Picture of Charles Henry John West and Eliza Dangerfield Family
Top row: Jabez, Annie, Thomas,
Middle row: Caroline, Charles HJ, Eliza, Eliza Alice,
Front row: William, Charles
1861 England Census for Charles Henry John West Family
ancestry 1861Class RG9; Piece 136; Folio 67; Page 61; GSU roll 542579
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.”
Brother Miller invited Charles, Eliza and children to stay at his home. This they did for a few days, but Charles and Eliza were independent, so they took a small room in Provo. They had such a very few things to start housekeeping. Their sea chest was used for a table. They had a chair with a rawhide bottom, a baking kettle, tin ware and their bedclothes.
Charles’ first work was helping to make molasses, and he got his pay in molasses, potatoes and carrots.
Utah the Story of Her People, p. 196, Deseret News Press. Salt Lake City, Utah, 1946, furnishes us some details of this event. “When the rails were being laid across the plains of Wyoming, Brigham Young took a contract to lay 190 miles of road from Echo Canyon to Promontory. The people of Utah profited by this contract. Many sturdy Utah men and boys flocked with pick and spade, cart and ox team to help construct the road.” Charles was among the twenty-one men working up Echo Canyon, clearing off oak brush and later making a fill. They were paid so much per yard. Later four men of the group (Charles included) took a small contract under John Sharp about one-half mile east of the Long Tunnel. They had to make a cut in the earth, which was– their dream had become a reality.
From the security of a good position in England, we find Charles trying to do most any menial job to eke out an existence for his family. He, like many other saints, was inexperienced in farming and in other kinds of labor that was required in a frontier settlement. But work he did! One of his first jobs was hauling out dirt in the tithing yard. But people passing by laughed at him because he was so clumsy in the use of a wheelbarrow. He helped Bishop Miller in his field binding wheat. When he asked the Bishop for more work the latter said, “You and your family had better turn out and glean wheat.” Which they did! When it was threshed they found they had over twenty-one bushels of wheat for winter. And as the price of flour went up to twenty dollars per hundred pounds, they had “plenty and to spare.”
Annie West Neville in her Biography had this to say about their gleaning experiences. “Father and Mother would take us children into the fields to glean wheat. When Father could see quite a bit of wheat laying around, he would call us like a rooster calling his hens, and we would run and get it. That made a play out of it. We all gathered twenty bushels that fall. We had a nice lot of things for winter; a small barrel of molasses,
a big pig, vegetables, plenty of flour and clothes enough to keep us warm. These were homespun but we were happy.”
In the spring Eliza went to Salt Lake to see her brother Jabez who had been in California, and also some old London friends, David and Ann Leaker, who were living in the Eleventh Ward. While there she obtained some temple clothes for herself and Charles. The latter started out on foot for Salt Lake –a fifty-mile trip. A few days later on March 23, 1864, they went to the Endowment House and were married and sealed together for time and eternity. Charles reported, “We felt fully repaid for our journey and the few trials we had been through.”
While living in Provo, Eliza and Caroline had typhus fever. They were very ill. It was up to Charles to take care of the sick and to be the cook. He generally managed quite well, but one day the bread he had made did not rise. He had forgotten the yeast!
The West family was persuaded by some friends to go to Provo Valley or Heber City, as it is now called. Charles could take up all the land he wanted. But their troubles really began now. Eliza and Charles were not told how cold and hard the winters were, how isolated the little community became when the deep snows made the roads impassable, and of the constant danger of Indians in the vicinity, nor how hard it was to earn a living there. But Charles worked at anything he could find to do. When the family moved into the valley their great desire was to make friends. They went to meetings in a log-meeting house. Because Charles was fond of singing, he joined the choir and made some friends.
In Provo Valley, the family first lived with friends under very crowded conditions. When everyone was at home, the children had to stay in bed because there was no room around the fireplace for all to keep warm. So Charles decided to take up some land and build a home for his family. The land agent helped him select a site. However, he told Charles that a certain man had looked at the lot a year earlier and wanted the land agent to keep it for him but that the gentleman had not paid the necessary fee. So the agent took Charles’
money for recording and entering the claim. When Charles commenced digging out a foundation for a log house, a man came along to claim the land. Grandfather explained to the gentleman what had been done, that he had made an entry and paid for it, which the stranger had not, so he had a perfect right to the land. Rather than have a most unpleasant argument and to save feelings, Charles was counseled to withdraw his claim even though he knew the land was rightfully his.
