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The Benjamin Presbyterian Church, 1886-1916
Utah Historical Quarterly
Vol. 51, 1983, No. 3
The Benjamin Presbyterian Church, 1886-1916
BY LEE A. BUTLER
ON MAY 20, 1894, A COMMITTEE OF THE UTAH PRESBYTERY formed the First Presbyterian Church of Benjamin, Utah. This event was not unexpected; a Presbyterian Sunday school had been held in Benjamin since 1886. Nonetheless, the establishment of a Presbyterian church in such a small Mormon community within Utah was not a likely occurrence. Of the numerous Presbyterian churches and missions in Utah the Benjamin Presbyterian church was in many ways unique.
The United Presbyterian Church of America began its missionary efforts in Utah in 1869. Presbyterian missionaries entered Utah with the desire to save those people who had been led astray by the "diabolical" teachings of Mormonism, teachings that were in many instances in conflict with traditional Protestant beliefs. The missionaries saw the Mormons as non-Christians needing the gospel of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Furthermore, the Presbyterians saw Brigham Young and the other members of the Mormon hierarchy as cult leaders, manipulating the Mormon people in all aspects of their lives. As the Presbyterian missionaries expanded their work in Utah during the early 1870s they realized the difficulty in converting the Mormons through conventional preaching and proselytizing. Therefore, they placed their emphasis on education, hoping to teach and convert children and young people, those who were still innocent and open to instruction. As a result, Presbyterian churches with their accompanying day schools, most of them on the elementary level, were established in most of the major towns in Utah.
The establishment of the Presbyterian church in Benjamin, Utah, was an exception to this plan. Presbyterian missionaries did not arbitrarily establish a mission in Benjamin; instead, a group of people within Benjamin sought and brought the Presbyterian church to their town. The Presbyterian church never really flourished in Benjamin, but that is not surprising considering the size and social structure of the town. The surprising point is that the church was actually established and then maintained for as long as it was. The Presbyterian church of Benjamin was organized to fill a temporary religious need for a group of disfellowshipped and alienated Mormons.
Benjamin did not figure in the plans of the Presbyterian missionaries in Utah for the simple reason that it was so small. In the late nineteenth century, as today, Benjamin was a rural community of a few hundred people. There was one general store, no significant commerce, and no positive signs of future growth for the town. Furthermore, the people of Benjamin were by and large devout Mormons who were intent on living their religion. For the Presbytery of Utah to send a minister or even a schoolteacher to such a small Mormon community would have seemed foolish and wasteful.
A much more logical site for the establishment of a mission was neighboring Payson with its nearly 3,000 inhabitants, a significant town in Utah Valley, not merely a tiny farming community. Presbyterian missionaries, seeing the possibility for success in Payson, established a mission there in 1877. The missionary work at Benjamin began as an outgrowth of the Payson initiative. However, the establishment of the Presbyterian church in Benjamin was largely the result of three families' efforts — Hones, Peays, and Herberts. The history of the Benjamin Presbyterian church can be understood only through a look at these three families, their backgrounds, their beliefs, and the experiences that shaped their lives.
George Hone, his wife, and eight children were living in Foleshill, England, in 1856 when they heard the message of the
Mormon missionaries. The family accepted their teachings, were baptized, and prepared to immigrate to America. The eldest son, David, after marrying, sailed to America in 1862 to join the Saints in Utah. The rest of the family, excepting the eldest daughter who died in 1859, followed in 1866. All members of the family settled in Provo, but their stay there was neither long nor peaceful. Disagreements occurred between members of the Hone family and LDS church leaders that resulted in bad feelings and disfellowshipping. The first problem surfaced in the fall of 1863 over property rights. David Hone had bought some land on credit but was restricted from taking possession of it until the spring of the following year. The former owner of the land later accused David of stealing fruit from trees that were not yet his. A church trial followed, and David was restricted from obtaining a share of the fruit. He was not disfellowshipped at that time, but perhaps the incident was a prelude to deeper problems to come. Provo LDS Second Ward records list as persons disfellowshipped: "George Hone sen., Mary Hone Jan 2/71 [for] apostacy [sicT and "David Hone, April 2/72 disfellowshipped for signing anti-state petition." David, with his immediate family and his parents, left the LDS church and in 1876 moved to Benjamin. The rest of the Hones (David's brothers and sisters and their families) also moved to Benjamin within four years.
