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Full text of "Utah since statehood, historical and biographical"

GENEALOGY COLLECTION 



.ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 



3 1833 01103 5752 



UTAH 



SINCE STATEHOOD 



HISTORICAL AND 
BIOGRAPHICAL 




ILLUSTRATED 



VOLUME II 



CHICAGO-SALT LAKE 

THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 
1919 



1216911 




THOMAS KEARNS 



BIOGRAPHICAL 



THOMAS KEARNS. 



The history of Utah supplies no narrative more romantic tlian the story of the life 
of Thomas Kearns, who achieved that which has been the accomplishment of but few 
men even in the history of the country, the phenomenal rise from comparative obscur- 
ity to the heights of financial success, from the plane of the laborer, with limited oppor- 
tunity tor early education, to the exalted position of United States Senator. 

Thomas Kearns was born on a farm near Woodstock, in Oxford county, Ontario, 
Canada, April 11, 1862. His people were Irish emigrants. His father, Thomas Kearns, 
had settled in Canada, there marrying Margaret Maher and supporting liis family by 
farming. When Thomas was a lad of seven or eight years his parents removed from 
Canada to Nebraska, where the father engaged in farming and stock raising in Holt 
county. Thomas Kearns acquired a common school education but was forced to lay 
aside his textbooks before he was seventeen years of age and provide for his own sup- 
port. He had early become familiar with all the duties and labors incident to farm life, 
as he had assisted in the cultivation and development of the old homestead. 

This was at the time of the gold excitement in the Black Hills and young Kerns 
naturally believed that there would be found opportunities far greater and that the 
field in which he might there exercise his ability promised more results than the 
restricted sphere of farm life. He left his home in Nebraska and struck out for 
the Black Hills. His first work in the new country was in freighting provisions across 
the plains to the mountain camps which had already sprung into existence in the Black 
Hflls. This occupation he followed until the building of railroads did away with the 
business of overland freighting. He also worked for a stock association in the Black 
Hills, weighing cattle, and later he did a little mining, after which he returned home. 

Not long afterward, however, he went to Arizona and at the mining settlement of 
Tombstone he again engaged in mining and also drove a team for one season. Then, in 
the spring of the year 1883, he started for Utah with four companions, driving a team 
across the southern desert. He first sought employment at Tintic, but was unsuccess- 
ful there, so went to Springville, where he entered the employ of the Denver & Rio 
Grande Railroad, which was pushing its trackage from Salt Lake City to Ogden. Mr. 
Kearns worked on a supply train, running from Springville to Salt Lake City, and in 
this way made his "traveling stake," as it was known in those days. He then started 
for Butte, Montana, but at Pocatello, Idaho, turned back and went to Park City, Utah, 
where among the mines in that section he was destined to make his fortune. Unques- 
tionably a man of his character, big of stature and great of strength, he would have 
made his success wherever in this great undeveloped west he might have chosen to 
locate, but fortune smiled upon him the day at Pocatello when he heeded the advice of 
others and turned back to Utah. Opportunity opened the way but only with pluck and 
undaunted energy did he travel the path shown to him. 

Mr. Kearns had made many friends among the miners by reason of his honesty, his 
manliness, generosity and amiability, and this reputation was of much value when he 
sought employment as a miner. He arrived in Park City in June, 1883, and immediately 
entered the employ of the Ontario Mining Company, being one of a shift of men tak- 
ing out the ore. He regarded this merely as a stepping-stone to greater things and all 
of his leisure time at night was devoted to the study of geology, while during the day 
he learned all that he could about the practical operation of mining properties. He 
labored in the Ontario mine eight hours each day and utilized all of the remaining hours 
of daylight for his own prospecting, also using his savings in the same pursuit. His 
first efforts were followed by failure after failure and on many of his prospecting trips 
through the mountains he was without food for days. For many months he worked 
sixteen hours each day, eight in his shift at the Ontario mine and eight in tapping the 

5 



6 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

mountains in search for wealtli. Tlius seven years flew by, in which time his efforts 
were attended by almost constant failure, but he never lost heart. It was during his 
employment with the Ontario Mining Company that he first met his lifelong friend, 
David Keith, who was then foreman of Ontario shaft No. 3 and under whom Jlr. Keams 
worked for some time in the Ontario and Daly mines. 

In December, 1889, Mr. Kearns severed his connection with the Ontario mine and 
siarted work in the Woodside mine. This property was owned by Colonel Edward P. 
Ferry but was being operated on lease by the Willman Brothers. Kearns secured a con- 
tract from the firm for the construction of a tunnel through the Woodside property. 
While engaged in building this tunnel his attention was attracted to the general direc- 
tion of the principal vein of ore. It led toward the adjoining property, undeveloped and 
known as the Mayflower. 

He held consultation with David Keith, with the result that they, in company with 
John Judge, A. B. Emery and W. V. Rice, secured a lease upon the Mayflower property. 
Work was started here February 1, 1890, and in April ore was struck at a depth of two 
hundred feet. This mine gave to the world fully one million six hundred thousand dol- 
liirs. There was a succession of endless troubles, litigation over the property, enjoin- 
ments by the court, difBculty in securing purchase money for the land and countless other 
vicissitudes attendant upon mining and had Mr. Kearns and his contemporaries been men 
of less determination and pugnacity they would undoubtedly have lost. 

With the first shipment of ore from the Mayflower Jlr. Kearns received a payment 
of twenty thousand dollars and it was characteristic of him that he should give his flrst 
thought to his aged parents, then in somewhat straitened crcumstances on the small farm 
in Nebraska. It was typical of the devotion he held for his loved ones throughout his 
life when he immediately provided a competence for his mother and father with this first 
money he received. 

The Mayflower mine as it was developed paid all the expenses of the litigation which 
it brought about and also for four adjoining claims, known as the Silver King group, 
then owned by John Farrish and Cornelius McLaughlin, who had located it, W. H. Dodge 
and Martin McGraw. The Silver King ground was bonded by Messrs. Kearns and Keith, 
together with their partners, in October, 1891, and was purchased by them in 1892. In 
July of the latter year the Silver King Mining Company was organized with David 
Keith, president; Mr. Kearns, vice president; and A. B. Emery, secretary. Over forty- 
six thousand dollars were spent before ore was struck, but within three months' time 
after the strike was made all expenses were paid. The ore yielded from forty to fifty 
per cent lead, from fifty-six to sixty ounces of silver and a by-product of gold. 

The success of this mining property is directly attributable to the genius of Mr. 
Kearns. His experiences as a practical miner and his knowledge of the workingmen's 
condition aided him in doing much to raise their standard and to give them more com- 
fort. When he became a mine owner he voluntarily raised the wages of all the workers, 
through a desire to benefit the hardy men of toil whose lives he had shared in the early 
days. That he was a true friend of the miners is shown by the incident which occurred 
during the financial panic of 1897, when the mining companies of Park City were desir- 
ous of reducing the wages. Mr. Kearns and David Keith were interviewed upon this 
(juestion and they fiatly refused to lower their wage scale, even in the face of the exist- 
ing conditions. That the "laborer is worthy of his hire" was their constant motto and 
by virtue of this they were held in the highest esteem by the workingmen. The labor 
problems which confront the employer of today would have had no excuse in arising had 
all corporations recognized the individual toiler as did Mr. Kearns and his associates. 
It was Thomas Kearns who first foresaw that the territorial limits of tlie Silver 
King mine, which up until its amalgamation into the Silver King Coalition Mines Com- 
pany in 1907 had paid out some ten and three-quarters millions of dollars in dividends, 
to its stockholders, were soon to be reached as its vast ore bodies were practically entirely 
depleted. In spite of the opposition, through timidity of some of his own associates and 
in face of the great financial panic of 1907 that had commenced to sweep across the couni 
try, Kearns resolutely started out and completed the details of getting together and 
securing possession of the vast mining territory surrounding tlie old Silver King, 
forming the present Silver King Coalition Mines Company, of which he was president 
and general manager at the time of his death, with an area comprising a total of some 
two thousand three hundred and fifty acres, not even half of which has yet to this day 
been prospected. It was the sagacity and knowledge of Kearns alone, coupled with his 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 7 

courage to carry out his convictions in face of almost insurmountable obstacles, that thus 
insured to the stockholders a continuation of the millions of dollars in dividends which 
have been paid out since 1907 up until the present time, and, which from all indications 
will continue for many years to come. 

On the 14th of September, 1890, Mr. Kearns was married to Miss Jennie Judge, whose 
uncle, John Judge, had been one of Mr. Kearns' associates in the Park City mines. Mrs. 
Kearns was born at Port Henry, Essex county. New York, November 30, 1869. Her 
mother, Jane (Pattinson) Judge, was of American birth, while her father, Patrick Judge, 
was a native of Ireland, though he had come to this country when but four years of age. 
He died when his daughter Jennie was only two years old, and when she was a maiden 
of ten summers her mother, who had later become the wife of William Wilson, removed 
to Utah, where her husband was employed in the Park City mines. It was here, in 1887, 
that Jennie Judge met Thomas Kearns and in the Catholic church at Park City their 
marriage was celebrated by Father Fitzgerald and they entered upon a life of full com- 
panionship and unabated happiness which continued until the husband was called by 
death. To them were born four children. Margaret died at two years of age. Edwin 
Judge Kearns, educated in Santa Clara College, California, married Margaret Jenkinson 
of Salt Lake City, and has charge of a Nevada cattle ranch of several thousand acres. 
Thomas F., was also a student of Santa Clara College and recently a lieutenant of avia- 
tion at Mather Field, near Sacramento, California. He was married July 30, 1919, to 
Miss Kathryn Whitney. Helen M., who attended St. Mary of the Woods Academy in 
Indiana, was married September 17, 1919, in Salt Lake City, to Glen Elroy McCarthey ot 
Albany, New York, where they now reside. The family circle was broken by the 
hand of death when, in his home at Salt Lake City, Thomas Kearns passed away 
October 18, 1918. In addition to his immediate family, Mr. Kearns is survived by two 
sisters: Mrs. Frank J. Westcott of Salt Lake City and Mrs. Mary Testman of Grand Is(- 
land, Nebraska; and one brother, J. E. Kearns of Reno, Nevada. 

For many years Mr. Kearns was a distinguished figure in political circles of the 
west. In 1892 he was persuaded to become a member of the city council of Park City 
and in the fall of 1894 was elected a member of the constitutional convention which in 
1895 framed the basic laws of the state of Utah. He was always a republican in poli- 
tics and gave unwavering support to the party and its principles. In 1895 he was a can- 
didate for state senator but was defeated. In June, 1896, he was a delegate to the repubn 
lican national convention which met in St. Louis and was one of the fearless men who 
walked out of the convention after it had declared against bi-metalism. 

In January, 1901, Mr. Kearns was chosen United States senator by the republican 
majority of the Utah legislature. Even though he had been very active in the ranks of 
his party his election was at first regarded doubtful but the magnificent support he 
received and the "landslide" which followed clearly demonstrated the universal popu- 
larity of the man. In the halls of congress Mr. Kearns made an enviable record. He 
had not been there for many months before he had established his worth and ability, as 
shown by the following quotation from a local writer of the time: 

"It is safe to say that the west has never been represented in the United States 
senate by a stronger, more level-headed or influential man than Senator Kearns has 
proved himself to be. During the short period of his official lite in the senate of the 
United States he has by his influence and untiring efforts caused Utah to be recognized 
and honored to a degree that surpasses any new state in the Union. Appointments have 
been secured for citizens of this state which many older and more prominent states 
might well be proud of. Few men in the senate stand closer to President Roosevelt than 
does Senator Kearns, and it is probably owing to this fact that he has been able to wield 
so strong an influence for Utah. The splendid showing which he has already made may 
be taken as a forerunner of what will be accomplished for the good of the state during* 
his term in the senate; and while it is true that he has gained the favor and good will 
of not only the president, but also of many of the most prominent men in the country, 
he has at the same time lost no friends in his own state. Beyond a doubt he today 
stands as close to the hearts of the masses in Utah as any other man in public life. In, 
securing the raising of Fort Douglas to a regimental post and the appropriation of over 
seven hundred aiid forty thousand dollars for improvements. Senator Kearns has rendered 
Salt Lake City a service which can only be measured and appreciated as the years go by." 

The writer of the above prophesied well. Throughout his tenure of office Mr. 
Kearns worked unceasingly for the good of his own state as well as for the nation. His 



8 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

integrity in office was unquestioned and has stood tlie test of time. His voice on the 
floor of the senate and in the committees of which he was a member carried weight, as 
evidenced by the many statutes of his now written into the laws of the land. 

