Life history of William Stewart and Sarah Thompson Stewart
William Stewart (1814-1895)
and
Sarah Thompson Stewart (1821-1856)


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.

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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
 
 

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