Fackerell, James
Abt 1829 - History of James Fackrell, Jr as Written by Himself
James Fackrell Jr. was baptized into the L.D.S. Church February 8, 1849 by Orville L. Cox, and was ordained into the 14th Quorum of Seventies under the hand of Henry Harriman and J. M. Grant and went through the House of the Lord and got his washing and anointing November 10, 1855.
“I was born in Mosiah, Essex County, New York, April 26, 1829, and when I was eight years old, my father’s family, consisting of my parents, two brothers and two sisters and myself, moved to the state of Michigan and settled in Berthland, Berrier County, and lived and prospered in this worlds goods until the year 1843 when there was missionaries sent there from Nauvoo, belonging to the Latter-Day Saints. My parents were very much opposed to them, and would not go to hear them preach.
“I went and heard them and soon found their doctrine was scriptural, therefore, I was desirous that my parents should hear them. So, I invited Richard Sprague and Phelps to go home with me and I introduced them as Mormon preachers. They commenced conversation and before they left they convinced my parents of the truth of their doctrine.
“In a short time after my father, mother and sister, Lucy, were baptized. Some time previous to this I was at a camp meeting, held by the Methodist Episcopal Church and was converted and baptized into their church by sprinkling. I remained in their church about six months and saw that it was the same thing right over, all the time, and I got sick of it and went to the class leader and told him to scratch my name off the book. He reasoned with me for some time but with no avail, so he scratched my name off, at last. This time, getting taken in made me cautious afterwards. When I heard the Mormon preachers I firmly believed it but intended to see if it would not flatten out and to see if they practiced what they preached. But the more I heard of it the better I liked it.
“On the 28th of August, 1845, my brother, Joseph C. Fackrell, was married to Clarrysa Dempsey. Previous to this time my brother, David B., left home and went to Wisconsin, so, I was the only boy that was left at home with my father. About this time the sad news came that Joseph and Hyrum, the Prophet and Patriarch, were martyred and the Twelve had taken charge of he church and wanted the Saints scattered about, to gather to Nauvoo and prepare to go West. My father accordingly sold his farm at a sacrifice of about one-half its value and started for Nauvoo, leaving my brother, Joseph and his wife, in Michigan, they not wishing to go with the Mormons.
“Nothing worthy of note occurred during our journey. Only I saw great prejudices manifested against the Mormons. The people would not keep us over night, if we told them we were going to Nauvoo, therefore, it caused us great trouble at times to procure lodging for the night.
“We arrived at Nauvoo the last of March, 1846. We rented a house and moved into it and began to look around the city. I expected to find the people perfect, but I could see men going through the city drunk, and could hear them swearing on all sides of me. Thinks I, ‘Is this the people that calls themselves Saints?’ I thought they were nicknames, but when I come to consider that there were good and bad in all communities, I, therefore, commenced to look for good there and I could find the majority of them in that place. We stayed in Nauvoo about three weeks and then started for the West. We knew not where.
“While we were in Nauvoo my sister, Lucy, was taken sick from which she never recovered. She was always delicate constitution and being exposed to the storms and cold was more than she could stand.
“Nothing worthy of note occurred until we arrived at Council Bluffs. Here my sister, Lucy, died on the 20th of June, 1846, which was a severe blow to us all. She was a good Saint and dearly beloved by all that knew her. We laid her body in the ground, and her spirit returned to God who gave it, and there to rest for a little season, when it will again return and take the body in an immortal state, when Christ shall come to make up his jewels.
“Shortly after we arrived at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Kain [Thomas Kane] was sent there by the General Government to enlist five hundred men for the Mexican war. I supposed it was a plot to see if the people were true to the government or not, but in the short time of a few days, the men were raised. They raised all they could at the Bluffs and then Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and others, went back on the road and raised the balance of them out of those that had not arrived yet. The men started at a few days notice and left their families without houses or homes or anything to subsist upon, and fight the battles of their enemies and those that had driven them repeatedly from their homes and houses. After they had gone, the balance of us, that was left, set about preparing for the winter. We built log cabins to live in and cut hay for the cattle and then went down into Missouri to get provisions. I went down to Missouri once that fall with a team and took a job of work to make provisions to last through the winter and returned home.
