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Show THE HISTORY BLAZER LYEI1' S OF [ TTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Kio Grande Salt Lake Cit17. ' I'T 84101 ( 801) 333- 3300 FAX ( 801) 533- 3503 Boyhood Memories of Josiah F. Gibbs JOSIAHF RANCISG IBBS WAS BORN IN NAWOO, ILLINOIS, o n August 26, 1845, to William and Eliza Dana Gibbs. He received his early schooling in Alden, Illinois. In 1857 his family traveled to Salt Lake City where his father, one of the chief carpenters for the Nauvoo Temple, found employment with Brigham Young. Josiah further4 his schooling with the help of Zina Young, one of Brigham's wives. In 1862 the family moved to Fillmore where Josiah learned bronco busting, smithing, and eventually began his career as a newspaperman and writer. He died in 1932. In 1970 the Utah State Press Association voted him into the Utah Newspaper Hall of Fame. In 1929 Josiah Gibbs penned a brief memoir that captures the flavor of boyhood on the Utah frontier: " During the months of November and December, 1857, the year of our arrival in Utah, quite a large number of boys, whose homes were in North Salt Lake, were in the habit of daily bathing in the Warm Springs, to which I was an unfortunate addict. Frequently, the bath continued during several hours, when from the delicious temperature of the water we sprang to the edge of the pool, and urged by the generally ice- cold northwest winds donned our cotton shirts and pants, and shoes if sufficiently fortunate to have them, then raced to our respective homes, warmed by scrub cedar or sagebrush.. . . It was a miracle.. . that pneumonia so rarely resulted from those sudden exits from nearly boiling water to zero atmosphere. However, along about Christmas, an acute attack of inflammatory rheumatism forced me to bed, and held me there until the early spring." During the Utah War the Gibbs family joined the move south, ending up at Summit Creek, later called Santaquin. Because " every house and nearly every habitable barn in central Utah was overflowing with refugees," Josiah's father built a woven willow and clay shelter for the family south of the village. They lived there for about five months. On the first sunny morning of spring, Josiah wrote, " father moved me out for my first sun- bath. Fully clad, propped up with pillows and covered with quilts, free from pain, but still weak in my lower limbs I looked out on my rediscov-ered world of majestic mountains, greening valley, with Utah Lake, a few miles distant to the north, glinting in the early morning sunlight." Then began what he called " one of the most cherished memories of my life. " " Presently there came to my super- sensitive ear drums the faint pit- pat of human feet. With easy, swinging strides a slender Indian boy was approaching from the south. He paused at the foot of my cot and keenly looked at the rheumatic invalid.. . ." The Indian boy asked if he was very sick, and Josiah explained as best he could that only his legs were affected. ( more) " After setting a target at a distance of about 25 feet, he returned to the side of my cot and gave me my first lesson in. .. bow and arrow shooting. During an hour or two the Indian boy chased arrows for his pupil, manifesting as keen delight when, by accident, I made a close or center shot, as if made by himself. " At about the same hour next morning my Indian friend was at my cot- side. Again he chased arrows for me, and shared my boyish pleasure at evidences of rapid improvement. " A few days of penetrating sun- rays, exercise of my arms and body, and mild perspira-tion- thanks to the ingenious method of the Indian boy, figuratively, ' put me on my feet.' With his aid I was soon able to walk, and then began our hunting trips for rabbits and other small game. One morning my companion surprised me with a gift of a beautiful bow, made from mountain sheep horn, backed by sinew, and a dozen or so cane arrows, tipped with greasewood spikes. It was a priceless token of friendship that in memory has never dimmed." Sources: Josiah F. Gibbs, " Moshoquop, the Avenger, as a Loyal Friend," Utah Historical Quarterly 2 ( 1929); Ihe Utah Newspaper Hall of Fame ( Salt Lake City: Utah State Press Association, 1970). THE HISTORBLYA ZERi s produced by the Utah State Historical Society and bded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533- 3500. 960410 ( MBM) |
