Utah County, Utah Biographies
 
 

 

 

 John W. Farrer
 Joseph Thomas Farrer
 Joseph Francis
 Harry Gammon
 Henry Gardner
 James H. Gardner
 Peter Gottfredson
 Clarence Alma Grant
 
 
Utah Since Statehood
Author is Noble Warrum - 1919

 

 JOHN W. FARRER.

The specific and distinctive office of biography is not to give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments but to establish his position by the consensus of public opinion on the part of his fellowmen. Judged by this standard, John W. Farrer deserves mention among the prominent and representative residents of Provo, for he is the manager and the treasurer of Farrer Brothers & Company, conducting the leading dry goods business of the city. There have been no spectacular chapters in his life record, but it is the story of earnest progression-the record of a man who places a correct valuation upon life's opportunities and who has used wisely and well his chances for business advancement.

He is one of Provo's native sons, born on the 15th of July, 1862. Mention of his family is made in connection with the sketch of his brother, J. T. Farrer, on another page of this work. His educational opportunities were those afforded by the public schools and the Brigham Young Academy and when his textbooks were put aside he entered mercantile circles as an employee of S. S. Jones, with whom he remained for ten years. The business was first conducted on Center and First streets, West, and afterward removed to North Academy avenue. Withdrawing from that connection, Mr. Farrer then started in business on his own account on Third South and since 1889 has occupied his present location. He is now the manager and treasurer of the firm of Farrer Brothers & Company, having one of the leading dry goods stores of Provo. They carry an extensive and well selected stock and its neat and tasteful arrangement, combined with the honorable business methods of the house and the progressive spirit that is manifest by the concern, has brought to the company a very substantial measure of success.

In 1884 Mr. Farrer was married to Miss Vilate A. Loveless, a daughter of Bishop James W. Loveless, representative of one of the old-time families of Utah. They have three children: Zella V., now the wife of Frank W. Stubbs, of Spanish Fork, by whom she has two children; Maude, the wife of Jesse Hunter, of Provo; and Grace S., who is a teacher in the public schools of Provo.

The religious faith of the family is indicated in their membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Mr. Farrer is a member of the Provo Commercial Club and his cooperation can at all times be counted upon to further any plan or project for the general good. His political endorsement has always been given to the republican party since he reached his majority, and while he has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking, he has done valuable work for the public through nineteen years' service as a member of the board of education. He has ever labored untiringly to advance the interests of the schools, to raise the standard of instruction and to make the school system of Provo a thorough preparation for life's practical and responsible duties on the part of the young.  Mr. Farrer is free from ostentation and display, but his substantial worth is recognized by all and his admirable qualities have made him very popular among his fellow townsmen.


JOSEPH THOMAS FARRER.

For twenty-nine years Joseph Thomas Farrer has been a representative of banking Interests in Provo and in June. 1898, was made cashier and manager of the Provo Commercial & Savings Bank. He is also the president of the Farrer Brothers Company, proprietors of the leading dry goods house of Provo, and has other business interests which indicate the extent and scope of his capability and enterprise. Provo numbers him among her native sons.

He was born July 1, 1865. his parents being Roger and Agnes (Strong) Farrer, both of whom were natives of England. The father was born in Westmoreland. April 17, 1838, and came to the United States with his parents, Roger and Mary (Stubbs) Farrer. The family is an old one of England, the great-grandparents being Thomas and Jane (Graveson) Farrer. of Helsington, Westmoreland, England.

