HISTORY OF GEORGE THOMAS BAUGH   1821-1909
           AND ELIZABETH FERNEYHOUGH    1823-1903

Compiled by Beth J. Baugh   

George Thomas Baugh was born May 20, 1821, in Gibraltar, Mid Sea, Spain, to Thomas Baugh, born 1775, and Ann Austin, born February 10, 1777.   George’s father, was a petty officer in the marines and Ann traveled with him, sometimes even aboard ship. That accounts for George being born at sea.  George had two older brothers, William and Henry who might also have been aboard the ship.
The only picture we have of Thomas was taken in the garb of the Druids, a society of men.  When Thomas died on April 15, 1829, at the age of 54, he was a Quarter Pay-master Sergeant in the marines. At that time George was 8 years old and his brothers William was 16 and Henry was 11 years of age.
“Women on board a man-of-war were quite common. Most were wives of officers and NCOs. Military units of the time were usually allotted some women as cooks and laundresses. (A company of marines was allotted five women.) When hostilities broke out the women were usually drafted to help the surgeon. Women were present at every major British naval engagement of the time.”


Ann Austin was tall and well built and a hard worker, she and Thomas moved from place to place. They had lost their first two daughters as infants.  After the death of Thomas she made her home in Birmingham, England with her three boys.  She lived to be nearly 94 years old. She died before George and Elizabeth came to America. Ann was a good Mormon; she was re-baptized when Alice Mary was baptized. Ann lived with George and Elizabeth for many years, helping take care of the children. When the children in the family were punished she would bring teas to them. Many a time she had money hid and gave the children a penny or half penny. When the children started to work she would bring tea and sugar in a paper to them. She would tell tales of being in Gibraltar, of being a servant girl and living different places. She told about men being hung for stealing sheep. 


Elizabeth Ferneyhough was born June 24, 1823.  Her father was Henry Ferneyhough, born July 8, 1788, in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire, England.  Henry Ferneyhough was a very genteel man, particular about his looks and clothes. He was a brush maker in Birmingham. His daughter, Elizabeth, used to clean and bleach bristles for her father.  Elizabeth’s mother was Martha Stokes born about 1785, and died January 20, 1850.  Martha had two daughters, Mary Ann and Elizabeth. Martha had to have a leg amputated and she did not take anything and did not make a sound.  Martha worked on tapestrys, one of which Elizabeth had hung on her wall.


When George was nineteen years old and Elizabeth was seventeen years old, they were married at Handsworth, Staffordshire, England, on November 23, 1840. They were later sealed on April 10, 1873, in the Salt Lake Endowment House. They continued to live in Birmingham after they were married.  George worked in a factory making silverware using an alloy made up of copper, zinc and nickel, called “German Silver.“  His particular job was to stamp out the spoons.  An old Birmingham record in the Historians office lists him as a brass foundryman.


The Birmingham records gives his baptismal date into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints as April 20, 1848. He was baptized by Elder Bailey.  Elizabeth was baptized in 1849.  While many British Mormon converts emigrated to America soon after their conversion, because of their family circumstances, George and Elizabeth waited more than twenty years before gathering with the main body of the Saints in Utah.


Their first home in Birmingham was on Church Street.  It was a three story brick house. They moved from there to the “Conference House” which was the Latter-Day Saints Church Headquarters for Birmingham and vicinity and was the house where the Elders lived. George, Elizabeth and George’s mother Ann, who lived with them for many years, were the caretakers of the Conference House, located at # 26 Tenby Street. This responsibility they carried on for a number of years.  Their first child, Eliza Ann was born April16, 1841. Emmeline Austin was born May 16, 1843, when Eliza was just two years old. Having Grandma Ann live with them and help with the children was a great help to Elizabeth   Two years later on February 7, 1845,  Frances Elizabeth was born , she lived to be just two years old and died January 4,1847. Six months later Martha Hannah was born on June 30, 1847.


George was always busy in the Church.  He was a counselor in the Hockley Branch Presidency which kept him busy working with new converts and helping them find passage to America. They were always busy taking care of the Conference House and of boarding missionaries.  Elizabeth and Ann were kept busy at home with the children and fixing food for those who stayed there. 


When Alice Mary was five years old, she was stricken with scarlet fever and confined in a hospital several months. Elizabeth would go to the hospital to be with Alice while Grandma Ann stayed home with Emmeline and Frances.  During this time, an abscess formed on Alice’s left thigh from which she suffered periodically until she was twelve years of age. During these years, when she was able, she worked in a button factory for eight hours a day. Alice Mary never had much chance for schooling.


