William and Sarah Speakman - Part Three - Established in the Mountains
Much of the information here is taken from a history collected and organized by Gene Speakman.
After arriving in Salt Lake, William and Sarah were initially in the Salt Lake City 15th Ward. They received their Endowments in the Endowment House on March 24th, 1854.
Also in the 15th Ward was Ann Hutchins of Whatford, Essex, England who had arrived with the Livingston and Kinkead Freight Train on August 15th,1855.
William was sealed to Sarah & Mary Newsham in Brigham Young's Office on October 12th,1856. William and Sarah were the parents of a daughter, Mary Jane, who was born May 14th 1856, but child to parent sealings were not performed in these years. On the same day William also married and was sealed to Ann Hutchins. The three were rebaptized on the 10th of March, 1857. This marriage and sealing to Ann Hutchins was later canceled and Ann Hutchins Speakman was remarried to Henry Holley in 1859. The reasons are not known by the family.
William and Sarah's daughter Lavinia gave this history of their lives after they left Salt Lake City:
"Then they were called to Beaver to work in the factory (woolen mills). For the next years ahead, they went between Fillmore and Beaver. Going where they were called.
When Pa was called to Beaver first, the country round about was as a wilderness to him, and not much better when Ma went down. It was before my sister Emeline was born. Do you think you have a hard time? Well, Ma went in a wagon, with a board across the box for a seat, and rode that way three weeks before the baby was born. The roads then were rough and rocky. It would be difficult to keep that board in place over good roads, but when the Speakmans were called they went. Ma nearly lost her life, and that of her unborn child as well. But the lives of both were saved. Emeline grew to maturity and married.
Facilities were scarce and they could not keep the factory going. So William and Sarah were at the ‘beck and call’ whenever needed. It wrung their heart strings to leave little Marintha in her silent grave while they went again to Fillmore to find means to live on until they could go back to Beaver again. For William was reliable and resourceful and the running of the factory was about as dependent on William as William was on it, maybe more so. At one time he was called back to Salt Lake to work on the Tabernacle, then back again to Beaver and Fillmore.
The factory closed two years after that (Emeline’s birth) and we had to go back to Fillmore– I say we–I should not for I was not born then. My oldest brother William was born in Fillmore in 1859."
Drucilla Skinner Speakman supplied this information:
Their (William and Sarah) third child William, Jr. was born in Fillmore on April 13th,1860. He was still a small child not two years of age when President Young called William and others to go 30 miles west of Fillmore and start a community there which was called Deseret. They lived in a tent. William began at once to clear land and plant his crops. To enable them to use the water of the Sevier River for irrigation, the men built a dam across the river forming a small reservoir and they were able to...thus irrigate their crops. The dam broke several times, wiping out their crops. Now, again, they were faced with deprivation, their chief diet being being bread made from a coarse meal made by grinding wheat between two rocks, and they were able to shoot an abundance of wild ducks.
More from Lavinia:
"The story I will tell now, I have heard all my life, so it seems I can remember it. The place was very new and the only things that were plentiful were Indians and courage. The Indians were a smelly, shiftless tribe, and were always scaring the life out of the women and children. There was a scarcity of everything and especially of that we wanted and should not have. Oh! I mean coffee! The church leaders had not frowned down (on) coffee as earnestly as they do now and Ma craved coffee...craved it night and day. But there was no coffee to be had on the whole flat. So Pa walked to Fillmore to get some (35 miles).
You see both of these people shared their every joy and sorrow. Their anticipations and disappointments! They sang in the choir together, had done since they landed in Utah in 1850. Aside from the bond furnished by the gospel, they had no one else in the whole wide world. So William walked to Fillmore! The roads were dusty and dry and rough. The sage brush and rabbit brush were shoulder high and he kept the trail with difficulty. In the tent house on the lonely Deseret flat Sarah with the little ones were alone. The children slept and she was thankful they did! But there was no sleep for her. Four projects she attended to with earnestness. First she tried to sleep for the sake of the unborn child. Second she prayed for the dear one on the lonely road to Fillmore. Third she cared for each whimpering child, lest it cry out in the stillness. Fourth she watched and listened for the tent flap to be thrown back and the frowzy head of the semi-civilized Pahvant Indian (to) poke through and demand, “white squaw give shetkup (food)”. Every woman and child would run a mile to keep from meeting one of the tribe. The next day William came back, not so tired as sad with disappointment. For there was not a bit of coffee to be found in Fillmore. But Ma said the craving was easier to bear after that.
All this time they were writing as often as they could to their families in England to try to interest them in the teachings of their Church. They loved it so much, they were very anxious to have them understand it also. But never did they convert any of their dear ones over there."
Lavinia continues:
"When my father built the house I do not know but he built the first brick house in Fillmore. That was where I was born 16 May 1862."
Heart Throbs of the West
A Brick Home. Probably the first brick house to be built in Fillmore belonged to William and Sarah Young Speakman. It was not a large house, since it had but two rooms, but it was considered one of the most beautiful houses in Fillmore at that time, and it is still standing one block west of main street.
