History of Salt Lake City, Part 133

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194

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The death of one or two employers broke up apprenticeship, and a drift was made to Bolton, Lancashire, then after a year or two to Liverpool, thence to Shrewsbury, all in the grocery busi- ness ; from the latter place, the inclination to visit America was established, Salt Lake City being the objective point.

From this period, life seemed to branch into three separate and distinct, yet intermingled lines, business, literature and religion. A career in the former was commenced in the old firm of J. M. Horner & Co., who occupied in 1854, the now Deseret News Office. Fresh from the system and order of the old world, it was amusing how much of an attraction there was in the manipulation of goods and packages; President Young, Captain Hooper and many others were struck by the deft and ready method of handling and tying up.

But this position only lasted for a time, and with the grasshopper war, with: thirteen weeks, ex- perience in Echo Canyon, with trying to build a home and supply furniture to the public, the move south found a financial cripple, though probably not more so than in many other cases.

A few weeks in the south, then a return, and renewal of the furniture business, the completion of the first job and receipt of the much needed pay for a little family, when the night cry of fire sounded, and the home, books, furniture, tools and general effects went up in smoke-four years' labor in forty minutes fire.

Then came clerkship with Gilbert & Gerrish, then with Wm. Nixon, then with Wm. Jennings, a brother-in-law; for the latter, business trips were made to California, then to New York, via

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

Panama, afterwards to St. Louis and Chicago, finally, loading all purchases in wagons on the Miss- issippi River, then leaving for home.

This was repeated for years, and as showing the business of those times, $175,000 was pur- chased one season of one dry goods house in New York, besides the necessary proportion of all other goods, including plows, threshing machines, wagons, cattle, etc., and facing the Indian difficulties enroute to Utah or eastward, such as were not uncommon.

After this engagement closed, a partnership was entered into, goods were bought on commis- sion, this merged into an established business when the little spot of co-operation appeared on the business horizon of our Territory. These things had been of a local character, but in " the School of the Prophets " our now broadened business man made the first elaborate and systematic discourse, indicating the possibllity and advisability of general co-operation, really as a measure of defense against extortionate trade, and, as a preliminary to the final supremacy of home manufacture as de- veloped and encouraged under and sustained by one gigantic importing establishment.

A full meeting realized that the key note had been struck, and at subsequent meetings in the City Hall, with President Young presiding, further elucidation was made, and the organization of some company or firm determined upon for the purpose of dealing in and supplying with merchandise the people of Utah Territory.

The next appointment was as one of three to prepare a constitution and by-laws for the creation and control of such an institution. Z. C. M. I. was determined upon, when subscriptions for stock were solicited ; several of the leading merchants were being bought out entirely, others were re- lieved of surplus merchandise which they placed in stock ; quite a number of outsiders were panic- stricken and sold out, and finally, in the stores of Wm. Jennings and Eldredge & Clawson, the business was commenced. Mr. Naisbitt was active in buying and receiving goods on stock or pur- chase from W. Jennings, Eldredge & Clawson, Ransohoff & Co., Godbe & Mitchell, Needham & Sears, David Day, H. W. Lawrence, Liddell and others ; he then was selected as purchasing agent in the east,on account of prior experience and knowledge of the markets.

In this capacity he visited Chicago, New York, Boston and other cities, reaching there, as he expressed it, when Z. C. M. I. was void of credit, prestige or means, when everything like co-oper- ation was an object of suspicion, when far off Utah was as great a mystery as the Sphynx, and when commercial standing was to be secured through darkness as impenetrable as that of Egypt. By patience, by the influence of old busines friends, and by means used cautiously and wisely for eight long months, on returning he presented the report that " had it been desirable, he could on leaving the east have bought half New York."

Long after this the position of buyer was filled, until President Brigham Young gave a special mission to preach co-operation all through the Territory, which mission was repeated some years later, and once again under the instruction of President Taylor, who, like President Young, was President of the Institution.

For some years after this first mission, charge was had of the wagon and machinery depart- ments, and then came a separation, and after two years spent in England, a situation was again pre- sented, and in one capacity or another the now oldest or longest employed, still finds interest and business in the Institution so well understood and so often defended in years gone by.

It is no discredit to others to say that no more indefatigable speaker, writer or worker has been in connection with the Institution, and during its early history and dark financial days, no official doc- uments or reports were more graphic and telling than those emanating from his pen.