The sixth daughter, Melissa was born October 28, 1849.  Jane Amy was born November 15, 1851. They now had six girls, the oldest being ten. Frances had died when she was two. Two years later they had the eighth girl, Alice Mary, born December 18, 1853. Finally they had their first son, George Howard born February 7, 1856, bringing much excitement and joy to the family, especially the six daughters. When George Howard was young he used to go across the town to meet Grandfather Ferneyhough when he came to visit. George always made sure his shoes were polished when he left, because Grandfather Henry always had his shoes polished. When they would arrive home Grandfather Ferneyhough’s shoes would not have any mud on them, while George’s would have mud clear up his back.  
The next daughter, Laura Matilda was born April 21, 1858.  On November 21, 1860, Ellen Maud was born. They now had eight girls and one son.  All of the girls started working when they were young to help with the family expenses.  Elizabeth was expecting her eleventh child; however, it was a difficult and sad time as the baby was still born.  She had another girl two years later, Kate born June 20, 1864.  Having older daughters and her mother-in-law Ann, there was a lot of help for Elizabeth. They were still taking care and feeding the missionaries at their home.  On November 21, 1866, Elizabeth gave birth to twins, Francis Heber and Marintha.  Marintha lived just over a year, she died in August 1867.     


The family had a very busy and active life while having a family in England. George generally had a position in the Church for years before the family immigrated to the United States. While he was caretaker of the Conference House, he became well acquainted with many of the leading men in the Church, Brigham Young Jr., Horace Eldredge, Joseph Young and Seymour B. Young   It was at this residence that Alice, their daughter, first met Lot Smith who later became her husband. He was serving on a mission and boarded with them.


Their large family and small income required all the members of the family to work hard and live economically. There were ten girls in the family. It is said that their mother would wash all the girls’ aprons and things after they came home form work, so that they would have something clean to go to work in the morning.
At one time an elderly man, Mr. Pratt, who was not well, had a Public House called “Duke of York.” George took it over for him.  Alice Mary used to scrape potatoes for the big dinners and suppers. The Elders used to come and leave the Millennial Star with them.  
George and Emmeline used to sing at concerts the Church would have in England. Jane left for Utah in 1869, on the ship Colorado, two years before the rest of the family. Two months after her arrival she married Hezekiah Thatcher (forty-two years her senior).


After the death of his mother, Ann, the family left for America on June 21, 1871. There were 248 Latter-day Saints, including George T. (50) and Elizabeth (48) and their six younger children, Alice Mary (17), George Howard (15), Laura Matilda (13), Ellen Maud (10), Kate (7) and Francis (4) left Liverpool, England on board the steamship Wyoming, under the direction of Robert F. Nelson and George Lake. At the time their five oldest girls were married and did not come to America with the rest of the family, although four of the five eventually emigrated. Eliza Ann never came to America.


Hezekiah Thatcher, Jane’s husband, had sponsored and paid for the rest of the family to come to Utah. The trans-Atlantic crossing took twelve days. When they sailed from Liverpool there was quite a squall and a small fishing boat was in trouble, so their steamship anchored there and went to the rescue. There were eight men and a dog and a cat on board and of course they all came with the ship to America.  Before they reached New York, there was a smallpox scare and they all had to be vaccinated. There was one case of Scarlet Fever but she got better.  The ship arrived in New York harbor on July 2, 1871, but did not actually land until the next day, July 3, 1871. The family traveled by train from New York to Ogden where they arrived on July 12, 1871.


When they arrived in Ogden, their daughter Jane was to have met them but she wasn’t there. Brother Charles Penrose said that there was a man by the same name as theirs and he was going to Wellsville. Father went over and met this Mr. Baugh, but he was no relation to them. He said he would take them as far as Wellsville. The next morning Jane and husband came to Wellsville for them and took them to Logan where they made their home. On the 24th of July the town had a big meeting under the bowery and President Brigham Young was there and spoke. Jane was on the program to sing. The first Sunday they went to the Mormon Church they sang “Come, Come Ye Saints.” They thought it was the nicest song they had ever heard.


Their first home in Logan was a two room log house with a dirt roof. This home was located at about 589 West Center. When it rained considerable the water would soak through the dirt roof. Numerous pans and tubs were placed on the beds to try to keep them dry. The floor of this house was also dirt. They lived in this home for about fifteen years. After coming to Logan, Elizabeth helped out by taking in washing from other families. Money did not come easy to this family and all had to help make and save their meager means.


