Person:William Redd (3)

William Alexander Redd

William Alexander Redd was born of "goodly parents," namely Lemuel Hardison Redd and Keziah Jane Butler Redd, on the 19th of September, 1861 in Spanish Fork, Utah. He was their third son and fourth child. I can find no record of his blessing which was probably done in Spanish Fork.

In those days, when the church authorities wanted to enlarge the habitable territory, they merely sent word to a number of heads of families and formally gave them a call to go to such and such a place and settle. It usually meant to make a permanent home there.

So in 1862 Lemuel H. Redd accepted such a call to go to New Harmony, Washington County, Utah. He never questioned authority, so sold out his holdings in Spanish Fork and moved his family.

He is first mentioned in the church minutes of the new home on the 15th of June, 1862. That would make their baby, William A., eight months old. The other children were Lemuel Hardison Jr. 6; Mary Jane 4; and John Wilson 2. His father, Lemuel Hardison, had an uncle, Alexander; and an uncle, William. Keziah Jane had a brother named William Alexander who died when he was four, so the name William Alexander came from both sides of the family.

Lemuel H. Redd first settled in the little town on what later became known as the lower street, and across the street from a family who had heard the gospel in far-off Switzerland.

When William A. was about two, and still in dresses (in those days little boys wore dresses for a few years, probably until they were house broken) and his older brother, John, about four, they traveled abroad in search of adventure.

They found it in their neighbor’s yard where they scared a setting hen off her nest and broke her eggs. This made the little Swiss woman so angry that she turned them over her knee and spanked them. Their mother, Keziah Jane, hadn't ever done that to them, and was a bit upset. She explained to the little woman as best she could that in America people didn't spank other people's children; and that she would replace or pay for the broken eggs. The little woman later bore a baby girl, Mary Verena Bryner, who William A. later married, and they had fourteen children.

There they had only the things and tools they brought with them. There were no shopping facilities nearer than Salt Lake City, about 300 miles away, so they managed to create other things they needed with their own hands.

Boys and girls learned early to do many things about the house. They had the example of their parents and elders and also were encouraged by them. In this household there was no idleness. Father used to tell how, when the neighbor children came to play, his mother would organize them into what they called a "BEE", and put them all to work at cutting potatoes for planting, shelling corn, peeling apples or other fruit for drying, sewing carpet rags, etc. Many of the children learned their home work from his mother. My mother always said she did.

In October 1866, Grandpa married Sarah Louisa Chamberlain and she became a part of the household. She had fourteen children and his mother had seven more, so Father was a big brother to twenty-three younger brothers and sisters, nineteen of whom grew to maturity.

As pioneers, Lemuel Hardison and Keziah Jane Butler Redd did everything that was necessary for them and their welfare.

On one of his trips to Salt Lake City, he bought a shoemaker's kit. It consisted of a box with a hinged lid. Across the back of it there was a row of little compartments filled with little wooden pegs, as they didn't use metal tacks then. They used an awl to poke the holes to put the pegs through. The kit also contained a hammer and four lasts; a small one, two middle-sized, and a large one. As all shoes were made on one or other of the three lasts, their shoes were as near to a fit as these lasts could make them.

Father said that when they were small they were the only children in town who had shoes when it snowed. The others came to school with wet, cold feet and had to warm them at the little heater they had in the middle of the room, and sit barefooted all day. They'd scrape the hot coals out on the hearth to warm their feet.

Their shoes were precious; and when it was wet and sloppy, Aunt Mishie says their mother and Aunt Kezzie would wrap their feet up in gunny sacks and tie them on. When they arrived at the school they'd take off the sacks and put on their shoes. They would then put the gunnysacks under the pot-bellied stove to dry during the day.

Often they weren't dry when school was out, but they tied them on anyway and carried their shoes home. Always, when the weather was warm, they all went barefoot. These shoes were made of hides they brought from Salt Lake City or tanned at home. They greased them up with tallow to make them wear well.

Father told of the early days when he was very young, that they even danced barefoot and barred those who wore shoes so they wouldn't step on the bare toes of the others. The floors weren't very smooth and they sometimes got slivers in their feet. Then some swain who had a pocketknife pulled it out, opened it up, and the foot with the sliver was held up while he pulled out the sliver and the dance went on. Why let a little sliver stop your fun.

When William A. was about eight, he wanted to make some shoes. He was given permission to make a small pair out of the scrappy edges of the hide. He cut out the shoe by the pattern, also contained in the kit. He sewed the upper parts together and tacked the sole to the upper. The wooden pegs entered the last, which also was of wood, and made it hard for him to get the shoe off. He had quite a bit of difficulty, and, by that time it was all awry. He didn't know how to get his shoe straight, and was so disgusted with it that he gave up and heaved it out into the bushes.

Aunt Louisa had been watching those little hands at work. She thought it was so cute and clever of him that she kept her eye on him all the time. When he threw away the shoe, she went out and got it.

William asked, "What are you going to do with that thing?"

She replied, "I am going to keep it and when you get married I am going to give it to your wife."

"No, you're not,” said William A., and he tried hard to take it away from her. This he could not do and he was quite upset over it. He told us he had gone into her home many times when she was away and searched through her things to find the shoe, but couldn't. She gave it to my mother, and nothing was more thrilling to us children than to see and fondle this little shoe and hear her story of how it came to be. Lyman was given the shoe.

William A. was baptized the 27th of June 1869, by his uncle, Wilson D. Pace, who was the bishop of the ward. He was confirmed the same day by Wilson D. Pace.

I suppose these ordinances were performed like they were when I was baptized. After Sunday School, where the place was announced, we went to the fishpond or to a deep hole somewhere in a creek and were baptized there. Then we went home and changed clothing and went to Sacrament Meeting at 2 p.m. where we were confirmed.

As I recall, nearly the whole ward went to witness it. A few rode, but we never rode to church. It was easier to walk than to hook up the team.

I note that Father was not quite eight when he was baptized. It seems that they didn't stick so close to ages then as they do now. He was ordained a Teacher March 25, 1877, by his uncle, Harvey A. Pace, when he was fifteen, and ordained an Elder, May 9, 1877, still before he was sixteen. He was ordained an Elder by Elder Jacob Gates.

It took three weeks to travel to Salt Lake City one-way, so people seldom went. About the only time they needed money for anything was to do shopping.

In the community at home they traded or "bartered". They even traded when they went to Salt Lake City. Aunt Alice says that her Father went about every year or every other year; and when he went he took dried fruit, buckskin gloves, pine nuts, and anything they could think of and spare. Aunt Mishie said her Father would bring home a bolt of cloth and they all had dresses alike.

Some man southeast of New Harmony made a grindstone and took it out to Pioche, Nevada. A man there saw it and asked where it came from. When he was told, he said, "There is silver there." They found a reef of nearly pure silver and called it Silver Reef. It became a boomtown over-night and was a good market for all their spare produce. There they could sell anything, and for cash.

So father, in his younger days, went with the other children out into the brush and willows and grain stubble and set little traps made of thin strips of wood or willows. These traps were sprung with little figure-four triggers. They could make these little traps and triggers themselves and learned to be clever at operating them.

Their chief game was quail. Quail make choice eating. They have very large breasts, though the birds themselves are small. Trapping them this way, the birds were alive and unhurt so they could save them alive and feed them in boxes until they were ready to send them down to Silver Reef. This activity was fun as well as paying off. Children also cut and dried fruit for sale. They saved their money and sent it to Salt Lake City with someone else to do their shopping.

We don't have much information about his boyhood activities, but he grew up on a farm where they raised grain, corn, vegetables, fruits, cows, pigs, horses, chickens and sheep. Undoubtedly he had his chores to do as soon as he was old enough to talk and understand.

