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John Henry Seely as remembered by his grandchildren, Margaret Merrill Nelson and Madeline Merrill Mills
Contributed By
John Henry Seely (1855-1920)
As remembered by his grandchildren,
Margaret Merrill Nelson and Madeline Merrill Mills
John Henry Seely was the son of Justus Wellington Seely (1815-1894) and Clarissa Jane Wilcox Seely (1821-1908). They were married on 10 March 1842 in Charleston, Iowa. Both of their families had earlier converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They lived across the Mississippi River from Nauvoo, Illinois in Iowa. They joined the exodus of the saints from Nauvoo in 1846 with their three children; Orange, Sarah and Don Carlos. They spent the winter of 1846-1847 in Pigeon Grove near Omaha, Nebraska. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in September, 1847 with the John Taylor Company.
In March 1851, Justus Wellington and Clarissa Jane were called by Brigham Young to take their family of five small children; Hyrum and Justus Wellington, Jr. had been born in Salt Lake City; to San Bernardino, California to make a settlement there and to grow olives. They traveled with the Charles Rich and Amasa Lyman groups. His brother, William Hazard, was born in 1852 in San Bernardino.
John Henry Seely was born on 29 April, 1855 in San Bernardino, California. When he was only two and one half years old, his parents responded to the call of Brigham Young to return to Utah at this time. His grandparents lived in Pleasant Grove, Utah and they first went there to live until they were called in the spring of 1859 to colonize Mt. Pleasant, Utah. He would spend the remainder of his life in Mt. Pleasant.
Life was hard and luxuries were non-existent in a pioneer settlement. Our mother told us that as a small boy, our grandfather had no shoes and played with things from the yard for toys. He had a toy made from a board with a nail half pounded in to which he attached a rope to pull it and he used it as a sled. When his little brother, David Alma Seely, died on 20 October, 1860, he gave up his sled to make a coffin for David.
The young children in the family worked hard. The boys went along with their father and learned from him to do a man's work. John Henry herded the sheep and cattle from the time he was a very small boy and he told Dwight Lincoln, a colleague in the Rambouillet Sheep Association that he had day-dreamed as a child of having his own great herd.
John Henry was a veteran of the Black Hawk Wars but we never heard about this from him. He was seventeen years old when he was honored in 1872 so he was a very young soldier having served before that. He hurt his arm about when he was fifteen when he was carrying his gun and climbed through a fence. The gun caught on the wire, discharged, and a bullet ripped through his arm. He injured a tendon and he had a stiff forefinger on his right hand for the rest of his life. Our mother told us that his mother insisted that he carry buckets of water, milk or whatever with his right hand to strengthen his right arm.
John Henry Seely and Margaret Folkman Peel were married in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on 15 January 1880. They had known each other most of their lives. Both were raised in Mt. Pleasant of pioneer parents. Margaret's parents, Peder Madsen Peel and Christiana Folkman Peel, were Danish converts who came to Utah in 1854 and settled in Lehi, Utah where she was born 1 March 1858. They were later sent to Mt. Pleasant to colonize and lived there the rest of their lives.
At the time of their marriage, John Henry was the owner of two horses, one cow and a small amount of money. With these two horses and a wagon, and in the company of many others, the couple left Mt. Pleasant on the 10th of January, 1880. A large amount of snow fell that day so they only got as far as Fountain Green, Utah. The next morning, the ladies in the group waited for the men to make a trail over the summit to Nephi, Utah. A friend from Castle Valley, Utah was driving the team until a young boy in the group contracted diphtheria and he and his father took the train so the friend took over driving their wagon so John Henry had to drive the rest of the way. They drove to Mona, Utah the second day and to Pleasant Grove the third day, and Cottonwood, Utah on the fourth day. The ladies in the group slept in the wagon and the men slept on piles of hay under the wagon.
On the 14th of January, the couple and others drove into Salt Lake City where they stayed with Patriarch Hyde. Patriarch Hyde's son notified all of his friends that there were "newlyweds" staying at the home so that a crowd came with noisemakers and "shivereed" them. John Henry gave the young boy money so he could buy shrimps for the participants.
While in Salt Lake, they purchased a stove, some dishes, a lamp and a clock at the ZCMI store. When they returned to Mt. Pleasant, her parents had a lovely wedding supper for them at their home. John Henry and another bridegroom, Peter Anderson, organized a big wedding dance to which the whole town was invited. John and Maggie went to Antone Beauman's furniture store and a bed, six chairs, a rocking chair, a table and a mirror. This cost $35.00.
At about this time several members of John Henry's family left to settle Castle Valley, Utah. John Henry bought the home of his brother, Justus Wellington, Jr. (Wink) for $200.00 giving his older brother some needed cash for the upcoming journey. He also traded a horse for 200 acres of land in Chester, Utah.
The home was on Main Street and about 500 West. Four children were born to this couple while they lived in this little home; Ethel Alberta, 7 October 1880; Zella Gertrude, 6 December 1882; Earl Henning, 10 December 1884 and John Leo, 4 April 1887.
During this period of time, John Henry and his father, Justus Wellington Seely, and several of his brothers, changed the spelling of their surname to Seely from Seelye for the purpose of securing a brand. It was cheaper to use less letters.
In May, 1887, they moved into a larger home on 400 West and 100 South. It was purchased from Peter Meiling. They later put on a second story. It was a very comfortable home and they lived in it until their deaths. Six more children were born to them in this home; Leonard Joseph, 13 June 1890; Abrelia Clarissa, 19 September 1892; Lucretia Vern, 26 January 1895; Chesley Peel, 20 March 1898; Margaret Rae, 27 September 1901 (she died young); and Oliver Dwight, 27 April 1902.
