JOHN HATTER WILKINS

3 April 1824 – 18 January 1905 John Hatter Wilkins was born in the town of Buckleberry, Berkshire, England. He was the son of Charles Wilkins Sr. and Jane Rixon, and was born April 3, 1824. Bucklebury is situated in the southern part of England in Berkshire County. Charles and Jane Rixon were the parents of 9 children, John being the 3rd child. John was born with a very bad birth mark over his right eye, and back over the side of his face to his ear and over the back of it. It was a light purplish color. He used to say he was marked with an Elderberry vine. He used to comb his hair down over his eye and wear it quite long on that side to kind of hide the mark. Not much is known of his younger life, only that he attended school and grew to manhood in this locality. When he was about 12 years of age he was given a bible by his teacher for attendance at his Sunday school, as a gift. The inscription in it says “To John H. Wilkins, the gift of Mr. H. H. Hartley, October 24, 1836”. This was before any of his family had joined the LDS church, making the bible 165 years old at this time. (2001) The Wilkins family were typical English people, using the “h” sound, or leaving the “h” off. In his childhood days he had an aunt.(It is believed her name was Hatter.) This aunt, as the story goes, wanted Charles and Jane Wilkins to give John to them to raise, or adopt. As she had quite a sum of money she said she would raise him and care for him, she would educate him and make him a good home, and leave her money to him, but they could not think of giving their little boy away. John grew to manhood in Bucklebury with his brothers and sisters who were: Caroline, born 1821; James (1822); John (1824); Jane (1825); Charles (1827-8); William (1830); William Henry (1831); Christopher (1833); Elizabeth (1835). As the years passed on he met the young lady of his choice, Miss Mary Eliza Woodward, who was also born in the same locality. They no doubt knew each other through the years as nothing is known of their courtship. Mary was the daughter and 5th child of William Woodward and Diana Banbury. John and Mary were married in 1846 when he was 22 and Mary was 18 years of age. John H. Wilkins was a gardener by trade. He worked for the same man for 20 years, and when he left to emigrate to America, this man felt so bad to think John was leaving him, he went with the family to the boat and cried and cried saying, “Oh John, we will never see each other again.” The first child born to them was a little boy on 6 August 1847, but lived only a little more than 4 months. The next year, a little girl was born to them on the 27 October, 1848. She was given the name of Ann. Again their lives were saddened as she only lived not quite 2 months. John felt very bad at the loss of his first two children. When one of them was very ill and not expected to live, he ran a long way to the doctor, and when he was on his way home he said he knew at once his baby had died. When he reached home he did find the baby had passed away. He loved children very much which made his loss even greater to bear. When the prophet Joseph Smith was martyred at Carthage jail and before John had been baptized, the word came to England of the death of the prophet, it caused quite a stir in England. People seemed to go wild as the news spread around. John used to say, “People ran up and down the streets waving their arms and throwing their hats in the air and yelling, Old Joe Smith is dead, yes, Old Joe Smith is dead, now that will be the end of the Mormons.” At this time LDS missionaries were in England and were working hard and converting people and many were being baptized. They were holding meetings and converting a number of people around the neighborhood. John and Mary became very interested as many were joining the church. However, he became ready for baptism first, and on 7 September 1849 he was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Mary felt she wasn’t quite ready and felt she wanted to be a little more sure of herself. John said, “Well mother, you won’t be long after me you see.” In about three weeks Mary said she just couldn’t stand it any longer, as it seemed he was so far away from her, and she would loose him, so she was baptized in November 1849. John Wilkins was a very good singer. He used to have charge of singing at Cottage Meetings and church services. Brother Henry Ballard, father of Apostle Melvin J. Ballard lived neighbors to the Wilkins in England, and used to attend the same meetings and cottage meetings as they did. The next child born to them was another boy, born 16 June1850, Colddash, Berkshire, England. He was given the name Edward John Wilkins. In two years another girl came on 1 November 1852, they named Elizabeth, although she was called “Bessie” most of her life. Then 3 years later another son, given the name of Christopher, was born on 8 May 1855 in Berkshire, England. The last child was a little blue eyed curly haired girl named Bethiah. This name was taken from the Bible. She was born 11 August 1860, at Bucklebury, Berkshire, England. She was my mother. John Wilkins had a long way to go to make a living for his family, he walked 5 miles each morning to work and 5 miles each night back home. He didn’t have the privilege of enjoying his children as he would like to have done as they were in bed when he came home in the evening and he left before they were awake in the morning. He used to go to the bedroom and look at them when he came home after his day’s