Joseph Henry Dye
                  30 March 1867 - 11 May 1950
                       by Elaine Johnson
     
Submitted to the USGenWeb Project and IDGenWeb Project Archives by Elaine Johnson on 
28 November 1996.

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     Joseph was born in Riverdale, near Ogden, Utah. He was the son of
Richard Dye and Mary Malden Peek, both English converts and immigrants.
He was given a name and blessing by Richard Dye on the first of August, a
Thursday. His health as a baby was delicate but became stronger as he grew
older. He herded cattle on the hills south of Ogden as a boy. One day a blow
snake crawled into the rocks where he was sitting and he didn't know it was
there until he stood and found it. Though terrified of rattlesnakes and blow
snakes, he had no fear of smaller snakes and once took one to Primary to scare
the girls and caused "quite a disturbance."

     The family was living in Davis county during the 1870 census. He was
baptized 17 June 1877 by William Stimpson and confirmed the same day by his
father in the Riverdale Ward. The IGI has his baptism date as the thirtieth but
the original ward records are considered the primary source in this case. Soon
after turning ten years old Joseph began helping with the farm work, handling
the horses and plowing. Joseph also helped pitch the hay with a fork made by
his father, and drove the wagon to gather sugar cane for his father's mill. When
he was twelve, he became ill with a fever. Despite the prayers of his family he
became weaker every day. After a few weeks his father gave him a blessing. He
got well immediately. Joseph and his family were listed in Riverdale in the 1880
census. Their next door neighbors were the Stimpsons. On the other side of the
Stimpsons was the Child family.

     By the time he was thirteen he was working in the fields with the grown
men. During his teen years he took singing lessons and memorized many
scriptures. Years later he could lead the singing at church and as an old man he
could still remember the scriptures clearly. He enjoyed dramatics and dancing
and the ward choir, led by his father, was very important to him. He was
ordained a Deacon 1 January 1885 by his father.

     In autumn of 1885 he went with his brothers Richard and William and
his uncle Lorenzo Firth to pioneer the Snake River valley. They started with
two covered wagons but had to abandon one after a storm left a foot of snow.
The first few weeks they slept in the wagon. They had to file claims on the land
in Oxford, ninety-three miles away. Joseph was not yet of age so William filed
a timber claim for him. He had to plant trees and live there to prove the claim.
Joseph and William built homes northeast of their uncle and Richard. It took six
weeks to haul wood from Wolverine canyon to build the first cabin.

     For the first three years they had to travel to a home in Shelley for
church meetings. Joseph's ordinations to the offices of Teacher and Priest were
recorded in the Riverdale ward records. John C. Thompson ordained him a
Teacher 5 February 1886 and he was ordained a Priest 27 March 1887 by
Warren G. Child. In August 1888 the Basalt ward was established. It was part 
of the Rexburg Stake under the direction of President Thomas E. Ricks. Joseph
was ordained an Elder 8 October 1888.

     On 10 October 1888 he married Nellie Dora Child in the Logan
Temple. She had been born and raised in the same town, attended the same
schools, and was Joseph's childhood sweetheart. They traveled to Idaho two
weeks after the wedding. His brothers drove another team and wagon to help
bring furniture and provisions to set up a home. The trip took seven days. He
was very proud at the birth of his daughter Mary a year later. They needed
water to grow crops so they had to build a canal. It took seven years to
complete. They raised some corn and rye before the canal was finished but they
worked on the railroad to support their families.

     Joseph was ordained a High Priest 17 November 1890 by William
Rigby, and served as the Bishop's second councilor from November 1890 to
1904. The Bishop and Joseph visited every family in the ward by wagon and
the trip took two months. Simultaneously he was Sunday School
Superintendent, Y.M.M.I.A. officer and ward chorister. In the fall of 1898 he
was called to go on a short mission to the Lost River area of Idaho. It was two
hundred miles by wagon but within their ward boundaries.

