 1855 - 1923 (68 years)
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| Name |
John Brook Hirst |
| Birth |
12 Jan 1855 |
Slaithwaite, Yorkshire, England  |
| Gender |
Male |
| Initiatory (LDS) |
24 Oct 1876 |
EHOUS |
| FamilySearch ID |
KWN2-W7W |
| Death |
7 Dec 1923 |
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
| Burial |
9 Dec 1923 |
Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
| Person ID |
I126 |
mytree |
| Last Modified |
25 Feb 2024 |
| Father |
John Hirst, b. 7 Jan 1816, Slaithwaite, Yorkshire, England d. 7 Sep 1878, Brighton, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 62 years) |
| Mother |
Charlotte Brook, b. 20 Feb 1819, Salendine Nook, Yorkshire, England d. 20 Jun 1880, Brighton, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 61 years) |
| Marriage |
5 Nov 1837 |
Huddersfield, Yorkshire, England |
| Family ID |
F102 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Family |
Alvira Spencer, b. 6 Oct 1858, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States d. 30 Dec 1931, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States (Age 73 years) |
| Marriage |
24 Oct 1876 |
Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
| Children |
| + | 1. Vira Hirst, b. 28 Feb 1889, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States d. 4 Nov 1969, Bellflower, Los Angeles, California, United States (Age 80 years) |
|
| Family ID |
F127 |
Group Sheet | Family Chart |
| Last Modified |
6 Mar 2025 |
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| Event Map |
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 | Birth - 12 Jan 1855 - Slaithwaite, Yorkshire, England |
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 | Initiatory (LDS) - 24 Oct 1876 - EHOUS |
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 | Marriage - 24 Oct 1876 - Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
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| Death - 7 Dec 1923 - Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
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 | Burial - 9 Dec 1923 - Salt Lake City Cemetery, Salt Lake, Utah, United States |
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| Notes |
- Pioneer
John G. Holman Company (1868)
Age at departure: 13
About 650 individuals and 62 wagons were in the company when it beg a n i t s journey from the outfitting post at Benton, Wyoming.
As a missionary to England, he converted his sister, Harriet.
History of
John Brook Hirst
1855-1923
Compiled by Victoria W. Chambers, 2014
Resources:
History of Charlotte Hirst Coon by Bertha Coon Chambers
Obituary: Salt Lake Telegram, December 8, 1923
Family Search / Family Tree
Pioneer Overland Travel records and Mormon Migration records
Utah Pioneer Biographies
History of Pioneer Stake / Family Search
US Passport Application
Naturalized Citizen Record
Wikipedia
John Brook Hirst, born January 12, 1855 in Rushworth, Yorkshire, Englan d , was the tenth of thirteen children born to John and Charlotte Brook H ir st. Of the ten daughters and three sons, two sons died in infancy an d on e daughter as a teenager. John was the only surviving son.
From the History of Charlotte Hirst Coon, John’s younger sister, by Bert h a Coon Chambers, we read something of the family’s background and exper ie nces:
“Their father was a farmer in that little English village [Todmoredon, L a ncashire, England] and also a weaver of fine cloth. Both parents, Joh n , Sr. and Charlotte, were staunch Latter-day Saints, having joined th e Ch urch [in 1852/1853] and for sixteen years John, Sr. labored as a hom e mis sionary and traveling Elder throughout England. During this time h is hom e was always open to missionaries; among them were Charles W. Penr ose an d many other prominent men of the Church. For years all in the fa mily wh o were able to do so worked and saved their hard-earned money tha t they m ight go to Utah; and by the year 1868 they were ready to depar t from th e land of their birth.
“This they did with mingled feelings of joy and sorrow – joy at the pros p ect of journeying to a new land, and sorrow because three of their daug ht ers who were married remained behind. Later, two of these daughters m ove d to Utah, the other one never saw her family again, with the excepti on o f her brother, John, Jr., who went to England on a mission years lat er . [This daughter remained faithful and raised her family in the Churc h.]
