The Fountain Green Choir
Music was to our forefathers both an inspiration and a joy...Fountain Green is located in Sanpete County, Utah, and is situated on a beautiful creek heading in the Uintah Springs in the north end of Sanpete County...The organization of the choir is attributed to Samuel Jewkes, an Englishman of superior musical ability, who had moved to Fountain Green in 1861 or ‘62. Alma (Gardner) Jewkes places the date as shortly after his father’s arrival. He was a child of four or five at the time and one of his earliest recollections was standing by his father’s knee while the latter led the choir. Although this date probably marks the beginning of an organized choir, it does not mark the beginning of music in the ward, for Mr. Jewkes found a number of excellent singers already living in Fountain Green when he arrived...
Thomas Crowther and Jane Jewkes, sister of Samuel Jewkes the first choir leader, were married in Utah in 1855. In 1860 they were living in a dugout near Ephraim and here Jane gave birth to a son, James Franklin. The family moved to Fountain Green in 1861, where both parents were associated with the choir until they left the town in 1890...
Of the women in the first choir Rebecca Jewkes, known to all as “Becky” sang for the longest period of time, so that many of the older people still remember her lovely voice. She was the wife of John Jewkes, step-brother of Samuel Jewkes. At first choir singing was done in groups , but later Becky became a great favorite in solo, duet and trio numbers.
The name of Samuel Jewkes first appears on the tithing records of Fountain Green under date of October 21, 1862, although Church historian Andrew Jenson gives the date of his arrival as the spring of 1861. His son Alma Jewkes says, “We know nothing of Samuel Jewkes’ musical education, but he must have had some in England as he was very apt at reading music in what was called the “sol-fa” system. He also wrote melodies from memory of songs they used to sing in England and adapted words to them. He owned a sawmill and hauled logs out of Log Canyon with oxteams. Later he added a grist mill to his business. Samuel served as leader of the Fountain Green choir for approximately seventeen years, and it was not easy for a busy mill operator to find time for the practices necessary to train a choir. Because he often stayed at the mill until late in the evening, the choir sometimes practiced in his home. A younger son, Joseph H. Jewkes born at the fort during the Black Hawk War, tells how he used to lie quietly on the foot of the bed in the next room. The music always moved him, but he thought he was surely ready for the hereafter when the choir rendered such funeral numbers as “He’s Gone, Gone to the Silent Land.”
In 1879 Mr. Jewkes and his sons answered the second call for settlers to Emery County, moving their sawmill and grist mill equipment with them. Alma had gone ahead to explore. Three families arrived in Castle Dale (now Orangeville) in August. The men installed the women and children in the bowery, with upturned wagons for sides, and went back to the mountain where they spent three weeks with an old-fashioned up and down saw in an improvised sawmill, sawing out lumber for doors, windows, frames, etc. Their homes were finished with dirt roofs by November. Samuel Jewkes became the first Probate Judge of Emery County in 1880.
The year of 1861 or 62 saw the arrival of Cornelius Collard in Fountain Green to become the village blacksmith and choir assistant. As there were no musical instruments available for accompaniment, Mr. Collard made a tuning fork on his anvil for Mr. Jewkes. To this day the fork is a prized heirloom in the Jewkes family. Mr. Collard was a handy man who could turn out almost anything he needed. Along with his blacksmith shop, he also operated a farm, and still later ran the co-op store. Sadie Collard Sorenson said her father could read music, although many members of the choir could only tell whether the notes went up or down. The parts had to be learned by ear. Pitch was found with a tuning fork – he made several – which he usually pinched between two fingers, struck on something, often his knee, or bit with his teeth. Cornelius began service in the choir as assistant secretary. He was capable of leading the choir with his fine baritone voice and took over whenever necessary. The aid of such a dependable assistant was a material help in making the choir possible in the busy life of its leader during those first years...
During the early seventies, the choir grew by leaps and bounds. In 1944 Alma Jewkes listed from memory the members of the choir during those first ten years. In addition to those already mentioned he included the name of George and Maria Powell (Great-Grandparents) who lived in the Fountain Green fort during the Black Hawk War to escape Indian troubles in Sevier County...
Alma Gardner Jewkes was twenty one when he left Fountain Green to settle in Castle Valley, so most of his many years of service to the Church was given in the latter locality. He was the first counselor in the Stake Presidency there and a patriarch from 1931 until the time of his death in 1954. This account would not have been possible had it not been for the remarkable memory of this wonderful man. Although blind and in his nineties, his mind was clear and his stories vivid. Many others joined during the late seventies, but are not considered members of the first choir.