Much of business experience, acquired during a long series of years, is now seen in the pages of Z. C. M. I. Advocate, published by the Institution. The series of " Talks," in the first volume of that periodical are invaluable to new beginners, as well as many older ones now engaged in bus- iness. The new series of "Talks" in Volume II. promises to be even more attractive, dealing, as they do, with public questions and topics of general interest to the growing people.

Arriving at this point in the biography naturally brings in the intellectual or mental aspect of the man ; and, while it is not claimed that anything profound or scientific has been produced, those who are familiar with the potency of the press will not hesitate in saying that in the infancy, material, mental and spiritual, of a community, those who understand the every-day life of a people, whose sympathies are in unison with the majority, and whose interests are indissoluble with theirs, must have even more influence than when clevated too far above the people by education, by association, or by wealth.

Yct, not to all is given such tastes as lead or determine a drift in this direction, natural aptitude

H. W. NAISBITT.

makes easy that which, when sought without it, is irksome, distasteful and apparently undesirable, however, in our subject.

An early tendency toward literature, was established by somewhat of a liberal education, and fostered afterward by an insatiable appetite for cosmopolitan reading ; originally circumscribed by religious books and the opportunities of a country town, these were expanded by the broader opportunities of Liverpool, England, in institutes, lyceums, etc., supplemented by the proximity of ability on the platform, the pulpit and the stage. Here first attempts at composition began, and before the "teens" were o'er a drift was created which remains to the present day.

On arriving in Utah, the early pages of the Deseret News received bis contributions, and when the Polysophical institution was in its glory, our subject never failed by poem or essay to give his proportion to the entertainment. From thence as a lecturer before kindred associations, somewhat of local appreciation was created, and in that field, then trodden by but few, there was steady progress in an intellectual direction.

The training of the ministry, which falls to the lot of most of the Elders of the Church, was not without its influence in the same direction, and many discourses delivered in this city, after publication in the News were republished in the Church Journal of Discourses, while essays, lectures and fugitive poems, found place in every form of local literary publication.

Hence the pages of the Utah Magazine, the Juvenile Instructor, Snell's Advocate, the Utah Farmer, the Contributor, Tullidge's Magazine, and Parry's Journal, have all had more or less of the productions of this writer.

As a welcome contributor to the general columns of the Deseret News, and as a contributor to the Mountaineer, the Telegraph and the Herald in succession, it came to pass in 1876, that selection was made of the now somewhat experienced writer, for the position of assistant editor of the Millennial Star, in Liverpool; on arriving there the full responsibility of that publication fell to his Ict, and included the issuance of the Journal of Discourses, a large edition of the Hymn Book and some sixty thousand small tracts for the use of the elders ; the original intent of President Young was that he should also superintend the publication of a new edition of the Doctrine and Covenants, with marginal references by Apostle Orson Pratt ; the death of President Young interfered with this arrangement, and after two years faithful labor the elder was released.

Since his return in 1878, literature has more than ever engaged his attention, as all the local papers will testify, sometimes as editor, then under a nom de plume. The desire of the author is yet to embody in a permanent condition, a now large accumulation of manuscript and matter in varied forms and on a variety of topics, in the hope that such publication will become part of the perma- nent literature of Utah, or more particularly of the "Mormon" people.

Several of the author's hymns are now in the standard Hymn Book of the Church; the one most used of these, is the touching refrain of " Rest for the weary soul, Rest for the aching head," which has been sung at most of the prominent funerals of late years, in connection with special music written by Prof. Careless. Many others have been published as Sabbath School songs, and are used in all gatherings of that kind, in this and adjoining Territories.

These literary recreations have been independent of the claims of a busy mercantile, social and ministerial life ; and now in the former capacity, as the oldest employee of Z. C. M. I.,and with a varied business experience, he is called to the editorial labor of its Advocate and Commercial Register, which after asuccessful year's issue, is now running upon its second, with prospect of larger circulation and appreciation than before.

As a criterion of poetic style and taste, some illustrations will be found in the literary section of the History of Salt Lake City, page 801. These may not be brilliant, but for sentiment they claim a measure of consideration, and being varied in mood, are evidence of more than usual versatility, and indicate at least, the impress of the divine afflatus.