George was a carpenter by trade and had his work shop at the back of the lot. The children could stand in the door way and look but never touch the tools.  
George thought that Elizabeth was the finest cook in the world. He would often say, “I believe you could make a fine soup from a rock, Bessie”. Each Sunday at the Baugh home, there was a rump roast, gravy and a Yorkshire pudding. This was food fit for a king. George enjoyed his food and was generous in sharing it with everyone who happened by. It was his delight to have guest. George would clean his plate with a small piece of bread after eating his meal and the plate would look like it had been washed. If he found he could not eat all he had taken on his plate he would always have it set aside for the next meal.
George smoked a pipe until he was called to work as an officiator at the opening of the Logan Temple in 1884. He quit smoking and never used tobacco again; however, he ordered his pipe to be kept in its place on the kitchen table. “Leave it there, I may want to take a puff” he would say. This would provoke his wife immensely.


The Logan Temple was dedicated by Pres. John Taylor, May 17-19; 1884. One of the new ordinance workers was George Thomas Baugh, then celebrating his 63rd birthday on Tuesday, May 20th, probably the first day for Temple ordinances. He served as an ordinance worker for 24 years.  One of his tasks was to do the ordinance work for his deceased family. On June1, 1894, he had his father, Thomas Baugh, sealed to his mother, Ann Austin (temple records). Ann had lived as a widow for 43 years with George Thomas and his wife, Elizabeth, helping take care of the family. It was after her death that the family immigrated to America. Their children William and Henry were sealed to them September 28, 1894 in the Logan Temple. The two little girls that had died as infants were sealed later. Caroline on January 1978 in the Prove Temple and Francis Maria on 21st of May 1998 in the Logan Temple.


When George would walk to the Temple, he would go through a hole in the fence to the east and ride up to the Temple with Mrs. Phillips who was the temple organist.  Elizabeth would prepare a lunch for him. She would wrap it in a white kerchief and he would carry it on his arm. He was always seen with his white kerchief either full or empty. When he walked home he would go down first north, stop at the Bishop’s storehouse on 100 North and get a pound of butter, meat or something and wrap it in a red bandanna. With his package in one hand and his cane in the other he would walk home.


Elizabeth was a short, plump little lady and kept a very clean house. She was a good mother and cook.  She always dressed neatly in a dark crisp dress with a white collar and cuffs. She wore a frilly bonnet whenever she would go out. She was always dressed beautifully and always looked nice. Even in the house she wore a small black bonnet on her head.


Elizabeth was patient and loving with her children, at the same time helping them to become well learned adults. They were taught to go regularly to Church.
George was normally very kind to his children; however, he was firm in holding to what he though was right.  He used to threaten to give the children a back-handed slap if they didn’t mind their mother. The children dreaded this and did what they were told to keep away from their father if punishment was due them.  One time George was hitching a horse to a wagon, he became very much out of patience. In giving vent to his feelings, one of the boys hear him say, “Oh, hell it to damn.” This was the only time he was ever known to swear.  He was usually very quite, talked little and always read the Deseret News, especially the sermons. He had very little book learning and did very little writing. He enjoyed music and singing and had much talent but had very little musical education. His children were encouraged to study and learn music.


George Thomas Baugh was the director of the Church choir in the Logan Second Ward. He was also a member of the Logan Tabernacle Choir for many years.   
In 1886, after living fifteen years in the log home, they built a frame house just a few rods north of the old home. They lived here quite comfortable during their declining years. The floors of this home were covered with home-made rag carpets. The walls were plastered and white-washed. Their mattress was made of corn husk. There was a large bible located on the center table in the front room; however, this was not the bible that they read from.


George had twenty acres of land in the West Fields which he farmed with the aid of his sons. Around the house he had a garden; it was a very good garden. He took particular pride in having things earlier than other gardeners. He always had new potatoes and green peas early in the season. He had a cow, a flock of chickens, pigs and two horses. They were raised to provide the necessities of life.  Around the house, garden and the stables was kept very neat and tidy. There was a place for everything, and everything in its place. He was very particular about cleanliness in his person and his clothing. He collected and saved everything that he thought might be valuable and of some future use.


George was bothered with erysipelas (reddish inflammation of the skin) in one leg from the knee down, and above the ankle was an open sore that had to be dressed twice daily. This sore was a result of an injury received in swimming. This condition made it impossible for him to do hard work for any length of time, although he tackled small painting jobs for his son-in-law John Bench. John was a professional house painter. Both George and Elizabeth kept the house and the garden well into their declining years.


