Smith Family Reunion

(Francis Harper & Eunice Elizabeth Fuller Smith)

Will be held at noon on Saturday, August 12, 2017

Meet at noon - eat at 12:30

The 27th Ward Bowery

1146 North 200 East

Bountiful, Utah

Meat, drinks, plates, utensils, and napkins will be provided

Please bring:

(1) A potluck dish to share, and

(2) $2 dues for each person over age 16

Games for the young and young at heart.

A short meeting will be held following lunch.

Remember to wear your family color.

Please contact your family members (siblings, children, etc.)

Hosted by Kay & Jean

RSVP kajefrog@gmail.com (801) 295-7095

Family History: Sources

SMITH Family History Sources

Summary Compiled by Merikay Haws Smith

Based on Jean Haws’ Files, 2010

Annie Elizabeth SMITH (George Earl JOHNSTUN)

Annie Elizabeth Smith Johnstun Oral History, original typed 

manuscript, 1976,  35 pp., obituary; JaNae has CD of interview.

"Tribute to Annie Johnstun" by Martin Curtis funeral talk, 1977.

Copies of photographs, "Annie" file  

Francis Harper SMITH (Eunice Elizabeth FULLER)

"Mother:  Eunice Elizabeth Fuller Smith," 22 pp. typed.

Photographs of Francis Smith Home (Blanche's), CD, JaNae

"Recollections of My Long and Busy Life: Francis Harper Smith,"  9 pages typed.

"My Father:  Frank H. Smith" by Mazie Christensen, 6 pages typed.

"A Story about Francis Harper Smith" told by Blanche Smith, 1 page.

"Aunt Eunice's tape about Dad" typed transcription by Jean, 7 pp. 

Related letter from Lee R Watkins, 1995.

"Interview with Eunice Smith Watkins" August. 1998--first of a large packet of various news articles, funeral notices, Francis Harper Smith family histories, copied and in a manilla envelop in Jean's box.

"Francis Harper Smith" funeral talk, 2 pages typed.

"My Brother Marvin" by Eunice Smith Watkins, typed 6 pp.

"Leo F. Smith Family:  Leo Evans Smith" manuscript copy, 11 pp.

"Aunt Lola and Uncle Harvey" by JaNae Haws Urry, 1 page

"Shirley P. Smith" oral history transcribed by Jean Haws, 14 pages.

“Sampler Trail – Matriarchal Line”:  Hannah Cartwright Jenkins (b. 1795), Elizabeth Jenkins Preece (b. 1828), Annie Elizabeth Preece Fuller (b. 1852), Eunice Elizabeth Fuller Smith (b. 1872), Nellie Smith (b. 1891), Jean Johnstun Haws (b. 1936), Merikay Haws Smith, (b. 1959), Genevieve Kay Smith, (b. 1987)

Job Taylor SMITH  (Adelaide Fowles, JANE FOWLES, Sarah Ann Punter, Charlotte Elvira Slinge) Lola Alliston of Cache county?, Ellen Sheffield, Betsey Fowles, Hannah Ruck, Judah Ruck, Quinland Susannah Grove

Job Taylor Smith Binder  

"Pioneer of 1855 Passes Away," Reuben C. Fuller obituary

Mrs. R.C. Fuller obituary, 1927

"Record of George Bundy" (cared for Job T. Smith)

Copy of Job Taylor Smith photo from DUP museum

Job Smith's Record, journal transcribed from shorthand, 32 pp.

5 pages copies of manuscript writings

History of Job Smith, photocopy quarter pages, 231 pp.

"Family Register of Job Smith"

Diary of Job Smith:  A Pioneer of Nauvoo, Illinois and Utah, 57 pages 

Letter from John Taylor to St. George Temple presidency re Job Smith's sealing, 1887, copy

"Revelation to Joseph" manuscript copy written on “Hay and Grain” form from San Francisco.

"Blessing by John Smith Patriarch upon the head of Job Smith" copy

"A History of the Mormons from 1832 to 1846" by Job Smith, 4 pages

"My Recollections of the Prophet" by Job Smith, 4 pages

Job Smith mission appointment letter to the Pacific States, Nov. 25, 1876 signed by Brigham Young; also certificate dated June 5, 1877.

Letter to Job Smith  from Brigham Young dated June 6, 1877 appointing Job Smith to preside over the mission in California, to direct the elders, seek property for a gathering place under the United Order, establish basket weaving and other businesses, gather in Tithes, stay out of debt.  4 manuscript pages.

Certificate of Job Smith ordained December 1844, President, Fourth Quorum, Seventies.

Certificate signed by Brigham Young for Job Smith’s mission to the Pacific States, Nov. 1876.