Mr. Kearns traveled extensively over many parts of the world and at one time inters 
viewed the late Pope Leo XIII in the Vatican at Rome and received his blessing. He 
was always a large donor to the Catholic church, in which he held membership, and 
his gift of ten thousand dollars toward the erection of the Cathedral of the Madeleine 
insured the completion of that magnificent church edifice. From 1911, until his death he 
was a member of the board of trustees of the Catholic University of America, succeeding 
Michael Cudahy of Chicago. 

His and Mrs. Kearns' provision for the erection of tlie St. Ann's Orphanage in Salt 
Lake City was one of Utah's most notable charitable works and will for all time remain 
as a monument to them and the spirit in which it was provided. This orphanage, which 
had had a lowly beginning in 1890-91 under Bishop Scanlan, was much in need of a desir- 
able location and building. After Bishop Scanlan secured an option upon the ground for 
the building, Mr. and Mrs. Kearns placed to his account the sum of fifty thousand dollars 
to pay for the site and for the erection of a modern building thereon. The cornerstone of 
the orphanage was laid August 27, 1899, and in the spring of 1901 the building was com- 
pleted and dedicated. Mr. and Mrs. Kearns assisted the orphanage continually. Mrs. 
Kearns participated with her husband in all those acts of generosity and benevolence 
which have brought happiness to so many. Thomas Kearns was especially active in 
lielping destitute miners and their widows. He was unostentatious in his charity, which 
was known on many occasions only to himself and the recipient. He did not find his 
greatest joy in the accumulation of wealth but in dispensing it and was constantly ex- 
tending a helping hand where aid was needed. 

It is also a significant fact that in the matter of investments Mr. Kearns always had 
in mind the welfare of his own state. Had it not been for his interest in Utah, the Salt 
Lake route, then the San Pedro & Salt Lake Railroad, would not have been built. Cali- 
fornia and Utah needed this route and for years Senator W. A. Clark of Mantana had 
talked of financing the venture, but not until Mr. Kearns, David Keith and the late 
Richard C. Kerens of St. Louis combined with him was he able to talce the necessary steps. 
Senator Kearns was a member of the original board of directors of that railroad and con- 
tinued a member of the board until his death. In this and many other local enterprises 
Mr. Kearns invested his wealth and surely no better proof of his fidelity to his own people 
could be found. Among other things Mr. Kearns was a director in the National Bank of 
the Republic of Salt Lake City, also in the First National Bank of Park City. The mag- 
nificent new Kearns building in the business district of Salt Lake City and the beautiful 
residence completed in 1901 at 603 East Soutli Temple are striking examples of the 
man's desire to improve his home city. 

In social life Mr. and Mrs. Kearns have always been leaders. Many organizations of 
the city were benefited by Mr. Kearns' membership, these including the Alta Club, Com- 
mercial Club, Knights of Columbus, Bonneville Club and the Elks, the latter of which he 
was an honorary member. 

In 1901 he became interested in newspaper investments and acquired the Salt Lake 
Tribune from P. H. Lannan; later his friend David Keith bought a half interest in the 
paper, which publication has been one of the most successful in the journalistic field of 
Utah. 

Mr. Kearns had a wide personal acquaintanceship which included most of the big 
mining and financial men of the west, among them Ex-United States Senator W. A. Clark 
of Montana, one of his closest personal friends. This acquaintanceship dated back many 
years and ripened into the warmest kind of a friendship that was evident on many occa- 
sions when Senator Clark visited the west. These two gentlemen were associated in 
many business enterprises. 

In closing tliis brief biography of Thomas Kearns the following quotation from an 
editorial at the time of his death presents in simple form the general estimate of himi 
and his accomplishments: "He was a man of great natural ability and force of character 
and had done much for Salt Lake City and Utah. Now that he has gone to his reward 
he will be sincerely mourned by a large circle of devoted friends and acquaintances 
throughout the country, among them the revered Cardinal Gibbons and otliers who hold 
or have held the highest positions within the gift of the people. They loved and admired 
him for liis sterling wortli as a man among men, one who held stoutly to his own opinions, 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 9 

but always accorded the same right to others. He was large in stature and great in soul. 
He carved out a fortune in the world for himself by indomitable pluck and energy. 
Wealth and political honors came to him comparatively early in life, but they did not 
spoil him or cause him to hold himself aloof from old-time friends upon whom fortune 
never smiled. He loved Salt Lake and was proud of the fact that he had been an impor- 
tant factor in its upbuilding. He was charitable to a marked degree and the orphanage he 
founded will stand as a monument to his memory." 



JOSEPH WILLIAMS. 



Since September, 1907, Joseph Williams has resided in Ogden and is now par- 
tially living retired from active business although he is still a director and the vice- 
president of the Security State Bank of Ogden. At different periods he has been 
closely associated with industrial and commercial activity, being for a long period at 
the head of a general mercantile establishment at Morgan. He was bom in Monmouth- 
shire, Wales, in 1850 and came to Utah with his parents in the fall of 1861, when a 
lad of eleven years. He is a son of Daniel and Eliza Williams, who settled in Morgan 
county, Utah. In the following spring Daniel Williams settled in the town of Morgan, 
where he took up land and established a limekiln, which he operated for several 
3'ears, furnishing lime for the railroad companies when they built their lines through 
tliat section. He hauled his product by oxen to this valley and exchanged the lime for 
other produce. He also conducted a general store at the time the railroad was being 
built, or in 1870. He and his son Joseph opened a produce and general merchandise 
establishment at Morgan, which they conducted in a partnership relation until 1880, 
when they dissolved their business interests, Joseph Williams then becoming sole, 
proprietor of the store, while his father afterward concentrated his attention upon 
ranching, cultivating a tract of land which he and his son Joseph had owned. 

Joseph Williams continued in the mercantile business until 1900, when he incor- 
porated the enterprise and divided his stock with his three sons, while he also retained 
an interest in the business and other shares were held by a Mr. Kingston. The store 
has since been sucessfully conducted but Joseph Williams has sold his share in the 
business, which is now carried on under the name of the J. Williams & Sons Com- 
pany. 

It was in 1875 that Joseph Williams was united in marriage to Miss Eliza McCas- 
land, a daughter of Oliver and Eliza McCasland, who came from Ireland to the new 
world and made their way to Utah in 1873, settling in Morgan. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Williams have been born five children, of whom four are living: Joseph, Daniel Oliver, 
Albert L. and Delia A., while the other child died In infancy. 

In September, 1907, Mr. Williams removed with his family to Ogden, where he 
has since made his home, and he is now one of the directors and also the vice president 
of the Security State Bank of Ogden. His political allegiance is given to the republican 
party and he keeps well informed concerning the vital problems and issues of the 
day. He served for one term as a member of the city council and also for eight years 
as postmaster of Morgan and at all times he has manifested a public-spirited devotion 
to the general good. His aid and influence are ever on the side of progress and 
improvement and his cooperation can at all times be counted upon to further any 
plan or measure for the benefit and upbuilding of the district in which he lives. 



WILLIAM HENRY HARRIS. 



It is a trite saying that there is always room at the top, but few people grasp this 
statement with sufficient understanding to have it serve as a stimulus for individual 
effort, resulting in successful accomplishment. Actuated by a laudable ambition, Wil- 
liam Henry Harris, however, has worked his way steadily upward and is today the 
president and manager of a large and profitable business conducted under the name 
of the Ogden Paint, Oil & Glass Company, his sales establishment being located at 
No. 2440 Washington avenue. 



]0 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

Mr. Harris is a native of Salt Lake City. He was born July 18, 1878, a son of 
John and Anna (Maddock) Harris, both of whom are of English birth, although they 
were married in Salt Lake City. The father came to the United States in 1860, cross- 
ing the Atlantic to New York, where he remained for a time engaged in the confec- 
tionery and bakery business. He afterward removed westward to Salt Lake and 
became one of the pioneers in the confectionery business in this city, where for many 
years he has figured as a leading and progressive business man. Both he and his 
wife are yet residents of Salt Lake. 

William H. Harris of this review obtained his education in the schools of Salt Lake, 
completing the high school course by graduation with the class of 1890. He afterward 
pursued a course In the Salt Lake Business College, of which he is also a graduate. 
He entered upon his business career as a representative of financial interests, obtaining 
a position with the Utah Commercial & Savings Bank, with which he served for two 
years as assistant cashier. He then turned his attention to the paint, oil and glass 
business in 1906 and through the intervening years has been an active factor in the 
conduct of the Ogden house. The business was founded thirty-five years ago and is 
now conducted under the name of the Ogden Paint. Oil & Glass Company, Inc., with 
Mr. Harris as president and manager, William R. Wallace, vice president, and William 
.1. Bennett, secretary and treasurer. While the main sales rooms are at No. 2440 
Washington avenue, the company also has a large warehouse at Twenty-third street and 
Wall avenue and a gasoline warehouse at Twentieth street and the Oregon Short Line 
tracks. The company are jobbers of paint, oils and window glass, handling both Amer- 
ican and French plate glass. They sell illuminating, automobile and lubricating oils, han- 
dle painters' supplies, also hand and power seperator oils and are sole agents for the 
Wolverine Lubricants Company. They also sell the genuine Packard oil, the W^olf 
Head oil and others of equal known excellence. For five years Mr. Harris has likewise 
been associated as president of the Ogden Gasoline & Oil Company, Inc. 

In September, 1916, Mr. Harris was united in marriage to Miss Mattie Wattis, 
a daughter of E. 0. Wattis, of a very prominent family of Ogden, and they now have 
one child, Ruth Wattis, who is a year old. 

Mr. Harris is well known in the social circles of the city, being a prominent 
factor in club life in Ogden. He holds membership in the Weber Club, also in the 
Ogden Golf & Country Club and in the Rotary Club and he likewise has membership 
in the Salt Lake City Country Club. He turns to golf as a diversion from business 
cares. He is also a Mason of high rank, having attained the thirty-second degree of the 
Scottish Rite. He is a man of strong personality, successful in business, prominent 
socially and in every relation of life his course has commended him to the confidence 
and high regard of all with whom he has been associated. 



PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT. 

The first native son of Utah to become president of the Church of Jesus Christ of 
Latter-day Saints, to which he was chosen, November 23. 1918. 

Denied educational opportunities such as most young men of the present age enjoyl 
President Heber J. Grant is nevertheless a man of broad knowledge: denied financial 
assistance at the outset of his career, he stands today as one of the most prominent 
figures in financial and commercial circles in Utah. There was one thing, however, that 
he was not denied — the religious training which laid the foundation for the splendid 
character which has developed with the passing of the years. His interest in the church 
broadened and deepened until, following the death of the beloved and lamented Presi- 
dent Smith, he was called to the position thus left vacant. The story of his lite has been 
most entertainingly told by three of his close and warm friends. Orson F. Whitney. 
Horace G. Whitney and Richard W. Young. From these articles liberal quotations will 
be made, as no one is better qualified to speak concerning his career and what he has 
accomplished as he has traveled life's journey. 

Born in Salt Lake City, November 22, 1856, he is a son of Jedediah M. and Rachel 
Ridgeway (Ivins) Grant. His father died December 1, 1856. when Heber J. Grant was but 
nine days old. While he was thus deprived of a father's protection, he received the loving 
care and training of a most devoted mother, to whom as the years passed he rendered 




PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 13 

every filial devotion. In this connection Horace G. Whitney said: "In boyhood days, 
a little circle of boys were greatly given to visiting each other's homes. It is a fine 
memory with all of us to recall how our mothers interested themselves in the compan- 
ions of their sons. I well remember how Heber J. Grant's associates loved 'Aunt Rachel' 
for her angelic disposition and respected Heber J. for his devotion to her. This is the 
strongest impression I retain of our early boyhood association. Another is the old 
school days in the University of Deseret, then conducted by Dr. John R. Park in the 
Council House, which stood on the Deseret News corner. Most of us had but a brief 
scholastic career — life was too exigent in those days to allow much time for the acquire^ 
ment of an education, but Heber J. Grant's associates of eleven, twelve, thirteen and 
fourteen years of age, such as Orson F. Whitney, Richard W. Young, Feramorz Young, 
Heber M. Wells, B. S. Young, Alonzo Young and myself (to name only the closest inti- 
mates) knew what it was to 'plug' day and night to reach their goals. The dominant 
characteristics of Heber J. Grant in those days were ceaseless perseverance and intense 
application to his tasks, and to one task in particular, that of becoming an expert pen- 
man. How well he succeeded is well known to his business associates, and the skill 
he developed in rare penmanship enabled him to earn many a dollar to assist his wid- 
owed mother. The same intensity was applied to other pursuits, even to the favorite 
sport of the day, baseball. He made up his mind to become an expert first baseman and 
the astonishing amount of time he devoted to practicing for that position was the admi- 
ration of all his companions. Later he became one of the famous 'Red Stockings,' which 
vanquished the state champions, the 'Deserets,' and rose to the foremost pinnacle of 
fame in the local sporting world." 

