Remnants of polygamy can still be found in Franklin County

Doug Webb of Preston stands in front of the old Web Funeral home that had a secret passage to a tunnel used to help polygamists escape from being arrested.

PRESTON – The era of polygamy was a colorful time in Franklin County from the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Plural marriage or polygamy was practiced by early leaders of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for nearly half of the 19th century. The practice of polygamy was halted in 1890 by church President Wilford Woodruff in what is commonly called the Manifesto.

Annie Scarborough Hatch operated the telegraph in Franklin and would warn people when the U.S. Marshall was coming so the polygamists could hide.

There are a few remnants that give a glimpse of what plural marriage was like in the southeast Idaho area.

Susan Hawkes, site coordinator for the Franklin Relic Hall, says polygamists from Utah sent their wives and their children to Franklin County to get them out of state.

There are some early prominent Utah pioneers who had wives living in Franklin and Preston,” she says. “Annie Scarborough Hatch was the telegrapher in Franklin after learning and becoming proficient in Morse Code in Salt Lake City. She would send and receive messages for polygamists.”

Hawkes says a history written by Hatch’s daughter Blanch Woodland gave an idea of what it was like during the early years in Franklin while her mother operated the local telegraph office.

“Several of the General Authorities living in Salt Lake City moved their plural wives up to Franklin, as it was only one mile over the Utah state line into Idaho,” Woodland says in her mother’s history. “It was my privilege to go to their homes with telegrams from their husbands.”

When Hatch learned the sheriff was coming, she used her Morse Code skills to warn all the polygamists so they could stay away until he was gone.

A vintage telegraph key on display at the Franklin Relic Hall is similar to the key used by Annie Hatch to warn the polygamists to avoid being arrested.

Doug Webb, 84, of Preston has lived in the old Webb Funeral Home located at 109 East Oneida for over 75 years. The home held secrets passed down for over a century that he is now bringing to light. The original building was constructed at about 1890 for George C. Parkinson, an educator and businessman.

Parkinson graduated from Brigham Young College in Logan and taught school after graduation. He later became a successful businessman in Franklin County.

He was called to be the Stake President of the Oneida Stake of the LDS Church in 1887.

The elegant brick home built by Parkinson after his call to be a Stake President also had measures to help protect the early polygamists from being accosted by the law. The home had a secret passageway. It was purchased in 1925 by Willis Hendricks and turned into the Hendricks funeral home.

The George C. Parkinson family stands in front of their Preston home in 1891.

In 1945, Webb’s father Sherwin bought the business from his uncle Willis and changed the name to Webb Funeral Home and the Webb family continued to run the funeral business out of the home.

“There was a false wall that led to a tunnel that allowed polygamists to escape when the Sheriff was looking for them,” Webb says. “The story goes, Jim McQueen owned a barn with horses in a field where the hospital parking lot is now. He would saddle up a pony and take whoever came out of the tunnel north of town where there would be another saddled pony waiting.”

The ponies took the women to Riverdale where they could stay until the coast was clear.

I remember for years the Parkinson family would come to the house on Memorial Day and bring family members and children to see the false wall that led to a tunnel,” Webb adds. “The tunnel I’m sure has collapsed over the years, and they dug up part of the tunnel when they put a coal bin at the time they installed a coal furnace in the house.”

Webb says they have rebricked and remodeled the house several times over the years and have added rooms and changed some of the walls, so it doesn’t resemble the home it once was. The false wall is no longer there.

Some of the walls on the inside of the old home are the same, however. Webb can point where the old house was, and the added rooms are.

Doug Webb of Preston stands in the living room of the old Parkinson home now used as a home teaching room for his family.

Church leaders ended the practice of plural marriage and taught church members to abide the law of the land, at the time forbidding plural marriage.

Although some plural marriages were performed outside of the United States until 1904, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has since prohibited all members from entering into such practices.

Today, the LDS church will not let anyone practicing plural marriage to be a member of their church.

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16 Comments

  • Don August 11, 2021 at 8:25 pm Reply

    Morris Code? Really, Rod?

