Westons Go West 10 - Bits and Bobs

January, 1877

St Margaret's

Leicestershire

December 20, 1876

Dear Mr. and Mrs. Weston

I am very sorry to have to inform you that your cousin, Ann Weston, has died. As you know, she was my faithful companion for the past few years, and I miss her very much. She died slowly of consumption, so her death was a blessed release in the end. She was buried in St. Margaret's chuchyard, next to her parents.

I'm sorry to bring such sad news at this time of what should be a joyful season. May I wish you a happy and blessed new year.

Yours faithfully,

Miss Mary Taillby

 

Mary showed the letter to Simon when he came back from work. He didn't appear very moved by his cousin's death – as although the families had once been close, that had been many years ago.

“I will see if we can get her entered into the faithful. She would want to be joined in heaven with us. As her closest relative, I have the right to do that. And, at the same time, I think I can enter the names of her parents, as I have entered those of mine. I must check with President Richards as to the procedure. Then we can all be together in celestial glory.”

“Simon, thou cannot,” said Mary very forcefully. “She hated the idea of us being Mormons. To now make use of her death to sneak her and her parents into thy fold would be dishonest.”

“Thee don't seem to appreciate the ways of our religion at all, Mary,” he said. “This is my business, and nothing to do with thee. Thee have made thy feelings about the church very clear to me.”

Mary's feelings about the Mormon religion had become more and more alienated as time went on, just as Simon's feelings had become more intense, and their marriage was straining from their differing opinions on just about everything. Mary had seriously considered asking James Gillogly if she could join the Episopal church, as it was the American version of the Anglican communion. She knew that he had been involved in the neighboring town of Plain City where there was a group of people who were former members of the Church of England. They had joined the Mormon Church, came to Utah, and after a time wished to return to their mother church. He gladly helped them, going back and forth between Ogden and Plain City for Sunday services.

Mary wanted her shop to be available to all – not just Mormons, and she asked Lucelia's advice about what she might stock that non-Mormons might want to buy. Her advice was tea, coffee and tobacco. Mary couldn't offer these things without Simon knowing about it, she approached him.

Simon was at first incensed that she would wish to do such a thing, in defiance of the laws of the Mormons. But when she argued her point of view, he felt that although he could not justify her doing it, he would stop short of point blank refusing to allow her to do so. However he said that to protect his integrity, the shop needed to be in her name only. Then he wouldn't have to try to justify that which he felt unjustifiable.

Mary was pleased in the decision, and she had hoped that he might decide to let her run the shop as she wished, but had hardly dared to hope it would come to pass.

She planned to open it early in the New Year, with the name, Mary's Bits and Bots, and had taken out an advertisement in the local paper, The Ogden Daily Herald,  listing the sorts of things she stocked.

Simon had allowed her $50 with which to buy the stock, and she and her friend Lucelia had gone by train to a wholesaler in Salt Lake city over the holidays, when both men were available to babysit. They had caught the train at 8.40 from Ogden, arriving there at 10.30. They had shopped without a break, having taken sandwiches and a drink to have with them on the train home, which they caught at 3.15 and arrivied back in Ogden at 5.45.

They bought from a list they had carefully priced up before leaving, and arranged for the items to be delivered, except for some of the small light weight items that they managed to carry back with them.

The store would stock the following:

Printed Muslins (available by the yard)

Printed and Self-color Cambrics

Black Mourning Silk

Shawls

Ladies' and Children's Underclothing

Household and Table Linen

Hosiery, Gloves, and Umbrellas

Dressmaking patterns

Baby linen

Buttons, thread, needles, pins, ribbons and cord, eyelets, lace

Knitting and crochet and tatting supplies

It was Lucelia's suggestion that Mary also stock the sorts of things that people need and will have forgotten to buy when they went shopping elsewhere – like throat soothers, matches and basic medical supplies, like candles, cod liver oil, salt petre, naptha, smelling salts, coal tar soap, baking soda, and balsam aniseed. She knew that as she became more experienced, she would alter her stock according to the needs of her customers.

Mary decided that her working  needed to not inconvenience Simon in any way, so she didn't open until 9.30 after he, Isaac and Eban had gone to work, and she had taken Joseph and Alice to their school. And she closed during the period from 3-4 when she went to collect the children, but opened again from 4-5.30 – although during this time, she was mostly in the kitchen, dealing with the meal, but keeping her ear open for the bell ringing, announcing that she had a customer. She kept little Annie near her all day, having a playpen within the shop to keep her safe while her mother was busy with the customers. Annie was luckily a very docile and happy child, and so far no problems had ensued. If any of the children became ill, she of course knew that she would have to close the shop for that period.

 

*****

February 4, 1877
Silverlode, Utah Territory

Dear Mary

I am so pleased  that you will have the shop in your name, as personally I don't trust  the Mormon male dominated world. I suggest that if you really want to attract non-Mormon customers, you should stop theeing and thouing all the time.

One thing you must make sure you have enough of is wrapping paper. We have found a new use for our large supply. Our newspaper from Pioche, the Gazette, did not move to Silverload with the rest of us, so we have been without a newspaper here. But now we have the arrival of a Mr. Dave Powell, bringing a printing press with him.

