PROFESSOR CHARLES HENRY SKIDMORE.
Professor Charles Henry Skidmore, superintendent of schools of the Boxelder county district and a resident of Brigham, was born at Richmond, Cache county, Utah, July 23, 1875, in a little log cabin which was built by his father. He is a son of William L. Skidmore, a native of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and a representative of an English family that was founded in America by the ancestors of Professor Skidmore about the year 1820. In 1854 William L. Skidmore came to Utah with his widowed mother and eldest brother. Henry B. Skidmore, and was about ten years of age at that time. The family had become converts to the faith of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints be fore their removal from Pennsylvania. The mother of Professor Skidmore was prior to her marriage Miss Armina Knapp, a native of Farmington, Utah, and a daughter of the !ate Albert and Rozina (ShepardJ Knapp. Mrs. Skidmore passed away at Richmond in 1891, when forty years of age.
Professor Skidmore of this review was the fourth in order of birth in a family of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters, of whom eight are yet living. He began his education in the public schools of Richmond, passed through consecutive grades to the high school and afterward attended the Brigham Young College at Logan. Subsequently he entered the University of Chicago as a special graduate student and there pursued a two years' post-graduate course. He afterward devoted ten years to teaching in the Brigham Young College at Logan, filling the chair of mathematics for eight years, and during the latter part of that period he outlined the four year civil engineering course. During and preceding this time he taught subjects ranging from the second grade of elementary school to the senior year of college work. From the 1st of October. 1912, he was located in the Granite school district, where he remained for five years as superintendent of that district of Salt Lake county. On the 1st of July, 1917, he became superintendent of the Boxelder county school district and is making a most creditable and excellent record through his advancement of the public school interests of this sec *tion of the state. He holds to high ideals along educational lines and he has instituted many practical and progressive measures which have been directly beneficial in the development of the school system. Since becoming superintendent of schools he has attended a number of national educational conventions, being present at Philadelphia. Cincinnati, New York, Salt Lake, Portland, Atlantic City, Pittsburgh and Milwaukee, and while in attendance has visited many schools of the east and west, studying various school systems and gaining new ideas which he has incorporated into his own work. He has acquired much valuable information in this way and at the same time his own initiative has enabled him to put forth many original ideas which have been of substantial benefit to the schools of his district. In 1916 he took post-graduate work in Columbia University of New York. His first teaching was done at Richmond, Utah, the town of his birth, in 1893. He there remained for two years, after which he was called to go on a mission to England, where he served first as traveling elder and afterward became clerk of the Sheffield conference, serving for a period of about four months. He was also president of the conference for a part of the time during his sojourn abroad. It was upon his return that he entered Brigham Young College as an instructor while pursuing his own course of study there. He spent three years in the institution as teacher and pupil and then went to Chicago, where again he worked his way through college. While in Chicago he was connected with what is called the Students' Service and there did special work, making his way through the university during the summer months. He was employed by the university to find places for tutors in wealthy families who wished to thus educate their children. Gradually in his profession he has made advancement and his high standing is indicated in the fact that he is now serving a third term as state director for Utah of the National Education Association as well as being superintendent of the Boxelder county school district. He is a member of the state course of study committee for Utah and he is well known as contributor of a number of educational articles to the public press and as a contributor to the educational journals of the country. Among his well known articles is one on financial support of education, which was published in the Utah School Report of 1915 and 1916. He is also the author of an article on consolidation which has been published in a number of states and Washington, D. C. He prepared the report of the Granite school district from 1905 until 1914 and he is the author of articles on school organization and consolidation and other important subjects.
Aside from his educational interests Professor Skidmore has been active in other ways. In 1905 he organized the Rush Valley Farming Company, which took up ten thousand acres of land which he personally surveyed and platted. The company was incorporated for fifty thousand dollars and Professor Skidmore became the first clerk of the company and afterward manager, while at a later period he was made president. The land of the company was located in Tooele county and was practically all sold during his connection with the company save for about fifteen hundred acres which he holds individually, having the title thereto.
Another line of his activity is indicated in the fact that during eight summers he traveled for the Union Knitting Mills of Logan and as a salesman made a wonderful success. He was also the selected representative from Cache county to the first dry farming congress held in the United States, the convention meeting in Denver, Colorado. In this and other public matters he has always taken a leading and helpful part, actuated by a spirit of progressiveness that marks him as one of the valued citizens of his native state.
