Truman  Heap Barlow

Born 28 Oct 1879

Bountiful, Utah

Written by Naomi Barlow

Preface                                  

To you who have read The Israel Barlow Story, written by, Ora Haven Barlow, some of the incidents and facts of this short sketch may seem repetitious. But to more clearly visualize the life of Truman and his two wives and children, it seems appropriate to retell some familiar information. The idea is quite generally accepted that home life, family traditions and experiences of our kin have a profound impact upon us as human beings.

Truman Heap Barlow, born 12 June 1857, in Bountiful, Utah, was the first born of Lucy Heap and the ninth child of Israel Barlow. The place of his birth, just ten miles directly north of Salt Lake City, was known in the early days by several names: North Mill Creek Canyon, North Canyon Creek, North Canyon, Sessions Settlement, and was later officially named Bountiful, 6 September 1892. His father, Israel Barlow, who came West in 1848 moved to Bountiful in 1849, two years after the Mormon pioneers entered the Salt Lake Valley. Israel homesteaded a tract of land, about 120 acres, in the northwest part of the area. Later the area, about five miles from north to south and from the mountains east to the Great Salt Lake on the west, was divided into East, West , and South Bountiful

The beginning of Truman’s life stretches far back through generations of early American and English ancestry. The Barlows came from England to America over 300 years ago. The earliest known ancestor, about 1634 in England, was Edmund Barlow, believed to be the father of James Barlow, Truman’s fourth great-grandfather. The name of James Barlow, about 1660, was first located in the Land Division of 1680 in Suffield, Massachusetts, now known as Connecticut. The early American Barlows lived largely in Massachusetts and Connecticut, but the moving of Jonathan, Israel’s father, to new frontiers almost paralleled the movement of the early Mormon Church leaders. Thus, Israel had acquaintance and associ­ation with many of them. Israel was born 13 Sep 1806 in Granville, Hampdon, Massachusetts.         

Israel was the first Barlow ancestor to become a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints He was baptized, in the spring of 1832, by Brigham Young and belonged to the New York Branch in Mendon Monroe County, New York. For more details concerning the life and genealogy of Israel, see The Israel Barlow Story.

Lucy Heap

Truman’s mother, Lucy Heap, a convert to the Mormon Church, came to America in 1855 when a girl of 17. She was born 24 September 1836, at Lichfield, Staffordshire, England, daughter of James Heap and Sarah Waters. Surely destiny must have played a great part in Lucy’s marriage to Israel Barlow for she had met him in the Birmingham, England Branch of the Church, where he was a missionary. She sailed to America on the same ship that Israel was president of the ship’s company of 581 Mormon converts. They were married 2 December 1855, in Brigham Young’s office a few weeks after their arrival, by handcart, in the Salt Lake Valley.    

When Lucy married Israel, she became his third wife December 2, 1855. Prior to coming West in 1849, he had married in Illinois, Elizabeth Haven_, his first wife, 23 Feb 1840, and on 28 Jan 1546, his second wife, Elizabeth Barton, known as Aunt Betsy. For the rest of the winter of 1855-56, Israel, his three wives, and Elizabeth’s six^, children, lived in a one-room log house located on Fifth South and Second East, in the Salt Lake Valley. The house had been moved from the West Bountiful homestead so that the Barlow family could be near Elizabeth’s relatives while Israel served a mission in England.

Bountiful

In the Spring of 1856, they all moved back to Bountiful where two log rooms were added to an adobe room, one on the east and one on the west. Lucy occupied the east room, Aunt Elizabeth and family the center room, and Aunt Betsy lived in the west room. The three rooms were called the “Long House.” It was here that Lucy had her first child.

You see, Truman, was quite a special child, often called a child of promise. Even though his mother felt that it was right to become a plural wife, it was quite normal for a young girl of 18, alone in America, to give some thought as to whether she had made the right decision. Lucy prayed to our Heavenly Father that if her first born could be a son, all questions would be removed, A son would confirm her conviction of plural marriage. Needless to say, after her prayers were answered, Lucy never again doubted the truth of the principle of plural marriage.

A better name could not have been chosen for her newborn son, for Truman was indeed a “True-man” in all of his dealings with his fellow­ men and family. He remained firm throughout his life to the princ­iples of honesty, morality, industry, Mormon Church doctrine, and the true purposes of life.