  • Kathy August 12, 2021 at 6:32 am Reply

    Its Morse Code, not Morris Code. Do you have editors or proof readers?

  • Mark N August 12, 2021 at 12:00 pm Reply

    I really emjoyed reading this article and had quite a chuckle as well. I’m fairly confident that ‘Morris Code’ was not used for communication, but that ‘Morse code’ was!

  • Ty August 12, 2021 at 12:04 pm Reply

    I take a couple issues with this article beyond the spelling. First, polygamy is very much alive and thriving openly all around us. We all see the warren Jeffs disciples wearing the uniform dresses and hairstyles shopping at the stores. So polygamy isn’t just a funny little quirk from the past.
    Second, the tone of the article is one of fondness reminiscing about how criminals would run and hide from law enforcement. Had they been bootleggers, I’m sure that tone would lose some of that fondness, and the local telegrapher would be considered an accomplice instead of a happy little helper. But because they were only dealing in human trafficking and not alcoholic beverages, polygamists get looked back on with rose-colored glasses. Even today people have to escape from polygamy. It’s not all consenting adults minding their own business. Children get abused, neglected, and the welfare system gets milked. But as long as they are Caucasian, I guess we don’t mind so much around here, do we?

    • Free Bird August 12, 2021 at 5:38 pm Reply

      Ummm…. You do know that Amish and Mennonite’s wear that same attire, right? So exactly how do you know they are “Jeffs disciples”?

      I’m not a liberal so misspelling is no big deal to me.

      • Ty August 13, 2021 at 11:01 am Reply

        Mennonites and Amish cover their hair. Polygamists have a pompadour up front and a long braid down the back. That’s how I know the difference.

        • Free Bird August 13, 2021 at 2:06 pm Reply

          You must be special, all I ever have seen are Mennonite’s. As a matter of fact I buy their fresh bakery items and beef.
          As for human trafficking, what about all of these illegal aliens we have here? Cheap employers use them to save money, while we get stuck with their medical, WIC, etc. expenses. Where is your outrage? Surely this is against the Law, right?

          • Ty August 16, 2021 at 9:54 am

            You’re proving my point. You don’t care about white people gaming the system robbing billions or dollars from taxpayers, but you can’t stand someone of a different race from you getting so much as a free bandaid if your tax dollars went to pay for it. That’s real cause for outrage, isn’t it? This article isn’t about the Latino heritage of Franklin county, it’s about criminal history. When they write an article about Mexicans on welfare in the USA, then we can get outraged about that too. But I don’t think they will because it really isn’t as big of a problem as you want it to be.

        • Free Bird August 16, 2021 at 4:13 pm Reply

          You are the one that brought in race, not myself. I didn’t mention Latino, you did. As far as I am concerned, you are a racist, and you want to blame everyone else for your problems or dreams.
          I won’t even go into the costs of illegal immigration, but one has to look no further then California to get an idea.

  • Brian August 12, 2021 at 10:14 pm Reply

    I thought those “wearing the uniform dresses and hairstyles shopping at the stores” in Franklin county were Mennonites. I could be wrong, but that’s what I’ve heard.

    • Beth james August 15, 2021 at 7:37 am Reply

      Polygamists are employed at stokes.

      • Free Bird August 15, 2021 at 4:32 pm Reply

        Really? Are they male or female? Female polygamists very rarely , if ever, work outside of their home. Preston is a first, so please give us all your details.

        • Ty August 16, 2021 at 9:57 am Reply

          You are making a lot of defenses for polygamists here. Why don’t you tell us how it is you came by such a deep understanding of polygamist culture?

          • Free Bird August 16, 2021 at 4:06 pm

            Have you ever heard of the word College? Maybe Psychology? Duh!

  • Beth james August 15, 2021 at 7:35 am Reply

    Polygamists at employed at stokes.

  • Polygamy Polly August 16, 2021 at 9:44 am Reply

    Polygamy is very much still practiced in the Mormon/LDS/Corporation of the presiding bishopric. Men can be sealed to multiple women in the temple & doctrine is that all “faithful members” who go to the celestial kingdom will be required to be part of a multiple wife marriage. But hey – lets keep gaslighting!

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