In a blessing pronounced upon the head of Charles Richins, September 18, 1877, by Church Patriarch John Smith, Charles was told that he was of the blood of Ephraim and because he yielded obedience to the gospel with an honest heart he was entitled to the blessings in store for the faithful.2 He was admonished to not let his faith fail “for the eye of the Lord hath been upon thee from thy birth. He hath delivered thee out from thy enemies, and many times preserved thy life.” The patriarch then told Charles that the Lord had brought him out of Babylon to partake of the blessings of eternal life and that his name would live in the memory of the saints and be handed down with his posterity from generation to generation.
Charles was then told to seek humbly to know the will of the Lord and worship Him with the promise that: (1) he would be blessed spiritually and his understanding would be opened, (2) he would feed many with both spiritual and temporal food, (3) many would seek him for counsel and rejoice in his teachings, (4) he would have power over the adversary and would be able to control himself as well as the affairs over which he had jurisdiction in a righteous manner, (5) peace, health, and prosperity would be in his household and (6) he would have much of the world's goods, in house, lands, man servants and maid servants.
This blessing, given when Charles was 48 years old, reveals the greatness of this man and tells some of the significant things that happened in the earlier part of his life, as well as those yet to transpire in the 26 years he lived after the blessing was given. The Lord kept his promise because Charles, as stated in his obituary, “was a faithful Latter-day Saint, universally loved and respected.” Charles received the spiritual blessing promised, for he was highly respected among his brethren. He was a successful missionary in England after his own conversion. He became Presiding Elder of the Sheepscomb Branch. He was Presiding Elder or Bishop of Henefer for twenty-five years. In Mexico he served in the bishopric and then was a Patriarch at the time of his death.
As promised, Charles had much of the world's goods. He owned many acres of land in Henefer, providing employment for relatives and friends. He had a fruit orchard at Pleasant Grove and then a cattle ranch in Colonia Diaz, Mexico. He owned the Big House in Henefer, which was the stopping place for distant relatives, friends and Church leaders.
In 1976 the number of Charles' posterity was estimated to be over two thousand. Thirty years later (2006) it would probably be more than double that number. As a polygamist, he had 30 children, 10 by each of his three wives. Twelve of his children died young and one (John) didn't marry, which left seventeen to build his posterity.
This history is written in hopes that the name of Charles and his faithful wives: Louisa, Esther, and Agnes, will live in the memory of their posterity from generation to generation.
Appreciation is expressed to all who assisted in preparing this history. Special thanks to Naoma Bond Ball, Maxine R. Wright, Erma S. Richins, LaPreal R. Martindale, Agnes R. Bice, Henry and Beatrice Smith, and Earl Stephens, who contributed pictures or made available histories that they had written or had in their possessions. Much of this material was gleaned from memories of people involved and may not be factual in every detail, but is correct to the best of our knowledge.
We know very little about the early life of Charles. We do know he was born August 17, 1828, in Sheepscombe, Gloucestershire, England. Charles was the seventh of eleven children of Richard Richins, and Charlotte Priscilla Wager. Their children in order of birth were: Hannah, John Edward, Mary Ann, George Thomas, Thomas, Charlotte Priscilla, Charles, Edwin, John, Edward, and William.
His mother, Charlotte Priscilla Wager, died at the age of 43, just a little over two years after William was born. When she died Richard was left with seven sons between the ages of two and seventeen. Richard’s sister Hannah helped care for the family. Six years later, at age 48, Richard died, leaving his family on their own and with relatives. No doubt Charles and his brothers got well acquainted with their relatives. When the census of 1850 was taken, Charles was residing with a cousin, Joseph Richins. When he obtained passage to immigrate to Utah, he listed his address in care of William Richins, his uncle. When he and Louisa were married, his cousin Leonard was one of the witnesses.
Gloucestershire, England, was noted for its agricultural and dairy farming. The area of Painswich and Sheepscombe, where the Richins families lived, was beautiful with green grass and rolling hills. The family was poor and Charles, like his brothers, learned to work as a laborer at an early age. He had limited educational opportunities, but still learned to read and write and was exceptionally good in mathematics. He told his son Jesse that he only attended school six weeks. He knew the value of a good education, and according to his son Parley, wanted his children to take advantage of all their educational opportunities.
About three miles from Sheepscombe was Syde, the birth place of Louisa Shill. She was born June 22, 1829, to Robert Chapel Shill and Prudence Golding. She was the youngest in a family of twelve. Her brothers and sisters were Richard, Robert, Mary, Elizabeth Prudence, Susanna, Rachel, John, Charles Golding, William, Ann and George. Unlike most families at that period of time none of the twelve Shill children died young. They all lived long enough to marry.
In 1837 the first missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints left Kirtland, Ohio, to do missionary work in England. It is not known for sure when the first Mormon missionaries labored in Gloucestershire, but Louisa's brother, Charles Golding Shill, said there was a religious revival in their area the latter part of 1845 and early 1846.
The Latter-day Saint missionaries set up a branch of the Church at Caudle Green, which was less than two miles from Syde and two miles from Sheepscombe. Charles Golding Shill set out immediately to share the good news with family and friends. Charles Golding then became a full-fledged missionary bringing persecution to him from the ministers of the area. They made it impossible for him to find work, so he ended up in the poor house, but he was expelled from there for preaching the gospel. We have no record of how Louisa Shill and Charles Richins first met, but we do know that Louisa introduced Charles to her brother Charles Golding, who helped teach him the gospel and then baptized him on December 26, 1849. He was confirmed a member of the Church that same day by Brother C. Blackwell.
Charles Richins was ordained a priest June 16, 1850, and soon after became a missionary. Prudence Shill, Louisa's mother, wrote a letter in 1850 to her son, Charles Golding Shill who was in London.4 In the letter she stated that she had attended church services in Sheepscombe, and that they had a full house every Sunday. She then said Charles Richins had baptized twenty three people since he was made a priest. Charles was ordained an elder, seventy, and high priest while at Sheepscombe. He worked in numerous church positions, including Presiding Elder of the Sheepscombe Branch.
Years later Parley T. Richins, son of Charles and Esther, related that one day while he was in Salt Lake as an insurance agent for Beneficial Life he was introduced to Charles W. Penrose by President Joseph F. Smith. After shaking hands Brother Penrose asked, “What did you say your name was?” When I repeated my name, he said, “Richins, Richins, what was your father’s name?” I told him Charles Richins, the first bishop of Henefer. He took my hand again and said, “I’m happy to meet the son of such a fine man. Your father was one of my presiding elders when I was on my mission in England.” 5
Charles and Louisa were married at Syde, Gloucestershire, England on January 27, 1851, a little over a year after she had introduced him to the gospel. A baby girl was born to this young couple at Fastons Ash, Granham, Gloucestershire, England on September 9, 1852. They named her Hannah Louisa. The spirit of the gathering to Zion must have weighed heavily upon Charles and Louisa because Charles left for Zion five months after his daughter was born.
The general plan for migration to Zion is given in Larson’s book, Prelude to the Kingdom.6 Missionaries carried the messages from the brethren encouraging converts to go to Zion. They also informed them of the costs involved, and the days when ships were scheduled to sail. The mission president and his assistants made all the necessary arrangements with the shipping companies, and informed the Church’s receiving agency in the United States of the ships that would be arriving at the ports of embarkation. From these ports arrangements were made by Church representatives for travel by water or train to the outfitting places on the frontier. The last leg of the journey was by wagon or handcart to the Salt Lake Valley. The entire journey took from eight to ten months.
The organization was such that those making the journey were protected from unscrupulous travel agents and others who might take their money and harm them. Missionaries escorted the departing members to Liverpool, and upon arriving the passengers were ushered immediately shipboard. Mormon companies became known for their heavy luggage causing some ship captains to complain because it caused their ship to lay lower in the water. Mechanics and other craftsmen, who made up a large percentage of the emigrants, brought their tools with them. In addition to their luggage the passengers had to bring their own bedding and cooking utensils (a cooking apparatus was provided by the ship).
After all were on board a Mormon agent arrived and organized the company under the direction of a presidency of three priesthood leaders and were divided into wards or branches with bishops or presiding elders assigned and given the responsibility for those under their care. After rising at an early hour their first duty was to clean their portion of the ship. They would then assemble for prayer and cook their own breakfast. The Passenger Act of 1852 required a minimum of food provisions for at least seventy days. The ship provided a weeks allowance per adult (one half for minors) of two and one half pounds of bread or biscuit, one pound of wheat flour, five pounds oatmeal, two pounds of rice, half pound of sugar, two ounces tea, two ounces of salt, and three quarts of water daily. In addition to the above the Church provided for the journey two and a half pounds of sego, three pounds of butter, two pounds of cheese and one pint of vinegar for each adult and half that amount for those under fourteen.
The organization and discipline on the ships carrying Mormons provided a good atmosphere and the most comfort possible. Schools were conducted for children during the day. During evenings lectures were given on a variety of subjects. The married men and women were placed in the middle of the ship with the unmarried males and females at opposite ends of the ship. The decorum was such that some ship captains preferred Mormons as passengers on their ships. The major problem was sea sickness, and illness resulting in death and then burial of some passengers during the 1400 mile trip.
Charles set sail for America from Liverpool, England, on February 28, 1853 on the sailing ship International, which carried 425 Latter-day Saints, including a number of un-baptized relatives and friends and a crew of 26. Robert Backman noted the following about that voyage aboard the International:
“…The ship ran into violent storms, delaying the crossing and making it necessary to ration food. In four weeks only one-third of the distance to New Orleans, Louisiana, had been covered.
“Thanks to the faith and prayers of the valiant Saints, a miracle occurred: favorable winds made it possible to make up time lost. The International docked in New Orleans after a 54-day voyage across the Atlantic Ocean.
