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Show Interesting Life History Of Pioneer Resident Related Relates Interesting Story Ot Life boxing day. On that day we all vent down to the store where mother and father traded and received re-ceived a present. I surely liked to go with my friends to celebrate Jack and Green Day. We would dress in nreen costumes and go into every home and recite: Herecomes Happy Jack, With his wife and family at hn back. 1 Out of nine I've got but five, And half of them are starved alive." All the children would go with nappy J alld wlum aU thc houses were visited, Happy Jack look us lo the hills whore; we gallic-red flowers and played games. I ! Whitsuntide was another of our our thirst. I drank very little water wa-ter before coming to America, since arriving in this counlry water wa-ter has been my chief drink. It hasn't killed me as yet and I don't believe it ever will. The well-to-do people in England made a barrel of beer whenever a son was born and kept it until the son, became be-came twenty-one years of age at which time it was considered a very fine beverage with which to quenche their thirst. Although we worked very hard we still had lime to celebrate. In order that wo might, get off in the afternoon we had to get up at. three o'clock in the morning and do our day's work. Then to the hills we marched. The hills were covered with frees .with the ox-,:,,!.. ox-,:,,!.. if u-hw-h had (A story of the life of Daniel Gilbert as related to his grandchildren grand-children by him before his re- cent death). , I now wish to give to you, my grandchildren, a glimpse into the story of my life. I was born in Wiltshire East ; Grafton, England, in 1S58, the fifth child in a family of thirteen. My father, James Gilbert, and my mother, Sarah Choules Gilbert were born, raised, and married in Wfllshlre East Grafton where they feared most, of their family. My mother, Sarah, was the first , We of our family to join the Latter-day Saint church. She joined it 1870, my father joined aoout ;S79, and now we all belong to the church. Some passengers would rather go with her than the regular train because be-cause she would take them where they wanted to go. Everyone from the little street urchin to the preacher liked her and called her Aunt Sally. She look vegetables lo sell in town and after selling them she took her money .end bought little things such as news-1 news-1 apers and meat and sold them to 1 the people along the road -; i'eturiied home. The farm' ; were i , -ailing at their gates wM their I sennios for the news from tov :. lit was this ability as a f an ier hat made it possible for :. n- to ( ml money to Zion to he,!) k.rld Jti'Vs temple in Salt Lake be 'or. , lit- came lo America. Mnllcr was a very good clu rui acmher and she loved to nCenl , hurch. but there was no iy to : go oilier llian to walk. one inie she walked ten mil s 10 a '.lonnon meeling. She had n i-'-ll boy and bad no one lo leave ni.it ' with, so she carried him in her irms all the way (hero and back, -'.he knew when she lcfi she would '' have lo va.k all the way becausn ' ti one ever slopped lo give a pe-li'Ieslrian pe-li'Ieslrian a ride. That liny buy. ; children, was your Uncle Jim , Gilbert. : Molher was very anxious to get j 1 her family lo America. However. ! if was imi'os ible for all of us to I go at once due to our lack ofmoney, therefore, one of us came at a time, each helping the other. In 1S7G when I was seventeen it was my turn to come to America, i f course I was very anxious and excited. I, made ready and started (hi my way traveling as far as London Lon-don tile first day. 1 had no place lo slay that night, my only alternative alter-native was to stay at the station I ut then some Mormon missionaries mission-aries came to my rescue and took 11 1 0 to the mission home and gave me a good bed and food. The missionaries mis-sionaries knew me by the blue ribbon mother pinned on my shoulder. shoul-der. When I arrived at the mission mis-sion home there wore twenty-five dollars u ailing for me from my hrolher, Elijah. 1 stayed there that niubl and slarled for Liver ' .pool early the next morning. I boarded the steamship "Wyoming" i.boul dusk that night and set sail lor America. There were other Mormons sailing on (he same ship. Our ship could only travel from fen to fifleen knots an hour fa. naulical mile is 2.025 yards losgi. We stood on deck with a liniuesick fe cling watching dear j Old Knejand disappear from our sie.ht. Wo knew we would never 'see our dear old land again as we I rode away sadly but happily. 1 While on the sea Ibere was a ery dense fog during which everyone every-one was shut down below not 1 knowing whether they would see light again or not. The whistle blew every two minutes to prevent wrecking wilh another ship. A wooden bucket was let down into the water every lillle while to test it to see if we were approaching an iceberg. When the fog cleared we were allowed to come on deck again. I couldn't afford to ride first class so I rode in the steerage. My bed was alive with bed bugs. I drank coffee made from water in which dirty potatoes had been boiled. Dry bread was gven me with the coffee. Meat was given me but twice during the whole trip. Finally, afler nine days of hard ridng and sufferng we could see that we were approaching the shores of America. I, along with the rest of the crew gave some hearty yells, all aboard! New York I was certainly happy to set my feet once more on solid ground even though it was a strange land. Left alone in a strange country I wandered around to see what I could. I came upon a place where a minister was speaking, i listened to him for a time. He said, " feel sorry for those people who are going to Utah." (But now I know I wouldn't have changed places with him for the world.) I didn't have a place to go so I went to Castle Garden, a place where'most of the Mormon emmigrants srayed. (Continued on page four ! 1 - ." 