Thirteen year-old Caroline did not go with her family to Provo Valley at first. Instead she had gone to Coalville in Summit County to live with a family to earn her board and clothes. But after living there a year she earned her board all right but the clothes she received was only a pair of shoes and a made over dress. When she went back to her parents she found them living in a small log house with a dirt floor and a dirt roof. It was there on a cold wintry day, January 9, 1866 that another baby was born to Eliza and Charles, a daughter, Mary Rebecca. While Eliza was in bed with the baby the makeshift wooden pipe caught fire. Charles was away from home, so Thomas ran for help. Through the help of a neighbor, the fire was put out with snow before much damage was done.
That winter was a hard one indeed for the family. Although Charles didn’t give too many details of the extreme poverty the family suffered, Caroline gave the following details in her history. “My parents continued to live in Heber City for a year or two. (Perhaps sixteen months) Father worked in the limekiln. –They were very poor, some of the time eating bran bread. They had frozen potatoes. (No one had mentioned to
Charles that he should put them in a pit to keep them from freezing). He sold his watch to buy a “step” stove. (He had parted with his cow, the camp kettle and the value of a few dollars besides to get it). Mother had sold some of her best baby clothes to buy a table, and when the kilns froze up, they boiled wheat to eat.”
Some of their troubles no doubt were due to grandfather’s high standards of honesty. Other dishonest men in the community often took advantage of him. Finally Eliza in desperation told Charles that if he did not find a better place in which to live and more food for the hungry children to eat she would go find a job herself.
Consequently Charles left his family for a while and went to Salt Lake City and it was several months before he returned for them. Meanwhile Eliza and the children were having their difficulties. How resourceful this pioneer wife and mother had to be now. The Indians became very troublesome and orders were given for everyone to move to the fort for safety. Before Eliza found a way to go, the people who owned the home where Eliza and family were living, came in while they were away, took possession of the house and put Eliza’s belongings out in the rain. Fortunately, a friend by the name of James Cole came by with a team and hayrack and took the family and the West’s meager possessions to his home as a temporary refuge.
During this time Eliza did sewing or anything else she could find to do. When the Indian scare was over Eliza moved to a two-room house and taught school until her husband came back. This work helped them to get something to eat. Meanwhile Charles, in Salt Lake City, was having difficulty trying to find work. He
finally found employment with Jesse C. Little, running a farm near the Jordan River on shares. So he borrowed a wagon and two yoke of oxen and went to Provo Valley for his family. They greeted him joyously and had so much to tell him. Charles thanked Brother Cole and his wife for being so good to his family. Now Charles and Eliza eagerly loaded the wagon, tied a heifer on behind, and happily left the isolated valley for a new adventure.
The house on the farm near the Jordan River was warm and comfortable and they were soon settled. There was plenty to do on the farm and it was a challenging experience. Thomas was a help to his father in the fields, and young Jabez could perform many chores. Caroline was usually away from home working, but Annie was her mother’s helper. Eliza as a farmer’s wife was busier than she had ever been. She learned to churn butter for her own family and for the Little family also. That fall Charles harvested a good crop of wheat and after threshing he got a good share.
In the winter and spring Charles borrowed his brother-in-law Jabez’s team and hauled wood from Lambs Canyon (which is reached by the way of Parleys Canyon, just Southeast of Salt Lake City). Some of the wood he sold to Fort Douglas in order to buy food and clothing for his family. Clothing was an urgent necessity now, for the clothes they had brought from England had to be replaced. Eliza washed wool for the J. C. Little’s, which in those days, with their limited washing equipment was no easy task, and in return took her pay in cloth.
The first year on the farm was a satisfying experience for the family until the floods came. Early in the spring the Jordan River and the Millcreek overflowed their banks. The farm being near the streams was practically inundated. Almost every time the family left the house they had to wade through water. “From our house,” Charles reported, “my wife had several times waded through water to go to the city to take their share of butter to Jesse C. Little.” Again he said, “after returning from my trip to the canyon, I left my wagon near the bridge. When I returned it seemed that from the bridge to my house was one sheet of water.”
