Prominent businessman and Latter-day Saint leader who spent time in prison has a local town named after him

A colorized image of William F. Rigby, who immigrated to the U.S. in 1853 and later established the town of Newton, Utah, along with Rexburg and Rigby, Idaho. | Courtesy Beverly Boyle RIGBY – William Rigby hid in a dugout on his Utah farm about a half mile from his house. It was April 1886, and the 53-year-old man from whom the town of Rigby would later get its name, had been hiding from the law for years. Rigby was a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The church practiced polygamy at the time and Rigby was one of its members who had multiple wives and numerous children in Utah and Idaho. Laws in both states outlawed polygamy and that made it difficult to make a living. “It was almost impossible to proceed with the work that had to be done,” Rigby’s granddaughter, Edith Cooley, writes in a family history. Rigby fled the country to avoid capture. Church leaders sent him on a mission to England for 18 months. When he returned to Utah, “the crusade against polygamy” was still in force and Rigby was a wanted man. “When he came home … he wore a disguise to throw off the sheriffs who might be hunting him. So effective was his disguise that even his own children didn’t (recognize) him,” Cooley writes. Still, Rigby missed his family and continued to live in hiding. Earliest known photo of William F. Rigby, right, with one of his wives. It was taken about 1860. | Courtesy photo As a snowstorm was brewing that April morning, Rigby, figuring he was in the clear, made his way home. The happy reunion didn’t last long. About an hour later, Rigby was sitting in a rocking chair with a child on his lap when a “white-top buggy bearing three deputy marshals drove up to the door.” “It was too late to try to get away,” Cooley writes. Authorities arrested Rigby and took him to Logan. He was released on bond and allowed to return home until his trial. The trial was held in Ogden, though family records do not specify when it happened. Rigby was ultimately sentenced to six months in prison. He was released after five months for good behavior. In 1890, four years after Rigby’s capture, Rigby moved some of his family to a new home he had built in Alta, Wyoming, where there were no laws against polygamy. Church leaders abolished the practice that same year. RELATED | Idaho’s Constitution once prevented Latter-day Saints from voting or holding public office. How the state’s founding fathers responded Despite his run-ins with the law, family records indicate Rigby was deeply respected by church members and was a beloved member of the communities where he lived. Rigby first came to eastern Idaho in 1879. He operated a sawmill in what is now Spencer, as stated in another history written by his granddaughter, Harriett “Hattie” Rigby. He also provided timber for the construction of the railroad throughout Utah, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. During this time, he played a crucial role in the colonization of dozens of settlements in the Snake River Valley. Among them was the townsite of Rexburg, where he moved his sawmill and built a homestead in 1883. The city of Rigby was named in his honor years later. This sketch drawn by Greg Housley is of the sawmill Rigby operated in Beaver Canyon near Spencer, Idaho. In 1883, Rigby moved the mill to Rexburg near the bottom of Millhollow Drive. | Courtesy Beverly Boyle Rigby’s early life and accomplishments in eastern Idaho Rigby was born in Saddleworth Lacashire, England on Jan. 29, 1833 to Joseph Rigby and Margaret Littlewood. His mom and dad were never married and he was raised by his mom. Although he didn’t attend school as a kid, reading was a skill he was determined to learn. “His mother took great pains in teaching him,” Cooley notes in her family history. “He would read signs along the road as he walked. He was very apt at memorizing verses and even chapters from the Bible.” Littlewood died in 1846 when William was only 13. It was around that time that he went to live with his aunt, who was a member of the LDS Church. She took William to church one Sunday and he was baptized two years later. William was 20-years-old when he came to America in 1853. He initially landed in New Orleans, but eventually migrated out west and became a prominent church leader in Cache Valley, Utah. The construction of the transcontinental railroad got underway in 1863. Central Pacific and Union Pacific started laying track in opposite directions and met in the middle at Promontory Point, Utah, in 1869. During these years, William was living in Clarkston about 46 miles northwest of Promontory Point. A written account of Rigby’s life from family member Diane Hendricks reports William had a $25,000 contract in partnership with two other men to do some fill work for Central Pacific near Promontory Point. RELATED | President of Pocatello Model Railroad and Historical Society shares history that ‘built this town’ and why it matters The year the railroad was completed, William was released as bishop in Clarkston and moved into a home he’d built about two miles west. Here, he laid out