JACOB TOBLER: PORTRAIT OF A SAINT by Douglas F. Tobler

JACOB TOBLER: PORTRAIT OF A SAINT
by
Douglas F. Tobler

"There are some wonderful words in our language, words that are
inseparably associated: home, mother, father, family--and in our
thoughts they are linked in the fondest and most meaningful remembrance.

"Where the normal pattern prevails, father is more away and less closely
acquainted with the daily problems and program. But fathers are people
in whose footsteps sons are apt to follow, and with whose hearts
daughters are likely to have their way.

"Fathers are people by whose name the family is known. Fathers are
people whom sons and daughters should feel free to approach with their
problems. There are hazards in going it alone in life, and fathers are
to talk to--even if they seem to be too busy; even if they are doing so
much for the family in other ways that they are not enough at home."
--Richard L. Evans


"What a father says to his children is not heard by the world, but it
will be heard by posterity."
--Jean Paul


"Not a day passes over the earth but men and women of no note do great
deeds, speak great words and suffer noble sorrow. Of these obscure
heroes, the greater part will never be known till that hour when many
that were great shall be small, and the small great."
--Charles Reade


"Behold I will reveal unto you the Priesthood, by the hand of Elijah the
prophet, before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the
Lord....And he shall plant in the hearts of the children the promises
made to the fathers, and the hearts of the children shall turn to their
fathers. If it were not so, the whole earth would be utterly wasted at
his coming."
--Joseph Smith 2:38-39


The hearts of this generation have been turned to an "obscure hero" whom
most of us have not yet met, but whose life had a powerful effect on our
own "...down into the fourth and fifth generation." Our grandfather,
John Jacob Tobler, was born the sixth child of fifteen to Christian
Tobler and Anna Buehler on 15 February 1833 in the home village of
Schoenengrund, Canton Appenzell Ausser-Rhoden (This is the Protestant
half-canton, to distinguish it from the Catholic one, Appenzell
Inner-Rhoden.) in the Northeastern part of Switzerland, not far from
Lake Constance or from the Austrian border. The Appenzell cantons are
small both in size and population (Ausser-Rhoden, 95 square miles and
44,756 [1940]; Inner-Rhoden, 67 sq. miles and 13,383 population) having
joined the Swiss confederation at the time of Martin Luther's
reformation movement in the 16th Century. At the time when Grandfather
Jacob lived in Appenzell, that canton was an example of direct
democracy, although women had no right to vote. Every man over sixteen
who had been born in any Appenzell community was a citizen and had both
the right and the obligation to vote. On the last Sunday in April each
year all citizens carrying their swords as proof of citizenship, met
alternately in Trogen or Hundwyl to enact legislation and elect cantonal
officials for the coming year. If a citizen failed to vote, he was
fined ten franks, a sizable amount of money in those days. From age
sixteen each citizen was also a soldier. In time of war Appenzell
Ausser-Rhoden was to furnish 771 men and 7720 Swiss francs for their
share of the war effort. Appenzellers were traditionally very proud of
their democratic traditions and guarded them with a vengeance.

The village of Schoenengrund is located on the edge of the canton.
Lutz' Handlexikon for 1827 describes it as a village with thirty-six
houses and "...a mechanical spinning factory." Here cotton towels,
smooth muslins and other textiles had been produced for generations, but
the wealth from this industry has caused a severe neglect of farming and
cattle raising in the area. At the time of Jacob's birth, one cotton
manufacturer in the town was even experimenting with a new kind of
muslin from colored thread which would improve the markings and detail
work. Undoubtedly, it was from this background that Jacob received his
training as a weaver.