The grandfather, Roger Farrer. was born March 18. 1795 in Westmoreland, and becoming a convert to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints, came to Utah with the David Evans company, arriving in this state on the 17th of September, 1850. when the work of colonization. progress and development had scarcely been begun within its borders. In Westmoreland, England, on the 7th of October, 1828, he had wedded Mary Stubbs, who was born December 23, 1800. Her father, John Stubbs, of Westmoreland, also came with the David Evans Company. In the work of the church Roger Farrer, Sr.. took an active and helpful interest, serving as high priest, and in business affairs his attention was devoted to farming and milling. Thus be contributed to the material and moral progress of the community in which he made his home. He died June 1. 1887. His son and namesake. Roger Farrer, Jr., was a lad of twelve years when he accompanied his father to the new world. On the 18th of February, 1857, he wedded Agnes Strong, of Provo, Utah, a daughter of John and Agnes (Miller) Strong, who were pioneer residents of Provo, having come to this state on the 24th of October. 1855, with the Milo Andrus Company. Agnes (Strong) Farrer was born October 3, 1837, and by her marriage became the mother of the following named: Agnes A., who was born December 18, 1857, and is now the widow of Josiah W. Cluff: James R., who was born March 25, 1860, wedded Mary J.  Roberts and is now engaged in business in Los Angeles, California; John W., who was born July 15, 1862, married Alice Vilate Loveless and is manager for Farrer Brothers Company's, dry goods business; Joseph Thomas, who was born July 1, 1865, and married Sarah E. Chipman: Mary Ettie, who was born March 28, 1874, and became the wife of Walter P. Whitehead, of Provo; and Edward, who was born December 6, 1878, and married Ruth Peay. The last named was a man of exceptional character and ability, greatly beloved in Provo, but he passed away October 25, 1918, a victim of the influenza.  He was a member of the mercantile firm of Farrer & Whitehead and at his death he left a widow and four young children. Like his father. Roger Farrer, Jr., became a very active and prominent man in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was a member of the Forty-fifth Quorum of Seventy and also served as high priest and as high councilor of the Utah stake. In community affairs he was also keenly and helpfully interested and for thirteen years served as a member of the city council of Provo, exercising his official prerogatives in support of all plans and measures which he deemed of public benefit and value. He, too, devoted his life to the occupation of farming.  Joseph T. Farrer, whose name introduces this review, after attending the public schools of Provo continued his education in the Brigham Young University. For twenty-nine years he has been actively identified with banking. He entered the Provo Commercial & Savings Bank on the 11th of August, 1890, in the capacity of bookkeeper and has since been identified with this institution, of which United States Senator Reed Smoot is the president. Mr. Farrer was gradually advanced, working his way upward from one position to another until he became assistant cashier, and in June, 1898. He was made cashier and manager of this large banking institution, of which he is also a director.  He is now practically, the head of the business, largely shaping its policy and directing its affairs. He has thoroughly familiarized himself with every phase of banking and has instituted a most progressive system of business that, however, is tempered by a safe conservatism which carefully guards and protects the interests of depositors. In business affairs Mr. Farrer displays at all times sound Judgment and keen sagacity and readily discriminates between the essential and the non-essential. He is the president of the Farrer Brothers Company, the leading dry goods house of Provo, and in this connection is carrying on an extensive trade. He is also the president of the Grand Central Mining Company, the vice president of the Gold Chain Mining Company, the vice president of the Iron King Consolidated Mining Company, the vice president of the Big Indian Copper Company and has many other interests which indicate the scope of his activity. He is ever found a forceful and resourceful business man and one of thorough reliability. Has course at all times measuring up to the highest commercial ethics and standards. At the same time he readily recognizes his opportunities and uses them to the best possible advantage for the promotion of his Individual success and for the up-building of the prosperity of the community.

On the 4th of September, 1889, Mr. Farrer was married to Miss Sarah E. Chipman  a daughter of James Chipman, of Salt Lake City, who has figured very prominently in connection with the history of the state. Mrs. Farrer passed away October 1, 1917, leaving three children. Leland J., twenty-eight years of age, volunteered for service in the United States Army and came home with a lieutenant's commission. He was stationed at Camp Taylor and is now with his father in the bank. He has made an excellent record for a young man of his years and his course is adding new luster to an un-tarnished family name. Salena C.. is the wife of James B. Tucker, of Provo, who is a prominent young attorney. Fred C., thirteen years of age, is in school.

Mr. Farrer is a member of the Provo Commercial Club and is in thorough sympathy with the plans and purposes of that organization, which is looking to systematic effort to advance the welfare and up building of the city. His political views are in accord with republican principles and be is a stalwart champion of the party. He has served as president of the Provo city council yet Is not an office seeker. He has membership in the State Bankers Association, of which he was formerly vice president. Aside from all of his other Interests and connections he is identified with the cattle business. In a word he is one of the progressive and leading citizens of Provo and of the state-a man of attractive personality, of keen business ability and who readily recognizes and meets the duties and obligations of life in every particular. A man of great natural ability, his success in business from the time when he made his initial step in banking circles has been uniform and rapid. He has persevered in the pursuit of a persistent purpose and has gained a most satisfactory reward. His life Is exemplary in all respects and lie has ever supported those interests which are calculated to uplift and benefit humanity. While his own high moral worth is deserving of the warmest commendation.


JOSEPH FRANCIS.

With many features of the business development of Lake Shore and Utah county Joseph Francis has been closely associated. He is now engaged in merchandising and has other connections that contribute to the welfare and up building of the district in which he makes his home. He was born in Wednesbury. Staffordshire, England, October 11. 1856. a son of John and Rose Hannah (Titley) Francis. The father was a cooper who followed his trade in England until 1869, when he came to America, landing at New York city, where he remained for three years, working at the cooper's trade. In 1872 he made his way westward to Salt Lake City and thence to American Fork, Utah county, where he again engaged in coopering. He was accompanied to Utah by his wife and three children, Joseph. Sarah and Rose. The eldest son and daughter of the family, John and Mary Ann Francis, left England in 1863 and came to Utah, but the former died on the plains. In 1866 another brother and sister, Samuel and Elizabeth Francis, came to Utah from England, making the journey across the plains with ox teams.

