By his Son
Leo Jennings Neville
Joseph Hyrum Neville was named after the Prophet Joseph and his brother Hyrum. He was born in Bradley, Hampshire, England on the 31 August 1852, being the tenth child of his father, William Stiff Neville and Rachel Jennings. He was raised from infancy in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
His father was a Deacon in the Church of England. When the Mormon Elders entered his town, grandfather made this remark, “He would drive them out of town, if they did not quote the scriptures right.” On attending the first street meeting, grandfather was converted. He knew the scriptures; and it was just the thing that he had been looking for.
At the age of sixteen, father came to America with his father and mother and one brother, James Neville. They took the sailing ship, Hudson, at the docks of London, England. It took them seven weeks to make the trip to New York. They stayed in New York for a year until they had a chance to go west with a church company.
They traveled by rail to Laramie, Wyoming, and then went the rest of the way by ox team, in the company of Captain Seely, to Salt Lake City.
While in New York father and uncle Jim worked in the building trade, learning plastering, brick laying and carpentry.
Living in Salt Lake City, father followed the building trade; he plastered the old Sal Lake Theatre. He was stumped when it came time to do the ornamental plastering and casting, and none of the other workmen could do it either. He asked a painter if he had any idea of a plastic, but he also didn’t know. This painter painted the picture of the Savior’s trial before Pilate, which is in the annex of the Salt Lake Temple. That night father dreamed how to make the plastic and it worked. The formula was glue and flour; the glue being made from cow hides. He made the glue.
Father moved to Bountiful, Utah, lived there a short time, and then moved to Ogden, Utah. He stayed there and followed his trade whenever he could get the work.
When the railroad came into Ogden, he claimed that he built the grade through Echo Canyon with wheel-barrow, pick and shovel. Also, with a pole he propped up an overhanging rock that the wagon road went under. Even today, you can see the tradition carried on.
In Ogden, Father carried on with band playing that he started in Salt Lake. He played the coronet. Ogden had a good Brass Band.
They put on a big celebration, when the rails got into the city. The men went up in the mountains, go out a lot of pine trees and lined the main street on each side, as if they had been growing there for years, but the trees had no roots.
When they went to Promontory Point with the rails, father was there with the band, saw the gold spike driven and afterwards the band played a number. The crowd was close to the engine and spike driving when the engineer tooted his whistle and shouted, “Look out I am going to turn around.” The people started to run to make room for him to make the turn, when it dawned on them that the thing could not turn.
Father went out to a little town twenty-five miles north of Evanston, Wyoming, called Woodruff, Utah. He was taken up with the tall grass that covered miles of ground. While in England he got the impression that cattle and being a cow boy was the thing to do. I remember in my early days father’s prayers would be something like this, “Father in Heaven bless the cattle on the thousand hills.” As far as I know he never attainted his desires. His abilities and talents ran in the mechanical department. For example, I saw him drive out of the corral, his own cattle, which he hadn’t seen for some time. I asked him why he drove out hone certain cow. He said that he could not afford to feed other people’s cattle. We caught the cow, shaved the brand and found that it had his brand. He then threw up both hands and said, “I am through.”
He moved to Woodruff, Utah with one horse and one ox hitched to a wagon with his belongings. On arriving there he builta log house and lean-to on the west side of the house, it being partly a dug-out. Grandfather and grandmother came from Bountiful to live with them in this dug-out. Grandfather died there on 9 September 1880, seven years before I was born.
Father was advised by the town’s people to put up a blacksmith shop, since he had such a shop in Aspen, Wyoming, in the camp of Parley Willey. I remember living there in the top of the shop; we had to climb a ladder to get in. While there I saw a railroad car that was right in front of the shop that had caught on fire and had partly burned. It was loaded with plug tobacco and ammunition. The ammunition was destroyed, but the tobacco wasn’t hurt much—it just evaporated. I heard that it was found in threshing machine boxes and men’s houses.
Father did all of the blacksmithing that the town needed as well as shoeing their horses. He also did their surveying. That he learned by correspondence. HE made the brick and burned lime; built the home of those who could afford it. He drew the plans for the school house and church and built them. He also built the court house in Randolph, Utah; I helped him on these, mostly carrying water to the workmen and running errands. He was Justice of the Peace, tired several cases, married several people and took charge of the execution of an 18 year old boy, who lived in Salt Lake City. The boy had become quite tough, getting into all kinds of trouble and playing pranks. His parents either did not or could not train him or he was just turned loose as so many parents do. He tipped over a street vender’s apple cart and the police tried to apprehend him and that made the boy try to get away. He saw a horse tied to a stake and took the hors. That made him a horse thief and in that day that made him subject to the punishment of death. The police then rounded up a posse and went after him. The boy broke into a store, took guns and bullets and food. They followed him into a shack just north of Woodruff about two miles, where they had captured him. He was tried in Salt Lake City on the charge of stealing and killing tow policemen, and sentenced to be shot at the scene of his capture. It being in the jurisdiction of the Justice of the Peace, father had to take charge of the execution. He was the only one who knew which guns had the bullets in, he did the loading. When he went to pin the target on to the boy he called a doctor that was present to pin it over the heart as he was not quite sure of the right location. This boy was a Catholic. The Priest or Father then came to the boy and said to him, “My boy, be brave for y ou will soon be in the arms of Jesus.” The boy straightened up in his chair and stayed that way until the shots.
Father received a letter from Box (B.) from the church, calling him on a Mission to the Sandwich Islands. This was about 1898. He started to prepare for the calling. He was to take all his family. A year later it was changed to Great Britain. In 1900 it was changed to the Big Horn County. I think that Byron Sessions told the President of the Church that he wanted him to go as he had so many qualities to build up a new country. He must have told the different things that he was goo in, for the letter that father got, called him to do the surveying of the canal.