“Christopher Arthur presided over the company of Latter-day Saints aboard the International. In his official report to the British Mission president, President Arthur wrote: I am glad to inform you, that we have baptized all on board except three persons…We can number the captain, first and second mates, with eighteen of the crew, most of whom intend going right through to the valley…the number of baptized in all is 48, since we left our native shores.” 7
Births, deaths, marriages and conversions to the faith were common on the high seas as the “Mormon Ships” crossed the ocean. During the voyage of the International there were seven deaths, seven births, five marriages 8 and as stated above forty eight baptisms. We would like to believe that Charles, who was a high priest at this time, helped in the conversion process. Baptisms were performed on the International by using a large tank that was brought on deck for that purpose.9 On some other ships a platform was improvised by the side of the ship under the water. The candidates and officiator were then lowered to the platform where the baptism took place.10
A highlight for Charles may have been a celebration held on the sixth of April commemorating the twenty-third anniversary of the organization of the Church. They fired musketry to usher in the festivities, and then in procession marched on deck in the following order:
“(First were the) presidents and counselors with sashes and white rosettes on their breasts, who took their seats with their backs to the main-mast. After them followed twelve young men appropriately robed, each with a white rod in his hand, with sashes, rosettes. etc. Then followed twelve young women in light dresses, each holding in her hand a scroll of white paper bearing the significant motto ‘Utah rights,’ adorned with ribbon and white rosettes. The young men took their seats on the right hand of the Presidency, and the young women on the left. Then followed twelve old venerable men, dressed similar to the young men each carrying a Bible and a Book of Mormon in his hand, led by Father Waugh, who read portions out of each book, illustrative of this Latter-day work. We then took the Sacrament, and attended to the celebration of our marriages, which finished our forenoon service.
“At two o’clock we met and took our seats as formerly, and after an address from the President, songs, speeches and recitations commemorative of the occasion followed in due order for three hours. Henry Maiben, from Brighton, composed and sang a song graphically and wittily portraying our happy company and our progress from Liverpool.
;“In the evening we met on the quarter deck, and skipped the light fantastic toe until a late hour. During the whole day everything was done with the highest decorum and I can say, to the credit of the company, that more harmonious festival was never before held on the high seas. ”11
When the International arrived at the mouth of the Mississippi River tugboats helped it up the river to New Orleans where it arrived on April 24, 1853. The 100-mile trip took about a week. Church emigration agents met the passengers in New Orleans and one of the first orders given them was to not talk about slavery. Uncle Tom’s Cabin had been published the year before, and there was a lot of tension between blacks and whites.12 After a four-day stop over in New Orleans passage was arranged on two steamboats, Alex Scott and Liah Tuna, for travel up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, a 700-mile trip. They arrived in St. Louis on May 6th. In St. Louis they were met by Church agents who assisted the immigrants in picking up tents and other equipment for their continued journey. After a few days in St. Louis they took passage on the river steamer Jeanne Deans to Keokuk, Iowa, 200 miles further up the Mississippi River. This last river trip took two days and one night. 13
The outfitting place prior to 1853 was Kanesville, Iowa. Because of deaths from cholera the river route was shortened and an additional 300 miles was added to the land route. The experiment evidently wasn’t that successful, because they only used Keokuk one summer as the outfitting place. Charles and those traveling with him probably arrived in Keokuk about the eighth of May. Within a month there were about one thousand saints on the camp grounds getting ready to leave.14 Keokuk is the same area from which the Saints left for their journey to the Rocky Mountains after being driven out of Nauvoo in 1846. The route from there to Kanesville (or Winter Quarters) had not been used for immigrants prior to 1852 and was not used afterwards.
Charles is the only Richins that traveled the Mormon Trail from Nauvoo to the Salt Lake Valley. In reality, he may have visited Nauvoo while waiting at the Keokuk campgrounds. One writer said that while they were waiting for men to bring cattle from Missouri for their overland trek a lot of them went up the river to Montrose, crossed the Mississippi River on a ferryboat and visited the ruins of Nauvoo, including the temple. They even talked with Emma Smith who had remarried and was living in the Joseph Smith home.
Emigrants from England arrived in Salt Lake as early as 1848. Five years later (1853) Charles Richins was one of 2600 emigrants from foreign countries who made the journey. They were organized in twelve companies with a captain, a clerk to keep a historical record of the journey, a chaplain who was responsible for regular church services, and caring for the sick. There were also commissaries to help distribute rations. To keep the company moving in an orderly manner there were captains over a hundred, captains over fifty and captains over ten. The outfitting of companies was difficult and time consuming. Although there were Church representatives at the outfitting sites, sometimes help was needed from the immigrants.
Procuring enough livestock to pull the wagons in 1849 was difficult because speculators were buying up cattle and trailing them to California to supply the frenzied demands of the California gold rush. Consequently, when cattle were available they had to be purchased at premium prices. Nebraska’s Fort Kearny recorded that 105,792 cattle passed there by the middle of August in 1853. To get enough oxen for the immigrant wagons at Keokuk, Mormon men had to go into Missouri and Illinois, a distance of 200 miles, where they purchased 805 oxen. Joseph W. Young who was with that cattle-fetching group bewailed, “This was one of the most severe & trying trips that man ever undertook…twenty-one days having to drive cattle all day & guard them at night, ferry and swim many streams of water which were swollen to full banks.” 15
The last leg of the journey across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley for Charles was by ox team in the company led by Joseph W. Young, a nephew of President Brigham Young. Joseph was a returning missionary from England and had served as president of the company that came on the ship that left England two weeks ahead of Charles. Captain Young and Charles were both twenty-four at this time. Before leaving England, Joseph married the daughter of Henry Pugh, who was appointed clerk of the company. Charles and most others in the company were traveling as a “ten-pound emigrant,” who paid ten British pounds for their journey when the usual cost was twenty pounds. “The cheap price was based on reducing everything to a minimum: no extra food and more people per wagon and milk cow, which meant each person would take less luggage and receive less milk.” 16 When the first wagon left Keokuk on June 1 the company consisted of 420 souls, 56 wagons and 224 oxen (four oxen per wagon).
Charles was not a journal writer; so the following information concerning his trek west was taken from the “Journal History” of the company kept by the company clerk, 17 and a journal kept by Samuel Claridge who was in the Joseph W. Young Company.18
Charles drove an ox team the entire 1300 miles. It was on the job training for him, as well as for many others, who were given that assignment. Samuel Claridge wrote, “Our first starting out was very comical. Here were Welsh, English, German, Scandinavians and none of us had ever had experience in driving cattle [oxen] and the cattle had to learn all languages. There was a great deal of awkward driving, but we got started.” 19
The driving of an ox team is not done by reigns like with horses, but is done by the driver walking to the side of the oxen and using voice commands, and a prod, if necessary. Travel by oxen is slow. They made no more than two miles an hour, which is less than a person walking. Their goal was to make twenty miles a day, but the average for the entire trip was more like fourteen miles per day.
After leaving Keokuk the company stopped at Sugar Creek where they were met with thunderstorms and heavy rain (not snow like the 1846 Saints who camped there the first night after leaving Nauvoo). They remained there five days waiting for the milk cows to arrive, and for Captain Young’s wife, Mary Anna, to arrive from Keokuk where she had remained because of illness. Two days after leaving Sugar Creek a herd of 74 milk cows and a bull were brought into camp. Twenty-nine of the cows were divided among the company (the other 45 were dry and with calf). After crossing Iowa they reached the Missouri river where they had to ferry their wagons across into Nebraska.
There were no deaths from Indians and only one encounter with them when a large tribe of Pawnee Indians came to the wagon train begging. Five of them insisted on staying in camp with them overnight; so they fixed a tent, made them comfortable, and set extra guards for the night. There were eleven deaths in the company during the journey. The vital statistics also included one birth and one marriage. The marriage was a happy occasion. The groom was John Spriggs whose wife had died at Liverpool the day of embarkation, leaving him with six children, the youngest two weeks old. The infant died and was buried at sea. The new Sister Spriggs took on five children under age ten. The only accident mentioned in the company journal was that of a sister who, contrary to counsel, stepped from her wagon while the team was proceeding and fell under the wheel, causing her leg to be broken.
The major challenge the company faced was inadequate provisions. The high price for livestock and wagons left insufficient money for Church agents to procure sufficient provisions for the company. The amount of food allotted to each individual was not enough to meet their daily needs. As the last of the companies left Keokuk Isaac C. Haight, having done what he could to outfit them, but with doubts about its adequacy, wrote, “We all left camp bidding Keokuk and its inhabitants farewell and went out to the end of the plank.” 20 It was expected the company would be able to obtain buffalo and other food along the trail, but that didn’t happen. Only once did someone in the company kill a buffalo, and that was Joseph W. Young. One man said the salt, sugar, and tea, were gone before they reached Fort Laramie, the half-way point. Others finished their flour by the time they reached South Pass, 200 miles from Salt Lake City. Another man claimed they would have died had some brethren not come from the Salt Lake City with flour.21 There was even a shortage of milk. One sister wrote,
“I must not forget to speak of our little milch cows. These faithful creatures, though giving milk to supply us on the journey were yoked to the wagon, between the lead and tongue cattle. They looked very small indeed, as they pulled in front of one yoke and behind another. Unfortunately our little cows became dry, or so nearly dry, that they gave but a teacup of milk a day. The consequence was that our camp kettle, that use to be full of good milk gruel for our breakfast became gradually a kettle full of flour starch with only a cup of milk added.” 22
The company’s situation was made worse when on more than one occasion cattle strayed away and were lost. In addition, some of their oxen began to give out when they were still 500 miles from their destination. When their cattle could no longer work they were driven ahead of the train and butcher for food when needed. The worn out oxen didn’t make for good eating, but it was all they had.
