Sunday, September 30, 2012

Amazing ~ from the Johanna Madsen Hafen Collection

Posted September 21, 2012
I found this photo amongst Johanna's collection last night.
~~~
I sent the following photo to Dave Gunderson last night at 9:00 p.m., knowing it was a couple of his relatives; Til Madsen Carter and Byron Carter.  Both Til and Byron were originally from Mt. Pleasant. 



This morning I received the restored photo below and this message:

Dear Peter and Kathy,
I appreciate getting the picture of Uncle Byron and Aunt Till.
They were wonderful people. I think that Uncle Byron was the Bishop of Helper for 20 or 30 years.
I have worked on the picture and will attach both the original and the restored picture
for what ever you want to use them.
I appreciate all that you do and hope that you will continue to send pictures and articles as they come to you.
Thanks

David R. Gunderson

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We genuinely appreciate Dave and all he does for us.  I think this is such a wonderful photo depicting a style used at the time of the photograph.
But also notice the photographer on the bottom:
  J.M. Boyden, Photographer, Mt. Pleasant, Utah.
This is one photographer I had not noticed before.

Even more amazing:

  Yesterday at the Relic Home, we had  some young girls come in looking for some history of their grandmother's home.  As it turned out, the home was built by 

J.M. Boyden



Most of this generation know this house as the Hans and Lois Poulsen home on 5th west.  

While the granddaughters were at the Relic Home, they told us that J.M. Boyden was the depot agent and he built it to somewhat match the depot which was just a half block away.  A lot of the gingerbread features were removed some time later.  



Any history on J.M. Boyden you can give us would be much appreciated. Did he
do his photography at the depot?  Was he the first Depot Agent? Did any of his 
children stay in the Mt. Pleasant area? Are there descendants living here or 
nearby now? 

Both Tudy and I know there are angels sitting on our shoulders as well as angels living on earth today
wanting to do all they can to support our efforts in 
Preserving the History of Mt. Pleasant. 

Thank You All, both on earth and in Heaven above !!!

Monday, September 24, 2012

Vinegar Pie ( A Recipe of the Early Pioneers)

 1 Cup Vinegar
2 Cups Water
1 Cup Brown Sugar
2 Tbs butter
1/2 Cup flour
Water
1 recipe for plain pastry

Combine vinegar, water and sugar and bring to a boil.  Add butter and stir until it melts.  Mix the flour with a little of the cold water till smooth.  Add slowly to the boiling liquid and stir until thickened.  Line a plate with pastry in criss-cross fashion.  Bake in a hot oven (450 degrees F) for ten minutes; reduce heat to moderate (350 degrees F)  and bake about twenty five minutes.  Makes 1 nine-inch pie.

Dill Beans

4 qts of wax beans
1 small stalk or 1/2 stalk of dill
1/2 tsp of peppercorns
1  1/2 bay leaf
2 grape leaves
1 qt water
1/4 Cup Salt
1/4 Cup Vinegar

Cook whole wax beans in salted, boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain, Pack in jars with peppercorns, dill, bay leaves and grape leaves.  Fill jars with boiling water, vinegar and salt.  Cover with dill and allow to stand for two days.  This will keep for two weeks and makes 3 quarts.

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Museum Day for Families

image001 2 Smithsonian Magazine’s Museum Day Live!   Free Tickets from Coast to Coast September 29
Visiting a museum is a great way to spend the day  
September 29, 2012.
Here in Mt. Pleasant, special activities will start at 11:00 a.m. and will continue until 3:00 p.m.
This will be a great day to visit our museum and learn facts  about our community and the early pioneers
that you may not have realized.   We will have a "Fact or Fiction" worksheet to fill out for fun and a free prize for filling it out. 
 For the full list of participating museums, please visit:http://www.smithsonianmag.com/museumday/venues/.

Museum Day Live! will be the eighth annual event celebrating education through the nation’s wide array of museums and cultural institutions. For one day only, participating locations across the country will emulate the free admission policy of the Smithsonian Institution’s Washington, D.C.-based facilities. The program encourages learning and the dissemination of knowledge nationwide. Last year’s event drew over 350,000 museum-goers to over 1,400 museums.
“With September right around the corner, people can start to plan their Museum Day Live! experience now,” said Jennifer Hicks, Group Publisher, Smithsonian Media. “Our free online ticketing makes accessing museums and cultural institutions easy for anyone that is interested.  Over 1,400 museums are expected to participate, making this year’s event even larger than last year.”






A Nephite Appears In Time of Need

Follow the link below to read of Emma Sanders Tidwell's experience with one of the three nephites.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ztohAAAAIBAJ&sjid=a6AFAAAAIBAJ&pg=2873%2C3236845

Saturday, September 22, 2012

Dedication of the New Mt. Pleasant City Hall ~ August 23, 1939 ~


Dedication of the New Mt. Pleasant City Hall
August 23, 1939
An Address  by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf
 Scanned from original manuscript, corrected, edited and formatted for this presentation
 by David R, Gunderson.
Mr. Chairman, Mr. Mayor, Ladies and Gentlemen:  
I do feel highly honored to have been asked to give this part on today’s program, and I hope I may say some things old, yet new, and. interesting to you.
The history of Mt. Pleasant and the people of the community is a very interesting study, there were many phases, conditions and problems, and it seems each administration has had its own particular problems.
Since this occasion is the dedication of the New City Hall, it was thought perhaps the stories of the city halls and the buildings of the past administrations might be a most interesting topic today.       