Francis Peay was a young widower of twenty-three when he joined the LDS church in England in 1849. His mother, two brothers, and a sister, who had also joined the church, sailed to America in 1851. Francis came two years later, after earning enough money to make the voyage. While sailing to America in the spring of 1853 Francis married Eliza Jane Baker, a young convert to the Mormon faith who, like Francis, was on her way to Utah. Upon arriving in Utah, Francis and Eliza made their home in Provo where all of their twelve children were born. However, disagreements between Francis and church leaders led the Peay family to inactivity in the LDS church. The Provo Second Ward court trial records noted:
As a result of these actions only one of the twelve Peay children was baptized into the church while still a child. In 1878 the eldest son, Francis Alfred, married a Mormon girl, Annie Mills of Benjamin, and then moved to Benjamin to farm. Though not a member of the LDS church, Francis A. regularly attended ward meetings with his family. However, a dispute with the Mormon bishop, Benjamin F. Stewart, concerning water rights served to alienate him. On the three Sundays following the dispute Bishop Stewart refused to shake hands with Francis A. and told him that the Mormon church was not his church anymore.
The Thomas Herbert family also came to Utah from England after joining the LDS church in 1856. The Herberts had known the Hones in England, and the two families made the long journey to Utah together. Upon arriving in Utah the Herberts settled in Springville. In 1867 a son, Thomas, married his long-time sweetheart, Mary Jane Hone (a sister to David). The couple settled in Springville but remained there only until the mid-1870s when they moved to Benjamin to farm. After Thomas was appointed a U.S. deputy marshal for the area, he was required to prosecute Mormon polygamists. Rather than resign to support his church, Thomas decided to keep his job as deputy. Feeling betrayed, the Mormon leaders readily disfellowshipped him.
The Hones, Peays, and Herberts were strong willed and independent. Had they not been it is doubtful that they would have left their homes for America or, on arriving in America, struggled to reach Utah. Perhaps these very traits also led to conflicts with church leaders. Because the LDS church was concerned with both religious and civil affairs in Utah at the time, some Mormons became estranged from it after receiving unfavorable decisions from LDS bishops in church courts. The Hones, Peays, and Herberts were among this number.
Though the three families were strong willed and independent, they were also deeply religious descendants of Christians and had been taught by their parents to be Christians. Their religious convictions led them to sacrifice their homes and belongings to make the difficult journey to Utah. Because the three families held strong religious beliefs, their separation from the LDS church soon caused them spiritual discomfort. Their pride kept them from returning to the Mormon church, but the spiritual emptiness they felt drove them to seek relief in some other Christian body. They had been Christians for too long simply to abandon their beliefs.
When the Hones arrived in Benjamin there was no church for them to attend other than the LDS church. Therefore, they sought a new church in Payson, the neighboring town. Alice M. Peck, in a letter to the Church Review in 1895, reported that when the Payson mission opened in 1877 a few of the citizens of Benjamin participated in the Payson day school and Sunday school. This most likely included David Hone and members of his family, whose names appear in the Payson day school records that were kept beginning in 1885. David Hone was a zealous participant in the church; he sent five of his sons to the day school in Payson, and when the Payson Presbyterian church was organized on August 19, 1883, David was elected ruling elder. He became the main force behind establishing the church in Benjamin. Rev. W. A. Hough, a minister at Payson, expressed pride in David and his family in a letter to the Board of Home Missions in 1888:
It is difficult to determine when the Herberts and Peays began attending the Presbyterian church, though the Herberts were certainly involved by early 1887 and the Peays by early 1894, if not months or even years earlier. In any case, interest in the church increased during the late 1870s and early 1880s until in the summer of 1886 a Sunday school was organized in Benjamin; it was first held in the home of Caleb Hone, a brother of David, and later in the home of Thomas Herbert. Each Sunday ministers and teachers from Payson went to assist the members in Benjamin, but many of the responsibilities of organization fell upon the members themselves. For over a year the Benjamin Presbyterians were without a commissioned teacher for their Sunday school. Only through the members' efforts was church held each week.
