William E. Bench, Jr

A brief history of our father, William Bench, Jr. born November 6, 1840 at Southampton, England. Written by Joseph Lionel Bench and Clyde E. Bench, sons of William and Christina.

William Bench, Jr. was the second son of William Bench and Ann Longman, born November 6, 1940 at Southampton, Hampshire, England. The Bench family moved to Southampton a short time before our father was born.

One Sunday afternoon in the summer of 1849, William Bench, Sr. was out for a stroll. While he was walking, he saw people gathered around a man who was talking. As he neared the scene, he could hear the man talking religion so he stayed to hear the balance of his sermon. The man was Elder T. B. Stenhouse, a missionary for the Church of Jesus christ of Latter Day Saints, preaching the Gospel of faith, repentance and baptism. When the meeting was over, William, Sr. invited Elder Stenhouse to his home so he could hear more of his message. After a few months of instructions, the family was ready for baptism. William Bench, Sr., his wife, Ann Longman Bench, and his son, John Longman Bench, were baptized on October 16, 1849 by W.C. Dunbar. The other members of the family were too young to be baptized at this time but were baptized later.

After joining the Church, the thing uppermost on their minds was to emigrate to Utah. During their stay in Southampton, the boys attended school while their father worked at his trade as a blacksmith. On December 10, 1850, the family left Southampton to start for Utah. On their way they stopped in London to say goodbye to Jonas Copp, Ann Longman Bench's uncle. On February 1, 1851, they set sail on the ship Ellen Maria which was headed for New Orleans. Elders Orson Pratt and George D. Watt were in charge of the 378 Saints aboard. The ship arrived in New Orleans on April 6, 1861, after a pleasant voyage. The Saints were transferred to the steamer Alexander Scott, which headed up the Mississippi River for St. Louis, arriving there on April 16. They stayed in St. Louis for a few days. On the 22nd of April they boarded another steamer, the Robert Campbell, which took them to Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The family was getting short of money by this time and thought it best they work for awhile before trying to make the journey to the Salt Lake valley. William Bench, Sr., being a very good blacksmith, was offered a good blacksmith shop, well equipped with tools and everything needed to start business again. It was located on a 160-acre tract of land on the main highway between the ferry and Kenesville. It was here that William Bench, Jr. got his first lessons in the blacksmith trade.

The family worked here until they had sufficient funds to equip them for the trip westward to the valley of the Great Salt Lake. On July 12, 1852, the journey started. They had two yoke of oxen, one yoke steer, three cows, one horse, and two wagons. The companies were organized in fifties. The road was outlined for them across the prairies and mountains. they had to stop occasionally to place in Mother Earth the remains of some weary emigrant who could not stand the hardships of the pioneer life. After three months of hard traveling, the family arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake, their destination. On October 3, 1852, they were met by Elder Lorenzo Snow, who greeted the company and welcomed them into the valley.

After a few weeks' stay in Salt Lake, William Bench, Sr. was asked by President Brigham Young to go down and help settle Sanpete because a good blacksmith was needed very badly there. The first winter was spent at Pleasant Creek (now Mt. Pleasant) but the Indians were so troublesome it was necessary for them to move where they could get more protection. There was a small fort at Manti. During the winter spent at Pleasant Creek, the Indians took nearly all their livestock and anything else they could get hold of. President Brigham Young asked that they go to Manti where they could get help.

After a number of years' experience of pioneering and all the trials and tribulations of empire-building seasoned up with Indian trouble and shortage of the things that make a normal life, they had to start all over again to prepare a permanent home. The first thing they did was to constuct shelters, dugouts and fort walls to protect themselves from the Indians and shelters for their animals. The next thing was to prepare land to plant some crops for food to use in the winter. President Young was always giving them instructions on how to go about it. He told them for each man to take up ten acres of land as far as there was water for it, and then plant crops that would suit their best needs. By all means they should be friendly with the Indians because it was cheaper to feed them than to fight them.

This plan didn't always work because there were trouble-makers among some of their squaws and children. Then the Indians would retaliate and move in on the town and steal anything they could find - killing anyone who would try to stop them. They would drive off horses and cattle, and there are many graves where the people were victims of such outbreaks.

William Bench, Jr. had grown to manhood and it was customary to marry as many women as they thought they could provide for, so many did that. William Bench, Jr. married three women and was the father of 27 children. His first wife was Frances Tatton and she had eight children. His second wife, Martina Larsen, had ten and his third wife, Christina Ericksen, had nine children. Those pioneer women thought it was their duty to do any kind of work there was to be done.

William Bench, Sr. and William Bench, Jr. were still working in the blacksmith shop fixing tools and all kinds of shop work, even making nails to fasten their cabins together. Some of the roofs were put on with wooden pins, and some of these buildings are still in good shape after nearly ninety years. William Bench, Jr. then learned carpentry and many other trades. President Young selected him to carry his orders from town to town as a dispatcher by horse, and the dangers he experienced were many.

