George Washington WILKINS

Sources:

1998 Ancestral File
Internet IGI , Apr 2008
Pedigree Resource File
Ancestry World Tree
New.familysearch.org, Jan 2010
1870 U.S. Census - Spanish Fork, Utah, UT
1880 U.S. Census - Spanish Fork, Utah, UT
1900 U.S. Census - SpanishFork, Utah, UT
1910 U.S. Census - Spanish Fork, Utah, UT
New.familysearch.org, Sep 2011

Notes:

                   NOTE:
      Historical detail in NOTES


Except as noted, the following account of George W. Wilkins' life is taken from the "History of George Washington Wilkins, Given at Spanish Fork, Utah, Dec. 14, 1933." The brief sketch below, from "The George Washington Wilkins Family History Book" (which we have not seen) presents some minor discrepancies in dates, only some of which are noted. 
At the age of 17, G.W. became an apprentice mold-maker in an iron foundry. Having mastered his trade, by 1843 he began working for himself. Meanwhile, just shy of his twentieth birthday, G.W. converted to the Mormon religion. The aforementioned "history" gives us the following account: 
In the year of 1842, Elder Eli Magin came to Petersboro, New Hampshire, to preach the Gospel. One evening while Brother Magin was holding the meeting, George W. was passing, and heard the singing. It seemed like the spirit of the song touched his heart, so he stopped and listened. He became interested and went in, and heard the prayer and sermon of Brother Magin. After the services he was thoroughly converted to Mormonism and would have been baptized then, but in his younger years he had acquired a bad habit of swearing, and he knew it was contrary to the teachings of [the Mormon] Church. So he asked the elders about his condition and they told him if he was converted to Mormonism and was baptized, the habit should leave him. He was converted to Mormonism and baptized October 9, 1842... When he came out of the water of baptism, the habit of swearing left him and he never again had the desire to swear. He was ordained an Elder in the Church in 1844. After this he moved about a great deal and finally settled in Lowell, Massachusetts, where he met Catherine Augusta Lovett, whom he asked to become his wife. They were married by Leonard Hardy, July 4, 1846... While living in Massachusetts, George W. was called upon to preside over a branch of the Church, which had forty members...
On 19 April 1849, G.W. and his wife left for Utah with a company of "Saints." They arrived in Salt Lake City nearly six months later, on 12 October. There, Brigham Young employed G.W. to cut logs and build houses for the "Saints." In 1852, Brigham Young called upon a number of his followers, including G.W., to establish a settlement in California (San Bernardino). The company of 500, under the leadership of Amasa Lyman and Charles C. Rich, left Salt Lake on 24 March 1852. G.W. took along his wife and baby daughter, Augusta, but left their adopted son Moroni behind to be tended by friends. While in San Bernardino (three years), Catherine gave birth to two sons. 
In 1855, when the colony of Saints vacated San Bernardino, G.W. and his family settled in Spanish Fork, Utah, and soon after retrieved their adopted son Moroni. Bishop Butler chose G. W. to serve as counselor, and he continued in this capacity under Bishop Albert King Thurber after Butler's death. When Thurber departed for a mission in 1862, Brigham Young called upon G.W. to preside over the Spanish Fork Ward. 
Another story: 
George W. had one of the finest teams in Spanish Fork and was asked to take the tithing to Salt Lake City. On one of his many journeys while traveling after dark he called to his team saying "get-up, get-up." Immediately afterwards he heard a voice coming from near the side of the road calling "Father, it is I, your son Moroni." He jumped out of the wagon and hurried to the side of the road where he found Moroni lying on the ground very ill. George W. helped his adopted son into the wagon and brought him back to Spanish Fork, where he [Moroni] lay very sick a long time. Moroni explained that he knew his father's voice when he heard him speak to the horses as they were passing there where he lay. The Indian boy Moroni was baptized and confirmed by George W. Wilkins, March 1, 1860, and ordained an elder into the Church by Elder David H. Davis, May 23, 1871. He died soon afterwards.
