JOHN HEBER STANSFIELD the Story of a Shepherd Artist
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JOHN HEBER STANSFIELD The Story of a Shepherd Artist by Jesse Serena Stansfield Christensen and Jacqueline Christensen Larsen Contents Preface vii Chapter One. The Stansfield Lineage, 1822-1872 1 Chapter Two. The Danish Lineage, 1823-1886 5 Chapter Three. John Stansfield and Ane Sophie Nielsen, 1869-1904 8 Chapter Four. John Heber Stansfield and Elvina Elvira Jensen, 1905-1916 15 Chapter Five. Winters in California, 1917-1920 27 Chapter Six. The County Infirmary, 1921-1923 35 Chapter Seven. Realizing Success, 1924-1928 45 Chapter Eight. Returning Home, 1928-1935 56 Chapter Nine. Art Instructor at Snow College, 1935-1945 68 Chapter Ten. Echo Lodge, 1945-1953 83 Epilogue 101 Compiled List of Known Paintings Index 2 Utah I have trod the valleys of Utah, her rocks, her sand, and her sage. I have crossed her clear, cool mountain streams. I have watched her rivers rage. I have climbed her cedar-crested hills where the crow and the blue jay dwell. I have smelled the quaint, sweet odor of sage and chaparral. I have ascended her lofty mountains clothed in scarlet frocks. I have heard the eagle screeching from its perch upon the rocks. I have tarried in the aspen groves with hummingbird and bee. I have carved my name in the tender bark of the slender aspen tree. I have sauntered her shaded woodland among the fern and columbine. I have routed the bear, black and cinnamon tip, and the crouching mountain lion. I have eaten her wild strawberries, and I have eaten her cherrychokes. I have seen the gray ground strewn with acorns from the oaks. I have slept beneath the blue-green pines under the clear blue sky. I have heard the drumming of the grouse and have seen the deer go bounding by. Utah, my dear Utah! With palette and brush in hand, let me paint your sego lily and your fragrant, flowered land. 3 Utah, my dear Utah! Here let me live and love and stay, and when my earthly tasks are over; In your bosom let me lay. John Heber Stansfield, 1935 Preface I decided to write a biographical sketch of John Heber Stansfield, my father, to introduce a very human person to my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. I want them to know him as a talented artist who could capture the moods of nature on his canvas, and as a man who was no stranger to love, playfulness, graciousness, and on occasion, anger. John=s nickname was Jack. I will call him by his nickname throughout this sketch primarily to avoid confusion with his father whom he was named after.. I have drawn liberally from my childhood memories and stories told to me by my parents about their early life together. My daughter, Jacqueline and I worked together on this history, and without her help, it would not have been written. Jacqueline did all the research and the coordinating. She interviewed many people and contacted those who were knowledgeable about my father=s life and art. As one result of her research, we located paintings that we had not realized existed. Every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of information included. I am deeply grateful to the staff at the library of Brigham Young University for the use of their resources and for their assistance to Jacqueline throughout the project. We were surprised at the amount of information stored at Brigham Young University. The microfilms(of what?) were especially helpful in giving a picture of Jack=s development through his active art years. 4 I am grateful for the continuous supportive help and assistance of Jacqueline=s husband, Rey L. Larsen, and their son, Terry. My three other children, Phyllis, Barbara, and Richard have also helped in various ways to make this sketch possible. Vern Swanson, curator of the Springville Museum of Art, has encouraged me in my endeavors. Others, including Inez Stansfield Peterson, Emily Valarida Pulos, and Roma Stansfield Tucker, all descendants of Samuel Stansfield, did (contributed?) some genealogy work. Russell Stansfield, a cousin, has also been a great help.