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 History of

John Edward Metcalf, Jr.

  version: February 2009

”Oh the inconcistency of Man to think that man will put forth his hand to stop the work of God
it is preposterous. But it is all right if it was not for the opposing power there would be no salvation.”
----John Edward Metcalf, Jr.

 

written by Vauna Marie Green Kelly, great granddaughter
with contributions by
great-great grandson Larry S. Smith

I have relied heavily on a history written by John E. Metcalf Jr.'s daughter Blanche Metcalf Minster, a history of Mary Waslin by her great granddaughter-in-law Camille Nielson, a history of Mary Keziah Bartholomew by her niece Ella Grace Bown, remembrances written by John E. Jr.'s granddaughters Georgia Stringham Smith, Mildred Stringham Phillips, and Joy Stringham Blanchard, recollections of daughter Louisa Metcalf Denison Domgaard, daughter-in-law Marie Goodliffe Metcalf and grandchildren Evelyn Minster Bridges and W. Frank Minster. The material regarding polygamy was supplied by Larry Smith. There are even some facts I researched myself.

Priesthood ordinations:
Elder, by J.E. Metcalf, Sr., 1867, Fayette
Seventy, by Robert Campbell, 7 May, 1870
High Priest, by Erastus Snow, 11 July 1877

mission: Southern States 7 Apr 1881 - 3 Apr 1883

special appointments:
Counselor to Bishop C.A. Madsen, Gunnison
Ordinance worker -Manti Temple

PROLOGUE

During the winter of 1988/1989 I became obsessed with family history and, like any budding genealogist, I set about putting my four generations in order: my parents' family group, my grandparents' family group, my great grandparents' family group. I had looked at my great grandfather Metcalf's family group record many times, but had never noticed what now seized my attention: the name of a first wife. I didn't know John E. Metcalf Jr. had a first wife. On learning that he did, I assumed he was widowed--that is until I found that his first wife died some twenty-odd years after his death. In Oregon. Were they divorced? When I asked my mother about it she backed up and said, "Grandpa Metcalf had another wife?"

Thus started a somewhat obsessive search, and this history is the result of that compulsion. Don't expect what is written here to answer too many questions: even now, most of what I understand about the big questions of his life is family tradition, or, worse, my own speculation. Even if he were here to answer our questions it's likely that we wouldn't get much further: he was a supremely formal man. This is a man who raised livestock in the 1800's in central Utah but who, according to his son Lund, never came to dinner wearing anything but a three-piece suit. He was immaculate at dinner time and his suit was always perfectly pressed. Photos of him reveal a man erect with what looks like supreme propriety.

Suspecting that he would greet my conjecturing with silence, I am hesitant to commit it to paper. But he is my great-grandfather. He is my mother's grandfather, though she never knew him, and my late grandfather's father. Seven generations have been profoundly affected by the events of his life, seven generations of relatives who grew up separate and without knowledge of each other. So those events are ours also, and we ought to do something more than squint at each other and ask, "so what happened?"

 

 John Edward Metcalf, Jr. was born 24 June 18390, a Sunday, in Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, England to John Edward Metcalf and Mary Waslin Metcalf. He was baptized into the Church of England August 1st of that same year at the imposing Holy Trinity Church in Hull. John was the fourth of eleven children and one stillbirth born to his parents. A five-year-old sister, Jane Ann, was living at the time of his birth. Four-year-old Elizabeth died sometime during the year of his birth. Two-year-old Anthony died the following year, 12 May 1840. Two years later, in February 1841, another Elizabeth was born; she died just before her third birthday.1

This same year (1841) the family moved to Belfast, Ireland. John Jr.'s father was a carpenter and cabinet maker of some repute and it is said that his work took him to many parts of Europe. While in Belfast two more children were born: another Anthony (Jan 1842) who died in infancy, and, on 5 September 1843, the last Anthony, who lived to adulthood.

In 1844 the family was back in Hull. Daughter Elizabeth was buried there on 10 Feb 1844.

Then the family moved to Shoreditch on the outskirts of London, where Mary Elizabeth was born 24 October 1845 and died 6 Sep 1846. In 1846 there was also a stillbirth. We might pause here to note that between 1834 and 1846 Mary Waslin Metcalf had delivered nine children, only three of whom survived. In January 1847, when John Jr. was eight-years-old, James was born in Shoreditch. James lived to adulthood.

When John Jr. was ten years old his parents joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They were baptized 19 October, 1849 in Hull.2 Family records indicate that their oldest daughter Jane Ann, fifteen at the time, had been baptized earlier, on 9 July 1849. John Jr. was baptized the following year, on 29 November, 1850.3 the other children were younger than eight. It is said that the missionaries "were always welcome at their home."

During that time Eliza Roxie was born 17 Aug 1850 in Hull.4

 

Immigration

In 1853 the family immigrated to the United States, setting sail from Liverpool on the 17th of January on the ship Ellen Maria. They were under the presidency of Elder Moses Clauson and in the company of 332 other converts. It was a stormy and cold passage, without heat, but with the power of prayer. Early in that voyage, on 30 Jan 1853, nineteen-year-old Jane Ann married William Bown who in later years became the livestock partner of John Jr. Another member of the company, Brother James Farmer, commented that night in his diary, "Bro. [Bown] gave his wife a hearty kiss and she returned it."5

Brother Farmer's diary, incidentally, is an excellent source for a full description of the voyage. He describes in detail the seasickness of the sisters, storms at sea when all the men were put to to save the ship, an attempted rape when he and father Metcalf were on watch together (the perpetrators were sailors), and the burial at sea of several newborn babies and their mothers. He tells how towards the end of the voyage Elder Clauson, who had seen more of his bed than of the sea, stood before the Saints, saying he had tried to do his best to serve them though he "would have liked to have been able to have got out more amongst them but bad health had prevented him." He asked for a show of hands to know if they were satisfied with him and all raised their hands though, as Bro. Farmer points out, they had much "belied" Elder Clauson throughout the voyage. The group sailed to New Orleans, took passage up the Mississippi to St. Louis, and then to Keokuk.

There they obtained wagons and supplies for the trek to Utah and at length started for Council Bluffs in Claudius Spencer's wagon train.6 After resting in Council Bluffs for a week they headed toward the Missouri River, ferried over to Winter Quarters and pressed on toward the Platte River. By the time they reached the Platte it was September and the nights were getting quite cold. The weather was worsening, with frequent rain and hail storms, and food was becoming scarce. The oxen and cattle were tiring to the point that some had to be abandoned, along with the wagons they pulled. From the history of mother Mary Waslin by Camille Nielson we read: "By the time they reached Fort Bridger they were in mountainous country and the weather was cold most of the time. There were severe frosts at night. There was better feed for the animals in the high country, but travelling was difficult because of the mountains and streams. What a welcome sight it must have been when the family arrived in Salt Lake City in late September of 1853." John Jr. was fourteen at the time and had walked the entire distance from the Missouri River to Utah. It appears that the Joseph Bartholomew family arrived in the same wagon train.7

They spent three years in Salt Lake City, living in the Fourth Ward.8 Here John E. Metcalf, Sr. and his wife Mary Waslin Metcalf were sealed to each other, on 25 March 1855 in President Brigham Young's Office. The following April when the Endowment House was completed they received their endowments (1 April, 1856). Their last child, William, was born 5 May 1855, two months after his parents had been sealed.

Sometime during John Jr.'s youth he lost the sight in his right eye. While chopping wood a splinter hit him in the eye. Looking at pictures of him you might notice that he tends to favor his left side: this must be the reason for that.

In 1856 the family moved to Springville, Utah. Looking at Springville membership records of the years just before their move, I couldn't help but notice a lot of Bowns, all of whom appear to have been related to Jane Ann's husband. Histories of Springville indicate that John Edward, Sr. went to Springville to work on the Old White Meeting House.9 It is interesting to note that in October Conference of 1861 Father Metcalf received a call from Brigham Young to move to Springville, though the family had been there since 1856! In January of 1856 they were still in Salt Lake City, placed there by the 1856 Utah State Census.

In August of 1862 John Jr.'s younger brother Anthony, nearing nineteen years of age, married Sylvia Eliza Sanford in Springville. Shortly thereafter, in the fall of 1862, John Sr. was called to go to St. George. Earlier that year, at a January conference, a subscription list had been taken "for the building of a stone building in St. George for educational and social purposes." John E. Metcalf, Sr. donated $20.00 to this fund10; it would probably be safe to say that a move to St. George later that same year would have been to work on the construction of that building. He took part of the family with him (family records don't say what part of the family he took) and stayed until the spring of 1864 when Brigham Young called him to move to Warm Creek in Sanpete County to build a grist mill.