We know little or nothing about Grandfather Jacob's family, education,
first marriage, etc., only that he came in contact with Mormon
missionaries, probably Heinrich Hug from the Zurich area, sometime
during the summer of 1856. Jacob had earlier married a woman five years
older than himself, Anna Katherina Preisig, from the neighboring village
of Schwellbrunn, less than three miles away, and they were baptized and
confirmed, according to the Church records and Bro. Hug's dairy, 10
August 1856 in the village of Schwanden, eight miles west of
Schoenengrund. So zealous a missionary was Elder Hug that they were
numbers 167 and 168 of the 201 persons he baptized prior to emigrating
to the U.S. in 1859. Jacob and Katherina are recorded as the nineteenth
and twentieth members of the flourishing Herisau branch, some five miles
from where they lived, and were active for over four and a half years
prior to their own departure for the States. This steadfastness was the
result of the testimony and the "joyous heart" Jacob received at the
time of his baptism, as he later recalled it in 1897.

The missionary work in appenzell in those days was difficult but
fruitful. The church's Manuscript History records for Wednesday, 26
August 1857, a year after Jacob's baptism, that "the authorities in the
canton of Appenzell have commenced persecuting the Saints, and sending
some of the Brethren out of their native towns to stop them from
preaching 'Mormonism'. The Elders driven from the cantons of Zurich and
Appenzell have taken refuge in the Bern conference." Although neither
Jacob nor Katherina had any luck interesting their own families in the
Gospel (at a Fast Meeting on 6 February 1898 it was recorded that
"Counselor Jacob Tobler said he was the only one of the eleven children
of his father's house who excepted [sic] the Gospel." Jacob was
recorded as having baptized 17 persons and confirming another sixteen
prior to their departure. In any case, he had received the Melchizedek
Priesthood before 19 December 1859, the first recorded confirmation he
performed.

Like most of the European Saints, Jacob and Katherina Tobler were under
constant pressure to emigrate to Zion to build the kingdom here. They
seemed reluctant to leave, but the record shows the date of departure as
3 May 1861. By May 16, they were in Liverpool, England, and had joined
the throng of 947 other Saints, mostly from Scandinavia, aboard the ship
Monarch of the Sea, one of the last emigrant ships of the season. Prior
to departure, they had attended a conference for the whole group
conducted by Apostles Amasa Lyman, Charles C. Rich and George Q. Cannon.
Afterwards, the group was divided into wards with the Swiss in the 11th
Ward under Bishop Ignatz Willie, later Barbara Hafen Willie Tobler's
first husband. Besides having a bishop appointed, the group elected a
marshal for the thirty-four day trip who was to organize the guards for
the hatchways, "...see that no lights are left burning at nights, and,
in fine, preserve order and cleanliness throughout the ship." He was
also to serve as a Lost and Found office and enforce the agreed-upon
rule that "...no smoking be allowed between decks."

The report of the company's clerk, Bro. E.L.T. Harrison, to Pres.
Cannon, at the conclusion of the voyage was quite favorable:

The generality of the company are enjoying good health. All seem
rejoiced at the termination of our sea voyage and grateful to God
for his mercies that have manifestly been over us.

I do not think any company that ever crossed the ocean could
have felt , on the whole, a happier or more united spirit,
especially considering the diversity of nations represented,
there being ten languages spoken on board.

...We sailed with a fair breeze, and had a most successful
passage through the channel. Since then we had little of
anything but contrary or indirect winds; but he Monarch has
behaved splendidly under all kinds of weather.

The good ship Monarch arrived faithfully in New York on 19 June 1861
with a portion of the company already reaching Florence, Nebraska
(Winter Quarters) by 1 July. Here, tragedy befell the couple as
Katherina, with hundreds of others, contracted cholera and died. Jacob
was left to pursue their dream alone.


