William Arbon was born in Graveley, Cambridge, England, 2 June 1816 the son of James and Elizabeth Newman Arbon. He married Elizabeth Hardwick in August 1842. From this union six children were born: Rachel the 2nd of May 1843, Louisa 12 April 1850, Joseph William 23 February 1854, Phillip 16 March 1858, Isaac Amos 16 February 1862, Frederick Petersen 3 March 1866. All were born in England. 

William Arbon earned a living by gret, or as we would say, as a contractor, while living in England. Elizabeth was very adept at making lace for pillow cases, with the use of bobbins. 

Many missionaries stayed at the Arbon home in England. One of them was from Grantsville, Utah. After some time, William and Elizabeth were converted to the Gospel and were baptized, William on the 14th of February 1849 and Elizabeth on the 26th of May 1849. The desire to go to Zion became very strong within their hearts and they made plans to leave England and join the Saints in Utah, USA. Lack of funds seemed a factor so Rachel the eldest child, left their home and traveled with some other converts to the Great Valley of Salt Lake in Utah in 1864. While in Salt lake City, she worked as a maid for a Danish family. Here she met Lars Christian Johnson, a convert from Denmark. They were married the 28th of December 1865 and lived for some time in Salt Lake City, where they were members of the 18th Ward. Here Lars William their first son was christened. 

It has also been told that Rachel and her husband helped provide some of the funds for the rest of the family to move to Utah. Joseph William, the oldest brother, came to Utah with some Elders in 1866 and made his home with Samuel Mathews in Granstville. 

William and Elizabeth with the four younger children set sail from England on Wednesday the 24th of June 1868, on the ship “Constitution” the last sailing vessel which brought a large company of Saints across the Atlantic. It sailed from Liverpool, England with 457 British, Swiss, and German saints. Harvey M. Cluff was in charge of this company. The ship arrived at New York, August 5, 1868. The immigrants continued by rail to Bento, where they joined a handcart company. They arrived in Salt Lake City Tuesday, September 5, 1868. Only one person died on the way. 

They first settled in Skull Valley, which is just over the mountains from Grantsville, Utah. Four years later they moved to Richmond, Cache County, Utah. While there, they were near their daughter Rachel and Lars Johnson. What William did for a living is not known, but since he was a carpenter in England it may be that he did carpenter work with his son-in-law as this was also his profession. In 1880 on the 26th day of December Rachel passed away leaving seven little children, the youngest Frederick just three months old. A sister Louisa, who had married John Gooch, had given birth to a son which she named Lewis, several months before Frederick was born. She took the small baby and nursed him with her own baby. After this the family moved back to Skull Valley where Frederick lived with his grandparents William and Elizabeth until he was nine years of age. 

Not long after the move back to Skull Valley William lost his eyesight and it was necessary for the family to move into Grantsville. The home they had there was mostly of adobe bricks. Philip later moved into the home and built two brick rooms onto it. Fire later destroyed most of the home. 

Many tales are told about William as a blind man. His grandson Frederick, nicknamed (Jinks) was very often his companion. He would have the older man jump ditches that weren’t there, etc. just to see him try to do things and then laugh at his mistakes. It didn’t take the blind man very long to catch on and soon he would feel with his cane, whereupon if finding a joke was being played upon him, he would quickly rap the boy a good one with his cane. Soon the boy would be sure he was out of reach when he attempted to play a joke on his grandfather. Soon a string was stretched from the home to the little house in the backyard to aid William, as it became a burden to have someone around to lead him when necessary. William was quite tall with blue eyes and wore whiskers under his chin. He passed away at the age of 79. 

Elizabeth was small in stature with black eyes. She was a very ambitious little person and very concerned over the welfare of her children. She was neat and fixy. She wore a small black bonnet, and always kept her hair curled from wrappers she kept tucked away in a corner of an apron pocket she wore most of the time. She would never sit in a rocking chair. She said only lazy people did that. When her granddaughter visited with her she would awaken her in the middle of the night to give her a snack. She made plum puddings the year around, then hung them in sacks for quick desserts. Their bed had rope springs and a feather mattress which she kept fluffed and clean. 

When Frederick was married she [Elizabeth] made the trip to Logan by train. She wanted to see if her grandson was getting a good ambitious wife. After the wedding she rode with the newlyweds to Hatch, Idaho to visit another of Rachel’s children, Sophia and her new family. She made such a favorable impression upon Sophia that she named one of her baby daughters Elizabeth. 

(On the back of the first page. Headshot pictures of individuals with description under each photo is the person name, birth, chr, married-spouse name, and death dates. Heading says Family of William and Elizabeth Hardwick Arbon, Son of James Arbon Jr. The individual pictures are: Rachel, William Arbon, Elizabeth Hardwick Arbon, Louisa, Joseph William-no picture just description, Phillip, Isaac Amos-no picture just description, Frederick Peterson) 

Elizabeth passed away the 24th of September 1909 at Grantsville, Tooele County, Utah and was laid to rest by her husband in the Grantsville cemetery the 26th day of September 1909. 

Although many of us never knew these stalwart ancestors, converts, immigrants, and pioneers, there is a deep feeling of honest pride for the heritage that is ours. May we live to bring honor to their names always. 

By Cora J. Wistisen, great, great granddaughter of William & Elizabeth Hardwick Arbon. 

(picture of a brick home with a man standing on the side of it. Description under the photo says: Old home of Wm. and Elizabeth Hardwick Arbon in Grantsville, Utah. Son, Phillip in foreground.)