The weather also was a problem. Captain Young’s Company experienced at least four thunderstorms. On one occasion the company journal records that “the rain poured into wagons and tents while the wind was blowing a hurricane, overturning many of the tents leaving the inmates in a deplorable condition.” 23 Members of the Company also encountered a snowstorm as they crossed Rocky Ridge, in Wyoming. While camping at Black’s Fork, nine miles east of Fort Bridger, some oxen wandered off at night when the guard neglected his duty. Five of the oxen got stuck in the mud and before they were rescued, one died.
One of the highlights of the trek was the meeting of twenty-seven Elders traveling East on their way to fill missions in England. No doubt Charles encouraged one or more of them to make contact with Louisa and other family members if they got to Sheepscombe. One day the pioneers had the unique experience of seeing a wolf hanging onto a buffalo calf’s tail as it ran by their encampment. Very little disciplinary action was needed in the company. One sister was dismissed from the company for bad behavior a few days after they got started, and near the end of the journey a brother was censured for threatening to use powder and ball on the Captain because there was a shortage of bacon in the camp. The only other problem they had was the refusal of some men to go on guard duty at night.
On September 18th, near South Pass, Captain Young and Mary Anna celebrated their first wedding anniversary. Then he left his company in the hands of William Perry, and set out for the Salt Lake Valley with his sick wife, Charles Decker, and a few others. Sister Young had been sick since starting the journey. Her consumption (tuberculosis) was in its last stages, and Joseph wanted to get her to the Salt Lake before she died. He also wanted to obtain supplies for the rest of the journey. Two days later Mary Ann died in her wagon, and was buried at the crossing of the Green River. Captain Young and his party continued on into Salt Lake, obtained provisions, and returned to his company on September 30th, which was camped at the Muddy Creek Campground west of Fort Bridger.
After learning of the loss of more oxen, and the weakened condition of those in yoke, Captain Young and Guernsey Brown left from Cache Cave (Echo Canyon) on October 2nd for the Salt Lake to obtain oxen to help the company get over Big Mountain. It was also at the head of Echo Canyon that a Brother Stoker arrived with flour for those who needed some. Captain Young purchased with a signed note over 400 pounds for his company. After the second night’s stay in Echo Canyon fifty-nine head of cattle were missing, but were eventually found. While moving down the canyon the teams and wagons had to cross the creek several times and build a bridge. One wagon was upset, but no one was hurt.
The immigrants were happy to reach the forks of Echo Creek where there was plenty of grass, water and wood. When they crossed the Weber River at the ford near present day Henefer they had to double their teams. (One has to wonder if Charles had any thought of making Henefer Valley his home as he first passed through it.) They made camp that night a mile and a half east of Hogsback Summit. The next day they met Captain Joseph Young in East Canyon. He had forty nine oxen to help the company into the Salt Lake Valley. After crossing Big Mountain one sister in the company wrote, “Never again, in this life do I want to cross this mountain.” 24
On Monday, October 10th, Joseph Young’s Company left the last camp site in Emigration Canyon, ten miles from their destination, and by five o’ clock were camped at Union Square in Salt Lake City. The following morning they were called together for a meeting. Joseph W. Young addressed his Company, commending them for their faithfulness and diligence. They were also addressed by President Brigham Young “who spoke with power and a manifestation of the Holy Ghost, teaching the Saints that which was essential to their future destiny, also bidding them welcome to this delightful vale.” 25 President Brigham Young then broke up the organization, and blessed the people. The journey was over. They had arrived in Zion.
When Charles ended his pioneer journey and settled in the Salt Lake Valley he began a new experience. He was still a pioneer and would be for the rest of his life. Where he would build his first home in Zion, and how he would make a living were paramount in his mind. Another concern, no doubt, was communicating with Louisa back in England, and making arrangements for Louisa and Hannah Louisa to join him. He was the first Richins to reach Salt Lake City. There were no relatives there to help him. Once he arrived there may have been those who became his friend. We know he had a bishop and ward members that would have helped him. We do not know where he first lived or the work he did, but it was probably manual labor of some type, because that was mostly all that was available. The cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple was laid on April 6, 1853, about six months before his arrival; so there is a possibility that he did some work there.
We are fortunate to have an engraving of “Great Salt Lake in 1853,” by Fredrick Piercy available to us. It helps us realize what Charles saw when he entered the Salt Lake Valley.
“By the fall of 1853 the 5,979 people in the city had spread a little beyond the original confines…there were nineteen ecclesiastical wards, each with a bishop and two counselors as presiding officers. Outside the city there were seven settlements with a combined population of 2,273. Altogether in the Territory of Utah there were at least 18,206 people scattered in small settlements from Box Elder on the north to Cedar City, 300 miles on the south, ranging in size from the smallest with a little over a hundred, to Provo with 1,649, and Ogden with 1,332 settlers.”
We have no way of knowing why Charles came to America without Louisa and their daughter. It may have been that he wanted to have a home ready for them when they arrived, but it was probably because they could not afford for all three of them to come to Zion at the same time. This reasoning is further shown by the fact that when Louisa and their daughter left England for Utah they came under the Perpetual Emigrating Fund, ticket order #138 made in the Salt Lake Valley by Charles. The Church established the Perpetual Emigrating Fund so immigrants could travel to Zion on money loaned to them. After arriving in Zion and obtaining employment they were under obligation to pay the money back so it could be used by others.
Louisa and her 18-month-old daughter, Hannah Louisa, left Liverpool, England April 8, 1854, on the sailing ship, Marshfield. They were under the leadership of William Taylor. They landed at New Orleans May 29, 1854. There were 366 Latter-day Saints on board. A synopsis of the voyage from the ship's record lists two births, one marriage, and one death—Orson William Nield, age five months. The story has been told in the past that Hannah Louisa died and was buried at sea. The ship's record does not bear this out. Her death must have occurred as they were crossing the plains after leaving Kansas City because family records give her death date as August 18, 1854, which was nearly three months after the ship arrived at New Orleans.
One writer described the 51-day voyage on the Marshfield as pleasant and prosperous. He recorded that a number of the sailors declared themselves converted to Mormonism, but none of them were baptized on board, as it had been the experience of former companies that some of the sailors would get baptized hoping the intimacy with the Saints thus afforded might assist them in their evil designs upon the honor of the young sisters.
According to one Latter-day Saint on the Marshfield, a few of the sailors were baptized, remained with the saints, and continued on to Utah. On June 1 they left New Orleans on two steamboats, James Robb and Grand Turk for travel up the Mississippi River to St Louis. Within six miles of St Louis they were detained six days on an island because of a false report being circulated that the Saints had taken the cholera. They finally arrived at St. Louis on June 13. From St Louis they traveled on three steamboats up the Missouri River to Kansas City. From there they went to Westport, Missouri, not far from Kansas City, which became their outfitting post.
Eight companies left Westport, Missouri, during the summer of 1854. Unfortunately we do not know which one Louisa and Hannah Louise traveled with, because no rosters are available for the 1854 companies. A shortage of paper at that time cut back on company journals. It is most likely that Louisa and Hannah Louisa were in the last company based on the date when the “Marshfield” arrived in New Orleans, and the fact that the leader from the “Marshfield” was an assistant to William Empey in the eighth company. The brief report for the Empey Company in “Church Emigration for 1854” is as follows:
“Elder Wm. Empey, one of the original pioneers of Utah, after returning from a mission to Great Britain early in 1854, assisted with Church emigration business on the frontiers. In the end of June, after Elder Orson Pratt and the other brethren had left for Salt Lake City, he gathered all the emigrants remaining at Westport and organized a company, the last of the season, and with 43 wagons started soon afterwards for the west. He was assisted by Elders Wm. Taylor and Dorr P. Curtis.
“Leaving the Missouri River about August (July) 15th, the company crossed the Big Blue River, 160 miles below Fort Kearney on August 4th and on August 15th met Apostle Erastus Snow and company traveling east. Elder Snow remarked that the company seemed to be in excellent condition and quite hopeful, in spite of the fact that they still had a thousand miles to travel. Elder Snow added: Unless the Lord stays the snows later than usual, they will have some cold fingers before they cross the last mountain. But the company was able to complete the journey without disaster and arrived safely in G.S.L. City Oct. 24th. They had passed Capt. Robert L. Campbell (Company) on the road a few days previously.”
Based on the dates given in the above quotation, Hannah Louisa, who died August 18th, must have died and been buried along the trail in Eastern Nebraska near Fort Kearney. One has to wonder if the two-year-old child died suddenly, or if she had been ill for some time. We can only imagine the feelings of Louisa as she went through this sad experience with no family members with her. No doubt her testimony of the gospel, and those in her company consoled her; nevertheless the journey would have been lonelier and more difficult after the death of her daughter.
Although a company journal was not kept there is a brief overview of Church Emigration for 1854. It says that the last trains (Louisa would have been in one of these) for the year were exposed to great danger from the Sioux Indians, who had taken the warpath, because an Army Lieutenant near Fort Laramie ordered his men to open fire on some Indians for killing and eating a cow that belonged to a Mormon company instead of taking time to resolve the conflict. The entire company of soldiers, numbering over thirty men, was killed. Almost immediately the country was thrown into a state of great excitement requiring the emigrants to take all possible precautions to escape death and destruction. One journalist told of passing the area just after the battle took place seeing the unburied remains of the soldiers. This August 1854 incident led to years of intermittent hostility along the trail.