On the 3rd of June, 1903, Professor Skidmore was married in Logan Temple to Miss Louise Wangsgard, a native of Huntsville. Weber county, and a daughter of Christian C. and Anna (Anderson) Wangsgard. The father was Danish, while the mother was of Swedish descent, belonging to one of the old, prominent and well-to-do families of Huntsville.To Professor and Mrs. Skidmore have been born eight children, of whom five are living. The eldest of their children, Leone, died at the age of eleven months. Their second child. Demoivre, now thirteen years of age, is a student in the Junior high school at Brigham. Ira Stanley died at the age of seven years. Loraine and Zella are the next of the family. Rex Austin is at home and Anna Armina died at the age of one year. The youngest child, Charles Jay, is six months old. The family residence is at No. 15 South First East street, Brigham City, Utah.
Professor Skidmore is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and is at present high priest of the first ward of Brigham, and member of the high council of Boxelder stake. While in Cache county he was very active in the work of the church, was a member of several Cache stake boards of religion and an alternate member of the high council of the Cache stake. For three years he served as bishop of the Miller ward of Granite stake, Salt Lake. He has been very active in support of all war interests and was chairman of the committee on War Savings for Boxelder county. Every project that has for its object the welfare and up building of the state or the advancement of its intellectual, social and moral interests finds in him a stalwart champion.
DAVID O. STOHL.
Among the important commercial enterprises of Brigham is that conducted under the name of the Stohl Furniture Company, of which David O. Stohl is the general manager He has been a lifelong resident of Brigham and his record is an interesting one to his many friends here. He was born October 15, 1882. and is one of the seven children of O N and Christina (Johnson) Stohl, both of whom were natives of Sweden, the mother having been born in Malmo. The father came to America in 1862, settling at Salt Lake and in the following year removed to Brigham. Here he took up the trade of merchant tailoring, which he followed for a number of years, and later became a stockholder in Zion's Cooperative Mercantile Institution and was in charge of the clothing department. He was also with the Cooperative Mercantile Company until he established a general merchandise business on his own account and later he organized the Stohl Furniture Company, in which connection he continued business actively for about eight years He is now living retired and makes his home at Brigham. enjoying in well earned rest the fruits of his former toil. He belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the third ward and has filled various church offices. For six years prior to crossing the Atlantic he was an elder in the Stockholm and Copenhagen conferences and he was ordained a patriarch. While he has retired from active business connections he is still a stockholder in several banks and is interested in large building operations. He has been one of Brigham's most active and leading men. The mother of David O. Stohl passed away in 1914 at the age of seventy-one years. She came to America with her widowed mother and arrived in Salt Lake in 1861. There she was married and of the seven children born of this marriage five are yet living. The children of the family were as follows: Olean N., Heber N., Emma C, Lorenzo N., Joseph N., Anna and David O.
David O Stohl after attending the public schools became a student in the Agricultural College at Logan and when twenty-one years of age started out to earn his own livelihood Going to Tremonton, Utah, he there became manager of the Stohl Brothers Furniture Company and continued in the business for a year, when he was called in 1905 on a mission to Stockholm. Sweden, where he labored but a short time when he was obliged to return on account of failing health. After regaining his health he organized and established a branch store at Malad. Idaho, and later he came to Brigham, where he has since conducted business under the name of the Stohl Furniture Company They have the largest furniture house in the state outside of Salt Lake and carry a most extensive and attractive line of furniture sent out by the leading manufacturing houses of the country. They employ a force of competent assistants and they have ever held to the highest standards in the personnel of the house, in the line of goods carried and in the treatment accorded patrons, so that the business has been steadily developed until it has reached its present mammoth proportions.
In Salt Lake Temple, on the 1st of June. 1904, Mr. Stohl was married to Miss Hazel Boden. a native of Brigham and a daughter of Heber C. and Charlotte W (Welsh) Boden. Mr. and Mrs. Stohl have two daughters: Edyth, born in Brigham August 10 1908; and Virginia, born August 19, 1910.
Mr. Stohl is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of the third ward and is president of the Third Ward Mutual Improvement Association and is active as a ward teacher. He is also connected with the presidency of the Seventy In politics he is a democrat and he belongs to the Boxelder Commercial Club. During the period of the war he was a member of the County Council of Defense and took a very active interest in upholding all war activities, including the sale of Liberty bonds He cooperated heartily in every plan which seemed to promise the advancement of the countrys interests in her relation to her allies and in support of her men in the field Throughout his career he has shown himself to be a man of determined purpose and this has been evidenced in no place more strongly than in his business connections He has never allowed obstacles of difficulties to bar his path if they could be overcome by persistent and honorable effort and in his vocabulary there is no such word as fail.
