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Smith, Ralph, a veteran Elder in Cache Stake, is the son of Thomas Smith and Mary Usher, and was born June 24, 1835, at Reckington, county of Durham, England. In a brief article prepared for this work, Elder Smith writes: "I was baptised by Henry Campbell Jan. 4, 1846, and was ordained a Priest Dec. 28, 1853, by Thos. Squires. Later, I was appointed to labor as a missionary, and I had the privilege of leading several souls to the waters of baptism. On April 1, 1854, I was ordained an Elder by C. G. Webb. In November, 1854, together with other members of my family, I left for Liverpool to emigrate to Utah. We crossed the ocean in the "Clara Wheeler" and landed in New Orleans Jan. 11, 1855. Thence we continued the journey overland to Great Salt Lake City, Utah, where we arrived Sept. 6, 1855. En route over the plains I suffered with a severe attack of mountain fever. Soon after my arrival in the Valley I obtained employment, working on the Big Cottonwood canal and in the stone quarries. I married Hannah Hodgetts Nov. 8, 1856. On March 16, 1857, I was ordained a Seventy, and in the fall of the same year I engaged in the Echo canyon campaign. During the "move" in 1858 I sent my wife and child to Payson, Utah county, while I remained in Salt Lake City as a guard and helped to cover up the foundation of the Temple and cache away many things of value. Having been called by Prest. Daniel H. Wells, together with a number of others, to settle in Cache Valley, we left for that part of the country in May, 1859. We located at Maughan's Fort (now Wellsville). In June following many of us met on the banks of the Logan river and cast lots for parcels of land as the first settlers. Jan. 10, 1860, we had a son born to us who was the first white male child born in Cache Valley. I was appointed one of the building committee in the Logan 2nd Ward, in August, 1865, and assisted in the erection of a school house and a meeting house. I married Susannah Jolly, March 30, 1867. In January, 1873, the first railroad came through to Logan. I had done considerable construction work on that road. I married Mary Ann Routledge Dec. 28, 1874. In September, 1875, I made and furnished 7,000 adobes for the Logan tithing office. For a number of years I labored as a home missionary in Cache Stake and as assistant Sunday school superintendent. In 1877 I had charge of the work of excavation for the foundation of the Logan Temple. I was chosen second counselor to Bishop Ballard, and was ordained a High Priest and set apart for that office May 30, 1877, by Wm. B. Preston. In October, 1878, I was called on a mission to the Southern States, where I labored in Alabama and Georgia till April, 1879, when I was transferred to Great Britain, where I labored in the Liverpool conference. I was honorably released and returned home in September, 1879, and was appointed the same month to work in the office of the Logan Temple. In 1880 I labored as a special missionary among the High Priests of Cache Stake. While confined at home with sickness in March, 1887, I was arrested, charged with unlawful cohabitation, and placed under $2,500 bonds; my two wives were placed under $200 bonds each. In November I stood trial at Ogden, and was sentenced to six months' imprisonment and fined $140 and costs. In May, 1888, I moved to Alberta, Canada, where I soon made a comfortable home for my family. I returned to Logan in September, 1889. On March 22, 1896, I was chosen to take charge of the religion class work in the Greenville Ward, and in November the same year I was elected justice of the peace of Greenville precinct." Elder Smith has been a Sunday school worker for forty years. He did active work in the building of the Logan Temple and Tabernacle and also helped erect several school and meeting houses. As a pioneer he has done his full share of building bridges, killing snakes and fighting hostile Indians.
Andrew Jenson, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia: A Compilation of Biographical Sketches of Prominent Men and Women in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 4 vols. Salt Lake City 2:73 |
Biographies 
