after Martha’s death, Howard was busily engaged in missionary work. From January until the spring of 1882, with an official assignment from President A.O. Smoot, he served as home missionary. He visited all the wards in that stake. Then, June 13, 1882, he was set apart as a full time missionary serving in Smith County, Virginia, where he arrived June 20th. He comments as follows in his diary:

Here I spent all my time preaching…in a private way—that is, stores, post office—where I stayed over night, an opportunity might offer me: but only one chance had I of preaching in any sectarian meeting house while I was on my mission. I got my release and returned home with the emigration reaching Provo on the 4th day of April, 1883.

That mission marked the end of Howard’s action-filled life. He spent the next quarter century in rather uneventful retirement at the homes of his sons and daughters located in Southern Colorado, or in Utah and Salt Lake Counties in Utah.

Two rather lengthy and interesting letters of his are extant, in which he treats extensively points of church history and doctrine.³¹ He died January 16, 1908, at Salt Lake City, Utah, at the age of ninety-one years. He was survived by six sons and daughters. Pertinent facts of his obituary and funeral follow:

(He was) High Priest, missionary to souther states, clerk in the presiding bishop’s office at Salt Lake City for five years; secretary to the Prophet Joseph Smith, with whom he became intimate, at Nauvoo, Ill., April, 1840, and for whom he had unbound trust and admiration during his entire life. Assessor in Utah Co., school teacher at Salt Lake City and Provo, bookkeeper and accountant…³²

Resume of Howard’s funeral services which were held in the Utah Stake Tabernacle at Provo, under the direction of Stake President David John, follows:

The speakers were Elders Joseph F. Smith Jr. of Salt Lake, O.H. Berg, H.H. Cluff and President Joseph F. Smith, who all spoke in glowing terms of the deceased. President Smith was the principal speaker…A large funeral cortege followed the remains to their last resting place in the City Cemetery.³³

By any sound measure of human accomplishment, Howard Coray’s life was a very distinctive one. In addition to his outstanding posterity, now numbering into the hundreds, his own personal contributions to the destiny of Utah and its people deserve to be emphasized. Especially is this remarkable when considering the serious handicap he endured from birth of being without a normal left hand.

7—Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper

Mary Ann Knowlton Hooper, the sixth child and fifth daughter of Sidney and Harriet Burnham Knowlton was born at Cumminsville, Ohio, September 11, 1829. She with the other eligible members of her parents’ family were doubtless baptized into the church early in 1840.

Upon arrival in Utah with them, in 1849, she was twenty years of age. Three years later, December 24, 1852, she became the wife of Captain William Henry Hooper. He had arrived in Utah from the East in June, 1850. Plagued by poor health, discouraged by prior business failures and by the death of his wife there, Captain Hooper left St. Louis as an agent of a commercial firm intending after a stop in Utah to continue on to California.³⁴ Utah’s climate benefited his health and he became influenced by the friendly Mormon people. However, it is quite likely that a major factor in his decision to remain in Utah was the love which had developed between him and Mary Ann Knowlton. From his background of many years of mercantile experience and by the exercise of unusual talent which was then so badly needed in Utah, he prospered almost immediately. Their home was first established on East First South, just east of the bank corner, but later a commodious mansion, for the pioneer period, located on the southeast corner of First West and Third North, became the Hooper home. Mary Ann became the mother of nine children, three sons and six daughters. Their home not only was a haven for members of the large and less affluent Knowlton family but also became one of the prominent social centers of the city for the entertainment of local people, and often of prominent travelers passing through Utah. These included some of the leading national political figures of that period. Mary Ann presided over this home with distinction.

One of the unusual features of Sidney Knowlton’s family was that the husbands of the three daughters who grew to maturity and had families of their own, each served the presidents of the church in a distinctive and intimate way. The records of Erastus Derby and Howard Coray and their relationship to the Prophet Joseph Smith have already been mentioned. That of William Henry Hooper in this regard, and his long and close association with President Brigham Young, was much more extended and has been more generally known. In fact, inasmuch as this history is so well documented by all the recognized histories of Utah, it seems only necessary to include here the most important events of Captain Hooper’s life, emphasizing those which pertain to this family history.

He came of a prominent Maryland family, being born to Henry and Mary Noel Price Hooper at Warwick Manor, Dorchester County, Eastern Shore, Maryland, December 25, 1813. His father died when Henry was three years old leaving the family in straitened circumstances. Having practically no opportunity for formal schooling, in his early teens he began employment in a mercantile establishment, and thus began a career which through a life time featured by an unusual number of vicissitudes, of successes and failure, and extending across the broad expanse of a continent, was to bring him fame and fortune. His title “Captain” which he carried throughout life, derived from his captaincy of a mercantile boat on the Mississippi out of St. Louis.

To this writer the most unique element in the history of this remarkable man was the apparent complete acceptance of him in Utah and elsewhere, first as a very important commercial leader, and then as a statesman of the first order, by all the opposing factions in and out of the church in Utah, and by the national political leaders as well. Indeed, in this respect he seems to stand out prominently in early Utah history. This is all the more remarkable when measured against the background of the stirring events of the time, one of the most stormy periods in Utah history; the so called “Mormon War” of 1857–58, and including the active organized opposition to President Young by prominent apostates from the church during the later eighteen sixties and extending to his death in 1877. This antagonism was made more formidable by the increasing opposition of the federal government to the continuation of the practice of “Plural Marriage” which was announced publicly by the church in 1852.³⁵

The almost universal acceptance of Captain Hooper undoubtedly grew out of his complete and irrevocable commitment to the Mormon religion and culture of his wife’s people, accepted by him as a mature man of nearly two score action packed years, together with his whole souled dedication to their aims and purposes. Moreover, not having married in polygamy, his influence was not weakened by the formidable opposition which unceasingly followed church leaders who had done so.

He was baptized a member of the church December 31, 1854, and received his temple endowments October 29, 1855. His civic responsibilities began at once: In November, 1856, he was appointed secretary pro tem of Utah Territory, and served until the end of the “Mormon War” in 1858. That year came his election as city councilman of Salt Lake City, and also to the Territorial Legislature. With the return of normal relations with the federal government in 1859, he was elected, almost unanimously as Utah’s territorial delegate to Congress for the 36th Session during which time Utah’s rights as a territory were reestablished and the expenses of its territorial government, long unpaid, were obtained.

For the next four years he was permitted to remain in Utah to obtain needed rest and regain his health, and also to further his commercial interests. Others served as Utah’s representative during the next two congressional sessions during which all the nation’s attention and energies were demanded by the terrible Civil War of 1861–65. Then, in 1867, Captain Hooper was again called upon to be Utah’s delegate at Washington, to meet, as best he could, the renewed active opposition to Utah and its interests, including its continuing petitioning for statehood, and to resist the ever growing pressure to stop the practice of plural marriage in Utah. He served valiantly through the 39th, 40th and 41st Sessions of Congress, during which he steadily gained in prestige and influence both among the friends and foes of the Mormon people at home at abroad.

During his congressional service, while not being able to prevent the passage of legislation aimed at prohibiting the practice of plural marriage in Utah, nor to gain statehood, he was successful in obtaining recognition of several important rights of the people, notable the preservation of Utah territory, and the procurement and protection of private titles to land.

The first federal legislation prohibiting polygamy in Utah was passed in 1852 and except for the Civil War period when Congress was otherwise occupied, agitation was ever present in Congress to enact more stringent laws. None of those efforts became really effective until the enforcement of the Edmunds Law in 1883, and Edmunds-Tucker Act of 1887. Captain Hooper’s most effective work, and certainly the most drastic, was in defense of civil and religious rights, His historic speech before the House of Representatives March 22nd and 23rd, 1870, must be rated to this writer as the most powerful one on this subject ever delivered in the houses of Congress. Historian Edward Tullidge wrote of it, that “it justly ranks as amongst the ablest forensic efforts of the nineteenth century.”³⁶

Interspersed between his congressional duties, Captain Hooper took a leading part in the establishment of local mercantile and banking institutions. As early as 1860 he started these efforts. Always working very closely with President Young he was extremely active in the final establishment of Z.C.M.I., and of its creation in the fall of 1868, with President Young as President and William Henry Hooper as Vice President. He held this position until President Young’s death in 1877, when he became President of Z.C.M.I. which post he held until his death in 1882.

In addition to the foregoing mercantile activities, Captain Hooper was a pioneer leader in the establishment of local banks. With others he began this enterprise in 1868 and during the next several years was a leader in found banks not only in Salt Lake City but in Ogden and Provo as well. The bank in Salt Lake City located where First Security Bank now stands on First South and Main Streets became Utah’s first state bank. Later it became Deseret National Bank with Brigham Young as President, William H. Hooper Vice-President. President Young resigned in 1873 and Captain Hooper became President, a position he held until his death. As a recognition of his eminence in the banking profession he became a Vice President in the American Banking Association during 1879. He also participated in the creation of other economic enterprises in Utah. From his successful and always community building activities he amassed a fortune appraised at $277,000. which was to divided among his wife and children.³⁷

William Henry Hooper was doubtless of great assistance and comfort, not only to his immediate family, but to the Knowlton family at large as well. Reference has been made of his association of Sidney’s sons in Skull Valley.

Even after the passage of nearly a century, there comes to one who reviews in some detail the record of this unusual man, a sense of regret that his earthly life was cut so short. He died at the family home December 30, 1882, at the age of sixty nine, after suffering intensely from acute cystitis. The obituary columns of the local press were profuse with sincere, laudable comment. Obviously space limitations permit but brief mention here. His personal appearance was described as follows:

In appearance Captain Hooper was tall and slender, of dark and swarthy complexion. His face was, in his pleasanter moods, lighted with a genial smile. He was hearty in his address, almost amounting to joviality. ³⁸

Praise of his character and of his whole-hearted devotion to the ideals, aims and purposes of the people and culture which adopted him rose to great heights of eloquence:

…We admired, reverenced and loved him as only those could who were so fortunate to know him as we did…‘He was a man, take him for all in all, we shall not look upon his like again.’

His funeral was held in his palatial home on First West, conducted by Bishop James Watson of the 19th Ward. The speakers were Presidents Joseph F. Smith and Wilford Woodruff, both of whom were deeply moved. President Smith said of him, “Brother Hooper has been one of the truest friends to this people, according to the light he possessed, that ever lived.” The funeral cortege to the City Cemetery consisted of forty three carriages filled with people.³⁹

Mary Ann Knowlton Hooper lived until March 22, 1887. For nearly two year previously she had suffered from “that fell disease cancer,” which had been responsible for the early demise of many illustrious names. Her funeral services were held in the family residence and conducted by Bishop Watson. The speakers were “Bishop F. Whitney and Pres. Angus M. Cannon. The remains were laid to rest in the family vault in the City Cemetery at the side of the husband of the deceased…; the dedicatory prayer being offered by Pres. H.S. Eldredge.”⁴⁰

Hooper Co. and Knowlton Brothers Ranching Operations

Of all the advantages flowing to the Knowlton family through the marriage of William H. Hooper to Mary Ann Knowlton in 1854, none were more beneficial to the family, generally, nor in the aggregate more important, than his association with the three brothers in stock raising activity. This common effort extended upwards of a quarter century. While these interests were mainly in the economic area, still of major importance was the family solidarity that seemingly grew out of this relationship, the benefits of which can be felt even down to the present time.

Indeed, so important was this partnership, and so comprehensive, that it is deemed wise to devote a section of this chapter entirely to its major ramifications before treating the individual family relationships of the three sons, George Washington, John Quincy and Benjamin Franklin.

In so far as can be determined, this partnership began in 1854 the year Captain Hooper became a part of the Knowlton family. During his first years in Utah, beginning in 1850, he became one of the most important transporters of goods from the East. Large numbers of livestock were included with the long trains of wagons of his firm, loaded with badly needed commodities for sale in this region. In order to take care of these herds of livestock, he first established a herding ground at Muskrat springs on the site of the present town of Hooper, Utah, which, upon formal founding, adopted his name. A monument has been erected by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers at this location. Upon this monument is inscribed the words:

On this site the first house in Hooper was build by Hon. William H. Hooper in 1854.

Captain Hooper ran his cattle from Clearfield to the Weber River. In 1854 he build an adobe shelter for his herdsmen. It is located…about one and one-half miles southwest of the Hooper meeting house. It consisted of four rooms on the ground floor and two rooms upstairs. It had a dirt roof, a porch on the south side, and a two room “lean” on the north. This was the first building in Hooper.

Quincy and Frank Knowlton, partners of Hooper, lived in the adobe house and supervised the cattle business for the company.⁴¹

In 1854 George Washington Knowlton was 22, John Quincy 19, and Benjamin Franklin 16 years old. From information to be included later, it is definite that George was active in this partnership, although his name does not often appear in the several public records which will be mentioned. This could be due to his untimely death at age 29.

It is unfortunate that this historical family effort could not have been completed a half century ago, by those who were conversant with these important events which had such profound effect upon the later generation of the family. There are a number of public records still available, however, from which a reasonably authentic outline can still be presented. It is a safe assumption that all three brothers lived at their parents family home and assisted their father with his outside activities up to the time we are now considering, but by then, doubtless they were beginning to spread their wings, to spend much of their time away from home, traveling by buck board or in the saddle.

Journal History of the church records that George and Quincy “left on the easter mail April 1, 1855,” probably in the interest of Captain Hooper, “to purchase goods.” Then from the invaluable diary of Benjamin is the notation that, “In 1855 I went out to the Snake River and wintered in that valley. Trading with the Indians for horses.” Also it records that, “…in 1856 I went with my brother [either George or Quincy] to the Flathead County on a trading venture. We traded for nearly 200 head of horses and brought them to Utah….” Benjamin also there records that during the winter of 1855–56 he had a harrowing experience while wintering with a heard of cattle belonging to Hooper, Williams and Company between Fort Bridger and Salt Lake City. This experience will be amplified later on when treating Benjamin’s life in greater detail.⁴²

It was “Quincy,” however, located on the east side of Skull Valley, which was to become the headquarters for the Knowlton brothers, the foundation for their economic activities, and the social and religious life of their families for upwards of a quarter century. ⁴³ There is a vitally necessary fresh water supply in the form of springs within reasonable distances from a large acreage of arable land suitable for raising hay and grain. Moreover, in every direction are thousands of acres of open range lands with springs distributed at many strategic locations for stock water purposes. Until overcrowding of the range, as well as overgrazing of the arid land, occurred, this location was one of the most desirable to be found in Utah.

The more common family tradition names 1862 as the date of its acquisition by the Knowltons. However, authentic information will follow which places the founding date about five years earlier. The following is taken from the diary of Hiram Wallace Severe as carried in the History of Tooele County.

Three miles north of the Rowberry-Arbon ranch was the Knowlton-Hooper settlement known as Quincy, named for John Quincy Knowlton.

There are several springs of fairly good water there, as well as streams running from the mountains. In 1857, William Henry Hooper, with his brother-in-law, John Quincy Knowlton, settled or brought out those who had established cabins. In 1857, a man named Box built a rock house at Burnt Springs and from this came the name “Timpie” meaning rock Pickiup…

Chauncey Webb took up a ranch at Delle in 1857. Box probably was also interested here as Box Canyon is located in the mountains east of Delle.⁴⁴

It should be noted that Captain Hooper’s invaluable contribution to this partnership was to supply the essential financial backing, so difficult to obtain during that early period, and also very importantly his vast background of business experience. This has been outlined earlier in this chapter. his palatial home and center of activities when not in Washington as Utah’s territorial delegate remained in Salt Lake City.

As mentioned earlier, the name of George Washington Knowlton, the oldest of the three brothers, who in 1857 was twenty-five years old, is seldom mentioned in the public records. Moreover, the record of his life is now almost hidden in the past. There is solid evidence that he held and acknowledged and substantial interest in both the Weber and Skull Valley partnerships.

George died in 1861, two years before the death of his father Sidney Algernon. His financial interests in both the Weber and Skull Valley operations were specifically identified in the distribution of father Sidney’s estate in 1865. These interests of George W., formally declared to be valued at six thousand dollars, were included in that estate and were distributed to surviving members of the family.⁴⁵

Growing out of John Quincy’s more extensive absences from home, engaged in army or church duties, as will be presented later, at least until about 1874, it seems quite definite that detailed management of the extensive ranching operations rested largely upon Benjamin’s shoulders. Prior to the end of this period, while one of more of Quincy’s wives doubtless resided with him at times in Skull Valley, and the children’s birth records indicate that Ellen’s first child was born there in 1863, family records available indicate that his families were not moved to Quincy, permanently until about 1874.⁴⁶ While many of Benjamin and Rhoda’s children were born in Salt Lake City until 1873, it is believed that he moved his family and his headquarters to Skull Valley shorty after his marriage in 1863. As previously mentioned, the social, religious and general home lives of these families will be treated later.

About 1875 the Hooper-Knowlton partnership seems to have been dissolved. Benjamin began that year to establish his home and headquarters of his operations at the Delle, and Quincy seems to be permanently settled at Quincy. About 1885 he moved his families from there, and the following year disposed of his ranching interests. In the meantime in 1880 Benjamin acquired permanent home and farm holdings at Farmington, Davis County. He continued to operate the Delle operation on a more limited scale, however, until 1892, when he sold it to the Iosepa Agricultural and Stock Co.⁴⁷ Captain Hooper’s financial interest probably ended prior to his death in December, 1882.

Having presented, in bare outline, the pertinent facts, in so far as available, of the joint ranching operations of Hooper-Knowltons, it now seems proper to present the individual family relationships of the Knowlton brothers.

8—George Washington Knowlton

Of the eleven children born to Sidney and Harriet, three daughters and two sons were taken by death, all before either parent died. Four of those did not live to reach majority, but one, George Washington, their second son, had reached the age of twenty-nine years when he died. He was prevented by sickness and death from obtaining a family of his own in this life. Consequently he had no descendants, either to perpetuate his name, or to record the important events of his early existence. Therefore, it has been extremely difficult, now more than a century after his death, to provide in this history an adequate treatment of his life.

The substantial progress he had made as a partner in the stock raising enterprise with his brothers and brother-in-law has just been detailed above. It seems appropriate here to attempt to present the story of his efforts to obtain a wife and family before his life was ended. This writer feels a deep sense of inadequacy, not only due to his lack of more available information, but also of inability to do justice to this sad by interesting and faith-promoting story.

At his death, December 13, 1861, of “consumption,” George was engaged to marry Mary Newton, an English convert to the church, who was then twenty-six years old. Mary had nursed him many months during his final illness. Measuring up to the best scriptural tradition, as well as to the laws of “Celestial Marriage” of the church, somewhat over a year thereafter she was sealed to him for “Eternity,” April 18, 1863, and the same day sealed for “time” to his younger brother, John Quincy. It seems appropriate to include here the essential brief biographical information of her life up to that time reserving the remainder for treatment along with Quincy’s.

Mary Newton was the daughter of John and Mary Houghton Newton, converts to the church. She was born at S. Helena, Lancaster, England, February 4, 1835. She was baptized, with her younger brother and sister, Rachael and John, October 20, 1848. Family records indicate that they emigrated to America September 9, 1851. March 31, 1855, Mary was married to John R. Robbins and was sealed to him November 1, 1855. The story is also reported by family members that she was badly treated during that association and both her marriage and sealing was annulled by church authority October 1, 1860. Mary, this young English maiden, was “highly regarded” by the Knowlton family and they prevailed upon her and John Quincy (George’s younger brother) to be married. She became his third wife April 18, 1863.

Upon approval of the proper church authority, two Indian girls, Topsy and Rescue, who had been members of the John Quincy Knowlton families for many years, were sealed to George Washington and Mary Newton Knowlton February 29, 1968. Though foster children they were loved by all three of the John Quincy Knowlton families and their valuable contributions to their lives apparently was deeply appreciated. Topsy was born about 1857. She died January 27, 1896. Rescue’s birth date was about 1860 and she died April 28, 1898. For an extended touching description of the terminal illnesses of these faithful Indian girls, see History of Eva Knowlton Pack, a copy of which is in the family library.

9—John Quincy Knowlton, Maryette Vanderhoof, Ellen Wadley Smith, and Mary Newton

John Quincy, the third son of Sidney Algernon and Harriet Burnham Knowlton, was born at Bear Creek, Hancock County, Illinois, July 9, 1835. Church records indicate that he was baptized in April, 1849, a few months before his father’s family reached Utah. He had reached the age when the stirring says at Nauvoo, and the shifting scenes of the long pioneer journey to Utah doubtless made the greatest possible impressions upon his mind, and doubtless the effects of these dramatic events contributed greatly to his bold, adventurous nature which he demonstrated throughout his entire life.

Unfortunately, as with his father, Sidney, there is no available diary or journal which was kept by him. In fact, the only such records consist of a couple of letters. One of these, however, this being written to Maryette while on his English mission, is invaluable in revealing the dominant traits of his character. Specific reference to them will be made later. The tales of the youthful and, in general, quite harmless exploits of Quincy Knowlton have echoed down through Utah almost to the present time.⁴⁸ These, together with the distinguished services rendered by him for the church, and for the military establishment in Utah, established for him a written public record unequaled by any Knowlton of his time in western United States.

It is a safe assumption that Quincy spent his youth at his parents home on North First West in Salt Lake City. The first written mention of him available is a notation that he and brother George Washington made a trip East on the Easter mail. This has been previously mentioned.

February 8, 1857, John Quincy Knowlton was married at Farmington, Utah, to Maryette Vanderhoof, daughter of James and Sarah Smith Vanderhoof. She was born at Bertrand, Michigan, September 8, 1841, to James Vanderhoof and Sarah Alice Smith Vanderhoof. Before leaving Michigan, Maryette went to school in and old log school house which was built by David Vanderhoof and other early settlers. According to family tradition their life was very hard and often the necessities of life were in very short supply.

The family, including three children, Maryette, Estell and Richard, came to Utah at an uncertain date; however, records indicate that Maryette was baptized at Farmington, Utah, in 1854.⁴⁹ Her grandmother, Abigail Demot Smith, and most of Abigail’s mother’s family were members of the church, but Maryette’s parents were very much opposed to the possibility of her marrying a Mormon, and upon learning of her intention to do so, tried to prevent it by keeping her confined to her room. She escaped from them by climbing out of a window and down a tree in order to marry John Quincy. She was then sixteen, he twenty-two years old. At an unknown date thereafter, Maryette’s family moved from Utah to California settling first at Stockton and then San Leandro and Livermore.⁵⁰

Just a few months after his marriage, at the 1857 April Conference of the church, John Quincy was called to the Sandwich Islands for what turned out to be a short term mission. It was shortened due to the impending crises relating to the so called “Mormon War” of 1857–58 which resulted in most missionaries being called home.⁵¹

This mission to the Islands probably prevented John Quincy from joining the dangerous military action of Utah’s militia during that very critical campaign of the fall and winter of 1857–58 when it seemed definite that Johnson’s army would invade Utah that fall. From his well known adventurous nature and his relationship with the military establishment as will be mentioned just below, Quincy otherwise, doubtless, would have been in the thick of it. His brother, Benjamin Franklin then in his 20th year, did become involved and served under Captain Burton. This will be treated later.

In May, 1858, however, Quincy did perform a duty under the authority of the Nauvoo Legion. By that time Governor Cummings had arrived in Utah, arrangements had been made to receive the army peacefully, and John L. Kane who had played such a conspicuous role in working out a peaceful solution started back homeward and Brigham Young provided him a six-man mounted militia escort. John Q. Knowlton was one of them, as noted in Roberts’ Comprehensive History, Vol IV, page 401.

Between their marriage and his departing for the mission field, and probably for some time after his return, Maryette most likely lived with her relatives at Farmington. It will be noted from the quite authentic family record that her first five children were born in Salt Lake City, probably at Sidney and Harriet’s home on Third North, where most advantageous medical attention was available.

However, as early as 1860, it is quite definitely established that she lived at times in Skull Valley, her first house being a cabin located at a spring of water about five miles south of Timpie. This spot is the locale of a very dramatic and dangerous experience. She met, single-handed, with some marauding Indians who came upon her austere cabin while Quincy was away. To escape them, with her baby in her arms, she hid herself in some willows while the Indians set fire to the cabin. From then on this water source became known as Burnt Springs.

Family tradition is rich with stories of Maryette’s resourcefulness and bravery, especially during the period when they were getting established in Skull Valley. Many times it became necessary for her to drive teams from the ranch to and from Grantsville, as well as Salt Lake City. These experiences, always fraught with the normal dangers from accidents, were always hazardous because of close proximity to marauding Indians.⁵²

John Quincy, in his letter from England dated April 7, 1870, while on his mission there, which has been previously referred to, pays a glowing tribute to her many sterling qualities. A copy of this letter with last pages missing is to be found in the family library.

The year 1862 proved to be a momentous one in John Quincy’s life for two reasons. First, on March 15th he married a plural wife, Ellen Wadley Smith; then the following April he was mustered into military service of the United State and served there until August of that year.

Ellen, the daughter of John Sivil and Jane Wadley Smith, was born February 17, 1842, at Kirtland, Ohio. Her parents were English converts to the church. They with their family of eight children came to Utah with the William Show Company in 1850 and established their home in Kaysville, Utah. Ellen, doubtless, lived with her parents in Kaysville when coming in from the ranch in Skull Valley.⁵³

John Quincy began active military service in the United States Army late in May of 1862. Its importance in his development, and more significantly, its value to people of Utah in demonstrating so forcibly their loyalty to the nation during that very critical time, and so soon after the military action against the Mormon people, justifies it treatment here at some length. At the outbreak of the Civil War, April 12, 1861, rebellious Indians, possibly abetted by white outlaws, destroyed several mail stations and telegraph facilities along the vital transportation route across the Rocky Mountains between Fort Bridger and Fort Laramie, Wyoming. Drastic military action became necessary on the part of the Federal Government in this region. This included a direct message from the War Department to President Brigham Young, dated April 28, 1862, giving authority “to raise, arm and equip one company of cavalry for 90 days service to protect property of the Telegraph and overland Mail Companies in or about Independence Rock (Wyoming) where depredations had occurred…to continue in service until U.S. troops can reach point where they are not needed….” This command was promptly mustered in by Chief Justice John F. Kinney of Utah Territory, and it went into camp April 30, 1862. It was commanded by Captain Lot Smith and other officers including John Quincy Knowlton as Second Lieutenant.

It consisted of two companies, A and B of the 1st Cavalry, Utah Militia. Its duties were strictly limited to defensive action. Leaving Salt Lake City May 1st it continued eastward to North Platte where, at the end of June, contact was made with Federal troops from the east. Captain Smith’s unit was then ordered to return westward “to assist in reestablishing mail and telegraph lines and stations between that point and Green River (Wyoming).”

In addition to these important duties, a substantial number of the company was assigned the task of searching out marauding Indian renegades to the north, in what became known as the Bear Lake and Snake River Expeditions, during which Lieutenant Knowlton played and important part. Perhaps the most important single assignment has been described as follows:

The followed the (Indian) trail for eight days, going as far north as the Snake River Valley, near the three Tetons, about one hundred and thirty-five miles northeast of Fort Hall; but they were unable to overtake the Indians. The chase was a most exciting and trying one…. The food supply gave out several days before the trail was abandoned. High waters in many streams had to be contended with; and Donald McNickol, in crossing one of these, a ford at the Snake River, was lost; man and horse, in the turbulent stream, the only fatality which occurred in the command while on duty. This detachment of the command returned to Salt Lake City the 9th of August—other division of the force had preceded it.⁵⁴

With these duties performed it completed its assignment and was mustered out of the Federal Service August 14, 1862.

John Quincy Knowlton, now well known by the people of Utah, was now free to pursue his interests, which were by now permanently established in Skull Valley. This was generally known as the “Hooper and Knowlton’s Ranch.” After brother George Washington’s death in 1861 it was owned by the two remaining Knowlton brothers and Captain William H. Hooper, with active management in the hands of Benjamin, at least during the time Quincy was away.

This ranch in Skull Valley during its hey day, together with other supplemental ranch properties east and north of Salt Lake City, and in the beginning the large amount of neighboring open ranges, made an operation of substantial magnitude. Especially was this so when backed up by the water filings successfully obtained at strategic points in the west desert.⁵⁵

Family tradition affirms that this ranch then sustained about seven hundred head of horses and mules and two to three thousand head of cattle. Not only was desert type housing provided for the families of the Knowlton brothers as well as for the substantial number of hired ranch hands, possibly numbering as many as a dozen or two, but adequate buildings were maintained for school and religious purposes. The school teaching, when hired teachers were not available, was passed around between the different wives and mother; and, religious services we held quite regularly.⁵⁶

During and after Sidney Algernon’s death in 1863, and as long as harriet Burham was able to maintain the family home on Third North in Salt Lake City, prior to her death in 1881, this house served as a headquarters for the families of Quincy and Benjamin, especially during time of births and sicknesses, et. Separate houses were provided on the ranch for each mother and family. As long as it remained in Knowlton ownership the community was designated “Quincy.”⁵⁷

Family tradition is replete with stories of events which made up this dramatically interesting life for the Knowlton children. These included dangerous experiences with Indians who were quite numerous in the general area and who often came in groups to obtain life’s necessities, and occasionally became belligerent, especially when under the influence of liquor.⁵⁸

The year 1863 was a significant one in the lives of Knowlton family members. As was mentioned in Chapter One, father Sidney died on April 20th, and two days earlier, April 18th, John Quincy married Mary Newton, a third wife, as detailed in the preceding section of this Chapter. Then, October 31, 1863, Benjamin Franklin married Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards. This will be detailed in the next section.

Even with the terrific and rapidly growing family responsibilities resting upon John Quincy Knowlton, the public record mentions another responsibility which was located away from home and families. In 1868, associated with Captain Hooper, he supplied teams to bring construction equipment from the western terminus of the oncoming trans-continental railroad in Wyoming to Utah and probably assigned them later to the railroad construction itself.⁵⁹

But the crowning effort of his life outside the realm of his families was his church mission to England which came to him in 1869. This call was publicized at the morning session of the Conference April 7, 1869.⁶⁰ His mission was to continue until his return in August the following year. Available news services of the time furnish just the important dates of that rich and soul broadening experience.

Accompanied by Lot Smith and others, he left New York on board the City of Washington June 29th. On August 7th he was assigned to the Manchester Conference, and on September 24, 1869, as president of the Norwich Conference. He spent just under a year in England. The Journal History which supplies the above information on the dates given records the following under date of August 10, 1870:

The Minnesota Company of emigrants arrived last evening from Liverpool, 21 days, mostly Scandinavian Mission under Jesse N. Smith and John Q. Knowlton with them and had charge—were met in Ogden by President Young, Smith, Wells, Hooper, John W. Young and others.⁶¹

When John Quincy left for his English mission, he left behind three wives and eight living children. Available records do not furnish enough detail to supply here the specific location of the home of each family at given times, whether at the ranch, in Grantsville, or at the available homes of near relatives. Of the letters he sent home to his families from the mission field but one, this containing twelve pages with the last one or more missing, are all that are available. this priceless record reveals those sterling qualities of mind and heart of John Quincy Knowlton which should be an inspiration to all his posterity through coming time. There shines through it all that restless and adventurous spirit which at times seeming almost overwhelmed him.

This letter reveals his almost consuming love and devotion to his family and his yearning to be back with them. It still shows the stern determination to carry on as long as is required of him, so that “I can say that I have done all the good I could have have filled every position in which I have been called to act in faithfulness and honor to the best of my ability.” He confesses that “I have been a little wild (in my life) at times, and have not been as religious as some thought I should be (but) I can look any man or woman in the face and say that I have never been guilty of a dishonorable act.” He dwelt at length upon his contempt for apostates, hypocrites, and regarding finances, he advised that “he got a remittance…from Mr. Hooper for ten pounds.”

During the interim between his Federal army service in 1862 and the English mission, John Quincy doubtless retained his association with the Nauvoo Legion. In the family library are copies of the official commission as Captain signed by Utah Territorial Governor Charles Durkee, dated February 21, 1870, he having been elected to that post February 21, 1866. Police and army duties of the Legion had been quite generally superseded by a command of the United States Army which became stationed at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City.

There is of record another one of those exploits of John Quincy Knowlton so characteristic of him. This one, in November, 1870, required extreme bravery. Possibly acting under Legion authority, he, with two associates, arrested some alleged train robbers on the western desert, brought them to the city and turned them over to the Army stationed at Fort Douglas. The extreme bravery exhibited by J. Quincy Knowlton, Heber P. Kimball and Riley Judd in this dangerous encounter is treated at length in the public press.⁶²

At the completion of his English mission, and for several years thereafter, John Quincy was permitted, and apparently was content, to direct his major attention to his families and more steadily to his stock raisin interests. During the next few years all of his wives and children were established in their homes at the ranch. Seemingly this period proved to be their golden years. Conditions could hardly be better told than with the following words of daughter Cora Knowlton Pack:

In 1874 he moved his families to Skull Valley, where they lived in two houses, one a duplex and the other a single house. Each family lived as a separate family unit, with the mother in full control. But John Quincy was the lawgiver. His children…spoke of him as being a stern but just father and their stories of him reflect deep and mutual affection.

…In addition to his own family of 25 children he adopted and raised two Indian girls, named Ressie and Topsy. At all times they were treated as members of the family…. Topsy lived with Maryette, Ressie with Mary Newton.⁶³

Toward the end of this period, seeming his restive, ambitious nature impelled him to look beyond the mundane duties of ranch life. The problems connected with it were becoming more serious by overcrowding of the ranges. Before long his major interest was transferred to the development of mines, and industry which began in the sixties and was continually expanded throughout Utah.

Returning to daughter Cora’s description:

In his later life he became interested in mining. At different times he owned several rich mines. His last mine at Newfoundland, Utah, contained a rich vein of silver and he received some very generous offers for the mine; however he felt that he should keep the mine and mortgaged his ranch to finance its development and operation of the mine. The rich vein of ore pinched out and as a result he lost everything.⁶⁴

Cora continues that in 1885 he moved his families to Grantsville. Previous to that date Maryette was established in a home at Grantsville to provide a more convenient home for all the elder daughters to attend the schools there. According to Tooele County records, in the spring of 1886 John Quincy sold all his ranching interests to John T. Rich.

Later that year double tragedy struck this prominent family. First, John Quincy’s faithful wife, Mary Newton, “died at the residence of her sister, Mrs. Rachel Golding, 17th Ward…Dec. 11th, 1886…age 50 years. Cause of death due to a cancerous breast.” At that time Quincy was on a hunting and possibly mineral exploring expedition on the desert in southern Tooele and northern Millard Counties. Upon receiving the message of Mary’s death he began the arduous journey home as rapidly as possible, and met with a fatal accident. The following portions of an obituary carried by the local press seem appropriate for inclusion here:

On Saturday last, Mrs Mary Newton Knowlton, wife of John Quincy Knowlton, of Grantsville, Tooele County, died in this city from the results of a cancerous trouble. The message was immediately dispatched to her husband, who, in company with several others, had gone on a hunting expedition to Keg Springs, a point about 100 miles south of Grantsville, where a son-in-law of Knowlton’s, a Mr. Reese, has a ranch. The messenger reached Mr. Knowlton with the sad intelligence on Sunday evening and he and a couple of companions mounted horses with the intention of making the nearest point on the railroad—Deseret. The party had proceeded about twelve miles, when Mr. Knowlton was thrown from his horse, and received serious injuries. He was assisted to remount, and proceeded some distance further, when they stopped and made a camp-fire, with the idea of attending to his injuries. While there one of the party heard a sheep-bell, and mounting his animal started out to find the camp, which was located about one an one-half miles away. On reaching the camp, he succeeded in borrowing the shepherd’s wagon, which was taken to the campfire. Here Mr. Knowlton was assisted into the wagon, made as comfortable as possible under the circumstances, and conveyed to the sheep camp. Notwithstanding that everything possible was done for him, he continued to grow rapidly worse, and died at 10 o’clock on Monday morning. A few hours later a start was made for Ironton with the body, and they arrived at that place yesterday, bringing up the body to the city, last evening, on the regular Utah Central train.

John Quincy Knowlton, or “Quince” as he was familiarly called, was an old resident of Utah, having come here in the early days of the pioneers. He was born in Carthage County, Ohio, on July 9th, 1835, and was consequently 51 years of age in July last. During his entire residence in Utah he followed the vocations of ranching, although at different times he engaged in other pursuits. He was one of the best known men in Utah, his name being a familiar one in nearly every nook and corner of the Territory. He leaves quite a large family.⁶⁵

The joint funeral was held in the Seventeenth Ward Meeting House December 22, 1886:

Bishop John Tingey conducted the services…. The principal portion of the time was occupied by Bishop O.F. Whitney, who was followed briefly by Elders W.O. Rydalch and Wm. White….Elder White offered the opening prayer and benediction was pronounced by Apostle John Taylor….The hearse bearing the two caskets with the remains were followed to the cemetery by a long concourse of carriages.⁶⁶

What a family tragedy it was; three families were suddenly bereft of a father and bread-winner, and one also without a mother. Mary’s family was sustained through the critical period through the school teaching efforts of the daughters. The following comment comes from faithful daughter Cora’s history:

They (father and mother) were buried the same day. This left seven children with neither father and mother. Mame, who was twenty two at the time, became head of the family….Mame was teaching school at the time…and Ressie, the Indian girl, took care of the family and did and excellent job.