the townsite for what is now Newton. “Rigby was instructed to layout the townsite to consist of 16 blocks, each to contain eight lots and one and a half acres to each lot,” Cooley writes. By this point, many Latter-day Saints had established settlements in southeastern Idaho. Colonization had begun in Franklin around 1860. The Snake River Valley, with its abundance of water and natural resources, lured people farther north. In 1882, Church President John Taylor assigned William Rigby to accompany Thomas Ricks, the future namesake for the city of Rexburg, and William Preston, for whom the city of Preston is named, to survey the area and “prepare the way for the rapid colonization of the country.” In the area where Rexburg is today, Hattie notes in her written history that they spent two years cutting logs to build homes, as well as building roads. Rigby homesteaded on 160 acres of land and bought four lots in town. Photo of William F. Rigby taken from old newspaper clipping | Courtesy Beverly Boyle On March 16, 1883, Rigby “formally dedicated the ground and named the new settlement Rexburg in honor of President Ricks, whose German stem-name was Rex.” William, according to one account, helped build the first store in Rexburg. He apparently had a nursery in Newton and sold thousands of fruit trees to Rexburg residents. He and his sons, according to Hendricks’ history, planted a vegetable garden in Rexburg and built a ditch to water the crops they’d planted. “They have accomplished more in two years in building canals, bridges and making general improvements than I have ever known,” one person said of Rigby and the early settlers, according to Hattie’s written account. During this same two-year period, local historian Pat Scott notes in her history book about the town of Rigby that about 25 families initially settled there. Although William was not among them, Scott told us in a 2019 interview that he employed many people in the area at his sawmill and helped early settlers get established. That’s what led them to name the community after him. RELATED | We are East Idaho: Rigby Following his prison sentence in Utah, William went on to help colonize the Teton Basin area in Wyoming. Sketch by Greg Housely depicting the construction of the railroad in eastern Idaho. | Courtesy photo Rigby’s final years and legacy In 1897, the Silver Republican party nominated William to the Idaho Legislature. He was elected the following year. During his term in office, he was instrumental in getting a rail line from Idaho Falls to St. Anthony. It was completed in 1899. “It was because of William’s efforts that the railroad was built from Idaho Falls to Yellowstone Park,” Hendricks writes. William was also chairman of the Waterways and Irrigation Committee. Decades later, his great-grandson, Ray Rigby — a former state senator who will be covered in a future story — chaired the council that helped resolve one of the most contentious water rights battles in the state. William was 68 when he died on March 13, 1901. Railroad officials reportedly allowed family members free passage so they could attend his funeral. Throughout his life, Rigby was an ardent supporter of education, which is likely due to his lack of schooling as a boy. Cooley notes an account in a journal entry from Rigby’s son, Sam, highlighting William’s efforts in teaching his kids to read and write and do arithmetic. “He encouraged them to … educate themselves as much as they could,” Cooley writes. When Bannock Stake Academy — which later became Ricks College — opened in Rexburg on Nov. 12, 1888, Rigby expressed his support for it and encouraged others to follow suit. A boys dormitory on the Ricks College campus was named in his honor after its completion in 1964. Today, the William F. Rigby Hall serves as office space for Brigham Young University-Idaho faculty. A portrait of Rigby hangs in the foyer. Photo of William F. Rigby inside the William F. Rigby Hall on the Brigham Young University-Idaho campus. | Courtesy BYU-Idaho Rexburg remains home to many of William’s descendants. His great-great-grandson, Jerry, is a partner at the Rigby, Andrus & Rigby law firm. Jerry’s brother, Blair, recently retired as the owner of a flooring company. RELATED | Retired owner of Rexburg flooring company looks back on its beginnings and 50 years of business Regarding his legacy, family members describe William in written accounts as a generous and kind man who was “a peacemaker among his associates.” “His accomplishments viewed in retrospect were many and varied so that he left the world a better place for his being here,” Hendricks writes. “He was indeed a real pioneer,” Hattie adds, “lending his efforts, time and means to make this place (eastern Idaho) what we so much enjoy today. He has left us also a name to honor and be proud.” Beverly Boyle, right, is William Rigby’s great-great-granddaughter. This photo shows her with her grandkids in front of the William F. Rigby Hall in Rexburg. | Courtesy Beverly Boyle The post Prominent businessman and Latter-day Saint leader who spent time in prison has a local town named after him appeared first on East Idaho News.
Source: eastidahonews.com