Soon after burying his wife, Jacob joined the company of fifty or sixty
wagons , including Pres. Jabez Woodard, former President of the Swiss
Mission, and also Anna Barbara Staheli, under the leadership of Captain
Sextus E. Johnson. By Friday, 27 September, they had arrived in the
Salt Lake Valley. At the General Conference of the Church held less
than two weeks later, Jacob heard his name read, along with other Swiss
brethren, to go to Santa Clara and help re-settle the area. Aunt
Cecilia Ence Tobler had recorded how Jacob went to Mill Creek, found and
married Barbara, because Pres. young would not permit them to go so far
away unmarried. (Barbara Staheli had joined the Church on 25 August
1860 in the Landschlact Branch of Canton Thurgau. She was two years to
the day younger than Jacob.) The name roster of the Swiss Saints who
arrived at Fort Santa Clara on 28 November 1861 under the leadership of
Daniel Bonelli reads like a Who's Who of historic Santa Clara. Besides
Jacob and Barbara Tobler the following family heads were listed:
Solomon Bliggenstorfer; John Enz (Ence);---Feldtman; Rudolf Frei; Casper
Gubler; John Gubler; Conrad Hafen; John Hafen; John G. Hafen; Gottlieb
Hirschi; Henry (Heinrich) Hug; John Rudolf Itten; John Keller; Henry
Kuehn; Christian Moosman; Henry Mueller; Conrad Naegeli; John Reber;
Samuel Reber; John Riedel; Friedrich Roulet; George Staheli, Sr.; George
Staheli; Niklaus Stauper; John Stucki; Samuel Stucki; Christian Wittwer;
Jacob Graff and Ignatz Willie. According to the arrangements worked out
with the old settlers by elders Erastus Snow and George A. Smith, they
[the old settlers] were to relinquish their claims on the large bend or
bottom below the fort to the newcomers, and receive compensation
according to a valuation of a committee of their own number. The
Manuscript History then records: "The bench part of this bend was
accordingly surveyed during the month of December 1861 for a town and a
vineyard, and the Swiss Brethren built a dam in the creek and the
ditches completed for the town on the 25th. The labor of their
construction was valued at $1030. On the 22nd [December] the brethren
and sisters assembled on the site of the new city, the present location
of Santa Clara, and Daniel bonelli offered a prayer of dedication, and
the lots were apportioned."

The mood of optimism among the group was severely chastened less than a
month later when floods swept through the little community on 17, 18,
and 19 January 1862. The destruction included the fort, most of the
homes and much valuable land. Moreover, it "...changed the appearance
of the whole valley and also the prospects and chances of the settlers
to a great extent. In fact, it reduced the first settlers to almost new
beginners." The families were thus forced to live in dugouts until more
substantial housing could be built. By 16 March work on a new ditch had
been completed at a total cost of $4,000 with each man's labor computed
at $2.00 per day.

But all did not go well between the "old" settlers, more involved in
stockraising, and the "new", whose crops were easy prey for the foraging
animals. Thus when the new bishop, Edward Bunker, called in October
1861 from his position as bishop of Ogden City 2nd Ward to go south,
arrived in Santa Clara "...he found division existing between the early
settlers and those who had been there but a year....He endeavored to get
the stock owners to take the cattle, goats and sheep out of the fields.
he also advised [them] to fence the land under cultivation. This latter
was promptly done. An adobe meeting house 40' by 28' has been commenced
and is being busily worked upon during the winter." Notwithstanding the
efforts of Bishop Bunker, squabbles with the Saints in Saint George over
the insufficient water reaching Santa clara caused half of the
population to pull up stakes and resettle in the greener pastures of
Clover and Meadow Valley.

By the end of December 1866, life for everyone in Santa Clara had
acquired a slightly rosier hue. A local historian waxed philosophical:
The greater portion of the people had come from the heart of
Europe's continent where the civilization for ages had framed
institutions and laws regulating a dense population with rigid
exactness. Another one, a considerable one, was accustomed to
the life of the frontier with the habits of the Western
farmers on the great public domain of the American states, and
the first mentioned portion being principally without means
and unable to speak the English language suffered considerable
privation in gathering the knowledge and experience the know
[sic] possess. But time, the common destiny of all, and above
all the Spirit of the Gospel have assimilated to a great
extent unequal elements and paved the way for a greater
progress than the year of the past had accomplished in the
days of the coming future.