Mt. Pleasant was granted a charter by the Territorial Government, Feb 20th 1868. On May the 5th the following officers were chosen:
      - First Mayor:
           W. S. Seely,  and as
      - First City Council Members:    
           Jacob Christensen,
           Peter M. Peel,
           Jens Jorgensen
           N. Peter Madsen, and
           Joseph Page.
They made the following appointments:
           1.  George Farnsworth – Recorder,
           2.  Andrew Madsen – Treasurer,
           3.   Edward Cliff – Assessor,
           4.  Paul Dehlin – Road Supervisor, and
           
5.  O. Seely – Marshal.
It does not state where this administration met. Only three short items are recorded concerning this first City Council, one of these tells that Joseph Page was appointed Mayor Pro. Temp. At another, it was moved and carried that the $45.00 paid to the Indians should be taken from the treasury.                                                  
On May the 2nd 1870 Joseph Page was elected Mayor, and records state that on May the 7th , the council met in the hall, this no doubt was the Social Hall, which was the first meeting house built out side the fort.
They next met on July the 4th, at Andrew Madsen’s home, next at Anthon Lund’s   home, then at the Third Ward School, then at the Forth Ward School house, the Telegraph Office, the Second Ward School room, Joseph Page’s residence, and so on making the rounds again.
Some of the problems of the early administrations were fence lines, irrigation ditches, 
irrigation rights, obtaining clear titles to property, to license or not to license the sale of liquor, establishing stray ponds, ordinances pertaining to meat marketers, to butchering, to duties of the polices and many other ordinances needed in a new community.


From the minutes of a session held in the Second Ward school house, in 1874,
the following is copied:
“The council, then took into consideration the plausibility of building a city hall and jail, and it was moved and seconded that the council proceed to build the same, at least, as far as to finish the basement or the lower rooms this year. Paul Dehlin and Andrew Madsen were appointed, as a committee, to locate said building and decide on dimensions of same, and estimate the cost.”
The minutes of the next meeting state:
“The Dehlin and Madsen committee appointed at last meeting gave report on subject of city hall, Madsen, Dehlin and Mayor Page were appointed to see to the erection of said hall, and to locate same and as far as circumstances would allow, to engage the labor for same, at best terms for the city.”
Later at a meeting held at the Second Ward school house, it was recorded:
“The question of the city hall was again brought up, and it was decided that it would not be wise to build, or commence building of the hall at present, but to arrange to rent a place for a lockup. Bennett and Monson were appointed to rent a house and repair same sufficient to make it safe to hold prisoners, and were authorized to draw on the treasury for means necessary for same.”
Later a bill for $10.00 was presented and paid.
And thus, after eight years of shifting from place to place, disappeared their first 
dream of a city hall.
Dec. 1875, John Waldermar and  W. W. Brandon were appointed a committee to rent
and furnish a building to be used as a lockup.
From the minutes of a meeting held in the post office in 1876, the following is taken:
 "'On the subject of a room for city council meetings, Councilor A. H. Bennett reported that a room belonging to P. M. Peel, could be had at a reasonable price. The council agreed to rent the room and Bennett and Page were appointed to make terms for the same.”
The next meeting was held in the Peel room, and it was reported that arrangements
had been made for same at $ 2.00 a month. The action of the committee was
unanimously indorsed. Andrew Madsen and Peter Monson were appointed to get one dozen Chairs at the best terms possible. And this, after twelve years, was the first temporary home, the council had known, and was referred to in the minutes as the 
Mayors office.
It seems the question of the lockup was not yet satisfactorily settled,
In 1877, Andrew Madsen, as a committee of one, was appointed to select and negotiate
for some building suitable for a city lockup, Madsen later reported, he was able to
get the former building used, but that it was in need of much repair. The matter was
fully discussed, and laid over to hear, from A. H. Bennett, as to a contract to build
a good substantial lockup.
From the minutes of a meeting held Oct 24th is copied:
“The Mayor stated, the object of the meeting was to take into consideration the propriety of building a lockup, with height enough to admit a general city office above, this giving room for all city purposes and save rent and contingent expanses. After some discussion as to the finances to meet the expenses of said building, Mr. A. H. Bennett presented his specifications, in three divisions
First,          The lookup proper, finished and completed, to the    
                    expectance of the city council for. $275.00.


Second,      With additional room above, completed for $100.00 more, thus a total of $375.00.

Third,         In event of the council desiring only the lockup, to  
                    finish same thoroughly, save the contractor put on a
                    temporary roof’ at an agreed on price, less than $275.00.
Some discussion was had on the necessity of inviting proposals to build said building. The Council decided that time and necessity of the building, the known honor of the contracting party, his intimacy with the financial conditions of the city, his terms proposed of payment, and that none perhaps could be found to take the contract, and thoroughly complete the same, and that no version of building would be required, it being left to Bennett, therefore, it was unanimously resolved, to build said lockup, agreeable to the contingency that may arise as to the finances in the matter of completion, and the contract was awarded to A. H. Bennett.
A motion was made and carried that the Mayor make all arrangements, for the building and paying therefore with the contractor. On motion that the recorder prepare a contract, agreeable to the specifications submitted, which contract shall be duly signed by the contractor, with two approved signers, to the acceptance of the Mayor, and that said contract shall be on file in the recorder’s office.
The contract was duly signed and placed in recorder David Candland’s office. Mayor Page, Madsen and Bennett were appointed a committee on location of the building.