That "The boy is father to the man" is an adage that certainly finds verification 
in the career of President Grant, for the determination, industry and resolute purpose 
which he early displayed have characterized his later career in the conduct of his busi- 
ness affairs as well as of his churchly duties. Horace G. Whitney has said: "My prin- 
cipal connection with him has been in the business world, where he has been as active 
and unwearying a worker as in the religious field. As founder of the Utah Home Fire 
Insurance Company, organizer of the State Bank of Utah, and one of the founders of the 
Consolidated Wagon & Machine Company, three of the state's most successful institu- 
tions today (to say nothing of the other prosperous concerns with which he is con- 
nected) he evinced the keen discernment, the broad judgment and enterprising spirit 
which were always his characteristics. His labors in organizing the first sugar com- 
pany in Utah are well known in the business world. He took a leading part in raising 
the capital for that institution and has always remained one of the most loyal suppor- 
ters. In the conduct of the old Salt Lake Herald when it was the organ of the people's' 
party and when the late Byron Groo and myself were associated with him, he showed 
the same zeal, with the result that that period stands out as probably the only one in 
the checkered career of that publication, when it was in the dividend-paying class. HiS; 
energy extended even to the editorial columns, and (what is not generally known) he 
often furnished the ideas and sometimes the articles themselves which appeared as the 
'leaders' in that journal. 

"From the association of those times, reaching back nearly thirty-five years and 
extending down to the present, I can say unreservedly that the big reason for President 
Grant's success has been his observance of the rule of the square deal and his fair and 
generous treatment of friend and opponent alike. If he has a fault, it is his inordinate 
generosity to those he loves — a trait that alone has kept him from becoming a man of 
wealth. But I never knew a man who cared less for money, and the only times I have 
ever heard him regret that he had so little was when he wished to lead out and set the 
example to others in some of the many charitable enterprises he was called on to pro- 
mote. His name was never lacking in any good cause, and whether it was saving a 
financial institution to preserve the good name of his friends, starting a Liberty Loan 
drive, or keeping some poor widow's roof over her head (a chapter alone might be de- 
voted to that subject), the signature of Heber J. Grant, like the name of Abou Ben Ad- 
hem, 'led all the rest.' " 

Of the home life of President Grant, Brigadier General Richard W. Young has said: 
"Brother Grant has been blessed with an unusually talented and worthy family. His 
wives, Lucy (daughter of Bryant Stringham), Emily (daughter of Daniel H. Wells), 
both of whom are now deceased, and his present wife, Augusta Winters, were and are 
companions of whom any man of intelligence, character and taste might well be proud. 



U UTAH SI^X'E STATEHOOD 

His daughters (he had the misfortune to lose both of his sons) and his sons-in-law are 
accomplished and exemplary. His sense of justice is unblurred — yes, even more, his con- 
sideration and charity are exquisite. I sincerely believe that the man or woman does 
not exist whom he has conscientiously wronged. I have often said that you might have 
Heber J. Grant ground up, after the manner of ore at one of our valley sampling mills 
and submit a sample for assay and that it would be impossible for the most expert mi- 
croscopist or analyst there to discover the slightest trace of hypocrisy. President Grant 
has been a notable figure in the financial history of Utah. It is perhaps true, it is my 
belief at least, that his absorbing apostolic and missionary labors alone have prevented 
him from becoming one of the greatest captains of western finance. His ability to grasp 
all of the factors of a problem is quite extraordinary as is his resourcefulness. With 
clearness of vision, almost unique among our own financiers, he clearly foresaw the fu- 
ture of the sugar industry in Utah and was foremost in the effort to put that great enter- 
prise on its feet." 

In relation to his work in the church, one of his biographers has written: "Heber 
J. Grant's religious activities are too well known to need describing. More than any 
of his boyhood companions, he followed serious and religious pursuits, and as a boy he 
was always active in church affairs. His appointment as president of Tooele stake came 
when he was only twenty-three years of age, and he was chosen an apostle under Presi- 
dent John Taylor before he was twenty-six. Since that time he has been an indefatigable 
toiler for his church and has spent many years in the foreign service, opening the mis- 
sion to Japan and presiding over the European mission." 

A very intimate and interesting picture of President Grant has been given in the 
words of Orson F. Whitney, who said: "I have known Heber J. Grant almost as long as 
I have known myself. We were boys together. I could say of him or to him, with the 
utmost propriety: 

"rhou art the friend 

To whom the shadows of far years extend.' 
And a very good friend Brother Grant has been to me. But of that presently. I wish 
to speak of his character and disposition. He has qualities that appeal to me strongly. 
His pure and temperate life, his habits of industry and the princely generosity of his 
nature, have been to me an incentive and an inspiration. It is said of our Saviour: 'He 
went about doing good.' Heber J. Grant has followed that glorious example and proved 
himself a true disciple of the Lord. 

"Gifted with rare financial ability, he has prospered in material things and has long! 
been known as one of Utah's ablest and brightest business men. Acting upon the prin- 
ciple that the true mission of the man of affairs is not so much in getting and keeping,, 
as in sharing and bestowing, he has made it a practice to help deserving individuals 
and worthy causes and is in a position to realize the truth of the proverb: 'It is more 
blessed to give than to receive.' More than one poor widow, with the mortgage lifted 
from her humble home, has reason to bless the name and remember the kindness of 
Heber J. Grant. More than one struggling author, unable through lack of means to 
launch upon the waters of publicity the result of his literary labor, recalls as a sweet 
memory the timely aid rendered by this enthusiastic friend to letters. 

"Brother Grant not only helps to publish books; he is likewise a liberal patron of 
the sellers of books, always to the front with an order for copies of any meritorious pro- 
duction. He likes to distribute them among his friends, for the pleasure he derives in 
thus ministering to the intellectual appetite. It matters not where the book comes from 
— whether issued at home or abroad; it has but to strike his fancy as good and whole- 
some reading and it is certain to meet his approval and receive his patronage. He makes 
it a point to underscore any striking sentiment, with a view to impressing it upon the 
minds of those to whom he sends these delightful gifts. 

"For some time after the beginning of my acquaintance with Heber Grant I did not 
understand him, nor do I think he understood me. Exceedingly sensitive, both of us — 
quick to feel, easily hurt and perhaps over-ready to resent a slight, real or fancied, we 
sometimes misinterpreted each other and spoke and acted accordingly. But the bark 
was always worse than the bite; in fact it never came to a bite at all. I soon found that 
my blunt, outspoken schoolmate was a genial, kind-hearted friend, anxious to help me 
when I needed help and willing to put himself out and add to his own cares in order 
to lessen mine. We were little more than boys at the time; but he was a manly boy, 
the support of his widowed mother, industrious and thrifty, earning a good salary as 
collector or bookkeeper in a local bank. Finding me out of employment, and very 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 15 

wretched on account of it, he not only told me of a place that was open, waiting for an 
applicant, but offered to sit up nights and teach me bookkeeping that I might qualify for 
the situation. Another opening, more congenial, prevented my acceptance of the well- 
meant offer, but I shall never forget the kind motive that prompted it. He has done 
such things repeatedly for various persons. I could name a dozen men, now prominent 
in commercial or professional life, who began their careers virtually as proteges of Heber 
J Grant. 

"A hater of sham and hypocrisy, an uncompromising foe to vice in all its forms, he 
is fearless and unsparing in the denunciation of wrongdoers. But there is another 
side of his nature. While abrupt and severe at times, he is always kind and gentle to 
the aged and ailing and is an affectionate and devoted husband and father. His love 
lor his mother was beautiful, and she was well worthy of his tender filial affection. He 
is quick to respond to appeals for assistance and seldom waits for the appeal to be made 
before supplying the needs of the unfortunate. 

"Brother Grant does not pose as an orator, yet few public speakers are more inci- 
sive or more inspirational. He is great in testimony and when inspired his clear-cut 
sentences have all the swing and flash of a saber stroke. His voice is clear and pene- 
trating; nobody goes to sleep while Heber Grant is talking. He also wields a trenchant 
and ready pen. His favorite time for committing his thoughts to paper is anywhere be- 
tween midnight and daybreak. He is a model of perseverance, a persistent overcomer 
of obstacles, a dynamo of energy, and a gatling gun in execution. 

"As stake president, apostle, mission president and president or director in various 
large business concerns, he has shown himself possessed of marked administrative abil- 
ity. Public-spirited and philanthropic, he manifests the true zeal of the reformer and 
is in his glory when heading or helping forward a movement for the moral uplift and 
regeneration of his fellows. If ever Utah 'goes dry' it will be largely owing to the in- 
domitable will and energetic efforts put forth by this oft-defeated but never discouraged 
champion of prohibition. I regard him as an ideal successor to the good and great man 
who so recently left us, causing a vacancy in the high and holy office of President of the 
Twelve Apostles." 

Since these words were written Utah has ratified the national prohibition amend- 
ment. It is a source of great joy to President Grant, just as is the accomplishment of 
every plan or project that tends to the moral development of the individual or the com- 
munity at large, or the adoption of the high principles for which he has ever stood. 



WILLIAM T. DAVIS 



In banking circles William T. Davis has a wide acquaintance and is regarded 
as a most capable business man. He is the cashier of the State Bank of Brigham City 
and his thorough understanding of the business, his close application and his progressive 
methods have been substantial elements in the continued growth of the bank's busi- 
ness. Mr. Davis was born at Perry, Boxelder county, Utah, February 23, 1878. His 
father, Daniel Davis, was a native of Wales and in early life came to the United States. 
He followed ranching in both Utah and Idaho and his death occurred in this state 
following his return from a mission. He was always very active in the work of the 
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was a member of the Seventy. The 
mother of William T. Davis, Mrs. Mary Ann Davis, died in 1914. 

William T. Davis attended the district schools of Perry and also spent one year 
as a student in the Brigham Young College at Logan and also for three years attended 
the Brigham Young University at Provo. After leaving school he went on a mission 
10 Kentucky and was connected with the office in Chattanooga. Following his return 
he became the democratic candidate for the office of county treasurer of Boxelder 
county but was defeated with the others on the ticket. He made his initial step in 
the banking business in a humble way by entering the Bank of Brigham City con- 
ducted by J. Y. and H. J. Rich. Since that time, however, he has made steady prog- 
ress in banking circles and is today the cashier of the State Bank of Brigham City, 
which is capitalized for forty thousand dollars and has a surplus of equal amount. 
Its capital, surplus and undivided profits amount to ninety-five thousand, four hundred 
and eighty-two dollars and the deposits of the bank amount to seven hundred and twenty- 
nine thousand, seven hundred and sixty-four dollars. The officers of the bank are: 



16 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

M. S. Browning, president; R. L. Fishburn, Jr., vice president; John Watson, vice 
president; W. T. Davis, cashier; and George A. Anderson, assistant cashier. In addi- 
tion to his banking interests Mr. Davis is one of the stockholders and directors of the 
Brigham City Canning Company and he is much interested in fruit growing. He is 
also connected with ranching in Boxelder county and upon his ranch he makes a spe- 
cialty of the raising of Durham cattle. While he finds interest, pleasure and profit 
in fruit raising, ranching and cattle interests, banking is yet his chief activity and 
for many years he has been at the head of the State Bank of Brigham City, which he 
has made a very successful institution, the stock being quoted very high. 

In 1902 Mr. Davis was married to Miss Sarah Harding, and they have the follow- 
ing children: William Leland, fifteen years of age, now in school; Charles, Grant and 
Wilma, also in school; Rachel; and Dorothy. 

The religious faith of the family is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
day Saints and Mr. Davis has for many years been superintendent of the Sunday 
school and also a member of the Seventy. He belongs to the State Bankers Associa- 
tion and is a member of the Commercial Club of Brigham. In 1916 he was elected 
mayor of the city for a two years' term and gave to Brigham a public-spirited and 
progressive administration, characterized by various reforms and improvements. His 
interest in the general welfare is of a practical character and he shows wisdom in 
utilizing the means at hand in the attainment of high ideals of citizenship. 



CHARLES WILSON NIBLEY. 

Charles Wilson Nibley, a dynamic force in the business development of the west., 
is now president of the Grande Ronde Lumber Company, president of the San Vicents 
Lumber Company, general manager of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company and one of the 
directors of the Zion Cooperative Mercantile Institution. He is also a leading church- 
man and is the presiding bishop of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 
The story of his life in commercial and industrial circles and the record of his zeal and 
devotion to his church constitute a most interesting history. 

