Apollos Benjamin Taylor, Jr.

AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF APOLLOS BENJAMIN TAYLOR Brother of Ulysses Taylor I was born at Willard, Utah, United States of America, November 22, 1879. My parents were Appollos Taylor & Clotilda Pettingill Taylor. I was born in my grandfather Taylor’s house on his farm at Willard. The house was a big frame one … lots of room down stairs and two large rooms upstairs. There were nine children in our family … I, Ulysses, Ida, Mary, Jane, Amelia, Lewis, Asil and Chester. Lewis died when he was about three weeks old. My earliest recollections were of a busy father, somewhat inpatient, and a beautiful mother. She had lustrous eyes, luxuriant black, thick hair and a gentile voice. Her nature was, likewise gentle and kind, always thoughtful and considerate of others, often to her own discomfort. I was born into a world of agriculture and my earliest recollections were of trees, crops, horses, cows and barnyard chickens. I never knew hunger nor cold nor lack of good clothing. My parents and grandparents were respectable law-abiding people with never a taint against their character that I ever heard. They taught me all the virtues except those of sex, which seemed to them a thing not to be talked about but hushed up. One of my earliest recollections was of seeing my father on the seat of a covered wagon with four grey horses hitched to it. I did not know then what he was doing but learned later that he was starting northwest to Idaho to homestead a farm in Elba, Idaho in Casssia County, where Uncle Thomas Taylor, Aunt Evelyn Pettingill and Mary Ann Ousterhout had gone to live in the same community with a group of other Willard people who had gone a few yeas earlier. Some of these were relatives of mine … John Pettingill, Moroni Beecher, Ruben Beecher, Thomas Taylor, John Ousterhout, Harvey Woodyatt and others. My father homesteaded a farm near the mouth of Green Canyon and bought another piece of land near by and in the valley bottom. After he proved up on his farm he built a loghouse on a piece of land on Uncle Tom’s farm near the village. He moved mother and Ulysses, Ida and Mary out to Elba. I was left in Willard as company for Grandfather and Grandmother Taylor. As they were then alone, my father being the youngest of the family and the rest of them married and having houses of their own. So for a number of years I lived with my grandparents seeing my folks only very seldom. I attended school in Willard in the old rock school house having as early teachers Vilate Nunn, Jane Hubbard, Clark Hubbard and Thomas Perry. I helped around the place all I could. My grandparents were very good to me, indulging me in everything they could afford. In my babyhood I was very weak and sickly and was hardly expected to live. Both Mrs. Thomas Woodland and Aunt Clarinda Beecher told me they used to nurse me and suckle me. I lived, however and by good care grew and developed into a strong, healthy boy. While in Willard I associated with Best Nichols, Ira Allen and Uncle John Taylor’s children. When I was about 12 years old I went out to Elba to live with my family. Jane and Amelia had been born there and I did not know them and hardly knew my other brother and sisters. The town of Elba was a village of about 500 people. It had one store owned by Tom Taylor and George Hatfield, … a log one-roomed school house, a log church and a post office kept by Thomas Homer in his dwelling. The Bishop was Tom Taylor, big, gentle, prosperous. Other families were the Beechers, Pettingills, Barkers, Ottleys, Rice, Peny, Darrington, Lessey, Whitakers, Parish, Savage, Wards. The village was located in an almost round valley … one of the most beautiful valleys I have ever seen … a typical western mountain valley, very much like Reno Valley in Nevada. There were high mountains on the west sloping off to lower ones on the other sides. The mountains were wooded and grass covered and offered fine pasturage for many horses and cattle. Ranching and farming were the main occupations of the people every family having quite a few cattle which were turned onto the public range and rounded up each fall by a general rodeo. Through the valley ran three streams of water from the west which converged at the east into Cassia Creek which, further down, was called Conner’s Creek after General Conner who fought the Indians there. Conner’s Creek continued on and emptied into Raft River. the fine streams and springs made fine meadows of lush grass and many willows. The streams abounded with trout. A log school house by the side of a stream I remember among my first memories of Elba. I went to school there and more than once had to line up with others and receive a rap or two on the hand by a ruler in the teacher’s hand, but will say that I never received any worse punishment. The houses were mostly made of logs chinked with clay. They were warm in winter and people can be as happy in these houses as in marble halls. Many