Thomas Edwin Williams
Written by: Thelma Williams SandersJanuary 1987
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| Thomas E. Williams |
It was on the "Mountain Road" of Kaysville that Tom made his appearance. A more picturesque spot could be hard to find. With the Wasatch Mountains as an immediate backdrop, the whole Great Salt Lake Valley spreads out to the West to form a breath-taking view. It is no wonder that Tom loved this spot for so much of his life.
The "Mountain Road" farm on which Tom was born had had a rather complicated history. His parents had first come to the spot in 1853. His mother was then 14-years old and his father 20; and it had been Hannah Ridden Bowering who had made it all possible. Hannah was Ada Williams' grandmother.
The whole story started on an estate in far off Wales when missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints converted Hannah Bowering to the LDS faith. The missionary message so appealed to her that she was influential in having her entire family and household converted to the LDS Church. This included Tom's father, Ebenezer Williams, who was a gardener on the Bowering estate.
The urge to emigrate to Zion grew as the new converts learned more about their new faith. In time, Hannah Bowering sold her estate and booked passage to America for 13 people. This included herself, her three orphaned grandchildren (Elizabeth, Henry, and Ada Evans); her daughter, Esther Harris, and family; and two estate employees. Ebenezer Williams was one of the estate employees.
After their arrival in Utah, Ebenezer was given the task of traveling north from Salt Lake City in order to purchase a farm for Hannah Bowering. After he selected a place, the group moved to Kaysville. Their first home was a log cabin; and although Ebenezer was only an employee, he played a large part in the dealings and activities of the Bowering family. He helped on the farm, and eventually, in 1856, married Ada Evans. In 1859, Hannah died. She willed the farm to Ebenezer and Ada, and soon the farm became known as the Williams Farm.
In the spring of 1865, Ebenezer and Ada decided to move from the "Mountain Road" farm to the small downtown section of Kaysville since a call had come to all of the settlers in the area to move in close together. Indians were threatening the settlers, and a fort was being built for their protection. The Indian scare wasn't serious, however, and the fort was never finished.
Ebenezer and Ada purchased a large adobe house just off what soon came to be known as Main Street in Kaysville. With this home, came substantial property. The home faced First North Street and included one fourth of a city block between Main Street and First West Street.
Across the street to the south was another quarter block. First North Street separated the two pieces of property. On the corner of Main Street and First North, Ebenezer built the first store in Kaysville.
The Kaysville lot and property gave Ebenezer and Ada ample room to raise 14 children. Nine were Ada's, and the other five were the orphaned children of Ebenezer's second plural wife, Hannah Brandham.
Near the original "Mountain Road" farm log cabin, Ebenezer built a brick home for his plural wife. This home was completed in the summer of Tom's birth - 1864. This home still stands today as a Kaysville landmark. Fruit Heights is now a township with many beautiful homes, and the farm land, where Tom spent some of his youth, is now a subdivision.
In the enlarged "Mountain Road" log cabin (two rooms had been added to the original) there were three sisters and a brother to welcome Tom into the Williams family. Matilda, Elizabeth, Henry, and Frances had been born earlier. The oldest, Matilda, was six-years-old, so when the family moved downtown there was a group of tiny tots for the home's first house warming. Tom was only a baby of a few months when the family made this move.
Five more children, Ermmine, Orton, Frederic, Franklin, and Elsie followed Tom. Elsie was the only child in the Williams family to die before reaching maturity.
Hannah's four children grew up as close to Tom as his own full brothers and sisters. Hannah's Children were Mable, Horace, Jabez, and Etta.
Tom had plenty of company in his growing up years. He lacked nothing either physically or socially. The Kaysville home had sufficient ground to raise everything in the way of food. Additional buildings were built - a cellar, granary, carriage shed, chicken coops, etc. Across the street, west of the store, was a large barn for the cows and horses. The lot provided, along with the store, a comfortable income for the Williams family.
Although Tom, by his own admission, cared little for farming, he did his share of work along with his brothers. Herding the family's sheep on the mountain was his favorite job. While doing this job, he could carry a book, and with the family dog looking after the sheep, he had time to read. Reading influenced him when it came time to choose a profession. He decided to be a teacher.
During the winter mouths, Tom attended the Kaysville School. He no doubt was a very good pupil. He was an avid reader, and liked most of the other subjects. When he finished the lower grades, his father arranged for him to go to Salt Lake City to attend the University of Deseret.
The University of Deseret was the first university west of the Mississippi River. It was then located northwest of the LDS Temple Square, and the first classes were held in a private home. However, by the time Tom was enrolled, a school building had been erected.
The Williams family still has his university notebooks. They are rather large, hard-backed notebooks. It seems that after each days lecture, Tom was required to write a summary of all the subjects taught that day. At the end of the year all of the notebooks were graded. It took only one year for Tom to earn his "norm diploma," and receiving a normal diploma meant that he had passed his examinations and had earned certificate which would allow him to teach in the lower grades of a grammar school.
Tom received his diploma in the spring of 1884. While attending the university, he lived with his sister, Matilda King, in Salt Lake City, and it must have been a happy Tom who went home to Kaysville with his certificate in hand. However, fate intervened and it was not in Utah that he was to begin his teaching career.
A few years prior to Tom's university experience, one of his sisters had married and left the family circle. Elizabeth had married Christopher Layton (she was Christopher's ninth wife); and with two small children she had joined a group of LDS colonizers who had been "called" to settle in the Arizona Territory. The Arizona settlement was named St. David, and it was located in the southwest corner of that territory near the Mexican border. St. David was just twenty miles north of the growing mining town of Tombstone.