No one can imagine the hours of planning and work that these early settlers put into the building of a home. Today, with our lumber yards and handy tools, it requires only the necessary finance and in a few weeks a handsome house is at our disposal. William Speakman, who was first of all a farmer, had also to be carpenter, architect, brick-maker, and bricklayer. He had but a good axe and a saw with which to get his lumber, although some of the floor boards and window and door casings he was able to purchase at the saw mill in "Paradise" canyon.
Sarah Young Speakman, his wife, went with him to select the colored clay which was to make the brick. She had a choice of gray, yellowish white, or gray-pink. They finally chose the latter, because it was nearer water, and William could mix the mud by the clay bed. The fine art of mixing, shaping, stacking, and finally baking the bricks was finally accomplished and they were hauled to the spot where the house was to be built. Another period of delay was necessary before the building could be done, however, because William had to go into the mountains east of town and cut sandstone rocks for the foundation. It took almost three months to build the house, as other work had to be kept going, but when finally the white chalk roof was on and the doors hung it looked beautiful. It was cozy inside. Sarah had not been idle, but had a new rag carpet to put on the floor in the big room, that was bedroom and living-room. The fireplace was in the north end, the one window in the east, and one door led into the kitchen, and another to the outside. There was plenty of room for two beds, a rocking chair, two straight chairs and a spinning wheel. A huge trunk served as clothes closet, dresser, and linen-press.
The kitchen was a smaller room and had the luxury of two windows. The outside door was on the west. A big, hand-made cupboard was the chief piece of furniture in the kitchen, and Mrs. Speakman was very proud of it. The lower half was a flour bin (with a shelf inside to keep left-over food out of sight), and above that were two drawers, then two shelves, broad and deep: one for supplies and cooking utensils, the other for dishes. A neat calico curtain decorated the top part, and added a touch of color to the room. Sarah had braided several rugs to place about the floor, and these made the broad, clean boards very attractive. Although the table was clumsy and rough, it was strong, and for special days it was covered with a cotton spread of red-and-white checks, that made it look festive enough for the best of people.
Tallow candles furnished the light, along with the blaze from the sagebrush fire. Conspicuous in the room was the brass kettle, in which they carried water from the creek a block away. The curtains were muslin, and for many years were the very special admiration of all callers who came to the little brick house. —Mrs. J. B. Davies.
Heart Throbs of the West"
Source Information:
Ancestry.com. Heart Throbs of the West [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: The Generations Network, Inc., 1998. Original data: Kate Carter. Heart Throbs of the West. Vol. I-XII. Salt Lake City, UT, USA: Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, 1947.
Aunt Druce gave this explanation:
“The city of Beaver played an important, and sometimes colorful role in the early days of the Church. As a crossroads between mines in the county, as well as the midway point between Salt Lake City and St. George, Beaver became something of a commercial center with a thriving co-op store and woolen mills in the latter 1800's.” The woolen mills were the reason William returned to Beaver several times."
Lavinia remembers:
"My (Lavinia) first memories were in Beaver, where Pa was superintendent of the factory. I must have been about five years old and Pa took me with him everywhere. He called me ‘Jimmie’. I thought I was a prime favorite of his. Maybe it was because he had not been able to supply my mother with the coffee she had wanted so bad before I was born. I do not know. But I do know that they did not ever deprive me of coffee or anything else it was in their power to give me. As I think of it now my heart warms with gratitude for such parents as William and Sarah were to their children. Our home was a very happy one. Each one of us interested in the welfare of the others. We sang together, played and worked together and when sorrow came we grieved together also. But in those happy days memories grew and flourished and it seems I must have known my father very intimately and thoroughly, for his devotion has stayed with me all these years.
I realize I was only eight years old when he was called home, at the age of 56 years (December 14th, 1872). There were in the family then seven children. Sarah was not yet forty years old. So the prime of her life was to be used for her children in the battle ahead. And I defy any one on earth to find a trace of anything but nobility in the way she met the test. (Sarah & he had 8 children: Mary Jane, Emeline, William, Lavinia, John Young, Anne, Marintha who died in infancy & Sarah Melissa.)
If we had needed something to make us appreciate our church membership before this, we certainly found it in the way we were made to love them after Pa died. Every one was so kind and thoughtful of us. The leader of the Seventies Quorum, Orange Warner was kindness itself. The hardships we met were often lessened by him and his men. They looked out for work for mother and the family, interested themselves in their welfare, and were always ready and anxious to give a lift whenever they could.
Mother was a dressmaker and nurse, and she, with the help of her growing family and the goodwill of the people, worked for our living. Mother was busy all the time and as we grew up we assumed our own responsibilities in the family. William was only 14 years. But he assumed the care of the family. He would borrow a wagon and bring a load of wood to us and then get one for the owner of the wagon to pay for the use of it. He managed in such a way that we had a cow to milk and though others called him Billy Speakman we always called him William, and loved him. One day William was hauling wood and was stung by a scorpion. He was alone. He took his pocket knife and slit the finger and then tied a tight knot below so the poison would not get up into his arm. It bled freely, but was badly swollen when he got home. But he had saved himself a lot of danger if not his life."