The year-round chores for a boy on a farm of that day were: getting kindling and wood ready at night for the cook stove; cleaning the ashes out of the stove in the morning; milking the cows; feeding all the animals or turning them out to pasture; gathering the eggs; filling the lamps with coal oil or kerosene; watching out for and killing snakes; carrying water from the creek for family and household use and from the spring for drinking and cooking purposes; loading wheat in sacks into the wagon and hauling it to Cedar City to be ground into flour and bringing back the flour and bran; hunting in the nearby hills for all kinds of game for meat; etc.

The seasonal chores would include shoveling snow; chopping more wood for the fireplace; butchering animals and curing the meat by drying or jerking beef and salting pork; going to the canyons and mountains to haul wood; plowing, planting, watering and weeding the crops; picking the fruit and helping store and preserve it for the winter; gathering and storing vegetables in pits and trenches; cutting grain with a scythe and flailing it; building fences; digging ditches; making and fixing roads; clearing rocks off the land; making fences with these rocks; learning to ride and handle horses; breaking them in for various uses; tanning leather and buck skin; making and fixing shoes; making and fixing harnesses, bridles, plows, sleighs, wagons; shearing sheep; etc.

I guess I'll never know about all his chores either, but I can imagine all those things staring you in the face to either do or go without the necessities they meant to you. It's a good thing they didn't have movies or television to miss while they did their chores. Every member of the family was expected to do his part in furnishing all necessities. And, of course, Father learned all he knew about such things right at home with his parents and brothers and sisters. He, like the rest of them, learned by doing.

I went and talked to Aunt Alice, and now I might give in detail y and earn his own living. When Grandfather bought the farm in 1870 from John D. Lee, he supposedly bought 160 acres. John D. Lee owned it by squatter's rights only. Others had the same idea and squatted on various parts of it here and there, and when Grandfather went for deeds there were about 60 acres left that he could call his own.

That wasn't enough ground to support his family, so he went into cattle and sheep raising. They ran their sheep in the hills about town in the summer and out on the desert farther north in the winter. The rangeland was public land then, and free to any and all stockmen. They took their sheep wherever they could find forage. Their cattle summered out in the brush along the foothills, and they fenced a large part of the farm in the southwest corner on both sides of the creek and fed them there during the winter. It was a job for the boys to fence it, put up the hay and herd the cattle and sheep.

In the spring, at lambing time on the desert, everybody must lend a hand and tend the lambs. If the mother died or refused to care for her lamb, it was brought home and the children raised it for a pet. Each spring a small flock was cared for at home in this way.

Aunt Mishie said she had one with a blue ribbon around its neck and Aunt Lou had one with a pink ribbon. They learned to love them, but when they grew up they got mean and would butt the little ones. (We used to call it "bunt", and when I looked in the dictionary I find both ways used.)

It was a sad day when they had to be taken to the herd, and sadder when Papa decided to make mutton out of them. And of course the little boys raised theirs too.

They didn't have rubber nipples as they have now. They had to teach these little fellows to drink out of a bucket. They would put their finger in the lamb's mouth and lower it into the milk in the bucket. The calf would suck and get a little milk. Then they would gradually pull out the finger. Then the lamb would stop sucking and they would start over again.

After many trials, the lamb got the idea. I know that is the way, because Father taught me how to do it. He had learned on his little lamb at home. They raised calves the same way and taught them to drink like the lambs. Little orphan calves were called "doggies".

Then there was sheep shearing to be done in the spring. There were large shearing corrals down on the creek southeast of New Harmony about four of five miles. These corrals were probably built and owned by the Kanarra and Harmony Cattle and Sheep Co-op. Aunt Ellen says that Grandpa was a director and treasurer for about twenty years, and that he helped to organize it.

Everybody in the area took their sheep there in the spring to be sheared. Good, husky boys and men who could wrestle a full-grown sheep and hold it down were paid so much per head to shear them. Father early learned to earn money that way; maybe he practiced on his own little lambs at home.

The wool was packed in large wool sacks ten or twelve feet long, and four or five feet wide. The top of the sack was stretched on a rack high enough so the bottom merely touched the ground. The children loved to go there and climb up on these racks.

A child was first a follower, and as he grew he became a leader in these escapades.

A man let himself down inside. Then the wool from one sheep, which was called a fleece, was cut off by a shearer, wadded up and tied in a bundle.

Next it was dropped into the sack and the man inside tramped it down with his feet. When the sack was full, he could step out. It was sewn up and put on a large rack surrounded with long, upright poles with several other sacks of wool. This had to be hauled or freighted to the railroad at Milford some seventy or eighty miles away.

	Early in life Father did shearing, and later freighted this wool.  It was a trip of about a week out, loaded.  Coming back empty was shorter if they couldn't find stuff there to freight back.  If they could find such stuff, they would be paid both ways.

On these trips they camped out and carried their own lunch, as they passed through no towns. Father always had a large lunch box. Sort of a big wooden chest with a few utensils. They fried their own bacon, eggs, potatoes, and usually made flapjacks or pancakes. This grub-box with a hinged lid and fasteners and handles was a necessary part of his freighting equipment.

Father, Jim Pace and Albert Taylor came to be pals in the freighting business. They liked to travel in company, sort of a caravan. Then they were not alone at night in desert country.

Jim and Albert drank tea. There were stories around about how the Chinese packed the tea in the big boxes by getting in with their feet. It was said that some of them had leprosy and even lost hair and toenails in the tea. Jim said, "I'd drink the tea if they found a whole Chinaman."

One morning Father cut a lock of hair from his horse's mane and rubbed it hard between the palms of his hands into a tight little wad. After breakfast he dropped it into the teapot. It clogged the spout when Jim was clearing up, and when he saw it he went white around the gills. He thought he had drunk the tea from around the wad of hair.

After the shearing was done, they took the sheep out to the desert to dip them and range them there for the summer. To dip them they used a wooden trough about two feet wide and fifteen or twenty feet long. It was deep enough so that the sheep went into the dip over their heads.

They sent the sheep through this trough from one corral to another. They used some kind of antiseptic liquid they called "sheep dip". It was to prevent or cure itch or ticks, etc. Along the side of the trough a man or two stood with a sort of shepherd's crook to prevent accidents and keep the swimming sheep on their way.

At harvest time, they cut the grain with a scythe, a long, bent-handle with a long, curved blade attached at an angle. This long, wooden handle had two small handles on it just right to hold by. These small handles stood out from the other at right angles or thereabout. With practice Father learned to wield the scythe deftly and could do a good job with it. Then they gathered the grain by hand into bundles, and by taking two lots of four or five strands of wheat each, and tying the heads together they made a long strand, which they used to tie the bundles, as they had no string.

Several of these bundles were then stood up together into a shock. Then they hauled and stacked the bundles in the stack yard. Every farm had a stack yard. They always stacked the grain with the stems out and heads inside the stack - probably to keep the crows and other birds from eating the grain.

At first they used a flail and beat the chaff off the grain by hand. They had done it this way from the beginning.

About 1885 a man in Cedar got a brand-new invention and brought it to New Harmony. It was called a "Threshing Machine". Mr. Walker went with his threshing machine all over the area from town to town.

When he came to New Harmony he'd start up at Frank Prince's at one end of town and go from farm to farm down through the town. It was run by horsepower. Four teams hitched to four tongues went round in a circle and turned a long rod that went into the machine and set it going. It took a lot of men to run it. One handled the horses, some pitched bundles, some fed the machine, some stacked the straw, some sacked the grain, and some took it to the granary.

Mostly it was manned by a crew of local men who stayed with it throughout the town, or maybe several towns. The threshing crew followed the machine and was fed by the housewife on whose farm they were presently threshing.

