Showing posts with label Charles Henry John West. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Charles Henry John West. Show all posts
Sunday, July 22, 2018
Thursday, February 8, 2018
Sunday, March 19, 2017
From the Journal of Charles Henry John West
You can click on the images to make them larger to read--
Friday, June 17, 2016
Friday, March 18, 2016
Monday, November 26, 2012
Passenger List for Charles Henry John West Family
London to New York on the Amazon (4 Jun 1863 - 18 Jul 1863)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Correction on Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Record for Charles Henry John West Family
They came earlier in 1862 with a Brother and Sister King of the Holloway Branch (of which Charles and Eliza were members) along with Brother King's mother and sister.
Here is a picture of them with father Charles before they left.
http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompany/1,15797,4017-1-134,00.html
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Obituary for Charles Henry John West
Davis County Clipper 1906-10-19
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Record for Charles Henry John West Family
Charles Henry John West came across the plains as a Mormon Pioneer in 1863. With him were is wife, Eliza and children: Caroline, Thomas, Ann Lydia, Jabes William, Mary Ann, Eliza Alice.
http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompany/1,15797,4017-1-361,00.html
http://lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneercompany/1,15797,4017-1-361,00.html
West, Charles Henry John, Reminiscences [ca. 1900], 7-9.
Trail Excerpt
RELATED COMPANIES
Company Unknown (1863)
RELATED PERSONS
Eliza Dangerfield West
Mary Ann West
Charles Henry John West
Jabez William West
SOURCE LOCATIONS
Church History Library, Salt Lake City
We stayed at Florence a few days before starting across the plains. We were 10 weeks on the plains and arrived in Salt Lake City the 4th day of October 1863, just in time for Conference.
In giving a description of our journey across the plains I must trust to memory as I was not in a position to take notes. The brethren from Salt Lake were there at Florence to take charge of them, they had been there some time waiting, they had brought from the valley a goodly number of wagons loaded down with Dixie cotton. After getting their cotton disposed of they had then to fix up for the Saints, besides merchandise, there were in all about 60 wagons in our company and so many Saints and their families allowed to each wagon with their luggage and provisions, with a captain over all. When all was in readiness some of the young men, being appointed teamsters, we had three and four yoke of oxen to each wagon. We started for a thousand mile trip, all able-bodied men and women and young women and children that could walk, had to do so.
The first day to me the walking behind the slow gait of the oxen was fun. When we got to a place where there was good grass for the cattle we could stop and cook our dinner or supper as the case may be. My wife not being used to the way of mixing our flour for bread got too much salaratus in, so we had some nice looking yellow bread for buskits, one of the boys told my wife what proportion to put in, so afterwards we had some good bread. Our captain looked after the teamsters and saw that they (the oxen) all done their duty in pulling. He had a long black snake whip, when that came down on the cattle they had to get. In the evening we camped they would form a circle with the wagons, and had night herders to watch the cattle. We then had to build our fires of any dry sticks we could find near the water's edge. If we had to camp where there was no wood, we would on our journey pick up and carry Buffalo Chips and make a fire with that. It was the dry dung of oxen. Before going to bed a few would gather together in the dance, but we allways had prayers each evening. Sometimes we would come across some greens good for food, my wife would make many a good meal so we faired very well.
We had made up our minds to enjoy the trip without grumbling and found it the best way, we had a few grumblers in the camp. We had to wade up to our breasts some rivers we had to go through, if the current was very strong we would hold hands. I would sometimes have a child in one arm and holding on to another. If we got wet would let our clothes dry on so we would not take cold. We would average in traveling 20 to 30 miles each day. Sometimes we had travel by night in order to get to good camping ground.
One day towards evening our Captain told us to prepare for a big wind storm, had all the fires put out and the wagons all in a circle, the wheels of each wagon fastened together with heavy log chains, and the cattle all inside of the inclosure. We had barely got ready when the storm came, such a piercing and stormy wind, that it seemed to allmost take our breath away. We had to hold on to the wagons less we be blown away. After it was over I don't think there was one wagon cover left all had been blown to pieces.
