Mt. Pleasant Deals with Prohibition

Mayor Winters ~ November 18, 1932

From Utah History to Go:

Prohibition Failed to Stop the Liquor Flow in Utah

by W. Paul Reeve

History Blazer, February 1995

Nationally in 1893 a group of moral reformers organized the Anti-Saloon League. It joined forces with the Women's Christian Temperance Union to intensify the long-standing campaign against drunkenness and its harmful effects on society. These organizations advocated government intervention to regulate drinking. In response to such lobbying many state, county, town, and city officials began restricting the sale and consumption of liquor. In fact, by the turn of the century nearly one-fourth of America's population lived in "dry" communities that prohibited the sale of liquor.

Even before Utah finally enacted statewide prohibition in 1917 many small towns had already adopted their own anti-liquor laws. On October 21, 1911, St. George passed an ordinance prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating liquors. Yet, as St. George and other communities found, regulating people's drinking habits was no easy task. Less than two months after the bill's enactment several young men secured a five-gallon keg of wine and sneaked west of the city to indulge. After enjoying much of the illegal liquid one young man, for no apparent reason, shot and wounded one of his drinking buddies. News of the incident traveled fast, and soon the whole group was arrested and tried for drunkenness. One pled guilty and was fined $7.  Four others were acquitted due to lack of evidence, and two more were found guilty and fined $10 each.

Not only was regulating drinking difficult, but, as Grand County officers discovered, stopping its illegal sale was also challenging. In 1911 Sheriff Bliss of Moab, acting on information that John Tescher was selling liquor from his home, searched the residence and seized about three quarts of whiskey and numerous empty kegs. Tescher pled guilty to owning and keeping whiskey for sale and was fined $250. In another Grand County case Warren J. Gardner was found guilty of selling a gallon of wine to five minors. His attorney tried to establish that the wine was actually unfermented pure grape juice, but two of the boys testified to the contrary. They told the court that they became intoxicated after drinking it. The jury believed the boys, and the judge sentenced Gardner to ninety days in the county jail.

These experiences were only precursors of what lay ahead. After the ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1919, which instituted nationwide prohibition, the illegal production and sale of liquor increased dramatically in Utah and across America. Large-scale regulation proved even more challenging than enforcing state and local ordinances.

In 1923 Utah's attorney general claimed that drinking in the larger cities was just as bad as before prohibition. Huge profits from the manufacture and sale of liquor made it impossible to stop. In Milford, Beaver County, officials alleged that the chief bootlegger was the city marshal's sister. In Sanpete County one bootlegger loaded whiskey in the pack saddle of his trained horse and sent it home over twenty miles of mountainous road. He returned in his car, and when officers stopped him on suspicion of bootlegging they found no liquor in his vehicle. One Salt Lake City mother kept a still going in the basement of her house while her husband was serving an eighteen-month sentence for bootlegging. More shocking, raids on speakeasies in Utah often netted off-duty policemen among the criminal drinkers. Overall, from 1925 to 1932 federal agents in Utah seized over 400 distilleries, 25,000 gallons of spirits, 8,000 gallons of malt liquors, 13,000 gallons of wine, and 332,000 gallons of mash.

Local authorities did their part to ensure that their respective towns remained dry. In Utah's Dixie, when one local drugstore began selling "tonic beverages," a question arose over the definition of "intoxicating liquors." While the town clerk wrote to the state attorney general for clarification, town leaders instructed the marshal to request that the drugstore "promise to stop selling alcoholic tonic." If the store manager refused, the marshal was to threaten nonrenewal of his business license. The scare tactics proved unnecessary when the store owner agreed to remove the offensive liquid from the shelves.

Problems of enforcement and the unpopularity of prohibition led to agitation for its repeal. Following his 1932 election, President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept his campaign pledge and each state soon began voting on the issue in special conventions. Despite the Mormon church's efforts, Utahns voted on November 7, 1933, for repeal of national prohibition and in the same election also repealed the state's liquor law. Utah was the thirty-sixth state to vote for repeal and thus, ironically, delivered prohibition its death blow.