If a company journal had been kept we would have learned that Louisa experienced a shortage of provisions just as Charles had done the year before. They also experienced other problems. Church Historian, Andrew Jensen, writing about the wagon trains of 1854 said, “In the whole history of the Latter-day Saints emigration, scarcely any thing is met with that is more heart-rending than some of the scenes of 1854, with the exception of the hand-cart experiences two years later.” Their situation was such that an appeal for aid for all companies was published in the Deseret News at the end of August 1854. The calls from Brigham Young, the bishops, and the newspaper resulted in substantial help which was sent to help the companies still on the trail. We can only wish that we had more details that would give us a greater appreciation for Louisa and the pioneers with her.
As Louisa journeyed closer to the Salt Lake Valley she was no doubt excited about meeting Charles just as he was to meet her. Did Charles go along the trail east to meet her, or did he wait until she arrived in Salt Lake City on October 24th? He may not have gone back along the trail because he probably didn’t know what company she was with. No rosters had been sent to Salt Lake that summer. When they did meet amidst joy, there would also have been tears over the death of Hannah Louisa.
We do not know where they first lived in Salt Lake City or what their living conditions were. We wish we did. We do know that Charles and Louisa lived in Salt Lake City from 1854 to 1860. Three of their children were born while they lived there: Charles Robert (1856; died 1858), Wellington (1858) and Prudence Priscilla (1860). Charles and Louisa, along with their son Wellington and daughter Prudence, were listed as residents of Salt Lake City when the 1860 civil census was taken. Wellington was listed as age two and Prudence as age five and a half months, while their father, Charles, was listed as a laborer with real estate valued at $500 and personal property valued at $100. The real estate Charles owned where he and Louisa lived was between 2nd and 3rd West in the middle of the block on the south side of 7th South. Most likely their home was an adobe home like others built at that time. They lived in the Salt Lake Fourth Ward where Charles served as a teacher. On March 28, 1860, Charles and Louisa were sealed in the Endowment House.
In 1860 Charles was called by President Brigham Young to take his family and settle in Henefer, Utah—40 miles east of Salt Lake City on the pioneer trail. He was to assist in getting a branch of the Church started. He left his family in Salt Lake City while he went to Henefer to make preparations for taking them there.
Sometime after June 30, 1860, and before March 31, 1861, Charles moved his family to the sagebrush-covered valley of Henefer. They were still living in Salt Lake when the 1860 census was taken on June 30th, but were in Henefer on March 31, 1861, when their son, Golden Freeman, was born. The baby died on April 30th, nearly a month later. There is a biographical document in the Church historian's office written by Charles in which he said he moved to Summit County (Henefer) in 1860.
After August 30, 1860, while still in Salt Lake City, Charles employed Esther Stowe Ovard as a general housekeeper to assist Louisa during her pregnancy. We do not know if Esther went to Henefer with them when they first moved from Salt Lake. What we do know is that on March 9, 1861, three weeks before Louisa had her fifth child, Charles and Esther were married in the Endowment House by Brigham Young. If Esther accompanied Charles and Louisa then she and Charles left Henefer to go to Salt Lake to be married. If she didn’t Charles left Henefer to go to Salt Lake to marry her, and bring her to Henefer with him. During that time Louisa must have stayed in Henefer with her two children.
After entering into plural marriage Charles, Louisa, Esther, Wellington and Prudence lived together in two tents pitched near the Weber River. Charles began immediately to provide better living conditions for his family. He spent a lot of time and hard labor digging three dugouts in the side of the hill nearby. When finished, the dugouts served as their home for a year.
One of Brigham Young's purposes in sending Charles to Henefer was accomplished in 1861, when the Henefer Township was surveyed. William and James Hennefer settled in the valley at the suggestion of President Brigham Young about 1859. William was made the presiding elder of the Henefer Branch, and served in that position until 1865, when Charles Richins succeeded him.
Esther Stowe Ovard was born December 7, 1842, in Loxely, Warwickshire, England. She was the daughter of Thomas Ovard and Hannah Stowe. The family consisted of six sons and five daughters. In order of birth they were: Henry, Sarah, Esther, Esther Stowe, Joseph William, Mary Ann, William, George, Betsy, Jacob Israel, and John Alma. Esther was baptized by her father in October of 1856, and confirmed by Elder Workman.
Thomas and Hannah Ovard, along with seven of their living children, [Henry remained in England] immigrated to America in 1857. They crossed the ocean on the sailing ship George Washington, leaving Liverpool on March 28, 1857, and landed at Boston, Massachusetts, April 20, 1857. James P. Park was the leader of their Company, consisting of 817 Latter-day Saints, including fourteen returning elders. “The ship had an unusually speedy and prosperous voyage, reaching Boston in twenty-three sailing days from Liverpool. Four deaths occurred on board, and there was one child born.” After being on the ocean only three days one passenger wrote, “Out of the whole number of passengers about 800 of them are all down with seasickness, many of them too helpless to render themselves any assistance.” He also said they had a fire in the cooking galley when a barrel of grease tipped over. There was some fear for the safety of the ship, but quick action and a rainstorm at the time saved them.
Replying to a complimentary note from the passengers Captain Cummings wrote, “I am free to acknowledge that on no previous voyage have my passengers conducted themselves so orderly and peaceably as those in your charge; cleanliness, morality, sobriety, reciprocation of favors, and general good behavior were pre-eminently conspicuous in conduct and character.” It would be a mistake to think that the ships at that time carried mostly Mormon emigrants. It was just the opposite. “In 1854 some 193,000 British emigrated; 2,034 of these or 1.05 percent of the whole were Mormon.”
The Ovard family stayed in the Boston area until 1860 where they sought employment to continue their journey to the Salt Lake Valley. Esther lived in Lexington with an elderly lady ill with tuberculosis whom she cared for. In this way she earned enough money to help finance their journey across the plains. Esther was only 14-15 years old at this time. In 1860 the Ovard family probably traveled by rail to Florence, Nebraska, where they were outfitted for the trek west. If they had gone in 1857 when they arrived in Boston they would have left with a wagon train from Iowa City, which would made the trek by wagon 300 miles longer.
They crossed the plains in Captain Jesse Murphy's ox train company consisting of 279 people, 38 wagons, 2 carriages, 164 oxen, and 39 cows. The company left Florence, Nebraska, on June 19, 1860 and arrived in Salt Lake City on September 5th. There were two births in the company, but no deaths. At Devil’s Gate some in the company saw the many emigrant graves there, and did not want to continue until the Captain promised them that none of them would die on the trail. That promised was fulfilled.
George Q. Cannon, in charge of Mormon emigration that year, caught up with the Murphy Company and camped with them at Independence Rock. Also there was the Stoddard Handcart Company, the last of the handcart companies. Later on the trail they were passed by the celebrated adventurer, Richard F. Burton from England. Burton wrote that Captain Murphy flew the American flag and that the emigrants, “though weather beaten, all looked well.”
According to family tradition, Esther, being young and healthy, walked a good part of the way. Their wagon was pulled by a team consisting of an ox and a cow. Captain Jesse Murphy befriended Esther and was very attentive to her throughout the whole journey. He carried her over streams, brought her fresh cool water, and paid her every courtesy he possibly could. It was thought by the family that the young couple would be married when they reached Salt Lake, but it didn't happen. Instead, after arriving in Salt Lake, she hired out as a general housekeeper to Charles Richins. After a few months of work she became Charles' second wife in plural marriage at the age of eighteen.
The Charles Richins family didn't stay in tents and dugouts very long. After the first year two rooms of red brick were built over the dugouts. The following year three more rooms were added, and eventually the two-story house consisted of fifteen rooms, with two staircases—front and back—and two brick fireplaces. This home was the first one built in Henefer out of material other than logs. The kitchen was a long, narrow room with a wood stove in one end, a brick fireplace in the other, and a great long dining room table in the center. The other room with a fireplace was the parlor. It was furnished with a tall grandfather clock, an organ, a plush settee or two, and a beautiful hardwood table that could be extended to seat twenty people.
The parlor was used for many purposes. Meetings of every nature were held there until the Henefer brick meetinghouse was built in 1872. It was even used as a funeral home on occasion. Parley T. Richins recalled in “My Memories,” that his sister Hattie and Alma Richins had their wedding reception in the parlor with every person in the valley invited. The ‘Big House’ was home to most of the Mormon emigrants as they traveled down Echo Canyon on their way to the Salt Lake Valley. Relatives and friends from England were welcomed, fed and allowed to stay until they could get their feet on the ground. There was seldom a meal that wasn't shared by someone outside the immediate family.
Louisa Richins was an herb doctor and midwife. She was a stately woman with very small, beautiful hands. She attended many of the women at the birth of their children. Parley T. Richins said that Louisa was the midwife for his mother, Esther, when he was born. She always served willingly in time of sickness to man or animal. To her, sickness was sickness, whether in man or beast. Louisa kept her medicines and herbs in a room of the ‘Big House’ that no other member of the family was allowed to enter.
The house was used as a tithing and fast offering settlement house while Charles was Presiding Elder and Bishop. Tithing was paid in kind with such commodities as hay, grain, butter, eggs, vegetables, bricks, adobe, or whatever the individual happened to have. Leonard Richins, one of Charles’ cousins, used one room in the house as a clock repair shop. To read more about the ‘Big House’ reference Henefer Our Valley Home, available at the LDS Family History Library, and on microfiche at LDS Family History Centers.
During the early days of Henefer, Charles had many narrow escapes with his life. At one time while walking home from his work, which was a distance of about twenty miles, he was attacked by a pack of wolves and his only weapon of defense was a stick he had picked up to aid him in the long walk. With the aid of this stick and an unseen power he came out unmolested by the fierce animals. There was a time when he had a very severe attack of inflammatory rheumatism, which lasted about six weeks. The pain and fever was so severe that it turned his hair completely white. It remained white for his entire life.
