THEY WERE PIONEERS

My 2nd great grandparents, Charles Joseph Gordon Logie and Rosa Clara Friedlander Logie,

were both born in England. They saw London, yet they met for the first time at Sydney,

Australia. They lived the longer part of their lives in Utah. In Sydney, the Mormon Missionaries

taught them the Mormon faith. When Brigham Young called for Mormons to gather to Utah,

they left for that destination. The story of their eastward journey by sea contrasts with the story

of the westward toiling handcart companies, which came to Utah at about the same time. The

same courage and the same faith sustained them both.

Charles Joseph Gordon Logie was born in Chelsea, Middlesex Co., England on 15 October

1829. The following account of his fathers life was published in a New Zealand newspaper:

"Logie, Charles Hook Gordon, born in London 1810, landed at Sydney 1839, and took charge

of government stores at Auckland 1840; was present at the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi;

landing surveyor at Wallington; Sub-collector Shand, arriving 1852 with wife and family.

Walked to Dimden twice a week to transact business, and on one occasion, night coming on, lost

his way in the brush and spent the night somewhere about Upper Junction; acted as postmaster,

receiver of land revenue, chief gold receiver, harbour master, comptroller of navigation laws,

Sub-Colonial Treasurer, and was also lay reader in connection with the Anglican Church both at

Port and Dunedie. Mr. Logie and one of his sons erected the first custom-house at Bluff on its

being declared a port of entry, and the building is said to be standing to this day. Made the

journey overland to Invercargill to establish an overland mail service, continued for some years, Jack Graham being the postman. Rev. W. Bennerman accompanied him back and they missed their way on the Mataura Plains. Died September 19th, 1866."

The biographer neglected to mention that he lived to tell of his adventures on the Mataura

Plains, and died at home. However, the main story is of Charles Joseph, who was ten years old

when his father came to New Zealand. He shared the adventure of being lost about Upper

Junction and helped build the customs house at Bluff. New Zealand was then in the early

stages of settlement. A few hardy souls had bunched together near the coast in various villages.

Natives were still a menace and the inland plains were wild. Ten years after the Logie’s arrival,

James MacAndres became interested in Otago. On his arrival in 1851, he began to make

business concerns more mature. MacAndres, building on the foundation of government

machinery already set up, helped build limekilns at Kaikorai, a flour mill at Green Island, and

started a shipment of trade. He sent wool to London in his ships and brought back colonists. He

also established contacts with Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, which were already sizeable

towns. By 1880, the little province of Otago, abolished as a separate unit of government

by the United Government earlier than this date, had not only high schools, but also a university

which could grand degrees. Schools were established early in all the colonies and Charles Joseph

attended those at Nelson. He, with his father, saw much of the work being done to improve

harbors, establish postal service, and bring settlers to the country and sell land to them.

Charles father believed that no man was educated until he had served his apprenticeship at sea

and became an able-bodied sailor. When Charles became 18, his father, then sub-collector at

Nelson, New Zealand, sent him to sea. Charles never returned to New Zealand, nor did his two

younger brothers who were sent to sea in their turn. The still younger brothers, who followed

several girls in the family, did not receive this part of their education. Of the oldest three

brothers, one settled in Australia, another was lost at sea and Charles, who was seaman about the

colonies for seven years, did not return to Nelson because Sydney was his home port. He met a

Mormon girl in Sydney, Australia. This girl, Rosa Clara Friedlander, was born on the island of

Guernsey, in the English Channel, 15 June 1837 of French-English and German Parents. When

she was still a child, shortly after her brother James was born, her father died. Her mother moved

to London, where she worked at her trade of dressmaking. The colonies were well advertised in

London. Otago, New Zealand had a London branch of the Lay Association of Scotland for

promoting the settlement of the colony of Otago. Similar agencies from a large number of the

settlements of the colony were collecting colonizers. Rosa's mother accepted the job of going, as

matron, on a vessel bound for Sydney. She made her home in Sydney when Rosa was 12 years

old. Work for women was plentiful. The men in London, who sought women to go to Sydney,

hardly exaggerated the opportunities. Rosa's mother soon married a miner named Wadson who

became quite wealthy. They early became interested in the Mormon missionaries teachings.

They were taught by Elders John S. Eldridge and James Graham, who were at the time under

Bro. Farnham, President of the Mission House. Rosa walked some distance to attend services

with her friend Sister Mary Ann Evans, newly married to Robert Evans. On the porch of this

Mission House, Rosa Clara Friedlander met Charles Joseph Gordon Logie. He was baptized,

after missionary C. W. Wandle had explained the faith to him in April, 1853.

