Tiller of the Earth - William Wadley - backup

Tiller of the Earth William Wadley His Life and Family by Effie W Adams Published by P.G Printers Inc Pleasant Grove, Utah July 1986 WILLIAM WADLEY 1825 - 1912 Life Sketch of William Wadley William Wadley joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (L.D.S.) in Wales in 1848 and left for Utah in 1853 For these two deeds we, his posterity, honor him with the publication of this book It is not our purpose to make a saint of William He was a man burdened with faults and weaknesses, like all of us, but he was a pioneer with resoluteness and fortitude He made an important contribution to his times, and he opened the door to better life for his descendants One source of information for this history is William's own handwritten page sketch written in 1909, when he was eighty-four years old He begins, I, William Wadley, son of Edward Wadley and Ann Reynolds Wadley, was born October 8th, 1825, in the Parish of Newent, in Gloucestershire, England Am the oldest son of my father My father was the oldest son of his father Our forefathers came from Scotland to England about hundred years ago and settled in Kempley in Herefordshire, England My great grandfather Thomas Wadley was born in Upton Bishop My Grandfather, Edward Wadley, was born in Newent Parish My father was born in Newent, and I was born in Newent Parish It was a farming district Newent is a town a short distance northwest of Gloucester Now it is accessible by highway, but in the early 1800's it was linked to other towns and parishes by narrow roads and paths Bordering the current highways are the ancient hedgerows and rock walls which remain as they have been for centuries Newent is an old town historically, and we learn from modern tourist guide that it is noted in the Doomsday Book (1086) that there are "no less than thirteen variations of the name Newent which have been used down the intervening years." One writer calls it "New In," built to accommodate travelers on the new way into central Wales Another suggests that its name came from an ancient proper noun meaning "New Place" Most of the fields around Newent are now cultivated, but wherever there is an uncultivated area, and along hedgerows and ditch banks, there are daffodils growing which in the spring show a wave of color These wild patches of daffodils are what remain of fields planted originally for making dye Now they flower without any attention and add greatly to England's beauty in the late April and early May.1 In 1982, Carma Wadley, a great-granddaughter of William and a writer for the Deseret News, visited Newent She wrote about the Church of St Mary the Virgin and its graveyard In the center of Newent, as in the case in most English villages, is the church, in this case the church of St Mary the Virgin … A church has stood at that location since Anglo-Saxon times (before the Norman Conquest of 1066) they say, and on display in the church are a few Saxon artifacts unearthed there … As interesting as the old Church is, equally fascinating is the quiet graveyard surrounding it There, under sometimes ornately carved, sometimes crumbling markers, countless souls are, indeed, resting in peace … And way off in the corner, on a tilted, fading marker: "In memory of Edward Wadley who died July 5, 1847, age 71 years Also of Martha the wife of the above" These were William's grandparents Later, in a little churchyard in nearby Aston Ingham, we found the grave of William's brother John, and those of several other Wadleys (Deseret News, May 1, 1982, “Spectra Page”) ANNE REYNOLDS WADLEY Mother of William Wadley WADLEY HOME IN NEWENT, ENGLAND William Wadley’s Boyhood Home William's parents were “yeoman” farmers in Newent, which probably meant that they owned their own small plot of land His father was a forester and fruit raiser, as was also his father's father, Edward, and his great grandfather, Thomas Wadley The Wadley family lived in a home built by Ann Reynolds’ (William's mother) father, Joseph Reynolds William had four younger brothers: John, born April 5, 1827; Richard, born December 4, 1828; Joseph, born December 23, 1830; and Henry, born December 14, 1832 A younger brother and sister died as children The small Wadley farm in Newent furnished limited sustenance for a growing family, and at the age of seven, William was put out as an apprentice to a farmer who lived quite a distance from William's home His job was to feed and care for the farm horses and then ride the lead horse as the horses walked single file to keep from packing too much ground They were feed about three o'clock in the morning so they could start work at daybreak Many years later, workers on William's own farm in Pleasant Grove, Utah, said that William always liked to have his horses fed before daylight, which was probably the result of this very early training William told a story to his family in later years of being very sleepy one morning and being unable to get out of bed The stern farmer, finding him still asleep, threw a bucket of cold water in his face From then on during his lifetime William seldom slept in after three a.m He said his lunch during these apprentice years always consisted of bread, cheese and cider William learned to read and write while he was young by attending a Sunday school He never mentioned if he attended regular school What samples we have of his writing, such as his missionary journal and letters, show that his writing was plain and readable, and his spelling adequate William commented in later years that he was dismissed from Sunday school because he asked so many questions that the teacher could not answer Gloucester, England near where William was living, was the birthplace of the famous "Raikes' Ragged School" established in 1780 This was a Sunday school primarily for poor children, who were taught to read and to spell so they could study the Bible The movement eventually developed into a world-wide activity that resulted in the organization of “Sunday Schools” after which L.D.S Sunday School was patterned When William was nineteen years old he saw an opportunity to better his lot He wrote briefly of a move he made: I worked for the farmer till I was 19 years old, then I left England and went