work. Mary would say “Now don’t wake them John” and he would say, “Just let me look at them, mother.” Charles Wilkins, the brother of John, emigrated to America first of the family, he and his wife Elizabeth Drinkwater came in 1854. John was noted for his great honesty. One story is told of him was at one time he needed a little money so he asked a friend if he would loan him a dime until payday, promising he would return it then. When he received his pay he walked 5 miles to pay back the ten cents. The next of the Wilkins to emigrate to America was John H. Wilkins’ father, Charles Wilkins Sr., bringing with him his daughter Elizabeth, John’s sister. They were to come first and send for the mother Jane Rixon Wilkins, later. On 23 April 1826, Charles Sr. and Elizabeth left their home for the land of Zion on the ship “John J. Boyd” embarking from Liverpool. When they were part way across the ocean he became very ill. Just a month to the day from the time they left, he died in mid ocean on 23 May 1862. The ship’s records verify his death and burial in the ocean. Elizabeth was left to make the rest of the journey alone except for the kind friends and a neighbor from England who helped to comfort her in her great sorrow. The burial of Charles Wilkins was indeed a sad task for anyone to witness. His body was wrapped in a blanket with a heavy weight tied to it and lowered down the side of the ship into the cold deep ocean. In a letter dated 31 August 1865, written to Charles Wilkins, Jr. from his mother, Jane Rixon Wilkins, upon hearing the news of her husbands death wrote “If I had known how things would have turned out when Father and Betsy (meaning Elizabeth) went away, I would have come along with them”. In the spring of 1866, Jane Rixon did emigrate to America. She came with Mary Eliza’s brother, William Woodward. John and Mary Eliza were now very anxious to also emigrate to America and to Utah to be with the rest of their family. They had been paying into the Emigration Fund in which England would help their subjects to emigrate to Canada to help build up and settle that country. They knew if they could get to Canada they would some day get to Utah and settle with the main body of the church. So in 1873, John and Mary with their four children, Edward John, Elizabeth, Christopher and Bethiah, together with friends and neighbors who had joined the church, Wignores, Johnsons, and Paynes left for Canada, and settled at St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada. They lived in Canada for 5 years. John worked in a fifty-acre grapery. During that 5 years they never even saw an Elder of the church. But they never lost their testimony. While in Canada, Bethiah was married at the age of 16 to Louis Hammond. The next year a little girl came to them, they named her Isabelle. At the end of the 5 years, in 1878, John and Mary were ready to move on to Utah. His mother Jane Rixon Wilkins had died in Utah by this time. They left for Utah taking Bethiah and her baby Isabelle with them. The father of Isabelle was to come later and join them, but circumstances concerning their religion came up and Louis Hammond never came west. John felt so bad at not being able to see his mother. His greatest desire had been to see her again. He said “I did think I would once again be able to see my dear old mother”. They first settled in Cottonwood, now Murray, south of Salt Lake City. While there, Bethiah married John Hillman Barnes, 19 July1882. John was also a convert who had recently come from England. Not long after this, John and Mary moved to Springville Utah. Later John and Bethiah also moved there where their daughter Emily, born 8 May 1891, was still a small baby. They had seven daughters now. Springville is the place where they wanted to settle. John and Mary lived in a three-room house with a large pantry on the north end of the kitchen and the house was situated in the south end of Springville on the south- west edge of town, along the country road to Spanish Fork. John and Bethiah lived in town first but later moved closer to their grandparents, John and Mary. After Bethiah and John Barnes were married, Isabelle lived most of the time with her grandparents John and Mary. They practically raised her until she married William Robert Johnson. John and Mary’s grandchildren loved to go visit them because they always had something good for them to eat. They made their living from John’s garden. The garden was quite a ways south of the house and down the track. In this garden you could never find a weed of any kind. John would go after them as soon as one would peek out of the ground and was always hoeing to find them. People used to go there just to see John Wilkins garden. That is where he made a living for his family. It was in the shape of a triangle, all fenced in, and as you entered the little gate at the south east corner the first thing to greet you was a pink rose bush. In this garden there were half a dozen or so grape vines, plenty for themselves to make all the wine they wanted, which they made every year. Also, there were apricot, apple, cherry and peach trees, and a couple of bushes of the real large gooseberries. Along the ditch bank were bushes of red and white currants, plum trees, both blue and little red pattawattame plums and a strawberry patch. He also raised vegetables and more than they needed for themselves. Such as, rhubarb, potatoes, peas, beans, corn, carrots, turnips, beets, parsley, rutabagas, and all kinds of melons, squash, including