Though they were without a commissioned minister and teachers, the Benjamin Presbyterians decided to move ahead and construct a church building on their own. They donated five hundred dollars (much of that from David Hone) and many hours in labor so that a small, one-room church building could be constructed. Upon completing the building, the Benjamin members asked the Payson minister for help in acquiring a schoolteacher. The Utah Presbytery reported in the spring of 1888 that the "Benjamin citizens built a chapel and asked for a school teacher — we sent them Miss Grey [sic] last fall." Alice M. Peck, a later schoolteacher, wrote: "Our chapel was built mostly by the people of Benjamin. It is a small brick house, eighteen by twenty-eight. It will seat about forty-four. It has a bell, and is furnished with seats and an organ."
By establishing their own church in their own community the Hones, Peays, and Herberts were able to enjoy feelings of pride and accomplishment; once again they had become members of a group that filled important spiritual and social needs. Although the families were not outcasts, they did not maintain close relationships with their Mormon neighbors. Because the three families had all experienced similar conflicts with Mormon church leaders, they naturally grouped together socially. The construction of the Presbyterian church strengthened their feelings of unity.
Many letters written by the ministers at Payson to the Board of Home Missions mention the branch congregation of Benjamin favorably and with good reason. The Sunday school and day school increased steadily through the '80s and '90s, and in September 1893 an assistant teacher was appointed. The culminating event was the organization of the First Presbyterian Church of Benjamin on May 20, 1894. David Hone and Francis A. Peay were elected elders by the congregation. Prior to the organizaton of the church the Benjamin members raised seven hundred dollars for the enlargement of their building. Rev. S. E. Wishard expressed pride in establishing a church in such a small Mormon farming community.
The Presbyterian missionaries in Utah experienced little success, especially among conservative Mormon farmers. Proselytizing was more effective in larger towns with a greater percentage of non- Mormons. Benjamin, predominantly Mormon from its founding, must have given Presbyterian missionaries some hope for similar successes within the state.
The Benjamin church functioned as an organized body until the fall of 1916. During its thirty-year existence it influenced both Mormons and Presbyterians. However, its effect on Mormons was not spiritual but intellectual. The new church attracted Mormons to its day school and Sunday school because of the able teachers it employed. Before the turn of the century, when public education in Utah was very limited and inadequate, Mormon parents eagerly sent their children to the Presbyterian schools. At one time nearly eighty children attended day school at the Benjamin church. 25 The majority of those children came from active Mormon homes. Viola Gabbitas, who spent her childhood in Benjamin, stated that
Although many Mormon children attended both the day school and the Sunday school, they were not inclined to accept the Presbyterian faith. The Mormons were seeking education, not a new religion.
As elsewhere in Utah, the Presbyterians in Benjamin only rarely brought people into their church through direct approaches of proselytizing. Reports occasionally showed that one or two people had entered the church through the efforts of the minister or a group of missionary leaders who had stopped in Benjamin for a few days; however, the session records show that most of these were members of the Hone and Peay families. Only one member of the Herbert family appears on the session records that were kept from the time the church was officially organized in 1894. Grandchildren of Thomas Herbert have stated that they are sure the family was Presbyterian but that they cannot remember the family ever going to church on a regular basis. However, Thomas Herbert's funeral was held in the Presbyterian church, and the family considered themselves to be Presbyterians. Naoma Herbert Bronley, a granddaughter of Thomas Herbert, said
Although the Herbert family actively participated in the Presbyterian church during its early existence in Benjamin, neither Thomas nor his sons and daughters remained closely affiliated with it.