The choir not only put on concerts, but also was expected to sing at all types of entertainments, as well as four or five meetings a week. A Deseret News item dated 1872, describes a typical New Year’s Day. “AT 10:00 a.m. a large meeting raised $602 for needy emigrants in spite of the season’s grasshopper losses; the brass band and string orchestra assisting to whip up the enthusiasm of the crowd. At 6 p.m. Samuel Jewkes, Esq., and his choir were there, well tuned, and the glees and other pieces which they sang were most admirably rendered. Dancing in the ball room continued until the small hours of the morning.”
In 1868 a Sunday School was organized with Samuel Jewkes as the superintendent. It had no department or classes. Mr. Jewkes chose a passage from some work, such as the Book of Mormon, and called on each of his pupils to read a verse aloud. Of course, singing was important. The group sang the multiplication tables and ABC’s as well as hymns. This was the only school in town having no tuition fee. Nothing was too much trouble to make the Sunday School a success. The March 2, 1870 issue of the Deseret News carried an item saying that. the choir under Samuel Jewkes gave concerts “three nights in succession, each one being crowded, for the benefit of the Sunday School. The satisfaction and pleasure of the audience was great.”...
The Jewkes family, father and sons, did not confine their interest in instrumental music to choir accompaniments. Samuel R. Jewkes was the leader of a brass band. Members of the Jewkes family went to Salt Lake City and purchased instruments, second hand, from a band who was acquiring new ones.
The choir of Samuel Jewkes day never had a fancy building to sing in. The first “public house” was built by George W. Johnson and sons of logs. It was 18' x 15' and was completed late in 1860. By this time there were seventy-five inhabitants and the meetinghouse was already too small when Samuel Jewkes arrived a year or two later. It was replaced by a larger log structure in 1863, but the choir did not enjoy the added space long. The building was destroyed by fire in 1865. This was replaced by an adobe building erected on the same site and completed in the fall of 1866, and is the building remembered by Alma Jewkes as the scene of most of the choir activities while he resided in Fountain Green. Here they sang on Thursday night for testimony meetings and on Thursday afternoons for Sacrament Meetings. On Sunday they went to Sunday School. The choir sang again at the special testimony meetings on Sunday nights.
The Black Hawk War was a disrupting factor in the efforts to build up the town. Fountain Green was abandoned in May, 1866, the people living in Moroni until the men could enclose five acres with rock walls and build log cabins within the fort. They moved into the fort in July of the same year. Everyone lived there that winter and the next summer. Some families stayed on for three or four years.
Alma Jewkes who was ten years old when the fort was built, remembered it well when interviewed at the age of ninety-six. The fort had four lookouts about twenty feet off the ground. Inside was the public square. The old Social Hall where dances were held was on the south side of the square. Later a red brick meeting house was built on the west side. A cow corral was on the east side. In the center of the fort was a grove of trees, here a bowery was constructed and the first meetings in the new fort were held in it. It had a platform at the west end for the dignitaries and the choir sat in front of the platform on the ground the same as the congregation. Unlike many of the later boweries constructed for 4th of July celebrations and outdoor meetings, this one required no posts driven in the ground to support the roof poles. It had standing trees as a base. Alma Jewkes said he helped cover the bowery many times. It was a great relief to choir members to get out of the small, crowded building into the open air.
An item in the Deseret News of 1873, records the visit of the Nephi and Moroni choirs to Fountain Green. The latter proudly brought their new organ. The Fountain Green ward had no organ during the reign of Samuel Jewkes, but Alma reports that on special occasions the first organ in town, owned by Richard Prater and played by his daughter Lizzie, was carried to and from the meetinghouse by wagon...On one occasion the choir was taken to Manti for conference which was quite an event for that time. They also gave a concert in Nephi. The brass band accompanied them.
The Church was putting out call after call for settlers to claim the fertile valleys to the east. During the decade following 1879, many choir members answered the call, beginning with Samuel Jewkes and his sons...
The above information was taken from a pamphlet called “Zion Sings” compiled by Kate B. Carter and the Daughters of Utah Pioneers in 1960. We have only selected information about the time of Samuel Jewkes reign as conductor of the Fountain Green Choir. There is much more to be had. (Typed October 13, 2000 by Janne K. Webster for use in family histories)