PHOTOS
Letters written between Utah and Scotland
William
Stewart was born November 21, 1814 at Campbelltown, Argyleshire,
Scotland. Sarah Thompson was born November 16, 1821 in Antrim county,
Ireland. William and Sarah lived in the same community, growing up
together, going to the same school, playing together, and later fell in
love with each other.
William's parents were formally
well-to-do, owning property in Argyleshire, Scotland. They had servants
and their own riding horses with servants to care for them. William's
father, William Stewart Sr., and two of his brothers put up security for
a man who failed in his business and as a result they lost all they had.
William Sr. died soon after this and the two uncles left Scotland.
One came to America and the other went to Australia or New Zealand.
Another brother still held his property. It was with his children
that William used to chum with. When William lacked money they would
supply him with it.
Sarah Thompson worked as maid,
sometimes going into the home of William's mother. When William's
mother saw that he had an interest in Sarah, and not wanting her son to
marry a poor girl, she took Sarah for a ride and placed her in a dressmaking
school and promised to call and get her later. She thought by separating
them it would stop their marriage, but they had already married secretly.
For a year William searched for his wife, not knowing where she had gone.
A friend of his told him where to find her. He lost no time in going
to the school. Sarah was sitting by the window sewing and when she
heard the horse coming she could tell from the jingle of the bridle-bit
that it was William and she fainted. The others in the room ran for
help and William naturally followed to see what the excitement was about
and found his wife.
After finding out his mother's great desire
to separate them, and after signing his uncle's name as his father's at
their wedding ceremony, they fled into Ireland and stayed until after their
first child, Annie, was born December 11, 1839 in Antrim, Ireland.
William had never been compelled to
work, but after his marriage he had to work to support his wife and family.
He got work in the paper mills. In 2 or 3 years they left Ireland
and moved to Greenock, Scotland. His mother met them one day while
out walking and tried to renew their friendship, but William's pride had
been hurt and he refused all help and worked to support his family as best
he could.
Their son William was born May 12, 1842
and Samuel was born April 9, 1844.
Later they moved to Glasgow. Here they heard about Mormonism and
believe and were baptized.
Sarah was a very religious woman and
took the lead in their church activities, attending meetings and urging
them in their desire to come to Zion. They had eight children born
to them: Annie, William, Samuel, Elizabeth, Sarah, Hugh, Thompson
and Martha. After Martha was born, Sarah was very sick. She
was anxious to get well so they might go to Zion [America] where she could
be sealed to her husband. Her sister, Annie McAffee urged her to
come and live with her by the seashore, thinking that if she got away from
the heat and noise of the city she would get well. But when Sarah realized
that she was not going to get better, she called her eldest daughter Annie
and had her promise not to marry until she and all the family were gathered
to Zion. Soon after this Sarah died leaving a husband and family of eight
children; the baby [Martha] was only eight weeks old. The oldest,
Annie, was only sixteen years old, and had to take care of the home and
family. [Even after Martha was mature, she looked upon Annie as her
mother and lived with her many years.]
It was hard to save enough money
for such a large family to immigrate to Zion. Five years after her
death, Samuel, then nineteen years old, immigrated to Utah. He was
a plumber by trade and in two years he had earned enough to bring the family
to America. They set sail from Liverpool, England May 1864.
All the family came with the exception of the oldest son, William--he had
married and had one or two children. Later his brother Samuel and
sister Annie sent money for him to come, but when he got to Liverpool and
saw the endless expanse of ocean, he returned to Scotland and remained
there.
The Stewart family came by way of the
Suspension Bridge, where they stopped a few hours, giving them time to
view the great Niagara Falls, later arriving in Florence, Nebraska.
They had to wait there three weeks before starting across the plains.
They crossed the plains in the Joseph S. Rawlins' Ox-Team Company of immigrants.
They were over five months from the time they left Scotland untl they arrived
in Salt Lake City, Utah, 20 September 1864. The men from Salt Lake
City who met the imigrants at Florence, Nebraska to escort them to the
Rocky Mountains, informed the Stewarts that Samuel had recently gotten
married. Grandfather was so provoked that he wanted to return to
Scotland. The oldest daughter, Annie, said she was going on to Salt Lake,
so the family was called together to express their desires. All the
children said they wanted to go on with Annie so their father, William,
said well, he guessed he would go, too. Their brother Samuel met
them in Emigration Canyon, and took them to his home.
The next day Charley Robinson came and
engaged [hired] William and Annie to work in the paper mills. Annie
met Andrew W. Heggie while working there, who later became her husband.
He had just returned from Cache Valley where he had been in search of a
home. He had chosen a place in Clarkston and made a dugout, put up
some hay and returned to Salt Lake to settle his affairs and return to
Clarkston. Elizabeth had also become engaged to a Mr. James Crane.
Annie and Elizabeth were married 3 February 1865-- Elizabeth marrying into
plural marraige. She stayed in Salt Lake City. Annie came with her
husband to Clarkston. Since she had been as a mother to the family,
they all came with her; all but Sarah, who had a job working in the city.
Hugh went to work with his sister's husband, James Crane, for the summer,
coming to Clarkston in the fall.
The first homes they had were dugouts.