Of the thirty-four people whose names appear in the records of the Benjamin Presbyterian church only a small number are not members of the Hone or Peay families, or in some way related. A breakdown of the members into groups shows fourteen Hones, nine Peays (and two in-laws), three schoolteachers (and a sister of one of the teachers), one Herbert, and four others.
The Hones and Peays who joined the church consisted mainly of members of David's and Francis A.'s families; the one Herbert who joined the church after 1894 was a daughter of Thomas. It should be noted that the Peay family members were very successful in converting their spouses to Presbyterianism and in one instance were able to influence in-laws to join the church. Eliza Mills, a sister of Francis A.'s wife, Annie, lived with the Peays for a number of years as a servant. Later, she and one of her daughters were baptized into the Benjamin church.
All three of the teachers who served the Benjamin church during its thirty-year existence were commissioned by the Utah Presbytery to move to Benjamin to teach. The first teacher was Marion Gray, who, after graduating from the Presbyterian Salt Lake Collegiate Institute in 1887, taught day school and Sunday school in Benjamin for five years before marrying Alma Hone, one of David's sons. Her sister, Nettie Gray, who also graduated from the Collegiate Institute, came to live with the family and was received into the church. The other two teachers who served in Benjamin, Alice Peck and Ellen Rowley, did not remain in the area after filling their teaching responsibilities.
The four remaining members of the church were an inconspicuous group of which little is known. They were not members of any prominent Mormon families in the community; moreover, they did not stay in Benjamin for long. Two requested and were granted letters of dismissal from the Benjamin church to the Payson Presbyterian church on the day they were received into the church. One moved to Benjamin as a non-Mormon, bringing a letter of dismissal and recommendation from a Protestant church.
The Benjamin Presbyterian church began its decline in the years following the turn of the century. Like other Presbyterian churches in Utah the Benjamin church was outwardly weakened as a result of improvements made in the public school system of Utah. Mormons who had earlier sent their children to the superior Presbyterian schools readily transferred them to public schools that offered sound education free of Protestant bias. Thus, in Benjamin the enrollment of the Presbyterian day school steadily dropped. Of greater consequence to the church, the Hone and Peay families moved out of the area, married active Mormons (who converted them back to Mormonism), or simply lost interest in Presbyterianism. Remaining Presbyterian in Benjamin, Utah, was apparently too arduous a task for most of the second- and third-generation Hones and Peays. The October 22, 1916, session records of the Payson Presbyterian church state: "Transferred the following names from the Benjamin Presby Church to the Presb. Church of Payson with their consent and approval. Alma Hone, Mrs. Alma Hone, Mildred Hone, Arthur E. Peay, Mrs. Arthur E. Peay." 36 With this transfer the Benjamin Presbyterian church closed its doors.
From its beginning the Benjamin Presbyterian church served a very narrow segment of the population. The Hones, Peays, and Herberts brought the church to Benjamin and throughout its existence kept it functioning. The church existed for them and for the strong religious needs they felt after their alienation from the LDS church. The predominantly Mormon population of Benjamin was little affected by the Presbyterian church, though they received some benefit from the day school. The Mormons were staunch believers in their faith, content in striving to live their religion and not disposed to change their beliefs. Therefore, the Presbyterian church in Benjamin continued as a church solely for the Hones, Peays, and Herberts; its narrow base never did widen. In fact, it narrowed in the 1890s when the Herberts stopped attending services regularly. The zeal of the Hones and Peays kept the church thriving until the turn of the century, but thereafter all efforts seemed futile. Rather than continue the struggle in Benjamin, many Hones and Peays moved elsewhere to begin new lives. This was one sign that the religious need filled by the Benjamin Presbyterian church was beginning to wane. Another sign was manifest in the unwillingness of many second- and third-generation Hones and Peays to continue as Presbyterians. When the religious need filled by the church finally ended, so did the church.
