• • • I William Henry Toone Father's fore bearers were all of English descent although the name Toone is of Irish origin. His grandfather, John Toone, because of his industry and thrift and remarkable memory accumulated a large amount of property in Leamington, Warwickshire, England. He was the father of a large family - 13 children. My grandfather, John Toone, was the oldest in the family. He was educated as an English gentleman, a lawyer, a fine musician and a fluent speaker. He was born in Birmingham, England on April 10, 1813, and was married in Leamington, England on June 12, 1856, to Emma Prosser. From this marriage there was one daughter and three sons, Father being the oldest son. John and his wife, Emma, joined the church in 1849 in Leamington, the only one of his family who would listen to the message of the Mormon Missionaries. They immigrated to America in 1851 with three children, Mary Elizabeth, William Henry and Charles Jabez. John Prosser being born later in Salt Lake City, Utah. In preparing to come across the plains from the Missouri River to Salt Lake City, Grandfather purchased teams and wagons and a cow and the first pound of butter Grandmother made from this cow she paid as tithing. The first winter and part of the next summer they spent in a place called Little Pidgeon, Indiana. They came across the plains in the Captain Thomas D.C. Howell Company. They left Indiana June 7, 1852, for Salt Lake City and arrived there September 27, 1852. Father being about 10-1/2 years old. He was born March 4, 1842, in Leamington, England. Because of the large company and not many wagons Father at the age of 10 walked all the way across the plains. From 1852 to 1860 he lived in Salt Lake City in what is known as the 20th Ward and he associated with such boys as John Henry Smith and other young men who later became general authorities in the Church. His parents were cultured and educated people. Grandfather played in the first Salt Lake Theatre orchestra and for other entertainments put on for the social life in the city and also engaged in the practice of law. Grandmother because of her culture and education was privileged to associate with people of refinement and culture. Because of this Father was placed in a position to receive some education and associate with some very fine people. During that time food was scarce and he often heard his Father say his Mother would cry over her family because they were unable to obtain any kind of food except greens and roots and sego lilies and frequently they went without bread for six weeks at a time. In 1860 he joined the Utah Militia and became active in that organization and remained with them until the spring of 1861 when he was called by the Church to make a trip to California with a company of wagons to take supplies from Salt Lake City and bring back provisions to the saints in Salt Lake City. On this trip he drove a four-horse team. In the spring of 1862 he was asked by the Church to go to Missouri and bring back immigrants, going over the same route he had walked across ten years before. On this trip he was night herder, which meant that every night he was out guarding the oxen and the horses from being lost or driven off by Indians. This meant that the only way he could sleep was to ride in the wagons in the daytime or catch a little sleep between stops. The two succeeding years 1863 and 1864 were spent the same way only at intervals he was teamster. The only compensation these young men received was their food and clothing, and a few supplies to live on in the winter in Salt Lake City. One can hardly imagine the hardships and cold • • • and the danger that accompanied these journeys. The fall of 1864, just arriving in Salt Lake City, walking down the street with some of his companions he saw a little dark-complexioned curly-haired English girl and through inspiration a voice said to him she was to be his wife. He told his companions he was going to marry this girl and they joked and laughed about it but on March 4, 1865, his birthday, they were married and sealed for eternity in the Endowment House by President Wilford Woodruff. An interesting thing about his recommend for this occasion, Bishop John Sharp wrote a note to President Kimball stating, "This certifies William Henry Toone is a member of the Church in good standing and one of the boys who is generally on hand to do whatever he is asked to do and as such I recommend him to you for his endowments." Through the vigorous activity and hardships Father endured, he grew to be a fine specimen of man - 6 feet 2 inches tall with black curly hair and was a great athlete. On arriving in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1864 with his hair long and curly, Apostle George A. Smith took him to a barber shop and had his hair cut short and a wig made from it for himself that he wore the rest of his life. If you look at the pictures of this apostle you will see how curly Father's hair was. Soon after being married he and his wife were asked to go into Morgan County and settle in the Croydon area. There they established their home which consisted of one log room - dirt floor and dirt roof and in 23 years they were the parents of twelve children. Needless to say that as the family grew the home had to be enlarged. In the winter of 1866 the Indians became such a menace that the women were moved away and Father and two other men remained in Croydon to take care of as much as they could of the property of the settlers. Most of the families moved to Henefer, Mother