watermelons, muskmelons, cantaloupe, citrons, cabbage, lettuce, radishes, onions and parsnips. There wasn’t an inch of ground wasted any place. In the fall they would dry the apples, peaches and apricots and plums for winter and would sell what they could to purchase flour, sugar, salt, spices, cereals and other things they couldn’t raise for themselves. The kitchen roof was a sloped one and that is where they dried their fruit. John had a lot of rocks made especially for drying fruit, and would have the roof covered with the fruit most of the summer, and every time he came home from the garden he would climb up the ladder and turn the fruit or bring down what was dryed and ready. The north end of the garden that came up to a point was in hay. After he cut it and let it dry some he would pack large bundles of it over his shoulders and back on the pitch fork, and all you could see coming up the little garden path were feet and a load of hay moving along. One time a friend and her little son were visiting Mary and as the little boy looked towards the garden he said, “Oh, here comes John with a load of hay!” The boy’s name was Willie Reynolds. They had a cow, chickens, a couple of ducks, and pig to kill each year, so of course they had their own meat, butter and eggs. They also had about four to seven hives of bees and always had plenty of honey for themselves and some to sell. Also there was quite a patch of alfalfa hay growing between the house and the stable, so of course they always had plenty to feed the cow. At one time John had a mouse colored cow, its hoofs grew so long and brittle it could hardly walk, so John used to get the ax and chop of its long hoofs. It was such a funny color and had such awful long feet, people used to tell John he should put the cow in the circus, or sideshow. And at another time he had an old red cow, but she was quite mean. For years John Wilkins had a little slick black haired pet house dog. Her name was Prinney. She was the cutest thing you could ever imagine. She seemed to be so human. John used to do an act with her, especially when company would come to show them how smart she was. He would say to the dog, “Well now we will have to cut off Prinney’s tail” and she would immediately begin to cry. John would take out his pocket knife and say “Come on Prinney” and she would go to him and cry harder and harder. He would then take the back end of the knife and take hold of her tail and begin to saw at it, then she would cry worse and worse almost like a human cry. Then John would say “Well I guess we’ll let it go this time” and put the knife away and Prinney would immediately begin to whine and cry until John would take his hand out of his pocket, then she would act happy again. Prinney used to have the cutest little black puppies, but she would take them and dig a hole in the dirt and bury them. Then John would have to follow her and coax her to show him where she had buried them and dig them up and bring them in the house and pick the dirt out of their eyes. John also had a cat they called Shibbey. It was a cat of various colors, white, black, yellow or light brown and gray. She was just a family pet to keep the mice down, her family increased from time to time like all the other cats. But Prinney and Shibbey seemed to get along together just fine. John also used to have some birds. First there were the magpies. He used to find magpie nests and get mother and babies together and take them home and tame them. He would take good care of them. He built them a cage out of a large box and screen over the one side, cut their tongues underneath and teach them to talk. The next bird he had was the cutest little thing you ever heard of. His name was Dickey. John always had a bird and at one time he caught a Linnet family of birds, who were Dickey’s mother and father and sisters and brothers. He put them all in a large box with tight screen wire in front. The father bird would come and feed them worms, etc. John tames them all, then later gave them all away except Dickey, who he kept for himself. Dickey knew John from anyone else. He was a beautiful singer and would sing and sing and fill the house with music. The minute John came into the house, Dickey would begin its certain kind of twittering and jump around its cage like it was talking and happy to see his master. In the fall John used to save all the large squash seeds and dry them in the oven and keep them in a flour sack. Everyday he would take the birdcage, which hung from the middle of the kitchen ceiling and put it on the kitchen table. He would then get the squash seeds, shell them, cut them into small pieces and feed them to the bird, talking to the bird all the time. It was just as if the bird understood what John was saying. Many times John would forget to raise up the door of the cage and leave it open all morning or afternoon. Dickey would just sit on the doorway and chatter. He would never fly from the edge of the door or ever fly out of the room. John Wilkins was a great lover of flowers. He loved to take care of them and watch them grow. He had houseplants and took care of them just like a woman would. He would get the slips from ladies of different colored geraniums, plant them, water them and watch them grow. In cold weather he would take them from the window, put them on the table and cover them. John always called them “his flowers”. Mary used to say to the grandchildren, “Now you mustn’t touch grandfather’s flowers”. She never so much as gave them a drink of