Johnson's Army

A few weeks after Truman was born, word was received that the United States Army, led by General Albert S. Johnston, was marching towards the West to take over the Utah territory.

President Young’s quick response was that in the name of the Lord, the army would be conquered. He told the Saints to prepare to store everything possible and make ready to burn their homes if necessary. They would move to another place for safety. How­ever, the winter was so severe that the army could not continue its march until spring. Some time in April or May, after most of their crops were planted, the people packed their wagons and started to move south with their teams and cattle. Each of Israel’s wives drove her own team with her possessions.

When the new Governor Cummings, sent by the United States Government, entered the Valley, the people were in a panic. They didn’t intend to be caught again by a mob so they hurried away, ready to burn their homes if asked by President Young. So young Truman spent his first birthday sleeping in a box under a wagon in Payson, Utah. Some time in July, the people moved back to their northern settlements, happy that the crisis was over.

It should be mentioned that when the Army did enter the Salt Lake Valley, they passed through peacefully and camped on the west side of the Jordan River. Later they continued their march to Cedar Valley, about 40 miles from the City, and established Camp Floyd.  Before the arrival of the Army, Brigham Young had negotiated with Col. Thomas L. Kane of the United States Army, that they should pass through the City without destroying property or molesting the Saints.

The Long House

The years following this event were extremely busy and hard ones for young Truman’s mother, for seven more children joined Lucy’s family, four sisters and three brothers. Aunt Elizabeth had six sons and two daughters, of which, two sons died in infancy. Until a new brick home was built for Aunt Elizabeth near the “Long House” in 1874, the house was more than running over with vigorous young people.   Then Aunt Betsy passed away in 1874, leaving the “Long House” for Lucy and her family. In 1884, a year after Truman’s father died, Lucy’s three sons, Hyrum, Granville, and Nathan, still remaining at home, built a new home for their mother just west of Elizabeth’s home. Truman had married and moved to Chesterfield but he helped all he could in providing the new home.

It might be well to add that Truman’s father, Israel, had married a fourth wife, Cordelia Maria Dalrymple Reynolds, a widow who had had three children. Her husband.. Amasa Reynolds, and one child, had died before she migrated to Utah in 1863. Israel and Cordelia were married for time and eternity 27 My 1865. Later her three children were sealed to Israel and Cordelia in the Logan Temple, 11 March 1885, It was Cordelia who nursed Grandfather Israel Barlow in his last sickness and was his last surviving wife. It was likely that she and her two children never lived at the “Long House” for no mention has been made of that fact.  (Refer to The Israel Barlow Story)

The Early Years

Truman had a busy, responsible pioneer home life growing up with his other brothers and sisters. From a short sketch of her husband’s life, Sarah, his second wife, writes: “Truman being the oldest of 8 was put to work while very young, even at the age of 4 years he tried to milk a cow. At this age he started herding sheep and cows on the west of the home place called the bottoms.  Also on the mountains which formed the horizon to the east of Bountiful. His schooling was very limited. Attended school at Ben Ashby’s about 2 months, that being all the time he had in the winter free. He also went to Adalaid Ward, a short time in the old brick store of Anson Call. Also went to school in the rock hall east of the Bountiful Tabernacle. Here, his time was well taken in the winter as in the summer, as he had many duties on the farm. He hauled wood from the canyon to keep the family warm, as they had very little coal in those days. Only a few times did they have coal; it was too expensive and too far to haul it. Truman and Joe Call would go to the mountains together for wood. They would take the two front wheels of the wagon, bind logs between the wheels with a chain, and drag them home. Often times, snow would be up to their knees and_., remember children, your father wasn’t dressed as you are now. I have heard him say he never had a pair of underclothes on his legs until he was married. When old enough to run, he wore wagon cover dresses made by Mrs. Ashby. Slept on a straw bed on the floor, all his poor mother could provide for him, and as time went on, his father began to get bees, so Truman became a ‘bee tender.’ ”

His daughter, Pearl, writes: “Dancing in the school house was their main entertainment; they would take their picnic. Father said his mother would make him a pie to take. He paid his ticket for the season with wood. His mother made his trousers out of striped bed ticking with large pockets which he filled with popcorn. Nearly every family had peaches, apples, and plums. When they would ripen, everyone was invited to a cutting bee and given a supper. In the winter, they would have corn husking-bees.”