In December, the following was recorded:   
“The committee on receiving the City Hall from the hands of the contractor, reported favorable and that the speciation had on the part  of the contractor .been faithfully carried out. Upon its acceptance by the council, $250.00 was allowed Bennett in full price of the lockup, and co-operation notes were drawn up, bearing 1&½ per cent interest per month from maturity. Contractor Bennett delivered the keys to the Mayor; the Mayor delivered two keys to the Marshal. The Marshal was instructed to get ‘bedding’ and Councilor Peter Monsen to get a suitable stove. Records show the stove was purchased for $7.00.”
Thus with the erection of the jail, but with out the extra rooms, faded their dream number two of a City Hall.
The Council then decided to vacate its present quarters, where they paid Joseph Page $2.00 a month, and meet over the Post Office.
A year later, it was agreed, upon motion of Councilor Monson, to fence the city jail or lockup, with lumber twelve feet high.
The lockup referred to was a building erected of rock and had been built on the public square or North Fort (Now ‘1939’ the North Sanpete High School block), which, at that time, was surrounded by a rock wall.
Few claim they ever saw the inside of this lockup.- but many do remember a prisoner, who, in the early hours of the morning,  would sit upon the roof of the building and sing the popular songs of the day. This, however, was after the high board fence had been placed around it.
The story is told that, prior to the installation of the fence, a policeman, and by the way there were many of them, after locking up a prisoner, when turning a corner on Main Street, came face to face with the very prisoner he had just locked up.
Another story of later date is that of a prisoner who started a fire on the floor, in the center of the room. And, but for the timely arrival of Marshal, Joseph Monson, would surely have suffocated.
In 1881, a room for council meetings was secured at Bishop Seeley’s home, for $1.25 a month. Later they met up-stairs over the co-op store, in the South Brick school house, up stairs in the Wasatch: Mercantile building and perhaps in other places not named. It was a difficult matter to check their trail.
In 1888, Councilor Syndegaard called attention to the city jail, and said it was not a fit place to put a prisoners. Later Marshal Burns reported the jail had been repaired and he thought it was now a comfortable place to retain prisoners.
In 1890, during John Carter’s term as Mayor, again the subject of a city hall was discussed. The council favored erecting a water works system, instead of a hall, if the City must be bonded for either.
And thus, that city hall dream again faded away. (Number Three)
In 1895, during the time that Abram Johnson was Mayor, the record states:
“Considerable discussion was indulged in by the council, in regards to the immediate construction of a city hall, and the Mayor was authorized to procure plans etc. and it was resolved that it be the purpose of this council, to erect   a city hall, at an aggregate sum of from four to five thousand dollars, at as early a time as practicable, and that we proceed during the present year to excavate for basement and build foundation of said building. July 15th Architect Watkins presented the plans for the proposed city hall. The plans submitted were for a two story building with the jail in the basement, a council chamber, police court, vault and three offices on the first floor, one office and a public hall on the second floor. Aggregate cost to be $5,500.00.  It was discussed for some time, finally disposed of by appointing a committee to prepare an estimate of current income and expenses of the city, with the object in view to ascertain what available funds the city could command. July 19th the subject of erecting a city hall was again taken into consideration, and discussed as to weather said building should be constructed or not. A motion was made to lay the matter over indefinitely, while the motion was lost, no farther action was taken”.


And thus faded dream number four of a City Hall.
In 1896, during N. S. Nielsen’s term as mayor, at the time of the building of the
Central or Hamilton School, School Trustees, Ericksen and Jensen, representing the
School Trustees, met with the council, to confer with them, in regards to disposing of the North School house. Council took the matter under consideration
No farther mention is made of a City Hall was made until 1898, during the time
that Ferninand Ericksen was Mayor when the following discussion took place:
(By then, the City Council had been wandering about homeless for 30 years.)



North Brick School remodeled into Mt. Pleasant’s First City Hall (1898)

“School trustees Johnson and Jensen appeared for the purpose of making a proposition for the transfer of the North Brick school house to the city. It was moved and carried that it be the sense of the council that they purchase the house, providing the offer of the School trustees meets the approval of the council. Mr. Johnson stated that after through consider-ation, the school trustees had concluded to ask the sum of $2,000.00. On motion of' councilman Sorenson, a com-mittee of three were appointed, to visit the School house for the purpose of ascertaining the condition of the property. On Feb. 4th the council met in   special session, the committee reported the school. Building to be in better condition than anticipated, and recommended the purchase of the building at fifteen hundred dollars, which Mr. Johnson of the school trustees stated they had decided to accept the offer.  It was moved, and carried to purchase same and to pay the school board, $500.00 down, $500.00 in six months and $500.00, again in nine months. Notes were issued bearing interest at 5 per cent per annum from date of purchase.”
       “A motion was made to reconsider motion, motion lost.” 


The committee on improvements were instructed to take immediate action, and in due time after thoroughly remodeling the building, installing a heating plant, a vault, cells and suitable office furniture, It became an up to date, and creditable City Hall.  And dream number five, came true, when the council met in their session, in the first real home the Mt. Pleasant City council had ever known.

But, that, was forty years ago.   

                    We are here today, in honor of dream number six, and to dedicate the new Mt. Pleasant City Hall of 1939[1].                            

                                               

Mt. Pleasant’s New (1939) City Hall[1]


[1] Pictures of the “Old” and “New” City Halls are from the Book, “Mt. Pleasant” By Hilda M. Longsdorf - 1939 


Thank You




[1] City Government in 1939 – Mayor:  Justice Seely,
City Council:  J. H. Stansfield, Dr. A. L. Peterson, L. A. Phillips and William Olsen.



[1] Scanned from original manuscript, corrected, edited and formatted for this presentation by David R, Gunderson.

