ST. GEORGE — The conquest of the American West was one of the most intriguing eras in American history.
From the time small groups of settlers crossed the Appalachian Mountains in the 1750s, to the end of large-scale immigration west — more than a century later — Americans, with little more than faith and perseverance, struggled across an unforgiving continent to a new life in a new country.
Immigrants came seeking religious freedoms, economic opportunity and political stability. Many believed America was a land filled with milk and honey.
What began as a trickle of immigrants at 84,066, in 1840, soon turned into a mass exodus of nearly 17 million in total by 1900. Of that number, as many as 90,000 identified themselves as Mormon with more than 70,000 settling in Utah.
The Judd family, Samuel Sr. (1820-1869), Catherine (1821-1897) and seven of their eight children, including their eldest son Thomas, were among the hosts from The Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints to come to America during its westward expansion period.
Samuel D. Judd Sr. was the first to immigrate, taking passage on the ship, the John J. Boyd, which left Liverpool on April 23, 1862, under Capt. J.H. Thomas. After an arduous two-month ocean voyage and a grueling 1,300-mile overland trek, Judd arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on Oct. 1. Then almost immediately left for St. George.
The Atlantic crossing and overland trek along the Mormon Trail took its toll on the Judd Family. Samuel D. Judd’s daughter Affria, 3, and son David, 2, died during the journey.
Despite their losses, the Judd family endured. Catherine and her family followed Samuel to the Salt Lake Valley two years later. The date was Sept. 4, 1864.
As soon as she arrived in the Salt Lake Valley, Catherine and her children also left for St. George, with Thomas remaining behind to work in the sawmill at Lambs Canyon. About two weeks later, Thomas decided to rejoin his family in Southern Utah, contracting the 17-day long ride with Solan Foster and family.
“I paid seventeen dollars and boarded myself,” Judd said. “Of course I inquired for my people.”
On arriving in St. George, Judd found his family living in a dugout. Food was scarce and they found themselves living on bread and sorghum molasses.
“I wished us all back home in England,” Judd said. “Tears were in my eyes, not so much for me, but for my mother and the sick children.”
It was summer 1866. Breakthrough technology was coming to Southern Utah connecting residents to far away places.
“The rest of the year we worked at various kinds of work, some adobe making, lime burning, etc.,” Judd said. “In the fall, father and John M. Moody worked on the Tele-line (telegraph) which was completed early in the spring. President Young and Company was with us and for the first time we were in communication with the world. It sure felt good.”
In the winter of 1867, St. George and most of Southern Utah experienced heavy flooding.
It was at this time, “Father and I went to make bricks for Mrs. Roll, at Paragoonah (Parowan) to get money to emigrate my Uncle Fred and family and also my sister Mary from England,” Judd said. “We filled our contract and then went on to Beaver (where) we made bricks for the school house and several (other) dwellings.”
An Englander in Utah’s Dixie
From all accounts, St. George was a beautiful town.
By the mid-1800s, spring flowers overflowed from homes nestled along tree-lined streets. Gardens were planted and the town’s residents took great pride in creating their version of Heaven on Earth.
Near the middle of winter 1867, two merchants, Tibbits and Berdick from Los Angeles, arrived in St. George to exchange clothing for cattle. The pair needed to hire local wranglers for the job. Judd was interested and gained employment at $100 per month.
Judd started work soon after New Year’s Day in 1868.
When the chance to visit California presented itself, Judd jumped at the opportunity. On or about April 15, Judd embarked on the 49-day journey.
“We herded the Cattle about two weeks on Walnut Creek. We had about 400 head,” he said. “The weather was very hot and we reached home (St. George) about July 1.”
When word reached Samuel and Catherine that their daughter Mary, now 17, was in Salt Lake City, the two started off with a team of oxen.
“When mother and father met the company they found my sister Mary very sick with Mountain Fever,” Judd said. “They were very heartbroken for she died about one hour from the time the folks reached her.”
The date was Oct. 1, 1868 (one account places Mary’s death on Sept. 15, 1868). Judd was in St. George when he received the telegram with the dreadful news of his sister’s passing.
