ROBERT CAMPBELL GEMMELL
Robert Campbell Gemmell, one of the foremost mining engineers of the
west, is general manager of the Utah Copper Company and since the 1st
of August, 1919, has been assistant managing director of the Utah
Copper Company, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, the Chino
Copper Company and the Ray Consolidated Copper Company. Through
successive stages of development he has reached the position of
leadership which he occupies in professional circles.
Mr. Gemmell was born at Port Matilda, Pennsylvania, July 5, 1863, a son
of Robert Brown and Anna Eliza (Campbell) Gemmell. Actuated ever by a
laudable ambition to utilize his time to the best advantage and to make
his ability, native and acquired, of greatest force in the business
world, Robert C. Gemmell entered the University of Michigan for a
course in civil engineering and there won his Bachelor of Science
degree in 1884, his degree of Civil Engineer in 1895 and his degree of
Master of Engineering in 1913. His professional career has been marked
by steady advancement, resulting in the mastery of every situation or
duty that has come to him. He was engineer on surreys and construction
with the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railroad from 1884 until 1890
and through the succeeding six years was active as a civil and mining
engineer of Utah, Nevada, Idaho and California and was engineer of the
De Lamar mines from 1896 until 1901.
In the latter year he was appointed manager of the Mexican Mining
Syndicate of Mexico and so continued until 1903, when he was made
superintendent of mines for the Guggenheim Exploration Company in
Mexico, occupying that position of responsibility until 1905. During
the year 1905 he made an examination of mines in Spain, Mexico and the
United States, and in 1906 he became general superintendent of the Utah
Copper Company, which position he filled until 1909. He was then
advanced to the position of assistant general manager and on the 1st of
May, 1913. was made general manager, which position lie still occupies.
Those who are in the slightest degree familiar with the history of
copper mining can realize the importance of his present position as it
includes the general management of the world's greatest copper mine. He
is also assistant general manager of the Bingham & Garfield Railway
Company and a director of the Utah Light & Traction Company. His
latest advancement came to him with his promotion on the 1st of August,
1919, to the position of assistant managing director of the Utah Copper
Company, the Nevada Consolidated Copper Company, the Chino Copper
Company and the Ray Consolidated Copper Company.
On the 17th of October, 1888, Mr. Gemmell was united in marriage to
Miss Belle E. Anderson, of Salt Lake City, where they make their home
and are well known in the best social circles, their residence being at
No. 164 East South Temple street. Mr. Gemmell gives his political
allegiance to the republican party and has served as state engineer of
Utah for two terms, from 1898 until 1901. He has never sought nor
desired office, however, outside the strict path of his profession. In
the recent crisis which tested the patriotism and loyalty of every
citizen Mr. Gemmell proved himself one hundred per cent American, being
one of those men who gave liberally of his time, efforts and
cooperation to the solution of important public problems. His religious
faith is that of the Presbyterian church and the nature of his
interests is further indicated in the fact that he has membership in
the American Society of Civil Engineers, the American Institute of
Mining Engineers and the Mining & Metallurgical Society of America.
That he is appreciative of the social amenities of life is indicated in
his connection with the Alta, Bonneville, University, Commercial and
Country Clubs of Salt Lake, the Bear River Duck Club of Ogden, the Flat
Rock Club of Idaho and the Sequoyah Country Club of Oakland,
California. He is also a member of the Sons of the American Revolution,
which is indicative of the fact that among his ancestors were those who
were loyal defenders of the cause of American independence.
As a citizen of Salt Lake City, he is included among those men whose
public spirit and enterprise have always been readily enlisted in the
support of any movement or project involving the city's progress or
advancement, and his influence and activities along many lines have
been of great value. The nature, the breadth and the importance of his
interests have placed him in a commanding professional position and,
moreover, he is possessed of those qualities which make for personal
popularity among a large circle of friends.
