Preston Lewis
Life Overview
Youth and Marriage
Preston's father left on a mission to Southern Utah in 1854. At 14, Preston went with him and assisted in driving an ox team all the way to Southern Utah and back. At 15, Preston's father died while serving his mission.[1] Preston was only 17 when he married Virtue. Duritha had remarried and left her house for Preston and Virtue to live in. Preston recalled that they were destitute when they first got married. The young couple had "one broken chair and one broken skillet to cook in." Within a few days, Preston "made a trade for a set of earthenware dishes which helped [them] very much."[2]
Preston "had a few bushels of wheat" which they lived off of "for about two weeks." Then, Preston "went to work on the public works." This provided the couple with things like "flour, potatoes, soap, butter, [and] eggs." After working there for a few months, Preston borrowed "a cradle and cut about eight acres of wheat." He then purchased "a scythe and cradle." Using the his equipment, Preston went to work and earned numerous bushels of wheat. He also "went to the canyon for a few days and got a few bushels of potatoes." He then hauled wood with an ox team he somehow obtained. At this time, Duritha moved back in with Preston. This allowed Preston to use her ox team for the work.[2]
Defending the Temple Site
At the beginning of November, Preston answered the call to help defend the temple site. This was necessary because "the Saints learned that a U.S. Army unit known as Johnston’s Army was marching on Utah. The pioneers buried all the work they had done, making the entire site look like a plowed field."[3]
Preston referred to the temple site as "the site of God." After spending several days at the temple site, Preston returned home on November 19th. Preston then went to work at "the canyon again for a few weeks."[2]
Preston wrote, "On the 4th day of February my wife had a fine boy."[2] Their new baby was named David. He was named after Preston's father.[1]
Preston's journal gives an overview of what he spent his time doing. Toward the beginning of the year, he hauled "wood out of the canyon." During this time, he also went to a sister-in-law's wedding. One entry stated, "On Sunday I went a visiting." Preston spent part of his time working on the canal.[2] The purpose for building the canal was "to float temple blocks of granite from the canyon to city creek."[1] Preston now had property in Cottonwood and may have lived there. He wrote about farming there. He spent his time plowing, ditching, gardening, and building a fence. He also mentioned working for his father-in-law, William Bowthorpe. On March 19, Preston record "Half day plowing. I went to Cottonwood to do this work and word came that all of the Saints had to leave the valley.... I began to fit to leave the city the 4th of April."[2]
In June, "[t]he United States Army...arrived in Great Salt Lake City."[1] Preston record, "I have not done much." In July, he recorded, "I cut some hay for MacDonald and myself. I am a living yet at George Davis. I have got a lot to live on till spring. I have been cutting wheat this week, July 10." He then recorded, "Cutting wheat after moved to the city, and I went back to take care of my hay. I did think that I would stay in Springville, but I thought that I could do more here than I could in Springville. So I moved back to Salt Lake City in September."[2] "Springville is where the Cottonwood saints were waiting out the crisis in SLC."[1]
Preston next recorded, "My mother gave me two ponies and I went to get some salt and haul some wheat, then I went to Springville to get a load of stuff and then I came home.Went to the canyon to get a load of wood, and then I came home.... I have got most all of my winter wood up." Those were the types of things that Preston did in 1858.
Sarah Coleman was Preston's second wife. Her parents were George and Elizabeth Coleman, who lived in Big Cottonwood. Preston and Sarah were married and sealed in 1869. Shortly after, Preston and Sarah were called to serve a mission. They served in the Dixie mission for a year and in "The Muddy" mission for half a year. The last part of their mission ended "when they closed the area after the survey and tax assessment." Preston "then moved his family to Idaho briefly." They returned to Utah during the following spring and lived in Holladay. After farming for a couple of years, they moved to Colorado. After living there for a winter, they returned to Utah.[1]
Preston's mother and Virtue's father passed away in 1878. The following year, "Preston built a new brick house for his families" in Holladay. During his time in Holladay, Preston "served as a block teacher, a School Board Trustee, a Road Supervisor, and a County Commissioner for Salt Lake County."[1][4] Virtue lived in their Holladay house until she died in 1926.[1]
In 1885, Preston and Sarah moved to Midway. In 1889, Preston was arrested for practicing plural marriage. He spent 130 days in the penitentiary. While constructing a house in Midway, Preston fell and "landed face first into a box of lime being slaked for mortar making. He was blinded during his last years as a result of this accident." He had 21 children. Preston died in Heber on January 21, 1913. He has "a great posterity who love and respect him dearly."[5]
Elizabeth Bailey Lewis Journal
Preston referred to the temple site as "the site of God." After spending several days at the temple site, Preston returned home on November 19th. Preston then went to work at "the canyon again for a few weeks."[2]
Overview of 1858
Preston's journal gives an overview of what he spent his time doing. Toward the beginning of the year, he hauled "wood out of the canyon." During this time, he also went to a sister-in-law's wedding. One entry stated, "On Sunday I went a visiting." Preston spent part of his time working on the canal.[2] The purpose for building the canal was "to float temple blocks of granite from the canyon to city creek."[1] Preston now had property in Cottonwood and may have lived there. He wrote about farming there. He spent his time plowing, ditching, gardening, and building a fence. He also mentioned working for his father-in-law, William Bowthorpe. On March 19, Preston record "Half day plowing. I went to Cottonwood to do this work and word came that all of the Saints had to leave the valley.... I began to fit to leave the city the 4th of April."[2]
In June, "[t]he United States Army...arrived in Great Salt Lake City."[1] Preston record, "I have not done much." In July, he recorded, "I cut some hay for MacDonald and myself. I am a living yet at George Davis. I have got a lot to live on till spring. I have been cutting wheat this week, July 10." He then recorded, "Cutting wheat after moved to the city, and I went back to take care of my hay. I did think that I would stay in Springville, but I thought that I could do more here than I could in Springville. So I moved back to Salt Lake City in September."[2] "Springville is where the Cottonwood saints were waiting out the crisis in SLC."[1]
Preston next recorded, "My mother gave me two ponies and I went to get some salt and haul some wheat, then I went to Springville to get a load of stuff and then I came home.Went to the canyon to get a load of wood, and then I came home.... I have got most all of my winter wood up." Those were the types of things that Preston did in 1858.
