- Biography of Joseph Kimball
By Clark Kimball
My father, Joseph Kimball, was born December 22, 1851, and was the son of Heber C. and Presendia Huntington Kimball, being the only son of that union.
At the age of 18, Joseph married Lathilla Pratt, daughter of Orson Pratt. They moved to Bear Lake where Joseph went into the cattle business. While there he was bishop of the Meadowville Ward for a period of 20 years.
They later moved to Logan to enable their children to attend school more conveniently, and then to Salt Lake where Joseph took a position with the Studebaker Company. AT a later date he became president of the Beaver Irrigation Company in which capacity he made several business trips to New York, Washington and several other Eastern cities.
Thirteen children were born to Joseph and Lathilla, each one of whom grew to maturity. In 1896, Raymond, the eldest son and his family moved to Canada for the purpose of colonizing. I made the trip with them, being only 14 years of age at the time. A year later, 4 other brothers, Earnest, Orson, Alma, and Oliver joined us. The five of us formed a company and obtained a contract to build a large irrigation canal. Each of us took up a homestead about 10 miles from Cardston and bought up land around there. We established a township which was named Kimball after the Kimball brothers. Later, the Kimball brothers all moved away, some settling in Idaho, and some in Utah.
In 1910, Orson died, leaving a wife and two children. In 1916, Alma was killed in a snowslide, leaving a wife and seven children. In 1925, Louie, the eldest daughter died. She was the mother of ten children, and in her early married life had fulfilled a mission in Tasmania with her husband, Lysander Pond. While there, her first two children were born, the oldest being named Tasmania. Louie was president of the Young Ladies Mutual Improvement Association in Pocatello, Idaho, and later was president of the Relief Society in Nampa, Idaho.
Out of the children still living, Florence, Pearl, Jean, and myself live in Salt Lake. Raymond, Earnest, Oliver, Ethel, and Willard, live in San Diego, California, and Pratt lives in Los Angeles, California. Pearl has played quite a prominent role in the music circles of the Church, and Willard is President of the San Diego Stake.
Joseph Kimball died in 1936, after having lived a very eventful life. His wife Lathilla, is still living, a splendid example of what Mormonism can do for an individual. Her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren, and great great grandchildren, numbering several hundred, love her because she is the same sweet mother she has always been, ready to cheer and comfort them at all times.
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