William Charles J Ormond (1856-1936)

!Rewritten by his oldest Daughter Martha Mildred O. Kingsford

Sometime on the date of April 10, 1856, the second son of John Ormond and Martha Jenkins began his earthly career in a humble little old home in Brigham City, Utah. Altho he was only four years old when the family moved to Logan, he carried with him such memories of his early home and a small irrigation ditch where he used to play in the water and on the bank as a little child, he was able to locate the spot when he returned to the city at the age of twenty. He surprised his father by locating first the ditch then the site of his old home. The little boy who was christened William Charles Ormond, moved to Logan with his parents when he was only four years old where he lived until his marriage except when he was away to work.

An interesting incident occured one day while he was crossing Logan bridge. It is just one of the many incidents when he showed his ability to make a worthwhile decision and keep it. Having aquired the smoking habit, he started to light a smoke as he was crossing the bridge. He somehow became impressed with the thought of what a foolish thing it was for a man to let himself become a slave to such an unsightly and useless habit and promptly threw his tobacco and paper into the river and quit then and there.

The following story of his life was written by William C. Ormond himself when he was seventy-nine years of age.

At the age of fourteen, I started to learn the trade of furniture making with Charles Olsen. I worked with him eighteen months. He would not pay me any money but one night he gave me a due bill on Mendon Store. He had given me the most necessary clothing as a shirt, shoes, socks, or overalls, as needed and I felt that I deserved a little more than this. Morever, I knew that he had money in the house and could easily afford to give me a little but he would not. After I went to bed, I got to thinking about it and decided I would not go on like that but would go elsewhere and find employment. Sometime in the night, I tied up my few belongings in a handkerchief and rolled up my quilt and blanket and started off. I walked over to what we called Hamilton Station arriving just at the break of day. The men were just finishing their breakfast and I asked the cook if he would give me something to eat. He said that he would if I would wait until he washed the dishes. He kept his word. After breakfast, I walked over to Mendon and bought me a pair of shoes and a hat. I then walked back to the station where I got my dinner about four o'clock. From there, I walked to Cottonwood Hollow. The railroad just came to Collingston at that time and only one engine, the Little John W. traveled over it. Liney, Ferril, and Roskeley were grading the Cottonwood Hollow at the time. I hired out to them for $20.00 a month and board.

In the later part of November or the first of December, I returned home and found my mother sick in bed. Dr. O. C. Armsby was waiting on her. He wanted me to feed his horses for the winter. I fed them until March then left to learn carpentering and house building with Traveler and Monson. I hired to them for two years for $20.00 per month. We went to Richmond and built a barn for Casper Whittle and one for W. H. Lewis. In the fall of 1873, I went to Lewiston and laid the floor and put the windows in the first house built there. In 1874 I helped to build two houses for W. D. Hendrix and one for King Hillman at Richmond. That year Traveler and Monson disolved partnership. The following year I had men working under me on buildings for Monson. In the year of 1875 Brigham Young and Marriam Lewis traced Utah History and found that I was the first boy born in Utah to learn a trade.

I married Susanna Allsop November 27, 1876. We were married by Lorenzo Snow at his home in Brigham City, Utah; as the Endowment House was closed for cleaning and the Temple was not yet finished. Our first son was born in Richmond, August 14, 1877 but lived only a few hours. The baby was named William after his father. About a year later on August 3, 1878, a little girl was born and we named her Martha Mildred. A sister who became Mary Ellen arrived June 19, 1880. A third daughter came to our home December 11, 1882 when we christened Susa Etta. On November 24, 1878, my wife and I recieved our endowments in the Endowment house and were sealed to each other. It was not until after my wife and I had our first two children sealed to us. We were sealed by Joseph F. Smith. Thus we were married by one man who later became President of the Church, and were sealed by his successor to the same high office.

