CHARLES SOUTH

by Blanch South Fox

 

Grandfather Charles South was born in Tadcaster, Yorkshire, England, on the 23rd of December 1835, the third child of a family of four.  He was a carpenter by trade. When he was sixteen he heard the Mormon missionaries preaching. Their message and testimony impressed him deeply.

 

He prayed earnestly regarding the testimonies of the elders to know if they were true. He wanted to know that he too might join their faith. None of his family were interested or sympathetic toward this religion, and he depended entirely upon the Lord and the help of the missionaries to enlighten him that he might know of a certainty that it was true before he gave up his family and came to join the main body of Saints in Utah.

 

One night he awoke to find a dove in his room. It encircled the room twice and then flew away. This was the symbol which seemed to satisfy his doubts. He was baptized at sixteen years of age and prepared to come to Utah.

 

At nineteen he was determined to wait no longer so made preparations to come to America. He was the youngest son. of his parents, William and Catherine Powell South. They were very much concerned about losing him and seemed to feel if they came to America with him he might be persuaded to stay in Canada with them. At the age of nineteen, Charles South, his father, mother and only sister, Emmara, immigrated to this continent, settling in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. He remained there for nine months, but his desire to be with the main body of the Saints in Utah became so strong he left his family, and he was never again privileged to see any of them.

 

Gradually he worked his way to Florence, Nebraska where the Saints were gathering and making preparations to come to Zion.  On June 27, 1856, he left Florence, starting his trek across the greet plains. There were twenty-four wagons of English people in his company. One year and eight months later from the time he'd left England, he was on the final road to Utah!  It indeed was a great thrill to him to know that at last he was heading toward the place he had been dreaming about for so many years.  He arrived in Great Salt Lake City September 22, 1856, taking practically three months to complete the journey.

 

He kept a journal during this time, not a very complete one, just a line now and again. I have made a copy of this for my records, and it has been a testimony to me of the truthfulness of Nephi's words:

 

"And I know that the Lord God will consecrate my prayers for the gain of my  people, AND THE WORDS WHICH I HAVE WRITTEN IN WEAKNESS WILL BE MADE STRONG UNTO THEM; FOR IT PERSUADETH THEM TO DO GOOD.  IT MAKETH KNOWN UNTO THEM OF THEIR FATHERS."

 

It was this humble journal of Grandfather's which aroused my interest and made me want to know and learn more concerning him and his family.

 

On April 09, 1859, at. the age of twenty-three Grandfather married Elizabeth Taylor Rich, daughter of John Rich and Agnes Taylor.  After their marriage he built a home for them in the Third Ward, Salt Lake City, where they lived for three years. This property was sold and they moved to the Seventeenth Ward, staying here for ten years.  In 1872, they sold their city property and went to pioneer in Randolph, Rich County, Utah.

 

In bearing and rearing her ten children in the midst of a rugged pioneer atmosphere, Elizabeth Rich South never lost sight of the importance of cultural development in the home and managed out of their frugal living to see that her daughters had organ lessons and music books from which to study.  Her gifts to them usually consisted of embroidery patterns and material to be worked up.  It was said of her that she never retired until she had crocheted an entire ball of crochet cotton.