to Wales to Glamorganshire and worked in the coal mines near Merthyr Tydfil In 1844 when William went to work in the coal mines, Merthyr Tydfil was the largest city in Wales and was about 70 miles from Newent The 1840s were boom years for Merthyr Tydfil It was a city of great iron works that were operating at capacity Orders for iron came from all parts of the world Great railroads were being built world-wide, and orders for tons of rails kept the great mills the largest in the world working to capacity To support the needs of the ironworks, the coal mines were expanding considerably Coal had been mined in South Wales for more than two thousand years, but the growth of the iron industry brought great expansion of the mining activity This expansion resulted in rapid population growth as workers from other parts of Wales, from England, and other countries came to get employment.5 To William, age nineteen, working on a farm in Newent not far away, the opportunity to better must have loomed large Living conditions in the mining town were poor, but they were even more depressed in his home town So when William left Newent in 1844 to work in the mines, he fully expected to better his life This betterment came about in a totally unexpected way He wrote, There I herd the gospell and was Baptized on the day of Dec 1848 in Pennydarren by Thomas Llewelin and was confirmed on the following Sunday by David John who was the president of the Penydarren Branch of the Church The restored gospel of Jesus Christ had been introduced into England in 1837 by Heber C Kimball and other missionaries The expansion of the work was given a boost when Brigham Young and others apostles accompanied Kimball when he returned to the United Kingdom on a second mission in 1939 The L.D.S missionary work had spread to North Wales by 1840, and a convert, John Needham, took the message to South Wales and Merthyr Tydfil The work there spread, and on March 26, 1843, a branch was organized in Pennydarren, a village near Merthyr Tydfil The work continued to spread rapidly, and was given great stimulus when Dan Jones, a native of Wales, returned from America where he had met Joseph Smith and been converted to the Church Dan Jones was Welsh and could speak the local language He preached with power and fervor Under his leadership the Latter-day Saints movement realized phenomenal success At a conference in Merthyr Tydfil on January 6, 1849, a membership of 3,603 was reported William was among this number, having been baptized one month earlier, December 4, 1848 In January 1975 a stake of the LDS church was organized in South Wales with stake headquarters at Merthyr Tydfil The church's first welfare project in Europe was also located there, a nursery in Ynysfach.7 William was much involved in proselytizing after his baptism He wrote: Three months after, I was ordained a teacher, and set to in that office Soon I was ordained a priest and was sent out to preach the gospel In a little wile after, I was ordained an Elder and continued to preach till April 1851 Ward records show that William was ordained a teacher May 30, 1849, by William Beynard He was ordained a priest on January 8, 1850, by John Jones, and an Elder on October 2, 1850 by William Beadow William continued to work in the mines to sustain him, but devoted much time to his missionary work His sketch in the Biographical Record says: "After his baptism he devoted a portion of the remainder of his life in Wales to the work of the Church." In April 1851 he returned to England He had been in Wales about seven years He wrote: I was released from Wales and went back to England where I continued to preach in my native place where I baptized a number of converts in the Cheltman conference which was presided over by Elder John Hyde who came and organized a new branch of about 20 members At that time I was appointed to preside over the new branch and to (two) other old branches, namely the Prencil, the Linton, and the new branch which was called the Cliffordsmean Branch The three branches was made a district and I was set apart to preside over the district which I did to the best of my ability till 1853 when I was released to gather to Zion with the saints William continues: In my labors I baptized my father and mother and my bro Joseph who I brought out with me when I came out to this country, which was in 1853 William covers the next important, exiting events very briefly I his sketch written sixty years later "We (William and Joseph) left our father's home on day of January and arrived in Salt Lake City on September 28, same year." Since William never saw his parents again, and was leaving his native land permanently, one would have expected him to express some inner feelings at this parting, but expressing sentiment was something William seldom did Joseph, William's brother, was more diligent in keeping record of their experiences during this time than was William Joseph indicates that the two brothers used the resources of the Perpetual Emigration Fund (PEF) to emigrate This fund was set up during the latter part of 1852 It was the theory of the PEF that voluntary donations would be secured from church members wherever located, and those benefiting from the fund would continually replenish it after their arrival in Salt Lake Valley Joseph notes that both he and William were diligent in paying into this fund before they left England An epistle issued by Brigham Young to the saints could have influenced William to come to Utah at this particular time Brigham Young wrote advising missionaries bringing immigrants to Zion to: come home as fast as possible, bringing your poor, your silver, your gold, and everything that will beautify and ennoble Zion, and establish the house of the Lord, not forgetting the seeds of all choice trees, and fruits, and grains, and useful productions of the earth William might have been encouraged to come because he was a farmer and knew how to grow fruit Or he might have been encouraged to come because he was a coal miner, and the iron industry was struggling to become established in Utah and had generated a need for coal miners It is not known whether William brought seeds or tree cuttings with him on this trip, but in every other