The Bountiful Tabernacle and John Croft

Bountiful, Utah Tabernacle. The Bountiful Tabernacle is one of just three 19th century Mormon buildings in the world still used for weekly Sunday services.  Our ancestor, John Croft, played a part in its construction.   John Croft was a traveling Elder and later President of the Manchester Conference in 1858. Located at Main and Center streets in Bountiful, Utah, it remains an example of pioneer craftsmanship.  You can't drive by this building with its unusual spire and not think of the pioneers. John Croft worked on the Bountiful Tabernacle in 1861.  He moved to Peterson, Utah the spring of 1861, so was probably not one of the workman pictured here. It has been a landmark since it's completion in 1863. It was designed by Augustus Farnham and began in 1857.  John Croft worked on it during 1861. It was dedicated by Elder Heber C. Kimball on 14 March 1862. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.  In 2005 a new spire replaced the original. Bountiful Utah Tabernacle in earlier days. The old spires were replaced by new ones in 2005.  John was born July 16, 1836 in Primose Hill, Yorkshire, England.  His father, John, was a coachman.  An accident took his father’s life when John Jr. was only 6 years old.  His widowed mother was left with 5 children to care for.  He began working 8 hours a day in a “worsted mill” and attending school two hours a day. When he was 12 his mother died.  He lived with his eldest sister and went to work in a large tobacco factory.  He “did not use the weed”.  He attended night school and at age 17 became apprenticed to a joiner and builder.  At the end of three years he was released and went to Liverpool.  He was a natural mechanic and after a few months was appointed foreman at the firm that employed him. The Bountiful Temple sits in the background in this painting. One day as John walked the streets of London, he observed a pamphlet on the sidewalk and put it in his pocket.  Later that day on his lunch break he began to read the pamphlet and a friend leaned over and said, “Are you a  Mormon?”  John said he wasn’t.  His friend told him he was a Mormon and that the tract was one distributed by Mormon missionaries. John was taught by his co-worker and eventually baptized on June 27, 1856 at the age of twenty. His employer tried to get him to leave the Mormons.  John then moved to Manchester to work on the Exposition Building.  He labored as a traveling Elder in the Manchester Conference and on January 1, 1858 was made president of that Conference. John met his wife Amelia Mitchell in the Manchester Conference. He married Amelia Mitchell of Manchester January 8, 1860, at Heaton Norris in Manchester, England.  Amelia Mitchell Croft was a prayerful, faithful Latter-day Saint. John continued to serve as president of the Manchester Conference until released to come to Utah.  594 Mormons, many of them of members of the John’s Manchester branch, emigrated on the “Underwriter” to America leaving Liverpool on March 29 1860.  They were among many who used the Perpetual Emmigration Funds to make their trip to America and Ziion.  John and Amelia were newlyweds and about to embark on a new life together. John was a counselor to Elder James D. Ross.  The Millenial Star wrote: "The health of the Saints was generally good. Elders Ross, Taylor, and Croft speak in the highest praise of Captain J. W. Roberts, both as a skillful navigator and a gentleman." "DEPARTURE OF THE SHIP UNDERWRITER. -- The ship Underwriter, Captain Roberts, cleared on Wednesday the 28th of March, and sailed for New York on Friday the 30th. There were on board 594 souls of the Saints, under the presidency of Elder James D. Ross, assisted by his counsellors, James Taylor and John Croft. This number included 70 souls from Switzerland, and the remainder from the British Mission. Nearly the whole of this emigrating company of Saints are en route direct for Utah, the home of the Saints. God speed and bless them abundantly on their journey!" MS, 22:15 (April 14, 1860), p.234 "THE SHIP UNDERWRITER, after a prosperous voyage of thirty days, arrived at New York May 1st. During the voyage there were four marriages and four deaths. The names of the deceased are -- Frederick, the son of John and Eliza Williams, aged one year and eight months; Joseph, son of Edward and Mary Powers; Barbara Frei, aged 58 years, came form Switzerland. The health of the Saints was generally good. Elders Ross, Taylor, and Croft speak in the highest praise of Captain J. W. Roberts, both as a skillful navigator and a gentleman. The ship's company of Saints proceeded to Florence on the 3rd of May." MS, 22:21 (May 26, 1860), p.331 After 32 days they arrived in New York on May 1, 1860.  