Early in life, Truman assumed the responsibility of caring for his mother and helping the younger members of the family. He learned the skills of farming from his industrious father who was widely known as a nurseryman, apiarist and farmer. On the farm of rich, dark loam, cattle were raised, along with sugar cane, grains, hay, corn, potatoes, and other root vegetables. Apples, pears, peaches, plums, and berries were also grown.

There was work aplenty for the growing family who was always ready for Mother’s good home cooking. Their mother, Lucy, was an especially good cook, having learned to cook in her native England.

Young Bride and Groom

On 28 Nov 1878, Truman, age 21, took for his bride, 18-year­old Fanny Call. They were married in the Endowment House. She was the daughter of Anson Call and his fourth wife, Emma. Summers. Anson had come to the Salt Lake Valley in 1848, the same year as Israel Barlow. In fact, they were friends in the early Mormon days before the Saints came West, and their homesteads happened to join on part of the north side of the Barlow farm and part of the south side of the Call property in Bountiful. Anson Call was born 13 May 1810, in Fletcher, Franklin County, Vermont, and Emma, born 5 Aug 1828, came from Broadheath Worchester, England. She arrived in Salt Lake in 1856, one of the belated Willey Handcart Company. Both Israel Barlow and Anson Call were among the volun­teers sent by Brigham Young to rescue the Company which arrived late in November in bitter cold icy weather.

Pearl said that when her father and mother were first married “they lived with her mother, then in her sister Ann’s little two ­room rock home, just east of her mother’s home. Her father gave them two acres of land to build a home on, also a cow and feather bed. Truman brought his earthly belongings consisting of a chest made with some wood his father had brought across the plains, one suit of clothes, one old shirt, one suit of underwear, and two pair of socks.”

Before continuing with this story, it should be mentioned that when Truman and Fanny were married, Fanny’s youngest sister, Sarah, was almost 8 years old. The story is told that Truman, looking at her mother and patting Sarah on the head remarked, “Keep this little girl for me. I will be back for her some day.” Keeping his promise, 8 ½ years later, Truman married the little sister in the Logan Temple, 30 June 1887.

Rock Home in Bountiful

In the early spring of 1882, Truman built a two-room rock house on the two acres of land that Fanny’s father had given her. It was located about a half mile north and a little east of the Barlow homestead in West Bountiful. On this same street, now known as Page’s Lane, four other sisters of Fanny built homes on their two-acre plots. Fanny’s home was built just west of her mother’s home on the north side of page’s Lane., and in later years, Sarah’s home was west of Fanny’s, next to the Oregon Short Line Railroad (OSL), which right of way went through the Call property.

If one tried to locate the two Barlow homes today they could not be found. There is a small manufacturing plant on the site of Fanny’s home and Interstate Highway 15 goes over Sarah’s home site, Grandmother Emma Summers Call’s home is still being lived in just east of the Nu Stone Manufacturing Plant, 41,4 West Page’s Lane.

Here, in the rock home, Fanny’s first two children were born, Truman Call, 28 Oct 1879, and Fanny Pearl, 18 March 1882, Truman farmed the two acres and rented other adjoining Call property, but there was little opportunity for expansion. Clarence Anson, their third child, now 92 (1977) at this time, and living in Salt Lake City, says this about his father:

“Father was an ambitious man; he wasn’t satisfied merely to go along and make a living. He wanted to . accumulate something. He looked forward to the time when he would have a family to keep, so in 1883 Father and Mother left Bountiful with their two children and a plow in a covered wagon, and journeyed to Chesterfield, Idaho, and homesteaded 160 acres of land. There were a lot of Bountiful people who came up to Chesterfield. At one time or another, all of Father’s brothers and sisters lived there. Before Father and Mother went to Chesterfield, Mother’s oldest brother, Chester, by her father’s first wife, had gone up there and homesteaded a large field. His land was called Chester’s field so that is how the area got its name, Chesterfield, and it has gone to this day.”

