The Josephine Streeper Chase Diaries

Josephine Streeper Chase

Josephine Streeper Chase was well respected by her many friends in Centerville, Utah.  She was a second wife to George Ogden Chase. She was the mother of fifteen children and one foster daughter.  She was a Sunday School teacher, a supporter of women's rights, the manager of a large household and a faithful church member.

Josephine's diary was found in this old log home.

Josephine kept a diary for several years that was found in the window box of the old Thurston-Chase cabin on the Chase Farm Property in Centerville.  The years covered were 1881-1894 but nine years were missing (1883-1887).  She actually wrote in July 1894 on the day of her death.  A granddaughter, Marjorie Mathews Ward donated the diary to the special Collections at the Univ. or Utah Marriott Library in 1970.

Josephine paints a word picture of daily activities in a large, busy pioneer Mormon home.   I have only one photocopied page of her handwriting. The typed transcription is about 99 pages long and I have read it twice with great interest.

Josephine's journal entry from March 11, 1893.

From an article published by the DUP "Museum Memories" p. 262 we read a description of Josephine's busy life:
"[Josephine] bore the weight of making family decisions in areas in which she felt she was not competent, worrying continually over things like crops, the orchard, the milking, and the brining of the meat.  She was also concerned about schooling for her children, the exchanging of farm goods at the store, and the purchasing and selling of land, horses, lucerne, molasses, and other products as they struggled to establish themselves on the raw, unworked land.  Despite her stress over these matters, no one was ever turned away from her door, and passersby often stayed for a meal, a night, or even a week at a time."  (Unknown author,  DUP article in Museum Memories- "Josephine's Folding Paper Fan". )

Born in Philadelpia on May 6, 1835 to Wilkinson and Matilda Wells Streeper, Josephine
moved to Nauvoo and then her family moved to St. Louis where she attended "Miss Benton's School for Young Ladies".  She was "gently raised in a home of Pennsylvania Dutch stock."  (Smoot, City in Between-History of Centerville Utah,  p. 271).  She was sixteen when she crossed the plains to join the saints in the valley of the Great Salt Lake.  She taught school for some time before becoming the second wife to George O. Chase.  It was Brigham Young who suggested (or possibly even commanded) that George take Josephine as a second wife.

This is the mill home in Salt Lake City where the Chase Family lived.  George helped his father, Isaac, with the mill there and married both his wives while living in what is today "Liberty Park".

George had already married Emily Hyde, the daughter of Apostle Orson Hyde on Christmas Day in 1854.  The story, according to granddaughter Josephine Chase Bradshaw goes like this:

"Emily Chase had prepared her husband's favorite dish, soda buiscuits and creamed chicken.  They were entertaining President Brigham Young, Apostles Heber C. Kimball and Orson Hyde and their families.

Emily Hyde divorced George Ogden Chase after 13 years of marriage and 6 children.  She is buried in SLC Cemetery. I haven't yet located her photo.

"At that dinner President Young, without warning said, 'George I want you to take another wife'.  Both George and Emily protested.  They had been married but a year and George was living with his father (in what is now Liberty Park) helping him at his mill.  Emily said, "George cannot support two families'.

Brigham Young "suggested" Josephine Streeper become George Odgen Chase's plural wife.

"Brigham Young replied, 'If George is unable to support you, I will help him out.  This is a principle given us by God Himself to the end that we may build for ourselves our Kingdom in Heaven.  There are spirits clammoring to be born and to take bodies that they may gain the experience of meeting and overcoming evil on this earth preparatory to their perfection in the worlds to come.  It is the mission of Latter-day Saints to help in raising up a righteous seed.  I, therefore, command you.'  To George he said 'I want you to marry Josephine Streeper'".

"And so it was that on March 26, 1856, he married Josephine Streeper in the Endowment House.  While they were still living at the Mill House which is now Liberty Park in Salt Lake, Josephine had two daughters, Kate Matilda and Josephine."
                       (Smoot, Mary Ellen, The City in Between-History of Centerville Utah,  p. 271)

George Ogden Chase "swept" Josephine Streeper off her feet and onto his horse, so the family story says.

The story of the "courtship" of George and Josephine is briefly mentioned in one history:
"George knew who Josephine was, so a while later (on a Sunday afternoon while riding his horse to Pioneer Square) he spotted her sitting on a swing.  After waiting patiently for her to get off and let her friend have a turn, he went over, picked her up, put her on his horse, jumped on behind, and then rode off with her.  She was outraged and protested vigorously, but as time passed and his attentions continued, she consented to his proposal and they were married." (Unknown author,  DUP article in Museum Memories- "Josephine's Folding Paper Fan". )

These sister wives shared four years together with their in-laws, Isaac and Phebe Chase at the Salt Lake "Liberty Park" mill and farm before moving to Centerville in 1859 or 1860. 