Charles was now very much aware that it would be impossible to plant crops on the farm that year, so he was compelled once more to seek other ways of earning a living. That fall, he and Eliza became schoolteachers. It was a profession that suited their cultural background better than that of farming. Since their teen-age romance began they had had no formal schooling that we know of but they had been good students and had absorbed a great deal of knowledge even though much of it was of a practical nature.
They had always taught their children. Charles taught them to sing and to love music. Eliza taught them the elementary skills of reading and writing.
The school trustees came to Eliza and Charles and asked them to teach in the Sixth Ward, meeting house. All the children from both Fifth and Sixth wards and some from the Fifteenth Ward were their students. Charles taught the boys, Eliza the girls. The West family lived in a small house at the rear of the meetinghouse. They would have done well if they had received payment from all the parents, but it was a year of hard times for most all people in the Salt Lake Valley. Charles and Eliza often took food and other things in payment for tuition. Annie West Neville in her biography, writes of this time. “We stayed in the Sixth Ward about one year. I went to school that winter and learned to read and spell and got in the fourth reader, but was too poor to buy a slate and pencil so could not get along in the other studies. My parents were afraid the people would kick if we used their children’s books or spent much time on us as they could not get enough
money from the students to buy things with.”
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.”
After Christmas the family moved again to a house near the old Pioneer Fort. It was in this home in February 22,1868, that another baby was born to them. It was a son and he was named Charles Jesse. In April of 1868, the family moved to the Eleventh Ward. They were tired of the cramped uncomfortable home they had rented so Charles planned to build his own home. He bought a very fine building lot from Bishop McCrea and worked at many odd jobs such as helping a mason and plasterer and digging wells to earn a living for the family and make payments on the lot.
About the time the Union Pacific Railroad was being built, twenty-one men out of the ward took a small sub-contract to work some distance up Echo Canyon. Milton R. Hunter in his book,
about twenty-two feet high, and haul out the dirt with wheelbarrows. Not having heard from his family for a considerable time, Charles felt uneasy; so he made up his mind to walk home. He stopped overnight at a Brother Gleason’s home in Farmington. When Charles was asked by one of the family how many children he had, he answered one short of the number. As he thought it over, he smiled about how foolish he was. Next day he walked on until he reached the Hot Springs, when he met Brother William Brighton. The latter told him of the death of Mary Rebecca, his little daughter, on December 8, 1868. She was almost three and had died of diphtheria. What a shock it was to Charles: He arrived home finding it only too true. But this time the West family had friends to comfort them in their grief.
Charles, following the death of Mary Rebecca, worked out at Promontory Point under Brother Brighton for a short time. Thomas following later, was to work on the same piece of construction. Their job was wheeling up coarse gravel in wheelbarrows to make a fill. The work was extremely hard on the boy Thomas, so he was given the job of driving mules on a dump cart.
For over a year Caroline West had been working in the home of Thomas H. Wright of the Eleventh Ward, where she was treated very kindly and was well provided for with food and clothing. Mr. Wright thought so much of the eighteen-year old girl that he asked her to be his second wife, and so they were married on February 8, 1869.
Charles worked for Brigham Young doing all manner of chores, sometimes in the garden, the orchard and the harvest fields for two dollars a day. When a street railway was started, he left President Young’s employment so that he could earn more money. Charles worked with pick and shovel on Main Street making grade for ties. He also worked on South Temple Street from the Deseret News Building west to the
railroad station. Quoting this interesting bit of news directly from his journal, Charles says, “I rode in the
first street car that left the Deseret News Office, all down grade. President Young was there in his carriage. He jumped aboard the car, and ran a race with his carriage, no horse on the car, being down grade. All that had to be done was to watch the brakes. We beat the horses on the carriage.”
The work that Charles was doing was very hard but he had dreams of a home of his very own and he needed adobes and other material for its construction. Charles started work on the new home by digging out a foundation for a two-room house. Then he with the help of his son, Thomas, dug out the rock needed for the foundation at the foot of the Tenth Ward bench. It was dug out laboriously with Charles’ own tools, a
shovel, a pick and an old ax. He had the rocks hauled to the lot. In the meantime Charles had bought an old log house for fifty dollars and had it removed to his lot. The mud roof leaked very badly. He put on a better roof and raised the house two logs higher. Charles didn’t say in his journal how long, or if the family lived in this log house, but it can be assumed that perhaps they did until the new house was finished.