[Source: Utah since Statehood:
Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
JUDGE VALENTINE GIDEON
Judge Valentine Gideon, elected a member of the supreme court of the
state of Utah in November, 1918, was born in Iron county, Missouri, on
the 11th of January, 1859, and is the son of Calvin and Artemesia
(Matkin) Gideon. He was the third son of a family of seven children. In
the year 1870 his father died.
Spending his youthful days under the parental roof, Judge Gideon
attended the public schools of his native state during the winter
months and worked upon his home farm during the summer, as was
customary at that time in that rural community, and in this way
mastered the branches of learning taught in such schools. Later he
entered Carleton College at Farmington, Missouri, from which
institution he received the degree of Bachelor of Science with the
class of 1886. For the two years following he taught in and was
principal of the public schools of Bonne Terre, Missouri, and then
attended the St. Louis Law School in 1888-89. In the latter year he
removed to Utah, settling at Ogden. He continued his law reading and in
1890 was admitted to practice at the bar of the state. Subsequently, in
1898, he was admitted to the federal courts of Utah. He was engaged in
the general practice of law at Ogden from the date of his admission
until appointed to the supreme bench. He served as city attorney of
Ogden from January, 1912, until 1916 and assisted in establishing the
commission form of government in that city. The zeal with which he
devoted his energies to his profession, the careful regard evinced for
the interests of his clients, secured for him a large and constantly
growing legal business and made him very successful in its conduct.
During his entire career as a practicing lawyer it was the settled
policy of Judge Gideon to use his best efforts upon all occasions to
avoid litigation and this secured for him the merited general
reputation of having adjusted more law suits, disputes and
controversies outside of court and amicably than does the average
lawyer. His keen sense of the equities and justice in every disputed or
contested situation in the affairs of men that came to him in the
practice of his profession naturally led him into this particular line
of work and in consequence he became better known as a lawyer whose
chief aim was to obtain justice than one famed for his oratorical or
other attainments. The experiences which he thus obtained in his
particular line of work as a lawyer eminently qualified him for and as
a matter of fact led to his selection by the governor of the state for
appointment to the bench of the highest court of the state. This
occurred in 1917, and at the regular election in November, 1918, he was
chosen by popular suffrage as a member of that high tribunal for a term
of eight years.
On the 24th of July, 1889, Judge Gideon was married to Elizabeth Lang,
a member of the same class in college with him. Their only child, a
son, Reinhart Lang Gideon, born at Farmington. Missouri, October 17,
1890, is an attorney of Hartford, Connecticut. He graduated from
Amherst College in 1912 and from the Harvard Law School with the class
of 1915. He was a volunteer member of the Utah National Guard prior to
the entrance of the United States into the great world war and later
became a member of the One Hundred and Forty-fifth Field Artillery. At
the date of the signing of the armistice he was stationed at Camp
McClellan, Alabama, with the rank of second lieutenant of field
artillery.
Judge Gideon's political allegiance has always been given to the
democratic party, and aside from the offices which he has filled along
the strict line of his profession he was a member of the Ogden school
board from 1897 until 1900. He belongs to the Masonic fraternity and
exemplifies in his life the beneficent spirit of the craft. His ideals
are high and that he is a man of scholarly attainments is shadowed
forth between the lines of this review.
[Source: Utah since Statehood:
Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
JOHN C. GRAHAM
John C. Graham, one of the leading and influential business men of
Provo, well known as the proprietor of the interests conducted under
the name of the New Century Printing Company and also as a partner in
the Graham-Jones Undertaking Company, was born in Salt Lake City,
October 7, 1866. His father, John C. Graham, now deceased, was a native
of England and came to America about 1861, making his way direct to
Salt Lake, where he resided until 1875, when he and his family removed
to Provo, where he remained to the time of his death, which occurred in
1906, when he had reached the age of sixty years. He was the owner and
publisher of the Daily Inquirer, one of the early newspapers that was
republican in politics. This paper he conducted to the time of his
death. He was a stanch republican, doing whatever he could for the
advancement of the party, and his influence was a potent force in
promoting its success. He ever stood loyally for any project that
promised to bring improvement or benefit. He was likewise very active
in church matters and in 1891 served on a mission to England. The
mother, Elizabeth (Morris) Graham, was a native of England, in which
country they were married. She came to the new world with her husband
and passed away at Provo in 1902 at the age of sixty-three years. Of
the seven children born to them three survive: Lily, the wife of C. W.