water. The back of the house faced east, and property was a little more than the width of a city block. It was a high grade on which was a train track running north and south. As the trains would go rumbling by, they would make the most rumbling noise and shake the house as they went past. To the north side of the house was a high and long sort of Carpenters Bench. Now this bench has been here for years. It had its use as you will shortly know. John and Mary Wilkins had lots of friends. Among them were the trainmen. They would wave at the people on the trains as they went by. The passengers would wave back. Whenever the engineers or firemen would see some of the family outside they would throw large lumps of coal off and it would roll down the bank and sometimes out from the bank. Then as the train had gone by, John would go and get the coal and put it out under the long bench. This went on so many years, they never had to buy coal for years and years because the bench was always full. They used to go up the track with a bucket or gunnysack and pick up the smaller pieces of coal. They didn’t always go together. When Mary went alone and had more than she could carry she would hide it and John would go later and bring it home. During this time, John and Bethiah lived in Springville just down the track about a quarter of a mile toward the city. To go down to the garden, there was a cute little fairy-like path down the grade where the track was and you could go up the slanting path, up the side of the grade to the track and wind down the track to the garden, then go down another wide path into the garden. John Wilkins was a hard working man. He loved his gardens and he loved to see things grow. There used to be quite a lot of skunks around that locality. John would get into trouble with them. Whenever he caught a whiff of their perfume he would be right after them and come home smelling awful. Mary could smell him coming and would know he had killed another skunk. They would have to bury his clothes until the smell went away. The latter part of April 1894, John and Bethiah loaded their wagon with what furniture and items they could and tucked the children in between and underneath the furniture. Bethiah held baby “Christy” and the four girls rode in the open wagon, and they left for Idaho. They traveled as far as Draper, Utah, to aunt “Bessie’s” home. She and her husband Jim Hansen, had decided to move to Salem, Idaho. Elizabeth (Bessie) was the fifth child of John and Mary Wilkins. Bessie and Jim traveled in an open two-wheeled wagon packed with everything they could pack in, and traveled North to Idaho to make their home. Uncle Tom Barnes met them South of Eagle Rock and directed them to Shelton. After Jim and Bessie rested they traveled on to Salem to meet Jim’s brother and get settled in their own home. John’s father, James Thomas Barnes, had promised him some acreage if he would move there. They stayed there about a month. However, the deal fell through and John moved his family into Eagle Rock (now Idaho Falls) to make their home. John and Mary felt so bad to see them all move way up to Idaho, they seemed to think it was to the ends of the earth. He used to write letters to the family that sounded very homesick and blue to Bethiah, who was his youngest child. (Some of the letters were saved and will be included at the end of this history.) In August 1894, little Christy took ill. John and Mary received word that he passed away 20 August 1894. They had lost their grandson. Little John Christopher “Christy” Barnes, was laid to rest in his grandfather’s plot in the Shelton Cemetery near today’s Ririe. He was only nine months old. His funeral was held in the Shelton Ward. (The following is a poem John wrote about his grandson “Christy” after his death in 1894). LITTLE CHRISTY I. Little Christy is gone aloft, A good little buy was he. He is gone above to a better home, Yes, a better place than we. The rich folks here have plenty to eat, And plenty to gamble away, While lots of poor folks shiver of cold, And nothing to eat all day. Nothing to clothe their children with, Nothing to keep them warm, Nothing to pay their house rent with To keep them from the storm. O’ that the day might hasten on When Christ shall come to rule, And banish all wickedness away, From this, the Lord’s footstool. II. You have lost your dear Christy boy He is gone aloft at rest. Don’t fret no more than you can But I think of it for the best. The day is fast approaching When we must all go too, And leave all earthly troubles, And bid them all adieu Don’t cry dear children, Oh! Don’t Don’t weep and mourn, or fret, Although your little brother is no more He’s happier than we are yet. He is gone with his dear sisters To that happy place above, Where pain and suffering is no more, But all is joy and love. John Hatter Wilkins Springville, Utah 1894 In 1896 John and Mary received word from Idaho that their daughter Bessie was ill with breast cancer. It was another hardship they had to bear. John was still not feeling very well and felt he could not make the trip. It was decided that Mary should go. Mary then made preparations and traveled to Salem to be with her. Bessie passed away 15 May 1896. She was buried in a cemetery between Salem and Rexburg. (To date her grave has not been found.) Elizabeth “Bessie” Wilkins Hansen was only forty-four years old. Jim mourned for her so much. Mary was making preparations to return home to John and their home in Springville. Mary wanted to take Ada home with