It was a busy time. Aunt Mishie said the kids had to take the knives and forks and spoons down to the creek and scour them bright and shiny by rubbing them in the sand. That crew wasn't going to eat with a tarnished spoon at their home and tell about it later.

They spent days getting ready for the threshing crew. The house had to be clean from attic to cellar. Then after the dinner was over and the great stack of dishes washed and put away, the young people could go to the big bins and stand in the wheat.

The most fun they ever had was to stand in the wheat when the sacks were emptied and feel the wheat flowing down over their bare legs. But Father never got in on this fun. He was twenty-four and married before he ever saw a threshing machine. If he got any fun out of it, it was to pour the wheat for the younger ones. There are always two sides of fun.

The women of the town vied with each other in preparing these meals for the threshers. That's one time in their lives when they ate three banquets a day. They were still doing it that way when we went to Canada, but Father had long since graduated from the crew, although he worked as hard as any when they were on his place.

After the wheat was threshed it was stored in the granary in bins. If they wanted flour they sacked it up and hauled it to Cedar City where there was a flourmill, and it was ground into flour and bran. They had to wait until the milling was done; then bring it home. They called it going to grist, or taking a grist to the mill.

I've talked a lot about wheat, but the Redds were southerners, and in the south corn is the staff of life. They liked corn in any form. They ate it on the cob; they dried it for winter; they made hominy out of ripe, dried corn; they ground it into corn meal and ate corn bread.

It took as much work to harvest the corn as the wheat. They picked the ears off the stalks and carried them over beside the animal pens. There they shucked it. Then they took it to a shady spot and shelled it. This they did by rubbing a cob over the ear and removing the kernels from the corn.

Then they hauled that shelled corn, to Cedar City to be ground into corn meal. I don't think Father ever did the trick that one of Mother's cousins did. He hauled the corn on the cob loose in his wagon box. They always made their beds on top of the load. He made his on top of the corn, spread his quilts out there and went to bed. He said he never enjoyed a night like that one. It felt so good when he turned over.

Another big feature of that day was hauling wood. They used wood in the cook stoves and in the fireplaces, and used lots of it. It had to be hauled and cut into stove lengths. At least two went to the mountain or canyon for a load. They took with them nice, sharp axes and a log chain. Each tree had to be cut down by hand and the branches trimmed off. The chain was fastened to the log and to the harness of a horse who dragged it to the wagon.

It might take them several days to get a load, and many loads for a year's supply. This activity also called for a grub-box and camping supplies. Mother always had a pile of big, heavy camping quilts. The year's wood was usually hauled in the fall after the other harvesting was done. Then our woodpile seemed to be as high as the shop or the house maybe. Now, with plenty on hand, they'd pull a log down, one at a time, and cut it into stove wood with the axe. The pile grew smaller and smaller until the next fall, and they had to start all over again. Whole gangs went out to haul wood for the meetinghouse and for the old and the widows. Maybe then those who didn't haul, and the women, got up a dinner and they had a ward celebration.

Speaking of celebrations, it was a real one to go with his parents and the family up on the mountain or into a canyon to gather pine nuts. They thought it fun to gather great stacks of cones and roast them in the ashes of a campfire, like the Indians did, until they burst and shelled out and roasted the nuts inside. These were then raked up, dusted and sacked to take home to be eaten in the long winter evenings by the firelight.

Schools were limited to three or four months in the winter. As I remember, my Father went only until he was about twelve. And I guess the schools were not so very good then. (After I had this written I remembered that Aunt Lou was telling me about a woman she met in St. George when she was down there working in the temple. This woman said that when Father was in St. George to school she fell in love with him. I wrote her and asked if Father really went down there to school and she says he went. She doesn’t know much about the particulars, but he went at least one winter. I was glad to know about that.)

I think they had the original homemade benches when I started to school. Anyway, they were homemade and much carved up with pocketknives - so rough that we could hardly write on them. They were double so that two sat together when we were big enough to sit in them.

At first I sat with all the other beginners on a long bench - no desk. We did not know how to write, so why a desk? We sat there all day long and looked at our books. If we talked or made a noise, we got rapped on the head with teacher’s pointer.

Once in a while the teacher came and showed us something in the book for us to learn. Then she went to show another group something. All of us, big and little, in one room, and the teacher was anyone they could get who didn’t have anything else to do. None of them had been through high school. Lucky were we if he had been through the eighth grade.

Father always thought that if he had more schooling he would have been better off, so later, when he was able to take the time, he took a correspondence course in bookkeeping. Maybe he felt the need of it when he planned to start his store. The rest of his schooling was received in what is called the “University of Hard Knocks”.

Aunt Alice says that they were always making and repairing fences. I guess having all those cattle through the winter was hard on fences. I suppose the cattle themselves did what they could to tear them down, and then the spring thaws and floods did a lot of damage.

By the side of the road, between the wheat and the meadow, there used to be a great log. We loved to climb over it. It had been carried there by a big flood. Things like a flood would call for almost a new fence.

I hardly need to mention such mundane jobs as hauling manure. That and many other farm jobs can be taken for granted. Too, she said they were always planning and building barns, sheds, coops, stables, etc. They never thought of hiring anyone else to do such things, but everybody undertook to do his own building. If a public building were necessary, they joined together and made a party out of it.

Yes, they even had parties. The refreshments were honey candy or molasses candy. They might season it with a weed that grew in abundance about the farm and valley, horehound. They made their own fun and got enjoyment out of very simple things and recreation. They all had to work to exist. That was imperative.

I’ve told about a lot of things that they did because I can see Father as a tot beginning to do some of the simpler parts, and as he grew, taking a bigger part, until he became an expert in each and every one of these activities.

I asked Aunt Alice where he learned blacksmithing. She said he learned it by doing it, like he learned everything else - every other activity and skill. That’s the way people learned then - by doing.

When my brother, Will, went to school in Cedar City and took manual training, he said he’d have been much better at it if he’d learned to weld two pieces of iron together in the shop. Every little bit helps.

When William A. was about sixteen, a traveling photographer came to town. The first one the little town had ever had. And of course everybody had to have his picture taken. It would have been folly not to have. They all dressed up in the best they had, and even borrowed things. They even wore things too big because they were fine.

I remember Father and Mother considering a photograph, tintype, of Uncle Frank when he was a boy. He had borrowed a fine pair of pants from a much bigger boy for the occasion. They hung about down to his ankles, and Father said it looked like he wore a skirt instead of a pair of knee pants. That he would have looked better in a pair that fitted him, regardless of the material and the age of the pants, than in these that were so much too big, even if they had been of velvet.

This photographer used sensitized tin to put the picture on. It was called a “tin-type”. They could make only one copy on tin. Films were invented years later where they could make many copies.

Of course, Father had his picture taken. He wore a vest, topcoat, ribbon tie, curly hair and even held his hat. I guess to show that he had one. Aunt Alice says that there is no doubt but that his mother made the clothes that he wore. She, or one of his sisters I think, must have dolled him up for the picture.

This was taken before he went to Arizona with his brother John to freight. When boys were old enough and experienced enough to handle two teams of horses on one wagon, they could get plenty of work freighting. They were, at that time, having to haul all the stuff they used by team. John and William stayed away two years. During this time father stayed with his sister, Jane, in Mesa some.

She was married and living there. Mother always used to say that she was going to ask Jane for Father’s picture, which was the only one he ever had taken while he had hair. Aunt Alice says she can’t remember him when he had hair; neither can Aunt Lou. He gave the picture to his sister Jane when he was there.

Years later Aunt Luella visited Jane in Mexico and borrowed the picture and let Lyman take it for some copies so I was grown up a long time before I ever saw it, though I had heard Mother talk about it many times. His later pictures, as you know, show him as bald.