Barnes, a resident of Salt Lake; John C., of this review; and Arthur
E., who also makes his home in Salt Lake.
John C. Graham was educated in the public schools of Salt Lake to the
age of eleven years, when he put aside his textbooks and started out to
provide for his own support. From that early age he has been dependent
upon his own resources, so that whatever success he has achieved or
enjoyed is attributable entirely to his persistent labor, his carefully
directed activities and his sound judgment. He learned the printer's
trade, which he followed as a journeyman until 1893, being employed in
leading printing and newspaper establishments at various points on the
Pacific coast.
In 1893 he took up his abode in Provo, where he has since remained, and
during the intervening period of twenty-six years has reached a
prominent position in business circles of this part of the state. He
first published the Inquirer under a lease. In 1902 he organized the
New Century Printing Company, which today is the oldest of the kind in
southern Utah outside of Salt Lake and is the largest plant in this
section of the state. It is thoroughly equipped with the latest and
most modern machinery found in a printing office, including linotype
machines, and he employs on an average of nine people, while in the
busy season his force often numbers fourteen. He has kept in touch with
every improvement made in printing processes and turns out most
excellent work. He is also a stockholder in the Knight Savings &
Trust Company, is the owner of the business conducted under the name of
the Provo Linotyping Company and is a partner in the Graham-Jones
Undertaking Company. Thus he is constantly extending and broadening his
interests and his activities have ever been of a character which have
contributed to the upbuilding and development of his adopted city.
On the 28th of December, 1898, Mr. Graham was married in Provo» Utah,
to Miss Annie A. Strong, a native of the city and a daughter of John N.
and Maria (Nelson) Strong, representatives of old and prominent pioneer
families of Provo. Mr. and Mrs. Graham have two children. John A., born
December 15, 1899, is a member of Company H of the Students' Army
Training Corps. Marian, born March 30, 1904, is with her parents.
During the war Mr. Graham took a very active interest in support of all
war measures that tended to advance the interests of the country in the
prosecution of the war and in America's relations with her allies. His
political endorsement is given to the republican party but he has never
sought or desired office. He belongs to the Commercial Club and is
interested in everything that has to do with the welfare, upbuilding
and progress of the city in which he makes his home. His success is
attributable entirely to his own efforts and his record should serve to
inspire and encourage others, showing what may be accomplished through
persistency of purpose and unfaltering determination. Those who know
him, and he has many friends, acknowledge his worth, his
resourcefulness and adaptability as well as his integrity in all
business affairs.
[Source: Utah since Statehood:
Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
PRESIDENT HEBER J. GRANT
The first native son of Utah to become president of the Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints, to which he was chosen November 23, 1918.
Denied educational opportunities such as most young men of the present
age enjoy President Heber J. Grant is nevertheless a man of broad
knowledge; denied financial assistance at the outset of his career, he
stands today as one of the most prominent figures in financial and
commercial circles in Utah. There was one thing, however, that he was
not denied—the religious training which laid the foundation for the
splendid character which has developed with the passing of the years.
His interest in the church broadened and deepened until, following the
death of the beloved and lamented President Smith, he was called to the
position thus left vacant. The story of his life has been most
entertainingly told by three of his close and warm, friends, Orson F.
Whitney, Horace G. Whitney and Richard W. Young. From these articles
liberal quotations will be made, as no one is better qualified to speak
concerning his career and what he has accomplished as he has traveled
life's journey.