“It was indeed a great loss and a shock I shall never forget,” Judd said. “By and by sunny days came again but without the lonely girl who was buried in a Salt Lake graveyard. Mary has never been forgotten.”
After the shock of Mary’s death dimmed a bit, the Judds began living life, they had no other alternative.
“The next spring, started to make a few adobes, digging gardens and any other work we could get to do and so we pulled for several years. We gradually made a little headway,” Judd said. “My father had a good town lot now owned by Chas Seegmiller. We worked on it, leveling it and making other improvements. I was constantly thinking of going back to England.”
The cotton factory
The first large-scale manufacture of cotton cloth in Utah began in 1865 when a cooperative cotton factory was established in Washington. The genus of the factory was that cotton lint would not need to be baled or sent to others to produce cloth. The entire process was done in-house.
Construction of the mill began in 1866, at a cost of $65,000, with the first floor occupied in 1867. The Washington site was selected because of nearby water power from the Virgin River. By 1870, the building rose to nearly three stories. It was the largest factory west of the Mississippi.
During construction, “I and father were called upon to help make the ditches by donation,” Judd said. “We had no team so we used to walk to Washington in the morning and back at night.”
Although the cotton industry flourished during the Civil War, by the end of the conflict in 1865, the market had grown soft, making it hard for the Washington factory to compete.
In April 1890, Thomas Judd signed a five-year lease for the Washington Cotton Factory, later known as the Rio Virgin Mills. Under his management, the mill employed 70-80 and operated at a profit for the first time in its history.
Six months later, investors were paid a 4% dividend and a year later 6%. In 10 years the loans were paid off in full. An advertisement in the Southern Utah Star, July 20, 1895, pitched the factory’s business model.
“On hand a general stock of Blankets, Flannels, Linseys, Woolen and Cotton shirts and underwear, Table cloth, Towels, Towelling, Ginghams, Cotton shirting, etc., which they will exchange for Wool, Cotton, Flour, Wheat, Barley, Oats, Pork, Butter, Cheese, and the General Products of the Country.”
The importance of the factory could not be overestimated, wrote A. Karl Larson, author.
“At a time when the total money supply was scarcely sufficient to pay taxes, the Factory stood like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land, helping the people to meet their needs,” Larson said.
The mill’s heyday was short lived. The depression of the 1890s served the interests of the local cotton industry well. However, the return of prosperity in the latter part of the decade found the factory unable to compete with cheaper goods produced outside of Utah.
As business revenue declined Judd was forced to cancel his lease. The factory eventually closed in 1904 and its machinery removed in 1910. In 1869, tragedy would descend upon the Judd family, putting their power of faith to the test once again.
“My father, who had been working on an irrigation project, was taken down sick,” Judd said. “Things necessary for a sick man were very scarce. We did not understand his condition or think him as sick as he was. Before we realized his condition he had passed away. We thought the Lord would be merciful to us and help us in this our great trial. Again the cloud passed away and we felt the Lord was near.”
Thomas Judd and his family soldiered on, brick by brick.
“Mother was married in the Fall of 1869 to John Hyatt and moved down to Overton, Nev.,” Judd said. “This season Fred Judd, Oliver Elmer and I went to Minersville, brick making and had a good season and a very profitable one. In 1870 we went back to Minersville and made brick again. This season was very profitable netting about $175 per month.”
After returning from Minersville, Judd busied himself with a different kind of work.
Woolley, Lund & Judd Co.
In October 1875, Thomas Judd joined financial forces with Edwin G. Woolley and Robert C. Lund. The trio entered into a partnership to handle merchandise, livestock, and any other line of business that could turn a profit.
The three businessmen were so successful that some historians say they became a threat to Mormon-owned businesses, such as the Southern Utah Cooperative Mercantile Institution founded by Apostle Erastus Snow.
“Woolley, Lund and Judd were encouraged not to build the store because of the Southern Utah Cooperative Mercantile Institution, which was owned by the church,” said Randy Judd, Thomas’ great grandson. “This was a big deal back then.”
The cooperative, as a church-wide movement to develop economic self-sufficiency, was designed to allow members of the Church of Latter-day Saints to break away from the economic monopolies enjoyed by non-Mormons.
