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True to the Faith
The Life of Willard Boulter Enniss
Written and Compiled by Noel H. Enniss
Family Book Hard Cover 6 x 9 500 pages. June
2004
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Table of
Contents Stories:
Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4 (photos)
Willard Boulter Enniss is Born
Willard Boulter Enniss was born 8
June 1857, a native pioneer of Draperville, Utah (formerly called Sivogah,
then South Willow Creek, then Draperville, and finally Draper). He was the
fourth child and second of two sons born to John and Elisabeth Boulter Enniss.
Willard was the first born in the covenant, as John and Elisabeth were sealed
in the Salt Lake City Endowment House on 26 March 1857.
John and Elisabeth had two sons and
four daughters: Augusta, Susannah, John Heber, Willard, Edith Elizabeth, and
Mary. According to legend, Willard’s birth was in a crude log cabin, one block
west of the southwest corner of the Draperville Fort. (Now in 2003, the fort
area is known as the Draper Historical Park.)
The Draper Fort was begun and
partially completed by1854, but gates were never hung in place, The settlers
had followed the counsel of Brigham Young in building the fort. He wanted them
to be protected from the Indians who were losing their domain to the settlers,
and were naturally becoming warlike over the matter.
The cabin where Willard was born no
doubt had a willow roof covered with dirt for protection from stormy weather.
According to legend, there was a rare rainstorm and the roof was leaking
during his entry into the desolate Salt Lake Valley, so pots, pans, and other
types of protective gear were used to keep Elisabeth as dry and comfortable as
possible while delivering her fourth child. The water-holding containers also
kept the dirt floor from turning to mud! Willard was blessed the following
July by William Reynolds Terry.
Who attended Elisabeth as a midwife
isn’t known for sure, but Elizabeth Staker Draper, a midwife neighbor, could
have been there. She was the wife of William Draper, the first presiding elder
of the Draperville branch of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Another possibility comes from the history of Jane Enniss Smith Garfield, who
arrived in the Valley in 1856 from England with her three children. Her
husband, Henry Smith, had passed away in England.
Early Family Days – Sorrow and Joy
John and Elisabeth moved soon after
Willard’s birth to an adobe home at 1185 East 13149 South, where they raised
their family to maturity. Edith Elizabeth and Mary were born after Willard,
but died as children at about the ages of 9 and 2 respectively. The birth and
death dates were not recorded. John and Elisabeth were heartbroken. They had
also lost Susannah, who survived the ocean trip from England, but died
sometime after docking in New Orleans on 22 October 1849.
John became well established in
Draper within a few years. Obeying the direction of priesthood authority, he
became a polygamist when he married 17-year-old Jane Oakey (born 8 April 1839)
on the same day that he and Elisabeth were sealed in the Endowment House, 26
March 1857. Jane had come to Utah with her parents in the ill-fated Willie
Handcart Company, when she and her family members suffered terribly. Jane had
contracted TB, and rather than infect other family members, John built her a
small cabin at about 1251 East 13200 South where the South Field Ditch crossed
the road, about one-half block east of the Enniss home. Jane bore a son they
named George who died shortly after his birth. His death caused Jane and John
much sorrow. The year of his birth and death is not recorded. On 1 July 1863,
Jane passed away just four months and 24 days after giving birth 7 February
1863 to a beautiful daughter she and John named Rozilla.
Rozilla was special to Elisabeth and
her husband John Enniss, as she filled the void left by the death of their
three little daughters. Rozilla was a wonderful daughter and sister. Although
six years younger than Willard, she, Willard, John Heber, and his future wife,
Annie Marie Garfield, attended ward and neighborhood parties together. They
were in village theatrical plays and went to school together.
Present-day Draper has had many names
during its history. The names of Sivogah and South Willow Creek had faded out
before Willard was born, due to a post office coming to the settlement in 1854
under the name of Draperville.