Born in Salt Lake City, November 22, 1856, he is a son of Jedediah M.
and Rachel Ridgeway (Ivins) Grant. His father died December 1, 1856,
when Heber J. Grant was but nine days old. While he was thus deprived
of a father's protection, he received the loving care and training of a
most devoted mother; to whom as the years passed he rendered every
filial devotion. In this connection Horace G. Whitney said: "In boyhood
days, a little circle of boys were greatly given to visiting each
other's homes. It is a fine memory with all of us to recall how our
mothers interested themselves in the companions of their sons. I well
remember how Heber J. Grant's associates loved 'Aunt Rachel' for her
angelic disposition and respected Heber J. for his devotion to her.
This is the strongest impression I retain of our early boyhood
association. Another is the old school days in the University of
Deseret, then conducted by Dr. John R. Park in the Council House, which
stood on the Deseret News corner. Most of us had but a brief scholastic
career—life was too exigent in those days to allow much time for the
acquirement of an education, but Heber J. Grant's associates of eleven,
twelve, thirteen and fourteen years of age, such as Orson F. Whitney,
Richard W. Young, Feramorz Young, Heber M. Wells, B. S. Young, Alonzo
Young and myself (to name only the closest intimates) knew what it was
to 'plug' day and night to reach their goals. The dominant
characteristics of Heber J. Grant in those days were ceaseless
perseverance and intense application to his tasks, and to one task in
particular, that of becoming an expert penman. How well he succeeded is
well known to his business associates, and the skill he developed in
rare penmanship enabled him to earn many a dollar to assist his widowed
mother. The same intensity was applied to other pursuits, even to the
favorite sport of the day, baseball. He made up his mind to become an
expert first baseman and the astonishing amount of time he devoted to
practicing for that position was the admiration of all his companions.
Later he became one of the famous 'Red Stockings,' which vanquished the
state champions, the 'Deserets,' and rose to the foremost pinnacle of
fame in the local sporting world."
That "The boy is father to the man" is an adage that certainly finds
verification in the career of President Grant, for the determination,
industry and resolute purpose which he early displayed have
characterized his later career in the conduct of his business affairs
as well as of his churchly duties. Horace G. Whitney has said: "My
principal connection with him has been in the business world, where he
has been as active and unwearyingly a worker as in the religious field.
As founder of the Utah Home Fire Insurance Company organizer of the
State Bank of Utah, and one of the founders of the Consolidated Wagon
& Machine Company, three of the state's most successful
institutions today (to say nothing of the other prosperous concerns
with which he is connected) he evinced the keen discernment, the broad
judgment and enterprising spirit which were always his characteristics.
His labors in organizing the first sugar company in Utah are well known
in the business world. He took a leading part in raising the capital
for that institution and has always remained one of the most loyal
supporters. In the conduct of the old Salt Lake Herald when it was the
organ of the people's party and when the late Byron Groo and myself
were associated with him, he showed the same zeal, with the result that
that period stands out as probably the only one in the checkered career
of that publication, when it was in the dividend-paying class. His,
energy extended even to the editorial columns, and (what is not
generally known) he often furnished the ideas and sometimes the
articles themselves which appeared as the 'leaders' in that journal.
"From the association of those times, reaching back nearly thirty-five
years and extending down to the present, I can say unreservedly that
the big reason for President. Grant's success has been his observance
of the rule of the square deal and his fair and generous treatment of
friend and opponent alike. If he has a fault, it is his inordinate
generosity to those he loves—a trait that alone has kept him from
becoming a man of wealth. But I never knew a man who cared less for
money, and the only times I have ever heard him regret that he had so
little was when he wished to lead out and set the example to others in
some of the many charitable enterprises he was called on to promote.