things were new to me and I reveled in all the beauties of the lovely valley … lush meadows, singing birds, horses, cattle, sheep, dogs, rides on the range, trips to the canyons for choke cherries and service berries and wild strawberries in Green Canyon and Dry Canyon. Like all other ranchers we milked cows, letting the calves suck part of the cow’s milk and then chasing them into their pens before we milked the cows. We made our own butter, drank milk and buttermilk and sometimes made full cream cheese which, tasted very good to young appetites. The winters were long and cold. Snows drifted over the fences and sheds. I have seen men drive their sleighs over fences and cows stand on top of a hay stack and reach down and eat the hay from the top of the stack. The long winter evenings saw story telling, molasses pulling, corn popping and looking at our books. I remember my father reading Bunyan’s Pilgrims Progress. Roads were muddy in wet weather and we had much difficulty in driving in early spring. Uncle John Pettingill was the musician for the whole country round about. He played the violin and one of his daughters would play the organ. He would put his organ and violin in his light buggy then he and his daughter would drive off with a fine pair of horses to some neighboring town and play nearly all night, often, returning home after sun up. His waltzes are still remembered by those who heard them. He was, besides a rancher and carpenter and in addition made all the coffins for people in the whole town … community when needed. A big man, he liked the good things of life, could tell a story well and would throw his head back and laugh in an infectious way like President D. Roosevelt. While we lived at Elba father and Uncle Tom Taylor bought a hay ranch near the sinks of the Curlew Creek west of Snowville. They hired Carl and Ben Ousterhout, (my cousins) to live there and raise horses. In a few years we has a big herd of horses. Each spring for quite a number of years we would go to the ranch for the spring round up to brand the colts and sell the saleable horses. We looked forward for months to this adventure which lasted about two weeks. Curleys Creek which ran through the ranch was deep and well stocked with fish which were easy to catch. When I was about 16 years old we sold our land and moved back to Willard. There were two reasons for this, one because grandfather and grandmother Taylor wanted us to live with them and work the farm and for company for them, and other reason, because mother had been afflicted with rheumatism every winter in Elba so much so that she was bedfast most of the winter. After our return she was free from that trouble. The farm at Willard was of the finest soil to be seen anywhere and we raised a big variety of farm crops and many kinds of fruits. It had a good house, barn and stables. We had about 75 or 80 head of cattle which we sent off to a summer range. We put up a lot of hay for feed. Grandfather gave me a roan heifer calf which I kept, together with two others I bought for $1.00 each. The progeny of these in a few years made me a little herd some of which I sold from time to time. I got also two ewes and they had twins, I put them in Joe Merrill’s herd on shares for several years when I had about 30 head which I sold. The fields below the Rail Road track was not fenced so people sent their milk cows to the “south range” and back each day with the town herd … a long trip for milk cows every day. In the fall after the crops were harvested the Bishop would set a day for opening the fields to stock then every evening we had to hunt our cows all over the fields. One of the thrills of a young boy’s life in the country is sleeping in the barn on the hay or by the haystack with the breath of new hay and the stars above. We would lie and talk of things in boy’s minds. An event long looked forward to was the annual Circus. We would put spring seats on our spring wagon and all go to Ogden where we took every thing in and went to the Bon Toute restaurant for dinner. This was a Chinese place in Ogden on 25th Street and to us children was a treat as a change. This place is still doing business at the same place in 1937 My teachers in Willard were Jane Hubbard, D.C. Hubbard and James J. Chandler. Chandler was quite a learned man but used the old system of punishing by whipping. He had much trouble with discipline but that was quite a common thing in those days when boys over 20 yeas old were in the 8th grade. Dances were held about every week except during the summer and big crowds went to them as it was the principal form of amusement. After I had finished the Willard School, John White, Henry Woodland and I decided to go out west to Idaho to find work, so we put a pack behind our saddles and started out. I went to Elba where I had lots of relatives while they stopped and worked for Jim Pierce on Raft River. I stayed in Elba a few days until after July 4th. Then my cousins ….. Taylor