Willard’s parents arrived in
Draperville during the fall of 1852, and were among the first 20 families in
this settlement. Being born with a quick mind in a small community with one
Church ward, Willard became acquainted with most of the settlers. There were
long evenings following hard work on the farm and surprise parties held in
homes that sometimes lasted all night. He grew up hearing the pioneer stories
and attending school with pioneer children. He was well acquainted with Andrew
Jackson Allen, Neils Boberg, Ebenezer Brown, Guernsey Brown, Henry Eastman
Day, Elisabeth Staker Draper, Doctor John Rocky Park, James R. Rawlins, Orrin
Porter Rockwell, Doctor Ruel M. Rogers, Absolom W. Smith, Lauritz Smith,
Joshua Terry, William Reynolds Terry, and many others.
When traveling to and from St. George
in the spring and fall, President Brigham Young would often spend time in
Draper meeting with pioneers. Before the railroad came, he rode both ways in
his carriage. Many times a short stay was planned in each of the many
settlements along the way so meetings could be held, and the Draperville
settlers were far enough out from Salt Lake, they were involved in such
meetings. At these times, President Young brought courage and a renewed hope
to the often-discouraged settlers.
Willard was baptized 24 June 1866, at
age nine, by Absolom W. Smith, and confirmed a member of The Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints the same day by John Fitzgerald. On 24 January
1867 he was ordained to the office of Deacon by Absolom W. Smith. His boyhood
days were passed on his father’s farm, where he learned to drive ox and horse
teams, plow ground, chop stove wood, set black locust or cedar fence posts in
the ground, irrigate the parched soil, build and clean ditches, milk cows,
slop the hogs, gather eggs, use a scythe, tie bundles of grain together
without string, haul manure, hay, and grain, use stone-boats (sleds for
hauling stones or other heavy objects), ride horses while driving cattle and
sheep, or for pleasure, use buggies, and all other activities connected with
farming during pioneer days.
The year Willard was born, Johnston’s
Army was trying to get into the Valley to quell the rebellious,
polygamy-practicing Mormons. During the fall of 1857, the army, representing
20 percent of the military forces in America, was outside the valley dealing
with a few men President/Governor Brigham Young had sent out to stop the army
from coming into the valley. He sent Lot Smith, Orrin Porter Rockwell, and
Henry Eastman Day, along with other militiamen from the territory, and a few
from other towns including Draperville. Willard wrote many years later (1936)
of this time:
Johns(t)on Army — Those who went were
Jos. S. Rawlins, Henry Day, Norman Brown, Guernsey Brown, John Enniss, A. J.
Allen, and others detailed to come back. Militia – Frank Johnson, Tom Stokes,
Jun Terry, Roan Palmer.
The men were sent out onto the plains
to burn military wagons and grass feed that might sustain the animals coming
along with the troops, to drive off government cattle and horses, and in
effect hold the army back from entering the valley.
Due to the uncertainty of the
standoff, and President Young’s instructions, most of the Draperville settlers
were prepared to torch their homes and barns, should the army come in. They
followed President Young’s instructions in 1858 by moving over in their wagons
to the south side of the Traverse Mountains by Alpine. It is possible the John
Enniss families went with the other Draperville pioneers.
In an interview Willard had with the
Draper Camp, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, many years later (about 1936), he
states, "...John Enniss and (one) other detailed to come back from Alpine and
irrigate crops. Henry Day was officer in territory." Elisabeth, with her
newborn son Willard and other children, would have camped near Alpine during
this standoff.
Finally, peaceful terms were reached
between the two opposing forces, and Johnston’s Army was allowed to march
through Salt Lake City and locate in Cedar Valley (this military activity is
referred to as the Utah War). As trees were not plentiful in the valley at
that early time, except along streams of water, settlers in Draperville, who
had returned from Alpine, could watch the army marching south between the
Jordan River, and the Oquirrh Mountains as they went south and out to Cedar
Valley.