He was born at Hunterfield, a small coal-mining town eight miles south of Edin- 
burgh, Scotland, on the 5th of February, 1849, and is the fourth child and the second 
son of James and Jean (Wilson) Nibley. The father, who was a coal miner, had diffi- 
culty in providing for his family but was ably assisted by his wife, a most energetic, 
frugal and thrifty woman, who never seemed to tire of working and planning to bet- 
ter the conditions of herself and her family. She possessed, too, a deeply religious 
nature and when, in the year 1844, she listened to the teachings of Henry McEwan, an 
elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who spoke on the village green 
of Hunterfield. she felt a satisfaction in listening to his teachings that she had never 
before experienced. Both James and Jean Nibley within a week were baptized into the 
church and from that time forward they lived in the hope that they might join the main 
body of the Saints in America. Poverty prevented them from carrying out this wish 
until they could save a sufiicient sum to enable them to undertake the journey. It was 
not until 1855 that they left Scotland, crossing the Atlantic and taking up their abode 
in Rhode Island, for their money was not sufficient to carry them further. For five 
years they resided in that state, working in the -woolen mills until they could resume 
their journey to Utah. In the spring of 1860 they started on their westward way and 
reached Florence, Nebraska, which was an outfitting point for Utah immigration. Join- 
ing a company commanded by J. D. Ross as captain, they reached the Salt Lake valley 
on the 3d of September, and they soon afterward established a permanent home at Wells- 
ville. Cache county. 

Charles Wilson Nibley was at that time a lad of eleven years. He soon afterward 
began providing for his own support by herding sheep at Wellsville, and from his in- 
itial step in the business world he has utilized every available opportunity for advance- 
ment. Later he secured a clerkship in the village store and also made good use of his 
limited opportunities for the acquirement of an education, spending two winter seasons 
in study at Wellsville, while for one winter he was a student in Brigham City. He is 
today a well informed man notwithstanding the lack of his early advantages, for In 
the school of experience he has learned many valuable lessons and by reading and study 




BISHOP CHARLES W. NIBLEY 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 19 

has continually promoted his knowledge. He is recognized as a man of especially sound 
judgment and keen sagacity. 

It was in the year 1866 that Charles W. Nibley removed to Brigham City and en- 
tered upon a clerkship in the store of Morris Rosenbaum, who, recognizing his abil- 
ity and iidelity, afterward admitted him to a partnership. On the 30th of March, 1869, 
he married Rebecca Neibaur in Salt Lake City and in the fall of that year he was sent 
on a short mission to the eastern states and labored principally in Massachusetts and 
New York until his return. Resuming his business connections with renewed activity 
and energy, he secured appointment to the position of general freight and passenger 
agent for the Utah Northern Railroad in 1873 and for four years thereafter made his 
headquarters at Logan. In 1877 he was called to accompany Apostle Joseph F. Smith 
on an European mission and during two years spent in England served as secretary 
thereof. 

With his return to Logan in 1879 Mr. Nibley resumed his business connections and 
for a time he also served as counselor to O. C. Ormsby in the superintendency of the 
Cache stake Sunday schools and ultimately succeeded Elder Ormsby in that position. 
With the organization of the La Grande stake in 1901 he was chosen first counselor 
to President Frank Bramwell and thus continued until he was chosen to succeed Wil- 
liam B. Preston as presiding bishop of the church on the 11th of December, 1907. 

In the meantime, in 1889, Mr. Nibley, with other prominent business men of Utah, 
organized the Oregon Lumber Company of Baker City, Oregon, and thus became a promi- 
nent factor in the lumber trade of that section. In 1890 he became one of the organ- 
izers of the Sumpter Valley Railroad Company and for a number of years he occupied a 
position of leadership in business circles in eastern Oregon. The development of his com- 
mercial interests places him in a conspicuous position as one of the prominent rep- 
resentatives of the lumber and sugar trade of the west. He is a man of marked en- 
terprise, who from the beginning of his career has realized that success depends upon 
the individual, that when one avenue of opportunity seems closed he can carve out other 
paths to reach the desired goal. The proud American title of a "self-made man" has 
rightfully been won by him. Starting out in the business world in a most humble ca- 
pacity, he is now a dominant figure in commercial and industrial circles, nor has he 
ever allowed the attainment of wealth to monopolize his time and energy, for he has 
always rendered a due measure of service to his church and to his community in the 
work of general improvement and advancement. 

On March 30, 1919, the occasion of Bishop Nibley's fiftieth wedding anniversary, a 
local daily paper said in part: The celebration of Bishop and Mrs. Charles Wilson Nib- 
ley's golden wedding and Mrs. Nibley's birthday at the Hotel Utah last night was at- 
tended by a large number of their friends and relatives, who gathered from all parts 
of the state and from Idaho to do honor to the pioneer couple. The ballroom was dec- 
orated with the flags of the allies. In the supper room tables suflicient to accommodate 
a larger number of couples were set. This room was decorated with a profusion of 
palms, ferns, daffodils and American Beauty roses. Canary birds were hung in dif- 
ferent parts of the room. An orchestra played Scotch airs, melodies reminiscent of by- 
gone days, and dance music for those that wished to dance. In the receiving line were 
Bishop and Mrs. Nibley and Mrs. Nibley's bridesmaid, Mrs. Elizabeth Cain Crismon. 



FREDERICK G. WARNICK. 



Frederick G. Warnick, the assistant cashier of the Knight Trust & Savings Bank 
of Provo. was born at Pleasant Grove, Utah, August 30, 1872. His father, the late 
Adolph F. Warnick, was a native of Sweden and came to America in 1870, making his 
way direct to Utah, for he had embraced the religious belief of the Church of Jesus Christ 
of Latter-day Saints and desired to cast his lot with the members who had colonized 
Utah. He originally settled at Pleasant Grove and in the spring of 1880 he removed 
to Deseret, where he continued his residence to the time of his death, which occurred 
January 25, 1905, when he was seventy-two years of age. He was a farmer and stock 
raiser by occupation and won a very substantial measure of success. The attainment of 
prosperity was not the end and aim of his life, however, for he gave much time and 
energy to the work of the church and was bishop's counselor for many years. Prior to 



20 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

his emigration to the new world he labored in his native land for many years as a mis- 
sionary and traveling elder and did everything in his power to advance the cause in 
which he so firmly believed. His entire life was characterized by unfaltering upright- 
ness and honor in every transaction. The mother of Frederick G. Warnick, Mrs. 
Christine (Olson) Warnick, is also a native of Sweden and came to America in 1871, 
making her way direct to Utah to join Mr. Warnick. becoming his wife in the Endow- 
ment House, October 30, 1871. They had a family of six children, five sons and a 
daughter. The mother survives and is now a resident of Deseret. 

Frederick G. Warnick Was the eldest of the six children and was educated in the 
schools of Millard county and in the commercial department of the Brigham Young 
I'niversity, from which he was graduated with the class of 1906. He was also gradu- 
ated from the Rochester Business Institute at Rochester, New York, in 1900. He 
started out to earn his own livelihood when twenty-two years of age and his first 
position was that of manager of a branch store at Hinckley, Utah, owned by W. A. 
Ray, who was proprietor of a number of general merchandise establishments in southern 
Utah. Mr. Warnick continued active in mercantile lines for a year and was then 
called on a mission to the southern states, with mission headquarters at Chattanooga, 
Tennessee. He labored for a year in the West Virginia Conference and was then 
transferred to the East Tennessee Conference, laboring as first assistant to Elder 
James E. Hart. He completed his missionary labors in August, 1898, having served 
altogether for thirty-seven months. 

It was after his return that he entered the commercial department of the Brigham 
Young University and in the fall of 1899 he began teaching in the commercial depart- 
ment of that institution, with which he was thus connected until the spring of 1906. 
He then served as accountant with the William M. Roylance Company of Prove until 
October, 1907, when he resigned his position to become associated with the Knight 
Investment Company and so remained until the fall of 1911, when he was elected 
to the position of secretary and treasurer of the Knight Consolidated Power Company. 
He made an excellent official in that position until the properties were sold to the 
Utah Power & Light Company. On the 1st of March. 1913, the present Knight Trust. 
& Savings Bank was organized, with Mr. Warnick as assistant cashier. In this posi- 
tion he has since continuously served, contributing in large measure to the develop- 
ment and upbuilding of the business of the institution. 

On the 3d of January, 1900. Mr. Warnick was married in the Salt Lake City Tem- 
ple to Miss Clara Black, a native of Kanosh, Millard county, Utah, and a daughter of 
William V. and Victoria (Ayers) Black. They have become the parents of seven 
children: Elva, who was born June 3, 1901, and died September 14, 1902; Leland, who 
was born November 4, 1902; Inez, born March 6. 1905; Paul E., September 22, 
1907; Carl G., February 9, 1910; Don C, November 29, 1911; and Erma, December 26, 
1914. 

The family resides at No. 760 North Third street. East, where Mr. Warnick owns 
a pleasant home. He is a member of the Provo fifth ward, where he served as bishop's 
counselor for five years. He belongs to the Provo Commercial Club and is interested 
in all that has to do with the upbuilding and welfare of his adopted city. Along 
progressive business lines he has put forth earnest effort, contributing to the material 
upbuilding of Provo, and his standing in business circles is very high. 



HON. JESSE KNIGHT. 



There is perhaps no name more closely associated with the history of Provo than 
the name of Jesse Knight; and no life has been more potent in promoting the welfare of 
that city than the active life of its greatest financier. His influence extends all over 
tlie state and into several other states, as well as to Canada. Mr. Knight is known in 
business circles as the president of the Knight Investment Company. The kind, personal 
feeling entertained for him is indicated in the fact that far and wide his friends know 
him as "Uncle" Jesse Knight. He is now approaching the sevent.v-fourth milestone on 
life's journey, having been born September 6. 1845, in Nauvoo. Illinois. His father. Newel 
Knight, was a pioneer settler of Nauvoo, and a son of Joseph Knight, the founder of the 
American branch of the family. 




HON. JESSE KNIGHT 



UTAPI SINCE STATEHOOD 23 

Newel Knight had charge of the first fifty teams to cross the Missouri river at the 
time of the great Mormon exodus, in the fall of 1846. His hope and that of his people was 
that somewhere in the far west they might find a home in which to worship God accord- 
ing to the dictates of their conscience, without interference. They expected to winter on 
the Platte river. Indians, however, reported that the grass was destroyed by fire in the 
direction they meant to go and invited them to go north one hundred and fifty miles to 
winter on the Indian reservation in Nebraska. This they did, but before the winter had 
spent its fury Newel Knight had found a resting place beneath its snow. He died January 
11, 1847, leaving a widow with six small children. One boy was born in the following 
March. 

Newel Knight was a man of forceful character, a devout Mormon and full of integrity. 
Jesse Knight's mother was Lydia Goldthwaite. and at the time of her marriage to Newel 
Knight she was a widow and he a widower with one son, Samuel. Their marriage took 
place November 23, 1835, at the home of Hyrum Smith and was the first marriage per- 
formed by the Prophet Joseph Smith. After the ceremony the sacrament was adminis- 
tered to the little gathering and for the first time water was used in place of wine in 
accordance with a revelation given to the prophet. 

After the death of Newel on the Niobrara prairie, it was impossible for the family to 
continue their journey westward. So in the spring they returned to winterquarters, 
remaining there until 1850, when they made the journey to Salt Lake City. Lydia G. 
Knight was a woman of remarkable moral and intellectual force and exerted a widely 
felt Influence for good and for cultural development throughout the community in which 
she lived. She died in St. George at the age of seventy years. 

As a child Jesse Knight herded cows tor neighbors on the hillsides about Salt Lake 
City. At the age of eleven years he took oxen and hauled winter's wood on shares. Some- 
times bigger boys would offer to help him load his wagon, but he worked very hard in 
order that he would not need assistance. Thus did he manifest early in life his desire 
to be a lifter rather than a leaner. In 1857 with his mother and the rest of the family 
he removed to Provo. Again he herded cows and sheep, gleaned potatoes and wor'Ked on 
their own small farms. His early education was gained principally driving oxen, although 
he attended briefly a neighborhood school which his mother conducted in her own home. 
His youth was a period of earnest toil, in which he faced many hardships and difficulties. 
But it is a well known fact that under the pressure of adversity and the stimulus of 
opposition, the best and strongest in man is brought out and developed. Often as he went 
tc bed at night the picture of his mother working at her loom by the light of a greased 
rag filled his young heart with a burning desire to do something that he might relieve 
her of hardship. 

At sixteen years of age Mr. Knight left the parental roof and took employment with 
Benjamin Roberts, who agreed to pay him thirty dollars per month. Being a strong lad 
with willing heart and ready hand, Jesse soon did the work of a man. His employer 
noted the boy and his diligence and so when he made settlement after six months, 
instead of paying him as originally agreed, he gave him a man's wage of fifty dollars 
per month from the beginning. It was this three hundred dollars which gave him his 
start in life. With the money he purchased a team of oxen and a wagon, while he pur- 
chased another team on credit. Thus he started out and from that time has steadily 
upbuilt his fortune. He has also been instrumental in the upbuilding of the fortunes of 
many others. The justice and generosity of his first employer has remained a pleasant 
incident and a noble example in his life. 