His name was never lacking in any good cause, and whether it was saving
a financial institution to preserve the good name of his friends,
starting a Liberty Loan drive, or keeping some poor widow's roof over
her head (a chapter alone might be devoted to that subject), the
signature of Heber J. Grant, like the name of Abou Ben Ad-hem, 'led all
the rest.'"
Of the home life of President Grant, Brigadier General Richard W. Young
has said: "Brother Grant has been blessed with an unusually talented
and worthy family. His wives, Lucy (daughter of Bryant Stringham),
Emily (daughter of Daniel H. Wells), both of whom are now deceased, and
his present wife, Augusta Winters, were and are companions of whom any
man of intelligence, character and taste might well be proud. His
daughters (he had the misfortune to lose both of his sons) and his
sons-in-law are accomplished and exemplary. His sense of justice is
unblurred-—yes, even more, his consideration and charity are exquisite.
I sincerely believe that the man or woman does not exist whom he has
conscientiously wronged. I have often said that you might have Heber J.
Grant ground up, after the manner of ore at one of our valley sampling
mills and submit a sample for assay and that it would be impossible for
the most expert microscopist or analyst there to discover the slightest
trace of hypocrisy. President Grant has been a notable figure in the
financial history of Utah. It is perhaps true, it is my belief at
least, that his absorbing apostolic and missionary labors alone have
prevented him from becoming one of the greatest captains of western
finance. His ability to grasp all of the factors of a problem is quite
extraordinary as is his resourcefulness. With clearness of vision,
almost unique among our own financiers, he clearly foresaw the future
of the sugar industry in Utah and was foremost in the effort to put
that great enterprise on its feet."
In relation to his work in the church, one of his biographers has
written: "Heber J. Grant's religious activities are too well known to
need describing. More than any of his boyhood companions, he followed
serious and religious pursuits, and as a boy he was always active in
church affairs. His appointment as president of Tooele stake came when
he was only twenty-three years of age, and he was chosen an apostle
under President John Taylor before he was twenty-six. Since that time
he has been an indefatigable toiler for his church and has spent many
years in the foreign service, opening the mission to Japan and
presiding over the European mission."
A very intimate and interesting picture of President Grant has been
given in the words of Orson F. Whitney, who said: "I have known Heber
J. Grant almost as long as I have known myself. We were boys together.
I could say of him or to him, with the utmost propriety: 'Thou art the
friend to whom the shadows of far years extend.' And a very good friend
Brother Grant has been to me. But of that presently. I wish to speak of
his character and disposition. He has qualities that appeal to me
strongly. His pure and temperate life, his habits of industry and the
princely generosity of his nature, have been to me an incentive and an
inspiration. It is said of our Savior: 'He went about doing good.’
Heber J. Grant has followed that glorious example and proved himself a
true disciple of the Lord.
"Gifted with rare financial ability, he has prospered in material
things and has long! been known as one of Utah's ablest and brightest
business men. Acting upon the principle that the true mission of the
man of affairs is not so much in getting and keeping,, as in sharing
and bestowing, he has made it a practice to help deserving individuals
and worthy causes and is in a position to realize the truth of the
proverb: 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.' More than one
poor widow, with the mortgage lifted from her humble home, has reason
to bless the name and remember the kindness of Heber J. Grant. More
than one struggling author, unable through lack of means to launch upon
the waters of publicity the result of his literary labor, recalls as a
sweet memory the timely aid rendered by this enthusiastic friend to
letters.
"Brother Grant not only helps to publish books; he is likewise a
liberal patron of the sellers of books, always to the front with an
order for copies of any meritorious production. He likes to distribute
them among his friends, for the pleasure he derives in thus ministering
to the intellectual appetite. It matters not where the book comes from
—whether issued at home or abroad; it has but to strike his fancy as
good and wholesome reading and it is certain to meet his approval and
receive his patronage. He makes it a point to underscore any striking
sentiment, with a view to impressing it upon the minds of those to whom
he sends these delightful gifts.