Meanwhile, in March 1862, Bishop Thurber called upon G.W. to administer to his (Thurber's) sick child, who apparently recovered. In May, G.W dedicated the ground of the old White Meeting House [on which occasion his future brother-in-law, George Mayer, laid and dedicated the buildings north-east corner stone]. The first officers of the Zions Cooperative Mercantile Institution of Spanish Fork were Bishop Thurber (president) and George W. Wilkins (vice president). In the Independence Day celebration of 1874 we find George W. again (and presumably on many other such occasions), making a patriotic speech. 
In 1871, G.W. left Utah for a mission to England, where he presided over the Bedford and Norwich Conference. In 1872 he returned to Utah at the head of a party of 602 Saints from Liverpool (sailing aboard the Minnesota), arriving 26 September [Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 16 (Church Chronology, 1872)]. He served another mission in 1876, this time in New England (his former home). In 1901, approaching his eightieth birthday, GW was ordained a Patriarch of the Church. 
G.W. was a prosperous farmer, owner of one of the first molasses mills in Spanish Fork, member of the City Council, and Alderman. Though of a station in the community (i.e., Mormon society) to have had many wives, G.W. was, much to his credit, monogamous throughout his life. He married a second time only after the death of his first wife. He was sixty-four years old at the time; his bride, barely sixteen. Still, he sired by her four additional children. One of them, Eugene, told us that, in the exhuberance of his youth, he accidently dumped G.W. while wheeling him at break-neck speed through the streets of Spanish Fork. We are told that G.W. did not fare well in the accident; still, he managed to survive some additional years. William Robertson, a neighbor, descibed G.W. in these terms (1891): "a wise and careful counselor, a kind an affectionate husband, a true and loving devoted father, an honorable and true citizen, neighbor, and friend." 
The family home was located at the corner of what was (in 1933) the site of the Co-op Store. 
Children of George Washington WILKINS and Catherine Augusta LOVETT: 
Moroni A. Wilkins, born about January 1849; died 24 May 1871; buried in Spanish Fork. After a battle between Mormans and Indians in what is now Iron County, Utah, a number of Indian babies, orphaned and homeless, were left to die. Several of them were adopted by the settlers, at Brigham Young's request. G.W. and his wife adopted this baby boy, whom they named Moroni A. [A. for Abraham?]. 
Mary Augusta Wilkins, born in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, 5 July 1851; died 10 October 1924; buried in Spanish Fork. Married John Wesley Snell, 1869. 
George Adelbert Wilkins, born in San Bernardino, 18 February 1853; died in Salt Lake City, 4 June 1932; buried in Spanish Fork. Married Elizabeth Sophia Mayer, daughter of George and Maria (Cable) Mayer, 4 November 1881. Elizabeth S. C. Mayer Wilkins, born 29 August 1862; died 10 May 1893; buried in Spanish Fork [Utah County Cemetery Index]. Children: Catherine Elizabeth (1882, married John S. Johnson), George Lovett (1883), Annie Lyle (1886, married Clarence Hartley Shaw), Lucy Mae (1888, married Roy Ernest Halliday), Eve (1890, married Walter Stumn), Nephi (1893, married Emilia Rose Frances Ruga). 
Charles Henry Wilkins, born in San Bernardino, 16 December 1854; died 4 August 1855. 
Alsina Elizabeth Wilkins, born in Spanish Fork, 7 May 1856; died in Provo, Utah, Utah, 10 January 1926; buried in Provo, 12 January 1926. She married, 28 December 1875, George H. Brimhall, son of George Washington and Rachel Ann (Mayer) Brimhall, and by him had six sons and daughters: Lucy Jane [Jennie] (1875, married Jesse William Knight); Alsina Elizabeth (1876), George Washington (1878, married Harriet Woolf), Mark Henry (1880, married Guinevere Smellie), Wells Lovett (1882, married Fern Smoot), and Milton Albert (October 1883, d. January 1884). In 1885, George H. had Alsina committed to an asylum (i.e., the territorial mental hospital?). On 11 September 1885, he entered into a polygamous marriage with Flora Robertson, by whom he had several additional children. An obviously amibitious man, George H. eventually became President of Brigham Young University (1903-1921). He died 29 July 1932 "by a bullet from a hunting rifle which had been in the family for years." [DUP Obituary Scrapbook]. 
