Westons Go West 14 The end of a lot of things

February 20, 1881

Dear Fanny,

I have the worst news. You don't know them of course, but I have many times written to you of my friends, the Gilloglys. He is the Episcopalian Priest at the church where I had the children baptised, and I have been good friends with his wife, Lucelia for many years now. And on the 14^th, James died. He was only 37. He had been bed ridden for three weeks with a very bad stomach complaint, but nobody thought he would die from it. He was very much stressed by the court case. You probably remember me telling you about how he took the side of a woman who removed some windows and a door from a vacant property and was then threatened with theft by the sheriff. James took her side, and wrote a news article calling the man who was pressing charges, a "Mean Man". And he  sued James, for libel, and although it has been several times now over the past year dismissed from the court, it was to come to trial next week.

He was the first to be buried in the church grave yard, and his wife is having a monument erected his honour – a large marble column.

And poor Lucelia is expecting their fifth child. Poor woman. She has decided that the family will stay put for the time being, and she will continue at the church – school, where she teaches music. She is also involved in countless neighbourhood activities such as a reading room and the aid society, putting on countless socials and suppers for church funds, and is a much loved member of the community. She also runs the choir, and they perform frequently giving freely of their musical talent to enhance the lives of the people.

She does have the full support of regional Episcopalian Bishop Tuttle (pictured above) , who will pay her the full quarterly stipend ($250 – plus another $66.65 that was handed in as donations) that James would have received, so that will mean that she will be able to find alternative accommodation, as the new priest, Rev. Samuel Unsoworth and his family have already moved into the rectory.

Best wishes,

Mary

****

Dear Mary,

So sorry to hear the news about your friend's husband.

Our local excitement at the moment comes from our editor of the Silverlode Advocate, gambled away his newspaper to Will Fitzgerald, the newest owner of the White Horse Saloon. Abie says Fitzgerald is a troublemaker and fool.

Fitzgerald permitted Dave Powell to continue in employ at the paper, but has reversed the established editorial policy, and does his best to incite trouble with the good people of Adenville. He even printed his hope that their new tabernacle would be used for a smelter! Mormon goodwill for Silverlode dried up instantly: we have not seen a cent of their custom here at the Emporium since August. Not content with that, Fitzgerald made a farce of the local elections, and after his hand-picked slate of drunks handily lost - the Liberal Party will never be taken seriously in Washington County again - Fitzgerald "declared war" on Adenville. Fortunately, the Bishop has enough sense to know Fitzgerald for the buffoon he is, but that did not stop Fitzgerald from continuing with the stunt, rolling whisky barrels into the street to make a so-called barricade, offering free drinks to all comers. By nightfall, he had crammed half the town into his White Horse, and I daresay recovered the cost of his "barricade" several times over.

Unfortunately, when his custom spilled back out onto the streets again, ready for battle but with no one to fight, they spent their frustration on the rest of us. The Emporium took some damage, but Chinatown caught the worst of it. On nights like these they barricade themselves into Sam Wing's drugstore! I can only be thankful that the Chinese build their walls thick, and shutter their doors and windows with good iron.

If Dave Powell were to come to me for paper now, we would be forced, despite our long association, to tell him that we have no paper for the press. For in truth I do not: it may take three years to use the paper that currently sits under my counter, but I have none on hand for Fitzgerald's Advocate.

Your friend,

Fanny

*****

1882

The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882 is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882 by American President Chester A Arthur, declaring polygamy a felony. It also prohibites "bigamous" or "unlawful cohabitation" thus removing the need to prove that actual marriages had occurred. More than 1,300 men were imprisoned under the terms of this act.

It also revoked polygamists' right to vote, made them ineligible for jury service, and prohibited them from holding political office.

The Edmunds Act restrictions were enforced regardless of whether an individual was actually practicing polygamy, or merely stated a belief in the Mormon doctrine of plural marriage without actually participating in it.

All elected offices in the Utah Territory were vacated, an election board was formed to issue certificates to those who both denied a belief in polygamy and did not practice it, and new elections were held territory-wide.

 

1883

 

April 22, 1883
Silverlode, Utah Territory

Dear Mary,

My sister Sarah and I are here together, because she and Sam closed the store for a week to join us for Pesach! I cannot tell you how thrilled I am. It is the first holiday we have had for years.

Sam is going back to Frisco first thing in the morning, but Sarah and their baby Eva will stay on at least another week. Our Deborah will be devastated when her cousin leaves. She has been overcome with a fit of big-sisterness - she is quite put out with me that she has to wait until June for our new baby! - and has taken full charge of Eva, leading her everywhere and determined to teach her everything she knows. (Even the things Eva knows quite well! Fortunately for everyone, Eva has been remarkably tolerant.)

Deborah has just insisted to know who I am writing to, and is now making sure that Eva knows all about our friends in Ogden.)

Fanny

****

September 3, 1883
Silverlode, Utah Territory

Dear Mary,

We are closing the Emporium, certainly something we wouldn't have dreamed of a few years ago. But two more mines have closed, and the miners are few and far between. There is still good business to be had here, but it may not last for much longer. We are thinking of coming back to the Ogden area.

We may eventually be able to sell the building, but as matters currently stand, only the grander buildings are finding purchasers - Father Joe's church got bought, and is having it moved into Adenville for a theater and dance hall.

We are negotiating the sale of the rest of the Emporium's merchandise. Mr. Allen at the ZCMI has been obliging, and I expect to find purchasers in Cedar City for the stock that Mr. Allen has no use for. We should be able to be in your area sometime in October.

Best wishes,

Fanny

****

 

September 25, 1883

Dear Fanny,

I am so pleased that you will be coming to live in Ogden, and we can become real friends instead of only pen friends.

I told you quite a lot about our Indian chief over the years. Just this last year he came to live in a lodge on the bench overlooking Ogden. He occasionally came to our house for breakfast. “He wouldn’t sit down to eat until he had asked the blessing.  It seemed as if he would pray for hours, asking our Heavenly Father to bless the cattle on the hills and everything else he could think of. The children were really ready to eat when he got through.”

Earlier this year a quarrel between two braves at Little Soldier’s camp on the Ogden bench resulted in gunfire, and “several shots passed through the old chief’s lodge.  Little Soldier was not harmed, but he considered the incident a fatal omen foretelling death to his house.  In the three weeks that followed, he became debilitated and was confined to his lodge.  Death came on April 22.

Lots of whites and Indians combined at the funeral to mourn the loss of  Little Soldier.  Bishop Robert McQuarrie presided over the funeral on the bench in the Shoshone lodge and eulogized the chief.  Community leaders made remarks and a ward choir sang traditional hymns, and then longtime friend George Washington Hill spoke, making brief remarks in English and then speaking in Shoshone native tongue to Little Soldier’s family. One of his four wives survived him, Wango-bit-y, and also 12 children and three grandchildren. A Desert Evening News correspondent penned these words in summary: “He was a peaceful, honest, inoffensive man, a friend to the Mormon people, and was always a welcome guest at the houses of many people in this country. Peace to his ashes.”

Best wishes,

Mary