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Items of Historic Interest, Handbook of the Restoration, p.653 CHARLES W. NIBLEY.—Born February 5, 1849, at Hunterfield, Midlothian, Scotland; ordained and set apart as presiding bishop of the Church December 11, 1907; set apart as second counselor in the First Presidency May 28, 1925, at the age of 76 years; died December 11, 1931, at Salt Lake City, Utah.
Andrew Jenson, Church Chronology, p.xx
NIBLEY, Charles Wilson; born Feb. 5, 1849 at Hunterfield, Midlothian, Scotland; baptized in September, 1860, by Thomas Green; ordained an Elder in 1865 by William H. Maughan, who was ordained a High Priest Nov. 12, 1859, by Orson Hyde; ordained a Seventy May 7, 1877, by Joseph Young; ordained a High Priest June 9, 1901, by Joseph F. Smith; ordained Presiding Bishop of the Church Dec. 11, 1907, by Joseph F. Smith.
LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 4, p.727
Nibley, Charles W., a member and chairman of the Old Folks Central Committee from 1908 to 1925, was born Feb. 5, 1849, in Hunterfield, near Edinburgh, Scotland, a son of James Nibley and Jean Wilson. He died Dec. 11, 1925, in Salt Lake City, Utah. (See Bio. Ency., Vol. 3, p. 766.)
LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 3, p.766
Nibley, Charles Wilson, presiding Bishop of the Church, was born Feb. 5, 1849, at Hunterfield, a small coal mining town, eight miles south of Edinburgh, Scotland, and is the fourth child and the second son of James Nibley and Jean Wilson. The father, who was a coal miner, had difficulty in providing for his family, but was ably assisted by his wife, a most energetic, frugal and thrifty woman, who never seemed to tire of working and planning to better the conditions of herself and her family. She possessed, too, a deeply religious nature, and when, in the year 1844, she listened to the teachings of Henry McEwan, an Elder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who spoke on the village green of Hunterfield, she felt a satisfaction in listening to his teachings that she had never before experienced. Both James and Jean Nibley, within a week, were baptized into the Church, and from that time forward they lived in the hope that they might join the main body of the Saints in America. Poverty prevented them from carrying out this wish, until they could save a sufficient sum to enable them to undertake the journey. A branch of the Church was organized at Hunterfield and James Nibley acted as president of the branch until he emigrated to America. The Nibleys finally left Scotland in 1855, crossing the Atlantic in the steerage of a sailing vessel and taking up their abode in Rhode Island, for their money was not sufficient to carry them further. For five years they resided in that State, working in the woolen mills until they could resume their journey to Utah. In the spring of 1860 they started again on their westward journey and reached Florence, Nebraska, which was the outfitting point for Church immigration. Joining a company led by James D. Ross as captain, they reached Great Salt Lake Valley Sept. 3, 1860, and soon afterwards established a home at Wellsville, Cache county, the first winter living in a dugout. Charles W. Nibley was at that time a lad of eleven years. He soon afterwards began providing for his own support, first by gleaning wheat with his mother in the harvest field, then by herding sheep, and from his initial step in the business world he utilized every available opportunity for advancement. Later he secured a clerkship in the village store and also made good use of his limited [p.767] opportunities for the acquirement of whatever was possible in the way of education, with the most meager facilities for any kind of study. Yet, notwithstanding the lack of early educational advantages, he is today a wonderfully well informed man, for by reading and study he has continually increased his knowledge. The Nibleys were among the first settlers of Cache Valley. Charles W. remained in Wellsville until 1865, when he changed his residence to Brigham City, Box Elder county. After locating in Brigham City he clerked for Morris Rosenbaum, one of the Jewish merchants of Utah, who was a member of the Church. In the fall of 1869 Brother Charles W. Nibley, who had been ordained to the Priesthood years before, was called on a short mission to the United States, together with many others. He returned the following spring and soon afterwards went to work for the Central Pacific as station agent; afterwards he was an employee of the Utah Northern Railroad, being with that railroad when it first commenced its career in 1872. For five years he was general freight and ticket agent for the Utah Northern Railroad Company, during which time he made several trips east and west in the interest of the road. While in this service, in 1877, he was called on a mission to England, and labored under the presidency of Joseph F. Smith. He worked in the Liverpool office and had charge of the emigration and general business of the mission. When Joseph F. Smith left England, after the death of President Brigham Young, later in 1877, the affairs of the British Mission were left in charge of Elders Charles W. Nibley and Henry W. Naisbitt until Elder William Budge went to preside over that mission in 1878. Brother Nibley returned to Utah in May, 1879, having charge of a company of emigrating saints. His home was now in Logan, Cache county, where he was chosen as manager and secretary of the United Order Manufacturing and Building Company and was also elected assessor and collector for Cache county. Not only was Elder Nibley prominent in a business and social way in Cache county, but he took an active part in ecclesiastical affairs. For many years he acted as superintendent of Sunday schools in Cache Stake and his labors in other directions were marked by signal success. In the meantime his business adventure drew his attention to the northwest, and it was not long before he was recognized as a factor in the building up of eastern Oregon and western Idaho. In 1889 Elder Nibley, together with other prominent business men of Utah, organized the Oregon Lumber Company of Baker City. He acted as secretary of this company for many years. In 1890 he became one of the organizers of the Sumpter Valley Railroad Company, and for a number of years he occupied a position of leadership in business