George Spilsbury
1828-1919
George, the fourth son of Joseph
and Hannah Haden Spilsbury, was born at Leigh, Worcestershire, England, April
21, 1828. His parents were strict Church of England followers, he was baptized
(sprinkled) when he was a month old. He went to the district schools until he
was 12 years old, then he went to work with his father. His father was a brick layer and plasterer,
and the son following his own inclinations worked with him at his trade, while
his mother kept a small grocery store.
He spent very little time at school, yet was good at reading, writing
and arithmetic.
At the age of
17 he attended a cottage meeting at the home of George Brooks in the Leigh
Parish. He was so greatly impressed with
the principles of the Gospel, the vision of the Prophet Joseph Smith, and the
restoration of the Gospel, he was baptized that night, October 11, 1840. The
following February he was ordained a Priest and in July he started on a mission
to Herefordshire and Wales.
On the fifth of September he married
Fannie Smith, one of his converts from Herefordshire, against the wishes of her
parents. He worked at bricklaying and
plastering to earn means with which to migrate to Nauvoo. The newly wedded couple sailed from Liverpool
on the ship Yorkshire. When near the
Gulf of Mexico, a squall one night struck the ship with such force that the
masts, sails, and rigging were carried overboard, but no lives were lost. At the end of a long and rough voyage the
vessel anchored at New Orleans.
The Spilsbury’s had not a dollar with which to buy provisions (except
the five dollars Mrs. Spilsbury earned serving on board ship. This meager amount they used to pay their way
up the Mississippi.) Thomas Bullock lent
them money to buy provisions and by giving clothing as security they finally
succeeded in raising means to take them to Nauvoo. They landed their on the 31st day of
May.
The first meeting they
attended in Nauvoo, was on the first floor of the unfinished Temple, and their
hearts were filled with joy, for they were soon to see the beloved
Prophet. They knew the instant he
entered the door, for they could feel his spirit, and no one needed to point
him out to them. So greatly were they
impressed with the glory of this great man, that when he shook their hands,
they were thrilled.
He was
ordained an Elder on 19 November 1843.
He and Fanny received their Patriarchal Blessings from Hyrum Smith. The scribe was the mother of President Joseph
Smith, Lucy Mack Smith. While a
resident of that city he was occupied in building and quarrying stone for the
Temple, and the Nauvoo Mansion House. He
spent much time guarding and protecting the Prophet from Mob violence. He was at Nauvoo the day the martyred Prophet
and Patriarch were brought from Carthage amid the sorrow and lamentation of
grief stricken people.
After
the Prophet and his brother were slain by the mob, George and Fanny, with
others viewed their riddled bodies, at the Mansion House, as George was a
member of the Nauvoo Legion, a member of Captain Pitts’ Brass Band, and also
acting as a body guard to the Prophet.
George attended the famous meeting
called by Sidney Rigdon after the martyrdom of the Prophet and Patriarch and
voted for Brigham Young and the twelve at the conference held 8 August
1844. In 1845,
George and Fanny received their endowments at the Nauvoo Temple where Brigham
Young officiated. The remained here from
1844 to August 1849, where four daughters were born, and where each of them
died.
They arrived in Salt
Lake City, Utah, 3 October 1850. George
being a builder, many homes, church buildings, some of stone, some of adobe,
were built by him. He was faithful,
valiant and constant in church and civic affairs, while building his own
home.
Settling in Salt Lake
City, they lived in the 14th Ward for 9 years, here his 2nd son, George Moroni
was born, also 3 daughters, two dying in infancy. In 1856 of January they were sealed by
Brigham Young at the Endowment House. In
1859 he was called on a mission to Draper, Utah. Here he was the postmaster and two sons David
and John were born, John passing away.
In 1862 President Brigham Young called George to go to Grafton in
southern Utah, arriving there 24 December 1862, this being his third
mission. In 1868 they were forced to
move to Rockville for protection from the Indians, but soon moved to
Toquerville. In his first home George
built there, he lived in for 50 years until 1918. In 1868 George was appointed Superintendent
of Toquerville Sunday Schools, in 1871 he was Kane County Superintendent, and
also a home missionary. By horse and
buggy he visited ten Sunday Schools, ten times a year, making a total of 1000
miles a year over unpaved roads for 47 years.
He was owner and manager of the general store, and here he kept his
records, played his flute, and made a gathering place for townspeople to
visit. He was honorably released from
the Sunday School after 47 years of service in his 90th year 21 April
1913. At ninety years of age he did a
vast amount of work for the dead in the St. George Temple. He always had and gave a living testimony of
the Prophet Joseph Smith and his church.
He had attended the dedication of the St. George and Salt Lake
Temple. When his son, David, went to
England on a mission he obtained over 2000 family names, for nearly half George
and his daughter Katy did the work in the St. George Temple. Mr. Spilsbury was Captain in the Iron
County Military District. He was the
father of 13, only five of which reached maturity. He was selectman of Kane County 1868, 1873,
1882; County Treasurer from 1877 to 1881.
Justice of the Peace, Superintendent of the Sunday School Saint George
Stake; President of the Y.M.M.I.A.; and First counselor to Bishop
Bringhurst. On September 16, 1904
President Joseph F. Smith ordained him a Patriarch of Toquerville. He gave an average of 21 blessings a year in
addition to his Sunday School work.
George loved his family and kept in touch with them all, even those in
Mexico. His beloved wife died June 5,
1903 after 12 years of poor health many of them in a wheelchair. In a letter to a grandson working in Peru he
wrote:
George C. Spilsbury My Dear Grandson. O, how I would like to see you. I wish you was at home. There seems something lacking without
you. You have filled a good faithful
mission and done a great deal of good after you returned home. I want you to come home don’t delay coming,
time is too precious to let it slip by
without filling the aim and object of your mission on the Earth. Chauncey I know what I am talking about. I want you to fill the measure of creation
and object of your creation on earth.
Chauncey I pray for you all the time.
I want you to come home and get
married and settle down and labor amongst this people. Let me know right away. God bless you for ever from your dear
Grandpa.
George Spilsbury
At
age 90 he made a trip to visit all his children by himself, going to San
Bernardino, El Paso, Mesa, and Old Mexico.
He bore his testimony to his farflung family and gave them patriarchal
blessings. He spoke at many church meetings. He arrived home by stage from Lund on a
Saturday night and that next day visited Sunday Schools at Leeds and
Harrisburg.
In older life his
appearance was described as: blue-eyed
and had a full head of white wavy hair, also he had a long, white beard and
walked with a slight limp. He had a
spiritual look which demanded respect and reverence by all who met him. He was soft spoken, having musical talent. He dressed neatly in a long Black frock
coat.
January 25, 1919 early one
foggy morning he took a misstep and fell down the rocky bank of Ash Creek next
to his home and died instantly at the age of 95.
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