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Frederick Kesler, Utah Craftsman
Frederick Kesler, Utah Craftsman
BY KIMBERLY DAY
THE EARLY ECONOMIC HISTORY OF Utah Territory reflected the Mormon emphasis of self-sufficiency. Motivated by a common philosophy, the settlers stressed a planned and balanced economic development based on agriculture. Frederick Kesler was a part of the coalition of frontier farmers, working men, businessmen, and artisans who directed their energies toward building a kingdom of God on earth. He was a self-reliant craftsman as well as an industrialist, inventor, architect, engineer, and a man who took advantage of the available resources and opportunities. His talents in building mills and machinery and operating them are attested to by the number and variety he either constructed, superintended the construction of, or drafted plans for others to build. These include over twenty flour and saw mills, oil mills, foundries, a nail factory, sugar and molasses factories, carding and weaving mills, a paper mill, blacksmith shops, grain-cleaning machines, a button factory, and others. He also designed or constructed churches, schools, bridges, canals, private homes, and shops.
Coupled with his commitment and creativity as a craftsman was an emotional commitment to his church. During his lifetime Kesler remained a true believer, seemingly never faltering in his responsibilities to his church, his ward, and his community. He became involved in almost every aspect—religious and secular—of his pioneer community. With this combination of attributes Kesler should hold a very prestigious ranking in the history of Utah. Yet, his name and achievements are all but forgotten. Most of the mills and factories with which he was involved are not credited to his expertise, and with the demolition of most of them he has slipped into obscurity. Why, when a man's talents were so extensively utilized and necessary in the establishment and maintenance of many communities did he become virtually anonymous? This inquiry into Kesler's economic importance to Utah cannot supply a definitive answer to that question, but several assumptions can be made based on a review of events significant in Kesler's life. On January 20, 1816, Frederick Kesler, Jr., was born to Frederick and Mary Sarah Lindsey Kesler in Crawford County, Pennsylvania. His father, of German descent, was a trapper who located his family in successive log cabins in the primitive areas of northwestern Pennsylvania. Following the untimely death of Mary Sarah upon the birth of their sixth child, Frederick Sr. soon found homes for his three boys and three girls "amongst strangers far apart from each other except two which were cared for by the same Family." The adventuresome father then returned to the untamed country never to be heard from again. At the age of six his son Frederick was residing with Edward Campbell, a farmer in Mercer County, Pennsylvania. Desirous of learning a trade, Frederick apprenticed himself at age fifteen to Abram Clark, a miller in Trumbull County, Ohio. During the next five years young Kesler diligently acquired the skills necessary to "construct and build good . . . Saw or Flouring Mills." After the completion of his training, Kesler was asked to accompany Levi Moffet and his family to construct mills in the "far west" and with eight other families moved toward the "eldorado of the west." Their El Dorado, after some preliminary perusal, lay within the Black Hawk Purchase near the Mississippi River. Kesler and Moffet constructed a sawmill that, according to Kesler, was the first built in what would become lowa.
In the spring of 1836 Kesler married Emeline Parker and "at once commenced Keeping House in a little log cabin 10 x 12 feet square situated within a few rods from the North bank of the Skunk river.'' Within a few weeks the young couple became violently ill with an unknown fever that was rampant in the community. Frederick did not recover until the following spring, at which time he sold most of their belongings and worked to pay accumulated debts of "several hundred dollars." With his creditors appeased, he next sought employment near Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he constructed a large double sawmill. He then traveled "80 miles back in the cuntry [and] put in operation a corn Mill cotton jin & cotton press for a wealthy widow who had a large number of slaves.'' Just as their situation showed signs of amelioration, their savings of "severial Hundred dollars was sudently lost by the suspending of a Mississippi Bank .. . we simply had ourselves & my chest of tools and my trade to commence a new in the world." Fortunately, Kesler was very competent in an important and necessary trade.