Joseph Francis acquired his education in England and when the family emigrated to the United States he began working in New York city, where he was employed in a scale factory and also in a tin factory. He obtained employment the day after he reached the metropolis and his first duty was the polishing of tin ware with flour. He afterward worked in a scale factory and was thus employed until the family removed to Utah. His first wage in the tin factory was three and a half dollars a week and in the scale factory he was paid a dollar per day. Following his removal to the west he was employed on farms at American Fork for a year and continued to engage in general agricultural pursuits until 1900 on his own account. He then turned his attention to commercial interests, with his brother-in-law Serenus Gardner, buying out the cooperative store at Lake Shore, since which time he has engaged In merchandising with good success. He had previously been interested in the co operative store and had been an employee there. In this connection he came to Lake Shore in 1877, in which year his brother Samuel homesteaded in this district. Joseph Francis made a part of the payments upon the place and became owner of a portion of the land. He now has an excellent farm of ninety acres, which he owns in connection with his sons. His business affairs have ever been carefully and wisely managed and he has displayed a spirit of unfaltering industry throughout his entire career. In the early days he worked in the canyon with his brother-in-law, Henry Gardner, getting out timber. He assisted in organizing the Lake Shore Irrigation Company, was its secretary for a number of years and is now one of its directors. In 1901 he built an attractive brick cottage, which is equipped with electric lights and a water system supplying hot and cold water. He secured his first flowing well through an invention of his own and it has a depth of forty-five feet. This was the first driven well producing flowing water in this part of the state and probably the first one in Utah, as Mr. Francis had never heard of such wells before. 

In 1883 Mr. Francis was married to Miss Annie Gardner, a sister of Henry Gardner, of Spanish Fork, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work. They became the parents of fourteen children, of whom three died in infancy. The others are: Joseph A., who follows farming, living upon the old homestead; Annie S., the wife of Joseph L.  Argyle; Elizabeth, the wife of William A. Ferguson, a farmer of Aberdeen, Idaho; Samuel Evan, who follows farming in Utah county; Neil G. ; Ronald G. ; Leonora; Wendell; Verda; Verl; and Gem Rose. Neil was a soldier of the American army, in the Student Army Training Corps at the Agricultural College in Logan. Utah.

The family has always been active in the work of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the sons, Joseph A. and Samuel Evan, served on missions, Joseph going to the northwestern states, working mostly in Iowa, Nebraska and Wisconsin, while Samuel went on a mission to South Africa. He was deported to England and completed his missionary work there. Mr. Francis is a high priest and has been clerk of the ward organization since 18S6. He was secretary of the Sunday school prior to the organization of the ward.

In politics Mr. Francis is an earnest democrat and has continuously served as justice of the peace since about 1880, making a most creditable record in this position.  He was also school trustee for a number of years, being one of the first to occupy the office at a period when all trustees were appointed and not elected. His life has been one of great activity and usefulness. He has labored untiringly to promote the material, intellectual and moral development of the community, and the sterling worth of his character is widely recognized by all.


HARRY GAMMON.

Harry Gammon is a prominent representative of the dairy interests of Utah county, his home being at Vineyard, not far from Provo. He was born in Devonshire, England, on the 12th of September, 1867, a son of John and Jane (Tamlyn) Gammon, the former a farmer of England. The son acquired a common school education in his native country and came to America in 1884, when a youth of sixteen years. He had provided for his own support as a farm hand from the age of twelve, and. thinking to have better business opportunities in the new world, he crossed the Atlantic. He first made his way to Malta, just west of Chicago, Illinois, and there he engaged in farm work at a wage of from twelve to eighteen dollars per month for a period of four years. At the end of that time he removed to South Dakota, settling at Canton, where he engaged in farming on his own account, renting land for two years and devoting his attention to the cultivation of corn.

In the spring of 1890 Mr. Gammon arrived in Utah and on the Provo bench worked for Senator Smoot for four years, acting as manager of the Senator's farm. He next purchased farm land on the Provo bench and also continued the cultivation of other tracts, which he rented. He was thus engaged until 1899, when he sold his property and removed to Eureka, Utah, where he purchased a milk route, which he developed until he was at the head of a very extensive business of that character. After two years, however, he sold out and removed to Vineyard, where he bought and sold three different farms. These he improved, building houses and barns upon them and reclaiming the undeveloped land, which he converted into rich and fertile fields. It was in 1909 that he purchased his present property, comprising two hundred and forty acres of land, some of which, however, he has since sold, retaining possession of one hundred and thirty-five acres. This is excellent farm land on which are found good buildings, and he has put in nearly two miles of drain tiling. All modern accessories and improvements are found upon this property and in its further cultivation and development Mr.  Gammon is displaying a most progressive spirit, his labors being successfully resultant.  He has a large dairy and keeps high grade Guernsey and Holstein cattle and also registered bulls upon his place. He has put in artesian wells on the farm for irrigation purposes and raises sugar beets. His life has been an intensely active and useful one and his interests have been an important element in agricultural progress in his section of the state.