LESLIE H. WADSWORTH.
Leslie H. Wadsworth, of the Wadsworth Automotive Service Company of Brigham, is a native son of Hooper. Utah. He was born July 19, 1891, his parents being William M. and Martha (Hardy) Wadsworth. while his grandparents in the paternal line were Joseph and Abby (Higlgy) Wadsworth, both of whom are still living. The grandfather, a native of Massachusetts, was the first representative of the name to establish his home in Utah. He arrived in the state during the period of its pioneer development, making the journey to Utah with Johnston's army. He located in Morgan county and for many years has met with substantial success in carrying on farming and stock raising. He is now a retired resident of Hooper. In the early days he was active in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. To him and his wife were born eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Their son, William M. Wadsworth, was born in Morgan, Morgan county. Utah, and was reared upon the old farm. At the age of thirteen he designed and constructed a slide valve steam engine, and later in life took out several patents on various mechanical applications, among which is a triple expansion condensing steam engine. He became familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and caring for crops. However, he turned his attention to other pursuits and followed building and mechanical installations. He is still active as a representative of the building industry in Hooper, where for a long period he has made his home. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He married Martha Ann Hardy, also a native of Morgan and a daughter of Elisha and Flora (Worlton) Hardy, who were residents of Morgan from early times. To William M. and Martha Ann (Hardy) Wadsworth have been born eleven children, four sons and seven daughters.
Leslie H. Wadsworth. the third child of the family, after attending the various schools of the state continued his education in the Utah Agriculture College of Logan and at the age of sixteen years started out to provide for his own support. He was first apprenticed to the machinist's trade, which he afterward followed as a journeyman for about eight years. In 1914 he organized and established what was known as the Brigham Automobile Company and conducted business under that name for five years. Since the 1st of January, 1919, however, he has severed his relations with that company and organized the Wadsworth Automotive Service Company, conducting a general garage business and also carrying a full line of automobile accessories and supplies. They conduct the largest and best equipped auto repair shop in Boxelder county, employing seven skilled workmen, and their patronage is very extensive. In December, 1917. he took out a basic patent on an automatic variable speed controller.
In the Salt Lake Temple, on the 1st day of November, 1911, Mr. Wadsworth was married to Miss Laura Stoddard, a native of Hooper and a daughter of John F. and Isadora (Belnap) Stoddard, representatives of an old and prominent family of Hooper. Mr. and Mrs. Wadsworth have two children; Bernice, who was born August 26, 1913, in Uinta, Weber county; and Rose, born in Brigham, September 18, 1915. The family residence is at No. 318 South Main street.
Mr. Wadsworth belongs to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of the second ward of Brigham and in the Sunday school and Mutual Improvement Association has filled various offices, being particularly active in the latter. He is also a member of the Boxelder Commercial Club and is keenly interested in all of the plans and projects of that organization for the up building of the city and the extension of its trade relations. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, but he has not been an aspirant for public office, preferring that his loyalty in citizenship shall be manifest in other ways. During the years 1909 and 1910, Mr. Wadsworth was a signal supervisor on the Southern Pacific signal system, after which he took up the mechanical and electrical profession in a more direct way.
JOHN J. WARD.
John J. Ward, who is efficiently filling the office of county treasurer of Boxelder county, makes his home in Willard, where he was born on the 23d of January, 1854.
His father, George Welton Ward, and mother, Ann Trulock, were both natives of England and were married in the city of London, January 24, 1842. Having joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, they left their native land for America in January, 1851, for the purpose of joining the colony of Saints in Utah. In the spring of 1852 they outfitted at Kanesville, now Council Bluffs, Iowa, and started with ox team and wagon across the plains, arriving at Great Salt Lake City in October of that year. In the fall of 1853 Mr. Ward removed with his family to Willard, Boxelder county, and there resided throughout his remaining days, his death occurring August 18, 1882, when he was sixty-eight years of age. He always followed farming and stock raising and was quite successful in the conduct of his business affairs. He was a member of the Agricultural and Manufacturing Society of Utah and was a devout member of the church, serving as counselor and later bishop of Willard ward of the Boxelder stake for many years. Politically he was identified with the old people's party and served as selectman of Boxelder county for many years. To George W. and Ann (Trulock) Ward were born eight children, seven sons and a daughter. The mother passed away in July, 1860.
