WILLIAM
HENRY GIBBS
(Written by J. Edward Gibbs)
William Henry Gibbs
was born Feb. 7, 1851 in Haverford, West Pembrokeshire, South Wales. He
was baptized Feb. 22, 1859. He was ordained an Elder by Miles
Hall, Jan. 1872; a High Priest by Eliza A. Box, Oct. 24, 1877; a Patriarch
by Orson F. Whitney, May 21, 1916; a temple worker by George F. Richards, May
6, 1929.
He was married to Letitia John Feb.
5, 1877 at Salt Lake City in the Endowment House by Daniel H.
Wells. He departed for a mission to Chattanooga, Tenn. Oct.
12, 1884 and returned Mar. 12, 1887.
In 1873 he was called
as a Sunday school teacher; also a block teacher. In 1875 he was
appointed precinct road supervisor. He died at Portage, Box
Elder County, Utah on Aug. 22, 1935 and was buried atPortage Aug. 25, 1935.
In the spring of 1868
at the request of his father, John D. Gibbs, he arrived at Portage and
for the first time beheld the valleys of the mountains, canyons and springs of
flowing water that would be his home the greater part of his life. Here
he met Clark Ames and arranged with him to double up and plow the virgin sod of
five acres, harrow and plant this plot of ground in wheat. This was
accomplished and he returned toWillard, Utah. While
working this ground he met and became acquainted with Letitia John. William
hoped to become better acquainted with the blue eyed young woman. The
teams used in plowing and cultivating the soil were oxen.
Jan. 10, 1869,
William, with five others, took a contract to build five stations on the Union
Pacific Railroad. The ground was wet and boggy. The men
used spades and wheelbarrows to do the work. In March of 1869, he again
came to Portage where he plowed, sowed, and harrowed the five
acres. As soon as this was accomplished William and James John
packed their blankets and with a few sandwiches, walked to Promontory where
they secured work with Bishop John Sharp. The pay was $2.50 per day
with double time for Sunday. This work was grading for the
railroad. About May 20th, he returned to Portage where
his father, John D. Gibbs, had secured some land. William busied
himself getting out logs for a home for the family. He rented a one
room log house with Charles John. His mother, Julia A. Gibbs, came
and kept house while he was working. In early spring of 1871, he
returned to Portage, planted the crops, assisted in
the erection of a two room log house for his father and family. During
these visits and working days he would find time to visit with, or you might
say he was courting, Letitia. In the fall of 1871 he and others
had furnished money and work to the extent of over $3,000 in making a
canal. To their surprise they learned the water was at the wrong end
of the canal. Then his father decided to move to the west side of
the valley where he could get water from the mountains to the west. William
went to work and assisted in moving the home and rebuilt it on a piece of
ground which, after a survey, placed the home on the southeast corner of a
block in the townsite of Portage. Sept.
28th William hired out to drive eight head of
horses and two wagons to Butte, Montana.
He had some thrilling
experiences on this trip. He returned home the middle of
December. This winter he worked around home getting out fire wood,
fence material and helped dig the first grave in Portagecemetery. Sometime
in Jan 1872, he was ordained an Elder and Jan. 25 he asked Presiding Elder Oliver
C. Hoskins for a recommend to go to the Endowment House to be married. He
borrowed an oxen team from his father to make the trip to Salt Lake
City. On the 5th of Feb., 1872, they were happily
married, and, at the suggestion of his wife, the following items were purchased
to set p house keeping: 1
table, 4 chairs, 6 knives, 6 forks, 6 spoons, 3 cups and saucers, 4 tumblers, 1
bake skillet, 1 frying pan, 1 bucket: total $47; $3 to have his team shod;
empty pocket book.
He built a porch on
his father’s home and lived with them for a short time until he could build a
two-room log home. He built the chimney with adobes he had
made. Not able to buy nails, the floor was tacked down with wooden
pegs which he cut out of hard wood. Casings were also fastened on
with wooden pegs. While he was doing this work his wife was busy
scouring, washing and cording wool after which she spun the wool on
shares. She had enough cloth for a suit of clothes, dresses, and
underwear for both. She had also paid for the weaving in yarn she
had spun. The grasshoppers and crickets took most of the crops this
year. He went to Willard where he worked for Amos Warner at $1.50 a
day and payment was mostly in store pay. Jan. 23 a new addition to
the family, a son, was born to gladden the hearts, but he wasn’t to stay with
them long. He was christened Thomas John Gibbs. On May 30th he left them with broken hearts. He was the
third to be buried in the Portage cemetery. William was
given work in the church as a Sunday school and block teacher. The
crickets again took the crops.
William worked in
getting cedar posts and fire wood. These he hauled as far away as Corinne, Utah. This
brought him an average of $1.75 per day for man and team. The winter
of 1874 he carried forward as he had done the previous year. In the
early part of this winter the men of the community organized a debating
society. William was elected secretary and treasurer.
