Friday, July 2, 2021

Code of Life by Franklin S Harris

 

Code of Life

By

Franklin S. Harris

 

I believe that a person should be unfaltering in his determination to live an honest and honorable life.

 

I believe he should be industrious no matter what his wealth or station might be, and that he should be diligent in acquiring the information and experience that will help him to appreciate life.

 

I believe he should do all in his power to make life pleasant for his fellowmen, that he should be courteous with all associates and live in such a way that his life will be a source of inspiration to all with whom he comes in contact.

 

I believe a person should do all he can to spread education and promote industries and occupations that will tend to make humanity more free, and give them a desire to live properly.

 

I believe the Gospel of Jesus Christ embraces all of these principles and is a perfect code of life.  Therefore, I think the important thing is to live in such a way as to have the Spirit of God as a teacher and obey all of its whisperings.

Biography Of Franklin Stewart Harris

 

Biography of Franklin Stewart Harris

 By Eunice Polly Stewart Harris 

            Franklin Stewart Harris was born in Benjamin, Utah County, August 29, 1884.  He was a delicate baby and in his early childhood did not have much pep.  He always said he was too tired when asked to join the other children in their games.  He was passionately fond of pets and enjoyed playing with a doll.  Unless his mother insisted on his going out, he would sit all day holding some pet or looking at a picture book.  He was gentle and affectionate and desirous of pleasing.

            When he was five years of age, on November 6, 1889, he moved with the family to Old Mexico, where his father had gone a few months before to make a home for them.  When he was six years old he started to school in the primary department of the school that afterward developed into the Juaren Stake Academy; but as he was still rather delicate he could not go regularly until he was eight.  As he grew in years he grew in strength until in his later boyhood he was a giant of strength, physically and intellectually.

            His fist appearance before the public was when he was six, when he stood up in Sunday School to say a recitation, as was the custom for children to do at that time.  He finished the recitation, then ran to his father and buried his face in his father’s arms and sobbed until Sunday School was over.  That broke the ice.  He was never so timid again, but was willing to help when asked.

            Three days after he was eight years of age, on September 1, 1892, he was baptized into the L.D.S. Church and he was very happy.

            One of his chief characteristics in his boyhood, his young manhood, and which has remained with him all along through life, and I suppose the one upon which his success has depended, was his desire to study his problems out without help.  He wanted to study away where no one would make a suggestion.  He was always a student.  He learned to read by studying out the letters on signs and advertisements.  He was orderly and industrious and had a fine understanding of the value of time even in his youth.

            He grew and developed as most boys do in rural communities, by working, playing, and going to school and changing from one to the other as circumstances required.  They had to create their own amusements.  He was always ready and willing to do his part in all social activities and in the activities of the family he was at the front, whether it might be riding the range, doing chores, working on the farm, in the cannery, in the store etc.  His younger brothers thought he was quite a hero.  He was willing to come down from the porch of big brother and be one with them in their play, then he could correct them and show them their mistakes and they took it good-naturedly.  He was not only one with his brothers, but he was always democratic, even in his youth, and was a good friend to all.  His charity might well have served as an object lesson to grown-ups.  In considering his ethical characteristics, we must not forget that he lived in an ideal environment and all of his companions measured up to his high standards.

            When he was   ___   years old he joined the bank and learned to play the cornet.

            He received the different degrees of the Priesthood in their order.

            During the school year of 1896 and 1897 the family was temporarily living in Dublan, and Frank attended school there where he finished the eighth grade or public school.

            At the beginning of the school year in 1897 Guy C. Wilson, a teacher, came from Utah and took the principalship of the Academy and Frank began his work as a freshman.  During the year 1899 and 1900 Frank worked in the store and did not attend school.  In May, 1903, when he was nineteen years old he graduated from the J. S. A.  The first class to graduate from a four-year course.  The class all through their high school had as their inspiration the symbolical emblem or motto, “Rowing, not drifting”, and they were truly rowers.  The varied nature of his work through his life fitted him to cope with the many problems he had to work out in his life.

            Charity, industry, sympathy, generosity, honesty, helpfulness, cheerfulness, and democracy were his outstanding characteristics during his boyhood and his young manhood, and they have remained with him during his later life.  In addition to these he was a good mixer.  These won for him many valuable friends among leading men as well as those in the humbler walks of life.

