Ruth Bailey Logan
23 October 1819 – 14 July 1892



 
       In 1819 the United States stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. Beyond that was a vast, untamed wilderness. As a young child watching the setting sun in the west, Ruth couldn't possibly have imagined that her journey in life would take her deep into the frontier territories of the west.

        Ruth Bailey Logan was born on October 23, 1819 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of Joseph and Olive Rangon Logan. Just before her twenty first birthday, she married Daniel Henry Cloward, the son of Jacob and Catherine Ann Pluck Cloward. She was nearly a year older than Daniel who was born on August 30, 1820 also in Chester County. Their marriage took place on October 15, 1819 at Unionville, Delaware County, Pennsylvania with the ceremony being performed by John Smith, Esquire.

        It was in Wilmington that the Clowards were introduced to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and were baptized in 1841. Daniel and Ruth became parents in October of 1842 when their son, Joseph, was born. He died a year later on October 28, 1843 in Nauvoo. Catherine Emma was born near Nauvoo at Bear Creek, Hancock County, Illinois on May 25, 1845.

        The saints were undergoing severe persecution at this time and were finally driven from their homes in and around Nauvoo during the cold winter and spring of 1846. Ruth and her family were among those who had to flee across the Mississippi River and seek refuge in Iowa. They traveled some 200 miles across Iowa and camped on the Missouri River at Winter Quarters. A makeshift city of crude log cabins was built to accommodate the refugees as they regrouped. Daniel, Ruth, and their family, along with the entire Cloward family remained at Winter Quarters for five years where they lived in the Winter Quarters 15th Ward. It was under these trying conditions in Council Bluffs, Iowa, that Daniel Henry, Jr. was born on February 11, 1848 and Heber C. was born on December 17, 1851. In 1851 Daniel's parents and his sister and her family crossed the plains. When they arrived in the Utah Territory, they went to Provo to prepare a place for rest of the family to come the next year.

        The rest of the Cloward Family headed west for the Salt Lake Valley on June 6, 1852 with the David Wood Company. About 288 individuals and about 58 wagons were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post at Kanesville, Iowa. The trek was uneventful and there were no problems with the Indians. They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley on September 20, 1852. Upon their arrival in the territory, the entire family went directly to Provo where they established their new home.

        Daniel and Ruth Cloward became the parents of one more child after they arrived in Provo. This was Mary Jane who was born on February 2, 1853. Daniel set about providing for his family by securing land and and began farming. After only a couple of years in the Utah Territory, Daniel suffered a fall resulting in a ruptured blood vessel in his head, causing severe brain damage. Due to his mental incapacities, he was no longer able to live with his family and was placed in an asylum. He was never again in his right mind. He was harmless for the most part but was known for starting fights. At the time of his accident, he was about 35 years old. Daniel lived the rest of his life, about 48 years, under these sad conditions. He died on March 14, 1903 in Provo.

        Under these circumstances, Ruth was released from their marriage, allowing her to marry again, she then became the second wife of William McKee Faucett on July 27, 1856 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City.

        William was born on January 6, 1807 at West Gallatin, Sumner County, Tennessee, to Richard and Mary McKee Fausett, and was the seventh of fourteen children. He was a kind, lovable, and gentle man, although strong in his ambitions and desires. On March 2, 1826 at the age of nineteen, he married Matilda Caroline Butcher, the daughter of a Baptist minister who solemnized their marriage. William and Matilda joined the church in 1835 and after living in Missouri, Nauvoo, and Winter Quarters, they arrived in Utah in 1851. In 1852 William, a farmer by occupation, was called to assist in the settlement of Provo, Utah County, where he became the Bishop of the Provo Fourth Ward, in which capacity he served until 1867.

        When Ruth married William, Catherine was 11, Daniel, Jr. was 8, Heber was 6, and Mary Jane was 3. To Ruth and William one child, Julia Ann, was born on June 13, 1857 in Provo. It was in this plural marriage arrangement that Ruth raised her children. In 1862 Catherine married Lemuel Hague. After being widowed at a young age, Catherine married Emulous Sanford in 1871. With three children still at home, in 1865, Ruth's husband married a third wife, a widow named Elizabeth Tracheler Boshard. Then ill fortune struck their household on Oct. 3, 1867 when William's first wife died.

        Of Ruth's younger children, Daniel Henry, Jr. married Celesta A. Harwood in 1879, Heber never married, Mary Jane married Adelbert Breed Searle in 1874, and Julia Ann married Thomas Teancum Holdaway in 1876. Knowing the sorrow of losing a child, Ruth experienced that pain once more when Julia Ann died from complications of childbirth in 1880 at the age of 23.

        Having raised her family, Ruth lived the rewarding life of the grandmother of 26 grandchildren, 4 of whom did not survive childhood. Catherine had moved to Idaho and Daniel, Jr had moved to Central Utah so she didn't have the opportunity of seeing some of her grandchildren very often.

At the age of 72, having been been married to William for 36 years, Ruth died on July 14, 1892 in Provo, Utah County, Utah. She was buried near Willam's first wife and when he died on September 6, 1896, he was buried next to them, and the three of them share a common monument marking their graves.

        One of the descendents of Daniel and Ruth Cloward, Ruth Ella Taylor, instigated the cancellation of the sealing of Ruth Bailey Logan and William Faucett. Under the direction of President David O. McKay it was granted. Then on September 28, 1951, Daniel and Ruth were sealed by proxy in the Salt Lake Temple. At the same time, their five children were sealed to them and the family chain was made complete.

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The main source of this story is from a history of Daniel Henry Cloward arranged for Irene Cloward Hayes and a history of William Fausett McKee by Mildred Fausett Ellis.