     Joseph received a Patriarchal Blessing at the hands of O.N. Lillyenquist
on 11 April 1898. The following is a portion of it:
     . . . Thou art of Ephraim and was chosen before you was born to
embrace the fullness of the everlasting gospel, with the fullness of the holy
priesthood, with all its ordinances, sealings and anointings, and become one of
his kings and priests and reign with the Redeemer on the earth. And you was
also chosen to stand as a savior among the living and for the dead. A leader
among the brethren, become a mighty man of God. So be valiant in the
testimony of Jesus. Be meek and lowly of heart, and no blessing shall be
withheld from you, and your posterity shall stand as a Joseph unto the hungry,
the poor, and needy that shall come unto thee for council, and for something to
eat and wear, for the blessings of the earth shall flow unto you.

     On 15 November 1899 he left for a mission to the Southern States. He
spent most of his time in Kentucky and Southern Ohio. His mission call was
signed by Lorenzo Sow, George Q. Cannon, and Joseph F. Smith, the first
Presidency. Joseph served as counselor to the mission president. He was
released 14 December 1901. The next winter he served in the Lost River area
again. When the Blackfoot Stake was organized, Joseph was the stake
superintendent of religion classes from 1904-1909, and councilor to the
president beginning 1912. In 1909 his brother William became Bishop of the
Basalt ward and Joseph was called as 1st counselor. He served in the Stake 
Presidency and as the first President of the new Shelley Stake 1914 -1924.

     Joseph farmed from 1885 to 1909 near Firth. He became manager of
the Shelley Mercantile Co.'s store at Basalt the 19th of March 1909. This store
was later known as the Dye Mercantile. Joseph moved his family to Basalt in
1910. The Basalt school district board members included Joseph for a time. He
helped build a canal in the area and was director of the Cedar Point canal and
Snake River Valley Irrigation District. Joseph was set apart as the Patriarch of
the Shelley Stake 16 August 1931. His wife asked to be "the first blessed from
my hands." In 1936 he was hospitalized for one week because of diabetes. His
wife Nellie died in 1944. Joseph lived to see Wilford Woodruff's prophecy
about the Upper Snake River Valley fullfilled. He was seventy-nine years old
when the Idaho Falls Temple was dedicated.

"FIRTH, Ida.-Joseph H. Dye, 83, Firth, died Thursday at the home of his
daughter, Mrs. Clyde Gardner, Firth after a short illness.
     Mr. Dye had lived in the Upper Snake River valley the past 65 years.
He was a successful farmer and also operated the Dye mercantile stores at
Basalt and Firth for a number of years prior to his retirement. Active in civic
affairs and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, he also had
served a number of terms as school trustee and as a director of the Snake River
Valley irrigation district.
     He was born March 30, 1867, at Riverside, Utah, a son of Richard and
Mary Malden Peek Dye.
     He had completed an L.D.S. mission in the southern states and served
as an officer in the local Sunday school for years. He had served as bishop's
counselor in the Basalt ward and as second counselor in Blackfoot stake.
     Nine sons and daughters survive: Mrs. Edward Webb, McCammon;
J.A. Dye, Ithaca, N.Y.; Mrs. William Brewington, Lava Hot Springs; Mrs.
Arden Hale, Pocatello; Mrs. Clyde Gardner, Mrs. Florence Hanny, Warren and
Lynn Dye, Firth; Mrs. Ernest Fawcett, Idaho Falls; also four brothers and a
sister; Walter, William, and Richard Dye, Firth; Samuel Dye, Ogden, Utah; and 
Mrs. Sarah Jerrell, Salt Lake City, Utah.
     Funeral services will be conducted Monday at 2 p.m. in the Shelley
L.D.S. tabernacle. Burial will be in the Firth cemetery directed by the Nalder
mortuary, Shelley." 
["Salt Lake Tribune", 12 May 1950, pg 39]

Questions? Email to Elaine Johnson - elaine@ida.net