Pioneering in Chesterfield, Idaho

Chesterfield is directly north, about 15 miles from Bancroft and about 30 miles east of Pocatello. Bancroft was first known as Squaw Creek. Here, Truman and his brother-in-law, Chester V. Call, lived for a year and helped build the railroad that was being built from Granger to McCammon.  Anson Call, Chester’s father, had contracted to furnish ties for the railroad. This gave the two young men an opportunity to provide means with which to clear their sagebrush homesteads and build homes. Truman first constructed a one-room log house on his property, then a little later, two other rooms and a lean-to kitchen were added. Here, two other children were born, Clarence Anson, 29 June 1885, and Myron Call, 18 Sep 1887, A surface well was dug for water and an earth cellar was dug in which vegetables and fruits were stored. The Barlow homestead joined the Keplar Session homestead. “Uncle Kep” had married Fanny’s oldest sister Ann, so the two sisters visited back and forth.

Life was rugged on this sagebrush frontier. But the town’s people soon set themselves to making a suitable community. A building for religious worship was first erected, then a school house.

Soon a store was built by Ira Call, which was later used for the U.S. Post Office. It is said that Truman and his brother-in-law, Chester V. Call, constructed the first temporary dam on Twenty­Four Mile Creek, which made possible the first irrigation water for Chesterfield in 1887.

Since the homestead was near the Portneuf River, there was quite a little meadow land so Truman accumulated a number of horses and considerable livestock. The meadow land was near an Indian Reservation. Clarence tells of helping his father herd cattle. “I remember one time when I was about 5 years old, going with Father to bring in the cattle. We found out that two or three had strayed over on the Reservation and we couldn’t get them back. They were lost to the Indians.   The government wouldn’t go along with us to get them back. Some of the cows had calves, so Father tried to milk them. I remember seeing him tie their legs and milk them.”

Even though Truman had moved to Chesterfield, he had not forgotten the words he had spoken to Fanny’s mother at the time of their marriage He would be back sometime to claim Sarah. He must have made a few trips back to Bountiful to see Sarah for on 30 June 1887 Truman, 30 years of age, and Sarah, 16 ½ years-old, married in the Logan Temple. Truman made the trip of around 100 miles from Chesterfield to Logan on horseback and Sarah’s youngest brother David, took Sarah to Ogden in a buggy the day before where she took the train to Logan. They stayed with Sister Muir, a relative of the Call family. Truman re­baptized Sarah in the canal next to the Muir home the night before their marriage. This was a common practice in the early days. After the ceremony, Truman started back to Chesterfield and Sarah went back to Bountiful to live with her mother.

Truman did well while in Chesterfield. He cleared the land of sagebrush and accumulated quite a herd of cattle including quite a number of milk cows. Fanny churned butter from the cream that was skimmed from the milk.      The butter was shipped by train in milk cans to Sarah in Bountiful. She worked the butter and printed it into pounds which were sold to the store and the people in Bountiful. This provided a small income for Sarah, which supplemented the bit she earned doing odd jobs.

In addition to improving his homestead, Truman took an active part in community affairs and served as Sunday School superintendent and as counselor to Bishop Adam Tolman. But Truman had longed for many years to serve as a missionary for the Church. At last the call was received. He knew that it would be more prudent to move his family back to Bountiful while he was gone for two years. They would have the advantage of better schools and a more developed community, so he rented his farm to his brother Granville and prepared for the move.

Called to the Northern States Mission

Sometime in 1891, having lived there about 8 years, the Barlow family left Chesterfield and returned to Bountiful. Fanny moved back into her rock house and Sarah continued to live with her mother. Preparations were now made for the long awaited mission. Truman was set apart for his mission 25 May 1892, by Elders B.H. Roberts and John Jaques. On May 28^th, in the company of nine other elders, he departed. He boarded the Union Pacific train from Woods Cross for 5t. Louis, Missouri.

Most of his mission was in and around Taswell_, Crawford County, Indiana, in the Northern States Mission. As was the custom in his day, he traveled much of the time without purse or script so he took many of his meals and spent the nights with people he called upon. His chief means of travel was by foot.

Fanny and Sarah support Truman's mission

Fanny and Sarah worked very hard to support their children and send what little money they could to their husband. Six months before Truman’s  departure, Sarah gave birth to her first child, a son, and six weeks later, Fanny’s fifth child, a son, was born. That made six children to care for. Fanny’s oldest son, Truman, was only 12 when his father left, which meant that the children could help but little except for chores around the house and yard.