            He and his older brother, Denny, had a great desire for higher education, or at least to have a taste of college life.

            Although the financial condition in that foreign land seemed almost to forbid it, we began planning and struggling to get the necessary money to send them away to college.

            August 20, 1903, they bade their home and friends goodbye and started to Utah to the Brigham Young University at Provo.  We were filled with anxiety and were undecided as to whether we were doing the right thing in sending those two boys who were so young and so inexperienced as to the ways of the world, where they would meet evils and temptations which they had never faced.  They were registered at the B.Y.U. as students, Frank entering on a scientific course and Denny entering the business college where he was chosen president of his class.  At the end of the school year they worked in Utah until August, when they returned to Mexico, Frank to teach in the J. S. A. and Denny to take over the management of the store in Juarez.

            The spring of 1904 their father bought a large farm near Cardston, Alberta, Canada, and their mother and the other children joined him there later.  Annis and her young children remained in Mexico until the next year when she moved to Provo so the boys still had a home in Juarez.

            At the close of the J. S. A. in the early summer of 1905 Frank went to Canada and worked on the farm.  The last of August he returned to Provo and again entered the B.Y.U. as a student, and at the end of the school year returning to the farm and then back to school.  The summer of 1906 he worked in the B.Y.U. laboratory.

            He graduated from the institution in 1907, when he was 23 years of age, with the degree of Bachelor of Science.  That summer he returned to Canada and worked on the farm.

            After his graduation he signed a contract to teach at the U.A.C., so he went to Logan at the opening of school.  He lived in the home of Dr. Widtsoe, the president of the college, where he was treated like one of the family.  At the Christmas vacation he announced his engagement to Estelle Spillsbery to the family.  The following June 18 they were married in the Salt Lake Temple.  During the summer after their marriage they spent seven weeks on the farm in Canada.

            In his young manhood he set as his goal of achievement the obtaining of the degree of Dr. of Philosophy.  In this desire he received every encouragement from his parents and from Dr. Widtsoe and many of his friends.  His parents thought if he succeeded it would have a good psychological effect on his younger brothers in setting their aim high.  He planned, worked and economized for the accomplishment of that purpose.  Owing to his father having so large a family, he knew encouragement was about the only help the family could give him.

            If the desire is great enough and the courage and determination strong enough in any undertaking, the battle is half won. 

            In August he and his young wife, with their hearts full of faith, hope, and determination, went to Ithica, New York, where Frank entered the Cornell University as a student.  Estelle stood bravely by him to sustain him and give him encouragement, ever willing to sacrifice and economize.  It took great hope to launch out on an undertaking like that without financial backing.  Here he worked and studied for three years, when he obtained the degree of Dr. of Philosophy.

            May 25, 1909, Arlene, their first child, a daughter, was born.  During these three years he did research work to help pay expenses.

            In June the struggle was over.  He has reached the precious and untiringly sought-for goal-- his degree of Dr. of Philosophy, and example of what can be accomplished if the desire be strong enough.  In July, 1911, Frank returned to Logan and the U. A. C. where he took the position of agronomist for the Institution.

            During the years he worked at the U. A. C. he was active in church work.  In 1911 he was called to be a member of the Y. M. M. I. A. Stake board.

            Owing to his democratic, sympathetic, and friendly nature, he made the entrance into college life easier to many bashful, frontier-raised students.

            Chauncy Dennison, their third child was born January 31, 1914.  This same year he was called to the superintendency of the Sunday School in the Fifth Ward.

            In 1914 he wrote his first book, “The Young Man and his Vocation,” and later in connection with George Stewart he wrote on Agronomy, which has been adopted as a text book for schools.

            September 14, 1918, Leah Dorothy, a daughter was born and March 8, 1921, Mildred, their fourth daughter and sixth was born.

            While growing to manhood and dreaming his dreams and building castles of the things he wanted to do in life, in a small frontier town in Old Mexico, the thought that the time would come when he would be honored by being invited to be president of a university could scarcely have had a place in them.