and I rode down to Raft River and got a job on the Keough ranch. Thair Rice was putting up the hay by contract. I spent nearly all of my time raking the hay behind two mowers. We were there about a month then went on up to Jim Pierce’s place on Clear Creek until the hay season was over. These ranches has thousands of acres of land, good water rights and herds of cattle and horses. Steve Keough had a barn of race horses and spent much time caring for them and training them. I returned home in the fall and soon after went to Ogden to see Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. There were Indians, stage coach attacks and a …… by Bill and his scouts. Then Bill rode around on a fine horse at a gallup and shot glass balls tossed into the air. Bill was a big man, erect, ruddy fine face, long white hair hanging to his shoulders. To a boy who had read so much about him, this was a real treat. I enjoyed reading history and biography and adventure. Stories of pioneers and explorers of America. Like other boys of my time I read of scouts, Indian fighters and western bandits. My favorite authors were Lord Tennyson, Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Longfellow, Charles Dickens and Washington Irving. I think Dickens Christmas Carol was worth reading every year. One of the most touching stories is Tennyson’s Enoch Arden. In the fall of 1898 I went to Logan and entered the sub-freshman class at the Utah …. College. Horvatis Cole and I “batched” in a house four blocks west of the college. This was a strange new experience but it thrilled me. J.M. Tanner was President of the College. he was a big man, handsome and well dressed. My favorite teacher was Edward Robinson. I attended there three years, working during the last two in the experiment station to help pay my expenses. At the end of my third year I was offered a job teaching the school in South Willard district. I had to teach 8th grade without any training or experience. I am sure it must have been poor work, but I was happy because I liked it and was making some money, this was the fall of 1900. The next year I taught in North Willard in Sept 1901. Just before school began, I was married to Josephine White on September 10, 1901. She was the daughter of Stephen and Agnes McArthur White, who lived near the school. We rented a house nearby and Ephraim and Eliza White returned from Lund, Idaho and lived with Jose’s father who was a widower. In 1902 I moved to Willard and taught again in South Willard in the new school house which I liked much. In the fall of 1903 I was offered a teaching job in Yost, Utah. It was the frontier, but we were attracted to the west. Ulysses and Eph’s hired man helped us move out there in wagons. We lived in a log cabin with plenty of room and we enjoyed our work and neighbors … about a mile away, the closest … We both felt like we had never had such an enjoyable winter. We went to Elba for Thanksgiving and Christmas and had a fine time. In February or March Jose became sick with pneumonia. We could not get a doctor for several days because of flooded rivers and then finally got a woman from Elba who was more of a practical nurse. Her good care enabled her to recover. In the meantime, I had sent word to her sister, Agnes Owens, in Willard and she and Eph went to Yost. They stayed a few weeks and Jose being much better, returned to Willard with them and I boarded at Hyrum Yates’s place until school was out. When school was out, I returned to Willard and soon after went to Promontory, Utah and worked the summer for the Promontory Stocks Co. I moved hay most of the time. While there, a letter came to Willard for me and when I returned home I found Jose quite upset. She showed me the letter and asked me what I would do. I said, “I will go.” She said, “I knew you would but how can we pay for 3 years mission?” I did not know the answer to that question but said that we would have to do the best we could. During the month of September, I worked at the Willard Cannery and made preparations to leave. I was called to New Zealand. We looked the location up, the distance, nature of people and products and interviewed several missionaries who had been there. On Oct 4., 1904, I left Ogden in company with 7 other boys. One of these was my cousin Asa Taylor. We traveled to San Francisco. Everything was so new and strange that it seemed unreal. We visited San Francisco two or three days and then set sail on the S. S. Ventura for New Zealand. Our boat was quite large and a fair one. We went 2nd class. Our accommodations were fair and after a few days of sea sickness we enjoyed the trip very much. In six days we landed at Honolulu where we stayed a day and night while our ship refueled and took on supplies, goods, etc. We were entertained by the missionaries and shown around the city. Leaving Honolulu, we traveled 7 days without seeing land until we came to the harbor of Pago Pago in Samoa. This is a beautiful bottle-necked shaped harbor