In 1893 Mr. Gammon was united in marriage to Miss Lena Larsen, who was born in Denmark, a daughter of Niels Larsen, of Law View, mentioned at length on another page of this work. They now have five sons, Clarence, Leland. Leroy, Ray and Welby.  The religious faith of the family is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in which Mr. Gammon is serving as an elder. He has been school director of the Alpine school district, which includes all of the schools in the northern part of Utah county. In addition to his business interests already mentioned he is a director of the Union Milk Company of Vineyard. In everything that he undertakes he is actuated by a most progressive spirit and in his vocabulary there is no such word as fail.  His determination overcomes all difficulties and obstacles in his path, and his self-reliance and his energy have been the basis of his success.


HON. HENRY GARDNER.

Hon. Henry Gardner, president of the Commercial Bank of Spanish Fork, his native city, was born May 15, 1858, a son of Archibald and Serena (Torgesen) Gardner.

The father was born in Stirlingshire, Scotland, September 2, 1814, and crossed the Atlantic

with a wife, three sons and a daughter in 1842. He settled first in Canada and in 1846 went to Nauvoo, Illinois. While in Canada he built and owned flour mills, which he left in order to join the colony of Latter-day Saints at Nauvoo, Illinois. He was with the first company that came to Utah following the arrival of President Brigham Young and built the first sawmill at Warm Springs. Later he removed this mill to Millcreek and as the years passed he built more mills than any other man in the state. In 1858 he came to Spanish Fork, where he built a grist mill. He afterward returned to West Jordan, where he served as bishop, acting in that church office for a

period of thirty years. He died at the Holy Cross Hospital, which stands on the site where he built his first mill, being eighty-eight years of age at the time of his demise.  He had forty-eight children. He was a man very practical in all that he undertook and did and was very active in the church work, his labors being strongly resultant.  In politics he was a member of the people's party and served as county commissioner of Salt Lake county. The mother of Henry Gardner was a native of Norway and came to Utah a widow with three children. She was one of the first converts in Norway to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and came to America in 1856. She had nine children, four sons and five daughters, two passing away before the establishment of the family in Utah. The mother's death occurred when she had reached the advanced age of eighty-eight years. The father died February 8, 1902, and thus passed away one of the patriarchs of Utah. He had erected forty-two mills during the course of his active life in the west, thirty-six of these being in Utah, one in Wyoming and the others at different points in the west. He was also connected with political affairs as a member of the Utah legislature for two terms. 

Henry Gardner was educated in the public schools of Spanish Fork, where he acquired only a common school education. During his boyhood days he worked in his father's sawmill, beginning his activity along that line when a lad of eleven years and so continuing through four decades. At the age of fifteen years he took up his abode at his present residence and began farming. When twenty-one years of age he homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres, most of which he still owns and cultivates. The tract is located in the heart of Spanish Fork. His business affairs have always been carefully and judiciously conducted and his success is well deserved. Turning his attention to the banking business, he became the organizer and is the president of the Commercial Bank of Spanish Fork, having been its chief executive officer from the beginning.  In financial affairs and in all business connections he displays sound judgment and a ready discrimination between the essential and the nonessential, so that he has made no unwise use of his time, talents or opportunity in the course of his career.

On the 22d of March, 1882, at St. George, Utah, Mr. Gardner was married to Miss Elizabeth Martell, a native of Spanish Fork and of Welsh descent, her parents being Thomas C. and Eliza (Jenkins) Martell, the former now deceased. Mrs. Martell came from Wales to Utah in 1856. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner had a family of eight children: Lucy, who died in infancy; Hettie, the wife of George Talmage; Henry A., who married Grace Brickbank; Serena, the wife of Hyrum Johnson, living at Burley, Idaho; Lenora, the wife of Ray Gull; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Wallace Hales of Spanish Fork; Eugene; and Reuben. Mr. and Mrs. Gardner also have nine grandchildren: Grace and Wallace, the children of Henry A. Gardner; Elizabeth, Nellie and Martha, the children of Hyrum and Elizabeth Johnson; Beatrice, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ray Gull; and George Gardner, Henry Gardner and Bess Loraine, who are the children of Mr. and Mrs. Talmage.

