Morgan Pioneer llislory Binds Us Together Frederick William White I was born November 17, 1852, at Southampton, England, a seaport town on the coast. My parents were middle class known as tradespeople. They were honest, hard working, and just in their dealings with other people. They were very religious and taught their children to reverence and respect the name of God. I am the oldest of nine children, five boys and four girls. Five of these children were born in Utah, to which place my parents emigrated when I was ten years old. My father was a marine engineer, a good mechanic whose services were much in demand. My memory carries me back to the time when I was considered too large to be kept in petticoats and knickerbockers (the style of dress for boys in our country) and I was initiated into the full dignity of long pants. My childhood schooling was variable, my first teacher was a gentle lady who taught me my letters and writing. My second teacher was a "stern master." Mr. Jobson, although a very good and congenial sort of man, was also strict, and allowed no violation of the rules of his school to go unpunished. When I reached the age of nine, my mother had to move from her place of residence to the suburbs called Islington. I had to change schools and my teacher, Mr. Fairmanner, was a kind and gentle man in every sense of the word. This man was a member of the Presbyterian Church, however he seemed to share in the genera! contempt for Mormons. He found out one day that my parents belonged to the Mormon Church. On one occasion he pointed me out to some visiting school officials as a "young Mormon." This was heard by the entire school class, so as a consequence I was very much annoyed by their taunts and insults. I complained to my Mother and she took occasion one day to visit my teacher at school to point out the folly in this course of action. He replied that he was sorry that I had suffered and he pointed out to the children that there were many different religions among the children. After this explanation and apology of the teacher I was not so persecuted by my schoolmates. I was now about ten years of age; my parents had been saving for several years to immigrate to Utah. Just prior to this time my father was under the terms of a sailing contract to sail to a foreign port. It would be impractical for him to emigrate at this time. My mother had made every preparation for the journey. She was not a woman to be easily deterred from any worthy object she had set her mind on. My mother, Elizabeth, was counseled by the President of the British Mission, who then resided at our house. She decided to make the journey without my father who would follow in about a year. This was a great undertaking for a woman with four young children, the oldest (being myself) only ten years of age. She would have no husband at her side to counsel with or protect her. To undertake a journey of 5,000 miles to a new country, is something beyond the conception of most people. It was in the month of June 1862 we set sail from Liverpool, England to New York, America. I recall crossing the plains. I was young and there were many hardships for us. Mother had hired a man to drive our oxen team to Utah. She was obliged to accept the help of a very profane rough-talking man. One day when he was swearing and using bad language, mother told him to stop or she would not have him drive his oxen. The man stopped the team and told mother she would be left on the desert as he would not drive for her any longer. Mother told him she would get along very well without him. So being the oldest child of ten years, the driving of oxen was turned over to me. We were blessed with determination to reach Utah. After much difficulty and some dangerous experiences, we kept along with our company and arrived safely with the Saints. A year later in 1863 Father joined us and we went to Tooele County where father got work hauling wood out of the canyon. We lived in the tithing house until spring when we went back to Salt Lake City. Father bought a house, but being unable to secure any amount of suitable work, he sold our house and walked to Cache Valley near Logan, to buy land and support his growing family. In 1864, father built a log home in Smithfield and was roofing it when I misbehaved. Father came down and gave me my first paddling and I was a much better boy afterwards. About this time my mother had a very impressive dream that disturbed her very much. She dreamed that I had met with an accident and nothing would satisfy her otherwise until I was brought into her room and she felt me to see if I was alright. This happened about four years before I did have a serious accident. In 1871 we moved to Morgan County. Father got work - an opportunity to work in Hardscrabble Canyon in Porterville to run a saw mill. I was nineteen years old at this time. I went up on the mountain to cut down a large dry tree for fire wood. The man that was with me said he would haul it down for me. He was on the other side of the canyon out of my sight. I got half way up the canyon to the tree when an avalanche started.