A History of Fredrick George Wilde by Louisa Wilde Ballantyne

A History of Fredrick George Wilde

by Louisa Wilde Ballantyne

Fredrick Wilde was born Wednesday, 8 October 1834 in Bishopstoke, Hampshire, England, the fourth child of William Wilde and Eliza Phillips. Fredrick had black hair, hazel eyes and was short in stature.

Fredrick's parents were contacted by the Mormon missionaries in England, were taught the gospel and became converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Fredrick was baptized by Henry Brown Wilde, his father’s brother, on 11 December 1849 in England. He was then 15 years old.

At the age of 20, Fredrick decided to emigrate to America with his brother John to gather with the Saints in Utah Territory. John was 23 years old at the time. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in the spring of 1854.


There, Fredrick chose a piece of ground in what is now known as the Sugar House area. It was somewhere in the vicinity of where the old State Penitentiary was located. He grew many acres of hay and wheat. The harvesting of the grain was done with a cradle and dropper. After the hay was raked it was fashioned into bands and each was bound by hand.

Fredrick was chosen by President Brigham Young to be one of his personal body guards and they were the best of friends.

President Young sent a company of men, Fredrick among them, to scout the Provo area, to see if settlements could be made there. They were some of the first people to scout in that area.

During the construction of the Salt Lake Temple, Fredrick hauled many loads of the granite rocks with his wagon and ox team. The granite quarry was in Cottonwood Canyon.

While located in the Sugar House area, he became ill with Mountain Fever. During the high fever and in a delirious state, he wandered unknowingly from home. There were many Indians in Utah at that time and some of them found him. They cared for him, doctoring him with medicine made from wild herbs, until he was restored to his health and cured of his illness. They became very fond of Fredrick and wanted to adopt and keep him. Fearing he might run away, they guarded him night and day. Fredrick, wanting to get back to his home, watched for a chance to escape. That chance came: he started out on the run but had not gone far when he felt a sharp sting in his leg. An Indian had tried to stop him by shooting an arrow at him which hit the middle part of his leg. Nevertheless, he just kept right on running and finally did escape. He carried that scar, left by the arrow, all his life.

After Fredrick had been in Utah a few years, President Young called him into his home and made a request of him. He was asked to either go on a mission for the Church or make a trip back east and bring more Saints back to Utah. Fredrick replied that he certainly wasn’t a preacher and would much prefer going back after more emigrants. He made three trips back east across the plains to bring the eager Saints to Utah. On the third trip he had a group of nineteen young unmarried women in the company.

In the Spring of 1859, President Young sent Fredrick to Coalville, then known as Calk Creek. He was one of the very first settlers in the Chalk Creek area. When he arrived there, he found a few mud huts with plenty of weeds and sagebrush surrounding them. For a while he lived with the William Smith family and worked for Mr. Smith.

William Henderson Smith is considered to be the father of Coalville. In a history of Coalville, written by the Summit County Historical Society, it is says "William H. Smith, while freighting through the area in 1858, noticed that wheat spilled from wagons grew to maturity. Where wheat would ‘volunteer’, he decided, was a good place for a settlement. Taking some of the wheat back to Salt Lake City, he convinced four families to return with him to Chalk Creek in the spring of 1859. Other settlers who first came to Chalk Creek were Leonard Phillips, Andrew Williams, Alanson Norton (father of Thomas Hewlett Wilde‘s first wife Martha Elmina Norton), Henry B. Wilde, Joseph Stallings, and Thomas B. Franklin. The desirability of Chalk Creek soon spread and by 1860 fifteen families were living there."

He drove his wagon and team of oxen, hauling freight to and from Salt Lake. While living with the Smith’s, his honesty was put to the test. He found a five dollar gold piece in the toe of his boot. He knew it didn’t belong to him. Therefore he promptly returned it to Mr. Smith. On another occasion Mr. Smith was leaving the home for a few days and had purposely left some money on an open shelf. When he returned the money was still where he had left it. This convinced William Smith of the honesty of Fredrick Wilde. They were the best of friends all their lives.

