A Great Little Saint: A Brief Look at the Life of Henry William Bigler

BYU Studies Quarterly Volume 30 | Issue 4 Article 4 10-1-1990 A Great Little Saint: A Brief Look at the Life of Henry William Bigler M. Guy Bishop Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq Recommended Citation Bishop, M. Guy (1990) "A Great Little Saint: A Brief Look at the Life of Henry William Bigler," BYU Studies Quarterly: Vol. 30 : Iss. 4 , Article 4. Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol30/iss4/4 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the All Journals at BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in BYU Studies Quarterly by an authorized editor of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact , . Bishop: A Great Little Saint: A Brief Look at the Life of Henry William B A great little saint A brief look at the life of henry william bigler M guy bishop by great little persons 1I mean individuals whose lives or actions have had important consequences 19891 jerome G manis 1989 early on the morning of 24 november 1900 an elderly man died in st george utah he had never held high ecclesiastical office within the latter day saint church of which he had been a member for over sixty years he had never been elected to any office nor did he achieve anything but passing regional or national fame yet two days after his demise a leading salt lake city newspaper the deseret evening news printed a large photograph of henry william bigler and the accompanying obituary lauded the old pioneer as one of the notable characters in the history of western america 122 what fame bigler did achieve arrived late in life while a younger man he was a rather invisible part of several events a part that later earned him a place in western and mormon history As a member of the mormon battalion during the mexican american war 1846 47 he marched across much of what later became the 184617 Sut ters southwestern united states he was present at sutters lers mill in california during january 1848 when james marshall made his nation changing discovery of gold in the following years henry played leading roles in activities which were more significant bigler biglerplayed to his mormon culture he was among the first representatives of the church to preach in the hawaiian islands and he faithfully served as an ordinance worker at the st george temple from 1877 1900 of importance to historians henry bigler was a dedicated diarist during the time he served with the mormon battalion and he continued his diary entries for most of the rest of his life 3 during the M guy bishop is head of research services of the seaver center for western history research at the natural history museum of los angeles county Published by BYU ScholarsArchive, 1990 1 BYU Studies Quarterly, Vol. 30, Iss. 4 [1990], Art. 4 28 byustudies BYU studies last quarter of the nineteenth century when the existence of his diaries became known within the professional historical community bigler gained a measure of national recognition the most famous american historian of the age hubert howe bancroft corresponded with henry bigler on a number of occasions and seemingly put great stock in his record according to bancroft clear headed methodical man who made keen bigler was a cool clearheaded observations and diligently chronicled many important happenings 4 history in the american wests bests recently jerome G manis published an essay in biography suggesting that the contributions of great little persons are often Big ignored by biographers 5 in biglers lers case H H bancroft clearly billers recognized biglers Big lers accomplishments particularly within the billers scope of california history and while devotees of western and mormon history can quickly recall henry bigler and the 1848 gold discovery few would recognize how the life history of a peripheral figure like bigler can enhance the story of nineteenth century mormonism and of the american west Big lers life which he deby highlighting three periods of biglers billers tailed but which are generally lost in historical obscurity his early church experiences two missions to hawaii and twenty three years as an ordinance worker at the st george temple this article seeks to elucidate the historical contribution of henry bigler and knowns wait serve as a reminder that the biographies of other lesser keowns to be written like many of the unsung heroes of the early mormon pageant biglers henry Big lers most outstanding characteristic was his commitbillers ment to the latter day saint cause time and again he answered the call to serve his church often at great personal loss modem social science explains Big biglers lers actions by positing that the day to day billers behavior of most people is dictated by attitudes or beliefs the stronger the intention or belief the greater and more unshakable the Big commitment eric hoffer names those with biglers lers characteristics billers a dedicated self sacrificing individual two a true believer recent observers of commitment have aptly labeled an individual 116 316 3566 a partisan true believer like hoffers Hof whether best designated a coffers fers true believer or a partisan henry bigler and others of similar mettle were vital to the churche churchs beginnings Big lers early church the logical place to begin is with biglers billers cormons Mormons his experiences As was the case for many other early mormons was an experience marked by obstacles which he had to overcome before he could accept the gospel in the fall of 1834 mormon missionaries first came to harrison county western virginia where the family of jacob bigler henrys father lived in the small https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/byusq/vol30/iss4/4 2 Bishop: A Great Little Saint: A Brief Look at the Life of Henry William B A great little saint 29 nston jacobs spouse sarah cunningham shinnston community of Shin bigler was converted to the new religion at that time however her stepson henry could not believe joseph smith jr to be a man of god 1 I disliked the name of their prophet bigler recalled because there was a man living in our neighborhood whose given name was jo who was forever picking quarrels and wanting to fight somebody 7 Big while biglers lers reason for immediately discounting mormonbillers ism was a bit unique an instant prejudice against the religion was not unusual leonard E harrington a new yorker who encoun cered tered mormonism Monnon ism some five years after bigler observed that it was the doctrine which initially tempered his interest 1 I was prejudiced against it harrington wrote and it was sometime before 1I could sufficiently dispossess my mind of preconceived opinions to give the subject a fair investigation 8 henry bigler would take three years before he could accept the fact that someone named jo could be a prophet of god since his wife had embraced the latter day saint gospel jacob bigler soon became interested enough to send to church headquarters at kirt (...truncated)