 

Fayette

Two families had moved to Warm Creek in 1861 and were followed later by a few more families. In 1862 they were organized as a branch of the church, the Branch President being Branch Young, acting under the direction of the Bishop of Gunnison. In 1864, when President Brigham Young decided to build a mill on the warm creek that didn't freeze over in winter, the families there were still living in dugouts. As the Metcalf family neared the settlement one of the girls said, "I see fields but where are the 'ouses?" All that could be seen of the homes was smoke curling out of chimneys atop mounds of dirt. The family camped at the site they had chosen for the grist mill, about three-fourths of a mile east of the other settlers and a short distance below the spring.

Louisa Metcalf Denison Domgaard, daughter of John E. Metcalf, Jr., relates a story her father told of their first days in Warm Creek:

The first thing they did when they got there, father said, was buy a cow and garden seed...so they could have their milk and butter. So they built shelves in the east side in their dugout to put their milk in pans and raise the cream for butter. After a few nights when they'd get up in the morning their milk had been skimmed and there was no cream on any pan. So the men had to stay up and see what was getting their cream. And first thing that pop saw was these great big blow snakes come in and licked the cream off their milk. So they had to stay up at night to fight blow snakes.11

On the family's arrival in Warm Creek, father Metcalf succeeded Brother Young as Branch President, and continued in that capacity until the Indian troubles of 1866-1867. After the Indian Wars the new Branch President was Joseph Bartholomew, Sr., John Metcalf, Jr.'s father-in-law.12 It might be mentioned here that at some point in the history of Warm Creek Apostle Orson Hyde suggested that the name be changed to Fayette, in honor of Fayette, New York where the church was organized. This was done.

Some of the first settlers of Warm Creek were the family of Joseph Bartholomew, Sr., who moved there from Springville in 1861.13 His daughter Mary Keziah was a fourteen-year-old who, it is said, wasn't too happy about leaving her friends in Springville. It could just be that her friends included some of the Metcalf children (the son?), as the Metcalf and the Bartholomew families were in both Springville and Warm Creek/Fayette at the same time, the Bartholomews having left Springville three years before the Metcalfs.

 

Mary Keziah Bartholomew

John Jr. was twenty-four at the time of the Metcalf family's call to Warm Creek and the following year, on the 19th of April, 1865, he married this Mary Keziah Bartholomew, oldest daughter of Joseph Bartholomew, Sr. and Polly Benson. Where they married is not clear. The history of Mary Keziah Bartholomew Metcalf says they were married at her home which at that time would have been Warm Creek/Fayette. Some records indicate that they were married in Springville. A biographical sketch of John Jr., written in 1898 as a part of the History of Sanpete County, says it was Fayette. An attempt to document the place failed, as there are no existing branch records from Warm Creek and the Springville Ward records don't show many marriages recorded. Neither does their later sealing give the marriage place. If the place was Warm Creek, it would follow that Father Metcalf married them, he being the Branch President. But that is speculation. The bride was eighteen. A photo of young Mary Keziah Bartholomew Metcalf reveals a rather refined looking beauty, eyes almost exotic in appearance, with a certain grandeur of character in her stature. The young couple lived at Dover, across the Sevier River for a while, and their older six children were all born in Fayette:

Sarah Elizabeth Metcalf b 23 Feb 1866 Fayette, Sanpete, Utah
Mary Eliza Metcalf b 3 Dec 1867 Fayette, Sanpete, Utah
Emma Electa Metcalf b 29 Nov 1869 Fayette, Sanpete, Utah
Franklin John Metcalf b 14 Oct 1871 Fayette, Sanpete, Utah
Lillie May Metcalf b 18 Jan 1874 Fayette, Sanpete, Utah
Myra Jane Metcalf (Madge) b 21 Apr 1876 Fayette, Sanpete, Utah

It was the year following their marriage that the Indian Wars of 1866-1867 began; Fayette was temporarily vacated14 and Father Metcalf was released from his position as Branch President. John Sr. and John Jr. both served as privates from 1 April to 1 November 1866, the father in G. Sidwell's Company and the son in M. Mortensen's Company. Then, from 1 May to 1 November 1867 the two of them, along with son Anthony, served in C. Tollestrup's Company.15 This war, officially known as the Indian Wars of 1866-1867, is generally referred to as the Utah Black Hawk War.

Three and a half years after his own marriage, John Jr.'s sister Eliza “Roxie” married Mary Keziah's brother John on 11 Oct 1868 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City. John Metcalf, Jr. and Mary Keziah apparently traveled from Fayette to Salt Lake with them, for they received their own endowments and were sealed to each other on that same date, also in the Endowment House. Both couples were sealed by George Q. Cannon, with W.W. Phelps and J. Taylor acting as witnesses. John Metcalf, Jr. had been ordained an Elder by his father sometime during the prior year. He was ordained a Seventy two years later (7 May 1870) by Robert Campbell.

Eight months after the 1868 trip to Salt Lake, there was another trip to the Endowment House. On 7 June 1869 Father Metcalf accepted the law of Celestial Marriage by taking a second (plural) wife. Her name was Cecelia Anderson, she was 19 years old and from Denmark.16 Cecelia Anderson eventually left and remarried to a man by the name of Robert Jackson. She lived some years in Oregon and died in Nevada. But we're getting ahead of ourselves.

In 1876 John Jr.'s family moved to a little green frame house between Gunnison and Centerfield. He owned fifty acres there on which he farmed. He and brother-in-law William Bown raised cattle, running their livestock in the Cedar Breaks country of Southern Utah. He also was Superintendent of the Co-op store for two years. The younger six children (including the stillborn twins) were born in Gunnison:

Joseph Leon Metcalf b 16 Apr 1878 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah
Claudius Bartholomew Metcalf b 15 Jun 1880 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah
Clyde Metcalf b 24 Mar 1884 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah
stillborn twin son 10 Mar 1889 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah
stillborn twin son 10 Mar 1889 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah
Leland Wells Metcalf b 1 May 1890 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah

The year after John Jr. and Mary Keziah Metcalf moved to Gunnison, on July 4th, 1877, the Sanpete Stake was created and the Fayette Ward organized. Thirty-one year old John Bartholomew was called as the first Bishop. (This is the John Bartholomew that was Mary Keziah's brother and husband of John Jr.'s sister Eliza “Roxie.”) Bishop Bartholomew held this position for more than half his life -thirty seven years- until his death in 1914. John Jr.'s sister Jane Ann Metcalf Bown was the first Relief Society President and held that position until her death at the age of sixty in 1894.

In July of 1877 the Gunnison Ward was organized also17, with Bishop C.A. Madsen as its first Bishop. Thirty eight-year-old John Jr. was ordained a High Priest by Apostle Erastus Snow on the 11th of July and served as Counselor to Bishop Madsen. A lot happened in that week of early July 1877--it must have been quite a week for the Metcalf relations.

But their father missed it all. He was home in England serving a mission for the Church.

John E. Metcalf, Sr. received his mission call on April 8, 1877 at a Stake Conference in St. George18 and was set apart June 1st of that same year by Orson Pratt.19 The following letter was received from him, published in the Millennial Star Jan 14, 1878, and re-printed in the Journal History of the Church:

23 Dec 1877: The Hull Branch is in a prosperous condition at present, we still keep adding to our numbers, and the Saints feel well; I am in good health and spirits, trying to do the best I can, God being my helper; we have baptized three from Goole [Goole is near his hometown of Hull] since I saw you, which makes us rejoice in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I expect a great many to gather the coming spring, all well; the Saints are trying to do their best, I take pleasure in urging them to be earful [sic], economical, and prayerful, so they may receive the blessings they seek.20

Father Metcalf returned from England on May 8, 1879.21 Three years later during the summer of 1882 he, his wife, and a grand-daughter were going to Gunnison in a buggy when it overturned, throwing them to the ground. John Sr. hit his head, causing an injury which blinded him. He lived five years after that accident. It must have been a terrible trial for Father Metcalf to live his remaining years in darkness -he had been such an active man all his life.