We prepared the wagons of all who were going to the Big Horn as well as our own at the blacksmith shop. I have a picture of the same, showing us at work. Savannah Putman took the picture, then sold the camera to father and I fell heir to taking the pictures. I don’t have any pictures that I took. I don’t think I had any luck.
We, the one that were going from Woodruff, all gathered, just south and east of town, about time in the morning on 24 April 1900. Brother Henry Cook took pictures of us as we left.
The following information was obtained from the diary of Joseph Hyrum Neville.
Landing in camp with the rest of the companies, and at the heat of the canal. Father coming in late, a Mister Marshel, who lived at Lovell, was hired to survey the canal. Father was then assigned to be the official blacksmith, for all the Colony. He having the tools that he shipped to Bridger. He continued all summer till fall.
When the land had to surveyed, and the towns plotted, and the drawing of lands and lots, so as no one would have favors, father did the surveying. He also surveyed the other towns and additions of Lovell, Burlington, and Penrose. Besides the Toan canal and enlargement of same for the Lovell canal. As we had to build homes, preparing for winter. At this time many of the people wanted to go back to Utah. Apostle Woodruff came to see what he could do to help us to say and finish the canal. He called a special meeting and fast till we got an answer from the Lord. The Burlington Railroad sent their head surveyor to get the Mormons to build their road to Cody form Toluch. Seeing that we had finished six miles of canal in one season. We all felt that the Lord answered our prayers. All that could be, were spared to go and work on the Railroad while the rest stayed to build the houses.
Father was hired by Bishop Packard as Bookkeeper and Commissary Clerk, when the railroad went though Powell. After that job was finished he became the United States Land Commissioner, having his office in Garland, Wyoming during the time the water was taken out on the Government Project of the Powell Flat. He located all those farms. While surveying between Wyoming and Montana, he discovered a tract of land that the former surveyors had not plotted on their maps. So he put up a flag and declared it to be annexed to the United States. He stayed there all night and felt like Columbus did when he stated the land of America for his county. He reported it and got a citation.
He built the addition of the rock school house, also drew the plans for the cement-block meeting house. He submitted two plans and the committee chose the one that would not be practicable if they did not built it as planned. While father was away, during the construction of the building, they came to the roof and decided that they could not put on that kind and would not have the money to finish it the way that the plans called for, so it was changed and they got the roof on of another type that was not suited for that high sort of construction. Father was disappointed when he came home and found what they had done. He got me to help him up into the roof to see if they had tied it in the way that kind should be done and found that it was and felt that it would carry through. The plan called for a balcony, to help hold the high walls.
Father built Ira Waters store in Lovell. He was Mayor of Byron. He was Deputy Assessor, then became Assessor of the Big Horn County. He lived there during his term in Basin. He then ran for the House of Representatives in the State of Wyoming and was elected. That was his last job.
“Monday 4 June 1900. Under this date, elder Joseph H. Neville wrote as follows. From the Shoshone Camp, Bighorn County, Wyoming, we were organized last Sunday May 27, 1900 as a branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Apostle Abram O. Woodruff and Brother Byron Sessions, with the following officers. Fred Kohler, President of branch with James F. Berry as first counselor and Heber W. Perry as second counselor. Joseph H. Neville, branch clerk and Historian; with Walter X. Pack, choir leader; George Easton, Superintendent of the Sunday School; with Wilder T. Hatch and Walter Graham as assistants. Alvin S. Despain as Secretary; Thomas Howard, President of the Y.W.M.I.A., with Orin F. Colvin and William Faucett as counselors, Brigham Lewis Tippets, Secretary. Lucy Grant, President of the Relief Society with Alvida Dickson and Chloe Lee as counselors. Mrs. Mary L. Welsh as President of the Y.L.M.I.A., with Patty Hatch as first and Birdie Graham as second counselor. Rebecca Taggert, Secretary, Sister May Christensen as Asst. organist.
The branch was called the Shoshone Branch. We are enjoying ourselves very much. We held the first Sunday School that was ever held on the banks of this river by our school. We number at this gathering 127 souls. I am the chaplain of this camp. There are two camps. I blow the cornet for all meetings. We meet twice a day, pray and sing. We hold our Sunday Schools and meeting every Sunday in a nice grove of trees and I must say we enjoy the spirit of the Lord very much. I feel the spirit of my mission. We are all united to the very last man and woman. I have never felt that I want to leave this place. If I go away to Bridger or any other place, I am anxious to return wagon and home with family and the Saints.”
Wednesday October 31, 1900; under this date Joseph H. Neville branch clerk from Byron, Big Horn, Wyoming, wrote, “We send you a statistical report of the Byron Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. The membership includes 13 High Priests, 35 Seventies, 27 Elders, 3 Priests, 4 Teachers, 35 Deacons. The total of souls all told in the colony 675. Namely 325 in the Byron Branch, and 350 in the Shoshone branch. Three births have taken place, and two marriages, solemnized by Jessie W. Crosby Jr. There have been 7 baptisms. We were in perfect organization in the branch, until about tow weeks ago, when President Byron Sessions organized the Shoshone branch, which left or former branch incomplete in its organization. But as soon as Elder Fred Kohler returns from Salt Lake City, President Sessions will complete the organization of the branch. We have a city laid out at Byron. About 40 houses are being built. We will soon have a daily mail. About six miles of the canal have been completed at the cost of $30,000 which is about one half of the entire cost wand we will be able to irrigate 3,000 acres of land in the spring. The health of the people is good, with a few expectations. We have meeting and Sunday School regularly up to date. Expect to continue to do so. We also contemplate to build a meeting house of worship in the near future. The kind people of the Burlington ward have donated to the need and poor in the colony about $350 in produce.”
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