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

Female Relief Society April 31, 1877

 Meeting held April 31, 1877
Opened with singing
Prayer by Sister Peel
Sister Morrison addressed the sisters, she felt well and please as the way was opened for us to build a temple on our very door and exhorted the sister to be diligent and to be on hand with a willing heart to as was our power to do.  And the call was made on the Brethren to commence the work next week; we should try to do the best we can to sustain them in their work, therefore we would meet in capacity of a council meeting.  First the Sisters give their.......that a call should be made on every sister in Mount Pleasant to donate 25 cents towards the furnishing of the house that was built at Manti for our brethren to eat in.  Every Sister present gave her name down for 25 cents and the visiting sisters promised to go around the next day and gather all the they could get. Then the sisters volunteered to go and cook for the brethren as follows:
1 week, Stine Mangeson and Maggie Peel, 
Sister Kath Fechser and Lucy Winkler
Sister Peel and Anne Peel
Sine Monroe and Sine Morrison
Sister Brown? and  Mary Johnson
Sister Porter

After this the sisters volunteered to stay with Sister Anna at night and also with another sick sister.
Meeting was closed with singing and Prayer by Sister Frandsen.
MFC Morrison, Pres
Louise Hasler Secr.



Female Relief Society Minutes April 1877


Meeting held April16th 1877
Opened with singing "Come Let Us Rejoice, Our Journey Pursue".
Prayer by Sister Madsen
The minutes from the former meeting were read and accepted, also the donations and disbursements.
Sister Peel addressed the Sisters and said that sickness prevented Sister Morrison to be in our meeting today. She felt well and pleased to see so many of the Sisters together, also she could only see the same faces as general used to by her every time and thought it would not hurt any of the Sisters if they would be a little more united and come to meeting and hoped the good spirit would be with us as Latter Day Saints. We need so much to be united in all things.  She bore her testimony as to the truth and said that she had lived in this town for 17 years and thought everybody must know her as a woman that when she was called to ....some good to her Sisters and Brothers, had always a good desire to ......... and there to others as she had a good desire to ......further the best she can.  She said that she not left her house to a Sister Meeting yet without asking the Lord to bless Sister Morrison  and all them that was placed over her and prayed for herself that the good spirit and wisdom may lead and guide us in all things.
Sister Madsen bore her testimony to the great work we were engaged in.  She said it was many things that she like to talk on but it was very hard for her to get it out, she felt very glad that the sisters was so much united ....so much good to Sister Anna in the Fort, she thought first it was very hard for the Society to take care over, but the sisters was united enough to make her comfortable both day and night and made her comfortable in ways she needed.  She exhorted the sister to be further united and our success will be ... share in every good thing.
Sister Simpson also felt well, and was glad for the opportunity to have a testimony to bear to this glorious work,  She did not feel to say much but desired to press forward.
Many of the Sisters bore their testimony in a thankful and humble manner.
The meeting was closed with singing "Do What Is Right" and the benediction by Sister Frandsen
MFC Morrison, Pres
Louise Hasler Secretary


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Shared by JoAnn Hafen Granger

NEED WASHING?

 
A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in a store. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence.
It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout.. We all stood there, under the awning, just
inside the door of the WalMart.
We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day.


I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

Her little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in, 'Mom let's run through the rain,'
She said.
'What?' Mom asked.

'Let's run through the rain!' She repeated.

'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.

This young child waited a minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain..'

'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.

'No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

'This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?'

'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, ' If God can get us through this, He can get us through anything! ' '

The entire crowd stopped dead silent.. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one left. Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say.


Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be

nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just need washing,' Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They got soaked.


They were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars. And yes, I did.
I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.

Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health.. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday.


To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Joseph and Sarah Ann Frobisher Bagnall (Revised from the July 1, 2012 "Pioneer of the Month"

An Account of my Great Grandfather and Grandmother, Joseph Bagnall, (1839-1920) and his wife, Sarah Ann Frobisher Bagnall (1841-1913), Brave Mormon Pioneers.

Attached please find a new twelve page account of my great grandparents lives.  It is a much expanded and corrected account.  As an historian at Palomar College, I have had the advantage of newly found sources.  I hope you will accept the update and corrections.
 Joseph A. Bagnall

Joseph A. Bagnall




   
The story of Joseph and Sarah Ann Frobisher Bagnall is important to me for a number of reasons.  First and foremost, they are my great grandparents, but secondly, their story is the account of the beginning of the Bagnalls in Sanpete County, Utah, and the reason for the existence of the hundreds of people who have descended from them  in the new world.
The descendants of these brave pioneers extend throughout the United States, and there are many living contemporaries who have their blood coursing in their veins. We all owe an enormous debt of gratitude to Joseph and Sarah Ann for our very lives.
Joseph Bagnall, Mormon pioneer, was born in Wakefield, England on December 27, 1839.  He was the son of George Bagnall, an illiterate moulder in an iron foundry who listed his place of employment as his residence.  George married Ann Rawling.  She gave birth, according to  Joseph’s birth certificate, at the iron foundry.
George was born in 1804, in Fall Ing, Sandal Magna, Wakefield.  He died at age 55 in Heath.  The death certificate indicates that the cause of death was Phthisis.  (At the time this term meant tuberculosis of the lungs).  Ann Rawling was born in 1812, baptized October 25, 1812, in Crofton, Wakefield, was baptized in the  LDS faith in 1854, died at age 43, and was buried April 30, 1856, in Crofton, Wakefield.
Joseph had an older brother, Thomas William Bagnall, who was born in 1838 in Fall Ing, Sandal Magna, Wakefield.  In 1858 he married Emma Hulse. He passed away in 1874 in Hemsworth, Yorks.
