Joseph Bushell BENNION

                   BIRTH:  F.H.L. Film #6,548 pt 3, p. 20 #641, Taylorsville Ward Records,  F.H.L. Film #027,416 p. 17, West Jordan Ward Records
BLESSED: 4 Apr 1852 by Bishop and counselors.
MARRIAGE: F.H.L. Film #183,398 EHOUS, p.346, #4,686.
DEATH: Taylorsville Cemetery Records, Plat D, Row 11 #8. Wife Taylorsville Cemetery Records, Plat D, Row 11 #7.

BAPTISM: F.H.L. Film #6,548 pt 3, Taylorsville Ward Records, F.H.L. Film #027,416 p. 17, West  Jordan Ward Records
ENDOWMENT: F.H.L. Film #1239,501 EHOUS, p.57,#9.
SEALED TO PARENTS: F.H.L. Film # F.H.L. Film #184,657 SLAKE, p.170, Sealing Records, Child to Parent.
SEALED TO SPOUSE:  F.H.L. Film #183,398 EHOUS p. 364, #4,686.

    Joseph B. Bennion ws among the first babies born in Salt Lake Valley, and one of the first in Taylorsville. His brother Hyrum had been born at Garden Grove on the exodus west and his sister Mary Elizabeth had been born in Salt Lake September 24, 1848, but she had died within the year, May 24, 1849. Joseph was born on the old Fields' Bottom, February 14, 1850, seventh child in a family of eleven of Samuel and Mary Bushell Bennion.
    Little is known of the childhood of these older members of the family. The Bennions of those days, like their descendants of today, were no doubt busy people-too busy to pause to chronicle events. Or may be, like us, they meant to do the thing but just didn't get at it.
    The boys no doubt were fully occupied at chores, at farming, and at cattle and sheep raising. Joseph's schooling was secured at the Old Rock School in Taylorsville. Shorly after his birth, the family had moved from the Fields' bottoms to the Bennion homestead under the hill east from Taylorsville.
    As early as 1855-56 his father  Samuel was making trips to Vernon, so that at an early age he came to know the trail to Rush Valley. As a boy of eight he  was one of the Bennions ordered south under the direction of Brigham Young. The family went as far south as point of the mountain.
     The Sharps had moved to Vernon in the fall of 1870. There, Joseph met Mary Ann Sharp, who had been born Jan. 21, 1856, and whom he married December 23, 1872. On that same date John A. Sharp and Rebecca Ann Bennion were married as a part of a joint ceremony. The marriages were performed in the Endowment House by Daniel H. Wells.
     Joseph and Mary Ann lived in the Pehrson home which had formerly been occupied by his brother Hyrum. After his marriage, Joseph farmed and looked after his sheep and cattle in and around Vernon. Here four ehildren were born:
    Jennie, Dec. 18, 1873; married John Thomas Gerrard Oct. 27, 1898.
    Mary, Sept. 6, 1875; died Jan. 7, 1876.
    Joseph, Dec. 5, 1877; died Oct. 13, 1891.
    Maud, April 4,1879; died Aug.17, 1882.
    While they were living at Vernon, Joseph and Hyrum took stock down to Castle Valley. They also participated in the defense established against Indian depredations. Ledger books indicate that Joseph and Hyrum ran their sheep together their accounts were kept jointly. An entry shows that they commenced to herd sheep for themselves Aug. 1, 1875 having a band of 2600. In 1879 they sheared 4080. The accounts in­dicate that sheep were then worth $3.00 a head and that shear­ing cost 7c.
    In l88I Joseph moved his family from Vernon to Taylorsville, arriving there July 9. It was hot and dry -the present home was being built, needing still to be plastered and the carpentry work as yet unfinished. There was no shade  no water -an altogether uninviting prospect.
    August 9, one month after the arrival at Taylorsville, Minnie was born. She married Henry Harker Jr. (Oct 16, 1899.
Effieborn June 7, 1884; married James Paxton, June 22, 1910.
Adam S. - born Dec. 2, 1886; married Minerva Richards Young, Sept. 14, 1911.
    From 1881 to 1888 Joseph farmed the two twenty-acre tracts facing on Redwood Road and ran his sheep and cattle, taking them to San Pete mountain for the summer and back to Rush and Skull Valleys for the Winter.
     While living in Vernon he had led the choir and had also served as a counselor to John C. Sharp in the bishopric of the ward. He found particular satisfaction in looking after the poor.
    In the matter of personal characteristics, he was well built and stocky, weighing in the neighborhood of 240 pounds. An early riser, he likewise was an early retirer. He had a reputation for fair dealing and honesty. He was a good provider and like others of his family always enjoyed having a crowd around him. For some time before his death he suffered acute pain from inflammatory rheumatism, especially in his arms and legs. At times he was so bad that he couldn't walk across the floor. He died May 25,             1888, leaving a widow and five children, Jennie, 14, being the eldest. True to the ideals of both the Sharps and the Bennions, the widowed mother carried on. Bennion Family History Vol.1, p.106-108.