deep and the mountains are wooded on every side. We stayed there only two or three hours, but had a good look at native life ashore and in their small canoes as they swarmed around the ship selling their fruits and other produce. We left two elders there. Leaving Samoa we started on our last stretch to New Zealand another seven days. We arrived there on __________ {left blank} 1904. We were met at the boat by some missionaries and taken to the mission headquarters on upper Queen’s St. in Auckland. Auckland was a good sized city … the largest in New Zealand … settled by English almost entirely and one felt like being in England. Charles Bartlett was mission President and William Paxman the secretary. In about three days I was sent to the Bay of Islands district to labor among the Maoris while Asa was sent to the South Island to work among the white people. We landed at the sea port of Whaygarei and went up to the little town of Kamo where the church had a little house which we made our headquarters. I landed at Kamo early in the morning and about 11 o’clock am. Jesse Reider and I started for my first trip to a Maori village. This was only one of many I made in the Bay of Islands visiting every part to the north cape. I made many friends there and served with Elders John Lee, Jesse Reider, James McBride, … Nelson and others. Remember among the white saints there the Going family and Bro. and Sister Cuthbert. From this district I was sent to the Great Barrier Island twice with Elder George Cowley. This is one island 60 miles east of the mainland. There were two colonies of church members. We had a lovely trip both times. The people were so good and so glad to see us. They took us fishing and we bathed every day in the loveliest bay one could imagine. Elder George Talmage was given a kit of first aid materials and dentist’s forceps and lance with the idea of treating the natives. What he did was to care for them all. He did not know how to use them although his father was a physician … his brother was apostle James E. Talmage. After working in Bay of Islands district for about 8 months I was transferred to Hauraki about July 20, 1905. I found John Evans, Thomas Henderson, Hyrum Richards, and Ocl Call, Our Headquarters was at Kiri Kiri where there was a strong branch of Saints among them Pirimona and Taki, brothers, Te Hapatapu, a woman, Brother & Sister Hone etc. About 10 miles south of Kiri Kiri was the Thames, a small white city of about 5000 people engaged in trade, fishing and mining. We had a number of families there, members of the church. Eight miles north of Kiri Kiri was Ouiahu a village where nearly all the people were church members. We had many lovely times there. About 20 miles further north of Ouiahu was Te Aroha where was located around five hot springs where five baths have been made. Still further north and west is the famous thermal region of Rotorua, which has hot springs, geysers, hot mud springs, volcanoes etc. There are five hotels there and Maori villages. While in Hauraki Elder Evans and I made a trip overland to Ta Hanke, Hawkes Bay , to atlerd Hui Tau. I visited Bro. George Hall’s home in Taueranga where I stayed several days. Sister Hall was a Maori, her husband a white man. They had a smart family. Sister Hall could repeat from memory whole books of the Bible. She was a lovely woman and most devout spirit. Our principal headquarters in Hauraki was Kiri Kiri but we spent much time at Omahui and the Thames. We used horses a good deal to ride. They made traveling easy but had the disadvantage of enabling us to travel too far in one day while afoot we could visit more villages so while I was there we stopped using them. In June 1906 President Hoagland, who succeeded President Bartlett came to our district and told me he wanted me to go to Wanganui to preside over the two districts of Wanganui and Taranaki. On June 23rd I went to Auckland for a few days before going to Wanganui. June 26th I took passage from Auckland down the west coast to New Plymouth and from there to Wanganui by train. I was met at the station by Elder Louis Bowen and James McBride. We went to the home of Eraueti Arani and his wife. Eraueti Arani was perhaps the most noted and most influential Maori in the Islands at that time. He was a very very large man, weighing about 350 lbs and over six feet tall and was not very well. He was suffering from dropsy. His wife, Mariana, was crippled in one thigh. They had no children of their own but had several adopted … one a white girl. They had a nice house rented in Wanganui which was a sort of headquarters for us while in that part of the country. He had a lot of land in the higherland which he leased to white men for stock grazing. On his land the Elders had built a fine house for living. He was very liberal with his means to everyone, but especially to the Elders. I labored in these districts until I was released in Nov. 1907 to return home. My districts were located in the