Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate Studies 5-1985 Quiet Power A History of James Grey Willie Doug R. Stephens Utah State University Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Stephens, Doug R., "Quiet Power A History of James Grey Willie" (1985). All Graduate Theses and Dissertations. 4679. https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/etd/4679 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Studies at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. QUIET POWER A HISTORY OF JAMES GREY WILLIE by Doug R. Stephens A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE in History UTAH STATE UNIVERSITY Logan, Utah 1985 ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS It is difficult to go back into the past and write something that is to be called history. When research and writing his history is based on the life of a man, a life significant then and now, it is especially hard to put meaning to the traces and facts of the past. For this reason the conclusions and personal meanings for James Grey Willie's life will largely be left for the final chapter, with the scope for the book being set in the first chapter. The reader will be subjected to the presentation of the facts, with the historical background and framework, in much the same way the author was in doing the research. Then the conclusions, ramifications and significance of James Grey Willie's life will be largely drawn at the end of the work when the reader will have sufficient knowledge on the subject. In this way it will be hoped that those concerned with the life of James Grey Willie will come to somehow appreciate and understand a life from long ago. Many thanks to the fine members of the Utah State University Library Special Collections, and also the people of the L.D.S. Church Historian's office, Archives, and Genealogy Library in Salt Lake City. Also special thanks to the Utah History Department, and especially to Dr. Charles Peterson for his many hours of proofreading, editing, and iii advice, and without whose efforts this project could not have been possible. Also a gracious thanks to Paul Willie who provided the very generous student grant that funded this work. And to Julie Stephens (my wife) for the countless hours of typing and editing, along with valuable support throughout the completion of the work. Doug R. Stephens iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS . • • . • . • • . • • . • • . • • . • • • • • . ii ABSTRACT.............................................. v Chapter I. INTRODUCTION- LABELED FOR LIFE............... 1 II. HIS BEGINNINGS.... • • • • • . • . • . • • . 7 III. THE START OF A JOURNEY WITH MORMONISM......... 21 IV. LAYING THE FOUNDATION OF SALT LAKE CITY....... 48 V. IN ENGLAND TO PREACH. • . • • • . • . • . 6 7 VI. A HARD WAY TO REACH HOME ..•.................•. 102 VII. ALL IS NOT WELL IN ZION •.•.................•.. 149 VIII. MENDON: ITS BEGINNINGS....................... 167 IX. JAMES WILLIE AND MENDON ..•...••.............•• 187 X. A PERSPECTIVE OF JAMES G. WILLIE'S LIFE •...... 213 BIBLIOGRAPHY.......................................... 223 APPENDIX.................. • . • . • . 231 v ABSTRACT Quiet Power, The Life of James Grey Willie by Doug R. Stevens, Master of Science Utah State University, 1985 Major Professor: Dr. Charles s. Peterson Department: History The purpose of this work has been to provide a working biography on the life of James Grey Willie for the field of history, and also to provide a useful and meaningful volume for the James Willie descendants. The work covers James' life from its beginnings in England in 1814, to his death in Mendon, Utah, in 1895. It covers the surviving traces that exist on his life, with the notable accomplishments of Pastor in the Mormon mission field in England (1853-1856), and Bishop of the Salt Lake City Seventh ward between 1856 and 1859, with major emphasis on his most famous deed, that of captain of the ill-fated handcart company of 1856. (245 pages) CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION - LABELED FOR LIFE On the morning of October 20, 1856, Mormon handcart company Captain James G. Willie found twelve of his company frozen in their tents. 1 Relief from Salt Lake City had been expected as word along the trail brought news of rescue parties for the troubled handcart companies . It was decided that Willie , along with a companion, woul d strike out by mule in search of the expected relief. 2 One can only imagine the feelings in Willie 's mind as he started out from the makeshift camp on the fifth crossing of Wyoming's Sweetwater River . He must have thought back to the beginnings of this long and disastrous adventure . He must have thought too about the decision to push on so late in the year burdened as they were with short supplies and makeshift equipment and handcarts. He must have thought of the decision made in England by Mormon Apostle Franklin D. Richards that put him in charge. Surely he could not help but wonder if he might have done better in some way, thus saving more of his people . Already many lay dead, buried on the plai ns between where he left his camp, and Iowa City. The handcart experiment on the part of the ~lormon Church , of 2 which he was certainly a key part, had been a costly one in terms of human life. His group of about 440 people had just eaten the last of their rations. 3 The weakness of his people from lack of food made the cold more unbearable. Thus James G. Willie's journey was one of great importance, for if he did not return quickly with supplies, many more souls would join the dead. Willie and his companion, a man named Joseph Elder, left the fourth handcart company camp among the willows sometime that morning.4 They pushed west two days under harsh blizzard conditions, praying all the way they would not stray off the main trail. Toward nightfall, on the second day, they found a flag that had been placed on the trail. This flag indicated that the rescue party was camped some distance off the road in a stand of trees. The two men struggled into the rescuers camp at nightfall , half frozen but profoundly concerned about the handcart company back at the fifth Sweetwater crossing. 5 Captain George D. Grant, and the twenty men of his rescue party, were relieved to make contact with Captain Willie at last. Grant ' s party had stopped at Willow Creek two days before, unwilling to press on in the storm without a definite destination. Were it not for a special effort of Harvey Cluff in placing the flag, Willie and Elder would surely have been lost and doomed in the storm.6 Also, many would have died i n the handcart company while Grant waited the storm out before continuing 3 his search. Grant's men broke camp before dawn and traveled twenty-fi ve miles to the Sweetwater camp. There they found the group among the sagebrush near the river bottom, sixteen miles from where Willie had left them.7 What the rescuers saw was not a pleasant sight. Men, women, and children were gaunt and sick with hunger . The cold had turned frozen limbs "black as they literally rotted. ,9 The group had received some relief from an advanced express team from Captain Grant's group. A single light wagon had arrived at noon on the day Willie left the Sweetwater Camp. It left a pitifully small amount of supplies, and then moved quickly on to locate the Martin Company which was expected to be in worse condition. l·h th this added spark the group pushed on sixteen miles, despite their desperate condition. The little help the express team offered was consumed in the sixteen miles . 9 Thus they were no better off, and probably worse than when Willie left. Yet they were nearer Salt Lake City and real relief. How thankful they must have been to see the rescue party. It was small, with limited supplies, but it was 0 enough to lift the spirits of the sufferers~ The rescue mission was in no way complete. Little could be offered to the 4412J of \·lillie's company. Many were too far gone with sickness and hunger and would die before they reached Salt Lake City. Yet October 25, the gr oup found the 4 strength to move on.11 For the Willie and Martin companies, the handcart experience was, of course, a tragic event. For the West generally it became a symbol and a tradition. For James G. \-lillie it brought doubt, strength, and elements of grief that would last a lifetime. The Mormon dream of gathering to "Zion" in the Rocky Mountains had taken its toll in human life in the past nine years since first the pioneers arrived. But no event would symbolize tragedy and suffering as did the experience of the Willie and Martin handcart companies of the 1856 migration. This single event thrust the name of James Grey Willie into Mormon fame. Putting aside the names of Brigham Young and a handful of other pioneering greats, the name of James Grey Willie is as well known as any frontier Mormon, recognized alike by historian, lay member of the church, and those even remotely interested in Western history. This simple quiet man was to be known for the rest of his life as "the Willie of handcart fame." All of his other accomplishments would pale by comparison to this one event.