 

Mission

John Jr. wasn't near to help his parents during this difficult period; he had been set apart to serve a mission to the Southern States on April 7, 1881, returning April 3, 1883.22

In 1879, in Georgia, Rudger Clawson and Joseph Standing, missionary companions, were attacked by a mob on July 21. Standing was shot to death trying to escape. When the mob turned its attention to Clawson he calmly folded his arms, faced the men, and said, "shoot." His composure so unnerved the mobsters that he was allowed to go free.23 Less than two years later John Edward Metcalf, Jr. was called to serve in the same area. He served two years in Northern Georgia, traveling on foot without purse or scrip. His missionary journal still exists.24 I love this series of entries dating from 1 Dec 1881 to 12 February 1882 – they capture his great spirit and his missionary trials in a nutshell:

 

Dec 1st, 1881 Fast day met with the Saints had a good meeting the Spirit of God was with us we rejoiced we could meet & worship the Lord in peace blessed a child of Bro King's went to Bro Hardy's & then to the P. O. received a letter from Father all well at Home stayed all night at Bro Hardy's read the D. News talked on the Gospel walked 5 miles

Dec 4th Sunday went to Mud Creek to fill an appointment when we got there, there was a mob of about 15 men with hickory's who said we should not preach our corrupt doctrine if we did they would whip us we tryed to reason with them but they was to full of evil spirits to listen to reason. & only two persons being there who cared about hearing us we concluded to with draw, although I think we can do some good in that settlement after awhile it is a good sign when Satan rages so hard. went to Mr. Wiley King's had dinner sung some hymns talked on the Gospel.

Dec 5th Cloudy Elder Goff started for Fannin Co. this morning, went across the River to Bro King's our enemies posted up a notice on the line between White & Habarsham Counties which I will write in full

To the Mormons of the County of White, & everywhere else, You are hereby notified not to make anymore Tracks on this side of the River, for you are not fit to pollute the air with your false Doctrine we just give you this note of warning to keep from hurting you, but if you, or any body else comes over into Habersham telling your big Mormon lies any more you will be dealt with almost unmercifully That is you will not get back with all the skin on your backs you had better rake up your subjects & leave the State of Georgia, A word to the wise is enough, Signed, Many Citizens of Habersham County Dec 4th 1881,

Oh the inconcistency of Man to think that man will put forth his hand to stop the work of God it is preposterous. But it is all right if it was not for the opposing power there would be no salvation, Wrote a letter to Bp. C.A. Madsen

Dec 10th Read the papers & rested heard a report that our enemies was going to meet to agitate driving the Mormons out of this part of the Country but the Lord will overall things for the best therefore I am not uneasy about the matter, cloudy looks like rain, went to Mr Holcomb read a sermon talked on the Gospel stayed all night

Dec 11th Sunday, cold, looks like snow held meeting with the saints had an interesting time received a notice from our enemies as follows

Georgia, Habersham County

We citizens of Habersham County, at Rusk Institute assembled to take into consideration the propriety of stopping certain individuals professing christianity from Preaching or advocating doctrine contrary to the Bible and the laws of our Country, we do adopt the following resolutions

Resolved that all good citizens and orthodox religious denominations be requested to unite to put down & suppress mormonism with all its doctrines, and to discountenance all who favor the same, and we kindly advise all who wish to imbibe such doctrine, to move to a more congenial clime.

We believing conscientously that the doctrines of Mormonism is calculated to corrupt the Morals of the rising generation and we request all of our citisens who have taken any part in giving encouragement to Mormonism to abandon the same, and unite with us to drive the monster vice from our midst, and we invite all good citizens of the surrounding country to join us in our efforts, and that Clarksville advertiser be requested to publish the above proceedings and that the Mormon leaders be requested to leave the County within thirty days

To Joseph B. Keeler and other Mormon leaders, you are requested to leave this section of Georgia, within thirty days from date take due notice then and govern yourselves accordingly Dec 10th 1881, signed with 31 names

Dec 12th Rainy dull weather went to Bro P Humphries stayed all night walked 3 miles

Jan 8th, 1882 Sunday held meeting with the Saints heard that our enemies met yesterday to determin what to do about the Mormon Edlers but the Lord overruled things for our good they concluded to give us thirty days more to leave the country in the meantime to send a petition to the Govenor to hear his advice on the matter, it is proving a blessing to the cause of Christ it is making friends to us I hope to make saints Mr Wiley King & Pate Ivie came & told us of the Proceeding of the Mob. They are also investigating our doctrine Went to Bro Hardy took our Valises, he living in Habersham County, having heard the Tax Collector of White County was coming to Collect Pole Tax from us.

Jan 15th Sunday held meeting with the Saints had a very good congregation quite a number are investigating since our enemies have been so hostile went to Bro King's it commenced raining went to Mr. Smith's stayed the evening

Feb 12th Sunday had the privilige of baptising 5 persons Elder Keeler Officiating, Namely Spencer Holcomb, Perry Smith, Wiley King & his wife Eliza. & Pate Ivie. held meeting at Mr Holcomb's had a congregation of about 50. had a good time the Spirit of God was poured out abundantly.

 

At the end of the journal is a list of letters sent and letters received. Of the 177 letters he sent, we are fortunate to have a copy of a letter he wrote to his thirteen-year-old daughter Emma from Heads Ferry, White County, Georgia. The letter (in possession of Georgia Stringham Smith) is dated August 10, 1881 and reads:

To my daughter Emma,

I received your kind letter of 25th July was glad to hear you now well. hoping this will find you well as it leaves me at present. I hope you enjoyed yourself on the 25th of July and did not do anything naughty for then I should be grieved.

God is watching over his children and he sees all the Acts of their lives so you must be a very good girl and do what Ma tells you which I expect you do. You must improve in your spelling and writing. and study your Books so you can become a nice Lady. attend to your meetings and prayers and then the Lord will love and bless you. remember me in your prayers. be kind to your Brothers and Sisters from your Pa,

J.E. Metcalf

 

While he was on his mission Mary Keziah was home alone with their eight children, who ranged in age from fifteen-year-old Sarah Elizabeth to year-old Claudius. The family lived in the Temple Hotel in Manti. (The temple was under construction at the time.)

 

Mary Catherine Dahling

Less than three years after John Jr.'s return from his mission he took a second (plural) wife. In February of 1886 he went to the Logan Temple to be married and sealed to my great grandmother Mary Catherine Dahling. She had immigrated from Sweden in 1869, worked as a domestic for a distant cousin in Christianburg--near Gunnison, and then in Gunnison for Bishop Madsen. (This was the Bishop Madsen for whom John E. Metcalf, Jr. was counselor.) From Gunnison she went to Payson and then to Salt Lake City. John E. Metcalf Jr. came to know Mary Dahling when she was in Gunnison, singing in a ward choir that he directed.25

This is where the conjecturing starts. Why did they go all the way to Logan to be married? The Endowment House had been open for some years, indeed the Metcalfs had been there on several occasions, and it did not close until 1889. I checked to see if maybe the Endowment House was closed that day, but they were open and doing sealings. I directed that question to the Temple Department and their response was that they were still doing polygamist sealings in the Endowment House at that time, and that any reasons for going to Logan would have been purely personal reasons.

The descendants of Mary Keziah all agree that she had not approved of her husband taking a second wife. Granddaughter Georgia Stringham Smith writes: "Grandmother Metcalf never talked about her husband. I think she was really hurt when he took another wife...I understand that [she] didn't even know that he had a second wife until after son Leland was born in 1890. After that she wouldn't live with Grandpa anymore....I remember once that she said that, 'no way would she have her husband come and live with her.'" Granddaughter Mildred Stringham Phillips comments that "knowing Grandma I am sure she wouldn't accept that condition [polygamy]."

