The Minor Family of Somerset

--------It isimperative that mention be made of Charles Willia
m Penrose in the history ofUtah, else the record will be incomp
lete, for he has taken a most prominentpart in shaping public t
hought and opinion in the state and thereby guiding the histor
y of the commonwealth. He is toDay known as the "grand old man
" ofjournalism in Utah, and he has been eminent as a Churchman
, being the secondcounselor to President Heber J. Grant of th
e Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was born at Ca
mberwell, London, England, February 4, 1832, and has therefore p
assed the eighty-seventh milestone on life's journey. He isth
e scion of an old Cornish family who held large interests in Eng
lish tinmines. In his youthful Days Mr. Penrose displayed grea
t brilliancy in his classes and it was freely predicted by his t
utors that he would attain the success in life which has been hi
s in every way. He early learned of Mormonism and was enamored w
ith the theories of the teachings. He joined the Church May 14
, 1850, and was the only one of his father's family that ever es
poused thecause of this Church. In January, 1851, he was ordain
ed as an elder and sentby the London conference to Maldon, in E
ssex, to preach the gospel and carrythe teachings of the churc
h to the people of that locality. Early in March,without funds
, he started on this jouriney, endured incredible hardships, sle
eping out during the cold winter nights with the ground as his b
ed. In addition he encountered great opposition to his work, bu
t notwithstanding this heraised branches of the Church in Maldo
n,Danbury, Chelmsford, Colchester andother places. For seven ye
ars he labored in the poor agricultural districts and during thi
s period he married Lucetta Stratford of Maldon, sister of the l
ate Bishop Edwin S. Stratford of Ogden, Utah, on the 21st of Jan
uary, 1855.Mr. Penrose was next called to preside over the Lond
on conference and laterwas placed in charge of the Cheltenham p
astorate, consisting of Cheltenham, Monmouthshire, Worcestershir
e and Herefordshire conferences. Subsequently he was assigned t
o the Birmingham pastorate and at this time he also wrote articl
es on theological subjects for the Millennial Star, a publicatio
n at Liverpool.
Utah Since State: Historical and Biographical. Volume II.
In the year 1861 Mr. Penrose crossed the sea on the sailing vess
el Underwriter, assistingin the charge of six hundred and twent
y passengers, living with them in the steerage during the thirt
y Days passage from Liverpool to New York and helpingto care fo
r them on the subsequent journey through the states to the Misso
uri river. He crossed the plains with his wife, his family and h
is wife's relatives, driving his own ox team, and was eleven wee
ks on the way. Arrived inUtah he settled at Farrnington, wher
e he went to work in the fields, climbingthe mountains for fire
wood and doing other kinds of hard physical labor, forwhich h
e was not particularly fitted. In the winters he taught school
, andmaking considerable Headway, he soon acquired a small home
. In the autumn of1864, at the solicitation of Ezra T. Benson
, one of the twelve apostles, hemoved to Logan in Cache valley
, where he again labored and taught school. Hehad scareely secu
red a bit of ground and a log cabin when he was called uponfo
r a mission to England. He now held the office of a Seventy, hav
ing beenordained one of the presidents of the fifty-sixth quoru
m during his residenceat Farmington.
Utah Since State: Historical and Biographical. Volume II.
Incompany with some forty other missionaries in charge of Elde
r William B. Preston, he started in May, 1865, upon his second j
ourney across the plains, this time with mule teams, but walkin
g most of the way. Notwithstanding the factthat the hostile Ind
ians were everywhere and p