The religious faith of the family is that of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and from 1889 until 1891 Mr. Gardner served on a southern mission and during the latter year was president of the branch in Southern Alabama. From 1891 until 1901 he was bishop of the first ward at Spanish Fork and was one of the presidents of Nebo stake from 1901 until January 20, 1910. In church work he has always been very active and his labors have been far-reaching and effective. In politics he is an earnest republican, untiring in his efforts to promote the success of the party. For two years he served as a member of the house of representatives, for twelve years was a member of the state senate and for three terms was president of the senate. In his rulings he was strictly fair and impartial and at all times he has given his aid and influence on the side of progress and improvement, looking to the substantial improvement of Utah and the advancement of her interests. In 1899 he was mayor of Spanish Fork and ten years before had served as a member of the city' council, while in 1887 he was marshal.

Along political lines he has made steady progress, coming to a position of well merited honor and trust. His work has ever been a factor in the up building and development of his state. He was the originator and prime mover in the building and completion of Strawberry tunnel, a government project, costing three million dollars and one that has been of greatest worth to Utah. In all of his public service he has looked beyond the exigencies of the moment to the opportunities and possibilities of the future. He has long been a central figure on the stage of public action by reason of the develops merit of his business interests and the prominent part which he has played in connection with the political and moral up building of the state. He has followed most practical methods while holding to high ideals, is a man of action rather than of theory, and his labors have at all times been beneficially resultant.


JAMES H. GARDNER.

Thoroughness in all that he has undertaken has led to the consecutive progress of James H. Gardner in the business world until he now occupies the responsible position of general superintendent of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company at Lehi. He is a representative of one of the old pioneer families of Utah, his parents being Archibald and Jane (Hamilton) Gardner. The father was a son of Robert Gardner and a grandson of William Gardner, also natives of Scotland. The father and the grandfather came to America and made their way to Utah in the Edward Hunter company, traveling across the plains with ox teams and arriving at Salt Lake City on the 1st of October, 1847.  Archibald Gardner was born in Kilsyth, Scotland. September 2, 1814. His father was a carpenter by trade and worked along that line in Scotland until because of uprisings in that country he made his way to Canada and was there residing when lie joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1837. He afterward removed to Nauvoo, Illinois, where he was residing during the troublous times when the people of his faith suffered many hardships and persecutions. In 1847 he came to Utah and through the intervening period, covering seventy-two years, the family name has figured prominently upon the pages of the history of this state. Archibald Gardner learned the milling trade in Canada and in the winter of 1847-8 he built and set up a sawmill within the fort wall at Warm Springs, Salt Lake City, where St. Mark's Hospital now stands. In the spring of the latter year he was the first man released from the fort and took the mill to Millcreek, where he set it up, operating the first sawmill in Utah and sawing the first lumber manufactured in the state. This constituted the starting point of his business career, which in its development placed him among the most prominent residents of Utah. He built altogether thirty-six different mills in the state, including sawmills, flour mills and woolen mills. It was Archibald Gardner who erected the first woolen mill in Utah, with Brigham Young as his partner, in the year 1856. He also built shingle mills and was engaged in the construction of its roads, dams, irrigation ditches and canals. In fact his entire work was of a character that contributed in substantial measure to the development and improvement of the state. He built the first dam on the Jordan river in the early '60s at Jordan Narrows, the dam being constructed of rock and oak brush. Its durability is indicated in the fact that it was torn out only in 1918. It was regarded by the best engineers of the country as a great work. As time passed Mr. Gardner made extensive investments in land until he became the owner of large property holdings. He lived at West Jordan, where for thirty-five years he filled the office of bishop in the church. He was also a member of the territorial convention on two different occasions. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1902, he was one of the patriarchs of the church. He had at one time eleven living wives and his children numbered forty-seven.