They took a train from NY to Florence Nebraska, arriving on May 8, 1860. They walked across the plains in the John D. Ross Company, 249 people, 36 wagons.   John was the captain of the guard. The young Croft family arrived in Utah September 2, 1860 with Amelia being pregnant with their first child. Amelia spoke of the pioneer trek:  “When we stopped at noon we baked a mixture of flour and water over a fire made of buffalo chips.”  When they arrived in Emigration Canyon by apostles George A. Smith, Lorenzo Snow, and Franklin D. Richards.  A few days later they arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley on September 3, 1860.  Their first son was born two and a half months later while they were at Pioneer Square on November 24, 1860.  John and Amelia resided in the Salt Lake City 8th ward for a short period.   The unusual spire are a distinctive feature of this pioneer landmark. Historical Marker at Bountiful Temple One of the oldest L.D.S. Chapels. Finest at time of erection. Augustus Farnham architect. Site dedicated Feb. 11, 1857 by Elder Lorenzo Snow. Grain was stored in stone foundation when Johnston's Army advanced. The walls are of adobe, roof timbers fastened with wooden pegs, lumber from Meeting House Hollow, Holbrook Canyon. Tower had five spires, the center spire served as a sun dial. Dedicated March 14, 1863 by Elder Heber C. Kimball, President Brigham Young presiding. Cost $60,000, Bishop John Stoker. Councilors Wm. Atkinson and Wm. H. Lee. John had been a cabinet-maker in England and so began to work as a carpenter on the Public Works.  He helped build the tithing office (once stood where the Hotel Utah-JS Memorial Building now stands), the Lion House, the impressive Walker Home (where the Newhouse Hotel now stands). John Croft worked on the Lion House after arriving in Salt Lake City in 1860. "My tabernacle also shall be with them:  yea, I will be their God and they shall be my people."  Ezekiel 37:27 John and his close friend from England, John Oliver, took the contract to build the Bountiful Utah Tabernacle.  He worked in Bountiful until the spring of 1861 when he moved to Weber Valley, settling at Weber City (now Peterson, Morgan County). The Tabernacle was completed in 1863, so we don't know how long he worked in Bountiful before his move to Peterson-Enterprise area. Note the additions on the sides of the original Tabernacle. John and Amelia Croft would become the parents of eleven children, and their daughter, Emma Amelia, would later marry Frank Leslie Chase, son of Isaac and Josephine Chase.  While living in Enterprise, John used his considerable skills to build up his farm in Morgan County.  One of his descendants drew a diagram showing all the outbuildings in 1890.  (See earlier post about "Furniture made in Paris?" John Croft might have bought this piece on a trip to Europe with his wealthy New Jersey brother and manufacturer, Howland Croft.) Once ornate Croft headstones are decaying rapidly. John and Amelia are buried in Enterprise (Morgan County) near Peterson, Utah. John Croft died October 9, 1909 in Enterprise (Morgan County) of diabetes.  He is buried with members of his family in a small family plot about 15 minutes outside of Ogden. The small Croft Family Cemetery in Enterprise is a bit difficult to find. Mark and Cyndy Weiss visit the Cemetery in 2012. Joseph Weiss honors his ancestors in 2012. For more information, see John Croft and Amelia Mitchell Croft : pioneers of 1860  Written by Alfred Russell Croft, Sr. (grandson).  Mark Weiss, great-great grandson of John Croft,  has a copy of this book.  It was digitized in 2014 and is available through the LDS Genealogical Library.  (https://familysearch.org/eng/library/fhlcatalog/)