With first wife, Maryette’s family, the problem of survival was only reduced by her children’s being somewhat older. From their record is the following:

When John Quincy died Maryette was hard pressed to provide for her children.

Frank Forrest Knowlton tells of a Christmas when all they children got was a hand full of raisins in their stockings, and tells of having to sell their store to buy winter flour.

She sent Frank Forrest on a mission by taking in washing, and Maud May to college by selling vegetables. She also did tailoring which she probably learned from her step-grandmother, Larouia Wells…in Michigan.

Maryette Vanderhoof Knowlton died at Grantsville May 28, 1906, in her sixty-fifth year. Her funeral services were held there with burial in the City Cemetery at Salt Lake City:

Funeral services over the remains of Margaret (Maryette) Knowlton were held in the Ward meeting house yesterday afternoon. Consoling addresses were delivered by Elder J. Golden Kimball of Salt Lake, William Spry and Bishop A.K. Anderson, who spoke of her good qualities and devotion to her family and to her religion. The casket was covered with beautiful floral offerings. After the service, the remains were taken to Salt Lake for burial.

In 1871 they made their home in Skull Valley in or on what is now known as the Kanaka Ranch, residing there till 1883, when they took up their residence in Grantsville, where she lived to the time of her death, which was due to heart failure and Bright’s disease. She leaves 7 children and a host of friends to mourn her death.⁶⁷

The following brief but interesting account of wife Ellen and her children, after John Quincy’s death, follows:

It was then that Ellen’s father, John Sivil Smith, gave her ten acres of his farm in Kaysville with its own large flowing well of pure water, and built her family a comfortable frame cottage one block south of his own home. The new home had two bed rooms down stairs and attic bedroom…He saw that they wanted for nothing. They had a cow and chickens, a garden, orchard, grape arbor, and alfalfa field, and even a horse and buggy. Later he helped with the education of the children. Until he died at the age of ninety-six, John Siril Smith was father as well as grandfather to Ellen’s eight children.

After her children had all left her home in Kaysville, she moved to Salt Lake City, where she died December 20, 1926, a short time before her eighty-fifth birthday.⁶⁸

Details of her funeral follow:

Mrs. Ellen Knowlton’s funeral to be held Wednesday afternoon.

Funeral services for Mrs. Ellen Smith Knowlton, 84, widow of John Quincy Knowlton and Utah pioneer of 1852, who died Monday after a brief illness at the home of her daughter, will be held at the Ensign Ward, D St. and Ninth Avenue, at 3 p.m. Wednesday.

The body may be viewed at the home of her daughter, Mrs. J.A. Ekman, 287 Eighth Avenue, from 12 o’clock to the time of the services.

Mrs. Knowlton was born at Kirtland, Ohio, Feb. 17, 1842, a daughter of the late John S. Smith. She came to Utah with her parents at the age of 10 years.

Following her marriage she was a resident of Skull Valley, but the family later moved to Kaysville, where Mrs. Knowlton was a Church worker for many years.⁶⁹

The following touching tribute to Ellen Wadley Smith by her granddaughter, Catherine, and great-granddaughter, Dawn Ekman, are worthy of inclusion here:

She was a person of great strength; a pillar. In the ten years before her death, she lost four (adult married) children; here oldest and three youngest including her only son. As Bishop Robary had told her, in spite of all her trials and her sorrow in losing her husband, she still loved life and lived to be 84.… It was only when her son was killed in a mine accident in British Columbia that she finally lost the desire to live.

The last few weeks of her life were spent in the home of a daughter, Birdie Ekman, at 287 8th Avenue in Salt Lake City. She was suffering from dropsy. Her daughter, Elizabeth…said, “her religion has never failed her and I hope it won’t now.” Willard Smith, son of President Joseph F. Smith, brought a group from the church and led a Prayer Circle. He asked that she either be allowed to go or be released from pain. As soon as he finished the Prayer, she lapsed into unconsciousness and remained so until her death about two days later.

John Quincy’s plural marriages were consummated before prosecution under federal statutes began in real earnest in Utah in 1883. His last children were born in 1884; therefore he and families escaped the serious annoyances and disturbances in their lives which assailed brother Benjamin and others whose plural marriages occurred later. Moreover, the location of his families being on the edge of the desert made protection against interference much easier.

10—Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards

Benjamin Franklin Knowlton,⁷⁰ the ninth child and youngest son of Sidney and Harriet, was born at Bear Creek, Hancock county, Illinois, January 30, 1838. Of his boyhood in Illinois he comments as follows in his valuable two-page autobiography:

…Of my early boyhood I remember but little. I remember gathering nuts in autumn and berries in summer. Of going to school to Henry Bigler.…⁷¹

During his first few years in Utah after the family’s arrival in 1849, it seems definite from the quality of his own written personal history, which will be treated later on, that Benjamin was given opportunity to obtain some additional schooling, before he began his individual life’s work in earnest. His introduction to the stock-raising industry during the period 1854–56 was outlined in a previous section of this chapter which is devoted to the development of the Hooper-Knowlton stock raising partnership in Skull Valley.

In the short autobiography he continued, “…I know how it was to go hungry as we fared hard during those first years, or years of great scarcity.” Then true to his modest nature he briefly mentions a dramatic and dangerous personal experience:

In the winter of 1855 and ’56 I put in quite a portion of my time in the mountains between Salt Lake City and Fort Bridger. One event of that winter was recorded in the Deseret News.

This dangerous incident is worth brief description here. As a lad of seventeen he, in company with another young man, was assigned by the T. S. Williams and Company, a firm in which Captain William H. Hooper had an interest, to winter on the Weber River, probably near the community of Henefer. They had in their charge about 2,000 head of livestock which, it was decided, could not be gotten through to the valley before spring.

During the winter they ran out of sugar and coffee and Benjamin’s older companion decided to go on mule back to replenish their supply. Benjamin tried to stop him from making the journey, but to no avail. As his companion did not return after several days, Benjamin started down the canyon and found his frozen body just five miles from their camp.

With the help of the remaining two mules and four oxen, and with a sufficient food supply, he was able finally, with only two surviving oxen, to plow through the deep snow to the camp of an Indian, and then continued on tho his home in the City. This exploit was written up prominently in the Deseret News.⁷²

Benjamin, through the many years he was closely associated with John Quincy, seemingly was content that his older brother assume the responsibilities of public service, both civil and religious. However, he did fulfill a particularly dangerous military duty in connection with the so called Mormon War during the fall and winter of 1857–58. This was during its most ominous, critical stage. At this time John Quincy was on his journey home from the mission to the Sandwich Islands.⁷³ Let this be introduced in Benjamin’s own modest words:

I was with Colonel Burton during a portion of the Mormon War. I rode quite a number of expresses from the Devils Gate on the Sweetwater down into the Platt. Back and forth watching the progress of the Army. I was also with Ephraim K. Hanks for sometime. Afterwards I was with Burton again.

I was at General Wells headquarters when the news came that the army was on a forced march for Ft. Bridger. I was one of the five who rode through Col. Alexander’s corral and tried to stampede his mules. We failed in the attempt.

Colonel Robert Taylor Burton of the Nauvoo Legion (Utah Militia) “was a most efficient officer for this service.” He was instructed to “march to the east on the main traveled road, affording aid and protection to the incoming train of immigrants, and to act as a corps of observation to learn the strength and equipment of forces reported on the way to Utah, and report to headquarters, but not to interfere with life or property.…” Burton’s command arrived at Fort Bridger August 21st, passed some unescorted army supply trains August 27th, and arrived at Devils Gate September 22nd, within one-half mile of Colonel E. B. Alexander’s command which was the advance of the U. S. Army. Thence-forward the Burton Command remained in close contact with the army during its march to what became winter quarters at Camp Scott on Black’s Fork of the Green River. It was while on this sensitive and dangerous mission that the ill-fated effort was made to stampede the army’s mules.⁷⁴ The above must not be confused with the burning of the army supply trains by the militia unit commanded by Captain Lot Smith.

Benjamin’s reference to Ephraim K. Hanks deserves also to be extended here. Ephraim Knowlton Hanks (1826–1896) was a son of Benjamin and Martha Knowlton Hanks. (She has code number 2866 in Stocking’s Knowlton Ancestry.) They were the parents of twelve children, all born at Madison, Lake County, Ohio. Three of their sons out of a family of twelve children made significant contributions to early Mormon history: Knowlton Hanks (1826–1843) was a member of a pioneer group of missionaries under the leadership of Addison Pratt called to the Society Islands in 1843 by President Joseph Smith. En route to the mission field Knowlton died and he was buried at sea October 3, 1843.⁷⁵ Sidney Alvarus Hanks, a younger son (1820–1870), was a member of Utah Pioneers of 1847.⁷⁶

Ephraim Knowlton Hanks 1826–1896 became an honored and distinguished member of that group of stalwart men, frontiersmen, on the western frontier whose name and image stands high in early Utah history, indeed, a man the Knowlton family can claim as one of its own with great pride. He first arrived in Utah July 29, 1847, as a member of the James Brown contingent Mormon Battalion Co. B.⁷⁷

He was noted as a transmountain carrier of the mails, Fort Laramie to Salt Lake City, a distance of about 500 miles and a trusted scout.⁷⁸ In his later life he became a patriarch of the church. He was well described as follows:

Exteriorly Hanks was a rough mountaineer, but at heart a gentle and sympathetic nature, a man of great faith in God withal; and many are the traditions of the effectiveness of his ministrations among the sick, and especially among the frost-bitten emigrants of the hand cart companies.⁷⁹

Returning now to events in Benjamin Franklin Knowlton’s life, there is included below the last entry in his short diary concerning his life until his marriage in 1863:

In the fall of 1860 I crossed the plains from Salt Lake to Florence Neb. in company with Apostles O. Pratt, E. Snow, and George Q. Cannon and a company of Missionaries.

I was with the Hon. W. . Hooper, who was our representative to Congress. He took his family with him and we wintered in Washington, D. C. coming back to Utah in 1861.

I crossed the plains, down and back, again in 1863.

On Oct. 20, 1863 I married Rhoda A. J. Richards daughter of Willard and Jennetta Richards.

The foregoing stirring events, brought into sharp focus by the brief and extremely valuable personal narrative, glaringly reveal their indelible stamp as they forged upon his character. Beginning with those impressionable years of his middle teens, for the next ten years he spent most of his time in the saddle on the desert or in nearby mountains He faced unflinchingly the rigors of extreme weather, with continual exposure to the dangers of hostile Indian attack, and finally for a time the stern discipline of military action. All in all this training proved very important in adjusting him to the life which unfolded for Benjamin Franklin Knowlton.

It may be safely assumed that by 1861, at the latest, he was permanently established and fully occupied directing the extensive ranching responsibilities in Skull Valley. Among the hired hands there were tow young half brothers, Heber John and Willard B. Richards. The former, a brother of Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards introduced her to Benjamin which led to their marriage. He worked at the ranch only intermittently. Willard, on the other hand, was regularly employed for several years. His specialty was braking saddle horses, according to his accounts of ranch experience.⁸⁰

Heber John and Rhoda were the only children of Willard and Jennetta Richards Richards. Willard and Jennetta, she a convert and he a Mormon missionary, were members of that small pioneer group to the British mission in 1837. They met and were married there September 24, 1838. They came to Nauvoo, Illinois, at the completion of the mission in 1841. Rhoda was born in Nauvoo September 15, 1843, and July 9, 1845, her mother died at the age of twenty-eight years. Her grave remains at Nauvoo.

Willard Richards became a counselor to President Brigham Young, and previously was a trusted associate of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Rhoda was brought across the plains by her father in the care of relatives, arriving in Utah October 19, 1848. Willard was one of the most prominent church and civic leaders in Utah, serving in many capacities.⁸¹

Between the time of their arrival and her marriage in 1863, Rhoda probably resided at different times in the homes of one of her father’s wives, and also that of her Aunt Rhoda, from whom she was probably named. Doubtless during this fifteen years she was given the rather meager educational advantages of that period in Utah.

It should me mentioned here that the relatives in England of Heber John and Rhoda tried on several occasions, extending over several years, to have them return there, at least for an education at their expense and hopefully to remain. While on a church mission to England in 1863, Heber John was strongly urged by his English relatives to write Rhoda and attempt to convince her of the great advantages which would be hers if she would rejoin them. Rhoda’s answering letter, written shortly after her marriage, declining their kind offer is an inspiration indeed.⁸²

For the first dozen years of their married life, Benjamin and Rhoda probably lived much of the time on the ranch at Quincy in Skull Valley, Tooele County. Available family records also list Salt Lake City as the place of birth of their older children. As was the case with John Quincy’s wives and families, which has been previously mentioned, Rhoda moved into the City at mother Harriet’s home during the critical periods of childbirth where medical services, at least to pioneer standards, were available. Of their first three children, two died before they were three years old, and late in 1875 a fifth daughter, Harriet (Hatty) became very ill. And before Hattie recovered two more children under three died within two days of each other.

Whether the culmination of these tragedies of that time was the prime cause or not, during her illness on December 1, 1875, Benjamin, without any explanation or introduction, began a hand-written diary, on almost a day-to-day basis. He faithfully continued it until March 1880. This priceless volume of 240 pages, plus a supplement of 19 page, extending it to May of that year, furnishes quite a complete description of their strenuous lives on the edge of the western desert in Skull Valley. Its value not only derives from those vivid descriptions of the struggles and hardships of both father and mother, but also reveals those noble characteristics of mind and heart which sustained them. Obviously the demands of space here do not permit more than a brief outline.⁸³

By far the greatest amount of space in the diary is devoted to the problems intimately connected with stock raising, with family affairs and religious duties occupying second place. There are many references to meetings of the branch of the church at Quincy including home teaching responsibilities. There were some others than the Knowltons in the neighborhood. References are also made to visits to Grantsville to attend ward and stake meetings. There are other references in the diary indicating his loyalty to the religious faith and practice of his religion. He records that on one occasion he with his family and others participated in a group rebaptism ceremony, which was common in those days. Moreover, he mentions several times his efforts in gathering livestock to turn in on tithing for John Quincy, the Hooper interests and himself.

In his biography of his father, Quincy one of Benjamin’s sons includes the following:

I am of the opinion that many time he stayed away from church through fear of being called upon to speak and yet at one time he was the presiding elder of a L.D.S. branch (located in Skull Valley), and at another he was considered for the position of a ward bishop. He said to me on one occasion, “I do not mind working or paying money to help the church, but I do not like to be called upon to speak.”

Also Minerva, his second wife, said of him:

…he was a High Priest, and he did a lot of temple work and was most interested in genealogy. Once he was asked to take a mission, and because he was not a preacher he didn’t, but offered to keep some man on a mission who could preach.

It should be mentioned that early in the diary, space is given to the erection of the family home at Delle, which was to be Benjamin’s headquarters as well. the confirms the dissolution about 1875 of the Hooper-Knowlton partnership which has been previously mentioned.

One cannot read Benjamin’s diary without being greatly impressed with the total absence of criticism of his brother John Quincy or of his families, or of the ranching partnership itself even though this relationship involved so many complications, personal, family and otherwise. Moreover, in spite of their harsh conditions of life there is no bitterness or criticism, either expressed or implied, of the stern life to which he and his family endured. Special recognition should be given to that early section of Benjamin’s diary in which he portrays the progressive stages of the fatal illnesses which took from them their two sons within two days. Their fears, their hopes, their faith, and, finally their calm acceptance of this terrible loss is written in a quality, style, simplicity and power worthy of the great tragedies of ancient Greece.

Beginning with the fall of 1877, Benjamin found it necessary to move his cattle away from Skull Valley to obtain better range conditions, at least for part of the year. This necessity was brought on probably by a gradual overcrowding of the range there, and also by the increasing use of it by stockmen who lived elsewhere.

It is not clear when he first became interested in locating in Davis County and moving his family there. However, in 1880 he purchased a sixty-acre farm on Burk Lane in Farmington and moved Rhoda and the family there.⁸⁴ The children then consisted of two sons and two daughters ranging in age from fourteen to two years. A third son, George Quincy, was born in June, 1880, shortly after their removal to Farmington. No doubt Benjamin had high hopes that life would be more peaceful and pleasant in every way than it had been in the desert environment in Tooele County. Farmington was located on the railroad and a few hours by team travel from Salt Lake City, and possessed just about every cultural advantage existent in Utah during pioneer days. Benjamin entered actively into the civic affairs of Davis County, and doubtless Rhoda’s life became much more pleasant.⁸⁵

However, she was spared but a few years of life thereafter. In less than a month after her last child was born, on May 3, 1882, she departed this life. It is ironic that the death of Rhoda Richards Knowlton, whose birth was noted in the official church history, received, insofar as can be determined, no other notice than the brief identification on her tombstone in the family burial plot in Farmington Cemetery and the following brief reference written in the family Bible:⁸⁶

Rhoda Ann, daughter of Willard and Jennetta (Richards) Richards born Sept. 15th 1843 Nauvoo Hancock County, Ill. Died May 3, 1882 Farmington, Davis County, Utah.

10—Benjamin Franklin Knowlton, Minderva Edmeresa Richards, and Catherine Hinman

It is not very difficult to realize the serious plight in which Benjamin found himself at Rhoda’s death. He was left with a motherless family of six children, ranging in age from sixteen years to one month. His farming and ranching operations were now spread out between two headquarters ninety miles apart. It was very essential that he seek remarriage without undue delay. September 14, 1882, five months after Rhoda’s death, he married Minerva Edmeresa Richards. She was the daughter of Franklin Dewey and Nanny Longstroth Richards, and was born in Salt Lake City, May 11, 1858, and through the plural marriage system may be considered a half sister of Rhoda’s. She was in her 25th year, Benjamin nearly twenty years older.

Her father was a member of the Council of Twelve.⁸⁷ He was a nephew of Willard Richards, Rhoda’s father. Nanny Longstroth was the former wife of Willard and married Franklin in polygamy after Willard’s death in 1854. When Minerva was two years old, Nanny’s family moved to a modest home in Farmington where she thereafter maintained her home until her death at Farmington. She was the mother of Stephen L. Richards, and the grandmother of George F. Richards, and he in turn was the father of LeGrand Richards, all three of whom became members of the Council of Twelve. Stephen later became a counselor to President David O. McKay, which position he held until his death.

Coming from a family so involved with and dedicated to the church and participating so actively in its programs, it was natural that such dedication would be the very hallmark of Minerva’s character. These activities are typified by the following. At the age of fourteen she became the secretary of the organization of the Davis Stake YLMIA; also the first stake Relief Society. Her service during her life in the latter organization as ward secretary and president and stake president totals twenty one years. She pursued her church duties with such earnestness that she dangerously imperiled her health at one time. In education she obtained a Normal Teaching Certificate, and as early as seventeen years of age taught an ungraded school in one room with students ranging in age from three to seventeen years. Throughout her lifetime she continually pursued a course of very sincere devotion to the church.

According to Knowlton family tradition, Minerva accepted her marriage to Benjamin rather as an urgent call to duty, and seemingly, she was willing to forego other attractive offers of marriage in order to accept the unusually difficult responsibilities which would inevitably face her.

Moreover, events of the future clearly indicate that she was completely agreeable to Benjamin’s taking a second wife in plural marriage, if she did not encourage it.⁸⁸

About eighteen months after his marriage to Minerva, March 20, 1884, Benjamin took a plural wife, Catherine Aurelia Hinman. She was born at Farmington August 25, 1865. She was the daughter of Henry Lyman Hinman Jr. and Elizabeth Harriet Chaney Compton Hinman, also both born in Farmington. Her grandfather, Henry Lyman Hinman Sr. was born at West Stockbridge, Berkshire, Massachusetts. Her grandmother, Aurelia Lewis Hinman was born at West Center, Berkshire, Massachusetts. They were Mormon converts, first going to Nauvoo and then crossing the plains during the early pioneer period. First they settled at Mt. Pleasant, Utah, but later were called to Farmington by church authorities to benefit from his ability in mill construction.⁸⁹ Her maternal grandfather, Allen Compton, and grandmother, Mary Bettice, were from Wilson and Davidson Counties, Tennessee. They also represented the Mormon convert generation. They were married January 18, 1832, in Tennessee. They moved to Nauvoo in June, 1845, and were driven from Hancock County by a mob May 2, 1846, arriving in Council Bluffs in July. There Allen Compton joined the then being recruited Mormon Battalion in Company D. He was a member of the Pueblo detachment of the Battalion which in July 1847 joined the Pioneer Company at Fort Laramie and followed close behind it into the Salt Lake Valley. He went back East for his family, returning to Utah in 1848 with the first mail from the East to the Valley. Early in 1849 he was asked to return to Council Bluffs where, in the interest of migration of the Saints, he operated ferries on the streams in that neighborhood until his death there in 1854.⁹⁰

The Hinman and Compton families established their homes near each other near Big Creek in Farmington. Her daughter, Chloe, well describes her mother’s early training and favorable environment in the Farmington community. This was probably as favorable as could be found in Utah:

Katy had her early church and school training in Farmington organizations and facilities, and then went to the University of Deseret, 1882–1883, where she trained for teaching.⁹¹

The fateful consequences of such action before the law were well known. Prosecution under the Edmunds Act, which was passed in 1882, began in earnest in 1883. Therefore, he and his young wife immediately became subject to its drastic provisions. Doubtless his having two homes, one on Burk Lane in Farmington, the other at the Delle in Tooele County, made it less difficult to avoid the U.S. marshals who continually sought to arrest him.

Minerva first occupied the family home on Burk Lane and became the foster mother of Rhoda’s children. Following his marriage to Katie, the former home of Minerva’s mother, Nannie Longstroth Richards, was purchased for Minerva and her children.

Minerva also lived at the Delle ranch home at times although the family record shows that all her children were born at Farmington.

During the early part of Katie’s married life she endured for years the most trying conditions of the underground, being subject to frequent changes in residence to escape detection. The best evidence of this is the recorded dates and places of births of her children.

Her daughter, Chloe, records that at times, upon being warned, she was able to move just in time to escape the arresting marshals. She lived for a time at Coalville, Woodruff, and Bear River Valley, Utah, and for about a year at Cardston, Alberta, Canada. In 1890 she resided in the old house on the east side of the state road at the point where Burk Lane intersects it from the west. In due time Katie was permanently established nearby in the modest home on the north side of Burk Lane. There eventually she presided over all of Rhoda’s unmarried children as well as her own growing family. Benjamin’s son Quincy has furnished a valuable description of conditions of that time:

After mama died Aunt Minerva lived at various times at the Delle and cared for her own and Mama’s children. At other times Aunt Kate was with us in a similar capacity.

I can recall the general appearance of the Delle. This one hundred and sixty acre farm was enclosed by two kinds of fences—bark wire and buck.

There were on the place at this time (in 1886) a three room log house, a two story combination granary and cellar. There were also two dirt roofed stables and sheds and a fenced pasture for the sheep, calves, and hogs. Papa later built a large combination stock and hay barn and a large machine shed.

Most of the main work on the place was done by him. However at times they hired considerable help, and very often dad would let some of his stock out on shares.⁹²

Both Quincy and his sister Ida have left us some colorful and intimate description of the life at Delle during this period; of their love for their father, and of his earnest efforts to make life comfortable and interesting for the members of his family.

In spite of rapidly increasing family responsibilities, danger of arrest, and growing financial worries, this period was one of enrichment, especially to the children of his first family.⁹³

In 1892 Benjamin sold the Delle property to the Iosepa Agricultural and Stock Company, ⁹⁴ and then moved to his home and farm on Burk Lane in Farmington. For several years thereafter he ranged livestock on the western desert in Tooele County, but progressively these were liquidated by him. Ida supplies the only written description of his declining financial condition.

When he (grandfather) decided to sell out, he traded his stock out in the Skull Valley for a fine strain of Clydesdale horses, one race horse, and Durham cattle. These animals he got from an eastern firm, and lost everything he had but the stock he got. He took notes from Idaho men to pay for their stock from this firm, and as most of the stock died, they refused to pay. The company in the east didn’t stand back of the deal, so pap cam out without most of the money from the Idaho people. There was a suit, but it didn’t bring returns as expected.…

When he died, it was reported in the paper that he had been one of the richest men in the state. During his later life he had much less, and at the time of his death there was little left.⁹⁵

After a half dozen years of constant living on the alert, at being almost constantly pursued by arresting marshals, Benjamin was finally apprehended February 17, 1891. He pleaded guilty before Judge Zane of the Third district Court, to an indictment found by the grand jury charging him with unlawful cohabitation and was fined $150.00 and costs.⁹⁶

It seems appropriate here to describe in some detail Benjamin’s family as it was constituted during the latter years of his life. In 1898, Rhoda’s five children ranged in age from 32 years to 18. Frank, the oldest, although married and in his own home, was still associated in financial matters with his father. Hattie, although recently married, was residing with her brothers and sister, Ida, in Katie’s home during the time her husband was on a mission. (Her death that year and its consequences, including Katie’s noble treatment of her will later be treated in Chapter Three.) That year Minerva’s five living children were from fifteen town to one. Her youngest was born soon after Benjamin died, three years later. Katie’s five children were from thirteen down to one, and her last child was also born soon after their father’s death.

Benjamin was favored in this, that his two wives lived in harmony with each other. Minerva said of this, “Aunt Katie and I loved and respected each other and, never had unkind words.”

It was quite apparent to both mothers, and the older children, that grandfather’s dwindling resources would not be sufficient to provide substantial inheritances for the members of his family. Moreover, there was by then a general awareness that formal education was going to be, for them an indispensable necessity. As there was then no high school in Davis County, nor any feasible means of transportation to Salt Lake City, schooling away from home necessitated living away with its attendant increased costs.

Benjamin’s life came to an end March 27, 1901, at the age of 63. The following obituary doubtless was written by one who knew the events of his life intimately:

B.F. Knowlton’s Sudden Death. Old and Respected Citizen of Farmington passes away. Heart Failure the Cause. Led and honorable career. Was associated with Uncle Charlie Decker in the early days.

Farmington, Mar. 27. B. F. Knowlton, one of the oldest and most respected of this place, died very suddenly at his home about noon today. This morning he was apparently as well as usual and worked about the place with his accustomed energy. About twelve o’clock he walked into the house and sat down in his chair. He soon began to gasp for breath and a messenger was dispatched for a neighbor, but the stricken man expired before the neighbor got there. It is thought that the cause of his death was heart failure. The people of Farmington are very much grieved over the sad affair.

“Frank” Knowlton, as he was called, was 63 years old last January. He was born in Cummingsville [Cumminsville], Ohio, and while he was a boy his parents espoused the “Mormon” faith. He was reared in the church and has retained his integrity to it to the end of his days; and was often called upon to defend it. He occupied much the same position in the early history of Utah as did Uncle Charlie Decker, who died last week, and Ephraim Hans, a cousin of the deceased. He was associated with the men in many thrilling experiences on the plains and in the mountains. He was a prudent and cautious man and never wantedly courted danger, but when it was unavoidable, he was never known to show the white feather. he never asked others to brave danger he was not willing to face himself; and when a sacrifice was necessary to be made he was always one of the first to respond. during the later fifties and the early sixties he spent much of his time going to meet emigrant trains and directing them into the Valley. He made several trips of this kind with Uncle Charlie Decker and was very useful for such purposes because of his prudence and courage. He also rode the pony express for several months. He lived in Salt Lake for a number of years where he had a wide circle of friends. He later moved to Grantsville and became well established there. About twenty-two years ago he moved to Farmington, where he has lived ever since.

He pursued an upright, honorable course throughout his career and was highly esteemed by all who knew him. His nature was very kingly and sympathetic, and a call for help was never made in vain when it was in his power to render assistance. At one time he was in very good circumstances but a series of financial reverses had reduced him to humble circumstances. He seemed to have been pursued by some evil genius, and his calamities followed close on the heels of one another. He had many domestic troubles to sorrow his life. About two years ago he lost his daughter Hattie, who was the victim of appendicitis. She was the greatest pride and joy of his life, and since her death he has never been his old self again. He has had other troubles that tended to embitter his life’s cup but he tried to bear up manfully and keep his trouble to himself. He led a very sober and industrious life and reared a very large family , most of which survive him. He has a son Frank, who is now in the Philippines. Arrangements for the funeral have not yet been made.

The funeral will be held from the Farmington meeting house on Saturday afternoon at 1 o’clock. [He was buried in the Farmington City Cemetery.]⁹⁷

The problems facing Benjamin’s two families at his death may well be described as follows:

This work would not be complete without at least a condensed treatment of Grandfather Knowlton’s two surviving wives, brought down to the end of their lives, even though in point of time this extends beyond the general scope of this work. It seems regrettable that Benjamin’s limited sojourn on earth could not have been extended, at least a dozen years, to witness the strenuous united efforts of those two mothers and their children in their climb toward economic independence.

The main business before them was to provide opportunities for their older children to secure an education sufficient for them to obtain vitally needed gainful employment, mainly as teachers or stenographers, so as to assist in overall family support. by retaining their family homes in Farmington, at least as headquarter, and continuing grandfather’s farming and dairy activities as best they could, living costs were kept at a minimum, so that those old enough to obtain secondary education in Salt Lake City could do so.⁹⁸

Katie, before her marriage, had qualified herself to teach school. After Benjamin’s death, in order better to support her family, and under the local Relief Society sponsorship, she moved her family to Salt Lake City for an extended period, so that she could complete a “graduate nursing course.” This move enabled her also to maintain boarding facilities for her own children attending school in the city, as well as for other students related to the family.

As a professional nurse she rendered valuable service not only to her own family but to the communities in which she thereafter resided.…

Following her second daughter Fannie’s marriage and move to Alberta, Canada, in 1913, Katie and her young children also established their home there. January 22, 1920, she became the wife of Bishop Josiah Hammer. With him, until her death April 19, 1928, she devoted the remainder of her life to ordinance work in the Cardston Temple. After her funeral in Canada she was buried in the family plot at Farmington Cemetery. She was survived by five sons and daughters.

About the same time that Katie went to Canada, Minerva moved from Farmington, where she had resided since childhood, to Salt Lake City. Beginning at an early age she began a distinguished service to the church in responsible positions in auxiliary organizations, which, as her age and health permitted, continued throughout her life. She also was a qualified school teacher. During her later years, as a measure of the stability of her character, and her great loyalty to the Knowlton family, she rendered a service to it that should place her name in honor through coming time. The best description of this dedicated work is found in her History:

At the earnest solicitation of my husband’s family, I began keeping the Knowlton Genealogy and was instrumental in having hundreds of endowments, and sealings, and children sealed to their parents. With the help of my granddaughter, Rhoda, 11 years old, I indexed 19,400 names alphabetically, completing this work in three months time. I worked on the Knowlton records daily and late into the night for 12 years.

She also was ordinance worker in the Salt Lake Temple. Minerva departed this life May 28, 1936, at the age of seventy-eight. After her funeral in the 17th Ward Chapel in Salt Lake City, her burial was in the family plot in the Farmington Cemetery. She was survived by five sons and daughters.⁹⁹

12—Abraham Benjamin Knowlton and Nettie Dorcas

Abraham Benjamin Knowlton, best known affectionately as “Abe”, was the son and only child of Sidney Algernon Knowlton and Charlotte Regina Artegren Knowlton. He was born in Salt Lake City October 30, 1863. Charlotte was born in Sweden, December 25, 1825, the daughter of Allen Artegren. According to church records, she was married to Sidney January 10, 1863.

This writer has no direct information relating to Charlotte after Abraham’s birth other than that she died at Salt Lake City July 30, 1908. Unfortunately but little can be found about Abraham, especially during his childhood. In the settlement of Sidney’s estate equitable provision was made for Abraham and the following information statement is included in the final report to the probate court by Harriet Burnham Knowlton, administratrix, dated December 7, 1868.

In the absence of a better guardian, I have until lately began furnishing the minor child (Abraham) with food and clothing. He is now in the charge of his brother, J.Q. Knowlton, who took him at the instance of his mother. The child is now arriving at the age when he should be in charge of some one who will feel a deep interest for him, watch over him carefully, and see that he is carefully provided for, schooling and otherwise. I suggest that a suitable guardian be appointed at as early a date as is practicable.…¹⁰⁰

The United States Census for the year 1870 indicates that Mary Knowlton, doubtless Maryette, John Quincy’s first wife, was residing at her home in Salt Lake City, together with her two oldest children, Ephraim and Marshey (Marcia), and also Abe who was correctly listed as being six years old. While the 1880 U.S. Census for Utah quite accurately records the three families of John Quincy, then residing in Skull Valley, and Benjamin Franklin, Rhoda and family in Farmington Precinct, Abraham Knowlton is not included in that record.

The Salt Lake Directory for the year 1890 lists him as an invoice clerk at Z.C.M.I. and the one for 1891–92 as a wrapper for that firm.

May 13, 1891, Abraham B. Knowlton was married to Nettie Dorcas Horsley at Salt Lake City. She was born at St. George, Utah, April 9, 1868, to Clements R. and Catherine Harriet Squires Horsley. For many years, and until Nettie’s death, their home was at 461 Fourth Avenue. In the beginning she became a skilled dressmaker from her home, as headquarters, and during the later years of her life she was proprietor of a successful downtown beauty parlor.

During most of Abe’s active adult life he was a postal employee, delivering the mail in Salt Lake City. He first entered this service for a two-year period February 15, 1893. Reentering this activity December 1, 1900, he obtained a thirty year employment record, being officially retired December 31, 1930.

After Nettie’s death in 1925, Abe resided at the home of his son, Clements, until shortly before his death, April 20, 1944. During his later years, especially, he was an ardent hunter and fisherman. He often visited many members of the Knowlton family and is best remembered for his warm, jovial spirit, always present during these visits.

His funeral was conducted at the Deseret Mortuary, Salt Lake City, by Frank Forrest Knowlton, a nephew, and burial was in the City Cemetery.¹⁰¹

Chapter Three

Ruhamah Knowlton-Erastus H. Derby Family

17—Louis Phillip Derby and Mary Henderson

The Derby family doubtless maintained communication with the Knowltons in Utah during many years by correspondence. It remained for Louis Phillip Derby, Ruhamah and Erastus’s son, however, to re-establish personal relationship with his mother’s people, if only for a short time. The elder Knowltons now remember his arrival in Farmington with a wife and five children. They came about 1901-02 by means of a rather pretentious team and wagon outfit and announced that their destination was expected to be in west central Utah, which had been favorably reported to them.

After remaining in Utah for two or three years, and the marriage of two of their daughters, Winnifred and Mary Louise, Louis concluded to establish his family in Eastern Oregon.

Louis Phillip Derby was born in Hancock County, Illinois, to Ruhamah Knowlton and Erastus H. Derby, February 14, 1844. He probably remained with his parents, who thereafter resided in Missouri, Ohio and Illinois, until his enlistment October 7, 1861, in the Ohio Volunteer Infantry for participation in the Civil War. After a faithful and illustrious service, extending in area through most of the confederate states, he was discharged from the Army at Cleveland, Ohio, July 18, 1865, “by reason of the end of the war.” He was wounded in action May 16, 1863, which required hospitalization for several weeks. Louis re-enlisted February 22, 1866, and was commissioned Second Lieutenant, and later promoted First Lieutenant, U. S. Infantry, in which he served until his retirement from the Army, December 31, 1869.¹⁰²

Louis married Sallie A. Updegraff December 20, 1870. She was the daughter of Herman Updegraff and Sallie Aiken and, according to family records, a son, Earl Herman Derby, was born to them in October 1871. Nothing more is known of mother or son. September 4, 1879, at Lincoln, Nebraska, he married Mary Henderson, daughter of Adam and Mary McLeod Harrison. She was born February 29, 1852, at Constantine, St. Joseph, Michigan. The members of their family will be listed at the end of this section. Their six children were all born in Bennet, Nebraska, a few miles south of Lincoln, where he served as postmaster for several years.

During his stay in Nebraska he “was one of the organizers of the 1st Regiment Nebraska National Guard in which he served over seven years as Captain and Major, respectively, and was sergeant-at-arms of the Nebraska Senate, 22nd Session, 1891. He also served one year as Post Commander of Nebraska, G.A.R.”¹⁰³

Doubtless Louis and family resided in Nebraska, the last several years probably at North Platte, until their move to and temporary residence in Utah in 1900. The most important result of their residence was the marriage of some of the daughters to Utah men which made possible re-establishment of relationship with the Knowlton family. this included the opportunity to obtain continuing historical and genealogical records, as well as church activity, of at least this one unit of the Ruhamah Derby branch of the family. And this inclusion is about all that has been obtainable for this record of the events in the lives of other of Ruhamah’s children on their descendants.

As nearly as can be determined, Louis and Family finally located at Union in Eastern Oregon in 1903 which thereafter was to be the main headquarters. He became affiliated with the Preston Post No. 18, Department of Oregon Grand Army of the Republic. He died at Union March 30, 1923, at the age of seventy-nine. His funeral was conducted by the Union Post No. 50 American Legion in the local Presbyterian Church, and he was buried in that city.