A younger brother, George Robert Bagnall was born April 6, 1842, and was baptized April 7, 1844, in Crofton, Wakefield
.joseph had two sisters. Emma Bagnall was born January 30 1844 and baptized April 7, 1844, in Crofton.  Emma died at age 20 and was buried September 8, 1864, in Crofton.  Susannah Bagnall was born January 8, 1849 in Heath, Wakefield and baptized October 27, 1849 in Crofton. The record of her death is missing.
James Rawling Bagnall was born July 29, 1851, in Heath, Wakefield and was baptized October, 1851 in Crofton.  He was married in 1884 to Mary Jane Dyson.  This couple followed the example set by Joseph and Sarah Ann.  They came to Utah, settled in Colton, Utah, lost two children in a fire, and returned to England where they  had four more children.
How did an illiterate iron foundry worker support a family of this size?  How did the mother of all these children manage her household?  The record shows that she bore James Rawling just five years before her death!!
Joseph, beginning at age 12, apprenticed in a trade.  He was a skilled stone cutter.  He worked in England until the mid 1860s and knew his brothers and sisters well.  He learned to read and write although there is no record of attendance at school.  On his 25th birthday, December 27, 1864, Joseph married Sarah Ann Frobisher in Wakefield.  She was the daughter of Thomas Frobisher, who was a shoemaker by trade, and Ann Cookson.
The following was taken from the only material that remains of Joseph Bagnall’s diary:  My mother, Ann Rawling Bagnall was baptized into the (LDS) church about 1854 and died of childbirth in 1856.  I had attended the Latter Day Saint meetings with her, but I did not attend any meetings after her death, until the first part of January in 1862.  I was baptized (LDS) on the 10th of February 1862, by George Harston, and confirmed by William Firth, President of the Wakefield branch. …
I attended to my prayers and paid my tithing every week and attended to all duties required of my hands.  I also commenced to place a part of my weekly earnings in the Emigration Fund at Liverpool, so that by the spring of 1865, I had enough to pay mine and my wife’s emigration to Salt Lake City….
Sarah Ann Frobisher and my sister Emma were baptized by George Harston, in April 1862.  Sarah Ann was confirmed by Joseph F. Smith and Emma by William Firth.  My sister Emma died on the 6th of September, 1864.
(Sarah Ann and I) left home on the 27th of April 1865, for Liverpool, and sailed on the 29th, a Saturday afternoon.  We had a pretty fair time aboard ship.  Sarah Ann was sick most of the way across.  We were crowded with about seven hundred passengers on board.  We were a month on the voyage, and landed in New York on the first of June 1865.  We were kept from landing one day on account of a general fast and a day of mourning because of the assassination of President Lincoln.
After we landed we were detained five days on account of poor railroad accommodations.  After we got started we went first to Albany, then to Montreal in Canada.  We saw Niagara Falls.  From Montreal we went to Detroit, to Chicago, to Quincy, and from there to St Joseph, Missouri.   We traveled up the Missouri River on a steamboat to a landing called Wyoming, forty miles below Omaha.  We had to stay there ten weeks.  There was much sickness and quite a number died.  Sarah Ann, my wife…”  (end of Joseph’s account.   Source:  The Bagnall Family History by Florence N. Bagnall)
The details in regard to the ship and the voyage, described by Joseph (above), are corroborated for the most part, and expanded and illuminated, in Document number 228 in the records of Ancestery.com:   The Belle Wood was an American clipper ship built by George Greenman  and company at Mystic, Connecticut.  She operated for a time in the Brigham line, but during the Civil War, when Yankee shipping lines were in jeopardy, the Belle Wood was sold to the British firm Williams and Guion  of Liverpool.





Sarah Ann and Joseph sailed on the Belle Wood, leaving Liverpool on April 29, 1865, and arriving in New York on June 1, 1865.  


It was the afternoon of 29 April 1865 and Captain Thomas William Freeman cleared the Belle Wood from Liverpool Harbor and moved down the River Mersey.  For the next thirty-two days he made every effort to make the voyage pleasant for the 636 Mormon passengers.  Presiding over these Saints were Elder William H. Shearman and his counselers, Elders Charles B. Taylor and William S. S. Willes.  There were also returning missionaries:  Frederick w. Cox, Edmund F. Bird, George Simms, George W. Grant, Miles P. Romney , Robert  Pixton,  Alfred Lee, and Mathew Lyon.  The crossing to America was described as “prosperous”, and the one reported death was of a child.
The Mormons were organized into nine wards aboard ship.  There was also at least one romance.  On shipboard, Martha Burrows, a twenty-six  year old spinster who had paid three pounds eighteen shillings for her fare, met returning missionary Charles Barber Taylor and later married him.
During the first few days seasickness was so prevalent no meetings were held.  However, a “female Sanitary Committee” was promptly appointed to help care for the sick, aged and feeble.  They dispensed sego, tapioca, arrowroot, hot tea, coffee, soup, boiled rice and dried apple sauce, and other items that proved nutritious to the sick and the infirm. Captain Freeman permitted these special items to be prepared in his own galley at an earlier time than his own scheduled meals.  In addition it was possible to provide “three good meals a day.”
Captain Freeman also cooperated in arrangements for religious services on the quarterdeck.  The Mate, a man named Gravestone, prepared a pulpit by spreading the Union Jack on the harness cask and arranging seats for the Elders.  One half hour before the meeting the ship’s bell tolled.  The Captain, his officers, and crew members joined in the meeting and “paid marked attention.”  The ship’s officers maintained the strictest order and decorum among the crew. At these meetings, the sacrament was administered, sermons were delivered and hymns were sung.