Our little daughter, Mary Ann Young, she was sick more or less while crossing the plains, her appetite failing her, I thought I would goto the river side (being near one) and get a fish. I know it would do her good. The river being very low and leaving small puddles of water I would try and chase the fish by my hands into shallow water, so catch one. I did not exceed in getting any. I then and there prayed to God that I might get some if it was only one. I was about leaving to catch up to the train, when a man came along with a string of fish and offered me one, my prayers being answered, I went along rejoicing.
Our son Jabez William he got hurt through being run over by one of the wagons, and was badly hurt. I did not know whether it was broke or not it swelled up to a great size. I was recommended by one of the teamsters to catch the drippings of the oxen and apply it as a poultice. I done so several times, and the swelling went down and he soon got the use of his leg again.
We continued our journey day after day about the same routine, one continous stretch of country no houses to be seen on the journey. We would come across some of our young brethren, who were left to look after the provisions for the Saints, when we got to these different places, they being alone so long, when they saw our train, they would jump for joy and make quite a demonstration with their frying pans clapping them together. After loading up all the provisions they had for the camp, they would turn in and follow. We were in all 10 weeks on the plains, when we arrived at Salt Lake City on the camping grounds in the 8th Ward square. The friends and relations of different ones would come and take them away to their homes.
Picture of Charles Henry John and Eliza Dangerfield West Family
top row Jabez, Annie, Thomas,
middle row Caroline, Charles HJ, Eliza, Eliza Alice,
front row William, Charles
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Introduction
As told by Hazel West Lewis--
At a meeting of the John West Family Organization, I was requested, as a granddaughter of Charles Henry John West, to write a history of his life that would be interesting and readable, especially to the younger members of the family.
At a meeting of the John West Family Organization, I was requested, as a granddaughter of Charles Henry John West, to write a history of his life that would be interesting and readable, especially to the younger members of the family.
The source of most of my information was a rather small but comprehensive journal written by Charles himself. It covers (1) the period of his birth and early life in England (2) his coming to Utah and (3) all the years he lived in Utah, up to and including his and grandmother's golden wedding anniversary, December 25, 1900. Grandfather's small green leather journal (3.5 inches by 6 inches) contained 115 pages of small legible writing in black non-fading ink except for the last few pages which were written with ink that has faded considerably.
The material contained in Charles' journal was first typed (mimeographed) about 18 years ago. The typist had the help and advice of Ruth West Sorensen, Agnes (Dot) West and Myrtle West Bitter, who are daughters of Charles' son, Jabez. The typed copies made Charles' life story available to more of his descendants. But since it retained the unique spelling and sentence structure of the original material, older members of the West family urged that a complete rewrite of the material was necessary if it was to be read by all of Charles' descendants.
It is largely from Charles' journal that the writer has obtained the information to write a history of her grandfather Charles Henry John West. In general the manuscript follows the journal closely. But in several instances notes from other sources are used to round out the history of his life. If I have taken the liberty of interpreting some events or conditions that arose in his life, it is because I was trying to understand him better as a man of character who gave up a great deal when he left his secure and comfortable home in England for a new home in foreign land which was full of severe hardships but where his religion continued to be the motivating force in his life.
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A few weeks ago my husband and I stood by the graves of Charles Henry John West and Eliza Dangerfield West, my grandfather and grandmother. The sun was setting and a rosy glow pervaded the atmosphere. The cemetery was so peaceful and quiet. The birds were singing their last little sleepy songs before settling down for the night. In my mind's eye the lives of these two cherished grandparents passed before me. Why was I so proud of them? It certainly was not because of their success in accumulating worldly goods during
their lifetime. But they left to their children and their children's children something more precious than material possessions. They were shining examples of traits. such as humility, integrity, dependability, a love of their fellowmen, a capacity and love for hard work, and a keen sense of humor. Most important of all was their love of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, which was so sincere and motivating that their example has been an
inspiration to all their descendants.
Among their descendants are to be found fine doctors and nurses, dedicated teachers, excellent farmers, talented musicians, writers, lovers of art, artisans of various kinds and above all devoted members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, many of whom have fulfilled missions for the Church.