Manuscript copy signed by Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball and Willard Richards, "Know ye that the bearer, Job Smith, a true and faithful brother and Elder in Israel,…on a mission to England…October 1849"

Letter to Job Smith from John Taylor, Dec. 8, 1877, manuscript copy

Letter to Job Smith from Thomas Price Smith, Aug. 15, 1877

“Job Smith:  A Summary History” by Merikay Smith, 3 pages

“Jane Fowles Smith:  Summary History” by Merikay Smith, 2 pages

Online:  

“Funeral Services for Job T Smith Tuesday” Salt Lake Herald, 4 Jan. 1913.  (articles also in Deseret News 3, 4, 8 Jan. 1913 not digitized)

Diary and Autobiography, online digitized text, Harold B. Lee Library

“Biographical Sketch of the Life of Jane Fowles Smith, Pioneer of 1854” prepared by Elsie and W.H. Pyott (grandson of Jane Smith), Yale Camp, DUP, Feb. 1974.

Job Smith Diary and Autobiography 1849-1877; 1828-1913; online BYU library.  

Thomas Price SMITH (Ann TAYLOR, Mary Dugard, Sarah Driver, Patience Kee, Susannah Fish, Phebe Kee, Elizabeth Hunting)

The Journal of Thomas Price Smith 1840-1877, edited by Robert Smith Melville, 1993, 34 pages (from 340 handwritten pages)

"Some Information Pertaining to the Lives of Thomas Price Smith and Mary (Dugard) Smith" 2 pages typed

"Disowned Bride" Church News, March 14, 1981 about Mary Dugard

Thanks to Merikay Haws Smith for researching, writing, and sharing this family history information.

 

Family Histories: Thomas Price Smith

Thomas Price Smith

1806 – 1896

We call upon the saints of the Norwich and Worcestershire Conferences to manifest their sense of the years of untiring exertion made on their behalf

 by Elder Thomas Smith, their father and founder in the Gospel.

(Millennial Star: 1 Nov 1851 – Vol 13, No1, page 335)

Thomas was born on October 18, 1806, in the village of Deerhurst, England.  His parents, William Smith and (Sarah) Virgin Price, had 3 daughters and 4 sons.  Their family has been traced back to 1678, to Edward Smith of Kinsham in Bredon, Worcestershire.  Thomas’ mother read scriptures to her children daily.  Thomas wrote, ‘when I was young I was drawn by the spirit of the Lord in some measure to love the Lord.’  Thomas worked as a farm laborer earning just 10 shillings to £1 per week.   He became a preacher at age 21 in the Wesleyan Church.  

Thomas married Ann Taylor on November 17, 1827 in Deerhurst.  They had five children:  Job Taylor born Dec. 2, 1828; Mary born Dec. 25, 1831; John and Anna  born Dec. 2, 1833 (died Dec. 9 and Dec. 13, 1833); John born 1835.  Mother Ann died soon after John’s birth.  At age three Job was given to his Uncle George and Aunt Mary Bundy.  After the death of wife in 1835, Thomas, who been a Wesleyan preacher, was dissatisfied with their teachings and broke away from the faith.  In about 1838 he and 550 others organized as the United Brethren.

Thomas was baptized into the LDS Church April 8, 1840.  Within three months of being baptized he was called to care for the newly organized branch in Deerhurst.

Six months later he was ordained an elder and called to serve a mission in his area. Thomas converted and later married Mary Dugard Feb. 10, 1843.  Mary was disinherited from wealth when she joined the LDS Church.  Mary suffered privations and hardships, caring for Thomas’ two children as well as her own, often with her husband gone for weeks at a time.  Only two of her ten children survived to adulthood.  Thomas was an effective missionary and was President of the Worcestershire Conference in the late 1840s.  A difficult situation arose for Thomas who asked the rich members to donate to help the poor, and received enough for a farthing each for 20 people a week.  The rich complained, church authorities investigated and Thomas “corrected” his teachings.  (It seems that a small portion of the funds received helped support his family, who were among the poor.  Serving the church full-time for more than ten years took great faith and willingness to go without on the part of Thomas and his wife.  Often missionaries were fed as they traveled from place to place, but not the family left behind.) 