Certainly Louis Phillip Derby left a military record of which the Knowlton and Derby families can well be proud, worthy of any of his forebears who went before him. With reference to his military service, as well as that of other members of the family, the following is quoted from the Certificate of Record issued by the Soldiers and Sailors Benevolent Society:

His father, E.H. Derby, and his brother, F.E. Derby, served in Company B, 6th Ohio Volunteer Infantry in the Civil War. His brother, Sidney A., served in the 14th Ohio Infantry three months’ service, and the 100th O.V.I., three years’ service; also served as 2nd Lieutenant of the 2nd U. S. Heavy Artillery.

His grandfather, Edward Derby, was a captain in the War of 1812, and the subject of this sketch (Louis P. Derby) is a lineal descendant of Lieut. Daniel Knowlton of the Connecticut line in the Revolutionary War.¹⁰⁴

Mary Henderson Derby died at Union, Oregon, October 9, 1930, and is buried in that cemetery.

18—Ruhamah Ruth Derby and William C. Russell

Ruhamah Ruth Derby, the daughter of Erastus H. and Ruhamah Knowlton Derby, was born March 31, 1846. She was married to William C. Russell, who was reported to be a hardware salesman, October 18, 1868. He was born January 5, 1844. It was reported that Ruhamah resided at Toledo, late in 1890.

24—Janie Wilhelmina Derby and Robert J.L. Iten

Janie Wilhelmina Derby, daughter of Erastus H. Derby and Ruhamah Knowlton Derby, was born November 8, 1860, at West Unity, Ohio. She was married to Robert J.L. Iten September 15, 1880, at Le Sueur, Minnesota. It was reported that Janie resided at Fargo, North Dakota, in 1896.

Martha Jane Knowlton-Howard Coray Family

25—Howard Knowlton Coray and Mary Elizabeth Lusk

Howard Knowlton Coray was the oldest child of Howard and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray. He was born at Augusta, Van Buren County, Iowa, April 10, 1842. He arrived in Utah with his parents and four younger sisters in October, 1850.

As a small child Howard was stricken with poliomyelitis resulting in very serious physical handicaps from which he suffered throughout his entire life. “One leg was partly paralyzed and stricken in growth.” Obviously, this condition affected every facet of his life.

He fulfilled a successful mission to the Southern States from April 1867, to July, 1869. Three years after, on September 16, 1862, Howard married Mary Elizabeth Lusk at Salt Lake City, Utah. She was born April 4, 1833, at Bridgeport, Marion County, Indiana, to John Nickelson Lusk and Cynthia Beeler. Apparently, shortly thereafter Howard and wife joined his parents and their family at the Coray Family farming and stock raising headquarters at Mona, Juab County, Utah, where they resided for several years.

The fall of 1880 was a fateful period in the lives of a substantial portion of the Coray family. As the parents moved back to Provo, several of their children began a pioneering adventure. They joined a company of other volunteer families, mostly from Juab and Sanpete Counties, who were responding to a call issued by the church to settle the country in Southern Colorado, Northern Arizona and New Mexico.¹⁰⁵ Thus began a chain of events which were to be fraught with extreme exertions and personal sacrifices extending through many years.

Howard, accompanied by his wife and five year old daughter Edna, was the senior member of the Coray family. Others included his sister, Mary, her husband, Orville Clark Roberts, and six children and unmarried brothers, William, Francis and Louis. During the following winter, under extreme hardships, the Coray men worked on the railroad being extended through Southwestern Colorado at the time. Afterward they settled in Conajas County, Colorado. Mary and family established themselves in Mancos about thirty miles west of Durango.

After a dozen years of extreme exertions involving farming and stock raising and related activities in an undeveloped country, Howard, suffering as he was from such physical handicaps, decided in 1892 to return with his family to Salt Lake City where he resided the remainder of his life. Here he found employment more suited to his abilities, including distribution of newspapers, operating an elevator for a time at the Hotel Utah, and in his later years, temple work.

During their sojourn in Colorado, Howard and family participated in early church activity there which culminated in the creation of the San Luis Stake June 10, 1883. In addition to Howard’s personal leadership in the field of church music, he opened the way through this activity for daughter Edna to begin a musical career, which became a distinctive hallmark of her life’s record.

Faced throughout his life with such serious physical handicaps, Howard demonstrated the influence of a strong religious faith; he sought for and obtained the life-giving strength that comes to mortal man who is in great need and who earnestly seeks it. This was demonstrated by many experiences in the mission and later his success in finding a life’s companion, a blessing which during his early life seemed quite remote. In 1876 when it became apparent that to save her life, Mary must undergo a very serious operation which seemed beyond the ability of local surgeons, Howard sought a special blessing for her from President Brigham Young, the surgery was performed and her life was saved.¹⁰⁶

Twenty-five years later, March 30, 1909, Mary died of pleurisy at the age of seventy-six. Her funeral was held in the Sixteenth Ward chapel and she was buried in Salt Lake City.¹⁰⁷ After her mother’s death their devoted daughter, Edna, cared for her father for the succeeding nineteen years when at the age of eighty-six he died at Salt Lake City, October 21, 1928.¹⁰⁸

Of him, a nephew recently (June 197) said of him, “Uncle Howard was a good man with limited ability associated with a physical handicap—. It is to be hoped that in the next world he will be given more favorable treatment.”

26—Martha Jane Knowlton Coray and Theodore Belden Lewis

Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, the daughter of Howard and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, was born at Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, February 19, 1844. She was the oldest of the five sisters whose births followed brother Howard in direct succession. Afterwards, six brothers followed. It seems more than coincidental that the Coray family maintained their residence in Provo until most of their daughters were married and in homes of their own, for there was no community in Utah then more favorably situated to furnish the best in religious, education and social advantages. Also, being the daughter of parents who had a long background of teaching, Martha obviously took advantage of those favorable opportunities. Also, being the eldest daughter, the natural responsibilities of furnishing leadership for the others resulted in an all around development which throughout life was the hall mark of her character.

August 19, 1870, at the mature age of twenty-six she was married to Theodore Belden Lewis. he became one of Utah’s foremost educators during territorial days. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri, November 18, 1843. His parents were Thomas Anderson Lewis and Martha Jane Otway Burch. He lost both parents when young and was raised by his grandparents. With financial resources left him by his parents, and assisted by his grandparents, he pursued his education to the college level until it was interrupted by the Civil War. He joined the Confederate army, was taken prisoner and finally paroled and resumed the study of law. he came to Utah in 1865 and while teaching school here was baptized April 29, 1866. he accepted a mission call to the Southern States, being set apart April 4, 1868. He labored chiefly in Kentucky and Virginia during 1868–70, mostly without “purse or script.” His spiritual development was quite remarkable, especially in his administrations to the sick.

Returning from his mission he resumed his school teaching career in Provo and Payson. Doubtless he became acquainted with Martha Coray in Provo. She was then finishing her education, and they were married August 19, 1870. During the period 1872–76 he taught school in Juab County ans was also appointed superintendent at the district school Their first child was born in Provo, and the next three in Nephi.

In May, 1876, the family moved to Salt Lake City, first for him to continue teaching, and in due time he was elected superintendent of local schools and also finished his study of law. In November, 1885, he entered the school system in Ogden where he served during the remainder of his career. In August, 1894, he was appointed commissioner of the public schools by the Territorial Supreme Court, in which position he served until statehood in 1896.

Throughout his professional career, Theodore Belden Lewis was also very active in religious and civic circles. He established a reputation as a distinguished orator, and his outstanding services as a Sunday School teacher in the Ogden Second Ward were to be long remembered. After suffering from hernia for many years, and “while on a mission to Boston, Massachusetts, to do missionary work,” he decided “…to take advantage of prominent surgeons there.” He did not survive the operation and died July 20, 1899, at the age of fifty-six. As a measure of his spirituality, he included in the latest addition to his will dated July 4, 1899, the following: “If I die from this operation God wills it, for I have secured the best skill known, and have placed myself in God’s care,” and continued with a fervent testimony of the truthfulness and importance of the faith which he had espoused, and that through its faithful observance all the rational hopes of the human soul may be realized.¹⁰⁹

February 18, 1871, Theodore Belden Lewis married, as a second wife in plural marriage, Martha’s sister, Ephrina Serepa Coray. His second family will be treated in its appropriate place hereafter.

Martha Coray Lewis became the mother of ten children, only five of whom grew to maturity, this high mortality rate being so common among children during the rigors of pioneer life in Utah. After her husband’s death, she established her home in Salt Lake City.

Martha’s loyalty to her family was demonstrated throughout her life. The published tribute to her mother and emphasis on her illustrious attainments represents the highest tradition of filial loyalty.¹¹⁰

Martha’s most valuable contribution to the Knowlton family, from which her mother came should place her name high on the honor role of that family through coming time. As president of the “Knowlton Association” at a meeting held at Lagoon, Farmington, Utah, August 26, 1905, she urged the gathering for publication, “the family genealogical records to be collected by the historian.”¹¹¹

Fortunately, there was recently found in the old records of a member of the Knowlton family a copy of an undated formal request sent to each family unity, probably just after this meeting, this to include quite complete genealogical data except that of Temple Ordinances, which now characterizes the family group sheet standard in the church. This completed document requiring clearly specified data for “Publication in book form of Knowlton family in America” was to be mailed to Martha J. Lewis, 261 South Fifth East, Salt Lake City, Utah.¹¹²

From this beginning in 1905, with continuing encouragement from Martha throughout her life, and was carried on during the intervening years by other dedicated family members. Necessary multiple corrections and additions were arranged for, to include oncoming generations. This auspicious activity carried on throughout two-thirds of a century, could well be considered the indispensable foundation of this present family history project.

Martha Jane Knowlton Coray passed away at the home of her daughter, Maude Lewis Craig, Salt Lake City, Utah October 25, 1929. She had resided with Maude during the last twenty years of her life. Of Martha, a prominent contemporary member of the Coray Family has observed that “Aunt Martha was probably the most stable personality in the Coray family.”

27—Harriet Virginia K. Coray and Wilson Howard Dusenberry

Harriet Virginia Knowlton Coray, the third child of Martha Jane Knowlton and Howard Coray, was born at Atchison, Missouri, on the Missioner River, August 9, 1846. She arrived in Utah with her parents and brother and sisters in October, 1850. At the age of eleven she moved with her family to Provo where she resided during her lifetime, favored with about all the advantages that pioneer life in Utah had to offer.

December 4, 1864, she became the wife of Wilson Howard Dusenberry, a full cousin. He was the son of Mahlan and Aurilla Coray Dusenberry, and was born April 7, 1841, at Perry, Pike County, Illinois. He settled in Provo in 1862, joining the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He and his elder brother Warren N. Dusenberry taught school in Provo during the early sixties. In 1869 they secured the commodious Lewis Building located on the corner of Third West and Center Street in Provo and opened a graded school for students above the “third reader.”

This project “so well filled an obvious need that it drew patronage from all parts of Utah County.” Soon in drew the attention of territorial school officials, and the following May it was officially established as the Timpanogos Branch of the University of Deseret with Warren N. Dusenberry as principal. In this manner it operated very successfully for the next five years. During the interval President Brigham Young acquired the Lewis Building property for intended use as a church sponsored school. Accordingly, January 3, 1876, it began operations as the Brigham Young Academy with Warren N. Dusenberry principal. The following April he was honorably released as principal, being succeeded by Karl G. Maeser. Previously, on October 16, 1875, President Brigham Young officially founded the now great institution which bears his name.¹¹³

In 1874 Wilson Howard Dusenberry became County Superintendent of schools, and at the founding of the Brigham Young Academy he was appointed it Secretary-Treasurer and member of its Board of Trustees.

Wilson and Harriet became the parents of four children. She was taken by death June 25, 1872, from complications following the birth of her last child a few days earlier.

Wilson Howard Dusenberry, two year later married Margaret Thompson Smoot. He became one of Utah County’s most prominent religious, educational, business and civic leaders, serving in turn as mayor of Provo, and member of Utah Territorial Legislature. About five years before his death, which occurred March 20, 1925, he moved to Salt Lake City where his funeral was held. Burial took place in Provo.

28—Mary Knowlton Coray and Orville Clark Roberts

Mary Knowlton Coray, the fourth child and third daughter of Martha Jane and Howard Coray, was born at Atchison County, Missouri, April 22, 1848, and arrived in Utah with her family in 1850. She grew to maturity in Provo with its favorable advantages for growth and development, and July 24, 1868, she married Orville Clark Roberts. Clark, the son of Doctor Daniel and Eliza Aldulah Clark Roberts, was born in Winchester, Illinois, September 1, 1833. At the age of twelve he was baptized into the church, and he and his brother, Bolivar, came to Utah in 1850 with the Milo Andrus Co., and to Provo in 1851. Clark “crossed the plains 13 times, was a Minute man at Provo.…Took active part in protecting settlers against the Indians in early days, was wounded while carrying express, July 24, 1854.”¹¹⁴ After the Civil War the two Roberts brothers brought their brother, Doctor Don Roberts, from California to Provo, where he engaged in the practice of Medicine for many years. There, Clark and Bolivar took up some mining claims in Tintic and also engaged in horse raising on a ranch near Mona in Juab County. Eventually Clark traded his interest in mining to Bolivar in order to acquire full ownership of the ranch. Doubtless Clark led the way for the move of the family of Howard and Martha to Mona in 1871. According to Coray family tradition, Clark decided that Mary, then a child, was in due time to be his wife and so conveyed his desires to her parents. It is noted that immediately after the birth of their first child, Orville Clark Roberts Jr., at Provo, October 24, 1869, he was taken immediately to their home at Mona where they resided until their move to Southern Colorado in the fall of 1880.¹¹⁵

Portrayal in brief, of this momentous soul-testing trip of Mary, Clark and their six children, by covered wagon in company with four of Mary’s brothers has been been previously in this work. Fortunately it is well documented in the Roberts’ family history, so it will be but briefly outlined below.

During the first bitter winter in Colorado, Mary and children apparently lived in tents and covered wagons, settling in temporary housing the following spring in the struggling new community of Mancos, Colorado. Here during the next eight years Mary’s last three children were born. During this period they joined in organizing the first church activity there. The Ward was organized July 5, 1885. On the ranch where they settled in Mancos, Clark successively built three different houses, the third, being the first frame house there.¹¹⁶

During the fall of 1881, learning that her mother, Martha Coray, was ill at her home in Provo, Clark Took Mary and her youngest children overland by team to be by her side during the closing days of her life (Martha die December 14, 1881). Mary’s wonderful written tribute to her mother reveals beautifully the nobility of both of them, as well as Mary’s writing ability.¹¹⁷

February 28, 1882, Mary and children started the return trip to Mancos, being able to go by rail, through Ogden, Pueblo, Colorado, and then on to Durango, the terminus of the railroad then completed.¹¹⁸

In the spring of 1891, Orville Clark Roberts, when fifty-eight years of age, became crippled with rheumatism. He was persuaded, apparently inadvisedly, to move his wife and their children, still living at home, from Mancos, Colorado, to begin anew a fateful pioneering venture, mostly centered near Farmington, New Mexico. Her for the next dozen years, on uninviting arid land with unreliable water supply, this family struggled for survival, doubtless the most trying period of their entire lives. Finally in 1912 Clark and Mary followed some of their children who had moved to San Diego, California, where Clark died December 12th of that year.¹¹⁹ His funeral was conducted in San Diego, California, “by the elders” and he was buried there.¹²⁰

Following her husband’s death, Mary returned to Utah and then continued on to be for the next few years with her brother, William Coray, and other relatives in Southern Colorado and Northern New Mexico. In 1917 her son, Louis, brought her to Vernal, Utah, where a number of her immediate family had settled, and there she spent the last years of her life. She died May 21, 1923.¹²¹ A lengthy obituary appeared in the local paper extolling her unusual life. It listed her surviving posterity as eight sons and daughters, fifty-five living grandchildren, and fourteen great grandchildren. There had preceded her in death, besides her husband and son, Howard, sixteen grandchildren and five great grandchildren, making a total posterity of ninety-nine souls who owed their existence to her.¹²²

Fortunately, due to the diligence of many members of the posterity of Clark and Mary Roberts, and the pride they have felt in their accomplishments, it has been possible to trace here, if only in bare outline, the rather comprehensive written record of the stern experiences in a life of pioneering. Certainly, theirs is a family life characterized by almost superhuman endurances against fearful odds. It is one of which any family could well be proud. A contemporary member of the Coray family noted recently: “…from what little I knew of her, she seemed to be the only naturally optimistic cheerful member of the Coray family…this was a woman who in spite of the many vicissitudes of her life managed to remain hopeful and quite aware of the things one could enjoy.…She had a swarthy complexion and black hair…unusual in the Coray family four of five of which were violently red haired.”

29—Ephrina Serepa “Eppie” Coray and Theodore Belden Lewis

Ephrina Serepa Coray was born at New Fort Kearney, Nebraska, February 4, 1850. She was the fourth daughter and fifth child of Martha Jane Knowlton and Howard Coray. She arrived in Utah with her family in October, 1850. Her childhood and young womanhood was also spent in Provo, where she had the advantages of the favorable social and educational opportunities along with the other Coray Children. February 18, 1871, the year her father moved his family to Mona, she was married in polygamy to Theodore Belden Lewis who, six months earlier had married her elder sister, Martha. She was then twenty-one years of age. A biography of her husband is included in the section of this history devoted to Martha Coray Lewis. Eppie’s and Martha’s domestic life closely paralleled each other, and possibly their families were closely associated, first at Nephi and then Salt Lake City and Ogden, where his educational pursuits took him. The sudden loss of husband and father in 1889, at the early age of fifty-six, was a tragic one indeed for the families of both sister, and could well have been more serious with Eppie’s. Her children then ranged in age from twenty-seven down to five years. It is well established that the Lewis’s had separate homes after the death of the father.¹²³

This writer had the opportunity to live in Aunt Eppie’s home during the winter of 1906–07. His mother’s family shared the upkeep with her and her devoted daughter, Elizabeth Lou. Her older living children had entirely moved away. She was then in her fifty-seventh year. The vicissitudes of life had developed in her a gentle sweet spirit of great faith and understanding of life’s goals and purposes. Doubtless her position as second wife in polygamous family had mellowed her character into the beautiful soul she was.

With the undeviating personal support and dedicated life of her daughter, Lou, she resided in comfort in Salt Lake City until her death of pneumonia December 8, 1923. She had been in ill health for several years.¹²⁴ Her burial was in Salt Lake City Cemetery.

30—Helena Knowlton Coray and William Denton Alexander

Helena Knowlton Coray, the fourth and last daughter of Martha Jane Knowlton and Howard Coray was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, February 1, 1852. She was also favored by living in Provo nearly all her life. Within the Coray family she was affectionately known as “Nellie.” She was married to William Denton Alexander October 10, 1878, in Salt Lake City. William was set apart for a mission to the Sandwich Islands November 18, 1873, and probably Nellie accompanied him. Her two eldest children were born there during William’s mission, from which he was honorably released September 16, 1881.

William Denton Alexander was the son of Horace Martin Alexander and Catherine Houston, both of whom were born in Montgomery County, Virginia. He cam to Utah October 16, 1847, from California as part of the Mormon Battalion. William, whose family home was in Provo, was “Justice of Peace 1888–91, Alderman 1888–89, member of school board 1904–08, contractor and builder, horticulturist.”¹²⁵

Nellie’s home in Provo during the decade of the eighteen seventies, especially when her parents’ family lived in Mona, Juab County, seems to have been the headquarters of the Corays while visiting in Provo. After suffering with internal cancer for two years, Nellie died at her home in Provo August 18, 1905. It was said of her that “She was a woman of great strength of character, coupled with womanly tenderness, which made her many friends.”¹²⁶ Her funeral was held in Provo. Her husband thereafter married Prudella Allman.

31—William Henry Coray and Julia Ann Mundy

William Henry Coray, son of Howard and Martha Jane Knowlton Coray, was born in Salt Lake City, November 3, 1853. He was destined to be the eldest of seven sons who made up the last portion of a distinguished family. His childhood and youth was spent in Salt Lake, Tooele and Utah Counties. At 18 he moved with his parents’ family to Mona, Juab County, and September 1st, 1880, he joined his brothers, Howard, Louis and Frank, and sister, Mary Coray Roberts, on the long overland church encouraged journey to settle Southern Colorado.

Just prior to this move he had fulfilled a short term mission to Great Britain. For this he was set apart October 22, 1879, and he returned April 30, 1880. He married Julia Ann Mundy August 19, 1888. Julia was born July 29, 1866, to Sterling Burnett Mundy and Nancy Ann Lee at Edgefield, Edgefield County, South Carolina. William doubtless engaged in farming and ranching in neighborhood of Sanford, Colorado, where for seventeen years Julia was postmistress. She, with her family and several others cam from the Southern States, as Mormon converts, and were encouraged to pioneer Southern Colorado. She is reported to have had little opportunity for formal schooling. She became a very devoted church worker.

January 2, 1897, William was set apart for his second mission, this one to Australia. He remained there until August 3, 1899. This mission, honorably fulfilled during the middle years of his life, was of inestimable value to the development of his character.¹²⁷

Julia died at Sanford, Colorado, December 27, 1906, of pneumonia. Her funeral services were held there and William brought her remains to Provo for burial.¹²⁸

For upwards of a year after Julia Ann’s death, William worked with a team on street construction in Salt Lake City, residing with Sister Eppie Lewis. He then went back to Red Mesa, Colorado, acquired a small farm and worked with the Roberts brothers (sons of his sister, Mary) at Red Mesa. Later, when some of that family moved to Vernal, Utah, he accompanied them. William died October 17, 1935 at Provo, Utah.

A member of the Coray family now notes that William had little opportunity for formal education, that he was probably “the least aggressive of the Coray brothers,” that he had “no trade,” but that his one outstanding achievement: “He was an expert horseman…and was looked upon as the best rider in the family.” This writer had the opportunity to observe for a few months this shy, noble, unassuming man, and to note his love of and way with horses. Surely, “Will and his horses seemed to understand each other.”

32—Sidney Algernon Coray and Lydia Lerwill Harding

Sidney Algernon Coray, named for his grandfather Knowlton, was born at E.T. (Lakepoint), Tooele County, Utah, July 9, 1855. He spent his childhood and early youth in Provo, and moved to Mona, Juab County, with his father’s family in 1871. Doubtless he devoted his rigorous young manhood to farming and stock raising there.

April 19, 1880, he was called on a mission to the Sandwich Islands where he labored for three years until May 1, 1883. Part of this time (1878–1881) his sister, Nellie Alexander, was in this mission with her husband, William Denton Alexander. In the family history are copies of some invaluable letters of Sidney’s mother, Martha, written during the last year of her life, to Sidney in the mission field. They reflect the faith, devotion, and motherly hopes and dreams for the success of her missionary son. They also reveal her deep concern for the other members of her tremendous family. Moreover, she expressed deep anxiety for the growth in influence of the church, for which she had given so much, all of which revealed her breadth of understanding of its aims and purposes in the world.¹²⁹

After being honorably released from his mission, Sidney returned to his former ranching operation at Mona. July 3, 1884, he married Lydia Ann Lerwill. She was a daughter of William Lerwill and Mary Rawle, and was born in Devonshire, England, September 28, 1853. Her first husband was Laban Harding; their home in Morgan, Utah. After the birth of two children, Laban and Elizabeth, her husband died June 13, 1875, and afterward she moved to Mona, Juab County to reside with her brother, Thomas. Sidney became acquainted with her there.

Sidney homesteaded a ranch of his own, located about three quarters of a mile east of the main Coray Headquarters, and pursued his vocation, including sheep raising, until about 1900. He then moved with his family to Payson, Utah County which continued to be his home during the remainder of his life. In Payson, he operated a small fruit and chicken farm and devoted much of his time to carpenter work. He assisted in building the family home of his brother, George, in Salt Lake County. For over two score years Sidney, Lydia and family were residents of Payson and were considered to be among that community’s most respected families. He is reported to have been “a sturdy independent character, hard working, honest, religious…intelligent citizen.”

Lydia died April 17, 1942; Sidney the following year, May 11, 1943. Their funeral services were held in Payson with burial in the Provo City Cemetery.¹³⁰

34—George Quincy Coray and Katherine Ann Burt

George Quincy Coray was born in Provo, Utah, November 26, 1857, to Howard Coray and Martha Jane Knowlton, this being the year the Coray family moved to that community. While there and until the family moved to Mona, in 1871, George worked with his father and brothers, farming, lumbering and molasses milling, etc. Then on the large farm at Mona he grew to manhood subjected to the stern discipline encountered there.

Early in life he demonstrated a desire and ability as a student and before long it became apparent that he was to be the distinguished member of the Coray family in the area of human activity. At the age of eighteen he resumed school attendance, first at Brigham Young Academy and then at the University of Utah. Under extreme financial handicaps in various part time occupations, including school teaching, he was able to spend three years of study at Cornell University in New York State. Returning, he accepted employment in newspaper work at Provo, Salt Lake City and Ogden.

In December 1891, at the age of thirty-four, he returned to the University of Utah, first as librarian, during which service he continued his studies, and in 1894 earned a Bachelor of Science degree at that institution. September that year he began his long career as instructor at the University of Utah. His first interests were in the field of chemistry but his broad and varied employment opportunities out of college inclined him to the fields of economics and sociology, in which he remained throughout his long professional career. During 1903–04, with sabbatical leave, he took specialized study at Columbia University in New York City and earned a Master of Arts degree. By 1896 he had been made an assistant professor, and in 1902 advanced to full professorship. in 1917 he became professor anthropology and sociology. By then he had earned “a standing as one of the recognized students and instructors…of our country.”¹³¹

On June 17, 1891, the year that George became associated with the University of Utah, he married Katherine Ann Burt. She was born January 21, 1869, at Salt Lake City, the daughter of Andrew Hill Burt and Mary Ann Lucas, early Utah pioneers. Her father was City Marshal at Salt Lake City, and while engaged in those duties died of gun shot wounds. Their long time family home was located in Salt Lake City. They were the parents of six children.

George died within a year after he retired from the University where he had devoted thirty years of dedicated service. He died October 6, 1929, in Los Angeles, California, while on a visit to tow of the children residing there. In accordance with his instructions, his body was cremated and the remains brought to Salt Lake City and reposes in a local mausoleum.¹³²

It is said of him by a contemporary family member that, “he had an unusual power of concentration, a quality that accounts for his success as a student…This quality may have accounted for his tendency to become quite oblivious of the daily doings of his fellow creatures.” This writer was favored to come under his direction as a teacher, and agrees that he gave the impression of being possessed of a stern austere exterior, a trait not uncommon with some of the male members at least of this large and vigorous family, which passes through the crucible of struggle for very survival against the unusually harsh conditions of pioneer life. Indeed, George Coray was an unusual man, but a credit to his family and to his chosen profession.

Katherine Coray lived nearly twenty years after her husband’s death. She “devoted much of her time to literary writing,” having written many poems and songs. She donated many of them to the Relief Society of the Twenty-First Ward and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in both of which she was an active member. She was also a member of the University Women’s Club. She died in Salt Lake City August 18, 1947.¹³³

35—Francis DeLaVan Coray and Elizabeth Sellers

Francis DeLaVan Coray was born in Provo, Utah, to Howard and Martha Jane Coray January 17, 1860. As a boy he went with his parents and family to a farm at Mona, Juab County, Utah. During his youth and young manhood he worked with them there. September 1, 1880, he joined the members of the Coray family who in an answer to the call of the church, began their overland journey to form pioneer settlements in Southern Colorado. Apparently, during much of the remainder of his life, he was associated with his brothers at or near Manassa, Conjas County, Colorado, or further west at Red Mesa. September 29, 1885, he married Elizabeth Jane Sellars. She was born October 6, 1866, at DeKall, Alabama, the daughter of Samuel Surratt Sellers and Martha Ellen Horton. Her family probably was among the converts to the Mormon Church who came in groups to join the Southern Colorado pioneer venture. They were not blessed with children. Francis died at Manassa, July 8, 1908, and is probably buried there. Elizabeth Jane, his wife, died at Buckeye Arizona, July 3, 1955.¹³⁴

36—Louis LaVille Coray and Julia Ann Allred

Louis LaVille Coray was born in Provo, Utah, March 9, 1862, the son of Howard Coray and Martha Jane Lewis. When nine years old he went with his parents and brothers to Mona, Juab County, Utah. He also joined the overland caravan to Southern Colorado, in September 1880.¹³⁵ He probably did not remain long in Colorado, but returned to Mona, and afterwards to Ogden, which seemingly was to be headquarters for most of his life thereafter.

January 28, 1891, he married Julia Ann Allred of Slaterville, Weber County, Utah. He became acquainted with her while teaching school at Slaterville and living at the Allred home. She was born September 27, 1873, at Slaterville, the daughter of John Allen Allred and Mary Jane Knight. During the early part of his adult life he engaged for short periods in many occupations in several places. At Ogden he became a partner in the operation of a planing mill. He sold this and in 1902 moved to Blackfoot, Idaho, with his family where they engaged in farming activity for two or three years. In 1905 Louis acquired a mil route in Ogden in which he was engaged for many years, and Ogden became the permanent home where his family were mostly raised and educated. His son, Clarence Allred Coray, supplies a glimpse of their interesting and exciting family life:

It seems that we moved about to many places when I was a baby and child…

It was a life of teaching school, farming, following construction work, going in business, selling out, caring for members of both families when they were ill (specifically nursing “Nellie” Alexander during her fatal illness) and finally settling in Ogden, so we children could go ahead with our education. Father did well with his milk route in Ogden as all three of us brothers received college or university educations…. Father received his higher ordinations in the Priesthood and my mother was active in Relief Society and Primary.¹³⁶

Julia died at a hospital in Provo, February 23, 1944.¹³⁷ Louis resided the closing period of his life in Salt Lake City which furnished him an opportunity to do some temple work. He died September 12, 1949.¹³⁸ Both Julia and Louis suffered from ill health during their last years which required some institutional care. It was said of him that he “was a hard working painfully honest and devoutly religious man who took his virtues very seriously”; indeed, he possessed those stern traits of character so typical of this family.

37—Don Silas Rathbone Coray and Elizabeth Hyslop

Don Silas Rathbone Coray, the last child of Howard Coray and Martha Jane Knowlton, was born at Provo, Utah, September 20, 1864. As a child he lived in Provo. When seven years old he accompanied his parents and brothers to their ranch at Mona, Juab County, Utah. Here during his youth he assisted in the development of their farming and stock raising activities. It is probable that when his parent returned to re-establish their home in Provo, late in 1880, that Don accompanied them.

After his mother died, he then being seventeen years of age, it is reported that he joined the family of his Aunt Mary Ann Hooper in Salt Lake City. In 1888 he moved to Ogden, and during the next years was engaged in business activity there and in Provo with varying financial success. August 10, 1893 he married Elizabeth Hyslop, daughter of Alexander and Maria Howard Hyslop. Elizabeth was born at Dunbartonshire, Scotland, September 26, 1865. “After the death of her father she came to Utah with her mother and attended the St. Marks School graduating in 1888.”

May 5, 1898, Don enlisted in the Utah Light Artillery, Battery B, of the United States Army at Fort Douglas, for service in the Spanish American War, and went to the Philippines. There he soon was stricken with a serious disease, as were ninety percent of all casualties in that war, probably amoebic dysentery from which he did not recover. He was honorably discharged at the Presidio in San Francisco, August 16, 1899. Returning home after that hospitalization, he was nursed in the homes of his brother, George, in Salt Lake City and sister, Nellie Alexander, in Provo. He died October 13, 1899. His funeral was held in Nellie’s home with interment in that cemetery.¹³⁹

After graduation from school in 1887, Elizabeth first taught school and then, from 1900 to 1914, she became well known and successful as a society and club editor with local newspapers. Following that career she entered the life insurance filed, in which she continued until her fatal illness. She was very prominent in business and professional women’s organizations and local literary and club circles. She suffered from cancer and died at Rochester, Minnesota, from complications following surgery, November 16, 1928. Her son, Lieutenant Donald Coray, was with her at her death. After a private funeral her burial as also at Provo.¹⁴⁰

Mary Ann Knowlton-William Henry Hooper Family

40—Mary Hooper and Thomas Walker Jennings

Mary Hooper, the daughter of Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper, was born in Salt Lake City September 18, 1858. She was the oldest surviving child of her parents, two brothers having died when children. Because of her position in the family, she doubtless was required to assume a major responsibility in assisting her mother with the younger children as well as with the multitudinous demands of a home so situated in Utah’s pioneer social, financial and religious circles. Doubtless, she availed herself of all the cultural and educational advantages available.

November 1, 1875, at the age of seventeen, she became the wife of Thomas Walker Jennings at Salt Lake City. He was the son of William Jennings and Jane Walker and was born in Salt Lake City September 10, 1854. His father was a prominent banker and businessman and Thomas followed in his footsteps. In addition to banking and merchandising he was also interested in mining. He became a man of independent wealth.

While laboring as a missionary in Great Britain 1872–73, he was invited by President George A. Smith to accompany the party of church leaders on the historic trip to Palestine, during which time he acted as President Smith’s secretary.

While in the prime of life he was stricken with Bright’s disease, from which, after suffering many months, he died at Salt Lake City June 3, 1908. His funeral was held at the family residence with interment in the City Cemetery.¹⁴¹

Mary Hooper Jennings, “For many years…was prominent in social and club affairs, but during the last few years, ever since her husband’s death in fact, she was forced to give up those activities on account of her health.” Due to ill health her death, which was not unexpected, occurred June 9, 1913. Her funeral was held at the family residence, 172 First Avenue, with burial in the City Cemetery.¹⁴²

41—Harriet Hooper and Willard Young

Harriet Hooper was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, to Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper, May 3, 1861. Her birth occurred while her parents were on their way to Washington, D.C. where her father served as a delegate to Congress from the Territory of Utah. As a member of the prominent Hooper family, her early life was spent in the palatial home on First West in Salt Lake City. Harriet was described as “really beautiful, graceful and cultured, as measured by the highest standards of New England Social ‘400’.”

August 1, 1882, at the age of twenty-one, she was married to Willard Young, son of President Brigham Young and Clarissa Ross. He was born in Salt Lake City. His mother died when he was six years old and him and his three sisters were placed in the home of Zina D.H. Young, “who proved a real mother to them.” Willard was destined to become one of the most prominent civil and military engineers in Utah history, as well as a distinguished faithful member of the church.

From a background of excellence as a student at the University of Deseret, and upon the recommendation of President John R. Park and the influence of William H. Hooper, in 1871 he entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, the first native Utahn to be so favored. He graduated from that prestigious institution with the class of 1876. He stood fourth in a total class membership of forth-three. “Upon graduation he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant in the Corp of Engineers, one of four in this class receiving such appointment.” During the next four years he engaged in important engineering assignments for the Army, and this was followed by a four year period of duty as assistant professor of civil and military engineering at West Point from 1879 to 1883. It was toward the close of his teaching assignment that Willard and Harriet were married.

He was now prepared to undertake very important supervisory duties in the field of construction for the Army. First came local supervision of the Cascade Canal and Locks on the Columbia in Oregon, to be followed by harbor work on that river at Portland. During this stay in Oregon his family resided there and four of their six children were born. Willard’s next Army assignment was of similar nature on the Mississippi at Memphis, Tennessee.

At the age of thirty eight, then a captain and by training and experience having reached the very zenith of his Army career, he was called upon to make one of those overriding decisions so often encountered in mortal life which would have a profound effect upon the future life of himself and his family. He was requested by President Wilford Woodruff to resign from the Army, come home and devote his energies to the establishment of a Young University, a church sponsored institution in Salt Lake City. The following excerpt from his reply to the First Presidency, dated May 6, 1890, reflects his abiding loyalty to the church and its interests:

I shall be very glad to resign from the Army and to assume the duties mentioned…. Both my wife and myself are pleased at the thought of going back to Salt Lake to live, as no other place has, nor, I believe ever can seem like home to us. We are both very much gratified at the confidence that the call to such a position implies.

His formal resignation from the Army was effective February 22, 1891. For the next two years he devoted himself to the many serious problems connected with the creation of the Young University in Salt Lake City. By then it became evident that this project would not be feasible then or in the future.

It has been said by some of those associated with him during the later years of his life, that his resignation from the Army in 1891, with the resultant sacrifice, financial and otherwise, not only resulted in serious disunity within his family but long lasting disappointment, even some bitterness within himself.

During the next five years in addition to rendering service to the church in other capacities, he served two years as city engineer of Salt Lake City. This was followed by his selection as the first state engineer of Utah where he served until the outbreak of the Spanish American War. Major Young was appointed a colonel of the Second Regiment of U.S. Volunteer Engineers and served with distinction in providing sanitary facilities in Cuba and elsewhere. At War’s end, and in 1899, he was engaged on important private engineering projects in New York and Massachusetts.

Returning home in 1906 he was again called into church service as President of the Latter-day Saints University where he served until 1915. Throughout his life he was active in church work whenever opportunities provided. These duties included membership on Ensign State High Council, and temple work in the Logan and Salt Lake Temples.

At the beginning of World War I, although past retirement age, he again volunteered for military service and devoted two years in charge of all Army work on the Missouri River.

