The Life History of
FREDERICK
GRIFFITHS
written by
his second wife,
Alice
Albertie Griffeth (Griffiths)
Frederick Griffiths, son of William
and Emma Clark Griffiths, was born at Coventry, Warwickshire, England January
13 1876.
His father was a skilled mechanic
making good wages, but he had the bad habit of tampering with liquor and
spending his money as he earned it. This left his wife in the condition of
having to take in washings to support her family which consisted of William
Jr., Thomas, Nellie and little Fred. There was also an older half sister,
Sarah. The hard life of the mother proved more than she could endure very long,
and consequently, when Fred was four years old she died of heart trouble.
Fred was taken to the home of a
relative he called Edward King. Hr. King had a maiden sister living with him.
Her name was Sarah. Though those elderly people had never married, they seemed
to understand the needs of that motherless boy and treated him very kindly. His
uncle was a writer and he distributed newspapers in the neighborhood. He had a
bicycle with a large basket in which to carry papers, and often the boy rode in
it too. Fred often spoke of the good trips he used to take with his Uncle King
riding over the countryside, mentioning the fact that he usually fell asleep
before they reached home, because of having gotten up so early.
When he was thirteen, his brother
William had joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and came to
America. After he was here for some time he sent for Fred to come also. By
helping the fireman on the ship, Fred got a very cheap passage. When he reached
New York City, he was a very pitiful little fellow: small, frail, timid and
extremely homesick, without a friend.
He made his way to Salt Lake City,
Utah and thence to Treasureton, Franklin County, Idaho, where he lived. First
he lived with the George Sant family, being a general chore boy inside and
outside. He made his home in Treasureton the, rest of his life until the last
three months, which were spent in the Preston 6th ward.
Eliza
Sant Johnson likes to tell about the trip she and her mother had when they went
to Logan, Utah to meet Fred. They had trouble getting feed for their horses
along the way. When they had met Fred, and were ready to start back they asked
him where his luggage was and he said: “In me bosket, heah,” and sure enough
all his belongings were in the basket which he carried on his arm.
Being
a foreigner and rather seriously inclined made his life difficult, for he could
not make adjustments easily. He was naturally kind and sympathetic. He would
lift a bird’s nest to safety while he plowed where it had been, then place it
back. He was very nervous and often impatient, sometimes flying into a tantrum.
I think allowance should be made for this, however, for his health was poor and
the American boys were very cruel in their teasing. They would double team on
him and play mean iokes such as: getting him on a horse behind one of them,
drawing his legs up so that the end of his back bone would strike on the back
bone of the horse. They would trot the horse back and forth and laugh
hilariously when he got angry and swore. Then they would mock his English
brogue.
He
was never revengeful. One time when his tormentors needed his help badly, he
didn’t hesitate to give it. He never mentioned this incident to me. Elizabeth
Ward, a sister to one of the boys, told me of it after his death. The boys went
swimming in the reservoir up in the northwest part of Treasureton, near where
Alfred Clole now lives. Some of them could not swim. Tom Williams, Tom Smith
and I believe it was Will Paskins, Josh Millington and Fred were there. They
got into deep water and two of them were drowning. Tom Williams was still
conscious but kept going down so he could not help the others, nor himself.
Josh Millington who was older, didn’t seem to realize that they were in such
danger, but Fred seeing the situation, swam out and saved the three. He had
learned to swim in the river Thames in England.
His brother William, or Billy as he
was called, was rather high tempered also, so the two brothers often disagreed.
At one time, when Billy had become angry about something, Fred decided to go on
his own. He was walking up through Gentile Valley and Soda Springs looking for
work, when he came to a shearing corral. There was another boy about his age at
the camp. Immediately the men promoted a fight with everyone against the little
English boy. He related the incident to me and said, “That was one time I felt
as if I could endure it no longer, a lone boy, not a friend this side of the
Atlantic. You can’t imagine how one can suffer with homesickness. That time I
contemplated killing myself but some power kept from doing it, and I’m so glad
now’.