In 1842, a Norwich minister made a prophecy that God would soon set the children of Israel free with “the renewal of the covenant – in a prophet’s voice – and in the establishment of a priesthood with power to administer….”  He expected this to happen between 1844 and 1847.  Thus the people were prepared for the message of the Restoration when in 1847 Thomas made a request to serve in Norwich (200 miles from Worcestershire) where the gospel was not yet taught.  Apostle Orson Spencer called Thomas as the first Mormon missionary in Norfolk.  He was greeted in a miraculous way there when a woman, Mother Teasdel, stopped him on the street to say she had seen him in a dream and was directed by the Spirit to invite him to her home where he taught her and others the gospel.  Thomas soon rented a hall for regular meetings.  Within a year he baptised 130 people and built a chapel in the city.  In 1848 he was called to serve as President of the Norwich Conference.   In his service he walked miles (as many as 70 at a time) from village to village, traveling without purse or script, relying on strangers and the Lord.   He was threatened with prison if he preached in one particular minister’s village. Thomas’ response was, ‘I fear God , not man and I WILL NOT BE STOPPED.’  Meetings were sometimes disrupted with banging, jeering and shouting or stones were thrown.  Thomas wrote that during one “riot” he was hurt and managed to escape with his life.   By January 1850 a total of 457 saints had joined the Church in the Norwich Conference.  Thomas requested permission to leave England for Utah.  Son Job Smith was to preside over the Bedfordshire Conference.  After 10 years of service “impaired” in health and with “scanty subsistence for the gospel’s sake”, Thomas had been the means by which hundreds joined the Church in England. 

Thomas and his family, traveling under the Perpetual Emigration Fund, boarded the The Kennebec in January 1851.  Due to weather conditions departure was delayed and daughter Eliza died January 10.  Thomas made the overland trek to Utah with the Abraham Smoot company.   A note in Thomas’ journal during a time of cholera:  ‘I was fully engaged in administering to the sick, burying the dead, appointing men to look after the cattle as well as other duties.’   They arrived in Utah in September 1852.  In February 1854, Thomas Smith and his wife received their endowments and were sealed together.  In July 1854, he married a second wife, Sarah Driver. Thomas Smith responded to B. Young’s call to settle Iron County.  He married Patience Kee, one of his first converts in Norwich, in May 1855 by Apostle George A. Smith. 

Thomas was described as zealous in his faith, generous and kind natured.  He also loved to garden and kept the best team of horses around.  He prospered once settled in Utah.  He had 7 wives (Ann Taylor, Mary Dugard, Sarah Driver, Patience Kee, Susannah Fish, Phebe Kee, and Elizabeth Hunting) and 26 children and adopted three others.  Thomas died at age 90 in Parowan, Utah in 1896.

THOMAS PRICE SMITH – Summary history by Merikay Smith, December 2010

Job Smith Diary and autobiography, 1849-1877; 1828-1913, BYU, online.

“The Journal of Thomas Price Smith,” edited by Robert Smith Melville, 1993.

  A Brief History of Thomas Price Smith, by Ron Larter, 70 pages (online).

“Disowned Bride,” Church News, March 14, 1981 (about Mary Dugard).

“Some Information Pertaining to the Lives of Thomas Price Smith and Mary (Dugard) Smith,” unattributed, 2 pages (refers to Thomas as “grandfather”).

Thanks to Merikay Haws Smith for researching, writing, and sharing this history.

Family History: Job Taylor Smith

JOB TAYLOR SMITH

1828 - 1913

Job Taylor Smith was born December 2, 1828 in Deerhurst, England to Thomas and Ann Smith.  Given to his Uncle George and Aunt Mary Bundy when three, Job’s ailing mother died a few years later.  His father was a missionary for the United Brethren and later the LDS Church.   Job heard Wilford Woodruff preach in March 1840 and he was baptized in May, confirmed by B. Young, W. Richards and W. Woodruff.  Job had 15 months of schooling.   When only 12 he served as a church clerk, book agent and speaker.  He traveled with the Elders to teach.  “I was often blessed with the gift of tongues and other manifestations of the holy spirit.”  

In 1843 Job traveled to Nauvoo where he met Joseph Smith.  He often heard Joseph preach.  Job left Nauvoo (after being endowed) in May, 1846.  When all able-bodied men joined the Mormon Battalion he recalled: “I was very small of my age, quite unhealthy and somewhat young” yet he and his elderly uncle were left in charge of 6 families (no shelters, limited provisions).  ‘My uncle and myself being now so constantly and arduously engaged with the cattle &c of the families, left in our care, we soon fell sick.’  They traveled to Winter Quarters and that winter lived out of their wagon—all food and money gone.  Others had little to spare.  Near death Job received a blessing from Patriarch John Smith and revived.  In 1848 he set out West driving others’ teams including B. Young’s, reaching the Valley on Sept. 25, 1848.  Job was called on a mission to England at Oct. conference 1849 and set out by wagon Oct. 18, sailing March 1850.  He was with the first missionaries sent to England from the Valley.