John J. Ward, who was the sixth son, was educated in the district schools and spent his early life to the age of twenty-two years at home. Following his marriage he took up farming in connection with his father. Later he was employed on the Utah Northern Railroad in construction work, connecting the road with the Union Pacific at Ogden, being for three years thus engaged. As a boy he assisted in building the first continental railroad, working in the fall of 186S and in the spring of 1869, when the Central Pacific and Union Pacific were connected on Promontory Point, in Boxelder county. After leaving the employ of the railroad Mr. Ward resumed farming, which he followed until the fall of 1918, when he was elected to the office of county treasurer. Previous to this he had served in many other public positions. He was councilman of Willard in 1886 and 1887 and was mayor of the city through the two succeeding years. Later he was reelected a member of the city council and continued in that office for six years, exercising his official prerogatives in support of many plans and measures for the public good. He has always been a stanch democrat in politics, giving to the party his earnest and unfaltering support.
In Salt Lake City, October 27. 1876, Mr. Ward was married to Miss Mary Eleanor Owens, who was born at American Fork, Utah, in 1859, a daughter of Owen and Jane (Parsons) Owens, pioneer people of Boxelder county, where they settled in 1859. Mr. and Mrs. Ward were both very active in music and dramatics, before and after their marriage, both were members of the choir and took prominent part in the dramatics of northern Utah and southern Idaho. Mr. and Mrs. Ward have become parents of ten children: Mary Olive, who passed away in early life; William Trulock, who was graduated from the University of Utah and won the M. D. degree upon the completion of a course in Columbia College of New York; Elsie Jane, a graduate of the University of Utah and the Harvard Summer School and now the wife of W. J. Lowe, an attorney; John Welton, a graduate of the University of Utah; Owen Charles and Evan Earl, both deceased; George Artemus, a graduate of the Agricultural College at Logan, Utah; Rula Eleanor, a graduate of the University of Utah; and Angus Parsons and Karl Moroni, who are high school pupils. Mr. Ward and his four sons were all ready to render active service to their country during the World war and George Artemus was for six months overseas with the One Hundred and Twenty-seventh Field Artillery. Liberal educational opportunities were accorded the children and the family is one of which the parents have every reason to be proud.
Mr. Ward was very active in all war work and served on a committee for the sale of War Savings Stamps and Victory Bonds, of which he himself was a generous purchaser. He is a member of the Boxelder Commercial Club of Brigham and has taken a keen and active interest in everything pertaining to the public welfare. The cause of education has indeed found in him a stalwart champion. He has always been an active promoter of every scholastic enterprise, having served for eight years as trustee of the Willard Central school district. He was also one of the organizers and a director as well as the president of the Willard Irrigation Company and one of the organizers and officers of the Fruit Growers Association. Mr. Ward is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints of Willard ward and has been active in its work.
For many years he was superintendent of the Sunday school and on the 17th of December, 1890, started on a mission to England, returning March 20, 1893. During his mission work he was traveling elder. He also served as treasurer of the building committee in 1888 when the present Mormon church was built in Willard, the edifice being completed two years later. His life activity has been a valuable contribution to the development and progress of the district in which he lives and in the conduct of his business affairs he has won substantial success in most creditable and honorable manner.
JOSEPH HAMMOND WATKINS.
Joseph Hammond Watkins, of Brigham, Boxelder county, is a son of William Lanpard and Mary A. (Hammond) Watkins. His father was a native of London, England, and came to America as a convert to the Mormon faith, settling in Utah in 1853. His mother was a daughter of Joseph Hammond, a native of Massachusetts, who came to Utah in the early '50s and at once became prominent in the church. He was the first secretary of the old Brigham City Cooperative Association and one of the earliest teachers of Boxelder county. He was also president of the Elders Quorum, was high counselor in the presidency of Boxelder county and later one of the stake presidency. He held other offices in the church and was also active in the political arena, becoming the first recorder of Brigham and also serving as a selectman. His son, Joseph H. Watkins, was born at Little Cottonwood, Boxelder county, in 1861. He attended the graded schools of the county and finished his course at the select high school. In 1882 he married Miss Lydia E. Hancock, a daughter of Charles B. Hancock, who was one of the outstanding figures of the early days, not only as a member of the famous Mormon Battalion but also as one of the earliest bishops of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A native of Massachusetts, he claimed direct descent from the Adams family, two of whose sons had occupied the presidential chair, while other representatives of the family have won almost equal distinction in public life.