her for awhile. She thought it would help to cheer John up. Bethiah gave her consent for Ada to go for awhile. When they finally reached Springville, John was so surprised. His nickname for Ada was “My little Ado”. This is what he called out when he saw her. He was so glad to see some of Bethiah’s family again. John had a very serious accident the year before that nearly took his life. He was cutting hay or grass with a little hand sythe, called a “hook” and cut his left pointer finger almost off. He would not go to a doctor or have anything to do with one. As time went on it became worse and turned blood poison. He suffered untold agony for months as the poison spread all up his arm and seemed to spread throughout his body. He used to go upon the track and walk and walk, back and forth, moaning in misery. He couldn’t sleep night or day for weeks. Then slowly, about three months or so, it began to get a little better. However, it left his left finger all scarred and stiff. He could not bend it or move it in any way. Everyone said it was a miracle how he ever recovered from it but it was through the Spirit of the Lord that helped John, as he would so testify. While living with John and Mary, Ada had some interesting experiences. One evening at twilight time, Mary and Ada had returned home from a visit, and John showed her his poor disfigured finger. She felt so bad about his finger. How it must have hurt. He hugged her and kissed her and assured her it was feeling so much better. The next morning he took Ada out to see the cow, chickens, pig and the bees. It was a beautiful spring morning. He wanted Ada to be with him most of the time or as much as she could. She would go down to the garden with him. He would put a ladder up to the cherry tree and tell me to climb up and eat all the cherries she wanted. Of course, she did just that. Sometimes he would move the ladder to another tree. When it was almost dinnertime, Ada would take something back home to Mary from the garden. John had a good sized wheeled cart he used to haul manure down to the garden and haul vegetables and fruit back home. Many times Ada rode back home or down to the garden in the cart with him pushing it. John used to tell Ada that if anyone came to take her away he would run after them with a wheel barrow. But when the time came, he didn’t get the wheelbarrow. John had a very unique way of keeping his money stored away. He never was blessed with very much worldly goods but when he would sell a few things from the garden, or butter or eggs, he would hide the money in his favorite hiding place, or in his own individual bank. His bank was in a peculiar place but no one found out where it was. He would tie the money in five, ten or twenty dollar gold pieces in a handkerchief or a cloth then put them in a cigar box. He would then take the box outside to the outside toilet, pry up a board in the floor and put the box in a hole, cover it up, put the floor board back in place and hammer it down again. He never had more than $75.00 at a time. Most of the time it would around $25.00. When he needed a little cash or needed to make a deposit, he would go to his bank, pry up the board and get a $5.00 gold piece or whatever he needed. John used to sell honey. One time he was going to extract honey, Ada took the torch blowers or hand bellow out to him. She could only go part way to meet him when he was ready. She saw him coming and with him were a bunch of bees flying around. As she handed him the torch blower a bee came flying at her heading straight for her nose and stung her on the lip. It swelled up so much it was even with her nose. Oh, it did hurt. Ada’s schooling began while she was staying with grandmother and grandfather Wilkins. Her teacher was Miss Julia Alleman. She went through the second grade in Springville Utah. She stayed with her grandparents a little over two years. John and Ada used to sit by the fire in the evening and sing songs. This began her love for music. The kitchen stove had a little opening in front with a lid on and a little handle that raised up and the fire would shine out into the room. During this time John and Mary did not go to church very often as it was so far to go and they had to walk. They were both getting along in years and it was difficult for them. John was seventy-two years of age and Mary was sixty-eight years of age. John had his own way of remembering it was the Sabbath Day. On Sunday morning he would always stay in bed an hour or two later than other days. In the living room was an old fashioned dresser with a white marble top and little drawers on each side which he had to pass as he went to and from bed each night and morning. Once a week, on Sunday morning, he would stop and wind the clock as he went by, as it was an eight-day clock. Then he would make a fire and go out and feed the chickens and milk the cow. He would then trim his mustache and whiskers, wash up and roll down his shirt sleeves. He always kept them rolled up all week as he worked. John always churned the butter for Mary. They had one of those tall dasher churns. He used to say to Ada, “Come on Ado, lets make the butter for grandma”. He would sit Ada on one side of the churn and he would sit on the other side. Together they would pull the dasher up and down and sing in-time with it. The most familiar song was, “ Churn butter churn, come butter come, Ladies waiting at the gate, for to make a butter cake. Churn butter churn, come butter come”. John used to like burned bread. When Mary