There were also social activities.  A recreation program featured musicals with a small brass band, group and individual singing, skits, and readings.  Even a newspaper, The Belle Wood Gazette, was published and edited by George Sims.  It carried announcements, health reports, notices of stolen property, poetry, essays, editorials, and instructions.  These planned events did much to keep morale high and materially contributed to a successful voyage.
The ship arrived in New York on May 31, 1865. The Emigrants were detained at Castle Garden until the 6th of June while suitable rail transportation was arranged.
We note that in Joseph’s account of the sea voyage, he makes reference to almost seven hundred passengers and he says they were crowded.  He also says that Sarah Ann was sick most of the way.  Why did the Belle Wood carry just 389 passengers on its December 12, 1863 voyage from Liverpool to New York?  Was that the normal passenger load? Why were there so many people on its 1865 voyage?   Why did the Captain make special note of trying to do everything to make 636 Mormon passengers comfortable?  How were sleeping arrangements maintained?  How were living quarters assigned?  How much privacy was there?  And finally, how did Sarah Ann cope with seasickness for a month, with her spare frame of less than 100 pounds?
The circuitous railroad journey described in Joseph’s diary (via Canada, Michigan, Illinois, and on to Wyoming, Nebraska, was the “suitable rail transportation” that was arranged.  The last leg of this tour was by steamboat on the Missouri river where over 600 Mormons came ashore to find (according to pioneer Merlin Eastman’s account) nothing but a storm cellar.   There was nothing in this storm cellar, so the Saints bedded down on a dirt floor, and spent the next ten weeks in Wyoming, Nebraska, plagued by sickness and death.
At Wyoming, Nebraska, over 600 Mormons were divided into a few covered wagon trains.   Covered wagons and ox teams had to be purchased in Omaha and the surrounding area,  and then came the problems connected with stocking  and preparing their wagons  for the long journey to Salt Lake City. As part of the finalized arrangements for the Henson Walker Company, there were 10 “merchant wagons” that were added to the company, no doubt stocked with basic supplies.
Under the headline “Captain Henson Walker’s Company,” there was a brief notice published in the Salt Lake City Deseret News Weekly, September 20, 1865.  It stated “Captain Henson Walker’s Company started from Wyoming (Nebraska) August 12, 1865.”  This simple line was followed by a list of about 200 people in 50 covered wagons.  Included in the list was “Joseph Bagnal (sic) and wife.”  In later years the LDS Church Library was more specific, listing Joseph Bagnall, age 25, and Sarah Ann Frobisher Bagnall, age 24, as part of the Henson Walker Company.
According to Merlin Eastham, the Walker Company did not see an Indian, but they were warned about the danger of Indian raids.  They were told of a raid on a Danish covered wagon train near the Platte River, just three miles from Laramie, Wyoming.  The Indians stole a woman, and when her husband tried to rescue her, they shot seven arrows into him.  The man survived and arrived in Salt Lake City, but he never saw his wife again.
The trail was a jolting, jarring, sometimes hot and sometimes cold, very dusty, and in turn muddy experience.  Death and sickness had plagued the care-worn, grim-faced pioneers of the Henson Walker Company as they arrived  in the Salt Lake Valley on November  9 , 1865.  The last part of the trip through Emigration Canyon probably involved traveling through snow.
Was there a feeling of triumph and elation when they arrived?  Did they feel a sense of security in their new surroundings?  How and where were they housed?  It couldn’t have been an entirely happy event when, within a month, Joseph and Sarah Ann were called to move one hundred miles south to a hamlet called Moroni.  As this happened, how many of their trail companions remained in the Salt Lake valley?   How many relationships were broken?  How did they feel about shaping their personal future in a remote area called Moroni?  What was it like to move in a covered wagon, drawn by oxen, to a remote hamlet in the dead of winter?
There were enormous challenges awaiting Joseph and Sarah Ann in their new valley of Sanpete. Where did they live in Moroni? What did they have for shelter when they arrived on a cold winter day of December, 1865?    Did they have sober second thoughts about their new home, just seven months after they had left England?  We do know they both grieved the passing of Emma, Joseph’s sister, who died in England, one year before they sailed for America.  The first year in Moroni, on December 30, 1866, Sarah Ann bore a child whom they named Emma.  The child died nine months later on August 26, 1867.  This must have been a bitter experience for Joseph and Sarah Ann. Soon thereafter, on September 4, 1868, Sarah Ann gave birth to a male child whom they named George.  This child died about three months later on January 7, 1969.  Without pause, Sarah Ann gave birth to my grandfather, Joseph Frobisher Bagnall, who was born on November 22, 1870, in Moroni, Utah.  On January 22, 1873, my great uncle, William Henry Bagnall, was also born in Moroni.  These two brothers not only survived to maturity, but they also raised families of their own, created The Bagnall Brothers livestock  enterprise, acquired and leased vast acreage in pastures and grazing land, and thrived in the Sanpete valley.

John F. Bagnall

But for the parents of the Bagnall Brothers, there was more heartache and hardship.  Ann Bagnall was born May 26, 1875. She died March 14, 1876, in Moroni.   At this juncture, Joseph and Sarah Ann and their two sons moved five miles south to Chester, Utah.  There is no information on their new home in Chester, but it was probably a log cabin.  At any rate, John F. Bagnall, was born in Chester, Utah, on June 14, 1877.  He lived to be 15 years old and was a happy lad who loved horses.  He died November 3, 1892, of an “infection.”  It seems an anomaly, but in the rustic, frontier setting of Chester, Utah, we have a handsome studio portrait of John F. Bagnall.