Job kept a mission diary detailing.  He met Adelaide on July 14, 1851 and notes July 28, 1851 ‘Received a letter from Adelaide Fowles upon the anticipation of a future union.’  He asked Lorenzo Snow permission to marry.  Job was appointed President of the Bedfordshire Conference.  He married Adelaide December 28.  December 10, 1852 ‘My wife was delivered of a son’ Cyrus Franklin.  December 26, 1852  ‘the revelation on plurality of wives was read, for the first time in public in this country.’ January 19, 1854  A daughter, Adelaide Ann, was born. 

Job and his family joined 482 Saints to sail for Zion on Feb. 22, 1854.  March 6^th baby Adelaide Ann died.  ‘The weather being very cold, and our berth being next to the door the child took cold and shortly died.’  ‘May 4th Cyrus Franklin my son died of spasms. He was 16 months old.’  Adelaide’s sister Jane (separated from her husband) and daughter joined Job’s family.  Cholera struck—many died.  June 9 Job struck with cholera.  June 18, Ann Fowles (Adelaide's mother) died.  Forty wagons and families under Job’s direction left June 19.  They arrived in the Valley Sept. 23, 1854.  Jane bore Louisa Jane on Nov. 26.   Adelaide bore Georgiana in February, 1855.  Job married Jane Sheffield in May, 1855.  Job built a small home and Adelaide started a millinery shop.  Crops failed.  Job continued to have business setbacks.  Jane  moved to her own home and bore a daughter, Ann Fowles.  In Nov. 1856, Job ‘took in two of the persons who came by the handcarts.’  Dec. 1856 Jane bore Mormon Job (Henry).  .  Jane and Adelaide moved to Lehi in 1858 for safety.   Job spent ten weeks in Echo Canyon harassing the US army.   ‘Moved Jane and children back and then fetched Adelaide … Adelaide went to live in my house one main Street (East Temple) where she again commenced working for the public.’ Nov. 1858 ‘Anne Fowles my youngest daughter died…Adelaide was cut off from the church No special charge was made against her, but I afterwards learned that she wrote a letter to one of her friends in which she stated she was going to the States…. Said letter was taken to the President.’   ‘May. '59 Rebaptized my wife Adelaide , by instruction of Bishop.’  

March 1, 1859 Jane bore Lucy.  Adelaide moved to rooms added to Job’s workshop.  July 9, 1859 Adelaide bore Job Fowles.   Adelaide bore Albert Henry in1861.  Job turned to basket making as his primary business.  May 1862 Jane bore Wilford.  Nov. 2, 1862 Adelaide bore Elias.  Jane bore George Thomas, July 1864.   Sept. 1864, Elias N. died (son of Adelaide).  July 1865, Adelaide bore Rachel Elizabeth.  January 1868 Jane moved to Farmington ‘as she and her sister do not understand each other, and are best apart from each other’.  Job borrowed money  leading to problems with creditors and lawsuits.  May 6, 1868: ‘Jane bore a son and called him Francis Harper .  During the forepart of the year trade was so dull and no money to be had that no progress could be made.’ Jane moved back to SLC ill from typhoid.  Job nearly died in 1869 from stress.  Lola Alice born to Adelaide, 1869.   Job records that daughter Georgianna married a nonmember in 1873 on the advice of her mother Adelaide who hated polygamy.  

Job set Jane up in a small basket store where she was to support her remaining five children (two had married).  ‘May 19th 1874 Took Sarah Punter for a wife’ (age 19) and moved to Paradise.  ‘Adelaide was employed by the Relief Society in Ogden to superintend the straw millinery business.’ ‘August 26 1875 Sarah P. my wife brought a daughter called it Jane Ann.’  Job tried to take back Jane’s shop, but she refused him ‘any interest or control therein; and I (Job) have no remedy.’  Ill and stressed, Job desired to travel to the sea and conveyed this to Pres. D. H. Wells.  Job was called to the Pacific States Mission.  Adelaide and Jane helped fund Job’s mission.  He worked in a small Oakland branch.  Job returned to Utah in April 1877 after 3 months.

May 1880, Adelaide born to Sarah.  Feb. 1883 Sarah Ellen born to Sarah.  Dec. 1, 1885 Job married Charlotte Slinger who had four children from a previous marriage.   In 1886 Job and Charlotte lived in a cabin he built in Georgetown, ID where his wife Sarah lived. October 6, 1887 Willard Richards was born to Sarah A. Punter (Willard died 1898).  September 23, 1888 Ann Sophronia was born to Charlotte.  In May 1889 wife Jane died with an estate valued at $6,000.   August 5, 1890 Mary Elizabeth was born to Sarah.    During these years Job’s financial distress continued though he patented a floating waterpower pump, installed in several locations.    Wife Charlotte moved to Star Valley and remained there with her children.  With wife Sarah, Job moved to Honeyville and then to Parawan where his father lived.   He traveled as a salesman until too blind from cataracts to do that.  In 1902 he left his wife Sarah with his possessions and returned to Salt Lake to do Temple work. 