I’ve tried to find out something about Father while he was in Mesa, but there seems to be no record of the place then. The ward was organized years after he was there. I do know that he met and knew Brigham S. Young and George F. Richards while he was down there. And both men were proud to say that they knew him as a friend in the early days down in Arizona.

He and John came home after two years, for Christmas. I guess he was so glad to get home that he never went back when John did. At that time they were beginning to build the Southern Plife where he had left it - doing the old jobs he had been doing when he went away; shearing, freighting and doing the work he knew how to do.

Finally he got a job herding sheep and was getting a dollar and a quarter a day when he was married. Twenty-five cents of it was cash and a dollar was in sheep. He was herding for William S. Berry of Kanarra. William S. Berry and Grandpa had known one another for many years - ever since 1862 when Grandpa had moved to New Harmony. They were business associates and loved and trusted each other, as Father and Joseph E. Berry came to do years later.

There are snakes in New Harmony - many kinds of them. One kind is called a blow snake. When it is frightened or disturbed or angry, it blows itself up to be much bigger than it normally is, and its scales puff out. It is a good mouser and harmless if not bothered. Grandmother once caught one skimming the cream off her milk pan in the cellar.

The milk had been skimmed before and she had accused some of the children doing it. But they had denied any knowledge of the circumstances.

One day, Aunt Dell went up in the dark room at the head of the stairs to take a bath. This place was unfinished and the uprights were exposed and there were openings down the wall. She started to sit on a chair there, and a blow snake was coiled on it. She screamed and William A. came to the rescue.

The snake had started to crawl away down between the studs. Father caught it by the tail with a good hold and pulled. It puffed up and wedged itself between the boards. Father could not pull it out. To get a stronger hold he wrapped it around his hand. Then he could pull harder. He pulled so hard he pulled it in two. The head end they never found.

In the church section of the Deseret News of the 22 August 1959, I find the following:

"Three of the Elders were sitting in the parlor where the meeting was to be held. They were John H. Gibbs, 31, a Northern Utah school teacher; William S. Berry, 46, a large, powerfully-built man; and Henry Thompson, 25, youngest of the three. The three Elders were discussing their recent experiences - threats, warnings to leave the country.

Elder Gibbs picked up his Bible to find a passage of scripture. Suddenly a commotion was heard in the yard. James Condor was shouting to the boys to get their guns. The two burst into the house. At the same time a masked man stepped in the door and began taking Martin’s rifle from a rack on the wall.

The mobster then fired at Elder Gibbs, mortally wounding the missionary. Elders Thompson and Berry advanced on the mobster, Elder Berry seizing and holding the barrel of the rifle. Thompson escaped out the door and into the woods as two more masked men entered the room. The two shot down Elder Berry and the Condor boy“.

I didn’t put it all in, but this is enough for here. That was the man Father worked for and this happened only six months after Father and Mother were married. I think that it is likely that Father was looking after his sheep while he was on his mission. Aunt Lou thought so too.

He was in the Kanarra and Harmony Co-op with Grandfather, maybe the president. Aunt Alice says that William S. Berry greatly influenced Father’s life for the better. Father thought a lot of him and of his son, Joseph E. Berry, who was later, the bishop of Kanarra.

As you have already guessed, Father lost his hair while he was in Arizona. He said that while freighting, he wore a large, felt hat without any ventilation in it, and he always thought that was the reason he lost his hair. Be that as it may, he lost it then.

About this time he began to notice Mother. Up until now she had just been a little girl who ran about with his little sister, Caroline. Mother told about the time that she and Aunt Caroline tagged after him and some of the bigger boys and girls when they were going on a spring walk up on the mountain above the farm.

They came to a stream, swollen by the spring thaw, and the big boys carried the girls over it. They couldn't persuade the little girls to go back home, so father picked one up under one arm and another under the other arm and carried them across. I guess he never thought that he would later marry this little snip.

But now it was different. She had grown up and was a big girl, nearly sixteen and she pleased him. He knew, too, that she had good training because his mother had trained her a lot of the time.

His cousin, Jim Pace, now began going with her cousin, Mary Mathis, and they made a foursome much of the time. Uncle Johnnie Bryner said that at one time he was sick and they volunteered to sit up with him. They thought he was asleep but he wasn't and heard them talking. Then and there they made their final decision.

He heard Jim Pace say, as he slapped his knee, "Yes, sir! That's what we will do. We will go to the temple."

William A. was an Elder long before this and was eligible for the temple.

They were married February 27, 1884 in the Saint George Temple, and came back to New Harmony. I don't know how long they lived with his folks, but I think it was nearly a year.

Then Father bought the little place on the upper street where he later built the brick house. He moved the little frame house over in the next block on the corner across from the meetinghouse. They lived in the little frame house until after his mission.

I was born in it. Fern was the first one born in the brick house, which was built back of the other, which was moved away. I don't know whether Will was born before or after they moved into their own home. It was a little house with two rooms in the front and a lean-to on the back for a kitchen.

When he built the brick house people wondered, and even some asked, how he could build such a house and he so young. He said it was because he had worked hard and never uselessly spent his money, and he had a wife that did the same. None could deny that statement. So they moved into a four-roomed house with a one-roomed basement and a front and back porch.

I don't know how long he worked for the Berry family, but I imagine it was not long. The sheep he took for wages set him up in the sheep business before too long, and he was then on his own.

He and Dode Berry were always the best of friends and liked to play tricks on each other, but all in fun. Like the time when Dode called him up in the night, and when father had such a hard time to find a telephone in the dark, and when he did find it Dode yelled "New Year's gift, Brother Redd."

I guess Papa played tricks on Dode, but he never bragged about them. I know that father often called at the house of the Berry's on his way to and from Cedar City where he often went on church or other business.

They had two children, William born January 7, 1885, and Elda Grace, born October 16, 1886, when he received his call to go on a mission. I don't know the circumstances of his call, but they say that his brother, Lemuel Hardison Jr., said when he received his call, "Papa, I can't afford it."

His Father said, "Lem, you can't afford not to."

Uncle Lem said, "Well, So and So refused to go because he couldn't afford it and he is worth many times what I am."

His Father said, "Nevertheless, you can't afford not to answer that call."

Uncle Lem went and his life was one of great wealth and influence all his life, while So and So lived and died a pauper. His Father, (they called him "Pap" - that was the southern way of referring to their Father) probably gave the same advice to his son, William Alexander.

Anyway, William A. left for his mission on February 10, 1887. They had been married three years, lacking seventeen days. He writes:

Harmony, February 10, 1887 - started from home - it was snowing - a great many of my friends was present to see me off.

11th - arrived at Milford at dusk - was feeling quite blue (two long days of riding in the snow) - met Bro. Joseph Houston who had been left the day previous - was a welcome traveling companion.

12th - Boarded train for S.L. City - was feeling somewhat down when Bro. John Turner met us at Nephi who traveled up to Provo - he on the way gave us as much good counsel in as few words seemingly as was possible for mortal man to give, which was gladly accepted.

13th - Sunday - went to meeting - witnessed a congregation of about 6,000 people - Bro. L. Snow who was just released from the P. was the preacher -

14th - Bought my outfit and was then set apart for my mission by Apostle H. J. Grant.

15th - at eight o'clock we took our departure for the East. On the way they passed through Cheyenne, Denver, Topeka, Kansas City, Memphis, Chattanooga and Atlanta. He received his appointment for his mission at Chattanooga, the headquarters of the mission.

Scott Matheson said that he made out the will and probated it of John M. B. Higbee, a descendant of the Higbees of Mountain Meadow notoriety. John M. B. Higbee told Scott that he was a presiding Elder in the mission when Father went to the mission.