One time Charles took Esther and her three boys, Parley, Hosea, and Noble to American Fork, Utah. They went from Henefer by way of Kamas where they spent the first night. The next day they traveled as far as Charleston where they stayed with Charles’ brother Enoch Richins for three or four days. As they entered the crossing of the Provo River, the team and wagon were washed down stream for quite some distance until Charles got full control of the horses and got them up the bank. They had to pay a toll charge to go through Provo Canyon. They stayed a few days in American Fork with Esther's father, Thomas Ovard, before returning to Henefer. Charles was known as a friend to the Indians who came to the settlement. Chief Washakie came to Henefer often. At one time he had 1,500 of his Indians camped near the river for a period of three months. Washakie was a friendly Indian. He wanted to be at peace with the white people, but he was not particular how much his Indians begged for food or other things they wanted. Washakie and his white wife spent much time in the little settlement, and were always friendly.
Charles Richins believed what Brigham Young had taught—that it was better to feed the Indians than to fight them. He was very generous with them and often gave them as much as half of a beef to feed their people. The story is told that on one occasion some of the Indians got drunk and got rather hostile. In order to avoid impending trouble, Charles told the Indians that they could have their choice of any of the beef in his herd. The Indians chose a new prize bull that he had just bought to sire his herds. Rather than cause any trouble, Charles let them have it.
Charles was a successful farmer and stock raiser in Henefer and then later in Colonia Diaz, Mexico. His boyhood environment in Sheepscomb, England, an agricultural community, prepared him for stock raising and dairying. He accumulated considerable real estate and was financially successful. Water for irrigation was first brought onto the Henefer bench in 1867. Charles was the first to apply for water. At one time he owned over 200 acres of farmland in the Henefer Valley. Many residents worked his ground on shares. He was generous with his possessions. He contributed the ground for the first Henefer church house, which was built where the present church building stands. He also contributed a portion of the ground for the Henefer cemetery. On July 24, 1874, a big celebration was held in Henefer, which included a great meal. Robert A. Jones wrote in his life story that Bishop Richins furnished the beef.
Parley T. Richins, son of Charles and Esther said the young children in the family had plenty of work to occupy their time. At an early age the girls learned the art of housekeeping while the boys were taught to milk the cows, till the ground, and do all the other chores that come along with animals and a large farm. Parley told an incident of how, while herding cows, his brother Madison threw a good-sized rock at a cow and struck it in a vital spot on the head and killed it. Louisa had charge of the milk and cream, churning the butter, preparing the eggs and other products for market. Some of these products were taken to Salt Lake City by ox team and wagon.
While maintaining the Big House in Henefer, Charles had another home and an apple orchard in Pleasant Grove, Utah. Parley related a time when he and his cousin, Alma Richins, traveled by team and wagon to Mill Creek in Salt Lake City to meet Charles, who brought four fifty-gallon barrels of apple cider he had made from the apples in his orchard. They took the cider to the Big House and stored it in the cellar.
As mentioned previously, Charles was called to serve as Presiding Elder of the Henefer Branch in 1865. The next year a fort was erected on the site of the present meeting house as a protection against the Indians.
The Deseret Evening News of March 18, 1866 reported a visit Apostle Joseph F. Smith made to Henefer when Charles was Presiding Elder. Elder Smith reported they held a meeting on a Monday evening and had an excellent time. He then wrote,
“This little branch has undergone a process of cleansing since I last visited it one year ago. Then I preached a fervent discourse on the Word of Wisdom and honesty; but my words seemed to rebound like echoes from the crumbling sand-stones which rear their heads in the surrounding hills, and before the congregation had dispersed several of my attentive (?) hearers drew forth their trusty clay-pipes, charged them with tobacco, lighted them, and behind their curling smoke steamed out of the meeting-house with an air of nonchalance that would have done credit to a nobler deed. Now strict attention was paid and every word seemed to be absorbed by the listeners, and after meeting those friendly greetings, the hearty ‘welcome’ and the kindly ‘good-bye’ so dear to friends and brethren, were freely exchanged.”
Charles faced other problems as Presiding Elder. In 1870 missionaries from The Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints arrived in Henefer with the message that they were the true followers of Joseph Smith- calling themselves Josephites, and those who followed Brigham Young, Brighamites. They held meetings proclaiming that Brigham Young had led his followers astray by teaching and practicing plural marriage. They started a school in Henefer called The New West School. “The school offered free supplies and church literature which was attractive to many townspeople. Many families joined the Josephite church so their children attended the New West School.”
The Josephites were so successful with their message that in the spring of 1871, according to Robert R. Jones, nearly half of the population of Henefer (fifteen families) moved to Council Bluffs, Iowa, headquarters of the Reorganized Church. One of the men who left was a counselor in the branch presidency, and another man who left had served in a previous branch presidency. Brother Jones wrote in his life story that only two families returned to Henefer. One of the families realized they made a mistake and asked for re-baptism. The other family did not. The man was bitter towards the Brighamites and tried to expose the temple ceremonies. No doubt this was a very trying time for Charles as the Presiding Elder of the Henefer Branch. After the Josephite followers moved away the school was discontinued.
In 1872, while Presiding Elder, Charles acted as chairman of the building committee responsible for Henefer's first church building. On July 8, 1877, the Summit Stake was organized, and Henefer was made a ward with Charles Richins as bishop. He was ordained by Lorenzo Snow assisted by John Taylor and Franklin D. Richards, all Apostles. Prior to his being made bishop he was re-baptized on September 20, 1876 by William Cluff, Stake President, which was the practice in those days. He was chosen on a committee appointed to consider plans and make estimates for building a stake tabernacle. After the plans were accepted he was appointed to a committee responsible for guiding the work to be done on the building.
Charles presided in Henefer until 1885 when, on account of persecution for his practicing plural marriage, he was forced to be absent so much of the time that his counselors Robert Jones and John Curtis Paskett took charge of the ward. A re-organization was effected in 1890 with John C. Paskett as bishop. The writer of the Summit County Centennial History paid tribute to the work of Charles Richins when she wrote: “The career of Charles Richins as Bishop was outstanding. He was esteemed by Church members and non-members. He had the interest of the people always at heart and worked untiringly for their welfare.” Parley T. Richins, who was born in the Big House said many of the general authorities of the Church were overnight guest in their home after his father became bishop. He stated that his father felt honored and blessed to be so favored of the Lord.
Besides being active in the Church, Charles became involved in civic affairs. He helped build the first dirt roads in the area. When the Union Pacific Rail Road came through the valley he was given a contract to furnish ties for the first rails laid from Echo Canyon to Ogden. It was a big undertaking. He hired men from the area to chop down the trees, bark them and then haul them to where they had to be planed by hand. On completion of the project, Charles received for pay a $1,000 bill from the Union Pacific Rail Road.
The canyon west of Henefer where Charles got the timber for the ties was named “Bishops Canyon” after Charles. Robert A. Jones said in his life's story that he drove Edward Richins' team of oxen to haul the timber, while his father drove Edward's team of horses. They were paid $10 a day. It took them one day to get to the timber operation, another day to load the wood and a third day to deliver the ties to the lower end of Echo Canyon. This was not the end of Charles' railroading. In 1872, he obtained a contract to build the Summit County Railroad, which went from Echo to Coalville and Grass Creek. It was built to haul coal to the main line in Echo. In order to accomplish this task he purchased a track-laying outfit. Bishop Richins, as he was commonly called, provided employment for many of the men in the valley of Henefer and nearby communities.
On March 5, 1866, Charles was appointed one of seven road supervisors in Summit County. He was appointed each year thereafter for the next eight years and then again in 1878 and 1879. His responsibility was for the roads in the Henefer and Echo area. In 1867 he and James Hennefer were given the water of Hogsback Creek for irrigation purposes. At that same time he was given one- forth of the water from Franklin Canyon while Thomas Franklin was given the rest. Bond’s and Batchelor’s were granted the right to use the waste water.
Charles was also involved with the political affairs of his day. He first became a delegate from the Henefer precinct to the county political convention in 1868. He was a delegate again in 1870, 1871, 1872, and 1874. At one time he was a delegate from Summit County to the State for the “People’s Party,” which was the party in Utah favorable to the Mormon Church. Starting in 1872 Charles served as a Selectman (County Commissioner). He continued in that position for the next six years. While serving as a commissioner in 1874-1875 he was appointed superintendent for the construction of the Summit County Courthouse in Coalville. Charles took the contract to furnish the plaster of paris used to plaster the rooms of the courthouse. He had teams haul the plaster from Salt Lake City to Coalville.
In the 1870s the federal government passed a series of laws designed to stop polygamy. Feeling pressure from federal marshals and knowing that President Brigham Young had advised Latter-day Saints to go to Arizona to help settle the area, Charles decided to send Louisa and her family to that area. He bought two new wagons and oxen, gave her some money, and arranged for Louisa to take her family, provisions, and a herd of cattle to Arizona. All of her children accompanied her except Orson Oriel who remained in Henefer.
They started on their journey by ox team and covered wagons on October 3, 1877. Accompanying Louisa were her children: Wellington (19), Prudence Priscilla (17), Rebecca (13), and Marland Golden (6), and the spouses of Wellington (Alice Bond), and Prudence (Joseph Bond). Rebecca, only thirteen, rode a horse and helped drive a large herd of cattle from Henefer, Utah, to Thompson Valley near Prescott, Arizona. They traveled to Heber City, down Provo Canyon and on to Richfield. In Richfield they overtook and joined the Redden Allred family who were also headed to Arizona. Later along the route they joined with another company. When they reached Mud Springs in Kane County, Utah on November 5, 1877, Wellington’s wife Alice gave birth to a son whom they named Osborne. They traveled through mountains and desert arriving at the Colorado River where they crossed at Lee’s Ferry. The family crossed first and then the cattle.