7 t 1 it : ; r 1 ! I holidays one of the biggest. It was celebrated during the first part of June, with a large party and dancing danc-ing in the open fields. Tuesday was called salt Tuesday, on thn day molher made all the pancakes we could', eat. Another holiday was Good Friday Fri-day on the Friday before Easter. On" this day we worshipped Christ because it represented the day he was crucified. We always ale hot cross buns on this day. Mother always went to market n Saturday morning with t.er eight-passenger van drawn by one horse (the horse was blind but that did not daunt her spirit.) ception of one little spot, which had been cleared to make room for wooden tables. It was here that we used to buy tea, lump sugar and fruit cake for a sixpence (twelve ceiils in American money) Some of I he boys tried to sneak pieces of lump sugar and Iru.t cake but the police always caught the.n and made them put it back. We all looked forward to Chnst-Kls Chnst-Kls when molher would cook us r big dinner wilh a, huge roast ot meat and a big plum pudding. This food -a" al' cooked over an open firepu.ee. 1 had never seen a stove until I came to Amov e . The day after Christmas we called I attended school for several inters but because of my intense dislike for it, my parents allowed me to discontinue at Hie age of eiSht and go to work. My first, job as herding cows for which I re-1 re-1 cdved fifty, cents a week. I later i ,0i'ked on a five hundred acre I 'arm owned by an English Lord. ' 'h our home we made beer twice I year as was the custom. We j "ePt our glasses and decanters of heeron the table the year around, i e thought if we should drink coll water it) would kill us. Mother Eteeped our tea, cooled it, and we Used it along with 'beer ' to qeunch j DANIEL GILBERT MORE ABOUT Daniel Gilbert . (Continued from page one) They had had a large fire and were just beginning to rebuild, we just threw our blankets down anywhere and stretched out to sleep. It was here that I expected to get! money from my folks to take me to Utah but I was disappointed. I waited five days for it and; when it didn't come r decied to go back home, working my way back onj the ship. However, the church came to my rescue. My tcket to Utah and my meals which amounted to fifty-six dollars waa, paid by the Perpetual Emigration Fund. We were five days on the train from New York to Ogden. There were vast flocks of turkeys on the way across the plains and, some of the men got off the tain to kill them just for pleasure. The railway was on an up grade and went so slow that men could easily catch it again if they wanted to get off. When the train stopped) for everyone every-one to get lunch I had to go without with-out because I didn't have the price. I sat and waited in the car while the rest ate. When I got off the train at Ogden, I still had no money mon-ey to take me' to Logan. The railroad rail-road agent gave me a fare to Logan Lo-gan and kept my trunk, as security which I later claimed for three dollars. From Logan I went to the church farm which is now; the college col-lege farm at ths Utah State Agricultural Agri-cultural college. My brother, Elijah Eli-jah was working on this farm which was owned by Brigham Young. A little while before Brigham Young died he and his apostles traveled in carriages from Salt Lake to visit all the settlements. When they came to Richmond we were lined up on both sides of the street waving! our handkerchiefs and throwing whatv few flowers we me to. I cared nothing about religion, re-ligion, but after bearing President Young and other church leaders speak I became very interested and did all I could to help the church Because of my lack 08 education 1 was unable to accomplish as much as I would liked to have done. 1 knew whatever I put into the church would come back to me one hundred fold. In 1878 father audi' mother with most of the remainder of the family fami-ly left their home and set sail for America. My brother and I sent money amounting to $500 to bring them. My brother, George never did leave England but was baptized bap-tized into the church by my brother, broth-er, Elijah who went back to England Eng-land to fill a mission and also to gather genealogy about the year 1910. He also baptized George's wife Ellen into the church. When father and mother came they settled set-tled in Richmond where I had been for, two years. They arrived here in the fpll of 137S. I went to work for a Mr. Halver-se'i Halver-se'i who was later to be my step-fa-her-in-lavv. It was In ibis home that I met the woman who later had. Soon after; he arrived in Salt Lake after this trip he died and President John Taylor was made head of the) church. I couldn't find work when I first arrived here. Some tried to get me to go to Bishop Preston and tell him I needed help but I wouldn't would-n't because I was strong and able to work. Instead, I went to Mill-ville Mill-ville to visit some friends I knew and stayed for two weeks, then I came to Richmond, to live with my uncle. In the summer of 1S76 when j was eighteen years old President Young asked everyone to get baptized bap-tized again because the church records rec-ords had been lost. The ditch was dammed and everyone w-as baptized again. On this occasion I was baptized bap-tized for the first time by Albert Monson and confirmed by Thomas Moore. Bishop Merrill (who later became an apostle) ordained me a deacon and also made me president of the president of the deacons quorum. quo-rum. I was ordainedi an elder by Lars C. Johnson about 1SS0 and was ordained a high priest by William; Wil-liam; Kirkup of Franklin. The only reason I came to America Amer-ica w-as because my mother wanted became my wife. And bless her soul she h still by my side the sa:ne sweet girl. She has shared with me tl:o dangers, trial;; and privations of pioneer life. No other has-, or c- er 'cr.n. talte h?r place. (Since this wasi written my wife has --.asrril ;v.;?.) I wa,, working in connection with the! tithing office in Richmond where Mr. Halversou was the clerk. He asked me to work for him on his farm which I did. While working I was paid my wages in livestock. I received three cows which I drove to Logan to pay the church em migration mi-gration fund. I was very thankful thank-ful to get it paid. When I took Amelia, your grandmother grand-mother to a dance we had to be horseback because she lived auout a mile south of Richmond Sometimes Some-times we would walk, but more often oft-en she rode in the saddle and I would ride behind. We paid fifty cents fo ra ticket and danced Quadrilles Quad-rilles tnd waltzes from eight o'clock until midnight. We always went early to get our moneys worth Everyone told me I had the finest girl in Richmond and I hey were right! (To be continued next week) |