            He had been brought up on the maxim, “Preparation is the key that unlocks the gate to opportunity,” until it became a part of his life and all of his life he had been in preparation for the position that was now offered him.  The call came making him to be president of his Alma Mater-- the Brigham Young University.  He was prepared and he accepted.  By his industry, his studious habits, and his perseverance in overcoming obstacles all of his life, he had been preparing for the great work that was now opened up to him.

            In August, 1921, they moved to Provo.  After the opening of school came the impressive inauguration ceremonies with all their honors.  It could not have helped being proud for him, his family, and his near relatives.  Through his charity, his sympathy, and his democratic principles, he was peculiarly fitted for this position.

            In 1926 he wrote, “Science and Human Welfare,” and in 1927, “The Fruits of Mormonism.”  He is an active member of the general board of the Y. M. M. I. A. of the Church.

            In September, 1927, a World’s Congress of Scientists was held in Japan and he was honored by being asked to read a paper before the sessions.  August 20 he sailed for Japan.  They stopped over at the Hawaiian Islands for a while were he was the guest of Antoine Ivins, who did everything possible to show him the most important things in the allotted time.

            While in Japan all the members of the congress were the guests of Japanese Government and they were entertained royally.  They were shown everything of interest in Japan.

            As Frank was half way around the world he decided to continue traveling west and return home via Europe, thus making a circuit of the globe.  He visited China, India, passed through the Suez Canal, Egypt, where he climbed the great pyramid, Palestine, with its scenes connected with the Savias.

            When he reached France he was met by his wife and they toured Europe together, returning home August 20, 1928, just one year from the day he started on the trip.  A wonderful opportunity to have come to them.

            In 1929 the Jews of America sponsored and financed a commission of scientists with the object of investigating conditions as to the feasibility of colonizing the Jews of Russia in Russian Siberia.  Frank was invited to be a member of this expedition and had the distinction of being chosen chairman of the commission.  He spent four months in Siberia, about three hundred miles from the Pacific Ocean, in company with five other scientists, returning home November 3.

Wednesday, August 26, 2020

The Myster Club 1906


                                       Third from the right front Row - Frankie Estella Spilsbury

                            The Myster Club 1906.  The women were training to be kindergarten teachers.

Franklin S Harris at USU

Franklin S Harris greeting his successor Louis L Madsen at USU in 1950.


 

Franklin S & Estella Harris Family Photo's

Chauncy, Franklin, Frank Jr., Arlene, Helen, Estella, Mildred and Leah

Circa 1930



              Mildred, Leah, Helen, Chauncy, Frank Jr, Arlene  Circa 1940


Sunday, May 31, 2020


Keturah Horton Haight  1777-1843
Mildred Harris Bradley's Great Great Grandmother


            Keturah Horton was born 28 May 1777 in Amenia, Dutchess, New York to David Horton and Temperance Owens. She was the third child and had five siblings.

          It can be presumed that Keturah spent her childhood in Dutchess County which is one of the oldest Counties of New York State.  It was organized 1 November 1683 by a Colony Law.  It was only a County in name with boundaries upon paper supposed to be uninhabited by white men.  On 18 October 1701 “having a very few inhabitants” it was provisionally annexed to Ulster County where its free holders were entitled to vote.

          In 1737, it was divided into seven precincts designated: Beekman, Crum Elbow, Northeast, Poughkeepsie, Rynebeck, Rumbout, and South.  By the time America voted for its Independence in 1776, Dutchess County was one of the most fervent counties in backing the Continental Congress.  Most of its inhabitants wanted freedom from England.  Dutchess County furnished a high percentage of soldiers for the Continental Army as well as furnishing food and provisions for the soldiers.

          According to the Nauvoo Temple Records, Caleb Haight married Keturah Horton, on 11 February 1799.  They were married either in a Civil Ceremony or by a traveling Minister.  When a new Presbyterian Church was completed at Greenville, Greene County, New York, only a short distance from where they were living they must have decided that it would be more satisfying to them to have a Church Ceremony. They chose their second wedding anniversary, 11 February 1801, to be remarried in the new church.