“To Prudence the way was long, rough and tiresome. They camped at Navajo Springs, Arizona, where she gave birth to a son. She became very ill forcing them to drive by night to Willow Springs. The baby died. The tiny body was placed in a crude coffin made of rough lumber and lined with cotton cloth. Wellington Richins and Francis M. Pomeroy carried it on horseback fifteen miles to Moenkopi, a Mormon settlement. There a graveside prayer and dedication was held and the body of Orson Obed was buried.”
The weather was bitter cold when they arrived in Thompson Valley, situated about 60 miles southeast of Prescott, Arizona on January 8, 1878. Their trek to Arizona of over three months had not been easy. It had been long, strenuous, and was accompanied by much sorrow and heartache. After living in Thompson for six months, Louisa became dissatisfied and decided to return to Utah with her two youngest children. Joseph traded his ox team for horses and he and Prudence accompanied Louisa, Rebecca and Marland on the return trip. Their travel back by horse-drawn covered wagons to Henefer was faster and more enjoyable than their trip down by ox team. Wellington and his wife continued on to Lehi and then to Mesa where they stayed.
Shortly after Louisa returned to the Big House in the spring of 1878, Charles married his third wife, Agnes Mary Willmott. In spite of persecution, Charles still felt that as a Bishop it was his responsibility to live the law of plural marriage to the best of his ability. Family tradition indicates that neither Louisa nor Esther knew Charles was going to marry Agnes until he brought her to the Big House to live. If this story is true, it shows the trust and confidence Louisa and Esther had in Charles as they accepted his third wife. Agnes and Charles were married by Elder Wilford Woodruff in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City on April 11, 1878. Agnes, whom he met in Coalville, was a beautiful girl, very frail and delicate. She was 20 years old and Charles was 50.
Agnes was born in Bassingbourn, Cambridgeshire, England, on March 3, 1858. Her parents were Edward Willmott and Ann Noble. She attended public school until she was 12 years of age. When she was nearly fifteen she went to London to work for a family as a nurse girl. She was working as a parlor maid with a wealthy family when she heard the message of the Mormon elders. She accepted the gospel and was baptized September 3, 1876, when she was 18 years old. Her mother and an older sister were baptized a few months before she joined the Church. They immigrated to Utah in 1876.
Agnes and her younger sister Eliza came to Zion the following year. They crossed the ocean on the Steamship Idaho which left Liverpool, England, October 17, 1877, with 150 saints, including 12 returning elders. In charge of the group from England to Salt Lake City was Elder William Paxman. Elder Paxman was sea sick the entire journey. A number of excellent singers in the company helped make the journey enjoyable. The ship arrived at New York October 29th. From there the company traveled by train to Salt Lake City arriving November 7, 1877. Agnes and Eliza debarked from the train in Echo, Utah, where it is believed she was met by family or friends and taken to Coalville. Her father and oldest brother, John, never did accept the gospel, but her brother, George, came to Utah and was baptized at Henefer. Her brothers and sisters were John, Elizabeth, George, Eliza and Jane.
Between the spring of 1878 and February 1882 Charles and his three wives were sometimes together in the Big House. The reason they were not together very often is because they were being persecution for living in plural marriage. Either Charles or one or more of his wives were “hiding out” or “on the run” from 1877 until 1890 when the Manifesto was issued by President Wilford Woodruff, declaring an end to the practice of plural marriage by the Church. By 1890, Charles was in Mexico, along with many other Latter-day Saints because that country had no laws opposing polygamy.
All of Louisa's children after she and Charles moved from Salt Lake City, and all of Esther's children, were born in Henefer. Three of Agnes' ten children were born while she was at Henefer between the years 1879 and 1884. (See Appendix A for a listing of the children of Charles and his three wives in order of their birth.)
Each wife had separate bedrooms, but shared equally in the rest of the house. They all assembled as one large family to eat their meals and kneel in family prayer. Esther’s son, Parley, recalled that they were taught to respect the other wives of their father and to pray for them. He said, “There were no half-brothers and sisters, we were all members of the same family and this relationship has remained so throughout our lives.”
In the U.S. 1870 Census for Henefer, Utah, Louisa and Esther are both listed in the household of Charles along with their children. In the 1880 census the two wives are listed separately as heads of their households along with their children. Charles was not listed with either family because he was in Arizona with Agnes. While Charles was gone he may have hired someone to help his wives with the work as Franklyn, a 23- year old male servant, is listed in the household of Louisa in the 1880 census.
Charles and Agnes left Henefer in the fall of 1879 because of persecution, and went to Kaysville, Utah, where they stayed with Agnes' mother for a short time and then traveled by team and wagon to Mesa, Arizona, arriving there in April 1880. They had some very narrow escapes while making the trek. While crossing the big Colorado River, the water was so high that Charles had to bring his team and wagon out at a particular spot or they would hit quicksand and lose everything. Agnes lay in the bottom of the wagon with her baby, Jesse, afraid they would not make it, but providence was with them. After crossing the river they camped at the foot of Moocow Mountains where they came in contact with Indians who were on the warpath. They learned that a battle had been fought at their previous night's campground and that they had narrowly escaped being captured.
Charles and Agnes arrived at the Salt River in the Mesa area, April 1880. They stayed there until the fall of 1880 at which time they began their return trip to Henefer. On the way back they stopped at Minersville, Utah, where their daughter, Eunice, was born. When she was six weeks old they stopped in Provo at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Boordman. While staying there their small son Jesse was seriously burned and only recovered after great care. They made it back to Henefer early in 1881, where they remained until 1886. During that time two more children were born to Agnes and two more to Esther.
News of the new opportunities in developing in Arizona encouraged Louisa, Prudence and Joseph to flee the stressful and nearly unbearable situation in Henefer that was a result of polygamy-related persecution. In February 1882, four years after arriving back in Henefer, Louisa and her family decided to move back to Arizona, only this time Prudence and Joseph had two small children (Rebecca Louise and Marland Golden) to accompany them. They boarded the train at Echo, and arrived at Maricopa, Arizona, the nearest railroad station to Lehi and Mesa. Wellington met them at the station and took them by team and wagon the 30 miles to Mesa. The wagon trip took a full day. Before leaving Henefer, Charles gave Louisa some money, which she used to purchase five acres of land in Mesa. Joseph and Prudence acquired property just south of Louisa’s.
Only one son of Charles Richins entered into plural marriage, and that was Orson Oriel, son of Louisa. He married Rachel Hennefer in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, May 25, 1881, when he and Rachel were both nineteen. Six months later on October 20, 1881, he married Caroline Fawcett in the Endowment House when she was nineteen. When Louisa returned to Arizona in February, 1882, Orson and his wives remained behind. In the fall of 1882 Orson was indicted for polygamy. At this time they were living in Edward Richins’ house on a ranch near Henefer. The officer kept watch over the house so closely that it was necessary for his wife Rachel to carry food in a horse nose sack to the chicken coop where Orson Oriel was hiding; so the officer would think she was going to feed the chickens, and not become suspicious.
To escape persecution Orson sold his property in Henefer, sent his wives to Mesa, Arizona, by train, and then went there to make their home. After living there for a few years they moved to Colonia Diaz, Mexico, where Orson purchased a ranch about half a mile from where Charles had a ranch.
The passages of the Edmunds Law in 1886 intensified the efforts by the federal officers to arrest and imprison those who were practicing polygamy. Once again Charles had to leave Henefer for his own safety, as well as the safety of his wives, Esther and Agnes. Charles, Agnes and her children went to Kaysville where they stayed with her mother for a short time. From there they went to Pleasant Grove, where Charles bought some property, which included an orchard. It was there that Agnes had her first real home. Esther was left in Henefer with her family to take care of the Big House, and the family's livestock and real estate. During this time Esther was responsible for ensuring their fifteen cows were milked each morning and night.
This situation afforded Charles and his two wives living in Utah some peace from the federal officers, but this peace did not last long. One day in April, 1887, Charles and Agnes were visiting a relative when an unknown woman came to the house. When Agnes was introduced as the wife of Charles the stranger commented, “I thought Charles' wife was much older, or does he have another wife?” The relative told her Charles had another wife, Esther, in Henefer. When she had gone Charles arose and said, “I feel the spirit of the devil in this house, let us go home at once.” The next morning at sunrise he was arrested by two federal officers as he took his team of horses to drink at a ditch across the street from his home in Pleasant Grove. He was placed under a $1,000 bond and given a day to appear in court. Agnes was subpoenaed as a witness against her husband and put under a $200 bond. Jesse (8) and Eunice (6) were also subpoenaed, but were not put under bonds.
In the meantime an effort was being made to locate Esther so they would have a case against Charles in court. Her son Parley said, “It was then we began to live in what was known as the ‘underground’ to avoid her being arrested or subpoenaed as a witness. Mother took us smaller children and moved around from settlement to settlement, staying in one place only a few days. We lived in Hoytsville, Wanship, Rockport, Croyden, and nearly every settlement along the Weber River, coming home only occasionally to stay for a day or two to see that their affairs were in order.”
Agnes went to Provo one day for the trial, but their case was not called. Agnes took four of her children and went to Mesa where she stayed with Louisa, so she would not have to testify against her husband. She left five-year-old Byron with Charles and her mother, Ann Willmott, who came from Kaysville, Utah to keep house for Charles. Charles was one of the bondsmen for his wife, Agnes, so when she left he had to come up with the money to pay the bond. Esther sold some of the cattle in Henefer and sent $200 to Charles to pay the bond. She sewed the money in the lining of Madison's coat (age 17) and he rode over Big Mountain by horseback to take the money to his father.
Charles stayed in Pleasant Grove awaiting trial. Inasmuch as the prosecutors had no witnesses they continued his case from term to term hoping to get witnesses against him. Charles finally got permission from his bondsman to go to Mexico in December, 1888, on condition that he would return to Provo for the next grand jury session in March, 1889. He took his son, Byron, with him. He met Agnes and their four children at Deming, New Mexico, and from there they went to Colonia Diaz, Chihuahua, Mexico. They located a small one-room adobe house where Agnes and the children stayed while Charles returned to Provo for trial.
