by John T. Bate
William E. Bate was born May 12, 1846 in Staffordshire, Potreries, Hanley England.
At that time financial conditions were very serious which prevented the children from going to school. At six years old he worked with his father in the coal mines and worked very hard helping push the car loaded with coal.
The family consisted Father, Peter, Hannah, brother, Herbert, my father,William; Sister, Emily and brother Samuel.
My Father was a strong character. When a small boy, while going to school, someone flipped something at the teacher. The teacher thought it was William. He asked him if he did it? He said, "no I did not." The teacher slapped him and said, "now will you own up to it?" He said, "No I did not." He whipped him again very hard, but Father said, " You may kill me but I will not lie, I did not do it." The teacher told his father William was the toughest kid he'd ever seen. But father was not able to walk to school for some time he was so badly beaten. They soon found out he wasn't guilty and the teacher asked his pardon, but he didn't go to school much after that for he had to work.
His parents were very strict with their children and would whip them very hard. The children did not disobey very often and if they did they would suffer lots to keep them from knowing. One time he stopped to slide on the ice a few minutes and slipped an fell and hurt his shoulder. Two Mormon Elders, were stopping at their home. One came up to little William, took hold of his arm to greet him. When he flinched, he asked him what was the matter. They soon found out his shoulder was out of place and had been for several days.
My father's family were all converts and the missionaries were their a lot and the family was very sincere in their belief paying tithes and attending to their meetings, but it was difficult for them to keep the word of wisdom as everyone in those days in England, almost, drank ale as they called it and wine. As it was used for meals as it was part of their living. It was very hard for my father for he was a working boy and when pay day came everyone treated the other but father tried very hard and succeeded. The leaders were very strict and warned the church members if they were drinking Ale or wine they could be excommunicated from the church. Many succeeded and many didn't.
They saved money for some years until they saved enough to send some of them to America, so on May 1856 my grandfather saw his wife, daughter, and youngest son, (my father) set sail on the shipped named for their Captain William Aregoni.
They were stranded in New York and it was while they were stranded that father's mother took very ill with colory (cholera) with many others. Her fever was very high and she was a very sick woman. Those days they didn't let a person with a high fever have water to drink. They thought it would be too sudden a change and the doctor told them by all means not to give her a drink. They left father, a boy of 10 to watch over her through the night. She begged so hard for a drink that little William knelt down and prayed to God to know what to do for her. It was told to him to get her a drink, so he slipped down to the creek in thee night and brought her some cold water and the next morning she was better and was able to go on shortly after that.
My father hunted work and was successful in finding a job in a coal mine at the age of ten. When he asked for the job, the boss of the coal mine made fun of him saying they wanted a man not a kid, but father begged him to give him a chance, so he did. This was in Minnersville Pennsylvania,, but this was a very hard job. His job was to go into the mine, the first one every morning, open a large double gate that he could not reach the handle so he would get down and put his fingers under the door and pull it open. The rats were so thick that they would bite his fingers under the door. Then he would go in the mine without a light and feel for the fan which had to be turned to get the air going in the mine. If they took a match it would start a fire until it was pumped full of fresh air. Sometimes the fire would come rushing out. He would jump in the ditch to escape the fire. Sometimes it would burn his flannel shirt off his back. The sitter and mother would get some odd jobs. They saved a small sum of money, then they joined the company of Harten D. Waight and came across the plains. He was 13 years old.
They arrived in American Fork, Utah September 1, 1859. They were soon comfortably settled and anxious to save what they could to send for the husband, father, and brother Herbert but before they could save enough money to get them to Utah, the father met with an accident in the coal mine and was killed. They saved some money and borrowed the balance and sent for father's brother Herbert and he was soon on his way to Utah.
Father was a great lover of music from childhood. When he got to Utah he was very anxious to play some kind of musical instrument. He worked in Grant's Music Store in American Fork selling musical instruments, taking lessons whenever he could afford it and had the chance. Brother William Grant helped him all he could. Father was soon able to tune all the instruments. As he sold them, one day he was tuning a violin. He took to it very much and asked Brother Grant if he could buy it. He said he could tell it was no ordinary violin. Brother Grant sold it to him for what he paid for it, $25.00. Shortly after he got a phone call from the company saying it was sent by mistake and that it was a very expensive one. Brother Grant told them he had already sold it, so Father got it for $25.00. Father soon joined the band and earned some money to help the family out. He was soon chosen as leader of the band when he was sixteen years of age.
Soon he was composing and writing music not only for the violin but for all the other instruments in the band and sold to other bands. He had some very interesting and faith promoting incidents in his younger life.
At one time one of the American Fork men got lost. He had been working for a man herding sheep. His boss fired him and sent him off poorly dressed, holes in his shoes, some brought word about it and the neighbors got up a company of volunteers to for him. Father and one man went together one way. Almost everyone carried a pistol with them at such times. Father and companion went to the camp of the man who fired him. They questioned him and accused him of sending him off in the condition they said he was in. The man came at father with a pick. He turned around just in time to whip his pistol out. When he saw father's pistol aimed at him, he cooled down and said he didn't mean it. It was in the night and they had ridden all day and part of the night and were very tired. A fellow then tried to coax father to stay all night, but father said "no" he would not dare close his eyes around that man or he would live until morning so they started back toward one. The road was terrible and they could not make much time as there was no other way for traveling but by horseback. It was a very dark night and the snow was deep in places and the horse so tired that it fell in a ravine of deep snow up to his neck. Father said he bodily lifted the horse out of the snow. He knew he couldn't have done it by himself, but was helped by the Lord for without the Lord's help, they never would have gotten home alive. Some of the men froze their hands and feet but they found the man frozen to death.