James H. Gardner was the only child of his father's ninth wife and was born at Millcreek, July 27, 1859. His school advantages came to him through winter's attendance in the graded schools of Salt Lake county and he was reared upon his father's farm and in young manhood worked in the lumber camps. He went to Hawaii on a mission, remaining in that island country for three and a half years, during which time he was assigned to work in the sugar mills there and became a thorough master of the art of boiling sugar. A portion of his time was also spent in traveling and teaching among the natives.  In 1884 he returned to Utah, where he resumed farm work. Soon afterward he was married and removed to Idaho, where the town of Ucon now stands, the district then being known as Willow Creek. He took up government land and remained in that state for four years, on the expiration of which period he became a resident of Lehi, being called to that place to become a sugar boiler at the factory during its initial operations. He was soon made night foreman and a few years later was advanced to the position of general foreman, while subsequently he became general superintendent of the Lehi factory, which is the largest sugar factory in Utah. At the present writing he is the general superintendent of all the Utah-Idaho sugar factories and is chairman of the technical board. This brief outline of his career in connection with the sugar industry indicates plainly his ability, which has led to consecutive promotions until his position in connection with sugar manufacturing is a most enviable one, his reputation making him known not only throughout Utah but in many other states. Nor has he confined his attention to but a single line, for he is a large landowner, holding twelve hundred acres which are operated by his sons. He has upon his place full farm equipment, including tractors, threshing outfits and all the latest improved machinery and accessories. In addition to the development of the soil cattle raising is carried on extensively and successfully and considerable attention is given to fruit raising, for he has excellent orchards. Mr. Gardner is also the vice president of the State Bank of Lehi and a director of the Bank of American Fork. He, too, has been connected with irrigation projects.  Before his father died he had planned to pump water out of Lake Utah to irrigate Salt Lake county and James H. Gardner put through this project in partnership with M. W. Ingalls, of Salt Lake, in the year following his father's death, at a cost of forty thousand dollars. This Mr. Gardner regards as his greatest undertaking for the benefit of the people of Salt Lake county. The pumping plant is now owned by the city of Salt Lake and Canal Company and since it has been in operation it has supplied water to the irrigation companies and to Salt Lake City.

On the 15th of October, 1886, Mr. Gardner was married to Miss Rhoda P. Huffaker, a daughter of Simpson D. Huffaker, one of the Utah pioneers of 1847. They have become the parents of nine children. Hamilton, an attorney of Salt Lake, was graduated from the University of Utah and from the law school of Harvard University, which conferred upon him the LL. B. degree. While a student at Harvard he wrote an article on the cooperation of the Mormons in Utah for the Scientific Journal of Harvard and this has been widely published throughout the world and is regarded as a masterpiece.  Hamilton Gardner served as a missionery to Germany for three years and during the recent World war he was a captain of the Three Hundred and Forty-sixth Field Artillery, on active duty in France. Archibald, the second son, who is on his father's ranch, is a graduate of the University of Utah, in which he completed the civil engineering course. His missionary service covered two years in the Hawaiian Islands.  Viola is the wife of Virgil Goates, of Lehi. Vera is the wife of Robert Pixton, of Provo, who is associated with Virgil Goates as proprietors of the Lehi Mercantile Company.  Reid is interested with his father in farming. Roy, Marion, Fern and Lois are the younger members of the family. The daughters, Viola and Vera, are also graduates of the University of Utah, Mr. Gardner ever according his children most liberal educational opportunities. His son Reid became a member of the Field Artillery at Camp Jackson and was second lieutenant. The elder son, Hamilton, in 1913 edited a history of Lehi which was published by the Deseret News of Salt Lake.

In the work of the church James H. Gardner has continued active and for thirteen and a half years served as bishop of the second ward of Lehi. He is a high priest and a member of the High Council of the Alpine Stake. In community affairs, too, he has always taken a deep and helpful interest and served as county commissioner of Utah for a two years' term and again for a four years' term. He has likewise been a member of the city council of Lehi and president of the Commercial Club of that city.  In November, 1919, he was elected mayor of Lehi. He spends most of the business hours in his Salt Lake office but makes his home in Lehi, occupying an attractive brick residence which was built in 1896. His career is a notable one as a" successful achievement, but there have been no esoteric chapters in his life history, his progress being the direct result of close application, thorough study, undaunted energy and persistency of purpose.  He has qualified for the responsibilities which are now his as the general superintendent of one of the most important productive industries of the west and he is regarded throughout the country as an expert on the subject of sugar manufacturing.


PETER GOTTFREDSON.

There are few experiences of pioneer life with which Peter Gottfredson of Springville is not familiar. He was born in Jutland. Denmark, April 17, 1846, a son of Jens and Karen (Pedersen) Gottfredson. The father was born in Sundby, Denmark, April 9, 1810, while the mother was born in Oland, Denmark, May 23, 1812. They were married in 1845 and in the winter of 1851-2 they became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The father was a cooper by trade and previous to his marriage had served for six years as a sergeant in the Danish army. On the twelfth day of December in the year 1855 they sailed from Liverpool as passengers on the vessel John J.  Boyd under the leadership of Knud Peterson, there being five hundred and eight emigrants on board. They had a very rough voyage, meeting head winds most of the way, and twice the vessel caught fire. The last time the trouble was very serious, the fire starting in the captain's cabin, and it became necessary to throw several trunks and other baggage into the sea. There was much sickness on the voyage and more than thirty deaths occurred. The corpses were sewn into canvas, with a lump of coal at the feet, and were slid off a plank overboard. The captain of the ship was a very cruel man and through his abuse many of the sailors were disabled till the crew was shorthanded.  Mr. Gottfredson saw the captain kill one sailor when a number of them were working a large double-lever pump. He struck the poor fellow from behind with a large iron hook at the end of a rope. During the voyage they met a disabled ship loaded with flour for Liverpool. The vessel rescued thirty-six sailors and then let the wrecked ship drift.  At length the John J. Boyd arrived at New York, February 15, 1856.

