Brief History of the Old Home of the Rees Family

            Grandfather Matthew Mansfield settled here on Mill Creek probably as early as 1850 (1842).  I have no proofs of the date, but he was called to help colonize Utah's Dixie, and though he made many trips back and forth between St. George and Salt Lake, he made St. George his home until after all his family were married before retiring to spend the last years of his life permanently on the old farm which he leased out all those years.

            During the boom years of 1890 and before, he sold a large part of the farm, and when he died in Feb. or March 1891, had about thirty-one acres left.  On hearing of the death of grandfather or his wife, they died about 2 weeks apart--Mother determined to come to Salt Lake to take care of the one still living.  Before leaving we received word of the death of the other one. 

            However, in the latter part of March or very early April we packed up and started on the way to Salt Lake from our own home in Thurber - now Bicknell - in Wayne County - away up the other side of Fish Lake.  I (Thomas) was eleven years of age at the time we started and my twelfth birthday came while we were on the way, so I remember quite a number of events that occurred on the journey.  Probably most indelibly stamped on my memory is the journey over the Rabbit Valley Mountains with snow so deep the wheels did not touch the ground, and the axle dragged all the way.

The last three or four miles took half a day.  We had two outfits, Brother Willard Snow driving one.  All four horses were hitched to one wagon at a time.  When the first was brought to the summit, Father and Brother Snow went back after the other.

            That night we camped right on top of the summit.  How the wind blew!  Mother and we children tried to sleep in the wagon, but the wind kept lifting the wagon cover and it was cold and uncomfortable.  Father and Brother Snow were much more comfortable as they made their bed down on the ground or snow and by morning a new fall of snow had covered them in nearly a foot in depth.

            When we came here, we moved into part of the old home, while Brother Blake and family lived in the other part.  They were running the place.  Father, being called on a mission, left for the Southern States where he spent the summer, but because of Mother's ill health he had to come home in the fall.

            We ran the farm the next two or three years while the estate was being probated.  It was divided among the three children, mother her brother and sister.  Soon, Uncle Matthew sold his ten acres to the present owners and we had to build a new home - the large red brick house now standing.  The home was constructed between the birthdays of my two youngest sisters, Mary and Ellen.  Mary was born in grandfather's old home and Ellen in our new one.

            In Mother's patriarchal blessing she was promised a home of more than ordinary quality - a mansion, but she lived to enjoy it less than two years, as she died scarcely more than a month after Ellen's birth, leaving a family of seven living children, ranging in age from one month to sixteen years.

            I, Thomas, was the eldest, and had to share with my sister - who was next to me, a large part of the rearing of the family.  Father did all he could to provide, but it was in the days of another depression - the one known as "Cleveland's hard times,"  because Grover Cleveland happened to be president during most of the worst of the financial difficulties.

            In building our home during the years 1893 to 1895, it was almost making a job for father as he could get no other work at his trade, being a stone mason.  It also provided work for several others - Brother Charles Platts, a brick mason, who did much of the outside brick work - considered one of the very best jobs done in Salt Lake City.  Father did the inside brick and much of the outside.  He also mixed the mud - martar and carried martar and brick.

            It was here I received my first work in building.  I learned to carry hod and though being small in stature, I carried many of the brick and much of the martar for the building and did other chores also.  Brother Swenson, whose daughter is Mrs. Metcalf, and who lived on 8th East, (he) with a helper did the carpenter work and shingling.  Brother Davis - a member of the Tabernacle Choir under Brother Evan Stephens and one of the plasterers doing the work in the Temple, did the plastering.  I have forgotten who did the painting unless father did what was done.

            Probably another word about the building would be of interest.  The trench was dug for the foundation down to the white clay hardpan which dipped southwestward, so the foundation is deeper on the southside than on the north.  Up to the ground level the trench was filled with lime concrete, cement being unknown or nearly so, in Salt Lake building operations at the time.   

            The foundation is of red sandstone from Red Butte east of Fort Douglas, and all the outside walls and some of the inside walls are three brick thick.  Every partition in the house is made of brick.  Those that are not thirteen inches in thickness are two brick or nine inch walls.  There are about sixty-thousand bricks in the building.  The floor joists of the lower floors are 2 x 12's and of the upper floors 2 x 10's much stronger than used in most buildings.  There are no better chimneys, the drafts being so strong, the stoves themselves are in danger of being drawn up the flues.

