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Born Decembr 27, 1839 in Wakefield, Yorkshire, England, Joseph was the son of George Bagnall, born October 11, 1805, and Ann Rawling.

Joseph Married Sarah Ann Frobisher, (daughter of Thomas Frobisher and Ann Cookson), on his birthday, December 27, 1864. They were each Mormon converts who subsequently sailed the Atlantic to America, packed all of their belongings into a handcart and pulled it across the plains. They arrived in present day Utah with the Mormon Henson Walker Handcart company on November 9, 1865.

Joseph and Sarah settled in Moroni, Utah, in December, 1865. Joseph worked as a stone cutter on the St George, Utah, Mormon temple. The couple relocated five miles away in Chester, Utah, in 1876. In this period Joseph served as a school trustee for 15 years, as a first counseler to Bishop Christensen for 14 years, as owner of a community store, and as a stone cutter for the building of the Manti Temple and the Chester community church. He also built his own stone house in 1889.

THE BAGNALL HOUSE Erected in 1889 in Chester, Utah

L to R: Horses May and Ben, Workman Andy Rasmussen, William H. Bagnall, son of Joseph and Sarah Ann, Sarah Ann, Joseph and dog Bruin, and horse Maud hitched to the buggy. Missing from the picture was Joseph Frobisher Bagnall, son of Joseph and Sarah.

Water was obtained from an old fashioned well that was plumbed to a kitchen pump. The pump had to be primed with water to initiate the flow.

The parlor had a fireplace, a family organ, and a dresser with a marble top and a large mirror.

The cellar under the house was stocked with potatoes and carrots and other food supplies.

As a small boy, about 1938, I remember going into the remaining remnants of the old rock house. I recall seeing bright colors (magenta) in what must have been the parlor.

Although I never had the privilege of knowing my great grandfather, I am told by my father, Joseph R. Bagnall, that he loved music, played the violin and the organ which he kept in his home, and on occasion he served as a chorister in his church. My father also told me that he owned and operated a small country store. He was a Democrat who was preoccupied with political issues. He was also a Mormon pioneer who prayed with passion, faith, and conviction. Every prayer, I am told, included a plea for "a contented mind"

My paternal grandmother, Hannah Christensen Bagnall, told me that great-grandfather had a subscription to Joseph Pulitzer's New York World and to a British newspaper. According to her account, he was sensitive and intelligent. She (and my father) believed that if he had lived in a later period in America he might have become a college professor. In the world of his day he was destined to make fundamental contributions to his family and his posterity as a stonecutter and a Counseler to a Mormon Bishop.

Joseph Frobisher Bagnall

Joseph Frobisher Bagnall was the third child born to Joseph and Sarah Ann Frobisher Bagnall. He attended school in a log school house in Chester, Utah, where split logs were used as benches. Students wrote on slates and wood shingles. The latter were erased with a pocket knife. Joseph finished fourth grade.

Joseph F. teamed with his brother William Henry to develop a farm and a cattle/sheep ranch. Joseph preferred to work with cattle and sheep, while William preferred to till the land and irrigate. Together they bought and built a business known as "Bagnall Brothers."

Joseph F. agreed to be a herdsman for a few years, and to take his pay from the owner in sheep. This is the way a large livestock and land business commenced.

Joseph F. Bagnall, with his imported Hereford Bull.

When Joseph was 26 years old he married Hannah Christensen, aged 16 years. Their wedding day was December 1, 1896. On October 23, 1900, Joseph Rodley, their only son, was born.

In 1909 Joseph F. accepted a call to go on a Mormon mission to England. His wife Hannah and son Joseph Rodley were left to attend to the duties on their part of the ranch for the next two years. As a missionary, Joseph F. was Branch President of the Rochdale Branch and later President of the Hyde Branch.

In 1918 the worldwide flu epidemic took William Henry, and Joseph F. was required not only to manage the entire Bagnall Brothers enterprise, but also to care for William Henry's widow and five children.

Joseph Frobisher Bagnall
22, Nov. 1870 -- 10, May 1942

During the years 1923-25, Joseph F. served as a Sanpete County representative in the Utah State Legislature. He was a conservative Republican in the Harding-Coolidge years.

In1924 he was ordained a Mormon Bishop; he presided over the Chester ward for ten years. In this period he also served as a director of the Bank of Moroni. By 1926 he had purchased a herd of 5000 sheep and 300 head of Herford cattle, along with grazing land in Scofield, Milford, and Chester, Utah. The enterprise prospered from 1926 through 1929.

From 1929 through 1940, the Bagnall enterprise suffered through the Great Depression, but my grandfather, his nephew, Rawlin Bagnall, and his son, Joseph Rodley, held it together.

Joseph F. Bagnall died on May 10, 1942, on a 1400 acre ranch in Chester, Utah, the place he loved above any other..

Joseph Rodley Bagnall

Born in a log cabin three years before the Wright brothers made their famous flight, Joseph Rodley Bagnall's life covered a period when automobiles replaced horse drawn buggies, air travel evolved into space travel, and rural America became for the most part urban America.

Joseph Rodley attended a country elementary school in Chester, Utah. His high school days were spent at Snow Academy in Ephraim, Utah.

My father married Florence Noland of Mt. Pleasant, Utah, in 1927. Soon thereafter he finished his Bachelor's Degree at University of Utah and began teaching at an elementary school in Salem, Utah.

Florence and Joseph Rodley Bagnall
1926

During the Great Depression he taught at Hamilton Elementary School in Mt. Pleasant and at Moroni High school. While teaching history and social science at Moroni High, he studied part time at the University of Utah in order to prepare for a career in educational administration. In 1940 he was hired as Superintendent of the North Sanpete School District, a position he held until 1945.

When his father, Joseph F. Bagnall passed away my father resigned as Superintendent of Schools to help his cousin, Rawlin Bagnall operate the family ranch in Chester.

From 1945 to 1948, my father served as Bishop of the Mt. Pleasant North Ward, and later as President of the North Sanpete Stake. During this same period this busy man also served as Sanpete County Representative in the Utah State Legislature.

In 1951 he was appointed Manager of the Southern California Latter-day Saint Welfare Ranch in Perris, California. Originally this ranch had been developed as an elegant retreat for Louis B. Mayer of Metro Goldwin Mayer movie fame. It had a race track and splendid accommodations for Mr. Mayer's guests and his horses. The property was then sold to the Statler Hotel interests and later purchased by the Mormon Church.

As Manager Joseph R. directed and supervised planting of alfalfa and row crops and raising of cattle, chicken and hogs. Each Saturday from fifty to one hundred people would arrive from one of the Stakes (comparable to a Catholic Diocese) of Southern California. They would come to the ranch and spend the day working on a special Stake welfare project. During the week the ranch was sustained by six or seven permanent families in residence.

From 1953 to 1955, my father earned a Master's Degree from Claremont Graduate School in Claremont, California.. From 1955 to 1956, he served as Director of Adult Education in Arcadia Unified School District. From 1956 to 1966 he served as the first Principal of the Richard Henry Dana Middle School in Arcadia.

From 1966 to 2001, he lived in returement in Provo, Utah. He opened his home to six grandchildren who each lived there when they were ready for college; they received room and board, and much loving care, while attending BYU.

Joseph R. Bagnall died May 27, 2001, at the age of 100 and a few months.

Joseph R. Bagnall Birthday Photo at 100 Years of Age

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