One March 14th, 1968 he married Hannah Shelly. She was born July 19th, 1847 in Stratfordshire England, emigrating when a small girl with her parents to American Fork.
They lived in a one room where six children were born. Arthur, Edwin, Samuel, Ernest, John and Jane. Edwin died at the age of three, Samuel one year of age and shortly after a little girl of eighteen months. this was a great sorrow to their little family. loosing them all so close together.
Father started business of General Merchandise a little at a time until he built a business large enough to move into a large house and had one room for a music store and sold candy and ice cream, and soda pop and did very well. Another baby was born September 11, 1883, Edith. When Edith was three years old they moved to Riverton bought a small farm and opened a branch store from the Equitable coal at Salt Lake City: also the post office. His oldest son went on a mission to England. He spent 1 1/2 years in Ireland and was sent to England a half year. While he was gone his wife took sick and died two weeks before he returned which was a great sorrow, leaving three small children. Three more children were born to them, Pearl and a pair of twin girls, Alice and Amy, but the twins died a few months later. Father was a very religious man and had a great gift of healing. They had no doctors but if they were not appointed unto death, he would heal them by his faith and Priesthood. His family learned to rely on him for his inspirational advise. At one time he was very ill. All the neighbors had them call a doctor. The Doctor said there was no hope because of his working so hard and in the mines so young. One lung was gone and he could not live only a few days. After he was gone, Father sent for some of the neighbors he had great faith in and asked them to give him their faith and prayers. He asked if there were any that didn't have faith that he would get well to please leave the room. One brother went out and they exercised faith and prayers and he was soon around again and met the doctor on the street. It almost took the doctors breath away, but he sid that he would never do another days work, but he did. He was never entirely strong as before in 1897.
He built a pavilion and gave dances and ran his store and the band was his and his sons and daughters. It was a great success about that time.
He with the consent of his wife married in polygamy to Maude Janet Nell in Riverton. Ten children were born to them, Edward, Rose, Cora, Earl, Austin, Arnold, Rulon, Glen, Otis, and Vera.
When the passing of the manifests, the polygamists had great trial, trying to take care of his families and not allowed to live with but one wife. The officers of the law wasn't considerate of at all of those in trouble and one of his boyhood best friends, being an officer of the law turned out to be his worst enemy. There was no more peace for the polygamists and father working so hard to be honest and faithful to his trust. He was a very honest man and never needed a written agreement from anyone who knew him well.
remember during the manifesto he was ordered to trial. He begged to get off for Sunday as he was the Sunday School Superintendent and was very strict in keeping the Sabbath Day holy. Of course they were suppose to take him and put him in jail until Monday for the hearing before the judge but they forgot to arrest him. They told him to appear on Monday. He said he would be there. They did not seem to doubt his word for they knew him to be to his word.
He went to Sunday School. The children when hearing he had to appear in court began to cry (for he was a great favorite with the children, not only with his own, but the children of the town). When they felt so bad, he said, "If you will pray for me, I don't think I'll have to go to jail," and he didn't. When they saw him coming the next morning, they, the officers grabbed his hand and expressed their thankfulness for him being an honest man for they said, "We forgot to arrest you and you didn't have to come if you had taken that advantage of us." But Father said, " I told you I would come and I always keep my word. On that account he got off easy and was never in jail a minute as so many were.
He was very successful with his dances and band until they had a great fire and burned down his store. He took it very hard and his health was broken because of this. He gave up a Notions and Confectionery Store combined. He and his sons kept their band together. They played for dances. He was a very good singer and was the choir leader. He was a wonderful leader in dramatics, lead plays and put on many dramas in that county. He would play every night in the week in the winter season but most all the money wade, went for the ward. But father enjoyed it all and everyone that worked with him loved him. I can see him now as he would say the parts for the different characters. It made no difference what kind of a part whether Comic, villain, Sad or any other as he took the parts before, he would make us double up with laughter or tears stream down our cheeks or tremble with fear. What ever part he would go through he was very true to everything he did.
He was noted for punctuality. His motto was "never be late." In fact his favorite song was, "never be late." He drilled it into his family so through that everyone of his first family has the same family trait. He was a man of great faith. His family never had a Doctor except with a broken limb. They had so much faith in him that all they ever needed was his administration. He was sent for by people and always felt his great blessings. He was never known to ship a child. He could always ring a promise from us with his kindness and faith in him. He moved to Grant Idaho in l904 and lived there a few years where he kept up his training in Dramatics.
Bought a farm to bring his boys up. He still played for dances and kept his family together for some years but when he went, it was sudden and he took heart trouble and Dropsy and died March 6, l907.
Was buried in Grant Idaho. Just before he died the boys got a recording record on the Phonograph and he played a few pieces on his beloved Violin. Just a few days before he passed away.
In his patriarchal blessing it promised he should live as long as he desired. It was fulfilled as his last words were "It is enough."
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