Legal liquor began flowing again in Utah in 1935 when the first state liquor stores in Salt Lake City and Ogden opened their doors. Business was brisk at the new stores as Utahns eagerly purchased the once forbidden liquors; in the first fifteen days of operation receipts totaled $54,866.

For more information see Helen Zeese Papanikolas, "Bootlegging in Zion: Making and Selling the 'Good Stuff,'" Utah Historical Quarterly 53 (summer 1985): 268-91; and Jody Bailey and Robert S. McPherson, "'Practically Free from the Taint of the Bootlegger': A Closer Look at Prohibition in Southeastern Utah," Utah Historical Quarterly 57 (spring 1989): 150-64

. COPYRIGHT LIMITATIONS

The State has made the content of certain pages of its Web sites available to the public. Anyone may view, copy, or distribute information found within these web pages (not including the design or layout of the pages) for personal or informational use without owing an obligation to the State if the documents are not modified in any respect, and unless otherwise stated on the particular materials or information to which a restriction on free use applies. The State makes no warranty, however, that the materials contained within these pages are free from copyright claims, or other restrictions or limitations on free use or display. The State disclaims any liability for the improper or incorrect use of information obtained from its Web sites.

Kathy:
The ending of Prohibition is a beautiful example of what Congress can do when it's in a hurry. The 18th Amendment to the Constitution prohibited the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol.  
In the 1932 election, both parties campaigned to amend the Constitution.  But amending the constitution takes time and we wanted our beer now.  When Roosevelt took office the 3rd of March 1933, one of his first acts was to change the definition of "alcoholic beverage" and Congress defined 3.2 beer as non alcoholic.
3.2 beer was legal by April 1933, the 18 Amendment was not eliminated until December of 1933.  To celebrate the April event those Clydesdale horses,  still promenient in Bud adds, delivered a wagon load of 3.2 beer to the White House.  Lee

1892 L.D.S. Seminary

Gracie Ellen Coates Obituary

L to R:  Marvin, Gracie, Alvin 

 Gracie died at the age of 8 

on 2 Feb 1924

 

My Farm by Marvin LeRoy Coates

L to R:  Marvin, Gracie, Alvin  Coates 


"My Farm"

by Marvin LeRoy Coates

My farm to me, is not just land,

Where bare, unpainted buildings stand,

To me, my farm is nothing less

Than all God's created loveliness.

My farm is not where I must soil

My hands in endless, dreary toil..

But there, through seed and swelling pod, 

I've learned to walk and talk with God.

My Farm, to me, is not a place

Outmoded by a modern race..

I like to think I just see less

Of evil, greed and selfishness.

My Farm's not lonely - for all day

I hear my children shout and play

And here when age comes, free from fears,

I'll live again, long, joyous years.

My farm's a heaven -- here dwells rest,

Security, and happiness

Whatever befalls the world outside,

Here faith and hope and love abide.

And so my farm is not just land,

Where bare, unpainted buildings stand

To me, my farm is nothing less

Than all God's Hoarded Loveliness.

Home of James Jessen and wife Caroline Neilson ~~ Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

What Is Saleratus

With their ox teams, the settlers would go to Manti to gather saleratus. That to be used for bread-making was carefully gathered with a spoon and that to be used for the washing was gathered with a shovel. In the making of bread, water was poured on about a cupful of saleratus, and when settled and clear, the top would be poured off and combined with buttermilk, then used for leavening bread. They also at this time made Salt Rising Bread and later the yeast from the home-made beer was used for the leavening. A beverage known as Brigham     Tea, made from a brush called Mountain Rush, was widely used with   or
    without milk or sweeten­ing. This tea was also used for medical purposes.

History of Mt. Pleasant by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf page 56

Above Photo  courtesy of:
http://wyoshpo.state.wy.us/trailsdemo/saleratuslake.htm

Wool was washed in two or three warm waters, softened with saleratus, and made white, fluffy and beautiful. Much was also washed and cleaned in the warm springs known as Crystal Springs, south of Manti, which is a soft, warm water, where it was made soft, clean and lovely.

