Uriah Reed Butt

Uriah Reed Butt was born at Sutton Veny, near Warminster, Wiltshire, on 22 November 1829. He was the youngest child of George and Hester Butt (nee Reed) and was baptised in the Independent Chapel in the village. Soon after Uriah’s birth, his family moved back to Warminster, where George Butt was born in 1787 and where his ancestors had lived since 1742.

Uriah was a shoemaker by trade and travelled as a journeyman throughout Wiltshire. His brothers, Joseph Butt, William Butt and John Butt, were also shoemakers. Sisters Ann Butt and Arundell Butt were dressmakers in Warminster.

When the Mormon elders were in England, Uriah heard them and decided to join the Church of the Latter Day Saints. William Bowling baptised him into the faith and he was confirmed by a member called John Halliday. In his copious notes (now in the hands of his descendants in America) Uriah states that he sailed from Liverpool on Sunday 12 March 1854 on a ship by the name of “John M. Wood”. On board were 393 saints including 58 from Switzerland and Italy under the direction of Robert M. Campbell who was their leader. The journey took 51 days and the ship finally docked at New Orleans on 2 May 1854. Uriah then travelled to Salt Lake City but was soon sent on to Parowan, Utah, because they needed a shoemaker there. He made his home in Parowan in November that year.

In the meantime, Mary Farren Holt Rogerson (who later became Uriah’s mother-in-law) was baptised in the River Ribble at Preston, Lancashire, on Sunday 30th April 1837. She had married William Rogerson in 1833. Uriah signed an immigration bill as guarantor enabling the Rogerson family to sail to America, with the promise of payment in full to the Mormon Church when they arrived there. The Rogerson family sailed from Liverpool on Sunday 25 May 1856 on the ship Horizon. On board were 856 passengers. The Rogersons arrived safely at Iowa City by rail from Boston on 8 July. And that’s how Mary with most of her children arrived to join the Mormons in America. Mary’s husband, William Rogerson, refused to go to Utah or join the Church; so Mary and her family sailed without him. As she left, William said “Mary, you are tearing the heart out of me.” From Iowa City the family travelled by Martin’s Handcart Company. Sadly, they went through great hardships; out of 575 members 144 died. One of the fatalities was Mary Rogerson’s small girl and she was buried on the plains. The Company arrived at Salt Lake City on 1 December 1856 and then went to Parowan that winter.

On 8th February 1857 Uriah Butt and Bridget Robertson (a daughter of Mary) were married. Four sons and four daughters were born to them; the boys all grew to manhood but sadly all four girls died during infancy. When the children were quite young the family moved to Salt Lake City for a while. During this time Uriah supervised the burning of wood to make the tar for use in building the Salt Lake City Tabernacle. Uriah was, of course, an expert shoemaker and while living in Parowan he was sent on a temporary basis to St. George, Utah, to make shoes for the saints there. He was one of those present at the dedication of the St. George Temple, and spent many years doing ordinance work for the dead.

Uriah and his four sons worked hard to pay off the immigration bill he had signed for the Rogerson family. He owned a flock of sheep and offered them to the Church to finish paying off the debt. The Church accepted the animals as payment and sent two men from Salt Lake City to collect them. Unfortunately they did not know how to handle sheep and the entire flock died en route to Salt Lake City. Josiah Rogerson (a son of Mary) agreed to pay half of the fund, and on 19 November 1882 was ordered by the Bishop’s Court in Parowan to do so, but he never did and Uriah settled it in full.

Uriah Reed Butt was ordained when he was 70 years of age, and returned on a mission to Great Britain, visiting a Bristol conference and also working in Devonshire. His main concern was to try and convert his relatives to the Mormon faith but he was unsuccessful. He spent many years researching genealogy with the help of his wife Bridget. They were in St. George, Utah, when Uriah died of Bright’s Disease on 20 February 1904. Bridget had no way of taking him back to Parowan for burial, so he was interred at St. George. Two months later, she herself passed away. Sadly, the sons never knew of their parents’ deaths until after they were laid to rest.

Israel Butt, eldest son of Uriah, described his father as “an English gentleman, being very genuine and considerate to others,” and “a man who taught his children to be what they professed to be.”