John F. spent the last three years of his life in a spacious stone house built by his father, Joseph, the stonecutter.  The house, pictured below, was completed in 1889.  This date was cut into the     arch stone over the doorway.




The Bagnall House. 

Erected 1899 in Chester, Utah.  Left to right: Horses May and Ben, Andy Rasmussen, William H. Bagnall, son of Joseph and Sarah Ann Bagnall, Sarah Ann Bagnall, Joseph Bagnall, dog Bruin (fierce), and Horse Maud hitched to the buggy.  Missing from the picture was Joseph Frobisher Bagnall, son of Joseph and Sarah Ann.
Water for this home was obtained from an old fashioned well that was plumbed into a kitchen pump.  The pump had to be primed with water in order to create a vacuum and initiate the flow.
The house had a parlor with a fireplace, a family organ, a dresser with a marble top and a large mirror.  The cellar below was stocked with preserved food supplies.
As a small boy, in about 1938, I (Joseph A. Bagnall) remember exploring the remnants of the old stone house.  I recall warm burgundy colors in what must have been the parlor.
When the house fell into a pile of rubble, about a century later, Mildred Bagnall Peterson, granddaughter of Joseph and Sarah Ann, took the arch stone and buried it, with the face and the date visible to all who visited their home in Moroni, Utah.

Joseph and Sara Ann:  A Closer Look

My father, Joseph R. Bagnall, knew his grandfather and grandmother well.  According to his account of their lives, published in the Bagnall Family History, we glean the following:
Joseph was small of stature, measuring  5 foot 4 inches, and in his middle to late years, he was heavy. He had clear, blue eyes, a prominent forehead, a cheerful countenance, and he gave one a feeling of forthrightness and honesty.  It seems he did not ride horses, but as a young man he traveled by buggy, frequently to Salina, and many times to Manti, Utah, about thirty miles south, where he cut stones for the Manti Temple.  He also cut stones for a building that served as the Chester School and community church. I (Joseph A.) remember attending church services in this building in the 1930s.  It was still in place in the early 1980s, when it was discovered standing bravely alone, fighting a losing battle against the elements.  An architect from Salt Lake City took the building down, carefully numbering and categorizing all of its parts.  He transported the building to Spring City, Utah, about seven miles away and reassembled it for his private summer residence.  Joseph’s work still lives, in its original splendor, in the marvelous setting of Spring City, a Utah town where most of the old stone houses are listed on the National Historic Register.
In addition to his own stone house, the community school/church, and the Manti Temple, Joseph also cut stone for the St. George Temple, which was hundreds of miles south of Chester, Utah. He spent extended periods away from home doing this work.

Three generations of Bagnall men.  Left to right:  Joseph Bagnall, Mormon pioneer;  Joseph Rodley Bagnall, grandson; and Joseph Frobisher Bagnall, son.  Picture taken about 1903.




When he was at home, Joseph ran a small, one-room, community store. He stocked a few groceries, lard, coal oil for lamps, cloth and a few sundries.  According to my father he had a warm and generous heart.  He extended so much “tic” (credit) that the store was unprofitable.   His sons, Joseph Frobisher and William Henry (Joe and Will) were doing well with their Bagnall Brothers livestock enterprise and were therefore called upon to re-establish their father’s credit with the merchandising houses that were supplying goods for the store.  Joe and Will soon terminated this arrangement and the store failed.
Joseph was at once then, a stone cutter, a failed merchant, a farmer who planted a garden and raised hogs, a butcher who produced tasty ham and sausages, and a man who could preserve his meat with a process involving brine and a smoke house. 
He was also a musician who played the fiddle at youth dances and social events, and he owned an organ, which he kept in his home. After taking lessons from Mr. Hasler in Mt. Pleasant, he amused himself and others with organ concerts featuring simple tunes. When he wasn’t playing music in public, he was a chorister in the church that he built, or he was just entertaining himself, humming and tapping his toe or singing a little tune.
In addition to his community service as a builder, he served as a school trustee in Chester for 15 years and a first counselor to Bishop Christensen for 14 years.
Near his handsome stone home, he built a shed that Sarah Ann called his “Smithy Shop.”   It was constructed of three walls made of logs on the north, south, and west side.  It was open on the east side. The top had pole rafters. Brush was thrown on the pole rafters, and dirt was thrown on top of the brush. Under this shed, he had an old fashioned wood and leather bellows.  The bellows were pumped by a small pole that was hung from a wooden cross piece.  Pulling the pole downward would cause the bellows to hiss and sigh and fill up with air.  The air was then forced under pressure through a cast iron pipe to the bottom of a hissing, blazing, fire.  The fire was used to heat metals to a temperature where they could be twisted, bent, and pounded into shape on his anvil.
In later years Joseph’s equipment was housed in a red blacksmith shop next to his son, Joseph Frobisher Bagnall’s ranch home, where it served in a new atmosphere of a large anvil, vises, grind stones, and welding equipment. It was a functional part of the Bagnall ranch where broken farm machinery was repaired well into the 1950’s.
Joseph was a creative person.  His tools, other than his vise and his anvil, were made right in his shop. His tongs, pliers, awls, etc. etc. were fashioned by himself.  He also made a surveying instrument from a piece of flat tin and two small lamp chimneys.  He fashioned the tin into four pieces of pipe.  One pipe was about three feet long. Three more pipes were about six inches long. Two of the six inch pipes were soldered at right angles to the three foot pipe. They both pointed in the same direction.  The third six inch pipe was soldered in the center, but it pointed in the opposite direction.  Small lamp chimneys were then sealed to the pipes on the ends, with white lead, and a wooden handle was inserted into the center pipe.