          Caleb and Keturah made their first home in Dutchess County, New York and it was there that their first two children were born; Oscar, born 14 November 1800 and Harriet Helen, born 9 April 1802. However, they must have soon afterwards moved as we find that their third child, a daughter, Julia Ann, was born in Windham, Greene County, New York in 6 November 1805.  The Haights made their home in Windham for many years and it was here that the rest of their children were born; David Bateman born 18 October 1808, Hector Caleb born 17 January 1810, Isaac Chauncy born 27 May 1813, Eliza Caroline born 2 February 1816. Maria Antoinette born 25 July  1818, and Catherine Adelia born 28 November 1820.

          In 1833, according to their son, Isaac Chauncy, the Haights moved once again and this time made their home in Moravia, Cayunga County, New York.  In the Land Deed Records for Greene County, New York, it shows that on 22 June 1833, Caleb Haight and his wife, Keturah, sold property in the Town of Windham, Greene County to John Adams of Catskill, New York for the consideration of $ 2,500.  Seven years later the U. S. census of 1840 of Moravia Town Cayuga County shows Caleb Haight living there with his wife and one female child, 15-19 years of age.  This no doubt was Catherine Adelia, their youngest child as all the other children were married by that time with the exception of Oscar who died at an early age.
         
          Keturah seemed to have been very successful as her children were well educated.  They were blessed with worldly goods and held good positions in the business world.  They were a religious family and Keturah’s son Isaac Chauncy would have become a Baptist Minister if his health had been better.

          In 1839, Elder Petiah Brown, a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, came to the home of Isaac Chauncy.  He and his wife Eliza Ann Snyder, were converted to the gospel and were baptized into the Church 3 March 1839.  They had to break the ice in the river before they could be baptized and then walk one-fourth mile with their clothing frozen stiff, to be confirmed.  At this time Isaac Chauncy was ordained an Elder to preach the Gospel.

          By the spring of 1841, Elder Haight and Elder Brown had converted enough people to the Gospel to build up a branch of the church to about 40 members. Isaac Chauncy had the happiness to see his father, Caleb Haight, his mother, Keturah, his brother, David Bateman, and two sisters baptized into the Church.  At this time Caleb Haight was made branch President but the members were persecuted so badly that the Branch had a difficult time to exist.

          On 7 June 1842 Isaac Chauncey, in company with his wife and family, left his parents and brothers and sisters and in the company of other converts for Zion.  However, the following year, 18 June 1843, he was called back to New York State on a short mission and it was at this time, according to the Land Deed Records of Cayuga County that Caleb Haight and his wife, Keturah, sold their property in Moravia, 22 June 1843 to Caleb Palmer of Sempronius, New York for the consideration of $5,520.  It is evident from this that Caleb and Keturah had been making plans to leave for Nauvoo also.

          Three months later, 13 September 1843, Isaac Chauncey started back to Nauvoo, Illinois and accompanying him were his father and mother, his brother David Bateman and family, his sister Julie Ann and her husband, Edmund Carbine, and their family.  Adelia Rider was a niece of Keturah’s sister, Julie Ann Horton and her husband Nathaniel Rider.  She was left an orphan when just five years of age and went to live with Aunt Keturah.

          Keturah was 66.  She was in very poor health at this time and the family was fearful that she could not stand the hard journey ahead of them but she was so anxious to see Nauvoo and the Temple that they attempted the journey.  She stood it very well for the first week but then she started to fail. After traveling for only ten days, they had to sop and rest for two days because of Keturah’s condition.  On September 25th, they started out once again with Keturah lying on a bed in one of the wagons and they arrived in Kirtland, Ohio two days later on September 27, 1843.  Keturah was so happy to see the Lord’s House and gazed upon it with delight and admiration. They were all kindly received by the brethren in Kirtland and they remained there until the next day.
          It was decided at that time, because of Keturah’s health, that it would be better for here to make the remainder of the trip by boat.  Isaac Chauncy and Adelia Rider Carbine were to accompany Keturah and they parted company here from the rest of the family.  On the morning of 28 September 1843 Caleb his son, David and his family and the Van Ordens and Carbine families and friends continued on in the wagons. They traveled with heavy hearts, not knowing if they would ever see their wife and mother again as, by this time, she was so ill that she was sometimes delirious.