Sarah, being ten years younger than Fanny and having just the one baby, worked at Lamoni Call’s variety store in Bountiful to add to their meager cash income. The store was located just north of the present Bountiful Lumber Company, between First and Second South on Main Street. Before going to the store, she would nurse the two babies, Kimber and Israel, then walk a distance of over two miles.

While Sarah was away all day, Fanny would nurse the babies and look after the family. In the evening, when Sarah returned, she nursed the two babies and took over some of the family responsibilities. With plenty of hard work,, good management, and plenty of scrimping, the two sisters provided for their families and kept their husband in the mission field.

Truman was a sincere, hard working missionary and helped bring many souls into the Church. He returned home 26 June 1894 by way of Independence, Missouri, where he visited the Saints’ old homes and the grove of trees where the site had been dedicated for the building of the temple. He arrived at Centerville at 2:45 a.m. on the Oregon Short Line train and walked home, about a half mile, where he had a joyous meeting with his family. The next day, Wednesday, June 27, he reported his mission labors to the Church authorities in Salt Lake City.

About one month after Truman returned from his mission, he took his wife, Fanny, and part of his children and went to Chesterfield to help on his 160 acres for at least four months. On his return, he drove some cattle back to Bountiful. Later he sold the Chesterfield land to his brother Nathan and Adam Tolman, Nathan’s father-in-law. He then purchased 160 acres in Iona, Idaho, where his sons Truman and Clarence settled for some time.

Returning to Bountiful

When Truman decided to stay in Bountiful, he eventually purchased the Barlow land his brothers and sisters had inherited from their mother. In addition, he farmed part of Grandmother Call’s property and his wives’ four acres on Page’s Lane. In all, he farmed about 40 acres. This meant Bountiful was where he decided to stay and rear his family.

The summer of 1895, three brick rooms were added to Fanny’s small rock house, which were completed in November. Fanny’s sixth and last child, Loren Call, was born 8 April 1895, so they were badly in need of larger living quarters. That same year, on August 7, Sarah’s second child, a daughter, Emma Duella, was born. She was a very pretty baby but lived only 14 months.

During 1896-1897_, Truman built a three-roomed brick house for Sarah, just west of Fanny’s home. Soon a granary was built, east of Fanny’s home. About ten years later, three more brick rooms and a bath were added to Sarah’s home as well as a screened porch on the east. In fact, Sarah had one of the first plumbed bathrooms in the area. Many people came to see the new, modern brick home with “built-in kitchen cupboards” and a china cupboard in the dining room. Now both of Truman’s wives had modern, up-to-day homes for that period of time. A few years later, long porches were built on the front of both homes. Then the Barlow homes were really considered up dated:

While Truman lived, he did all he could to make living comfortable and convenient for his family. That was the purpose of long hours of hard work and planning: to make it possible for his children to receive a good education, to teach his children to work, and to add joy and happiness to their lives.

As time went on, a large brick barn and corrals, a hay shed, buggy shed, and other out door buildings were added on the Barlow farm. Hay, grain, and produce for the Salt Lake markets were grown. Everyone in the family had something to do, for it required a great deal of labor to gather a load for market. In the spring, asparagus and rhubarb (pie plant), and early bunch stuff such as onions, radishes, turnips, beets, carrots, and lettuce were mar­keted. Then followed strawberries, gooseberries, raspberries, early peas, string beans, and cherries. At the peak of the growing season, it was a satisfying sight in the evening to see the wagon loaded high with produce to be driven to market at three o’clock the next morning. There might be sacks of corn, potatoes, onions, melons, cantaloupes, tomatoes, and other vegetables in season. Later, in the fall, there were turnips, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips to harvest and pit for the winter market. The last crop to harvest was parsnips, finished Thanksgiving morning before dinner.

Quoting from Leo J. Muir, an educator and friend of the family:

“Each member of the family carried a share in the responsibility of the home. Boys and girls learned not only self-reliance, but cooperation in the common endeavors. They worked side by side in cultivating the crops, irrigating the rows of vegetables and fruit, caring for the livestock and poultry, and in the maintenance of the home.”