move he made in later years he took trees, seeds, and cuttings which would enrich and produce in his new home The emigration lists show that Joseph registered as a laborer, and William registered as a collier (coal miner) They each deposited $2.00 for their fare, and had a balance of $31.00 due the Perpetual Emigration Fund They were booked on "The Ellen Maria," a "Square Rigger" sailing vessel, making her third trip across the Atlantic with LDS emigrants Following is an item from the Millennial Star, as quoted in the sketch of Joseph Wadley CROSSING SIXTY-FIRST COMPANY The Ship "Ellen Maria" sailed from Liverpool January 17, 1853, after being detained in port several days by contrary winds On this vessel the President of the British Mission shipped 332 saints under the direction of Moses Clawson Among the numbers were Elder Thomas Pugh, late counselor of the President of the Church in Wales, and Elder George Kendall, who presided over the Derbyshire Conference The voyage proved a pretty rough and stormy one, especially during the first eight days after leaving port, and considerable sickness prevailed among the saints Among others, President Clawson was sick nearly the entire voyage Five births and five deaths occurred on board, and two marriages were solemnized On the th of March 1853, the "Ellen Maria" arrived with her precious cargo in New Orleans making passage from Liverpool in 47 days 10 Among those traveling on the Ellen Maria was James Farmer, who became the Diarist for the Company On the day before the ship sailed, his entry says this about the Wadley brothers: At 2pm Bro Moses Clawson called all the Elders together to organize us into companies There were 25 Elders on board Every Elders had charge over the Saints living near them up to the boundary of the next and so on through the vessel I, Elders Welsh, W Wadley, and Josh Wadley had charge over the portion near the hatchway and had to see that all things were in order Another entry on the 11th of February makes note of William: Fine morning S W Wind and sailing about knots My turn to cook from to 11 and from to I was this day appointed by Elder Duce to see that the places of convenience were properly cleaned in connection with Bro Wm Wadley so that all might be cleanly On the 27th Farmer makes this entry: Being Sunday morning I and Elder Wadley took and washed each other all over with salt water It was a fine morning and we were steering N W with fair wind 11 The "Ellen Maria" arrived at New Orleans on the 6th of March The Church Emigration Agent who met them there was John Brown He was later to be bishop in Pleasant Grove, where both William and Joseph settled It was still a long way from New Orleans to Salt Lake City, and many people were involved in getting immigrants there A summary of the activities necessary is given by Leonard Arrington in his book, Great Basin Kingdom He writes: Before 1854, emigrant ships landed at New Orleans From there they took a 700-mile trip by river steamer up the Mississippi to St Louis This trip usually took a week From St Louis they took a river boat some 500 miles to Kanesville, Iowa, or whatever point was selected for outfitting This trip took two weeks and more At each point the emigrant companies were met by an agent who had chartered boats, purchased supplies and equipment, and provided for their well-being Housing had to be provided for those who remained at each stopping place on account of sickness or other reasons, also housing for the entire company in case of unexpected delay When emigrant companies arrived at the frontier camp their outfit had been purchased by the Emigration Agent and was waiting for them.12 Leaving New Orleans, William and Joseph and their company went up the river to St Louis on the steamer James Noble This boat had some extremely rough sailors on board and they gave the immigrants trouble, attempting to rob, rape and generally plunder Strong watches were needed, and William was one of these watches as mentioned by Farmer on the night of March 10 We appointed of us, myself, bros Welsh, Winter, Metcalf, Field, Wadley, Smart and George Smith This evening the sailors were very unruly and were determined not to be governed They were determined to sit about until the sisters got into bed They used some very bad language which caused some of the sisters to be afraid Later a cry of "Watchmen murder" and screaming was heard I, Bro Welsh, Smart and Metcalf rushed where the cry was made On arriving at the spot on the deck men run away from the Bed of Bro and Sister Naggs These men tried to commit a rape on the body of Sister Naggs They said they would stick her with a knife if she resisted The cry was made and they run away 13 So although the passage across the Atlantic had been rough but not threatening, the one up the river to St Louis was filled with tension for William and the other saints At St Louis, the immigrants left the James Noble Some of them planned to stay in St Louis until they earned enough to continue to Utah Others boarded later steamers and proceeded to Keokuk, Iowa The outfitting point moved west as facilities for transportation improved and supplies became available In 1853 Keokuk, Iowa, was the western outfitting point, and in succession the following cities: Kansas City (1854); Iowa City (1856); Florence, Nebraska (1857; Wyoming, Nebraska (1864); Benton, Nebraska (1868); and later in the 1869, Laramie, Wyoming After the transcontinental railroad was completed in March 1869, emigration companies traveled all the way to Utah by rail Horace S Eldredge was the emigration agent at St Louis in 1853 That year he purchased over four hundred wagons and two thousand head of oxen to take care of the four thousand saints who would pass through his care on their way to Salt Lake Valley 14 The problem of buying cattle near St Louis created a new calling for William Because stock was not available along the Mississippi River, William and thirteen others were called to go west into Missouri to purchase additional cattle The Biographical Record tells of William's assignment: about May 1st (he, William Wadley) was appointed one of the company of thirteen young men to purchase oxen for use in taking emigrant trans across the plains They went