Women also carded the wool with hand cards, spun it into yarn on home-made spinning wheels, and on home-made looms they wove it into cloth and made it into clothing. Some still re­member the never-ending irritations caused by home-spun under­wear.

History of  Mt. Pleasant by HML page283

Saleratus was a chalk-like powder used as a chemical leavener to produce carbon dioxide gas in dough.

 Saleratus was a naturally occurring mineral found in the western United States, especially in areas that were extremely high in alkaline. This bubbly white crust would be collected by pioneer women and used to leaven the biscuits and breads they baked in their dutch ovens. To make it even more confusing, this “new” product which we call baking soda today was referred to as saleratus as well after its introduction in 1860 and for some time afterwards. Today, some people still call baking soda biscuits “saleratus biscuits.” The proportions of the first saleratus and the later baking soda version of saleratus were slightly different: about 1 ¼ tsp. of baking soda to 1 tsp. of saleratus.



MILLING PROCESS



In the milling of the wheat, the grinding apparatus consisted of two circular stones fitted together. They were smooth on one side, and were called the upper and lower or nether millstone. which were held together with a perpendicular shaft. The upper stone was turned round and round upon the under one by means of the crank. The lower stone was stationary. A round hole in the upper one admitted a quart or two of grain at a time. As the stone evolved this would gravitate down and out from between the stones and during the slow movement it would be ground into more or less fineness. This then was bolted or sieved through a thin cloth, separating the flour from the coarse particles and bran.

This flour was made into dough and leavened with beer yeast, sour dough kept from the last baking, salt rising made from shorts and salt water set to rise, or saleratus. This last preparation was made by putting a certain amount of saleratus in a vessel and a quantity of water, according to the amount being made, stirring well. and allowing to settle until perfectly clear. This liquid was used to leaven biscuit dough and could be kept on hand some time. About the only saleratus beds to be found in this part of the state or nearest here, were down a little south of Manti.

History of Mt. Pleasant pp 284-285  HML

Plain But Wholesome: Adventures in Mormon Pioneer Food: Saleratus: 

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Patty Sessions was headed out of Nauvoo in 1846. So was her husband's second wife, Lovina. What we know about the circumstances comes from Patty's diary, so perhaps the facts are a little slanted. The Sessions's were not long on the trail before tensions between the two sister wives made life difficult, with all three sharing a tent. According to Patty, Lovina refused to help with camp chores such as cooking and laundry. She told Br. Sessions lies about Patty. Br. Sessions apparently came to feel that Patty was at fault. To demonstrate his condemnation of her, Br. Sessions took away Patty's stores of saleratus and locked it up. Patty was about 45 years old at the time.


Saleratus is a chemical compound (potassium carbonate) which naturally weeps from the ground as mineral-bearing water evaporates. Coming from Latin roots,sal aeratus means aerated salt, referring to its ability to produce carbon dioxide when mixed with another acidic food element such as vinegar or tartaric acid (cream of tartar). It is used instead of soda to make biscuits. Pioneers on the trail often gathered saleratus when they found it, for example near Independence Rock in Wyoming. It is also reported to occur on the shores of the Great Salt Lake. I believe I have seen some such deposits in the past.


In Utah, pioneer settlers continued to use saleratus to leaven their biscuits. Livvy Olsen, a Danish immigrant growing up near Manti, Utah in the 1860s, remembered collecting saleratus by the wagon load near the San Pitch river.


So today I went out to see if I could find some saleratus. South of Manti a mile or so is "Manti Meadows", a property managed by the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources. Most people go there to hunt ducks and pheasants. From the road, I could see bright white patches in the clay soil. We (my good wife sometimes shares my food adventures) walked a half-mile or so from the parking area, and spotted a patch of what we thought was saleratus. It crusted over the ground, with a slightly crystalline appearance, almost like salt. It seemed to be frozen in a bubbly foam. The crust was a quarter- to half-inch thick over the ground. I whipped out a small container of vinegar I had brought. A little saleratus in my palm foamed and fizzed when I poured vinegar on it. We had struck it rich!