Could a man enter into polygamy without his first wife's consent? I directed that question to the Church Historical Department and received the following response, taken from The Mormon Experience:

Usually a man did not merely decide to take an additional wife; he was asked to do so by church authorities after being selected on the basis of religious and economic qualifications. Then, in theory at least, the first wife was to give her permission before her husband named anyone else, and generally this sensible procedure was followed. Sometimes the first wife flatly refused. One Mormon raised the question with his spouse, who minced no words to replying, "All right Jody--you get another wife and I'll get another husband!" [Can't you just hear Mary Keziah saying that?] No one knows how many of the 95 percent of Mormon husbands who remained monogamists had asked for permission and were refused, or how many sought permission while hoping they would be turned down, or how many did not bother to ask.26

This policy of requiring the first wife's consent was the Church's official public stand, and the majority of polygamist families fit into this category. But during the underground period there was precedence of polygamy being practiced without the consent of the first wife. It was such a dangerous time for plurality to be publicly known that some wives not only did not give their consent but, for reasons of security, were not even privy to the fact that their husbands had taken another wife.27 For members of the LDS Church, this actually had a doctrinal basis. From the Doctrine and Covenants revelation on Celestial Marriage (section 132) we read that once a couple had been counted worthy and was called to receive the blessings of Celestial Marriage, if the wife refused, far be it from her to deny her husband the blessings of that law and he was free from the law requiring her consent.28 Most men just dropped the suggestion if their first wives denied consent, but if John E. Metcalf, Jr. married without Mary Keziah's permission, one must consider his action in context of the times. Anyone would agree that it would be absurd to expect society of our day to live by the attitudes of the 1880s. It would be equally absurd to expect Latter Day Saints of the 1880s to live by modern LDS attitudes. Given that consideration, he can't be called a scab for the circumstances of his second marriage: indeed, his very uprightness of character – his English sense of duty, if you will – fits this course of action. I can easily hear him in his prayers: "Heavenly Father, I am bound; I must follow the letter of the law." So he could have married Mary Dahling without Mary Keziah's consent, but he had to ask her first.

The Historical Department was kind enough to research the name of John Edward Metcalf, Jr. in this regard but was unable to shed any light on his particular situation.

Whatever the circumstances, he married and was sealed to Mary Catherine Dahling on 25 February 1886.29 The bride was twenty-eight, the groom forty-seven.

Mary Dahling Metcalf continued to live in Salt Lake City and her oldest two children were born there:

Blanche Evelyn Metcalf b 12 Jan 1888 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Wm Edward Verne Metcalf b 22 Sep 1889 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

The life of a polygamist must have been a hectic one. Fourteen months after Blanche was born in Salt Lake there were stillborn twins in Gunnison. Six months later Verne was born in Salt Lake. Eight months after Verne was born in Salt Lake Leland was born back in Gunnison, and five months after Leland was born Claudius died. This would be a difficult chain of events under the best of circumstances; I imagine it would have been especially trying if the wife back in Gunnison didn't know about the wife in Salt Lake. Just before all of this started John Jr.'s father died of diabetes in Fayette, on 4 February, 1887. His mother had died three years prior, on 26 March, 1884, also in Fayette.

The year after Leland was born, 1891, John Jr. moved his first family to Manti. The Manti Temple had been completed and dedicated 21 May 1888 (shortly after Blanche was born in Salt Lake). Perhaps the temple was the reason for the move; he was called to work in the Manti Temple and did so for twenty years until his death. For a number of years he was an ordinance worker.30 I don't know if John Jr. was at the dedication of this beautiful and special temple, but it is said that his wife Mary Keziah was there and heard a heavenly choir sing.

 

Manti – The Hotels

In Manti, John E. Jr. leased and operated the Temple Hotel for five years, beginning in 1891. Here they housed a number of the heads of the church when they came to the Manti Temple. The Temple Hotel was located at the bottom of the temple hill, on Main Street. Today the Temple Hotel has been restored and operates as the Manti House Inn.

Manti’s newspaper of the time, The Manti Messenger, had fairly regular mentions of the Temple Hotel, including a pair of articles that make me smile, both published in the 22 June 1894 issue:

CITY COUNCIL
Supt. Hall reported that he had turned off city water from the Temple Hotel, because of misuse of the same.

LOCAL AND PERSONAL NOTES
John E. Metcalf had the city water shut off from his residence one day last week because of washing buggies contrary to the city ordinance. Supt. Richard Hall, Jr. is on the warpath so look out for him.

The 5 April 1895 issue has this notice:

TEMPLE HOTEL FOR RENT
Propositions for leasing above property for one year or more will be received until April 10, 1895, by the Executive Committee. The committee reserves the right to reject any or all propositions.
                         Address Prest. J.D.T. McAllister, Box B, Manti

And the following year, in the 10 April 1896 we find this:

CITY COUNCIL
John E. Metcalf petitioned for a rebate of water license for three months, as he had moved from his former residence. Allowed. He also asked for a lower license on his hotel on the grounds that it was an out of the way place, and also to have the charge standing against him for running a hotel without a license, revoked. The last request was not acted upon.

Then, starting in the 13 February 1897 issue, we begin to see this ad:

METCALF HOUSE.
Manti’s Popular Hotel.
Terms Reasonable.
J.E. Metcalf, Prop.

This ad ran six times: 13 February, 20 February, 6 March, 20 March, 3 April, and 1 May.

But then, the Messenger for Saturday, 7 August 1897 had this:

J. E. Metcalf has gone out of the Hotel business. So many hotels in Manti made the pressure too great for him.

While he operated his hotels, he continued to own sheep, though it is said that after his call to work in the temple he leased them out. He was also a stockholder in the Central Utah Wool Company and held stock in the Manti Telephone Company.

 

The Manifesto

The year before John Jr. moved to Manti, President Wilford Woodruff had issued the Manifesto. Issued On 25 September, 1890, the Manifesto declared an end to the contracting of plural marriages in the Church. If we accept the theory that Mary Keziah found out about her husband's second wife after Leland was born (1 May 1890), then she found out about it during the year the Manifesto was issued, maybe even as a result of its issuance as John Jr. tried to figure out what to do. It should be noted that the United States Government didn't issue its Proclamation of Amnesty (for those who had entered into polygamy prior to the Manifesto) until three years later, 1893. As awkward as the status of polygamist families was after the Proclamation of Amnesty, it was even more awkward between the dates of the Manifesto and the Proclamation. President Woodruff had said that a man was not required to abandon his existing wives, but didn't indicate whether or not he could continue to live with them. Polygamist families had to work out this matter for themselves, and there was no solution that was without problems: if a man decided to give up his additional spouses, he was railed at by saints who were grieved at his desertion of innocent women and children. If he chose to continue to live with them, other saints were appalled at his disregard for the law of the land. Plural wives came to be considered as little more than mistresses, causing more than a few women to reflect that life had been better for them during the underground period, when the church was unified in support of polygamists.

Even so, sometime during this touchy period, by 1892, John Jr. moved his second family to Manti. Mary Dahling's younger children were all born (after the Manifesto) in Sanpete County:

Louisa Catherine Metcalf b 13 Jan 1892 Manti, Sanpete, Utah
Lund Dahling Metcalf b 16 Aug 1895 Ephraim, Sanpete, Utah
LeRoy Cannon Metcalf b 19 Sep 1897 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah
Richard Leo Metcalf b 5 Oct 1900 Gunnison, Sanpete, Utah

At the time of Leo's birth, his father was 61, his mother 43. Mary Keziah was 53.

We have no information about the relationship between the wives but we might note that Mary Dahling didn't stay in Manti where Mary Keziah was for long...by 1895 she was in Ephraim and by 1897 she was in Gunnison. The census of 1900, taken in Gunnison on June 12th, places Mary Dahling Metcalf in that place with her children. On June 7th, John E. Metcalf, Jr. (occupation Boarding House) was living with his wife Mary Keziah, their younger children, Madge, and Lillie and Gladys.

The 1900 census contradicts the statement that Mary Keziah refused to live with her husband any more after Leland's 1890 birth, when she found out about the second wife. But that statement comes to us second-hand and Georgia Stringham Smith, on further consideration, comments that there is actually some uncertainty whether Mary Keziah found out about the second wife after Leland's birth in 1890 or ten years later. Either scenario would fit the historical facts: If she found out about it in 1890 then we can see why John Jr. moved his second family to Manti around 1892. In considering this version, we need to take the above statement in context: it is founded on things that Mary Keziah said long after she had moved away, after she had clearly refused to live with her husband. If Mary Keziah didn't find out about the second wife until ten years later -1901- then her sudden move to Oregon that year makes a lot of sense and we can take the above statement at face value with a simple correction of dates. Either way, the fact is that when she moved to Oregon she moved, not from a house where she was living separately, but from a house (a boarding house) in which they both lived. The fact that this was a boarding house is worthy of note. They could have had a variety of living arrangements in a boarding house and Mary Keziah could well have seen to it that she did not live with her husband.