Job was ‘the only living survivor of the band of 16 missionaries including four apostles which left Salt Lake for Europe in October 1849.’  Besides his journals Job wrote “My Recollections of the Prophet,” about Joseph Smith and “A History of the Mormons from 1832 to 1846”.   According to son Francis Harper Smith, at about age 70 Job also wrote a history of the United Brethren for the church.   Job died age 84 on 3 January 1913 at a family home.

JOB TAYLOR SMITH – Summary history by Merikay Smith, December 2010.   Based on family records kept by Jean Haws (see list) and online journal (BYU Harold B. Lee Library).

Thanks to Merikay Haws Smith for researching, writing, and sharing this history.

Family History: Jane Fowles Smith

JANE FOWLES SMITH 

1825 - 1889

Jane was born August 26, 1825 in Bedford, England.  According to her son, Francis Harper, Jane’s mother Ann was “reared in the Royal Palace of England” and married one of the Queen’s Royal guards, Henry Fowles.  Jane had a college degree and worked some in her father’s tailor shop.  She converted to the church at 18 and a year later left for America.  In Nauvoo she met and married Thomas Sheffield, moving with his family to Tennessee “on the breaking up of Nauvoo”.  Her husband “lost faith” so Jane left him to continue her journey to Utah, taking her 22-month old daughter Susan Adelaide.

  Thomas, who had taken to drinking whiskey, died shortly thereafter.

Back in England her parents and sister Adelaide eventually also joined the church (though not sister Ann or brother William), and her father died.  Her sister Adelaide met and married an LDS missionary, Job Smith.  Her mother and sisters with Job and other saints emigrated by ship to St. Louis, where they met Jane.  Job was captain of a 40-wagon company but before they could head West cholera broke out—many died.   Two days after Jane saw her mother again, her mother died.

 When Job and the others recovered enough to travel, they set out June 19 and reached the Valley September 25, 1854.  

Jane gave birth to Louisa Jane on November 26, 1854.  According to Job’s written record, he was married to Jane on May 6, 1855 by Brigham Young whose consent he had previously obtained.

   Jane lived with Job and her sister Adelaide.  She helped with the farming, suffering near starvation when grasshoppers took their crops.  Jane bore a son named Mormon Job on December 28, 1856.  He changed his name to Henry J.

  In 1858 Jane and Adelaide moved to Lehi in advance of the U.S. army’s arrival.  They returned to their log house in SLC (Main near 3^rd S.) which was also Job’s workshop for making and selling baskets.  March 1, 1859 Lucy was born to Jane. Jane was ambitious and worked hard.  She and Job started a school for their children and others, held in the ward meeting house.  Each pupil paid $2.50 per ten week term (often paid in produce).  May 25, 1862 Jane bore a son, Wilford Fowles.  Jane bore George Thomas on July 9, 1864.  

Jane and Adelaide were not happy living together.  In 1867 Jane was moved to Farmington where she sold dry goods and also did dressmaking to provide for her family.  Our ancestor, Francis Harper Smith, was born to Jane on May 6, 1868 in Farmington.  (Mazie records that Lucy, then 10, was in charge of caring for her three brothers while her mother was recovering with the baby.  Jane did not recover as quickly as planned and they were out of food.  She told Lucy to clean her brothers and bring them to her where they knelt in prayer as their mother asked for food for her children.  Mother told Lucy to prepare for breakfast so Lucy set the table.  A stranger then knocked and gave her a sack of flour.)  Jane got typhoid fever and was taken back to Salt Lake City to recover.  In 1871 Job built a frame home for Jane and leased her a small shop at 47 West 1^st South from which to sell baskets, some which he made and some imported.   In 1874 Job married Sarah Punter, age 19, and he moved to Paradise with her.  Job married Charlotte Elvira Slinge, age 36, in 1885.  Job moved frequently, ranging from Bear Lake to southern Utah.  He took Jane’s son Frank (age 15) to work for him for a few months.  Frank (who started work outside the home at age 8 as a delivery boy and by 11 did a man’s work farming) got a business degree and worked at ZCMI, using half his earnings to help build his mother a home.  When Frank married Eunice they built a small addition to his mother’s home.