Tom's mother had been uneasy about sending her daughter off on such a long, dangerous journey alone so she had sent another daughter, Frances, then in her late teens, along to help take care of Elizabeth’s children. The trip had been successful and in 1884 the two sisters were living in St. David.
What possessed Tom to follow their footsteps can only be wondered, but he did just that and his decision changed the pattern of his whole life. "Just for a lark," was the reason he gave for the trip. However, there may have been more of his mother's influence than he admitted.
The trip to Arizona in 1884 was quite a trip. There were long stretches of open desert; the Colorado River had to be crossed, and the fear of Indians was always present. Tom should have recorded h experiences on this trip, but he didn't.
His only record was of his arrival in St. David. He said that his reunion with his sisters was a very happy one. From him, they were able to hear all of the family news. They didn't get to hear much about the family in Utah because communication in and out of the St. David settlement was very slow and often unsatisfactory.
Upon arriving in St. David, Tom was introduced to a new brother-in-law. In 1883, Frances he married Thomas Steven Kimball. The little town of St. David had a number of Kimballs. David P. Kimball was the first LDS bishop, and was among the first leaders to be called to settle this desert area.
St. David was indeed in desolate, desert country. It had only one redeeming feature-the San Pedro River. This river ran through the town making it an oasis as only water can do to such terrain. The town he been settled in the early 1870's; so by the time of Tom's arrival water from the river had been captured and spread out through a series of small canals and ditches aver a good deal of the desert land. A few farms were thriving, and individual garden plots were providing the necessary food for the settlement.
After visiting with his relatives, Tom set out to see the rest of the town. His own words tell us a good deal about what he found:
"St. David was located in real cow country. When the Mormons arrived; anticipating many cattle, the first thing they did was to fence in one block of a town plot and called it the "tithing ward." The first time I saw it there was a rodeo going on. The first girl I saw in the town was the one who became my wife later on. She was sitting on the fence watching the cowboys ride."
Tom always said that he made up his mind there and then that this girl would be his bride. Consequently, he lost no time in finding out her name.
Her name was Grace Elizabeth Beebe. She was the daughter of Nelson Paul and Eliza Kemp Beebe. Grace had moved to St. David in 1878, and it was not surprising that she could be found sitting on a fence watching a rodeo. When her family left Provo, Utah, they had a large herd of cattle to drive nearly a thousand miles to the San Pedro settlement. The task of herder and wrangler fell to Grace; and she joined the cattle drive with her brother. She was sixteen when her family left Utah, but was older when Tom met her. Even after two years, she was still involved in looking after the Beebe cattle herds.
Tom was soon to know the open hospitality of the "Long House," as the Beebe home was called. Undoubtedly, the Beebe family was happy that Grace had fallen in love with such a good man as Thomas E. Williams. This red headed, good looking, rather tall man was very welcome in the Beebe home. He fit in very well. The Beebe's were especially impressed with him since he was the holder of a university diploma.
Soon after Tom met Grace, he applied for a certificate to teach school in Arizona Territory. Also, to make sure he could stay in St. David near Grace, he applied for a teaching job in St. David and received a contract for the next school year.
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| Grace & Thomas Williams |
After the ceremony, a reception followed, and according to Tom "a good time was had by all." It is doubtful that the rugs had to be rolled up for dancing. There probably weren't any rugs since the Beebe's were so far from civilization. Transportation was limited to wagon trains, and it was not possible to obtain luxuries like carpeting, etc. Only necessities could be transported to the desert community; but the one thing that did matter was family unity and happiness-and that reigned supreme.
Tom and Grace's wasn't the only wedding celebrated in the Beebe home that year. On New Years Day, Grace's older sister Alice had married. Just two years prior to this her brother William had also taken a bride.
The wild mining town of Tombstone, Arizona probably wasn't the best place for a honeymoon, but that's where the couple went anyway. Even today, in its restored state, it isn't hard to imagine what a wild place Tombstone must have been in its heyday. Today, you can visit the famous Fly Photo Gallery. It was in the back of the building in which the Fly Photo Gallery is located that the famous shoot-out at the O.K. Corral took place.
Tom and Grace had their wedding picture taken at the Fly Photo Gallery. After all, Tombstone was the only town in which the Mormons of St. David could shop.
It couple's real honeymoon came later however. Early in the month of October, 1886, they traveled to Utah. In Kaysville, Tom introduced his bride to his parents and other relatives. They visited Salt Lake City, and as the LDS Temple there wasn't completed yet, they had to make another short journey. They traveled by horse and buggy some sixty miles to Logan, Utah where their wedding was sealed "for time and all eternity" in the LDS Temple there. On the 15th of October, 1886, they received their endowments in that beautiful Temple and were extremely happy that they had made the journey.
The happy couple visited in Utah for a time and then returned to St. David in time for Tom to start his teaching career.
One incident from this first year of teaching stood out in Tom's mind. He wrote the following about it: "The people of St. David had built a large public building of 18-inch Mexican adobes. It was in this building that I was teaching school on the day of the St. David earthquake."
Tom remembered how he and his teacher assistant were able to get themselves and the children out of the building before the east wall collapsed outward. The rest of the building remained standing, but suffered severe damage.
Many of the homes also suffered earthquake damage; but no casualties were recorded.
The townspeople ran to the school and were very relieved after a roll call was taken that all of the children were safe. One of Grace's younger brothers was a student at the time. In later life, it was one of his favorite stories to tell how "Tom Williams" had saved his life.
