Once upon a time there was a man by the name of Charles Stapley. His parents were named Henry and Elizabeth and he was born in Kent, England on March 15, 1800. He married Sarah Watson Bryant and they were married in the Rolvenden Church on 1 December 1822, just weeks
after the marriage of his sister, Sarai Stapley to Sarah Bryant's brother Samuel Charles Bryant.
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| Charles Stapley Sr. |
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| Sarah Bryant Stapley |
Between 1837-1838, Charles, Sarah and their children traveled on the
ship "Westminster," to begin a new life in Australia. It was there that the Stapley family met the Mormon missionaries and joined the church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. They, along with 63 others boarded the "Julia Ann" on Friday, 10 March 1854, leaving Australia for
San Pedro, California (now Los Angeles). After 90 days at sea the
Julia Ann docked at San Pedro, California, on 12 June 1854.
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| Many LDS people traveled on boats like this from Australia to California. |
They stayed in California for some time, before eventually moving to Utah. They settled in Toquerville. Charles planted the first very first alfalfa seed. He
also planted the first grape vines and wheat in Dixie. When the prophet
asked the members to stop growing grapes and making wine, Charles
plowed under his vineyard. Both he and his wife has handsome headstone in the
Toquerville Cemetery with a Faith in Every Footstep Marker placed on it
by a loving descendants.
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| Charles Stapley Jr |
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| Sarah Parkinson |
As they traveled, their oldest son Charles Stapley Jr. met a beautiful divorcee by the name of Sarah Parkinson. Sarah Parkinson was born 24 May 1831 in Ramsey, Huntingdonshire,
England, the oldest daughter of four children (two brothers older and a
sister younger) to James Parkinson and Elizabeth Chattle. She already had two children named John and Sarah. They fell in love and were married and had 9 more children. Their son, William Francis Stapley is my great-great Grandfather.
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| Charles and Sarah |
Charles was a good man and made an effort to live the Golden Rule by being
good to his neighbors but still he was concerned as to whether he was
living an acceptable life according to the standards of the Church. As
he was thinking very seriously about it one time, a vision came to him
and his whole life was shown to him in a ‘panoramic view’. He was told
that his life was acceptable except for the habit he had of swearing.
He took immediate steps to correct this habit.
Life was not easy in Toquerville. One time Sarah took the wagon cover they used when coming from
California, dye it and made dresses for her children. Sarah spent the rest of her life keeping her large family (12 children) well
supplied with food, clothing and affection. She was noted for her fine
cooking, dexterity with a needle and a gentle listening ear.
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| Charles Jr and Sarah with their Grandchildren |
Mary Janet Stapley Bringhurst, a daughter of Sarah and Charles Jr. has
written: “Our first home Toquerville was made of logs with a dirt floor
and roof. The first church was also a log building with a dirt floor
and roof. My Father danced barefoot on it. My uncle, Tom Stapley was
the fiddler. When my people first came here, they were very poor. They
had to make the lines for their harnesses out of factory (muslin).”
Another child remembered- “We use to raise beets and made beet molasses for a sweetner. Also, on
special occasions, we had vinegar pies. We baked them with one crust
and filling was made of vinegar, water, beet molasses and flour. In the early days you could live without cash. You raised things
yourself or traded for things you needed. Many times you did without.
Mother sold some butter to some soldiers who were passing through for
seventy-five cents. That was all the cash we had for two and one-half
years.”
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| The Stapley House |
“In the old days we were always afraid of the Indians. Father was
even-tempered and would always feed the Indians and they generally liked
him well. Father used to stand guard at night when they were bad.
When we first came here, we used to raise cotton. Father hired one
Indian to work for him. He worked for us so much that he became known
as ‘Charlie’ in charge. He would scold us if we did not work fast
enough. He could pick about three rows to my one.”
“One old Indian named ‘One Eye’ came to Mother one day when Father was
down to LaVerkin Creek gathering wood. He had a pistol and threatened
to kill all of Mother’s babies. She was so frightened, that she grabbed
the pistol and twisted it out of his hands. Where she got her
strength, she never knew, but she always believed the Lord helped her.
When she got the pistol, she told ‘One Eye’ to go away because he wasn’t
a good Indian. Days after, he came back and wanted to be forgiven as
he was afraid he would be punished. After that, whenever ‘One Eye’ came
to our home he always praised Mother for being so brave, as he said he
would have killed them all if she had not been.”
Shortly before Sarah died, a rarity occurred. An automobile arrived in
Toquerville. Everyone in the community was anxious to see the new
contraption, but Sarah wanted more than that—she wanted a ride. The
driver cheerfully complied and Sarah had her ride.
"Her mother was an herbalist. She married Arnold Lowe,
but he died of Tuberculosis when he was only 31 years old leaving her with four kids. The
youngest, Lois, was only one year old.
Nita was a master seamstress. She made all of their clothes and could make anything
out of any kind of material. When her granddaughter Janice took an interest to sewing and
would teach herself, she would help her when she would visit her.
Nita made black licorice, gingersnaps, and loved to build huge cities out of cards. She
was also a master storyteller.
One time when Janice was visiting her, her cousin Mike played a trick on her cousin
David. He told David to take Polly’s tail (Nita’s dairy cow, Aunt Polly) and go up and down up
and down to get the milk out. Their dad, Uncle Allen was mad when he found out.
When Janice was in 5th grade she would tell her Grandma Nita all her woes and she
would take her side. Nita would whistle all of the time. She was happy and had a cheerful
disposition. She was a good storyteller. One time she was riding her horse away from some
Indians. She was holding a pail in her teeth and a knitting needle was poking into her leg, but
she rode on.
At Christmas she would dress up like Santa and give oranges out. She had open heart
surgery when she was older." (Pictures, Nita as a young woman, Nita as an adult, Nita and her Mother, Nita and her husband John.)
8. Frank B. Stapley was born in 1915 and died in 2002. He married Lucille Robbins and after she died in 1980, he married Ruth Baker. Pics- Right Frank Stapley, Above- Frank and Lu and Frank and Ruth