Although too young to have seen the
army with his own eyes, Willard as a boy heard the stories of those who were
called to protect Draperville and all parts of the Salt Lake Valley. He heard
these war stories many times, and so could write or talk about it to his dying
day.
Pioneer Life
Pioneers, following the Utah War,
settled down to a life of fighting crickets, water shortages, and other harsh
realities while having to wrest a living out of the desert they wished to call
home. Willard saw and experienced many of these days during his youth as he
wore the homespun clothes his mother made from sheep’s wool. Other kinds of
cloth were not readily available until the railroad came into the Salt Lake
Valley.
The valley floor, at that time, was
not flat and level as it appears today (2003). Nor was it like the north side
of Draperville, where mountain streams cut through, covering large parts of
the terrain with grassy wetlands, meadows, and marshes. On the dryer south
side of the valley where the Enniss home and farm were located, water wasn’t
so abundant. Sagebrush covered the hills and hollows, and sloped up to the
foothills of the Wasatch Mountains on the east and Traverse Mountain on the
south. A large deep gash or wash knifed through from the mouth of Corner
Canyon in a northwesterly direction several miles, and finally emptied large
amounts of early springtime runoff water into the Jordan River. Over many
years this stream had cut a wash deep enough to hid a man ridding horseback
down along the bottom. Corner Canyon drained much of the southwestern slope of
the Wasatch Mountains. Warm sunshine in mid February and early March helped
melt snow packs high in the mountains that contributed to the early heavy
spring stream flow.
The foothills in this corner of
Draperville produced sago lilies interspersed with sagebrush, rocks,
rattlesnakes, scrub oak, maple, elder berry, wild chokecherry, service and
hawberry. A few mahogany and many varieties of pine trees were found higher in
the mountains. All the scrub oaks, trees, and vegetation camouflaged the
Indian and deer trails, some of which swung around toward the Point of the
Mountain.
Indians roamed the foothills, and
camped in various areas around Draperville during this time. They fished the
Jordan, picked available fruit, and killed deer, sage hens, and other game as
needed. When times were hard, they would catch crickets by using crude
gunny-sack-like nets held across the creek. Willard, as a young lad, was
wide-eyed and impressed when he saw Indian braves chucking live crickets into
their mouths. Those crickets not eaten alive were dried and ground with rocks
into a "flour" as was grain during those times. The "flour like powder" was
used for making cakes or small loaves of "bread."
School Days
Willard was enrolled in school at an
early age. Dressed in his homespun clothes from inside skin to outside pants,
shirts, tie, and coat, he would be off to school where he loved to learn from
teachers such as Dr. Reul M. Rogers, Delila Allen, Dr. John Rocky Park, and
James Z. Stewart. He talked about these teachers all his life. His father,
John, was a school trustee, and one of three who guaranteed to pay the gold
part of Dr. Park’s salary while he taught school in Draperville.
Willard remembers his school days in
Draper.
I am one of the very few living
persons who went to the Draper village school taught by Dr. John Rocky Park.
This school was held in the second meetinghouse built in Draper, a low, white
adobe building. There were two rooms, a main hall and a vestry, with two doors
between them. These rooms were furnished with benches 12 to 16 feet in length.
These had backs and were divided into sections by armrests placed at
intervals.
During Dr. Park’s last year at
Draper, some tables and chairs were provided for the favored advanced
students. Movement of these chairs sometimes caused a noticeable noise not
possible with the long benches.
On the wall between the main room and
the vestry, Dr. Park had the shelves of his library. On the walls also were
his collections of pinned insects, etc., his collection of butterflies being
especially large. Many students and others brought in natural history
specimens from time to time.
The building was heated by means of a
large ‘cannon’ stove into which a considerable length of log could be placed.
The pipe ran the length of the main room and on through the vestry so that
both rooms were well heated.