would bake bread he would always tell her to let it burn a little. Bell (Isabelle), Ada’s sister, had lived with her grandparents in Springville most of her life until she was married. William Robert Johnson and Isabelle were married in Springville the 18 April 1894. The Johnson family lived across the street from the Wilkins family. When Isabelle had her first child she named her Bertha. Of course, Ada would take care of her some of the time. They used to go down to the garden many times with John. In this garden was a one room house he used as a storehouse. John would keep his garden tools and fruit as he picked it. Bertha was about two years old at this time. Ada and Bertha used to prepare dinner in the little house. Ada would set the table with fruit or whatever they could find to eat and then call grandpa to come and have dinner. He used to be so pleased with this and would go right in and eat “dinner” with them. John used to carry milk to the Creamery in two big buckets. Sometimes Ada would go with him. One beautiful summer morning they were walking down the track the blackbirds were singing, the meadow larks also. When they went into the creamery there was a long vat full of cream just covered with black flies all down in the cream. When they went outside, Ada asked John what they did with all the flies when they made butter and he told her they just skimmed them away. For years after that Ada could not eat creamery butter for fear she would find flies in it. Mary went to the temple all by herself. She obtained her recommend from her Bishop and traveled by train to Salt Lake City, Utah. She completed her own work on 21 November 1900. She spent three days doing work for her mother, Diana Bambury, her sister, Matilda Woodward, her grandmother, Martha Appleton, aunt, Louise Banbury, and her cousin Martha Champ. They were all baptized on 20 November 1900. She also did the work for her son Christopher who died in Canada at the age of 18. Mary didn’t feel well but she was happy she able to get so much temple work done for her family. John had not been up to going at this time but he would later. Mary’s health began to fail. She grew more frail each year. It was decided that Bethiah, Mary’s daughter and Ada’s mother would come to Springville and take care of her. Mary lived two or three months before she died. She died of stomach cancer at her home in Springville, Utah 19 July 1901. She was seventy-five years of age. Her funeral was held on the lawn of their neighbors the Miner’s. After Mary’s death, Bethiah decided to take her father home with her so she could care for him. John hated to leave his home, garden, friends and mostly leaving Mary. He felt so bad about losing his life companion, he used to cry and cry and say he felt like he wasn’t all here, that half of him was gone. Mary was buried in the Evergreen Cemetery situated at the southeast edge of Springville, on the road to Mapleton. Realizing this, John began making preparations. He gave his dog away to some one. He brought Dickey Bird with him so he could give it to Ada when they reached Eagle Rock. John was thankful to be in Idaho with his daughter and more of his family. John was a good singer. When he was eighty years old, people used to come to the place and many times would give him money (from fifty cents to one dollar) to sing. It pleased him very much that people would ask him to sing. When he was living in Idaho with Bethiah’s family, The whole family left and went to the Logan Temple. In the first part of November 1901 they all left in a covered wagon. Isabelle and her family went with them in another wagon. They were all in the temple on the 13 November 1901. John and Mary were sealed that day and John was so happy. John and Bethiah were sealed and all the children were sealed to their parents. Isabelle and Will were sealed together, as well as Bethiah and John H. Barnes’s daughter Mary, was sealed to her husband, William Bailey Lake. What a beautiful day they had in the temple that day. It must have been a joyous celebration that day in Heaven as well. Many blessings poured out upon them all that day. The trip down in the wagon was too much for John, however, so they sent him home to Idaho on the train. All the families had a good time together those four years before John died. John remarked that he now knew why the Lord had spared him so many years ago when he had blood poisoning. He just had to live to see all these sealing’s completed and to be sealed to his beloved Mary. John was an honest man and did not have an enemy. He died not owing anyone a penny. John Wilkins passed away 18 January 1905. He was buried in John Hillman Barnes Plot in Rose Hill Cemetery, Idaho Falls, Bonneville County, Idaho. His space is unmarked, and is South of his daughter Bethiah (also unmarked) and her husband John Hillman Barnes. John Wilkins died of old age at the age of 81 years. He didn’t have any pain, although he had not been feeling well all winter. He never complained. He seemed to go unconscious, just as he was sleeping until the end. His only regret it life was that he and his beloved Mary were buried so far apart. She was buried in Springville in a plot purchased by Ned (Edward) their son, also in an unmarked grave. This history was written by: Ada Bethiah Barnes Christensen, John Hatter Wilkins granddaughter. Verifications, updates and additions submitted by Marla C. Hymas, great granddaughter of John Hatter Wilkins, and daughter of Ada Bethiah Barnes Christensen. Completed 27 June 2001.