“I stayed until the beginning of the winter and went down again without a team. I was gone some time but only got a half a months work and returned home that spring which was 1847.
“The Twelve with some others started as Pioneers to find a location for the Saints. That spring I stayed at home and put in a small crop and left my father at home to tend it. I took a team and went to Missouri, this time my sister Betsy Jane, went with me. This time I went as far as Savannah, here I got work and Betsy got a job of spinning. Also, by so doing she could be making something. We stayed about six weeks and returned home loaded. When we got home I set about cutting hay for the winter. I cut about 15 tons and stacked up on the prairie and hauled a few loads home. Early in the fall the prairie got on fire and burned up one stack of about eight tons and in trying to backfire around the other, that got on fire and burned up too. So it left us with very little hay.
“Late in the fall of 1847 the Twelve and part of the men that went with them returned bringing news that they had found a valley in the Rocky Mountains that they had named Great Salt Lake Valley, it having a great lake, Salt Lake, in it that was of considerable size. They left a few men to guard the place until the company that followed them should arrive. When they got back they gave out word that they wanted all that could, to prepare to go with them the next spring. Being scarce of hay that fall I took three yoke of oxen and went to Missouri, partly to keep the cattle and to make a fitout to go in the spring, and went and took a job of hauling logs to a sawmill. I was where I could buy corn for ten cents per bushel, so I could keep my cattle fat all winter, so in the spring they were in good shape to start. I was successful in making a fitout while I was there this time.
“There was quite a number of soldiers returned that went at the call to California, and among them was one, George W. Hancock, who commenced paying his attentions to my sister, Betsy. When I returned I made every preparation for starting to the Valley on the 14th of May 1848. George W. Hancock and my sister, Betsy Jane, were married and the next day, the 15th, we left her and started for the Valley. Nothing of note occurred with us until we arrived in the Valley October 1848. When we arrived we found a barren looking place but we had been on the road so long that we were glad to stop. We set about preparing for the coming winter. I went about ten miles north of Salt Lake City and found a good place and moved up there and as soon as we got camped, I was taken sick with mountain fever, and lay sick about two months. In about two days after I was taken sick, we moved to the place I had looked at. As soon as I got about we set about building a house to shelter us from the storms, but to do our best it was about the middle of January, 1849 before we got into it. In the spring we commenced to open a farm by fencing and putting in grain but the crickets and cattle took all we could raise, that year being 1849, but the next year we raised a plenty to keep us. The fall of 1849 G. W. Hancock and family arrived in the valley. This year the emigration commenced to go through here to California, and sold clothing here cheaper than it could be bought in the states; which fulfilled a prophecy of H. C. Kimball in the fall of 1848. He said, ‘Within a year clothing could be bought here cheaper that in the states.’ It was a great help to the people in these valleys for clothing was getting scarce. January 13, 1850 I married Martha Ann Chapman and left my father and went to work for myself.
“I started in the world with nothing but my hands to help myself with. I worked for my bread and rented some land and put in some wheat and I was prospered in all things that I went at. This summer being 1850 my oldest brother, David B. Fackrell, came into the valley on his way to California. He stopped and thought he would stay a few days and visited us, as we had not seen him for about the space of twelve years.”
From the history of James, Jr.’s parents, we find the following notation:
“When the parents grew feeble, James Jr. built them an adobe house near the meeting house so that they could attend Church more easily (This home was located on what is now 8th West and the southwest corner of 4th North). They gave the land to the south of the home for the building of the West Bountiful Chapel.
“James Jr. took his father and mother to his home and cared for them until the death of his father December 21, 1867. His mother lived 18 more years spending the balance of this time back in her own home on 8th west and 4th north. She died September 8, 1885.