In terms of their influence for good on this earth, Charles and Eliza lived lives that were inspirational models for their devoted descendants and friends to follow.
Twilight Years
On Christmas day, December 25, 1900 the family of Charles Henry John West and Eliza Dangerfield West met at the home of his son, Bishop Jabez West. The party was held in honor of their golden wedding anniversary. Most of the family except those in the Big Horn basin was there to celebrate this special occasion. Charles in his journal mentioned the names of those who were present and the expressions of love and gifts given to him and Eliza. Charles says, “We had a very enjoyable time with our families and friends that day. Jabez and Jessie made us all welcome and spared no expense to make us all feel happy. It was a time long to be remembered by us. We ask Father in Heaven to bless all those present and absent for kindness and good wishes. We visited all our children on our return home with the exception of those living too far away.”
Charles and Eliza moved to Clearfield, Utah in Davis County. They became members of the Syracuse Ward, Davis Stake October 15, 1909. (Clearfield at that time did not have a ward organization). They lived in the home just a short distance from the home of George H. and Eliza Alice West Draper and family.
In the fall of the year 1906, a very important event happened. William, the youngest son of Charles who lived in the Big Horn Basin, and who had been a bachelor for a number of years married the talented Maud Houston June 6, 1906 at the home of his sister and brother-in-law Joseph Neville. They had come to Salt Lake for their marriage to be solemnized and to receive their endowments on October 10, 1906. This event made Charles and Eliza extremely happy because now everyone of their children had been married in the temple. To celebrate this important event, a number of the family of Charles and Eliza met at the Draper family home for an evening of enjoyment. The evening was spent so happily --Grandmother Eliza giving readings and Grandfather Charles singing so many of the songs they love.
After the party, they said good-night and walked home. Zilnorah Draper walked with them. Zilnorah D. Barnett tells the story of grandfather's death. A few minutes after grandfather had shut up the chickens for the night, he came into the house coughing. Grandmother had him sit in a chair and he held his handkerchief to his mouth and spit up some blood. He had had asthma for many years and perhaps had exerted himself that
evening. Grandmother cried out excitedly, “Run Norah, run for your mother quick.” I ran, but before Mother (Eliza West Draper) arrived, he had passed away. Some of the other members of the family came before my mother arrived, so witnessed his death. He was taken to Salt Lake for the funeral, and he lay in state at Bishop Jabez W. West's home. Many sorrowing friends and relatives came to look upon his handsome bearded face for the last time. His funeral and burial was October 15, 1906. How the family would miss
this wonderful, kind and friendly man.
More Busy and Eventful Years
In 1886 Charles purchased some land about two and one-half miles from Peoa, called Oakley. Soon he, Eliza and their sons, Charley and William, went out there to live and improve the place. Perhaps Charles and Eliza felt that farming would be a good experience for their teenage sons.
In the early part of the year of 1891, Charles was asked to take charge of the co-op store in Peoa as Superintendent. In order to do so he had to buy two shares of stock at five dollars a share. During the week while Charles worked at the store, he stayed at Caroline's home, leaving the farm work to the boys. When Will, the youngest son recalled his life on the farm, his most unpleasant memories were of frightening nights
when he was left alone, while Charles was away at work and his mother was out nursing. Then every strange sound such as the thud of dirt thrown on the roof by neighbor boys, or the “Tap, Tap” of a big mountain rat in the darkness had an eerie meaning for him. On the other hand, his happiest memory of the farm was of a big family reunion, when all his brothers and sisters assembled there with their families. He never forgot the joke the older boys played that day, when they fastened some old horns to the head of a yearling
calf, and then called their father to see the “strange steer” in the stockyard.
On the 25th of February 1891, Charles Jesse the next to the youngest son of Eliza and Charles wed the lovely, soft spoken, dark-haired, Elizabeth May Newman of Peoa in the Logan Temple. In reference to his work as superintendent of the Co-op store in Peoa, Charles had this to say in his journal. “I got along there pretty well for nearly two years. The directors thought they would like a change.” (Apparently the directors and Charles didn't see eye to eye on company policy.) “So in 1892 I went to Salt Lake and worked as a bookkeeper for Knight and Company, my son Jabez being of the company.”
