Benjamin Franklin Pendleton

Benjamin-Builder of the Kingdom

(Brigham’s Right Hand Man)

Benjamin Franklin Pendleton

 

The tenth day of April 1842 changed Benjamin Franklin Pendleton’s life forever.  As this handsome six foot tall man came up out of the water his shock of dark wavy hair brushed back and his dark blue eyes shone with a new conviction.   He came up out of the water’s of baptism a new man.  His wife Lavina looked like a china doll holding little 8 months old William. They had begun a new life, of commitment to the restored gospel of Jesus Christ.  They had no way of knowing that just two days hence their little William would pass beyond the veil thus causing them to work even harder for salvation and eternal life.  

A year later Benjamin and Lavina made the necessary arrangements and with their hope of a celestial glory and their tiny baby Celestia Ann they joined the saints in Nauvoo Illinois.   Ben set up a blacksmith shop and built a home for his family.  Ben received the priesthood and was ordained a seventy.  Threats increased and just after the birth of their third child the prophet Joseph and his Brother Hyrum were killed at Carthage.  As mob threats and violence became worse Ben worked long hours getting wagons and tools ready for saints preparing to leave the city.  Before the Nauvoo temple was even dedicated he and Lavina were among the first to receive endowments. (January 28, 1846)  Many of the saints crossed the frozen Mississippi river in February of 1846.  Ben stayed working night and day in his blacksmith shop.  Lavina had her 4^th child, John, in Nauvoo March 23, 1846 as she prepared the family belongings and packed their wagon to follow the saints.  

            When Benjamin and Lavina and their three young children crossed the river on their way to Winter Quarters the stream was high and their wagon was put on the ferry boat.  In loading the cattle some of them became upset and began to cause commotion.  The ferry began to tip, the wagon began to slide, and it looked as if Lavina and the babies would be thrown into the raging stream.  As the ferry twisted and swerved in the tumultuous water Ben remembered the dreadful day their first born son passed away.  His heart screamed, “Please don’t let another child be lost”.  Benjamin was helpless and knew that only the Lord could save them.  He prayed and asked the Lord to preserve the lives of his wife and babies. In return he promised to always work to help build and strengthen the church.  His prayer was answered and ever he worked to fill his promise.  

            In April, 1847, when Brigham Young and the first company of Pioneers left to find a place for the saints to locate in safety, Benjamin was requested by Brigham Young to remain at Winter Quarters to help further prepare the saints for the long hard trip across the plains.

            Because Benjamin was such a good blacksmith and could repair and manufacture most anything, he was advised to open a shop in the vicinity of Winter Quarters, and give his service to repairing and fitting up more wagons for the Saints who were preparing to cross the plains in the spring.  He was kept very busy during the winter of 1847-1848. 

            Ben took his family West in the spring of 1848 in the second Company of Brigham Young.  Their son Joshua was born May 24 as the journey was about to get underway.  During the journey Benjamin was closely associated with Brigham Young, even to the extent that the President spoke of Ben as his right hand man.  

After arriving in Salt Lake City Benjamin set up a homestead and blacksmith shop on  6^th South between 4^th and 5^th East.  His young brother Andrew Jackson Pendleton was assigned an adjoining lot and appears to have worked as a partner in the shop.  It was impossible to import the different tools that were needed for the settlers.  Ben would make them. Nails, bolts, horseshoes, plows, harrows, wagon parts and tools of all kinds.  He manufactured many things that helped build up the community.  There was scarcely a settlement in the territory where the products of his shop were not known or being used.  In October of 1850 he received an award for the best plow in the manufacturing division of the Annual Exhibit.  He made a molasses mill and molasses during the early 1850’s.  He also made a grist mill for making flour and a saw mill.  He was an expert in repairing guns, and many Indians as well as settlers came to him for these services.  Eventually the Pendleton’s had a nice two story adobe house, surrounded by a white picket fence, with a garden of vegetables in the back and flowers in the front.  By the local standards they were prosperous         

Ben was called to the Blackfoot Mission in Idaho, to teach the Indians and start the first Idaho settlement. Before Ben returned from this mission to the Indians in Idaho there was a tragic accident at home. Andrew his little 6 year old boy drowned in the Jordon River in Salt Lake City. Andrew had gotten into some quick sand and his brother Ben, age 12 made an unsuccessful attempt to rescue him. Tragically Ben died from this incident 4 days later.         

Ben’s wife Lavina walked on crutches.  Maybe from a broken hip that was never properly cared for.  She had eleven children and raised 7 to adulthood.  Ben always saw that she had a hired girl to help her.