At the priesthood meeting, he explained that he had been given instructions to open up the territory, long since unworked, where Brothers Berry and Gibbs had been killed by a mob. Higbee needed a companion to accompany him on this mission.

After his explanation, he asked for a volunteer. Some shook their heads, but a new man, William A. Redd, was the first one to raise his hand and volunteer to go. He didn’t take Father. Probably he wanted a more experienced man than this beginner, but it tells that Father was willing to meet all calls that came.

From Chattanooga he went to Atlanta, Georgia, and on to Cowpens, South Carolina. There they hired a vehicle to take them to Thickety Mountain, Spartanburg County, N.C., his first field of labor.

Here is where the Watts family lived, for he mentions them repeatedly. I always thought that the Watts family were his converts, but they were in the church when he arrived at the mission. I can't find Thickety Mountain on the map. Maybe it was only a few farms; maybe they have changed the name.

Maybe it was like the place they directed me to when I was in that area. They said I could see the store from the station. I could see merely the corner of something, which proved to be a two-roomed house where the family lived in the back and a few shelves with mighty little to sell on them in the front room. The rest was country filled with forest. I can see that when I consider this place.

Around here were a few friendly people who took the Elders in and listened to them. From here they went in different directions on short trips to find people to talk gospel to. During his first months there he mentions meetings and Sunday schools frequently.

These are some of his entries:

1887 - Feb. 27th- Sunday held two meetings - considerable interest - went down to Cowpens at night to see Bros. Wright and Fraughten off for home - got back to J. Black’s at daylight - slept till noon and heard John Black bear testimony of the blessings of the Lord manifested to him by feeding the servants of the Lord - in a public gathering when Elders Wright and Fraughten were leaving.

April 2nd - Saturday clear - after B went over to Bro. Surratt's and dinner held meeting - Elders Anderson, Ferrin and I talked - was about 28 present - good attention.

April 3rd - Sunday - clear fine weather - fast day - held S.S. and meeting - D with sisters Jas. Patterson - stayed all night with John Black.

April 29th - Friday - took dinner with Sister Watts - helped Wm. Watts plant cotton and took supper with him - stayed all night with Webb Smith.

May 2nd - Monday - after B turned potato masher (How many of you remember Mother’s old wooden potato masher? This is it.) Stayed overnight with Harrison Bright. (It’s too bad Father didn’t know that one of his genealogical lines was Bright. He met several of them - C. Bright, Theodore Bright, William Bright, Hosea Bright and there was a place called Bright Town). (All these trips about were on foot.)

May 20th - Friday - go to John S. Black's - received a letter from Alonzo Redd --(I stayed with his son when I was down there.) took D with Alonzo Canty - green peas - stay all night with Harrison Bright.

June 8th - Wednesday - go to Bro. Robinson's - eat mulberries - go to broad river fishing - had a powerful time - all catch 9 fish, 2 eels - eat strawberries - go home get supper and go to bed - tired out - Sister Robinson wash our clothes after night.

August 2nd - Tuesday - raining - go out in council with the rest of the Elders, and Elders Blackwood and Redd appointed to go on a trip up around Island Ford, N.C., to see if we could find anyone who wanted the gospel.

August 5th - Arose and took breakfast and continued our journey promiscuously through the woods until we felt hungry - stopped at one Mr. Rogers and applied for dinner but was given to understand at once we couldn’t eat with him- our next application was at Mr. Miller Kenney's - he gave us dinner - then we traveled on - applied to Mr. James McKenney's to stay all night - we was refused - we then stopped at Mr. Joseph McKenney's who took us in overnight, gave us supper and breakfast - think our fare was begrudged us. (Rutherford Co., N.C.) (returned)

August 10th - Wednesday - arose - took B - go to Bro. Surratt's - bid the folks goodbye - take our grip sack and start on our designated trip in search of the honest in heart in a southerly direction - traveled about 8 miles and called on one Mr. Samuel Littlejohn for dinner who took us in and treated us very kindly - had a gospel chat of about two hours - left him an Articles of Faith and No. l tract - traveled on - call on Mr. Burgess (B preacher) for lodging - he kindly refused us - we then called on Mr. Mark Fowler who sent us to Mr. R.C. Littlejohn who, on account of sickness, took us back to the above Fowler to stay overnight and come after us in the morning for breakfast (a gentleman) Union Co., S.C. (walked 15 miles this day)

August 11th - after B - then on our way slowly, it being very warm - arrive at Mr. Wm. Paris's on Mr. Huse's place about 12 o'clock - take dinner - have a chat with him in regard to the principles of the gospel - he being interested goes and gets a school house for us to preach in and circulates the news - several come to interview us who expressed a desire to hear us preach - in the evening we hold a meeting - about 40 present - good attention and good spirit manifest - after meeting they gathered around to get some tracts and ask questions - received two invitations - appointed another meeting - stay with Mr. Paris. (walked 8 miles that day)

August 13th - Saturday - warm - reading - Mr. J. F. Blackwood came in - talk awhile and invite us home to D (accepted) - some friends come in - talked about two hours - go to Mr. Jackson Gregory's - hold meeting - had about 50 present - good spirit manifest - after meeting - talk - explaining scripture and singing until about 12:30 o'clock - retire - wore out.

August 14th - Sunday - arose - took B - go up to Sunday school with Mr. Gregory - on arriving at the place was informed it was going to raise a disturbance so we turned off - had a long talk with a Mr. Whitlock (who had invited us to come and see him) and others who on account of his near and dear neighbors talking to him he refused to take us in so went back to Mr. Wm. Paris's for dinner - spent the afternoon in reading and talking to people that come in - go to Mr. Mace Garner's and hold meeting - about 20 present - quiet prevailed - retired about 10 o'clock.

August 15th - Monday - arose - took breakfast - start back for Spartenburg Co. - go through without dinner - arrive at Bro. Sarratt's about 4 o'clock - supper with Bro. Watts - slept with Bro. Sarratt. (walked 23 miles that day)

August 31st - Wednesday - go to Bro. Surratt's - read - take dinner - Elder Wilcox and I go out and have prayer - then we start on a trip to Cleveland Co., N.C.

Sept. 4th - Sunday - breakfast and went on - came to Mr. Wm. Long's in Gaston, N.C. He was not at home so went on after dinner to Bro. Gwin's - had a gospel chat till 12 o’clock with some strangers - put in the night there. (walked 18 miles that day)

Sept. 13th - all the Elders meet - tend to our prayers - then Houston and I take our equipment and start in a southerly direction - take D with Mr. Creek Lee Linder - call at Mr. Sam Littlejohn's - on account of sickness we move on - called on Squire Bonner - he refused to take us in - then we called on Mr. Smith who said we could stay, then repented and sent us adrift - called on Mr. Lipscum who fired us right now (wrathy) says, “I have no use for you - you hadn't ought to be allowed in this country - you had ought to be run out - the first thing you know you won't know nothing - we bade him goodbye and traveled on - we next stopped at Mr. Gochers who took us in and treated us like gentlemen - gave them the gospel until bedtime - had prayer with them and retired. (walked 10 miles today)

September 19th - after B started up the road and met Mr. John Rippy who invited us to take the day with him - invitation accepted - witness the beginning of cotton for the first time - after D pick cotton awhile - write to my wife - take supper - hold meeting - about 40 present - good order - received no new invitations - got to bed at a reasonable hour.

September 23rd - then to Mr. Bill Rodes who took us in treated us kindly - his wife was a Red - her Father's name was Thomas and Grandfather's name John Cross, Ancre, Spartenburg Co., S.C. (walked 10 miles)

September 24th - when B was over we travelled on and crossed into Laurens Co. - take D with Mr. John Wilbanks of the Methodist faith - spent the afternoon in the woods, reading - stay all night with Mr. G. C. Byrd a very clever gentleman - his daughter gave music on piano and sang - which reminded me very much of home - - (the little old organ we had in New Harmony belonged to Grandpa) had a good night's rest.

