William Stuart Brighton

Provided by Eunice Tidwell Merrill         

                  

William was born September 24, 1829, the son of Robert and Elisabeth Stuart Brighton, in the town of Overton, parish of Cumbernathan, Lanarkshire, in the kingdom of Scotland.  At age 6 he went to school until he was almost 10 when he was put to work in the coal mines with his father in Calder Ironworks.

 

He heard a discussion about the Latter-day Saints while at work in Airdrie. He attended a meeting with Peter Moffet. He returned home and told his father, and a few days later his father was baptized. A short time later in February 1844, at age 15, Brother Moffet baptized him. He was re-baptized on 16 January 1849, in Holy town, by his father (a common practice in the early church).

 

He worked with his father in the mines in different areas. He stayed only a short time in Motherwell because of bad working conditions and low wages. They moved to Auchenair, located near Glasgow, where there was a newly organized Branch and his father was called as Branch President. It was in Auchenair where Robert was badly injured in a mining accident on 10 April 1849. William was blessed with regular work and good wages and was able to provide for his family.

 

His father taught him to remember the name he bore and to be selective in the company he kept. In 1850 he labored with Brother Hutchison in preaching and distributing tracts which he did faithfully. He baptized a few families and "did alii could to gain the confidence of God and his servants." On 22 Sep 1850, he was ordained an Elder while lying ill in bed. The illness lasted three weeks. He was encouraged by the saints and his intended wife, Catherine Bow, who came to visit him 2 or 3 times during his illness. They were married on 31 December 1850 by Brother Joseph Clemonts, and Brother Robert Campbell was his best man. The next morning they returned home to Auchenair. They were happy for a time, but then his father "took very badly and died the 25th of January 1851."

 

Their first daughter, Janet, was born on the 17th of December 1851.

 

In writing to Brother Campbell at Auchenair on 4 Jan. 1852, he said, "I feel to put all my trust in God and you my brethren. My faith is unshaken in the words of Brother Whellock when he said that Brigham taught that all who would have faith to start, having one coat and a crust of bread, would be blessed by the Lord, having no selfish motto in them.  I have got a coat and a good brother has said that if I go he will give me another to keep me warm on the way. ... My mind is made up to do that which is commanded of me to do; therefore if I go it is well, and if I stop it is also well.  Dear Brother, I have faith in what I have written; therefore if I am permitted to, I shall know that this decision has been built upon a Sure foundation. I am your humble Brother and obedient son in the gospel." The response was that he should continue to exercise faith and he would be remembered when it came time to look for emigrants.

 

His mother wrote in August telling him his sister, Jean, was bad.  He, too, worked with great pain and became bedfast once again for several days, when he went out and "thanked and praised the Lord for his goodness and tenderness towards me." Another daughter, Mary, was born to Catherine on Sunday, the 18th of September 1853.

 

He was faithful in paying tithes and saving his passage money. In the winter of 27 Nov.1854, the Brightons set sail from Liverpool in the sailing ship "CLARA WHEELER." They had a rough voyage which delayed them, so they were ten weeks at sea. Their food gave out and there was much sickness and distress among the passengers. His journal tells of the anguish of burying his little girl, Mary, at sea. They arrived in New York, traveled at once by rail to St. Louis, Missouri. Here their money ran out. Their first son, Robert Alexander, was born at Platten Creek, Jefferson Co., Mo. on 19 June, 1855.  They worked for two years, saving every cent, so they could resume their journey. 

 

In the spring of 1857, they went by steamboat on the Missouri River to Florence, Nebraska, where they were fitted out with handcarts and joined the sixth handcart company in command of Israel Evans on 19 June 1857 for the trip across the plains. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on 11 September 1857. Their little girl, Janet, not yet six years old, had six pair of shoes at the beginning of the journey and ended up barefoot from the 85-day trek.

 

It is interesting to note that Brigham Young devised the idea of using handcarts instead of ox-teams. Valuable time was saved by the emigrants. The average rate per day was 15 miles. Some companies made it in 68 days. Ox teams generally took two weeks longer. It was an answer for many of the "Lord's poor" in not having to shop for oxen and wagons or in waiting to grow feed. Too, there was less to tempt the Indians to steal.

 

Their leader, Israel Evans, was not a new convert. He was in the Haun's Mill Massacre, was in the Mormon Battalion, and served a mission in England. This was the first company to leave in 1857 because of the depleted Perpetual Emigration Fund and the tragedies of the Willie and Martin groups the year before. They had 149 in the group, 80 of whom were females. There were 28 children under 8 years of age and 2 persons over 60 -- the oldest being 68. They were certainly not built like frontiersmen, but they had some of the stuff that makes heros.

 

William (or Willie, as he was called) was of medium build, nice looking, with dark hair, of mild disposition, kindly and of a trusting nature. His wife was not very tall and she was slightly plump.  A little over two months after arrival in the Valley, William Henry was born, then Thomas Bow three years later, and their fourth and last son, Daniel H. was born three years later.

 

Willie and Catie made their home at what is now 841 East 1st South in Salt Lake City. Their home was a near mansion for its day.  It was comfortable and roomy. This was a stylish neighborhood and William owned most of the 80-acre block his home and that of his sons lived upon.  With their city holdings, resort and mining properties, the Brighton's were prospering.

 

During the early days, he worked on the railroad as a contractor at the mouth of Echo Canyon above the narrows.  He also did gardening for Daniel H. Wells and Bryant Stringham. Thomas B., Robert A. and Daniel H. built homes on lots adjacent to their father. [The parents never did get around to giving Robert and Daniel deeds to the property, so they were taken over from them after William's death.]

 

They made it a custom to bring his family and farm animals to Silver Lake to spend their summers: first in a tent in 1870; then a one-room cabin in 1872; then the 7-room hotel in 1874 surrounded by a number of smaller cottages.

 

On October 31, 1880, William, traveling on the U.S. Wyoming, arrived in Liverpool, England enroute to serving a mission in his native Scotland. Some years after he returned, Dan's wife, Evaleo McCarthy, died following childbirth to a daughter, also named Evaleo. This child came to live with them. Dan remarried and lost his second wife after one child, married again and lost his third wife after five children.

 

After a fire destroyed the old hotel, a new and larger hotel was constructed. The next summer after its completion, on July 19, 1894, Catherine died. Evaleo was a great comfort to her grandfather. In April 1895, William developed a felon (a painful, pus-producing infection at the end of his nail). The doctor tried to stem the blood poison, but to no avail. He died on April 28, 1895, at age 65years, in Salt Lake City from an infected sliver in his finger.

 

The Journal History, April 29, 1895, page 4,7 stated: "Elder Wm. S. Brighton of 11th Ward ... loss of a highly respected citizen ...  suffering came to an end after illness of less than a week ... He was an earnest, sincere, devout member of the Church and greatly esteemed by his associates.”