to Saint Joseph and from there into the country a distance of fifty-three miles and purchased eight hundred and ten oxen, which they drove to Fort Keokuk, Iowa, and walking the entire distance 15 The event is narrated in another source in the slightly different way R.D Wadley, son of William, told it as follows for a family history written in 1955: Because of the great number of immigrants crossing the plains that year, all of the available cattle in an accessible area had been purchased, so William and two other men were selected to go farther back from the river and try to purchase the stock needed for their company They traveled on foot over one thousand miles before sufficient stock could be purchased for the trip to the Valley Upon returning to their settlement, their clothes were so worn they were unwilling to make an appearance in them, so they all pooled the best of what they were wearing and outfitted one man to go into camp and get sufficient clothing for them to make an appearance and make a report The cattle buying assignment caused a delay so that William and Joseph did not travel with other company members who crossed with the Moses Clawson Company to Utah The Wadleys left with the Vincent Shurtliff Company This group was called "an undocumented company," evidently meaning that there was no roster of the Company, or it could have been assembled unofficially and made up of unassigned members On Church immigration records the Shurtliff Company left Keokuk on the 13th of July, 1853, 16 but according to Joseph Wadley's journal, they left Koekuk the latter part of June and on July 13 th were crossing the Missouri River at Council Bluffs (Kanesville) A quote from the Journal History says: Captain Shurtliff, who was returning from a mission to England, took charge of the eighth company, which consisted of a train loaded with merchandise consigned to Salt Lake City and a small company of emigrating saints They crossed the Missouri River at Council Bluffs July 13th, at which time the river was said to have been higher than at any time known since white men had set foot on its banks 17 10 their needs Building a new meeting house became their first priority They wanted a house that could be dedicated to the Lord for his work Millen Dan Atwood donated the southwest corner of his property for the building, and work commenced The location was on the bench over looking the entire Utah Valley It was determined by members that the church house be built of the soft rock from the quarries William had developed on the hill east of his home He donated as much rock as was needed The foundation was laid deep and firm, and the walls were square and true However, the building was not finished until after Bishop Swenson and his counselors, William and Joseph Halliday, were released and a new bishop, Charles P Warnick, was called In bishop Warnick’s writings is this note about the meeting house: When I had moved from Pleasant Grove I, with my family interested ourselves in the activities of the new ward into which we had moved (Manila) I did all I could to help complete the meeting house which the people of this small ward were struggling to build The first meeting was held in it in November 1896 We worked unitedly helping in every way possible for its completion, and it was ready for dedication on December 18, 1898 The cost was reported to be $2,462.50 cash assessments besides labor The ward was organized April 20, 1890, so the few people had done very well to erect this building in eight years while maintaining the other required church activities 41 MANILA MEETING HOUSE ABOUT 1920 31 (NOTE: The church building has served its congregations well Now [1986], it has outlived even the youngest member who worked on it There have been additions and remodelings and plasterings which camouflage the original building, but its foundation is still firm, and its walls uncracked It is a well blessed old building, having been dedicated three times since the original first prayer was offered by President Partridge of the Utah Stake on December 18, 1898 A later remodeling was dedicated by President Heber J Grant, April 18, 1937 A third dedicatory prayer covering new additions was given by Joseph Fielding Smith, April 26, 1964, and a fourth prayer, dedicating other new additions was offered August 10, 1980, by President Grant fugal, Manila Stake President.) MANILA WARD GROUP about 1900 in front of Manila Ward Church William and Isabella Wadley are 4th and 5th from left in front row, standing William’s third wife, Mary Byard, died October 2, 1893 William wrote to a niece in England telling of this event and other news The letter was written on Stationery with printed letterhead noting “OFFICE OF WILLIAM WADLEY AND SONS, FRUIT GROWERS,” dated October 11, 1894 Dear Niece, Aunt Mary died one year ago She suffered a great deal She had a cancer in her mouth and she died by inches Julie is still living in her mother’s house, and Nephi he is getting a big boy now Johnny and Dan are getting big boys Richard is about feet tall Netey will soon be a young woman 32 We should very much like to see all of you folks once more but I am getting old and can hardly expect to come back home again I am now in my seventieth year and am yet able to a good deal of work tho I get very tired at night We have a very heavy crop of fruit this season, more than we can save We have a great many peaches went to waste Our crops are very good of everything this season We have now about 300 stands of bees and they keep me busy to attend to them all summer We have lots of honey and fruit of all kinds If you was here and the Boys you might well but I shall not persuade you to come You might have been here and know all about the country and people and you now old enough to judge for yourselves The Gospell of Jesus Christ is as true now as it ever was And if there is any change it is in us Now I must draw to a close Old Bro and Sister Clifford are still alive The old man is very febel but the old ladie is abel to a lot of work yet Please give our kind regards to your husband and to all of our old friends Your Aunt Isabella sends her respects to you and says she would like to see you once more Julie wishes to be kindly remembered