James Jr. spent his time in doing service to his parents and building up the community. After his death he was buried in the Bountiful City Cemetery where his parents are also buried. He died May 16, 1892.”
“I was born in Mosiah, Essex County, New York, April 26, 1829, and when I was eight years old, my father’s family, consisting of my parents, two brothers and two sisters and myself, moved to the state of Michigan and settled in Berthland, Berrier County, and lived and prospered in this worlds goods until the year 1843 when there was missionaries sent there from Nauvoo, belonging to the Latter-Day Saints. My parents were very much opposed to them, and would not go to hear them preach.
“I went and heard them and soon found their doctrine was scriptural, therefore, I was desirous that my parents should hear them. So, I invited Richard Sprague and Phelps to go home with me and I introduced them as Mormon preachers. They commenced conversation and before they left they convinced my parents of the truth of their doctrine.
“In a short time after my father, mother and sister, Lucy, were baptized. Some time previous to this I was at a camp meeting, held by the Methodist Episcopal Church and was converted and baptized into their church by sprinkling. I remained in their church about six months and saw that it was the same thing right over, all the time, and I got sick of it and went to the class leader and told him to scratch my name off the book. He reasoned with me for some time but with no avail, so he scratched my name off, at last. This time, getting taken in made me cautious afterwards. When I heard the Mormon preachers I firmly believed it but intended to see if it would not flatten out and to see if they practiced what they preached. But the more I heard of it the better I liked it.
“On the 28th of August, 1845, my brother, Joseph C. Fackrell, was married to Clarrysa Dempsey. Previous to this time my brother, David B., left home and went to Wisconsin, so, I was the only boy that was left at home with my father. About this time the sad news came that Joseph and Hyrum, the Prophet and Patriarch, were martyred and the Twelve had taken charge of he church and wanted the Saints scattered about, to gather to Nauvoo and prepare to go West. My father accordingly sold his farm at a sacrifice of about one-half its value and started for Nauvoo, leaving my brother, Joseph and his wife, in Michigan, they not wishing to go with the Mormons.
“Nothing worthy of note occurred during our journey. Only I saw great prejudices manifested against the Mormons. The people would not keep us over night, if we told them we were going to Nauvoo, therefore, it caused us great trouble at times to procure lodging for the night.
“We arrived at Nauvoo the last of March, 1846. We rented a house and moved into it and began to look around the city. I expected to find the people perfect, but I could see men going through the city drunk, and could hear them swearing on all sides of me. Thinks I, ‘Is this the people that calls themselves Saints?’ I thought they were nicknames, but when I come to consider that there were good and bad in all communities, I, therefore, commenced to look for good there and I could find the majority of them in that place. We stayed in Nauvoo about three weeks and then started for the West. We knew not where.
“While we were in Nauvoo my sister, Lucy, was taken sick from which she never recovered. She was always delicate constitution and being exposed to the storms and cold was more than she could stand.
“Nothing worthy of note occurred until we arrived at Council Bluffs. Here my sister, Lucy, died on the 20th of June, 1846, which was a severe blow to us all. She was a good Saint and dearly beloved by all that knew her. We laid her body in the ground, and her spirit returned to God who gave it, and there to rest for a little season, when it will again return and take the body in an immortal state, when Christ shall come to make up his jewels.
“Shortly after we arrived at Council Bluffs, Iowa, Kain [Thomas Kane] was sent there by the General Government to enlist five hundred men for the Mexican war. I supposed it was a plot to see if the people were true to the government or not, but in the short time of a few days, the men were raised. They raised all they could at the Bluffs and then Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball and others, went back on the road and raised the balance of them out of those that had not arrived yet. The men started at a few days notice and left their families without houses or homes or anything to subsist upon, and fight the battles of their enemies and those that had driven them repeatedly from their homes and houses. After they had gone, the balance of us, that was left, set about preparing for the winter. We built log cabins to live in and cut hay for the cattle and then went down into Missouri to get provisions. I went down to Missouri once that fall with a team and took a job of work to make provisions to last through the winter and returned home.