Last night it rained considerably, so the deposits were softer than normal, and we had to be careful in collecting them so they wouldn't crumble. I imagine that if we had a dry spell, the saleratus would be more crusted and stable. Also with the rain, some sandy silt came up with the saleratus.

From what I have read, some pioneers dissolved the saleratus in a little water, and let the silt settle to the bottom. The mineral-bearing water could then be used to mix biscuits. I haven't tried it yet, but I'll let you know how it turns out. More than anything it makes me think we don't really know much about pioneer cooking, if we've never used saleratus before.


The above story is courtesy of Brock Cheney, a historian, primarily focused on Utah and Mormon themes in the 19th century. His recent work has centered on foodways among Mormon pioneers. His book on the subject, Plain But Wholesome is due out in the spring of 2011. He is also working on a companion volume of recipes.

You can contact Brock by writing to pioneerfoodie@gmail.com

Henning Pedersen Peel

House Research done by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

Home of Jens Christian Harbroe and wife Christina Madsen ~~~ Researched and Compiled by Tudy Barentsen Standlee

THE FIRST SALTAIR

The first Saltair, completed in 1893, was jointly owned by a corporation associated with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (commonly called Mormons) and the Salt Lake & Los Angeles Railway (later renamed as the Salt Lake, Garfield and Western Railway), which was constructed for the express purpose of serving the resort.^[1] Saltair was not the first resort built on the shores of the Great Salt Lake, but was the most successful ever built. It was designed by well-known Utah architect Richard K.A. Kletting and rested on over 2,000 posts and pilings, many of which remain and are still visible over 110 years later.^[2]

Saltair was a family place, intended to provide a safe and wholesome atmosphere with the open supervision of Church leaders. While some of the other resorts in the area were seen as "spiritually bleak", a young courting Mormon couple could visit Saltair without worrying about gossip. Trains left from Salt Lake City every 45 minutes,^[1] and so long as the boy got the girl home at a reasonable time after the train arrived, parents weren't worried – in part because, from the moment of arriving at the station before the outing until they left the station coming home, they were usually never out of sight of trusted members of the community. More than once, a couple on the way home found themselves in the same car as their parents, who themselves had been dancing at Saltair.^{[examples needed]}

Saltair viewed from the lake, c. 1900

Intended from the beginning as the Western counterpart to Coney Island, Saltair was one of the first amusement parks, and for a time was the most popular family destination west of New York. Some criticism was pointed at the Church over the sale of coffee, tea or alcohol (all of which are prohibited by Mormon doctrine), as well as Saltair's being open on Sunday.^[2] The church finally sold the resort in 1906.^[3]

Saltair II[edit]

The first Saltair pavilion and a few other buildings were destroyed by fire on April 22, 1925.^[3] A new pavilion was built and the resort was expanded at the same location by new investors (again, mostly prominent Mormons), but several factors prevented the second Saltair from achieving the success of its ancestor. The advent of motion pictures and radio, the Great Depression, and the interruption of the "go to Saltair" routine kept people closer to home. With a huge new dance floor – the world's largest at the time –^[3] Saltair became more known as a dance palace, the amusement park becoming secondary to the great traveling bands of the day, such as Glenn Miller. Though Saltair showed motion pictures, there were other theaters more convenient to town.

In addition, the first Saltair had benefited from its location on the road from Salt Lake City to the Tooele Valley and to Skull Valley, which in the late 1800s was home to Iosepa, a large community of Polynesian Mormons. Being near a major intersection, Saltair also served as the first (or last) major facility on the road, making it a popular resting area for those travelling by horseback or wagon. When Saltair was rebuilt, however, this traffic was all but gone. Part of the reason was the advent of automobiles, bus and train service to the Tooele Valley, but the other cause was the abandonment of Iosepa, as Polynesians went to homes in the Salt Lake Valley or the community forming around the new LDS Temple in Laie, onOahu in the Hawaiian Islands.

