Preece Family Tree

Henry Clegg, Jr.

Henry Clegg, Jr was born 7 June 1825 at Bamber Bridge, Lancashire, England to Henry Cardwell Clegg Sr. and Ellen Cardwell Clegg. He was the youngest of eight children in the family. Henry was 12 years of age when Heber C. Kimball and other LDS Missionaries from America arrived in Preston with the message of the Restored Gospel of Jesus Christ. Henry Clegg Sr. and his brother Johnathan were in the marketplace when the missionaries arrived. They were among the first converts. Tradition has it that Henry Sr. was the second convert baptized in England. He ran a race to the River Ribble in Preston to see who was to be the first, but lost to George D. Watt, a younger man.

Little is known of Henry Jr.'s days as a youth. We know he acquired a good education and followed the shoe and clog making trade of his father. He and his young wife Hannah Eastman joined the LDS Church and were baptized March 1848. Together they worked and saved means to immigrate to Utah. They with their two young sons, Israel and Henry James, bid farewell to their loved ones, none of whom they ever saw again, with the exception of a brother Johnathan. Their oldest son Thomas was accidentally burned to death two years prior to that time. They set sail from Liverpool with many other Saints on the steamship "Juventa" on March 31, 1855. Six weeks later they landed in Philadelphia, then went by train to Pittsburgh; then by steamboat down the Ohio River to St. Louis. At Mormon Grove, near Atchinson, Kansas, they joined the Richard Ballantyne Company of 42 Saints and 45 ox-drawn wagons. Preparations were made for the long journey where they could enjoy their new-found religion free from persecution.

However, that wasn't the privilege of his dear wife Hannah, a frail little woman. The hardships of the long journey proved too much and she died March 28, 1855 and was buried in an unmarked grave. Shortly after, little Henry died and his father carried him back and placed him in the grave with his mother. Heartsick, he hastened to catch up with the Saints, taking his little son Israel by the hand. They started the 1000-mile trek across the plains. After four months they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley. Among those who greeted the travelers was a 19-year-old Welsh girl, Ann Lewis, who later became the bride of Henry Clegg, Jr. She came to Utah in 1854 in first class style in Darwin Richards Company. She was born June 25, 1836 in Cardiff, Wales. She married Henry Clegg, Jr. December 3, 1855. They resided in the 19th Ward where their first son, John, was born August 14, 1857. They received their endowments in the old Endowment House and were sealed by Brigham Young. The same day he married as his plural wife a young 17-year-old immigrant girl, Margaret Ann Griffiths. She was born in Liverpool April 5, 1840. She, with her father John Griffiths, a step-mother, two brothers and a sister, Jane, traveled in the ill-fated Edward Martin Handcart Company. Her Two brothers, 10 and 12 years of age, died of cold and hunger, and her father died the night they arrived in Salt Lake. Margaret Ann and her sister had frostbitten hands and feet.

In 1855, when Johnston's Army was sent to Utah with hostile intentions, Henry with other Saints left their homes and moved south. Henry took his two wives and two sons and made their home in Springville. He then joined other men in Echo Canyon to hold back the invasion of the army. When he returned, they decided to stay in Springville. He became a leading citizen. He was a fine musician. He played the dulcimer for dances. He organized and directed a choir of 60 voices. His wives were also good singers. They would sing with him when he gave lectures in nearby wards and towns.

He carried on his shoemaking trade. He managed to make one pair of shoes a year for each member of his family. Seeing the necessity of work for his sons he moved to Provo Valley, now Heber City, where his brother Johnathan had settled. In 1872 he and his wives and family moved to Heber. His son Israel had married and remained in Springville all his life.

Henry took up a homestead in southeastern Heber, where his sons farmed, perpetuated a sawmill and later a rock quarry. Henry went into the mercantile business. He again proved to be a prominent leader of the town in both civic and religious activities. He taught school, organized and directed the Band of Hope, and also played in the Martial Band and was bishop of the West Ward for many years. He was stake clerk, Sunday School superintendent and also served in the Wasatch Stake High Council. He was an expert mathematician and did much public work in that field.

He died at the age of 69 years on 30th of August 1894. Ann Lewis Clegg died the 11th of April 1913 at the age of 77. Margaret Griffith Clegg died 29th of July 1929 at the age of 89. They are buried in Heber cemetery.