Returning to Salt Lake City he was chosen, in 1919 as superintendent of church building activities, to which work the remainder of his active life was devoted. The life’s record of Willard Young, a native Utahn, as an outstanding civil engineer in peace time and war has probably never been equaled in the State’s history, and throughout all his long professional action-filled life he maintained a loyalty and devotion to his church and his people of the highest order. It is reported that he was an active ordained temple worker until he suffered a heart attack which required his retirement.¹⁴³ He died at the age of eighty-four in Salt Lake City July 25, 1936. His loyal dedicated church service must ever stand as a monument to his stability of character, representing his family in its highest tradition. His funeral was conducted in the Seventeenth Ward Chapel with interment in the City Cemetery.¹⁴⁴

Harriet, who had borne most of her children while maintaining their home near the location of her husband’s varied activities, passed away of a heart ailment November 30, 1939. It was said of her that she “has been a prominent figure in church and civic affairs…. She was known for her hospitality and dignity, for the consecration of her life to her family and for her unostentations acts of charity.”¹⁴⁵

42—Elizabeth Hooper and David Cameron Dunbar

Elizabeth Hooper, the fifth daughter of Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper, was born in Salt Lake City June 1, 1863, a member of one of Utah’s most prominent families. She, as was the case with her other sisters, was favored with the best educational opportunities available, as well as the social and religious advantages.

She was married to David Cameron Dunbar May 31, 1884, at Logan, Utah. He was the son of William C. Dunbar and Harriet Hales, and was born in Salt Lake City, February 28, 1858. William, his father, was a native of Scotland. He was baptized a member of the church December 28, 1840, and fulfilled a mission in England prior to emigrating to Utah in 1852. He was set apart as president of the French Mission December 2, 1854, returning December 8, 1855. He became a prominent newspaper man in Utah, being one of the founders of the Salt Lake Herald.¹⁴⁶

After obtaining his education in the local public schools and University of Deseret, David fulfilled a mission for the church in England and Scotland 1878–81, including service as president of districts of Nottingham and Glasgow.¹⁴⁷ Following his marriage he was active in newspaper work, both with his father in Salt Lake City, and also with the local papers in Omaha, Nebraska. He and family resided in Omaha until about 1891, then returned to Salt Lake City. About that time he became clerk of the Territorial Court, and when Utah became a state he was elected Salt Lake County Clerk and served from 1896 to 1902. He was very active in politics in the Democratic Party and served at times both as Salt Lake County and Utah State Chairman. He was collector of Internal Revenue in Salt Lake City during the Wilson administration and later served in the U.S. Treasury Department in Los Angeles. He was also active in business circles in Utah for several year before moving to Glendale, California, in 1922. David and Elizabeth were separated by divorce in Salt Lake City January 27, 1903. While in California he married Maud Irvine.

After and illness of two years duration, he died November 19, 1938. His funeral was held in the Church of the Little Flower with burial in the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale.¹⁴⁸

Apparently Elizabeth during her later years lived with her daughter in Boston, Massachusetts, where she died January 31, 1941.

43—Annie Corinne Hooper and Joseph Edgar Caine

Anne Corinne Hooper, the daughter of Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper, was born in Salt Lake City December 21, 1865. She, with her other five sister and brother, Sidney Knowlton Hooper, were children of one of the most prominent families in Utah. As has been previously mentioned, they enjoyed all the social and educational advantages of the period in Utah in which they lived.

November 26, 1888, she became the wife of Joseph Edgar Caine. He was the son of John Thomas Caine and Margaret Nightingale. John Thomas Caine was born January 8, 1829, on the Isle of Man, coming to Utah in 1852.¹⁴⁹ His parents had a family of thirteen children, he being born in Salt Lake City April 16, 1864. During the Spanish American War, Joseph Edgar was Captain of the Utah Volunteer Cavalry in the Philippines. Early in life he was a newspaper reporter. He was a partner in the insurance business of Hooper and Caine; also cashier of Utah Commercial and Savings Bank. Later he became Secretary of Salt Lake Commercial Club.

In 1913 the family moved to California where he engage in business and was also secretary of Oakland, California, Chamber of Commerce. The six children of Joseph and Annie were all born in Salt Lake City.

He died in the Veterans’ Hospital in San Francisco November 8, 1943. His funeral and burial was in Oakland.¹⁵⁰ Annie Hooper Caine passed away April 16, 1946. Her funeral and burial was also in Oakland.¹⁵¹

44—Cora Ella Hooper and Ernest Redfield Eldredge

Cora Ella Hooper was the fifth daughter of Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper. She was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, March 19, 1868. She, with her five sisters and one living brother, enjoyed all the social and educational advantages that accompanied one of the most prominent and wealth families in Utah. She was nineteen years old when her mother died, her father having passed away about five years earlier.

October 28, 1907, Cora was marred to Ernest R. Eldredge, the son of Horace S. Eldredge and Chloe Adelaide Redfield. His father was also one of the most prominent and wealthy men in Utah. He was born in Brutus, Cayuga County, New York, February 6, 1816, and came to Utah, September 15, 1848.¹⁵² Ernest was born February 20, 1868. He first married Kate Sharp October 1, 1890. She died July 9, 1893. He received his schooling at the Social Hall School and the old University of Deseret, and later became representative of the American Steel and Wire Company.

About 1901 as a representative of that company, he and Cora moved to Portland, Oregon. Cora died in Portland, February 3, 1914. Her funeral was conducted in Salt Lake City with burial in the City Cemetery. They had no children.¹⁵³ Ernest subsequently married Elizabeth Morgan; they also had no children. Due to ill health he retired three years before his death in Portland February 26, 1935.¹⁵⁴ His third wife survived him.

45—Sidney Knowlton Hooper and Lucy Hewitt

Sidney Knowlton Hooper, the only son of Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper, who lived beyond infancy or childhood, was born May 28, 1870. His parents lost two sons, the first tow children, one, William Henry Hooper Jr., in his second year, the other, George Hooper, at ten years of age. It seems so tragic that the third son of these distinguished parents should also be taken by death at the age of thirty-eight, leaving but one child, a son, who died when he was two years old. The following excerpts from the heart-felt tribute to her departed uncle, taken from the handwriting of Alice Young Spencer seems most appropriate:

Sidney Knowlton Hooper was a man of charming personality, prominent socially and beloved by countless friends…except for the time spent away at school and college [he] had lived all his life here. He was in the insurance business, being a member of Maine [probably Caine] and Hooper Company at the time of his death. Some five years ago he took up agriculture and had since devoted his energies largely to his land, making a marked success of fish hatching for which he had a great liking.

When the war with Spain broke out [he] joined the Torrey Rough Riders and was made first sergeant of Troop I and later was commissioned by President McKinley. He started for the front, but was among those held in Florida. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution.

In December 1903 he married Lucy Hewitt of Denver and they have since made their home at the Hooper farm in Forest Dale.

Sidney Knowlton Hooper died after three weeks illness of typhoid in his home at Thirteenth South and Ninth East, Salt Lake City, September 16, 1908. His funeral was held from the residence of his sister, Mary Hooper Jennings, with burial in the City Cemetery.¹⁵⁵

46—Alice Hooper and Guy George Palmer

Alice Hooper, the sixth daughter and last child of Mary Ann Knowlton and William Henry Hooper, was born at Salt Lake City, July 16, 1873. She met her future husband, Guy George Palmer, a career military man, while he was stationed at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City. They were married May 14, 1894. He was the son of George Henry Palmer and Estel Hoban. His father was a major in the U.S. Army. Guy was born in Utica, New York, July 14, 1867. He attended Monmouth College, Monmouth Illinois. His military career included two years in the 8th U.S. Infantry, followed by service with the 16th in Cuba at San Juan Hill, with the 19th in the Philippines; subsequently, in 1907, with the 30th in those islands. by then he had obtained a captain’s commission. In 1912 he was with the 18th Infantry. Toward the end of his distinguished military career he had reached the colonel’s grade. The extreme exertions of his long military service in many parts of the world were a great strain on his health. After about a year’s illness he died at Los Angeles, California, October 3, 1930. His funeral was held at Glendale, California, where he is buried.

His faithful wife, Alice, throughout her husband’s strenuous life, had accompanied him wherever he was stationed, as will be noted by different locations where they were stationed at the birth of her children. After his death she continued to live in California. She died at San Marine, November 19, 1940, of a heart ailment. Funeral services and burial were held at a Forest Lawn Cemetery, Glendale.¹⁵⁶

John Quincy Knowlton-Maryette Vanderhoof Family

47—Ephraim Quincy Knowlton and Edith Helen Clawson

Ephraim Quincy Knowlton, the son of John Quincy Knowlton and Maryette Vanderhoof was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, May 1, 1859. At his birth his father was established in the Knowlton-Hooper ranching operations in Skull Valley. The 1870 census record shows Ephraim’s residence in the 19th Ward in Salt Lake City, and that of 1880 classifies him as a bookkeeper, with his family residence at the ranch in Tooele County. Doubtless, most of his schooling, including the elementary grades, was obtained in Salt Lake City; although, as has been noted previously in this work, a family school for the Knowltons was maintained at the ranch, at least for the elementary grades. It is reported by the family that Ephraim was assisted in his continuing education by his Hooper relatives in Salt Lake City, including residence with them there at times.

He was married to Edith Helen Clawson in Salt Lake City October 18, 1881. This was about four years before his father’s families moved from Skull Valley. She was the daughter of Hiram Bradley Clawson and Ellen Curtis Spencer. Hiram was born at Utica, New York, in 1826, and came to Utah in 1848. Ellen was the daughter or Orson Spencer and Catherine Curtis of Canaan Center, Connecticut. She was born August 1, 1862.

Ephraim followed business and commercial pursuits during his entire professional life. “He was for several years manager of the Z.C.M.I. store in Soda Springs, Idaho…later became associated in the building and loan business…. He was connected with the (Century) printing company for about 20 years, until his retirement.” He died at Salt Lake City March 27, 1931.¹⁵⁷ His funeral was held here in the 18th Ward Chapel with burial in the City Cemetery.

Edith Clawson Knowlton was one of the most prominent and talented performers in the field of drama during her lifetime, beginning at the age of twelve. “From 1885 to 1896 she played the leading roles with the historic Home Dramatic Club and also the old Salt Lake Opera Company. She was the sister of President Rudger Clawson of the Council of the Twelve. Her father (Hiram) was one of the first L.D.S. bishops in Salt Lake City and was a member of (President) Brigham Young’s office staff. She took an active part in the L.D.S. Church Relief Society….”

Edith maintained her permanent home in Salt Lake City and all her children were born there, where she died December 31, 1940. Her funeral was held in the Yale Ward Chapel with many member of the Home Dramatic Club participating. Her burial was also in the City Cemetery.¹⁵⁸

50—Marcia Lorena Knowlton and 53—Abbigail Knowlton

Among the great tragedies of pioneer life in Utah was the high mortality rate of infant children. The family of John Quincy and Maryette Vanderhoof Knowlton was no exception. This was detailed in the tabulation of their ten children included in the previous chapter. Of their first three daughters, Harriet died during her first year, Sarah Alice during her third, and Marcia Lorena, known affectionately as “Laura,”a month before she reached eight.

Laura was born at Quincy in Skull Valley October 10, 1868. Her life was spared at least until the noble traits of her character were becoming apparent, and her angelic nature became legendary in this family. Her older sister, Alice, had died near the time her father left for his English mission, and his references to “Ally” and Laura in the available letter from him to her mother, previously referred to this history, was touching indeed. Laura died suddenly from one of those then unidentifiable childhood diseases September 10, 1876, at Quincy. She was buried in the Sidney A. Knowlton plot in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Abbigail, the fifth daughter of this family, affectionately known as Abbie, was destined to live a long span of life in mortality, but to spend most of it as a hopeless invalid. She was born at Quincy on July 19, 1876, and lived there until accompanying her mother to Grantsville during the early eighties. When about three years old she contracted a fever “know in those days as intermittent fever.” It left her mentally retarded, and her body hopelessly crippled. In spite of these handicaps she continued in school until unable to combat the childhood pressures which surrounded her. She studied at home and became a child prodigy in the field of poetry, of such prominence that she was cited by many for her excellence, including leading authorities of the church.

She remained under the constant, watchful care of her mother until her death in 1906, after which her sister, Maud and her husband, assumed her care for more than two score years. During her youth and adulthood, she was an affectionate member of the family, loved and adored by all. At Maud’s death in 1948, she resided the remainder of her life at a rest home in Tooele. She died July 9, 1957. Her funeral was held at Grantsville with burial in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.

Her obituary was carried in the Deseret News and Salt Lake Tribune July 11, 1957. The family library contains an eight page biography of Abbigail, and her brave struggle for earthly existence, written very touchingly by her niece Joan Cooley Leigh.

51—Sidney Algernon Knowlton

Sidney Algernon Knowlton was born in Salt Lake City, July 6, 1871. He was the son of John Quincy and Maryette Vanderhoof Knowlton. His childhood and youth was spent in close association with the children of his father’s three families on the ranch in Skull Valley. Ranch life was to be his main vocation throughout life. At his father’s death he was in the critical middle teens. While maintaining headquarters at Grantsville from the time his mother moved there, much of his life was spent as an employee on ranches in Deep Creek near the Utah-Nevada line. At times he also engaged in mining. Sidney never married and without such companionship it was natural for him to be subjected to the almost irresistible pressures and habits of rough environments in which he was surrounded. Having no children of his own, he occupied a special place in the lives and hearts of his mother and the children of his brothers and sisters. It was said of him by the that “he took upon himself the responsibility of helping others, he was remembered as a very kind and generous man and we all loved him.”

In 1912 he returned to his sister, Maud’s, home at Grantsville desperately ill of diabetes and after intense suffering he died there November 7, 1912. His funeral was at Grantsville with burial in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.¹⁵⁹

52—Maud May Knowlton and Charles Franklin Cooley

Maud May Knowlton was born at Salt Lake City February 15, 1874, the daughter of John Quincy Knowlton and Maryette Vanderhoof. Her early life was spent at Quincy on the Hooper-Knowlton ranch in Skull Valley. Her the three families of her father associated together in a most enjoyable and rewarding environment. The children of all three were of similar ages. Their homes were in close proximity and, being many miles away from any sizable community, their religious, educational and social activities were largely provided for by themselves. Indeed here was a family situation which demonstrated the typical polygamous family in its highest tradition. Maud May thus spent the first decade of her life, and surely for her and the other older children, these were their golden years.

One year before her father’s untimely death in 1886, her mother and her six surviving children, Maud being the eldest surviving daughter, moved from their Skull Valley home to the one which her father had provided for them on Cooley Lane in Grantsville. This home, with its later additions to it as needed through the years, became Maud’s own home throughout her life. Here her brave mother began the awesome task of rearing her family alone.

Maud’s education began at the family sponsored school in Skull Valley, and she completed here elementary schooling at Grantsville. At seventeen she attended the L.D.S. Academy in Salt Lake City for a year, residing with some of her half sisters and paying for her board with food supplies furnished by her mother. Financial considerations prevented the extension of this invaluable experience; however, while in the City she did have opportunities to visit other relatives including her brother Ephraim, and members of the Hooper family. Maud’s mother “was a good seamstress” and her teaching and encouragement, plus a course of training in dressmaking in Salt Lake City, prepared Maud for a successful sewing career throughout her life. This activity proved indispensable to her in providing for her children.

March 18, 1896, at the age of 22, Maud May became the wife of Charles Francis Cooley. He was the son of John William Cooley and Nancy Joan Penelope Hunt and was born June 8, 1869, at Grantsville, Utah. Soon after their marriage they took over the responsibility of Maud’s mother’s home, enlarging it for her mother’s use and their own increasing family. Here for the next sixteen years, seven children were born to them. Here Maud took care of her aging mother until her death in 1906. Here also, until the end of her life, she cared for her seriously afflicted sister, Abbigail. Here also Sidney, her brother, had a home when in Grantsville until his death in 1912.

For the first part of their married life his employment took Charles Francis away from home “into Wyoming and even Canada.” In 1905 he became stationed in Tooele County as local supervisor of the U.S. Forest Service. Doubtless the next half dozen years were the golden years in the life of this family and probably prepared Maud with inner strength to sustain her for another and doubtless the greatest tragedy of her life.

This came June 27, 1912, when Charles Francis was kicked by a horse, resulting in his death the next day. Thus, like her mother, who was suddenly required to assume the responsibility of supporting a family of young children, hers ranging in age from fifteen years down to three, and expecting another, a daughter, Joan, to be born a half year after her father’s death. In addition to her home she was given a $1,400.00 death compensation as provided by the then recently passed Federal legislation. His funeral was conducted in Grantsville with burial there.

Her mother’s faith and courage during this fateful time is well described by her daughter, Hannah:

There are no words to express the quiet that settled over our home. We were all young and could not sense the loss as mother did; but somehow she carried the burden…, life seemed to move on. Mother’s self control was almost unbelievable. She refrained from tears before us children and only when alone would give vent to her grief….

During the years of our growing up mother did everything possible to make a living. She sewed, took boarders, raised chickens, raised cows and sold milk and butter, raised grain to sell, and even sold cosmetics.¹⁶⁰

As her home responsibilities gradually diminished with the advancing age of her children, she also began a service to the church and the local community which should give a sense of great pride to her posterity through coming time. In 1914 she became president of the Grantsville First Ward Primary for a term of two years. Then in 1919 she assumed the presidency of the Relief Society, which important position she held for the next sixteen years. She then became a counselor in this presidency, which responsibility she carried until her death. She also was active in other important local civic organizations.

As her children married and moved to other locations, she greatly enjoyed the opportunities to travel as a part of her visits to them, all of which was a joy to her during the later years of her life. Finally, during the summer of 1948, while accompanying her sisters on a visit to Idaho, she became ill of a liver ailment, from which she died September 17, 1948. Her funeral was conducted in Grantsville with burial there.¹⁶¹

54—Ada Vivienne Knowlton and (1) Roy Tisdale, (2) George Riley Judd, and (3) Ephraim Larson

Ada Vivienne Knowlton, the daughter of Quincy Knowlton and Maryette Vanderhoof, was born at Quincy, Tooele County, November 10, 1878. When a child she moved with her family to Grantsville where she resided until her marriage. She assisted her mother and sister with the family income “by sewing and other hand-work.”

June 5, 1903, she became the wife of Roy Tisdale at Salt Lake City. After the birth of one child, Muriel, they were divorced and she returned to her mother’s home in Grantsville to assist her “ailing mother.” She was married to George Riley Judd, a widower with nine children, November 7, 1905. He was the son of William Riley Judd and Anna Jane Reid, and was born in Lehi, Utah County. He was a blacksmith and a machinist. In 1919 they moved to a home-steaded farm at Burley, Idaho. He worked on the railroad spur being constructed into Burley and she was employed as camp cook. After the birth of their five children, George Rile Judd died March 1st or 2nd, 1913, at Grantsville. Ada, maintaining their home in Idaho, worked in a laundry to support the family. Muriel Tisdale was adopted into her family.

March 4, 1917, Ada became the wife of Ephraim Larson at Burley, Idaho. He was the son of James Larson, and was born at Hyrum, Cache County, Utah, June 26, 1882. After the birth two children, Ephraim was killed in an accident on their farm., June 24, 1920. His funeral was held in Weiser, Idaho, with burial in Salt Lake City Cemetery.¹⁶² Ada then assumed the responsibility of supporting eight children ranging in age from one to sixteen years. This by strenuous exertions she was successful in doing. During her later years she made her home with her daughter Anne, “enjoying her children, her church and her garden.” She died December 18, 1966, at Weiser, Washington County, Idaho, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years.

55—Frank Forrest Knowlton and Mary Alice Sutton

Frank Forrest Knowlton, the youngest son of John Quincy Knowlton and Maryette Vanderhoof, was born at Quincy, Tooele County, Utah, January 21, 1881. Except for his early years on the ranch in Skull Valley and those on his early mission, his entire life was spent in the rural areas of Tooele County and chiefly in Grantsville. With the very survival of the family depending upon the labors of the mother and her minor children, grim necessity demanded that each of them assist in support of the family as early in life as possible. The family’s serious financial condition at that time was mentioned in the last chapter of this history. Frank, beginning at eight or nine years of age was employed by friendly neighbors driving cows to and from the pasture down the Burmester Road. As his strength increased he was given more strenuous farm work, being paid with items of food or other essentials for his mother’s family. It is reported that his early suits of clothes were made at home by his mother.

He had a natural inclination to serve in church activity and throughout his entire life this appears to be the very hallmark of his character. As a deacon he was very faithful in gathering fast offerings, which were mainly in the form of essential food or clothing items. This same enthusiasm was manifest during his other offices in the Aaronic Priesthood. Throughout his life he sang in the ward choir. His elementary education was obtained in the schools of Grantsville. It is reported that he was able to attend the L.D.S. Business College in Salt Lake City for short time.

Frank worked hard to save enough money to support him on a foreign mission and his mother took in washing to assist. Even then it became necessary for him to borrow money before the end of his mission. He received his mission call at nineteen years of age; at this time he held the office of elder. From the community farewell for him and another elder he received eleven dollars. He first went through the Temple with his uncle, Benjamin Franklin Knowlton October 9, 1900, and left for the South Western States Mission immediately thereafter. Arriving at mission headquarters, Saint John’s, Kansas, he was assigned to the State of Texas, serving first at Greenville, and then at San Antonio. During his mission he was assigned to supervise the mission Sunday Schools and to locate church members after the Galveston flood. He also traveled at times without “purse or script.” He was honorably released December 26, 1902, and reached home a few days thereafter.

He began employment after his mission with Samuel Woolley, his wages being thirty five dollars a month, and board. He was later employed by the Western Pacific Railroad and then by the U.S. Forest Service at Vernon, Utah. While in this employment he was married to Mary Alice Sutton at Grantsville September 17, 1907. They spent their first winter in that community “taking part in all the activities of the ward.” He was transferred back to Grantsville early in 1908 and resided in rented quarters. During the following winter, until Christmas time, he and a home mission companion were called to labor among the faithful people residing in the small isolated rural communities in Tooele County of St. Johns, Clover and Vernon. this church service was to become on of the most inspirational of his entire life. Here, in intimate association, spending night times in their homes, they experienced with them their joys and their sorrows. They reported that “this mission and its work always stood out as one of the most wonderful times of their lives.”

Mary Alice Sutton Knowlton was born in Grantsville December 12, 1884. She was the daughter of Hyrum Sutton and Maria Ann Wrathall. Hyrum was born in Deplford, Kent County, England, December 24, 1851. Maria was born in Salt Lake City May 8, 1859. She died when Mary Alice was but nine months old, and until her father married again six years later, she was mothered by her mother’s sister, who was the wife of William Spry, who later became Governor of Utah. Her father had the misfortune of losing by death three other wives, so that Mary Alice had three stepmothers. She obtained her elementary education at Grantsville and later attended the University of Utah where she graduated from the normal course in 1906. She taught school in the Grantsville “Academy” just until the time of her marriage.

During Frank’s productive life, he supported his family by home gardening and commercial poultry raising, with extended periods of employment with industrial concerns in the area, notably at the Flux quarry at Utah Lime and Stone, and later at the Tooele Ordinance Depot.

The life long family home on Main Street in Grantsville was completed sufficiently for occupancy about 1910. It was largely constructed of materials taken from the old unused social hall building no longer in use.

During his early adult life he occupied positions of leadership in church auxiliary positions. However, the golden years of his active life were spent as bishop of Grantsville First Ward which was created by the division of the original Grantsville Ward March 29, 1914. The First Ward retained the use of the original ward chapel, which had been dedicated in July 1866. He was set apart as bishop January 12, 1930, succeeding Bishop Richard Jeffries, its first bishop. In addition to the normal duties of the bishopric, his administration, which continued for the next dozen years, was characterized by his complete dedication to the task of renovating and expanding the ward chapel and its surroundings. Each year needed additions were planned in advance and the culmination of the building program extended until October, 1949, seven year after his release. Then it was reported that “Bishop Frank F. Knowlton who was responsible for planning the new structure and who commenced the building project opened the dedicatory services with prayer.”¹⁶³

Frank’s interest also extended to assistance with other local improvements, notably the erection of the Second Ward Chapel and the Church Seminary Building at Grantsville.

His bishopric, 1930–1942, included the entire scope of the Great Depression and recognition of his leadership and encouragement during that critical period of the Welfare Plan was recognized by general church authorities. Upon his release as bishop he was appointed to membership in the Tooele Stake High Council, and upon division of the Tooele Stake January 16, 1944, he retained this position in the new Grantsville Stake.

In addition to rendering loyal support to her husband during his arduous church services, his faithful wife was continually active in church and civic duties throughout her life. Notably, she served as president of her ward primary for seventeen years and continued as a stake leader in the Relief Society until near the end of her life.

Frank Forrest Knowlton departed this life August 24, 1957. His funeral services were held at Grantsville with burial in its City Cemetery.¹⁶⁴ Five years later Mary Alice Sutton Knowlton died at Grantsville June 25, 1962. Her funeral and burial was also at Grantsville.¹⁶⁵

56—Alzina Knowlton and Ralph James Dickerson

Alzina Knowlton was born at Grantsville November 9, 1884, the daughter of John Quincy Knowlton and Maryette Vanderhoof. Being the youngest daughter of a mother who was widowed two years after her birth, and also to be the last of a large family of daughters, some of whom as children had been taken by death, it was but natural that through her childhood she became the favorite of the family. The present older residents of Grantsville even now hold her in fond memory as one of the most beautifully dressed girls in the community, and how at church gatherings, and also in the large front room of her mother’s home, she would entertain with her beautiful voice. As reported by one of her children, doubtless her mother “spoiled her a little here and there.”

Upon approaching maturity she, too, sensed the responsibility of assisting her mother’s family financially. Accordingly, during her late teens, her education in the local schools was interfered with by her accepting employment at the Last Chance Ranch of John and Hilda Erickson, which was located near the Utah-Nevada line. She probably was there “when her brothers Ephraim and Sidney had mining claims nearby at Gold Hill, and when Sidney worked on that ranch.”

At about the time of her mother’s death in 1906, she accepted employment, probably as a cook, at the Lofgreen Ranch located along the railroad at a point near Vernon, Tooele County. Here she met her husband, Ralph James Dickerson. They were married September 8, 1909. He was born at Bingham Canyon, Utah, February 23, 1888/9 to John George Dickerson and Ruth Deveraux. “His parents were not a religious family. His father was rather bitter toward the Mormon Church.” He was separated from his parents at an early age, which doubtless accounted for his “rather stern nature,”—which was the rather dominant trait of his character as his children remember him. He had a very limited education and was destined to a life of unmitigated common labor mostly, in the areas of farming, industrial, and mining, as well as trapping wild animals. He was a hard worker “and probably was in great difficulty at time to provide for his family.” In order to discharge this responsibility, it became necessary often to move his family to various places in Utah and Idaho. This is probably best described by the places of the births of their eight children as noted herein below. While he did not interest himself in religious matter during the early part of his life, through the influence of his wife and children “toward his latter years he mellowed” and was baptized into the church by his son, Ralph Julian. His son, George Quincy, in a biography of his parents, comments about his parents as follows:

One thing that remains fixed to my memory (of his father) was his devotion to his parents. Even though they had treated him so roughly, it seemed it was his desire to show his parents that he loved them, even thought he felt he had been rejected as a boy. (of his parents) I’m sure all (the) children remember their mother and father with affection…, but the one thing uppermost in my memory about my mother was her solid and unchanging love of her children. She placed their comfort and welfare above that of her husband or herself….

Her lot in life did not include many of the real comforts and blessings of a material nature, and always I remember her giving what was available to her children.

After her marriage she was deprived of the association of my father in her church activities, and this took its toll…Whenever we were near a church she always tried to get us all to Sunday School, etc. The lot of a mother in a split family is hard.¹⁶⁶

The lives of both of these faithful parents ended within a year of each other. Ralph James Dickerson died in Salt Lake City August 26, 1955. His funeral was held at Grantsville, with burial in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.¹⁶⁷

Alzina Knowlton Dickerson died in Salt Lake City July 3, 1956. Her funeral was held at Grantsville. Her burial also was in the Salt Lake Cemetery.¹⁶⁸

John Quincy Knowlton-Ellen Wadley Smith Family

57—Mary Ellen Knowlton and Enoch Leo Reese

Mary Ellen Knowlton, the first child of John Quincy Knowlton and Ellen Wadley Smith, was born at Kaysville, Utah, January 7, 1863. While still and infant Mary, who became affectionately known as Nellie, was taken by her parents to the “Hooper-Knowlton” ranch in Skull Valley, Utah, where her childhood and youth were spent until her marriage. Her mother’s family, together with the other two of her father’s polygamous families, resided in separate homes in two buildings, one a duplex, the other a single house. Nellie, being the oldest daughter, was kept busy helping her mother with her many household duties and the care of the children. “She was happy and contented on the ranch which left her with many pleasant memories.” Her social, educational and religious development were all obtained in this closely knit community.

Nellie became the wife of Enoch Leo Reese, January 8, 1885. Their acquaintance developed from his visiting the Knowlton ranch at Iosepa in Skull Valley en route to one operated by a brother and himself at Keg Springs. Enoch Leo was the son of Enoch Reese and Sarah Ellen McKinley and was born in Salt Lake City July 9, 1955, where his early life was spent and his schooling obtained. He started in the sheep business at Keg Springs with his half brother, Isaac at the age of sixteen. It is likely that Enoch Leo was accompanying John Quincy Knowlton on horseback on his return home after learning of Mary Newton Knowlton’s death.¹⁶⁹ They were assisted in a substantial way by their father, Enoch. After their marriage in the Logan Temple, they maintained a home for a time in Salt Lake City at 20 North Fifth West Street.

In 1896 Enoch Leo Reese accepted a call to a three year church mission to Australia, and was set apart November 3, 1896. “His financial condition was good, and he had sufficient money to finance his mission and also to care for his family during his absence…he sailed through the Suez Canal (on his return home) and on to New Brunswick, where he visited relations of his mother.” He then crossed the United States, arriving home November 29, 1899.

Early in the summer of the next year, he became interested in the then being expanded Mormon Colonies in Northern Mexico. After a preliminary visit, a few months later, he decided to leave Utah and move his family there. Thus began a fateful sequence of events which subjected them during the next dozen years to a program of bold adventure and ultimate disappointment and sorrow. The move to Colonia Chuichupa, a ranching country, located at an elevation of 7,000 feet on the slope of the Sierra Madre Mountains, is well described as follows:

It was the late summer of 1900…A freight car was secured and loaded with ranching equipment, supplies, and some furniture. The family were passengers on the train via Denver to El Paso. They crossed the border to Mexico and Ciudad Juarez, continuing by train as far as Colonia Dublan. The freight car was unloaded here, and the remainder of the long trip, about three days, was made by wagon.¹⁷⁰

In this stern environment during the next several years, the Reese family endured the usual vigors and hardships of stern pioneer life in a new country. The strenuous efforts of parents and children were in urgent demand. Home and farm buildings had to be constructed. “A ready market for their cheddar cheese was found in the Mexican Pueblo, Casas Grandes.”

About 1903 and again in 1905, Nellie was able, with the children, to make greatly enjoyed, extensive visits to relatives in Utah. Beginning in 1909 Lee would take his family to Colonia Juarez, 25 miles away down the mountain to attend the Church Academy there. Early in 1911, while on a trip to Juarez down the narrow mountain road to take supplies to them, Lee became seriously ill. While able to reach his destination, he died four days after, probably of a ruptured appendix. this sudden tragedy radically changed the future life of his wife and children. His death occurred about March 9, 1911. His funeral and burial was at Juarez.¹⁷¹

Nellie only returned to the ranch at Chuichupa to arrange for a neighbor to sell the entire operation, and moved with the children to Salt Lake City. The following year the Mormon Colonies became subjected to the well known fateful Mexican Revolution which made necessary an almost complete abandonment of their homes and other properties, and to save their lives, an unprepared, precipitous escape form Mexico by way of El Paso, Texas. However, her trusted neighbor in the meantime had been able to dispose of the family’s ranch properties; however, the money received was practically all lost through later unwise investments. Thus ended the Mexican adventure of this faithful family.

“To make ends meet, Nellie rented a large duplex on Seventh South and Main Street and rented small apartments; while Knowlton, instead of being able to finish high school and attend the University, secured the best work available to help his mother.” in 1917 he enlisted in the U.S. Army. During the next few years Nellie lived at times with her daughter, Leone, in Arizona, or her mother, who had moved to Salt Lake City in 1919. In 1923, as she was preparing to visit Leone in Arizona and was returning from a farewell party given in her honor by the Ensign Ward Relief Society, while walking across the intersection of Eighth Avenue and D Street, she was accidentally struck by a boy on a sled. She fell backward and suffered a basal skull fracture from which she died in the L.D.S. Hospital February 6, 1923. Her funeral was held in the Ensign Ward Chapel with burial in the City Cemetery.¹⁷²

At the close of this brief treatment of the eventful lives of this family, it seems proper to extend a sincere tribute. Here we have a man and woman who were willing to repeat the same type of struggles and sacrifices of their pioneer forebearers to bravely assist in colonizing an unsettled country in a foreign land. Their mortal lives were cut short, his at 56, and hers at 60 years of age. What an inspiration their example should be to their posterity through coming time.¹⁷³

58—Jane Smith Knowlton and Jonathan Golden Kimball

Jane Smith Knowlton, the second child of John Quincy Knowlton and Ellen Wadley Smith, was born in Skull Valley, Utah, February 12, 1866. She and the other six sisters and one brother of her immediate family spent their early life in that small, closely knit community known as the Hooper-Knowlton ranch. As has been previously mentioned, the children of the three polygamous families of her father enjoyed a unique and happy life during their childhood, and youth. Elementary education and religious training, mainly sponsored by the family, were obtained at the ranch. As Jane and the other older children completed the schooling provided there, they continued at Grantsville, residing in a home presided over by Maryette, the mother of John Quincy’s first family.

When Jane, affectionately know as Jennie, was nineteen years old, all three of her father’s families were moved from Skull Valley to Grantsville. The next year, 1886, her father met his sudden, untimely death, leaving all three families in a serious financial condition. Jennie’s grandfather, John Sivil Smith, then moved her mother and children to his prosperous farm at Kaysville, and provided a separate home for them. This favorable situation was portrayed in Chapter II of this work. Her mother retained this family home in Kaysville until long after all her children were married. Her father lived to the ripe old age of ninety-six years.

Jenni completed her elementary education in Kaysville, attended the University of Utah, and then taught school at Kaysville. September 22, 1887, at the age of twenty-one, she became the wife of Jonathan Golden Kimball. He was thirty-four years of age.

Golden was the son of President Heber Chase Kimball, first counselor to President Brigham Young. He was one of the most distinguished church leader of that early pioneer period of church history, and also the head of one of its largest polygamous families. He came to Utah with the original group of 1847 pioneers. Golden’s mother was Christeen Golden. They were married in Nauvoo, and she arrived in Utah in 1848. Upon Heber’s untimely death in 1868, due to a fatal accident, it became necessary almost immediately for Christeen and her three surviving children, Golden, Elias and May Margaret, to support themselves. Cornelia had previously died when four years of age.

Living in a two room house, she took in boarders and also sewed for Z.C.M.I. to obtain means to support her family. Almost immediately, Golden, at the age of fifteen, also assumed a major role in the responsibility. He secured a team and entered the contracting business. After eight years of relentless struggle, mother and children left Salt Lake City and moved to Meadowville, a small pioneer community, just west of Bear Lake in Rich County, Utah. There a large number of Heber’s sons and previously settled. In this cold, inhospitable country, then largely uninhabited, for the next several years this family struggled for a living in a stock ranching activity. Their first home was a sixteen foot by twenty foot log structure, and later a kitchen lean-to was provided. During this period Golden answered the call for volunteers in obtaining logs from the nearby mountains for the Logan Temple. He records that his faithful mother remained with them until “about the time they left Meadowville.” Many years later he wrote a touching tribute to her devotion to her family.¹⁷⁴

During the summer of 1881 an even occurred which drastically changed the whole pattern of life of J. Golden Kimball. Karl G. Maeser came to Meadowville to urge attendance at the recently established Brigham Young Academy at Provo. Until Golden’s father’s death in 1868 he had attended the available schools in Salt Lake City and it is reported that his father had special plans for his education. Heber’s death changed all that. Not only had his schooling ceased but the opportunity for consistent church experience was neglected by him as well. As occurs so often in human life, the results of a single event, in the case a single message of an inspired educator, drastically changed the course of life of the two sons of this family.¹⁷⁵

It was decided that Golden and Elias would enroll at B.Y.A. that fall, and with mother’s help from taking in boarders and the boys’ labors hauling coal from Coalville, two years of invaluable educational training was obtained by them.

April 6, 1883, Golden was called by President John Taylor to a mission in the Southern States where he labored for the next two years largely traveling “without purse or script.” Upon his release in 1885 he visited his mother’s family in New Jersey. During his mission his health was weakened by a severe attack of Malaria.¹⁷⁶

During the next half dozen years, Golden and Elias transferred their personal interests to Logan from where they engaged in an ill fated equipment business in Northern Utah and Southern Idaho, also some unfortunate land investments in Canada.

After their marriage in 1887, Jennie lived a short time at Meadowville; afterwards their home was established in Logan, where the first three of their six children were born.

In 1891 Golden was called by President Wilford Woodruff to preside over the Southern State Mission where he served until his honorable release in 1894. During that mission period he was chosen a member of the First Council of Seventy April 6, 1892. Upon his release as Mission President, with his brother, Elias, being chosen to succeed him, he moved his family to Salt Lake City thereafter to reside “after having lost all his earthly possessions.”¹⁷⁷ For the next more than two score years, Jonathan Golden Kimball was destined to dedicate all his time and energy in the interest of his church, his family and his beloved people.