            It was always father's custom to build well, as substantially as need be and much more so.  He never slighted his work even when pushed to the limit by the contractors in competition with concrete which later was making such inroads in the business of the stone masons, until it drove out all mason work.  I have learned a most valuable lesson in life from father in this thing.  It is a crime to build the dishonest shacks that are now sold to unsuspecting people.  They will not last as long as it takes to pay for them.

            This old house is too heavy for its foundation, and due to the water which used to come so near the surface, the southeast corner of the house sunk some, causing cracking in the front wall.  This was unforeseen.  The outside brick are made of crushed shale hauled by team from Parley's Canyon - crushed and made into brick.  They weigh nearly twice as much as the ordinary clay brick on the inside.  Most of the inside finish except the doors is of California redwood, and the style was called "East Lake Prevalent" at that time.  The shingles were nailed on so well that they lasted for thirty-six years before the house was re-shingled about two years ago or in 1933 in June.  The house never was completed as a front porch was in the original plan and by the way, the architect was a Mr. Martensen who was put to death some years later for murdering a Mr. Day, I believe - up in Forrest Dale.

            I remember many incidents that happened during the building operations among which the following are representative.  We boys used to play around the structure and test our skill at pitching and catching, or challenging one another as to which could lift or carry the greatest number of bricks, either in our arms or in the "hod" and who could climb the ladders with the biggest load.  The old well near the street line was driven about the time the house was built, about thirty-nine years ago, and the well drilling "rig" was a little machine operated by one horse for power, and owned by Brother Murphy. 

            So much for the house.  We lived in the house or home a little less than two years when Mother died.  Mother was not well during any of the time, and for years before.  I remember many trips to the doctor with her in the old one-horse buggy when our roads were not roads a good part of the year, and some on "horseback" in the middle of the night.  I also remember many calls for the elders often during the night.  I have called Brothers John and Edward Morgan, George Taylor, Lorenzo Stutz, and others at different times, many of which I distinctly remember.  Many a night I have tended baby all night or slept on a bed on the floor to be in easy call, and especially during the last month, following the birth of my youngest sister Ellen.

            When Mother was called away, it left Father with a family of seven children.  Ellen was one month old and Mary two years older to a day, a serious responsibility.  Kind friends came to help and big-hearted Sister Williams volunteered to take Ellen, which she did and kept her for three years.  My sister, Johanna, had a big responsibility for a girl of fourteen.  She sacrificed herself to the family for seventeen years, until she too passed away (was called to go).  She did her best unselfishly, and the action of two of our neighbors in fighting us in the fish business caused her additional worry and work which may have been one of the causes of her last illness.

            Father tried to give us every opportunity in school that he could.  He realized its need as he had never had an opportunity himself (just to third grade).  Coming to this country alone, a lad of seventeen before the railroad was completed, he made his way, earned money and helped his father's family to immigrate.

            Mother died August 29, 1896 and I started school at the University in September.  The times were hard and there was little to pay my way, which can be easily figured when my total expenses were sixty-two dollars paid tuition, carfare, books, clothes, and spending money the first year.  By hard work and many sacrifices I completed four years, borrowing some money to finish with.  My next two brothers were enabled to attend the University, George for seven years or more almost completing the engineering course, Will for five years completing the Normal.  Mary later, after Father's death also finished a normal course so she could teach.  This opportunity did not come to Ellen and Johanna, but they took a course in nursing under Dr. Ellis Shipp.  John was a plasterer by trade.

            In the old home Mother, sister and father spent their last days.  The rest of us have assumed the responsibility of rearing families. George has since passed on, leaving a large family of eight and a partly completed homestead.  One of our children was born in the old home and we have settled nearby on part of the old estate.  My sister, Mary, now owns the house as it stands today.

            Written by Thomas M. Rees, the oldest son of Brigham Rees and Isabell Maria Mansfield Rees, and grandson of Mathew Mansfield and Johanna Christina Winberg.