In March 1889, his case was brought up, but due to a lack of witnesses, and the fact that he had been waiting nearly two years and had been faithful to his bond, the judge dismissed his case and Charles was free to go. Parley once commented to his father that even if he had gone to trial he would probably have spent only a couple of months in jail. Charles replied, “Parley, if I had gone to jail, I would have died there.”
After having his trial dismissed, Charles visited Esther and her children in Henefer. From there he went to Mesa, Arizona where he stayed with Louisa’s family a short time before traveling on to Mexico where Agnes and her children were waiting. In Mexico, Charles purchased a ranch two and one-half miles northeast of Colonia Diaz. He was the first to establish a ranch in the area and move his family there. Somewhere around 1889 he built a house that was a smaller replica of the Big House in Henefer. Next to the house was a windmill surrounded by trees and shrubs and a pool. Located some distance east of the house were adobe corrals where the dairy herd was milked. There were no water rights, just rain, so it was quite different form his irrigated ground in Henefer.
On September 13, 1890, Charles returned to Henefer to sell the Big House and what remained of his property. William H. Bennett purchased the house and some of his farm land. The Big House changed hands a number of times and was later torn down. Charles convinced Esther and some of her children to return to Mexico with him. Emeline and Hannah were married and Madison was ready to get married, so they declined to accompany him. Esther and her children Parley, Hosea, and Noble accompanied Charles to Deming, New Mexico, by train and from there to Colonia Diaz, Mexico, a distance of 100 miles by wagon.
Charles chose a spot on his ranch for Esther to live and started hauling adobe bricks to build her a house. Esther didn't want to go to Mexico in the first place and after she was there a month she became homesick for her children in Henefer. She told Charles, “I've got three married children in Henefer and three here and I’ll return to Henefer and take these three with me.” Charles counseled with Anthony W. Ivins, President of the mission, concerning the matter and the decision was made that Esther would return to Henefer.
Charles gave Esther $400 when she left Mexico and she traveled by train back to Henefer with Hosea and Noble. Parley stayed for about a year and a half to help his father before also returning to Henefer by train. He said his responsibility was to herd the cattle while he was on the ranch in Mexico. He was fourteen at the time. Five years later in 1898 Charles wrote asking Parley to come to Mexico to help him on the ranch, as Jesse had been called on a mission. Parley returned to Mexico and helped his father for eight months.
As stated earlier, Louisa purchased five acres of property in Mesa with the money Charles gave her. Despite owning the property she always made her home with Joseph and Prudence who lived near by. She was affectionately known in Mesa as “Grandma Richins.” She continued her earlier practice of medicine and was a midwife who was trusted by all whom she assisted. When notified of illness in a home, Joseph would often take her to that home in a wagon with steel rimmed wheels.
Louisa was a good cook. Her specialty was baking big, light-brown loaves of bread. She also made butter and cheese, an art she learned while living in the Big House. Louisa loved to read, especially church books and newspapers from Salt Lake City and England. She was small in stature and always neatly dressed. She usually wore a blouse and skirt or a very plain dress, dark laced shoes and a sunbonnet with slat stays to hold it away from her face.
Louisa went into Mexico on several occasions to visit Charles, Agnes, and their family, as well as her son Orson Oriel and his families who were living in Colonia Diaz. She traveled by train to Colonia Dublan where she was met by one of the family to take her from there to Colonia Diaz. One time Louisa was met by Parley, son of Esther, who did not know her. He used a small picture given him by his father to identify her as she got off the train.
In March, 1902, Louisa returned to Mesa from her last visit to Mexico just in time to assist her daughter Prudence in giving birth to a baby girl. She loved her children and her grandchildren. She had 10 children, 5 boys and 5 girls. Three of her sons and two of her daughters had families of their own. She died of a stroke on April 28, 1902, approximately one month after her return from Mexico. Louisa was buried in Mesa, Arizona. Her granddaughter, Naoma Bond Ball, penned this tribute to her which she must have gotten from older family members because she was only a month old at the time of Louisa’s death:
“Grandma Louise Richins was known to everyone who lived in Mesa. Just to know her was to love her. Her life was indeed a busy and useful one. She was always willing to help those in need, even in her advanced years. She was a staunch member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She lived the gospel faithfully and served the church well.”
In Mexico, Charles, Agnes, and their family went through the hardships of frontier life. To make their life comfortable required a lot of hard work. Their oldest son, Jesse, said,
“Father bought a large herd of cattle and went into the dairy business. Often we would milk from fifty to seventy-five cows and would make butter and cheese. Father was very particular that his animals be given the best of care. Never could the cows and pigs be neglected. He bought a large tract of ground for his range cattle to feed on. He spent most of his time riding the range taking care of his cattle. Father always furnished plenty of work for his children besides having some hired help.”
When Jesse went on his mission to North Carolina, as well as other times when there was shortage of help on the ranch, the girls helped with the work. When they rode horses, Charles would allow them to only ride side saddle. As has been mentioned previously Charles and Louisa’s son, Orson Oriel, and his wives had a ranch near Charles and Agnes. Orson’s wife Rachel said that if it hadn’t been for the help Charles gave her while Orson was serving a mission in the Central States she would never have gotten through the hard times in Mexico. Sometimes at night if she became frightened, because of roving Mexicans, she gathered the children from their beds and took them over to their grandfather’s home. “When Charles became sick he sent for Rachel and told her he knew he was going to leave them and he wanted to tell her that she had been a wonderful daughter-in-law, a good wife to his son, Orson Oriel, and a splendid mother to her children.”
Ranch life in Mexico had its troubles and sorrows. In October, 1895 Charles’ and Agnes' thirteen-year-old son Byron was dragged to death by a horse. It was a Sunday morning and Byron had gone out to get the horses for the family to go to Sunday School. He was riding his horse without a saddle, and when he found the other horses he un-hobbled them. He re-mounted his horse while holding a long rope and accidentally threw a loop around his own neck. His horse jumped from under him and dragged him through the mesquite brush, breaking his neck. Jesse said his father and mother lost their love for ranch life after that tragedy. Jesse also recounted an incident when Charles tried to cross the river when the water was so high that the horse could not swim until he slid off its back and held on to the horse’s tail. He said Charles was thrown from his horse on several occasions and was nearly killed.
While living in Colonia Diaz, Charles served as second counselor to Bishop William D. Johnson from 1895 to 1900. In May of 1901 he was ordained a Patriarch by John Henry Smith, which position he held a little over two years until his death. One writer said, “He dedicated his life to the Church and made spirituality a paramount issue of his home. Profanity was taboo and distance did not prevent the family from attending church, school and socials in town.”
Charles was a man of great spirituality. He had the gifts of the spirit. On one occasion a grandchild about ten weeks old was thrown from a wagon and the wheel passed over her neck. When the baby was reached she was, from all appearances, dead, for she was black in the face. Charles administered to her and she was healed immediately. He also had the spirit of discernment concerning the safety of those away from home. On several occasions he sent out search parties to look for missing ones before he was told something was wrong.
At the turn of the century Charles had eighteen of his thirty children still living. Some were with him in Mexico, others in Arizona and still others in Utah. We know Charles was concerned about his growing family. When he was in his seventy-third year (1901) he wrote a letter from Mexico to his daughter Hattie in Henefer. In the letter he mentioned some problems with his own health, and then expressed hope that she and her family were well. He thanked her for the kindness she and others in Henefer showed towards Jesse and Alice during their recent visit to Henefer. He then asked Hattie to remember him to her husband Alma and family, to Hannah and family, Madison and family, and Parley, Hosea, and Noble. He asked her to tell them he had not forgotten them and was sorry some of them were not with him. He wrote, “I hope they are kind to their mother.”
Charles was 5 feet 6 inches in height, weighed 152 pounds and was fair of complexion, with gray hair most of his life. A dinner was planned for the 17th of August with over 100 invited guests, to celebrate Charles’ 75th birthday, but was canceled when he got sick on the 15th. He died August 27, 1903, at the age of 75. His death was attributed to his getting overheated while running after cattle and trying to drive them to water. He lived for two weeks after he became ill. Charles was buried in Colonia Diaz, Mexico. Orson James Richins, grandson of Charles, wrote:
“His burial was the first I had seen or recall. His casket was put on a long wagon approximately four by twelve feet (it seemed longer to me then). Some men sat on the wagon to help hold the casket on the wagon as it went over rocks and chuckholes to the graveyard (cemetery). Other people in wagons followed. Just as the casket was being lowered the worst rain we’d had for a long time (cloud burst so it was said) came and everyone was drenched. The grave workers hurriedly pushed mud to cover the grave.”
No one knows the location of his grave because the Mexicans plowed up the cemeteries after they drove the Mormons out in 1912. In 1991 Tom Haymore wrote a letter to Devaun and Lillian Richins telling about a visit he made to the Colonia Diaz Cemetery. This is what he wrote:
“All of the Mormon markers were broken and defaced and then placed on the Mexican graves. There were a few broken markers that were just on the ground, apparently not associated with a grave. Some of them had been shot, others had information chiseled off, and others were painted traditional Mexican colors. After reading part of the history of Diaz, I gather that the Mormon cemetery was adjacent to the present Mexican cemetery. The markers were then moved to the Mexican graves. There is no sign of the unmarked Mormon graves. Were it not for these remnants of Mormon grave markers no one would know that the Mormons lived, sacrificed, and died there. ... Their homes are gone, the church/school is gone, their graves are gone and the markers are misplaced. I don’t know what will be left for the future to know the Mormons were even there.”