The first wife, Emily Hyde, apparently moved in 1859 or 1860 to Farmington where George O. Chase helped build a gristmill.  Emily later returned to Salt Lake City and asked for a divorce in 1867.  With six children in Emily's care, the alimony payment brought hardship on Josephine's growing family.  Emily's youngest child was only one year old at the time of the divorce in 1867 and therefore alimony payments were made for 17 years until that child was 18 years old.

The diary doesn't mention Josephine's feelings about her sister wife.  We believe she was saddened by the divorce.  Ironically the grounds for divorce were that Emily hadn't had enough of George's company.  Josephine also felt neglected by her husband and it is mentioned several times in her diary.  (See DUP article in Museum Memories- "Josephine's Folding Paper Fan".)

Josephine mentions how her husband was frequently away from home on his many projects-building the new mill, the Lake Shore Resort, the farm and his church duties.  She felt neglected by her husband and whenever she needed funds, she had to ask her son, John, who acted as a kind of financial mediator.

This is the interior of the Chase cabin in Centerville, UT.

Josephine's eldest, Kate, was a strong spirited woman who never married.  It seemed that Josephine leaned on Kate at times but also demanded respect from her.  In a Daughters of the Utah Pioneer publication, we read about Josephine's reaction to the divorce decree:

"Josephine felt bad about the divorce and was obviously hurt by it, the grounds being that Emily hadn't had enough of George's company.  Kate, Josephine's eldest child, did not agree with the decision, feeling that Brigham Young should never have granted the divorce and should have been more understanding of her father and the additional burden that they would all be called upon to bear because of it.  As they were leaving the proceedings, the Prophet (B. Young) came over to shake hands with Josephine and Kate, but Kate refused to shake his hand.  Josephine did not like the.  Turning to Kate, she said, "'Petty'-this is Brigham Young.  Shake hands with him!"  Kate again refused and left.  As for Josephine, she truly missed "Aunt Em" and wished that she had had her cooperation." (Unknown author,  DUP article in Museum Memories- "Josephine's Folding Paper Fan". )

 Frank Leslie Chase was the eldest son but sixth child.  His strong sisters gave him plenty of advice throughout the years.  For a time in his late teens was an inactive member of the LDS church.  When he wanted to get married in the Logan temple, Josephine made the arrangements to have him rebaptized.  He went by sleigh to Garn's Pond where his uncle rebaptized him.  They went to the family parlor where he was confirmed.  In her diary she wrote, "The Sun came out & shone bright around them, and no wind blew just as he went down into the water." (See article The Josephine Diaries: Glimpses of the Life of Josephine Streeper Chase, 1881-94 Fae Decker Dix p. 167 of Utah Historical Quarterly, Vol. 46, 1978.)

B. H. Roberts was friends with the Chase family.

B. H. Roberts was a friend of the family and wrote about the Chase family a few years before his death:

"Had I been called upon thirty years ago to designate what family in our little hamlet, or what family in our county or our state or country was the ideal, loving, united, loyal family, I would without hesitation or ado have selected the family of George Odgen Chase and his wife Josephine Streeper Chase.  They were the best famly group that I have known in the world.  They were merry hearted and bright faced.  ...The mother was a quiet and gentle character, though scarcely ever rising to the effort of governing and controlling the household, yet the household was governed
and the children were obedient and markedly responsible to their parents."  (Smoot, Mary Ellen,
The City in Between-History of Centerville Utah,  p. 273

The family of George O. and Josephine Streeper Chase

Three of the Chase children who died at or soon after birth.

Josephine had many experiences with death and sorrow.  Four of her infants were stillborn.  Her youngest child, Clarissa, died at four years of age.  Her son, David, was nineteen when he died at the Agricultural College in Logan of appendicitus (In family records, it says he died of typhoid.)

Josephine is buried in the well kept Centerville Utah Cemetery.

When she was age fifty-nine, Josephine had a cough that lasted from February to the time of her death on July 18th.   She died suddenly of apoplexy (stroke) at 10:30 that night after writing in her diary.  Her funeral was at her home two days later with speakers from Salt Lake, Ogden and Centerville.  The Centerville brass band played "appropriate selections" and led the procession to the cemetery.

"Mother" of 15.

I am thankful to have these 99 pages of Josephine's transcribed journals.  They are full of fascinating entries.  I have many questions that I would like to ask Josephine, but I feel I have a bit of understanding of what her life must have been like. 

Here are just a few excerpts....

April 5, 1891 Sunday
And now I must go and feed the bird for no one else thinks of him.  But our chores are endless and I very often grow weary of all my cares.   (This was the Sunday of General Conference and many of the family have gone to Salt Lake.)

April 26, 1891  Sunday
I feel worn out of patience with numerous chores to do and Emily to care for.  ...I made supper for 15 souls...11 oclock before they went out of gate.