On 24 May 1853, Rosa Clara Friedlander, then nearly 16, and Charles Joseph Gordon Logie,

then 24, were married at the home of Mormon friends by one of the missionaries. Nearly all of

this faithful little group of Mormons came to Utah when the missionaries returned at the call of

the church for all Mormons to gather in Utah. Sis. Mary Ann Evans and Bro. Robert Evans left

earlier than the Logie’s and this made them all the more anxious to leave the next year, shortly

after their baby Ann was born. They took passage on the "Julia Ann" bound for San Francisco.

Bro. John S. Eldridge sailed on the same boat and the sailors grumbled that the ship would never

reach port with both women and parsons aboard. That did not prevent the "Julia Ann" from

sailing with both women and Mormon missionaries among her 23 passengers. The weather was

perfect and the ship was well manned, yet it did not reach port.

A short time after dark and a few days out of port, the ship struck a coral reef off the Scilly

Island, one of the Society Group. The night was clear and the weather fair, but the ship was a

little off course. The men below felt the shock and scrambled to the deck wearing the first thing

that came to hand. The Captain realized that nothing could be done to save the ship. She would

soon be battered beyond repair on the rocks. A sailor swam through the surf to an out jutting

rock and fastened a rope to it. They then attached a sling seat to the rope. Bill Williams, a sailor,

saved seven women, taking them one by one on his lap as he sat in the sling. He could rest, but

in order to make progress, he had to brace with one hand grasping the rope with the other. All

were taken to the rocks and stood in water to the waist at high tide until morning. Little Ann

went about fastened securely with a shawl to her fathers back. The next morning, they followed

the coral reef around to a small bay on the main island. The island was barren and rocky, without

any vegetation.

The work of rescuing included little more than the saving of all of the passengers, some of

whom were scantily dressed. Charles Logie found he had on Billy Williams shoes, but Bill

Williams refused to take them back. Bro. John Eldridge was also a barefoot man. A a tool chest

was saved by one of the sailors and one of the women’s trunks was washed ashore. An Irish

sailor tried to hide a barrel of biscuits he had found along with a chest of tea that was washed

ashore. He was discovered and everyone used the biscuits. Enough wreckage was saved

that the men were able to build a small boat with the rescued tools. The boat made the dangerous

three mile trip to a neighboring island, where a few coconuts were found. The women made

shirts for the men from dresses from the trunk and made bandages for sore feet. The only food

on the island was turtles and turtle eggs. Water was caught in a reservoir that had been dug in the

rocks. A large share of the tea and coconut milk went Ann via her mother who got all the best of

things, including a silk petticoat tent. They had all the turtle meat and eggs that anyone wanted.

After more than two months of this life, they decided that some of the sailors should go in the

boat and try to reach a lane of sea traffic to hail a ship. They made the venture and brought the

"Emma Packer", a French fruiting vessel, to the rescue. After three long months on the desolate

island, on which a Mrs. Andrews and her children died of exposure, all but these three arrived

safely at Tahiti, less than half way to their goal.

The Logie’s remained seven months at Tahiti until they could arrange passage to San

Francisco. They found friends everywhere and stayed for a time at the Mormon mission and

among the Mormons in San Francisco. Upon arriving in San Francisco, the sailors gave Rosa

Logie a pewter teapot and a Mrs. Spanzenburg and Betty Austin gave them dresses for Ann.

Ann remembered wearing them in later years in American Fork, Utah, because they were nicer

than those worn by the other girls. They parted from these friends in San Francisco to take

charge of on of John C. Nailes ranches in Carson Valley, Nevada. On this ranch, they worked for

shares, putting in crops of vegetables and caring for a dairy herd. They churned butter with the

power of a water wheel made by grandfather Logie. Food was in demand and the prices were

considered high, even by the gold miners in California. The miners had no time to farm, but had

gold to pay for food. They sold part of their crops to raise cash for other living necessities.

On the Carson Valley ranch, the Logie’s had a second child. It was a boy, who they named

Charles Jr. Brigham Young issued a second urgent call for all who called themselves

"Mormons" to come to Utah, or Deseret as they considered naming the state. The Logie’s left the

ranch at Carson Valley and came over the mountains and desert in a Conestoga wagon to Utah.

Army-trained mules drew the wagon, both belonging to John C. Nailes. They settled on

one of his ranches in Lehi, Utah. Lehi was at that time a walled town, and the men guarded the

town against Indian attacks. The attacks were especially apt to occur in the winter time, when the

settlers had food stored and the Indians were starving. Grandfather Logie, walked the walls one

night with a broomstick on his shoulder. He had loaded his revolver to a man going out hunting

and fortunately for him, only his friends knew of the frightening circumstance. The Logie’s

stayed that winter in Lehi within the wall. They went out to the John C. Nailes farm near Lehi in

the summer and raised a crop of vegetables and hay.