“The family [traveled 53 miles from Todmorden, to Liverpool and from the r e] embarked on June 20, 1868 on the little packet ship, Emerald Isle , a n old fashioned sailing vessel, with a company of 876 saints under th e le adership of Hans Jensen Hals. Incidentally this was the last grou p of sa ints to cross the ocean in a sailing vessel and also the last [su ccessful ] trip for the ship. On the return voyage east it sank with cre w and car go.
[The ship’s manifest record shows John as a 13-year-old passenger travel i ng with his six sisters and parents from Leeds, England. The family de cl ared £40 cash, £39-4s sea fare, and 16s returned.]
“The long and tedious eight-week journey was marked by many sad incident s . Terrific storms were encountered all the way. The apparatus used f o r filtering the drinking water became unserviceable, so they all had t o d rink water from huge storage tanks in an unfiltered condition. Man y beca me very ill. Thirty-seven adults and children died; [the family ] had a v ivid recollection of seeing the bodies being lowered into the o cean. [Ch arlotte, in an effort to protect her family] boiled chamomil e flowers i n their water to purify it.
“On July 10, 1868, Nancy Hirst Dearden [one of the older daughters] ga v e birth to a baby girl who was named Emerald, at the request of the cap ta in. After arriving in New York August 11th, they left by rail for Ft . Be nton, Wyoming and arrived there August 25th. On September 1, 1868 , wit h John G. Holman at the head of the company of sixty-tw o
wagons drawn by ox-teams, they started on their journey. This was the l a st company to travel by ox-team.
[“…this company traveled in a northwesterly direction from Benton throu g h Whiskey Gap and northward from there until they reached the Sweetwat e r River and the old emigrant road on September 8th. As did many othe r co mpanies in the 1860’s, after coming through Echo Canyon, they travel ed t o Silver Creek and then down Parley's Canyon into the Salt Lake Vall ey. T hey arrived in Salt Lake on September 25th. Twenty-two people die d betwee n Benton and Salt Lake. Utah Pioneer Biographies, 44 vol. 28:108 ,111,113 , Trail Excerpt]
“[The] family settled in a little log house west of the Jordan River. J o hn, Sr., and his son-in-law worked on the railroad under construction t hr ough Echo Canyon during the 1868-69 winter and spring. That same spri n g of 1869 he took Dr. Anderson’s cattle on shares which he continued f o r three years. In 1872 the family moved to Pleasant Green [Magna] ne a r the west mountains where they homesteaded and raised cattle. [John , Sr .,] was presiding elder of that place until his death and [Charlotte ] wa s president of the first Relief Society, organized in 1879 which pos itio n she held until her death [June 28, 1880].”
John fell in love with Alvira Spencer and they became engaged. Family S e arch records indicate that Alvira traveled from Pleasant Green [Magna ] t o Salt Lake City and received her endowments at the Endowment House o n Oc tober 13, 1876. Her obituary indicated that Alvira, age 20, marrie d Joh n Brook Hirst, age 23, two years later on November 19, 1878 at Plea sant G reen, Salt Lake, Utah. Family Search records also indicate that t his cou ple was married November 19, 1878 at the Endowment House in Sal t Lake Cit y. A discrepancy exists; perhaps the marriage took place in S alt Lake Ci ty with a reception following that same evening in Pleasant G reen. Som e records indicate the marriage was October 24, 1876 with thei r sealing t wo years later, November 19, 1878 .
Alvira and John became the parents of one child, a daughter, Vira, bor n F ebruary 28, 1889 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Vira married James W. Fitc he s on February 10, 1913 and together they had four children: Noona, Del win , Marlin and Elaine.
John became a Naturalized Citizen on November 4, 1876 in the 3rd Judici a l District Court.
