--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Anderson, Edward H. collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 22 number: 2 published: 1918-12 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Anderson, Edward H., "George Halls," *Improvement Era* 22, no. 2 (December 1918): 119–122.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2202unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera2202unse start_page: 119 end_page: 122 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1918-12) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera2202unse publication_year: 1918 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1918, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # George Halls George Halls By Edward H. Anderson Among my early recollections is the old rock school house, on the west side of the public square, in Huntsville. The old building, still standing, is inseparably connected with the name of George Halls, who for many years presided in it as teacher of the district school and as one of the leaders in the little, vil- lage. It was the civic center of the little community for many, many years, around which every interest centered, social, re- ligious, educational. On its walls I first saw the pictures of Grant, Sherman, and other heroes of the Civil War, and here, on gala occasions I first saw Old Glory. Here also I first heard the harp of Giles, studied my first Sun- day School lesson, first acted as secre- tary of a literary or- ganization which was later merged into the Y. M. M. I. A., first enjoyed myself in the dance, went to my first choir practice, and attended every other entertainment, civil, social, religious, George Halls and political that wag uppermost in the minds of the people under the long and ever- to-be-remembered leadership of Bishop Francis A. Hammond. Here, too, I received my first lesson in school under the Halls brothers, William and George. Just a half a block north of the old schoolhouse, lived Wil- mer Bronson, my Sunday School superintendent, under whom 120 IMPROVEMENT ERA I first learned the old Jacques' catechism by heart, so that I could repeat it from beginning to end. On the opposite corner was the village store, and just a block west of the store stood a story-and-a-half log house. Here, with his good old English mother, lived my friend George Halls, student, philosopher, teacher, and Latter-day Saint. He it was who induced me to study grammar, something un- heard of in the village school up to the time that he undertook to introduce it. Six of us who accepted the offer of the teacher to take up this study were daily lined up for morning recita- tion. The experiment was looked upon with curiosity, not to say apprehension, by the good people of the village. It seemed to be useless and time-wasting. Our exercises were laughed at by the students, who were distracted from their studies. There was only one room in which all the grades both recited and studied. In a few days, the curiosity died out, and our little class dwindled down to two or three. Two who "stuck it out" were Professor Mosiah Hall, now the Inspector of the High Schools of the State of Utah, and myself. Before the winter was over, we were able to repeat Pineo's Primary Grammar, answer- ing every question, parsing every word in it, and repeating every irregular verb, and every preposition in the English language. The prepositions, in their alphabetical order, remain in my mind to this day: about, above, across, along, amid, among, around, at; before, behind, below, beneath, beside, besides, be- tween, betwixt, beyond, by; down, during, and so on all the way through the alphabet. Seeing that I took an interest in the matter, George Halls invited me to visit his home evenings to further pursue my studies in that line, and many an evening he sat helping me to learn English grammar. I enjoyed the privilege, notwithstand- ing I disliked to go home in^pie dark, for the lonely little cabin in which we dwelt, was far <5jft of town to the west, on the brow of a hill overlooking the silfitft meadows and the willow-shaded creek and river; particularly I disliked to pass the old aban- doned graveyard abutting tlife street, nearby which was located our one-room cottage ma GEORGE HALLS 121 the question, but in years later I had my suspicions. This was during the winters of 1869-72. In the spring of 1872, he engaged with his brother William in farming and stock-raising, and for twelve years owned and op- erated a section of land in the southeast part of the valley. Here he operated a dairy and cheese factory, with considerable suc- cess, later turning over the school to other hands, principally to Professor Charles Wright who for years succeeded the Hall brothers in the occupation of teaching and who also became one of my beloved early teachers, and a friend until he died. George Halls was the son of John Halls and Susanna Sell- stone. He was born October 18, 1846, in the parish of Orsett, county of Essex, England. When he was six years of age his parents became converts to "Mormonism." They were quite poor and could give him but very little schooling. Conse- quently he had to begin work for wages when very young. His father died in 1861, and the following year George left his na- tive land with his mother for Utah, crossing the Atlantic in the ship William Tapscott, and the plains in Horton D. Haight's company. Beginning to work for wages when only very young, George received but little schooling, and had no experience whatever in the pioneer life which now lay before him. He drove a team of four yoke of oxen across the plains. On his arrival in Utah, he soon after settled in Huntsville, and, in 1866, returned to the Missouri river for immigrants as a teamster in Horton D. Haight's company. During the first few years of his residence in Huntsville he worked for wages in the sum- mer, and like all others who could work, only attended school in the winter. He spent most of his time as a shepherd, but used his leisure in the camp studying grammar and preparing his mind educationally. Being very persistent, he obtained a wide knowledge by his own efforts. In the development of the ma- terial and intellectual progress of the settlement he was an active worker in every department of public interest: the ward choir, Sunday School, a leading actor in the dramatic associa- tion, a teacher in the district school, and in all the amusements and entertainments of the young people always took a leading part. His conduct, activities and example were pillars of strength to the youth. When within a few days of thirty years of age he married Mary Moselle Hammond, Bishop Francis A. Hammond's eldest daughter, whose mother, Jane Dillworth, was the first school teacher in the state of Utah. The marriage took place October 13, 1876. In 1885, a large migration, accompanying Bishop Francis A. Hammond, went from Huntsville to new settlements in the south of Utah. Thomas Bingham and a number of others went 122 IMPROVEMENT ERA to Ashley Fork, and settled Vernal. Francis A. Hammond and the Hall brothers, to San Juan county, where Bishop Hammond settled at Bluff. The following year, 1886, George moved to Mancos, Colorado, at which place the Saints that same year were organized into a ward, and he was chosen and ordained bishop which position he held for twenty-five years, a beloved leader in that pioneer community. He was not only the bishop, but he acted also as superintendent of the ward Sunday School, as choir leader, and was an active, faithful worker in every ward association and in every institution of education in the community. His accounts were always settled to date and no public interest in his charge ever went by default. He aided in building the Rio Grande railroad from Durango to Mancos, served a term as commissioner of Montezuma county, Colorado, and took a prominent part in educational affairs. Surrounded by the Colorado pine-covered hills, he built him a comfortable home, cultivated the earth, devoted himself to his books and his civil and religious duties, passing his life- time in peaceful pursuits and contemplation. Having no chil- dren of his own, he and his estimable wife reared two adopted ones, George Dilworth Hall, who enlisted May 10, 1917, in Bat- tery C, 82nd Field Artillery, now at Fort Bliss; and Harriet M. Halls, who married George W. Stevens, Tennessee, and who has four children. Bishop Halls possessed the respect and confidence of the leaders of the Church and of leading citizens of the county where he dwelt, became well informed on general and current history and literature, and enjoyed a general knowledge of the world's work. In his mountain home he entertained many of the leaders of the Church, and with his kind wife extended warm hospitality to all who came. I enjoyed the great privilege of visiting his home after twenty-five years' absence, again to shake his hand and thank him for his help to me in my child- hood. With hundreds of other visitors to his home amidst the hills where once thrived the old Montezumas, I left my benedic- tion of peace for Brother and Sister Halls. He passed peacefully away from this life January 3, 1917, at Mancos, beloved by all, firm in the faith, having an abiding testimony in the divine mission of the prophet Joseph and the marvelous work and a wonder which he was instrumental in founding, and true to the gospel of Jesus Christ to the end.