The Second Part
of Preston's Life
Sarah Coleman was Preston's second wife. Her parents were George and Elizabeth Coleman, who lived in Big Cottonwood. Preston and Sarah were married and sealed in 1869. Shortly after, Preston and Sarah were called to serve a mission. They served in the Dixie mission for a year and in "The Muddy" mission for half a year. The last part of their mission ended "when they closed the area after the survey and tax assessment." Preston "then moved his family to Idaho briefly." They returned to Utah during the following spring and lived in Holladay. After farming for a couple of years, they moved to Colorado. After living there for a winter, they returned to Utah.[1]
Preston's mother and Virtue's father passed away in 1878. The following year, "Preston built a new brick house for his families" in Holladay. During his time in Holladay, Preston "served as a block teacher, a School Board Trustee, a Road Supervisor, and a County Commissioner for Salt Lake County."[1][4] Virtue lived in their Holladay house until she died in 1926.[1]
In 1885, Preston and Sarah moved to Midway. In 1889, Preston was arrested for practicing plural marriage. He spent 130 days in the penitentiary. While constructing a house in Midway, Preston fell and "landed face first into a box of lime being slaked for mortar making. He was blinded during his last years as a result of this accident." He had 21 children. Preston died in Heber on January 21, 1913. He has "a great posterity who love and respect him dearly."[5]
Elizabeth Bailey Lewis Journal
Preston's daughter Elizabeth Bailey Lewis Newbold recorded the following in her journal: "I was born in a two room adobe house in Big Cottonwood Ward, now called Holladay, Utah. My parents were among the first settlers in that part of the Country. My father was a farmer. I was the 3rd child of a family of 12. I was baptized when eight years old in a mountain stream of water, running through the top part of our farm. At an early age I helped do the work both in the house and on the farm, picking up potatoes, husking corn, milking cows, caring for chickens and geese, running errands, and helping get honey from the hives. We lived by Big Cottonwood Creek. The Indians camped by the stream. They came to our place to beg and many times mother would give them her last loaf of bread. There were lots of Indians in those days and we children got pretty frightened of them. In 1879 father built a new brick house and we moved in the fall of 1885. My parents moved to Idaho. We traveled by team - taking us twelve and one-half days to get there. We came back and again located in Holladay. We farmed for two years then we went to Colorado - staying there one winter. We came back and ran a farm in Taylorsville. It was on this farm I met a young man by the name of George Newbold and on the 15th of October 1891 we were married in the Logan Temple, Logan, Utah."[5]
"In the fall of 1879 father built a new brick house and we moved in the fall of 1885. My parents and family moved to Idaho. We traveled by team, taking us twelve and one half days to get there. In the spring of the next year we came back and again settled in Holladay, Utah. We farmed for two years then went to Colorado and stayed there one winter, then back to Utah."[5]
"Sarah and Preston accepted a call from the LDS Church to serve as Pioneers and Missionaries in Southern Utah and Nevada, in the settlement of Dixie, near St. George. Then on to the "Muddy" which is now called Moapa Valley. They moved back to Holladay, Utah where Preston took an active part in civic affairs; he served as a School Board Trustee, as a Road Supervisor and County Commissioner for Salt Lake County.[5]
They moved to Midway, Wasatch County, Utah. While building a 'Pot Rock' house, Preston fell from a scaffold face first into a box of lime being slacked for mortar making. He was blinded as a result of this accident. Preston King Lewis was the father of twenty one children. He leaves a great posterity who love and respect him dearly. He died January 21, 1913 in Heber, Wasatch, Utah. His first wife, Virtue Ann, died January 28, 1926 in Holladay, Utah. His second wife Sarah, died April 11, 1934 in Heber, Utah. Preston King Lewis and Virtue Ann Bowthorpe were the parents of nine children, all born in Holladay, Utah."[5]
1. Preston King Lewis. Retrieved from Ourfamilyheritage. Edited by Devin McFarlane.
2. Preston Lewis Journal.
3. Salt Lake Temple. Retrieved from www.lds.org.
4. Esshom, Frank E. Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah. Retrieved from Ebooksread.com.
5. Elizabeth Bailey Lewis Journal Biography. Retrieved from CS.Utah.edu.
They moved to Midway, Wasatch County, Utah. While building a 'Pot Rock' house, Preston fell from a scaffold face first into a box of lime being slacked for mortar making. He was blinded as a result of this accident. Preston King Lewis was the father of twenty one children. He leaves a great posterity who love and respect him dearly. He died January 21, 1913 in Heber, Wasatch, Utah. His first wife, Virtue Ann, died January 28, 1926 in Holladay, Utah. His second wife Sarah, died April 11, 1934 in Heber, Utah. Preston King Lewis and Virtue Ann Bowthorpe were the parents of nine children, all born in Holladay, Utah."[5]
References
2. Preston Lewis Journal.
3. Salt Lake Temple. Retrieved from www.lds.org.
4. Esshom, Frank E. Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah. Retrieved from Ebooksread.com.
5. Elizabeth Bailey Lewis Journal Biography. Retrieved from CS.Utah.edu.
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