Thomas Innes

Biography of Thomas Innes

Arrived In Utah Sept l86l

My father was born in Rytton, Durham County, England, December l(7), l8l6.  He was the only son of Charles and Mary Blench Innes, but had six sisters, Isabelle, Hannah, Margaret, Mary, Jane, and Charlotte.  Father was a graduate of the University of Scotland where he received a splendid education it being customary to educate the boys much better than the girls in the family.  He and his father joined the L.D.S. church in England and came to America about l849, they located in Penn. where he first met my mother, Margaret Loutitt.  They were married at Elizabethtown, Pa. about l853.  Four children were born in Pa.: Emma at Elizabeth; and Charles, Thomas and Mary at McKeesport.

In l86l they made the long trip across the plains by ox team, in John Murdock's company.  It must have required a great deal of faith and courage for father to leave a good position and undertake such a trip with a wife and four small children, the eldest 8 years and myself one year old.  They had with them my father's father, Charles Innes, then 82 years old, who walked all the way across the plains, arriving in Utah in Sept., l86l.  They located in Harrisville where father's sister, Mary Ropson, was living.  In l864 the family moved to Paris in the Bear Lake Valley, where they suffered a great many hardships due to the unsettled condition of the valley and the cold frigid climate.  Father was unfitted for Pioneer life, but made a brave struggle to support his family.

The first winter was spent in a dug out with a fire place and a hay floor, but as soon as canyon roads were open in the Spring, he soon built a house of sawed logs which was comfortable and warm.

The grain and vegetables were frozen nearly every year, which made flour scarcely fit for pig feed, but father made a trip to Ogden every Fall with a load of oats and barley which he exchanged for good flour. Then he would stay and work for a while, hauling sage brush which was used for fuel.  He would go by ox team, taking one week to go and another to return.  Some of the family would go with him which was a rare treat.  He always bought one pair of shoes for each of us, which was all we had for the year, going bare-footed in the Summer. He bought our years supply of molasses, dried fruit and groceries.  We always had plenty of milk, butter, meat and eggs as well as fish and wild game.

Father was noted from childhood up for his truthfulness and honesty.  His sister Jane Allison, while visiting us in Paris, said she had never known him to tell a falsehood.  Their father, she said, was a very strict disciplinarian and believed that to spare the rod was to spoil the child.  The temptation to evade the truth was some time strong, but I have never known Thomas to deny doing anything to get out of punishment.  His loyalty and devotion to his friends and his deep affection for his family was recognized by all who knew him.

Because of the loss of his hearing, he was prevented from doing many things which he was well fitted for through education.  He was known for many years as the best education man in Bear Lake Valley and the only one with a college degree.  His advice was often sought and his decisions were always reliable.  I have never asked him a question he could not answer. He was most generous to his family and friends but very independent about receiving help.  He was a man who did his own thinking and made his own decisions.

I remember one time some of the leading citizens got up a petition to have the Post-master removed from office while he was away for a short time.  "No," he said, "I won't sign it," I consider you are taking a mean advantage of the man in his absence."

The last time I saw my father alive was when our son Ivan was two week old. He walked to our home and brought a nice chicken dressed by mother.  He died a few days later, after a few hours illness, May l0th, l889.  The funeral services held for him were wonderful.  Apostle John W. Taylor and Moses Thatcher were among the speakers.  I regretted that some of the fine things said of him hadn't been said to him while he was living.  He composed and wrote the following verse for my autograph album.

May your life be long and happy,

Truth and virtue still retain

That you may be counted worthy

The promised blessings to obtain;

With your husband be united

That your happiness may increase

And your children rise and bless you

Fill your life with joy and peace.

Eighteen hundred sixty-one in the month of June,

When birds were nesting and roses in bloom,

McKeesport then was looking her best

Steamboats were passing from cities above,

In the Innes home was peace and love.

Preparing to leave their cozy home nest,

And go by team to the unsettled West

Father, Mother & Children four

With an aged sire who had passed four score. 

Helpless we would say,and the way so long,

But hearts were brave and faith was strong.

They went to Florence by boat and train

A short time there they had to remain

To join John Murdock's ox team van

Two families to a wagon, I think was the plan.

The men all walked, and women folks too

Some of them walking the whole way through.

The children by spells helped lighten the load

As they toddled along the dusty road.

Camping at night by a running stream

When supper was over and children in bed

They gathered for meeting, I've heard it said

Or danced on the ground to a lively tune,

the dim camp fire or light of the moon.

They traveled along with many a break

In September they reached the Great Salt Lake

The Innes' settled at Harrisville,

Rented a farm the ground to till.

Farming you see was not in their line,

They had never milked cows or tended to swine.

I have heard them laugh at their amateur ways

Of running a farm in those early days.

The beautiful quilts that mother had made

Were exchanged for sheep and calves in trade.

They moved to Paris in sixty-four

Built a dug out with hay for a floor

A smoking old chimney that wouldn't draw

Though snow was deep and weather raw.

To this humble home a sweet babe came

The fairest of all, Charlotte by name.

The Following year we left the hay,

and moved in a brand new house to stay.

It seemed like a mansion so dry and warm

with never a leak in the heaviest storm

Their water cure books and home made pills,

Proved a panacea for many ills.

They doctored their own and many others,

In those days all were as sisters and brothers

Helping each other in every way

Giving their time with no thought of pay.

They never gained riches-mere comfort at best

But never regretted they came to the West.

They loved the gospel and felt fully repaid

For every sacrifice they ever had made.

Our Pioneer parents were brave and true

And paved the way for me and you.

It's up to us and the younger generation,

To follow their example to gain salvation.

Written by Mary Innes Rich (daughter)

Read by Oertal Innes Gale at Daughters of the Pioneers

Camp 52 Roy, Ut. (Grand-daughter)