It has been said by grandchildren of Mary Keziah that she "could never forgive her husband for taking another wife." Actually it was probably Mary Dahling that she could never forgive, but it was still her husband that bore the brunt of her bitterness. The conclusion that she "could never forgive" either is probably speculative – he rarely talked about the situation – but given the fact that her husband had taken his second wife apparently without her consent and so close to the time when polygamy was outlawed, and that she was deeply wounded by the realities of polygamy and the consequences of the Manifesto, her bitterness is understandable. It is not known what conversations occurred between Mary Keziah and John Jr. on the subject, but the couple seems to have had something of a restrained relationship anyway. I'm not sure if the following reflects more on the husband, the wife, or the times, but we refer again to the memories of Georgia Stringham Smith:

The only time I remember of Grandma mentioning her husband to me was just a few days before our first child was born...Emmett and I were talking with each other about our baby who would be born in a few days. Grandma Metcalf was quite shocked to think that I would talk about the baby to Emmett. She said that she never talked about her babies before they were born especially to her husband...I asked her what she did. After her baby was born would she take him in her arms and show him to her husband and say, "John, look what we have!" She said oh, no. But he knew about it too. So many things were "hush, hush" in her generation.

Some of Mary Keziah's descendants have wondered what their lives would have been like had she "accepted graciously the fact that her husband had followed the council of the church leaders and married another wife." I don't think she deserves to be slighted even so gently.

Not enough can be said about the persecutions polygamists suffered, especially during this period. We've all read about polygamists wandering the country as strangers in a strange land, landing proudly in jail, and fleeing to Mexico for refuge. Some polygamist wives couldn't handle the life and divorced their husbands. When you consider the circumstances implied around the plural marriage of John E. Metcalf Jr., you can only conclude that Mary Keziah had abundant personal strength, for she never did divorce him. And if it was 1890 that she found out about the second wife, she stayed in Manti for more than ten years.

During these ten years, while her husband was having more children, her children were marrying and having children of their own:

Sarah Elizabeth md 23 Jun 1892 Carl August Swalberg, Jr.
Mary Eliza md 30 Nov 1892 Walter Stringham Jr.
Emma Electa md 30 Nov 1892 John Henry Stringham
Franklin John md 15 Sep 1897 Henrietta Cox (div)
Lillie May md 9 Mar 1897 Abraham Jones (div)

Mary Eliza and Emma Electa, who married the Stringham brothers, had a double wedding. Emma Electa's daughter Joy Stringham Blanchard writes of that occasion: "The wedding was the event of the year with real orange blossoms from California, formal dresses, and a cake that the top was kept in a glass globe for years."

It's a bit interesting to note that Louisa was born only five months before the first marriage -Sarah Elizabeth's. LeRoy was born four days after Franklin John's wedding.

And the year after the birth of Mary Dahling's last child, Mary Keziah left Manti.31

 

Oregon

The 20 April 1901 issue of the Manti Messenger has this sad little snippet: “The family of John Metcalf left for Oregon this week, and Mr. Metcalf appears to be very lonely, living in their big house here, ‘all alone.’” Earlier news tidbits indicate that they had been preparing for the move for a few months, with one or another family member going to Oregon.

From the writings of granddaughter Georgia Stringham Smith:

In June of 1900 [It was actually April 1901] Grandma Metcalf and most of her family moved to Oregon. Understand that the sugar factory that was building a plant in Union County, Oregon were trying to get some LDS people to move to that place with the understanding that they would raise sugar beets. They would furnish a railroad car that they could move their belongings in and also live in it until they had a place established. My father, John H. Stringham, and Grandma went together and bought forty acres by the little town of Imbler, Oregon. There was a house on the property and father built another house for Grandma, Mary K. Metcalf. (Father had just started the foundation for a new home in Manti but left it and came to Oregon.) My sister Mildred was eleven months old at the time. Grandma's son Leland was ten years old, Clyde was sixteen, Madge 24, Lillie 26. Lillie's daughter Gladys was two or three. Eliza and her husband Walter Stringham built a store in Imbler which they had for years.

The conclusion to be drawn from Mary Keziah's statements over the years could be that her move to Oregon resulted from her inability to live in polygamy. That is the family tradition that her descendants have long held. The most commonly told story within the Dahling side of the family is that the families got along fine but persecution had increased to such a degree that John Jr. felt it necessary to separate the families. (The common thought that he was facing prison is speculation and would not have been a factor after the Proclamation of Amnesty in 1893.) According to this chain of events Mary Keziah would have been the obvious one to move since she had older children to care for her.

The circumstances surrounding the marriage of John E. Metcalf and Mary Dahling are a great mystery to the Dahling side of the family. While his older children were old enough to remember the days before Mary Keziah moved to Oregon, the younger children couldn't have remembered. My Grandfather Lund was only five at the time of the move – twelve when his father died – and he never discussed his father's polygamy with his children. Now he and his siblings are gone and most of John E. Metcalf's Dahling descendants have no family tradition regarding the marriage and are widely ignorant even of the fact that their Grandfather Metcalf was a polygamist. Where these descendants have known about their ancestor's polygamy, it has been thought that Mary Keziah knew about the polygamist marriage from the start. The belief that the two families lived in harmony is an assumption, as is the theory of separation due to persecution. Still, they are theories worthy of consideration because they are based on the memories of John Jr.'s children by Mary Dahling. Let's explore this version of events for a minute:

Any woman who has ever been through a divorce (myself included) has to admit that eventually the hurt you feel grows into a bitterness towards the man who hurt you, coloring everything you ever say about him. You even have a tendency to color facts a little, to help justify yourself. What few statements we have from Mary Keziah come from her in the years after her move away from Manti and it must be remembered that they come from a woman who was (understandably) bitter. I don't doubt the truth of her statements, but I do think we owe it to her – and to him – to consider her comments in context of the circumstances.

The conclusion that she didn't know about his second wife until 1890 or 1901 is actually hearsay and may or may not be true. It is hearsay based on her own statements, though, and she had no reason to manufacture that scenario, though she might have had a tendency to color the truth as the years went by. Truth colored with hurt tends to change with the passing generations and we may well find that the story now told (a hundred years later) is quite different from the story that Mary Keziah lived.

I commented earlier about the fact that John Jr. went all the way up to Logan to marry his second wife and that Mary Dahling Metcalf continued to live in Salt Lake City in the early days of her marriage. This could be contributed to the possibility that Mary Keziah didn't know about the second marriage. It could also be contributed to the fact that in 1886 persecution against polygamists was at its peak.32

Prior to 1852 and the Church's official announcement that it practiced polygamy, polygamy was legal in the United States. In 1862 President Lincoln signed into law the Morrill anti-bigamy law. This was a specific attack against Mormon polygamy, but, with the country in the midst of Civil War, no officers were sent to enforce the law. In 1882 the Edmunds bill passed. This bill disenfranchised polygamists and made them ineligible for public office or jury duty. In effect, the Edmunds bill deprived the Territory of Utah of the ability to self-govern. From that time the campaign against polygamists became a holy war. In 1884 the "segregation ruling" developed, allowing separate indictments against a man for every day he was found guilty of unlawful cohabitation. This meant that a man who even attempted to provide for his several wives could spend the rest of his life in jail. It was this ruling which sent Church leaders into exile. In 1886, when John Jr. married Mary Dahling (a lesser man might have shrunk away in fear!), President John Taylor was living in hiding, in fact died a year later while still in hiding.

I quote again from The Mormon Experience a documented account remarkable in its parallels to the Metcalf polygamy:

One of the most fully documented accounts is by Annie Clark, a highly intelligent, sensitive young woman who became the plural wife of J.M. Tanner, a leading Mormon educator. Married during the late 1880's, she suffered at first from the secrecy and ignominy of living plurality secretly, giving birth to her children at the home of her parents or other relatives, still using her maiden name. It was a dangerous time for plural marriages to be widely known: men and some women were serving time in the penitentiary for polygamy, and the trials leading to these convictions could be heartrending experiences as wives were called to testify against their husbands.

This is the period of time referred to as "the raid." "Co-hab hunts" were common affairs and children were stopped on the streets by federal authorities to be questioned about the activities of their parents. The pressures were enough in the late 1880's to cause some polygamist husbands to abandon their second families. In the attempt to keep themselves out of jail and still support their wives and children, many polygamists found it necessary to maintain the separate families in separate towns.