During the summer of 1839 Kesler first became aware of the Latter-day Saints: "This strange people as I thought they must be ware located in a place cald commerce, a place 20 miles distant from whare I lived." Intrigued, he soon journeyed to their community and introduced himself to Joseph Smith and other leading men. He was "Greatly suprised in finding them a verry intelegant people & that they believed in & taught the same Doctorn & princaples That was taught by Christ & His apostles & that all thare doctrons was founded on the Bible." Overwhelmed and inspired, the Keslers were baptized in the Mississippi River at Nauvoo, Illinois, in June 1840. Although residing in the Augusta Branch of the church in Iowa, Kesler continued to make frequent visits to Nauvoo and became "quite intimate with . . . [Joseph Smith] as well as with His aged Father Mother Brothers & Sisters." At the conference held in Nauvoo in AprU 1842 Kesler was ordained an elder and by the following September had ventured east on his first Mormon mission.
Two years later, after his return to Iowa, Kesler was called to Nauvoo with thirty others to protect Joseph Smith from mob violence.
The Keslers crossed the Mississippi on April 16, 1846, and by May 26 had met the main companies at Mount Pisgah, Iowa. They joined Brigham Young's company and continued to Council Bluffs, arriving there one week later.
On June 13 Brigham Young asked Kesler to superintend and help construct a ferry on which the Saints would cross the Missouri River to Winter Quarters. By the evening of June 29 the boat was completed. Kesler reported:
Kesler was counseled to remain at Winter Quarters where he built a flour mill in early 1847 to grind corn, the main source of nutrition for the Mormons. He claimed this was the first flour mill in Nebraska. To gather the necessary provisions for the westward trek several families, including the Keslers, sought employment by journeying down the Missouri River in the spring of 1847. In Kansas City Kesler constructed a small horse-powered mill that could grind both wheat and corn. Completing this in October and finding no further employment, the Keslers ventured to Texas where Frederick built and installed a water wheel in a flour mill. Returning to Kansas City in the spring of 1849, he obtained a government contract to construct a flour mill for the Potawatomi Indians 100 miles west of the city. He "also Built a Frame House for the miller . . . this was the First Flouring mill .. . in Kansas." In the early spring of 1851 the Keslers left Kansas City with three wagons, six yoke of oxen, one span of pony horses, one cow, and other provisions. At Florence, Nebraska, they joined Orson Pratt's company bound for the Salt Lake Valley. After a cursory examination of the valley Kesler believed Box Elder would be a desirable place to locate his family and build his own mill. Before taking any decisive action, however, he discussed his plans with Brigham Young.
With the promise of spiritual prosperity to guide him, Kesler established a home in Salt Lake City within the Sixteenth Ward and began his activities as an appointed overseer of Zion. The first work he accomplished was to place the water-power machinery on the northeast corner of the temple block for the Public Works Department. This represented the beginning of the utilization of a skill and inventiveness that would involve Kesler in many and varied enterprises. Within the first five years of his residence in Utah Kesler became a polygamist, marrying Jane Elizabeth Pratt in 1853 and Abigail Snow in 1857. He also served on an economic mission to the eastern states in 1854, purchased a large farm/ranch west of Salt Lake City, and was ordained bishop of the Sixteenth Ward in 1857.
In addition to these activities, Kesler became a member of the Big Cottonwood Canyon Lumber Company which included such prominent individuals as Brigham Young, Daniel H. Wells, Abraham O. Smoot, John Sharp, and Feramorz Little After evaluating the timber resources to see if the amount and availability justified the expense of conveyance from the canyon, the company began construction of the first of several sawmills in Big Cottonwood. The lumber from these mills supplied the public works program of the LDS church which promoted systematic industrial development around the valley. Kesler was also involved in the Brigham Young Express and Carrying Company which was designed to facilitate the movement of the immigrant companies, mail, freight, and passengers from the Missouri Valley to Salt Lake City. His talents were utilized in this enterprise in the construction of milling facilities at the Deer Creek and La Bonte stations. Just as the construction of the stations was nearing completion, the mail contract with the United States was cancelled, an army was sent against the Mormon outpost, and the stations were dismantled and closed. During the Utah War, Kesler, who had been a major in the Nauvoo Legion in Illinois, took command of the Second Battalion, Second Regiment. For a time he and his men were stationed in Echo Canyon. In March 1858, when Brigham Young ordered the evacuation of northern Utah in anticipation of the arrival of Johnston's Army, Kesler, on the instruction of Daniel H. Wells, began the preparations to move most of his considerable family to Provo. His first venture to Provo, on April 7, was to contract with "Shadrack Holdeway" {sic) to house Brigham Young's carding machine. He returned to Provo on May 16 to attend a meeting where he learned that he should dismantle the flour mill in Box Elder, the mill he had desired to construct and own, and move it to Provo. He immediately embarked upon this duty and returned to Provo with the machinery on June 4. He and Brigham Young selected a site for the Provo flour mill, and delegating his foremen, Samuel Ensign and "Pharious Wells" {sic), to begin the groundwork, Kesler returned to Salt Lake City on June 19 to draft a design for the mill and to continue boarding up his home.
