Item Detail
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24567
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1
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0
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English
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Passing Thoughts
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N.p.
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J.M. Paxton
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"Written in Utah Penitentiary, 1889-90. Retrospective to 1889, then daily entries during prison term. Born at Southshields, Durham, England, 1845. Father died, 1848. Moved to Sunderland, 1850. Moved to Middlesborough, Yorkshire, 1852. Worked in iron industry. Family belonged to LDS Church. Author baptized at age eight. Became an iron molder. Rebaptized, 1861. Known by his fellow employees as young Brigham. To America, 1863. Crossed plains to Utah. Soldiers made emigrants take oath of allegiance en route. Went to Parowan. Rebaptized. Herded sheep at Shoal Creek. Later returned to Parowan to find work. To Panguitch. Ordained elder, 1865. Acted three years as deacon. Hard times farming. Served as lieutenant in Black Hawk War. Learned masonry at Toquerville. Moved to Corn Creek, 1867, then moved to Kanosh. Freighting to Pioche. Married Elizabeth Brown, 1869. Ordained seventy, 1874. Presided over YMMIA four years. Established library of sixty volumes and manuscript paper entitled The Lantern. Married Adelaide Tippet, 1877. Includes many poems written by himself. Wife cured of throat cancer, 1889. In prison for unlawful cohabitation, September 1889 to May 1890. Wrote several songs in prison as well as a book to help support family. The prison entries are quite short but they give a fairly good picture of the routine of convict life in spite of their length. Published with the Paxton journal is a four-page sketch of his second wife, written by their daughter." [Abstract from Davis Bitton's Guide to Mormon Diaries and Autobiographies]