April 29, 1891 Wednesday
Pa is gone to SLCity.  After dinner E(lijah) helped me to finish cleaning the boys room over the granary.  We put up another bed for Frank.

Jan 4, 1892 Monday
I am glad to be alive again this morning and thank my heavenly Parent and ask him to give us this day our daily bread & he did.

Jan 14, 1892 Thursday
...a lot more of our neighbors are gone to city to attend a meeting too see where this r
ailroad is to go by our place or through our farm.   Pa has come and says he thinks the cars will run just below our Barn right through our farm.  ("In 1894 the Bamberger Rail Road line reached Centerville on its way from Salt Lake City to Ogden. This line served Davis County with passenger and freight transportation, first by steam power, then by electric power, and finally by diesel. It discontinued operation in 1952. The Utah Light and Traction Company extended its trolley line to Centerville in 1913, with its terminus at Chase Lane."   See http://www.uen.org/utah_history_encyclopedia/c/CENTERVILLE.html)

Jan 19, 1892 Tuesday
The big sleigh is out all day.  A lot of brothers (including Mr. Geo. Chase) with Mr. Bamberger to look out the best place to run the new Railroad.  They took dinner at the Hotel Bountiful.  ...it has snowed all day.  Sold 4 gallons of milk.

Jan 20, 1892  Wednesday
I sent her (daughter Alice) to have Sister Bathsheba Smith make Frank's Temple things and to get my specs mended.  (son Frank was to be married in the Logan Temple on March 3, 1892) It looks like storming again.  ...Put the kids to bed and I wrote Frank's and David's Genealogy.  We are so eternally busy it can't be winter.

Jan 22, 1892  Friday
Relief Society Conference.  There were sisters from SL City.  Said there was to be a jubilee on the 17th of March next to commemorate the organization of the Relief Society.

Jan 30, 1892  Saturday
(The Centerville Recorder) has no record of Frank's first baptismal nor any of our family.  ..It seems to me I live by faith and do just as well as I can for my family.  Well, there is meals to get-errands to run.  I wrote out the genealogy for Frank and it is in his valise with the rest of his things.  ...So me and my family are drove from morn till night like a flock of sheep to and fro and we are weary.  I have all I can get of Frank's things all ready in valise and I pray our Heavenly Father to belss and watch over him for I have no other friend.  The ground is covered with a sheet of clear ice all over.  it rained last night and froze the rain.
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I would invite anyone who is interested to borrow my copy of the Josephine diaries and enjoy all the entries I have highlighted.  It is a delightful read and evidence of the challenges the pioneer women faced.

As the mother of a large family (we have eleven children) I relate to so much of what Josephine wrote.  I am thankful that she took time to share her life with us.


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Bonus material (See also blog on Chase Park-Centerville Utah Historic Family Homes).

After living here for a short while the Chase family built a large adobe home and this cabin was used as an additional bedroom.

 

Description on the historical marker outside the cabin pictured above.
In 1849 Thomas Jefferson Thurston and Rosetta Bull Thurston, who both immigrated to Utah in 1847, built a one-room log cabin on their 80-acre farm one mile north of the settlement that became Centerville. It remains as the first permanent residence and oldest building in the city today. It was moved on rollers to the present site in the 1850's. This property was sold in 1853 to Brigham Young for horses, sheep, and harnesses worth about $7,000.

In 1859 Isaac Chase received this cabin and surrounding farm in exchange for his mill property at Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. His only son, George Ogden Chase, his second wife, Josephine Streeper, and their children moved into the cabin in 1859. They lived here until a nearby adobe house was finished c.1860 (demolished in 1989), after which the cabin was used as an additional bedroom. The three-room addition to the south of the cabin was completed in the 1940's. The property remained in the Chase family until 1974.

The adobe home with the cabin on the left.  12 children were born here.

Description on the historic marker shown above:

In 1859, George Ogden Chase and his wife Josephine Streeper moved to Centerville with two small children. They moved into the log cabin built in 1849 by Thomas Thurston. This cabin was traded by Brigham Young to George's father, Isaac Chase, for his share of the Chase Mill in Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. The next year, George has a large white home built next to the cabin. Twelve more children were born here.

The 110-acre property was self-sustaining, as George built a two-story rock granary, laundry, ice house, smoke house, large barn and corral. He grew hay and grain for market, fruits and vegetables for his large family, and raised beef, lambs, and pork. The homestead was called "Chase Park" because of its full acre of lawn and shrubs, which surrounded the main home, log cabin and granary.

Josephine had been a school teacher in Salt Lake City and taught in the North Centerville Sunday School for many years. She kept a diary from 1881 to 1894, painting a picture of life in the Chase home. Visitors were numerous, including friends, church leaders, salesmen, and wanderers. These were elaborate events with-storytelling around the fire.

The home remained in the Chase family until 1982. In 1989, the home began to deteriorate and was torn down, leaving only the log cabin, the granary, and memories of the one grand home at Chase Park.