Charles Golding or Golding Shill was the ninth of twelve children born to Robert Chapple Shill (1789-1865) and Prudence Golding Shill (1787-1851). Charles is the brother of Louisa Shill Richins (1829-1902). He was born at Dyde, a small parish near Cheltenham, England.

At the age of eight years he went to work and was a hard working man all the rest of his life. His first job was to keep the crows off the grain at 3 pence per day. He was raised on a farm until he was old enough to leave home.

Charles was married on November 15, 1845 at St. Mary's Church in Cheltenham to Harriett Webb (1803-1882), daughter of John and Charlotte Webb of Caudle Green, Gloucester, England.. Harriet Webb was born on December 15, 1803 at Caudle Green, Gloucester, England. On December 1, 1846 they had one child, Rosa Helen Shill Bachelor. Harriett died on April 20, 1882 at Henefer, Summit County, Utah.

Six sons of Charles Golding Shill and Harriet Stronach Paynter Shill c. 1887
Courtesy of Anita Jones Smith

Sons of Charles Golding Shill and Harriet Stronach Paynter Shill, c 1941
Courtesy of Anita Jones Smith

"One delightful account retrieved from Charles Golding Shill at the disembarkment of the Chimborazo in the spring of 1855 describes the bold arrival of John Taylor: "We landed at Philadelphia. I was stationed on Deck to keep anyone from coming aboard when a man with a dignified look came up the ladder and was coming aboard when I stopped him. I asked him his name, and I was surprised when he said, 'I am John Taylor, a Yankee Mormon and citizen of the world.' I passed him." --Autobiographical Sketch of Charles Golding Shill, 2, LDS Church Archives.

In 1857 Charles crossed the plains in the St. Louis Company led by James H. Hart. [In St. Louis Company, Jacob Huffines was appointed Captain but he was tyrannical and we could not travel with him in peace. James Hart was then appointed Captain.] Brother Hart was a good man with the confidence of the people. I was appointed Chaplain by Brother Hart.

Echo Canyon - Weber River Pioneer Camp

Arrived in Salt Lake on September 27, 1857 and was soon called to go to Echo Canyon and engage in what is now known as the Echo Canyon War. I was on duty to watch Uncle Sam's blue Jackets. During my absence my wife and child were moved to Provo. Charles was released from the Echo Canyon duties in April 1858 and lived one year in Provo.

About 1860 he settled in Lost Creek. Charles helped to found the town of Croydon, Morgan County, Utah. During this time he helped build the W.P. Railroad.

While at Croydon, Charles entered into polygamy by taking a plural wife, Harriet Stronach Paynter on February 9, 1867 at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. Harriet is the daughter of William Paynter (1824-?) and Elizabeth Fawkes or Foulkes (1826-1901) of Gloucestershire, England. Charles and his two wives, Harriett Webb Shill and Harriet Stronach Paynter Shill, remained in Croydon for twenty years until 1880 and there raised a family of six children. On account of his wife;s poor health, in 1880 the family relocated in Lehi, Maricopa County, Arizona and added five more children there..

Harriet Stronach Paynter Shill

While living in the Maricopa Stake he labored as Sunday School Superintendant in the Lehi Ward and was a member of the Stake High Council for years. He also spent considerable time among the Lamanites for whom he had the deepest feelings. Charles lived on the borders of the Indian reservation and always lived in peace with them. He was ordained a Patriarch February 13, 1898 by John Henry Smith. In 1904 he visited for several months, June to October, in Utah.

Charles was always a staunch Latter-day Saint, never wavering in his testimony from the time of his conversion in 1846 till the time of his death. "Am not an old man and ready to go."  During the last few months of his life when he could feel that his time had arrived he would call sons and grandchildren around and bear a powerful testimony concerning the Divine mission of Joseph Smith and the Restoration of the Gospel in the latter days. His one concern was that his children might prove true to the Gospel which he espoused in his young manhood.

Child of Charles Golding Shill and Harriet Webb Shill

Children of Charles Golding Shill and Harriett Stronach Paynter Shill

1 Ella Deseret Shill Born: 16 November 1867 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah Married: Thomas Piercy Biggs on 19 January 1888 Died: 10 October 1927 at Lehi, Maricopa, Arizona

2 Milo Golding Shill Born: 13 September 1869 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah Married: Alice Ann Simpkins on 3 June 1891 at Lehi, AZ Died: 16 July 1940 at Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona

3 George Washington Shill Born: 22 May 1870 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah Married: Died: 1 June 1899

4 Charles Victor Shill Born: 13 April 1875 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah Married: (1)Sarah Pearison Wentworth 1895; (2) Laverna Williams on 10 August 1904 Died: 15 Nov 1906

5 Orson Obed Shill Born: 1 June 1877 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah Married: Martha Priscilla Frisby on 4 March 1908 Died: 4 January 1959

6 Wright Paynter Shill Born: 12 January 1880 at Croydon, Morgan, Utah Married: Lille Emma Rothrock on 19 October 1905 Died: 9 June 1972 at Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona

7 Ralph Freeman Shill Born: 22 June 1882 at Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona Married: (1) Della Mae Duffin on 28 September 1907; (2) Rozelpha Rhoton Garner on 4 June 1948 Died:

8 Renus Edmond Shill Born: 11 March 1885 at Lehi, Maricopa, Arizona Married: Isabelle "Bella" Bloomer on 22 June 1906 Died: 4 April 1922 at Lehi, Maricopa, Arizona

9 Frank Erastus Shill Born: 20 March 1888 at Lehi, Maricopa, Arizona Married: Priscilla Nelson on 3 October 1912 Died: 19 Oct 1954 at Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona

10 Harry Scott Shill Born: 23 September 1890 at Lehi, Maricopa, Arizona Married: Vernetta "Nettie" Amanda Lockett on 6 November 1915 Died: 12 July 1974 at Mesa, Maricopa, Arizona

11 Otto Stronach Shill Sr. Born: 22 May 1893 at Lehi, Maricopa, Arizona Married: Marguerite Webb Brown on 7 June 1916 Died: 11 March 1982 at Mesa, Maricopa, Arisona

Right Click mouse on image - then click on view image - to see enlarged photo

His two sons, George Washington Shill and Charles Victor Shill, preceeded him into the great beyond.

For another twenty years Lehi was his home until the time of his death, which occurred June 19, 1910.

Funeral services were held for Charles in the Lehi Ward on June 20, 1910.  Among the speakers were the presidency of the Stake and his neighbors who all spoke very highly of his merits as a man both civilly and ecclesiastically.

Dated:  April 14, 1969 by Wright P. Shill

CHARLES GOULDING  SHILL

The principal events in his life as I wrote them from his dictation and started to write them in this book March 8,1911.

Charles Goulding Shill was born of humble parents on the 12th day of February, 1821.  His father & mother were Robert and Prudence Golding Shill. He was the ninth child in a family of 12, whose names were:
Richard Golding Shill
Robert Shill
Mary shill
Elizabeth Prudence Shill
Susanna Shill
Rachel Shill
John Shill
Charles Golding Shill
William Shill
Ann Shill
George Shill
Louisa Shill

At 8 years of age I went to work and continued a hard worker the balance of my life. My first job was to keep the crows off the gain at 3 pence a day. Was raised on a farm until old enough to leave home. I was married Nov. 15, 1845, at St. Mary's Church,  Cheltenham to Harriett Webb, and one child was born to the union --  Rosa Helen Shill Bachelor. She was born Dec. 1, 1846.

About this time there was an acute religious agitation and I joined in the spirit of the revival, and as I had just married, I thought I ought to do better and was ready to join the faith of my Mother, when I heard the Mormon Elders and was convinced that I had heard the truth. Baptizing my Father and Mother and several of my brothers and sisters.

I was baptized May 12,1846 by George Humphries.Soon after baptism I went to Staffordshire and spent a year, but there was no Saints there so returned and traveled and preached extensively, thereby incurring the displeasure of the Preachers of the  religious sects, so much so that I could not get any work, so I was compelled to go to the Work House. The Work House was situated at Cirencester, Gloucestershire. I was in the poor house for some time, also my family, though I was not permitted to associate with them. My activities in explaining the Gospel caused my expulsion from the Poor House.

Conference I was called by James J. Ross to go to Cirencester and preach the Gospel. I went and was blessed in my labors and raised up a branch there after six months of hard work. Those whom I baptized were very poor, the good honest souls. I was in very poor circumstances at this time. I had two brothers in London who were members of the Church, also one not in the Church. They sent for me and I went in the Spring of 1852. I joined the Poplar Branch which was in charge of Samuel Purdy. The street comers, Bro. Tom Purdy was my companion and he was a good one too.

Every two weeks we gave in our reports of how we conducted our meeting. We generally sang & prayed, etc. My brother, William Shill [1822-1896], could not sing and the Presidency knew it.  He said he got a crowd when he started to sing, they stopped to know what was the matter. I had not been there long before I baptized my oldest brother, Richard Shill [1810-1869], at Blackwall in the Thanes River.

I worked in Blackwall and East India Docks. During the summer of 1852-3 my brother John Shill [1818-1904] took a contract on the Crystal Place to make centers for a tunnel. About this time I had a dream to the effect that I could earn enough to take myself & family to America and this dream was literally fulfilled. That summer I was called by Elder John Robinson to preside over the Kensington Branch. The Branch was twenty pounds in debt to the Liverpool office. In one year we paid off the indebtedness. At Huston Square Station for Liverpool. I was very earnest in preaching the gospel, and among others, I had the privilege of ..........

Ater leaving the Poor House I continued to preach to the people and at the next I was soon called to go out Sundays to preach wherever we could get a chance onMarch, 1855, I was released to gather with Saints and on April 10, 1855, I left

At Liverpool we took sailed on the ship Chimbarako in April, 1855. Edward Stevenson was our President on board. We had a rough voyage, but the Spirit of God was with us. We landed at Philadelphia. I was stationed on deck to keep anyone from coming aboard, when a man with a dignified look came up the ladder and was coming aboard I stopped him. I asked his name and I was surprised when he said "I am John Taylor, a Yankee Mormon and Citizen of the World". I passed him. We landed in May, then went by rail to Pittsburg, then down the Ohio and up Mississippi to St. Louis. James H. Hart was presiding there in 1856.