While working in Salt Lake, Charles was taken ill with the rheumatic fever at his son Jabez's home. Jabez and Jessie were very kind to him, nursing him through his illness. When he was able he went back to Oakley where his wives Eliza and Mary Ann nursed him back to health. The latter had sold out her home in Salt Lake City and purchased a farm in Oakley. With the help of a mason, Charles and Mary Ann's two sons built a rustic home for her. Her sons, William and Edward, worked the farm. Not being content on the
farm in Oakley, Mary Ann moved back to Salt Lake City.
The latter part of the spring of 1895, Charles went again to Salt Lake and did some work for Knight and Company on their farm at Kaysville. His son-in-law, George Draper, had charge of the farm. In July 1895 Charles began to homestead one hundred sixty acres of land situated in Mountain Green, Morgan County. (“It was about three miles up a mountain ravine from the main road,” said Charles.) The latter part of October (31) 1895, Charles and Eliza moved from Oakley to Morgan, where they, rented a log house which was near his son Thomas and Maggie. Here Charles wintered stock. In the summer he was kept busy
putting up hay for Knight and Company farm in Kaysvil1e. While there he and Eliza lived in a one-room summer house which George Draper and Charles had built. This arrangement was good because he was a close neighbor of his daughter Eliza and family.
In addition to working for Knight and Company on the farm, he also worked at times on his own homestead or ranch, which was mainly grazing land. One of the great joys of Charles and Eliza was to see their son Jabez depart on April 25, 1897 for a mission to Great Britain. How thrilled Charles was to receive letters from his son telling of his missionary experiences and to know that he was assigned to labor in the
Oldham District of the Manchester Conference.
Charles had given his son Jabez letters of introduction to his brothers and sister, John, Benjamin, William and Maria. In June of the year 1897, Charles was pleased to receive letters telling of the reunion of his son with his uncles and aunt in London during the Golden Jubilee in honor of Queen Victoria. Uncle William had treated Jabez royally and had taken him to see his other relatives. In other letters that Jabez had written his father and brother Thomas, he said that Uncle William had attended some Mormon meetings with him and that he had shown an interest in the gospel. --Still later Jabez reported to his father that Uncle William had written him, asking his nephew to come to London and baptize him. So Jabez went to London, spent the holiday with his Uncle William and baptized him January 5, 1898. Charles felt this to be one of the rewards for the sacrifice he had made in coming to Zion, also to later learn that his son Jabez had been made
President of the London Conference.
Note: Among Dot West's papers (given to her by Amy West Heiner) was found a letter written by her father Jabez, to his brother Thomas C. West. In the following Jabez had some interesting details to report of his visit with relatives in London while on his mission. Only a portion of the letter is reproduced here.
No. 56 Chief Street
Oldham, Lancashire England
October 22, 1897
T. C. West Esquire
Dear Brother,
I spent a very pleasant time with Uncle William and Uncle Ben in London during the Jubilee. I found Uncle William very much like Father, both in looks and ways. You could hardly tell them apart. They walk just alike. Uncle William is straighter than Father, about the same in height and disposition. He would give you his all if Aunt Lizzie did not stop him. She takes care of the money. Uncle Ben is very poor, depending on days work. His girls also go out to work. I was only in his company twice. Uncle John looks like a Jew with his long thick beard, cut rather short. Aunt Phillis is very poorly and has no use for the Gospel. Uncle John would be all right if he was alone by himself, but he is dependent entirely on his boys. When he started to
talk on the Gospel they told him that was enough of that nonsense. I only called on them once as I wanted to see all of London while I was there. I am going to get moved to the London Conference and then I shall wake them up on the Gospel. I got Uncle William and his family to go to meeting and took the Elders to their place, and made them acquainted. Uncle writes me often. I sent the Millennial Star every week for them to read. I also gave them a Book of Mormon and a variety of tracts and I think they are coming along all right."