In the year 1857, the United States government sent the Johnston Army to Utah. It proved a blessing in disguise for the people of Utah because they brought many things which were needed by the pioneer settlers - teams, wagons, harnesses, oxen, food, guns, powder, and many other things. They also furnished jobs for the settlers to do. The Bench family did some work for the Army.

William Bench, Sr. and his family were true pioneers - always laboring for the betterment and progress of the city and state in which they lived. During the Blackhawk War, William Bench, Sr. was commander of the Silver Grays.

A Sunday school was started with the following leaders: James Brown, Albert Smith, Gardner Snow, Abraham Washburn, William Bench and others.

William Bench, Jr. lived with his parents and did what he could to help them until the year 1861 - at which time his desire was for more education, having had little chance since they left England ten years before. There was no public school in Manti, and their finances were so limited that they could not afford to pay unless they could find employment that would give them a surplus. Much time was spent in the blacksmith shop working with his father.

In the winter of 1861, William Bench, Jr. decided to go to Salt Lake where hie could work and go to school. He attended school until June 1862 at which time he hired out to L.J. Smith, a mail contractor. He worked at that job for three months and was transferred to the butchering business which lasted only two months more. He resigned the butchering business, and went to work for a man by the name of John Charles Tatton who ran a hat business. I do not know whether it was the hat business which attracted him or whether it was the lovely black-eyed daughter, Frances. They fell in love and were married.

Frances Ann Tatton, daughter of John Charles Tatton and Carolina Webb, and William Bench, Jr. were married in Salt Lake City, Utah, December 25, 1862 by Bishop Abraham Hoagland. Thjey went to the Endowment House and were sealed on March 7, 1863. William and Frances lived in Salt Lake until the following June when they decided to go to Manti to make their home. While living in Salt Lake, William was called on duty at the office of President Young to protect him from the soldiers from Camp Douglas. He was on duty day and night for the first three weeks and then relieved for a short while. He was then called back for another two weeks. The records of the Church had to be watched also.

After moving to Manti, there was much to be done to get established and build and furnish a home. William Jr. was very handy with tools, having had experience in his father's blacksmith shop. He also learned the carpentry trade.

Frances Ann Tatton Bench died in childbirth when Francis Joseph Bench was born.

There was a larger number of ladies who joined the Church than men, so the leaders of the Church received divine revelation that some men should have more than one wife. Before taking the second wife, it was necessary to get the consent of the President of the Church. Also, the consent of the first wife was necessary. On October 11, 1869, William Bench, Jr. and Martina Larsen, daughter of Peter Larsen and Anne Christina Borre were married in the Salt Lake Endowment House with Daniel H. Wells officiating. This couple also made their home in Manti.

At the dedication of the St. George temple on April 10, 1877, William Bench, Jr. and Christina Ericksen, daughter of Kriston Ericksen and Bertha Maria Madsen of Wester were married by Erastus Snow. This couple also made their home in Manti.

It was time to select a site for the Manti temple. On April 25, 1877, President Young and his party came from Salt Lake City and went up on the hill they thought would be a choice site. But the Indians soon came and ran them off, so they left and came back later. After looking over other likely spots, the president and his party returned to the hill. He stuck his cane in the earth and said, "This is where this temple shall be built, and I will promise Saints nothing will stop you if you will keep the faith, be humble and do your duty as Latter Day Saints." A short time later, the plans were completed and the work was begun. It took eleven years to complete it. President Young and his party went to St. George to locate a spot for the temple to be built there. So the people put their shoulders to the wheel and branched out in many new pursuits. William Bench, Jr. knew a big demand would be made for different kinds of labor with his blacksmith work and carpentry, so he and another man of the town thought they would get some support and build a sawmill. They built a water-powered mill up Manti Canyon and it was a great help in supplying building material for those building homes and shelters. He sawed many million feet of lumber and he got a machine to split shingles. Later on they bought a shingle mill to saw the shingles as the straight-grained logs were getting scarce. One occasion found them gutting a tree and sawing it into shingle blocks, made it into shingles, took them to town and they were nailed on the tabernacle - now the Center Ward church. This job was all done the same day.

William Bench, Sr. had passed away, and there were other blacksmiths; however, William, Jr. kept his to the last. By this time, the Manti temple was so far along they had no more use for some of the scaffolding, so President Young asked William if he would take a load of it to St. George and he said he would. Christina and he were just sweethearts then, so she went with him and they were married in that portion of the St. George temple that was finished. When they returned to Manti, they made their home with his mother who was still living. His pursuits were increasing, but the Indians made their regular calls and would steal whatever they were in need of, and so it was for a number of years. In October 1877, President Young passed away, but with never-ending faith and courage, Zion kept on growing.

When William and Christina were married, she became his third wife - the second living wife. The United States government was out rounding up all those marked as polygamists. They were to stand trial for breaking the laws of the land. It was a long, drawn-out procedure. His families were larger and he spent most of his time on the underground. He finally left to go on a mission to England. He leased one of his sawmills, a small steam mill. It was portable so it could be moved up into the timber and the logs wouldn't have to be hauled so far. While he was away on his mission, this mill caught fire and was completely destroyed. Of course, there was no insurance in those days, so he had to start all over again. He did other things as well, and was offered a job in Oregon to operate a large sawmill there. He left at once as he thought this was a break for him to get away from the government officers who were still on his trail. The climate proved too damp for him and he was back in less than a year.