Lucy Angenette Wilkins, born in Spanish Fork, 14 March 1858; died in Spanish Fork, 2 June 1943; buried in Spanish Fork, 4 June 1943. Married Carl Marcusen, son of Rasmus and Karen Marie (Christensen) Marcusen, 28 January 1877. Children: Catherine Maria (1877, married Phillip Davis), Carl Rasmus (1881, married Margaret Ellen Jones), Lucy Garhardina (1883, married Ammon Tuttle), Martha Alsina (1886, married Alma Archibald Andrus), Alvin (1889, married Mary Margaret Coltrin), Margaret (1888), Mary Augusta (1892, married Archie Hodson Hales), John Christian (1894, married Vera Burt), Celestia (1896, married Thomas V. Maloney), Leroy James (1899). 
Joseph Emmons Wilkins, born in Spanish Fork, 23 October 1860; died in Spanish Fork, 29 August 1928; buried in Spanish Fork. Married Armentia Achsa Wilson, daughter of Ervin Riley and Jane (Sargent) Wilson, 13 September 1883. Children: Joseph Ralph (1885, married Delsena Christensen), Armintia Afton (1886), Mabel (1888), Fern (1892), Ervin Grant (1895),Cleon (1897, married Alma Andrus), Rulon Sears (1900, married Norma Jean Holley), James Elgin (1902). 
Albert William Wilkins, born in Spanish Fork, 11 May 1863; died in Vernal, Uintah, Utah, 28 May 1937; buried in Jensen, Uintah, Utah, 30 May 1937. Married Mary Ellen Dudley, daughter of Andrew and Mary Ellen (Paquet) Dudley, 18 March 1888. Children: Emily Achsa (1886), Melvin (1889), Albert Lovett (1892), George Andrew (1893), Emma (1894), Erten Lovell (1896), Ezra Harlon (1898), William Orson (1901), Elsie Augusta (1903, married Ralph L. Case), Elenor Arminta (1906, married Douglas Chew), Lucy Mae (1908). 
Children of George Washington WILKINS and Mary Elizabeth MAYER: 
Namey Wilkins, born in Spanish Fork, 1 January 1889; died in Spanish Fork, 4 September 1960; married 26 June 1906 George Thomas Mattinson, son of George Thomas and Eliza Cecelia (Richardson) Mattinson, born in Payson, Utah, Utah, 15 September 1882, died in Payson 29 May 1940. Children: George Heber Mattinson (1907), Lorin Arthur Mattinson (1910), Dean Wilkins Mattinson (1911), John Thomas Mattinson (1915), and Robert Mattinson (1917) 
Eugene Mayer Wilkins, born in Spanish Fork, 25 June 1890; married 16 November 1910 Dottie Viola Stone, daughter of John Quincy  and Matilda (Beddoes) Stone. Of Eugene we have the following history, written by a grandson (John R. Wilkins) in 1973: 
Eugene Mayer Wilkins was born to George W. Wilkins and Mary Mayer Wilkins in Spanish Fork, Utah, on June 25, 1890. He worked hard as a boy to partially support his parents, but still had some time to enjoy the pursuits of a young man. One of these activities was bicycling. His favorite machine was a Pierce Road Racer. 
Ill health of his father caused Gene to cut short his schooling at the 8th grade and work at the Stewart Honey Company in Spanish Fork, Utah. Part of his earnings went to support his parents, but this wasn't considered a burden because, in his words, he "was just an ordinary hard working boy." 