to you all Uncle Joseph and wife are well Dan and his family are well Harey and family are well He has married again Now with kind love to all, from all your afectionate Uncle and Aunt Wm and Isabela Wadley This letter indicates that these were busy times for William He had his orchards, his vineyards, his bees, and his prospecting interests He never did give up on trying to find coal on Mahogany Mountain In addition to these activities, William developed a very active and productive business from a clay bed east of his home In his prospecting for coal, and also in developing his water source at the spring, he had dug numerous tunnels He noted outcrop pings of black clay, and tried to find some use for it He tried very early to make bricks out of it He built his own kiln and tried to burn the bricks, but they were of poor quality and color He tried having a commercial brick yard utilize the clay for their bricks, but found they warped, so that prospective outlet was dropped It is not known exactly when William recognized that the clay had another commercial value, but by some means he found out that is could be used to line furnaces, as it had a very high heat-resistant quality By 1900 he had developed a market for his black clay with the International Smelting Company, and it was used to line the furnaces of the Murray Smelter in Murray, Utah, that was being built at the time Later he obtained a contract with the Kennecott Copper Company to furnish liner material for installation and maintenance of their furnaces in Tooele, Garfield, and other plants 33 WADLEY HOMES built during 1880’s Picture taken about 1897 or 1898 By 1900 William had seven grown sons, and four of them were involved in the clay business with him His oldest son, Will, was in Tabiona, and William wrote endeavoring to get him to move back to Pleasant Grove In a letter written in 1908 after Will had been hurt in a serious accident, William wrote: there is plenty of land here and work that you can have and you can beter than you can out there When you get abel to work you can get more hauling clay than you can at farming Some of the boys get dolars a day In another letter written a month later to the same son, William adds more about the clay business: the boys are so busy hauling clay they have no time to anything else They have teams on all the time The clay is got to be a great business now, and the prospect is that it will increase Wadley’s clay business itself was interesting At first the clay was all loaded by hand It was blasted loose inside the tunnel, wheeled out on small carts, loaded on wagons, and unloaded on railroad cars, all by hand When the first tunnel was large enough to back a wagon into, another 34 WILLIAM WADLEY AND ISABELLA McKAY WADLEY WILLIAM WADLEY 35 tunnel was opened above and an opening made from the lower tunnel to the upper Wagons were loaded with clay from the upper level It was while they were operating this way that one of William’s sons, John Emer, was killed by a falling chuck of clay Later, as the business developed, most of the clay was taken from an open pit Early in the business, the problem of getting through the mud and snow at times slowed delivery of the clay to the railroad cars in Pleasant Grove Roads at that time were only tracks wherever needed by wagons going and coming The heavy wagons of the Wadley boys mired in the mud, and much time and energy had to be spent getting them unstuck It was determined to grade the road (Which is now First East, or Canyon Road, in Pleasant Grove) from the Wadley Clay pit to the railroad depot in Pleasant Grove Through the use of a poll tax in operation at that time for public works, the road was graded and covered with shale from the beds near the place where they were digging clay This brought the first improved and graded road in Manila Picture shows the hauling of clay from Wadley’s Clay pit about 1909 A daughter-in-law, Jessie, wife of Nephi, remembered that the loads of clay were heavy The sturdy wagon wheels seemed to protest their loads by squeaking A wife could tell where her husband was on the road and when he would be home for dinner by listening for the squeaking wheels The first telephone in Manila was brought to the Wadley home to take care of the clay business 36 During these same years, William engaged in another tree planting episode Brigham Young called for the culture of silk in Utah, and Isabella responded to the call To feed the silkworms it was necessary to have mulberry trees These trees had been imported by Brigham Young and starts made available to all who were participating in the venture So William planted a row of mulberry trees These are prolific trees with seedlings and shoots beyond control, and it is not surprising that many of them still survive on the Wadley farm nearly a hundred years later One of them, it is claimed, is on an original trunk planted by William Somewhere in his activities William affiliated with the democratic political party It isn’t known whether it was personal choice or whether he was “assigned” to that party by the L.D.S authorities as were many in the state when an endeavor was made to build a two-party system in Utah There is no record that William was active in the party or that he ever ran for political office, although his son, Richard, was active politically for many years William was released from the Manila ward Bishopric January 18, 1898, and he continued faithful and active in his church duties The ward records show that he blessed babies, paid tithing, and was consulted on issues and problem He was one of the presidents of the 44 th Quorum of Seventies He sent two of his sons on missions Edward went to California in 1901, and Nephi (Jakie) went to the Southern States in 1905 William was thoughtful of his neighbors and generous with his produce (Of his produce, one source says that William always let it get very mature before he would harvest it.) William remained physically active until late in his life Once he and his friend, John Devey, were climbing in the mountains, and when they reached the top of Deer Creek Canyon in the American Fork Canyon, William told John that it was his eightieth birthday that day William's final note in his hand written