He brought to that position of inspired leadership a quality of loft dedicated service with unique characteristics for which he will be long remembered. While still in possession of all his faculties, September 2, 1938, he lost his life due to a fatal automobile accident east of Reno, Nevada, while returning home from San Francisco. His devoted wife also received injuries which affected her until her death about two years later. The car was being driven by his nineteen year old grandson; he was asleep in the back seat when the accident occurred.

This spectacular accident to such a prominent church leader was given wide publicity throughout the intermountain area, and the local papers carried headline accounts of it, including extensive coverage of his distinguished career. Also as is customary, his impressive, well attended funeral was held in the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Members of the First Presidency of the church and other leaders, including members of the First Council of Seventy, participated in the funeral services, with music furnished by the Tabernacle Choir. Interment was in the City Cemetery.¹⁷⁸

It seems appropriate here to include the following references to him by two of his contemporaries. First, is a touching tribute by Claude Richards, his biographer, who probably obtained a more comprehensive insight into his character as a church leader than any one outside his family circle:

He probably taught few classes; certainly he never wrote a book, and yet in his way he was one of the outstanding teachers of our time. It was through these inimical sermons and his earnest manner of living that he taught. He had a way all his own, a way that commanded instant attention, won men to him, and made them remember his very words. His knowledge of the gospel, his trenchant wit, his love of truth, his penetrating insight, his sane philosophy, his great sincerity and faith: all of these contributed to his equipment as a teacher of men…

Most of his time was spent in meditation, much of it in sad reflection. How could this be, when he himself was the laughmaker of the church?¹⁷⁹

The following tribute was paid him by Elder John A. Widtsoe, as editor of the Improvement Era:

To J. Golden Kimball was vouchsafed a choice but uncommon gift. His thoughts expressed in public and private, lingered and echoed long after they were heard. This gift also placed upon him a keen responsibility of guarding well his every utterance and advice. It was this echoing gift that made him so unique a personality—one of a generation. To the best of his ability he used this power for the benefit of his fellow men.¹⁸⁰

As one contemplates the striking contrasts in the forces which forged out the character of this unusual man, who by marriage was joined to the Knowlton family: his early youthful hopes and dreams, as a favored son of a prominent distinguished church leader, and these being shattered by the early death of his father; his being forced while but fifteen years of age to assume the duties and responsibilities of the head of his mother’s family; his alienation from the saving graces of church activity, along with the stern harsh realities of sacrifice and frustration during his young manhood; the sudden burst of hope kindled by an inspired teacher which projected him along a life path of great accomplishment; one has cause to wonder if our church and people will ever see his like again.¹⁸¹

Just short of two years after her husband’s death, Jane Smith Knowlton Kimball, departed this life. During their marriage exceeding a half century of time, she had been the faithful wife and mother of their six children. During his absence in the mission field and the innumerable times he was away from home fulfilling church assignments, she had presided over their home with great fidelity and dignity. Never recovering entirely from the fatal accident which caused his death, she died at the family home, 36 East First North, Salt Lake City, Utah, August 24, 1940. Her funeral was conducted at a local mortuary, with interment beside her husband in the City Cemetery.¹⁸²

59—Caroline Kimball Knowlton and Emelious Godfred Hanson

Caroline Kimball Knowlton was the third child of John Quincy Knowlton and Ellen Wadley Smith. She was born at the Knowlton Ranch, Skull Valley, Utah, April 4, 1869. Her childhood and early youth were spent in a community largely made up of the three families of John Quincy Knowlton. Her mother and family lived in a separate home a short distance away from the other two families, each of which shared a part of a duplex home. She and the older children enjoyed an exciting, happy life. Church and school facilities were largely sponsored by the family itself. She was about in her middle teens when her father arranged for the older children to attend school in nearby Grantsville. When she was sixteen her father met a sudden death by accident, leaving his families in a serious financial condition. Her grandfather, John Sivil Smith, then moved mother Ellen and her eight children to Kaysville, Davis County, where he provided a home for them and supported Ellen’s children until they all were married in homes of their own. These unusual circumstances have been treated earlier in this work.

Caroline obtained church and school training in Kaysville under very favorable conditions. She also attended the University of Utah. She was married to Emelious Godfred Hanson in the Salt Lake Temple February 22, 1894. He was the son of William Lawrence Hanson Sr. and Mary Jane Judson, and was born in Salt Lake City March 15, 1865. He was a resident of the Seventeenth Ward. Emelious’s father was born in Denmark, coming to Utah in 1854.¹⁸³

Emelious became a prominent druggist of Eureka, Utah, and established the residence of his family there. He met an untimely death at Eureka June 24, 1915, at age fifty, due to kidney and liver trouble. His funeral was held in the Seventeenth Ward, Salt Lake City, where he had lived for many years. It was conducted by Arthur F. Barnes, member of the Bishopric and long time friend. Music was furnished by the Ward choir, and J. Golden Kimball was the principal speaker. He was a member of the Eureka Elks Lodge and the Woodmen of the World. Members of the former fraternal order acted as pallbearers.¹⁸⁴ He was buried in the City Cemetery.

Carolyn resided in the Eagle Gate Apartments in Salt Lake City for several years thereafter, during which time their daughter, Alice, went to Paris, France, to study music. There she was married to Marquis de Potestad of the diplomatic service and Carolyn resided with her daughter there until her death December 27, 1944, at the age of seventy five.¹⁸⁵ During the summer 1947, Alice and son Michael enjoyed a week’s visit with relatives and friends in Salt Lake City.¹⁸⁶

60—Martha Coray Knowlton and William Robert Clark

Martha Coray Knowlton was the fourth child of John Quincy Knowlton and Ellen Wadley Smith. She was born at the ranch of her father in Skull Valley, Utah, November 4, 1872/74. She spent the first dozen years of her life within the unique three polygamous family groups of her father. Each family occupied separate homes, but their social, religious and elementary school experiences were gained almost as one united family. This situation continued until her father met a sudden tragic death when Martha was fourteen y ears old. Thereafter all three of his families were left in serious financial straits. As has been explained earlier in this work, her Grandfather John Sivil Smith, a prosperous farmer in Kaysville, Utah, moved his daughter, Ellen, and her children to his farm and provided a suitable home for them.

Martha was given all the favorable church, school and social advantages existent in Kaysville during pioneer times. June 4, 1896, she married William Robert Clark in the Salt Lake Temple.

William was a druggist in Salt Lake City for several years during the early nineteen hundreds, and also probably in Kaysville and Eureka, Utah. About 1940 he and Martha moved to Texas to be with their daughter Helen Andrew. William probably died there. Martha also died in Texas, March 30, 1957. Her remains were cremated in San Antonio.¹⁸⁷

61—Birdie Beatrice Knowlton and John Albert Ekman

Birdie Beatrice Knowlton was born in Skull Valley, Utah, February 27, 1875. She was the fifth daughter of John Quincy Knowlton and Ellen Wdley Smith. According to family tradition, she was first named Birdie with Beatrice being added later by herself. The first ten years of her life were spent on the ranch there, where she associated intimately with the daughters of her father’s three families. These were the happiest years of her life and those early impressions stayed with her. In fact, she is reported to have often remarked later in life that, “she didn’t know what she would have done without the wonderful days at the ranch to remember.” The golden years of this family group were mentioned in the previous chapter.

By 1885 her father established his three families at Grantsville, and upon his death the next year, her mother and family were taken to Kaysville where a home was provided by her grandfather on his farm. In a one room school at Kaysville she finished here elementary schooling and then continued at the University of Utah. In Salt Lake City she resided with her sister, Mary Ellen Reese. While at the University, at the age of seventeen, she met her future husband, and after an unwavering engagement of four years, they were married November 11, 1896. In the meantime Birdie taught in the same school which she attended as a youth in Kaysville.

John Albert Ekman was born in Salt Lake City October 17, 1872. He was the son of John August Ekman and Amelia Sagerstrom (the original name was Ek, meaning “oak”). They were Mormon converts from Sweden who met in Utah and were married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Upon finishing his education he established a meat market on the corner of Fifth South and First West in Salt Lake City, later expanding into groceries as well. While a resident of Salt Lake City he was active in politics. In 1910 he was elected a member of the House of Representatives of Utah’s legislature, serving in the 1911 session. Continuing his political activity he was a Republican District Chairman in 1938. In 1913, after the death of his mother, he moved into her home at 287 Eighth Avenue and this was to be John’s family residence for the next nearly thirty years.

After closing out his business, he became a guard at Bingham, Utah, during World War I, where he was bitten by a Rocky Mountain tick which left him a fever resulting in “leakage of the heart.” Through the exercise of great faith and confidence in the promises in his patriarchal blessing his life was spared, although he never fully regained his health. For several years he was employed in local mercantile establishments. Upon selling their home on Eighth Avenue in 1944, John and Birdie moved to Portland, Oregon, to reside with their daughter, Catherine. During their residence in Salt Lake City they nursed both Birdie’s and John’s mothers during their last days, and the established a reputation of being helpful to those around them who were in distress.

Birdie Ekman was in many respects one of the most gifted of all the Knowlton women of her generation. “From early childhood she wrote poetry and during her active adult life she published many poems and also was a leader in organizing and encouraging local literary organizations, both in Salt Lake City and later in Portland. One year she won the Relief Society poetry contest. For twenty-five years she taught the literary lessons at the Ensign Ward Relief Society. Among her many literary efforts are to be found sentimental references to Skull Valley, her childhood home.¹⁸⁸

Three years after their removal to Portland John died there January 24, 1947. His funeral was held in Portland with final burial in the Salt Lake Cemetery.¹⁸⁹

Birdie continued an active life in Portland with daughter, Catherine. In 1952 she visited her sister, Martha, in Texas and continued her trip to include travel to some of the southern states as well as Washington, D.C. She made visits several times to relatives in Utah and never tired of referring to her childhood in Skull Valley. She died at a rest home in Portland August 29, 1962. Her funeral was held in Portland, with graveside services and burial in the Salt Lake City Cemetery.¹⁹⁰

62—Ruhamah Knowlton and Andrew Howard Burt

Ruhamah (Ruby) Knowlton was the sixth consecutive daughter of John Quincy Knowlton and Ellen Wadley Smith. She was born May 4, 1878/79 at the Knowlton Ranch in Skull Valley, Utah, in the closely knit family community composed of the three polygamous families of John Quincy Knowlton. Her early childhood was spent at the ranch. When she was seven her mother’s family, at her father’s sudden and untimely death, was provided a permanent home by her Grandfather Smith on a portion of his farm at Kaysville, Utah. In this favorable community she grew to maturity. After her elementary school training at Kaysville, at the appropriate time in her life, she attended the University of Utah in order to obtain a teaching certificate.

At the age of twenty-three, April 30, 1912, she became the wife of Andrew Howard Burt. He was the son of Andrew Burt and Kate Jane Howard. He was born in Salt Lake City, August 27, 1882. It is reported that Andrew was a bookkeeper. Shortly after their marriage they probably resided at Rexburg, Idaho, where their only child of record, Jane Knowlton Burt, (Code No. 238) died at birth, March 5, 1913. Their marriage ended in divorce June 16, 1915, and about three years later Ruby met her death from an automobile accident May 6, 1918, while returning from Cottonwood Canyon. It was reported that she was a school teacher in schools in Salt Lake City and previously “she taught at Eureka, Kaysville and Beaver.”¹⁹¹

Andrew Howard Burt lived almost two score years after Ruby died. He died at Long Beach, California, June 12, 1955, with burial there. He was survived by his widow, Vera Burt.

63—Arthur Dale Knowlton and Elizabeth McLelland Palmer

Arthur Dale Knowlton, the seventh child and only son of John Quincy and Ellen Wadley Smith, was born in Skull Valley, Tooele County, December 19, 1881. When four years old his father moved his families to Grantsville and a year later, after his father’s death, Ellen and her children moved to Kaysville to a home provided by Ellen’s father, John Sivil Smith. The foregoing events were presented in Chapter II of this work, and reference to them was also included in the biographies of older members of this family. Arthur’s youth was spent in Kaysville surrounded by the many advantages possessed by this Davis County community. His elementary and secondary education was obtained there in preparation for attendance at the University of Utah. In 1899 he enrolled in the School of Mines which led to a four year Bachelor of Science degree in Mining Engineering.¹⁹² This degree he received in 1903, probably the first representative of the Knowlton family in Utah to have completed this particular comprehensive college course, and possibly the only one even up to the present time. During his college career, he participated in football and played regular right end on the so called junior team. It was not until 1892 that football was established on a permanent basis and for the first few years two teams were featured, classified on the basis of average weight of players. During this period competition came largely from established high schools in Utah. Arthur belonged to the so called 130 pound, or silver sox team. He received his crimson sweater November 19, 1901.¹⁹³

Arthur Dale Knowlton married Elizabeth McLelland Palmer December 7, 1905. She was the daughter of Obed Alley Palmer and Margaret J. McLelland, and was born September 23, 1882. Margaret was a fellow student of Arthur’s in the School of Mines. Her father was born in Nantucket, Massachusetts, and came to Utah in 1870. He became a consulting engineer to some of the largest mining operations in Utah and surrounding states. Possibly his activity in this field interested both Margaret and Arthur to study mining engineering.

Arthur maintained an office in Salt Lake City as a mining and consulting engineer and mineral surveyor for upwards of twenty years, and until his death in 1925. He entered the United States Army during World War I and became a captain in the Corps of Engineers. He was completing the training of his battalion at Camp Humphreys, Virginia, preparatory for over seas service, when the armistice was signed.

At the very zenith of a distinguished career, Arthur met his death in a mining accident in Alaska September 10, 1925. He, with two other local professional mining men was visiting a gold mining property in the Skagway district when the accident occurred. He was the only one injured.

Certainly Arthur was one of the most distinguished professional mining engineers in the history of the Knowlton family; indeed, he was a pioneer who assisted in the development of this course of study at the University of Utah. And although his career was cut so short by his untimely death at the age of forty four, he had made by then a creditable contribution to his chosen profession. It was said of him that “he was widely known as a capable and resourceful engineer and a man of many sterling qualities.”¹⁹⁴ At his death he was a member of the American Association of Engineers and Society of Military Engineers. His funeral services were under the direction of the Salt Lake Post Number One of the American Legion and the Reserve Officers Society at a local mortuary with burial in the City Cemetery.¹⁹⁵

Elizabeth had assisted her husband for many years in his engineering work. Upon his death she and her children moved to San Francisco where she resided until about eighteen months before her death which occurred at Salt Lake City, July 17, 1954. “She was a member of the Church of Christ Scientist and also of the Business and Professional Women’s Club.” Private funeral services were held in Salt Lake City.¹⁹⁶

64—Annie Elizabeth Knowlton and Claude Teancum Barnes

Annie Elizabeth Knowlton was born in Skull Valley, Utah, September 7, 1883. She was the last of eight children born to John Quincy Knowlton and Ellen Wadley Smith. Two years after her birth her father’s three polygamous families were moved from the Knowlton Ranch in Skull Valley to nearby Grantsville. One year later, in 1886, at the sudden and tragic death of John Quincy Knowlton, her mother’s entire family was moved by her grandfather, John Sivil Smith, to his farm in Kaysville, Utah. There he provided a house for them and furnished their support until all the children were married. This situation has been more completely described earlier in this work.

Annie was affectionately known as Nan and doubtless she became the darling of her six older sisters and her brother, Arthur. She was favored during her youth and young womanhood by the very favorable church and school opportunities existing in Kaysville. July 25, 1905, at the age of twenty-two she became the wife, at Morgan, Utah, of Claude Teancum Barnes, the son of John Richard Barnes and Emily Stewart. Claude was born February 15, 1884, at Kaysville, and doubtless he and Annie attended the same school and church of that closely knit community. Annie is described as “having brown eyes, brown hair; and was so beautiful she was probably unexcelled in this respect any place in the world. She at one time received first prize for beauty in the Utah State Fair; and was noted for her brilliance of wit.”¹⁹⁷

Claude’s very unique middle name “Teancum” was the name of a famous warrior as found in the Book of Mormon. His father, John R. Barnes, a Mormon convert from England arrived in Utah in the spring of 1853, and became one of the early settlers of Kaysville. He lived to become not only a dedicated, influential, lifelong member of the church, but unaided through his own genius, also one of the most prominent and influential merchants and bankers in Northern Utah.

Claude early demonstrated a thirst for knowledge, also was very active in his church duties. “For ten years Claude carried the Sacrament to Sunday School and meeting.” After completing his elementary school training in Kaysville, in 1899, at the age of fifteen, he enrolled at the University of Utah. He was active in all school activities, especially debating. His schooling was interrupted in 1902 by his church mission to England where he served until December 21, 1904. It is recorded that “he held more street meetings than any other Mormon missionary…; as high as 80 per month.” After his release he spent “nearly two months in travel throughout France, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Germany, and Belgium.”

Returning home from his mission, he resumed his college training, first at the University of Utah and then during 1905–1906 the University of Chicago Law School. This was followed by attendance at the University of Michigan (law school) 1906–1907. He was on the University (of Utah) debating team in the spring of 1905. “Annie did not accompany him to Chicago, but was with him at the University of Michigan.”¹⁹⁸ While at Michigan University he became a member of the Masonic Lodge and also the Woodmen of the World.¹⁹⁹

Claude was active in politics in Utah, and his services in this field were also in demand outside Utah. He served in the 1913 Utah Legislature as a member of the House from Salt Lake County, where he resided his long professional life. He was admitted to the Utah Bar in 1907; “later to the United States District Court.”

Claude Teancum Barnes was an unusual man in many aspects of his life. The hallmark of his character seems to have been the extremely wide range of his intellectual interests, which is evidenced best by his writings. Most importantly, he was an accomplished lawyer. Then as an author, he wrote literally hundreds of articles, mainly in the church magazines, but also other publications, as an informed, qualified naturalist. He also authored several books, including volumes of poetry, of philosophy and other related subjects. Notably among his books is Toward the Eternal, The Life of John R. Barnes. He was a member of many legal, scientific, and philosophical societies in the United States and England.

Annie, Claude’s beautiful wife, as he described her, was not privileged to live long to participate in the later events of his action packed life. They were blessed with two children, and when the youngest was but eleven, Annie departed this life March 2, 1921. Her funeral was held in the Ensign Ward Chapel, with burial in the City Cemetery.²⁰⁰

Claude married his second wife, Effie Alice Lee, July 16, 1929. They have one daughter, Barbara, who was born June 21, 1930.²⁰¹ Claude and Effie were divorced June 16, 1931.

After his father’s death in 1918, Claude assumed important positions of responsibility relating to extensive business interests of the Barnes family. These included president and manager of the John R. Barnes Company (a large family held farming corporation), and chairman of the board of directors of the Barnes Banking Company. His longtime residence in Salt Lake City was at 359 10th Avenue. He died at his home April 30, 1968, at the age of eighty-four. His funeral was conducted at a local mortuary, with burial in the City Cemetery.

John Quincy Knowlton-Mary Newton Family

Praiseworthy Group Efforts of Orphaned Children

The unique conditions which surrounded the children of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton, when suddenly and tragically bereft of both father and mother, seems to justify a special treatment in this work. As grim necessity compelled them to work together as a group for their very survival early events in their lives will be treated as a family unit. Then, as each in turn married and struck out for himself, those portions in the lives of each will be separately portrayed.

At the death of their parents in 1886, their seven natural children ranged in age from twenty-two years down to five. Added to these were the two foster Indian girls, “Topsy” and “Ressie.”

The older members “refused to have the children separated, and assumed the whole burden of caring for them.” Fortunately Mary Eugenia, affectionately known as Mame, who was twenty-two, had already obtained enough education to continue school teaching; George, age twenty, worked at the ranch in Skull Valley, and “Ressie took care of the house (in Grantsville) and did a magnificent job.”

In 1888, two years after their parents’ death, Mame “sent Cora to Salt Lake to the University for one year, then she and Cora taught, Cora lived with Aunt Rachel Golding (their mother’s sister) while going to school.” Their salaries as teachers ranged around twenty-five dollars a month and board. During the following few summers “these two sisters and Ressie would work in a laundry…the salary was three dollars and fifty cents per week.” By the time Eva, the third sister, reached fifteen she gradually assumed more of the family home duties. William was responsible for taking care of the cow, “and was charged to make her a good cow.”

In 1891 this entire family moved to Salt Lake City. William spent part of his time with brother George, then engaged in mining. “The girls lived in part of Aunt Rachel Golding’s house at 248 West First North in the 17th Ward. Ressie lived next door at 244 West First North and Topsy boarded wherever she worked (domestic). All the girls worked in the laundry, did house work in the summertime.” During the following year the older girls continued school teaching and Eva “attended the L.D.S. College 1891–92 but had been absent a lot because of her health, long hours of sewing had been too much for her.” During the next few years, as will be detailed later, Eva and Lulu, the fourth sister, assumed greater responsibility of holding the family together as the older sisters prepared for marriage. Cora was married June 30, 1892, and Mame February 8, 1894. Cora’s home in Salt Lake City and Mame’s in Tooele County then became headquarters for the younger children of the family. Rather extended biographies of sisters Cora, Eva, Lulu and Inez, furnishing in much greater detail the stories of determination, thrift and family loyalty of the various members of this outstanding family are available. Space limitations forbid more extensive treatment here.²⁰²

65—Mary Eugenia Knowlton and Charles Albert Griffith

Mary Eugenia Knowlton, affectionately known by all as Mame, and deeply loved and honored, especially by members of her family, was born at Salt Lake City February 13, 1864. She was the oldest child of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton, Mary being the mother of his third family. As mentioned previously in this work, about 1874 Mary and three children were moved to the Knowlton ranch in Skull Valley. It is reported that they occupied the north part of a duplex, the southern part being the home of first wife, Maryette. About two blocks north was a frame house where second wife, Ellen Wadley Smith lived with her family. As has been mentioned previously in this history, the children of these three related families spent almost a dozen long remembered years in this environment. There were a few other families in this vicinity, the children of all of them while deprived of schooling “for several years” and finally attended a family supported school,²⁰³ and also were furnished facilities for religious training. All in all the interesting action packed lives of the Knowlton children in Skull Valley had a profoundly beneficial effect upon their future lives. About 1883, “Mame’s father moved Auth Net (Maryette) to Grantsville and sent all the older children of his families to live with her and go to school there.” Counting her own children she was taking care of fourteen that year.

Chapter II of this history includes the tragic story of the financial disaster which was finally suffered by John Quincy Knowlton, his sale of the ranch property,²⁰⁴ and his tragic death by accident, preceded by Mary’s death a few days previously. Also is there mentioned the moving of his three families to Grantsville a year before this double tragedy, where they were suddenly bereft of the means of support. The outstanding record of self sufficiency and unity demonstrated by the older members of this family during the next half dozen years is just above mentioned.

Mame married Charles Albert Griffith February 8, 1894, in the Salt Lake Temple. He was the son of Joseph Griffith and Margaret Price and born December 19, 1868, at Lake Point, Tooele County, Utah. They made their home in this small community where six of seven of their children were born. Charles is reported to have been employed by the Garfield Water Company and the American Smelting and Refining Company. Mame share her home, as Cora, her younger sister, did with the younger members of her parents’ family. Charles died November 9, 1906, as the result of an accident, just four months before their seventh child was born. Consequently the burden of supporting her own family of seven children fell upon Mame’s shoulders, the oldest being but eleven years of age.

The remainder of her life was spent with them in Tooele County where she continued school teaching, the gainful employment which earlier had proved so important to her own brothers and sisters. When she retired she had taught school for a total of twenty-nine years. All during her life, by example and precept, she had also been a loyal church worker. Mary Eugenia Knowlton died at the age of eighty-three at the home of her daughter, Margaret, in Tooele, Utah, March 10, 1947. Her funeral was conducted in the Tooele First Ward Chapel with burial in the Lake Point Cemetery.²⁰⁵

66—George Washington Knowlton and Sadie Jane Lee

George Washington Knowlton was born in Salt Lake City, June 19, 1866. He was the son of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton. Doubtless he was given the name of his uncle who was sealed to his mother at the time she was married to John Quincy Knowlton. This relationship was explained in the last chapter of this work.

As treated just above, he with his mother and two sisters were established at the family ranch in Skull Valley about 1874 and for the next approximately ten years he enjoyed the carefree life in that rural environment, after which, with the loss of both father and mother, his brothers and sisters established themselves at Grantsville. Then twenty years old, as the oldest son he assumed his part in their support. Doubtless, after a brief elementary schooling, his life became devoted to ranch employment and later to mining activity, probably in western Tooele County.

February 11, 1904, he married Saide (Sarah) Jane Lee. She was the daughter of Joseph Lee and Mary Elizabeth Bates, and was born August 15, 1886, at Grantsville, Utah. From the place of birth of their three children, Tooele County was George’s headquarters during his entire life. His mining activity was at Ferber, south of Wendover, Utah. He and Sadie were divorced shortly after the birth of their fourth child in 1912 and she later married Fred Vaughn Kelley.

Their first child, Harold Quincy, died of diphtheria at Lake Point, Utah. The two oldest daughters, Marian and Lillian, George took to his mining location until they reached school age. Then Aunt Mamie Griffith took them to her home at Lake Point so they could go to school. Helen, the youngest, stayed with her mother. Daughter Marian reports that “I stayed with several aunts till I was ten years old, when Aunt Inez Nelson took me and raised me till I was grown and married.” Doubtless George remained in western Tooele County until his accidental death September 12, 1920/21, at age fifty-five. His obituary reads as follows:

At Deep Creek, Tooele County, George W. Knowlton, a miner, was thrown from a horse and killed instantly. Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clock this afternoon at the parlor of Joseph William Taylor (Salt Lake City).

67—Cora Knowlton and Marvin Elmer Pack

Cora Knowlton was the third child of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton. She was born at Grantsville, Utah, February 20, 1869. About 1874 her mother’s family was moved to the Knowlton ranch home in Skull Valley. The golden years of the members of her father’s three families at the ranch have been quite well described earlier in this chapter including the facilities for religious and elementary school training. Her memory of these happy years has be described as follows:

Grandmother’s (Cora’s) memory is of a simple and happy childhood. The many children lived a healthy, outdoor life. There was horseback riding, swimming in the water hole about five miles from the ranch, play and picnicking in meadows around their home, long hikes to the hills with picnics there, and at one time her father bought the children a croquet set and it became the game for all of them.²⁰⁶

Cora was sixteen when her father sold the ranch in Skull Valley. Previously she had joined other of the older members of the families for schooling in Grantsville. Her indispensable part, solidly beside her older sister Mame and brother George, in support of her mother’s children, following the tragic death of the parents, has been previously described.

Her formal education was begun at the family sponsored school in Skull Valley, continued at Grantsville, and completed with one year at the University of Utah. She then joined sister Mame as a school teacher, augmented by summer work as previously described. Cora taught school first at Lake Point, followed by schools at Erda and Ophir, all in Tooele County. After the family moved from Grantsville to Salt Lake City, she taught one year at Bountiful in Davis County.

June 30, 1892, she was married in the Logan Temple to Marvin Elmer Pack. He was the son of Ward Eton Pack and Laura Cravath. Marvin’s father was the son of John Pack and Julia Ives. John was one of the original pioneers of 1847.²⁰⁷ Marvin was born July (September) 21/26 1860, at Salt Lake City.

His education was obtained in Salt Lake City including attendance for a time at the University of Utah. He fulfilled a three year mission to the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, being set apart May 29, 1882, and returning February 26, 1885. July 25, 1886, he married Ada Aletta Allen. They had two children, Marvin Elmer Pack Jr., born May 9, 1887, and Avera Pack, born August 2, 1888. Ada died October 2, 1890, leaving him a widower with two small children. In August of that year he completed a new home on 1840 Lincoln Streen in Salt Lake City which was to become the home of son Marvin and daughter Avera, and later of all of Cora’s seven children. Her daughter, Mary, described this environment:

Our neighborhood was more like a farm community in those days…with the Packs providing most of the farms. We had pigs, chickens and cows much to the discomfort of neighbors when the community began to grow.

Cora was destined to continue to be a precious and invaluable benefactor to the other members of her parents’ family. Her home in Salt Lake City and Mame’s at Lake Point were to be the homes of younger brothers and sisters as each was the most convenient. Her daughter, Mary continues:

They came at papa’s invitation and mother’s four sister were eventually married from the house which was home to them. Aunt Inez was the youngest and did not marry until 1908…and she told me that father was a wonderful brother to all mother’s family and they loved him dearly. Only Uncle Willy, the youngest boy never married, and whenever he was in Salt Lake his home was with us.²⁰⁸

About the time of his marriage to Cora, Marvin was a member of the Salt Lake City Police Force where he served for about ten years. Immediately afterward he entered the service of the Deseret News, and at the time of his death in 1916 he was Salt Lake County circulation manager. He became ill a number of months before he died and although “all mother’s sister were near to give help, papa was so sick he couldn’t stand to have anyone around him but mother.” At his death December 4, 1916, he was but fifty-six year old. Thus both Cora and Mamer who early in their lives were seemingly so close to each other in sisterly love and affection, both were called upon to lose their husbands early in married life, while being blessed with long lives themselves. Cora and the children’s unusually fond attachment to the family home, and love of her flowers which she grew for so many years, is touchingly described by her daughter, Mary, in her mother’s biography.

Cora remained in the family home with her flower gardens as long as she was able before going to live with her youngest daughter, Ada. She died June 22, 1957, at the age of eighty-eight years. She was survived by five of her six children, fourteen grandchildren, twenty-seven great grandchildren, and one great great grandchild. Her funeral was conducted in Salt Lake City.²⁰⁹

68—Rachel Eva Knowlton and John Austin Pack

Rachel Eva Knowlton was the fourth child and third daughter of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton. She was born at Grantsville, Utah, October 7, 1873. Her childhood was spent at Grantsville and at the ranch at Skull Valley. She was ten years old when both her parents died, and as the main responsibility of supporting the family fell upon the shoulder of her older sisters, Mame and Cora, Eve did her part in caring for the home, assuming a greater load with her advancing years. The problems facing this family of children, suddenly deprived of their parents has been previously described. The marriages of her two older sisters, Cora in 1892, and Mame two year later, resulted in a drastic and cricial change in Eva’s life. As has been mentioned, she had trained herself to “become a good dressmaker by this time,” but long hours at this work had undermined her health and interfered with the year’s schooling at L.D.S.U. during the year 1891–92. Upon the marriage of her two older sisters, the unity of the family was seriously affected and Eva and the younger children had but to find homes with one or the other of the older ones as was most convenient. Eva naturally felt the greatest responsibility of this transition.

While visiting the home of Marvin and Cora, Eva, at age sixteen became acquainted with John Austin Pack, Marvin’s brother. Four years later, September 23, 1896, they were married. The measure of her love and respect for Cora’s husband, Marvin, who had been so kind and helpful to all of her brothers and sisters, as well as a reflection of Eva’s deep concern for them, is touchingly revealed by an expression of praise of him written one year before her marriage:

I have been reflecting on the hard life since our parents death. I don’t know what we would have done if Marve (Marvin) had not been so kind to us. Maybe scattered where we might not see each other again. We have been blessed by his counsel and kindness. I know we have been blessed from the time of our parents’ death and ever will be. I long for a shelter for my sisters and brothers and myself where we can be by ourselves.

John Austin Pack and Rachel Eva Knowlton were married in the Salt Lake Temple September 23, 1896. His parents were mentioned in the previous section. His education was obtained in Salt Lake City and was completed by attendance at the University of Utah for a short time.

During their first years of marriage, John Austin and Eva established themselves in Kamas, Summit County, Utah, where their first three children were born. There Austin divided his time between farming and hauling and sawing logs from the nearby canyons, he being part owner in a lumber business. This was dangerous work, especially during winter seasons. May 29, 1906, he was set apart for a mission to the Society Islands. However, for reasons of health he was released March 7th the following year. During this mission Eva took in boarder and also attended to the farm chores.

While Austin was on this short mission the Uintah Basin in eastern Utah was thrown open for settlement. Eva’s younger sister, Inez, submitted a filing for them, and Eva and family moved to Duchesne County, just north of Roosevelt. While for short periods after his return they lived elsewhere, this pioneer community was to be their permanent headquarters during the remainder of their lives. One year, 1898–1899, he taught school in Vernal.

In Kamas Austin had been active in church and civic work as well; however, upon becoming settled in Roosevelt, he began a long and extremely active lifetime program of church and civic work which may not have been excelled by any man of this time within the Uintah Basin. With it all he served another foreign mission to the southern states, being set apart October 28, 1913.²¹⁰

“Eva during the remainder of her life, was his staunch supporter but due to ill health was not able to accept activities outside her home. At times, she was in Salt Lake under the doctors care for herself or children or for schooling or jobs for them.” Her last two children were born there. Her youngest child and only son “died of accidental poisoning at the age of 3½ years. Eva could never get over his death and she died six months later September 1, 1922 at the age of 49.”²¹¹ The following is taken from her parent biography by their daughter, Ardis Pack Barnes:

She was a stalwart in the community and her council was sought at times because of her knowledge in such things. She made some of her own medicine. She was close to her neighbors and they felt her love as well as her family. She grew one of the best gardens in town, a flare she acquired from her mother.

John Austin Pack died at Roosevelt, Utah, May 18, 1950, at the age of seventy-nine, of heart failure. The following comment from daughter, Ardis Barnes, seems appropriate:

The lives of Eva Knowlton and Austin Pack were characterized by hardships and by long and frequent separations. They were always sweethearts. He never married again altho he was urged by several to do so. Their home was one of love and everyone was welcomed there.²¹²

69—Lulu Knowlton and George Fredrick Pack

Lulu Knowlton was the fourth daughter of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton. She was born at Quincy (Knowlton Ranch) in Skull Valley, Utah, April 3, 1876. She was ten years old when she and her brothers and sisters lost both father and mother and were faced with the grim necessity of supporting themselves under very extreme conditions, the nature of which has been previously emphasized. As she grew to maturity she assumed increasing responsibility in helping support the family. She in turn joined her tow older sisters, Mame and Cora, in the school teaching profession.

Lulu was married to George Frederick Pack November 22, 1899, in the Salt Lake Temple. He was the son of George Caleb Pack and Charlotte Elizabeth Morse, and the grandson of John Pack, a pioneer of 1847. George Frederick was a cousin of both Marvin Elmer Pack and John Austin Pack, husbands of her sister, Cora and Rachel Eva. Their first home was a small two room house in the eastern part of Kamas, Summit County. The next year they build their own four room home. Younger sister, Inez, boarded with them while teaching in Kamas. While in Kamas George Frederick engaged in the poultry and lumber business.

With the opening of the Uintah Basin for settlement in 1905, he filed on 160 acres of land located about twelve miles west of Roosevelt, which formed a part of the small community to be known as Ioka. Here in this then unsettled, undeveloped country, this family was destined to spend about a score of years surrounded by the stern, harsh conditions of pioneer life. First they experienced the elemental struggles of home building; then the unrelenting toil involved in the construction of a canal to bring water from a long distance to their land. The, with their own hands, they and their widely scattered neighbors provided pioneer facilities for church and school for their children. Their daughter, Gwen, described the building of the chapel and their own permanent home as follows:

Lu was quite religiously inclined, and although Fred was member and Elder of the Church and didn’t take much part himself, he always urged his children to attend. Eventually rocks were hauled for a chapel and John J. Benson and a Mr. Murphy were hired to lay the stone. Thereafter the church house was the community gathering spot.

A few years after the completion of the one large room of sawed logs (for the temporary home), more logs were hauled and bit by bit the house was completed, including three bedrooms, living room, dining room, kitchen and closet (all under a dirt covered roof).²¹³

Lulu and children spent their first two summers at Ioka and winters at their home in Kamas. But George moved them permanently to Ioka in the fall of 1908. There in this pioneer environment the remainder of their children were born. Death came to their fourth child, Elizabeth, by accident July 24, 1909, while her mother was visiting the canal construction work, and to their youngest son, Wayne, during the influenza epidemic of 1920.

After these strenuous pioneer experiences, George and Lulu, in 1928 decided to dispose of their Ioka property and move to Idaho. Eventually most of their surviving children followed them. In the general neighborhoods of Idaho Falls and Shelley, George and Lulu spent the remaining years of their active life. There were never freed from unremitting toil of farm life, including the well known disappointments and frustrations which characterized the people on farms, even fertile ones, throughout the Snake River Valley in Idaho, during the terrible depression of the nineteen thirties.

Finally they succumbed tot he weaknesses of declining years and their children provided them with a small home in which they lived for a number of years. In November, 1958, George Frederick suffered a stroke and was an invalid until his death January 29, 1963, at the age of ninety-two, at the home of his son, Leland, in Pocatello, Idaho. His funeral was conducted at Brigham City, Utah, First Ward Chapel, with final burial in the Restlawn Memorial Gardens, Pocatello, Idaho.²¹⁴

Lulu lived but a few months after her husband’s death. She had been in very ill health, for several years previously. She died at Othello, Washington, June 25, 1963, at the age of eighty-seven. Her funeral was conducted in Pocatello, Idaho, with burial beside her husband in that city.²¹⁵ The following touching, well deserved tribute to her parents by their daughter, Gwen Pack Benson follows:

Our parents were truly pioneers and helped settle new lands. We revere their memory, and in our estimation, they have been quite wonderful. It stands to reason that they would have to be to make their family and friends feel about them as they do. Never selfish for themselves, but always giving, if they had something to give. We never had much money, but we’ve been rich in family ties and love of one another.