Although Woolley, Lund and Judd were successful, it came with a price. Some historians say in order to nip a problem in the bud and remove any threat of competition — in April 1876 — church leaders called on all three partners to venture far-and-wide on proselyting missions.
Judd later recalled that if the three businessmen were forced to breakup, it would spell “doom” for Woolley, Lund and Judd Co.
The three businessmen met with Brigham Young and a compromise was struck. Woolley would serve a mission on the East coast of the United States, Judd would return to England and Lund would be permitted to remain in Utah to operate the business.
The England mission
Judd left for England on May 17, 1876.
“We crossed on the steamer, Wisconsin. Cabin fare was $75.00. We had a good trip over with very little sickness,” Judd said.
Journal entries, written during his mission to England, were filled with all manner of daily life, everything from the where, what and with who Judd dined with to visits with friends, family and church leaders, the weather, sightseeing, chronicling how many miles traveled each day, meetings held and how many people Judd baptized.
According to his diary entry, Judd baptized between 50 and 55 people during his mission to England. Although the majority of his journal is awash in mundane preoccupations, one of the most important events found in Judd’s narrative is that he adopted a nearly 3-year-old boy, “Georgie” during his mission to England.
Other than a short diary entry shopping for clothes for George in 1877, the narrative is conspicuously lacking an answer to the question, why did Judd adopt the child?
The only substantial mention of George in Thomas’ diary was the day the boy sailed for New York — separate from his new father.
“Georgies Mother and Mrs Evans called in the Evening. Day very warm,” Judd said. “At 8:45 am went up to Mrs Evans and got Georgie took him down to the station to Bro Wheeler who took him to Liverpool to put him into the charge of Sister Baker of Stanwick who would take care of him until they got to Ogden and then Bro Steels would take him to American Fork. they sail from Liverpool on Wednesday June 13 on the steam ship Nevada.”
After two-years away from home, Judd made the decision to return to Utah.
Judd sailed on May 25, 1878. His diary on the ship’s crossing is somewhat two dimensional, but provides enough details to keep any reader’s interest.
“Went down and bought a few eatables and went on board the S. S. Nevada to return home, having been released and put in charge of company which no. 341 souls, about 60 of which were Scandinavians. Set sail at 2:40 p.m.” Judd said. “Night fair, day good. Got to Queenstown at 11:30 a.m., distance 240. People began to get sick. Was a little sick myself. Sick all day. Got my meals in the cabin. Many of the people were sick. Sea rolled heavy.”
Besides fighting off sickness, passengers aboard the steamer Nevada occupied themselves in daily prayer and spirited games of shuffleboard.
“Time with me passed rather dull,” Judd said.
Although boredom became a mountain to climb, one Danish pioneer provided a much need shot of adrenaline by giving birth to a son. Aboard the Nevada, Judd blessed the boy naming him Nevada Atlantic Larsen.
“June 1st. Still cold. Sea rather rough. Some folks a little sick again. Evening rather fair. Saw some fishing boats,” Judd said. “June 2nd, 1878. Day very fine. Sea calm. Wind rather cold. In the afternoon we held service. Many of the cabin passengers attending. Had a first class time.”
The next day, the ship’s company saw land for the first time at about 10 a.m., arriving in Guion Landing, New York at 2 a.m. After spending the day readying to disembark, at 4 p.m. the Mormon passengers left for Jersey City and a one-way trip to Pittsburgh on the Pennsylvania Railroad.
“Passed through a beautiful country,” Judd said. “Had a very fine sight at the Horseshoe Bend in the Allegheny Mountains. Got to Pittsburgh. Changed carriages. Had a disagreeable time in seating the folks on account of only having 7 carriages instead of 8. Was much crowded. Also had two carriages of Russians between our party, but the conductor stopped the train and put them behind.”
June 8, 1878, the group traveled over the Fort Wayne Railroad to Chicago, passed over the Mississippi River at Clinton, then Council Bluffs before making their way to Omaha. Eventually, Judd returned to St. George. The date was June 20, 1878.
For the final part of the history on Thomas Judd’s life, continue reading: Faith, perseverance and hope: A Mormon’s journey Part 3 on Sunday.
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