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The biography of James Godson Bleak may well typify the people who provided local spiritual and temporal leadership in the pioneer Mormon Church. The best brief remarks on Bleak are by Preston Nibley and the only biography of Bleak is an unpublished thesis by Caroline S. Addy. James Bleak was born in Southwark, Surrey, England, 15 November 1829 to Thomas and Mary Godson Bleak. His father died when he was fourteen and his mother two years later.
He apprenticed himself to a silversmith for four years until he married Elizabeth Moore in 1849 when he was twenty years old. A year later he was converted by the message of Mormon missionaries and both he and his wife became Latter-day Saints in February 1851. Three years after his baptism he was appointed President of the White Chapel Branch of the Church.
In 1856 the Bleaks began their trek to Zion and into Utah history. Arriving late in the year in Iowa City, they joined the Martin handcart company. Because of the last minute rush to beat the prairie winter, as well as accommodating the unexpected number of emigrants, T. B. H. Stenhouse reports that the carts were makeshift and under provided. As a result of the late start, poor communication with more knowledgeable Church leaders, and an over-zealous reliance on the possibility of miracles, 135 persons of the 575 Saints who began, died in the snows of Wyoming. The Bleaks and their faith survived.
They settled in what is now the North Ogden area, but in 1861 Brigham Young called them to join the Cotton Mission and move to Southern Utah. Two weeks before his departure, Bleak met Jane Thompson, who became his first plural wife just before her sixteenth birthday. His romantic attraction for her seems to have persisted into old age. Jane had come to the United States when she was nine, lived in Rhode Island with her parents, witnessed a debate between Lincoln and Douglas, and actually talked with Lincoln at a banquet afterwards.
The activity of Jane, Elizabeth, and Bleak's other wife in the construction of Zion is not recorded. In 1862, Bleak was appointed counselor to the Bishop of the Third Ward. Thereafter he became tithing clerk for the mission and city recorder for St. George and still later he became a member of the High Council. From 1868 to 1872 he was the postmaster of St. George. He was called at the age of forty-three to serve a mission in England, the land of his birth, and during 1872-1873 he edited the
The collection of James G. Bleak papers combines several original, and in most cases, handwritten documents from Bleak's personal, religious, and community life with the first portion of his
The papers of what at one time was the Zion's Cooperative Rio Virgin Manufacturing Company, are mostly limited to the years 1896-1911 and concern the construction of dams and other water systems for that famous factory as well as its transfer in 1911 away from Church ownership. Four letters to James Bleak from Armand Hof in 1904 report on the daily conduct of business and give a good idea of the nature of the business at that time. A stock certificate dated 1883 for sixty thousand dollars to Mormon President John Taylor and some impatient letters from the Office of the Presiding Bishopric in 1910 provide some information on the combination of religious and business enterprise in those days.
James Bleak was the Temple historian in St. George and was for many years the Clerk of the St. George Stake. As well as weekly attendance roll sheets and the settlement of petty disputes among the brethren, there are minutes of a meeting which organized the workers of wood and leather into guild-type organizations, presumably as part of the United Order in April 1877.
Since Bleak had a flair for ideas and their expression, it is possible that he may have authored one or two of the songs included in the file. However, they appear to have been only collected by him for use in Stake meetings. "Hard Times," "The Mountain Brave," "Marching to Dixie" -- the titles themselves indicate the tenor of life and the attitude of the southern Utah pioneers towards it. Anyone looking at songs as a source of information about life in early Utah will find substance in the few verses of this collection.
Swiss immigrants to the Virgin River area near St. George saw the potential in soil and climate for the development of vines, grapes and wine. Before 1911, the St. George area was a fair wine-producing region, growing and fermenting varieties of native American as well as California-bred French grape transplants. A paper in the collection reports on the amount and expense of wine stored in St. George in 1882.
There are three copies of section "A" of James G. Bleak's
In 1988, the Society added to the foregoing Bleak papers copies of letters, 1870-1875, records of the United Order of Orderville, and Bleak's personal journal, 1864-1891 (with gaps, 1865-1878 and 1885-1886) through the courtesy of Brigham Young University. These additions are in Boxes 2 and 3, as indicated on the following inventory.
James Godson Bleak Papers, 1864-1895, Utah State Historical Society.
The James Godson Bleak Papers are the physical property of the Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. Literary rights, including copyright, may belong to the authors or their heirs and assigns. Please contact the Historical Society for information regarding specific use of this collection.