It is believed that Tom and Grace lived in the Beebe home during the time they lived in St. David. Nothing is mentioned anywhere which would contradict this.
In 1887, the couple was expecting their first child. She was born on the 21st of July, 1887, and she was named after Tom's mother, Ada.
In later life, while living in the luxury of many modem conveniences, both Tom and Grace recalled the horrible days of that summer in 1887. The heat was unbearable, and they were faced with caring for a sickly baby with only meager medical supplies. Unfortunately, Ada died on October 29, 1887, just one day prior to Grace's 21st birthday. She was buried in the St. David cemetery on a lonely, rocky hill.
After Ada's death, Tom and Grace remained with the Beebe family. They helped to take care of Eliza Beebe, who wasn't in the best of health. There were still four children in the Beebe home-Paul, Samuel Kemp, David, and Nellie. All of these children were under fourteen years-of-age.
Just five months after Ada's death, Tom and Grace were called upon to suffer through another loss. Eliza Beebe died on March 29, 1888. She was buried in the same desolate little cemetery next to her granddaughter.
This beautiful, genteel, English woman who had crossed an ocean, traveled across half a continent in a prairie schooner to establish a comfortable home in Utah, and then had moved once again into a remote corner of the desert southwest, was a true American pioneer. Her death was a great loss to her husband and ten children.
Despite the Beebe family loss, there was hope for a brighter future ahead. A large number of the Mormon pioneers abandoned the St. David settlement shortly after Eliza Beebe's death. The Gila Valley in Graham County was being opened to settlement by other Mormon pioneers, and the soil there was better adapted to farming and there was plenty of water from the Gila River. With all their in-laws thinking about moving, Tom and Grace seriously considered it too.
Tom's two sisters and their families had already moved. Nelson Paul Beebe decided to move his family, so Tom and Grace decided to go along. They moved with the Beebe's to Safford, Arizona.
Most of Safford's early population was Mexican, but with the influx of the Mormons this soon changed.
Tom built a one room house 14 X 16 on his father-in-law's land. Although they had their own little house, Grace still looked after her younger brothers and sisters.
In this humble home, on March 11, 1889, their second child was born. As usual, the birth was without the aid of a doctor. The only person in attendance was a local midwife. Tom and Grace named this son Lionel.
For the next two years, Tom must have worked as best he could to support his growing family. Sometime between the birth of Lionel and their next child Gladys, who was born on November 2, 1891, the family moved to Thatcher, Arizona.
At this time, the people of Thatcher were building a school which later became known as the Gila Academy. This school had an enrollment of children from the first grade up; and Tom got the job as a teacher/principal. There were two other female teachers in this school; but Tom acted as the principal and also taught the grammar grades until he left Arizona.
Tom's certificate to teach was granted by officials from Graham County. He taught in the Graham County schools for the next ten years.
During Tom's summer vacations, he held a number of different jobs. After school, he also found different kinds of work, like clerking in his sister Elizabeth Layton's store. He was also made a Notary Public.
If one can judge by his account book, he did a great deal of work in this capacity. His notes also suggest that he gave advice like a lawyer, so he must have had some knowledge of how the Arizona legal system worked.
Lionel (the oldest of Tom's children) wrote his own history of the events of this period. Among his early recollections, are many interesting stories of how his own experiences affected the lives of his parents. In his journal, Lionel tells about watching the large freight wagons pass by their house. These wagons carried coke to the smelter in Globe, Arizona-a city at the opposite end of the Gila Valley.
"Some of the teams had as many as 24 horses or mules pulling four or five wagons. Uncle Tom Kimball had one such outfit that my father drove for him. It was a four horse outfit with one wagon," Lionel remembered.
After the railroad was connected to this part of Arizona, Lionel's pastime changed from watching freight wagons to watching trains. It was a great thrill to see a train for the first time, he said.
However, an even greater experience came to him about this same time. One summer, Tom took his family to the little settlement of Wilcox, Arizona. Wilcox was located northeast of St. David, and the Santa Fe railroad stopped at Bowie Junction just a few miles east of Wilcox. This point was the jumping off place for all passengers wanting to go south. Many passengers were bound for Tombstone, and Tom's brother-in-law, Christopher Layton, ran a stagecoach line from the railroad stop at Bowie Junction into that city.
According to Tom, this was one of his best summer jobs. He loved being a stagecoach driver.
He and a companion would meet the Santa Fe train a Bowie Junction in the morning and then take an all day coach ride to Tombstone. The boardinghouse where he stayed while driving the stage was on the opposite side of town from all the boisterous saloons, but there was still plenty for the visitor to see. Tom said that it was far safer to be down by the Cochise County Courthouse than it was near the many, many saloons at the other end of town.
One experience Tom remembered well was a night when he and his companion got caught on the street during a shoot-out between some outlaws and the Tombstone law enforcement officers, Tom and his companion were walking down the street, just minding their own business, when 'all hell broke loose.' They were cut off from retreating to their boardinghouse, and 'scared to death'. They high-tailed it into the O.K. Corral where they had left their stagecoach. They stayed inside the stagecoach the rest of the night with the doors locked.
There were also less exciting evenings spent in Tombstone. There was a famous theatre or Opera House there, and this was one of the best and safest places to be on most evenings. Every night a melodrama or a famous artist performed on the stage of the Tombstone Opera House, and Tom's Opera House experiences proved to be very educational as well as entertaining. He was fortunate enough to hear the famous singer Jenny Lind, the 'Swedish Nightingale' when she gave a Tombstone concert. He also saw the equally famous Lottie Crabtree dance. These were both experiences he liked to tell his family about when he made a nostalgic trip back to his early years.