"For some time after the beginning of my acquaintance with Heber Grant
I did not understand him, nor do I think he understood me. Exceedingly
sensitive, both of us— quick to feel, easily hurt and perhaps
over-ready to resent a slight, real or fancied, we sometimes
misinterpreted each other and spoke and acted accordingly. But the bark
was always worse than the bite; in fact it never came to a bite at all.
I soon found that my blunt, outspoken schoolmate was a genial,
kind-hearted friend, anxious to help me when I needed help and willing
to put himself out and add to his own cares in order to lessen mine. We
were little more than boys at the time; but he was a manly boy. the
support of his widowed mother, industrious and thrifty, earning a good
salary as collector or bookkeeper in a local bank. Finding me out of
employment, and very wretched on account of it, he not only told me of
a place that was open, waiting for an applicant, but offered to sit up
nights and teach me bookkeeping that I might qualify for the situation.
Another opening, more congenial, prevented my acceptance of the well
meant offer, but I shall never forget the kind motive that prompted it.
He has done such things repeatedly for various persons. I could name a
dozen men, now prominent in commercial or professional life, who began
their careers virtually as protégés of Heber J Grant.
"A hater of sham and hypocrisy, an uncompromising foe to vice in all
its forms, he is fearless and unsparing in the denunciation of
wrongdoers. But there is another side of his nature. While abrupt and
severe at times, he is always kind and gentle to the aged and ailing
and is an affectionate and devoted husband and father. His love for his
mother was beautiful, and she was well worthy of his tender filial
affection. He is quick to respond to appeals for assistance and seldom
waits for the appeal to be made before supplying the needs of the
unfortunate.
"Brother Grant does not pose as an orator, yet few public speakers are
more incisive or more inspirational. He is great in testimony and when
inspired his clear-cut sentences have all the swing and flash of a
saber stroke. His voice is clear and penetrating; nobody goes to sleep
while Heber Grant is talking. He also wields a trenchant and ready pen.
His favorite time for committing his thoughts to paper is anywhere
between midnight and daybreak. He is a model of perseverance, a
persistent overcomer of obstacles, a dynamo of energy, and a Gatling
gun in execution.
"As stake president, apostle, mission president and president or
director in various large business concerns, he has shown himself
possessed of marked administrative ability. Public-spirited and
philanthropic, he manifests the true zeal of the reformer and is in his
glory when heading or helping forward a movement for the moral uplift
and regeneration of his fellows. If ever Utah 'goes dry' it will be
largely owing to the indomitable will and energetic efforts put forth
by this oft-defeated but never discouraged champion of prohibition. I
regard him as an ideal successor to the good and great man who so
recently left us, causing a vacancy in the high and holy office of
President of the Twelve Apostles."
Since these words were written Utah has ratified the national
prohibition amendment. It is a source of great joy to President Grant,
just as is the accomplishment of every plan or project that tends to
the moral development of the individual or the community at large, or
the adoption of the high principles for which he has ever stood.
[Source: Utah since Statehood:
Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
LAWRENCE GREENE
Lawrence Greene, president and manager of the Utah Fire Clay Company
and thus connected with one of the substantial productive industries of
Salt Lake City, was born in Ottawa, Canada, January 25, 1865, a son of
Robert Young and Mary Jane (Monk) Greene, who were natives of Ireland
and of Canada respectively. The mother was the daughter of a British
officer. The father crossed the Atlantic to the Dominion as a young man
and came to Canada to manage the estate of his uncle, General Lloyd, in
the province of Ontario. Later he took up the occupation of farming in
that country, he and his wife remaining residents of Canada until
called to the home beyond. They had a family of seven children, four of
whom are yet living: Arthur, now a resident of Salmon, Idaho; Went
worth and Harold, who still make their home in Ottawa, Canada; and
Lawrence.
