One Sunday as I was preparing a lesson for my Sunday School class on the Mormon pioneers, I wanted to challenge my students to learn about the first members of the church in their own families. It was at that point, ironically, I realized I didn’t know the details of the first converts on Grandpa Ralph’s side of the family. Here’s what I’ve discovered!
Please keep in mind: Because some of the information we have is from second-hand accounts, we’re trying to not make too many assumptions but represent the facts as they are.
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| Earl and Bertha Inglish, Ralph's Grandparents |
When Ralph’s grandparents⇀Earl Inglish (1873-1958) and wife Bertha Clarice Copeland Inglish (1882-1977)⇀ left Fannin County, Texas, they were moving west to follow better work opportunities. Earl was a machinist by trade, working primarily on cotton gins, moving to new locations with his family as employment was available. They would stay for a time (a year or so? we’re unsure) while Earl would fix the machinery and get it in good working order, then would move to another spot when the work was finished and his skills were needed elsewhere.
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| Murray Cotton Gin in Bonham, Fannin County, Texas. (Image source and more information) |
Eventually, Earl and Bertha would embark on a journey west, with the area near Mesa, Arizona, as their ultimate destination. Despite having their sites set on Arizona, they were also cautious about settling there: family members (likely well-intentioned) had warned them that it was an area full of Mormons, and they shouldn’t want anything to do with them.(1)
Sometime between 1915 and 1920,(2) they loaded up their Ford Model T with their possessions and provisions, and with 4 of their eventually 7 children:(3) Juanita Inglish (1906-1995) - Ralph’s Mother; Hugh Ophelia Inglish (1909-1987); Rayburn Earl Inglish (1911-2003); and Alvin Inglish (1914-1943). At that time, Earl would have been in his mid 40s, and Bertha in her mid 30s.
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| Earl, Bertha, Alvin, and Carl, in front of a Ford Model T, taken in the mid 1920s. (We’re not sure whether it’s the same car they drove from Texas or whether they had a larger one.) |
The approximately 1,100-mile journey from their home in eastern Texas to Arizona would take them quite some time, at least several months and as long as 1 or 2 years. By today’s standards, it would be about a 16-hour drive. Their funds were limited, but Earl and Bertha kept going: they would drive as far as they had money for gas, then would settle for a time to find work locally and earn enough money to then move further along their route.
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| The approximately 1,100-mile journey from Fannin County, TX, to Maricopa County, AZ. |
Along they way, they lived in a “dugout”⇀a hole dug several feet deep over which they would pitch their tent. This would be their living quarters for the time being, until they packed up and moved to another location. Particularly across the plains of Texas and New Mexico, having their tent submerged partially below ground in the dugout would help to protect their temporary accommodations from the harsh winds that would blow across the land. (4)
We’re not sure what year the family left Texas, how long their journey took, or where they stopped along the way, but they eventually ended up in Mesa, Arizona. According to family accounts, one day when Bertha was in town, she overheard someone say that the Mormons were going to build a temple there.(5) Wary of this development, she and Earl determined they needed to go further west out of town. According to census records, by January 1920 they were settled in the Cartwright Precinct, Maricopa County, Arizona.(6)
While they were moving to the west beyond Mesa, they temporarily camped along the new Highway 60 that was being built to California.(7) At some point, between 1920 and 1924, they camped near a gentleman named William Percy Johnson (“Percy”), who was working on the highway.(8)(9) Percy’s job was to keep the concrete wet so it didn’t cure too quickly and crack. The crew would start a section of the highway, get it poured, and keep that section wet for a while, while the rest of the crew continued on. He would be in a spot for a time (a few months or more?), camping with his wife and children and moving locations as the work moved. Although Percy and his family were kind of nomadic, they would plant a garden near their tent that yielded enough produce to provide for their own needs plus some excess.
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| William Percy Johnson and his wife Ethelyn (Image source) |
One day, the Inglishes met Percy Johnson as they were camped nearby, and they received produce from him (either given or purchased, we’re not sure). During their interaction, they learned that Percy and his family were Mormons, and Percy was a stake missionary who took the opportunity to share about their beliefs.