(in what?) I am honored to have had the opportunity to write this sketch of my father=s life. I have learned more about him through writing this work than I had realized while I was growing up with him. I regret that I was not cognizant earlier of his striving for art recognition, of the self-development of his talent, and of the stress and joy he must have felt as events evolved. My mother lived in both of Jack=s worlds, family and art. She was a very good mother who helped her children to feel safe, stable, and happy. At the same time, she encouraged Jack in his endeavors and tried to minimize any disturbance to his painting time. My thought about her is as a rudder and anchor on a ship. The rudder to keep us all on the right course, and the anchor to hold us steady in times of stress and trouble. Jesse Serena Stansfield Christensen Chapter One The Stansfield Lineage, 1822-1872 5 John Heber Stansfield=s grandfather, Samuel Stansfield, was born March 21, 1822, and was blessed at St. Mary=s, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England. As the youngest of the four children of Joshua and Elizabeth Davis Stansfield, he was the only son. His sisters were Hannah, Elizabeth, and Ann. In 1828 after the death of his wife, Elizabeth, Joshua married Sophia Wilkinson. As a result of Sophia=s abusive nature toward the children the family life was not happy, so the girls left home while they were still very young. Hannah married George Bradley and Ann went to live with Charles, George=s brother. Letters from England suggest that Ann and Charles never married, although their children took the Bradley name. Elizabeth married Joseph Slate when she was only fourteen years old. Joshua Stansfield died of consumption when he was forty-four. He had owned a row of stone tenement houses, which he had let for rent. It was believed he had written a will to take care of his family, but when Samuel tried to make a claim on the estate, the will could not be found Samuel apprenticed as a framework knitter making stockings and other woven and knitted goods. On December 19, 1843, in Basford, Nottinghamshire, he married a young widow, Elizabeth Bryan Amatt, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Dixon Bryan. They lived in Radford, Nottinghamshire with Elizabeth=s two daughters from her first marriage. Samuel and Elizabeth had seven children from their union, all born in Radford: John (b. 1844), Joseph (b. 1846 and lived only two years), Samuel James (b. 1848), Elizabeth [Lizzie] (b. 1852), Heber Charles (b. 1854), Emily (b. 1857), and Cyrus (b. 1860). While many families in England were poor at this time, and young children worked in factories; the Stansfield family was financially secure, so the older children could attend school. Shortly after Lizzie was born, the Stansfields joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as Mormons. Elizabeth=s first daughter, Mary, also converted to the church. Young John Stansfield and Elizabeth=s brother, John Bryan, with his wife Mary, joined the church soon after. At that time, the Elders encouraged the converted ASaints@ to strengthen Zion by gathering in the Rocky Mountains area of America. 6 Elizabeth and her brother were keen to join the ASaints@ in America, but Samuel did not share his wife=s enthusiasm. He felt he could profit more by staying in England, and he declared he would not leave. Elizabeth vehemently retorted, she would take the children to Utah herself. John Bryan died during the preparations for the journey. His widow, Mary, had to stay in England. She needed to sell her newly inherited boot and shoe business, and to settle other matters. Elizabeth did not want to leave without Mary. She feared that her sister-in-law would change her mind about emigrating. After some discussion, they decided Elizabeth would take Mary=s son, Thomas, with her. Samuel James would remain with Aunt Mary in England. Mary would follow with him when she was ready to travel. Both mothers would then reunite with their sons in America. On May 14, 1862, Elizabeth Stansfield aged forty sailed from Liverpool on board the ship, William Tapscott, in company with John, Lizzie, Heber Charles, Emily, Cyrus, and her nephew, Thomas Bryan. William Gibson, a returning missionary, was in charge of the eight hundred and nine Saints on board. On June 26, the ship arrived in New York Harbor, and the Saints immediately boarded a train for Florence, Nebraska. During part of the journey, they traveled in crowded, locked cattle-cars. The layover at Florence lasted about three weeks as they waited for teams from Utah to arrive and take them to Zion. During that time a sudden thunderstorm killed two of the company=s travelers. The Elizabeth Stansfield family was assigned to the John R. Murdock company and given a handcart for their belongings for the trek across the plains. The journey to Utah began on July 24, 1862, with seven hundred Saints and sixty-five wagons. Fourteen people died along the way, two couples married, and two children were born. Following a difficult journey, Elizabeth and her family arrived in Salt Lake City on September 27, 1862. Lizzie had walked all the way, except when she was being carried across the rivers on the back of the leader=s horse. Elizabeth set up residence in Spanish Fork, about fifty miles south of Salt Lake City.