The Pendleton blacksmith shop was very near the place where the emigrants landed when they arrived from their native lands and many foreigners found their way to his place looking for work. Many were given employment and a place to stay for a while.

Alice Jeffery was glad to come to live at the Pendleton home as a servant.  She was treated as a sister and a member of the family.
The story as told by their granddaughter,  "One day President Brigham Young sent word to Ben that he wished to see him in his office.  When Ben returned home, Lavina, inquired, “what did Brigham want to see you about?” 

With an ashen face Ben said, “Lavina, I hate to tell you.”

She said, “Then I’ll tell you.  He wants you to take a young able bodied wife and go settle something or other.”

Ben said, “You took the words right out of his mouth.  He wants me to go on the Cotton Mission to Southern Utah.  He thinks you have had enough pioneering and he used the words, young and able bodied just as you did.  There will be men of all trades and I am to be the blacksmith.”

Ben had no desire to take another wife.  He could not imagine being with anyone except Lavina. With his head in his hands he said, “I gave my word.  I covenanted with the Lord to always strive to build the kingdom. How can I fill this call?”  Ben could not imagine leaving Lavina and the children. “What young able bodied woman would want to marry an old man anyway?”  (Clara M. Pinkston)

Lavina had also made the commitment to help build the kingdom in any way she could, as she thought she replied,  “Ben what about our new house girl, Alice? We all love her, she is wonderful with the kids.” 

“A young girl like Alice would not dream of marrying me.” 

Lavina replied, “Ben, there isn’t a woman alive, old or young who wouldn’t be glad to marry you.”

Lavina went to the kitchen to summon Alice.  This lovely English girl was down on her knees scrubbing the white pine floor with sand. Soap was hard to come by.  They put the proposition up to her, with Lavina doing most of the talking.  Alice was more than willing.  Later as the marriage was being performed, Lavina was asked if she gave her consent to it.  She said, “I should give my consent, being as it was I who arranged it.”

So in 1861 Ben and his new wife left the family. What a heart retching winter day. Little 3-year-old Abram hung on his dad’s leg and 6-month-old Emma smiled, not a clue of what was going on. Ben hugged Lavina, again commissioned his brother Andrew and the older boys to watch over the family and with his wagon full of blacksmith tools headed south.

The trek to St. George was over 300 miles and took about a month.  Benjamin was selected as one of the leading men of the mission.  In March of 1862 he was elected as one of two Aldermen with power to make laws for the government of the city and judicial power to enforce the laws.  He was on the water committee. When the city was surveyed he received two lots on the corner of 1^st north and 1^st west.  There he built a blacksmith shop and a two room adobe house where he and Alice raised 7 children.  The Apostle Orson Pratt was a neighbor; Brigham Young later became his neighbor when he located his wife Lucy B. and her daughters across the street.

Ben traveled to Salt Lake as often as he could and took dried fruit and vegetables, smoked ham and bacon, etc.  The trip took two weeks if the wagon did not break down.

Ben prepared and maintained a lovely garden, orchard and vineyard. He had success at raising fruits, berries, and currants.  The fruit peddlers often could load a wagon full of fruits from his garden to haul to market.  He was generous, sharing much with his neighbors and friends.  Alice canned a great quantity of produce.  Ben assisted in organizing a Gardner’s Club and then a hall to house it in. (1867) The club did much to promote fruit growing in the Dixie Mission.  Through the efforts of this club many beautiful shade trees were planted along the streets, adding beauty to the city and cooling the hot Dixie summer days.  By cooperation with the United States Department of Agriculture, many new species of plants, trees and vines were obtained, which proved a great worth to the people of the area. Ben built the first cotton gin and cotton mill used by the settlers in 1863in the little town of Washington.

Ben was fond of hunting and fishing.  One evening in November 1881 he went to hunt in the foothills by Middleton with Israel Line.  Israel went to visit and spend the night with a daughter who lived in Middleton. 

When nightfall came and Ben did not return home Alice was quite worried.  She asked Gus Hardy, the sheriff to go look for him.  Hardy said it was too late; he would go early in the morning.  It was a long night.  In the morning Hardy got an Indian who was a good scout, to accompany him.  They followed Ben’s tracks through the graveyard and found him.  He had laid down probably to rest and had passed away.  In the longest funeral procession on record the community came to pay tribute to Brigham’s Right Hand Man, Builder of the Kingdom Benjamin Franklin Pendleton.