Life Story of Cecilia Sharp Barker, b 1863
Written by her Son, Clarence Sharp Barker, b 1903
Written after 1980
Birth: Cecilia Sharp was born Sept. 21, 1863 at 509 East South Temple, [Salt Lake City, Utah] the home of her parents, Joseph and Margaret Condie Sharp. This was on property homesteaded by her father.
Condies in Scotland: Since both parents were from Clackmannanshire, Scotland, and had strong religious background and a tradition of thrift and industry, Cecilia also was imbued with these qualities. Cecilia’s mother, Margaret, with her parents, Thomas and Helen Sharp Condie; grandfather, Gibson Condie; uncles and aunts and other relatives, were early converts to the Church. They left Alloa, Scotland, in the late fall of 1848. They travelled seven miles to the railroad station where they boarded the train for Glasgow where they went by ship which had no sleeping accommodations, to Liverpool.
Scottish Sundays: It was Sunday, Christmas Day, when they arrived in Liverpool. Sunday, to those Scottish people, meant going to church, no ball or marbles or fishing. They were amazed to hear a band playing on the Sabbath. At this time, it was against the law in Scotland to shave or even blacken one's shoes on Sunday.
Little Mary Condie’s Life was Saved: They spent several days in rooms of the home of a Catholic woman who was devout in her faith. Thomas Condie took his gun apart and used blue vitriol to clean rust from its parts. He put the gun back together and was putting it away when his youngest daughter, Mary, picked up the cup containing the poison and drank it. Thomas sent his two eldest children, Janet and Gibson, to find the elders, mentioning Orson Pratt, president of the British Mission. They went to where a group of the Saints were meeting and told what had happened. Elder Pratt appointed several of the brethren to go with the children. The elders administered to Mary and rebuked the poison, promising that she would recover. No sooner had they removed their hands from her head than she began to vomit. The skin of her tongue and throat came away also. But Mary did recover. Mrs. O'Brien, the landlady, was amazed and wanted to know more about their church.
Condies Journey to America: They crossed the Atlantic by sailing ship and landed at New Orleans, from where they caught a river boat up the Mississippi to St. Louis. Thomas and his family obtained farm land and planted corn. Others of the group worked in the mines and took other jobs to earn money to buy oxen and wagons to make the trek westward.
Margaret was 13 when they crossed the plains and mountains. She walked most of the way and had such ill fitting shoes that she developed bunions which caused her problems in later life. They passed Chimney Rock, Independence Rock and other landmarks, reaching Salt Lake Valley Sept. 2, 1852.
Joseph Sharp Married Janet & Margaret Condie:
*Janet, 18, oldest offspring of Thomas Condie, married Joseph Sharp from Alloa, who became my grandfather, Aug. 25, 1849 at Grovi Diggings, coal camp near St. Louis.
* The Thomas Condie family took up land south of the fort. (Pioneer Park today) and endured many hardships.
* Margaret, at the age of 17, became the second wife of Joseph Sharp March 13, 1857. The ceremony was performed in the old Endowment House.
Utah War: Only four months later, the Joseph Sharp Family travelled by horse and wagon with more than 2,000 other pioneers up Big Cottonwood Canyon to what is now Brighton to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the arrival of the first company of pioneers into Salt Lake Valley.
Margaret, my Grandmother, told me of that occasion in beautiful alpine Brighton. Three horsemen, one of them Porter Rockwell, rode into camp, their horses exhausted and their mouths covered with foam. They went to the tent of Brigham Young while Capt. Balloo’s band tried to divert the people elsewhere. According to Howard R. Driggs' account, Gov. Young was heard to say as they left his tent,. "When we came into this valley 1 said if our enemies would give us ten years here, 1 will ask them no odds. It has been ten years now and in the name of Israel’s God, I ask them no odds."
The messengers had travelled more than 500 miles from Ft. Laramie to bring word that Johnston's Army was on its way to the valley of the Great Salt Lake.
Janet Sharp Died: Janet Condie Sharp died Jan. 19, 1859 at the age of 27, leaving a son, John C, then almost nine years old, and four daughters, the youngest of whom was only 10 days old. Margaret, the younger sister and second wife, had the chore of rearing these children as well as her own children: Joseph C., then 2, who later became sheriff of Salt Lake County and who was always close to Cecilia, born four years later, who was to become my mother. Joseph and his wife, Jane Bennett, were always generous Santa-Claus-givers to the children, later born to Cecilia.