Saltair III on May 22, 2005

Saltair thus had to survive solely against strong competition, and in a dwindling market. Disaster struck in 1931, in the form of a fire which caused over $100,000 in damage, then again in 1933 as the resort was left high and dry when lake waters receded (forcing the construction of a miniature railway to carry swimmers between the resort and the water). Saltair was forced to close during the Second World War, which forced the rationing of fuel and other resources while it took many of the resort's paying customers – and vital employees – out of Utah. Reopening after the war, the resort found the same situation that it had faced in the 1930s. There were so many other entertainment options, closer to home, and the public was no longer in the habit of going "all the way out there". The resort closed in 1958, causing the railroad to cease passenger operations at the same time.^[4]

Attempts over the next decade to breathe new life into the resort finally ended in November 1970, when an arson fire was set in the center of the wooden dance floor, destroying Saltair.^[1]

Saltair III[edit]

Proximity to Interstate Highway 80, plus new population expansion into the Tooele Valley and the western Salt Lake Valley, prompted the construction of a new Saltair (Saltair III) in 1981. The new pavilion was constructed out of a salvaged Air Force aircraft hangar and was located approximately a mile west of the original. Once again the lake was a problem, this time flooding the new resort only months after it opened. The waters again receded after several years, and again new investors restored and repaired and planned, only to discover that the waters continued to move away from the site, again leaving it high and dry.

Interior of Saltair III Pavilion, August 2002

Concerts and other events have been held at the newest facility, but by the end of the 1990s, Saltair was little more than a memory, too small to compete with larger venues which are closer to the public. While there is occasionally activity now and then, through most of the early twenty-first century, the third Saltair was all but abandoned. In 2005 several investors from the music industry pooled together to purchase the building and are now holding regular concerts there. Bands, singers, & dj's such as Marilyn Manson, Rob Zombie, Bob Dylan, The Used, Dave Matthews Band, The Black Crowes, Deadmau5, Tiesto, DJ Baby Anne, Evanescence, Panic at the Disco, Children Of Bodom, and other notablehip-hop music and rock music acts have all performed there recently. On February 18, 2011, Kesha performed to a sold out crowd on her Get Sleazy Tour.

Remnants[edit]

Relics of the age of the Great Salt Lake resorts are nearby, and can be seen from the highway. Until recently, the most noticeable of these was the skeleton of car "502", one of the Salt Lake, Garfield & Western's interurban rail cars which sat beside the ruins of an old powerhouse. The powerhouse once fed lights and roller coasters at the entrance to the original Saltair. The rail car was removed on February 18, 2012 by the property owner for safety concerns. Rows of pilings snake outward toward the lake, all that remains of the railway trestle and pier which once led to the earlier Saltair resort. The surviving buildings of Lake Park, one of Saltair's neighbors, were moved to a new site thirty miles away, where the Lagoon Amusement Park has grown around them.

The Salt Lake, Garfield & Western still exists as a common carrier shortline railroad, providing switching service in the Salt Lake City area. However, the tracks no longer reach to the resort itself.^[4]

In popular culture[edit]

Saltair has occasionally been used as a backdrop for movies. Key scenes of the 1962 horror cult film Carnival of Soulswere shot in Saltair. The opening scene of the 1990 film The Giant Brine Shrimp was set in Saltair and the lake.^[5] A 1960s photo of Saltair II was also featured on the cover of the bootleg Beach Boys album, Unsurpassed Masters, Vol. 19.

The Pixies 1991 song, "Palace of the Brine" is a reference to Saltair.^[6]

Sources[edit]

1. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Carr, Stephen L. (1989). Utah Ghost Rails. Salt Lake City, Utah: Western Epics.
2. ^ Jump up to:^a b Utah State Historical Society. "Utah History to Go: Saltair". Retrieved 14 April 2011.
3. ^ Jump up to:^a b c Utah History Encyclpedia. "Saltair". Retrieved 14 April 2011.
4. ^ Jump up to:^a b Strack, Don. "Salt Lake, Garfield & Western Railway". Retrieved 14 April 2011.
5. Jump up^ The Giant Brine Shrimp, OCLC 34600660
6. Jump up^ Dan Nailen's Lounge Act: Pixies kill it at Saltair, Salt Lake Magazine

External links[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related toSaltair, Utah.