circles in eastern Oregon. The position of vice president of the Sumpter Valley Railroad Company was also held by Elder Nibley, and afterwards he became president of the Payette Valley Railroad. He was one of the founders and chief officials of the La Grande Sugar Company, afterwards merged into the Amalgamated Sugar Company, and took an active part in the colonization of Grande Rondo Valley, Oregon, and Payette Valley, Idaho. The lumber business in which he was interested was not confined to Oregon, but extended into California. Wherever he was known he was looked upon as an up-to-date, progressive and aggressive man of affairs. Ecclesiastically Elder Nibley was active in Oregon as elsewhere. When the saints residing in eastern Oregon and western Idaho were organized into the Union Stake of Zion, June 9, 1901, Charles W. Nibley was chosen as first counselor to Franklin S. Brainwell, the president of the Stake. In 1906 Elder Nibley and part of his family [p.768] accompanied President Joseph F. Smith on a visit to Europe. In 1907 he was chosen as Presiding Bishop of the Church, being ordained and set apart to that office Dec. 11, 1907, with Orrin P. Miller as first and David A. Smith as second counselors. The long experience which Elder Nibley had had in financial affairs up to that time qualified him specially for that important position, in which it became his duty to handle the revenues of the Church. Under his administration the tithing system of the Church was changed and everything placed on a cash basis. The tithing office scrip, which had been used for so many years, became a thing of the past, and reforms in handling the tithes of the people, both at headquarters and in the many settlements of the Saints where the members paid their tithes and offerings, were materially improved. Early in 1909 Bishop Nibley and a part of his family accompanied President Joseph F. Smith and others on a visit to the Hawaiian Islands. The next year (1910) Bishop Nibley accompanied President Smith on another trip to Europe, during which they visited a number of the conferences of the Holland Mission, the Scandinavian Mission, the Swiss and German Mission and the British Mission. In the summer of 1913, Bishop Nibley accompanied President Joseph F. Smith and others to Canada, on which visit a site for a Temple was dedicated at Cardston, July 27, 1913. Later in the year he accompanied the President to Chicago, where mission homes and chapels, recently purchased and erected by the Church, were dedicated. In November of the same year President Smith, Bishop Nibley and others visited Arizona. In August, 1914, Bishop Nibley accompanied President Joseph F. Smith on a visit to Canada. In the latter part of the same year he accompanied President Smith on an extended tour of the Southern States and California, on which trip the party traveled about 6,000 miles. In 1915 Bishop Nibley accompanied President Smith and others on another visit to the Hawaiian Islands, arriving in Honolulu May 21, 1915. On this visit, on the first day of June, 1915, President Joseph F. Smith selected the Temple site on which a Temple now stands at Laie, on the island of Oahu. Apostle Reed Smoot and Bishop Nibley were present with President Smith when he dedicated that Temple site. On their return journey the party visited Portland, Ore., where a Latter-day Saints chapel was dedicated June 13, 1915. Early in 1916 Bishop Nibley accompanied President Smith and others on another visit to Hawaii, the object of the visit this time being to give instructions in regard to the building of the Temple which was in course of construction there. The party returned to Salt Lake City March 16, 1916. In July, 1916, Bishop Nibley was chosen as a director of the Western Pacific Railroad. Subsequently he accompanied Prest. Joseph F. Smith on several trips to the Pacific Coast. During the great World War he was very active, assisting with Church and private means and his personal influence the different movements inaugurated to assist the allies. He was State chairman of the Red Cross organization and holds that position at the present time. In the spring of 1917 Bishop Nibley accompanied President Smith and others on still another visit to Hawaii. The party left on this trip April 30th, and Bro. Nibley returned May 24, 1917. On a trip to California, in company with President Smith, in December, 1917, Bishop Nibley visited some of the military camps, where Utah boys were training, giving words of encouragement to those who were in the service of their country. At a meeting held May 20, 1918, Bishop Nibley, in behalf of the Church, stated that 205,000 bushels of wheat stored since 1876 (a movement started by President Brigham Young) would be sent to the United States government [p.769] to assist in the wheat shortage, the same to be sent to the assistance of the allies. Bishop Nibley was appointed a member of the War Industries Board July 26, 1918. In the latter part of 1919 he accompanied President Heber J. Grant and others to the Hawaiian Islands, on which occasion the Temple erected at Laie, on the island of Oahu, was dedicated. Early in 1920 Bishop Nibley accompanied President Grant and company to Arizona, on which occasion the site for a Temple at Mesa, Maricopa county, was discussed. Bishop Nibley's commercial enterprises have placed him in a conspicuous position as one of the prominent representatives of the lumber and sugar trade of the West. He is a man of marked enterprise who from the beginning of his career has realized that success depends upon the individual, that when one avenue of opportunity seems closed he can carve out other paths to reach the desired goal. The proud American title of "a self-made man" has rightfully been won by him. Starting out in the business world in a most humble capacity, he is now a dominent figure in commercial and business circles; nor has he ever allowed the attainment of wealth to monopolize his time and energy, as he has always rendered a due measure of service to the Church and to the community in the work of general improvement and advancement. Bishop Nibley also figures as one of the popular and forceful speakers of the Church, his sermons always being pregnant with practical and wholesome advice. Bishop Nibley has a large family—nine sons and eight daughters and thirty-four grandchildren.
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