moved there for that winter, this was about four miles distant. Father made friends with Chief Walker who was the Chief of the Indian tribe that went through Croydon on their way from north to south. Through this friendship the Indian trouble was no longer a menace to the settlers. Father would entertain the Chief in his home and would go out and associate with the other Indians. This lasted until all the Indians were moved out of the country onto the reservations. During this time Father homesteaded some property seven miles north of Croydon up Lost Creek. It was willow bottomland covered with willows. The Indians cleared the land of willows and helped Father build a ditch so that he had one of the most fertile pieces of land that could be found anywhere. Game was plentiful, the Indians would have no difficulty is obtaining food. As a young boy, I remember riding with Father among the Indians, seeing the little braves with bows and arrows shoot straighter than I could with a gun, killing squirrels and rabbits and would take them home to the squaws and then sit around the fires and eat them. I have killed thousands of squirrels but have never eaten one. A few quotes from his patriarchal blessing given by Patriarch John Smith, "Thou shalt find friends among strangers and many shall seek thee for counsel and rejoice in the teachings thereof, the honest in heart shall rejoice in thy word and the wicked shall flee before thee. The gift of healing shall be thine, through prayer and faith thou shall be able if necessary to command the elements and the waves of the sea shall obey thy voice." During the great crusade against the Mormons because of polygamy, Father spent a great deal of time keeping the polygamous men and their plural wives away from the United States marshals. This was no easy task for they were very determined to put all polygamists in the penitentiary. He sacrificed much time and caused his family to endure • • • j some privations because his own personal affairs were neglected but his sole interest in this matter was his knowledge of the truthfulness of the Gospel and all its principles. This was done to thwart the adversaries of the Church. He was never a polygamist himself but he lived at the time when it was a common practice in the Church and he could have embraced the principle if he so desired. I asked him on one occasion if he thought the Lord would condemn him for not embracing the principle and his answer was, "My boy, I will take any punishment the Lord will give me and receive it gladly. After what I have seen of polygamy I never could have asked your Mother to allow me to practice it, for this principle has been greatly abused for carnal purposes." During the early days in Croydon there were no doctors. Father being blessed with the gift of healing established a great reputation and his fame went far and wide as how the Lord had blessed him with this power. Diphtheria and smallpox would sometimes wipe out whole families and he would go into the homes and rebuke the diseases by the power of the priesthood and he never was concerned about taking the germs back to his family. As far as I know none of his immediate family was stricken with either of these contagious diseases. These things occurred before doctors were available and people had to depend on the blessings that come through the priesthood, but it is a known fact that many families that were stricken and the disease went through the whole household the power of the destroyer was rebuked and their lives would be preserved. I have had considerable experience in the Church but I have never known anyone to be able to do the things Father was able to do by way of administration. To illustrate the inspiration Father had -- one day after dinner as he was taking a rest he had a vision pertaining to his brother, John, who was living in Henefer. He saw him in the vision go out to the corral and catch and saddle up a horse and take his lariat and go out in the field to catch a wild horse. He saw him catch the horse and become tangled up in the ropes and the horse was dragging him and would have caused his death. Father woke and got up and caught his own horse and rode to Henefer. On arriving John was just coming out of the house and was surprised to see Father and asked why he was there. Father saw him do the exact things he saw happen in his vision only Father went to the field with him. While he was being dragged along the ground at a rapid pace Father caught the horse with a lasso and saved his life. In 1896 he was called on a mission to Great Britain. While going over on an ocean vessel a severe storm arose and the captain and the crew knew their lives were in danger. Father being blessed with the powers of discernment knew this and he and his companions went to his cabin and after prayer Father rebuked the storm in the name of the Lord and commanded the waves to be still and the storm abated. I have heard Mother state on many occasions when the family was young and the storms were severe Father would ask the Lord to temper the elements and they would become calm. He served in the bishopric for many years and on the high counsel. Toward the end of his life he was sustained as Bishop of the ward under the instruction of President Joseph F. Smith, President of the Church, to the President of the Stake. I heard the President of the Stake confess to Father that he should have been Bishop many years before but because of some personal differences between him and Father he was not sustained until