In addition to farming while his family was growing up, Truman took an active part in the community and his church. In 1903, he was set apart as counselor to Bishop David Stoker in the East Bountiful Ward, which position he held until two years before his death. In 1906, he was elected school trustee for the second school district in Davis County. He served two three-year terms and during that time, he helped build a 12-room brick school house named in honor of David Stoker. This school building is still in use. A high school was also started in 1906, with Mr. Leo J. Muir acting as principal as well as a teacher. The school continued to grow until the county was consolidated into one district in 1911. Truman took an active part in promoting the consolidation and was named by the County Commissioner as a member of the first County School Board. He served on the Board until December 1912 when he did not seek re-election because of ill health. He entered the L.D.S. Hospital in Salt Lake City 14 Feb 1913 for a bladder and prostate gland operation from which he never recovered. On February 19, he passed away after much suffering at the age of 55.

Impressive memorial services were held in the Bountiful Tabernacle on February 22, and he was laid to rest in the family plot in the Bountiful City Cemetery. His wife Fanny, followed her husband in death about three years later, 30 May 1916, at the age of 55. Sarah was left with g children to raise, her youngest being 5 months old. She passed away 7 May 1944, age 73. Both wives were buried beside their husband in the family plot in Bountiful.

At the time of this writing, the spring of 1977,  eight of Truman’s fifteen children are still living, enjoying life. Clarence, the third member of Fanny’s family, and the four oldest of Sarah’s seven living children recall many pleasant impressions and experiences of their early family life. The last three children have few or no recollection of Father. The youngest child, Woodrow, will be 65, coming September. The unity and harmony that existed in the family is often spoken of by the brothers and sisters. “Father was always fair and considerate, showing equal love and devotion to all his children.

The remark has often been made that people could not tell which child belonged to which mother.” Just as it should be: Four of Fanny’s children were married at the time of Father’s death, but all of Sarah’s family were still at home -- eight of them ranging in ages from 21 down to 5 months. The older children enjoyed the guidance and instructions from Father_, as well as educational advantages.

Father strongly stressed education and missions. Aunt Fanny’s youngest child, Loren, was a senior in high school and Kimber, just older than Loren, and Israel, Sarah’s oldest had completed a two year normal course at the University of Utah and were teaching at the time of Father’s death.

Memorial

A few years before Mother (Sarah), passed away she wrote this of Father:

“As a young man he was 5 feet 9 inches tall and weighed about 170 pounds. He had thick, dark brown hair, medium complexioned and hazel eyes.   His skin was smooth and clear but his hands were usually rough and sore because he worked in the dirt so much. He was very kind and affectionate to his family, never sparing means for their Outside, not far from the storeroom were long dirt pits of turnips, carrots, parsnips and potatoes. These root vegetables were sold on the Salt Lake Market during the winter. In addition to the food already enumerated there was plenty of fresh home­made butter, cream, milk and eggs. Even though there was little money to spend we had abundant wholesome food.

In summary of Father’s life, here is an excerpt from a eulogy written in 1961 by Leo J. Muir, a close friend of the family:

“The Prophet Joseph presented an inspiring summary of man’s duty in relation to . . . the abundant life promised by the Savior and Redeemer of mankind. He admonished his followers that there were three important duties and privileges every man should respect: He ‘should dress the earth, cultivate his own soul, and glorify God."

It is an inspiring adventure to contemplate the manner in which, in his mortal life, Truman Barlow realized the importance of these life-giving instructions of the Master. He was a tiller of the soil. He multiplied and replenished the earth. He was the father of fifteen healthy and stalwart children, whom he inspired with sacred instruction, inducting them into the way of life which the Master gave to mankind.” Father indeed enjoyed in his lifetime a rich measure of the abundant life promised by the Savior and Redeemer. We his chil­dren pay tribute to our parents for the rich heritage they have given us.

The Barlow families

CHILDREN OF LUCY HEAP AND ISRAEL BARLOW

CHILDREN OF FANNY CALL AND TRUMAN HEAP BARLOW

CHILDREN OF SARAH CALL AND TRUMAN HEAP BARLOW

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Fannie Call Barlow

Family History Outline

Lucy Heap

Bountiful

Johnson's Army

The Long House

The Early Years

Young Bride and Groom

Rock Home in Bountiful

Pioneering in Chesterfield

Northern States Mission

Supporting their missionary

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Memorial

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Anson Call

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