Essentials
Born: 21 June 1831; Elizabethtown, Hardin County, Kentucky
Son of: Aquilla STANDIFIRD and Catherine HUFFMAN
Married: 1. Mary Ann ARGYLE; 16 January 1864; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah; 2. Frances ARGYLE; 22 February 1868; Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Died: 24 November 1924; Moab, Grant County, Utah

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One-minute history

BY DARYL JAMES
FROM 'JAMES/HATCH ONE MINUTE HISTORIES' (1994)
     John Henry Standifird was born June 21, 1831, near Elizabethtown, Kentucky, but was raised on the western frontier of Missouri. He stayed with his family on a farm until he was 15 but then decided to move out with a cousin, David Stovall.
     "I became dissatisfied with home, father, mother, brothers and sisters and thought I could do far better and receive more kindness among strangers than at home," said John. However, neither he nor David could find suitable employment and on the third day of their trek they decided to return home.
     Meanwhile, John's father had set out to look for them with a friend, and the groups met about two miles out of town. "At first I was very much ashamed of my course," said John, "but father was kind and I felt that he had forgiven me."
     At 20, John moved to Canton, Illinois--this time with his parents' permission. He studied house carpentry and worked as an apprentice and later as a journeyman. In 1853 he united with the Methodist Episcopal church, but felt no change of heart and soon suffered alienation for attending two dances. To ease the situation, he switched to the Missionary Baptist church by the end of the year.
     In 1856, while working as a carpenter in Harrisburg, Illinois, John met two Latter-day Saints from Salt Lake, Utah. He traveled with them and others to a camp on the Mississippi River where a group was preparing to emigrate to the Salt Lake Valley. "I felt at home while travelling with them, whereas before I had been uneasy among strangers," he said.
     John began investigating their doctrines and soon decided they had the true gospel of Christ. He was baptized and confirmed a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on June 14, 1857, and later that month journeyed with the camp to the Salt Lake Valley.
     During his life he worked as a cattle rancher, soldier, farmer and carpenter. He helped build the Bountiful Tabernacle and the Manti and St. George Temples. Later in life he served as a trustee on the local school board and as road overseer in Alpine, Arizona.
     In 1864 John married Mary Ann Argyle and four years later married her sister Frances. Between the two wives, he had 23 children.
     In 1873 the Church called him to help settle Arizona and he moved from Bountiful, Utah, to Alpine, Arizona. He remained with Francis in Alpine and established Mary in near-by Taylor.
     On Aug. 31, 1903, a constable arrested him for changing a county road without consent of the people, but a judge found him not guilty at his trial three days later.
     He died at 93 in Moab, Utah, on Nov. 26, 1924.

-- Sources: 1. The Journal of John Henry Standifird. (On record at the Harold B. Lee Library at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah.); 2. Descendants of George Palmer and Phoeb Draper, pps. 445-461. (On record at Harold B. Lee Library, BYU, Provo, Utah.)

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