sketch says: In 1904 I deded my home to my children and now they have devided it among themselves Three of them sould it to the other four Now Richard, John, Nephi, and Daniel own the place They paid the girls three hundred dolars each as their share Isac and Edward live in Pleasant Grove where they have got homes of their own William, our oldest son has a home in Uintah on what was the Indian Reservation I bought acres of land in what was caled the Meadows, south west of Pleasant Grove that I kept for myself Now I have sold that and bought a acre lot near the Manila meeting house on which I intend to build me a house if I live long enough William did not live long enough to build this final home He died June 28, 1912 at home The cause is listed as "old age" on ward records He was 87 years old Isabella, his wife, and eleven children survived him Ward records show his funeral to have been a fitting memorial: Services were held in the Pleasant Grove tabernacle Bishop H B Warnick presiding 37 Song by Choir Organ and Violin Duet by Charley and Florence Jeppson, "Nearer My God to Thee" Bishop Charles P Warnick testified that Brother Wadley sought first the kingdom of God Brother Louis P Lund testified that Brother Wadley was a very industrious man Brother John Enis of Draper admonished all to be kind, honest, industrious The Allen sisters sang a quartette Apostle David O McKay of Ogden, nephew of Brother Wadley spoke of the great work he had done in reclaiming the desert – his great industry and kindness He is not dead, only sleeping And he had merited his rest President Able John Evens testified that all the tings that had been said of Brother Wadley were true He urged his posterity to ever keep their name honorable Bishop H B Warnick made a few closing remarks Choir sang, “Oh My Father.” Benediction, James H Clarke Many of the communications and interviews used to construct William's life history were necessarily with neighbors and grandchildren who know William when he was an old man It has been 74 years since he died, and memories are blurred In general, reports show that William governed his family strictly He believed the word of the father should be law He loved his family but he seldom showed affection toward them He considered that providing for his family meant that he planted and cared for the trees, and that the family members dried and cut and marketed the fruit to get money to meet their needs He was stern in his demands of conformance with the rules of the Sabbath Day observance, as he understood them There was never any playing, partying, or merry-making in his presence on this day Family prayers were held regularly in the home, but the prayer was always said by William, morning and night William's demands came first in the family consideration The wives were quick to get the dinner on the table when William was seen approaching the house after his day's labor When he was in bed rather early after a hard day, the children were careful not to disturb him Some specific recollections are interesting: Jeanette, William’s youngest daughter, recorded this thought about her father in a short sketch written about 1955: My father was born in England… I have heard him tell of how poor his folks were… 38 Often he would take for his lunch, a piece of hard whole wheat bread and a jug of cider I suppose he was often hungry, and was taught to waste nothing I think that accounted for the strict way he taught his children never to waste anything He has called me back to the table many times and told me to clean up the food that I had left on my plate He wasted nothing He was a good gardener, but he never wasted any ground or seed He hated weeds because they wasted ground Jessie R Wadley, his daughter-in-law, said in a taped interview in 1967 that William had no patients with vanity either in his family or himself She said that one time when she was first married and living with William and Isabella, she taught she would surprise him and press his pants He didn’t say anything when he put them on, but she saw him as he went around the house, stop and vigorously brush the crease out of the pants and return them to their worn, wrinkled look (Jessie’s children remember this as an experience of their father, Nephi.) She also remembered that he chastisened her firmly one time for calling a ward member “Mrs.” Instead of “Sister.” She said she asked him one time if he every played cards “Oh o-o-o, I surely got taken down on that! Grandpa said ‘That’s wicked, wicked’… He surely gave me a talking to about playing cards!” She continued, “I was always a little bit afraid of him One day I went down there before one of the children was born, and he was making wine He had a still up there on the hill, and he’d been making some wine About half way between breakfast and dinner he usually had a little lunch of crackers and wine and cheese He came out with a glass of light current wine and wanted me to taste it, and as ignorant as I was about wine, I didn’t know anything about it I took a little taste of it and handed it back to him, and he said, ‘Drink it, drink it, drink it all.’ I drank it and it wasn’t only about two minutes until it went right to my knees I got to the gate and the picket fence I had to hold on to the picket fence to get back up home.” Another daughter-in-law, Pearl, wife of Edward, told some of here remembrances also in a taped interview in 1967 when she as 84 years old “Grandpa was a good man but he didn’t have patience with Grandma… She wouldn’t often speak up cross to him… She didn’t say enough back to him.” Pearl also told an incident showing William’s careful concern for his horses She said one time her own mother, Sister Halliday, stopped to see Isabella, who was President of the Relief Society, about Relief society business She tied her horse to the fence and the ladies visited for awhile William fussed nervously, and finally went and got some hay and fed the horse, and went into the house and said to Sister Halliday, “You ought to be a horse and stand out there in the sun The idea of tying a horse out there in the heat!” Grandson Alex Wadley gave this story: William walked wherever he went He once had a need to go to Lehi His boys insisted that he ride They saddled