The Gottfredson family made their way to Alton, Illinois, where they remained, their financial resources having become exhausted. The party consisted of the parents and four children, the eldest being Peter Gottfredson, then ten years of age. The younger children were Hans J., aged eight, Martha Christine, six, and Joseph, four. The mother died in Alton, July 4, 1856, and afterward the family removed to St. Louis, Missouri, where the father married Karen Maria Meilhede, by whom he had four children who survived. In the winter of 1856 the family sailed up the Missouri river to Omaha and in the spring of 1859 started with ox team for Utah. After reaching the Platte river, the team being weak, the children had to walk and there they met a part of Sidney Johnston's army going to Utah. Mr. Gottfredson of this review then had a chance to ride a government mule and help drive loose stock. He stayed with the army until they reached Fort Bridger, arriving there several days ahead of the regular party of emigrants. While there Mr. Gottfredson heard many weird stories told by the soldiers and teamsters concerning the burning of a government freight on the Big Sandy by Lot Smith. The family arrived in Salt Lake City, September 20th, and Peter Gottfredson soon began working, receiving in compensation six dollars per month and board. During the summer of 1859 he herded cows in Salt Lake and in the fall the family removed to Sanpete, being among the pioneers of Mount Pleasant. Peter Gottfredson spent much of his time in herding. He herded in the Thistle valley, which was then unsettled, during the summers of 1863 and I864 and at this period many Indians were there. He and his companions spent much of their time at the Indian camps and played and wrestled with the young Indians, learning much of their language and gaining considerable knowledge of their traditions. They realized that they were being crowded out of their hunting grounds and often told the white boys so. In the latter part of each summer they became ugly and hateful and made the herders move out earlier than they wished to.

In the fall of 1864 the Gottfredson family left Mount Pleasant and located at Richfield, where they were also pioneers, and there Peter Gottfredson assisted in digging a canal from the Sevier river with spade and shovel. This canal was nine miles long and ten feet wide in the bottom and twelve feet at the top, while its depth was two feet.  In April, 1865, the Black Hawk Indian war broke out and Peter Gottfredson was enrolled in the militia and thus served until November, when he was so destitute of clothes that he went to Mount Pleasant. Moreover, the Indians had stolen his team and stock. He found employment at Mount Pleasant, obtaining an ox team and hauling wood on shares during the winter, giving a load of wood each week for his board. He also played the violin and earned some money in that way. In April, 1866, the Indians under Chief Black Hawk were still on the warpath and he was enrolled as sergeant in Captain Joseph S. Day's infantry company and served until the end of the war in November, 1867.

Early in the spring of 1868 he went to Salt Lake, where he secured employment at the sawmill of Francis Armstrong in Big Cottonwood canyon, doing logging for forty dollars a month. Later he became connected with the building of the Union Pacific Railroad as an employee of Peremortz Little and Charles Decker at the mouth of Echo canyon, where he continued until the winter set in and he went down Weber canyon, where he worked with Levi Stewart. Early in the spring of 1869 he began working with the construction train and thus continued until the Union Pacific and Central Pacific roads were united at Promontory. He received a badge of honor at the golden spike celebration held May 10, 1919. In the spring of 1870 he went to Pioche, Nevada, with two yoke of oxen and a Schuttler wagon and hauled lumber and hay into Pioche until the spring of 1872, when he returned to Mount Pleasant and there on the 22d of April married Amelia Gledhill.

In May, Mr. Gottfredson went into Oak Creek canyon east of Spring City and hauled logs to the sawmill of Snow & Dougal to be sawed into lumber, working on shares. His wife accompanied him and did the cooking for the crew. They there remained until the 26th of September, when the Indians from ambush killed one of' the workmen and wounded another, there being five there at the time. Mr. Gottfredson then returned to Pioche and hauled wood to the Ely & Raymond quartz mill for three months, after which he traded his team for Texas cows, which he brought into the Sevier valley. In the spring of 1873 he located a ranch on the Sevier river between Richfield and Salina and in the same spring others located land nearby.