These were busy days and years both in establishing a livelihood and,
more importantly for Jacob, a family. by 1866 the two oldest children,
Bertha and Barbara had been born, and with the spread of plural marriage
Jacob had married the widow of Elder Ignatz Willie, Barbara Hafen. by
the time Pres. Brigham Young reported to Bishop Edward Hunter on the
conditions of the "Clara Settlement" during one of his winter visits in
January 1873, Grandfather had produced a substantial family of five
girls and one boy, John Jacob (three girls, Selina, Wilhelmina Ida, and
wilhelmina died in infancy) by Barbara Staheli and two boys (William and
Albert) and two girls (the girl, Barbara Ema died in infancy as did her
unnamed sister a little over a year later) by Barbara Hafen who also
died shortly after in 1873. Pres. Young took considerable pride in
noting:
The Clara settlement, consisting of 20 families, twelve of
whom are Swiss and were sent there by the Perpetual Emigration
Fund without a dollar have all got houses, land, vineyards,
horses, wagons, and cattle, and are sending one hundred
children to school, besides having a number too small to go.
The donations they handed to Bishop Bunker he sent to the poor
in St. George, they having no poor. I learn that they all
paid tithing and feel united and blessed of the Lord.


These were the years of the United Order and Jacob and Barbara Staheli
Tobler were baptized for the third time (the second was after arrival in
Santa Clara) on 6 August 1875 by James Niven and Erastus Snow to show
their willingness to live according to the order. In 1877 United Order
appraiser Eli Whipple reported in the Santa Clara settlement field: "26
acres of lucern; 5 acres of barley; 73 acres of wheat, and 96 acres to
be put into cane, cotton and corn."

The United Order did not function as well as many in Santa Clara,
including Bishop Bunker and his family, had hoped. consequently, in
1877, they founded Bunkerville in the faith that the higher law could be
more fully lived. In the reconstructed Santa Clara Ward bishopric,
Grandfather Jacob was ordained a High Priest by Henry Eyring and set
apart along with Samuel Knight as counselors to Bishop Marius Ensign,
for whom his son, George E., born in 1876, was named. Two years
earlier, because of his dependability, he had been called to serve as
ward clerk, a position he was to hold for over thirty years. His
service as first, second counselor, then first counselor ran
concurrently under two bishops, Ensign and John G. Hafen, until his
release from that calling in 1901. His own report for July 1877
shows"...26 members in the YLMIA, 16 members in the YMMIA, a Sunday
School in Santa Clara proper and a Branch Sunday School in Gunlock; 368
acres of land under cultivation and the settlement owned twenty-nine
teams, 73 milk cows, 4 cane mills, 4 mowers, 1 cotton gin, etc. etc."The
minutes of a business meeting held in the schoolhouse on 7 June 1882
tell a great deal about the community and about Jacob Tobler, just as he
recorded it. We can note his reputation for dependability as well as
reasonably good command of English he had acquired:

Bp M. Ensign said to the Brotherin, [sic] that it is necessary
to have a good man for a Diacon to take care of the
schoolhouse, and to keep everything in good order, and ring
the bell 15 minutes bevor [sic] meeting, asking the Brotherin
who they want, a motion was made that Bro. Jacob Tobler should
take this.

Also do the clerking for Santa Clara ward for $75.00 a year
which was unanimously sustained by a vote of the people.

As early as 1879 the Church records showed that Grandfather paid $7.00
to the Perpetual Emigration Fund, $1.00 to the Missionary Fund and $6.00
and 7 bushels of grapes for the construction of the Manti Temple. The
following year his contributions included another dollar to the PEF
(some Santa Clara saints paid as much as $5.00) $2.75 to the "Sanpete"
Temple, $5.00 for the "poor in Zion". In 1884 he donated: $.50 for the
BY Academy (Heaven knows it needed it!), $1.00 to the Swiss-German
Mission; $1.00 for a Missionary; $.50 extra for the Manti Temple. The
year before Grandfather had made an additional donation of one load of
wood for the Manti Temple.