“I stayed until the beginning of the winter and went down again without a team. I was gone some time but only got a half a months work and returned home that spring which was 1847.
“The Twelve with some others started as Pioneers to find a location for the Saints. That spring I stayed at home and put in a small crop and left my father at home to tend it. I took a team and went to Missouri, this time my sister Betsy Jane, went with me. This time I went as far as Savannah, here I got work and Betsy got a job of spinning. Also, by so doing she could be making something. We stayed about six weeks and returned home loaded. When we got home I set about cutting hay for the winter. I cut about 15 tons and stacked up on the prairie and hauled a few loads home. Early in the fall the prairie got on fire and burned up one stack of about eight tons and in trying to backfire around the other, that got on fire and burned up too. So it left us with very little hay.
“Late in the fall of 1847 the Twelve and part of the men that went with them returned bringing news that they had found a valley in the Rocky Mountains that they had named Great Salt Lake Valley, it having a great lake, Salt Lake, in it that was of considerable size. They left a few men to guard the place until the company that followed them should arrive. When they got back they gave out word that they wanted all that could, to prepare to go with them the next spring. Being scarce of hay that fall I took three yoke of oxen and went to Missouri, partly to keep the cattle and to make a fitout to go in the spring, and went and took a job of hauling logs to a sawmill. I was where I could buy corn for ten cents per bushel, so I could keep my cattle fat all winter, so in the spring they were in good shape to start. I was successful in making a fitout while I was there this time.
“There was quite a number of soldiers returned that went at the call to California, and among them was one, George W. Hancock, who commenced paying his attentions to my sister, Betsy. When I returned I made every preparation for starting to the Valley on the 14th of May 1848. George W. Hancock and my sister, Betsy Jane, were married and the next day, the 15th, we left her and started for the Valley. Nothing of note occurred with us until we arrived in the Valley October 1848. When we arrived we found a barren looking place but we had been on the road so long that we were glad to stop. We set about preparing for the coming winter. I went about ten miles north of Salt Lake City and found a good place and moved up there and as soon as we got camped, I was taken sick with mountain fever, and lay sick about two months. In about two days after I was taken sick, we moved to the place I had looked at. As soon as I got about we set about building a house to shelter us from the storms, but to do our best it was about the middle of January, 1849 before we got into it. In the spring we commenced to open a farm by fencing and putting in grain but the crickets and cattle took all we could raise, that year being 1849, but the next year we raised a plenty to keep us. The fall of 1849 G. W. Hancock and family arrived in the valley. This year the emigration commenced to go through here to California, and sold clothing here cheaper than it could be bought in the states; which fulfilled a prophecy of H. C. Kimball in the fall of 1848. He said, ‘Within a year clothing could be bought here cheaper that in the states.’ It was a great help to the people in these valleys for clothing was getting scarce. January 13, 1850 I married Martha Ann Chapman and left my father and went to work for myself.
“I started in the world with nothing but my hands to help myself with. I worked for my bread and rented some land and put in some wheat and I was prospered in all things that I went at. This summer being 1850 my oldest brother, David B. Fackrell, came into the valley on his way to California. He stopped and thought he would stay a few days and visited us, as we had not seen him for about the space of twelve years.”
From the history of James, Jr.’s parents, we find the following notation:
“When the parents grew feeble, James Jr. built them an adobe house near the meeting house so that they could attend Church more easily (This home was located on what is now 8th West and the southwest corner of 4th North). They gave the land to the south of the home for the building of the West Bountiful Chapel.
“James Jr. took his father and mother to his home and cared for them until the death of his father December 21, 1867. His mother lived 18 more years spending the balance of this time back in her own home on 8th west and 4th north. She died September 8, 1885.
James Jr. spent his time in doing service to his parents and building up the community. After his death he was buried in the Bountiful City Cemetery where his parents are also buried. He died May 16, 1892.”
| Linked to | Fackerell, James; Fackerell, James |