Indeed it may be properly said of these brave and noble parents that they represented pioneer life in its very highest tradition.

70—William Newton Knowlton

William Newton Knowlton was the second son and fifth child of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton. He was born at Quincy (Knowlton Ranch) in Skull Valley, Utah February 25, 1878. William was eight years old when this family of children, suddenly bereft of both father and mother, were thrown upon their own resources. This tragic situation and the marvelous manner in which they met it so bravely has been previously treated in this chapter. As a mere boy William had the care of the family cow.

As has been mentioned, when the girls in the family moved to Salt Lake City in 1891 to obtain better working conditions, William, then thirteen years old, spent some of his time with his older brother, George, in his mining activity. Then as the older sisters married, Cora in 1892, Mame in 1894, and Eva in 1896, William lived at times with each of them. While at Eva’s home in Kamas, he worked in the nearby hay fields. The following comment of his niece, Ardis Barnes, is an appropriate but brief description of events in William’s later life.

He later obtained a job at the smelter (probably Garfield) and was earning $4.50 per day when he received his call for a mission to the Southern States. His sister Mame’s husband was injured and paralyzed a few days before he left. He gave Mame every cent he had and left without purse or script for his mission Nov. 6, 1906. He returned Nov. 27, 1909. On his return from his mission he went to prospecting with his brother, George, and spent much time at that occupation.

Later he lived with his sister Cora for a good many years, sometimes prospecting and other times working. He worked for the City (Salt Lake City) Street Department for several years. Spent some time in the hospital as a result of having been hit by a train accidentally.

He had many good friends and enjoyed hunting and fishing with them. He was well liked, quiet and pleasant to be around. He died of cancer 19 Nov. 1943 at Salt Lake City, Utah.

William died unmarried. It is regrettable that there is not more available information about his life, including his missionary experiences.²¹⁶

71—Inez Knowlton and Carl William Nelson (Nielson)

Inez Knowlton, the fifth daughter and last child of John Quincy Knowlton and Mary Newton, was born at Quincy (Knowlton Ranch) in Skull Valley, Utah, April 7, 1881. Therefore, she was but five years old when she and her older brothers and sisters were bereft of both father and mother, as herein before mentioned, and they were required to assume the responsibility of supporting the family.

Inez began her schooling at Grantsville and moved with the rest of them to Salt Lake City, when she was ten years old. In 1894 when Mamer, her eldest sister, was married, and she and her husband established themselves upon a small farm at Lake Point, Tooele County, Inez lived with Mame.

The next three years she attended the local school. At the age of sixteen, she began an education program which qualified her to enter the teaching profession. This with some interruption, she followed until her marriage in 1908. After two years at the University of Utah, she received a Teachers Certificate and began her teaching career at Iosepa, the Hawaiian settlement established by the church upon the old Knowlton ranch property, where she was born. There and at the communities where she later taught, she continuously engaged in important church activities. During the next few years she taught school in several communities in Tooele, Salt Lake, and Summit Counties. She found time during the young and vigorous period of her life to attend L.D.S.U. in Salt Lake City and also study the piano.

To her credit it should be emphasized that during those years of her active young womanhood, she made a studied effort to obtain teaching positions in or near the communities where her older sisters were living so that she could assist them in the solution of their pressing problems. Her aid in filing a claim for a land entry in the Uintah Basin for sister Eva has been mentioned. While she was assisting Eva she learned of the sorrowful death of Mame’s husband at Lake Point, she being in delicate health, expecting the birth of her seventh child. Thus Inez spent the next several months assisting her older sister during that time of great need.

While she was making her home with Mame, she met her husband Carl William Nelson, whose family had recently moved to Lake Point, and subsequently they were married March 11, 1908. Their wedding was held at the home of her sister, Cora K. Pack, in Salt Lake City and it was solemnized in the Salt Lake Temple January 21, 1909. A brief record of her father is supplied by their daughter Cora:

Carl William Nelson (Nielson) was the third of nine children born to John August Christian Nielson and Annie Sophie Hougesen on October 26, 1886, in Salt Lake City, Utah…. He was educated in Salt Lake City and graduated from West High School on June 1, 1906. He worked as a trucking contractor most of his adult life, but for the last several years was milk inspector for Salt Lake City. Carl was a high priest and served on a high council.²¹⁷

Most of the time while raising their family, they resided in the Twenty Sixth Ward, Salt Lake Stake. Inez was an active church worker. She served as principal of Religion Class, P.T.A. president, literature teacher, and president of ward and stake Relief Societies. Cora describes her mother as being “successful wife and mother, an excellent homemaker, cook and seamstress, and was artistic. She wore a constant smile which practically closed her eyes, but you could always see the eyes sparkle.” Of her father, she continued, that he was “kind, jolly, tidy, honest, and energetic.”

She enjoyed reasonably good health until the last few years of her life; however, during the last two years she suffered loss of speech as well as other of her faculties. She died April 1, 1957, in Salt Lake City with her funeral and burial there.²¹⁸

Carl, the next year, married Hulda Ashby. After a long illness, he died October 5, 1959, at Salt Lake City where his funeral was held and burial took place.²¹⁹

Benjamin Franklin Knowlton-Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards Family

73—Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Sarah Lavina Clark

Benjamin Franklin (Frank) Knowlton Jr. was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, September 11, 1866. He was the oldest son of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton Sr. and Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards.²²⁰ As explained in the preceding chapter of this work, it is quite certain that Frank’s father established himself and wife at the Hooper-Knowlton Ranch in Skull Valley about 1863, three years before his birth. His mother probably went to Salt Lake City at the home of Benjamin’s mother for his birth, and several of her other children, in order to receive better medical attention than was possible in Skull Valley. During Frank’s early childhood he associated with the older children of the families of his father’s brother, John Quincy, and the available school and church facilities were furnished by the closely knit community at the “Knowlton Ranche.” When he was about ten years old, Frank’s father moved his headquarters and home to the Delle, a beautiful but isolated spot on the east side of Skull Valley. He had homesteaded this property and in 1876 erected a commodious log house and necessary ranch buildings upon it.²²¹ However, the church and school facilities at the “Ranche” were still available for Rhoda’s family.

Seemingly, at a very early age Frank associated very closely with his father on a day by day basis and shared with him the rugged life on the range. This included close contact at times with undesirable companions. Also, doubtless, these early experiences prevented his receiving consistent and much needed opportunities for both religious and educational training. Also during this very early period in his life he passed through the traumatic experiences resulting from the childhood deaths of four of his brothers and sisters. And most tragic of all was the early death of his mother. It seems appropriate here to include the following from this writer’s autobiography:

Fortunately, grandfather’s diary covers the period in father’s life between the ages of nine and fourteen years, and Frank is continually mentioned as riding and working beside his father. This close association with his father, a man of unquestioned honor and integrity, accompanied by the discipline of hard work, were doubtless beneficial to father’s over-all development. However, as a boy, his opportunities were extremely limited, and based on this opportunity I had to observe him in later life it seemed apparent to me that this deprivation in his childhood and youth seriously affected him. Moreover his youthful dedication to his father’s economic interests must have naturally developed in him a feeling that he was earning a rightful share of his father’s estate. Here it should be said that there is no indication in the diary that Frank ever failed his father’s trust, even when he was called upon to endure the extremest hardships on the open range or elsewhere.

Being next to the oldest child in his parents family, it is obvious that he too also suffered intensely from the early death of so many of his brothers and sisters. Finally at the critical age of sixteen he was called upon to endure perhaps life’s greatest loss to a youth, that of his devoted mother, a mother whom he was sell aware had rendered much, and who so soon was taken from them. The following excerpt from a small piece of writing by Aunt Ida, his sister, throws some light on this sorrowful event:

“It was in Farmington that mama died, leaving a new baby boy. His name was Willard. I was old enough by this time to realize the seriousness of the sickness, and on the occasion of mama’s last sickness we were taken to Aunt Phoebe Pearts’. I do not know how long we were there. (Ida was but six at the time), but I suppose it was only for a day. I crossed the street to play with the group of children when I saw brother Frank driving by, crying.”²²²

In 1880 Frank’s father moved his family to Farmington, Davis County, Utah, doubtless to provide more favorable living conditions for his wife and surviving children. Two years later, May 3, 1882, his mother died at the age of thirty-two years leaving five children younger than himself. The effects of this tragic loss to all members of this family, both domestic and economic, were almost indescribably. The subsequent two marriages of Frank’s father, the second a polygamous one, including the trying results resulting from it, is well described in Chapter II of this work. The following continued quotation from this writer’s autobiography also seems justified here:

Rhoda’s motherless children were suddenly faced with the age-old problem of adjustment to living with and being cared for by a stepmother, so often a rock in the sea of ordinary domestic life. But theirs was multiplied in seriousness by the wide gap in ages between their father and, in this case, their two stepmothers. Naturally this impact was most serious upon my father, just reaching the time in life when the growing sense of independence, and with it the consciousness of life’s serious personal responsibilities develop so rapidly. Then there were the family problems in the economic sphere, ever becoming more serious by the increasing demands upon grandfather by his rapidly growing families during the time, when due to circumstances which seemingly he could not control, his wealth was diminishing.

It is known definitely that father, during this time was given an opportunity briefly to attend the Brigham Young Academy at Provo and also the University of Utah. A priceless letter from him, included here, was written from B.Y.A. in 1883. It glaringly reveals the small amount of formal education he had received; but, more importantly, it portrays the soul struggle going on within him at the time of its writing. It is deplorable that the touchingly tender feeling there expressed toward his father could not have endured to enrich both their lives:

B.Y.A.
Provo, Utah
Jan. 20, 1883

Mr. B.F. Knowlton

Dear Pa:

I received your welcome letter yesterday and was glad to hear from you. Our term was out Friday last and I was transferred into the next higher department, which pleased me very much, but I all most thought I was free from offices but I have been appointed monitory of our department.

Our Bookkeeping Teacher Pro. D. S. Dow has gone to S.L.C. so that we will not have to go to our class to marrow night, so that I will have time to wright to day. I have not slept with Abe since I came back from home the last time. I sleep with Wilford Richards.

If you have a chance to sell my horse for what he is worth, I wish you would, because he would do me more good in cash than he does in his present condition, for I don’t like to bother you for all of my schooling because I don’t see ho I am going to pay you back for some time and I don’t think my conduct in the past would marrit so much kindness as you have shown me and are showing me all the time; but I see where I hav don wrong and am trying to liv to men the past as much as I can. I hav an awful cold and hav got a coff.

I will put this letter on the 4 aclock train tonight so that it will get to Farmington tomarrow. Please excuse the hasty scribble. Giv my love to all and write soon to your loveing son

Frank Knowlton

It is quite certain that father, except for the very limited time he spent at school, continued to work with his father either on the Burk farm at Farmington, or from the Delle ranch headquarters in Skull Valley. As a boy I remember members of the family saying that father was one of the few young men who could ride on one horse in one day the estimated ninety miles distance between Farmington and the Delle.

Father and Sarah Lavina Clark, my mother, were married in the Logan Temple, April 14, 1886. He was approaching twenty and she, nineteen.²²³

Just before their marriage, as was customary at that time, they were rebaptized in the Temple.

Sarah was the daughter of Ezra Thompson Clark and Susan Leggett, was born at Farmington, Utah, September 27, 1867. Her father was a convert to the church in Illinois and arrived in Utah in the fall of 1848. Her mother, Susan, was a convert from England. She came directly to Utah, the first of her father’s family, in 1861. That year she became the polygamous wife of Ezra T. Clark. He became a prominent churchman, farmer, banker, and businessman, one of the most influential men in Farmington and Davis County.²²⁴

Surrounded by the two large families of her father, who was always a church leader, Sarah had all the advantages, social, religious and educational, that the favored community of Farmington possessed. Throughout her childhood and youth she participated to the fullest extent in all suitable church activities, she was a member of the first primary organized in the church in 1878. She was a natural homemaker skilled in all its arts by her mother, and while some of the other members of the family sought outside higher education, hers was limited to one year at the B.Y.A. at Provo as has been mentioned.

The lives of this young couple present a classical study in contrasts. In Sarah’s home there was peace, mutual love, and never any financial worries; her father’s families presented a polygamous family in its very loftiest tradition of that period. Economic conditions, always a basic factor in the success or failure of polygamous marriages, were with Frank’s father’s family quite the opposite when compared to the Clarks. Moreover, Sarah’s father entered that relationship at the time when no sanctions, legal or otherwise, were against its practice. However, Benjamin’s over all financial condition rapidly grew worse at the very time the need of increasing financial support was multiplying. This writer’s comment about this situation seems appropriate:

Even after those many years, I do not cease to wonder why a marriage was consummated between my father and mother, with so many contrasts; and so few similarities in their lives…She had insisted on a temple marriage with father and had high hopes that this would result in father’s adjusting the manner of his life to the extremely high standards that had characterized her own. As has so often happened in situations of this kind, those hopes were not realized…²²⁵

For several years after their marriage, Frank was associated with his father in the continuing Skull Valley operations, with his growing family residing at Grantsville, this probably continuing until his father sold the Delle property in 1892.

Shortly thereafter Frank’s wife and children were established at Farmington on the east side of the state road at the head of Burk Lane. They first lived in an old house, but in 1893 moved into a newly constructed one, which became the family headquarters for the next two dozen years. Relations between Frank and his father gradually worsened until there seemed to be almost complete alienation between them. Moreover, his overall problems were such that apparently “the obstacles which faced him, economic and otherwise, were more than he could surmount, so that he concluded that a sojourn for a time half-way around the world might assist him to face reality.”

Sometime during the year 1900 he left his family to accept United States civilian employment in the Philippines on the Banquet Road then being constructed. This highway connects Manila with an adjacent nearby mountain retreat.²²⁶ For several months he sent money home for the support of his family the children then ranging in age from less than one year to thirteen. When this assistance ceased, it became necessary for the older children to obtain outside employment as soon as they were able. Sarah’s mother Susan Leggett Clark, died November 4, 1902, leaving her two youngest children, Horace and Laur, at her home. Fortunately it was mutually advantageous for her to move her family into that home on Clark (now State) Street. There she was able to take in boarders, and her older boys could more easily find employment on nearby farms of her brothers.²²⁷

In 1905 Sarah made desperate efforts, without success, to obtain official appointment as postmistress in Farmington. In the meantime rumors reached Farmington that Frank had got himself in trouble in the Philippines, and no direct word came from him for several years. She was strongly advised, in order to assist in that application, to file suit for divorce. This she obtained July 8, 1905. Frank returned from the Philippines two years later and sometime during 1907 they were remarried.²²⁸ Before reaching home he had obtained permanent employment as a civil engineer on filed work from the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, a remarkable personal achievement considering his lack of formal education and minimum experience. This employment was to continue for a number of years.

It was painfully apparent that his patterns of life had not improved during his absence; however, he demonstrated at once an overwhelming desire to do what he could otherwise to regain his proper position with wife and family. While his earnings were of inestimable value, more importantly was the boosting of family morale, and with some of the older children this proved to be vitally important. In 1907 the family returned to the home at the head of Burk Lane in Farmington which, in the meantime had remained vacant most of the time. Certainly one of the most important advantages gained by the remarriage was the addition to the family of their youngest son, Stewart Hood Knowlton, born January 29, 1909.²²⁹

All in all the half dozen years, 1907–13, could well be called in some respects the golden years for the family. During that period he joined the Elks Lodge at Salt Lake City.²³⁰

While Frank was in the Philippines, his father’s estate was distributed without recognition of him, and this so affected him that not long after reaching home he instituted court action to defend his rights, thus antagonizing most of the surviving members of his father’s family. The financial advantage to him from this action proved to be very minuscule, and it but served to open the old wounds, from which he suffered during the remainder of his life.

Beginning in 1912 other troubles began to beset him. Prior to that time he had been given the very important administrative position of assistant engineer on large construction work near home. Following reorganization of these railroad companies, the men who befriended and increased his responsibilities were either transferred or retired and his security of employment almost immediately vanished. Finally in 1913 he decided again to leave his family and move to San Francisco, thus hoping to find employment more easily. After returning home for a visit in 1914 he then concluded that it would be best for him to leave Utah permanently.²³¹

In order to be nearer to suitable employment for the older children, during 1914 Sarah and those remaining at home moved to Salt Lake City, never again to reside at Farmington. Two years later she sold the Farmington home.²³² It becoming apparent that a reconciliation with her husband was impossible, she filed suit for divorce October 22, 1917. This was granted without protest. Not long thereafter, in California, he married Miss Louise Buzzo with whom he became acquainted at a Christian Science Summer Camp. He lived comfortably with her during the remainder of his life. Encouraged by Louise and others, he became an ardent Christian Scientist and was able, through that influence, to overcome “those personal habits which for so long had seriously affected his relationship with his own family.”²³³

The lived for many years in Seattle with scarcely any contact with his family in Utah. She became a longtime employee of a local newspaper there and was the main family bread winner. He visited Sarah and the children in 1932. His condition then seems to be fittingly described as follows:

He seemed completely satisfied with Christian Science, and his manner of life now appeared to be above reproach. However, I thought I could sense a hidden yearning to return to Utah, probably brought on by a feeling, not then outwardly evident, that his health was beginning to fail.²³⁴

Not many months thereafter he became so ill that he was sent to a Christian Science Sanatorium in San Francisco. Not recovering there he requested that he be brought by train to Salt Lake City. En route he died suddenly at Sparks, Nevada, April 15, 1933. Louise accompanied his body, presumably so that he could be buried at the Farmington Cemetery. She later changed her mind, deciding that his remains be sent back to California. There they were cremated with burial in the urn garden at the Sunset View Cemetery.²³⁵

Turning to Sarah Clark Knowlton, she continued her unselfish, dedicated life of personal sacrifice in the interests of her children. The very hallmark of her character had been and continued to be her unwavering will, that through her influence and determination they and their children during her lifetime, if she could prevent it, would not be denied the opportunity to understand and be benefited for the principles of the religion and culture to which her parents and herself were so solidly committed, and for which they had given their all. Again it seems appropriate to quote from this writer’s autobiography:

In spite of all the frustrations, disappointments and sorrows which were almost continually her lot (during her adulthood) these being intensified by the necessity of carrying the double load of parenthood for much of the time, to her everlasting credit she set a noble example of steadfastness to holy principles, and unsullied faith in the goodness of God, and a firm assurance of the ultimate triumph of justice and right. She possessed to a remarkable degree an almost unbelievable strength and courage to withstand crisis after crisis as they appeared.

As one now looks back upon her struggles to shield and protect her children as they, with her faced life’s grim realities, certainly none could fairly say that she did not measure up to the limits of her strength and ability.²³⁶

Sarah Clark Knowlton died April 30, 1955, at Salt Lake City, Utah. She had enjoyed reasonably good health until she suffered a hip fracture several months previously. Her funeral was conducted at a local mortuary and she was buried in her family plot in the Farmington Cemetery.²³⁷

It seems fitting to close this portrayal of her life with an excerpt from the last paragraph of the tribute paid her by her brother Amasa L. Clark at the Clark Family meeting October 1, 1948:

Clark went on a mission; Dick went, and Alta and Horace. I don’t know how they did it. I believe they rather had the idea that they had to make good for their mother’s sake. It is said that words once spoken and eggs once broken are not easy to repair. Sarah watched her children with a double responsibility, as father and mother, and how nobly she has succeeded. She could see the beauty of the hills and the glory of the creator in the moonlit peaks at night. She understood how to be wise and just. She understood that to criticize to strongly was not good. She believed in seeing the best in all people. I think we have said the whole story by calling attention to her face. All the loveliness of her character is written there. She was a beautiful girl and now that she is past middle age she is a handsome woman. That is the picture of her life.

75—Harriet (Hattie) Knowlton and Daniel T. Miller

Harriet Knowlton, the oldest daughter who lived to maturity, and the fourth child of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards, was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, November 23, 1870. Her early childhood was spent with her parents at the Hooper-Knowlton ranch in Skull Valley where her parents had resided for several years before her birth. When Hattie was about ten years old a new home for the family was established at the Delle in a commodious log house. The surroundings have been previously explained. In 1880 the family was moved to Farmington, doubtless to provide better school and church facilities as well as more comfortable living conditions. As has been mentioned earlier in this work her mother, Rhoda Ann Jennetta, died May 3, 1882, when Hattie was but twelve years old. This loss left Hattie, her sister and four brothers prostrate with grief. And, as has been emphasized previously, not only that but it resulted in the necessity for a sudden reorientation of the entire life’s program of Benjamin F. Knowlton.

After Hattie had completed her elementary education at Farmington, she attended both the Brigham Young Academy and University of Utah in preparation for a distinguished career as an outstanding school teacher. Her brother, Quincy, reported that in 1891 she was teaching at Grantsville, and it will be noted below that she also taught in Salt Lake City and then at Farmington.

June 25, 1896 she was married in the Salt Lake Temple to Daniel Thomas Miller, who was born at Farmington, May 15, 1870. He was the son of Jacob Miller and Helen Marr Cheney, prominent church and business leader of Farmington.²³⁸ Daniel was a promising young professor at the Brigham Young College in Logan. About one month after their marriage he was called to preside over the Society Islands in the Pacific.²³⁹

During the summer of 1898, Hattie, who was living in the home of her father’s third wife, Katie, became very ill of appendicitis. After suffering intensely for several days she was taken to the L.D.S. Hospital in Salt Lake City where, after surgery, she died August 6, 1898. This tragic event was an almost unbearable loss to her immediate family, and seemingly a cause of great grief and shock to the people of the small community of Farmington. It was hard for its people to understand why such an unusually brilliant young woman, one of their favorite school teachers, a faithful church and civic worker, would be taken by death, at the very time when her husband was serving faithfully as a missionary. The effect of this sad event, and it traumatic impact upon the community as evidenced by an overwhelming attendance at her funeral, to this writer, then a boy of seven, this his first tragic event, can never be forgotten. The following obituary written and signed by one of the most prominent citizens of Davis County seems to reflect the feelings of a whole community as to justify its inclusion here:

Obituary

Harriet Knowlton Miller

Farmington, August 8th.—Today were performed the last sad rites over the remains of the late Harriet Knowlton Miller. The meeting house was filled to over-flowing. The well-known life and character of the deceased brought mourners from all parts of the county; also many friends and relatives from greater distances. After prayer by Elder Golden Kimball words of sympathy were offered by Pres. Joseph F. Smith, Elder Franklin D. Richards, Bishop J.M. Secrist, J.N. Fox, Eugene Cannon and N.T. Porter.

The occasion was one of exceptional sadness. Indeed, it could truly be said, “No one but mourners came, yet all, it seemed, were there.” The shock of the sudden passing off of such a useful life moved all to sorrow. Few knew of her brief illness save by report in the daily papers of her favorable condition subsequent to an operation for appendicitis. When the sad intelligence was received it is but just to say that an entire community keenly felt the loss of a faithful member. The school children wept for their kind and devoted teacher, a large family was prostrate with grief; in short humanity had lost one of its truest friends.

Harriet Knowlton Miller, daughter of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Rhoda A.J. Richards, was born in Salt Lake City, Nov. 23rd 1870. A few years later the family moved to Farmington, Davis County, where they now reside. During those early years four sweet children were taken from the hearth-stone, but the eleventh year of Harriet’s life was reserved for her greatest sorrow. May 23, 1882, found her the elder of two sisters, who with the father and four brothers, gathered around the bier of dearest wife and mother. Yet the same that took mother gave to the elder sister the key of trust and home guardianship. This she kept sacred. The girl became woman tutor to home’s confident, the bereaved father’s staff. Not long and the guide-hand of home was to be felt beyond the family circle. First as the student of Brigham Young Academy and University of Utah, then as teacher in the public schools of our largest city and later in those of her village. She wrote the epitaph of her public life as upon the heart tablets of father, brothers and sister. She had written in honor and love the story of her life in the home. This unstinted sacrifice of a life for the uplifting of the lives of others did not end here. The Sabbath school had its share in that life consecrated to good, and the improvement society of her own sex know their leader in the person of Hattie K. Miller. Charity, too, felt her presence as secretary of the missionary aid society. Yet no class or clan held the charter of her sympathy, for as fitting close to the chapter of her noble life we recall the earnest paths of affection manifest in her appeal at the lat memorial service for a monument in memory of those who lost their lives through the destruction of the ill-fated Maine.

While all who knew her mourn, there is one among those whose circumstances is loud in its appeal for sympathy. On the 25th day of June, 1896 Hattie, as she was familiarly known, became the bride of Prof. D.T. Miller of the Brigham Young College. Not five weeks later there came a farewell, Elder Miller taking leave of friends and dear ones including the all, as it were, of his affections, in response to a call to preside over the South Sea Islands mission. Thousands of miles of ocean wave rolled between him and the death bed of his loving companion. The story of his sorrow must forever remain unwritten.²⁴⁰

Hattie’s burial place was the Farmington City Cemetery.

In the family library is a copy of a priceless, four-page letter of Katie’s, the noble polygamous wife of Hattie’s father, addressed to Daniel in the mission field. It is dated August 25, 1898. It was probably written as soon after the funeral as she could overcome her deep feelings of sorrow. Space here will permit but brief references to it. After advising him of her struggle to find words of comfort, she continues that “only God can do that…All that I can think of, that would be of interest just now is what I can tell you of her last days with us, and I suppose you already know she was more intimately associated with me than any one else.”

Katie then gave him a running day by day account of those few days, when they discussed at length the plans of her preparation to meet Daniel at San Francisco upon his return, the needed money to be obtained from her next year’s salary, the details of her wardrobe, etc. She portrayed touchingly those last few nights before she went to the hospital, when she “slept with me or in my bed and I by the side or on the floor,” and during the night “we occupied the same bed, but neither slept much. She was very nervous. I held her hand and rubbed her head nearly all night.”

This is no place or time to attempt to present the rights or wrongs of the plural marriage system as practiced during Katie Knowlton’s life, or to judge the actions of such as she, who by their very lives of dedication and sacrifice gave best evidence of their belief in its divinity. And where can one find a more inspirational demonstration of that belief than that portrayed so touchingly by the simple lines written by this sorrowful, faithful woman; here was that marriage system presented in its loftiest tradition.

As tragic as Hattie’s loss was to the entire Knowlton family, surely her father was the most seriously affected. The writer of his obituary referring to this continued: “She was the greatest pride and joy of his life and since her death he has never been his old self again.”²⁴¹ Now looking back through upwards of a century to these sorrowful days in the history of the Knowlton family, it appears that Benjamin’s attraction to Hattie was doubtless, intensified from the remembrance of those other terrible days so dramatically described by him in his diary of December 1876, when just before they endured the loss of two more of these young children, Hattie seemingly was snatched from the very jaws of death.²⁴²

This seems to be an appropriate place, also, to mention still another cause of sorrow to this many of many sorrows; namely, the accidental death of his and Rhoda’s son, Willard, who was born April 8, 1882, less than a month before Rhoda died. Willard lost his life December 18, 1884, from falling upon a pencil which penetrated one of his eyes.²⁴³

Daniel Thomas Miller, missionary president, probably remained at his post until sometime during 1899. This writer remembers him on his return, and the apparent sorrow over Hattie’s death seemed long to remain with him.

He later resumed his position as professor of languages at Brigham Young College remaining there for a number of years. “Leaving the teaching profession he turned to scientific farming and inventing. He was the inventor of a new process for crushing and refining ores…He lived in California about two years and died there in April, 1919 at the age of forty-nine. His body was brought to Farmington where after graveside services, April 30, 1919, he was buried in that cemetery.²⁴⁴

78—Ida Knowlton and Siverin Norman Lee

Ida Knowlton was the seventh child of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards. She was their only daughter of a total of four who reached maturity and was blessed with children of her own. She was born at the Delle, near Quincy (Knowlton Ranch), Tooele County, Utah, November 4, 1876. The following is a terse wording from her father’s diary under that date:

We were blessed with a fine daughter at 2 o’clock p.m. Mother and child seem to be doing well.²⁴⁵

The family at that time, as has been mentioned earlier in this work, was living in a desert home then being completed. In 1880 her father moved his family to Farmington, and two years later, May 3, 1882, Rhoda, her mother, died. September 14th that year he married Minerva Edmeresa Richards, and March 20, 1884, Catherine Aurelia Hinman. About this time he began to maintain the two headquarters, Farmington and at Delle, where both is wives and some of the children at various times resided. This made it easier for them to avoid arrest and prosecution under the laws against the practice of polygamy. Much of this time until the Delle property was sold in 1892, especially during the summers, the children of Benjamin’s first family lived at Delle.²⁴⁶

Ida wrote two biographical documents which are available, one, Benjamin Franklin Knowlton—Papa as I Know and Loved Him; and secondly, Autobiography of Ida Knowlton Lee. They have already been referred to in this work. They are both limited in scope to the Skull Valley periods, but do describe in much detail, many of the childhood experiences of Rhoda’s motherless children at the Delle, especially during the period 1884–92. These interesting stories portray their love and devotion toward their father, and his noble traits of character; also is described many interesting experiences with the Indians of Skull Valley, as well as the small wild animals encountered there. This eight year period seemingly was for these younger children their best remembered years, years of intimate association with a noble father trying the best he could, at least partially, to fill the void left by an angelic departed mother. The setting was a humble log cottage surrounded by desert plants and animals where the stars seemed to be their nearest neighbors. Below is a touchingly worded excerpt from Ida’s autobiography:

At night Papa would always put us to bed. He would tell us stories and then sing us to sleep…thought it foolish and said Papa was spoiling us, but I was fully grown before he ceased making the rounds to tuck us in every night. He also heard us say our prayers night and morning. I know we were quite old before this custom stopped and then he always inquired of us if we had said them.

And speaking of prayer reminds me of the many times I have seen the sick healed through prayer and even the prayers of little children. One time our baby brother was sick. Towards evening he improved and the older members of the family went out to spend the evening. A little later on his temperature came up and four of us knelt around his bed and prayed for him. He immediately quieted down and went to sleep and it seemed very plain to us that Mama was there with us. But never from the time of her death until I was grown did it ever seem that she was far away. It seemed that I could always go to her when I was lonely and receive comfort, and when I was tempted to do anything that was not right, I knew I should not because it would grieve her. I was so sure that she knew everything I did or said.

While Ida may have attended school at Grantsville during her early life, but at least when she was thirteen she was at school in Farmington,²⁴⁷ and she probably completed her elementary school training there. She completed her formal education at the L.D.S. Business College in Salt Lake City where she was, no doubt, preparing herself to obtain employment as soon as possible in the business world. It was there during October, 1898, that she met her future husband, Siverin Norman Lee.

He was the son of Siverin Nelson Lee and Emma Lavina Ensign, and was born at Brigham City, Utah, October 4, 1875. Norman’s father was born in Denmark March 21, 1852. He was baptized there when twelve years old. He came to Utah in 1866, first settling in Morgan County, moving to Brigham City in 1872. An accomplished musician, he was leader of the local band and choir for many years. He also was Stake Clerk of Box Elder Stake for upwards of thirty years. He had two families, became the father of twenty children, and served time in the Utah Penitentiary for unlawful cohabitation.²⁴⁸ His first wife was Emma Lavina Ensign,²⁴⁹ and Norman was the oldest of eleven children of this family.

Norman received his elementary education at the Box Elder Stake Academy in Brigham City, followed by attendance at Utah State Agricultural College in Logan. From his parental background it was but natural that as a youth he would be active in the church; in fact, this undeviating loyalty and dedication of its interests throughout his entire life became the hallmark of his character. He advanced steadily through the offices of the priesthood, first being ordained a deacon by his father October 11, 1891. October, 1896, he was ordained a seventy and set apart as a missionary to Sweden, arriving at his field of labor, by way of London, November 5, 1896. He was honorably released October 8, 1898.²⁵⁰

Before beginning his professional life he decided to attend the L.D.S. Business College, where he met and fell in love with Ida Knowlton. In the family library is a delightful two-page letter written by their daughter, Mary Lee Higgins, which describes in detail the shifting scenes of this interesting courtship. The following direct quotation covers his interview with Ida’s father, who was blessed to live long enough to play a part in this courtship and their marriage.

A few days thereafter I went with her to Farmington to interview her father. It was at Aunt Katie’s home that I met Bro. Knowlton. He was very kind, but didn’t put himself in my way until towards evening. I spoke up and told him that I loved Ida and wanted her to be my wife. He said that if I was sure of my feelings and ready to settle down to married life, he had no objections, if she were of the same mind as I. Thus came about our betrothal, which led to our marriage on Sept. 11, 1899, and the beginning of a union that we join in saying has been a success.

The marriage was performed in the Salt Lake Temple September 11, 1899.

After their marriage they lived a short time in Price where Norman worked for the railroad as a telegraph operator. Following this brief assignment they moved to Brigham City. This favored community, Norman’s native city, was destined to be their home for the remainder of their lives. Her they would rear their children and would become one of the most prominent families of their generation, both in church and civil life.

His local church and civic activities began at once. November 25, 1900, he became a member of the presidency of the 133rd Quorum of Seventy; in 1904 he was made Clerk of Brigham City’s Third Ward. That same year he acquired controlling interest in a weekly newspaper. The Box Elder News, and about that time purchased a local abstract business. These two ventures became his major civic interests throughout much of his active life.

During the years 1909–11 he fulfilled a mission to England, leaving his faithful wife Ida and four daughters, ranging in age from one to eight years. It seems appropriate to quote the following four their daughter, Ora, who herself later fulfilled two missions for the church.

While Daddy was still away, Mother tried several ways of helping to earn money for our support, as well as caring for us. Two I remember—she tried door-to-door book-selling, and fruit picking. She was very quick, and could pick more fruit than most people, so she earned fruit to can for us, as well, I am sure, for money besides. I recall that on one occasion, while sitting on the limb of a cherry tree, reaching up, picking the fruit with both hands, the limb broke and let her fall to the ground, injuring her quite severely.²⁵¹

One of the major accomplishments of his British Mission was his service as associate editor of the Millennial Star.

Upon returning home, Norman was chosen first counselor to Bishop David P. Burt, Brigham City Third Ward, June 22, 1913, in which position he served until called to become president of the Box Elder Stake, being set apart March 8, 1917. S. Norman Lee served with distinction in this very important church position for the next nineteen years, until his honorable release June 18, 1936. As a fitting climax to his life long distinctive service to the church, he was ordained a patriarch March 18, 1945, in which position he served during the reminder of his life.

Ida Knowlton Lee, the mother of six children, measured up in the highest tradition to the manifold responsibilities which she so willingly accepted, and so successfully and distinctively discharged. She served as teacher and stake board member in both the Relief Society and the Religion Class, and also was elected county captain of the first Daughter of Utah Pioneers in Box Elder County.²⁵²

During her adult life she concerned herself with the historical record of her family, particularly that of beloved mother and grandmother, Jennetta Richards, both of whose short lives were characterized by hardships and extreme sacrifices. She departed this life at Farmington, Utah, October 17, 1961. Her funeral was held in the Brigham City Third Ward Chapel, with burial in Brigham City Cemetery.²⁵³

S. Norman Lee, church man, patriarch, civic leader, lived less than two years later. He died at a daughter’s home in Orem, Utah, January 6, 1963. It is reported in his obituary that he had conducted his abstract business for forty-six years and was president of the Box Elder News for thirty-four years. He, also, was one of three men who laid the foundation for the annual “Peach Day” celebration in Brigham City. His funeral was also conducted in the Third Ward Chapel with burial beside his wife in the Brigham City Cemetery.²⁵⁴

79—Heber John Knowlton

Heber John Knowlton was the son of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards. He was born at Quincy, (Knowlton-Hooper Ranch) Tooele County, Utah, September 20, 1878. During the six months period June 22nd to December 31, 1878, his father, due to “sickness,” discontinued his day by day journal or diary so Heber’s birth was, therefore, not therein mentioned. It is quite likely that his first name, Heber, was given in honor of Heber C. Kimball, who played such an important part in his Grandmother Richard’s life,²⁵⁵ and his middle name in honor of his father’s brother, John Quincy.

When Heber was two years old his father moved his mother and her family to Farmington as has been emphasized in this work and May 3, 1882, during his third year she died. Doubtless the loss of his mother and the resultant insecurity which resulted from this tragic loss, also from his father’s remarriages, were probably important factors influencing his life. He was taken with the family back to Delle about 1884, and doubtless was with his father more intimately there until 1892 when the Skull Valley ranching property was sold and the move was made back to Farmington, Heber then having reached his majority.