As a young man, he met Dottie Viola Stone, daughter of John Quincy Stone, a Salem dry goods store proprietor. He courted her in a buggy and team of horses hired from a livery stable, or on his bicycle. They drove the team and buggy to dances, and sometimes rode the horses to Spanish Fork to watch the train come in -- an event in those days. They were married in the Salt Lake LDS Temple on November 16, 1910, along with two of Viola's cousins. Gene went into the Honey and Bee business in Salem, Utah with his new father-in-law. 
While living in Salem, three children were born -- Orpha Viola on February 1, 1912; Russell Stone on November 8, 1914; and Evelyn on February 9, 1916.
In 1916 Gene quit the honey business, and he and his family moved to Magna, Utah where they bought a small house in need of considerable repair. Gene didn't have a job and looked everywhere in Magna to no avail. One day he saw an acquaintance from Spanish Fork who worked for Utah Copper Mines in Magna and asked him "How do you get a job in this place?" The friend told him who[m] to see for a job as a laborer while he waited for something better. After working for several days, a foreman told him he "didn't want him working with those dagoes," and offered him a job as a helper blacksmith. That afternoon he began work weaving screens. He improved his skills, and developed into an accomplished blacksmith helper making tools such as hammers and chisels. The pay of $7.75 per day was good, but he was plagued with back problems, and his lungs suffered from the bad air around the forges. 
The family decided in 1919 to leave Magna for a community called Wapello, North of Blackfoot, Idaho, where Viola's parents had recently settled. Work was found growing sugar beets on a Utah and Idaho Sugar Company farm for Parley Blackburn. A daughter, LaVerl was born there on February 12, 1920. Another son, Howard Eugene was born on August 26, 1925. They stayed on the Sugar factory farm five years, and then made a down payment on a forty-acre farm in Wapello. Farm life proved to be agreeable, but of course there were good years and bad. Nineteen twenty-seven was a bad year because of hail and rain which stripped leaves from sugar beets, knocked the blossoms off the beans, and damaged the hay. 
But 1943 was one of the good years. The price of potatoes was high and Gene had four acres. After selling the harvest and cashing one of Viola's bonds, he was able to pay off the loan on the farm to become the owner free and clear. 
In 1944, Gene went to work again for the U&I Sugar Company at their Blackfoot factory as a pump man. The farm was rented to their son, Russell. Gene and Viola lived on "Sugar Factory Row" in Blackfoot until 1950. During this time they purchased an acre of land on the canal in Wapello next to Viola's parents' old home place. Gene began dismantling a deserted house the sugar company let him have. The lumber was used to build a house on their lot in Wapello. Gene did all the carpentry and most of the finish work on the house himself. A short time later, while in a walking cast, he built a garage behind the house. Gene is a good carpenter. In addition to building the house they now live in, he added a kitchen to the farm house in Wapello, and built a garage. 
He was janitor in the Wapello Elementary School from 1951 to 1962. It was here in the basement during slack times, that he began memorizing poetry. Now days as you visit, you're bound to be treated to the recitation of a few poems. Most center around happiness or exhortations to good, and are taken from Church writings. 
Behind the house he built in Wapello is a large fertile sandy lot which used to be a corral. Each summer during the fifties and sixties, Gene transformed it into a lush vegetable garden of tall corn, peppers, cucumbers, squash, cabbage, strawberries, and raspberries. There was more produce than Viola could bottle, or two people could eat, so plenty was available to give to friends and family. Bugs and worms never stood a chance in the garden because DDT powder was sprinkled generously at the first indication of such invaders. 
During the late sixties as he grew crippled in the hips, he continued to tend the garden on his hands and knees, at times leaving a cane or crutches leaning on a sawhorse at the end of the row so he could get up and shuffle back to the house. 
Visiting grandchildren were usually asked to carry some produce to the house, or to do some other little chore he couldn't do with crutches. The garden plot, however, lies untouched in the seventies because he just can't work it anymore. He does, however, manage some work in the yard. 
Gene and Viola are the oldest people in Wapello at the time this history was written. Four living children, twelve grandchildren and seventeen great grandchildren are the offspring of this fine old coupl