While they lived in the small house, Grandpa had started a small sheep herd but over the years, he acquired more animals, more land for grazing and through breeding obtained better quality animals for which he was recognized throughout the world by the people in his field. At the National Ram Sale in 1918, he sold a ram for $6200.00 at auction. This was the highest price ever paid!
Grandpa was an organized man, loving and kind, but high expectations for good behavior. He did not like rowdiness or disobedience. If he saw us sliding down the banister, we were pulled off and told in no uncertain terms that banisters were for hands. Once Uncle Will Candland was saying the blessing on the food and he prayed so long that the children got to tittering and we all were banished from the table.
He respected his children as individuals and allowed them to make their own decisions. They had many advantages that other young people in Mt. Pleasant did not have the opportunity to enjoy. Uncle Bob Hinckley related that when he went to ask Grandpa for permission to marry Aunt Arbrelia, Grandpa seemed to avoid him. Finally, Uncle Bob asked Grandpa and Grandpa responded, "Have you talked with her?" "Yes." "If it is alright with her, it is alright with me. I don't have to live with you."
Grandpa made annual trips to Salt Lake City to the Utah State Fair. He always came to our house to stay bringing suitcases filled with home-made casing sausages, hams, bacon and often he would bring the head of a dead animal so mother could make head cheese. It was gruesome to look into the big, dead eyes! Once when he was there, we were at the dinner table. The adults were talking and three-year old Madeline wanted some of his attention so she crawled under the table and tickled his ankle. He thought it was our dog, Brown Socks, and he kicked her right in the face. He felt terrible when she cried. He picked her up and loved her and soothed her but from this we knew that he did not want dogs under foot at the dinner table.
Grandpa had a gentle temperament and was darling with our Grandma. She knew he loved her and so did all the children. He never went on a trip - and he went on a lot of trips - that he did not bring her home a present, even if it was only to Salt Lake City. He was generous with his children, too. He was called Uncle John by a lot of his acquaintances and friends, especially those in the livestock trade.
This man was very community minded. He served as Constable Deputy in 1882, was a member of the Mt. Pleasant City Council from 1891 to 1893, and elected Mayor of Mt. Pleasant from 1899 to 1901. He was a Utah State Senator for Sanpete County from 1906 to 1910, and a member of the Utah State Fair Board from 1903 until his death. He served in the Rambouillet Sheep Association from 1900 until he died in 1920.
Even as we remember him now, he was not a big man physically. He stood about 5 feet 8 inches tall, and was the smallest son in his family. He was handsome with wide shoulders, brown hair and smiling brown eyes. He seemed a big man to us!
John Henry Seely, our grandfather, was a "great" grandfather. All of us who were at least three or four years old when he died remember him well. We have wonderful, warm memories of visiting with him and Grandma - the snuggles and hugs we enjoyed and "dry shaves" which we would struggle and try to get away from - but not really. It was nice to be his friend. He always carried XXX mints in his pockets and we were always free to reach in and take one.
He never learned to drive a car and the reason, he told Will Clos, his secretary, was because he would never have to go alone. Because he wanted company, the children and grandchildren who were around would be gathered up in a car or pickup truck and away we would go to the or to the hay field. He loved being with people and he was noted for his comradeship, generosity and sympathy, He was always helping someone. People came to him in times of need and he never turned them away. He gave them meals, beds, and very often found jobs for them. One man who had been convicted of rustling was eligible for parole but could not find a sponsor. Grandpa took him in and gave him responsible jobs and the man proved to be a good employee. He still worked for Grandpa when Grandpa died.
Grandpa was a good fisherman and he loved to go to Fish Lake. There are pictures of him showing large catches. There were several family reunions held at Fish Lake. Two of his friends, Doc Easton and his wife, ran the lodge at the southwest end of Fish Lake and the family stayed there. He died there from a stroke on July 31, 1920. It had been a hot summer and he wanted to go to Fish Lake to relax. So he and Grandma, Uncle Oliver, Aunt Abrelia Hinckley, and Aunt Vern Winters Erickson went to Fish Lake. He had been out fishing since early in the morning and when he came in about 11:00 am, he said he was tired and was going to lie down but to wake him when it was time to eat. When Grandma sent Uncle Oliver to wake him he was already in a deep coma. He died shortly thereafter. Our mother, Zella, was devastated. He died on Ina Morgan's 7th birthday and she was heard to say, "It wasn't very nice of Grandpa to die on my birthday."
His funeral is one of our most vivid remembrances. It was very hot in Mt. Pleasant and Grandpa was laid out under the west window of the parlor of their home. Ice was piled underneath the casket. Myriads of people passed by to pay their last respects. Three carloads of flowers were sent to express compassion and sympathy to Grandma and her family. There was a very long cortege to the services - 78 automobiles followed the hearse. The funeral was held in the L.D.S. Assembly Hall, sometimes called the Pavilion which was jammed with people - townspeople, shepherds (one had walked 30 miles to get there) and his large family, Utah State Senators, other notable people from around the state and the United States. The speakers included Senator Reed Smoot; former Governor, William Spry, W. D. Candland, President Lund, W. C. Winder of the State Farm Board. As children, we thought it was a very long funeral!
The McCall issue of August 7, 1920 had a long article about John Henry Seely, our grandfather. It began with:
"Speaking for the city -
Our friend is dead, his soul went out
And left its impress on our own;
Now life's more clear, and death less drear;
We'll reap where his clean hands have sown,
He is not dead to us!
And he is not dead to us either. We revere his name and are proud to be his progeny!
Rewritten by Katherine Mills Olsen, June 26, 2015.