Jan. 9, 1875 another
son came to gladden their hearts. He was named William Henry. William
was appointed by the commissioners as road overseer in the Portage district. One
Dec. 26th another son arrived. He was named
Samuel William. He passed away the same day.
March 1, 1877 the Portage branch
was organized as a ward. This was done under the direction of
Apostle Lorenzo Snow. Oliver C. Hoskins was set apart as bishop with
Van Hale as first and William Henry Gibbs as second counselors.
On Dec. 22, 1879 a
daughter was born. She was the fifth child and was named Julia Ann
Gibbs.
March. 22,
1881, twins, Francis Duggan and Frances Letitia, were born. The
boy passed away soon after birth. The eighth child arrived on Jan.
26, 1884 and was named Charles Warren Gibbs. May 1, 1884William
was summoned to serve on the jury at Ogden. On May 10 he
received a call from President John Taylor to fill a mission in the Southern
States. He was prepared to leave Salt Lake City for his
field of labor on May 30, 1884. He went to Salt Lake,
conferred with President George Q. Cannon. Pres. Cannon instructed
him to finish his work as a juror and then report to the office of the first
Presidency. On May 18, 1884he attended the dedication of the Logan Temple. He
hauled the first load of rock to the Temple at Logan, Oct.
9, 1884, in company with 35 other Elders. He was assembled in the
office of President John Taylor waiting to be set apart to the mission when
President Wilford Woodruff came in and
announced that all the Elders called to the Southern State mission were
released to return home until further notice. Word had been received
of the martyrdom of John Gibbs and Elder Berry in the Southern States.
Elder John Gibbs was a
cousin of William but on Oct. 12, Elder William H. Gibbs and Daltan were instructed to leave immediately for Chattanooga, Tenn. On
the way they visited the fair at St. Louis.
William labored in North
Carolina and Tennessee for two and one half years. He
arrived home on Mar. 12, 1887. While on his mission he had the
privilege of baptizing three persons. In Aug. 1887 William was
elected Justice of the Peace and served for two years.
On the 6th of Dec. 1887, another baby girl arrived, the 9th child. Her name was Amelia Naomi.
On Feb. 12, 1888 the Malad Stake was organized. The boundaries
were from the Bear River on the south to Snake River on the
north and embraced the following wards: Plymouth, Washakie, Portage in Utah, Woodruff, Cherry Creek, Malad, St. John, Samaria, Rockland and Neeleyville in Idaho. The president
was Oliver C. Hoskins with Abraham Zundel and
William H. Gibbs as counselors.
During the year 1895,
William was active in politics. He espoused the Republican
platform. He was elected a member to the Utah Constitutional
Convention. In 1896 he was elected to the Utah State Legislature.
Mar. 22, 1902, the
Stake Presidency was reorganized. Milton H. Welling was sustained
President with William H. Gibbs as first and Moroni Ward
as second counselors. Next the Stake was divided into the MaladStake and the Bear River Stake. Milton H.
Welling was president of the Bear River Stake and William H. Richards as
president of the Malad Stake with William
H. Gibbs as first and Louis D. Jones as second counselors. These men
served faithfully for 20 years, gaining the faith, love and confidence of the
Saints as well as those not of our faith.
On May 21, 1916 William
was set apart as Stake Patriarch by Elder Orson F. Whitney. On May
6, 1929 he was set apart as a Temple Ordinance worker in
the Salt Lake Temple by Elder George F. Richards.
From 1862 to 1882 he
handled and drove oxen but later bought a span of bay mares. He
loved this team and after being in the mission field for 2 ½ years he entered
the corral and called the names of this span of mares and they immediately
nickered, turned around and as he spoke the second time they trotted up to his
side and rubbed their heads against his body. He loved his fellow men, he adored the animals and had reverence for all. He
served 51 years in all as counselor to his leaders and never failed in an
appointment. He lived to see transportation by ox team, horses,
railroad, automobile and airplane. He was always interested in new
developments for the advancement of the work of our Father in Heaven.
His appointment as an
Ordinance Worker in the Salt Lake Temple came as a surprise
but was received with appreciation and he filled every appointment with
willingness.
About July 15,
1935 his health began to fail. He felt that if he could get
into the country away from the noise and bustle of the city he would be well in
a few days. He came to his home in Portage. Here for
a few days his health improved, then again it commenced to fail and he grew
weaker and weaker as the days came and went, yet he would not or could not
believe that his days here on Earth were few. He was able to wait on
himself. The evening of Aug. 22, 1935 he retired as usual
and at midnight he arose and spoke to his son, Hyrum, and nephew, John
R. Gibbs. He then went to bed. In a few minutes he gave a
deep sigh. Hyrum and John R. went into the bed room and William had passed
away. He died as he lived, faithful to his convictions, loved and
lovable, devoted and true, clean and reverent, an abiding testimony of the
truthfulness and teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
