Our Brass Plates: Chapter 6

Newton Tuttle

                The Tuttles 

Another prominent family from Connecticut was brought in contact with the Church near the same time as the Stone family.  The Tuttles were some of the earliest settlers of New England as well.  William Tuttle sailed from England on the first ship to enter Boston Harbor in Massachusetts in 1635, just 15 years after the Pilgrims, who were also seeking freedom of religion.  Our first Tuttle ancestor donated the land that was used for Yale College.  Two of our ancestors were the first teachers at the College.  Education became an important family tradition. Our first Tuttle ancestor to become interested in the Church was Newton Tuttle.  His father, Zerah Pierpont Tuttle, was a teacher in Connecticut.  Newton attended school until he was seventeen after which he learned to become a blacksmith.  He was skilled enough to make things as fine as a small chain or as large as ship=s anchor.  

Richard Rummell's iconic landscape watercolor view of Yale University, 1906. Courtesy of Arader Galleries.

In 1844 Newton heard of a sect called the AMormons@.  He and some of his friends decided to attend the meeting and to break it up.  Newton was selected to go inside and then give a signal to the others outside to start yelling and make loud noises so that the meeting could not continue.  As he listened to the opening hymn, and prayer, he became interested.  He had never heard anything like that before.  It was not like the sectarian songs or prayers.  He listened intently to the sermon of Elisha H, Davis that was about the first principles of the gospel.  He remained to the close of the meeting and there was no disturbance.  He had no chance of hearing any more about the religion so he soon forgot about it.  

 His attention became focused on a young woman by the name of Lucinda S. Mix.  They were married on the 24^th of November 1847.  He was twenty two and she was seventeen.  It is of interest to note that this was the same time as the saints were spending their first winter in the Salt Lake valley.  On the 13^th of August, 1849, they had their first child, Clara.  Lucinda was also very educated.  

Sometime in 1848 or 1849, Newton came into possession of some Mormon literature.  Once again he was interested and started investigating the Church.  There was a small branch about five miles away.  Meetings were held in the home of Mr. Bassett, his former employer who was a member of the Church.  Newton was baptized a member of the Church on October 13, 1850 by Elder John Doolittle and confirmed at the water=s edge by Elder Chester Loveland.  Elder Loveland was the brother-in-law of Anson Call.  Loveland married Ansons=s sister, Fanny.  Lucinda did not join the Church at this time.  She did read some of the literature that Newton gave her to read.  Her parents were very much against the church.  Newton shared literature with some of his family and friends as well.  None seemed interested.  Missionaries traveled without money during the early days of the Church.  Newton and Lucinda were always giving the missionaries a place to sleep, food to eat, and money for their keep.  Lucinda did not have very good health but she did go to some of the meetings with Newton.

The missionary who was laboring in New Haven, Connecticut at this time was Aaron Farr.  His family are the ones that married into the Bingham line.  Elder Farr gave Lucinda a blessing on July3, 1853.  She was some what better. Then on the21st of July, 1853 Lucinda was baptized by Aaron Farr.  It was hard for Lucinda to go against the wishes of her parents.  She was their only daughter and Clara was the only grandchild on either side of the family.  But Lucinda loved Newton and she loved the gospel so she too joined the Church. 

 The Tuttles and some of the other families that were members of the Church began making preparations to make the journey to Utah.  They and the missionaries would all travel in a group to Utah.  Newton had become friends with other blacksmiths in Connecticut.  He became a friend of Amos P. Stone.  The two friends had exchanged letters.  Newton wrote to asked Amos what sort of things they should take with them to the west that would be most helpful.  Amos was living in Bountiful at the time.  He was told to bring things that could be used to cure illnesses, tools, seeds, fabric and several other items.  Of great importance to Newton was to take with him his genealogy.  This he did.  Although the parents of Newton and Lucinda did not want to see their children go, they helped them get some of the things that they needed to take with them.  They did not like their Church but they did not stop loving their children and their only granddaughter.  Lucinda=s mother told her that if she were to go west, that she would not live longer than three months.  All recognized just how weak and sick she was.  Still she was determined to go so she could learn more about the Church.

They were not driven out of their homes like the others of our ancestors.  They chose to go.  They left on Aril 3, 1854.  They went by ship to New York.  They traveled by steam ship to Amboy.  Then they took the railroad to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  They transferred to another train and traveled to Pittsburgh.  They traveled by steamboat until they got to St. Louis, Missouri.  Lucinda was sick most of the way.  In St. Louis, they purchased their wagon and the supplies that they would need to take with them.  The weather was very rainy and it hailed.  Their things were loaded on a ship and transported to Fort Leavenworth.