[It is important to remember that Charles is not the only Richins buried at Colonia Diaz. Agnes said that she buried Charles and three of her children in Mexico, and a son of Orson Oriel’s may also have been buried there.]
The following excerpt from Charles’ obituary in the Deseret News gives some indication of his greatness: “The people of our ward are called upon to lay away one of our choicest citizens and Brethren, Patriarch Charles Richins…He was a faithful Latter-day Saint universally loved and respected.”
Annie R. Johnson’s Heartbeat of Colonia Diaz portrays Agnes as “Charles’ wisp of a wife, weighing not much more than a hundred pounds, [and] was English culture personified. This was portrayed in her manner, speech, and dress, even while mustering pioneer problems such as would be met while establishing a cattle and dairy ranch in an undeveloped foreign country.” After Charles passed away Agnes and her family moved into Colonia Diaz from the ranch. At that time she had three children who were married and four that were not: Agnes, Beatrice, John and Roxie, ages 6-17. To protect her interest in Charles' estate in Mexico, she and Charles had been married by the justice of the peace in El Paso, Texas, on July 9, 1902. Evidently they were afraid the Mexican government would not accept their sealing in the Endowment House twenty-four years earlier.
In 1910 the government in Mexico became very unstable because of the revolution taking place between the Francisco I marauders and the Diaz regime. The government was unable to quell the numerous rebellions and uprisings, so living conditions became very hazardous and uncertain. John W. Richins, who was fifteen at the time, said he remembered when two American men were killed by desperadoes. He was sent from Colonia Diaz as a messenger to the Richins ranch and to neighboring ranches on two different occasions to tell them to come into town for safety. John tells that on one occasion he borrowed a saddle from Lois’ husband, Hyrum, put it on his horse and went with three boys to the Richins Ranch for a load of feed. They stopped for a swim and while they were swimming someone stole his horse. He later found the horse, but the saddle and bridle were missing.
On July 26, 1912, President Romney, leader of the Mormons in Mexico, received orders from General Salazar of the Diaz regime to have all the colonists turn in their arms and ammunition. If they didn't turn them in the rebels threatened to attack the colonists, as well as those favoring the Mexican government. The rebels had already taken possession of some of the other colonies. The decision was made to surrender some of the firearms—the old guns that were in poor condition and one of the community arms imported from the United States. It was soon learned that weapons turned in got into the hands of the rebels, so on July 28, 1912, they received a message from President Romney advising all colonists to leave immediately for the United States.
Agnes, Beatrice and Roxie were visiting in the nearby community of Colonia Juarez with Agnes Clayson when the message came to leave. They were making wedding plans for Beatrice's marriage to Henry L. Smith. That very day they left, along with Jesse Clayson, for El Paso, Texas. Agnes said in her history that she arrived in El Paso, Texas, with the first trainload of refugees.
John remained in Colonia Diaz to help the women and children gather what they could and move out. They could only take necessities. John said, “Many choice things that had crossed the ocean with our parents and had been passed on to us for safekeeping were left behind. After turning the livestock loose and opening the chicken coop door, I hurried over to help my brother, Jesse's family get loaded into a wagon.”
Jesse was nearly a hundred miles south of Colonia Diaz working on a railroad. At that time John and Jesse's family, Lois and Hyrum and their families left Diaz, and went northwest by team and wagon across the border to Hachita in the United States. Once across the border the United State government furnished tents and provisions until the refugees could establish themselves or go to some other destination.
After two weeks in the “tent city” of Hachita, Eunice and James and their family and John went to El Paso, Texas, to be with Agnes and other members of the family. On August 17, 1912, Beatrice was married to Henry Lunt Smith in El Paso, Texas.
Jesse, son of Charles and Agnes, corresponded with the Mexican Government in an effort to get settlement on 100 acres of property owned by Charles Richins that was left behind. In 1889 Charles had taken out citizenship in Mexico so he could protect rights to his property. After thirty years (1943) a settlement was made with the current tenant who had paid the yearly taxes. The amount was 2500 pesos, ($206 or $2.06 an acre) based on the exchange rate at that time.
On August 20, 1912, Agnes, Roxie, John and Eunice and James with their children left El Paso, Texas for Henefer, Utah. John said they arrived in Henefer in time to help with the hay harvest and stayed there for the winter. Agnes said, “Our folks there treated us very kindly.”
Agnes, John and Roxie moved to Richfield, Utah, in December 1913, to be with Jesse and his family. Eunice, James and family went to Tucson, Arizona, and on to Deming, New Mexico. After being in Richfield four months Agnes, John and Roxie left for El Paso once again. Agnes said she went to El Paso in April, 1914, thinking they could return to Mexico. From there they went to Deming, New Mexico to be with Eunice and James. While living there John and George Richins went to the Hachita Ranch, rounded up all the horses they had brought out of Mexico and drove them to Deming for sale.
In the fall of 1914, Agnes, John and Roxie moved to Oakley, Idaho, where Jesse had moved and taken up a homestead. Eunice and her family were also in Oakley. From there they went to Burley, Idaho, and then to Provo, Utah in the spring of 1919. John got work in Provo with his brother-in-law, Jesse Clayson. Agnes and John lived with Agnes Priscilla and Jesse Clayson in Provo. On February 16, 1925, Agnes Mary Willmott passed away at the age of 67. She was buried in the Provo Cemetery.
Agnes was the mother of ten children four sons and six daughters. Six of her children had families of their own. Another son John never married. Agnes proved herself faithful to her covenants. She sacrificed much to live under plural marriage. Her life was not easy; nevertheless she never weakened in her love for her husband and her family. She maintained a close relationship with her children throughout her life.
Esther purchased a piece of property and log house in Henefer from James Attack with the $400 Charles gave her when she left Mexico. The house consisted of a bedroom, kitchen, hallway and lean-to. She and her boys lived there for several years. Esther made a living for herself and her family by taking in washing and ironing from people in Echo. She managed to help support her son Parley while he served a mission in Arkansas. She was a hard worker and had a little garden of her own.
After Charles’ death Esther went to Mexico seeking a settlement on his property there, but came back without anything. In fact, the Mormons lost nearly everything when the Mexican government drove them out.
After her boys married and established their own homes, Esther lived alone. Her home was adjacent to her son, Noble. Her family and relatives often took turns staying nights with her. As she grew older, her health began to fail and she could only hear out of one ear. One night after dark, she fell through a footbridge that had been removed by Halloween pranksters and broke her leg. Her broken leg took months to heal and from that time on she had to use a cane to walk. Soon after the fall, she was taken to the home of her daughter Emeline Hattie and her husband Alma E. Richins in Henefer to live. There she had a room of her own and a houseful of grandchildren to keep her happy. She lived with the Alma Richins family for about a year. When Esther died July 30, 1924, at the age of 81, she was the oldest female resident of Henefer.
Esther was a true Latter-day Saint, living her religion day by day. Her life was not an easy one, but it was a full life, and she lived to fulfill her mission here on earth. She was faithful to her husband Charles. She never said anything derogatory about him and would stop anyone else who did. She had ten children, five sons and five daughters. Two of her daughters and four of her sons had families of their own.
Although parts of the life of Charles and each of his wives has been written separately in the past, this is the first time the life stories of all four individuals have been put together. This provides a clearer picture of the Charles Richins family and reveals to us the sacrifices they made. Each accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and came to Zion, a trek that was not easy. They were truly pioneers, not just in getting to Zion, but also in Henefer, Pleasant Grove, Mesa, and Colonial Diaz where they were early settlers. Agnes, in her short autobiography wrote, “I went through the Pioneer days in Mexico.”
Louisa was a pioneer in Henefer and then again in Mesa, Arizona. Esther was in Henefer almost as soon as Louisa, and then remained there to take care of the family’s possessions during their persecution for polygamy. This history illustrates the sacrifices the Charles Richins family made by the number of times each of the four people involved made trips back and forth from Utah, Arizona and Mexico. Travel in those days was most difficult. The descendants of Charles should not lose sight of the sorrow and heartaches that came to the families from the death of their children while still young. Louisa had five children who died young, Esther had four, and Agnes three.
How different things might have been had Charles not entered into plural marriage but remained in Henefer instead with Louisa and his first family. But he did enter into plural marriage, and it is the writer’s conviction that if Charles had kept a diary he would have recorded his call from President Brigham Young to take upon himself this great responsibility. No doubt he was aware of the sacrifices he would be called upon to make, but he was equal to the test. Even after persecution started Charles married his third wife. Credit should also be given to Louisa, Esther and Agnes who, from all indication, lived as harmoniously in plural marriage as three wives possibly could. They maintained their love and devotion to Charles, to each other, and to the families of each other even after most of their worldly possessions had been lost. In so doing they helped raise up a righteous posterity, which was the purpose for the practice of plural marriage. Truly, the blessings pronounced upon the head of Charles Richins by Patriarch John Smith were fulfilled.
At the Richins Family Reunion held Saturday, August 7, 1976 in Henefer, a special tribute was paid to Charles and his three wives when a memorial marker was erected and dedicated by the descendants of Charles in the Henefer Cemetery. The inscription on the monument reads:
MEMORIAL
TO
CHARLES RICHINS
1828-1903EARLY SETTLERS AND CHURCH LEADERS OF HENEFER
Born 17 August 1828, Sheepscombe, Gloucester, England, son of Richard Richins and Charlotte Priscilla Wager. Pioneer to Utah 1853 – Settled in Henneferville 1861. Served for 25 years (1865-1890) as Presiding Elder and Bishop. MARRIED: LOUISA SHILL, ESTHER STOWE OVARD AND AGNES MARY WILLMOTT. Father of 30 children. Died 27 August 1903 at Colonia Diaz, Mexico, where he is buried. Erected by his descendants.
Dedicated 7 August 1976.