•  

Categories:

• Great Salt Lake
• Visitor attractions in Salt Lake County, Utah

Rastus and Pep

Just to refresh your memories............. "Rastus, Pep and Victory" A 65  Year Old Tradition
Rastus was a little black doll who sat on the piano at the old Overland Hotel situated just north of the northwest corner of 1st South and State  Street in Mt. Pleasant.  Rastus was a conversation for all the guests of the hotel for many years, and the children in Mt. Pleasant enjoyed walking past the hotel window and looking at Rastus sitting on the piano.  We don't know for sure just how many years Rastus occupied his place in the hotel.


Several years later, in 1913, Manti High School's basketball team came to Mt. Pleasant in a horse-drawn wagon for a game at North Sanpete High School.  They stayed at the hotel that night.  When they left the next morning, they stole the black doll and took it to Manti.


At the next game, when North Sanpete went to Manti to play, the Manti boyse held Rastus  out over the court dangling from a fishing pole.  The Sanpete boys tried to recover the doll, but to no avail.  But at the end of the game, some of the Sanpete boys grabbed Rastus and ran from the gymn with him.  Miss Ryan, an English teacher at NSH had a large fur muff.  The boys quickly handed the doll to Miss Ryan and ran on.  Miss Ryan hid Rastus in her muff and walked calmly toward her buggy as the Manti boys ran in pursuit of the doll.


As the rivalry went on, each school tried to steal Rastus from the one who had successfully got away with him.  Finally to foster good sportsmanship between the schools, it was decided that at each basketball game from then on, the doll would go to the winner until the next game.


In 1938, Rastus seemed to be in jeopardy of losing his home in Mt. Pleasant.  The student body officers and cheerleaders decided North Sanpete really needed some pep, so they purchased another black doll which they named "Pep".  At a pep assembly they held a wedding ceremony and Rastus married Pep.


Things went on pretty well for a long time, but in 1953, North Sanpete fell into a slump.  The school experienced a losing streak, so again the cheerleaders of North Sanpete and the Pep Club came to the rescue.  They purchased a small, black baby doll.   In the assembly they announced that Pep was dead at North Sanpete, so the student body followed the casket out to the football field where they were going to bury Pep ~~~ but they heard a loud clatter from the casket, and they decided Pep wasn't dead at all.  When they opened the lid, Pep jumped out ~~ and she had a baby in her arms ~~ She and  Rastus named the child "Victory".  North Sanpete really needed Victory!


Together, the three dolls were a trophy for each game between the two schools.


Finally, tragedy hit the family!  There were new superintend-ants in both North and South Sanpete School Districts.  Before anyone knew what was happening, the dolls were gone and a new tradition was to replace the dolls that both schools had loved for so many years.


When they were discontinued, Rastus had been a trophy for 65 years (he was the original doll, and so was several years older than that), Pep for 40  years, and Victory for 25 years.  It was with a great sorrow that the students and townspeople alike were told that the dolls were to be used no more.  The original dolls disappeared.  No one seems to know where they went.  They were in Manti's trophy case at the time the decision was made, and no one saw them again.


A Victory symbol trophy was designed to replace the tradition, and supposedly ordered to be made in Salt Lake.  However, it was never done.  Eventually, two "cabbage patch" dolls were purchased, christened Sandy and Pete, and used in their first trophy game on January 24, 1997.

(Not surprisingly)  there are other versions of this story !!!

Charlotte Staunton Quindlan Johnson Hyde

Charlotte Staunton Quindlan Johnson Hyde
You would think that a wife of Orson Hyde would be buried in Spring City next to him. You would think that she would have a very distinctive, monolithic marker of granite and stand very tall. Not so for Charlotte Staunton Quindlan Johnson Hyde. Of those many names by which she was called, we can only verify that her name was Charlotte Quindlan Hyde. She lived in Mt. Pleasant, taught school in Mt. Pleasant and died in Mt. Pleasant. Her grave marker is about 18 inches tall made of marble. You literally have to kneel down to read her epitaph there.