highest part of the North Island and the climate was temperate .. never real cold or too hot. The scenery was beautiful high mountains, beautiful sea coast and rivers the loveliest was the Wanganui .. the prettiest I have seen. I had charge of one ……. …….. {can’t read handwriting} which we held at Mangrove. At this conference we had Pres. Genj. Goddard of all the Polynesian missions and Rufus Hardy, our new mission President. Sister Hardy was there also. I was appointed member of a committee to organize a Maori college for our church. Such a college was established in Hawks Bay district and continued for about 20 years. I had all the experiences of a missionary among semi-civilized people. {For more complete account of my mission see my typewritten book called “MEMORIES”} On November 24th 1907 I was released to return home so turned over the district affairs to the new district President Elder Bates of Oakley. This was his second mission there. Then I went to Auckland and while waiting for my boat went down to Hauraki for a few day visit. Returning to Auckland I had a wire from Mariana saying that Eraueti Arani had died. I took passage, with two other Elders, from Auckland, on a small steamer, for Suva in the Fiji Islands to connect with the English steamer Moana from Australia to Vancouver, Canada. Arriving at Suva, and English and native town, we waited three days for our ship. We spent the time visiting the island, observing native life, etc. We were right in the middle of the tropics where the sun was very hot and would have been unbearable except for the ocean breezes. After a voyage of two weeks from Suva we arrived at Victoria and then on to Vancouver. From there by train we went out home, arriving just before Christmas. It seemed very good to be home and yet very strange. I had almost forgotten I was married but was happy to see Jose again and she was most happy at my return. She had worked hard to help keep me in the mission field and if any good was done there she was entitled to a big share of it. My father took care of my cattle, selling some of them from time to time to help us out. My younger brothers and sisters had grown up from little children to young men and women. So also, had the young people of the town. My grandfather, Benjamin Taylor, died just before I got home, on Dec 11, 1907. He was 94 years old and one of the best men I ever knew, beloved by everyone. Just as I returned home my brother-in-law, John M. White, bought a farm at St. Anthony, Idaho and moved there early in the spring. We bought his house and lots in Willard. He was a teacher in the school and 2nd counselor in the bishopric. He resigned both and I was chosen to take his place in both positions. I spent a lot of time working on the place as it was over run with brush and grown up to large trees. The house had only two good rooms so we got along with it for several years when we built more rooms on at the back, making it modern. Jose’s father’s estate had been probated. The land was divided equally among the children so Jose got about 9 ½ acres which we had kept. I planted about two acres to peaches. I continued teaching until about 1914. I was appointed principal of the Willard school. In 1913 {1915 is written under it} we bought 80 acres of dryland on the Promontory from a Mr. Fisher of West Weber for $1440.00. I kept this land until 1919 when I sold it to Joseph Toombs Jr. for $3750.00. In 1919 I resigned the Willard School to teach in the Box Elder High School where I worked until 1925 when I stopped and went to school at the Utah Agriculture College a year when I received my degree of Batchelor of Science. In 1925 I was offered a position in the Murray High School which I accepted. Jose was offered the job of land-lady in the Bodill apts. North Main St., Salt Lake City, so we lived there until the Kimball Apts. was built across the street when we moved there and she continued her work there while I drove out to school. I taught ½ day and spent the afternoons in coordination work among the families of town, especially in looking after slow and delinquent pupils. I had had some experience because during Gov. Bonebergers term I was Juvenile Judge of Box Elder County. The summer of 1926 I worked for Esh White loading cars of fruit in Davis County. He was buying for James O. White. In 1927, I bought fruit for Jim White instead of working for Esh. I enjoyed this work very much. I worked there in 1928 also. This year Jose and I took a trip to San Francisco and north to Portland and back thru Boise, Idaho. This was Jose’s first trip of that length. We had been to the Yellowstone Park several times. In 1923 Willard suffered a very destructive flood which came out of the canyon, destroying several homes and damaging much land and many homes. Large boulders weighing as much as 80 tons were washed out of the canyon. Two women, Mrs. Mary E. Ward and Mrs. Earl Ward were drowned. In 1928 we attended the U. of Washington at Seattle. It is