As far looks——Fred was a small, neat
dressing man, about five feet six inches tall weighing about 160 pounds. His
skin was very fair and soft like a baby’s skin, except on his face, which due
to exposure and severe weather, became very ruddy. If he had worked in an
office he would have had one of those rare English complexions. His hair was
dark brown, not too thick, very fine and soft, inclined curly. He combed it
back from his high, full forehead. It always lay in place in a soft wave. His
eyes were large and oblong and were the most beautiful shade of blue like a
very deep blue sky. The long silken lashes curled back nearly to his dark eye
brows. His ears and mouth were small and his nose, just the right size. He had
real small hands and feet and a very full chest.
He was active. He enjoyed very much
a good walk in the early morning. The Sant people used to laugh about his
wanting to walk one morning up to the west hills a distance of about ten miles
to get some snow to make ice cream. The clearness of the air here made
impossible for him to judge distance when he first came.
Fred
was an honest, ambitious, virtuous man. He had a great dislike for liquor
drinking. At one time he was at a camp where the men were rounding in the
cattle off the range. Some suggested that they all throw in and get something
good to drink. Fred would take no part of it, though some men who held
responsible positions in the ward thought it wouldn’t hurt, just for once. Some
time later he met one of the men who was there. The man didn’t recognize Fred
until he mentioned when and where they had met, then the man said, “Oh yes, you
are that man who wouldn’t drink with us ."
Fred
was naturally religious. After being baptized by Benjamin Hymas, and confirmed
by Ralph Cardon on the same day, February 10, 1894. he took a missionary course
at the Oneida Stake Academy, at the age of seventeen. But the call to fill a
mission that he always hoped for, never came. Not having the mission
experience, he felt unqualified and rather timid about taking an active part,
yet he served as a ward teacher, first assistant, Sunday School Superintendent,
assistant ward clerk then ward clerk.
He
was a splendid penman, good speller and a good reader. He often read aloud
while I patched or nursed and rocked the baby.
He
had a way of moistening his lips, pressing them together, then releasing them
with a slight smack as if he was eating his reading, and it tasted good. He
didn’t enjoy social gatherings; his health being poor was one reason. After a
very severe operation for hemorrhoids in the summer of 1924 he was a changed
man. He seemed so much more patient and full of fun.
We
must not forget Fred’s family. The girl of his choice was a quiet, intelligent,
pretty young schoolgirl from Red Rock, Idaho by the name of Faraba Haude
Barger. He used to ride a horse about twenty miles to see her the sit with the
stove between them, so he used to say, because they were both bashful. One time
when he went to see another girl, just as he was going to knock he heard her
father say, “If that so and so, sheep herder comes tonight I’ll fix him”. Fred
turned and started to leave running into the clothes line which threw him flat
on his back.
He
never went back. He was not easily discouraged. He found and began to court
Faraba Barger, Faye, as he called her at the age of twenty three. On 20
September, 1899 they were married by one of her uncles. They had the following
children: Ellen, born October 29, 1900; William Lafayette, born October 23,
1902, Emma Gertrude, born October 11, 1904; Farabell, born April 27, 1906; Bonnabie,
born January 1, 1908;, Winnefred, born February 15, 1810;, Nettie, born
February 17, 1912.
June
2, 1915 Faye died in childbirth. On January 13, 1916 on his fortieth birthday
he took his seven children down to the Logan Temple and had his wife’s endowment
work done, and the children sealed to their parents. One of the brethren at the
temple said; ‘Now brother, go home and find a good mother for these children
and keep them together.’ An old neighbor lady by the name of Ann Mary Hyde said
she knew of a girl that would make a good mother for the children, the school
teacher. So as the teacher and her niece had a rented room just over the hill
it was handy for Fred to give them a ride occasionally as he was taking his
children to and from school .