As the Inglishes learned more about the doctrines of the Church, Earl was especially receptive. Growing up, his family was members of the Methodist church, and his father (Alexander Soloman Inglish, 1838-1923) was a devout student of the Bible, even writing articles on various biblical subjects.(10) Alexander taught Earl, his oldest son, that the church that Christ had established when he was on the earth needed to be restored, and that he should seek for that restored church. In particular, what converted Earl to Mormonism was learning about the restoration of the Levitical Priesthood to the earth, as this was something in particular that he had studied in the scriptures and was seeking.
Bertha was also a student of the Bible (she was raised in the Baptist faith), though she was initially more reticent to join the Church. However, she soon became converted and they, along with 4 of their children (Juanita, Hugh Opehlia, Rayburn, and Alvin), were all baptized and confirmed on the same day - 16 February 1924.(11) Earl was now 50 years old; Bertha was 41.
Although the Inglishes didn’t attend church regularly at first⇀after all, they were still moving around a lot⇀they attended services when they were able to and they became more active when they were later settled in Mesa.
That decision to be baptized was the start of a legacy of church members, still going even 6 generations later.
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Sources:
- Phone calls with Ralph on 9 Aug 2013 and 11 Aug 2013
- Phone call with CI (son of Earl and Bertha) on 9 Aug 2015
- Phone call with AP (granddaughter of Earl and Bertha) on 30 Aug 2015
Notes:
- An interesting fact but not essential: Family accounts differ as to who counseled them to avoid interactions with Mormons: Was it Bertha’s mother, Mary Ann McRae Copeland (1853-1899), who was firmly Baptist? Or Earl’s mother, Martha Ophelia Skipwith (1851-1934), a devout Methodist?
- Earl and Bertha left Texas sometime after their son Alvin was born in 1914 but they were living in Cartwright, AZ, by January 1920, according to census records. See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCR2-VFF : accessed 31 August 2015), Earl Inglish, Cartwright, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing sheet 5B, family 86, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,049.
- Earl and Bertha had 7 children together, 4 of which made the journey with them from Texas to Arizona. The three who didn’t come did so for various reasons: the oldest, Paul Inglish (1902-1903) passed away as a child; the youngest, Carl Alexander Inglish (1922), was not yet born; and according to family accounts, Garland Ross Inglish Sr. (1904-1992) wasn’t with the family when they made the initial journey, but he must have joined them by 1920 as he’s listed in the household in the 1920 census. See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCR2-VFF : accessed 31 August 2015), Earl Inglish, Cartwright, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing sheet 5B, family 86, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,049.
- Find more information about dugouts here, which were common during this time of “frontier development.” Despite their dugout having a dirt floor, Earl and Bertha’s daughter Ophelia is said to have declared, when being asked to help with the chores: “Why do I have to sweep this floor when it’s dirt anyway?!”
- The Mesa Arizona Temple was announced on 3 October 1919, with the groundbreaking on 25 April 1922 and the dedication 23-26 October 1927. During the last two years of construction, tours were available as a public open house.
- Earl and Bertha’s residence is listed as Cartwright, AZ, in the January 1920 census. (But where is Cartwright, Arizona? From researching online, it looks like it’s an area in Phoenix?) See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCR2-VFF : accessed 31 August 2015), Earl Inglish, Cartwright, Maricopa, Arizona, United States; citing sheet 5B, family 86, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,820,049.)
- Based on information here, Highway 60 was completed in 1927. CI related that Phoenix seemed like the edge of the frontier at the time, with mostly dirt roads billowing up dust behind cars as they drove. He recalls that it was common for men to be working on the highways, as there were so many roads being built.
- In the 1920 Census, William Percy Johnson, with his wife and their first 2 children, were living in San Antonio Ward 5, Bexar, Texas. We can assume they moved to Arizona sometime after that then. Also, Earl, Bertha, and family were baptized in 1924, which means they must have met before then. See "United States Census, 1920," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MCMT-1Q5 : accessed 31 August 2015), William Johnson, San Antonio Ward 5, Bexar, Texas, United States; citing sheet 13B, family 321, NARA microfilm publication T625 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 1,821,777.
- William Percy Johnson was the older brother of Lester Johnson, who would marry Jaunita Inglish in 1941 and become Ralph’s stepfather, making Percy Ralph’s step-uncle.
- Unfortunately, the articles that Alexander Soloman Inglish wrote were lost when the church that kept them burned in a fire.
- When the rest of the Inglish family was baptized, the oldest son, Garland, was already married (in 1923) and living on his own, but he would be baptized at a later time. Carl, the youngest child, would have been about 1 ½ years old at the time.