BENJAMIN PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH MEMBERS
Hone
David Hone — David, whose first wife died in 1909, moved to California in 1911 where he lived with a second wife and then a third wife until his death in 1928. A granddaughter, Leila Wilkey, wrote the following about a visit to California: "While I was there I found that grandfather always attended the Presbyterian Church on Sunday morning and he and grandmother attended the Latter-day Saint Sacrament Meeting in the afternoon." Sarah Hone — wife of David, died in Benjamin in 1909. John Hone — son of David, died in Benjamin in 1899. Alice Hone — wife of John, remained in Benjamin, not active in any church. Alma Hone — son of David, participated in Payson Presbyterian church, died in
Benjamin in 1926. Marion Hone — wife of Alma, maiden name was Gray, schoolteacher, moved to California after her husband's death.
Mildred L. Hone — daughter of Alma, moved to California with mother. Robert David Hone — son of Alma, moved to California with mother. George A. Hone — son of David, joined LDS church at age 46. Caleb Hone — brother of David, after wife's death in 1904 remarried and moved to Oregon. Alice Hone — wife of Caleb, died in Benjamin in 1904. Alice Hone — daughter of Caleb, married Frank McCauley (the session records show that on October 15, 1906, Mr. and Mrs. Frank McCauley presented their child for baptism). McCauleys moved to Idaho in 1911, Alice joined the LDS church at age 81. Sarah A. Mills — daughter of Caleb Hone, married Annie Peay's brother. Mary Hone — wife of George Hone, Sr., died in Benjamin in 1900.
Peay
Francis A. Peay — Francis A. moved to Provo in 1904 to take care of his mother after his father's death. He and his wife attended the Provo Community Church until their deaths. Annie Peay — wife of Francis A., died in Provo in 1937. Clara L. Peay — daughter of Francis A., moved to Provo after marrying in 1899. Nellie Peay — daughter of Francis A., left Benjamin after marrying in 1908, joined the LDS church at age 84. Albert Peay — son of Francis A., divorced, moved to Provo to live with parents about 1909, remarried in 1911, joined the LDS church at age 39. Annie Peay — wife of Albert, after divorce moved to Salem, joined LDS church after remarrying.
Norma Lillian Peay — daughter of Albert, baptized at Benjamin Presbyterian church as a child, remained with her mother after divorce, was raised as a Mormon.
Arthur Peay — brother of Francis A., moved to Payson in 1909, active in Payson
Presbyterian church for many years. Mattie Peay — wife of Arthur, active in Payson Presbyterian church. Eliza Koontz — sister of Annie Peay. The Koontz family moved from Benjamin in the early 1920s. Sarah Ethel Koontz — daughter of Eliza.
Other
Alice M. Peck — schoolteacher, on March 4, 1897, was given a letter of dismissal to unite with a church in Iowa. Ellen Rowley — schoolteacher, left Benjamin by June of 1901. Nettie Gray Bevan — sister to Marion Gray, moved to Nephi, Utah, in 1901 after marrying. Mrs. J. C. Davis (Mary Jane Herbert) — daughter of Thomas Herbert. Her husband died in 1898, and she remarried, joined LDS church at age 40. J. M. Henry — received into Benjamin Presbyterian church August 28, 1898, received letter of dismissal to Presbyterian church in Payson the same day. Jacob Crocksel — received into Benjamin Presbyterian church August 28, 1898, received letter of dismissal to Presbyterian church in Payson the same day. Lidiad Curefond — left Benjamin by June of 1901, nothing futher is known. Myrtle Fitzgerald — received into Benjamin church by letter on October 15, 1906, nothing further is known.
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