During this same summer, Grace stayed in a boardinghouse in Wilcox. Her children were with her, and she helped with the boardinghouse cooking to pay for room and board. Grace probably got the raw end of this summer adventure. When Tom would tell one of his stories from that summer, the conversation would somehow pass to her and she would tell about working in the kitchen, taking care of the children, and suffering from the dreadful heat which she hated so much.
There were other more pleasant summers however. For two years in a row, the Williams' spent their summer vacation in the Graham Mountains.
The Graham Mountains are only about ten or fifteen miles from the Gila Valley. The mountains in this range are rather high, and are famous because they were the "stronghold" of the Apache Indians.
It was into these mountains that the now legendary Apache chief, Cochise, led his warriors after they had escaped from the U.S. Government reservation. The Indians were often a problem to Valley inhabitants because, under the cover of darkness, they would creep into the valley farms and steal the settler’s livestock. This was a loss that the farmers could ill afford, and they weren't safe until the Indians were once again moved to a permanent reservation.
The Williams house backed on a small city lot, so there was no real danger from the Indians. They lived just across the street from the Allred Store, and this store was surrounded on all sides by other homes.
After Cochise and his people were rounded up the second time and sent back to the reservation, things in the Gila Valley settled down.
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| T.E. Williams Family |
The heat in the Gila Valley was dreaded every summer; so it must have been a relief for the Williams' to go to the mountains each summer. Tom Kimball had purchased a saw mill in the mountains, and Tom and Grace had an interest in that venture.
Lionel's account of these summers is informative. He tells a lot about the family's activities during these visits to the mountains. Tom and Grace worked, but the children played.
Tom worked in the mill and Grace cooked for the mill hands. She and Fanny Kimball shared the cooking responsibilities. One took breakfast, the other lunch, and then they both would prepare the evening meal.
About the only thing that caused the family concern was the fear of wild animals. This was especially true since Tom and Grace had small children. Paul was only two-years-old when they started making these trips to the mountains, so it was very important that they keep a close watch on him so that he didn't get in the way of any of the dangerous wild animals. According to Lionel, all went well with only a couple of minor incidents.
After two years as partners in this venture, Tom sold his interest and quit working at the saw mill.
This ended the family's trips to the mountains, but the experiences were fondly remembered as time passed.
During this period, Tom was called on his first mission for the LDS Church. This call was as a stake missionary. The call asked him to travel to northeastern Arizona to the area surrounding the Snowflake LDS Stake. Tom had to travel by wagon, and this trip took him many miles from his home and family. The Snowflake settlement was located on the Little Colorado River, and there were several other small communities that made up the stake. Tom really enjoyed the trip to northern Arizona, and was excited about his mission call.
He kept a daily diary while on this mission. In that diary he recorded many of his thoughts and experiences. There were a couple of hazards that had to be overcome, and there were many faith promoting experiences. Today, it is very interesting to read this account. It tells just how dedicated Tom was to his church and to his belief in the missionary work of that church.
Tom spent most of the summer serving on this stake mission. During these months, Grace took care of the children and worked at the saw mill in order to support the Williams family. Generally, pioneer women were just as self sufficient as their husbands, and Grace was no exception. She took excellent care of her family, and provided for their daily needs very well.
Tom's second mission call came from the General Authorities of the LDS Church in Salt Lake City; and was, in scope, a far bigger assignment than the stake mission to Snowflake. This call was in support of the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association. This association had been formed at one of the church's conferences, and was a program designed for the young men of the church. Following the introductory conference, it was necessary to send missionaries to various parts of the country to help wards and branches establish the MIA program.
Tom's call was to the Box Elder Stake in Brigham City, Utah. Brigham City was only about 40 miles from his birthplace-Kaysville; and was an area that Tom knew fairly well.
Before he left Arizona, Tom made arrangements for his family who would remain in Thatcher. There were many people who owed him money for his various services in the community-such as his Notary Public job and other small jobs-and these people had promised him that they would pay and help take care of his family while he was away. However, some of the debtors did not keep their promises and the Williams family was plunged into rather desperate straits.
Tom was serving on his mission in Brigham City when he got a distressing letter from Grace. She had run out of money, and was not sure what she should do. Tom was so concerned that he thought about asking for a release from his mission call. However, the saints in the Box Elder County communities took up a collection in his behalf and raised enough money for him to support his stricken wife.
However, the money was never mailed to Grace in Arizona. Just a few days before Tom was ready to send the money, he received another letter from Grace telling him that she had gotten a job working for his sister, Elizabeth Layton, in the Layton Store.
With gratitude to his maker, Tom returned the money and was able to complete his Box Elder mission honorably. He was released in Brigham City, and was then free to return to his family in Arizona.
The mission call to Box Elder County did two things for the Williams family. First, it gave Tom a chance to serve his church; and secondly, it changed a way of life for his family because he made the decision, while living in Utah, to accept a teaching post in Syracuse, Utah.
On the first day of May, 1900, the Williams family left Arizona. Tom had gone on ahead to find a place to live and Grace and the children traveled to Utah by train. It was hard saying "goodbye" to their many friends and relatives. It was especially hard for Grace since she was leaving her father, brothers and a sister.
However, to the Williams children it was a great adventure. They had never ridden on a train before, and the thought of that experience kept them very excited. Lionel said that he, “had no regrets at leaving my native land. I had my first train ride, and it was a long one.”