View in Salt Creek Valley near Leavenworth, Kansas

On Sunday. May 14^th 1854, Lucinda Mix Tuttle passed away at 6:30 A.M.  She was buried that night on the left hand side of the Salt Creek.  AWe could not stop long,@ Newton wrote, Abecause the company wished us to arrange our affairs to move on as soon as we could in the morning of the 15^th.@  Both he and his five year old daughter Clara were sick a great deal of the time for the next few weeks.  There was a lot of cholera in camp.  Several more people died for the next few weeks.  In spite of their illness, they had to keep on doing those things that had to be done.  He cooked, hunted, and made yokes for his oxen.  He gave some of Lucinda=s shoes and clothing to the needy. 

On June 24,1854, little Clara died.  Newton wrote, AWe drove on next morning leaving a little mound containing my only child and comfort.  But she was released of the earthly sorrows and suffering.  Gone back to her maker and her dear mother who no doubt wished to have her dear one with her.  God bless and protect their remains.  May I live worthy to meet them when my mission on earth is ended and I am permitted to return to my maker and loved ones who have preceded me to their Heavenly home.@

Lucinda and Clara were not the first of our ancestors to make the greatest of all sacrifices for the Lord.  They gave their lives.  Nor would they be the last.  Picture the heart ache of Newton.  Picture what he would say to their parents about the loss of their loved ones.  Picture how hard it would be to continue on.  But he knew if he did not, they could never be an eternal family.  He had to do it for them.  For some, the deaths and sacrifices came in Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois.  For others, the sacrifice came on the trek west.  But all of us must pass though a trial of our faith before we return to our Father in Heaven.  This much I know.  The trials we face are indeed small in relationship to the trials of our Savior.  He suffered not just for our sins, but he suffered for all our infirmities and weaknesses and illnesses and he will not give us burdens that we can not bear.  He bore the burdens of not just those who lived on this earth but of all those of all the worlds that he created.

Newton's father, Zerah Pierpont Tuttle

Newton went on to marry the daughter of Amos P. Stone, Emily Amelia Stone.  Later in life, Newton went on a mission to Connecticut.  Although he did not covert his family, he was able to get over 6,000 family names for whom he could do their temple work.  He too returned for his Brass Plates.  

Notes: This article was originally printed by Leslie Tuttle Foy for his family. Thank you, Uncle Les, for creating our family version of the Brass Plates. The picture of Yale is in the public domain and found on Wikimedia. The photo of Salt Creek Valley was found on the Salt Creek Valley School online slideshow 2013.

Grandma Sarah Tuttle

Grandma Sarah Tuttle as I remember her. She would always give me lemon drops from a little metal music box that she kept on her chest of drawers in the bedroom. Sometimes I remember the scent of her bedroom--it smelled like love. Following are some other pictures of her later years.

Grandma Tuttle feeding the geese at the pond next to her house with Lee and Lon Secrist.

Grandma Tuttle on the bridge between her house and Florence Foy's house.

Sarah Tuttle, Susie Tuttle, Edna Tuttle. Woman on right unknown.

Harvest Time

As you drive east up 400 North in Bountiful and passed Orchard Drive on your way to the temple, look to the north for a glimpse of the old Tuttle Farm. Many Bountiful youth were hired to pick fruit and vegetables through the summer and fall. They were supervised by Joe and Thoral Tuttle, sons of Sarah and Wilford Tuttle. At this time of thanksgiving, take a tour of the farm as it stood in the mid-20th Century. Feel free to comment if you have memories of the Tuttle farm.

"The ground on which most of us live and where our food is grown was cleared of rocks, trees and stumps by millions of hardworking people whose names we've forgotten. . . We owe a debt of gratitude that we can never repay (Daniel C. Peterson. Mormon Times. Nov. 22, 2012)." Luckily, we know the names of some of these dear folk who worked one particular farm.

 Tuttle Barn and horse coral.

 The Tuttle farm sat on the east bench above the valley. In the barn hay was safely stored for the winter.

"Come, ye thankful people, come,
raise the song of harvest home;
all is safely gathered in,
ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide
for our wants to be supplied;
come to God's own temple, come,
raise the song of harvest home

(Come, Ye Thankful People, Come. Henry Alford)."

 Numerous little boys learned to drive on tractors similar to this one. By mid-century the subdivision had begun to encroach on the farmland.

A cantaloupe or watermellon toss were rewards of a hot day in the fields. "Men are that they might have joy (2 Nephi 2:25)"

Horses ready to feed in the large crib located in the coral.

Crates were filled with tomatoes, cherries, beans and other harvested produce. Joe Tuttle center.

Road to the far fields. "Man goeth forth unto his work and to his labour until the evening (Psalms 104:23)." 