Grandfather purchased eleven thousand adobe from a Mr. Bulto, an adobe maker, for his two-roomed house. A man by the name of Brother Swain, a rock layer and mason, put up the house. But he was in such a hurry to get the job done that when he had the building six feet high, the back part was one inch out of plumb. When Charles complained, the builder got angry and took his tools away. Grandfather Charles finally got another man to finish the house and he made a good job of it. Meanwhile Charles had found the clay and
sand he needed for the inside work by digging a hole on his property. After removing the topsoil he found clay, then sand, and still deeper (thirty feet) a spring of water. When Charles needed lumber for the house, Thomas, who by this time was working for a lumber company, charged a bill of goods on his son’s pay. A man by the name of Brother Jabez Taylor who lived in the Eleventh Ward did the carpentry work on the house. During the building of the house, Charles had spent his spare time setting out fruit trees and bushes. He was not only thinking of the future food supply for the family but also to make the surroundings more beautiful. Finally the house was finished and the family moved in.. How they appreciated their own home.
Little Mary Ann, who had been ill while crossing the plains, became worse and died October 22, 1863, about two and one-half weeks after their arrival in Salt Lake. Just before her death, she had called each of the family by name and wanted to get out of bed. Because it was cold her father said she had better not. Charles found her dead on his arm in the morning.
Mary Ann, the little daughter of Charles and Eliza, was buried the next day in the Provo cemetery. Brother Miller let them have the use of his buggy and horse, a driver to take these sorrowing parents and the little rough lumber coffin to the cemetery. Because of their so recent arrival in the community, their friends were few. The neighbors feared the child may have had a contagious disease, so no service was held. How different it would have been in England, where Charles and Eliza knew people who would have helped and
comforted them. So they returned home feeling very sad and downcast. “We had done the best we could and did not feel like murmuring,” said Charles, “Yet the loss of our daughter sent a gloom that seemed more than we could bear
“While pondering over these things in our mind, a tall gentleman came in without knocking. He sat down on the only chair we had, and commenced conversing with us. In his conversation he seemed to know our history. He comforted us in our trouble and blessed us. He was with us about one half to three quarters of an hour. During the time we both felt a heavenly influence, and all our troubles ceased and we felt happy. When he left he stepped backwards toward the door, opened it and went out. I followed directly after, but could see nothing of him. He was very gray and his beard came down to his chest.
Next day I went to Bishop Miller to thank him for his kindness in helping us to put away our dead, also to thank him for sending us a teacher, whom we thought was a very good man. I described the teacher to him (as I thought) giving him full particulars. He said, ‘Brother West, we have no such teacher as you describe.
You have been blessed with the visitation of one of the Nephites, that was to remain on the earth.’”
– What had we done, we reflected, that our child should be taken from us? What sin had we committed?
Eliza West
Patriarchal Blessing
January 21, 1877
Salt Lake City
A Patriarchal Blessing given by Charles Edwards Patriarch, upon the head of Eliza West, daughter of Thomas and Caroline Dangerfield. Born Sept. 7th, 1832 Middlesex County London England.
Sister Eliza in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ I place my hand upon your head and pronounce a Patriarchal Blessing, according to the commands and revelations of Jesus Christ through the Holy Priesthood given to me in this dispensation. I say unto you that you are of the Blood of Joseph that was sold into Egypt through the lineage of Ephraim and you are numbered among the mothers of Israel from whom much is expected.
You have a great work to perform upon the Earth. Seek to obtain the blessings of the Spirit of the Lord and the revelations which God seems fit to bestow upon you for the regulation and direction by which you shall be guided and directed in all your course through this your probationary state, and the power and spirit of God shall accompany all your administrations to your family and wherever your lot may be cast. For you shall administer unto the sick and see them healed; even the deaf to receive their hearing and the dumb to speak and almost the dead to be raised. For your faith shall be great in obtaining visions–administrations of angels who shall eat at your table and partake of food that shall have been provided by you and your family.