Dr. Park taught all grades and all
ages and averaged an enrollment of about 100 pupils. Some of the books used
were: McGuffey’s Readers, Wilson Readers, Spencerian Speller, Ray’s
Arithmetic, Spencerian or Freehand Penmanship. We were also taught Geography,
History, Botany, Zoology, Ornithology, and Philosophy.
I recall that Dr. Park was always
very thorough in arithmetic. He delighted in mental arithmetic. In all cases,
the student answering was required to stand, explain each step in the solution
and be ready always to give the reason for each operation. The question.
‘Why?’ was always prominent in his teaching.
He instilled a spirit of earnest
pursuit of learning which lasted on long after he left Draper. The ambition to
achieve and the will to work have also lasted on.
Dr. Park controlled his pupils,
generally by kindness and force of personality, though occasionally he was
compelled to resort to corporal punishment. One such occasion I remember
distinctly. The boys were always seated on the west side of the building and
the girls on the east. The larger pupils were seated at long tables and the
smaller one on long benches near the stove. One boy took great delight in
teasing the girls and on one occasion when Dr. Park was busy at the
blackboard, he slipped across the room and sat down by the girls. When the
teacher turned around, he slipped back to his own side of the room, but Dr.
Park was too quick for him and saw at once what he was doing. He told the boy
to go back and sit with the girls. Upon the boy’s refusal to do this the
teacher gave him a sound whipping. Although it failed to make the boy do as he
had been told, it served a good purpose, as it quelled further occurrences of
the kind.
At another time, one of the girls
lost her temper and when the teacher attempted to discipline her she jumped
through the window and ran home. On the whole, however, such happenings were
very rare and good order and industrious work generally prevailed.
In those days our recess or playtime
was not supervised. The older pupils often stayed indoors getting assistance
from Dr. Park on some problem that was bothering them. The younger pupils
found or made their own amusements. One ball game I remember very well we
called ‘Roley Holey.’ Our balls were home-made of string or old yarn sometimes
covered with leather. We also played pin and marble games. One rule Dr. Park
made was strictly adhered to: ‘no playing for keeps.’ At the end of a game all
our winnings were turned over to the owners who had put them in the game. This
taught us honesty. Everyone enjoyed the games and little resentment or hurt
feelings ever crept in.
Dr. Park was not only the
schoolteacher, but the school janitor as well. He always came to school early
to start the fire and have the room warm and comfortable for the pupils. The
older boys and girls assisted him in the janitor work. The girls helped by
sweeping floors and tidying the room; the boys, by moving the tables and
benches while the floor was being swept; also by cutting and bringing in the
wood which at that time was the only source of fuel.
In the schoolroom the Doctor,
probably to save his suit, wore a long, brightly colored dressing gown and
also wore, as a rule, beaded Indian moccasins.
I think the following phase of our
school life under Dr. Park is the one that made the most lasting impression
upon my mind. One afternoon just before the close of school, Dr. Park called
out the names of ten or twelve boys and asked them to stay after school. Among
these boys were William Brown, Heber A. Smith, Joseph M. Smith, myself, and
others whose names I do not recall. We may have had a guilty conscience, for
we truly expected a lecture on some of our misdeeds, but to our great delight
he organized us into a military band. He taught us to march, and to execute
the manual of arms. We were armed with wooden guns, which had been made by
Henry Pearson and Frank Smith, a brother of Heber A. Smith.
Our gray suits, for which the
citizens of Draper furnished the homespun cloth, were tailored, or at least
cut out, by a Salt Lake tailor named Clive, the father of William Clive the
musician. Mr. Clive coming to Draper to supervise the making of the suits. The
trousers had white stripes down the sides and the boys were very proud of
their appearance and the perfection of their drill and performance. They were
especially proud when some member of the state militia carefully studied them
to get pointers.