Charlotte Quindlen was born 22 of August 1802 at Lower Pensnock, Salem, New Jersey. Charlotte Quindlan was the name used at the Endowment House in Salt Lake City when she was sealed to Orson Hyde in 1852. The marble marker lists her as Charlotte Staunton Hyde as does the Mt. Pleasant History Book. Perhaps the name Staunton came from another marriage. From the dates we find that she was fifty years old when she married Orson Hyde.
The following is taken from the book “Orson Hyde Olive Branch of Israel”
“Orson Hyde was chosen as an original member of the Council of the Twelve in 1835, when the Mormon Church first organized this governing body. Orson's most well-known accomplishment was as a Mormon missionary to Jerusalem (1840-1842) to dedicate the land for the return of the Jews. Because his words have proven prophetic in the many decades since his entreaty, a peaceful garden on the Mount now honors him and his supplication. In 1979 civil authorities in Jerusalem invited the development of a five-acre hillside garden in honor of Orson Hyde.
“Orson Hyde was a remarkable individual. He received esteem in many roles, among them apostle, teacher, missionary, orator, scriptorian, journalist, editor, lawyer, judge, statesman, colonizer, and administrator; also as the husband of eight wives, the father of thirty-three children, a friend of mankind, and a servant of God.” MYRTLE STEVENS HYDE,
During the years 1850-1852 Charlotte Quindlin Johnson lived in Kanesville, Iowa at the home of Orson Hyde as a domestic assistant to his first wife Marinda. She was already a member of the L.D.S. Faith. She had been divorced from a man named Johnson. She was described as a seamstress who also liked children. She helped Marinda with her children Alonzo, Frank and baby Delila. She was with the Hyde Family at Winter Quarters and as they traveled across the plains to Salt Lake, arriving in 1852. Marinda and Charlotte got along very well.

Orson and Marinda discussed the possibility of inviting Charlotte to become a wife rather than a domestic. Orson had also married Mary Ann Price who for a time was a domestic in his household. Orson and Mary Ann were married in Nauvoo in 1843. Orson talked with Brigham Young about taking Charlotte as another wife and Brigham Young approved. Orson proposed to Charlotte, she accepted and they were sealed as husband and wife in the Endowment House 22nd of November, 1852. She was the fourth wife of Orson. Besides Marinda and Mary Ann, Orson had married Martha Rebecca Browett, who he later divorced in 1850. Martha went on to become the wife of Thomas McKenzie who also divorced her.

In the spring of 1853 we find Marinda, Mary Ann and Charlotte all living together under one roof in Salt Lake. Charlotte, however, was having a hard time adjusting to being a plural wife and departed the family, a mutual decision between she and Orson. They were separated, but never divorced. Brigham Young granted official separation for Charlotte and Orson Hyde in 1859.

Charlotte came to the Sanpete Valley long before Orson shows his influence here. It was during the “big move” with the earliest Saints first to Fort Ephraim, then north to resettle Mt. Pleasant. The first pioneers had been driven out of Camp Hambleton, located one mile west of the current city of Mt. Pleasant. She first made her living as a seamstress then as a school teacher while the settlers still lived inside the fort. A schoolhouse was then built outside the fort. She was fondly called "Aunty Hyde" by her students. She inspired many of her students to become teachers themselves.

In Mt. Pleasant History by Hilda Longsdorf the following description of Aunty Hyde school: “In a little log house about 12x15 feet, on the south side of the street on First North, about midway between State and First West, (in the area where Mary Ursenbach now lives-2008) Charlotte Staunton Hyde taught school. The building was also known and later used for Lesser Priesthood meetings and similar Church gatherings. Mrs. Hyde was a woman who no doubt had earlier in life received quite a liberal education, and although described as “a little old woman who smoked a pipe and was quite deaf,” she was affectionately called "Aunty Hyde". Many amusing stories were told of her school, but with all her students there remained pleasant memories. There being no hand bell, as in later years, the children were always called from their play to the schoolroom with her familiar call, “To Books. To Books. To Books.””