While Jabez was on his mission, grandmother Eliza Dangerfield West had responded quickly to assist with cases of illness in Jabez's family. How wonderful it was for Jessie, the wife of Jabez, to have the comfort and assistance of her mother in-law. Jabez arrived home from his mission on June 4, 1899, but he missed the smiling face of his brother Thomas. The latter had died in the summer of June 25, 1898 of complications
following typhoid fever and a subsequent operation, at the age of forty-five years.
The spring of 1900 brought many revolutionary changes in the West family. Joseph and Annie Neville had been called by Apostle Woodruff to help settle the Big Horn Basin in Northwestern, Wyoming. William West and Charlie Wright (young bachelors then) were also going as members of the company. The family of Charles West was once again represented in a great pioneering undertaking. Just as these pioneers were leaving for Wyoming, Charles Henry John West learned that his son Jabez was made bishop of the Ninth Ward. Charles Jesse, his next to youngest son, was running a butcher shop for the Utah Slaughtering Company in Murray, acting as its manager, and he had also bought up fifty acres of land.
Family Activities in the 1870’s in the Eleventh Ward
On April 12, 1870, not long after the family moved into the new home, another son was born to Eliza and Charles. He was John Henry West, but only lived a few hours. This was a great disappointment but Caroline West Wright, their oldest daughter, gave birth to a son about the same time and their new grandson, Charlie, was a comforting and joyous compensation.
There were important activities in the family during the early 1870's. Charles found time to work on the Tabernacle and the Assembly Hall on Temple Square. This paid the debt he owed to the Perpetual Emigration Fund. Meanwhile he had joined the Tabernacle Choir. Brother Sanders was the leader. Because grandfather's clothes were a little shabby, he stayed away several Sundays. Finally he made up his mind to go because he said, “It was not my clothes but my voice that was needed.” It was a good thing he finally gained
courage to go back, otherwise he would not have heard of an opening for a clerk in the Knowlden Grain Company on Main Street. He applied for the position and obtained it at a salary of forty dollars a month. He worked for this company several years and enjoyed it very much.
About this time, Thomas went to work for a Salt Lake butcher named George Chandler as teamster. His work came to an end when he was kicked by a mule. The doctor said he could not recover. Once more through the faith and prayers of a family and after a long illness he got better. Thomas now however, turned his attention to other kinds of work and finally became a plasterer. While Thomas was working for George Chandler, Jabez went along to see the slaughterhouse. He became so fascinated watching the men at work with the meat that he returned again and again, doing odd jobs to make himself useful as an errand boy. The
men would reward him by giving him left over pieces of meat to take home. Jabez was so well liked that he was finally given employment in the meat market. (For Jabez this was the beginning of a very successful and prosperous career in the meat business.)
On June 7,1872 another daughter was born to the West family. How happy Eliza and Charles were to have a little daughter after having lost two other little girls. She was named Fannie Elizabeth. When about five months old she developed a swelling in her neck. The doctor looked at it and said it should be lanced. He did this but she got no better and died November 29,1872.
A few months previous to little Fannie's death, Charles and Eliza welcomed Eliza's sister Mary Ann, Charles Denny, her husband and four of their thirteen children to the valley. They had come on the Emigration train. Some of the older children in this family were already in Utah. Some had died and were buried in England. However, one son remained in England. It being a holiday, July 24, when the newcomers arrived Grandfather took them to the nearest saloon to have a glass of beer. This quite astonished Eliza's sister,
Mary Ann, because she thought that in Salt Lake City (Zion) there could be nothing of this kind. Grandfather told her that it was only done out of good feeling and that they did not make a practice of visiting such places. They then took the streetcar to the home of Mary Ann's son, Charlie, who lived in the Eleventh Ward. The reunited family had a good time chatting over days gone by.
Not long before Charles' and Eliza's youngest child was born, brown eyed, vivacious Annie became the bride of Joseph Neville, a tall, handsome cornet player. They were married in the Endowment House May 5, 1873.
On August 29, 1873 Eliza gave birth to her eleventh and last child, William Joseph. He was such a frail baby and his mother in such a weakened condition because of childbirth, that she couldn't nurse him. Caroline came to her mother's rescue. She had had a son born to her about the same time but he had died soon after birth, so she nursed her own tiny brother to health.