One
night his son was driving while he talked to the teacher, inquiring how the
children were doing in school. When at this moment the sleigh tipped over. Mr.
Winger one of the school trustees, a man who enjoyed a good joke came along
with a load of straw at that very moment. It was soon the joke of Treasureton
that Fred Griffiths had tipped the school mom over.
A
short time after, he came to the school house after most of the school children
had gone home. When he found out that his children had gone, he sent word in to
the teacher that she could ride home with him. She sent word back that she had
work to do, but he waited. That night he told her that he needed a mother for
his little girls and asked her to consider his offer of marriage. With a sad
heart and fear she did consider, and finally, with her father’s encouragement,
she decided to chance her fate with him and his. On June 28, 1916 Alice
Albertie Griffeth of Fairview, Idaho became Mrs. Frederick Griffiths. The
ceremony was performed in the Logan Temple with Willard Young officiating. From
that union came the following children: Edward Burdette, born July 14, 1917;
Delmon Joy, born September 27, 1919; Quida, born October 3, 1921; Zeldon King,
born December 7, 1923; and Thomas Frederick, born April 18, 1928.
When Fred came to Treasureton, he
worked as a chore boy which has been already mentioned. As he grew older he
helped farmers plant and harvest the crops, and put up hay. He worked several
summers at the Church Ranch located between Winder and Treasureton. He was very
handy with machinery, but the work that seemed to suit him best was that of a
shepherd. He took great pride taking out a band of sheep and guiding them to
the best feeding grounds and protecting them from severe storms and wild animals,
bringing them back to the owner at the specified time with a very small percentage
of loss. He learned to love and understand this timid animal and its needs. He
knew how to detect and treat different sheep ailments such as: blue foot, foot
rot and scab, which information served well when later he became sheep
inspector for two counties.
When he had a small band of sheep of
his own, I remember how devoted he used to be at lambing time. He would get up
all hours of the night, and he often brought the lambs into the house to warm
and feed them a little warm tea, to save their lives. Then how proud he would
be when he got them dry and on their feet nursing and wagging their tails. He
would often say, “Now they are on their feet and their noses are warm, they are
all right. They can stand as much cold as their mother can.” And how we all
looked forward to those first warm spring days when the sheep could be driven
onto the hills. The whole family was on hand to assist in the driving. When the
sheep were at last upon the south slope of the big hill up Rocky Hollow west of
the house, Fred would stand with his hands on his hips and smile with
satisfaction as the frisky lambs played up and down the slope and the mothers
nibbled hungrily at the small luscious blades of green grass. The place
mentioned where the sheep used to graze was on Fred’s homestead about a mile
and a half northwest of the Treasureton church house.
On this place was a very deep well
with a hand pump. It served well until a flood came down the hollow in the
summer of 1917 and filled the well. Part of the mud was dug out and the well
used again by drawing the water with a bucket attached to a rope. It was never
repaired. The house was a hewn log covered with ship lap. It contained two
large rooms and an attic. There was a concrete cellar and a concrete lumber
barn which held about twelve cows. There was a log granary, a pig pen, a
chicken coop and a lambing stable.
Fred had a herd of good cows and a
pretty fat team of brown mares, named Beck and Browny and a white top buggy
when I first met him. For some reason he never seemed to care to build up the
home in Treasureton. He always wanted to make enough money to by a nice home in
Preston, Idaho or Smithfield, Utah. He bought more and more land hoping to
realize his dream. But his poor health and the depression caused him to lose,
even his home which he had mortgaged to by the land. He saved only a piece of
dry farm which was partly paid for.