When Bp. Ensign passed away in 1884, Grandfather was a speaker at the
funeral and also assumed new responsibilities as first counselor to
Bishop Hafen, especially since the new bishop's work required him to be
away often. In reading the minutes of Church meetings during those
years I was struck by how often Grandfather conducted meetings, spoke or
blessed the sacrament, or, on occasion, did all three. These were also
years of increased family responsibilities. On 8 October 1881
Grandfather married Rosina Reber Staheli by who he was to raise a
wonderful family of six children; 3 boys, Alfred, Edward and Vernon, and
3 girls, Josephine, Lillie and Rhoda. He was particularly concerned as
he got older that he would live ling enough to raise this last family
properly. With the addition of christian Harmon, John Henry and
Ernest--the latter when he was fifty-three and Grandmother Barbara was
fifty-one--his family was complete. On 30 April 1899 he reported with
some considerable pride that he had "...21 children and 21
grandchildren." Nevertheless, he had had his share of the trials and
tribulations which he recognized a integral to life. His second son,
John Jacob, died of appendicitis in 1887, and there was always the
struggle to provide financially for the growing family. Grandfather was
apparently not very aggressive in this regard; his great strength was in
his spiritual endowment and power.

On 28 March 1894 some thirty years after the Swiss first came to Santa
Clara, the Deseret News carried an article entitled "Fair Clara" by C.
Page:

Perhaps you have never heard of the pretty and industrious
town, Santa Clara. It is situated about five miles a little
south of west from the city of St. George, Washington County,
Utah. Its residents are naturally proud of their town, and
one of them tells me he believes it is one of the prettiest
places in Utah. He also gives me the following: spring has
come and makes everything look pleasing and beautiful. Most
all the fruit trees, except pears and apple, are in bloom; all
grain is about five to six inches, spring grain two or three
inches, and lucern about three inches high. All these give
the place a very pretty appearance. Leaves are beginning to
come forth from our shade trees, such as cottonwood, poplar
and mulberry. There is but one weeping willow in the place,
which John Graf owns.

The people of Clara suffered many hardships from want of food,
clothing, etc. when they first came to settle the country. My
parents lived in a cellar dug in the ground, with a willow and
mud roof, which they thought was very nice at that time. They
have suffered from a flood which washed away the whole
settlement, save one house, standing at present about one mile
above the present location
.

The population of Clara is small, numbering about 225 souls,
yet it has a very good showing. There are five missionaries
laboring in the Swiss and German missions, namely Theodore
Graf, Harmon Hafen, William Tobler, Edward Frei and Henry
Gubler. They are all young and inexperienced men, still they
are meeting with good success. Clara has a good record in
regard to missionaries and tithing. The people fulfill their
duties and try to live up to their callings and requirements.
we have an aged brother, Samuel Stucki, who came with the
handcart company. His is blind now of old age.

I have been informed that a very sudden accident occurred to
Susetta Hafen--a paralytic stroke striking the left side of
her body. She is recovering.

The people of clara was talking of building a new meeting
house, which they need, because the old one will not hold the
people much longer, their increase is so rapid.

By 1895 the new meetinghouse had been started. With dimensions of 54' X
36' it was better suited to handle the attendance then undoubtedly in
excess of one hundred. Records report attendance at 147 in late October
1918 and 184 by January 1919.

Most of the reports of Grandfather's sermons that have been preserved
come from the 1890s and 1900. I will present here a few excerpts which,
I trust, will give a cross-section of his spiritual thought and
interests during his mature active years. At a Ward Meeting held 22
March 1896 where he was conducting, "Counselor Jacob Tobler was the next
speaker who made remarks upon the laying on of hands for the sick. He
felt to thank God that none of our children have been called away
through the present illness in our midst...Spoke of the regulations at
dances, that it is not proper to get up too close while waltzing. We
should behave everywhere no matter wherever we are...." In the ward
meeting held 21 June 1896:
Bro. Jacob Tobler next addressed the congregation, stated many
of us emigrated to this country, forsook friends and homes for
the Gospel's sake, spoke of the importance of good singing,
felt greatly encouraged in the cause he espoused, spoke some
upon the subject of the gathering [of] Israel, and the first
principles of the gospel. Stated what a grand privilege it
was for us that the Lord retained our spirits in the spirit
world, and permitted us to come forth in this last
dispensation of the fullness of times, said something on
rearing children in the proper way, stated there was a slack
of attendance in meeting and exhorted us to be faithful at all
times in the great cause.