“Mrs. Hyde lived in a little log house west of the school. She often brought her bread to the schoolhouse to bake. She had a skillet with a tight fitting lid and in this, by heaping on it coals from the fireplace, which was in one end of the building, she baked the bread during school hours. She was paid for her services as a teacher with any produce or garden stuff available.
Mrs. Hyde taught for sometime in the log meeting house in the fort. Many attended school. A number of the pioneers were polygamist families and usually were large families. In some cases the entire family had attended her school as was the case in Abraham Day’s family, Joseph, Abraham Jr. , Eli A., Ezra, and Ephraim, children of the second wife, all attended; among others who also in later days became prominent citizens were her students Emaline Seely Barton, Oscar Anderson, William Morrison Jr., Sylvester Barton, Joseph Nephi Seeley, Annie Porter Nelson, Melvina Clemensen Crane, Peter Johansen, Chastie Neilsen, Benta Neilsen, Peter Jensen, Allen Rowe, Henry Ericksen, Miranda Seeley Oman, Wilhemina Morrison Ericksen, Hans Neilsen, William D. Candland, Charlotte Reynolds Seeley, Sarah Wilcox Bills, Celestial McArthur Barton, William A. Averett, Amasa Aldrich, James B. Staker, Maria Tidwell Larsen, Libby Barton Averett, Morgan A. Winters, Eli A. Day, W.W. Brandon, Sarah Davidsen Wilcox, Maggie Peel Seely, Samuel H. Allen, Harry Candland, Albert Candland, Charles Averett, Hazard Wilcox and Hans Neilsen.

Although records show that Mrs. Hyde was not the first teacher in the community, in the Mt. Pleasant Cemetery on the south side of the center driveway, is a little marble slab now yellowing with age, upon which is engraved: “Charlotte Staunton Hyde, wife of Apostle Orson Hyde, born in Penn., Died in Mount Pleasant, December 3, 1881, age 78. At rest now---Through the kindness of pupils of early days, this stone is erected to her memory, she being the first school teacher in Mt. Pleasant.” M.M.F.C.M.”

Many, many children benefited from her talents, from her love and from her example.

HAMILTON ELEMENTARY BAND ~~~ 1950

1. Jay Lott; 2. Don Olsen; 3.Jim Averett; 4. Gordon Staker; 5. Gerald Seely; 6. Winkleman; 7. Ron Shelley; 8. Richard Dixon; 9. Frank Lee Pritchett; 10. Leon Brothersen, 11. Stan Turpin; 12. Andy Peterson; 13.  Jack McAllister; 14. Euvona Larsen; 15. Tammie Madsen; 16. John Monsen; 17. Clark Truscott; 18. Peter Hafen; 19. Paula Scow; 20. Reed Syndergaard; 21. Dora Madsen; 22. Joann Carlson; 23. Jackie Ericksen ?; 24. Sue Ann Seely; 25. Kathleen Rowley; 26. Dave Ball; 27 ? 28. ? 29. Brook Larsen; 30. Jack Winterbottom; 31. Allen Frandsen; 32. LaFay Johansen; 33. ?; 34 ?; 35 ?; 36. ?; 37. Patsy Larsen; 38. Sally Rosenlof; 39. Halene Tidwell; 40. Charlotte Madsen; 41. Joan McArthur; 42. Mr. Marsden Allred; 43. Carolyn Jensen; 44. Roger Sorensen; 45. Carma Seely; 46. Veone Shelley; 47. Jay Carlson; 48. Virginia Candland; 49. ?; 50. Sally Peterson; 51. Lois Christensen; 52. Norma Seely; 53. Maxine Brothersen; 54. Karen Jacobs; 55. Peter Jensen; 56. Dave Hafen; 57. Elna Mae Johansen; 58. Welby Barentsen; 59. Larry Beck; 60. ?; 61. ?