a lovely place. In 1931 we attended the U of California at Berkley. The summers of 1932 and 1933 we lived in our home at Willard which we enjoyed very much. This latter year I was offered the position of principal of the Murray High School which I accepted, so we moved to Murray where we lived for four years. In 1934-1936 we went to the U. of California at Berkley. In 1934 Jose had a very bad attack of yellow jaundice which kept her bedfast for several months and nearly cost her her life and which did leave her heart worse than it had been and it was bad before. She had not had good health any time of her life and had had quite a few hard attacks. She seemed to recover and we went to California, but she was not well. All during the autumn of 1935 she was in very poor condition and in Dec., she had quite a collapse and went to bed but got up for the holidays but soon after suffered a worse collapse from which she could not recover, but gradually got worse in spite of all medical aid and good nursing until on March 20th or just after midnight of March 19th, she died peacefully in a coma. We took her to Willard and on Sunday, March 22nd, she was buried at Willard. The day of the funeral was one of the worst blizzards in a long time, but, in spite of that, every member of the Murray High faculty was present as was all of the Board of Education, the Superintendent, High School orchestra, Bro. Bringhurst and counselors, and hundreds of friends. I continued to live at Murray until our school was out when I visited Amelia’s and Ace’s families for a week, also Ulysses and Ida & Father and Jose’s folks and then went to Berkley by train to school. I was afflicted with something like a bad case of hay fever or sinus trouble, but I finished the session and returned home and went to Willard to help with the peaches. In the fall I started to keep company with Miss Leah Hatch, a teacher of first grade in Murray. I continued to do so until Christmas when we became engaged. I resigned from the Murray school in the spring of 1937 because I was not in harmony with the policies of a Board of Education … not one of whom knew anything about schools nor education and a Superintendent who was too weak to lead a school district there letting a couple of ignorant members interfere with all of our affairs. On June 1st 1937 Leah and I were married in the Salt Lake Temple by Apostle Melvin Ballard. Mrs. Hatch and …. {not readable} were present. After the marriage we went to the Lion House where her family and mine had breakfast and became acquainted. About 3pm. we got into our new V8 Ford and started for San Francisco on our way to Honolulu. We went to Elko where we stayed first night, Reno, and then San Francisco where stayed until June 5th when took passage on the Malolo for Honolulu where we spent a lovely honeymoon and returned to San Francisco June 24the on the Lurline. Returning after a fine voyage, we went to Berkley to school. After school was out August 6th we drove down the coast to Los Angeles where we stayed for several days and returned home via of St George, Boulder Dam, Zion’s Park, Bryce Canyon and Cedar Breaks. I bought my father’s place in Willard. It’s a fine farm … about 40 acres of good farm land with a fair house. My father died in Oct. 26, 1936 in the hospital in Ogden of heart disease and was buried in Willard. I took possession of the farm and rented it to John (Chick) Conlon and wife Dorothy who live on it. We moved to Willard, Utah may 20th, 1942. The farm had been rented to Cloyd Pruett the year before. I took care of the North place. The late spring frost killed all peach and apricot buds, but I planted tomatoes between the rows of young trees. I had a good crop, but the pheasants were so thick they destroyed many of them and the capacity of the Perry Cannery was too small to handle the crop. I began working at the Army Supply Depot, 2nd Street Ogden Sept. 7, 1942. I worked six months in the property auditors office and I asked to be transferred to the Engineer section as the work was too much eye strain. There I was made assistant foreman of 4A. My work there was interesting and I felt like we were really aiding the war effort. I received $1800.00 a year plus overtime which made about $2300.00. In late November my renter left me and began working at Hill Field. After he left I had to milk the cows (5 of them) night and morning. I had bought one, Lady, of Elijah Tams for $85.00. She proved to be a fine cow. I took good care of the cows and young heifers, three of which were registered. I hired a registered bull of Smoot Bros. His name was Sybils Riemette Design and was of high breeding. IN Feb. I rented the farm to H. W. Hoskins of Portage. They moved in and relieved me of the chores. He went right to work. We had a fine set of fruit, but a hail storm came and marked them up quite badly. We thought they would be unsaleable, but the demand for fruit was so great that we sold it for good prices. In April, 