Grandfather often spoke on the law of tithing (he handled it all as
clerk); it was to him a "standing law to the Church," and on supporting
the leaders of the Church. When by a youth in Switzerland, he has
always had a desire to see apostles or prophets, a factor, no doubt, in
his conversion, and in his continued devotion to the Brethren. He was
also very grateful to live in a Latter-day Saint community among fine
people.

Again while conducting the Sabbath ;meeting of 18 October 1896:
Elder Jacob Tobler...referred to the time when he was
baptized, said the evil one tried to make it appear that he
was being led astray, but after he was confirmed a member of
the church, this spirit left him. Said parents should be
strict in keeping a record of the birth, baptism, blessing and
confirmation of their children...

One of the most poignant glimpses came in an expression in the Sabbath
Meeting on 17 February 1901:
First Counselor Jacob Tobler was the next speaker. Said that
forty years had passed since they first came here and a very
few of the first company were still living here. Said that
many had left all that were dear to them and came to Zion not
knowing what kind of people or what kind of land they were
coming to. He felt to thank God that he has remained firm,
through all the struggles that the people have passed through.
We as parents should be examples for good unto our children
and teach them the principles of the gospel. Spoke of the
great posterity that we as parents have here for the[y] are
jewels in the crown of eternal life. Bro. Tobler's feelings
at this point very much affected.

Grandfather was an early earnest advocate of full compliance with the
Word of Wisdom, when many were having trouble or causing trouble. At
the Ward meeting on 27 March 1898, "Brother Jacob Tobler, first
counselor, spoke some closing remarks, said we do not have to keep the
Word of Wisdom for nobody [sic] but ourselves,..." On 18 February 1900
he "spoke concerning those who sold wine to their brethren...The speaker
said that the Lord could see in the dark and we should not sin in the
dark. The time would soon come when the people would be called to build
Jackson county, but such that do not keep the Work of wisdom will not be
called up to go back and help build it up."

Finally, one of his last preserved sermons was recorded by his son,
Harmon, on 29 July 1900. It seems a fitting summary for what he believed
and thought important:
Counselor Jacob Tobler said he felt he was not able to speak
to us without the Spirit of god, and felt thankful to the Lord
that he had been privileged to live in this day and age of the
world. Said that the Lord did not always punish us by way of
chastisements for our neglectfulness, but he sometimes
chastens us to prove our faith in God. Said that each one of
us would receive the reward of which he has worked out for
himself. related the difference in the tow spirits: the good
one and the bad one. when the Spirit of God is with us we
feel good and [it] helps us to live good lives. That when we
have sick in our midst, it we have a good spirit with us
through faith the sick will be healed. Related incidents
where the sick was healed by the administration of the Elders.
Said that he hoped that the testimony of which he had would
always remain with him.

Grandfather Jacob Tobler died on 22 November 1918 at the age of 85 of
"old age or senile disability." His wife, Barbara Staheli, who had
helped raise all the children after Rosina Reber Staheli passed away in
1900, lived until 1920. Some of his grandchildren, now the family's
elder statesmen, remember him in his old age as a kindly man who made
them feel welcome at his home. He permitted them to help him with the
chores, to water the cows and pigs and work in the garden. He had
fairly good health until his late years when his legs went bad and had
to walk with a cane. when he passed away, he had truly filled the
purpose for coming into mortality. As we, his descendants learn more
about him, we feel a profound gratitude to bear his name.