September 28th - (after sleeping well in an old gin house) - arose from our slumbers and traveled up the road - take breakfast with a Mr. Young - go to Clinton - call on Mr. Yerby a hotel keeper, for to stay the day but was refused - stopped in a store about an hour - the news went out that Mormon preachers were in town - all seemed anxious to see us - some came in and talked to us, some came to the door and daresn't venture their lives farther, others peeked in at the windows - from there we traveled toward Laurens - took D with Mr. Simpson but he didn't want any gospel - then traveled on slowly - was taken in at night on first application by Mr. John Godfrey and treated like gentlemen. Very wet and sloppy traveling, 11 miles.

        October 2nd - Sunday - grease up our shoes and trudge along - call at
           Mr Sam Tumblin who kept us the day and night - very clever people –
            the lady never used tea, coffee or tobacco nor never did.

October 3rd - arose - had B by daylight and went about 2 miles,

           Washed and changed clothes and washed our dirty ones first of such
            work have had to do.  After our clothes dried we continued our travels

called at the house of a Mr. Wood and applied for refreshments and a night’s lodging which was granted us - we gave them the gospel by the fireside and sang a few hymns - then retired.

October 5th - Wednesday - another beautiful morning dawned and after B we found ourselves toddling along the big road - stopped by the wayside to read - a young Baptist preacher came along and invited us to preach in a school house in his neighborhood - we accepted the invitation - we ate dinner with the family of Mr. John Owens, a sanctified man - in the evening about 30 came out to hear - had a very good time - no questions asked after meeting - we ate supper and stay all night with Mr. Boland.

October 8th - arose this morning feeling much refreshed - after B we continued our travels calling at the residence of Mr. Barksdale - while sitting in the plaza resting I picked up the Goldville paper and saw a short account of our proceeding by the correspondent - myself and companion having passed through there on the 26th of September. It was as follows - "One day last week a couple of tramps passed through our neighborhood begging their way, saying they were preachers of the gospel, disciples of the meek and lowly Jesus, which we would advise to be arrested and sent to the nearest chain gang." After dinner we travelled on - called on Mr. B. Owens to stay with but was refused. A gentleman standing by says, "I will take you up to the next station on the hand car, there is a big meeting going on up there and ministers scarce and they would be glad to have you to help them out,” but when the word `Mormon' came up, "that let's me out", says he. We traveled on - called and stayed all night with Mr. Dave Barton. (walked 12 miles today)

October 11th - after B we start on our way - met J. A. Dacus who invited us to stop for dinner - we did so and preached him the gospel and after dinner we traveled on reflecting on the good times we had anticipated in opening up a field in Laurens, but they were all blighted and we had found ourselves in the big road hitting the grit in getting away - called on Mr. Waddle to stay all night but didn’t make the riffle - we then called on Mr. A. W. Parker. When he read our certificate and I commenced to tell him about it, he said “See here, do you men want supper?” says I, "Yes, and we want to stay all night with you too." He took us in and we gave him the gospel straight out. He seemed when we left to be quite badly torn to pieces. (8 miles today)

October 15th - cold and windy - continued our march toward Spartenburg - we had supper with him and went to Mr. D. J. Farr and stayed all night. (17 miles)

October 18th - after B we continue - stop at Mr. T. Allen's to inquire the way - he invited us to stop for D which we did - had Possom - and toward evening we found ourselves at Bro. Pool's where we stayed all night.

October 27th - another rainy day dawned and after B. Wilcox and Redd go down and take D with Mr. Andrew Smith after which we all went to Bright Town and spent the night with Mr. Morgan Paris.

THERE IS A BREAK HERE UNTIL FEBRUARY 25th when he is moving to another field of labor. A note book is missing. If anyone has it get some stuff out of it for this paper.

     1888 - begins here:

Feb. 28th - had a early B go to Cowpens - I take the train to Spartenburg - go to the Merchant Hotel - stay until after dinner - then boarded the train for Augusta, Ga., where I arrived at 9:20 p.m. - stayed all night at the Central Hotel. (ride on the R. R. about 160 miles.)

March 3rd - Saturday - Go to Mr. Green's - get some tracts - take dinner with Mr. E. V. Lowe - from there we go to Mr. Nathaniel Walker’s - wash all over - hold meeting at night - a goodly number present and a good spirit manifest. We stay all night with Mr. Walker.

March 8th - another beautiful day - after leaving Mr. Creggs we went to Mr. Lawrence Eubanks - no one at home - go to Mr. William Lowe - no one at home - take dinner with Mr. Evert V. Lowe - go to P. Heath’s but on account of sickness we went to Mr. Plunket Tools and stayed all night.

March 9th - we go and stay all night with Mr. Ransom Lowe.

March 18th - Sunday - another beautiful day dawned - go without dinner -arrive at Mr. Walker's about l: 30 - meet Jeff Red - hold meeting in the open air - give out what tracts we have - go stay all night with Mr. Edward Key.

March 19th - after B go lay down in the woods - write letters to J. F. Pace and my wife - go take dinner with Mr. Wiley Lowe - supper and stay all night with Mr. Kenney Key.

March 22nd - Cold north wind - very disagreeable - write to Aunt Louisa and the children - read to the folks - take D with Mr. Cregg - go over and stay all night with Mr. Wyley Lowe.

March 24th - Saturday - after B go to the branch and take a bath and change clothes - take dinner with Bryant. Leave our valises - go from there to Mr. Jeff Redd's and stay all night. (walk 15 miles today)

March 25th - stay with Mr. Jeff Redd until after D then go over to Mr. Calhoun Redd's - hold meeting - talk until evening - go to Mr. Jeff Redd's - take supper - sing the songs of Zion - talk on the gospel until bedtime - then we retire.

March 26th - arose feeling fine - remain with Mr. Jeff Redd until after dinner, reading and explaining the gospel - rain - go down to Mr. Calhoun Redd's - take supper - then hold meeting - have a good time - retire at a reasonable hour - rain most of the night.

March 27th - after B start back to Lowe Town through the rain - take D with Mr. Bryant - go to the P.O., receive letter from Father - stay the balance of the day with Mr. Bryant and the night - rain most of the night.

April 3rd - spend the day watching the road for the new Elder - about 4 o'clock Bro. Henry Fairbanks of Payson arrived (He is the father of Miles and Viola F. Lamar who used to live in Raymond) All glad to see one another - go stay all night with Mr. John Cregg.

April 7th - after B continue our journey to Mr. Jeff Redd's where we take dinner - spend the balance of the day - supper and stay all night.

April 8th - spend the day with Mr. Redd - after D hold meeting - have a good time - supper and stay all night with Mr. Jeff Redd.

April 12th - Mr. Boyd and family being sick, Bro. Fairbanks and I conclude to help him plough and on going to the field my mule plowing took a fright and ran away - after we caught her we put in the day and stay all night with Mr. Joseph Boyd.

April 22nd - fast day - go to the other side of the runs to Calhoun Redd’s - take dinner - hold meeting in the evening - have a good time - not many present but a good spirit manifested - supper and stay all night with Calhoun Redd.

April 23rd - spend the forenoon reading - take dinner with Mr. Cally Redd - go fishing but failed to catch any - replant corn for Mr. Jeff Redd - supper - sing the songs of Zion and go to bed about 10:30 o’clock at Mr. J. Redd’s.

April 24th - replant corn for a while - plough a little for Cally Redd - dinner - supper - stay all night with Jeff Redd.

May 4th - go to the office - rec. letter from my wife with picture of self and children - also rec. letter from pap and coat from Bro. Humphrey the Boss - stay all night with Mr. J. Cregg.