1943, Bp. J. Wesley Perry resigned and the Stake Presidency selected me to be Bishop. I was reluctant to accept for the main reason that I was sixty three years old and felt like they should choose a younger man. They did not think so and I accepted, because I had never refused any call the Church had made of me. On April 18th, 1943 I was sustained Bishop with Orvin M. Lemon and Lavoy Call as my counselors. I kept Mable Larkin as Ward Clerk. I was set apart 31 Oct. 1943 by Joseph Wirthlin, a counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. We found most of the organizations needed to be reorganized. The Sunday School with John P. Lowe, Supt., Don Barker and Leon Christiansen assistants, Y.M.M..I.A. with Geo. Facer Pres., Charles Lofthouse and Louis Harding, counselors, Y.L.I.A. with Rachel Barker, Pres., Hannah Woodland and Vera Tams counselors. Elders Quorum with Wayne Woodland, Pres., Howard Baddley and Fred Woodyatt counselors. We organized a genealogy committee with David Kunzler, chairman. Theodore Graser and Arthur Carlson, assistants. Hannah B. Nichols, secy. The ward Teachers were badley {his spelling or typing} disorganized - not over three of them making regular visits. The tithing office had not been used for several years. We renovated it and used it again. On May 8, 1943 we held a testimonial party for the retiring Bishopric at which books were given to them. We had a fine meeting followed by a dance in the class rooms. Most of the organizations needed reorganizing, John Lowe, Don Barker and Leon Christiansen were chosen Sup’t of the Sunday School, Geo. W. Facer, Charles Lofthouse and Lewis Harding for the Y.M.M.I.A. Ray Barker, Hannah Woodland and Vera Tams for the Y.L.M.I.A. Ella Hoskins, Jennie Carlson and Grace Keys for the Primary. The Relief Society was left with Lyma Cook, Mabel Larkin and Jennie Graser. Wayne Woodland, Howard Baddley and Fred Woodyatt for the Elders. We renovated the Tithing Office and put it into use again after several years of disuse. We purchased a stoker for the boiler and this has been a saving of labor and of coal. It cost $265.00, half of which the Church paid. To aid in keeping our chapel warm we locked the front door and had people enter and leave by the rear entrance. The ceiling of the chapel is too high for heating and for acoustics. The recreation hall and class rooms of our meeting house were built in 1913 while Joseph Hubbard, Helger Packer and A. B. Taylor were the Bishopric of the ward. Nothing has been done since to improve that part, except to reshingle it. About two years ago the recreation hall was considered unsafe to use because the north wall at the top has sprung out 4 or 5 inches, so upon advice of the Presiding Bishopric it’s use was discontinued. The ward was thus left without a good place to have recreation. The three class rooms were laid with a maple floor and used for dancing, parties, picture shows etc. The place is too small and is not suitable for such purposes, so on June 27, 1944 I wrote to Presiding Bishopric asking them to make an investigation of the building with a view of repairing it. After some time Bishop M. O. Ashton came up and looked it over and was very positive it should be repaired. This was followed a little later by a visit by Church Architect, Arthur P. Price and George Ashton, a builder of long experience. They were of the same opinion and encouraged us to proceed. We encountered some delays several times by changes in personnel in Church officers, but, finally we received an estimate of cost. A meeting of Ward members was called for Sept 8th at which a fair attendance was had. It was decided unanimously to authorize the Bishopric to get the estimate of cost just referred to above. Further work in preparation was done until Nov 27th when another meeting was held at the call of the Ward Bishopric to hear official estimates and examine proposed plans. The estimate called for $14020.00, total, our share to be one half. On Nov 20th we received and signed an application for the Church’s part of the cost. We signed, also a contract with the architects, Fetzer and Fetzer of Salt Lake, agreeing to pay them 5% of the cost of the building. On Jan 10th Emil Fetzer met with our building Committee and showed the plans as so far perfected. The following men were sustained as a finance Committee by the meeting on Nov 27: George W. Facer, Chairman, A.P.Dalton, Wynn David, Angus Ward. Building Committee” Alonzo Barker, Earl Lemon, William Kunzler, Earl Graser. Allotments were made to Ward members, who responded very liberally, many of them offering and paying more than was expected. Dec 29 we sent the P.B.O. a check for $5000.00 to apply on our share of the building. Paul Taylor lived the rest of his life in Willard on his farm. He remained active in the church. He died of a heart attack on the steps of the Willard chapel on November 4th 1956. Age 77 years.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Sep 13 2017, 21:27:43 UTC