Mary Ann Denny, Eliza's sister, had been having some unfortunate marital troubles. In England she and her husband, Charles, had been having difficulty but it became intensified in Utah. She wanted to take her to the Endowment House to be married to him for time and eternity, but he would not listen to her. Instead of living an upright life he took to drinking. Finally Mary Ann got a divorce. Later, with the consent and advise of
her sister Eliza, Mary Ann was married and sealed to Charles Henry John West the 23rd. of August 1874.
On a lot east of the city that Mary Ann's son Charles had given his mother, Brother Leaker, Jabez Dangerfield and Grandfather built a home for Mary Ann. Referring to the house Charles said, “We went to work and dug out a building spot and got up one good room, one half dug out also.” Later Charles rented a place for them on the same block on which he had his own home. It was a time of great adjustment for both families, what with the added strain of more people to feed and clothe, but Charles said, “I did the best I could with my means in looking after the family, -- also I divided up my time according to what I thought was
right.”
Eliza was helpful and understanding and did her best to help. One fall she dried nearly three hundred pounds of apricots and peaches, which she sold to buy Charles a new suit. Mary Ann worked at the Holy Cross hospital and with her savings bought a lot from her son-in-law, Joseph Taylor, near the hospital on Eleventh East between First South and South Temple. Charles with some assistance from Mary Ann's son, Charles, built her a home.
Another marriage occurred in the West family in the very late fall. Thomas was married to lovely young Margaret Felt, the eldest daughter of N. H. Felt, the 10th of November 1874 in the Endowment House. Thomas already had a home for her, which he had built on a portion of his father’s, land which the latter had given him. Mary Ann's youngest child Arthur, who was fond of Charles, died the 29th of August 1875. This caused them great unhappiness because they loved the boy so. An important event occurred on the 27th of October 1875. Charles became a citizen of the United States and received his final papers.
During the next five years, the family of Charles Henry John were growing up and scattering in many directions. In the year 1880, ten years after the family had moved to the Eleventh Ward, we find them engaged in the following pursuits. Charles was still working in the grain business, only now his employer's name was Thomas C. Armstrong. Caroline, now a widow with several children, had moved to Peoa, Summit County. Thomas, who had followed the business of plasterer, sold his home in Salt Lake and with
his wife and family moved to Round Valley, Morgan, Utah where he took charge of a piece of his father-in-law's land. Annie was a happy and contented wife and mother sharing her husband's interests wherever his work of making bricks and building houses led him, such as to Woodruff, Bountiful and Ogden. Eliza Alice, a baby in her mother's arms when they left England, was now a lovely young woman of eighteen. She married
her sweetheart, George H. Draper, in the Endowment House before the year was over, November 25, 1880. Jabez worked for William Peterson, a butcher on Market Row. But at the time of his marriage to beautiful Jessie Hoggan of the Eleventh Ward on the 20th of January 1881, he was working for Mr. Chandler.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Christmas Miracle
Have you wondered how this family spent Christmas under such poor circumstances? Again Annie West Neville tells of a Christmas while they were in the Sixth Ward and while her parents were teaching school. “Mother told us not to hang up our stockings as they had no money to give Santa Claus and he could not come to poor folks. In fact, there was no Santa Claus. We all felt very badly as the children in school told us what they were going to have him bring them. I prayed that there was a Santa Claus and hoped he would bring us something. My folks felt very badly about it. At about eleven o'clock that Christmas Eve, there was a rap on the door and in walked a man. He had his arms loaded with sacks of things for his children. He said, ‘Where are the children's stockings?’ My mother told him they had nothing to put in them. He was feeling good. He had had a little liquor. So he said, ‘Fetch the stockings here and I will put something in them.’ He opened his bags. He put oranges and candies and nuts in them; and gave my parents a little good cheer and left. He was a good neighbor. When we got up and saw our filled stockings, we were delighted. I thought surely that the Lord had heard my prayers and that there was a Santa Claus.”
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