During the first part of September of 1859, the William Wilde family arrived in Echo with the George Rowley Handcart Company. In the party were William Wilde, Fredrick’s father, and Fredrick’s siblings, Thomas, Henry (and his wife Jane Batchelor and their two children), Mary, Eliza and Elizabeth Sarah.

Meeting the party at Echo were Fredrick and John. They were brought to the Chalk Creek area. A little later on the entire group of settlers except the Rees family went on to Sugar House for the winter. Then in the early spring of 1860 these settlers returned to Chalk Creek. Fredrick decided then to stay and locate in the Chalk Creek (Coalville) area so he donated all his land in Salt Lake to the Church. He chose some land in the Chalk Creek area, began to cultivate it and built a log house on his property. It wasn’t an easy task to farm in those days, but he was industrious, thrifty, a good manager and worked hard. He became a successful farmer and stockman. He was considered one of the most prosperous farmers of his day in the community of Coalville, Utah. William Wilde built a home just across the street and a little north of his son Fredrick’s home. A grandson, Willard Heber Wilde, owns and lives in that home today. (as of 1969)

Fredrick Wilde helped to build the railroad in Echo to Coalville. Helped to build the Summit Stake House as well as donated generously to the building. The Summit Stake has been remodeled and is still in good use at the present time. He owned the land in the vicinity of the property now owned by Thomas Moore (Motels) that extended back to the edge of the mountains in the west part of town. He later donated this land to the LDS Church to be used as a perpetual emigration fund. He requested that a church house be built on the upper part of this land or block. This was accomplished and he again contributed generously to the building of this meeting house. It was also used for a school house, especially after the Summit Steak House was completed, known as the "Old Rock School House." Recently this old building was moved to Salt Lake City and placed in the Pioneer Village Museum at 2998 South 2150 East. It has been restored to its original use as a meeting house.

Fredrick Wilde was veteran of the "Black Hawk War".

Many times he has walked from Coalville to Salt Lake City, especially when the roads were too bad to be traveled with a team, to bring back household articles that could not be purchased in Coalville.

Mrs. Barraclough, a nurse and midwife, would call upon Fredrick to drive her wherever she had to go. Any time during the day or night he would leave whatever he was doing to take her to help and aid the sick.

Fredrick married Louisa Farnsworth 16 December 1866. Two sons and a daughter were born of this marriage, but Louisa died 4 August 1872 and five months later his little daughter, Hannah Eliza Wilde, passed away January 1873 leaving him with his two little sons, John William and George Frederick, to care for. He had a hard time trying to find someone to help care for his little boys. He finally found a young lady who had just emigrated to Utah from England with her brother William. Jemima Clark was her name.

She was looking for work to earn money to send back to England for her parents and other brothers and a sister to come to America and on to Utah. Fredrick found Jemima to be efficient, trustworthy and a very capable person. In fact he fell in love with Jemima, wooed her and won her love. They were married 14 July 1873 (almost a year after Louisa passed away) in the Salt Lake Temple by Joseph F. Smith. To this union were born nine children: five boys and four girls. The children were Mary Elizabeth (she died in infancy), Emmelia Jane, Sarah Ann, Samuel, Pricilla, Joseph Edward, Willard Heber, Albert (he died in infancy), and Clarence Reuben.

Fredrick owned a fine and handsome team of horses, a buggy or surrey with the fringe on top and lamps on either side, and a cutter or sleigh in which his family and their friends enjoyed going for rides and used for their transportation.

Fredrick Wilde was a devoted, kind and loving husband and father. He was very generous to those less fortunate than himself. He repeatedly shared with those in need, doing good all the days of his life. Indians often camped in his lower field and Fredrick would supply them with milk, butter and eggs. They knew they were welcome to camp on his property and Fredrick figured it was better to be-friend them than to cause feelings and trouble.

Fredrick Wilde died with pneumonia 31 Dec 1910 at the age of 76 years and was buried in the Coalville City Cemetery 6 January 1911.

This story was written by his granddaughter Louisa Wilde Ballantyne and was prepared for the Wilde Organization reunion 12 July 1969. Mary A. made a few minor changes in the text. Note that Fredrick’s name is sometimes spelled elsewhere as Frederick.