You shall have knowledge of spirit of just men made perfect and all the power which God designs to place upon the Daughters and Mothers in Israel. Seek to be directed by that monitor within you which shall always be your boon companion and shall be your comfort through all the troubles and trying times which you may be called upon to pass through during your future life which shall be lengthened out according to your faith and prayers and the desire of your heart. You shall always be enabled to counsel righteously with your sisters and be a particular friend to your sex, even the honorable women in whose company your lot may be cast and be enabled through your rich counsel and advice to bring back to the fold of Christ many who may have strayed away from the truth.
You shall always be a comfort to your husband, to his wives and to his children. Your name shall continue to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life and be had in honorable remembrance among the Mothers of Israel. You shall always feel happy and rejoice in having the privilege of donating of your substance to build temples and to assist in furnishing and decorating the same, to the honor and glory of God the Eternal Father and
Jesus the mediator of the New Covenant within the walls of which you shall become familiar with the Third Heavens and see and hear things which to mortals shall not only be insufferable but unlawful to utter except at proper times and proper places appointed for so doing. Your days and years shall be lengthened out and you shall live as long as life is sweet to you and see the Zion of the Lord redeemed and his kingdom fully
established upon the Earth. These blessings God will bestow upon you for the true integrity of your heart for having suffered your husband to enter into the law of Celestial marriage and partake unto himself another wife. Continue to administer unto him and God will bless you not only with blessing that is pronounced upon you at this time but greater blessings, which I cannot give utterance unto.
I seal upon you all your former blessings; your baptism, your conformation, your washings, your endowments. I say unto you that your pathway, though naturally troublesome, shall always appear straight unto you and hold fast to the rod of Iron and you shall arrive safe to your desired haven. I seal these blessings upon you and seal you up with power to enter into lives with your husband and all his wives and children whose posterity shall become numerous as the sands upon the seashore worlds without end.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
During the voyage, the Saints had nothing but contrary winds all the way across the Atlantic. Charles reports one unusual storm. “One night in particular, there was a stormy sea. We lost some of our sail the wind was so strong. I was on guard that night, when the sail came down.
together we had a good and safe journey.”
The saints arrived in the New York harbor July 18th and stayed at a large building called Castle Garden. This immigrant depot served a large number of Mormon converts who disembarked here from ships that brought them from Europe. Caroline West Larrabee in her story tells us that, “Castle Garden had been built for an opera house. It has been said that the great singer Jenny Lind sang there.” (From Caroline West Larrabee’s story found in the D. U. P. files, p. 197, December 1968,
The next day the family started their travel from New York by railroad car and steamboat to Florence, Nebraska. Because of the Civil War, which was in progress in the United States at the time (1863), this family and other Saints had many difficulties. Part of the time traveling was done in crowded sheep cars, with children crying for lack of food. The steamer that took them up the Missouri River was so crowded that Charles reported, “We were thankful when we got to Florence and met the brethren there.”
There were sixty wagons ready for the emigrants. These had been brought from Salt Lake loaded with Dixie cotton. After the driver had disposed of the cotton, the wagons were then fixed up for the Saints. Of the two and one-half months journey across the plains, a number of incidents were outstanding. “One day toward evening,” wrote Charles, “our Captain told us to prepare for a big windstorm. All the fires were put out, and the wagons placed in a circle, the wheels of each wagon fastened together with heavy log chains. The cattle were all inside the enclosure. We had barely got ready when the storm came, such a piercing and stormy
wind, that it seemed to almost take our breath away. We had to hold onto the wagons less we be blown away. After the storm was over, I don’t think there was one wagon cover left. All had been blown to pieces.”
“Our little daughter, Mary Ann Young West, was sick, more or less, while crossing the plains. Her appetite failing her, I thought I would go to the riverside (being near one) and get a fish. I knew 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, and so catch one. I did not succeed in getting any. I then and there prayed to God that I might get some if it was only one. I was about to leave to catch up with the wagon train when a man came along with a string of fish and offered me one. My prayer being answered, I went along rejoicing.”
Grandfather refers to an accident that happened to his young son Jabez William, a small lad of five years, while crossing the plains. “Our son Jabez William was badly hurt through being run over by one of the wagons. I did not know whether his leg was broken or not. It swelled up to a great size. It was recommended by one of the teamsters to catch the drippings of the oxen and apply this as a poultice. I did so several times, the swelling went down and he soon got the use of his leg again.”
