I was born on the twentieth of February, 1849, in Salt Lake City. When quite young, my father having been called to preside over the then crude settlement known as the Old Fort, where now Brigham City is located, after erecting a commodious dwelling, with a view of increasing a feeling of brotherhood among the Saints, opened his house for public entertainments. At the opening one, a dramatic performance, I was on the programme for my "maiden speech," composed by my father for the occasion, commencing as follows: Ladies and gentlemen, one and all, I welcome you to my father's hall. For its delivery I was awarded a pocket-knife. Those entertainments produced a most desirable effect in promoting friendship and affability among the people. When eight years of age (a very cold day), I was baptized in the mill-race by Elder Neely, and confirmed by my father. In the following spring I had the pleasure of rendering useful service to a Brother Jones, who lived north of us. At that time the settlers were annoyed by a gang of horse thieves, composed of mountaineers; so much so that there was no safety for animals when not in use, except under lock and key. One evening, on entering one of my father's pastures, I saw two horses tied to a bunch of willows, and thinking that one or both belonged to the Bishop, I decided to take them to the owner; but the Bishop informed me they were not his, and they were secured for the night. Early next morning, as I was driving cows to pasture, I saw a dark visaged man emerge from a thicket by the road side over which I had just passed, and, drawing a revolver from its scabbard, he inquired, in a gruff tone, if I knew the whereabouts of the two horses he had tied to a tree in the pasture. I told him the whole affair, as well as an eight-year old boy could, under the threatening circumstances. Then pointing to the caliber of his six-shooter, he said, "Unless you bring those horses back, I will put a bullet through you of that size." I was relieved when the interview closed, and lost no time in reaching home, where I learned that the owner of the horses had arrived from Salt Lake, where they were stolen from him. The officers were notified, the thief secured and justice meted to him, and I escaped the bullet. In 1864 I had the honor of being ordained a member of the Fifty-eighth Quorum of Seventies; and soon after, at the re-organization of the militia, was called to act as standard-bearer in Colonel Loveland's staff; accompanied my father through the southern settlements, on one of President Young's tours, as far as Santa Clara. In the spring of 1868, I was called, with others, to perform a journey to the States to bring a company of Saints across the plains. On our return we had a fearful encounter with Indians, who ran off fifty head of our stock, which, after several hairbreadth escapes, we succeeded in recapturing, and arrived home in safety.