The last named had the advantages of training in the Collegiate
Institute of Ottawa and following his graduation left home to try his
fortune in the western section of the United States. He went first to
Clayton, Idaho, and located on the Salmon river, where he engaged in
mining and smelting, becoming an employee of the Clayton Mining &
Smelting Company. His capability and fidelity in this connection are
indicated in the fact that he remained with the company for twenty
years and was advanced from a minor position to that of general
manager. While in that employ he compiled a set of books which is a
model of neatness and accuracy and so systematic that one can turn to
any date and find the exact output per ton and the value of the assay
to the smallest detail. Mr. Greene still has these records in his
possession. While with the Clayton Mining & Smelting Company he
also engaged in merchandising at Clayton, conducting a profitable
business in that connection.
On the 22d of December, 1902, he severed all business ties, removing to
Salt Lake City, where he invested in the Utah Fire Clay Company, of
which he was elected president and manager in 1905. He has since
remained the chief executive officer, concentrating his energies and
attention upon the administrative direction of the business and upon
constructive development.. The Utah Fire Clay Company is a corporation
capitalized at one million dollars, manufacturing all kinds of
ornamental and plain clay products, including pipe, brick and terra
cotta ornaments. In the Salt Lake plant they employ one hundred and
thirteen yard men.
They have four yards, in which employment is given altogether to two
hundred and fifty people, and they make shipments to all parts of the
United States, Canada and Mexico. Mr. Greene is most efficiently
directing this business and he has also extended his connection to
other companies, being now a director of the McCormick & Company
Bank of Salt Lake, a director of the Columbia Trust Company of Salt
Lake, in both of which he is a member of the executive and loan
committees; president of Bonneville-on-the-Hill, a suburb in the best
residential section of Salt Lake; president of the Columbus Rexall
Company; a director of the Utah Light & Traction Company; managing
director of the Clayton Mining & Smelting Company of Clayton,
Idaho; president of the Finance Company of Salt Lake; president of the
Utah Paraffin Oil & Wax Company; a director of the Utah Steel
Corporation; a director of the Utah Associated Industries; and
connected with many other important business projects, which not only
constitute a source of substantial income to stockholders but which
also feature as important elements of public commercial and industrial
progress.
On the 22nd of August, 1890, Mr. Greene was married to Miss Katherine
Colvin, of Challis, Idaho, and they have become parents of four
children. Godfrey C., who was born in Clayton, Idaho, June 1, 1891, was
educated in the schools of that state and of Canada. He is now married
and resides in Hayden, Arizona, where he is foreman of the flotation
process plant of the Ray Consolidated Company. Claudia Lloyd, born in
Clayton, Idaho, August 17, 1894, attended the schools of Salt Lake City
and is continuing her education in the Leland Stanford University.
Robert Harold, born in Clayton, Idaho, August 23, 1897, supplemented
his public school training in Salt Lake City by study in Yale
University. During the great world war he was in the marine aviation
service, stationed at Miami, Florida, where he was honorably
discharged, the armistice being signed before he had opportunity to go
to France. He is now with the National City Company in its office in
Chicago, Illinois. Lawrence, born July 19, 1906, is attending the
Lafayette school of Salt Lake City.
Mr. Greene is very fond of outdoor life and athletic sports and is a
baseball enthusiast. He is a director of the Salt Lake Baseball Club of
the Pacific Coast League. He, belongs to the Commercial and Alta Clubs
of Salt Lake, being ex-president of the latter, and he gives his
political allegiance to the republican party. He served as colonel on
the staff of Governor Spry during the latter's second term. His
interest is that of a citizen, however, and not of an office seeker, as
he has always preferred to give his thought and attention to business
affairs, and the earnest purpose which he has displayed since making
his initial step in the business world has proven a safe foundation
upon which to build success, for he has continuously advanced until he
now occupies a prominent and enviable position in industrial circles of
his adopted city.
[Source: Utah since Statehood:
Historical and Biographical Volume 2; By Noble Warrum; Publ. 1919;
Transcribed and submitted by Andrea Stawski Pack.]