The eldest child of Mr. and Mrs. Gottfredson was born at Mount Pleasant, April 10, 1873, and was called James Edward. In the spring of 1874 the little family located on the ranch, where Mr. Gottfredson built a log house, and the other settlers built houses on their claims about the same time. In 1876 they applied to the county court for a precinct and school district organization under the name of Vermillion, which was granted. The same spring they surveyed a canal from the Sevier river eight miles long to irrigate the land and were three years in completing what they called the Vermillion canal. In January, 1877, an election for precinct and school district officers was held and Mr. Gottfredson was elected justice of the peace, which position he filled for eight years. On the 15th of July, 1877. Vermillion was organized into a ward and he was Chosen bishop, filling that position for twenty years. In 1880 he built a two-story rock house and began raising sheep. The following year he was elected county commissioner on the democratic ticket together with Albert D. Thurber and August W. Bowman, while L. B. Kinney was county and probate judge and Andrew Heppler was chosen clerk. During the administration of this board of county commissioners the Sevier county courthouse was built at a cost of twelve thousand dollars. The winter of 1891 was a very severe one and caused the loss of many of Mr. Gottfredson's sheep, so that he closed out his business there. 

On the 17th of March, 1893, Mrs. Gottfredson passed away, leaving him with seven children, the youngest then two years of age. Two daughters of the family had died of diphtheria in 1882. Mr. Gottfredson, after losing his wife, he employed a widow to keep house for him and care for his children. In the latter part of July they were married.  Mrs. Gottfredson by her former marriage had two children and there were five children born of this marriage, three daughters and two sons, but the first died when four years of age.

In 1896 the Sanpete branch of the Rio Grande & Western Railroad was extended from Salina to Richfield and a contract for grading twenty miles was awarded Mr. Gottfredson, W. H. Seegmiller and John Dastrup. With the completion of the road Mr.  Gottfredson built a warehouse by the track at Vermillion and the railroad company leased it for a station. He was then employed as agent till the station was discontinued.  In 1900 he met with a serious accident while working in a blacksmith shop. He bruised his left wrist on a piece of rusty iron, blood poison set in and nearly occasioned the loss of his arm. Although the member was saved, it is crippled. Selling his property at Vermillion, he bought a home in Richfield.

On the 15th of July, 1913, he secured a legal separation from his second wife and on the 27th of October, 1915, he married Rachel Scovil Mason, of Springville, Utah, with whom he had been acquainted from boyhood.  Now making his home in Springville, he has spent much time in preparing a history of Indian depredations in Utah-in fact has been collecting material for this and compiling the work since 1882. This saw its completion and publication in 1919. Mr. Gottfredson is certainly well qualified to write upon this subject, as he has spent most of his life on the frontier and served throughout the Black Hawk war, covering the years 1865, 1866 and 1867.


CLARENCE ALMA GRANT.

Clarence Alma Grant, who since December, 1916, has been the manager of Grant's Emporium-five, ten and twenty-five cent store, was born at American Fork, Utah, December 5, 1897, his parents being William and Rose Hannah (Francis) Grant, the latter the mother of eighteen children. Both parents were natives of Staffordshire, England, and emigrated to the new world following their conversion to the Mormon faith. The father became a merchant at American Fork, where he conducted business for a half century, and he was also the organizer and leader of the first band of the city. William Grant was married twice and had thirty-one children, of whom Clarence A. Grant is the twenty-seventh in order of birth. He died at the venerable age of seventy-eight years.

Clarence A. Grant pursued his education in the public schools of American Fork, passing through consecutive grades to the high school, and in the Brigham Young University at Provo. He was graduated from the high school as a member of the class of May, 1918. In early life he became local agent for magazines, periodicals and newspapers and afterward devoted three years to paper hanging and electrical work. At the death of his father in December, 1916, he took over the management of Grant's Emporium, being at the time but nineteen years of age. The name of the establishment has since been changed to Grant's Emporium-five, ten and twenty-five cent store.

Mr. Grant remains the active manager of the business and he has in the interim also acted as reporter on a local paper. He was president of the student body of the American Fork high school in 1917 and 1918. He has always been active in the public life of the community and in the latter year he became a member of the Soldiers' Welfare Committee. He was called in the last draft, that of 1918, and upon examination was placed in Class A, ready for call to go to the training camp when the armistice was signed. His interests and activities are broad and varied. In 1917 he became a member of the American Fork Silver Band and he is acting as trap drummer of the American Fork Orchestra. He is also a member of the American Fork Dramatic Club. His political allegiance is given to the democratic party and he became a member of the central committee at American Fork in 1919. His church work, too, has been of an important character, for in 1910 he was president of the Deacon's Quorum, was first counselor in the first ward to the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association from 1916 until 1918 and was chosen president thereof for the term from 1918 until 1920. He represents one of the prominent old families of the state and has himself made a most excellent record by his activity along various lines which have contributed to the business development, the cultural interests and the work of the church in his community.

 
 

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