Family histories indicate that John returned to England, serving a missi o n for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and was able to v is it his close family who had been left years earlier. His mission pre par ations began with his U.S. Passport Application #15885 which is date d Nov ember 5, 1909, listing him as 54 a year-old-farmer, 5 feet 8½ inche s tall , grey eyes, and dark hair turning grey. He states that his desti natio n address is: Charles W. Penrose, 295 Edge Lane, Durham House, Liv erpool , England. We assume John left Salt Lake City in November or Dece mber 19 09, traveled east by rail, then crossed the Atlantic to Liverpool .
At age 56 we find record of his return trip from England leaving Liverpo o l on December 8, 1911 on the ship SS Hesperion. He arrived in Halifax , No va Scotia, Canada on December 16, 1911. Then within a few days tim e he w ould be back in Salt Lake City via rail.
A tiny notation in the Society section of the Salt Lake Telegram on Febr u ary 8, 1915: “Mr. and Mrs. John Hirst expect to leave tomorrow for Sa n F rancisco and Los Angeles.”
As a married couple, John and Alvira were part of the Brighton Ward, Sa l t Lake Stake, for a short time then the Pleasant Green Branch was organ iz ed. Some historical details below:
•A meeting was held February 24, 1867, in the home of William Camp, atte n ded by Apostle George A. Smith and other brethren, when a ward named Br ig hton was organized. It embraced all the country in Salt Lake County l yin g west of the Jordan River north of North Jordan.
•1877 the Pleasant Green Branch organization was effected.
•October 1, 1882, Pleasant Green Branch was organized as a regular bisho p ’s ward.
•Pleasant Green Ward belonged to Salt Lake Stake until 1904, when it bec a me a part of the Pioneer Stake.
•In 1923, when the Oquirrh Stake was organized, the Pleasant Green War d w as transferred to the Oquirrh Stake.
John worked many years for the Oregon Short Line Railroad :
“The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in the U.S. states of Wyo m ing, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon. The line was organized as the Ore go n Short Line Railway in 1881 as a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railway . Un ion Pacific intended the line to be the shortest route ("the short l ine" ) from Wyoming to Oregon. In 1889 the line merged with the Utah & No rther n Railway and a handful of smaller railroads to become the Oregon S hort L ine and Utah Northern Railway. Following the bankruptcy of Union P acific , the line was taken into receivership and reorganized as the Oreg on Shor t Line Railroad. The line started from the Union Pacific main li ne in Gr anger, Wyoming, and reached Montpelier, Idaho, on August 5, 188 2 and the n to McCammon, Idaho, in the Fall of 1882.” (Wikipedia)
After many years living in Pleasant Green [Magna], John and Alvira mov e d to 878 West First South, in Salt Lake City. That was the home wher e Jo hn died, at age 68, on December 7, 1923 following an eleven-month li ngeri ng illness brought on by a stroke earlier that year .
Obituary in the Salt Lake Telegram, December 8, 1923: Hirst – John B r ook, for many years an employee of the Oregon Short Line railroad, die d y esterday [December 7, 1923] at the family home, 878 West First Sout h Stre et, after an illness of eleven months. He was born January 12, 18 55, a t Rushworth, England, and was a son of John and Charlotte Brook Hir st, bo th of whom joined the LDS Church in April 1852. When 13 Mr. Hirs t came , with his parents to Utah. Besides his widow, Alvira Spencer Hir st, h e is survived by a daughter, Mrs. Vira Hirst Fitches; two grandchil dren ; three sisters, Mrs. Fanny Jenkins, Mrs. Charlotte Coon and Mrs. El len W hipple, all of Salt Lake. Funeral services will be held at 2 o’clo ck Sun day [December 9, 1923] afternoon at the Fifteenth ward chapel, und er dire ction of the Larkin Undertaking Company. The body may be viewe d at the h ome from 10 o’clock Sunday morning until 1 o’clock Sunday afte rnoon .
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