FARMING ON SHARES--A NEW VOCATION--FUTURE HOME SHOWN IN VISION--HOME
RECOGNIZED WHEN FIRST SEEN IN UTAH--REPUTATION GAINED AS A FAITHFUL AND
THOROUGH WORKER--PROVIDENTIAL FULFILMENT OF VISION--HOME VIEWED AS A
SACRED HERITAGE.
For years after Brother Parkin arrived in Utah he worked land on
shares, not being able to buy any. He had been a coal miner in England,
his native land, and had no experience in any other line. Here,
however, there was no demand for coal miners; in fact, the people of
Utah all burned wood at that time, no coal mines being then developed.
He readily adapted himself to the ways of the country, and made up by
hard work for what he lacked in skill in whatever employment he was
able to secure. He soon gained a reputation as a profitable person to
employ, and was given the preference by a number of his well-to-do
neighbors when they required help, and when he could work for others
without neglecting the small farm which he was cultivating on shares.
Cradling grain (the method then in vogue of cutting it before
mechanical reapers were introduced) was at first one of the most
difficult things he ever tried to do. Until he acquired the knack
of it, it was an awful tax upon his strength. He was determined to
learn, however, having an idea that what others could do in the line
of work he could if he only persevered. In course of time he acquired
sufficient skill at cradling that quite a few of his neighbors who
could afford to hire others to cut their grain instead of doing it
themselves, relied upon him doing it for them, and paid him two bushels
per acre therefor.
He had not been married long when, one day, as he and his wife were
journeying to Salt Lake City by ox team to make a few necessary
purchases she pointed out a certain corner field to him with the
remark, "that is our farm!" "Oh, no," he replied, "that is Monroe
Perkins' field." "Well," she then responded, "if it isn't ours now,
it will be some day; I saw that place in a vision a year before I
left England, and long before I ever thought of marrying you, and was
assured that it would sometime be my home."
The incident passed without further comment at the time, the
possibility of their being able to buy it if they could afford the
price being too remote and uncertain to entertain the thought of, for
Monroe Perkins was not disposed to sell land, and didn't have to, for
he could afford to keep it.
Monroe Perkins' father was a very old man--a Southerner, who with
his two sons and numerous grandchildren were early settlers in South
Bountiful, and were the original locators of rather extensive and
choice farms. Shortly before Father Perkins died, Brother Parkin, who
was somewhat of a favorite with the old gentleman, induced him to sell
him five acres of his large farm for the amount of his savings up to
that period--$200.00, and after the deal had been completed the old
gentleman remarked, sympathetically, that five acres was a pretty small
and narrow piece of land for a man to try to make a living on, and
if his friend wanted to part with a new cook stove which he had just
purchased, he would exchange therefor another five acres, and Brother
Parkin would thus have a square ten-acre field.
Brother Parkin didn't hesitate a second about accepting the offer, and
considered himself specially blest in being able to obtain it. His wife
also was content to return to the use of the skillet, in which she had
done her baking ever since she was married, and for the purchase of
which Brother Parkin had dug a well 68 feet deep, and walled it up with
rock.
He was not only glad to have a ten-acre farm that he could call his
own, but was determined to make it second to no ten-acre farm in the
country in point of productivity.
Some years later, after both Father Perkins and his son Monroe had
died, the remaining members of that branch of the Perkins family
decided to remove to Arizona, and sold their real estate to Walker
Brothers, wealthy merchants of Salt Lake City, who wanted the property
for a country home.
Brother Parkin's little farm looked so attractive to the eldest of the
Walker Brothers that he was determined to possess it at any price. Day
after day he visited the place and admired it, appearing to be fairly
enchanted with a fine field of timothy to which part of the small farm
was devoted. The owner, however, was proof against all the tempting
offers made him, declaring that Walker Brothers didn't have enough
money to buy his ten acres.
Finally S. Sharp Walker paid another visit, and approached him on a
different tack: "On what terms will you swap your ten acres for half of
that 21 acre field on the other side of the street," pointing to the
Monroe Perkins corner which Sister Parkin had so long before seen in
vision, and concerning which she received the heavenly assurance that
it would be her future home.
The proposition was not rejected as the previous ones had been. On the
contrary, the owner promised to consider it, and let him know, if he
called on the following day, what he would do.
That evening Brother Parkin called upon his aged father for advice,
telling him of the proposition to swap farms. The old gentleman could
hardly credit it, the old Monroe Perkins farm being in his estimation
so much more desirable, though not under such a good state of
cultivation.
In the father's opinion there was no better land in Davis County,
and he doubted whether there was any better in the world, than the
Monroe Perkins farm, but it had been somewhat neglected, and showed
the effects of it. It had this advantage also, which appealed to
Father Parkin: It was patented land and if he secured it, he could
get a warranty deed for it, while his son only held a quit claim deed
from Reuben Perkins, the original locator to the ten acres he had, it
having been discovered when the U. S. survey was made that it was a
part of a school section, and full legal title thereto could not be
obtained until the time arrived for the school lands to be sold, when
the possessor of the land, as a squatter, would have the first right to
purchase it.
The interview ended with this fatherly advice: "Well, my son, if you
can secure the Monroe Perkins corner on any reasonable terms, don't
fail to do it; but don't involve yourself by paying too much to boot,
for it may be difficult for you to secure money to pay off the loan
after you have borrowed it."
The following day Mr. Walker called again as usual for the decision,
and was duly impressed by Brother Parkin with the clean and highly
productive condition of his small homestead, and with the weedy and
neglected condition of the opposite corner, all of which Mr. Walker
admitted was correct. Then Brother Parkin said, all things considered,
he was willing to make the exchange proposed if he could receive
$500.00 to boot.
It was apparent that Mr. Walker was tempted. After some banter, to
secure more favorable terms, a compromise was effected by his paying
$450.00 as boot between the two pieces of land.
The land is still in Brother Parkin's possession. He feels that there
was something providential about the way he acquired it, and that his
wife, who has long since passed to her reward, was inspired of the
Lord when she foresaw it as the future home of the family. Under the
circumstances it is not strange that he should regard it as a sacred
heritage, and refuse all offers that real estate agents make for its
purchase.