Janet Condie Sharp’s Children: John C, later bishop of Vernon, whose two-story brick home in that south Tooele County hamlet was still standing in the 1980s; Helen who died in 1863, Mary Jane, who became the wife of Joseph J. Daynes, director the Tabernacle Choir for a short period, and composer of several hymns still sung widely;
Margaret Ann, who became the wife of Henry T. McEwen, cashier of the Utah State National Bank, now Zion’s First National Bank, and Janet, who became the wife of W Edward A. Lenroot, who became a farmer in the Rexburg, Idaho area, then moved back to Salt Lake City where he worked for Bennett Glass & Paint Co., owned by John F. and William J. Bennett, brothers to Mrs. Joseph C. Sharp.
Joseph Sharp & His Death: "When husband, Joseph Sharp, died Sept 7, 1864, at Willow Springs, on the Pioneer Trail 300 miles east of Salt Lake City, hardships increased for Margaret. Joseph had taken up the west half of the block now bounded by South Temple, E St., lst Ave. and F-St.
Sharp Brothers: Joseph Sharp, father of Cecilia, had arrived in Salt Lake Valley Aug. 28, 1850 with his brothers, John and Adam. John became a contractor under Brigham Young, building the Union Pacific railroad through Weber Canyon and later was superintendent of the Utah Central Railroad from Ogden to Salt Lake City. He was ordained bishop of the Twentieth Ward in 1856 and was bishop for 29 years. A son, James Sharp, was one of the early mayors of Salt Lake City.
Adam Sharp went into the sheep business. A son, John A. Sharp, a bearded farmer, built the large, two-story home at the southwest corner of 21st South and Redwood Rd, still standing in 1981. A grandson of Adam, Adam S. Bennion, was commissioner of education for the Church and later member of the Council of the Twelve Apostles.
Margaret Condie Sharp: Margaret was a woman of great zeal in all her activities, which included many years as an ordained Temple worker. She studied medicine under a Dr. Kohler of Morgan and was a midwife.
I will never forget the home remedies she kept in a large cupboard in the frame addition at the back of my parents' home at 145 Fourth Ave. There was grain alcohol, Magic Drops (a strong brownish concoction), peppermints used as a hot tea for curing stomach ache, Water Medicine, for similar use, a cough syrup which I detested, and others. She used sulphuric acid applied with a tooth pick for eliminating warts and treating bad sores.
Grandma Sharp, as I knew her, took the lead on wash days, which came every Monday. She rose early in the morning and had water heating on the kitchen range. She and my Mother shaved bars of soap which they added to the hot water in the elongated tub on the range. After years of scrubbing by washboard, they had an electric washer, which also took over functions of the manually-operated wringer.
Cecilia Sharp Barker: Cecilia recorded, “I attended district school until 1 was 13 years of age, when I had an opportunity of becoming a normal student at the Deseret University (now University of Utah) then located near what is now West High School. I have my Mother to thank for this opportunity, as she washed for Mrs. T.B. Lewis so that she might influence her husband to secure that opportunity for me."
A diploma issued June 7, 1878 signed by John R. Park, President; J.B. Toronto, Professor of Natural Science and Mathematics, and Joseph T. Kingsbury, Professor of Chemistry, attests to her graduation. Cecilia was then 14 years old. I also have two teacher's certificates signed by five members of the Board of Examiners of Salt Lake County School District, authorizing Cecilia to teach first grade. These are dated in July and August 1886.
Good Story Teller: Levi Edgar Young, later member of the First Council of Seventy and Professor of Western History at University of Utah, recalled that when he was a student of Cecilia Sharp, she loved to tell stories and excited the imagination of her listeners.
I can bear witness of her ability to tell stories and enthral her listeners. (See life story of Clarence Sharp Barker for some of her pioneer stories.) She had dark hair and brown eyes, was about five feet tall and weighed about 100 pounds, but she had a gift for influencing others. She was an excellent listener and encouraged others, including her own children, to tell of their experiences and reactions. After the death of my Father and while 1 was attending the University of Utah my Mother was my confidant. She drew from me my reactions to the professors and other instructors and had me pouring out highlights of the instruction and other experiences. This proved helpful to me as a newspaper reporter later “to sum up the situation.”
Cecilia’s Early Life, Church Work & Shorthand: Returning to Cecilia’s earlier life, she was the first secretary of the Twentieth Ward Primary Association organized April 16, 1879. On Dec. 28, 1882 she was chosen secretary of the Young Ladies Meeting (forerunner of the Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association.) She always was a staunch member of the Church and taught her children by example and by reasoning and by precept and by prayer.