A few years after his marriage Joseph H. Watkins removed to Beaver Dam, Boxelder county, where he settled upon a farm and became one of the first in that section of the state to take up dry farming. He remained in that locality from 1885 until 1910 and there reared a sturdy family. To him and his wife were born eleven children but Lavista died at the age of one and a half years at Brigham. Joseph H., Jr., is the bishop of Logan and is mentioned elsewhere in this work. Eddis W. is a teacher in the schools of Bothwell. Clifford C. is superintendent of music in the Jordan high school. Elise is the wife of Alma Baker, of Mendon, Utah. Norman V. is a teacher at West Portage. Flora is engaged in teaching at Perry, Utah. David C. is a student of the Utah Agricultural College. Creston and Melvin are students at the Brigham high school and Clara is just completing the work of the grades in Brigham. Mr. and Mrs. Watkins take great pride in their family, who have followed their teaching and example to the end that no family stands higher for good, clean citizenship. The sons have a notable record inasmuch as none of them use tobacco or intoxicants in any form-a record of which the parents have just reason to be proud. The family name is indeed an honored one in Boxelder county. The children have been educated in music and have formed an orchestra of six pieces, which not only adds to their home pleasure, but to the interest of many public entertainments.
Offices of prominence in and out of the church have come to Joseph Hammond Watkins. He has served as county commissioner, also as justice of the peace and he was chairman of the school board of the county. He served as high council in three different stakes in Utah which position he still holds. For eighteen years he served as first counselor to the Bishop of the Beaver ward and he was largely instrumental in building the Bear ward meeting house, raising seven thousand dollars for that purpose in a community of only thirty families, many of whom were widows and never asked the church for a penny. He has held different offices in the church for forty-four years.
When the family left the Hyrum stake in Cache county to come to Brigham, they vacated thirteen offices of the stake and ward. In 1912 Mr. Watkins removed to Cache county, where he purchased a two thousand acre ranch lying between Logan and Mendon. This he operated for five years. Later he divided it into small farms, which he sold, and took up his residence in Brigham, where he is engaged in the real estate and live stock business. The worth of his work in behalf of the church and of the material development of his community is widely recognized.
JOB WELLING.
Job Welling, of Brigham City, filling the office of sheriff of Boxelder county was born August 11, 1873, a Farmington, Davis county. Utah , a son of Job and Phoebe (Holmes) Welling, the former a native of England and the latter of Utah. The father came to America n the later part of the '60s with his wife and two children .making than and Elvira Holmes. She is still living and has reared a family of eight children, three sons and five daughters.
Job Welling, the third child, was educated in the public schools of Davis county and his early life was spent upon the farm. He followed farm work to the age of twenty-four years and then began stock raising and farming on his own account in Boxelder county, continuing upon the old homestead to the age of twenty-four. He has always remained active as a farmer and stock raiser and is still profitably conducting business along that line.
For three years Mr. Welling was a member of the Utah National Guard, which covers his military experience. In politics he is a democrat and his interest in community affairs is shown in is membership in the Boxelder Commercial Club. He has been an active worker in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Fielding ward, has filled the office of high priest and in 1911 went on a mission to England, where he labored until the 22d of January, 1914.
Mr. Welling was married in Farmington, Davis county, October 24, 1897, to Miss Selena Wood, a native of Farmington and a daughter of Oliver and Selena (Rogers) Wood, of an old pioneer family of Farmington. Mr. and Mrs. Welling have five children: Dewey, Phoebe, Ruth, Glenn, and Wendell. During the period of the great war Mr. Welling served on a committee having in charge the Liberty Loan drives. He is a self-made man whose sterling worth has gained him the respect of all, and whatever success he has achieved is attributable to his own labors. His fellow townsmen, appreciating his worth and ability, called him to the office of sheriff of Boxelder county, in which capacity he is now serving.
The information
on Trails to the Past © Copyright may be used in personal family history research, with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be duplicated for publication in any fashion without the permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material on this site is not permitted. Please respect the wishes of those who have contributed their time and efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank you!
