| OCR Text |
Show THE HISTORY BLAZER ATEI1' S OF UTAH'S PAST FROM THE Utah State Historical Society 300 Rio Graxlde . Salt Lake City. tTT 84101 ( 801) 533- 3300 . FAX ( 801) 333- 3503 - Ralph Ramsay Was a Highly Skilled and Influential Artisan THE RALPH RAMSAY HOME AT 57 EAST 200 NORTH in Richfield, Sevier County, in addition to being an excellent and well- preserved example of a Utah pioneer home, is also significant because its builder and owner was one of the West's most talented and well- known artisans. Ralph Rarnsay was born on January 22, 1824, near Ryton, Durham, England. His family moved four times before he was bound as an apprentice to William Hobbs, a wood turner and carver on September 14, 1839. After about four years in Hobbs's shop near Newcastle on Tyne, Ramsay was given his indentures. He was employed in several shops in the area and in London during the next few years, moving on primarily on account of a depressed economy. In July 1849 he joined the Mormon church. He then engaged in missionary activity for the church and continued his wood- carving career. Meanwhile, his wife and child died within months of each other in 1852. He married Elizabeth Bums and with her and their children left England for Utah in March 1856 on the ship Enoch Train. At Iowa City the skilled woodworker helped to build the handcarts to be used in Brigham Young's new plan to bring European immigrants to Utah at the lowest possible wst. The Rarnsay family left Iowa on June 1 1, 1856, with the first group of pioneers to make the 1,400- mile handcart trek to Utah. The D. D. McArthur company arrived in Salt Lake City on September 26. Although they reached Utah before the snows that would trap the Martin and Willie companies that were following them, their journey was not without suffering and tragedy. Two Ramsay children were buried along the trail, one a newborn. Ramsay remained in Salt Lake City until October 1872 when he was called by Brigham Young to move to Richfield to build houses and furniture for the settlers of the Sevier Valley. His own home, built during 1873- 74, is not readily classified among the common architectural styles of the time. That the most prominent wood carver and turner in territorial Utah would want to display his exceptional skills in his own home rather than imitate a common style might be expected. The home is significant as an individual expression of design in both its general plan and decorative elements. The two- story structure employs a Greek cross plan- a very unusual departure from the common rectangular and ' T" plans that prevailed in the 1870s and 80s in Utah. The cross (+) is formed by joining two gabled rectangles at right angles so that each of the four wings has its own gabled end. This arrangement permits the owner to use any of the four gabled sides as the front or street side of the home. The rich ornamental detailing Ramsay created for his home sets it apart ( more) from other homes of the period. Outstanding features include fancy bargeboard and gable pendant on the front gable, intricately carved mantel piece and brackets in the living room, w e d foliated scroll brackets and egg and dart motif on the mantle and fireplace frame in the family room, uniquely designed and handcrafted stair railing and balusters, and a variety of furniture made by Rarnsay and preserved by the family. The second story was used as a workshop by the master carver, and in one room he stored the pine boxes of various sizes that he made for burials. His wife, the community's nurse, operated a pill and herb- remedy dispensary in a small room on the main floor. Ramsay's work and influence are found all over the Mormon West. Much of the furniture in the homes of Brigham Young was made by him. Millionaire William Jennings hired him to create the elaborate woodwork found in Devereaux House. A large, ornate mantel was so prized by his wife Priscilla Jennings that she taok it with her when she moved. Some wood features such as the carved banister and newel post were crafted from the wood of wagon beds used by Jennings to freight goods to Utah. Ramsay also did carving for the Salt Lake Theatre, the Beehive House, the Lion House, the Salt Lake Temple, and for the elaborate casing of the famous Tabernacle Organ. His carving of an ox was used as the pattern for baptismal fonts in several LDS temples. But his most visible and famous work was the eagle placed on top of the gated entrance to Brigharn Young's estate. Patterned after an eagle killed in nearby City Creek Canyon by Truman Angell, it measured 11 feet fkom tip to tip. Ramsay often had to make his larger carvings from several pieces of wood ( his favorite woods for carving in Utah were quaking aspen, red cedar, and black walnut). The eagle, for example, required five separate pieces of wood, one for the bird's body, one for the neck and head, two for the wings, and one for the small beehive on which the bird was mounted. A Utah landmark since its completion in 1859, Eagle Gate has been restructured several times to accom-modate changing needs at the busy intersection of South Temple and State Street. After 30 years on its perch, Ramsay's eagle was sent to Chicago to be copper plated in 1889 and then replaced on the remodeled gate in 1891. The original caved wood eagle is now housed in the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers Museum in Salt Lake City, and a cast metal bird sits atop the famous Eagle Gate. In the 1880s Rarnsay was called to St. Johns, Arizona, and in 1885 went with the first Mormon colonizing groups to Mexico. He died on January 25, 1905, in Snowflake, Arizona. His unique home in Richfield is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. See National Register nomination form in Preservation Office, Utah Division of State History, Salt Lake City; Robert S. Olpin, Dictionary of Utah Art ( Salt Lake City, 1980). THE HISTORBLYA ZER is produced by the Utah State Historical Society and funded in part by a grant from the Utah Statehood Centennial Commission. For more information about the Historical Society telephone 533- 3500. 941211 ( MBM) |