The days and weeks went by, ten strenuous weeks of walking over prairie and mountain behind the slow heavy gait of oxen pulling heavy wagons. Sometimes these gallant souls waded through rivers up to their armpits. In the evening these pioneers would make camp by forming a circle with the wagons. “Before going to bed,” relates Charles, “a few would gather together in the dance, but we always had prayers each evening.”
In regard to their food, Charles made this remark. “Sometimes we would come across some greens that were good for food. My wife would make many a good meal so we fared very well. We had made up our minds to enjoy this trip without grumbling and found it the best way.”
After the long journey on the plains, the company arrived in Salt Lake City on the camping grounds in the Eighth Ward square, October 4, 1863. Brother W. Grimsdell of the Tenth Ward, being an old acquaintance of the Charles West family in London and related to Charles on his brother John’s side, got a wagon and took the family and their belongings to his home. The family stayed with the Grimsdells for a few days and while there attended their first conference in Salt Lake City. Of course, the mother and father were eager to go to Provo to see their young daughters, Caroline and Annie, who were staying at the home of Brother Miller. Charles left Samuel Bezzant at his grandfather’s home at Battle Creek (Pleasant Grove). The grandfather was killing a sheep so he made Charles a gift of a shoulder of mutton, also some pluck (heart and liver of the animal).
Charles carried his gift eight miles before he caught up with the wagon. It is interesting to note that the teamster’s name was Barney, the new husband of Mary Powell who had accompanied the West family across the plains. They were on their way to Dixie.
One can imagine the joyful reunion between parents and children when they found their two little girls well and happy at Brother Miller’s home.
– The sailors had everything they could do to get it out of the way. I had to hold on to the sails of the companion way.” Even though grandfather realized the seriousness of the situation, his keen sense of humor helped him see the funny side. For he said, “It was quite laughable to see the tin ware thrown around because the ship was tossed about so.” Of course many passengers were seasick, Grandmother Eliza in particular. Grandfather became cook for the family at that time. But of the forty-two days on the ocean, Charles said, “Some days the sea was calm and when it was we had a good time.” And in his optimistic way of seeing the bright side of life, he added, “Take it allThe Unpublished Story). Charles, Eliza and children stayed in this building over night. They had to sleep on the stairs and “make the best of it.
The subject of emigration to Zion was uppermost in the minds of the Saints. Charles said he felt that his children were coming faster than they could accumulate money to put in the emigration fund. They had been trying since the birth of their second son to save money, but so far had accumulated only a little over thirteen pounds for the fund.
Two missionaries from America, Brother John Brown of Battle Creek Utah {now called Pleasant Grove) and an Elder Gleason, had visited at the home of Charles and Eliza. Having heard the young couple express a desire to emigrate but knowing that they lacked sufficient funds, Brother Brown, who was staying with them, came up with a suggestion that startled them, at first. But the more they thought about the suggestion the more plausible it became. Brother Brown had said, “Why don’t you send two of your children to Zion in the spring. The rest of you could go later.”
“With whom could they go? Who would take care of them? Wouldn’t they get too homesick for us?” Such questions as these came to the minds of Charles and Eliza. After thinking it over and talking about ways and means, they found out that a Brother and Sister King of the Holloway Branch (of which Charles and Eliza were members) along with Brother King’s mother and sister were going to Zion. They had no family and
agreed to take care of the two West daughters, Caroline Eliza and Ann Lydia, age ten and six years old, just as if they were their own.
And so it was decided that the girls accompany the Kings. But before the little girls left London, their father Charles had taken them for a trip on the River Thames. He also took them to have their picture taken with him, but best of all was their trip to the Castle Gardens. Ann West Neville on page two of her Biography writes, “I had never before seen grass grow or living flowers. As soon as I got inside the gate I looked about me for a few minutes, and then threw myself flat on the grass and spread out my arms. I wanted to
hug it and drink it in all my body, it was so good—You see in London there was no grass or flowers unless it was where the wealthy lived.”
So in the spring of 1862 the two little girls with their guardians, the Kings, left the Euston Square Railroad Station for Liverpool to embark on board the “Tapstock” a three masted sailing ship. “We had faith,” said Charles, “that they would arrive at their destination, nothing doubting. But the feelings of anguish (when our children bid us goodbye, as the train pulled out, they waving their handkerchiefs) was more than tongue could describe.”