H. W. Naisbitt was early brought into religious ways, Methodists, Primitives, Calvinists, Con- gregationalists and Episcopalans were in his native town, but all were working to a common end, and the stormy polemics of larger towns and schools had never disturbed the serenity of this dead sea level of religious theory and thought.

An apparent accident drew to another town, a now studious boy, and an unknown church (the Baptist) was presenting its claims on the strength of Bible teaching ; to hear was to believe, to believe was to be baptized, and then came greater consciousness of religious diversity and finally of religi- ous strife.

The pulpit now loomed up as the objective point in life, to stand as his fathers had done before him was a worthy ambition, and moving to a large manufacturing town gave our youth increased

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

opportunities of hearing and reading. Swedenborgianism with its revelations and mysterious inner sense ; Catholicism with its sensuous ceremony and priestly assumption ; Unitarianism, with its cold yet learned disquisition and lauded intellectuality ; each had in their turn such mental consid- eration as youthful training claimed for real religion.

Further drift encountered Joseph Barker, G. J. Holyoake, Gerald Massey, Thomas Cooper, Robert Cooper, Henry Vincent, Fergus O'Connor and Daniel O, Connell, all iconoclasts in their way, hewing down the dagons of superstition, whether of religion or crowns.

Secularism became the ism, not, however, without grave thoughts, and with some compunctions at the rejection of the life work of fathers and mothers, and keen personal feeling at the apparnet overthrow of authority and the enjoyments of a loved and happy home.

At this timely juncture, "Mormonism" was presented, and the dubiety felt in regard to religion in general seemed to attach this to itself in particular, for some time suspected, yet earnestly observed, its harmonies began to dawn upon the soul, the defects experienced, the inconsistencies heretofore realized in others, began to assume "form and feature" in it, and not long ere enough was under- stood to give assurance that trial only could once more be realized as it had been before.

Years sped by, gathering to a new-a strange land, the testing crucible of circumstances, the loss of many precious things of life, founding a home in the desert, far from books, institutions, so- ciety was much of a trial, losses by fire, in trade, from friends; probable misunderstanding, misappre- ciation, jealousy, etc ; the cares of life, the crowding demands of family, the acceptance and prac- tice of the patriarchal order, these have all been tests of strength, of faith, of endurance and nerve; the strain of " a busy life," its business, its mental labor, its ecclesiastical demand as evinced in'mis- sionary and other work, these all try the stamina of the man ; the prospect of prosecution, of con- finement among felons and violaters of fundamental law, the penalties of integrity to covenant and contract, these all loomed up in the life of this earnest man.

Half a century of probably not always intelligent endeavor, has fled away; its lights and shadows, its clouds and sunshine, are among the memories of the past, and no deliberate choice of evil, spectre-like looms up to darken the horizon of the coming years. Twelve lively boys, and as many girls, besides the care. and raising of four adopted ones, and many wives beside, are not likely to leave much leisure in a common life; the few who gone have with their mothers to the other side are present inexpensive adjuncts and appendages of the patriarchal order ; if those who think that this is child's play, and that it calls for. " bonds and imprisonment," would but assume for one short year, the responsibility, thought, ambition and labor, rather would they not feel that the multiplica- tion of good, honest, honorable citizenship, should enjoy the recognition of the authorittes of the land, and that these should rather be the recipients of its largesse and laurels than the subjects of its prosecution, its contumely and penalty. Time will vindicate the right, truth will triumph, man will indeed be free, and the relations of life, social and religious, will be as between a man and his Maker, so long as universal right and liberty is unmenaced and uninfringed.

FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS.

A scholarly divine of New England some years ago compiled a genealogical register of the de- scendants of several ancient Puritans. Among them is the family of Richards. In the introduc- tion to this genealogy, the conscientious author and collator says : "In Europe the name of Rich- ards has long been illustrious. But it is no part of my design to import and regild the faded honors of the name. I offer a fresher and nobler lineage, one emblazoned with the brilliant ensigns of sacrifices and sufferings, of victories and triumphs, for truth and conscience." Grand words, breathing something of prophecy destined to find a great measure of its fulfillment in the lives of Apostle Franklin and his close kindred.