For several years Mr. Knight bought and sold cattle. It is said of him by many in 
Utah county that often he paid widows and poor people more for their calves than they 
asked, sometimes making no profit for his trouble and risk, but as he said, "Never losing 
in the long run for doing good to others." 

At the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, January 18, 1869, Jesse Knight married 
Miss Amanda McEwan, who was born November 13, 1851, where now stands the Alta 
Club, Salt Lake City. In his wife he found a helpmate in very deed. She braved any 
needful hardship with cheerfulness. She prized honor and integrity far above any 
worldly comforts. She made the best of twenty years of life in a lonely spot miles from 
neighbors in order that she and her husband might produce something for themselves 
and others. To her hands came the labor of cooking for family and hired men, the 
making of butter and cheese, which found ready market because of its cleanly perfec- 
tion. Her courage was not lacking as she tenderly cared for the family of growing 



24 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

children, although doctors, relatives, or neighbors were far from her. It was 'while 
living on this ranch at Payson that Mr. Knight prospected the hills of Tintic and located 
many valuable claims. His first claim, the Humbug, was so named in derision by 
miners in that locality. He and his boys worked between seasons with pick and shovel 
tor seven years before they found the ore. As soon as the ore was discovered he had an 
offer of one hundred and ten thousands dollars for the property. But notwithstanding 
their years of hard work, neither he nor his wife were tempted to accept, for Mr. Knight's 
faith in the property was unbounded, and while he had no ready cash with which to build 
a road and get ore to market he did have credit. 

Many claims has he developed into paying properties in that locality since then and 
yet his interests are not confined to the wealth of the mine. When enterprises are pro- 
jected that aim to bring good to many people, it is always possible to interest "Uncle 
Jesse." When approached, he invariably asks, "How is it to affect us? What good will 
it do for other people?" It was this idea of helpfulness that led him to buy vast areas 
and build a sugar factory in Canada; it was this idea that prompted the taking over W 
the Woolen Mills of Provo, at a time when the mills were closed down because they were 
unprofitable to the owners; it was this that induced him to make the big ditch for irri- 
gating the Farms of Blue Bench, and it was this which was the incentive for him to 
scatter the light of electric plants in remote corners, that rural communities might enjoy 
its beaming. "Uncle Jesse" likes the pioneering of big projects, the developing of great 
resources. When his Canadian project was in course of development, he loaned a good 
deal of money to various settlers; he had also borrowed large amounts for the develop- 
ment of this same enterprise and at that time was hard pressed to meet his obligations. 
He wrote his boys who were in charge in Canada that he had been called upon to make 
large payments here and that while he had perhaps equal amounts due him on the Cana- 
dian loans he did not feel that it would be right to crowd the farmers for payment. He 
told his sons that it was his firm belief if they did not work a hardship upon those poor 
men struggling to make homes that Providence would open up a way whereby his obliga- 
tions could be met. 

To Mr. and Mrs. Knight have been born six children, five of whom are living. Lydia 
Minerva, the first born, died in Payson at the age of eighteen years. The others are Oscar 
Raymond, a successful business man of Canada and Salt Lake City; Jesse William, of 
Provo, also a man of large affairs and a member of the presidency of Utah stake; Mrs. Inez 
K. Allen, president of Utah Stake Relief Society; Mrs. Jennie Mangum, and Mrs. lona 
Jordan. Mr. Knight's children-in-law, as well as his own children, are interested in his 
enterprises. Mr. Allen is vice-president and cashier of the Knight Trust & Savings bank, 
and Mr. Mangum is secretary and treasurer of the Knight Investment Company. In 1890 
Mr. Knight removed his family to Provo, in order that the children might attend the 
Brigham Young University. He is now vice-president of the Brigram Young University 
board of trustees, and has contributed generously of his means to that institution. 

The religious faith of the family is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day 
Saints. Jesse Knight's membership is in the Fifth Ward of Provo. He is a high priest, 
having been ordained twenty-five years ago. He is unfaltering in his loyalty to the 
church. In politics he is a stanch democrat and while it is characteristic of him to be 
loyal to any cause he espouses, he holds principle above mere party success. In 1909 the 
democratic convention, held at Logan, voted by acclamation to place Jesse Knight on the 
ticket for governor of state. So enthusiastic were those assembled that it was long before 
he was even permitted to explain his position. Because he lacked school education and 
because the party had not adopted a prohibition plank, he declined the honor. Later he 
did succeed in getting prohibition in the democratic platform, which was perhaps the big- 
gest step toward our present state law. 

He has continually stood for progress and improvement in community affairs and 
given his earnest support to every plan and measure for the upbuilding of his state and 
the advancement of national interests. Far-seeing, broad-minded and kind in heart, 
this man is an inspiration to others about him. Though advanced in years, he admits no 
lessening of his power to do. At an age when most men are retiring from active business 
life, Mr. Knight projected his famous Tintic Drain Tunnel Company, and has already 
completed one-half mile of the total six miles required to tap the heart of Tintic mining 
district at about a two thousand foot depth. He still is the president of the Knight In- 
vestment Company, Knight Trust & Savings Bank, Springville-Mapleton Sugar Company, 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 25 

Spring Canyon Coal Company, Knight Woolen Mills, Eureka Hill Railroad, Ellison 
Ranching Company, Nevada, Knight Sugar Company in Canada, American-Colombina 
Corporation, South America, and about twenty mining companies. He has kept his hand 
constantly on the helm of business and his eye has been keen to its possibilities, but the 
attainment of financial success has been to him a means for making opportunities for 
others. All along life's journey he has extended a helping hand to those in need of 
assistance. He gives generously to the Red Cross and other charities, and his church and 
its institutions are objects on which he habitually bestows large sums. Most of all, he 
puts many people in position to help themselves. Uncle Jesse believes that money came 
to him to do good with and not to lavish on himself in personal comforts. 

There is perhaps no life that more clearly exemplifies the truth of Emerson's phil- 
osophy that, "The way to win a friend is to be one" than does the life of Jesse Rnight. 
A modern philosopher has said, "Not the good that comes to us, but the good that comes 
to the world through us, is the measure of our success." Judged by this standard the 
life of Jesse Knight has been most successful. 



CALEB M. MARRIOTT. 



High on the roll of the legal profession in Utah appears the name of Caleb M. 
Marriott, of Ogden. His entire life has been passed iff the west and he has ever been 
actuated by the spirit of enterprise and progress which has been the dominant factor 
in the upbuilding of this section of the country. He was bom at Marriottsville, V.^eber 
county, Utah, November 20, 1880, and is the eldest of the eleven children of Mr. and 
Mrs. Moruni S. Marriott, eight of whom are still living. He was educated in the 
schools of his native town, in Weber College and in the Brigham Young College 
at Logan. Later he pursued higher courses of study in Weber College and ulti- 
mately entered the University of Utah in preparation for the bar, there winning 
the LL. B. degree with the class of 1913. In early life his attention had been given 
to sheep raising, farming and to the grocery and commission business in Ogden, 
in which enterprises he was associated with his father. He desired, however, to 
follow a professional rather than a commercial or agricultural career, and having 
prepared for the bar, he entered upon the practice of law and soon won recognition 
as an able lawyer by reason of the ability which he displayed in the presentation of 
his cause before the courts. In 1901, however, he was sent on a mission to Australia, 
where he remained through a part of 1904. Aside from his law studies he has pursued 
a course in voice culture covering three years, giving his attention also to instrumental 
music and to the study of composition and harmony. Ranking with the leading musi- 
cians of this section of the state, he was for ten years connected with the Ogden 
Tabernacle choir. His time and energies at the present time are mostly concentrated 
upon his general law practice. He is well versed in all departments of jurisprudence 
and his ability is manifest in the many favorable verdicts which he has won for his 
clients. He is conscientious in the performance of all professional duties and the 
thoroughness with which he prepares his cases is one of the strong elements in his 
success. About the time when he completed his law course he was made a clerk in the 
juvenile court and this gave him splendid experience, constituting an important 
element in his growing success as a representative of the bar. 

In Evanston, Wyoming, on the 29th of December, 1915, Mr. Marriott was married 
to Miss Delia E. Danielson, who was born in Council Bluffs, Iowa, a daughter of N. P. 
Danielson. They have become parents of a daughter, Helen Rosemary, who was born 
May 29, 1918. 

During the war Mr. Marriott was deeply interested in various war activities and 
was especially active in aiding in the questionnaire work. His political endorsement 
has always been given to the republican party and he is a well known club man, having 
membership in the University Club of Ogden and in the Weber Club. His religious 
faith is indicated in his connection with the Ogden Tabernacle. Along strictly pro- 
fessional lines he has membership with the Weber County and the Utah State Bar 
Associations. Along with those qualities essential to success in the practice of law, — 
a keen, logical mind plus the business sense, — he brought to the starting point of his 



26 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

legal career certain rare qualities, including a gift of oratorj- and a strong personality. 
From the beginning he recognized the necessity for thorough preparation and Ms 
presentation of his cause has ever been comprehensive and exact. Thus possessing 
the requisite qualities for success at the bar. Caleb M. Marriott has gained for himself 
an euTlable position as one of Ogden's prominent attorneys at la'sv. 



DAVID KEITH. 



Mere ■words seem inadequate in recording the story of the big men of the ■west. 
Nature has colored her w^orks -srith glorious pigments, but man-made records must essen- 
tially fade ■srith time. Of these men of ■whom we speak ■was David Keith and, lite them, 
a man of vision, but not ■visionary. He was one of that mighty company of intrepid men 
who opened the vaults of this great western treasure-chest. He lived to see the works 
of his comrades and himself develop into achievements unsurpassed, to realize the 
material benefits from the accomplishment, but yet perceiving in it all only the begin- 
ning — the glimpse of what was to be. 

The birth of David Keith occurred at Mabou. Cape Breton. Nova Scotia. May 27. 
1847. He was of Scotch ancestry, his parents being John and Margaret (Xess) Keith, 
who had a family of thirteen children, David being the youngest. Both of the parents 
were bom in Scotland, came to The new world in their youth and were married in Nova 
Scotia. 

David Keith was reared in the rigorous land of his birth, inured to hard work, and 
at the age of fourteen years was left an orphan, facing the necessity of making his own 
living. But. adventurous in spirit, endowed with a wonderful constitution and possessing 
an optimistic view of life, he was undaunted. He secured work in the gold mines of 
Xova Scotia, where he displayed such energy and fidelity in the discharge of his duties 
that he was superintending men and taking mining contracts ere reaching the age of 
twenty. 

Early in the year 1867 he heeded the call from other fields; the home ties in Nova 
Scotia were broken and he sailed from port with California as his destination. His 
vessel carried hinj to the Isthmus •of Panama, which was then a region of miasmas, 
fever and death, but he passed safely through the lethal zone, most of the way on foot, 
and reshipped on the Pacific side for northern California, arriving in San Francisco in 
September. At this time the fame of the neighboring state of Nevada was gro^wing: 
Gold Hill. Virginia City and the Comstock were becoming great mining camps and draw- 
ing hundreds of men from both east and west. Toung Keith heard the vivid reports of 
this coimtry soon after he landed in Frisco and he quickly made up his mind to join the 
rush to Nevada. Passing through Saluia and Sonoma counties, he went by stage to 
Sacramento and thence to Virginia City. For a very short time he was employed in 
the mines of that district and in the spring of 1868. in company with three others, he 
bought a wood ranch at Mill Station in the Washoe valley, where he sawed wood for the 
mines. During the ■winter months of this year he was in charge of a force of Chinese 
coolies engaged in the construction of the Southern Pacific tracks through the Donner 
lake district. In the summer of 1S69. however, he returned to Virginia City, where he 
resumed mining, there continuing until the spring of 1883. He worked during this time 
on the Comstock as a miner, became a pumpman and later foreman of the Caledonia and 
Overman mines. His work during this period was also featured by the sinking of the 
shaft in the famous Forman mine. In addition he worked in a managerial capacity with 
the Mexican mine. 

All of his early life here was spent In a ceaseless struggle with adversity, but this 
only tempered the rugged and resolute, though kindly and gentle, character of the man. 
He made steady progress in the mining business, without acquiring a fortune. Neither 
California nor Nevada gave to him of their riches, but in these slates he won the reputa- 
tion and popularity which in later years, in Utah, led him to fortune. 