And, added Charles, “we put our full trust in God and the feeling left us.” Charles and Eliza finally heard of the girls’ safe arrival in New York and later of their arrival by train and steamboat to Florence, Nebraska (called Winter Quarters until 1854) and from there via oxen and wagon into the valley of the Great Salt Lake. While crossing the plains Brother King’s wife and also his mother died and were buried on the open
prairie. “He did the best he could under the circumstances in caring for the children,” said Charles.
From Caroline and Annie we have two accounts of what happened when they arrived in Salt Lake City. “Brother King was to have left us with our Mother’s brother when we got to Salt Lake City,” said Caroline West Larrabee, recalling the event, “but he had gone on to Silver City.” (From the story “Caroline,” The Unpublished Story, p. 198, December 1968, Daughters of Utah Pioneer Lessons) Ann West Neville relates the following in her Biography p. 5. “Bishop Edward Hunter, who took charge of the emigrants, came to
Brother King and asked what he was going to do with us. He told him that he could not do anything with us as he was alone in Salt Lake City and had no money. His sister was going to marry our teamster, Eli Curtis. Brother Hunter talked to President Young about us and said he would find someone to take us. So he called Bishop William Miller to him and told him about us. Brother Miller said he would take us to his home in Provo.
Brother King was willing and so were we. We went in the same wagon that took us across the plains as far as the teamster’s home. We stayed there until Bishop Miller sent a team and buggy to take us to his home in Provo. One of the wives, Sarah, took me as her girl and the first wife took Caroline as her girl.” Note: The Brother William Miller mentioned in this episode is the one who saved Brigham Young in Nauvoo from being imprisoned by wearing the latter’s cloak and hat and submitting to arrest. Bishop Miller was also Presiding Bishop of Provo (in charge of the Tithing Office) but he was also president of the Utah Stake of Zion.
Now let us return to London and see what Charles and Eliza were doing. When they heard of the safe arrival of their children in the Great Salt Lake Valley, they strove with all their might and strength to get the money so that they could follow their children the next year.
To get the necessary clothes their little girls, Caroline and Annie, had needed, money to have their picture taken and the final bit of sightseeing with their father before they left home, the parents had to go in debt five pounds. “But,” said Charles, “we took the council of the brethren to live within our means and we did so.
We found out that by studying economy and using wisdom in spending what means we had coming in every week, that we not only cleared the debt but was enabled to get means enough to take ourselves and four of our children the following year,” (as far as Florence, Nebraska). –Note: Charles was forced to borrow from the Emigration Fund to get his family from Florence, Nebraska to Salt Lake City. Mr. Thomas Cooper, Charles’ employer, was sorry to have him leave the firm. He gave him every inducement to stay, even to promising him lifetime employment. Charles thanked Mr. Cooper for being so kind to him. But he said, “When we as Mormons or Latter-day Saints have a chance to go to a place called Zion in America, it is our duty to go
When Eliza went to pay the balance of the emigration money i.e. to Florence, Nebraska, Brother Staines, the emigration agent for the church, knowing that the couple had already sent two of their children on to Zion said, “All of your family will arrive safely in Zion and not one of you will die on the way.”
One week before leaving England Charles and Eliza decided to have a week of sightseeing. They visited such places as Kew Gardens, the London docks, the Thames tunnel, the Monument and other places. “Although we had lived in London for so many years,” wrote Charles in his journal, “I was not able to get out much to see what there was in London, so we enjoyed that week’s visit.”
Eliza, Charles and four children, Thomas, Jabez, Mary Ann and baby Eliza left the London docks to board the packet ship, the Amazon, scheduled to sail June 1, 1863,under the direction of William Bramall, according to Grandfather’s Journal. (A packet ship carried mail, passengers and goods. It also had a fixed sailing date). (In the D. U. P. lesson for April, 1969 “Sailing Vessels and Steamboats,” p. 481, the Amazon sailed June 4th.)