Francis Heber Baugh, Jr., their oldest grandson, tells how they looked forward to grandpa and grandpa Baugh coming to their home every Sunday. They had to walk and the children kept running out to the gate to see if they could see them coming down the street. He tells of when his grandmother, Elizabeth, was dying. She was stricken with a paralytic stoke from which she had suffered for a year.  Francis’ mother, Alice, said one evening, “Frank, would you like to go down and see grandma?” We went down and went into the bedroom on the northeast of corner of the house. Grandmother did not open her eyes or say anything. Frank went around to\ the east side of the bed and took hold of her hand.  She said, “Oh, Frank, your hand is cold.” She died shortly thereafter. Frank remembers being at the house the day of the funeral. Her grandsons stood out by the large poplar tree on the sidewalk. She passed away on September 26, 1903, and was buried in the Logan cemetery.  


Elizabeth was the only wife of George. On November 18, 1887 he was sealed by proxy to Mary Reeder in the Logan Temple. Mary was born in Birmingham, England in 1847 and died in 1872 at the age of 25.


George worked in the Logan Temple from the time it first opened in 1884 until 1908 when he fell and dislocated his hip. He suffered from this fall until his death.
George Thomas Baugh died Wednesday March 17, 1909 at the age of 88. Impressive services were held in the Logan Tabernacle, the speakers being old-time acquaintances and Temple associates. They were Bishop Anthon Anderson, Elder Thomas Morgan and James A Leishman, President William Budge and Bishop A. L.Skanchy. George W, Thatcher rendered a solo and the tabernacle choir furnished the music. A long procession followed the remains to the Logan Cemetery, were internment was next to his wife Elizabeth Ferneybough Baugh.


He was survived by nine children, all of whom were married. Four children preceded him in death.
Eliza Ann Baugh was the oldest and married to Cornelius Lucas. She and her husband never emigrated and very little is known about her other than she died in Lancashire, England, in 1905.


Emmaline Austin Baugh married James Arnot; however, James died in 187l, the same year her parents left England, leaving Emmaline childless and a widow. Three years later, in June 1874, she came to the United States aboard the Nevada. She died one year after joining the family in Utah and is buried in the Logan Cemetery.


Martha was married to John Bench. The couple had two children, Jane and George. In September 1872 the family emigrated on the ship Minnesota. They made their way to Utah were they settled in Logan and raised a large family. Martha died in 1928 and is buried in the Logan Cemetery.


Melissa Baugh was married to Alfred Buttcane (later Butt) and had one child. They also emigrated in 1871, and arrived a few months earlier than George and Elizabeth, locating temporarily in Rode Island. While it appears Melissa came to Utah for a short time (she gave birth to one of her children in Logan), she and her husband lived for a number of years in San Francisco before moving to Tacoma, Washington, where she died in 1920.  Melissa never joined the Church but several of her posterity have done so.


Jane Amy Baugh came to America in July 1869 on the ship Colorado, two years before her parents and younger siblings.  Two months after her arrival she married Hezekiah Thatcher. It was he who paid for the rest of the family to come to America. Jane was living with her husband in Logan at the time of their arrival. Jane had five children by Hezekiah. He died in 1879. Later she married Andre Vilet and had seven more children. Jane died in 1829 and is buried in the Thatcher plot in the Logan Cemetery.


Alice Mary married Lot Smith a year after coming to Utah, at the age of eighteen. Lot led an eventful life. He had been a member of the Mormon Battalion and played a major role in the Utah War. In 1876 he and Alice were called to colonize in Northern Arizona where he engaged in a number of Indian skirmishes and were he prospered as a cattle rancher. He died in 1892 after being shot by an Indian, leaving Alice a widow and nine children. Alice then moved back to Logan, Utah.  She took care of her parents and after her father died she moved to Ogden. She died in 1974 at the age of 93. She was the last surviving child of George and Elizabeth and is buried in the Logan Cemetery.


George Howard Baugh married Mary Elizabeth Knowles in the Salt Lake Temple, June 26, 1879. He died November 11, 1934.
Laura Matilda Baugh married Joseph Croft Knowles. She died 3 May, 1926 and is buried in the Logan cemetery.


Ellen Maud Baugh married Peter Hanson (Hansen) January 26 1882, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City Utah.  She died 27 May, 1942 in Salt Lake City and is buried in the Salt Lake cemetery.


Kate Baugh married Thomas Samuel Browning on 13 January in Logan Utah. She died 20 December, 1910 in Ogden, Utah.


Francis Heber Baugh married Alice Summerill, February 27, 1889, in the Logan Temple in Logan, Utah. They lived in Logan and had thirteen children. He died September 26, 1945, in Logan and is buried in the Logan cemetery.

Click here for a PDF of this history

Home page | Early Baughs | Thomas Baugh | Maps | Contacts