One of the Twelve Apostles soon put me to work as President of the Elders Quorum. Was in St Louis about 2 years, then crossed the plains in 1857. In the St. Louis Company, Jacob Huffines was appointed Captain, but he was so tyrannical we could not travel with him in peace. James H. Hart was appointed Captain. Bro. Hart was a good man with the confidence of the people. I was appointed Chaplain by Bro. Hart. We landed in Salt Lake City, Sept. 27,1857. I was soon called to go to Echo Canyon to watch Uncle Sam's Blue Jackets. During my absence my wife and child were moved to Provo.

In April, 1858, I was released to return from Echo Canyon, and I lived a year in Provo and in the Spring of 1859, I went out to Lost Creek in Morgan County [at that time considered a part of Summit County] and helped to found the town of Croydon [along with Levi Savage. Most of the settlers who settled in Croydon were from Scotland, or were of English descent.

In November of 1862 another group of settlers moved to Croydon, they were Charles Shill, Gibson and Thomas Condie, James Walker, George Knight, William Chapman, Charles Bunting, Abel Mitchell, William Probert, and Thomas Walker. Other settlers arriving later included W.H. Toone, John Toone, Charles and Joseph Blackwell, Ephriam Swann, George Thackeray, Solomon Edwrds, Thomas Cooke, John London, Charles Toone, and John Casto.  After Brigham Young called several of these settlers to settle in Idaho and other areas they were replaced by John Hopkin, William Bower, W.A. Flagstaff, G.W. Bowering, E. Wilde, Charles Cottrell, John Mole, James Bosworth, Rob Stokes, and William and John Palmer.

William Henefer was the presiding authortiy in Henefer. Under Henefer's direction, Lost Creek (Croydon) residents were organized as an L.D.S. branch in October 1863, with George Shill serving as presiding elder.

In October 1864 William Henefer, James Henefer, George Shill, Solomon Edwards, and A.S. Long mutually agreed to build a sawmill at the mouth of Pine Canyon. (Morgan County Commission Minutes, 22 October 1864.)

The Croydon branch was formed in 1865 with James Walker sustained to the branch president's office.

In 1866 the settlement may have been named Croydon after a town in England.]

I here married (2) Harriett Stronach Paynter on February 9, 1867, and while in Croydon was in Polygamy. Was in Croydon for 20 years during which time I helped build the W.P. Railroad. In 1880, on account of my wife's poor health, I came to Arizona, locating at Lehi, which has ever since been my home. By my second wife, the following children were born:
Ella D. Shill Biggs, born 1867
Milo Goulding Shill, born Sept., 1869
George Washington Shill, born May 22,1872
Victor Charles Shill, born April 12,1875
Orson Obed Shill, born June 1,1877
Wright Paynter Shill Jr., born Jan. 12,1880
Ralph Freeman Shill, born June 22,1883
Renus Edmund Shill, born March, 1885
Frank Erastus Shill, born March, 1887 or 8
Harry Scott Shill, born Sept., 1890
Otto Stronach Shill, born May 22,1893

I  have held positions of Sunday School Supt. and High Counselor and was ordained a Patriarch in Feb., 1898. In 1904 I visited for several months, June to October in Utah. Am now an old man ready to go.
-------
Father died June 19, 1910 after 3 days illness with pneumonia. s/ W.P. Shill

THIS ARTICLE WAS IN THE NEWSPAPER
ON THE DEATH OF CHARLES G. SHILL, June1910

The passing of another pioneer was marked Sunday [Morning?] by the death of Charles G. Shill at the age of 89 years at his home in Lehi, north of this place. One of the facts to which is attributed the long life of Mr. Shill is that his existence was an active one. Until last Thursday, he continued to be up and around about his farm and on Saturday, the day preceding his death, was able to sit up
in his bed.

The deceased is survived by his wife and nine children, all of whom are living in this vicinity with the exception of one son, Orson, who is in Provo, Utah. Those living here are: Mrs. E.D. [Ella Deseret]. Biggs, Milo G. Shill, Wright P. Shill, Ralph [F. Shill], Rene [Renus Edmond Shill], Frank [Erastus Shill], Scott [Harry Shill] and Otto [Stronach Shill Sr.].

[??] missionary- He moved to Utah in 1852 and came to Mesa in 1880, settling in the Lehi Valley: where he has since continued to reside. For a number of years he was Superintendent of the Lehi Sunday School. His son, Wright P. is at the present time Bishop of the Ward. Services being attended by the old friends and neighbors, all anxious to pay their last respects to the members of the departed.

Mr. Shill was born in England where he was converted to the Mormon faith. He was an active worker in the Church and at the time of his death was a Patriarch.

The funeral was held yesterday afternoon from the Lehi Ward Building the burial took place in the Mesa Cemetery.

Martha Priscilla Frisby Shill and husband, Orson Obed Shill gravestone

Sources:

Copyright 2001 www.OrsonPrattBrown.org