 Jane remained in Salt Lake City where her business grew during the 30 years she worked.  Son Frank recalls that his mother worked from 7 am to 8 or 9 pm in her shop then came home and worked into the night sewing.  She served enthusiastically in R.S. and as a Sunday School teacher.  She was sought for by the sick for her faith and care.  She was generous.  When the Logan Temple was built, donations were requested and Jane gave $50, the balance of her ward gave $49.  She gave every missionary from her ward $5 each year.  She also helped support Job financially in his missionary and temple work.  Jane sent Job money in 1881 after selling part of their property.   She was the mother of seven children who were all well educated.  Jane had a stroke and died May 11, 1890 at age 64 at the home of her daughter Lucy, leaving an estate of $6,000 to her children.  Her faith continued strong to the end, despite her life’s many challenges.  

Children of Jane Fowles and Job Taylor Smith:  Henry Job (1856 – 1943); Lucy Fowles (1859 – 1936); Wilford Fowles (1862 – 1946); George Thomas (1864 – 1958); Francis Harper (1868 – 1960).  Jane also had two older children with her first husband:  Susan and Louisa Jane.

JANE FOWLES SMITH – Summary history by Merikay Smith, December 2010

Based on “Biographical Sketch of Jane Fowles Smith,” Elsie and W.H. Pyott, DUP, February 1974 (online).  Diary and journals of Job Taylor Smith.  “Recollections of My Long and Busy Life,” Francis Harper Smith.  

Thanks to Merikay Haws Smith for researching, writing, and sharing this history.

Family History: Francis (Frank) Harper Smith

FRANCIS HARPER SMITH

1868 - 1960

Francis (Frank) Harper Smith was born to Jane Fowles and Job Taylor Smith in Farmington, Utah on May 6, 1868.  He weighed 14 ¾ pounds!  Job’s mother was the second of four wives.  She earned their living making and selling baskets and as a seamstress, working from early morning until late at night.   She got typhoid fever soon after Frank’s birth so she and her children moved to Salt Lake City (where Job and wife Adelaide lived), eventually moving next to the Preece family home.  Frank went to the Preece home each morning to get a pint of milk for his mother, and there as a boy met his sweetheart Eunice Fuller.   Frank recalls leaving seeing her aged 6 or 7 standing in the doorway  “I still can see that vision of loveliness.  Eunice, my darling, my sweetheart, how I loved you then and always.”  At age 8 she gave Frank her picture which he treasured.

Frank was only five when he began to sing.  He and four other boys sang together under the training of Prof. Evan Stephens.  They performed in select homes, parties and concerts.  Frank sang opera solos in two concerts at the Salt Lake Theatre.  He also eventually sang with the Tabernacle Choir and played the organ for his ward.  Frank enjoyed sports and excelled in foot racing.  He earned tickets for the weekly dances by cleaning the school.  

Frank was lonesome as a boy because his mother and sister Lucy worked at the store from 7 am to 8 or 9 pm.  The others were older and seldom at home.  Frank remembers his mother bringing sewing home from the store nightly to finish before the next day: “I oft times wondered if she ever slept.”    On Saturday Frank worked as a delivery boy for the butcher from 9 am to 9 or 10 pm.  One summer he worked delivering ice.  At age 11 Frank worked a summer for his newly married sister, Lucy.  He hauled water by hand to water a newly planted orchard and planted a garden of corn and potatoes (“I do not recall having any help with either”.)  He also helped dig a 40 foot well and a cellar.  At 15 his father took him into his basket shop where he worked weaving willows into baskets.  “…the work was not to my liking….I never made a basket since that time.”  

Attending the Deseret University (now the U of U), Frank paid tuition of $10 for each ten weeks and took business courses.   He finished his course and was hired at ZCMI.  Until he married Frank gave his mother half his wages which were used to build her a four room home.  Frank married Eunice (16) on August 24, 1888 in the Salt Lake Endowment House.   They moved in with his mother while Frank built a two room house at the rear of his mother’s home.  Not long afterward, Frank found his mother lying between the houses having suffered a stroke.  She died a short time later.  Frank and Eunice had a son, Leo, who weighed only 3 ½ pounds.  Two years later Nellie was born, a beautiful and healthy baby.  She was awarded first prize ($20 gold piece) at the Utah State Fair in the baby contest.   Frank quit ZCMI in 1890 and with a wagon they moved to Bear Lake, Idaho to make a home on 132 acres traded from his brother Henry.  They arrived June 2^nd surprised to find 3 inches of snow on the ground.  Frank hauled timber and built a home the next spring with the help of Uncle George and neighbors.  He was also in charge of building a new chapel based on plans he drew (“considered the most beautiful one in the Bear Lake County.”)  Frank was born December 31, 1892 or January 1, 1893 (“we were never quite sure”).  During each winter Frank cut and traded lumber for food and clothing.  He also hunted for meat and did various other jobs to supplement their farming income, including building on a chapel in Montpelier.  