With the June 30 announcement in Provo by Brigham Young that the "war" was over and those who wished could return north, Kesler assembled his family and belongings and went home. This did not end his trips to Provo, however. On July 3 he was on his way there again to check on the mill, and a week later he returned to the site with further instructions from Brigham Young. Soon after, the church leader told Kesler to dismantle the mill at Provo and reinstall it in Box Elder. Kesler estimated his travel connected with the mill and the move south at over 900 miles and his personal expense at a thousand dollars. With the members of the Utah Expedition entrenched at Camp Floyd, the increased trade and employment gradually improved Utah's economy. Official contracts to supply grain and lumber to the camp and sales of army surplus netted profits for the territory and church and for the Big Cottonwood Canyon Lumber Company which quickly rid itself of its surplus by supplying needed timber for the construction of Camp Floyd for "thousands of dollars in gold." On September 14, 1858, two months after the mill was relocated in Box Elder, Kesler and Horace S. Eldredge, purchasing agent for the LDS church, were sent on an economic mission to the East with the money the lumber company had accrued to purchase machinery and goods. Their purchases included equipment for the manufacture of nails, buttons, and paper, and wool and cotton carding machines and looms. Shortly after his arrival home, Kesler discovered problems within his sizeable family. On September 15, 1859, he wrote, ".. . My Oldest and Favorite Child Has turned away from the truth and married a Jintile & Has Came out & Said to my face in my own House that She was fulley Determined to go Her own way." Then, on September 18 he found that his "2nd Daughter Antynett Had left my house and gone to Maryetts Her Sister thus testifying By her works that she Loves the Sosiety of the Jentiles in prefferance to the Saints which Fact She Has Confest to me. " He could not comprehend the apostasy of his two daughters and never lost faith that they would eventually repent and return home. During the next five years Kesler actively supervised the construction and repair of several mills and factories around the valley. These were years of great productivity for him, involving his talents in the construction of canals, a schoolhouse for his ward, a smokehouse for the army, a new ranch house, and a bowery, along with his many duties as a bishop. Added to this, on February 13, 1860, he received his commission from the Utah Territorial Legislature to serve as a member of the board of directors of the penitentiary. Kesler was quite successful as a private entrepreneur in the valley. With the dissolution of the Big Cottonwood Lumber Company in 1862 he offered to sell his interest in it for $2,607.06. Less than a year later he and Brigham Young purchased a mill in Big Cottonwood Canyon for $13,000, and Kesler moved his third wife, Abigail, to the mill. Despite his many responsibilities, Kesler also found time for pleasure. He was very active socially with the members and hierarchy of the church and also found great enjoyment as a horticulturist, cultivating extensive gardens at his home in Salt Lake City and at his farm. On November 14, 1865, most of the activities of this remarkable man came to an abrupt end. While in a carriage with his daughter
Laura he struggled with a fractious horse. Just as the animal "was about to go down a presapice," Laura jumped from the carriage without injury, but Kesler's feet begame tangled in the lines and he was thrown "violently on the Hard ground." He landed on his left hip and broke his femur near the hip socket. Although several attempts at surgery were made, Kesler's fracture never healed properly. An invalid for the remainder of his life, he was frustrated and discouraged by his handicap and his consequent inability to pursue his craft actively. His religion and his gardens became his passions, and he pursued with vigor his own obedience to church principles and that of others as bishop of the Sixteenth Ward. In December 1867 Kesler received an invitation to join the School, of the Prophets. Following instruction in that group, Bishop Kesler and his counselors established a Relief Society in their ward on June 15, 1868, a cooperative mercantile company in Kesler's granary until another building could be constructed on February 22, 1869, and canvassed the ward periodically to have the members reaffirm their commitment to the kingdom and to the Word of Wisdom. Kesler outlined his own commitment:
The termination of the School of the Prophets by Brigham Young in August 1872 marked the dissolution of but one commitment in Kesler's life. On January 26 of that year Kesler's first wife, Emeline, had filed for divorce in the Third District Court before Judge J. B. McKean, a gentile, on the grounds of adultery—citing Kesler's plural marriages—among other charges. Kesler blamed "her children Maryette, Joseph, Fredy .. . in this unjust & unlawful preceedings aginst her best friend on this earth." On February 14, on the advice of Brigham Young, Emeline withdrew her suit and settled out of court for what Kesler later called " a lions share of my property for her & her children," including real estate worth "$4500.00 in gold, besides a good cow and all her household goods. . . ." Kesler's domestic troubles were not over. In March 1873 his third wife, Abigail, also sought a divorce. Kesler blamed the influence of Emeline for these difficulties and hoped Abigail might "see her folly & repent of her eavil thoughts," but she was determined to leave. " I was once young and happy," she wrote, "but your abusive toung has destroyed my happiness and all love for you[;] my children were conceived, born, and nursed milk steeped in sorrow." She solicited Kesler's cooperation in the divorce, saying she would teach the children to "respect you as their father" and that she would keep her past unhappiness private. If he proved difficult, however, she would carry her tale of woe to Brigham Young. Kesler's response was evidently not satisfactory, for AbigaU obtained a divorce from him on March 11 through Brigham Young.
Young requested Kesler to list all of his holdings—which amounted to $12,000 in cash, real estate, and other property—and then divided this property between AbigaU and Jane, Kesler's remaining wife, according to the number of their surviving children. Abigail was allotted $4,000 under Brigham Young's formula and Jane $8,000, leaving Kesler with nothing. Fortunately, his wife Jane Elizabeth Pratt took him into her home, gave him power of attorney over her affairs, and thus "quieted down" his anxiety. By November 1874 Kesler was embroiled in another controversy, this time with the Utah Western Railroad. The foundation of this altercation lay with the establishment of rights-of-way over the Kesler ranch and the amount Kesler expected the railroad to pay for those rights. He wanted $1,500 for a right-of-way thirty feet wide across his acreage. Arbitrators representing the rival interests settled the matter on January 5, 1875, by requiring the company to pay Kesler $1,133.33 and grant him a free lifetime pass on the railroad from the city to his farm. This might have settled the matter, but on February 3 when Kesler attempted to use the pass to ride from Salt Lake City to the ranch the conductor informed him that he had been instructed "not to stop the train between Chambers home & Black Rock for anyone." Accordingly, Kesler was deposited at the Chambers home, three miles from his own, and walked home using a crutch for support. The same thing occurred on February 16, but this time, upon Kesler's arrival home, he found that "the train had stopt at my House & put off 4 men but nothing was said to me about riding on to my place." In exasperation Kesler took his case to the High Council of the LDS church, a kind of ecclesiastical supreme court. Because "outsiders" were involved in the matter, the council decided it had no jurisdiction. Kesler next approached Brigham Young and Hiram B. Clawson, a member of the board of directors and Young's son-in-law. Shortly thereafter the train began to stop at the ranch. Tranquility continued to evade Kesler, however, for Brigham Young was interested in the ranch and made two unsatisfactory attempts to purchase it from the Keslers. In a letter to Kesler dated June 16, 1875, Young stated:
No such trade was ever arranged. Probably still smarting from Young's unfavorable decisions and actions concerning his marital and raUroad difficulties, Kesler, an active lender of financial resources throughout the valley, wrote to the church leader on September 20, 1875, reminding him of a delinquent account.