May 8th - go to the office - get the paper - spent the afternoon reading - stay all night with Mr. Wyley Lowe.

May 17th - Thursday - after B we go to Bro. Andersons - meet the other Elders - get our equipment - bid the folks goodbye and start for our own field in S.C. - weather very warm - arrive at Mr. Nat Walker’s about 5:30 o’clock where we stay all night.

May 28th - after a good night’s rest and the morning refreshments we start on our way to Graniteville. After a walk of about 9 hours through the hot sun we arrived there and was very kindly received by Mr. Berry Washum’s family where we stayed all night - talked some on the gospel and retired at a reasonable hour quite tired.

June 6th - Remain at Mr. Walker's until after dinner - write to Bro. Humphreys - then go to Mr. Benjamin Boyd's. He not being at home we went to Mr. Wily Lowe's and stay all night.

June 9th - After B go to the office - rec. letters from my wife, Sister Caroline, Elder Ferrin - learn of the death of my bro. John W. Redd - ate dinner - wash - and change clothes - stay all night.

June 19th - After taking the morning’s refreshments go to the branch and take a bath - then go to the office - rec. letter from my wife, also a registered letter from Bro. Humphreys with one from my wife stating in it that she had sent me $25.00 - go down to the runs stay with Mr. Jeff Redd.

June 20th - Stay all day and night with Mr. Jeff Redd.

June 21st - Stay with Cally Redd all day and night.

July 3rd - Go to the office, rec. letters from my wife, Pres. Spry & Bro. A. R. Smith, pres. of the Georgia Conference. Go to Mr. Jeff Redd’s and stay the night.

July 20th - Stay with Mr. Jeff Redd until after B and start back- go to the office - rec. letters from my wife and Bro. Humphreys stating we were permitted to go to Augusta for the 24th July celebration - D and stay all night with Mr. John Craig.

July 24th - Nine of the Georgia Elders had assembled with the saints to celebrate the day. Called to order at 10 o’clock by William A. Redd who was appointed master of ceremonies. The program was as follows - Music by band, singing by the choir, "Oh Ye Mountains High". Prayer by chaplain David F. Fawns. Singing "Up Awake Ye Defenders of Zion". Pioneer speech by pres. A. R. Smith - Choir sang, "Come, Come Ye Saints". Music by the band - speech by John M. Browning - Song by Jadediah Balentine "Latter Day Kingdom", recitation by David Bennion - closing hymn by the choir "Oh Say Have You Seen etc.". Benediction by the chaplain. The barbecue was then made ready and a glorious feast for all present. Thinking the time had not been sufficiently taken up so a meeting was held. Called to order at 3 o’clock by pres. A. R. Smith - after the usual exercises - singing and prayer, William A. Redd was called to address the congregation and followed by pres. Smith. Thus the day closed which was passed without a single word of disrespect or a strong phrase of any name or nature as I heard, something I never witnessed before in my life - I stayed all night at Bro. McLittle's, slept with Bro. Smith. (This celebration was held at Grovetown, Columbia Co., Ga.)

July 25th - The Elders all came in and after talking and singing a while we retire to the woods - hold meeting (the eleven Elders). The Spirit of God was present in rich abundance and a time of rejoicing was had by all. All being called to express his feelings, desires and determinations - to speak of the goodness of the Lord as he was so led. After we had all spoken pres. Smith delivered a very interesting and instructive sermon, exhorting all to faithfulness in performing our duties, especially in qualifying ourselves for future usefulness. The comfort, joy and satisfaction that was experienced is beyond description - Bro. Smith and I slept together at Bro. McLittle's.

August 7th - arriving at Jeff Redd's about 4 o'clock where we suppered and stayed all night.

August 8th - Stay all day with Mr. Redd - get Mrs. Redd to wash my coat and vest - read from Daniel 2nd chapter and explain to Mrs. Redd who was a warm investigator. Mr. Darlin Heath came home with Mr. Redd and we preached the gospel.

August 17th - Board the train for Spartanburg at which point we change cars for Cowpens. (He is going back to his first field of labor after six months away.) `R.R. ride 130 miles - walk to Bro. Sarratt's and stay all night - meet Bro. Jones on his way to the office. (That was Lehi Jones from Cedar City.)

Sept. 3rd - After B we go to Bro. James Watts spend the rest of the day after D finish writing to my Father - Bro. Humphrey (conf. pres.) feeling bad concluded to send me to Ocones to visit the Elders and saints in his stead.

Sept.5th - Get up at 5 - wash and fix for starting. Elder Fairbanks go with me to Cowpens where I take the train for Central (70 miles) where I met Elders Wilcox and Barker with a team to take me to where they were laboring 20 miles distant - arrive at Bro. Miles Mosses at about 5 o’clock where we stay all night. Continued rain all day and night.

Sept. 6th - And still it rains - feeling quite poorly - cause bad cold and a very bad headache - ate dinner with Bro. Miles Mosses - start down to Bro. Nathaniel Wilson's where we stay all night, but on the way on account of the branches being up from rain Bro. Wilcox had to strip twice and carry us across.

Sept. 9th - Sunday - raining - fast and pray - we hold S.S. and meeting - after exercises in S.S. Bro. Redd talk to them a short time - meeting was called to order by Bro. Wilcox - after singing and prayer Bro. W. talked awhile on the Kingdom of God and also our duties - Elder Redd then read from Matt. 10:34-38 and occupy about 3/4 of an hour dwelling mostly on the word of wisdom, occasionally quoting from the scriptures to substantiate my assertions - take dinner with Bro. Wilson - we go stay all night with Bro. Samuel Stuart.

Sept. 10th - After B go down to see the river - it was very high from recent rains - take dinner with Silas K. Wilson - go to Bro. Taylor Wilson’s supper - hold a testimony meeting - 13 of the saints bore their testimony to the truth - then Bros. Wilcox, Baker and Redd speak a few minutes each and bear testimony. Have an excellent time - not one refused to get up when asked - stay all night with Brother S.K. Wilson.

Sept. 12th - Read awhile - go out in the woods hold a meeting ourselves - talk to one another - have a very good time giving our experiences and a short account of our labors and talking over the ways we should walk and talk among the people - go and take dinner with Sister Harriet Wilson - go from there to Bro. Mosses - supper and held meeting - Bro. Redd did the preaching - read from 1 Pet. 3, 15 about 40 present - good spirit prevail - stay with Bro. Moss.

Sept. 13th - read and talk awhile - then we go to Bro. T. Wilson’s - Bro. B. stay there and Wilcox and I go to S.K. Wilson's - take dinner - wade little river - go to Mr. Gubly Rains hold meeting - Redd do the preaching - read from Matt. 7:21 from which I take the first principles of the gospel - occupy about 55 minutes - good spirit prevails - stay all night.

Sept. 20th - After B start for Seneca where I arrive quarter to twelve - board the train for Cowpens - leave train and walk to Bro. Bolen and stay all night. (Ride 80 miles on the train.)

Oct. 20th - Saturday - Bro. Spry arrive safe and sound - conference opened - Elders present - Pres. Wm. Spry, pres. of southern states mission - Hyrum T. Humphreys, pres. of south Carolina conf., traveling Elders, Barker, Jones, Wilcox, Jensen, Clark, Burgess, Fairbanks, Johnsen and Redd. 10 o’clock a.m. meeting called to order by Pres. Humphreys who made a few remarks - Bro. Jones followed, then Pres. Spry addressed us - adjourned until 2 p.m. then Barker, Johnsen, Redd and Fairbanks D with Bro. Sarratt, supper and stay all night with Bro. Evan Watts. (The father of Billy of New Harmony fame.)