They spent the next winter in Provo, Utah, where grandfather Logie worked with Silas Smith

in the tithing office. He planned with some others to invest in a farm in Provo Valley and raise a

crop the next summer. The cooperative was one of the first to be completely fenced and as usual,

the Logie’s improved the house by some of his clever carpentry work when they moved in the

home. The next march, another child, Silas was born in the farm home. Grandfather still worked

at the Tithing office and made frequent weekend trips to the farm, where he had left his family.

The place was very lonely for a woman alone with her children and Grandmother thought often

of her old friends she had left in Australia. Sister Mary Evans was now living in American Fork,

Utah. She and her husband Robert had come to Utah directly from Australia without the

shipwreck or long stops and they were comfortably settled and owned a team and wagon.

Grandmother insisted on borrowing the team and moving to American Fork early the next

spring. A shack on "Rotten Row", so called because the houses were so inadequate as shelter,

served them until the next fall, 1860. They then bought a one room log house from Henry Boley.

This room was later built around by other rooms and served as a middle room. They finally

owned a home and they remained in it for the rest of their lives. John Eldridge also lived in

American Fork and the first summer the Logie’s borrowed the Evans team to farm on John

Elkridge’s farm. That winter, they lived in their own house and opened a carpentry shop.

Grandfather loved to work on framing houses and in furniture polishing. He kept an account

book telling all of his work and the amount he was paid for each project. It tells a great story

about his life. Almost every home in the community had pieces of his handiwork in it. He also

made most of the coffins used in the north end of the valley. Farm produce was accepted for

payment in place of money. In good potato growing years, potatoes piled up, and in good apple

growing years it was apples and so it went. He built the first flag pole in American Fork, so the

account book says and he mounted the City Park Bell, which he was commissioned to ring every

night at nine o'clock.

For a time, he incorporated with Ted Lee, a painter, James Clark, Jack Bennett, James Carter

and Rueben Broadhurst, all general carpenters with their own minor specialties. They took jobs

together, set a price for each of their services, and then put up houses much more quickly than

alone. The homes benefited form each of their specialties. They built the American Fork Ward

Chapel, now Science Hall at the Harrington School. Furniture came in straight pieces and only

grandfather liked to assemble them. The others were often asked to do work in their specialty

and when one team member was gone, the others suffered. The plan worked in theory, but

unfortunately, the working arrangements did not work out. They also could not agree about

having joint capital invested in lumber and furniture. The men parted friends, and turned back to

their individual businesses and bookkeeping.

Shortly after they settled in American Fork, the coming of Johnston’s Army caused quite a

disturbance. Resistance took the form of hectoring the army. Wagons were burned and mules

were driven off, roads were flooded and at Echo Canyon a force assembled but then disbanded.

A. S. Johnston brought his army to Camp Floyd despite these minor irritations and people in

American Fork found them profitable neighbors. All sorts of farm products from butter and eggs

to vegetables were sold at the camp and even bits of fancy work and embroidery were sold.

Grandmother made some things that brought good prices, having learned many sewing skills

from her mother. The Civil War broke out and Johnston left with his men. Johnston was a

Southerner and went to fight for the South. The supplies left at Camp Floyd soon disappeared.

Gossip said that a couple of boys, who sold buttermilk to the army, found the camp deserted.

They helped themselves to enough groceries to start a store on Main Street. Grandfather went to

the camp and collected all the candle stubs from the barracks, found a broom, and brought home

the back door that he put on their house. The candles were the first spern candles they had seen.

They were used to melting candles with a floating wick. A large number of the community

shared in the dismantling of the camp. The store on Main Street sold hams and bacon at prices

higher than most could pay. Food was so precious that any waste was a crime to be punished by

the severest penalties. The government property at Camp Floyd was felt to belong to everyone,

so each tried to get his share and blame those that took more than they needed for themselves.

Prices for food was very high at this time. It was rumored that the Mountain Meadow Massacre

was partly justified, because members of that immigrant train had shot pigs and chickens, which

were the food of the Mormon settlers.

Although money was scarce, food problems seldom worried the Logie’s. They received food

for their work and Grandfather paid his tithes by working one month in ten on the Temple Square

Buildings in Salt Lake City. Little money was needed to buy clothing and to pay taxes. He

earned this money in later life by making coffins, lining and all, for $1.50 to $4.50 each. His

most expensive coffin sold for $20.00

Grandfather and Grandmother Logie had 12 children. All were brought up in the Mormon

faith. Grandfather was ordained a High Priest in American Fork by Charles Whitaker on 10 May

1895. The missionaries in Sydney did their work well when they explained the faith to the sailor

lad. It blossomed into a beautiful life of faithful service to the Lord.

December 2, 1990

LRD