Unfortunately, there is now little specific information of record about events in his life. In his brother Quincy’s A Biography of B.F. Knowlton by George Q. Knowlton, he mentions Heber as “My older brother Heber had ridden (on horseback) alone for a couple of years,…and soon Heber and I commence to herd horses.”²⁵⁶

In the family library is a copy of a one and one-half page hand written formal agreement dated March 31, 1897, almost exactly four years prior to Benjamin’s death, between him and his two sons, Heber and Quincy, signed by all three, stipulating terms and conditions for leasing the Burk Farm. It provides that these two sons, “for one or more years, run the Burk Farm on the following terms and conditions to wit: you to perform all labor necessary on the place…”²⁵⁷

This could have been in effect for a year or so; however, this writer, a boy six to ten, who worked with Grandfather Benjamin Franklin on the Burk Farm, does not remember his surrendered management of it. Heber is remembered as a gentle, quiet young man. Doubtless he, with Rhoda’s other unmarried children, lived with Katie’s family on the Burk farm home. May 20, 1906, for no apparent reason, he died in the bunk house of the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company at Farmington, by taking his own life during the previous night. He had been employed on the section gang. His obituary comments on the later years of his life as follows:

Deceased was 27 years of age. He was unmarried and had been engaged in railroad work for many years. He was at one time a member of Company E National Guard of Utah at Bountiful, and Mr. Knowlton was a quiet unassuming man, attending strictly to his own business and seldom having anything to say to anyone.²⁵⁸

81—George Quincy Knowlton and Rozilpha Jepson

George Quincy Knowlton was the son of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Rhoda Ann Jennetta Richards. He was born at Farmington, Utah, June 19, 1880. Earlier that year his father moved his wife and four children from their home at the Delle in Skull Valley, presumably to find more satisfactory living conditions as well as more satisfactory church and school facilities. About two years later, May 3, 1882, his mother died. His father subsequently married Minerva Edmeresa Richards and Catherine Aurelia Hinman, and either one of these two faithful women at different times became the only mothers he ever knew.

When Quince was about four years old his father reestablished his ranching headquarters at the Delle and thereafter for the next eight years he maintained homes there and also in Farmington. December 18, 1884, his younger brother, Willard, who was born April 8, 1882, less than a month before his mother died, met an accidental death in Minerva’s home at Farmington. These preceding events have been detailed earlier in this work.

In later life Quince wrote a splendid eleven page biography of his father in which he also outlines quite accurately the principal events in his own life until the time his father died. In it he confirms his sister Ida’s appraisal of the precious times they had in close association with their father, Benjamin Franklin, especially at the Delle, and throughout his biography praises the noble traits of his character.²⁵⁹

Quincy was eleven years old before he started school, this being one year at Grantsville where his sister, Hattie, was teaching. The remainder of his elementary school was obtained at Farmington, the later years in the old Davis Stake Academy building. He continued at the University of Utah during the year 1898–9 and the next year’s high school training he obtained at B.Y.C. at Logan. He then worked with his father on his Farmington farm during the last year of Franklin’s life. Regarding this he commented as follows:

I remember in the year 1900 I had completed two years of high school and fully expected to attend the next year. One day during the summer my father said to me, “I am a little short of money this year and I will greatly appreciate it if you can stay home and help me on the farm and with the dairy. I am otherwise here alone with the work. I shall be glad to send you next year.” When my father said he would do a thing, it was as good as done. I told him I would be very happy to help him.

That year at home with father was one of the happiest and richest years of my life. On March 27, 1901, he died…

…When the next year rolled around, Aunt Kate said, “why of course you must go to school. Papa promised it.” And I went.²⁶⁰

During 1901–02 he again attended B.Y.C., and in November he received a call to go to the Eastern States Mission, where he arrived in July, 1902. Money for this mission came from his share of his father’s estate. Returning home in August 1904, he completed his schooling at L.D.S. High School in Salt Lake City. The next year was spent on a bicycle selling encyclopedias between Farmington and Logan, and it was during this year of itinerate work, that he quite definitely decided to become a school teacher.

He obtained a school as principal and teacher at Orderville, Kane County, Utah, being assisted by two young ladies, one of whom was Rozilpha Jepson. During the school year she took Quincy to her home at Hurricane, Washington County. Being mutually attracted to each other and their union being confirmed by a dream of Rozilpha’s grandmother, they decided upon marriage. The consummation is delightfully told by their daughter, Karma:

When mother came up to Salt Lake in the fall to be married, she must have had some misgivings because she kept enough money set aside to buy a return ticket in case she changed her mind. However she never use it (for that purpose). They were married in the Salt Lake Temple September 11, 1907.²⁶¹

Rose, as she was affectionately called, was the daughter of James Jepson Jr. and Lucinda Stratton. She was born at Virgin, Washington County, Utah, July 27, 1883. Rose’s grandparents were Mormon converts from England and arrived at Nauvoo in 1843. Her grandfather arrived in Salt Lake City in October, 1854, settling first at Centerville, Davis County. From there he was called to join the Dixie Mission in 1862. Rose’s mother died when she was eleven years old and she was raised by her grandmother, a woman renowned for her great spirituality. During her childhood the family moved to nearby Hurricane and participated in the building of the famous Hurricane Canal, which was completed in August 1904. Rose enjoyed the outstanding religious and cultural advantages available among those remarkable pioneers in Washington County, and actively participated in them. She completed her basic education at Cedar Normal at Cedar City in 1905, and after attending a summer session at the University of Utah, she signed a contract to teach at Orderville, where she and Quincy met.

After some additional soul searching and, no doubt, some earnest prayers on the part of Quincy and Rose, the ultimate decision as to his life’s profession was definitely made; consequently, they temporarily established themselves in Salt Lake City where by attendance at the University of Utah another year he finished his Normal Course in preparation for that career. Their daughter, Jannetta, well describes that decision making:

This was a hard and difficult decision to make. He knew that he had an understanding and love for both horses, ranching and the out of doors, as well as an appreciation for children and their learning processes. In fact for some time, in his heart, he said, “they ran neck and neck.” However when his decision for teaching was made he felt content and the rewards for his choice have been great.

Considering the great contribution George Quincy Knowlton made to the field of education, presentation of the foregoing rather detailed preparation for it seems amply justified.

After a year’s teaching experience in North Farmington in 1909, he was successful in obtaining the position of principal and teacher at Farmington School, first for two years in the historic Davis Stake Academy and then upon completion of the new building on the hill, he became its first principal where he remained for two score years, the rest of his active professional life.

All during this distinguished career he and Rose were very active in both religious and civic affairs. In church work, Quincy faithfully served many years as a leader in various priesthood assignments, as superintendent of Ward and Stake Sunday Schools, Y.M.M.I.A. organizations, etc.

He was a member of the Farmington City Council for three terms, and active for many years in political party circles, “he would never commit himself in school because he didn’t want to influence the students.”

One of the greatest tests of Quincy’s stalwart character, we the manner in which through twenty-three years he stood by his faithful wife, Rose, mother of his children, during which she at times suffered intensely. However, through the exercise of faith and earnest prayers by her faithful husband, her children, and the entire community, her life was spared long enough to see her children grown. Karma commented about the neighborhood concern felt for her mother during her illness:

Surely something should be said for all the fine things that the neighbors did for us while our mother was ill. Many nights some one had to sit up all night with her and the ladies in our neighborhood were always glad to help.²⁶²

Among the many additional things this dedicated Farmington School principal did to make life more meaningful for the people of Farmington was his sincere effort in many ways to make more pleasant the lives of its World War II servicemen, about one hundred fifty strong. Karma continued:

Papa wrote to all these boys while they were away and he made a great effort to write most regularly to those he thought needed it the most.

And may this writer, who knew Uncle Quincy well, suggest that many of these young people who in the service of their country were called upon to face life’s most grim reality, could well have been sustained by the image of this humble school teacher who had played such an important part in bringing the lamp of learning into their lives, yes, and of increased faith in God. Moreover, had they not reason to feel that they were constantly included in his prayers for their safety and well being?

In spite of the handicap of ill health, Rozilpha Jepson Knowlton was blessed in her own right to render a distinguished service to the community in which her married life was spent. It seems appropriate here to make specific reference to them as follows:

She helped to organize the first P.T.A. in Farmington and was a former member of the State Council of the organization. For many years she was a teacher and executive to the Mutual Improvement Association, Sunday School (and) religion classes and was a member of the Relief Society Stake Board. She was a former President of the Young Women’s Mutual Improvement Association. She was a graduate of the University of Utah…

Rose departed this life May 6, 1949, at the age of 65 at a Salt Lake City hospital after an extended illness. Her funeral was held in the Farmington Ward Chapel, with burial in the Farmington Cemetery.²⁶³

It seems so regrettable that Quince’s faithful wife could not have lived long enough in health to have enjoyed the community outpouring of appreciation which was accorded her husband less than a year after her death, through a testimonial given in his honor at Farmington May 26, 1950, in recognition of his retirement from the life long service which he had rendered to the children and youth of his beloved Farmington. It is estimated that between eight and ten thousand children had been so favored during his long career.

The program included parts by appropriate church and civic officials, as well as a cross section of students to represent the generations of people who came under his influence. Some of his former students, then leaders in musical circles in the State furnished appropriate music. The following paragraph is taken from the brief biographical sketch placed on the fly leaf of that program:

They say he is nearing seventy, but within him dwells eternal spring. The warbling of the first Phoebe bird sets his soul to singing. He bring to his school room an atmosphere as stimulating as the hillside trails he so loves to tread.

Fortunately, after his formal retirement, probably without much comment, and certainly without any fanfare, Quincy was given yet time to render another significant service to his beloved Farmington, the preparation for and writing of its history. Evidently the required preparation for this valued work had been proceeding for several years before. It is plainly evident that he wanted to include not only the usual stories of which a structure is made, but it must include appropriate biographies of men and women who were instrumental in shaping that history. It is well remembered by those in a position to know of his comings and goings, that often he would be seen going to and from Farmington to the libraries in Salt Lake City. This not without some handicaps for it is reported that he never owned an automobile.

While his life was not spared long enough for the final completion of his work, his faithful daughter, Jannetta, picked up the torch and in the noblest tradition compiled and edited: A Brief History of Farmington, Utah, by George Quincy Knowlton—1956.²⁶⁴ The brief preface follows:

This book is dedicated to the community of Farmington in which I was born and grew to manhood, and to every boy and girl whom I have learned to love and in whom I recognized the greatness of the leaders of tomorrow.

He died at his home in Farmington of coronary occlusion February 22, 1957. His funeral was held in the Farmington Ward Chapel February 27, 1957, with burial in the Farmington Cemetery.²⁶⁵

As one contemplates the events in the life of this unusual man, his almost irresistible drive for an education, the resolute courage of Rose and himself during her long illness of nearly a quarter century, his lifetime of dedicated service to others, to his community, and especially to the thousands of students whom he served so well, may this writer, who was honored to speak at his funeral service, draw from his notes of that occasion:

Uncle Quincy shunned the spotlight of fickle fame or fortune. He was content to give to his community, the entire energy of his hand and heart and brain—that community will probably never see his like again.

Benjamin Franklin Knowlton–Minerva Edmeresa Richards Family

Rhoda Knowlton and Melvin Dickenson Wells

Rhoda Knowlton was the first child of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Minerva Edmeresa Richards. She was born at Farmington, Utah, July 18, 1883. During her childhood and early youth she enjoyed all the favorable religious, social and educational advantages of that favored community. In Farmington she participated fully in these activities and at thirteen she had completed her elementary education.

Rhoda’s mother’s first home, after her marriage in 1882, was the family home on Burk Lane; thereafter for short periods she and her family resided at the Delle in Tooele County. Early in their married life Benjamin Franklin acquired for Minerva her mother’s home on First East in Farmington. This was to be this family’s home until her children were raised.

At the sudden death of her father, the conditions surrounding Rhoda’s life drastically changed.²⁶⁶ Rhoda describes them very succinctly as follows:

The death of my father, which occurred March 27, 1901, made it necessary for me to assist in the support of our family of seven, as I was the oldest child. It was hard for me to leave my home and go into the business world, but I have considered it a privilege and a pleasure to help my family as much as possible, and in so doing have gained some valuable experience.

In order to meet the situation referred to, I took up the study of book-keeping and stenography at the Salt Lake Business College April 21, 1902. I completed both courses of study by May 21, 1903, and the same day I took a position…. October 13, 1903, I began working for the Con Wagon and Machine Co., in the Salt Lake Office…I have been here continuously since that time. I have been much interested in the welfare of the Company since I came here, and have taken pleasure in giving my best efforts in its service, and expect to continue to do so as long as I remain here.

Minerva, her mother, has left the following words of praise for Rhoda’s invaluable assistance to her family during this critical period:

She helped support the family after she was nineteen years of age. She worked as a stenographer for ten years at the Consolidated Wagon and Machine Co. in S.L.C., going home on the Inter-urban to Farmington each evening.²⁶⁷

May 13, 1904, Rhoda was married to Melvin Dickenson Wells, as his second wife. He was the son of Daniel Hammer Wells and Lousia Free, both of whom arrived in Utah in 1848. His father was second counselor to President Brigham Young and member of the Council of Twelve Apostles for twenty years. During his lifetime as a church leader in many capacities, as a civic leader and as business man, he was one of the most prominent men of Utah of his time.²⁶⁸

Melvin was the youngest son of his family. He was “educated in the Salt Lake Public Schools and the University of Deseret…, in 1885 he left for a mission to the British Isles, later touring the European Mission in company with his father, then president of the mission…. Returning from Europe…(he) became associated with the Consolidated Wagon and Machine Company, and managed the firm’s branches in Logan and Montpelier, Idaho. Later he became secretary-treasurer of this institution. In 1920 he became secretary to President Heber J. Grant, and in later years had served in the Church Mission Office…(he) was an active High Priest in the church and served on the High Council of the old Salt Lake Stake…He also served as a member of the…Granite Stake Sunday School and Genealogical Boards.²⁶⁹

Rhoda Knowlton Wells was not given long to live on this earth. She died at the birth of twin girls, July 14, 1913, at the age of twenty-nine. One daughter, Rhoda Knowlton Wells, lived to maturity to have children of her own, but Ruth, her twin sister, died about two months later, September 28, 1913. Rhoda’s funeral was held in Salt Lake City, with burial in Farmington Cemetery in the family plot as was her daughter Ruth.

As a fitting close to the treatment of Rhoda Knowlton Wells’ life in this work, it seems appropriate to include the following heart felt tributes:

My first child was a daughter, as I hoped it would be. She weighed only 6 pounds. She was quick to learn, and I did not have to teach her to be polite, or to use good language, it always seemed natural to her. When she was 11 year old, she wrote an essay on “Evangeline” from memory, for which she received a prize and commendation from her teacher. She loved books and music by always did her full share of work. She was a great comfort to me all 30 years of life…²⁷⁰

My memory of my oldest sister, Rhoda is one of love and appreciation for a very special and good person. I think of her kindness and help not alone for family members, but also for friends and others, who were in need of sympathy and understanding. Because of her generosity, I was able to attend the L.D.S. High School in S.L.C. also the University of Utah. Mother, being a widow with a large family, couldn’t finance me in those educational activities, I so greatly desired.²⁷¹

Rhoda was a most spiritual person and was happy in attending and participating in church activities. She was rather serious and dedicated to church, family, friends and work.

Melvin Dickenson Wells died September 9, 1941. Funeral services were held in the Lincoln Ward Chapel with burial in the City Cemetery.²⁷²

Willard Richards Knowlton

Willard Richards Knowlton was the son of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Minerva Edmeresa Richards. He was born at Farmington, Utah, September 30, 1885. During his childhood and early youth he had the advantage of association with his father either at the Delle ranch in Tooele County, or on the family Burk farm in Farmington. While his mother had a permanent home of her own in Farmington, she and her older children also spent some time at the Delle. His father’s problems with his three families were unsettled at times during Willard’s early years and this situation may have contributed to a rather strong sense of insecurity which seemingly was manifest in him. Detailed explanation of these conditions has been presented earlier in this work. Willard also may have been influenced unfavorably by exposure to the rather rough environment on the range in Skull Valley where, doubtless, he spent part of his time. He attended church and school at Farmington and was baptized there July 29, 1894.

In any event, the sudden death of his father in 1901, when he was but sixteen years old, and at an extremely critical period in his life, doubtless was a serious blow to him. Thereafter, his ties to home became progressively weakened. This obviously was a tremendous sorrow to his faithful, devoted mother, indeed a test of faith. She had given him the name Willard Richards out of respect to the memory of Benjamin and Rhoda’s son of that name who suffered a tragic death by accident in her home while yet a child, this accident occurring less than a year before her own Willard was born.²⁷³

Following is Minerva’s brief but touching reference, first to Rhoda’s Willard, and then to her own:

I loved Rhoda’s little baby boy, Willard, as much as I could love any child. And he reciprocated my affections…. Had it not been that I felt his mother’s presence, before he died, and I know that she came for him, I think I could not have borne it as well as I did…. When ten months later, my son was born, I named him Willard, after our darling who had left us….

My second child, Willard Richards Knowlton, has never married. He is of a restless disposition and has never stayed long in any one place. He is in Arizona at the present (1934) and is enjoying his work. He had pneumonia three times while a child which may be the cause of his being different from the others.

Willard was killed in an automobile accident at South Gate, California, December 14, 1938, at the age of fifty-three. He was buried in the Knowlton Family plot in the Farmington Cemetery.²⁷⁴

84—Marcia Knowlton and Thomas Joel Howells

Marcia Knowlton was the third child of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Minerva Edmeresa Richards. She was born at Farmington, Utah, May 28, 1888, and was given that name in honor of the first given name of her father’s deceased sister Marcia Eliza. Marcia took advantage to the fullest extent of all the religious, social and educational advantages of favored Farmington. Marcia has beautifully described in considerable detail: the modest home, garden, well stocked cellar, barn and cow belonging thereto, and all of these “which required many sacrifices, such as when we would say we needed a new pair of shoes, our widowed mother would wisely reply, ‘Wait until the barn is paid for.’ That was a long-lasting and good lesson in getting out of debt…. Most of my clothes were made over and home-made, even through my high school days. Mother dear taught us that it was respectable if our clothing was always clean and mended; and she did a marvelous job in keeping six husky children clean and patched up.”

Marcia early decided to prepare herself as soon as possible to become a school teacher, the profession chosen by so many of the older Knowlton girls of her generation. Her succinct description of her high school and college days seems very appropriate here.

After attending grade school in Farmington, I came to the old L.D.S. High School. It was a great school, with fine spirit among the students, and made us appreciate our church even more than ever before. While at L.D.S. I served as president of my class and later as president of the student body. This, in addition to working for my board and room, and keeping up with school requirements.

After L.D.S. I went to the University of Utah to take Normal Training. I graduated, and later taught grade school in Woods Cross (Davis County) and Salt Lake County.²⁷⁵

Thus Marcia, early in life, demonstrated that leadership ability which was to be the hallmark of her character. Before, during and after her school training she participated in all church functions and activities available to women, always being i influenced and sustained by her mother’s example. After four years of school teaching experience Marcia was married to Thomas Joel Howells, October 3, 1910.

He was the son of Thomas Francis Howells and Mary Parrish and was born in Salt Lake City, March 9, 1882. He obtained his education in his native city and graduated from the University of Utah where he was the first class president of the Medical School. In 1910 he received his degree in medicine from a prominent eastern medical school and returning home received his license to practice, number 140, from the Utah State Medical Association. Marcia describes their marriage and their early beginnings together:

He had just returned as a graduate from Jefferson Medical School in Philadelphia to start practicing medicine in Bountiful, Davis Co., Utah. On Oct. 3, 1910, we were married in the Salt Lake Temple, went in a white topped buggy—borrowed—up to a canyon cottage—loaned us—for a week of honeymoon. We then started in Bountiful, general practice of medicine. Dr. drove a horse and buggy; had an office in a rented house; ate from broken china while we paid off his medical college debt. We got started, made friends, did well and in 2½ years we moved to Salt Lake City to build up a practice in the Medical profession.²⁷⁶

About the time the Howells established themselves in the City, Minerva and her three youngest children also finally moved there from Farmington. During the next several years, Marcia and Tom led an active, productive life. They traveled extensively—Europe, Mexico, Hawaii, Florida, New York, and in 1921, with their two year old son, Norman, whom they had adopted as a child, they took an around-the-world tour centered in India, Japan, China, etc.

It was still later in their lives, however, before each of them in their own right was to begin a program of achievement for which they will be most favorably remembered. It was inevitable that Marcia’s field of accomplishment would be in distinguished church service. Throughout her life’s development, unconsciously she had neglected no opportunity to develop her faith and her special talents so as to be prepared when the time came to build on the foundation so faithfully prepared for her by her mother, that of compassionate service as glorified by the Women’s Relief Society. During this long preparation she had served in local and stake capacities in the Primary, Sunday School, and Relief Society, and in the presidency of the latter organization in the Salt Lake Stake.²⁷⁷

Marcia was called to the General Board of the Relief Society February 2, 1929, and January 1, 1940, from that position she was appointed first counselor in the General Presidency to President Amy Brown Lyman. She served in this latter capacity until a reorganization of that church-wide organization in 1945. It is significant that the time range of her distinguished service, in this, one of the grates women’s organizations in the world, entirely encompassed the period of the Great Depression, and the establishment by the church of the Welfare Plan. This program, in which the Women’s Relief Society plans such a key role, has been its greatest challenge and opportunity in modern times. It seems appropriate to present here an outline of Marcia’s record as a Relief Society officer, written by President Amy Brown Lyman:

Marcia Knowlton Howells has, since her childhood days, been familiar with Relief Society work and activities, and she has always loved, appreciated, and honored this great woman’s auxiliary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Her mother, Minerva Richards Knowlton, was a life-long member of the Society and served for many years with distinction as Relief Society president of Davis Stake, which at that time covered the whole of Davis County. In addition to traveling about, supervising and directing the welfare, health, and civic activities in this progressive unit, Sister Knowlton planned and prepared the courses of study used in her wards. The General Board at that time did not provide, as it does today, a uniform course of study, and stakes were left to prepare their own work. Marcia, no doubt, remembers seeing her mother work long hours and far into the night over her outlines, after a hard day of household activities….

With this unusual Relief Society background, a rich heritage in itself for a Relief Society worker, with her long years of service in the organization, and with her exceptional ability, Sister Howells has been able to make outstanding contributions to the Relief Society cause in both ward and stake as well as on the General Board….

As a Board member she has given generously of her time to important committee work, and has traveled extensively throughout the Church attending stake and mission conferences and conventions. Her work in the general presidency has been largely of an administrative nature. As manager of the temple and burial clothes department and general director of the Mormon Handicraft Shop, she has demonstrated unusual executive and managerial ability, carrying forward her labors in these connections with efficiency, diligence, and dispatch, and achieving, withal, phenomenal success.

Directing the work of these two important departments, always a challenge, has been especially taxing the last few years because of the shortage of materials and merchandise and because of war restrictions; but Sister Howells has always regarded this assignment a rare privilege which she has enjoyed. She appreciates the distinctive and important service and opportunity these projects provide or offer to the people of the Church.

As a member of the general Church Welfare committee, with special assignment to the clothing committee, and as wok director on the General Board, Sister Howells has given time and attention to the clothing and sewing plans of the Church Welfare program, and to the sewing activities which are carried on in the regular work meetings of the Society. She has also assisted with the preparation of that portion of the General Welfare budget which has to do with the clothing program.

Sister Howells has represented the General Board in many community activities, notably those which have had to do with health and welfare work. She was state chairman of the May Day—Child Health Day in 1939. She is at present a valued member of the executive committee of the board of directors of the Utah Tuberculosis Association. She recently helped to direct the establishment of the splendid library of which the U.S.O. of Salt Lake City has been so proud. In 1939 she attended the National Conference of Social Workers at San Francisco, following which she attended a social service institute at the University of California at Berkeley. In 1941 in company with Sister Donna D. Sorenson, she represented the Society at the Biennial meeting of the National Council of Women.

Sister Howells has been a wise, safe, and helpful counselor blessed with intelligence, broad experience, and sound judgment, and fortified with a burning testimony of the gospel and with an understanding of the responsibilities and obligations resting upon those who serve in a Church capacity, she has been able to recognized the relative importance and value of the many questions and problems presented for consideration and action, and to help to make wise, reasonable, and safe decisions.

She is an able presiding officer and a gifted and fluent public speaker, with an excellent vocabulary….

Sister Howells is a generous, devoted, and unselfish friend. She is never happier than when doing something for others. When her friends are in trouble she is among the first to visit and comfort them. I count it as one of the distinctive privileges of my life to associate with and share work with Marcia Knowlton Howells.²⁷⁸

Throughout his life, Dr. T. J. Howells, as he commonly designated himself professionally, also established a significant record of church services. During the two year period, 1899–1901, at an unusually early age he fulfilled a mission to England, and was active continuously in church work, notably as member of the Sunday School Board of the Salt Lake Stake.

Doctor Thomas Joel Howells was a respected, successful medical practitioner, but it was in the field of Public Health in Utah that he made his most distinguished contribution. For years he played a significant role in the creation of modern health standards, and the establishment of effective public agencies to control them. He was an early leader in the field of disease protection among children.

He was appointed Salt Lake City Health Commissioner in February 1936, and served until November 1944, under four city administrations. Upon leaving that important position the city commission addressed a letter to him “commending his good work during his service to the city.”²⁷⁹

Upon leaving the city he was appointed Director of Public Health for Salt Lake County, this appointment marking the creation of this office in county government.²⁸⁰ All during this distinguished service in the health field in local government, he also was a member of the State Board of Health, ending this outstanding career after seventeen years, when in 1950 he was made acting chairman of that body to fill an interim period until a permanent appointment could be made.²⁸¹

At the close of their active and fruitful lives, still enjoying reasonably good health, they were blessed to spend life’s afternoon together among their relatives and many friends, indeed among the people whom they loved and had served so well. They had been denied natural children of their own, but were favored to raise an adopted son whose life has been a great pride and comfort to them. He has been blessed with a loving wife and a splendid family, the story of whose lives will fall into the chapter inded to follow this work.

Dr. Thomas Joel Howells died November 18, 1966, at the age of eighty-four, in a Salt Lake hospital. Funeral services were conducted in a local mortuary, with burial in the City Cemetery.²⁸²

Marcia has the distinction of being the first grandchild of Sidney Algernon Knowlton and Harriet Burnham, who in order of the number system herein used, is yet living at the time (February 1971) when this story of her life is bing written. This writer is pleased to join with her many friends and loved ones in extending congratulations.

86—Ireen Knowlton and Sanford T. Ferry

Ireen Knowlton was the fifth child and third daughter of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Minerva Edmeresa Richards. She was born at Farmington, Utah, October 1, 1893. About a year before her birth, her father disposed of his Skull Valley property in Tooele County and was permanently established at Farmington with his two families. Minerva and family had the home, garden and yard on First East in which her mother had raised her family; this was to be their permanent home until they moved to Salt Lake City in January, 1913.

In the family library is a short three page rather cryptic autobiography in which Ireen pictures quite dramatically her childhood relationship with both the older and younger members of the family, those memories which with a middle child typically reach out so indelibly both ways. After quoting below a sample paragraph of the above type of childhood pranks, it continues with a condensed portrayal of events in her life’s preparation.

I used to read all night, every time I’d get a chance (I would hang a blanket over the crack at the bottom of the door to keep the light out). I would read everything I could get my hands on…​

After finishing the eighth grade in Farmington, I went to High School in Bountiful, 1 year. Then I went to the L.D.S. Business College for part of 1 year. I worked at Z.C.M.I. Millinery for about 3 years, making hats from scratch. Later on I worked for the Paris Company…​(trimming and making complete hats)…​

…​I had always attended all the organizations (of the church) in my growing up days; and at this time I taught Religion Class; Primary; Mutual; Sunday School and was made Bee-Keeper Supervisor, when the Bee-Keeper programs was first introduced into the Church.

About this time…​I went into Nurses’ Training at the L.D.S. Hospital, where I spent the next three years…​I studied diligently for these three years, and graduated in 1919 as a Registered Nurse.

After practicing her profession, including services as a special duty nurse and supervisor, for the next three years, June 9, 1922, she was married to Howard A. Cerf, the son of Sol Cerf and Mamie Arnold. The moved to Southern California where he was a jewelry salesman. This turned out to be an unfortunate marriage and ended in divorce six and a half years later. Their only child, Samuel Arnold Cerf, was born October 30, 1923. Following is quoted from Ireen’s autobiography:

April 5,1934, I was married to Sanford Truman Ferry (who died 19 Nov. 1949). We had a very happy and successful marriage…​At the request of my son, Arnold, we had his name changed to Ferry before his active duty with the American Navy as a Sea-Bee during World War II. He was honorably discharged after about two years. He has spent a great deal of time in the Veteran’s Hospital for injuries from effects of the war.

Sanford Truman Ferry was the son of William Montague Ferry and Ednah Truman. His father was born in Michigan March 12, 1871, and came to Utah with his father for whom he was named in 1878.²⁸³ William Montague Jr. obtained a degree from the Colorado State School of Mines. In Utah he became a very successful mining man, banker, and city official. He served on the City Council at Salt Lake City for four years, and as mayor for four years beginning in 1915. Sanford’s mother, Ednah Truman, became a noted grand opera singer.²⁸⁴

Twin sons, William Montague the third and Sanford Truman, were born October 4, 1898. Sanford obtained his elementary education in Salt Lake City with attendance also at the University of Utah and Stanford University. His educational program being interfered with by the war, he and his brother engaged in the electric sign and insurance business. For a time he was assistant city electrician.

After Sanford’s untimely death in 1949, at the age of fifty-one, Ireen continued her employment at Pembroke Company until here retirement in 1961, after nearly ten years of service.

That year marked a very significant change in Ireen’s life resulting from her obtaining her endowments in the Salt Lake Temple March 16, 1961. This seemed to bring to her a dramatic changes of purpose which she succinctly described as follows:

…​This work and the privilege of going to the Temple has brought the greatest joy in my lifetime.

This terse announcement of a spiritual awakening seems to fulfill her mother’s description of her which was written in 1934 about two years before her death:

Ireen was delicate as a child and very spiritual. She was healed more than once through her own faith and the prayer and faith of her family. I always feared to lose her, as she seemed so frail.

Thus with the assurance that unfailingly comes to one who is worthy and diligently seeks it, through the endowment and sealing power, Ireen is finding joy and a fulfillment, delayed but not denied, as is so plainly evident as she pursues this soul inspiring work.

87—Alice Knowlton and Arnold Marvin Seiler

Alice Knowlton was the fourth and youngest daughter of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Minerva Edmeresa Richards. She was born at Farmington, Utah, February 10, 1898. She was about three years old at the time of the sudden death of her father. Her mother and family were living in the family home of First East in Farmington. It was the one in which Minerva’s mother, Nanny Longstroth Richards had raised her family. Alice’s childhood and early youth were spent in the rural environment of Farmington, perhaps as favorable for children’s development as any in Utah during that period. A number of the problems, which had beset her father in relation to his three families during the latter part of his life, were adjusting themselves. By this time most of the children of his first family were on their own, and a stronger sense of unity was present between her mother’s family and the family of Aunt Katie, as those two widowed mothers and their older children began to cope successfully with the stern economic problems which faced them. This situation has been explained in Chapter II of this work.

In the family library is to be found Alice’s very interesting autobiography, with units of it written at different times, but often treating of the same events in her life. It is regrettable that demands of space here precludes a more complete treatment of her character as manifest by this multiple approach. Her mother wrote of her that “she was a pretty blue-eyed girl with a sunny disposition which she kept throughout her life,” and indeed, her warm outgoing disposition, seemingly, has been throughout her life the hallmark of her character.

She begins her autobiography by portraying the environment of their modest, rural home and surroundings in Farmington: the gathering of produce from their neighbors, their own garden, barn and cow, the outside privy, etc.

Minerva also mentions that Alice Suffered a very severe attack of scarlet fever when about two years old, which Alice emphasizes resulted in some permanent physical handicaps which have very seriously plagued her throughout life and especially prevented her efforts to have a large family.

Alice’s school and church training began at Farmington and was continued in Salt Lake City where her mother and family moved in January, 1913. Her first seven and one half years of elementary schooling was obtained in Farmington, with the remaining half year at the Emerson School in the City. She then completed her high school work at L.D.S.U. She relates in her autobiography, as follows, the wonderful opportunities growing out of her attendance at L.D.S.

After graduating from 4 yrs. High School I attended the L.D.S. Business College, under Pres. Guy C. Wilson and Principal F. Y. Fox. After 4 mo. of business training, I was asked to work in the office of the college. I worked there Jan. 1918–Nov. 1922. Twenty five years later. F. Y. Fox invited me to return to help him ready himself for retirement, 1947–48. I was his first and last secy. I stayed on as Registrar of the College for 2 more years with Pres. Kenneth Bennion.

June 24, 1921, Alice was married to Arnold Marvin Seiler in the Salt Lake Temple. He was born in Schauffhausen, Switzerland, May 3, 1896, to William Seiler and Maria Louise Hertenstein, Mormon converts in that country. The family came to America, arriving in Utah in 1906, and obtained his education here.

Arnold was one of the first automobile mechanics in Utah. He served for nearly two years in World War I. During World War II he served as administrator of the War Production Board in Utah.

Resulting from the attack of scarlet fever during childhood, Alice was plagued with very severe illnesses after her marriage. Through much suffering during the next six years, she and Arnold were blessed with two children, and about seven years later they adopted a third child at its birth.

Through childhood and youth Alice was very active in all church activities available to her: Primary, Religion Class, Sunday School and Mutual. Before her marriage she served as an officer in some of those organizations, which she continued thereafter. During the 1930s she was at separate times in ward presidencies of the Primary and Relief Society.

It was in church activity in Europe that Arnold performed his most distinguished service. Indeed, seemingly these were to be the golden years of his life. Alice joined him later when release from family duties permitted.

During 1953, Arnold and Alice were called on a church mission to his native land. He left at once, Alice following the next year. He was assigned to the district there where the Swiss Temple was being constructed. He rendered very valuable service as liaison between Swiss builders and English speaking technicians from America. During this time he also assisted church authorities on their visits to various parts of Europe. After completing his tow and one half year mission, and being home a year and a half, he went back to discharge another very important church assignment:

He was appointed to be in charge of the micro-filming of the civic and religious records of Europe. He had to meet with (and arrange for the use of these records) priests and leaders of various church and civic groups. He was successful in hiring and training many operators to do this technical work, over a period of about 7 years. His headquarters were in Frankfurt, Germany, but he had to deal with problems in Holland, Belgium, France, Germany, Sweden and Denmark. This was a most interesting and stimulating assignment from the Church Genealogical Society and he performed it admirably…

He was a High Priest in Bonneville Stake…being in the presidency of the Garden Park Ward. He has always been interested in Genealogy, and has been extremely helpful to members both here and in Europe.²⁸⁵

During Alice’s later years she has led an unusually active life. In church work, she has continued temple and genealogical work, and leadership in the various women’s auxiliaries; she has participated in civic and business group activities; she has been a Red Cross worker, a teacher in first aid and related activities, etc. Through the years she has taken courses in and has become proficient in making clothes, hats sweaters and many other homemaking activities.

After Arnold’s retirement he has endured much ill health and Alice has devoted much time and attention to his needs, as well as the usual duties normally assumed by a grandmother.

88—George Franklin Knowlton and Mary Brown Watkins

George Franklin Knowlton, the son of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Minerva Edmeresa Richards, was born in Farmington, Utah, July 28, 1901, just a few months after his father’s death. The following brief excerpts are taken from his mother’s expressed gratitude for the character and accomplishments of her youngest child who was to establish a record of scholarship and subsequent related scientific attainments which was to set a record for the Sidney A. Knowlton family of his generation:

My youngest child was born four months after his father’s death. We named him George Franklin after my brother (George F. Richards). I was given a blessing in the temple six weeks prior to his birth and was promised a son who should be a comfort to me in my old age and it has thus far been fulfilled…He is a fine student and has worked so hard after school and in vacations to get his education, for he has had to do it mostly by himself, although I did what I could to help him.

As has been mentioned earlier, Minerva and family moved to Salt Lake City early in 1913. After his boyhood school attendance in Farmington, George continued his elementary education at the Lafayette School, the East High School and L.D.S.U. From there he attended Utah State Agricultural College at Logan, obtaining his B.S. degree in Entomology, his thesis dealing with the aphids of Utah. This was awarded in June 1925. Thus, very early in life George set for himself a definite goal, namely to obtain a college education. Moreover he soon demonstrated that vigorous undeviating drive so necessary for its accomplishment. Without interruption to his schooling, during vacations, afternoons and evenings, George worked diligently, starting out when in the seventh grade as a delivery boy on a bicycle for three dollars a week. This program of self help, with increasing earning power, he continued through high school and college.

With his master’s degree, George was now equipped to continue his specialized education, being supported by teaching and scholarships. This included such training in turn at Ohio State University and University of Minnesota. In between, he began to establish his future at the Utah Agricultural College in Logan. August 1, 1925, he was appointed Assistant Entomologist for the Utah Agricultural Experiment Station and July 1, 1930, he was advanced to Associate Entomologist.

He still had another vital step to take in his educational program. This he succinctly described as follows:

After “grinding” on French and German for several winters I went back to Ohio State University and completed everything but my thesis, December to March 15, 1931. I received my Ph.D. degree, March 1932.²⁸⁶

At the appropriate time during his struggle for an education, George found time to obtain a wife. July 29, 1925, he married Mary Brown Watkins of Logan, in the Logan Temple. She was born at Logan August 2, 1904, the daughter of Louis Peter Watkins and Kate Ethlinda Brown. Her happy childhood was spent in Logan, within the Second and First L.D.S. Wards. She was continually active in the church and taught classes in the Primary and Mutual. Immediately after their marriage, she accompanied George to the University of Minnesota during his college post-graduate assignments and her assistance was invaluable to him in the typing and preparation of some of his publications, and also notably with his Ph.D. thesis preparation.