In December 1876, I started to contract buildings. I built a barn for Charley Lafeever at Richmond. In the spring of 1877, I volunteered to work on the Logan Temple. But they were not quite ready for carpenters so I went back home and built a house for a man by the name of John Thompson and one for Andrew Feltman. Then I built a barn for W. F. Fisher and a house and store for him at Oxford. In the fall of 1877, I had charge of the bridges and culverts from Ogden to Pocatello. In the winter, we moved to Market Lake. I worked under the direction of William Tooms, and G. W. Thatcher, Superindent. Towards spring, I got hurt and had to quit work on the railroad. My old trade called me and I could not leave it for long so I soon returned to the carpenter work. I built a barn for W. H. Lewis, Lewiston, then one at Richmond for George Anderson and a house and barn for Apostle Merriner W. Merril. In 1881 I built a house for myself.

In the fall of 1883, my wife contracted typhoid fever and pneumonia and died on September 29. I then took my three little girls to Logan to live with my Mother.

In the spring of 1884, I worked on the railroad for six weeks helping to put a bridge across the Ogden River. Early in June I went to Lewiston to help build a house for Brigham Pond. The same year, I built a house for Joseph Smith, a barn for Sam Hendrix at Richmond, a house for W. C. Lewis, and a house for Carson Allen at Coveville.

While at Coveville, I got acquainted with Elizabeth Commish in August 1884. I was married to Elizabeth Esther Comish on February 25, 1885, in the Logan Temple by Merriner W. Merril. I then took my new bride and my three little girls to Richmond where we lived until June of that year. In the spring I had entered fourty acres of land in Coveville and built a house on it, and in June we moved there. During this time Elizabeth and I lived at Coveville, Two sons and four daughters were born to us. Our first child, a daughter was born January 6, 1886, and we named her Alberta.

I was sustained as secretary of the Y.M.M.I.A. in 1886 which office I held for five years. I also served as Ward Clerk for two years during this period, and for two years. I held the deed to the Church Property due to the persecution of the Saints on the Poligamy question. In 1886, I built the meeting house at Coveville, also the Tithing barn. Later in the same year, I went to Gentile Valley and shingled a barn for Lewis S. Pond and finnished a house for William Peck. I also built a creamery in Gentile Valley. In the spring of 1887, I returned to Gentile Valley and built a barn for Charles Peck. the same year, I built a house for Fred Atkinson south of Weston. In the fall of 1889, I started to work for Samual R. Parkinson at Franklin. I worked for him and his family till the year 1898. I had rented a farm from C. Parkinson for five years. It was located at the foot of the Little Mountain now known as Mount Smart just west of Franklin. We lived there till April 1899.

In the meantime, three more daughters and our two oldest boys had been born at our home in Coveville. Our son, Leornard C. was born August 28, 1887. Then came Esther Mae on January 19, 1889. The third daughter, Ruth, arrived January 23, 1891. Our second son, Francis, was born June 10, 1892. Ada was born October 19, 1894. Soon after we moved to Franklin, another boy whom we named Burnice was born, April 26, 1897.

In April 1898, I entered my homestead at Grace, Idaho, then known as Gentile Valley. About the first of October, I began hauling lumber from Lage. My son Leonard, eleven years old at that time, drove one team and I the other making two trips a day. The first thing we built was a slab shack without doors or windows, in which we stored our building supplies and tools and 22,000 feet of lumber and 22,000 shingles. We then nailed on the roof and returned to Franklin until sometime in November. Then we went to Grace again, hauled rock for the foundation, put up the frame work and nailed on the diagonal siding and the rustic and shingled houses. We then made 300 dobies and stored inside the building to be used in filling the walls. This marked the end of our work there until February. We returned home to Franklin on November 23.

On the following Wednesday, November 30, my oldest daughter Martha Mildred, was married to Robert Kingsford in the Logan Temple.

February 2, 1899, I started to Grace with a four horse team on the sleigh loaded with 6,000 lath. When I got to Worm Creek, the snow was so deep I had to leave 2,000 lath. It took me until midnight to reach Ernest Hale's home in Cleveland, I found no one home and had to sleep on the porch. The next day, I went from there to Barney White's Place at Thatcher arriving after dark after a hard day's work for my horses, wollowing snow. The next morning, I left 2,000 more lath there and traveled on to Herd and Mendenhall's store in what was then called Trout Creek, now thatcher, near where trout creek crosses the state highway. The following day, I traveled from 4 A.M. til 8 P.M. to reach my place in Grace. The following day I started for my home in Franklin and after three hard days finally reached there tired, cold, and hungry. After two days rest, I started back to the valley with a supply of food, such as boiled ham, several leaves of bread and some fruit. I packed the fruit jars under my pillow to keep them from freezing. On this trip I reached my place at 8 P.M. the first day, thankful to have the roads better.