She studied shorthand and through this became acquainted with Frederick Ellis Barker. Both were seated at the reporters' table in the Tabernacle writing down the sermons as they were delivered, and progressively abbreviating their shorthand.
Married to Frederick Ellis Barker: She was married to Frederick Ellis June 26, 1889 in the Logan Temple, where he had served a mission as a clerk-recorder. Fred and Cecilia were members of the 20th Ward Institute, a cultural, literary and religious organization, forerunner of the Young Men’s and Young Women's Mutual Improvement Association.
At first, they lived on the Joseph Sharp homestead where were born to them:
Frederick George, who filled a mission to Germany and who became proficient in shorthand and became associate professor of psychology at the University of Utah;
Lucile, who taught school in Salt Lake City most of her life;
Gladys, who became a proficient stenographer and then the wife of William H. Westwood,
and Alma Sharp who served in the Utah National Guard and then the U.S.Army, in a field hospital during World War 1, later becoming an accountant and moving to Los Angeles.
Frederick Barker’s Mission to Australia: Frederick E. was called to the Australia Mission Dec. 22, 1897. This required considerable financial sacrifice, since Cecilia then had two young sons and two daughters, all living with Margaret, her widowed mother. The following March, Frederick was appointed mission president, in which capacity he served for three years.
James L. Barker, a second cousin to Frederick, came from North Ogden and stayed with the family while he was attending the University of Utah. He was a second father to the children. Later, he became professor of modern languages at the university, then was president of the Argentina and then the French Mission and gave a series of radio addresses and wrote an account of the early Christian Church and its apostasy.
New Homes and More Children: Shortly after Frederick’s release and return to Salt Lake City by way of Egypt, Palestine and Europe, he and Joseph C. Sharp, brother-in-law, had twin story-and-a-half frame homes built at 272 and 274 Fourth Ave. At 272, two more sons, Joseph Ira and Clarence Sharp, were born. Soon after, the father, a court reporter, had a two-story brick home built at 145 Fourth Ave. to accommodate the larger family, including Grandmother Margaret G. Sharp.
Family Deaths: Ira graduated from an engineering course at the University of Utah. He died Sept.12, 1924, in an accident at the Utah Apex mill in Bingham. Clarence, writer of this sketch, filled a mission to South Africa and then was a reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune and the Deseret News.
Frederick E. Barker suffered from rheumatism and then his eyesight began to go. He underwent a brain tumor operation by Dr. Bred Stauffer at the LDS Hospital. There was no cancer specialist in Salt Lake City until later. He died Nov. 12, 1922, leaving in the home Cecilia, her mother Margaret, daughter Lucile, and sons Ira and Clarence. Grandmother Sharp died June 22, 1928 at age 88.
Cecilia was secretary of the Ensign Stake Relief Society for about 20 years and then served in the l8th Ward Relief Society. She died May 12, 1933 at 69. Her love, self-sacrifice, hard work and testimony have always been a source of satisfaction to her progeny and friends.
By Clarence Sharp Barker
Letter from Clarence Sharp Barker:
December 23, 1981
Dear Celia and Stan…
I had written a life history of my Mother with background including part of the life of her Mother, Margaret C. Sharp, who as grandmother, lived in my parents’ home until her death in 1928.
One thing I did not mention in my sketch was that she, as well as being a midwife and Temple worker, was appointed by the ward bishop, I guess it was, to bless pregnant women prior to their delivery. If you get into history, women such as my Grandmother had quite a role in the community.
At any rate, there is a bit of history into this sketch. I hope that you find it interesting. I am sending a copy to Wayne…
Love and Best Wishes,
(Signed)
Clarence and Maurine
38 No. State St. #3
Salt Lake City, Utah 84103
Also, see these related documents:
Cecilia Sharp Barker’s Short Autobiography, Genealogical Survey
Barker Ancestry, Excerpt from a Letter by Lucile Barker to Wayne L Barker
Gibson Condie History (1835), son of Thomas Condie ( )
Gladys Barker Westwood Life Sketch (Barker History) by her brother, Clarence S Barker
Thomas Condie History, by Gibson Condie family organization
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Note:
E-mailed copies of this document to Wayne Barker and Bonnie Barker Rice. Both of them approved this document.
Source: Marjorie Cecilia Barker Sorensen