up a horse and started him out He rode to Ed Jeppson’s, which is about a mile from home, dismounted from the horse and tied it to the fence and walked to Lehi, came back and untied the horse and led it home A former neighbor, Reed W Warnick, wrote this remembrance in 1985: I never remember Brother and Sister Wadley ever coming together to church, or sitting together during meetings Brother Wadley always walked to his meetings, frequently 39 making the trip as much as three times in a single Sunday He was always early, but was never one to stand around and visit until it was time for the meeting to start He would go directly into the meeting house and take one of the seats that lined the east side in the front part of the chapel Sister Wadley would ride to church with Richard and Ellen in their buggy and sit next to Ellen during the meetings This rather unusual procedure was no indication of any sort of estrangement with Brother and Sister Wadley but was an arrangement that had suited their convenience over a long period of time Cora W Atwood, another early neighbor, in a 1972 interview, remembered that William always walked to church to save his horses, and that he carried a tin bucket with water for the sacrament He did not consider the water from the well at the church pure enough for the sacrament so he brought the water from his spring She also told of William’s concern for her when she was a young married woman with a small child and a husband on a mission She said William stopped at her home each Sunday to see if she needed anything and to give her garden produce or fruit Grandson Merrill Allen said that north of R D Wadley’s home was the grape patch which Grandpa had up on trellises As quick as the grapes started to turn, the boys got under the trellises looking for ripe grapes About that time they would hear Grandpa’s screen door slam He would yell, “Git out of them grapes or I’ll tan your hides and hang them on a picket fence.” Byard Allen remembered that Grandpa’s threat would be “Get out of those grapes, or I’ll brush you!” A granddaughter, Fern Harris, recorded this story on tape July 1985: Like I said, grandpa was a kind man, but I don’t think he liked children We were all just a nuisance He never hurt us, but he was kind to animals, and I remember when I was just a little girl, I was down to the distillery, and a great big snake came from behind the distillery and it went across the road One man said, “Wait, I’ll get the ax.” Grandpa said, “No,” and he got a stick, and he went behind it and made it go across the street over to the orchard It’d stop and he’d poke it, “go on, go on, go on,” and it went on and we never saw a snake there again, but he wouldn’t let those people kill it because he was kind to animals Two or three of the grandchildren remember that William was always an early riser If others didn’t get up, he would go in the cellar and hammer on the floor joists to wake everyone up He would persist with this noisy alarm until he got the response he wanted The physical descriptions we have of William was given by the people who only know him as and old man They said William was rather short and built quite heavy, although not fat He wore a thick beard all his life He always worked hard In fact, work was his life A typical picture was to see him working in the field with a short handled hoe, the only kind he would use He would be bent over practically to the ground, doing his hoeing methodically and droggedly, very seldom looking up or standing He was a vigorous walker As he became older he became quite stooped and used a heavy cane that he had fashioned from a limb of his own 40 nut trees He was quite affluent by the standards of his day He had two fine homes, and built good soft rock homes for three of his sons and one daughter His children received as much education as was available They finished the schools in Manila and Pleasant Grove, and some of them also attended Brigham Young Academy a year or two, which was all that was offered He established his boys well in business It is interesting that none of the recorded contacts give any indication that William was loved He was gruff, impatient, firmly opinionated in what he thought was right, intensely loyal to his friends, but somewhat unsocial with those outside his circle His own children, who dictated a sketch of him written in 1955, were respectful and conscious of his pioneering contributions, but they were not sentimental or emotional about their memories of him as they were about their mother The closing paragraph of William’s sketch in the Biographical Record states: Mr Wadley came alone to this country, as a poor man, and for many years thereafter was compelled to manual labor for his support He has overcome many obstacles that would have proved insurmountable to many another man, and has by the exercise of patient industry and close attention to details, built up one of the most profitable fruit industries in Utah, winning and retaining regard of all with whom he came in contact 42 William’s achievements that should most interest his posterity are: William served a two-and-a-half year mission in Wales, and a one-and-a-half year mission in Newent, England, and surrounding towns before coming to Utah; and a five month genealogy mission from Utah to England later He served a ten year mission in one of the most difficult missions of the church, the Southern Utah cotton mission … he was active in a mining assignment in the United Order of Pleasant Grove, and an officer in that organization … he was the first “Ward Teacher” in the North Fields (Manila) … he was a counselor in the first dependent branch Sunday School organized in Manila, and the same in the subsequent independent Sunday School … he was a counselor in the first Bishopric in Manila Ward This Bishopric planned and built most of the original Manila ward meeting house … he as one of the presidents of the forty-fourth Quorum of Seventy … he was a High Priest in the L.D.S church … he utilized soft rock from hills east of his home to build homes for his wives and 41 other family members as well as many homes in Pleasant Grove Many of them are still standing in the mid 1980’s … he contributed the rock for Manila Ward church … he was able to overcome the great difficulty of crusting soil of the Manila area by corrugating or furrowing and not letting water spread over the entire surface He was probably the first one to use this method in this area … he brought the first Lucerne or alfalfa seed into the area from southern Utah and by planting it and using methods of alternating crops and fallowing, he made unproductive land yield abundant crops … he developed a water supply from his spring that irrigated some of his own acres, and also has furnished culinary water for Manila for many years … he was a nurseryman with advanced skills of grafting, hybridizing, budding, pruning and planting His fruit and grapes were recognized as prime products over the entire state … he fulfilled the obligation of his homestead claim by planting hundreds of trees from the benefit of the community … his prospecting brought him into contact with an onyx vein which he and others developed … he developed a mine of fire clay, which clay is still shipped to smelters for lining furnaces in the mid-1980’s … his clay business brought the first improved road to the Manila area … he brought the first telephone into Manila … he was a cement worker He made cement pipes and caps for graves and other uses He made and donated the cement caps of the east end of the retaining wall in front of the original Manila Church … he raised a family of eleven children to maturity – all of them community builders and respected citizens Among the blessings promised William by Patriarch Joseph Coltrin when he blessed him in September 16, 1883, was this one: “…and thou shalt become a mighty tiller of the earth, and shall understand all the principles of the cultivation of the soil.” William brought this blessing to fulfillment 42 FOOTNOTES: William Wadley Life Sketch Newent Parish Council, Newent Gloucestershire, The Official Guide (Newent, Gloucestershire: no date), pp 5, Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Record (Salt Lake City: Deseret News Press, 1914), p 254 Ibid Merthyr Teacher’s Centre Group, Merthyr Tydfil: A Valley Community (Bridgend: D Brown and Sons Ltd., 1981), p 284 Ibid., p 300 Ibid., p 452 Ibid., Jenson, Biographical Record, p 254 Kate B Carter, Treasures of Pioneer History, Vol (Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Company, 1954), p 10 Lorraine Wadley Wells, History of Joseph Wadley (Privately printed, undated), pp 4,5 11 James Farmer, Diary of James Farmer (on file at Utah Historical Society), pp 79, 88, 96 12 Leonard J Arrington, Great Basin Kingdom (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1958), p 104 13 Farmer, Diary, pp 101, 102 14 Arrington, Kingdom, p 105 15 Jenson, Biographical Record, P 254 16 Carter, History, Vol, 3, p 17 Jos Wadley, p (See also Journal History, July 17, August 31, 1853, and P and P of Utah, p 1160) 18 Carter, History, Vol 3, p 24ff 43 19 Ibid, pp 5-21 20 Kate B Carter, An enduring Legacy, Vol (Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1980), p.102 21 Jos Wadley p 14 22 Farmers, Diary, pp 78, 96 23 Richard S Van Wagoner, Mormon Polygamy: A History (Salt Lake City: Signature Books, 1986), p 92 24 Special collections Call No 183 395, p 410 As noted earlier, William had been endowed on the 24th of February, 1954 Mary and Isabella were not endowed until November 14, 1963 (EH book D., p 252) We might question how they could have been sealed to William years before they were endowed We have been assured that there was no difficulty about this in the early days Sealings were done in various places, and it as not required that one be endowed first Another question might be how Isabella and Mary could have been endowed in 1863 in the Salt Lake Endowment House when they were in the Southern Utah mission at that time 25 Arrington, Kingdom, p 217 26 Daughters of Utah Pioneers, Under Dixie Sun (Washington County Chapter, D.U.P., 1978), p 39 27 There is a question about the death of Mary Chandler Wadley William’s handwriting on papers on file under his name in the Church Historian’s Office give the death date of November 22, 1863 In William’s Temple book in possession of Lucy Haycock, he gives the date of 1865 Without any month or date Joseph’s (William’s brother) sketch says 1863 without a month or date The date of November 22, 1863 could be accepted except that there is record of Mary and Isabella both receiving their endowments on November 14, 1963, in Salt Lake City Transportation being what it was, could Mary have died in Washington County eight days later? 28 Kate B Cater, An Enduring Legacy, Vol, 1(Salt Lake City: Utah Printing Co., 1978), p 84 29 James E Talmage, The House of the Lord (Salt Lake City: Bookcraft Publishers, 1962), pp 209, 210 30 Arrington, Kingdom, p 222 31 D.U.P, Under Dixie Sun, p 37 44 32 Helen Z Papanikolas, “Utah’s coal Lands: A Vital Example of How America Became a Great Nation,” Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol 43, No (Spring 1975), p 107 33 John Adams, An Economic History of the Pleasant Grove United Order (Provo: Privately Published 1978), p 34 Ibid., pp 20, 96 35 Ibid., p 33 36 Jos Wadley Sketch, p 21 37 Kate B Carter, Treasures of Pioneer History, Vol (Salt Lake City: D.U.P 1952) p 21 38 Arrington, Kingdom, p 359f 39 Letter from National Archives, Denver Branch, dated April 11, 1986, in possession of Effie Adams 40 Melvin L Bashore, “Life Behind Bars: Mormon Cohabs of the 1880s.” Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol 47, #1 (Winter, 1979), p 25 41 Merrill N Warnick et al., Warnick Family History, Vol (Provo: Grant Stevenson, 1966), p 246 42 Jenson, Biographical Record, p 255 45 .. .WILLIAM WADLEY 1825 - 1912 Life Sketch of William Wadley William Wadley joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (L.D.S.) in Wales in 1848 and left for Utah in 1853 For these... of William' s brother John, and those of several other Wadleys (Deseret News, May 1, 1982, “Spectra Page”) ANNE REYNOLDS WADLEY Mother of William Wadley WADLEY HOME IN NEWENT, ENGLAND William Wadley? ??s... donated the cement caps that top the east section of the retaining wall in front of the original Manila church In the mid-1980s they are still solid, although placed there long ago Another part of William? ??s