He bought a home in the sixth ward
In Preston, and moved the family down April 2, 1937. He and the two older boys
took turns caring for the animals in Treasureton for the summer, living in a
sheep camp. Fred came down to spend the weekend of July 17 1937. He had been
assigned a topic in the sunday school class. When he was reminded of it he
thought he didn’t have time to prepare it, but he changed his mind. In the
class when the time came for him to give his part, his face went very pale but
when he started to speak his voice was clear and forceful. After giving the
topic, which dwelt on the life of Joseph Smith, he closed his guide and stood
and bore his testimony concerning the divine mission of the Prophet Joseph
Smith. As he stood there dressed in his light grey suit speaking with such
sincerity and force, everyone in the class seemed impressed. Afterward his
daughter, Ellen Pope, who was up from Ogden on a visit, said, “Did you notice
how dad looked when he was speaking in the Sunday School class? It looked as if
there was a halo around his head”. I had thought the same thing, but was afraid
to mention it. After Sunday School we went to two funerals in Preston. Fred
left the last one early and went over to Priesthood meeting where he was
ordained a High Priest in the church by Brother James E. Taylor, July 18, 1937.
When we got home Fred seemed very happy. In the evening he said, “This has
surely been a red letter day for me, hasn’t it.”
On July 28, 1937 Delmon and his
father brought a big load of wood down to the home in Preston. We had just
bought a new Allis Chalmers tractor and they were very proud of it and the big
load of wood. After showing off the tractor, Fred walked around the three acre
lot, looking at the trees loaded with apples, the garden and everything, then
came into the house, shaved and had me cut his hair. He sat and minced at his
dinner seeming to enjoy every mouthful. Delmon told him if he didn’t hurry he
was going to go without him. Fred said, “Go.” Then he turned and asked me for a
cake to take back with them. I jumped up from the table and hurried to make the
cake. When it was finished, he held it on his hand and asked if I thought they
could get it there without breaking it.
He seemed in very good spirits, but
came back the third time to say good bye. He asked, “Do you hate to see me go?”
I jumped on the tractor and rode out of the yard. When he saw me, he threw a
lasso which I dodged as I jumped off. He went away looking back laughing. I had
promised to spend the next week with him at the camp.
On the way back to the camp the
tractor ran off the Riverdale dugway. Loose gravel seemed to be the cause of
the tractor going out of control and rolling down the embankment and Fred was
caught under it as it rolled. Fred’s brothers in—law, Jasper and T. J. Barger
happened to be passing, and took Fred and his two boys back to Preston, to the
hospital. When they were in the car Fred turned to Delmon and said, “This is
the last, take care of your mother”.
He died at the Preston Memorial
Hospital at 2:00 p.m. the next day, July 29, 1937. His funeral was held August
1, 1937 in the Preston 2nd Ward Chapel, and he was buried in the Treasureton
Cemetery.
The following appeared in the
Preston Citizen.
FREDERICK GRIFFITHS INJURED
FATALLY WEDNESDAY
“Frederick
Griffiths was fatally injured Wednesday evening when a tractor which he was
driving up the dugway on the north side of Riverdale, rolled off the grade,
turning over, crushing his chest and breaking his leg. He was rushed to the
hospital, but only lived until 2 o’clock today.
Mr.
Griffiths and two sons were enroute to their ranch at Treasureton after
delivering a load of wood to the family in the sixth ward just recently
purchased. Mr. Griffiths was 61 years old and has made his home in this
vicinity all his life.”
In the funeral Bishop Hart mentioned
the fact that he had told Fred that if he wanted to go to the funerals of his
friends the ordination could wait for a month, but he said, “Brother Griffiths
was a man who wanted things done as appointed so he was there to receive the
ordination and be advanced in the priesthood.
So from a little English foreigner
belonging to no church, he became an American Citizen, a Mormon with a strong
testimony, a High Priest with two wives sealed to him, and the father of five
sons, seven daughter, and four grandchildren at his death.
His grandchildren now number 23
(February 10, 1955), with two great grandsons. He never gained much worldly
wealth, but he set an example of faith, honor and thrift which we hope his
posterity will emulate.