So it would be altogether understandable for John Jr. to marry secretly, in a place as far away as possible, and to keep his second wife in Salt Lake City, even if his first wife had been agreeable to the marriage. Had the marriage not been done in secret and the second wife been maintained as far away as Salt Lake City, John E. Metcalf Jr.'s history would very likely be dealing with his trial, his wives' and children’s forced testimony against him, and his time in jail. As it was, it is likely that his second wife lived the indignity born by so many polygamist wives of the underground period, bearing her seemingly fatherless children in secret, the neighbors whispering maliciously.33 He brought his second family to Manti only after the Manifesto made it safe to do so.

By the time Mary Keziah moved to Oregon the persecution against polygamists had decreased substantially. U.S. President Harrison had issued the Proclamation of Amnesty in January of 1893 and in 1896 Utah was admitted into the Union and Church real estate, confiscated under the Edmunds-Tucker law of 1887, was returned. Federal Authorities ceased all prosecutions, preferring to let polygamy just die a natural death. The fact that persecution had decreased by 1901 suggests that Mary Keziah's move was prompted by some other factor. If John Jr. were going to separate the families because of persecution he likely would have wanted to do so more before the Proclamation of Amnesty in 1893; instead he moved them closer together around that time.

The theory of separation because of persecution should not be ruled out though, because after the Manifesto was issued polygamist families that continued attempts to stay together suffered many trials until that generation passed away. Post-Manifesto persecutions were of a more social nature than legal.

It is entirely likely that it became increasingly difficult for both families to be in the same county and someone had to move. Some have suggested that perhaps John Jr. decided to live with his younger family and Mary Keziah got mad and left. It could be that Mary Keziah just grew weary of being treated like a polygamist wife when she in practice had no husband at all anymore. (A woman can live in the same boarding house with her husband and still not feel like a wife to him.) One common conclusion has been that Mary Keziah learned about Mary Dahling in 1890, that she grew more and more miserable during the decade of 1890-1900, and that in 1901 she decided she could take it no longer. Maybe during those ten years John Jr. became increasingly aware of the growing needs of his younger Gunnison family while the needs of his older Manti family were decreasing. The very fact that his second family was as close as Gunnison indicates that he was trying to care for them after the Manifesto, but the fact that they were as far away as Gunnison indicates that his attempts to care for them caused problems. The fact that he was living with his first wife and not his second indicates that after the Manifesto he chose his first family over the second. But the fact that children continued to be born to the second family indicates the opposite. He was surely trying to be equitable during this time but it would be no wonder if Mary Keziah just got fed up with all this equity and moved.

A contemporary history of Sanpete County (published in 1898) includes biographical sketches of its prominent citizens. In the sketch of John E. Metcalf, Jr. we read, "His wife was Mary K., daughter of Joseph and Polly Benson Bartholomew."34 The sketch goes on to list his children by his wife Mary Keziah and is conspicuous in its failure to mention his second wife and their children who were then living on his farm in Gunnison. Of course 1898 was not a good time to be advertising a prominent citizen's polygamist status--the defunct law had become something of an embarrassment to sensible Mormons and community leaders.

Still, if as late as 1898 his Manti biographers knew nothing of his second marriage, then perhaps his first wife was in the dark. It would have been hard for him to keep the fact of a plural wife hidden during the short time Mary Dahling was living in Manti, but it would not have been impossible.35 It is entirely conceivable then, that the move to Oregon was Mary Keziah's reaction to a discovery that, in an instant, destroyed her trust in her husband. Her granddaughter Joy Stringham Blanchard, seven and a half years old in June 1901, remembers the move:

My sister Mildred was born July 29, 1899...then tragedy hit our little family. Our Grandma Metcalf found out that our Grandpa Metcalf, who ran a freight line from Manti to Gunnison [actually he did not run a freight line], had a wife in Gunnison with sons as old as Grandma's two younger sons, and while this was all right with the Mormon Church it certainly was not all right with Grandma. At this time the railroad in conjunction with the church was trying to get people to move to Oregon so my father...and my mother and I and Mildred went to Imbler, Oregon to look over this country. My father had a brother, Lute Stringham, and his family who were living in Imbler... We went back to Manti and sold our home and talked Uncle Walter, Aunt Eliza and Lynn, Grandma Metcalf, Jode, Clyde, Leland, Lillie and Madge, Lillie's daughter Gladys, Uncle Gus Swalberg and Aunt Sadie, Vera, Leah, Grace and Gertrude to move to Oregon. Grandpa Metcalf stayed in Manti with his second wife.

Joy's history was written many years later, when she was elderly herself and after family tradition regarding the move had already been established. It is not likely that as a seven-year-old she would have been privy to the reasons for the move. Still, she is absolute in her assertion that Mary Keziah learned of the second marriage after 1899 and states quite clearly that that intelligence prompted the sudden move of 1901. She also indicates, however, that the original idea of moving to Oregon wasn't Mary Keziah's idea, but that she was "talked into" it by her children who were already living there. For a few years Manti had been watching more than a few of its citizens leave for Oregon, and three of the children of John E. & Mary Keziah Metcalf were in the restless group hitching their wagons:

The Manti Messenger 21 March 1900: John Stringham [Emma Electa’s husband] has ordered his paper sent to North Yakima Washington where he is now employed at his trade. His family we understand will soon leave this city to join Mr. Stringham. He has almost decided to locate in Oregon and will sell out his interests here.

The Manti Messenger 28 July 1900: O.F. Coolidge and family left this week for Oregon to make their future home. Their belongings they did not dispose of here were shipped over the S P. V. Railway and put in charge of Joseph [Leon] Metcalf who goes to Oregon to take charge of a farm there belonging to his parents near Imbler.

The Manti Messenger 15 September 1900: Walter Stringham, Jr. [Mary Eliza’s husband], and family left for Imbler, Oregon Monday last where they intend making their home. Walter was a good fellow, well thought of by all, and we are sorry to lose such citizens.

Note that as early as July of 1900 John E. and Mary Keziah Metcalf owned a farm near Imbler, Oregon. That was a full nine months before Mary Keziah was “talked into” joining her children already in Oregon.

Mary Dahling's daughter Louisa wasn't much older than Mary Keziah’s granddaughter Joy Stringham at the time.  At the time of the move she was a nine-year-old girl, and after Mary Keziah moved away Louisa lived for years with her half-brother Frank, helping his ailing wife with home, work, and children. In her later years Louisa said that as she understood it, "Aunt Mary" moved to Oregon to find work for her boys and that her father chose to stay in Manti with his younger second family. Louisa also comments that Mary Keziah's daughters were beautiful girls and that Mary Keziah was a nice woman. Obviously, she had to have known them to describe them at all.

So much for the theories. There is no-one around today who can tell us what really happened. Whatever the circumstances, it must have been a trying day when Mary Keziah suddenly moved to Oregon.

That is not to say that there was no longer any contact between John Jr. and his first family. In 1902 Grandpa sent red and white crystal mugs to his grandchildren for Christmas. Granddaughter Georgia Stringham Smith (born five days after that Christmas Day) says of these gifts, "Their names were printed on these mugs. I always rather envied them receiving such a beautiful thing and I didn't get one. But I wasn't even around at that time." Some of these mugs still survive in the possession of descendants.

On 3 October, 1907 son Clyde and his bride, Katherine "Kate" Naomi Rogers, went to be married in the Salt Lake Temple. From Clyde's autobiography we read:

My Father, who lived in Manti, was at the depot in Salt Lake to meet us. He had engaged a place for us to stay. That afternoon we went to the Temple and were married for time and eternity by one having the Authority. Father, Kate and I were invited to the Asper home, where they were having a party for the missionaries who had filled missions in Samoa. Frank Asper, the Tabernacle organist, was one of the missionaries. Kate was quite embarrassed when she was greeted with a nose kiss by the father of the family. The next night we went to a play in the old Salt Lake Theater, "The Alaskan." When we were coming out we got separated from father and as we left for home the next morning, it was the last time that I ever saw him.

A greeting card that he sent to daughter Emma Metcalf Stringham:

Manti, Dec 25, 1907

to Mrs Emma Stringham:

I wish you a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. I trust you will live to see many returns of the day and joy and happiness through lifes Journey and be enabled to rear your children in the fear of the Lord. Compliments of the Season from your loving father.