After completion of George’s post graduate work and their establishment of a permanent home in Logan, Mary accompanied him, as her family duties permitted, on many of his outside assignments throughout the nation, Canada and Mexico. At home her important church related activities are well summarized below:

While living in the Fifth Ward, East Cache Stake, she continued in church activities. She was Ward Garment Representative for four years and Ward Relief Society Magazine Representative for six years, Visiting Teacher for many years, and was an officer in the Seagull Camp of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers. She aided with a great number of fund raising drives for worthy church, civic and national organizations; did volunteer Pink Lady work at Logan, L.D.S. Hospital.

As time permitted George attended to his religious obligations and responsibilities. He makes specific reference to his church related duties and priesthood ordinations as follows:

I was ordained a Deacon June 15, 1913, by Bro. Axtel Madsen: and a Teacher, Nov. 15, 1914, by James T. Worthen, and a Priest. June 18, 1920, by Bishop C. Clarence Neslen, in the 20th Ward. I was ordained an Elder, Aug. 27, 1922, by Lewis Wells…. While a student at Utah State I served as assistant Scout Master in the Logan 9th Ward, during the school year 1922–23. I was Sunday School Supt. in the “Columbus, Ohio” Branch, 1924–25. Some years later I was in Mutual Improvement Leadership Group for one year in Logan 5th Ward…

On May 17, (1953) I was ordained a High Priest in the Logan 5th Ward…I was never a “70”…

On Jan. 3, 1960, I was asked to serve as Secy. to the Logan 5th Ward High Priests Group. At this writing (Nov. 27, 1967) I am still Secy. and our group consists of 67 members.

George served in this capacity for 8 1/2 years, after which he was made ward clerk.²⁸⁷

Obviously, it would be beyond the scope of this work, to attempt to trace in detail the scores of assignments, trips and field studies made throughout the nation, as well as conferences attended, many hundreds of articles and papers written, and notable recognitions received, etc. by Dr. George F. Knowlton during his long, professional career. Many of these are referred to below by reference.²⁸⁸

The following quoted excerpts in condensed form seem appropriate here:

I gradually acquired more teaching, then in 1943 had 17% Extension Entomologist duties added to my program. (June 1944–45) I was loaned to the U.S. Army Engineers, 9th Service Command to head the unit in Insect and Rodent Control. My assignment covered all army posts and stations in the eight wester states. After bringing (some of) my former U.S.U. students,…and we put on a series of five area training schools, I was able to return to Utah State, being away just a year. I was advanced to professor July 1, 1945, upon my return.

January 1, 1914, I gave up my three way program; research, teaching and extension, becoming full time Extension and Survey Entomologist. The survey aspects were dropped June 30, 1957. I will be fully or largely retired June 30…. I have had a wonderful 42 years at U.S.U., complete with a million fine memories.²⁸⁹

The following official notice of George’s official retirement from the Extension Service also seems appropriate:

Dr. George F. Knowlton retired from the Utah State University Extension Service June 38, 1967. He worked as part-time Extension Entomologist for a number of years and on January 1, 1954, became full-time Extension Entomologist. Dr. Knowlton is widely known throughout the world for his work in entomology and has written many publications including scientific, news release and Extension Publications.

It is planned that Dr. Knowlton will work on special assignments through the months of January, February and March, preparing publications that will be needed by Extension field workers and citizens of the State in meeting their problems.²⁹⁰

September, 1967, George was given that title Professor of Entomology Emeritus and it was August 30, 1969, before the ending of his distinguished service at U.S.U. During 1969–71 he devoted much of his energy to the study of range and desert insect ecology under the Utah State University Ecology Center appointments.

Benjamin Franklin Knowlton-Catherine Aurelia Hinman Family

89—Elizabeth (Lizzie) Knowlton and Willard Collings Maughan

Elizabeth Knowlton, the oldest child of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Catherine Hinman, was born in Grantsville, Utah, September 2, 1886. As explained in Chapter II of this work, her parents’ plural marriage in 1884, just one year after the drastic provisions of the Edmunds Act began to be rigidly enforced, made them subject immediately to arrest. As has been previously emphasized in this work, during the early part of their married life, Katie’s home conditions were consequently very unstable.

Lizzie was born in the home of Samuel and Rachel Woolley in Tooele County, and being a premature baby, weighing by four and a half pounds, “only through the devoted care of Sister Woolley”…was she able to survive. For the first six years of her life, Lizzie lived at the Delle ranch in Skull Valley in the log cabin home where Rhoda, her father’s deceased wife, had raised her family.²⁹¹ As the children advanced in age, Benjamin took Catherine and her young children to nearby Grantsville for church services, and as Lizzie reached school age their home was established for a few years at Grantsville.

In 1892, Benjamin sold the Delle Ranch and that year, in order to avoid arrest, he arranged for Catherine and her three children to visit her father and his family in Canada. This sojourn is well described in Lizzie’s biography:

In 1882, Katie had to leave Utah with her family, because of being a plural wife. They went to Cardston, Alberta, Canada, to live with Katie’s father, Henry L. Hinman, and his wife, Jane White. Frank paid his father-in-law $30.00 a month board during their stay. By the summer of 1894 they were able to return to Utah.²⁹²

This visit provided her a peaceful respite and also enabled her to learn first hand the austere living conditions in Western Canada. En route back to their Farmington home, Lizzie was baptized on her eighth birthday as was customary in the family, September 2, 1894, at Woodruff, Rich County, Utah.

The sudden death of Lizzie’s father, March 27, 1901, demanded a drastic change in the pattern of the lives of Catherine and her five surviving children, with another to be born a few months later. Within a year or two after Benjamin’s death, Katie moved her family to a large rented home at 631-33 North First West, Salt Lake City, where it would be more convenient for her to complete her nurse’s training, as well as furnish better conditions for the continued schooling of her older children.

The extreme urgency of her financial condition was described in Chapter II of this work. Lizzie had already finished her elementary training at Farmington, and was delayed in her education until the move to the city was made. She then entered the L.D.S. Business College to prepare herself as soon as possible to become self supporting and also assist the family. Upon graduation, she obtained office employment and after her mother returned to Farmington about 1905, she would go there by train or weekends.

While at the L.D.S. Lizzie became acquainted with a fellow student, Willard Collings Maughan. In due time they were married in the Salt Lake Temple November 26, 1908.

He was the son of Charles Weston Maughan and Catherine Collings, and was born at Petersboro, Cache County, Utah, March 6, 1875. Willard was the grandson of Peter Maughan and Mary Ann Weston. Peter was on of the pioneer settlers of Cache Valley, Utah, and became one of its most prominent church and civic leaders.²⁹³

Willard was first employed as a brakeman on the Southern Pacific Railroad Company, but he soon gave this up “feeling that he would have to be away from home too much while raising his family.” He then decided to become a farmer, which vocation he followed with varying success during the remainder of his life. He first operated farms in Cache County for a time with his father. They tried homesteading land in Idaho with not much success. Finally he obtained a forty-acre irrigated farm west of Corrine in Box Elder County, Utah. By this time they had their family consisting of four sons and a daughter. They raised alfalfa, sugar beets, wheat, dairy cows, chickens and pigs and a garden.²⁹⁴ Here he finally had splendid opportunities to lead and teach his boys the virtue of hard work.

Willard’s life as husband and father was destined to be short. His health began to fail first during the influenza epidemic in 1919. This was followed during the winter of 1922–23 with an attack of pneumonia, and from this he was fatally stricken the following winter. He died January 16, 1924, and was buried in the Brigham City Cemetery.

Elizabeth Knowlton Maughan, widow and the mother of five children ranging in age from fifteen years down to five, was thus called upon, as was her mother before, to travel the long hard road alone; to face almost insurmountable obstacles in the protection and inspiration of her children as they passed through the difficult period of preparation to meet the inescapable struggles of life. This was to be her task for the next score of years which task she accomplished in the noblest tradition of the many Knowlton women who had gone before her.

After disposing of her Box Elder County property at auction, with her younger children she went to the Province of Alberta, Canada, to be near her mother, who had previously moved there from her Farmington home. Fannie, Lizzie’s younger sister, was the first of the family to go to Canada to teach school, and later to marry and settle down.²⁹⁵

With Katie’s assistance, Lizzie purchased a large house at Cardston which could be partly rented for revenue, and this was to be the home of herself and five children for the next dozen years. She accepted employment as a stenographer and bookkeeper and her older children between school terms were also gainfully employed.

The following excerpt from her biography seems appropriate here:

The family remained in Cardston until the oldest three children had graduated from high school, after which Lizzie decided they should return to Utah to continue their education.

By 1936, Lizzie had purchased a home in Logan and was keeping boarders. All of her family received some schooling at Utah State Agricultural College…and three eventually received degrees. Edwin B. filled a mission in the New England States Mission…Her children were all married between 1940 and 1943. All have temple marriages.

Having now discharged her major responsibility to her children and still being in good health and determined to sustain herself, she moved to Ogden and was employed for several months at Hill Air Base nearby. Afterward, seemingly for the first period of her life, opportunities came to her to travel across the country from coast to coast, both to visit her children and do some genealogical work for some of her mother’s ancestral lines.

As long as she was able, Lizzie continued to provide for herself. One of her last positions was that of residing with and caring for elderly women in their homes. The following brief, composite, biographical comment and loving tributes to their parents, as furnished by the children, seems appropriate:

In 1955 she moved to Ogden to live in and supervise a small apartment building owned by her son, Franklin D., and in 1965 to Brigham City to live in a small home very close to her daughter Catherine.

Lizzie has been a faithful church worker all of her life. She was a Sunday School teacher in Salt Lake City during her student years. After marriage she served as a Religion Class teacher, and was secretary of Relief Society in Corrinne. In Canada she was called to be a counselor in the ward Primary, and assistant stake secretary in Relief Society, as well as one of the Old Folks Committee. She has been active in Genealogy, working on the histories of her many pioneer ancestors. She is a longtime member of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers, and still active in it…

She has participated in choirs and choruses, played piano and violin and taught her children to make harmony together in song and with instruments…among (her) grandchildren are well trained pianists, vocal soloists, a cellist, and players on the cornet, French horn, tuba, bass violin, violin, guitar, trumpet and oboe. Many are the pleasurable hours spent with orchestras and bands, choirs and civic groups as a result of mother’s interest in music…And when the final summary is made of their lives (of Willard Collings Maughan and Lizzie Knowlton) it will show few material possessions accumulated by them, nor any major positions filled by them in civic or religious circles…Perhaps the final measure of their success will be written in the obituaries of the five children who they raised against overwhelming odds.

In 1966 her family and spouses, and most of her twenty-seven grandchildren gathered in Brigham City to celebrate her eightieth birthday. It was a happy occasion for her, with about forty of the family and friends present to congratulate her on a stout-hearted life of achievement and integrity.

91—Fannie Knowlton and Thomas William Duce

Fannie Knowlton, the second daughter of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Catherine (Katie) Aurelia Hinman, was born at Grantsville, Utah, January 9, 1889. The very serious and trying conditions faced by her parents during the early years of their marriage have been herein before described, as also have the almost insurmountable financial obstacles facing her mother in her struggle to make it possible for her children to obtain and education and thereby become self supporting. These serious conditions reached a crisis at Fannie’s father’s death in March, 1901. When her mother moved the family to Salt Lake City a year or two later, Fannie remained at Farmington with relatives until she had completed her elementary school training. She resided at her mother’s home in the city during part of her continued education at the University of Utah, beginning in 1904. She finished her normal school training four years later and was then qualified to become a school teacher. In the meantime Katie had completed her nurse’s training and returned to Farmington. As with her mother’s other children, Fannie, with her faithful mother’s help where possible had partially supported herself during her attendance at the University of Utah.

She began teaching at North Farmington also, serving as the principal, and then continued at Eden, a small community in Weber County. At both schools she succeeded in discharging difficult assignments. She taught about four years at these locations.

There then occurred a significant event in her life which also benefited other members of her family. She was invited by her mother’s Hinman relatives in Canada to spend a summer vacation there with them. While on this visit she became acquainted with Thomas William Duce a prominent church and civic leader in Southern Canada, whose wife had died, and to whom in due time she was married. This marriage occurred in the Salt Lake Temple June 11, 1913. He was the son of Thomas Duce and Mary Ann Hymas, and was born in Hyde Park, Utah, December 4, 1871. Thomas Duce, his father, was born in England May 26, 1846, and emigrated to America in 1862. He was one of the prominent pioneers and founders of the Mormon Colonization Program in the province of Alberta, Canada, and became one of its civic and religious leaders. He served in the stake presidency of the Alberta Stake from 1892–1902 and from 1903–1925. Thomas William’s first wife was Rhoda Adalaide Hinman a half sister to Katie, Fannie’s mother. Henry Lyman Hinman their father, was a prominent pioneer and church leader in Alberta. Rhoda was born September 27, 1877, and they were married May 15, 1895. After three sons were born to them, William Hinman Duce, Ora Duce and Moyle Duce, Rhoda died October 15, 1912.

Although Thomas Duce was by birth of the second generation of that outstanding group of church and civic leaders who bore the brunt of that trying period of colonization of Western Canada, be being but sixteen years old when they were established, still, the challenging, soul-testing struggles of growth, development and expansion still persisted, and his over all record of accomplishments measures up to the highest tradition of the pioneer leaders.

His education was obtained in the public schools of Cache County and the Brigham Young College at Logan. During his stay in Canada, he established several business enterprises. He was stock raiser, shipper, merchant, hotel operator, etc. From about 1903 to 1911 he was a member of the Cardston Town Council, and the Fair Board of Cardston from about 1912 to 1920. For about thirty years, 1900–1930, he was a local Liberal Party leader in Cardston, Alberta, Canada.

But, it was in the realm of unusual, continuous and outstanding church service, including the practical application of the underlying principles of his religion, both at home and in his community, that was the hallmark of Thomas William Duce’s character. The early Mormon Colonists, few in number, isolated as they were, surrounded by not too friendly neighbors, and subjected to even less friendly natural conditions, supplied a fertile field for the development of such men. His church service record as well as Fannie’s are so unusual as to justify a detailed enumeration.

Prior to William’s first foreign mission to England, he was set apart for that mission December 3, 1908, he was a home missionary, appointed December 24, 1893, ward organist, August 19, 1894, teacher in auxiliaries, Y.M.M.I.A. president, and bishop’s counselor, set apart June 9, 1895. Leaving his wife and children, he served as a missionary in Great Britain until 1910.

Upon his return he then served as president of the High Priests Quorum, Alberta Stake, until he was set apart as the first bishop of Cardston Second Ward at its organization February 8, 1914. This position, which he faithfully discharged for nearly a dozen years, including responsibility for erection of the Ward Chapel, seemingly could have been his most productive, indeed, were the golden years of his life. Continuing in important service he was called on a short term mission to the Northern States from December 10, 1925 until March 28, 1926, “during which time he was still retained as bishop.” He was an ordinance worker in the Cardston Temple 1923–34, and served as a stake officer in various auxiliaries until December 31, 1930, when he became a member of the Alberta Stake High Council.

Fannie taught school for a year after arriving in Canada. In addition to her praiseworthy support of her husband throughout his unusually heavy church and civic responsibilities, and while becoming the proud mother of six children, in her own right she was continuously active in church and community affairs in Canada. At various times she taught in most of the church auxiliaries except primary, was President of Y.M.M.I.A. 1914–1916, Stake President 1918–1924, and counsellor in Stake Relief Society 1924–1930.

For about seven months in 1930, Thomas William Duce was called by the church authorities to supervise the building of a chapel for a branch of the church at Everett, Washington. Fannie accompanied him and it is recorded that she served as president of the Relief Society during their stay in Washington. During the late 1930s he disposed of his many interests in Canada and moved with his family to Everett where the family thereafter resided.

The same single-minded dedication and devotion to the interests of the church continued with the Duce family at Everett which was not long after made a ward of the Seattle Stake. Thomas William served as a member of the Seattle Stake High Council from 1938–1942, was ordained the first patriarch of the Seattle Stake. This distinctive church position, which he held until his death, doubtless was a soul stirring climax to his outstanding career.²⁹⁶ He died suddenly at his home in Everett of a heart ailment November 15, 1947. Funeral services were held at Everett and at Cardston, with burial at the latter place.²⁹⁷

It seems appropriate to end this treatment of the life of Thomas William Duce by including a short excerpt from that part of an inspirational tribute to him, relating to his life of devotion to the people in Canada, by his sister-in-law, Chloe Knowlton Hess:

Mormondom in Canada was his affair. Their successes, their obstacles, their hopes, their dreams, their disappointments, their sorrows were his own. He shared them and enlarged the happiness and divided and diminished the sorrow and despair.²⁹⁸

Continuing with Fannie’s outstanding continual church service after their removal from Canada to the State of Washington: She served in the Relief Society Presidency from 1939–44 in the Seattle Stake; from 1948–1962 she was either in the presidency or teacher in the women’s auxiliaries of the church in the Everett Ward; she was a stake missionary in the North Seattle Stake 1956–58; and from 1962–1970 she served as a teacher in both Relief Society and Sunday School of the Everett-Marysville Ward of the Cascade and North Seattle Stakes.

What a notable record of devoted service is the foregoing. What a heritage it leaves for their posterity. As far as is known their children and grandchildren have been and are responding to this challenge in the highest tradition. All three sons have served in bishoprics, two as bishops. One is now (1971) serving as stake president.

Fannie was a member of a Church History Tour sponsored by the B.Y.U., which was a most enjoyable climax to the former traveling she had enjoyed in previous years. Also she was a member of a B.Y.U. tour to the Holy Land in 1968 as a guest of her son Wesley.

92—Chloe Knowlton and George Marion Hess

Chloe Knowlton, the third daughter of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Catherine Aurelia Hinman, was born at Grantsville, Utah, November 9, 1890. The extremely unsettled conditions surrounding her parents at that time due to the enforcement of the provisions of the federal statutes against plural marriage, have been previously described; likewise, the stringent financial situation of their parents at the time has been herein before explained. With the adoption of the Manifesto a month before Chloe’s birth her parents lives returned more nearly to normal. In 1892 her father sold his Delle ranch in Tooele County and her mother’s family were settled in the family home on Burk Lane in Farmington. There until her father’s sudden death March 27, 1901 their lives were characterized by peace and serenity. On her eighth birthday, November 9, 1898, as was the tradition in the family, she was baptized in a large suitable home made wood box container at the family home.

The details of Katie’s struggle to support her family after Benjamin’s death including its sojourn in Salt Lake City for a few years, has been described in Chapter II and III of this work. By that time Chloe was in the fifth grade at the old “Academy” building in Farmington. While the family was in the city she attended the Washington School, and upon its return to Farmington, sometime during 1905, she finished her elementary schooling there, graduating in 1906.

It seemingly has been Chloe’s destiny to follow the same general patter of frequent change in home location, first begun in childhood, throughout her long active productive life. After remaining out of school a year she attended the U.A.C. at Logan during the 1907–1908 school year, largely supporting herself financially. The next year found her with her sister Fannie at the University of Utah, commuting from their Farmington home each day. She then continued her normal training at the L.D.S.U. where she completed the regular requirements for a teaching certificate. Of these years she comments: “I graduated from L.D.S.U. in 1912 after spending two of the happiest years of learning for which a girl could wish. The school trained young teachers—me.”

Chloe began her teaching career with one year at Randolph, Utah, and this was followed by three more years at Farmington under George Quincy Knowlton, her half brother, as principal. It should be mentioned that her mother had sold the home on Burk Lane soon after moving back to Farmington and established a new one at 100 East Fourth North in Farmington where Chloe resided. This was to be Katie’s home and headquarters for her children until she moved to Canada. It was then purchased by George Quincy Knowlton. Throughout her life Chloe has maintained a program of church activity generally in the women’s auxiliaries either as administrator or teacher, as her family responsibilities permitted.

January 10, 1917 she was married in the Salt Lake Temple to George Marion Hess, a life long Farmington acquaintance. Marion was born there February 25, 1892. He was the son of George Albert Hess and Lucy Elizabeth Saunders. George Albert’s father was John W. Hess, who was born August 24, 1824 in Franklin County, Pennsylvania, and came to Utah in July, 1847 with the James Brown contingent of the Mormon Battalion. He moved to Farmington in 1849, became its third bishop, which position he held for 27 years. He later became stake president of Davis Stake and patriarch, and established a long and distinguished record as church and civic leader. He was the head of a very large family. Marion’s mother was a daughter of David Saunders and Lucy Grover. David came to Utah in 1850 and settled in Farmington.²⁹⁹

Marion’s childhood and youth were spent in Farmington, where he received his elementary education, and was also active in all of the offices of the Priesthood. His initial college training was obtained first at the B.Y.U. in Provo during the year 1907–1908, followed by attendance at U.S.A.C. at Logan, where he graduated with a B.S. degree in 1914. He was president of his Junior Class and president of the Student Body during his senior year.

Marion was blessed with natural abilities in different fields. His service in the church throughout his entire life was greatly enriched by his outstanding talent as a singer which he graciously and generously bestowed in all of the many functions of his active life. He also participated actively in college, and thereafter, in stage productions and in both of these areas with more specialized training he probably could have established distinctive professional careers.

October 13, 1914 he was set apart as a missionary to the Eastern States Mission. He served first in the Canadian Conference of that mission, at Saint Johns and New Brunswick, and during the latter part was made president of the Massachusetts Conference, where he served with unusual distinction. He was honorably released in November, 1916, and returned home to assist his father with his successful farming and live-stock operation at Farmington. In the fall of 1917 he began a years service as an agricultural agency to Duchesne County where he and Chloe resided.

It was in September 1918 that George Marion Hess made the final decision to enter the teaching profession, to which vitally important calling he was destined to devote the major energies of his hand, heart, and brain until stricken down by a crippling paralytic stroke 35 years later. And Chloe, his faithful wife stood by his side. She became the successful mother of seven children and maintained a rewarding home life for them, although subjected to the changes resulting from the many changes in home location resulting from school assignments he obtained in several counties of Utah and in Teton County, Idaho.

In one respect, namely the united undeviating loyalty to the church and its interests, Chloe and Marion, wherever they were located, followed this pattern, not unusual with many of the Knowltons of their generation, nor, was their determination to rear a large family under extreme handicaps, unusual. But in one respect their action packed lives were unusual, indeed very unique. This uniqueness centers upon their unwavering dedication to the school teaching career, and their determination to honor it throughout their lives, even though it involved them in many changes of home location, as well as other varying and extremely trying conditions. It should be remembered that during this period of general financial uncertainty including the depression of the 1930s, they suffered more than most. The manner in which Marion and Chloe succeeded through it all should cause their posterity ever to hold their names in honor.

During the first 10 years of this career 1918–28, when six of their seven children were born, they were blessed with a new home of their own, this being erected at the north end of Main Street in Farmington. It served as headquarters during the Davis County period of his teaching career. This included principalships; one year at North Farmington, one at Centerville, and three at Layton. This was followed by teacher assignments: two years at Kaysville and three at Farmington. During the Davis County period in civic and religious affairs Marion served: as Farmington City Councilman (elected November 1919), City Judge, Sunday School Superintendent, Priesthood Quorum officer, Choir leader, etc., and member of the Davis High Council.

During the 1928–29 school year the family moved to Provo for Marion to do graduate study at B.Y.U., and this was followed later by attendance at summer schools sessions there during all the summers 1930–35. This also enabled Chloe to attend the 1928–29 academic year with additional summer school attendance as family responsibilities permitted.

For the three school years 1929–32 a move was made to Driggs, Idaho where Marion served as principal of the Teton County High School. After a return was made to Utah, they moved to Garfield County, where for three years he was principal of the Garfield County High School. For the next two years, 1935–37, he filled a vacancy as superintendent of the Garfield County School District. During their stay at Panguich Marion continued his church activities in scouting, choir work, and drama, and finally a member of the stake presidency, in which he served with distinction. Chloe also was active as usual in the women’s stake auxiliaries.

In the fall of 1937 the Hess family moved westward over the mountains to Cedar City, which was to be their home while Marion was teacher in its elementary school for the following seven and one half years. In the Parowan Stake the members of the family performed their customary church assignments with Marion notably active in the choir, and as a member of the YMMIA stake board.

George Marion Hess’s final assignment in the profession to which he had dedicated so much of his active life began at the Madison Elementary School, Granite District in January 1945, where he served as teacher until his health failed him in September 1953. A family home, a comfortable modern one, was purchased at 1342 Bryan Avenue in Salt Lake City. Since leaving Farmington they had lived in rented ones.

The members of the family here, also, became active in church work. On July 24, 1951, Marion was ordained the bishop of Edgehill Ward. He entered into the responsibilities of this position with the usual enthusiasm and dedication which has made it one of the most important, respected, and honored in all church administration. The Hillside Stake was then operating a welfare farm at Fairfield in northern Utah County, and as has been traditional with this important church activity, members of bishoprics have assumed the customary leadership in encouraging ward members to participate. Coming from a farm background it was but natural for Bishop Hess to throw himself into this activity with his characteristic energy and enthusiasm.³⁰⁰ He suffered a crippling paralytic stroke at home the night of one of those strenuous days at the welfare farm. It soon became obvious that Marion would be required to retire from his school teaching career as well as from the bishopric of the Edgehill Ward. Thus he went down in a manner worthy of a valiant soldier in the field of battle.

In the possession of the Hess family is a priceless scrapbook with the title “This I Remember—Edgehill Ward—July 29, 1951 to December 13, 1953—The Hesses.” It contains certificates of honored assignments accepted and fulfilled by Chloe and Marion during their lives, letters of congratulation and appreciation, etc. But more to the point, there is to be found therein written evidence in prose and poetry, of a veritable outpouring of sympathy from the Edgehill Ward family. There are formal group letters from the High Priest Quorum to the Deacons, from the Relief Society to the Primary; and individual notes in great number, all expressing deep gratitude in such word and spirit as tugs at the well springs of the hear. All are filled with tender solicitude for the blessings of the Lord upon their noble Bishop and his faithful wife.

This very serious breakdown in health, which occurred in September 1953, made it impossible for Marion to continue with his school or church work, but by the exercise of admirable faith and courage he struggle back to a life of measured activity. It seems appropriate here to include Chloe’s description of this courageous partial recovery:

but by dint of unusual effort and perseverance, (he) overcame what seemed complete immobility. He came back with ability to walk, talk, drive his car, do some garden and farm work, and do daily endowment work in the Salt Lake Temple; and later he could and did do substitute work at West High School, beginning 23 Oct. 1956 until May 1957. He believed that his work was beneficial in restoring his ability to do. He became able to continue his leadership in the 24th Ward High Priest Quorum Class until he left for a six month’s visit to Norway and Western Europe. He had been active and devoted to New Testament teaching through his adult life and the visit to Norway was a first step in what he hoped would be a visit to the Holy Land.³⁰¹

At different times during their busy lives they had found time during summer vacation for a few auto trips. At different times they visited Chloe’s relatives in Wester Canada, including one time to attend the dedication of the Cardston Temple in 1923. In 1940, also by car, they made a memorable extensive trip into Mexico.

The trip to Norway and Europe, above mentioned, was taken in 1959. After visiting Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and the Arctic Circle with the Hogans for a number of weeks, they free lanced through Wester Europe as far south as Rome, Italy. En route they visited the Swiss Temple where they performed some temple work. About this time Marion’s health began to fail and they began the return journey home, briefly visiting France and England. Not long thereafter, January 28, 1961, Marion died at their home at 208 West Fifth North, Salt Lake City. His funeral was conducted at Bountiful, Utah, with burial in the Farmington Cemetery.³⁰²

It should be mentioned that during the period of Marion’s retirement Chloe realized a life long ambition to graduate from college. She attended the University of Utah during the year 1954–55 and earned a Bachelor of Science degree with honors June 6, 1955.

Throughout her life as her health and reducing family responsibilities have permitted she has been continually active in appropriate church service including a consistent program of genealogical and temple work. At appropriate times she served in P.T.A. activities and military auxiliaries, and in later years has rendered significant service reading text material for the blind and otherwise handicapped. Throughout her entire adult life in addition to her basic responsibilities as wife and mother, she has been engaged in going about doing good. Indeed, this has been the very hallmark of her character. She recently wrote: “I am busy, I am happy, I have good health.”

94—Lewis Burnham Knowlton and Josie Green

Lewis Burnham Knowlton, the eldest of the two sons of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Catherine Aurelia Hinman, who grew to maturity, was born in Farmington, Utah, March 20, 1896. Burnham was five years old when his father died, March 27, 1901. The serious problems facing his mother at this critical time in her family’s life, and the brave and successful manner in which she met them, have been treated previously in this work. Burnham had reached the age to begin his elementary schooling when Katie moved to Salt Lake City with her family, better to finish her professional nursing training, and also to provide more convenient facilities for his older sisters to complete their school training. Doubtless he began his schooling in the City and continued at Farmington a few years later when his mother returned.

Upon his graduation from the eighth grade, at the age of fourteen, he immediately found favorable employment at the Miller Floral Company, then being established at Farmington. He has written at the beginning of a unique and successful career as follows:

I helped build the first greenhouse, painting lumber, putting putty and glass into such to make the glass houses. Mr. Robert Miller, owner of the business, had come from Boston to set up this new plant in Farmington. I think I must have worked well and impressed him. He was very considerate of me and concerned with my progress and welfare.³⁰³

He worked at Miller Floral until around 1916 when his mother and his sister, Fannie, urged him to come to Alberta, Canada, and accept employment with Fannie’s husband, Thomas William Duce. Two years later he returned home to join the army. He served in the Medical Corps, being stationed at Fort Lewis in the State of Washington, and later at Camp Bowie in Texas. He was honorably discharged June 22, 1919, as a non-commissioned officer.

October 10, 1922, he was set apart as a missionary from Cardston, Alberta, Canada, to the Canadian Mission. He served in Toronto and was Conference President there for approximately the last fifteen months of his mission. He returned May 11, 1925.³⁰⁴ While on his mission he became acquainted with Josie Green, a lady missionary in the Toronto Conference. They were married in the Cardston Temple August 20, 1925.

Josie was the daughter of George William Green and Mary Esther Nalder, and was born in Salt Lake City according to Josie’s Autobiography or Layton according to group sheet, December 19, 1900. When Josie was eighteen months old her family moved to Alberta, Canada. There at first he was a builder and operator of a flour mill for Ellison Milling Company, a Utah based organization.

The Ellisons were encouraged by the church to establish mills in different communities where Mormon colonies had been settled. Among these was such an enterprise at Lethbridge. Josie’s father moved his family there in 1911 and a year later a ward was organized. George William Green, Josie’s father, became a counselor in its first bishopric. About a dozen years later the Lethbridge Stake was organized. Soon thereafter Josie received her mission call to Eastern Canada with headquarters at Toronto. At that time there were but three lady missionaries in all of Canada.

In her preparatory schooling, as well as church activity, Josie was a pioneer indeed. She attended the local schools, beginning her high school training at the unusual age of twelve, and finished a business course two years later, being one of four who passed the final examinations. Almost immediately she was employed in the office of the business here father managed.

As was common in those days, with the local church branches, ward and stakes having small population in Canada, it was difficult to find enough officers to man the various auxiliaries and may were given more than one position. Beginning at eleven, Josie was made secretary of her Sunday School and she comments, “…that from then on there was never a time I think that I was not secretary of at least one organization, and frequently two. The ward was new and I had the privilege of being the first of many things.”³⁰⁵

Returning now to the principal events in the lives of Burnham and Josie, after their marriage in 1925, his first employment was with the coal company at Superior, Wyoming, where he worked before leaving for the mission field. They remained there about three years, when Josie’s father persuaded them to come to Lethbridge to manage a new business he was starting “…pertaining to warehouse work with seeds, feeds, hay, etc.”³⁰⁶ Burnham managed this business for about twenty years until Josie’s father’s death, at about which time it was purchased by the Ellison interests. Burnham was destined to remain with this company in a managerial capacity during the remainder of his productive years, and Josie, consistent with being the mother of two children and the care of her home, was a member of the office staff as long as her health permitted.

Throughout these active years in Lethbridge Burnham made himself available to serve in many important church and civic positions. He was a Bishop’s Counselor and President of Stake M.I.A., as well as being active in other capacities in the Y.M.M.I.A. He was a member of the Lion’s Club and served as secretary in both local and district units. He helped to organize and charter a post of the American Legion in Lethbridge, and served as its adjutant, this interest being “primarily to help U.S. veterans living in the area to obtain benefits to which they are entitled.”³⁰⁷

There is one very creditable pioneer activity engaged in by both Josie and Burnham which not only proved profitable to their company, but also to the lasting benefit of Western Canadian economy, namely the mustard seed business. This is well explained by him.

While were were in the seed and feed business in about 1935, some friends, including the then Mayor of Great Falls, Montana, were discussing the seed business with Josie and persuaded her to take an interest in the production and sale of Mustard Seed, a business that was doing well in Montana. Josie talked the matter up with me and she, thus, became the pioneer of the mustard seed business in Canada. We took an interest in it, did pioneer the business here, which has continued to be economically beneficial to this large farming area to this date. For the last several years all of the mustard used in Canada is produced within 100 miles of this center. Also 90% of all of the mustard used in the U.S. comes from this same part of southern Alberta. The mustard seed business enables us to meet and trade with people and business firms all over Canada and the U.S. with some acquaintances and trading with people in Europe as well as Japan and the Orient.³⁰⁸

As a measure of the value of this contribution is quoted the following:

Mustard is grown commercially in many countries of the world. The introduction of mustard as a commercial crop into Canada from Montana in 1936 is credited to the L.B. Knowltons of Lethbridge, Canada. It has since grown to a multi-million dollar industry in Southern Alberta.³⁰⁹

One of the highlights in the lives of Burnham and Josie was an extensive 16,000 mile travel tour enjoyed by them including visits to England, Italy, Greece, and the Holy Land. Copy of a vivid description of it is in the family library. They are now enjoying their retirement years in Lethbridge.

95—Ralph Ashford Knowlton and Lillian Esther Lokke

Ralph Ashford Knowlton was the second son of Benjamin Franklin Knowlton and Catherine Aurelia Hinman, who grew to manhood. He was born in Farmington, Utah, December 24, 1897/8. Ralph’s father died March 27, 1901. The very trying conditions faced by his mother during the next several years, her moving to Salt Lake City for a few years thereafter, and her return to Farmington, have been well described earlier in this work. Ralph probably began school in the city and doubtless completed his district school training at Farmington after the family returned.

He met with a very serious accident, probably during the summer of 1908, when he would have been eleven years old, from an explosive object being held in one hand. This resulted in the loss of one eye and very serious damage to two fingers and a thumb. This visual handicap also affected the other eye so that it was very difficult for him to continue in school or do any extensive reading.

As a young man he also went to Alberta, Canada, and found some employment in one of the establishments owned by by Fannie’s husband, Thomas William Duce, who proved so sympathetic and helpful to other members of her family.

Doubtless the most productive period of Ralph’s life was his service as a missionary to Samoa from the Cardston Second Ward. He was set apart March 11, 1920, for that mission and returned over three years later, July 22, 1923.³¹⁰ It is reported that he was made a district president in that mission, and was instrumental in the conversion of an entire village and its chief on one occasion. Were not these his life’s golden years?

October 22, 1932, Ralph was married at Yakima, Washington, to Lillian Esther Lokke. She was the daughter of Oscar Sigvart Lokke and Anna Caroline Howe of Seattle, Washington. She was born at Seattle June 9, 1911. Lillian’s father was born in Oslo, Norway.

During Ralph’s active life, he owned and operated a business, was a salesman, and then joined the labor movement in which he became an official. He and Lillian were not blessed with children, but they endeavored throughout their lives to make life more pleasant to others more fortunate.

Ralph lost his life in an automobile accident near Seattle July 23, 1965.³¹¹ At this funeral it was said of him that he personified the thought emphasized in the thirteenth Article of Faith. “He was honest, true, chaste and benevolent, and believed in doing good to all men.” Lillian continues to live in Seattle.

97—Clements Abraham Knowlton and Lucille Harriet Wilding

Clements Abraham Knowlton was the only child of Abraham Benjamin Knowlton and Nettie Dorcas Horsley. He was born May 28, 1900, in Salt Lake City, Utah. Clements obtained his education in the public schools of Salt Lake City, and was graduated from the L.D.S. Business College.

He married Lucille Wilding at Salt Lake City. Lucille was a daughter of Charles Henry Wilding and Alice Maud Collins. Charles was born July 12, 1885, and Alice, September 17, 1888.

Clements and Lucille made their home in Salt Lake City. For nineteen years he was employed by the Mountain States Fuel and Supply Company. During World War II he worked for the M.W. Kellogg Company on a heavy duty construction project in Salt Lake City, and was there stricken by a sudden heart attack and died en route to a hospital April 12, 1943. He was a member of the L.D.S. Church. His funeral was held in a local mortuary, with burial in the City Cemetery.³¹²