Grace and the children left Thatcher and traveled north and east into Colorado. Their Colorado destination was Pueblo. Here they changed trains and traveled through the Rocky Mountains into Utah. It was a train ride that none of the Williams' would forget. Even Grace admitted later that as she got closer and closer to Utah she started to enjoy the scenery more and more. The mountains were majestic and beautiful, and the train ride to Utah was a very pleasant one.
Again, Lionel's history gives the best information about their arrival in Salt Lake City. He said, "We arrived in Salt Lake City in about four or five days. There, I saw the first horse drawn trolley (or horse cab) I had ever seen in my life. We rode in one of the trolley's to the home of one of my father's sisters, Aunt Tillie King. After staying overnight there, we were taken to Kaysville by Franklin, father's youngest brother. He had brought a team latched to grandfather's spring wagon and dad brought another wagon to haul our things to Kaysville. It was a long, hard twenty-two mile ride."
The Williams' stayed a week at Ebenezer and Ada's home in Kaysville. After this stay, they once again took a wagon trip to Syracuse, Utah, a small farming community about nine miles to the north and west of Kaysville. The family stayed at the home of Tom's older brother, Henry, who lived on a farm in that community.
It's hard to imagine where all of the people stayed while living at Henry's. Henry's house only had three rooms, and he had a large family. Lionel remembered that "there were lots of beds and straw ticks on the floor."
Tom purchased ten acres of land just to the north and west of his brother's acreage. This land was to be the Williams farm for the next 15 years.
However, before the family could start thinking about a house for themselves, they had a more important task to accomplish. It was harvest season, and the tomatoes were ready for picking. The entire family participated in the tomato harvest activity. Some helped pick the tomatoes while others worked in the Syracuse canning factory. This seasonal work provided some income for the family, as well as minor jobs for the children.
The reason the Williams' had moved to Syracuse was so that Tom could begin his job as teacher at the Syracuse School. The school was a small, one-room building located just north of the main Syracuse intersection. It was located on the same spot where a new, very modern school stands today.
The only place the family could find to live was in a two room log cabin that stood about a mile and three-quarters west of the church and school.
The Williams' only lived in this log cabin for one winter. Sometime during their first spring in Syracuse they moved into the home of Mr. Peter Christensen. Mr. Christensen's home was a large brick structure about a mile north of the school. Mr. Christensen's wife had died the previous winter leaving in his custody three small boys. Since he couldn't care for them adequately, he asked Tom and Grace if they would move in with him so that Grace could help oversee the care of his small children. The Williams' agreed, and the two families lived together for about one year.
The Syracuse LDS Church meetinghouse was the center of the community's activities. It was a rather nice meetinghouse, for its day, and that building played a big part in the lives of the citizens of Syracuse. It had been built in 1896, and stood on the corner of the two streets which marked the center of the town [1700 S & 2000 W].
This meetinghouse was both the religious and social center of the community. Here the Syracuse people attended church on Sunday and several other nights during the week. On weekends the building was used as a social center, and many dances and theatricals were held there for the entertainment of the people.
Across the street from the church stood the Walker Store. The Dan Walker store has been on that particular corner for years. In fact, it's the one and only store to be operated in Syracuse to this day [1987-boy, have things changed since then].
The farm that Tom and Grace purchased upon their arrival in Syracuse had been partially cleared of sage brush and grease wood; and additional clearing work had to be done before the family could start building a suitable house. Clearing the land was hard work, work that Tom and Lionel never seemed to be able to finish. The neighbors helped as best they could, but the primary task was left to Tom and Lionel. During the first summer, they worked on the land from daylight until sunset so that they could get enough ground cleared to plant their first crops the following spring.
The Williams' built their own home also. Rocks for the foundation were hauled from the mouth of Weber Canyon; and Lionel drove a wagon to Salt Lake City in order to purchase the lime for plaster. Tom and a couple of neighbors graded and dug the foundation.
Lionel remembers his first trip to Salt Lake City alone very well. He left Syracuse by wagon and traveled to his grandfather's house in Kaysville. He stayed all night with his grandparents and then drove into Salt Lake City the next day to pick up the plaster lime. He returned to his grandfather's house that night and stayed the night. The next morning he drove his wagon back to Syracuse. This was quite a task for a thirteen-year-old, but one that was expected of boys at that time.
With the labor of family and friends, the house was ready for occupancy just before school started in the fall. The structure was not fully completed however. Only a bedroom, a large family room/kitchen, and the pantry were completed. The parlor and large front hall were in a state of semi-completion, and the two bedrooms upstairs were only roughed in. Tom and Lionel continued to work on the house at nights and on weekends for the next several months, but it took several years before the structure was completed to their satisfaction.
On August 2, 1902, Tom's first Utah child was born. She was named Thelma Isabell. The Isabell was in memory of Tom's brother Henry's wife who had just died. Grace had taken care of Isabell Williams before her death, and the two had become very close. Grace wanted to remember her sister-in-law by passing he name on to one of the Williams children.
Thelma was welcomed into the family by Paul who was five, Zena who was eight, Gladys who we eleven, and Lionel who was thirteen.
One of the main drawbacks of the Williams farm was that the property did not have street frontage. The farm was in the center of a large tract of land. Tom had paid $500 dollars for the property, but this price did not include any acreage or access to a street. After the Williams house was built, a two rod wide strip of land had to be purchased in order to allow access to the house and property. The lane was graded and poplar trees were planted on each side of the road.
