Henry Leigh

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Henry Leigh	Amy Elizabeth Webster

Henry Leigh was the second of five children born to Samuel Leigh and Ann David.  He was born on December 31, 1843, at Llannelly, South Wales.  His parents were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1848. Henry, with his parents and brothers William and John and sister Sophia, left Wales in 1849 and immigrated to the United States on the Buena Vista. They arrived at New Orleans and traveled by boat up the Mississippi River to St. Louis. They changed boats and traveled to St. Joseph, Missouri. While en route to "St. Joe", the boat was ravaged with the cholera, and Henry's mother and a newborn babe, Samuel, died. Henry's father was weakened by his bout with cholera, but he made plans to travel west to Salt Lake City. He made it as far as Council Bluffs and then had to stop and recover from his illness. He was in Council Bluffs for three years.  Conditions at Council Bluffs were severe. While Henry's father was still ill, his cabin caught fire. The children wrapped blankets around their father and dragged him out of the cabin. They stood on the banks of the Missouri River and watched their cabin burn down.
 
During the three years in Council Bluffs, Henry's father married Mary Treharne. The family made plans to go west, and in June, 1852, with only five cents in their possession, they had their wagon ferried across the river, and they left for Salt Lake City. After three weeks in Salt Lake, Henry's father was called to move to Cedar City and help develop the Iron Works.

As a young man, Henry Leigh carried mail for the Pony Express. He also attended the University of Deseret in Salt Lake for parts of two years. From 1873 to 1874, he fulfilled a LDS mission to Great Britain, and he presided over the Liverpool Conference during the latter part of his mission.

Henry courted Amy Elizabeth Webster, and they were married in the St. George Temple on May 22, 1879. They had 10 children: Ann Elizabeth, Samuel and Francis (twins), Amy Jane, Sophia, Violet, Henry Webster, Winifred, Wilford Webster (Dick), and Zelma.

Henry served as the County Superintendent of Schools. It is said that when he would visit a school, the Principal would hear his buggy coming and would add a lot of fuel to the fire. Henry would come in, sit down, become sleepy and doze off. After the Branch Normal School (now the Southern Utah University) was established, Henry was secretary of the Branch Normal School committee. He was one of the men who mortgaged their homes to buy desks and equipment and pay the teachers so that the Branch Normal School could be held in the new building. Henry and Amy had boarders and roomers in their home.

Cedar City with the Branch Normal School in the background
Photograph courtesy Special Collections, Sherratt Library, SUU

 

Henry Leigh's House

 
Henry Leigh served on the Cedar City Council, and he was Mayor of Cedar City from 1892 - 1894.

Members of the City Council.
Back row (L-R): Ed Parry, Henry Leigh, Sam Leigh,William Leigh.
Front row (L-R): William Corry, R. W. Heyborne, John Parry, Tom Thorley, Lehi Jones
Photograph courtesy Special Collections, Sherratt Library, SUU

 
One of the older buildings in the historic section of Main Street in Cedar City is the Leigh building.

The Leigh Building
Photograph courtesy Special Collections,
Sherratt Library, SUU

  

I (Allen Leigh) don't know the history of the building, but during the time I lived in Cedar City and for about two decades afterwards, the building was owned by our family. I'm guessing that it was built by Henry Leigh. I don't think it was built by Samuel Leigh, because that would have meant that it was owned by all of his descendants. I remember that while I was in college, my dad had us go down and help clean the building and get it ready for a new tenant. Our family sold the building some time after I was married, probably in the mid 1970s.

At the time of his death on December 2, 1920, of cancer of the liver, the Iron County Record printed the following about Henry Leigh.

Of the deceased's seventy-seven years of usefulness on earth, sixty-nine were spent in Cedar, and the name of Henry Leigh is so closely interwoven with the life of the community that a history of the city of Cedar would be incomplete without it. In the business of the community he was connected with the Co-op store, the oldest surviving business house here, for twenty-one years, a good share of the time as manager. At the time of his death he was president of the Cedar Sheep Association, one of the strongest institutions of the town.

But his most-useful contribution to the public welfare was in his record as a public official. He has at various times been mayor, treasurer, and councilman of the city corporation, was county superintendent of schools...and was counselor to Stake President Uriah T. Jones. Henry's vocations in life were those of farmer, stockraiser, and merchant. He is buried in the Cedar City Cemetery.

Henry Leigh's Mountain Ranch
Photograph courtesy Special Collections, Sherratt Library, SUU

For more about the life of Henry Leigh, see the three sections on his father’s life Samuel Leigh, Samuel Leigh and Ann David, and Samuel Leigh and Mary Treharne.