His experience in Nevada as a pumpman was largely responsible for Mr. Keith's 
removal to Utah in March. 1883. He came to Park City to install at the Ontario mine 
the great Cornish pumps, used to free the mine from water until the completion of the 
drain tunnel. This bit of construction required the services of a man of much skill and 




DAVID KEITH 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 29 

constructive ability and the fact that shortly afterward Mr. Keith was appointed fore- 
man of the mine, then owned by Senator Clark and California capitalists, is significant of 
the success of his initial work in Utah. Mr. Keith acted as foreman particularly of 
shaft No. 3 for eight years, and during this time he was so fortunate as to form the 
acquaintanceship of Thomas Kearns, who was to be liis life-long friend and business 
associate. In 1888 Mr. Keith became connected with the Woodslde mine, taking charge 
of the underground work. This property was owned by C-olonel Edward P. Ferry but 
was being operated on lease by the Willman Brothers. Thomas Kearns was also employed 
upon the Woodside property, and during the process of tunneling noticed the general 
trend of the principal ore vein, which was toward the adjoining property, undeveloped, 
and known as the Mayflower. 

Mr. Keith held consultation with Mr. Kearns regarding this prophetic situation, with 
the result that they, in company with John Judge, A. B. Emery and W. V. Rice, secured 
a lease upon the Mayflower property. Work was started here on February 1, 1890, and 
in April ore was struck at a depth of two hundred feet. There was a succession of trou- 
bles, litigation over the property and counless other vicissitudes incident to mining, but 
Mr. Keith and his contemporaries were men of strong determination and fighting spirit 
and so won out in the end. 

The Mayflower mine as it was developed paid all the expenses of the litigation which 
it brought about and also for four adjoining claims, known as the Silver King group, 
then owned by John Farrish and Cornelius McLaughlin, who had located it, W. H. 
Dodge and Martin McGraw. The Silver King ground was bonded by Messrs. Keith and 
Kearns, together with their partners, in October, 1891, and was purchased by them in 
1892. In July of the latter year the Silver King Mining Company was organized with 
David Keith, president; Mr. Kearns, vice-president; and A. B. Emery, secretary. Over 
forty-six thousand dollars were spent before ore was struck, but within three months' 
time after the strike was made all expenses were paid. The ore yielded from forty to 
fifty percent lead, from fifty-six to sixty ounces of silver and a by-product of gold. The 
Silver King mine, until its amalgamation into the Silver King Coalition Mines Company 
in 1907, had paid out over ten and a quarter millions of dollars in dividends. 

Much of the success of this property is directly attributable to the ability of Mr. 
Keith. It was as a mining man that he made his great fortune, but he could not have 
developed rich mines, whether as superintendent or as owner, had he not been pecu- 
liarly fitted by temperament and training for this work. Perhaps his success lay for the 
most part in his skill in dealing with employees. He knew how to direct men, how 
to get from them the best they had to give. And that was due to his own fine qualities 
of soul, his gentleness, kindness and generosity, his intimate knowledge of every phase 
of mining, which made it possible for him to be a leader of men. One little incident 
which occurred during the financial panic of 1897 is illustrative of this quality, in his 
partner, Thomas Kearns, as well. The various mining companies of Park City were 
desirous of reducing the wage scale and consulted Messrs. Keith and Kearns in regard 
to it, but they flatly refused to accede to the request, even in the face of discouraging con- 
ditions. The 1919 labor troubles which have confronted the operators of these same 
Silver King mines might not have occurred had these master pilots been at the wheel. 

David Keith made his fortune in this way. Unlike many who grasped the western 
gold, only to let it slip idly through their fingers, he displayed a balance of mind and a 
capacity for business which soon placed him as one of the richest men of Utah. He was 
always a man of affairs, but he did not allow his fortune or affairs to hide from him the 
better things which life held. His interests were those of Utah, of his friends and con- 
temporaries. He gave to his own state whatever advantages his money could supply. 
As one writer expressed it: "Few men, if any, have had more to do with the upbuilding 
of Salt Lake City than David Keith. His successful work in making of a mere pros- 
pect the great mining property known as the Silver King has had so great a bearing, in 
all its ramifications, on the material growth of Salt Lake City and Utah that if this 
work were presented in its many interesting details, it would read like a fanciful dream. 
Much of the tremendous wealth which the Silver King poured into the laps of its own- 
ers has been used by them in making of Salt Lake 'a city beautiful' in every, sense of the 
term. The Silver King has done more for Utah than any half dozen other successful 
properties. The money wrested from the mountains has been kept at home, and the 



30 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

most public-spirited of all those associated with the development of this great property 
is David Keith." 

While thus coming into control of mammoth mining interests, Mr. Keith also extended 
his efforts into other activities. He was associated with James Ivers in the ownership 
of the Summit block and he became sole owner of the Pioneer Roller Mills. The 
Keith Emporium building was one of his properties, also the David Keith block, a ten- 
acre tract known as the Tenth Ward Square containing the old Exposition building and 
the old Herald building. Associated with Thomas Kearns he was the owner of the Salt 
Lake Tribune, of which he was the president. He was president of the First National 
Bank of Park City; vice-president of the National Copper Bank of Salt Lake City; a 
director of the Las Vegas & Tonopah Railroad and of the Los Angeles & Salt Lake Rail- 
road. Mr. Keith was one of the organizers of the Keith-O'Brien Company, one of the 
largest department stores in Utah, but in this corporation he eventually disposed of his 
holdings to David F. Walker. The name of Keith-O'Brien, however, has always been 
retained by the company. 

David Keith was married twice, the children of his first marriage being: Charles 
F.; Margaret A.; Etta K. Eskridge, of Los Angeles; and Lillian K., the wife of Albert C. 
Allen, of San Francisco. On the 12th of June, 1894, Mr. Keith wedded Mary Patrick 
Ferguson, of Park City, Utah, the daughter of General James and Jane (Robinson) 
Ferguson. To this marriage was born one son, David, who married Geneva Savage 
of Salt Lake City, and they have one son, David. Mrs. Mary (Ferguson) Keith was 
born at Salt Lake City, October 23, 1854, attended the common schools and also St. 
Mark's, where she graduated in June, 1875. She afterward taught in that school and at 
Park City and in 1881 returned to Salt Lake, entering the employ of the Rocky Mountain 
Bell Telephone Company. In 1888 she was transferred to Park City as manager for the 
telephone company and there she became the wife of David Keith. Throughout his life 
Mrs. Keith was even more than a wife to David Keith — she was his business partner 
and shared with him all the joys and sorrows which are the common allotment. She 
survived her husband until May 17, 1919, when she passed away in Salt Lake City. 
Socially, Mr. and Mrs. Keith were among the leaders of Salt Lake City and Utah. The 
family circle was broken on April 16, 1918, when David Keith was called by death, but the 
passing of this great builder has even intensified the good works he did and has brought 
before the people in stronger terms the honor of having possessed his citizenship, his 
wonderful personality and magnificent accomplishments. 

The religious faith of David Keith was that of the Presbyterian church. He was a 
member of the constitutional convention which framed the basic laiw of the state, but 
otherwise he never sought nor desired public office. He was a member of the Alta Club of 
Salt Lake, the Bonneville Club, the Elks, the Country Club, the California Club of Los 
Angeles, the Press Club of San Francisco and the Rocky Mountain Club of New York city. 
He was also a member of the Masonic order. 

"He took life pleasantly and everywhere was popular because of the mildness of his 
manners and the goodness of his heart. It would have been a strange man, indeed, 
who could have found anything in David Keith to kindle dislike. His friends were 
everywhere and his enemies nowhere. It is perhaps needless to allude to his charitable- 
ness. It was within the knowledge of all who knew him, even though he was never 
ostentatious in his charities. His friends of the good old days often had reason to con- 
gratulate themselves in evil fortune that David Keith was ever ready to open his purse 
to them. Perhaps the best epitaph which could be written is to say that in all his deal- 
ings he was simple-hearted, affectionate, high-minded and honorable, and that he lived 
according to the golden rule." 



WILLIAM HENRY WATTIS. 

William Henry Wattis is the president and manager of the Utah Construction 
Company of Ogden, a company of railroad contractors that has also extended its ef- 
forts into other lines and is now interested to a large extent in the irrigation and de- 
velopmen', of land in Nevada and Idaho. The importance of the projects with which 
Mr. Wattis has had to do leads to his classification with the representative business 




WILLIAM H. WATTIS 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 33 

men and real builders of the west. He was born in Uintah, Weber county, Utah, August 
15, 1859, a son of the late Edmund Wattis, a California and Utah pioneer who was a 
native of England and came 'to America during the '40s. He crossed the plains with 
one of the first colonies that made the journey to California and he remained upon the 
Pacific coast for about two years. On the return trip he settled in Uintah, Weber 
county, Utah, where he turned his attention to farming and stock raising and there 
resided until the time of his death, which occurred in April, 1891, when he was sixty- 
three years of age. The mother of William Henry Wattis bore the maiden name of 
Mary Jane Corey. She was born in Illinois and was a descendant of an old New Eng- 
land family of Puritan ancestry, related in the maternal line to Jonathan Wright, of 
Brigham. To Edmund and Mary Jane (Corey) Wattis were born seven children, five 
sons and two daughters, of whom two of the sons have passed away. The mother's 
death occurred in 1881, when she was forty-four years of age. The parents had been 
married in Utah in 1853. 

William Henry Wattis was their fourth child. His early life to the age of twenty 
years was spent upon the home farm and he soon became familiar with the best 
methods of tilling the soil and caring for the crops. He attended the public schools of 
Uintah and supplemented the meager revenues derived therefrom by mining in Tooele 
county, Utah, across the mountains from Bingham. There he remained for about a 
year and with his earnings he purchased a couple of teams of horses and took up rail- 
road construction work in connection with the building of the Oregon Short Line. With 
that humble start he has been instrumental in building up a business of mammoth pro- 
portions, now conducted under the name of the Utah Construction Company. In this 
undertaking he is associated with his two brothers. Today their interests constitute 
the largest business of the kind In the west. Through the intervening years they have 
been the builders of many railroads, canals and reservoirs and the promoters of many 
irrigation and other important business projects having to do with the settlement, de- 
velopment and improvement of various western states. They are now largely concerned 
in the promotion of the Big Lost River irrigation project, built under the Carey act. 
This will open up twenty thousand acres of new farm land in Butte county, near Arco, 
Idaho. The company won the approval of the state land board and the state engineer 
of Idaho for the prosecution of the project and the work is now being vigorously car- 
ried forward. In addition to the building work of the Utah Construction Company, 
Mr. Wattis also directs its farming and stock raising activities in Nevada, Utah and 
Idaho. His company holds under deed two hundred and fifty thousand acres of land, 
upon which are pastured over thirty thousand cattle and thirty thousand sheep. Mr. 
Wattis is likewise a director of the Utah National Bank of Ogden; is the president of 
the Union Stockyards Company of Ogden; vice president of the Everfresh Food Com- 
pany of Ogden; a director and member of the executive committee of the Utah-Idaho 
Sugar Company; the vice president and a director of the Lion Coal Company, a Wyo- 
ming corporation also operating mines in Carbon county, Utah; the vice president and 
a director of the Superior Rock Springs Coal Company, also a Utah corporation; a 
director of the Ogden Portland Cement Company; president of the Lake View Mining 
Company; and a director and member of the executive committee of the Utah-Idaho 
Central Railroad Company. Through these various connections are indicated the ex- 
tent and importance of his interests, which place him among those men who have been 
a dynamic force in the development of the state. 

In 1889 Mr. Wattis was married in Ogden 'to Miss Marie D. Stander, a native of 
Utah and a daughter of Henry and Marie Stander, who were pioneer people of the 
state. The father has now passed away, but the mother is still living and resides with 
Mr. and Mrs. Wattis. She is now in the one hundredth year of her age. To Mr. and 
Mrs. Wattis have been born four children, but two of the number passed away. Es- 
tella Hope is now the wife of Captain Donald E. Rivers, a captain in the Eighteenth 
Engineers who has just returned from France after eighteen months' absence with the 
army and by whom she has three children: Donald E., William H. and Dorothy Eliza- 
beth. The younger daughter is Mary Jane, now the wife of Dr. Richard Mark Brown, 
a physician of Ogden, who was in the United States service at Deming, New Mexico, 
and held the rank of first lieutenant. They have one daughter, Mary Patricia Brown. 

Politically Mr. Wattis is a republican and fraternally he is connected with the Ma- 
sons, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite and the Knight 

Vol. II— 3 



34 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

Templar in the York Rite. He is also identified with the Benevolent Protective Order 
of Elks. He is now president of the Dee Memorial Hospital of Ogden and was formerly 
president of the Weber Club, serving as its chief executive oiBcer in 1915, 1916 and 
1917. His membership relations likewise extend to the University and Rotary Clubs 
of Ogden and to the Bohemian Club of San Francisco. His is the notable career of a 
self-made man — one who started out in business obscurity but who has advanced steadily 
until he stands in the full sunlight of prosperity. His course should serve as an im- 
petus and an inspiration to others, showing the possibility for the attainment of pros- 
perity through individual effort. Through the steps of an orderly progression his ad- 
vancement has been made. He has closely studied the opportunities which have come 
to him, he has studied the opportunities and the conditions of the west and each for- 
ward step has brought him more nearly to the goal of success. 