Young addressed a quick reply to Kesler asking him to bring the note to his office the next time he called and stating, " I am not in the habit of borrowing money without giving my obligation for the same." Kesler took the disputed note to Young's office on October 21, 1875. According to Kesler's account, the church president "did not feel verry pleasant over it Said I had made a presant of the money & the note might be a forgrd one and said some oather hard things." But Kesler held his ground, saying he would "be willing to testify in any court in heaven or on the earth that he did receive the money." After "considerable" further discussion Young "told James Jack to pay the Note interest & all." Kesler declined the interest, which he had computed at $2,200.31 Kesler next addressed the railroad directors, informing them on October 22, 1875, that the Utah Western Railroad had but ten days to pay him the $1,133.33 for the right-of-way before he would start charging them interest. The High Council became involved in the affair on November 2 when it decided to reduce the amount the railroad owed to $500 plus the lifetime pass, in exchange for which the Keslers were to forfeit to the railroad by warranty deed a fifty-foot-wide strip across their land. By November 15 the matter was apparently settled. Six years later, however, on May 21, 1881, the Keslers were informed by William Riter "that the Presant RaU Road companey was not bound & was under no obligation to carry" Kesler and his wife free. Furthermore, the Keslers' lifetime passes "Had run out 3 years ago." This disagreement may never have been resolved, for Kesler was still seeking a settlement in 1883. The remaining years of Kesler's life were filled primarily with untiring devotion to his religion. From the time of his accident on, he had become increasingly preoccupied with it. His diaries record his thoughts on the significance of life and death, how to achieve everlasting life through devotion to God, and concern for the status in the hereafter of his estranged brothers and sisters and an old girl friend he had known before his first marriage. He baptized all of them posthumously into his church. As always, Kesler displayed great concern for the members of his ward, visiting them as often as he could in sickness and in health. He attended and often administered the various rituals of life and death and organized many religious and social activities for them throughout the year. He took pride in all the LDS temples built in the territory and visited weekly the partially completed Salt Lake Temple to observe its progress. Despite his damaged hip he often climbed the scaffolding to see at close hand what the workmen were doing.
The completion of the Salt Lake Temple marked a high point in his later years, for on September 3, 1891, the seventy-five-year-old Kesler was summoned to place one of the granite slabs on the west center tower of the temple. When the rock was hoisted into place, he "at once proceeded to lay [it] .. . to the entire satisfaction of the Master Rock layer. . . ." The following spring, on April 9, Kesler, his youngest son, and a neighbor visited the temple to view the placement of the statue of the Angel Moroni. On this occasion, Kesler "was invited to ascend in rude elivator .. . up about 200 ft. then proceeded up to the Angel Moroni By stairway. .. . I walket around the angel and toutched it with my hand I also Deposited my Name & . . . Archies written on a small piece of paper through the Bolt Hole that led in to the Center of the Ball. . . ." Finally, on May 23, 1893, on the completion and dedication of the temple, Kesler was baptized to improve his health and also baptized for a dead relative. He was very moved by the event:
Kesler's religious commitment appears to have been recognized during his lifetime, but history has not accorded him a stature commensurate with his contributions to the economic development of the territory. His divorces by themselves do not seem likely to have been factors hindering his prominence. Many pioneer leaders were granted divorces by Brigham Young. What remains intriguing about Kesler's divorces, however, are the vindictive property settlements arranged by Young that left Kesler virtually propertyless. His disputes with the Utah Western Railroad and with Brigham Young over an old debt may have stamped him as intractable and therefore unworthy of too much recognition for his achievements. Whatever the reason, bit by bit Kesler was stripped of much of his worldly goods. The accident that left him an invalid in his fiftieth year seemed in many ways to mark a turning point in his fortunes, for it was not long after that two of his marriages ended and his financial problems began. He died at his home on June 12, 1899, at the age of eighty-three, following a severe and painful illness. Deeply moved, his son Archie wrote in his father's journal that this was " a man greatly beloved and respected by all who knew him. . . . From a poor orphan boy he worked his way upward in life, becoming a truly great and good man. . . ." Lacking specifics, even the son's statement does not give the man his full due. Frederick Kesler provided with his mills the means by which several communities could move into an industrial future. In Salt Lake City, particularly, his mechanical acumen contributed to the evolution of an industrial society, an emergence he witnessed from early settlement to statehood. Indeed, Kesler's wide-ranging activities represent the very dynamism of the pioneer.
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