the President of the Stake was instructed to do so by President Joseph F. Smith . • • • In Croydon in the early days there were close to 500 people and pioneer life made men hardy and strong and rough and sometimes wicked and also some of the church would become self-righteous. This class of people always feared Father because he could see and know the intent of their hearts; of course they caused him a lot of difficulty. I remember him stating on one occasion he was riding from his ranch to his home in Croydon and he stopped and sat on a rock and talked to the Lord and told the Lord he had tried to do what was right all the days of his life and he said the Lord told him he would triumph over all his enemies and they would be scattered and from that time forth Father endured no more persecution. Father was appointed Bishop in 1909 and acted until he was succeeded September 9, 1917, by his son J. Melvin Toone. It is stated in his blessing that he would make friends wherever he went. When the Union Pacific Railroad was being built Father worked for the railroad as a supervisor then he was asked to open a quarry at Devil's Slide and he loaded those flat sandstone rocks on cars and they were shipped out to build abutments for the railroad bridges and all the bridges for many miles east and west were built from rock gotten out from this quarry located at Devil's Slide. This was a great blessing to Father in maintaining his large family and also to the community for he employed about a dozen men in this work. This work lasted for a good many years. When the Devil's Slide cement plant was about to be built he saw the superintendent who had just arrived that day and told him of his experience and asked him for the position of supervising the work of constructing the plant doing the grading and the draining of the ground and getting the rock out for the foundations. He obtained the position and soon after the superintendent brought his wife and four little girls. They lived in a comfortable tent on Father's home place while a home was being built for him at Devil's Slide. He received very fine wages and was employed for a good many years. When the plant was completed he supervised the work of getting out the rock which they made cement of. This consisted of using a good deal of explosives and building tracks to take the rocks to the crusher. He was employed there until he became what they say today of retirement age. He was for 18 years County Commissioner of Morgan County - was defeated for re-election because as chainnan of the board of County Commissioners he had passed an ordinance consolidating the schools of Morgan County. Of course he was vindicated and the people realized later that his actions were right. He was a man of great power - evil people feared him but the honest in heart loved him. He was always of a jovial disposition and enjoyed all kinds of physical activity - straight as an arrow and active as the best of athletes. He could cut more grain with a scythe or a cradle and tie it than any man in the country. Always full of fun and jokes that were always wholesome and clean. Wherever there was company he was the life of the party, as Mother said, "Old Smart Alec." He often said when he married his wife he loved her enough to eat her and in a joking way he would say, "I often wish I had." He was an eloquent preacher of the Gospel, forceful and powerfu . l_was between ten and twelve years of age when-he went on his mission and I was always atlhe..fost Offic.e when we expected a letter from Father and I would run home with the letter to Mother. I think we enjoyed his mission as much -> as he did. When he came home he would read the scriptures out loud and when I went on my mission I found I kn~w most of the scriptures a missionary sh~ld know - where they were found and the quotation, just from listening to Father reading from"the- standard works of the Church. • • • At any community activity he was always on hand to do more than his share . Any construction or supervision he was always appointed to direct the work. His name should go down in history to his posterity as an ideal to follow. He never accumulated wealth. His time was spent in community activity and providing for others when they were in need. He celebrated his Golden Wedding Anniversary March 4, 1915. They lived together 54 years before Mother passed away. A few months before Mother passed away I was married and he lived with us until his death December 25, 1923. He thought more of my wife, Jessie, than he did of me or any of his living children because she took such good care of his needs and was kind and considerate. She and Spencer seemed to be the apples of his eye the last few years of his life. He used to call her Girl. One night she became violently ill, I was away on the ranch. By this time he was unable to get around very well because of arthritis in his knees. He heard her moaning with pain and got up and saw her condition and he laid his hands on her head and she stated as soon as his hands touched her head every bit of pain left her. It was necessary to obtain a doctor so he walked down to Harry's and they called Doctor Dorland but as far as suffering it was immediately alleviated. His spiritual powers I have always tried to measure up in a small way. His physical powers I have always envied. There have been few men blessed with as great spiritual powers and physical powers and endurance as William Henry Toone. He and his wife were among the elect of God. Written by his son J. Melvin Toone