Eunice had studied piano and acted as accompanist when Frank sang or directed choirs.  Frank taught organ, guitar, mandolin and vocal lessons.  There were 32 young people coming weekly for instruction and to sing in a choir.  On March 2, 1895 baby Evan was born in the midst of a blizzard.  “The hired girl hung quilts around mother’s bed to keep the snow off.”  After three years in Idaho they sold the ranch for $900 and loaded their wagons for Ashley Valley following the old Oregon trail, an arduous and dangerous journey.  Once in the Ashley Valley, Frank put the headgate on the Lake Fork stream to fill Dry Gulch canal and worked on the Ashley Creek headgates.  He also built many homes, churches, schools, a hospital,and the tower of the Vernal Tabernacle, as well as their own home in Maeser.  (A detailed listing is given in Frank’ “Recollections”.)   The family continued to grow, with the births of the last six (of 12) attended by physicians.   Their home, which had been built bit by bit, burned down.  When the Uintah Reservation was opened for settlement the family moved to a 160 acre tract, though Frank was often away building so Eunice did most of the homesteading.  Frank believed in hard work, and once on being told by a doctor that he must give up physical labor for a year or more to get well, he told the doctor, “I have a family to support and I won’t quite on the job.  If I cannot work and live, I will work and die.”   He finally built their lovely brick home in Maeser, completing it in 1915.  His children recorded many fond memories of their father.

 Eunice’s health declined and she died March 6, 1933 in daughter Mazie’s home.  Frank married Annie Goddard, a friend of his youth.  They were married nine years, most of which time she was ill.  After Annie Goddard’s death in 1944, he married Verna Young Mitchell, a granddaughter of Brigham Young.  They were married in the home of George and Annie Johnstun in Provo.  In 1948 Frank built six homes in Salt Lake City and worked on a duplex.

Francis Harper Smith died at Lola’s home after several days’ illness on March 4, 1960 at age 92.  His funeral was held in the Maeser Chapel which he built as construction foreman 31 years before.  

Children of Frank and Eunice Smith:

Leo (1889-1957); Nellie (1891 – 1973); Frank (1893 – 1957); Evan (1895 – 1966); Annie (1897 - 1977); Mazie (1899 -  1988); Lola (1902 – 1972); Lucy (1904 - 1991); Marvin (1908 – 1961);  Eunice (1910- 2001); Milton Rae (1914- 1994); Shirley (1916 - 1983).

FRANCIS HARPER SMITH – Summary history by Merikay Smith, December 2010

Based on “Recollections of My Long and Busy Life,” Francis Harper Smith, 9 pages; “Mother:  Eunice Elizabeth Fuller Smith” 22 pages;  “My Father – Frank H. Smith” Mazie S. Christensen, 6 pages.

Thanks to Merikay Haws Smith for researching, writing, and sharing this history.

Family History: Eunice Elizabeth Fuller Smith

EUNICE ELIZABETH FULLER SMITH

1872 – 1933

Eunice Elizabeth was born April 8, 1872 in Salt Lake City to Annie Elizabeth Preece and Reuben Colton Fuller.  At that time they lived in part of an old adobe house on 6^th South and West Temple—Jane Smith and her four year old son Frank lived in the other part.   Eunice was moved with her parents to a farm at the mouth of Big Cottonwood Canyon owned by the wealthy Walker family.  Eunice was often alone since the Walker farm was far from neighbors, though she had two faithful bulldogs.  She sometimes accompanied her father in the winters when he brought fish into town for the Walker family.  This gave her a chance to visit her grandparents (and her young admirer, Frank Smith).  She began school in Salt Lake City when she was eight, living with her grandparents.  (She was an only child until age 12 then had two sisters and one brother.)  She had brown hair that was thick and long, fair skin and clear blue eyes.   Among other talents, she played the piano.