HENRY W. GWILLIAM
HENRY W. GWILLIAM, President of the Utah and Oregon Lumber Company. It
is safe to say that among the important industries of this State the
lumber business ranks well towards the front, and in Ogden especially
are to be found a number of flourishing firms, among which that over
which our subject presides as President undoubtedly is one of the
leaders. The yards of the company are located near the Union Depot and
cover an area of an acre and a half of ground. The firm was originally
founded in 1889 by Mr. Gwilliam as a private concern and later
incorporated. They have an extensive trade throughout Utah, Nevada,
Idaho and Wyoming.
Mr. Gwilliam was born in Salt Lake City, February 21, 1857, and is the
son of Henry B. and Elizabeth (Palmer) Gwilliam; natives of Shrewsbury
and Schropshire, England, respectively. After listening to the gospel
of Mormonism as preached by missionaries then traveling in England, the
parents joined the Church in 1855 and that same year emigrated to
America, coming direct to Utah, where the subject of this sketch was
born. During the Johnston army troubles the family moved to Springville
and in 1862 went to Cache Valley. The father was called to go on a
mission to the Salmon River country and in 1870 located at Hooper,
Weber County, where he and his wife still reside, engaged in general
farming, fruit raising and merchandising. He was Bishop of South Hooper
Ward for several years, and for the past thirty-two years has taken a
prominent and active part in all the affairs of that community.
Our subject, who is the oldest of a family of nine children, was raised
in Cache Valley and Hooper, and received his education from the schools
of those places. In 1881 he left home and took a position with Barnard
White in Ogden, having charge of his lumber yards for thirteen years,
and it was during this time that Mr. Gwilliam familiarized himself with
the details of the lumber business and laid the foundation of his
subsequent successful career. In 1889 he organized the Utah and Oregon
Lumber Company, becoming President, and from then until 1896 was
actively identified with that business. At that time he entered public
life as Street Commissioner for the City of Ogden, resigning at the end
of two years, and was then appointed to fill an unexpired term as
County Assessor. In 1899 he bought the controlling interest in the Utah
and Oregon Lumber Company and again became its President. This business
had been incorporated under its present name in 1892, under the laws of
the State, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. After taking
hold of the business the second time Mr. Gwilliam made a number of
additions and improvements and since 1899 the business has doubled,
their custom extending out into all the adjoining States.
In addition to the above establishment our subject is also interested
in a member of lesser enterprises, and was for years a member of the
firm of Gwilliam Brothers Salt Company, of which he was one of the
organizers.
He is an ardent Democrat, being one of the men who organized the party
in Weber County at the time of the division on National lines, and has
taken part in almost every convention held since. He is at this time a
member of the Board of Education, which position he has held for two
years, and has been a strong friend to all matters pertaining to the
erection of better school buildings and equipments.
He is a resident of the Fourth Ward and an active worker in the Mormon
Church in whose doctrines he has been born and reared. He has passed
all through the Lesser Priesthood and at this time is First Counselor
to the Bishop of the Ward. He was made one of the Seven Presidents of
the Seventy-seventh Quorum of Seventies, at its organization in 1884,
and in 1887 was ordained and set aside at High Priest and First
Counselor to Bishop Stratford, holding that position up to the time of
the Bishop's death, since when he has served in the same capacity to
Bishop E. T. Woolley. He has also been prominent in the work of the
Sunday School and the Young Men's Mutual Improvement Association.
Mr. Gwilliam was married in 1881 to Miss Frances M. Chambers, daughter
of John G. and Maria (Duffin) Chambers. They have three sons and two
daughters—Florence F., Henry C, Maria Elizabeth, Roscoe Chambers and
Ralph Chambers.
[Source: Portrait, Genealogical
and Biographical Record of the State of Utah; Publ. 1902 By The
National Historical Record Co., Chicago; Transcribed and submitted by
Andrea Stawski Pack.]
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