In due time, about four acres could be planted into apple, cherry and pear trees. Between the trees, the family raised beets and tomatoes as cash crops until the trees began to bear fruit. The rest of the farm was planted into hay and grain. Also, during this time, a collection of farm equipment was acquired. A plow was the first item to be secured. This was a steel plow, and that plow is still in the Williams family-guarded as a valuable antique. The family also had a cow, a team of horses, and a white top buggy. It took several years to acquire all of this equipment, but eventually the purchases made life on the farm a lot easier.
Tom, by his own admission, was not the best of farmers. Consequently, he took general odd job during the summer months and left most of the farming to Lionel. In those days, school only lasted for six or seven months; so Tom helped with the planting in the spring and harvesting in the fall, but in between he worked at other jobs. For a time, he worked as a clerk in the Dan Walker Store. He also took other odd job when they were available.
However, Tom's family did not suffer because of his lack of farming skills. Grace did all she could to make the family's life pleasant, and with the money that Tom brought in they were quite comfortable. The family also relied a lot on their farm for their daily needs. They raised almost everything they needed in the way of food. Each year they planted and then harvested the vegetables from their garden. This garden provided enough food to store for the winter months, and they also had chickens and pigs that kept them in meat and poultry.
Grace also helped out by sewing. She was an excellent seamstress, and she sewed many items for people of Syracuse. Her "Singer Sewing Machine" was one of the treasures which she brought with her from Arizona, and she used it a lot during the years that her family lived in Syracuse.
Neighborhood families meant a lot to Tom and Grace during their years in Syracuse. The town was laid out in square mile blocks, so there was a cluster of homes on the corner of each mile. These families provided friendship and companionship to the Williams' as well as provided neighborhood chums for the Williams children.
The Charles Barker family was the Williams' closest neighbor. They were within 'shouting distance', and the Henry Williams' home was just to the east about a mile. To the west of the Williams home, on the Bluff Road, was the Baird family home. The Bairds were an elderly couple and didn't live in Syracuse for long after the Williams' built their home. The Bairds sold out to the Hansen family, and the Hansen boys (the family was mostly boys) added a great deal to the neighborhood.
The Bluff Road was a road which ran along one of the benches left by the receding waters of the Great Salt Lake. This road was the western boundary of the city of Syracuse because the terrain below the Bluff Road was not suitable for farming. This area close to the lake was called the 'bottoms' and nothing but salt grass grew from the road to the shores of the Great Salt Lake.
The social side of living was provided by all of the neighbors close to the Williams home. All kinds of get-togethers were held. There were bathing parties in the lake, birthday parties on the porches and lawns, and occasional parlor parties near the fireplace during the winter months.
Another neighborhood thing that Tom and Grace enjoyed was the sharing of rides to and from church each Sunday. All of the neighbors would take turns picking each other up, in whatever conveyance they had available, and driving everybody to church. The Williams' only lived a mile from the church, but it was still fun to be picked up each Sunday and driven that short distance.
The families who lived around the Williams' became very close friends. Tom and Grace continued to visit them when they got older, and they shared a lot with these families as the years passed.
After the Hansen family purchased the Baird farm, a bit of dickering went on between Tom and Mr. Hansen. Tom was able to persuade Mr. Hansen to sell him the land which stood between the Williams home and the street. This sale added new land to the farm; but, more importantly, it gave the Williams' the street access they so badly wanted. Title to the new land made it possible for the Williams' to move their home out onto the street.
Moving the house came about in quite an unusual way. Tom's father-in-law, Nelson Paul Beebe, died suddenly in Safford, Arizona. Tom and Grace traveled to Arizona for the funeral, and after returning to Utah Grace received her share of her father's estate. Grace knew exactly what she wanted to do with this money. She wanted her house moved to the street.
Moving the house was a large undertaking. A moving firm was hired, and these movers did things very similar to the way one would move a house today. However, instead of using high powered machinery, they used horse power. The house was jacked up and large wheels and logs placed under it. Boards were then laid out in front of the logs and wheels. The horses then pulled the house forward to the end of the boards. The next day, the boards were moved to the front. This continued until the house finally arrived at the street. At the street location, all of the horses in the neighborhood were used to pull the house up and onto the new foundation. It was slow work, but the movement didn't really disturb the family. They remained in the house and moved with it each day.
Once the house was settled on its new cement and stone foundation, some additions were made to the structure. At the back of the house a cellar was added. Also, a screen porch was built onto the back of the house. This porch covered the entire side of the house. The big kitchen range was moved out to the porch in the summer, and this movement transferred all of the activities that surrounded the stove to the porch-even the bathing.
Having a porch made the house a lot cooler in the summer. Also, in the winter there were large canvas blinds that could be pulled down. These blinds helped to keep out the bitter cold. The canvas screens were so tight that only a small amount of snow was able to creep through the cracks with each snow storm.
Of course, all of the other farm buildings had to be moved also. The barn was relocated; and, of course, the outhouse had to be moved to a closer spot.
As soon as possible, Tom drilled a well. The well was what they called "a flowing well," and it was very much like all of the others that were used throughout Syracuse. The Williams' well was located in the northeast corner of the farm, and a pond was dredged out to hold the excess water for irrigation purposes.
The pond was not a big one, but it did have rather high banks. The well water was pumped into the pond, and then taken out as it was needed to water the crops during the three, hot summer months.
The Williams children could hardly wait for summer to come because they used the pond as a private swimming hole. There was no more washing in the tin tub when a bath could be taken in the clear well water before it flowed into the storage pond.
Eventually, the well water was pumped to the back door of the house. However, it was some years before the house was plumbed to receive it inside.