In addition to their own family, this young couple had in charge two other young people, Samuel Bezzant, whom they were to leave at Battle Creek, Utah, with his grandfather, and a young woman Mary Powell, whose father was an adopted child of Charles’ parents. When the West family went before the ship doctor for health inspection, the doctor refused to let their small son Jabez pass, since he was so pale and sickly looking. He was suffering with some lung trouble as a result of a previous siege of pneumonia. Some of
the church authorities present intervened, saying the child was all right and that they would stand good for him. Finally reluctant permission was given by the ship doctor and he added, “We’ll throw him overboard in a few days.” But Charles and Eliza noted eventually that the sea air improved the health of their son so much that they knew Brother Staines prophecy would come true; (An incident written in Agnes A. (Dot)
West’s Book of Remembrance)
Approximately 890 saints’ were on board the Amazon for this particular voyage. Charles Dickens writes of this emigrant party in his story,
evening. They came from various parts of England in small parties that had never seen one another before. Yet they had not been a couple of hours on board when they established their own police, made their own regulations, and set their own watches at all hatchways. Before nine o’clock the ship was as orderly and quiet as a man-ofwar.’”
Eliza felt that the writer, Charles Dickens, had seen her family when he described this one. “A father and mother and several young children, on the main deck before me, had formed a family circle close to the foot of the crowded restless gangway, where the children made a nest for themselves in a cord of rope, and the father and mother, she suckling her youngest, discussed family affairs as peaceably as if they were in perfect
retirement.”
Eliza’s mother, sister Mary Ann and Martha, and sister-in-law Martha Dangerfield, wife of Eliza’s brother Charles, were there to see them off on their journey to America. Brother George Q. Cannon, President of the British Mission at the time, spoke to the Saints on the ship and blessed them.
From A Man to Remember, a story of Jabez William West by Ruby K. Smith, p. 5..” Mr. Cooper, seeing Charles’ determination, gave him a present of thirty shillings for good conduct.The Uncommercial Traveler, Vol. VL p. 636-637, P. F. Collier, New York Pub. “Now I have seen emigrant ships before this day in June. And these people are so strikingly different from all other people in like circumstances whom I have ever seen, that I wonder aloud, ‘What would a stranger suppose these emigrants to be!’ “The vigilant bright face of the weather-browned captain of the Amazon is at my shoulder and he says, ‘What indeed! The most of these came aboard yesterday
Employment
Charles found employment with William Cooper and Company who were stationers. His job was that of cutter and folder of paper for notes and letters. He was paid by piecework, which amounted to about fifteen to seventeen shillings a week. Charles worked at this job for eight or ten months. But one day his employer called him into his office and said, “My head warehouse man is leaving. I’d like you to take the job and the pay will be fifteen shillings a week.” Charles took this job and after his days’ work assisted his father-in-law in the making of leather bootlaces.
His young wife Eliza was busy at home and in addition working at the trade of fancy box making. Charles and Eliza continued to attend their church meeting. Charles says, however, “On account of my not continuing my mission, I, with my brother John, were suspended from our church office for a short time. After a while by my good conduct I regained my former position as Elder.
I continued at my employment and attended to my duties, and felt while doing so the Lord was blessing me all the time.” The Lord was indeed blessing Charles and Eliza because children came to bless their home. First came Caroline Eliza, then Thomas Charles. A year after the birth of Thomas, Charles’ father John West died February 17, 1854 and was buried in the Ilford Cemetery, Essex, England. Charles said of his father, “He was a good father and a true Latter-day Saint.” Charles still worked for William Cooper, who had advanced his salary. Charles was loyal to the church for he said, “I continued doing all I could to promote and build up the kingdom in outdoor preaching and singing, acting as a Sunday School teacher, delivering tracts, paying tithing and other calls. If I donated any amount–the Lord always opened up the way so that I never felt the loss but gained a blessing.”
Still other children were born into this good home, Ann Lydia, Jabez William and Eliza Alice. This young family had many good times together. They shared their home too with the elders, for many stayed with them. Charles loved to sing and gave his children a love for music. (Apparently he had inherited this talent from his own father). Eliza taught her children to love God and saw that they were baptized when eight years old. Father and mother had some special good times together. Just after the birth of baby Eliza, the Crystal Palace was opened in London. Charles and Eliza went to see this beautiful glass structure. The couple was much impressed because Charles says; “A man gave a performance on the tightrope. He not only walked on the rope, but wheeled a barrow over it and walked over blind folded.”
Special Thanks to They Came Before Us