Joseph could then pour water into the lamp chimneys and determine a level line over land or a building.  He used this equipment to run a levee across one piece of his ground to get water to his neighbor’s land. The levee is still in use today, more than 130 years after he “surveyed” it.
From the contemporary accounts of his grandson, Joseph Rodley; my paternal grandmother, Hannah Christensen Bagnall; and a number of granddaughters who were also the daughters of William Henry, the following image of Joseph emerges:
He was intellectually curious.  He subscribed to Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, a Democratic newspaper that became the chief rival of William Randolph Hearst’s New York Journal in the famous circulation wars near the beginning of the 20th Century.  He also subscribed to a London paper and the regional Deseret News. According to Joseph Rodley, he would read all of these papers carefully, fold them up, put them away, and then take them out and read them again.
Hannah Christensen Bagnall told me of his love affair with books.  She described him reading Mark Twain’s books and commentary.  On one occasion, she said he was laughing until the tears rolled down his face.
He was a lifelong Democrat who argued politics with his son Joseph Frobisher, whom he called a “Mutton Republican.”  Joseph Rodley witnessed these arguments and wrote “Grandfather was at one side of the table and my father was at the other side, each talking at the top of his voice… At the strategic time, mother would approach the table and say. Now!  I think that you have both said about enough.  Let’s drop this matter right here!”  Grandfather would go to his room and Father would go saddle up his horse and ride out to inspect the cattle and the ranch.  After a short period, Grandfather would come out of his room, humming a tune.  Father would return and report to grandfather on the condition of the livestock and the ranch.  All was serene and calm, but neither man ever budged or compromised his basic beliefs.  In the early 1920s, Joseph F. served as a conservative Republican in the Utah State legislature.
He was the butt of many family jokes.  Joseph R. has chronicled a few occasions where his grandfather was traveling in his buggy and had carelessly draped the reins, out of hand, on a post in the buggy.  He would be oblivious to the responsibilities of keeping control of his horse.  His mind was on a political issue or a world event, or something else in his broad range of interests, when something on the road would trigger a runaway.  At least three times “grandpa” had to be rescued and his buggy had to be repaired.  Many of his grandchildren also tell stories about playfully calling him ”Dumpsy,” hiding his   walking cane, and engaging in light-hearted banter with  this fun loving man.
In old age he became absent minded, often in a world of his own, perhaps more stimulating and inspiring than the real world around him.
He actively pursued the ideal of contentment.  In the grim atmosphere of the frontier, with the challenges of snakes, bugs, flies, infant mortality, sickness and death, he chose to be of good cheer.  After the death of his wife, Sarah Ann, he was old and infirm, living with his son, Joseph F., and his wife, Hannah, engaging in heated political debates, and having serious discussions about values and goals.  He told “Joey”  and Hannah that he had never wanted to be wealthy.  He suggested that they had become too acquisitive and warned that the day would come when regulation and taxes would stifle the free atmosphere of the open range.  His advice to his son and daughter-in-law was to seek enough material things to live comfortably and then enjoy life.
He was spiritually attuned.  In Joseph Bagnall’s last days, which were spent in his son’s home, he huddled with the next two generations of  Bagnall men and his daughter-in-law-for morning and evening prayers.  The grandson, Joseph R., writes of the occasion. “Grandfather took his turn (leading the prayer), and it was (always) a testimony to his faith in a living God and to the truthfulness of the gospel for which he and grandmother left old England… His prayers came from the heart, full of gratitude and thanksgiving for his family, food, clothes, and all other blessings…He always asked that he might be blessed with a contented heart…It was thrilling to hear him pray.”
Joseph’s wife Sarah Ann was petite, wiry and thin, with dark hair, hazel eyes, thick brows and a distinctive square jaw.  She had a direct, brusque manner and she cried easily and often.
She was seasick for most of the voyage to America. The hardships of travel were overwhelming. The trauma of giving birth to six children was difficult, but the experience of losing four of them in death was devastating.   She verbally yearned for her home in England constantly.
Sarah Ann Frobisher Bagnall

Sarah Ann would make a plum pudding for Thanksgiving and Christmas.  It drew rave reviews from the family.  She was also praised for the way she stocked the cellar beneath their stone house.  Her grandson, Joseph Rodley, described the experience of opening a doorway and descending a dark stairway down into the cellar.  “What luscious smells!  There were stored apples, potatoes, turnips, cabbage, smoked meat, plum pudding, and then row after row of bottled peaches, beets, plums, currants, gooseberries, cans of honey, sacks of flour, and bushels of wheat.

Sarah Ann Frobisher Bagnall
Sarah Ann was a well- dressed seamstress.  When she passed away it was discovered that she had resourcefully stocked many bolts of cloth, extra shoes, and several caches of gold and silver pieces placed in cans and tucked away in odd places.
Sara Ann died at age 72, in 1913.  Joseph passed away at age 81 in 1920.  They are buried in the Moroni, Utah cemetery. There is a tall twin-towered headstone that marks the spot.  The headstone stands in virtual isolation in the old part of the cemetery.  It is surrounded by a wide expanse of well - kept lawn.  The reason for this arrangement is that they are buried in the area with their pioneer friends.  This section of the cemetery was, for the most part, simply marked.  Over the years the wooden caskets and bodies have disintegrated and are not detectable with modern sensing devices; and many of the markers have wasted away.  A beautiful lawn covers what is left underground and the Bagnall monument stands in splendid isolationism, a magnificent tribute to my great grandparents,  in a revered and sacred spot.