Oct. 21st - Sunday - meeting called to order by pres. Humphreys. Burgess, Jensen and Spry addressed the congregation - dinner with Bro. Evan Watts - meeting called to order by pres. H. Elders Clark and Spry did the preaching - which closed our conference. In the meantime we held 5 council meetings in the woods, where we received much valuable instruction - Bro. Humphreys was released to go home with the Nov. company and Bro. Redd to succeed him as presiding Elder (Pres) over the South Carolina conference - we make proposal to Pres. Spry to stay with us another day, which he willingly consented to do. I go with Bros. Fairbanks and Barker and stay all night with Bro. Bolin. (This Pres. Spry was later governor of Utah.)

Oct. 25th - write to Miss Emily Redd of Wilmington, N.C. - rain all day. (Lura says "When I was in Wilmington in 1918 I stayed with this Emily Redd and read the letter that Father wrote to her. I've wished ever since that I had copied it. He was preaching `gathering' to her which has been discontinued for many years.")

Oct. 28th - Sunday - go to Bro. Sarratt's meet the rest of the Elders. Hold S.S. and meeting. A general good time and lots of the Spirit of the Lord was enjoyed. Sister Robinson being sick sent for some of the Elders. Bro. Clark and I go down and administer to her. She was instantly healed by the power of God. Sing the songs of Zion.

Nov. 9th - Bro. and Sister Roop were going down toward Cowpens to visit some of their relatives - left Bro. Fairbanks and I with the house as we were going to the office when the mail came (with the understanding that we would lock the door when we left. They left the breakfast dishes dirty on the table, the beds unmade, the ovens and lids scattered around the fire as they had been used while cooking, the bread tray uncovered and exposed to mice, cats and flies, the churn with the fresh churned milk in it uncovered also, the floor unswept - in fact as it is generally termed by housekeepers - it was left upside down. We go to the office - rec. letters from wife, Elders Burgess, Wilcox, Barker and Jones. Write a note to Pres. Spry. Also write to Elders Wilcox and Burgess - stay all night with Bro. Sarratt.

Nov. 18th - Sunday - go to Bro. Sarratts - hold S.S. and meeting - not many present - a good spirit manifest - D, S and stay all night with Bro. Evan Watts.

I don't have any more of his mission journal. I remember him saying that when he was released he didn't have the money to come home. Then the church didn't pay their way home as they do now.

He went to Mr. Black who has been mentioned many times. Mr. Black was not a member, but a very good friend. He was a Justice of the Peace or some such thing and stood out on the courthouse steps and gave quite a speech.

He said he was going to lend this man $50.00. He had been out here paying his own way for them and their welfare. He wouldn't lend anything to a sectarian minister, but he was going to lend it to this man, Mr. William A. Redd from Utah, because he would pay it back. He was an honest man and could be trusted.

Too, this is not nearly all of the journal I have. As you will note, I have put in only the entries of a few days in each month that I have. He has an entry for every day.

From "L.D.S. Biographical Encyclopedia", Vol I, p. 539, 1903 Edition, by Andrew Jensen:

William Alexander Redd, bishop of New Harmony ward, Washington Co., Utah, born Sept. 19, 1861, in Spanish Fork, Utah Co., Utah. When but one year old he moved with his parents to New Harmony, Washington Co., Utah, where he has ever since made his home. From his early youth a belief and a firm faith in God had been deeply implanted in his heart. During his early manhood he held several minor offices in the church. These privileges helped to prepare him for the greater callings that later in life were required of him. Patriarch John Smith, in a patriarchal blessing told him that he was chosen at his birth to be a messenger of glad tidings unto the people in gathering scattered Israel, and it was his calling to preside among people. In obedience to a call from President John Taylor, he filled a mission to the southern states in 1887-89. During his sojourn there he labored part of the time as president of the South Carolina conference. He was ordained a bishop and set apart to preside over the New Harmony ward September 15, 1890, by Apostle Francis M. Lyman, since which he has labored diligently and successfully in that calling. With his wife, Mary Verena Bryner, whom he married February 27, 1884, he is raising a nice family of children.

A Tribute to William A. Redd by Brigham S. Young:

After an acquaintanceship of several years, if I were asked to name his outstanding quality, I could unhesitatingly say, "Dependability," a sterling man who served efficiently in every position he occupied, kindly, forceful and reliant. The kind of a man you could tie to, in short, the sort of a man most needed in every progressive community. He had, too, what is rare in staid man, a rare sense of humor, which gave his seeming gravity a sympathetic and friendly buoyance. He filled with honor many important offices in both civic and religious life and seemed always to possess the faculty of being right. he complied with the highest law given to man. He and his wife observed, literally, the divine fiat, increase and multiply and replenish the earth and subdue it. A highly successful tiller of the soil, a family man whose children are exceptional physically, mentally and spiritually. They have proven the fine citizenship he taught them. They could scarce be any other, as they always had before them the example of what is most valuable to society, a poised, God-fearing Father.

Among others, I was at his bedside just prior to his passing. For some years I have seen what indicated the effect of the ordinance of administration, and on a table near where he was lying I saw an hour glass, the sands of which were all but exhausted. There came to me the conviction that this was our last meeting in mortality.

As I look at him over the years, I can say, "Among the most successful men I have ever known, stands my valued friend, William A. Redd."

A Tribute from Pres. Heber S. Allen, whose counselor William A. Redd was:

Dear Sister Ursenbach,

I was not aware that I waited so long to reply to your letter of Oct. 26, but have been trying to get the harvest finished, but have not done so as yet.

I have always thought that your father was one of the finest men I have ever met. Dependable, intelligent, industrious, valiant and sincere in all things that he undertook. As a ward teacher, one was always sure that the visits would always be made on time and efficiently. As a high councilor, his judgment was always of high order, and sound and just. As a counselor in the stake presidency, he labored with us harmoniously with a sincere and ardent desire to help establish truth, faith and righteousness in the hearts of the people with whom he came in contact. His own heart, I firmly believe, was thoroughly converted to the restored gospel and he impressed others with this fact.

He was a peace-maker and many times he was given the task of 'pouring oil on the troubled waters' and was successful in bringing harmony where discord had prevailed.

I was very much shocked when he was taken away so suddenly, but have always cherished my associations with him as my most pleasant memories. Your brother, H. S. Allen

* * * * *

WILLIAM A. REDD

Brother W. B. Betts of California, who lived at Raymond about 1902-1912, told me in Los Angeles, March 11, 1956, that he was present when George Fairbanks of Raymond was administered to by the Priesthood. Brother Fairbanks said he was going to die because he saw his dead sister there waiting for him. However he was administered to, and the anointing was sealed by Bishop Wm. A. Redd. According to Brother Betts' statement, he had never heard a man pray as Bishop Redd did upon this occasion. He felt that Bishop Redd, in his prayer, was giving his own life in exchange for that of Brother Fairbanks. Three days later, Bishop Redd died.

Signed by Harold R. Laycock

1. ↑ Lemuel Hardison Redd. Family Record
   p.4.
2. ↑ Genealogical Committee of Raymond Ward. Cemetery & Tombstone Records. (Salt Lake City: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1955, 1984.)
   film #6046921, 1955.

   Lot.54- William A. Redd--- born 19 Sept. 1861---died 6 Jan. 1911 age 49 yrs.
   Mary Verena Bryner(wife of Wm.A.Redd) B-3 May 1866-D-30 May 1934 age 68 yrs.
   Grace Brandley Redd-----born 25 Dec 1900----died 14 Jan 1936 age 35 yrs.

3. ↑ Lemuel Hardison Redd. Family Record.

   Odained an Elder by Jacob Galissen.

4. ↑ Lemuel Hardison Redd. Family Record.

   Blessed by A.K. Thurber.