          The same day that Caleb and company started out, Isaac Chauncy Haight and Adelia Rider Carbine, who helped take care of Keturah, and Keturah left for Ravenna where they could board a steamer.  On 3 October 1843, they took passage on the steamer, “Minstrel”, which was leaving Cincinnati, Ohio. They arrived in Cincinnati three days later on the 6th day of October and rested there for two days. Keturah’s health was so delicate now that they feared she would never live to get to Nauvoo. They boarded the steamer once again on October 8th and left for St. Louis, Mo.  They arrived there October 14th and changed boats and proceeded on the steamer “Iowa” for Nauvoo, arriving there the next day 15 October 1843.

          It wasn’t until twelve days later, on October 27th, that Keturah was re-united with her husband, Caleb, and family. They were all in good health and happy to be with their wife and mother once again.  The following week Caleb and Isaac Chauncy went to Knox County to see the farm that Caleb had purchased.  He was quite disappointed with it. They remained there working for ten days.  When they returned to Nauvoo, they found that Keturah had failed very much which she continued to do until the 18th November 1843 when she died very peacefully, just one month and three days after arriving in Nauvoo. In the paper “The Nauvoo Neighbor” it stated that Keturah Haight died of consumption. She was buried in Nauvoo.

          Issac Chauncy recorded in his journal:

18th November. (Mother) died without a struggle or a groan and has gone to rest in the Paradise of God with the Saints that have gone before, there to remain until the morning of the resurrection of the just when we shall again behold her clothed with bright immortality and eternal life.

Sunday, February 16, 2020

Martin Harris 1783-1875

(A witness of the Book of Mormon) Mildred Harris Bradley's Great Great Uncle
 It was in Clarkston, Utah in 1875. Early in the morning, a thought came to my mind that I would go and see how Brother Harris was. It was only three blocks from my home. I heard he was not feeling well and people came from other towns to see Brother Harris and hear his testimony on the Book of Mormon. But when I arrived, there were two men present. Brother Harris lay on his bed leaning on his elbow. I said, "How are you, Brother Harris?" He answered slowly, "Pretty well."
 "We came to hear your testimony on the Book of Mormon" I said to him.  "Yes", he said in a loud voice, as he sat up in bed. "I wish that I could speak loud enough that the whole world could hear my testimony. Brother, stand over so I can see you;" and then he stretched out his hand and said, "Brother, I believe there is an angel here to hear what I shall tell you, and you shall never forget what I shall say. The Prophet and Oliver Cowdery, David Whitmer and myself went into a little grove to obtain a promise that we should behold it with our own eyes. That we could testify of it to the world. We prayed two or three times but met with no success, and feeling my presence being the cause of our not obtaining what we asked for, I at length went into the woods by myself to pray, where upon the angel immediately appeared and stood before Oliver and David and showed them the plates.   
Upon my long absence, the Prophet came in search of me and in my desperation, I asked him to kneel down with me and pray for me that I may also see the plates, and we did so and immediately the angel stood before me and said, "Look," and when I glanced at him I fell; but I stood on my feet and saw the angel turn the golden leaves over, and I said, "It is enough, my Lord and my God!" Then I heard the voice of God say, "the book is true, and translated correctly."
 Brother Harris then turned himself as if he had no more to say and we made ready to go. But he spoke again and said, "I will tell you a wonderful thing that happened after Joseph had found the plates. Three of us took some tools to go to the hill and hunt for some more boxes, or gold or something, and indeed we found a stone box; we got quite excited about it and dug quite carefully around it, and we were ready to take it up but behold, by some unseen power, it slipped back into the hill. We stood there and looked at it and one of us took a crow bar and tried to drive it though the lid to hold it, but it glanced and broke one corner off the box. Sometime that box will be found and you will see the corner off and you will know I have told the truth again brother, as sure as you are standing here and see me. Just so sure did I see the angel with the golden plates, in his hand and he showed them to me. I have promised that I will bear witness of this truth both here and hereafter."
His lips trembled and tears came into my eyes. I should like to have asked a question but I failed to do so, but I refreshed myself and shook hands and thanked him and left.
When I think of the day I stood before Martin Harris and saw him stretch forth his hand and raise his voice and bear his testimony, the feeling that thrilled my whole being I can never forget, nor can I express the joy that filled my soul. This is a true statement. Signed, Ole A. Jensen (The other two brethren present were John Godfrey and James Hup.)