C. ALVIN ORME. 



C. Alvin Orme has been closely associated with the material, political, Intellec- 
tual and moral progress of the community in which he makes his home. He is numbered 
among the progressive agriculturists of Tooele county, is filling the office of county 
commissioner and is president of the Tooele stake. He was born October 21, 1869, 
of the marriage of Samuel Washington and Sarah (Cross) Orme. His great-grand- 
father, John Orme, was a native of England. The grandfather, Samuel Orme, was 
born in Coalville, England, May 2, 1802, and married Miss Amy Kerby, of Leicestershire, 
England. The birth of Samuel W. Orme, father of C. Alvin Orme, occurred in Mentor, 
Ohio, July 4, 1832. Soon afterward his parents returned to England on account of 
the serious illness of his grandfather, John Orme. Reared in England, Samuel W. 
Orme there learned the blacksmith's trade and in 1856 he came again to America 
and made his way across the continent to Utah, traveling with Edward Martin's 
"frozen handcart company." He was among the early settlers of Tooele and there 
worked at his trade to some extent but devoted the greater part of his attention to the 
occupation of farming. He married Sarah Cross, who was born in England, March 3, 
1833, and came to Utah in 1857 with Israel Evans' handcart company. Their family num- 
bered eight sons, of whom C. Alvin Orme, of this review, was the sixth in order of birth. 
The others still living are: Samuel W.. of Wilford, Idaho, who is now state senator and a 
prominent stockman and farmer of that district; Joseph, John K. and Silas C, all 
of whom are engaged in agricultural pursuits in Idaho; and Lafayette and Edwin M.. 
of Tooele. 

C. Alvin Orme acquired a common school education and at the age of twenty-six 
years was sent on a mission to Australia, where he labored for three years. Following 
his return to Utah he married Miss Ada Dunn, a daughter of James Dunn, editor of 
the Tooele Transcript. They have become the parents of nine children: Charles A.. 
Golden K., Sarah, Melba, Gean, Elvon W., Mary, James F. and Samuel T. 

On the 2d of April, 1899, Mr. Orme was ordained bishop of Batesville. Tooele 
county and after serving in that oSice for four years was made counselor to Hugh S. 
Gowan, president of the Tooele stake. On the 30th of October, 1908, he was again sent 
to Australia to preside over a mission and returned on the 11th of September. 1911. 
He was then made president of the Tooele stake and has since filled this office in the 
church. 

Mr. Orme has always been active as an agriculturist and is the owner of a ranch at 
Erda, Utah, containing about one thousand acres of land which is devoted to dry 
farming and stock raising. His business affairs have been wisely and carefully con- 
ducted and his sound judgment and indefatigable energy have brought to him a 
very substantial and gratifying measure of success. He has always been active in 
affairs relating to the welfare and progress of the community and has been the earnest 
supporter of the public schools and of all projects that uphold the standards of the 
county. In 1918 he was elected county commissioner on the republican ticket and is 
now filling that office. He also served as county food administrator for Tooele county 
and as a member of the county organization of the Council of Defense. His activities 
have been along various lines and have always contributed to the development and 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 35 

progress of his district, to the uplift of the individual and to the benefit of the commu- 
nity at large. He and his family now occupy an attractive bungalow at No. 188 W 
street, in Tooele, which was erected in 1912. There is no man in the community 
who is spoken of in terms of higher regard than is C. Alvin Orme, who never deviates 
in his conduct from a course which he deems to be right and who throughout his 
entire career has always attempted to follow the Golden Rule, doing unto others as he 
would have them do unto him. 



MORGAN D. WARNER, Jr. 



1216911 



Morgan D. Warner, Jr., manager of the Farmers Cooperative Association at 
Spanish Fork, was born June 3, 1888, in the city which is still his home. His father, 
Morgan D. Warner, also a native of Spanish Fork, is a son of William and Ann (David) 
Warner, who took up their abode at Spanish Fork during the period of early pioneer 
development there, about the year 1852. The grandfather was a successful farmer 
and stock raiser and was also a consistent and faithful member of the Church of 
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Both grandparents have passed away. Morgan 
D. Warner is a successful farmer and stock raiser of Utah county and an active church 
member who served on a mission to Wales and otherwise has taken a helpful part in 
advancing the work of the church. The mother bore the maiden name of Mary Hodson 
and was born at Spanish Fork, a daughter of the late Alma Hodson, who became 
one of the early residents of Utah. Mrs. Warner passed away June 15, 1888. 

Morgan D. Warner, Jr., an only child, was educated in the schools of Spanish 
Fork to the age of twelve years, when he started out to earn his own living, being 
employed as a clerk. In 1909 he became connected with the Farmers Cooperative 
Association as a delivery boy and worked his way steadily upward through inter- 
mediate promotions to the position of manager, in which capacity he has served since 
1916, carefully, wisely and systematically directing the interests of the association, 
which employs thirteen people and is one of the largest concerns of the kind in 
southern Utah. The firm carries a complete line of dry goods, groceries, clothing, 
boots and shoes and farm machinery and its sales are quite extensive. 

On the 20th of November, 1913, in Salt Lake Temple, Mr. Warner was married 
to Miss Sarah Erickson, a native of Spanish Fork and a daughter of A. 0. and Ruth 
(Reynolfson) Erickson, who were natives of Iceland, and the former is now deceased. 
Mr. and Mrs. Warner have become parents of four children, Dona, Jarvis D., Eunice 
and Fern. 

The religious faith of the family is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter- 
day Saints, their membership being in the first ward. In politics Mr. Warner is a 
republican and takes an active interest in the work of the party and the attainment 
of its success. He is identified with the Spanish Fork Building & Loan Association 
and the Spanish Pork Commercial Club. In a word he is keenly interested in every- 
thing that pertains to the welfare and progress of the city in which his entire life 
has been passed and he puts forth earnest and effective effort for its upbuilding 



JOHN TODD RUSHMER. 



John Todd Rushmer, a manufacturing optician of Ogden, selling to the wholesale 
trade and identified wath the directorates of several important corporate interests of 
the city, thus figures prominently in its business circles. He was born in Lawrence, 
Kansas, July 8, 1874. His father, Henry J. Rushmer, was a native of Columbus. Ohio, 
and conducted business for a number of years as a hardware merchant. He afterward 
removed to Kansas, where he became owner of a large farm and was prominently con- 
nected with the agricultural interests of that locality. Later he established a jewelry 
business in Lawrence, Kansas, which he conducted with success to the time of his 
death, which occurred in 1886. The business he founded has been carried on for 
sixty years, being still in existence, and the high standards he instituted at the begin- 



36 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

ning have always been maintained. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Sarah J. 
Frazer, was a native of Vermont and she, too, has passed away. Their family num- 
bered eight children. 

In the public schools of Lawrence. Kansas, John T. Rushmer began his education, 
passing through consecutive grades to the high school. His business training was 
received in the je^velry store of his father, which he entered at the time of his 
father's death, there remaining for ten years. Coming to Ogden, he established his 
present business in 1901. He began the sale of optical goods under his own name 
and later organized the Rushmer Optical Company for the conduct of a wholesale 
business. He is now a manufacturing optician and the output of his establishment 
has a wide sale, owing to the high standards and scientific methods employed in 
manufacture. Jlr. Rushmer is a graduate of the Chicago Ophthalmic College, of the 
class of 1899 and thus received thorough training for the activity which he has taken up 
as a life work. He has also extended his business connections along other lines, 
becoming a director of the Security State Bank, also a director of the Ogden Motor 
Car Company and a director of the Mountain View Cemetery Association. His optical 
business is located at No. 2464 Washington avenue in Ogden, where he is accorded a 
very large patronage. 

By a former marriage, Mr. Rushmer has a son, Lawrence H. He married the 
second time, in 1908, Emma Osborn, of Ogden, and they have become parents of three 
children: Henry Earl, Robert Frazer and Barbara, all in school. 

Mr. Rushmer is a valued member of the Weber Club, the leading organization of 
the kind in Ogden, and he is also a Mason, having taken the degrees of Weber Lodge. 
No. 6, A. F. & A. M., and of Weber Chapter, R. A. M. His religious faith is indicated 
in his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, to the teachings of which he 
loyally adheres. He enjoys hunting and fishing and is an enthusiastic motorist, taking 
many long trips. Those who meet him in business and social relations find him affable 
and genial. He is always appreciative of the good qualities of others and by reason of 
his attractive personal characteristics and his straightforward business dealings all 
who know him acknowledge that the success which he has won is richly merited. 



ROBERT CAMPBELL GEMMELL. 

Robert Campbell Gemmell, one of the foremost mining engineers of the west, is 
general manager of the Utah Copper Company and since the 1st of August, 1919, has been 
assistant managing director of the Utah Copper Company, the Nevada Consolidated 
Copper Company, the Chino Copper Company and the Ray Consolidated Copper Com- 
pany. Through successive stages of development he has reached the position of leader- 
ship which he occupies in professional circles. 

Mr. Gemmell was born at Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1863, a son of Robert 
Brown and Anna Eliza (Campbell) Gemmell. Actuated ever by a laudible ambition 
to utilize his time to the best advantage and to make his ability, native and acquired, 
of greatest force in the business world, Robert C. Gemmell entered the University of 
Michigan for a course in civil engineering and there won his Bachelor of Science degree 
in 1884, his degree of Civil Engineer in 1895 and his degree of Master of Engineering in 
1913. His professional career has been marked by steady advancement, resulting in 
the mastery of every situation or duty that has come to him. He was engineer on sur- 
veys and construction with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad from 1884 until 
1890 and through the succeeding six years was active as a civil and mining engineer 
of Utah, Nevada, Idaho and California and was engineer of the De Lamar mines from 
1896 until 1901. In the latter year he was appointed manager of the Mexican Mining 
Syndicate of Mexico and so continued until 1903, when he was made superintendent of 
mines for the Guggenheim Exploration Company in Mexico, occuping that position of 
responsibility until 1905. During the year 1905 he made an examination of mines in 
Spain, Mexico and the United States, and in 1906 he became general superintendent of 
the Utah Copper Company, which position he filled until 1909. He was then advanced to 
the position of assistant general manager and on the 1st of JIay. 1913, was made general 
manager, which position he still occupies. Those who are in the slightest degree familiar 




ROBERT C. GEMIIELL 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 39 

with the history of copper mining can realize the Importance of his present position as 
it includes the general management of the world's greatest copper mine. He is also 
assistant general manager of the Bingham & Garfield Railway Company and a director 
of the Utah Light & Traction Company. His latest advancement came to him with his 
promotion on the 1st of August, 1919, to the position of assistant managing director of 
the Utah Copper Company, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, the Chino Copper 
Company and the Ray Consolidated Copper Company. 

On the 17th of October, 1888, Mr. Gemmell was united in marriage to Miss belle 
E. Anderson, of Salt Lake City, where tliey make their home and are well known in 
the best social circles, their residence being at No. 164 East South Temple street. 
Mr. Gemmell gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has served as 
state engineer of Utah for two terms, from 1898 until 1901. He has never sought nor 
desired office, however, outside the strict patli of his profession. In the recent crisis 
which tested the patriotism and loyalty of every citizen Mr. Gemmell proved himself one 
hundred per cent American, being one of tliose men who gave liberally of his time, 
efforts and cooperation to the solution of important public problems. His religious 
faith is that of the Presbyterian church and the nature of his interests is further indi- 
cated in the fact that lie has membership in the American Society of Civil Engineers, 
the American Institute of Mining Engineers and the Mining & Metallurgical Society 
of America. That he is appreciative of the social amenities of life is indicated in his 
connection with the Alta, Bonneville, University, Commercial and Country Clubs of 
Salt Lake, the Bear River Duck Club of Ogden, the Flat Rock Club of Idaho and the 
Sequoyah Country Club of Oakland, California. He is also a member of the Sons of the 
American Revolution, which is indicative of the fact that among his ancestors were 
those who were loyal defenders of the cause of American independence. 

As a citizen of Salt Lake City, he is included among those men whose public spirit 
and enterprise have always been readily enlisted in the support of any movement or 
project involving the city's progress or advancement, and his influence and activities 
along many lines have been of great value. The nature, the breadth and the impor- 
tance of his interests have placed him in a commanding professional position and, more- 
over, he is possessed of those qualities which make for personal popularity among a large 
circle of friends. 