On August 24, 1888 Eunice (aged 16) married Francis Harper (Frank) Smith in the Salt Lake Endowment House.   Eunice’s parents gave her a cow as a wedding present.  Frank and Eunice’s first child, Leo, weighed only 3 ½ pounds.    With Eunice’s good care and feeding, he “grew rapidly”.  Two years later Nellie was born, a beautiful and healthy baby.  She was awarded first prize ($20 gold piece) at the Utah State Fair in the baby contest.   Frank quit his job at ZCMI in 1890 and with a wagon they moved to Bear Lake, Idaho to make a home on 132 acres.  At first they lived in a small home with a dirt roof.  Eunice had never anticipated being a farmer’s wife but she adapted and soon made a pleasing though simple home.  Though young she had a talent for homemaking.   There were many Bannock Indians living in this area of the country which worried Eunice as a young mother.  They sometimes came to her door demanding bread and sugar.  Travelers  to Oregon often camped nearby.  Baby Frank was born the winter of 1892-93.   When Leo was 5 he and his mother killed a porcupine which had come in their door.   In the winter of 1893-94 there were snow drifts six feet high and the family was snow bound for weeks.  In the winter of 1894-95 Eunice was the accompanist for an adult choir which met in their home,  directed by Frank who was a skilled musician.  Money earned from the music lessons helped, as did the happy sociability of making music together.  Eunice had to manage carefully to provide for her family’s needs, making all of her children’s clothing.  Nothing was wasted (old overalls were quilted to make children’s mittens, rags made rugs).

During a blizzard on March 2, 1895 Eunice gave birth to Evan Fowles, surrounded by quilts hung to keep the snow off during the delivery.   The blizzard was so fierce that when Frank drove the midwife home he could not return to his own home until the storm abated—and during the storm two strangers had sought refuge with Eunice and children.  After three years in Idaho the family left for the Ashley Valley.  They had three wagons and hired a young man to help drive a load of furniture.  He complimented  Eunice saying, “I wish to rear my family, when I have one, just as you are rearing yours.”  They traveled along the Old Oregon trail and encountered a large bear which frightened their horses.  Along steep areas Eunice and her little ones walked ahead of the wagons.  In places the trail had been washed away and poles had to be lashed under the wagon bed to take the wagons around steep hillsides.  Eunice became sick, her face swollen and painful so they set up camp.  A traveler came by and camped nearby to help, steeping sagebrush in hot water and putting the hot packs on the swollen parts of Eunice’s body.   Frank kept the hot packs on during the days and the stranger at night for several weeks before Eunice was able to resume her journey. 

Their first home was a log room but in spring they built a two-room frame house in Maeser, with extra rooms added as the family increased.  There was an apple orchard and a cherry orchard near the home.   Annie was born in Vernal on May 12, 1897.   The last six of Eunice’s twelve children were born attended by a physician.   The children fondly remember their parents.   Their mother kept a well-organized home with each child responsible to help.   Annie remembers the joy of new rugs made from rags each year.   Mother sometimes set out a box of ZCMI buttons to entertain the children.  Sundays were special day.  Eunice often prepared a large meal and older children could invite a friend to join them.  An accidental fire burned down their home and it was not rebuilt until 1913, finished in 1915.  In the meantime, the Uintah Reservation was open for settlement and the family moved to a 160 acre tract.  Pioneering this was hard on Eunice for her health was not good and Frank was often away working on building projects in Vernal and the surrounding towns.  Evan was kicked by a horse near his eyes—a serious accident though no permanent damage was done.  Eunice’s parents homesteaded nearby and often visited.  Indians also came almost daily begging for food.  There were also many snakes which sometimes came into the house or the cellar to drink milk.  After “proving up” they were able to move back to their old homestead.  Eunice assisted with the finishing of their new home in Maeser.  She loved flowers and kept a garden.  

According to Mazie, her mother was “one of the few personages who were permitted while upon this earth to receive visits from Heavenly Beings.  She had this privilege on two separate occasions.  To those who have seen her face as she related these instances, there can never be any question that she received visitations  from beyond the veil.”  

Eunice died March 6, 1933 in Mazie’s home, after a year of declining health.   Grand-daughter Jean Johnstun Haws recalls being told that her grandmother had erysipelas, an acute streptococcus infection.  

Children of Eunice and Frank Smith:

Leo (1889-1957); Nellie (1891 – 1973); Frank (1893 – 1957); Evan (1895 – 1966); Annie (1897 - 1977); Mazie (1899 -  1988); Lola (1902 – 1972); Lucy (1904 - 1991); Marvin (1908 – 1961);  Eunice (1910- 2001); Milton Rae (1914- 1994); Shirley (1916 - 1983).

EUNICE ELIZABETH FULLER SMITH – Summary history by Merikay Smith, Dec. 2010

Based on “Mother:  Eunice Elizabeth Fuller Smith,” 22 pages typed (unattributed but presumed by Mazie Smith Christensen); Oral history of Annie Elizabeth Smith Johnstun taken by Jean Haws; “Recollections of My Long and Busy Life,” by Francis Harper Smith,  9 pages. 


Thanks to Merikay Haws Smith for researching, writing, and sharing this history.