Puritan sturdiness, coupled with constantly increasing intellectual force, characterized the de-

D. Richards to

FRANKLIN D. RICHARDS.

scendants of the founders of this family upon Massachusetts shores. If they did not reach the high- est point of worldly exaltation, they were always held in honorable consideration ; and from their number were drawn more than a proportion of divines, doctors, lawyers, legislators, scholars, and patriot soldiers.

In the year when American Independence was declared, we find among many others of the name, one particular scion of this house marching to the wars. Joseph Richards enlisted with the Continental forces when he was but fourteen years of age ; and, despite his youth, he fought gal- lantly at the siege of Boston, at Crown Point, Bennington, Tioga, West Point and Cowpens. Five years of the wars doubtless "brought bronze and beard upon his face ;" for at nineteen he married Rhoda Howe, a descendant of John Howe, who was a coadjutor of Eliot the preacher to the Indians. The younger sister of Rhoda Howe became the mother of President Brigham Young.

The second son of Joseph and Rhoda Richards was Phinehas ; the fourth and fifth sons were Levi and Willard-all three with a record for devoted adherence to conscience which does no shame to their Puritan ancestry. Phinehas learned the staunch trade of carpenter in his native State of Massachusetts. When the sound of war again arose in the land, he enlisted in the Massachusetts militia ; and, in 1813, he was serving on the colonel's staff with the rank of sergeant major. At thirty years of age, Phinehas married Wealthy Dewey, of another old Massachusetts family. They had numerous children, of whom two-true to the inherent devotion and the fortunes of their racc, have already lost their lives in a patriotic cause.

The pleasant little town of Richmond, in the county of Berkshire, Old Bay State, was the original dwelling place of Phinehas and Wealthy after their marriage. Here, on the second day of April, 1821, a son was born to them whom they called Franklin Dewey Richards. He was the fourth born and is the oldest surviving of nine children who came to bless his father's house. In the first quarter of this century, Western Massachusetts was a close neighbor to the wilderness; and in the radiant air and stirring scenes of farm and forest the boyhood of Franklin was spent. He had much of the manliness and vigorous devotion to duty of his soldier sire and grandsire; for at the close of his tenth year the chronicler sees the boy at Pittsfield-whither he had walked from Richmond, a distance of about 10 miles, to accept employment which would in part relieve the cares of his father. Previous to this time his life had been the toilsome, hearty one of a thousand New England boys; performing the labor for which his years made him capable ; toiling steadily through the summer that he might be enabled to snatch a few brief l.ours for school in the winter.

At Pittsfield the sturdy chap spent three years, working in turn for John Weller, Justin Hale and Jeremiah Stevens. This labor brought its reward-grand, indeed, to this boy of 13 years, but most trivial as it would appear to the more favored but less worthy youths of a later generation- a winter at Lenox Academy. This boy who had read every Look in the Sunday school library, comprising some scores of volumes, before he was ten years old, and who had pursued such a rigid course of study throughout three succeeding years of heavy labor that he was an exemplary scholar at the county academy, was not to be overlooked by shrewd Yankee eyes.

A scholarship was created by the religious women of Richmond, to be placed in one of the leading New England colleges, to fit some youth for the ministry. Little Franklin Richards was selected unanimously as the object of this valuable benefice ; but, strange to worldly sense, he, the ardent student, hesitated. At last, more strange, he peremptorily declined the honor.

The parents of this boy were devout and respected Congregationalists -- belonging to the church which held as members Franklin's military grandsire, Joseph, and the devout grandam, Rhoda. Phinehas and Wealthy had trained their offspring in the pious way ; earnest themselves, they wished their children to understand and obey the truth. Once, when Franklin was in early childhood, he went with his mother to hear a powerful discourse from the Rev. Samuel Shepard. At the conclu- sion of the impressive services the good Wealthy whispered to her awe-struck son, "How glad mother would be if her little boy would grow up to be such a good shepherd." Prophetic wish ! Many times before this momentous hour of consideration, Franklin had been oppressed by solemn views. Religious excitement prevailed in New England ; the staple of conversation was the horrors of the damned, But our destined apostle, so far from accepting the common and almost universally favored theories, searched the Scriptures and found the proffered popular creeds but Dead Sea apples. When the scholarship was solicitously tendered, the natural ambition of the pa- rents would have dictated the son's acceptance. But they knew his conscientiousness, and Phinehas said to Wealthy: "We have dedicated Franklin to the Lord, and I believe he will be inclined to do the way which will be the best for us all." When Franklin rejected ile

HISTORY OF SALT LAKE CITY.

brilliant offer in order to remain at daily labor for the maintenance of his father's house until the true call should come, the Gospel of Jesus Christ as proclaimed by Joseph Smith, had not been heard in the quiet county of Berkshire. If Franklin had become a " student of divinity " at the New England College, he would doubtless have been through life a sectarian preacher of the word. Who now can doubt the Providence, then so mysterious but now so manifest, which dictated his refusal ?