 

Typhoid

Shortly after Mary Keziah moved to Oregon, in August of 1901,36 Mary Dahling moved back to Manti. Her children at that time ranged in age from thirteen-year-old Blanche to nine-month-old Leo. This was the first their father actually lived with them. That is not to say that he had been a stranger to the children of his second marriage. Daughter Louisa says that even when she was little she knew her father just as well as any kid knew his or her father:

He was so that you nearly lived with him...[I] loved him to death. Father was awfully good to us children. He taught the choir and he was a good singer, a beautiful singer father was. And he'd come home and ...he'd get us all together and had a choir out of all us kids. I had one of the ladies ask me in the church, "How is it you know all the songs and never look in the book?" "Oh," I said, "I was blessed with a father that knew them all." Yes, he was really nice.

Some descendants remember that the Oregon Metcalfs never saw him again after the move. Others remember him to have visited his family in Oregon. Mary Keziah's granddaughter Georgia Stringham Smith (who was only six years old when he died) says that he visited and tried on at least one occasion to convince Mary Keziah to let him join her there. She was the wife of his youth, and he must have mourned her leaving immensely. It was to this entreaty that she said that "no way would she have her husband come and live with her."

The Manti Messenger tells us that Mary Keziah came to Manti for a visit at least once (October 1904), and on another occasion (May 1903) mentions that John E. Jr. went to Oregon for a visit.

In late summer of 1908 he contracted typhoid fever. His death certificate states he contracted it in Manti, and daughter Louisa says he fell ill while traveling to Oregon, getting only as far as Salt Lake City: "He got so sick he hopped the train and turned around and came back home and he only lived two or three days."

John Edward Metcalf, Jr. died on 6 Sep 1908 in Manti, Sanpete, Utah, at the age of 69 years.37 Mary Keziah went to Manti one last time for his funeral, bringing several of her children (Emma, Madge, and Lillie) and grandchildren (Georgia and Gladys) with her. Of his second family, Blanche was nearing twenty at the time of his death, baby Leo was six and a half. They had lost their son Verne six months earlier, in a lumbering accident. It would be three and a half years before any of his children by Mary Dahling were married, so he didn't live to see any of his sixteen grandchildren from those children. He was buried in the beautiful cemetery at the bottom of temple hill and his monument is still there.38

His second widow, Mary Dahling Metcalf, was 57 at the time of his death and outlived him by 28 years. She stayed in Manti and Mary Keziah stayed in Oregon, and all communication between the two families ended. In Oregon, Mary Keziah Metcalf became a powerful force in the lives of her children and grandchildren and died as the widow of John E. Metcalf, Jr. She had left her husband, yes, but in doing so she was leaving an impossible situation more than the man himself. She did not abandon her Celestial marriage; she never did remove her wedding ring and when she was buried 29 years after her husband she was buried with it on. Mary Dahling Metcalf, refined by the fire of Celestial Marriage, worked out her life in the Manti Temple, raised her children, and became the kind of grandmother that small children grow up to canonize. The lives of the Utah Metcalfs must have settled down a bit, for at least one grandchild (my mother) didn't know about her half cousins, indeed never did know that her Grandma Metcalf wasn't the only Grandma Metcalf in the whole world, until she was a grandmother herself.

 

EPILOGUE

Some years after John E. Metcalf Jr.'s death, a military pension was made available to his widow. Both widows applied. Georgia Stringham Smith remembers well the day that word came that Mary Keziah would be the recipient of the pension and how they laughed and danced around the room with joy. That is an image of Mary Keziah Bartholomew Metcalf that I rather like: it reminds me that her life history involves more than just the bitterness that we have entailed here.

A history written from the perspective of a hundred years later is bound to be short-sighted and I think we would do well to remember that three quarters of a century has passed since Mary Keziah's death in 1937. Since then she, her husband, and Mary Dahling Metcalf have had some time to sort things out. We don't have the benefit here of taking the last severnty-five years into account. Nor do we have the benefit of knowing the details about what really happened in their lives. But the morbid details, as interesting as they are, really don't matter; what matters is that we know our Grandpa Metcalf a little better and appreciate the trials that he and his wives survived. What matters is that we, their seed, secure our relationships with them and hence with one another. I am sure that were he here he would not be inclined to satisfy our curiosity about the particulars we have belabored, rather I think he would be inclined to gather us all about him and bear witness to his testimony of the Gospel which he sought to live to his fullest.

NOTES:

0. Holy Trinity Parish Register Bishop's Transcript; FHL film 990832.  The christening record states that he was born 24 June.  He always gave his birth date as 23 June. I use the birthdate given by Parish Register—it is the record closest to the event. We really ought to look at his birth certificate, but the civil registration index doesn't have an entry that is clearly him. Note: he was re-christened 11 Jan 1848 at St Leonards, Shoreditch, London, Engl

1. See Family Group Record for source documentation of births and deaths of the John Edward Metcalf/Mary Waslin Family.

2. LDS Church, Record of Members, Hull Branch; Family History Library film # 087004.

3. Ibid.

4. The Hull Directory; FHL book 942.74/H1 E4fr for the year 1851 lists John Metcalf, cabinet maker, living at 30 Raywell Street, Hull.

5. Diary of James Farmer; pg 84; FHL film # 485342; item 3

6. Journal History of the Church, Sept 17 1853; FHL film #1259740. Report to Pres. Brigham Young with a list of the company. Writing from the Weber River, Elder Claudius Spencer writes in part: "Provisions with us as with other camps are very short and we are making as much haste as possible to reach the Valley but the inexperience of the English brethren in these canyons makes slow progress and much trouble and will forbid my leaving camp until all the wagons are safely landed at the foot of Emigration canyon." NOTE: Some family records indicate the Metcalf family crossed the plains in a handcart company. Claudius Spencer's report makes reference to the wagons of the company. Also, some family records state that the Metcalfs arrived in the Valley on 14 Sept. This report, dated 17 Sept makes it clear that, while they were near, they arrived after the 17th.

7. Pioneers & Prominent Men of Utah; Salt Lake City; Western Epics; 1966; pg 739.
Note that Elder Claudius Spencer's report sited above does not list the Bartholomew family, however Elder Spencer's list is "a list of a company of saints under the presidency of Elder Claudius V. Spencer, Christopher Arthur, captain of Fifty." The Bartholomews were probably in another fifty if they were indeed in this same wagon train.

8. 1856 Utah State Census; FHL film # 0505913

9. A History of Springville-title unknown to me; Springville Public Library; pg 27: "During the summer of 1856 the corner stone was laid and the walls were run up to the square. ...Joseph Kelley, Robert Watson, and John Metcalf were the mechanics. ...In 1860 the big meeting house was remodeled under the supervision of Solomon D. Chase and John Metcalf. The pulpit was moved to the west end and the stage was enlarged and arranged for scenery." (Note: I don't know the title of this book: photocopies of pgs 26-28 were sent to me by Kathryn Rogers Davison.)

History of Springville. FHL film #1059490; item 5; pg. 64: "In 1865 a contract was let to Solomon D. Chase and John Metcalf to re-model the Big School house into a meeting house for religious worship and the price to be paid was $18,000. The building was finished in the autumn of 1867 and put in its present shape."

10. Journal History of the Church, Jan 9, 1862; FHL film # 1259747.

11. Interview of Louisa Metcalf Denison Domgaard by Elmer Denison and Sons, May 3, 1981. Transcription in possession of Vauna Marie Green Kelly.

12. Encyclopedic History of the Church; pg. 247-248, Fayette Ward. says that it was John Bartholomew, who was Joseph Bartholomew's son and the first Bishop of the Fayette Ward. But family records indicate that it was Joseph Bartholomew. A sketch of the life of Joseph Bartholomew, Sr. in Pioneers & Prominent Men of Utah; Salt Lake City; Western Epics, Inc.; 1966; pg 739 states he was Bishop of Fayette 1877-1912.

13. ibid.

14. ibid.

15. Card Index to Military Records of Indian Wars 1866-1867. FHL film # 536221.

16. Endowment House Sealing of Couples, entry #13320; FHL film 0183396. Sealed by Wilford Woodruff, Witnesses: D.H. Wells & W.W. Phelps.

17. Encyclopedic History of the Church, pages 308-309

18. Journal History of the Church, Oct 8, 1861; FHL film # 1259763.

19. Missionary Records, Book A; pg 42; #1644 (This means he was the 1,644th missionary since they started keeping records in 1860. Joseph Fielding Smith was #1) FHL film# 025664.

20. Journal History of the Church, Dec 23, 1877; FHL film# 1259764.

21. ibid., Sept 23, 1878; FHL film# 1259765.

22. Missionary Records; Book A; pg 59; FHL film# 2316

23. Letter from Larry Sweitzer Smith, 15 June, 1989 pg 5; in my possession. I have quoted this portion of the letter verbatim.