The Book of Mormon counsels that we should "live in thanksgiving daily, for the many mercies and blessings which he doth bestow. . . (Alma 34:38)"

 Florence Tuttle Foy as she was busily engaged in sorting tomatoes. "For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon. . . God, for all the substance which we have, for both food and raiment, and for gold, and for silver, and for all the riches which we have of every kind? (Mosiah 4:19)."

 Uncle Joe after harnessing the Clyesdales.

 Uncle Thoral preparing the hot beds.

 To protect against a late frost hot caps were placed over tender plants.

 Jean Foy sorting and facing cantaloupes.

 Joe Tuttle and his hands as they admire the polished apples ready for market.

 All work and no play? Florence Foy's children and cousins stacked like sardines on a farm horse.

 Lugs were loaded onto trailers by the hired hands - neighbors and cousins.

 Fruit trees in the distant orchards were not pruned as they are now. Pickers used metal hooks and swayed from very tall ladders to harvest the crops.

 Truckloads of peppers and other produce where hauled from the Tuttle fields to market each day.

 A simple man-made reservoir provided water for irrigation and doubled as a duck pond and baptisimal font when necessary. Today "we rely upon complex networks of exchange and transportation that very few of us could begin to explain (Daniel C. Peterson. Mormon Times. Nov. 22, 1912).

 Not exactly young men at this point, both Joe and Thoral Tuttle pad the board upon which they knelt to plant to transplant seedlings. 

 Thoral kneeling again before a crate of cucumbers. The produce was always faced up in neat order to attract the eye of the customer.

A farmer had to be both veterinarian and mechanic to care for and maintain both horses and tractors.

"For behold, are we not all beggars? Do we not all depend upon . . . God, for all the substance which we have, bor both food and raiment . . . which we have of every kind? (Mosiah 4:19)." During this month we give thanks to God and remember those who have preceded us for the blessings we receive as a result.

October, Month of Birthday Wishes and Halloween Treats

Two days ago, October 11, 2012 was the 114th celebration of Grandma Foy's birthday. Family was everything to Grandma so it seems appropriate that we mark this day with a tribute to her children: Jean Audrey, Lola Gwyn, Julia Mae, Inez Tuttle, Leslie Tuttle, and Sarah Ann. The eldest two, Jean and Lola, were born in Idaho; the middle two, Julia and Inez, in Logan, Utah; the only son, Leslie, in Bountiful, Utah; and the youngest, Sally, in Moab, Utah.

A widow for over 61 years, her dying wish was that her family would strive to keep warm relationships. In her last few days the continued peaceful associations of her immediate family was on her mind when she stated, "Oh, I do hope my children will stay close to each other." The bonds of closeness can mean both steady physical contact and tranquil feelings of harmony between family members. While a summer reunion is a traditional time for gathering, the approaching holiday season is also a time to send a loving note or make a phone call to aunties, uncles and cousins. Why wait until November or December. Send a Halloween greeting, instead!

I asked my mother, Inez, how she and her siblings celebrated Halloween. These are her recollections:

"We didn't have many close neighbors. Squint and Netta Hart were almost a block away so just getting that far in the dark was spooky enough. We would dress up in handmade costumes and go down to Uncle Joe and Aunt Susie's house, next door to Haven (Mama's nephew) and Aurelia Days, across the street to the Breys. They were German and Mr. Brey was our home teacher. He would come and sit for what seemed like hours just watching us do homework or practice the piano. Then up the street passed the field where the gypsies - real gypsies - once camped out and along to the Harts. We would knock on the door and sing 'Hallelujah, I'm a Bum,' ending by yelling 'Trick or Treat!' Sometimes we would sneak up to a house, lay a hand carved empty wooden thread spool which had been wrapped in string against the glass. When we quickly pulled the string it produced a loud rasping noise to scare the folks inside. It was great fun and resulted in our receiving various homemade treats."

Happy Halloween, spooky treks, mischievous tricks and delicious homemade treats are wishes to you all!

Florence Howard Tuttle, Our Grandmother

Florence Howard Tuttle is a lady we grandchildren loved in life and cherish in death. She was an early resident of Bountiful where she was born on the east bench of the Wasatch Mountains overlooking the valley. She lived to a grand old age, dying just short of her hundredth birthday. Although she made amazingly productive use of all those years, as a decades-long widow, she was ready the last thirty to return to her Heavenly Father and husband. 

On both of Florence's family branches, Tuttle and Howard, grew hardy Mormon pioneers. Before traveling over the American plains, the Howards lived in the green countryside of Worcestershire and Staffordshire, England. The Tuttles were of Connecticut stock, having sunk their roots early into New England. 

Throughout her life, Florence diligently explored her  pioneer and pilgrim ancestry. She lovingly sought out and recorded the lives of generations of her ancestors. She shared the stories collected and written during her research with each of us in Books of Remembrance.  Help us honor their memory and, in the process, that of our dear grandmother by visiting this site often.