After this period the boy student found his necessary vocation with his uncles, William and Levi Richards, who had local prestige as lumber and shingle sawyers and cider makers. Two ycars he labored, gaining stores of practical knowledge, and then the trump sounded for the hour of awakening. In the summer of 1836, Joseph and Brigham Young-full of the spirit of apostolic ministry came from Ohio to Richmond. With the family devotion of their class they desired to lift their kindred into the radiance of truth. They gave to Joseph and Rhoda, to Phinehas and Wealthy, to Levi and Willard, and the score of younger relatives the wondrous gospel of a new prophet arisen-not the Savior but His vicegerent-to lead men back to everlasting truth and make them fit for His coming in glory. The Youngs lefi a copy of the wonderful Book of Mormon with the Richards family, and it was carefully and intelligently perused. Franklin brought all the ardor of his studious mind to bear upon it. His few spare hours of daylight were not sufficient for the entrancing work, so he gave his nights. In the mill where he worked a cauldron of cider was to be kept constantly boiling. He obtained the watch of darkness Candles were out of the question ; so his habit was to thrust a mighty plank into the furnace and, while one end of the slab was giving heat to the simmering cider and flickering light to the still house, he would lie outstretched upon the other end, poring over the pages of this newly revealed sacred history. He studied and believed.

In the autumn of that year, 1836, Willard and Levi went to Kirtland, Ohio, as delegates and leaders of the family to the truth. They accepted the gospel and remained. In the succeeding April, Phinehas with Franklin's younger brother, George Spencer-aged 14 years-also journeyed to Kirtland. They in turn received and acknowledged the truth. In the autum of 1837, Phinehas returned to Richmond. He found Franklin awaiting baptism ; and on the 3rd day of June, 1838. Phinehas had the heavenly pleasure of immersing his son within the waters of Mill Creek in Richmond, his native town.

Now the young disciple felt the quickening. He abandoned his employment ; and, on the 22nd day of October, 1838, he left Richmond for Far West, Missouri-making his devoted pilgrimage to the altar of the Most High. It was a lonely, toilsome journey. On the 30th day of that month of October, Franklin crossed the Alleghanies ; and almost at the same hour his be- loved brother, George Spencer Richards, was slain by an assassin mob at Haun's Mill. But the news of his brother's tragic death and the hideous stories of the "Mormon War" were alike power- less to restrain his purpose and he journeyed on eventfully. After visiting Far West and gaining confirmation of his faith, the young disciple found employment along the Mississippi River.

In May, 1839, he first gazed upon the face of the Prophet Joseph, and the following spring he was ordained to the calling of a Seventy and was appointed to a mission in Northern Indiana. This time of preaching was a significant hour for him ; among many great experiences which it gave to him, it made him the familiar friend of the saintly Robert Snyder-a youth filled with grace and visionary power, whose favored sister Franklin subsequently married. With the spirit of apostleship upon him, he labored mightily. Under his strenuous efforts his health declined ; but he persevered. lle journeyed and preached with great success; established, by his own personal efforts, a branch of the church in Porter County; and before he was 20 years of age delivered, at Plymouth, a series of public lectures which attracted much attention. The April conference for the year 1841, saw him at Nauvoo an adoring witness to the laying of the corner stone of the temple ; and at this eventful gathering he was called to renew his labors in the region of Northern Indiana. Just before he was to start on this momentous journey he saw Joseph and Sidney take the lead of nearly five hundred baptisms and confirmations ; and the glorious sight made his zeal mightier than ever.

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History of Salt Lake City, Part 133

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company Number of Pages: 1194

Author: Tullidge, Edward Wheelock
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Salt Lake City, Star printing company
Number of Pages: 1194