There were no doors or windows or floor in the house yet, so I placed some rough boards and made my bed of quilts and blankets and went to bed. It was 40 below zero. After two or three days it started snowing and blowing and continued for a week. The snow was four or five feet deep and for six weeks, I was unable to leave with my horses. I fed my horses hay and they ate snow for water as it was three and a half miles to Bear River to water. I had no stove or no wood or any way for making a fire. It was so cold that my bread and meat froze so hard that I had to cut it in pieces with my saw. Many a morning I stood on the east side of the house in the sunshine to eat my frozen breakfast. I had no water from Monday morning until Saturday night. I walked three and a half miles for my drink. In March I got George Hamp to help me and we hauled sand for plastering. By the last of March, I had all the door and window frames in and a rough floor laid. I went to Franklin, got a stove and returned, then went to lathing. In April, I plastered three rooms and the pantry. On the 22nd of April, I moved my family into their new home. There were my wife and I and nine children to make the long move. I had five cows, four horses, about twenty-five chickens and 25 cents when we reached our new home.

In 1899, I built a sawmill for William Whitehead up Sugar Creek at Franklin. That winter I built sheep pens for a man in Franklin, F. G. Parkensen. The next year, I built sheep pens for Joseph Parkensen at Franklin, then returned to Grace to help get water out of the river.

On June 6, 1900, our last child, a girl, was born in our pioneer home in Grace, Idaho. We named her Vera.

During 1900, I worked on the Last Chance Canal with a few more men. We had no powder and no money, just picks, bars, and shovels; but we were determined to get the water out. We borrowed $40,000.00 in cash with ten years to pay $20,000.00. We could pay the remainder any time in the next year, we sold water rights enough to pay that much. Then we taxed the stock 10% for ten years and when the ten years were up, we paid the $ 20,000.00 with interest and had enough left to have a big time supper in honor of the occasion.

In 1902, I went to work on the Malad River between Hagerman and Bliss for W. B. Slick.

During the year 1903, I was sustained as first assistant to the Grace Ward Sunday school Superindent, Landon Rich. Sept 11 of the same year, I was sustained as Suday School Superindent which position I held for two years. I also served as secretary of the High Preists Quorum about that time.

In 1904, I worked on the government dam at Boise. In December of that year, I went to work on the Big Wood River at Boise for Slick Brothers. I worked there for two years. I supervised the job of putting in the head gates and the 900 foot dam. In the fall of 1905, I was ordained a seventy, November 5, by Semor B. Young at Grace, Idaho.

In 1906, I built the Pond and Graeves store in Grace. A year after, I helped build a frame building to be used as both church house and School house to take the place of the old log building first used. I also built several houses in and around Grace and a few years later a store for John Roghaar.

In 1908, I went to Bliss to work for Slick Brothers on the King Hill Project. I was there two years. I had charge of all the bridges and put in twelve miles of flum and six miles of siphon on the Malad River. Then I went sixteen miles west to Mountain Home and put a dam 400 feet long and 20 feet high in the snake river.

I then went home for two years. During that time, I helped build a large school house of cement blocks, and a Church House of the same material to be used as a Ward house and also as a Stake House for Bannock Stake. The School house was completed in 1910 and the church house in 1911. That year my Son Leonard returned from a mission to the Samoan Islands. He left for the mission in 1908 after having attended a six months missionary school in Preston. When they asked him where he would like to go, he had answered to send him as far as possible and when he returned he said that he thought they had sent him there. However, he reported enjoying his mission and he came home with a good record and an honorable release, to the satisfaction of his mother and myself. On June 3, 1911 I was ordained a High Priest by O. H. Warner. I was also set apart as secretary.

For the next two years, I worked for W. B. Slick west of Glend's Ferry making head gates on his 1200 acre farm.