His next venture was a farm. He always liked to experiment with different kinds of farm crops and soil. He was appointed by the land office in Washington, D.C. to send them samples of soil from different parts of the county and they would report what was best to plant for best results. He was also sent equipment to catch all the rainfall in different sections of the locality. As Manti would be visited by damaging floods from cloud bursts in the nearby hills, he decided the reason was that the mountain was overgrazed with sheep and cattle and the earth was packed so hard the water would just collect and run down through town. This did thousands of dollars of damage to the city and farms. The city called a series of meetings to see if they kept the sheep off the nearby hills and under strict regulations let them in the upper part of the canyon in the summer months, if this would solve the problem. This started a war between the sheep men and cattle men. William sent word to Washington and they sent men out to see what to do about it. They decided to give it a try, but there was always an undercurrent and feelings got the better of them and they would find some of their animals killed. It got so bad the Forest Service set this area off as a forest reserve with regulations that people were issued a permit for so many head of cattle and sheep to graze. Sheep were not allowed on the nearby mountians or foothills. From that time on, it has been known as the Manti LaSal Forest Reserve and I will say this, that Manti never had a very bad flood from then on. This was in late 1880.

John Taylor had been leader of the Church from the time President Young died, but he was president only from 1880 to 1887, when he died. Polygamy was still hanging over them. William, Jr., being a polygamist, decided to move to Salt Lake City. We were taken in a covered wagon to Nephi. That was the nearest railroad, and in a short time, William got a job in the Salt Lake temple as one of the finishing carpenters. He worked there until it was nearly completed. His next job was manager for the Burton-Gardner Lumber Company on South State Street, between 8th and 9th South. They rented a little house at 39 East 8th South, opposite the Sears Roebuck store.

By this time there were four boys and two girls in William and Christina's family. The three oldest boys had work in the lumber yard cleaning the scrap wood from around the machinery. They told us we could chop it up and sell it for kindling wood, which kept us busy as long as there was any daylight. William bought us the most beautiful metal express wagon. It was large enough to put five sugar sacks filled with stove-length wood, which we sold at 15 cents a sack or two for a quarter, and that helped out. We went to school in the Third Ward Church. As you know, we were on the underground; therefore, William changed our name to Osborne. I was registered in school as Lee Osborne.

William, with his knowledge of lumber and all its uses, had many good new ideas. One in particular, a woven fence of wire and pickets, proved a fast seller. After two years with this company, however, he decided to move back to our hometown of Manti.

The cloud of fear was closing in on him, so he decided to face up to it. After we got back to Manti and got settled, we had to start all over again. He bought a new wagon and a team. His services were in such demand, that he had no trouble getting started in a lot of different projects. He still owned the old water-powered sawmill in the canyon that he had leased out years before, and he and another man overhauled it and made it work as good as ever. His next move was to order one of those fence looms like the one in the Salt Lake lumber yard. It took quite awhile beofe it arrived, so to keep ahead, he took two small farms on shares. We needed food for the animals - horses, cows, pigs, a few sheep and chickens. This gave us a good living. All these years, he had his mind on taking up a dry farm; which he did. There wasn't any work to be done on the land right at first, so he didn't upset his other projects.

Now his fence machine had arrived and was set up. Most of his efforts were centered on this venture. To begin with, he bought a lathe mill. It would cut 12 lath at a time; but since they were too thin, William was not satisfied with the thickness. He sent an order up to the Oregon mill where he had worked for two carloads of pickets 5/8 inch thick and 4 feet long, and he bought a ton of wire to start out with. As soon as the pickets came, he was in the fencing business. With full help, the capacity of the loom was 300 rods per day. I never knew how many rods we made, but I know it didn't take long to fill the yard up. They sold like hotcakes. The farmers and sheep men from all over the county ordered fences. It was a job to keep up with the orders.

According to the Huistory of Sanpete and Emery Counties, Utah by W.H. Lever (1898):

William, Sr.'s family emigrated from Council Bluffs, IA to Utah in Capt. Wimmer's company.

He served as Deputy County Assessor and Collector from 1870 to 1878, and January 3, 1898, was appointed Superintendent of City Water Works (Manti).

He took an active part in the Walker and Black Hawk wars, holding the position of First Lieutenant under Capts. Beach, Sidwell and Bessey in Company A, cavalry.

He was born on November 6, 1840 in St. Mary, Southampton, England to William Bench Sr. and Ann Longman Bench. He had three wives. He married Frances Ann Tatton December 25, 1862 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Married Martine Larsen on October 11, 1869 in Salt Lake City. Then he married Christina Ericksen on April 10, 1877 in St. George, Washington County, Utah. His occupation was farmer.

Interment was made in the Manti City Cemetery.

-death certificate

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Jun 19 2017, 16:46:41 UTC