24. Original in possession of Robert Harrison, transcription in possession of Vauna Marie Green Kelly.

25. Interview of Louisa Metcalf Denison Domgaard.

26. Arrington, Leonard J. and Bitton, Davis. The Mormon Experience. NY: Alfred A. Knopf, 1979. pgs. 199-200

27. Bushman, Claudia L. & Goodson, Stephanie Smith. Mormon Sisters: Women in Early Utah. Salt Lake City: Olympus, 1976. pg. 96. Ms. Bushman and Ms. Goodson also comment that "sometimes first wives were thought to be 'just stubborn,' and the authorities would override their objections."

28. D&C 132:64-65; The Senate Committee On Privileges and Elections, vol. 24, 59th Congress 1st Session 1905-1906, Proceedings 1:201, in possession of Larry Smith. This, obviously, is a hard doctrine for any modern woman to accept. I know I nearly choked on it. Consider the following, the results of my many hours of research and pondering: Basic to an understanding of this doctrine is the realization that, "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55: 8-9) The law of Celestial Marriage pertains to a higher thought, a higher kingdom, and hence a higher blessing than we here below can fathom. It is such a high and holy blessing, in fact, that we mortals consider it a trial. Isn't it a wonder that the early Saints lived it as well as they did? The feminist in me pushes me to add that it would be equally as unjust for a husband to deny a desirous wife those incomprehensible blessings, and there were more than a few documented cases in which a woman pressured her reluctant husband into taking a second wife. Consider the history of Vilate Kimball, wife of Heber C. Kimball.

29. Logan Temple polygamist sealings, in possession of the Church Historical Department. This date differs from the family record date we have always had of 26 Feb 1886. I believe the error has come from the fact that Mary Dahling's TIB card, which gives her endowment date as 26 Feb 1886, is wrong. The original record of her endowment -Logan Temple Endowment Record Book A pg 90, FHL film# 178052- reveals her endowment date to be 25 Feb 1886. The Logan Temple polygamist sealing book mentioned above was not available for research at the time of my inquiry, hence I do not have a photocopy of it, but I was allowed to see a photocopy of that page of the book (photocopy in possession of the Temple Department) and confirmed the 25 Feb 1886 date.

30. One of the most delightful things I've ever done is peruse the Manti Temple sealing records of this time period. His name shows up again and again in this book, mostly for work he performed or as witness to countless sealings performed by others. Note: It has been said that John E. Metcalf, Sr was also a temple worker in the Manti Temple but he died a year before it was dedicated.

31. Two family sources put the move in June of 1900 and another puts it sometime in 1901. Manti Ward records indicate it occurred in April of 1901 and reads "all removed to Oregon except J.E. Metcalf." According to Manti Ward Records, Mary Keziah's son Clyde, 16 years old at the time, left Manti nine months before his mother--27 July 1900. On 20 July 1900 John Edward Metcalf, Jr and his wife Mary Keziah Bartholomew Metcalf were in the Manti Temple together. Their oldest daughters, Sarah Elizabeth Metcalf Swalberg & Mary Eliza Metcalf Stringham, were with them and were sealed to them on that date. (source: Manti Sealings of children to parents; Book C; FHL film 1700494) We already mentioned that the 1900 census places Mary Keziah still in Manti on June 7th 1900. Clyde's autobiography states the family "arrived in La Grande at night, the 6th of June, 1900. Wherever the confusion lies, official records indicate the family was still in Manti in June & July of 1900 and that Mary Keziah and her children left for Oregon in April of 1901. It is notable that a good many members of the new Imbler Oregon Ward came from Manti. Luther Stringham, mentioned in this history as having already been in Imbler when Mary Keziah and her children's families moved, was received from Manti into the Imbler Ward either 21 Nov 1899 or 13 Jun 1900--he has two entries with different dates.

32. As an exclamation mark to the political atmosphere of 1886, it might be noted here that in the Logan Temple, polygamist sealings were recorded in a separate book from other sealings, and the book was kept hidden so as to not be found by Federal Marshals. This book was hidden so well that it remained lost, much to the dismay of Church authorities who have been looking for it ever since. In the late 1980's it somehow showed up in the Church Historical Department. John E. Metcalf, Jr. & Mary Catherine Dahling's sealing was recorded in this newly relocated book. (See note 29)

33. An attempt to document what name Mary Dahling Metcalf lived under in Salt Lake City failed. She is not listed in the Salt Lake City directories for the period, and every genealogist in the world grieves over the fact that the 1890 Federal Census was almost completely destroyed.

34. W.H. Lever. History of Sanpete and Emery Counties, Utah. Ogden: 1898, pg 159-160. FHL book 979.2 / H2h. Here is his sketch in its entirety:
”METCALF, JOHN E., proprietor Metcalf Hotel, son of John E. and Mary Waslin, was born in Hull, England, June 23, 1839. His father was a cabinetmaker, joined the Mormon church in 1849, and emigrated with his family to Utah in 1853, crossing the plains with Capt. Spencer’s ox-train. The father located at Fayette, running a flour mill and stock raiser. He died there in 1887; mother died March 26, 1884. John engaged in farming and stock raising, and in 1876 removed to Gunnison, where he owns a good 50-acre farm. He was superintendent of the Gunnison Co-op store two years, and performed a mission of two years in the Southern States. In 1891 he leased the Temple House and removed to this city, conducting the house for five years, afterward purchasing his present place, where he has now a nice, quiet hotel. He is a stockholder in the Central Utah Wool Co.

“His wife was Mary K., daughter of Joseph and Polly Benson Bartholomew, born in Pottowatamie county, Ia., April 29, 1847. They were married in Fayette, March 19, 1865, and have had ten children, Sarah E., Mary E., Emma E., John F., Lillie M., Myra J., Joseph L, Clyde and Leland W., living, Claudius B., dead.”

35. As a sidelight, John Edward & Mary Keziah Metcalf's church records are found in the Manti Ward. But the Manti North Ward Membership Record indicates that J.E. Metcalf Jr blessed two of his children from his second marriage in that ward. He blessed Blanche, who had been born in Salt Lake City only ten days prior, on 22 Jan 1888. He blessed 1½ month old Louisa 1 March 1892. In 1892 Mary Dahling Metcalf was living in Manti--this record suggests in the Manti North Ward. Source: Manti North Ward Membership Record; FHL film 026131; page 111.

36. Manti North Ward membership records, Book B, pg 111 states: "John E. Metcalf received into the Manti North Ward Aug 1901 from Gunnison." It appears that during the four month interval after Mary Keziah moved to Oregon and before his appearance in the Manti North Ward, he was living with his second wife in Gunnison.     In April of 1902 he sold his Gunnison farm as mentioned in The Manti Messenger Newspaper, Saturday 26 April, 1902: “John E. Metcalf was in Gunnison Monday closing a deal, whereby he disposed of his farm in Gunnison field to Joseph Christensen of that place.” This is likely The Joseph Christensen who was married to his niece, Roxie Bartholomew.

37. Obituary; Deseret Evening News; Tuesday September 8, 1908; pg 3; FHL film 026972:

"Sunday morning last John Edward Metcalf, a familiar figure, passed away after suffering for some weeks. Mr. Metcalf was for many years well known as a hotel proprietor in Manti and previous to coming here was a resident of Gunnison and Fayette, his parents locating in the latter place as early as the 'fifties.'

"Deceased was born in Hull, England June 23, 1839. He has a family residing in Oregon and a number of children here to mourn his loss. Mr. Metcalf was for many years engaged in farming, stock raising and also owned some sheep. He was for some time superintendent of the Gunnison Co-op, and performed missionary labors in the Southern States many years ago. He was proprietor of what was known as the Temple hotel during the erection of the Manti temple for a number of years. He was a faithful man in religious affairs, always willing and ready to assist in every good work required of him by those in authority. He has in later years been an almost constant worker in the Manti temple and has been of much assistance to Patriarch John B. Maiben since the sudden departure of the latter's family by death. Funeral services will be held from the tabernacle Wednesday."

38. Buried in Plat B, Block 10, Lot 6. It is a tall monument along-side the interior cemetery road, with an acorn atop it. Next to the monument is a headstone, probably the original stone. Also buried in this lot are his wife Mary Catherine Dahling Metcalf, their two sons Leo and Verne, and her mother Britta Catrina Olsen Dahling.

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