HALL JAMES by JAMES

HISTORY

 of

JAMES WILLIAM HALL

by JAMES WILLIAM HALL

I was born on 14 February, 1880 in Bierley Lane near Bradford, Yorkshire, England.  My Father's name was John Hall.  My Mother's name was Mary Ellen Pearson.  I had five brothers; namely, Tom, Harry, Fred, Joseph and John.  I had three sisters; namely, Eva, Florence and Lucy.  Three brothers and one sister all died in England. 

I had nine years of Public School at Bradford and Higham near Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.  I worked at woolen mills and in coal mines in England. 

My parents were baptized on 17 June, 1896 and confirmed (to the L.D.S. Church) on the same day at Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.  My brothers and sisters all joined the Church at Higham, near Barnsley, Yorkshire, England.  I did not join the Church in England. 

I was the first one of our family to come to America.  I left Liverpool, England on 25 August, 1904, landed at Boston on 2nd September, 1904 and went to Winter Quarters, near Scofield, Carbon County and worked in the Coal Mine. 

My desire was to go to Australia but my Father and Mother and Elder William Moss from Woods Cross or Bountiful, Utah persuaded me to come to Utah.  I saved my money and paid my own way to Utah.  I boarded and roomed with a family who came from the same village as we lived in back home, and I sent all the money I could spare to my parents every month until we had enough for my Father, (John Hall) to come here, about 1906.  We batched and sent all the money we could spare and then all the rest of the family came here.  We paid for my oldest sister, (Eva) and her husband and her two children to come here.  We had all our family here in Winter Quarters by 1908. 

In 1908 I took a correspondence course in Mine Survey and Engineering at Winter Quarters at Winter Quarters, Utah.  I helped my family get their homes paid for and then I left Winter Quarters and went to Salt Lake to try and find work in the Valley.  I got work with the Union Pacific Railroad at Cache Junction and helped build a coal chute and a round house in 1909.  I then went back to Winter Quarters for awhile.  My brother Tom got killed in the mine while I was there in April of 1910.  (All of his life James had tried to get out of the mines, it was why he left England, Toms death made him keep this promise).

In the Fall of 1910 I started to work for the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad Shop (in Salt Lake City), in the Boiler Shop until 1919, where I learned to be a Boiler Maker.  I worked at the Southern Pacific Shops in Ogden for one year as a Boiler Maker.  I worked at Pocatello, Idaho, Cheyenne, Wyoming and helper, Utah, and at the Union Pacific Shops, Provo from 1923 to 1947 as a Boiler Maker. 

I started to read the Book of Mormon and investigate the L.D.S. Doctrine about 1911 in the 14th Ward (in Salt Lake City) and was baptized 30 March, 1912.  I was baptized in the Salt Lake Tabernacle Baptismal Font by Alvin A. Beesley and confirmed by Andrew Y. Bowman.  I was ordained a Priest by William Leatham on 9 December, 1912 and ordained an Elder by Ira B. Cannon on 3 January, 1915.  I was asked to join the Ward Choir and shortly after I got an invitation to join the Tabernacle Choir by Evan Stevans Choir Leader.  I was secretary of the Elders Quorum and worked with a Missionary doing Ward Teaching for four or five years.  It was all so wonderful to me and such a good spirit and feeling among the members of the Church, different from other Churches.  I had been a member of seven other Churches and never had seen all the bright things in the Bible that the Savior set the example of, while he lived on the earth.  The other Churches do not believe them and do not perform those ordinances of blessings, such as, baptism by immersion and the laying on of hands for the reception of the Holy Ghost, and the Sacrament as our Savior passed it to the Apostles, and as we pass it to the members of the Church.  I have received real good testimonies and I know this is the only true Church on Earth today. 

In 1916 I met Eleda Nordquist and married her in the Salt Lake Temple 5 June, 1918.  We had two children, Grace, born 6 May, 1919 an Raymond Frank born 8 June, 1922.  Our daughter, Grace has four children and lives in Mapleton.  She is an active worker in the Mapleton Ward.  Our son, Raymond Frank Hall was the first one missing in action in the Navy (Provo area) in World War 2, 28 February, 1942.  It was the hardest blow my wife and I have had to take.  He was listed missing in action for three years.  We held up hopes that he would be among the prisoners of war, it was a great sorrow to us when he wasn't.  The government declared him dead in 1945. 

I came to Provo in 1923 and lived in the 5th Ward, I did Ward teaching and Boy Scout work.  I moved to Bonneville Ward and had charge of half the Ward for Ward Teaching, had twelve families to visit each month.  I was in the Choir, had a quorum of Deacons, kept Aronic Priesthood records and Scout work and I had charge of Church Welfare in the Ward.  I have lived in the 4th and 8th Wards and they have kept me busy.  I came to the 2nd Ward in 1942 and have been active ever since

I was the first First Aid Instructor for the American Red Cross in Utah County.  I have given Merit Badges for First Aid and standard and advanced classes to Boy Scouts.  I have given first aid classes to Police Departments here and classes and demonstrations in just about every town and city in Utah County. 

I was ordained a High Priest on 28 February, 1937, by William P. Clayton in Provo.  The Priesthood genealogy for me came down from Peter, James and John to Joseph Smith, to David Whitmer and Martin Harris, to Brigham Young, to John Taylor, to Francis M. Lyman, to Joseph N. Taylor. to William P. Clayton, to James W. Hall. 

I have been Ward Teacher, Adult Aaronic Priesthood worker, welcomed members into the Ward for the Bishopric, welcomed members to Sunday School and am now a Stake Missionary (released 1st February, 1952).  I have been to the Temple for the dead 120 times in the Salt Lake, Logan and Manti Temples up to 14 November, 1951.  My wife and I have helped do the Temple Work for my Ancestors back to the year of 1757.