During his years in Syracuse, Tom was always active in the LDS Church. At the University of Deseret, one of his studies was music, and he was able to sing and read some notes. He had a good tenor singing voice; and, consequently, he was called by the church bishops to lead the congregational singing. He was also choir master for a number of years in both the Syracuse and Kaysville wards.
Another church activity which Tom became involved in was called 'home dramatics.' One Syracuse lady, who is now 93-years-old, recently said that she didn't like Tom Williams very much when he was in charge of the home dramatics program because he always cast her husband in the role of a villain. She saw her husband as the hero, but Tom never cast him in that particular part.
Besides his family and his church, education was the next important thing in Tom's life. Education was his chosen profession, and he spent more than fifty years practicing that vocation.
He taught school in Syracuse from 1900 to 1915. He started as a teacher/principal and then later became a member of the county school board. He was principal of the Syracuse School until 1911 when the North Davis High School was built [where Syracuse High is now]. He then moved to this high school and was responsible for graduating its first class. There were only four pupils in the graduating class-three boys and one girl. The group felt it was such an important event that they had a special picture taken with Tom by their side.
Tom was a member of the Davis County Board of Education for a few years representing the northern end of the county. In 1915, the board offered him a position as the clerk to that body; and with his acceptance, he made a decision which would determine his work life for the next 33 years. He was appointed clerk in 1915. He retired in 1943, after 14 consecutive, unanimous appointments to that job. He was clerk for 33½ years.
In 1915, Tom moved his family to Kaysville. After accepting the clerk's job at the school board, he had to commute to the district offices in Farmington. The commute from Syracuse was just too far, so he and Grace decided that they should move to Kaysville where there was better access to the Bamberger Railroad. From Kaysville, Tom could take the train each day to Farmington with about a twenty minute commute.
Tom and Grace sold their Syracuse farm to Lionel. Lionel had married Golda Walker, and had built a small house on one of the corners of the Williams property. Lionel and Golda were starting a family, and the chance to purchase the entire farm suited them perfectly.
Both Tom and Grace were pleased that the farm they had worked so hard to establish could remain in family hands. Today, the farm and house still exist [2517 South 2000 West]. It is not in the family, but there are many of Tom and Grace's posterity who are still living in that vicinity.
The move to Kaysville wasn't all that drastic. Tom's parents were still living there, and there were also a number of other relatives living in the vicinity.
The only place that the Williams' could find to rent in Kaysville was the old Bonnemart home. This home was located near the railroad tracks, and offered a pretty good access for the Bamberger commute. However, the home didn't suit the family. It was too close to the railroad tracks, and the noise from the passing trains was distressing to the family who had lived on a very quiet farm.
Also, the Bonnemart home was near the Kaysville Canning Company. The activity at this plant during the summer was too heavy to suit Grace. Her children were young, and the wagons and trucks driving in and out of the cannery presented a real danger to her family.
The family made one other temporary move to the 'East.' This lasted until the family finally found a permanent home on the corner of 2nd North and 2nd East.
The 2nd North and 2nd East home was a Kaysville landmark-having been built in the very early years of the town. Originally, it was only a two room adobe home. However, by the time of the Williams' purchased it there were three bedrooms, a kitchen, and a bath.
Tom was to live in this home for the rest of his life. It became the gathering place for all of his immediate family, and was an "open house" to anyone who wanted to visit or talk to either Tom or Grace.
With a good job, his wife and family settled, and relative financial security, Tom was very content to live a peaceful life.
His home was very much like all of the other homes in Kaysville. The property covered one quarter of a city block. It had been well cared for, and the barn and outbuildings were in good shape. There were fruit trees, a large pasture area, and space for a large family garden.
Grace was also pleased with her new home, and she worked very hard to make the new place as self sufficient as possible. Her garden always provided for the family in both summer and winter.
One of the first things Grace did was to plant a blue spruce tree in front of the home. This tree stands today, and has withstood many east winds and other natural occurrences.
In Kaysville, Tom, Grace, and their four children settled into a general routine. Their activities and interests expanded and grew with the town.
World War I came along just after the Williams' moved to Kaysville. The entire family supported the war effort and did whatever they could. Grace taught her daughters to knit, not as fast as she could, but many pairs of socks and mittens were made for the 'dough boys' who were serving in France and other parts of Europe.
During the war, Tom became the secretary of the Davis County Red Cross. He held this position for many years, and after his years of service he was given a special citation.
Paul was not old enough to be called into service, much to his mother’s delight. However, he was so disappointed that Utah would not take him, he took a trip to visit relatives in Arizona and while there he joined the Merchant Marines. He never did get out of the U. S., but he did get a taste of the sea.
He was inducted in San Diego and assigned to a supply ship headed overseas. To his sorrow, however, the ship was stopped on the Eastern Seaboard as the war ended.
He did get to fulfill his dream of traveling to Europe however. In 1920, he was called on a mission for the LDS Church. Ironically, he was called to the Hanover Germany Mission, a place where he might have gone if the war had not ended before he got to see overseas duty.
Paul never married. He lived in the Williams home in Kaysville until his death in 1967. He worked at Hill Air Force Base, and retired from there about five years before his death.
Tom's oldest daughter, Gladys, moved to Kaysville shortly after the Williams' moved there. Gladys and her husband Pete (Rentmeister) moved into a home just a few blocks south of where Tom and Grace lived. Pete worked for the Union Pacific Railroad. He had exceptional musical talents, and served for many years as the conductor of the Union Pacific Band. He and Gladys traveled all over the country with the railroad band until Pete's early death.