Most of my children were now grown and one by one they had married and gone to their own homes. Then my wife's nephew Irving Comish, a lad of about ten years, was left an orphan and came to live with us. Older children of the family were able to care for themselves but he was too young. Then in the fall of 1915, sorrow entered our home when my daughter, Ruth, died October 20, leaving her husband Charles Rich and two boys and a baby girl only a few days old. Before Ruth died, she asked her Mother to take the baby which she did. A few years more and my wife and I were alone save for Irving and the baby whom we had named Ruth after her mother. I worked at my trade around the valley most of the time. My wife had become known as an excellent home nurse and was often out with the sick.

On August 17, 1920, my wife went to Minnesota to care for our daughter Vera and her new baby and took Ruth with her. They returned on December 19. Irving had made his home with Vera and her husband for a time. Later, he went away to work and never returned to us. In May 1921, my wife's father became very sick and she went to care for him. In July she was thrown from a buggy and seriously injured. She died on August 2, 1921. Vera came home for the funeral and afterwards, I went to Minnesota with her for about 10 days. Then I came home and went to Malad for a visit with my daughter Mae. After that, I came home, packed up and went to Glend's ferry for the winter, returning in March. I had taken my little Grand-daughter with me everywhere but I could see that it was not fair to the child besides being hard for me and I took her to Mae for a time but later she went to live with Burnice then back to her stepmother. Her father had married again before he died. I was so lonesome and lonely that I could not be contented anywhere after my wife died and I was always traveling.

In April 1922, I went to Salt Lake City for Conference then returned to Logan and visited with relatives there. While there, I met Anna Anderson. I was married to her September 22, 1922 by President Shepherd in the Logan Temple and we have made our home in Logan since that time. During the time I have lived in Logan, I have helped to build the First Ward Amusement Hall, the Sixth Ward Amusement Hall, and bought and remodled three homes besides doing a lot of other building. I have made 11 fancy tables for my children and for sale and one for Dr. Ellis Kackly and one fancy cupboard for my first granddaughter.

In my 79th year, I worked on the Ampitheatre where I caught such a severe cold that I have never fully recovered and have not been able to work since. But I am able to get around and even walk several blocks up town occassionally.

Final note by his grand-daughter, Diantha Kingsford:

This history was given to me to type when Grandfather visited us in the spring of 1936. His health had been very poorly for some time and he wished to consult his old friend and family Doctor, Ellis Kackly in Soda Springs. Father and Mother went to Logan and brought him to their home in Grace where he rested for a day then took him to Soda Springs to see the Doctor. The kindly old Doctor saw that he was failing fast and beyond much real help at his hands but cheered him up and did what he could to relieve the pain. Grandfather remained for several days and seemed much improved in spirits and body. He spent some time in Grace visiting with old friends whom he had not seen for years. Then he returned home. In September, he wrote that he was feeling so poorly that he wanted to come to Grace and rest and visit for a time and go to see the Doctor in Soda Springs several times and see if it would not help him. When Father and Mother went for him, they found him suffering from what seemed to be a stroke, when later explained to the Doctor and feeling very much discouraged and in a lot of pain. Other trouble had become much worse, too. They brought him to their home again and took him to see Dr. Kackly. He seemed to brighten up and feel better, but suffered smothering spells with his heart. However he had come prepared to make a fancy cupboard for mother and on several different days spent several hours working on it. Then his eyes began to pain him so that he laid it away til he should feel better. But he began to fail so rapidly that my Mother saw that he could not remain on earth as he was. He suffered untold pain with little complaint and retained his fine spirit of independece to the last day of his life. His physical condition made him very near blind toward the last, yet he would wait on himself and put forth every effort to keep neat and clean and be no trouble to anyone till his failing strength forced him to go to bed on Saturday most of the time. His wife arrived on Sunday morning and several of his sons and daughters had called to see him and try to comfort him in his suffering, especially Ada, who lived close.

On Monday morning at 10:10 A.M. that noble spirit departed to realms beyond to meet loved ones there. Thus in the home of his oldest daughter, Martha Mildred, he spent his last hours surrounded by loved ones and to the last moment of consciousness seemingly peaceful and satisfied and treasuring life despite his great suffering. It was Monday morning, September 29, 1936, and four days later on October first, very impressive funeral services were held for him in the tabernacle he had helped to build in his old home town of Grace, Idaho, and he was taken to the Richmond Cemetary, Utah for burial beside his two wives who had preceeded him and his first born son.