The Indians became very troublesome in 1866, killing animals and demanding
food when the people had scarcely enough for their families. They
were advised to move to Smithfield for safety by President Brigham Young.
They came back that fall, harvested what little crop they had and built
their houses to form a fort, building one against the other. William's
home was the largest house in the community; the people told him they would
put a lumber floor in his house if he would let them use it for their dances.
The people had to saw this lumber in the old sawpit.
When they moved the town of Clarkston to its
present location, William moved his house on to his new lot. They
had to get the logs from the canyons for the houses and stables, and their
firewood. They would need six or eight loads of firewood per family
to last through the winter. One day William was chopping some
hard mahogany when a chip flew striking him in the eye. He came to
Annie to have her treat it. She bathed it in salt water and bandaged
it, but he finally lost the sight of his eye.
William was always a lover of fine horses.
It was his team that brought P:resident Brigham Young to Clarkston, when
the Bishop wanted to move the people to Newton. President Young wanted
to buy this team from William. William finally let him have the horses
if President Young would cancel his immigration debt.
William later got a span of mules, probably
after the railroad came to Utah. This was when the Golden Spike was
driven connecting the East with the West. These mules were not broke
for riding and when William got on one of them to ride to the watering
place, the mule reared and bucked and tried to throw him off; but William
said, "Aye gad, mon, go to it," and stayed on the mule.
He later got a span of dapple brown horses.
They were lively, and high-spirited. When William would come from
work, riding one as he passed the store where Annie's two girls worked,
he would ride as proud as could be, and hold the horse in, glancing toward
the store to see if the granddaughters were watching him.
When William was a young man he could put
a shilling under each foot on the stirrup; the horse would jump a five
rail fence and the shilling would still be on the stirrup under his feet.
His mother, and his cousins, a boy and a girl, were equally good at it.
William used to do his own farming, and go
to the canyon for wood. The last time he drove his dapple browns
was when he went for a load of wood [at the age of 75] up the North Canyon
near Clarkston. On the way home with a full load, he had a tip-over
and was dragged some distance. Near the mouth of that canyon there
was a steep dip in the road. The wagon had no brake -- either a rough-lock,
with a chain had to be applied to a wheel or the horses had to hold the
load. The load of firewood pushed the team and the roughness of the
road threw William Stewart to the ground while the horses ran away.
He had fallen on his head and was hurt quite badly, all scratched and bruised.
Annie and her two girls went to see how he was after the accident and found
him sitting just inside the doorway. He looked so dejected and sad
with his head all cut and scratched, and with clotted blood all through
his hair. They used a basin of nice, warm salt water and bathed his
head, cutting away the hair that was all matted with blood, and applied
soothing ointment and bandages.
William wept to think he would have
to sell his beloved horses, so Samuel came into possession of them.
William treated his horses and other
animals too good for their well being. His stable was a log one with
every crack closed. When the door was shut it was impossible to see
anything inside. When the fall work was done, the horses were placed
in the barn and were not even led out until spring work was at hand.
Upon being brought into the light in the spring, they were at first blinded
because of having been in the dark so long.
A bridge over a ditch was made with
stringers, willows, straw, and dirt. On one occasion this favorite
team was passing over such a bridge with a loaded wagon. The bridge
collapsed and two of the wagon wheels were in the ditch. The bellies
of those faithful animals nearly touched the ground as they strained every
muscle and kept that wagon rolling.
His cow also enclosed in the stable
could not endure the comforts of having hay and water carried to her.
Being tied so long caused her to lose the use of her limbs. When down,
she could not get up. Then William Stewart would go for the "young
one," Andrew S. Heggie, to help get her up.
William was always neat and clean
in his appearance. He would go to Annie's place every Sunday morning
to borrow the newspaper to read the news. This was at the time when
President James A. Garfield was shot by Charles Guiteau. William
was always dressed in a clean, light shirt and looked like he was ready
to rest and enjoy the day.
In about 1875 William married Mary Snugdon,
an elderly lady, who took care of his house, keeping it neat and clean,
and preparing his meals. They both smoked pipes and would sit, one
on each side of the stove and enjoy themselves. Soon after their
marriage, Mary's grandson, Willie Sugdon, came to live with them.
He helped in the work as water had to be drawn from wells and carried some
distance. Mary died January 27, 1892. After her death, his
daughter baked his bread and did his washing and often prepared his meals.
His granddaughter Annie lived just across the street and often he would
sit and talk with her to pass the lonely hours. Her little curly-haired
girl always reminded him of the wife he left in the old native home in
Scotland. His daughter tried to get him to come live with him, but
he liked his own home best. It was there he died November 20, 1895
at the age of 81. He was buried in the Clarkston Cemetery.
**********
This history was compiled from histories written by a granddaughter,
Annie Heggie, and Andrew L. Heggie from stories told him by Andrew S. Heggie.
NOTE: There is a full-length tin-type photo of William Stewart in the Special Collections room of Utah State University (Logan, Utah). It is part of the Andrew L. Heggie collection. But they can't make a copy of it and won't let it out.
PHOTOS
William Stewart
William's son, Samuel Stewart
William's son, Hugh, and Hugh's wife, Nina Larson
Letters from the Stewart family in Utah
to William Jr. in Scotland
A short history of Clarkston, Utah