Zena went to the University of Utah, and then followed in her father's footsteps as a teacher. She taught elementary school in Kaysville for 40 years. She never married. She also lived in the Williams home until just a few years before her death.
Tom gave his other two children the same opportunities as the older members of the family. Thelma and Howard were educated in Kaysville, and then went on to make lives for themselves. Thelma studied one year at the University of Utah. She did not continue her education, however, because she decided to marry Elias Van Sanders. They were married in February of 1926, and then moved into a home just one block south of the Williams home.
Howard continued his education at Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He studied to be a chemist; and in 1929, at the beginning of the depression, found a job in the Los Angeles area after visiting there during a tour of duty with the USU ROTC.
Howard married Ovila Boon, and moved to the Los Angeles area where he lived for many years until his job took him to the East Coast. Howard is now retired and lives in Bloomington, Utah.
During his Kaysville years, Tom was active not only with the educational aspects of the city, but with the political side as well. He served as a member of the city council and then a term as mayor. His civic duty was rendered when Kaysville was only a town. To be considered a city then, a town had to have a water system, paved streets, and a new school. During his years on the city council and as mayor, Tom did everything he could to see that these improvements came about so that the town could receive city status.
One of the projects for which he was particularly proud was the betterment of the city cemetery. Before his term as mayor, the cemetery was in a mess. It was overrun with weeds, and there was very little grass. The weeds had to be cleared when there was a burial, and the roads were muddy and almost impassable. The grave upkeep was the responsibility of each individual family, and this become very difficult as families split and family members moved away.
Tom proposed the idea of perpetual maintenance for the cemetery. His idea was accepted by the city fathers, and today the Kaysville/Layton Cemetery is one of the most beautiful in the area.
During his Kaysville years, Tom always held a position in the LDS Church. Since he was a teacher by profession, this was one of the skills needed in the church, and he held several different teaching positions. He taught just about every age group in the Kaysville Ward, and when the Davis Stake was divided he became president of the newly organized North Davis Sunday School.
As time passed, the Williams quit using a horse and buggy and got modern with a Ford ‘Tin Lizzie.’ As the years passed, they grew into better cars and this allowed them to make annual trips to Arizona. One trip was to help celebrate the Golden Wedding of Tom's sister, Fanny Kimball. Another was to a celebration for William and Melinda Beebe, Grace's brother and sister-in-law.
Both of these celebrations were held in Thatcher, and this gave the Utah visitors a chance to renew old friendships as well as to visit loved relatives.
Another special trip to Arizona was by invitation. The Williams' were invited to Safford for a celebration honoring early pioneers of that city. A picture taken during that visit doesn't show an auto so perhaps Tom and Grace traveled there by train.
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| Grace &Thomas Williams - 50th |
The event was planned to be held near Grace's rose garden. However, the weather did not cooperate and the celebration had to be moved to the cafeteria of the Davis High school. This turned out to be place, however, because of the number of people who attended. There were hundreds of friends and relatives who came to pay respects to Tom and Grace. It was one of the most memorable times of their later life.
Hardly a summer passed that didn't see some visitors from Arizona. Both Tom and Grace enjoyed hosting these friends and relatives. On most visits a trip to Salt Lake City was planned as well as short trips into the mountains. Other popular places were The Hermitage in Ogden Canyon, Lagoon Resort in Farmington, and the Saltair Resort on the shores of the Great Salt Lake.
Picnics were also popular. The Williams' always liked to pack a picnic basket and head to the mountains. They didn't wait for relatives to visit to do this, but it seemed to be much more fun when car loads of family and friends headed for the Wagon Wheel in Weber Canyon. The picnics were especially enjoyed by the visitors from the Gila Valley. They loved the cool, green mountains, and the relaxed atmosphere.
Finally, the day came for Tom to retire. He had little aggravating illnesses which made it impossible for him to continue his work; and, at 79, he decided to give up the great responsibilities of the clerk of the school board and turn those duties over to someone younger.
His "going away" parties gave him great pleasure because he realized how sincerely he would be missed.
This job had been a big part of Tom's life; and during his last years, when he became somewhat disoriented, he would relive his activities at the school board. He would leave home and walk to the station or the high school; and on several occasions he would be brought back home by his grandchildren who were students at the high school. Whenever he wandered from home, it wasn't hard to find him. He could be found somewhere near the elementary school or the high school.
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| T.E. Williams |
In 1946, Grace passed away, and this left a great void in his life. The two were married for over 60 years and their marriage was a very close one.
Tom lived five years after Grace's death. Although these years were undoubtedly lonely, he was still surrounded by several members of his family. He enjoyed the successes of his children and grandchildren and got great pleasure out of their activities. Zena and Paul lived with him. Gladys built a home next door, and Thelma and her daughter, Geraldine, built homes to the east of the Williams home. This gave Tom great satisfaction because most of his family was near him.
Family reunions became so large that they took up the entire center of the Williams lot with all of the families sharing a certain amount of their yards.
One day in April 1951, Tom was observed walking the floor repeating, "It's a long, long time to wait." When asked what he was waiting for, his reply was, "To go to Grace." This was the kind of faith and belief in his religion that was typical of Tom. He knew that he and Grace would spend eternity together.
One night not too long after this incident, Zena went into his room to check on him before bed and found him unconscious. He just slept the rest of his life away. He died on the evening of April 9, 1951.
After prayers and a very beautiful tribute to his long life, Thomas E. Williams was buried in the Kaysville City Cemetery next to Grace. He now rests under the shadow of the beautiful mountains were he was born. Under the shadow of the mountains that he loved so much.
So much good had happened in his long and busy life.
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