Was the Huband to Clarrisa Dempsey and Grace Holden. His Parents were James Fackrell and Amy Crumb Fackrell.
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Joseph Crumb Fackrell was born at Grafton, Windham County, Vermont, September 9, 1822, the son of James Fackrell, Sr., and Amy Crumb Fackrell, first settlers of West Bountiful, Utah. Little is known of his early life. He migrated from Vermont to New Hampshire, then to Michigan. On August 28, 1845, he married Clarissa Dempsey at Bertrand, Michigan. She was born in Cayuga County, New York, in April 6, 1824. The birthplace of the five oldest children show that this couple lived in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Illinois before coming to Utah. In Michigan, their home burned and they sought a new one elsewhere.
Joseph's father and mother were early converts to the Latter-Day-Saints Church and they started for the Rocky Mountains with the first companies. After they left, Joseph gave serious thought to Mormonism. He was plowing in the field one day when a member of the L.D.S. Church called to him, saying, "Joe, come over to the meeting." He left his horses standing where they were and went to satisfy his curiosity. The meeting was long but of special interest to Joseph. A few nights later when lying in bed, he saw the place where he was to go in the Valley of the Mountains. In the dream he saw his brother standing near a spring of water holding a team of horses while they drank. When he told his wife she said she would go with him, and if they found the place he had seen, she would join the church. Joseph believed this new religious plan and was soon baptized. They lived near Springfield in Joe Davies County, Illinois, at the time. They began making preparations to leave their home.
Joseph Crumb Fackrell, his wife, Clarissa, their four oldest children and the Higgley family (friends of the Fackrell's) traveled west in the Biglow Company in 1852. Joseph took his family to what is now West Bountiful where he found his brother, James, standing by a spring holding a team while they drank. His brother, the team, the spring and their surroundings were just as he had seen them in his dream back in Illinois. This satisfied Clarissa, and she became a faithful member of the Church. Joseph built a log cabin near the Robert Ure home (½ mile west of the D. & R.G.W. Depot at Woods Cross) but after a short time, they moved to Farmington and built a log cabin on the property now located between the Farmington First Ward Chapel and the County Court House on the east side of the highway. One child was born there. About the fall of 1855, James Fackrell, Jr. decided to let his sons take over his farm of 92 acres because he was getting old.
Joseph received the north one-third of the farm, located two hundred rods north of the OSL Depot on the Woods Cross road. This land was mostly covered with willows, but was of the most fertile soil in the state. James W. Fackrell, a son, lived in the old home until his death, and remembered helping to take out the willows with a grubbing hoe. It took many years to clear it. In the northeast corner, there was a spring that furnished clear, cold drinking water and afforded some for the garden. In the late summer, the people came with barrels from East Bountiful to this spring to get water. (I, a great granddaughter remember this spring. It was covered with a shed to protect it.) My mother used to take me to visit my Uncle James (a great uncle), and we would partake of the clear cold water for drinking and also in the spring would get watercress from it which was very crisp, clean and good flavored.)
There was an incident that happened in the lives of Joseph's family that imbedded in them a lasting faith in our Heavenly Father. In 1856, there was a shortage of wheat. The grasshoppers had taken the greatest share, but by rationing there was enough wheat for flour to last them through the winter. However, when planting time came, there was only one-half bushel to the acre left to plant. Ordinarily, one and one-half to two bushels were planted to assure a good crop. Before the wheat was planted, the family knelt and prayed. During the growing season, Joseph went to the field and prayed that the wheat would yield a good crop. When the crop was harvested, the yield was good, and as much as was taken off other years with larger plantings.
In 1857, Joseph sent his family to Shanghi Bottoms near Lehi, and he went to Echo Canyon to meet Johnson's Army. This was a time of terrible suspense. Everyone was tense with fear and moved quietly for fear someone might be lurking near who would hear and interrupt their plans. Joseph was quick and decisive in his actions when his family or the Church was in danger. In later years, Joseph indicated to his son, James, a point close to the road in Echo Canyon. The place where the rocks were piled were to be rolled down on Johnson's Army. When the trouble was over and Johnston's army had encamped at Camp Floyd, he took vegetables and flour to them and traded them for crackers, arm chairs, clothing and blankets. Flour sold for $24.00 per hundred.
In 1863 or 1864, he went to meet a company of Mormon emigrants. While there, he heard of the death of Sister Howard. Upon his return, he brought this sad news to her sons Bill and Tom Howard, who had come on ahead of the others into the valley. When the sons received this word, they sat for a long time without saying a word. These were very solemn times. Joseph cultivated one of our state's earliest nurseries. He budded fruit trees and raised many kinds of berries. He introduced the first Quince and Greengage to be brought into the state. In 1868 he took a load of fruit trees to Oxford, Idaho. Clarissa Fackrell contracted measles and passed away July 5, 1869, leaving Joseph with ten unmarried children to care for. The hornet, located as it was, was a natural gathering place for young people. Joseph saw to it that his own and other young people of the community had wholesome entertainment. He invited them in and they played such games as blindman's bluff. In the summer they ate watermelons and grapes from his garden. People were often heard to say, "There is someone going to Fackrells." (I also remember eating grapes from this garden.) He and some of his sons extended their enterprise to Randolph where they engaged in cattle raising. He was a very good farmer. At one time the Church authorities wanted him to take a responsible position, but he thought he wasn't suited for it. He said, "I want to be just plain Joe Fackrell". He had an unusual sense of wit about him, I'll quote from an old letter he wrote to his son:
"Woods Cross, Oct. 3rd, 1899
Davis Co., Utah
Dear John:
I got your letter, glad to hear from you. We are all well, at least, we call it so. Other folks wouldn't. I am busy at work or would have been but it sprinkled a while ago and that excused me. It is now twelve, at least the clock will soon strike, or would but it is a watch and won't strike."
I quote from the history of West Bountiful Ward by Priscilla Muir Hatch, "In 1879 a commencement was made for building a new meeting house on land which Joseph Crumb Fackrell donated and deeded to the Ward for the building of the Church. The present Church and amusement hall now stand on this land. The land also extends north where their lawn and grove are. Not many men in these days were so philanthropic, and it is to be hoped that the people of West Bountiful will give to the memory of Brother Fackrell the appreciation and honor that is due him." He also donated for the Randolph Ward meeting house.
Joseph spent the winter of 1870 and 1871 in Michigan, visiting his wife's relatives. About 1889 he married Grace Holden. He passed away December 14, 1900. (Deseret News clipping). Funeral held December 16th at one p.m. in West Bountiful. There was a large attendance and lengthy cortege. He was an honorable man, and highly respected by all who knew him, was always generous and kind to all he met. Five of his twelve children were still living at the time of the original writing of this history, but at this writing, all have passed away.
Written by Ruth Brown Irving, May 12, 1941.
Copied by Judge Joseph Crumb Fackrell, Nov. 7, 1947, at Driggs, Teton County, Idaho.
Recopied by Lyle 0. Wright, November 2, 1950.
Recopied and updated and added to by Aurelia B. Olsen, December 13, 1972. (A great-granddaughter of Joseph Crumb Fackrell, granddaughter of Amy Viola
Added to Find A Grave by Linda Fackrell Owens, great-great-granddaughter, May, 18, 2015