Sarah was a dressmaker and nurse and was kept busy all the time. There was no doctor in Fillmore and she delivered (many) babies, besides caring for the sick and afflicted. Most of her sewing was done at night after her children were put to bed, her only light a sagebrush fire in the fireplace or tallow candles. Many beautiful dresses she made too, with ten to fifteen yards of material in them, all pleated, tucked, and ruffled by hand.
Her daughters recall a little one gallon brass kettle she bought with some of her hard earned money. It cost her six dollars and the girls used it to carry the wash water from the creek, a block away, just a gallon at a time. They also recall that soap at that time cost one dollar a bar and tea was nine dollars a pound.
In 1875 Sarah married Andrew Jackson Clothier. He was a carpenter by trade and found plenty of work, so better times came for Sarah. They had one son, Ira Clothier and were married nearly 40 years before he preceded her in death.
The 1880 Census ,Fillmore, Millard, Utah :
| Name | Age |
|---|
| Andrew J. Clothier | 55 |
| Sarah Clothier | 47 |
| Ira A. Clothier | 3 |
| William Speakman | 20 |
| Lavinia Speakman | 18 |
| John Y. Speakman | 14 |
| Annie Speakman | 12 |
| Sarah Melissa Speakman | 8 |
Though Sarah could be remembered sitting on her porch smoking a pipe late in her life, her granddaughter, Eva Robinson McGhie wrote:
‘My memory of grandmother is a very pleasant one, of a very lovely, always clean, neat and stately lady, always so cheerful with voice low, words spoken distinctly and it was a joy to be in her home."
Another granddaughter, Florence Speakman Hobson recorded:
“ I remember hearing father tell about grandmother receiving word from England that she had inherited some money. She told no one in the family about this until after a certain time had elapsed which caused it to revert back if not claimed. She told her family she did not want any of their tainted money. She would take me into the hills to help her gather herbs, such as wild grapes, blackberry leaves, squaw bush and others. She would steep these and make a syrup and feed to the sick to make them well. She also gathered catnip to make a tea for babies with the colic. (Another) plant she would pound to a pulp and make plasters for sores and bruises. At one time when Lyman was a baby he became very sick. He would have bad crying spells and when he started crying, mother would send us running for father, and if he got real bad, father would sen us for grandmother. He got to be nothing but skin and bone, and mother had to carry him on a pillow. Every little while grandmother would feed him some of this syrup she had made and he got better. We feel that it was her wisdom that saved his life.”
Sarah's grandson Lyman Speakman said:
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| Lyman, Eugene, and Dan Speakman |
“She told me that she visited many times with Brigham Young, and one of his visits he told the Fillmore people not to build below the bridge or they would lose their homes and livestock. At one time the water did rise in the creek and flooded much good farm land leaving huge boulders, some as large as 10 ton, on the land.
Father always saw that grandmother had what she needed, such as food...and what money she needed. She was a proud woman, and hated to have to depend on anyone, but father was her mainstay. She never called him Billy... Her home .....besides being the first brick home in Fillmore was also the last dirt roof house in town. This I learned in a history class in school. I was so ashamed I went home and cried and cried. Not long after this father went down and shingled the house, under grandmother’s protests. When wire doors and window screens came into being, father told grandmother he would get her some, but she said, ‘No, she didn’t want her nice fresh air sifted.’ However later she consented.”
Sarah died December 13th, 1916.
The Millard County Progress, Friday, 15 Dec 1916:
Another Pioneer Passes
In the death of Mrs. A. J. Clothier who died in Fillmore on Wednesday afternoon of this week, the poor and sick as well as the active workers in the church have lost a sincere friend and helper.
Mrs. Clothier was born in England on April 5th, 1832, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Young and was married to Wm. Speakman in England in 1850, coming to this country direct to Salt Lake City with him in 1851, they having embraced the Mormon faith before leaving England.
Mr. Speakman later died and she was married to Mr. A. J. Clothier of Fillmore, who has also preceded her to the Great Beyond. She was an ardent worker in the church and her smiling face will be missed by more than a score of the poor and sick ones to whom she administered while among us. The funeral will be held from the L.D.S. Chapel today at 2 P.M., where all her friends may view her remains for the last time.
Mrs. Clothier is survived by the following children who were all with her when the end came: Mrs. Lavinia Robison of Provo, Mrs. M. J. Morris of Beaver, Mrs. J. B. Davies, Mrs. S. E. Brunson, William Speakman, J. Y. Speakman and Ira D. Clothier, all of Fillmore.
Rogers, Sadie. East Millard Pioneers, Death Notices, As Published in the
Progress 1913-1937, p. 46
How we are related:
William & Sarah Speakman
William Speakman, Jr.
William Daniel Speakman
Daniel Vaughn Speakman