JOHN A. ADAMS. 



, From the age of seventeen years John, A. Adams has been entirely dependent upon 
his own resources and through the period of his connection with business interests has 
made steady progress. Each forward step has brought him a broader outlook and wider 
opportunities and his course has been one of steady advancement, bringing him 
eventually to the vice presidency of the firm of Lewis & Company of Ogden and to 
the position of vice president and treasurer of the McBride Drug Company. 

Mr. Adams was born in Ontario, Canada, November 11, 1869. His father, Gideon 
Adams, was a native of that country and was of Scotch descent although the family 
was early established in Canada. Gideon Adams became a successful merchant of 
Hexton, Canada, and resided throughout his entire life in the Dominion, where he 
passed away in 1871. He married Elizabeth Carson, a native of Canada and a repre- 
sentative of an old Canadian family of Scotch-Irish descent. Her death occurred in 
1897, wlien she had reached the age of sixty-six years. 

John A. Adams was the seventh in order of birth in a family of four sons and 
four daughters. He attended the public schools of Kemptville, Canada, to the age of 
ten years, when he accompanied the family, the father having previously passed away, 
to California. Making their way across the country, they settled at Petaluma, Cali- 
fornia, where John A. Adams continued his studies. Wlien seventeen years of age he 
entered the employ of the Wells Fargo Express Company at Petaluma and the success 
that he has since achieved is attributable entirely to his own efforts. His first posi- 
tion was along clerical lines and he was thus engaged until 1890, when he became 
an express messenger and was thus employed until 1903. In that year he became a 
resident of Colorado, where he had charge of the Cortland mine in Gunnison county for 



40 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

a period of three years. At the end of that time he returned to the express com- 
pany, which he represented at Goldfield, Nevada, for a brief period. He afterward 
removed to Ogden, where he arrived in February, 1905, and througli the interval to 
the present time, covering a period of fourteen years, lie has remained an active factor 
in the business circles of this city. He became associated with the firm of J. S. Lewis 
& Company and upon the incorporation of the business he was elected to the vice 
presidency, which office he has since filled. He has further extended his efforts by 
becoming connected with the McBride Drug Company of Ogden, of which he is also 
the vice president. He displays sound judgment in business affairs and his efforts 
have been most intelligently directed, bringing to him substantial success. 

Mr. Adams is a member of Ogden's leading social organization — the Weber Club — 
and in fraternal circles he is well known as a representative of the Masons, holding 
membership in the lodge, the chapter, the commandery and the Mystic Shrine and is 
also a member of the Masonic Club. He exemplifies in his life the beneficent spirit 
of the craft, being at all times true to its teachings concerning the brotherhood of 
mankind and the obligations thereby imposed. 



GEORGE HENRY BRIMHALL. 

Occupying a position of distinctive precedence in educational circles in the west, 
George Henry Brimhall is now president of the Brigham Young University, of Prove. 
He was born in Salt Lake City, December 9, 1852, and is a son of George Washington 
Brimhall and Rachel Ann Mayer. His father was born November 14, 1814. He became 
a resident of the state during the era of pioneer development in Utah, and was identified 
with its industrial interests as a master mechanic. He was prominent in religious and 
political circles and was called by his fellow townsmen to represent them in the terri- 
torial legislature. The mother, Rachel Ann Mayer, a daughter of George Mayer and 
Ann Yost, was born in Indiana, February 9, 1829. The daughter of pioneers, she her- 
self was a pioneer and did the work incident to those days. 

Her family, consisting of ten children, four sons and six daughters, as a rule, bear 
the impress of her strong will and sturdy character, particularly is this true in relation 
to her eldest son George H., who greatly resembles his mother in physical features and 
mental endowments. He first attended a private school in Ogden, for in those pioneer 
days public schools were unknown. Later he attended the public schools in Salt Lake 
City, Cedar Fort in the Dixie country and in Spanish Fork. Afterward he became a stu- 
dent at Provo, attending the first high school of that city. At a still later date he was 
a student in the Brigham Young Academy, the institution that became the successor of 
the Timpanogos Academy. President Brimhall has often said in public that it was due 
mainly to his mother's determination, in the face of the greatest possible financial odds 
that he was enabled to attend school in Provo. In his school days he was eager to ad- 
vance, eager to obtain knowledge. Many lessons were prepared while he was teaming 
and herding. 

He was one of a group of forty-two young men who established a high school in 
Spanish Fork, known, as the Young Men's Academy. A student of the institution, at first, 
he soon became one of its teachers. -While thus engaged he worked out a system of 
school grading. In educational circles his progress has been continuous. From being 
a superintendent of the Spanish Fork schools, he soon became county superintendent of 
Utah county and later city superintendent of Provo City. It was this latter position he 
was filling when he was called to the faculty of the Brigham Young Academy. During 
his period of service on the faculty, he held the chair of psychology and pedagogy for 
the greater part of the time. At all times during his connection with the institution 
he has held some executive position. By an action of the board of trustees he became 
its chief executive January 3, 1903. Prior to this time he had served as president of 
the Utah State Teachers' Association. 

President Brimhall's professional career falls naturally under three heads: his 
work as a teacher, as an executive and as an educational lecturer. He has always 
been recognized in the profession as one of Utah's foremost teachers; with him it is 
a gift as well as a profession. In all the years of teachers coming and going at the 




GEORGE H. BRIMHALL 



UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 43 

Brigham Young University, no otlier teacher ever attracted so many students to his 
classes as did Professor Brimhall. 

Prior to Professor Brimhall's coming to the presidency of the school, two degrees 
had been conferred upon him, the first the degree of Bachelor of Pedagogy, the second 
the degree of Doctor of Science. It is self evident that he has succeeded as an execu- 
tive, because of his having been called to one executive position after another succes- 
sively. The greatest period of expansion in the Brigham Young University as to build- 
ings, equipment, faculty and students has occurred under his administration. 

As seen from the student's point of view, he has been the subject of many tributes 
in all of the college periodicals for many years. Perhaps no better epitome of them 
all can he found than in the dedication of the 1915 year book, known to the students 
as the "Banyan." 

"To the man who thinks of the needs of his institution; 

"To the man whose acts inspire patrons, teachers and students to do their best for 
the good of the school; 

"To the man who appreciates responsibility and the confidence that others place 
in him; 

"To President George H. Brimhall whose greatness comes partly from the life 
which he has given our B. Y. U., we cheerfully dedicate the 1915 'Banyan.' 

"B. Y. U. Student Body." 

In all probability President Brimhall is most gifted as a public speaker. His 
ability to lay hold of an apt illustration on the instant and drive it home, has been one 
of the elements of his good teaching. He is one of the best known educational lecturers 
in this intermountain country, having lectured at institutes and in educational meet- 
ings and throughout this entire region. 

But the scope of President Brimhall's public addresses reaches far beyond that 
of an educational lecturer. Rarely has any man been as generally sought for on plat- 
form and in pulpit as has President Brimhall. It is safe to say that there is no public 
movement of any general interest that he has not been asked to champion by word of 
mouth. Suffrage, prohibition, civic betterment, public welfare movements of many 
phases have all sought and received such support as his talent affords. 

An idea of his popularity as a speaker may be had when we take into considera- 
tion the fact that on one 4th of July he received twenty-four invitations from twenty- 
four committees of twenty-four different cities and towns to deliver the 4th of July 
oration, and that from thirteen communities came requests for similar service on the 
24th of July. 

There is one variety of discourse in which President Brimhall is past master; it 
is in the short address and short sermon. These addresses have made the chapel ex- 
ercises of the Brigham Young University noted and their author famous. They are al- 
ways short, racy and to the point, filled with apt illustration and telling epigram. 

Dr. Brimhall has served for many years on the general church board of education, 
the church board of examiners, the general board of religion classes and on to general 
board of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. He is one of the oldest 
members of the Y. M. M. I. A. board. In connection with Dr. Milton H. Hardy he wrote 
the first manual, a series of lessons for the young people all over the church. In a 
period covering thirty-three years there have been comparatively few summers when 
Professor Brimhall has not been engaged in writing lessons for the M. I. manuals, the 
present summer being no exception to the rule. 

But his literary achievements have not been confined to writing lessons; he has 
been a constant contributor to local magazines and has given out many interviews for 
the public press. His composition is not confined to prose. He has written a measur- 
able quantity of creditable verse. His "Old Glory" written on the entry of the United 
States into war set to music by Prof. Clair W. Reid. was sung all over Utah and in 
many of the adjoining states. In addition to being connected with the various church 
boards, before mentioned. President Brimhall has served his church in the capacity 
of a stake superintendent of the Y. M. M. I. Associations of Utah stake, and as a mem- 
ber of the high council of that stake. 

He has always taken great interest in civic affairs. He was a member of the city 
council of Spanish Fork during the period of his residence in that city. He is 
afliliated with the republican party. In 1896 he was a candidate on the repub- 



44 UTAH SINCE STATEHOOD 

lican ticket for the state senate, but a democratic landslide resulted in the defeat of 
all republicans. He has been a speaker in practically every political campaign since 
the days of statehood. 

President Brimhall was married in 1874 to Alsena E. Wilkins. To them were born 
these children: Lucy J., Alsena E., George W., Mark H., Wells L. and Milton H. 
President Brimhall's second marriage, to Flora Robertson occurred in 1885. The 
children born to them are: Dean R., Fay R., Fawn R., Ruth Afton, Paul R., Alta R., 
Golden H., Ario R. He is fond of fishing and hunting. His leisure hours find him 
haunting canyons and streams with his boys and other members of his family who de- 
light in manly outdoor sports. 

George H. Brimhall is a man of rich spiritual and rich intellectual endowments, 
whose gifts have been supported by a life of strenuous work. Whatever his limitations 
may be he never fails to scintillate. Brilliancy is in the essence of all his power. His 
style whether in oral or written discourse is full of originality, and presents many 
surprises in analysis thought and sentence structure. 

President Brimhall possesses personality, a personality that has impressed itself 
upon thousands of students; a personality that has attracted the attention of many 
persons from both east and west because of its force and originality; a personality 
that compels and commands, and rarely fails to grip those with whom he comes in 
contact. 



GEORGE S. ASHTON. 



George S. Ashton. who has for many years been prominently identified with build- 
ing operations in Salt Lake, his native city, as a contractor and as the vice president 
of the Ashton Improvement Company, was born on the 27th of July, 1870. a son of 
Edward and Jane (Treharne) Ashton, both of whom were natives of Wales. They came 
to America in 1852, settling in Salt Lake City, and the father engaged in the shoe- 
making business for a time. He afterward worked for the Utah Central Railroad 
Company as a mechanic, representing that road for thirty years. Previous to that 
time he had been employed at his trade by William Jennings. He was thus closely 
associated with the industrial development of Salt Lake, where he passed away in 
February, 1906, at the advanced age of eighty-three years. He had crossed the plains 
after the primitive manner of travel in the early days, with ox teams and wagons, 
proceeding in that way from the Missouri river to Salt Lake. The mother of George S. 
Ashton passed away in Salt Lake City in 1897. In the family were seven children, 
four sons and three daughters, of whom four are yet living: George S.. of this review; 
and Edward T., Elizabeth and Mrs. Emma Richards, all of Salt Lake. The deceased 
are Jedediah, Brigham and Sarah. 

George S. Ashton was the youngest of the family. He attended the graded schools 
and afterward spent a year in study in the Latter-day Saints' College, after which he 
entered upon the general contracting business and has done much construction work 
in Salt Lake City and in Utah. The firm of Ashton Brothers is one of the best known 
in the contracting business in the state. George S. Ashton is also the vice president 
of the Ashton Improvement Company. He is likewise a director of the Sugar House 
Lumber Company and of the Deseret Building Society. His business interests have 
been of a character that have contributed in large measure to the development and 
upbuilding of the city and state in which he makes his home. 

On the 27th of September, 1893, in Salt Lake. Mr. Ashton was united in marriage 
to Miss Leah Fidkin, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William Fidkin, who arrived in Salt 
Lake in 1874. Mr. and Mrs. Ashton are parents of eight children: Mrs. Leah Lloyd, 
who was born in Salt Lake and was here educated, being graduated from the Latter-day 
Saints' College; George W., who was graduated from the Latter-day Saints' College and 
is now pursuing an engineering course in the University of Utah; Lucille, a high school 
graduate, who completed a course in the Kiester College of Dressmaking; Aliene. a 
graduate of the Business College of the Latter-day Saints and now with her father in 
business; Emma, who is a graduate of the public school and is attending the Latter- 



UTAH 'SINCE STATEHOOD 45 

day Saints College; William, also attending school; Melvin, who is likewise in school; 
and Reed, who completes the family. 

In politics Mr. Ashton's attitude is that