Archives West Finding Aid

David Eccles (1849-1912) was born 12 May 1849 at Paisley, Renfrew, Scotland, the son of William and Sarah Hutchinson Eccles. William Eccles was born on 6 April 1825 at Kilpatrick, Dumbarton, Scotland, and died on 4 December 1903 in Ogden, Utah. Sarah Hutchinson Eccles was born on 17 March 1820 at Donegal, Ireland and died on 11 June 1907 at Salt Lake City, Utah. William and Sarah were married on 3 May 1843 at High Church in Paisley. David was the second son.

William Eccles was a wood turner by trade, but was nearly blind which made support of the family difficult. David, along with his brothers and sisters, recieved a common school education. William became a convert to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and through the aid of the Church Immigration Fund was able to come to America. The family departed Glascow on 3 May 1863 and arrived in New York on 1 June 1963. After the transcontinental journey, the Eccles family arrived in Salt Lake City on 5 October 1863.

In the spring of 1864 following a difficult winter the family moved to Ogden Valley and staked out a homestead at Eden. In these days the family lived in near poverty. Their chief source of income was from wooden kitchen utensils that William would carve. With ropes tied around their waists, David and his brother would haul their father about town on a sledge to sell his creations.

In 1867 the family moved to Oregon returning to Eden in 1869. While in Oregon, David was the cheif support of the family. He entered the lumber industry as a laborer earning $3.00 a cord for chopped wood. In 1871 he went to Almy, Wyoming, where he worked in the Union Pacific Railroad's coal mine. After a further return to Eden, David began work for Bishop Daivd James, who owned a saw mill at Bear Lake Divide. David carefully saved from his income in hopes of going into business for himself. After saving $1500 David entered into a partnership with H. E. Gibson and W. T. Vannoy in 1873 to purchase a portable saw mill. The contract between these three was dissolved in 1877. David and Gibson retained the lumber yard at Ogden following the contract dissolution until 1881. At the time David set up a mill at Gray's Gultch, Idaho, four miles west of Hailey. By 1883 he owned three sawmills in the Scofield district and a retail lumber yard in Scofield. In the early days of his saw mill operation, David had difficulty attracting labor, largely on account of his youth. However, through hard work and a developing reputation for hard work and skill, in subsequent years there was no labor shortage.

By 1887 he was elected a director in the First National Bank at Ogden and mayor of the city of Ogden. After his election as mayor at the suggestion of friends David grew a substantial beard in order to provide a more "dignified" perspective to his youthful appearance. A portrait of David painted at this time still hangs in Ogden. In spite of his youth, David's importance as a Utah industrialist was growing rapidly. In these years, he either organized or held a substantial interest in a number of other firms in the region. In 1889 he organized the Oregon Lumber Company and became its president and general manager.

During the 1890s and the first decade of the twentieth century, David greatly expanded his position and has been referred to as a "frontier capitalist." Unquestionably, David Eccles is one of the most important industrial giants in Utah economic history. His fortune was based in the lumber industry but grew into banking, finance, sugar beets, mining, and transportation.

David Eccles, following a practice at that time propounded by his church, entered into plural marriage. His first wife was Bertha Maria Jensen who was born 30 January 1857 in Aarhus, Denmark. They were married on 27 December 1875. Berth and her twelve children formed David's "Ogden" family. David's second family in Logan, was the result of his marriage to Ellen Stoddard. Together they had nine children. While the Ogden family developed as an important force in Ogden society, the Logan family often lived in fear, particularly in its early years, for plural marriage was contrary to the territorial laws, even if Church sanctioned. In fact, that David Eccles had a second family did not become well known until much later. There may have been a third family with one child; this fact was not recognized by David in his life time.

David Eccles died on the evening of 5 December 1912 in Salt Lake City following a day of usual business in the city. At the time of his death his wealth was estimated to have been as high as $25 million, he was recognized by most as the richest man in Utah. David Eccles was buried in Ogden.