| Show history of the organization of the box elder stake sunday schools when brigham city had several hundred people less than it has now and a great many less comfortable surroundings among other of 0 its lacks lachs there was the sunday schools in 1867 may allay apostle lorenzo snow in a public assembly nominated stephen wight james bywater and justin C wixom as a of a sunday school to be held each sabbath morning mornine in the county court house and the nomination was unanimously sustained by the congregation gre gation on june 9 1867 1967 about 49 40 children met the new tit at 2 p in in the lower room ot of the court house and were organized into a class this room was used as a carpenter shop so the shavings were swept into a corner some trusses tius ses blocks and planks brought out and these rude benches were arranged for the first sunday school scholars carl can you imagine the boys in patent leather shoes or the girls in ill silk dresses well iou ou see there any carpenter shops where each time lime the sunday school was held benches must be made and the shavings swept away was all and the best that could be got those days there was neither roll or minutes kept and this first ear the ilie school made rathor rather slow progress closing oct 27 1867 for the season the next year school opened with a new superintendent dro bro stephen wight being released and bros las jas bywater bywate justin C wixom and adolph madsen as acting suits N 0 ow for the first time the school is really beginning to succeed both 1 in class work all and members until in 1870 the school became so large that IL ii was necessary to move to the upper room or of tile the court house where the eh children ildren could gt get seats and more room the then visited through the ward from house to house soliciting donations which was the beginning ol of h a treasury and was used tor for books the committee bought bibles testaments music books anil and a few rational at ional primers and first readers also some historical books which were loaned to 0 o file he children to be returned the next week up to now there has been no choir or in fact singing of any kind so arrangements rang range ments was made with bother brother stephen wight to have a singing practice just before the school closed there was also an evening for singing school but it did not prosper very well wel 1 the beginning of 0 union uee meetings tings was first given a place when dec 2nd and 1872 the officers and teachers met in Rosen baums hall ball and organized a theological class the idea of studying to better themselves being the reason of the move these classes were very successful and continued for 8 or 9 years or until 1880 when they died out in 1883 the regular S S union meeting was regularly organized with an enrollment and attendance of all officers and teachers about the time the union meetings began dio bio james bywater was released for a mission to europe and by nomination of apostle lorenzo snow brother tustin justin C wixom A madsen and charles kelly were sustained as the new tendency this was the season of 1873 1973 this same tall fall bro bra S X N lee was appointed S S chorister and he selected some of the best voices in the school chool an and organized a choir the first one and it certainly was a big step for the sunday school in making things more cheerful ch earful and interesting more alore books were bought more s students came until this season about in members embers were sent down stairs supervised by J C wixom and assistants si while T H 11 wilde lucius guclu A snow and isaac smith took charge of the other division up to this year brigham hart had no railroad connections lut but the utah northern R R was completed about this time so on march 1 the he first sunday school excursion was taken to three mile lille to spend the day at pro bro win horsleys Hor farm bros brigham young and D 11 wells met them here and all enjoyed the day together in this early beginning tile the schools had no quarterly conferences but an all annual meeting was held beld that war wac called the S S jubilee the prag rams of these meetings were long abid varied speeches recitations and us usually a son song by bro goddard or talk by general board members wa the order of tile the day interesting i occurred annually was the M ay iy y day nearly always alwais furnished a lone on procession headed by the hand band with banners flying would march to a groveland grove and there spend the day in all kinds of sport and usually ending with a dance at the old social hall ball up to issa we have no record of an organized treasury but this year bupt supt wixom instituted what has since developed into our nickel fund by ie questing each sunday school member to donate 1 penny a year the scheme lived rather indifferently until 1890 when phen it blinked out ell entirely there had been no effort made to grade the teaching done in sunday schools up ill to now but this year 1884 primary departments were begun by some schools and quickly patterned by others and the schools were nere again advanced one step up another interesting feature or of the work was the old reviews held every three months where the entire ward classes would give an example of their last quarters progress in from a beginning of to 40 students we have in 20 years grown to 31 sech schools with an all enrollment of 2976 you can call imagine now just a little what sunday schools meant by that increase cant you this year tile stake was divided part going to cassia stake and part to malad stake idaho that left box elder with 19 schools as her own out of the 31 in 1891 supt bupt J C wixom resigned and the work fell to peter baird and george L graehl in 1892 two years after the penny levy ceased to exist the nickel donation was instituted by request of 0 the general board in 1891 the children of the sunday schools were granted a beautiful favor that was a visit to tha the salt lake temple during its dedication and on the day of april 1893 ggs sunday school members of box elder spent the lay day in the now completed temple enjoying the privilege very much dec 2 1893 0 W snow was sustained stake superintendent with peter baird and george L graehl as ills his assistants and george W watkins as secretary and librarian at this particular time eight schools out ot of 19 were graded with five departments in each school another big step upward A new feature is added now pursuant to a 1 call from the general board and that is an all annual conference box elder held her first saturday and sunday june 2nd and and 3rd ard 1894 starch march 1 1894 a new feature was instituted by inquest of the general board namely a sunday school fast day the request was that usual exercises be dispersed with and teachers and pupils fast all and bear testimony together in bov tile the church officials changed the regular monthly fast day from thursday to sunday so the sunday school fast day was vas more successful than in the past jan 1 1 1898 supt bupt 0 W snow peter caird baird and geo L gmachl were honorably released with a hearty vote of thanks and lucius A snow J 11 II bott and justin D call were sustained as the new on oil sunday jan 23 1894 the sunday school children attended their first quarterly conference in brigham using the first hour or of the session sunday sept the sunday school children were ere invited to greet pres lorenzo snow at his first official visit to brigham as president of tile the church of jesus christ of oe lat ter day saints in all the world this year the ward assembly rooms were divided into class rooms by curtains and the schools drilled in marching to the class rooms bov 19 pros pres snow visited our quarterly conference and shook hands with 1060 persons were in attendance ten darice at the meeting during 1899 punctuality was emphasized teachers prayer services at were instituted in ill order to stait the day well feb 21 24 1901 at the stake quarterly conference supt bupt A H snow was released and john D peters john 11 dott bolt and justin D call were selected during the fall ot of this year a uniform course of study was prepared and bound in book form by the members of the stake board this made a very great step up lip tor for progression the unions teachers meetings and class work were made so much more instructive and therefore more interesting during the year the board made 3 ga visits to ward schools in 1903 the school statistics statistic read officers and teachers average attendance teri dance number of pupils 0 average attendance 1799 I 1 in 1906 parents classes with an enrollment of parents were inaugurated in nine of the sunday schools with an average attendance of parents |