Mr. Powell is given to excessive drink and heavy gambling, and I initially expected little of his paper. However, I was much pleased to discover that his impetuosity is not reflected in his editorial policies: Mr. Powell, unlike most of his profession, refuses to malign or libel the Mormons in his pages. As you might imagine, since he panders to neither Mormons nor "Gentiles," he is struggling for subscriptions. We have subscribed, and have sent him our printing business as well.

This week Mr. Powell was unable to procure sufficient newsprint for his edition.  Upon hearing of his crisis, Abie volunteered all the wrapping paper I had, and was proud to see the Advocate go to press on time. (Mr. Powell printed a notice of his thanks in the issue; I have posted it in the Emporium.)

Hence, we are currently without wrapping paper for our customers.

 

Fondly,

Fanny

*****

On March 23 John Lee executed for Mountain Meadows Massacre. In 1874, he was arrested and tried for leading the massacre. His first trial ended inconclusively with a hung jury, seemingly because of the prosecution's attempt to portray Brigham Young as the true mastermind of the massacre. A second trial this year, in which the prosecution placed the blame squarely on Lee's shoulders, ended with his conviction and he was sentenced to death. Lee never denied his own involvement, but claimed he had not personally killed anyone. He said he had been a vocally reluctant participant and later a scapegoat meant to draw attention away from other Mormon leaders who were also involved.

Lee further maintained that Brigham Young had no knowledge of the event until after it happened. However, in the Life and Confessions of John D. Lee he wrote, "I have always believed, since that day, that General George Smith was then visiting southern Utah to prepare the people for the work of exterminating Captain Fancher's train of emigrants, and I now believe that he was sent for that purpose by the direct command of Brigham Young."

John Lee was executed by firing squad at Mountain Meadows (pictured above)  on the site of the 1857 massacre. His last words included a reference to Brigham Young: "I do not believe everything that is now being taught and practiced by Brigham Young. I do not care who hears it. It is my last word. I have been sacrificed in a cowardly, dastardly manner."

*****

This year was a busy one for Simon. First of all, in the summer, he took time off and traveled with President Franklin Richards and Brigham Young to help organise some of the States of Zion and dedication of Temple Buildings.

And then everyone's world fell apart when in August 29th, Brigham Young died aged 76. His eldest son was immediately ordained as an apostle, but no one was immediately considered to replace him as supreme ruler of the church.

 

****

September 13, 1877

Silverload, Utah Territory

Dear Mary,

Things are not looking too good for us financially at the moment. The good people of Adenville do not frequent the Emporium. Farmers come to town to sell their produce - either door-to-door or to Ben Wong, the greengrocer - but they do not spend their own money here, preferring instead to frequent their own tiny Z.C.M.I. or to travel to St. George. So, too, with the young Mormon men who work in the mines: they come, they work, and they leave, spending their wages in Adenville, not in Silverlode.

You well know that I do not begrudge their loyalty to their ZCMI. Adenville is too small for a merchant to survive there, and thus their ZCMI is much like the Church's railroads: built in deference to the town's need, and not in expectation of profit. Moreover, mining camps rise and fall overnight, and the farmers know that the ZCMI will remain when Glassman's Emporium moves on. They do not do badly to frequent it! However, there is much their ZCMI does not sell - and which Glassman's does! - and yet they travel all the way to St. George or they do without.

In hopes of reminding our local Saints of the long history of good faith between Jews and their Church, just previous to his death,  I posted in the Emporium's window Brigham Young's invitation to the Jews of Salt Lake City to use the Mormon Temple for our services, and a copy of our letter of thanks . But beyond the occasional sale of a coyote trap, little Mormon business has resulted from it.

However, yesterday we broke our fast and opened the shop to find a great crowd in the street. Abie and Sam and I were run off our feet. Many seemed to believe we were conducting a special sale for Yom Kippur - we were as much perplexed to hear of it, as they were to hear that we were not! - but finally the truth came out. A young Mormon farmer had seen our notice - for we had posted a sign announcing that in observance of Yom Kippur we would not open until sunset - and he resolved that if we respected our religion so much as to close our doors, then he would show us his respect in turn, and wait until we opened! He steadfastly set himself before our door, where he was later joined by several of his brethren. The saloon trade noticed the group, and by sunset, many had joined for no better reason than having seen a crowd waiting for something! All told, we did far better business yesterday evening than we have on any Saturday!

In the end, the young Mormon man who started it all wanted only a few notions easily obtained at his own ZCMI - in fact, he had begun the day with no intent to purchase anything at all, at his ZCMI or elsewhere! I of course refused to charge him, but he would not hear of it, and very solemnly placed twenty-five cents on the counter and refused to take it back, not even when I told him that it was far too generous a sum for the thread and buttons he had purchased! Needless to say - although I made sure to inform him! - he and his friends have my thanks and a standing discount at Glassman's Emporium.

Best wishes

Fanny

 

On the 9^th of December, there was a new Mormon schoolhouse built, a big structure, 24 x 40 feet, was dedicated, prayer offered by counselor S. J. Harrop.   Speeches  congratulated the Saints for their energy and faith manifested by this substantial edifice, it being a credit to them and an evidence of the interest they felt in the education of their children, as well as having a desirable and comfortable house in which to assemble for worship and for general instruction and improvement. Simon was pleased, but Mary was not, because she had hoped that she might convince Simon that their children would be better off in the Episcopal School run by her friends the Gilloglys.