As time passed, other boys were
admitted to the group. The news that Brigham Young would visit Draper at a
certain time set all Draper agog. The boys’ military band was chosen to escort
him from the station to the meetinghouse. When the great day arrived, we
marched to meet him and lined up beside his carriage with strict military
precision. President Young stopped his carriage and made us a speech of
appreciation and commendation, then we fell in line and escorted our beloved
leader to the meeting house. I don’t believe I had ever felt so important
before as I did that day, and I’m sure I haven’t since.
Dr. Park taught for about two years
in Draper, then went to Oregon. He missed the Draper people and so returned
probably in the fall of 1866 from Oregon to continue teaching in the
Draperville School. He taught there until 1869. Willard attended Dr. Park’s
classes during the last three years he taught in Draperville. Dr. Park left a
lasting impression on Willard all through his long life, and on thousands of
others who came under his influence as a teacher.
Through this visit and others,
President Brigham Young became aware of the wonderful school Dr. Park was
conducting. He wanted Dr. Park to be the president of the University of
Deseret (later the name was changed to the University of Utah). In 1869, Dr.
John Rocky Park left Draperville to become the first president of the only
university in the Salt Lake Valley at that time. There was only one building
used then for the university, and that stood where the Deseret News building
now stands (1936).
Dr. Reul M. Rogers also played a part
in Willard’s life. Besides being one of Willard’s teachers, Dr. Rogers became
his brother-in-law when he married Willard’s 16-year-old sister, Augusta, on 6
June 1863, two days before Willard’s 6th birthday. Ruel had been
her teacher in the Draper school, where they met and fell in love. One story
has them eloping by catching the train that had stopped at the water tank that
was possibly near Corner Canyon, and from there they rode to Salt Lake to get
married. This story is not true as the railroad didn’t come to Draper until
1871, and the water tank wasn’t built until possibly 1872 when the railroad
was extended around the point of the mountain toward Utah County. (The
building of the tank was mentioned in Elisabeth’s diary on page 68, 20
September 1876.) By this same diary, it is evident there were negative
feelings between Augusta and her parents that seemed to last for several years
– perhaps caused by her elopement at the young age of 16.
Willard’s sister Augusta Enniss
Rogers gave birth to Athena Augusta Rogers on 5 August 1867, making Willard an
uncle for the first time when he was only 10 years old. Athena, who spent her
adult life in Canada, was more than a niece to Willard. She was a wonderful
friend and letter writer; they corresponded during their entire lives. She was
a skilled penman, and used endearing terms in letting Willard know her
feelings towards him and the entire Enniss family.
So ends this decade of Willard’s time
on earth, when he was able to bond with his father while learning to work on
the farm. He learned firsthand about the sorrow that comes with the death of
family members. He saw Church welfare in action through the practice of
polygamy. He watched his mother clothe the family with wool from their own
sheep by making thread using a spinning wheel, then weaving the thread into
cloth on a loom. This period is when Willard’s formal education began in the
Draper schools under the influence of great teachers.
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Table
of Contents
CHAPTER 1: JOHN AND ELISABETH.S FOURTH CHILD
1857-1867
CHAPTER 2: BOYHOOD IN DRAPERVILLE 1868-1877
CHAPTER 3: TO YOUNG MANHOOD 1878-1887
CHAPTER 4: BUILDING A FAMILY 1888-1897
CHAPTER 5: FAMILY MAN, CHURCH LEADER & MISSIONARY
1898-1907.
CHAPTER 6: RETURN TO HOME AND FAMILY
1908- 917
CHAPTER 7: CIVIC DUTIES AND BIG
CHANGES IN FAMILY LIFE 1918-1927
CHAPTER 8: BLENDING THE NEW FAMILY
WITH THE OLD 1928-1937
CHAPTER 9: THE FINAL DECADE 1938-1947
APPENDIX A: MEMORIES OF OUR FATHER
APPENDIX B: FUNERAL SERVICE OF W. B.
ENNISS
EPILOGUE
INDEX
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