William J. Flake#Life and career

{{Infobox person

|birth_name = William Jordan Flake

| image = William J. Flake.jpg

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| birth_date = {{Birth date|1839|07|03}}

| birth_place = Anson County, North Carolina

| death_date = {{Death date and age|1932|08|10|1839|07|03}}

| death_place = Snowflake, Arizona

| nationality =

| other_names =

| known_for =

| occupation =

}}File:Snowflake-William Jordan Flake Cabin-1858-1.jpg

William Jordan Flake (July 3, 1839 – August 10, 1932){{cite book|title=Crawford Genealogy ...|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kXlFAAAAMAAJ|access-date=August 12, 2013|year=1936|publisher=Press of the J. W. Burke Company}}{{cite book|title=Arizona Cattlelog|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YLgnAQAAIAAJ|access-date=August 12, 2013|year=1949|publisher=Arizona Cattle Growers' Association}}{{cite book|author=Catherine H. Ellis|title=Snowflake|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ay2GIOcmnV8C&pg=PA107|access-date=August 12, 2013|year=2008|publisher=Arcadia Publishing|isbn=978-0-7385-4838-8|pages=107–}} was a prominent member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, who helped settle parts of Arizona, and was imprisoned at the Yuma Territorial Prison for polygamy.{{cite journal|author=Jane Eppinga|title=Hellhole on the Colorado|journal=American Cowboy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_-oCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA89|access-date=August 17, 2017|date=November–December 1997|publisher=Active Interest Media, Inc.|pages=88–89|issn=1079-3690}}

Life and career

Flake was born in Anson County, North Carolina, the fourth son of Agnes Love and James Madison Flake. When he was three, his family moved to Kemper County, Mississippi. In 1844, they became members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Flake and his family moved to the Salt Lake Valley in 1846 by wagon train with the Mormon pioneers, arriving in 1848. In 1849, his father was killed on the American River while examining a gold mining site for the church in California. His widowed mother took her three children to San Bernardino; she died in 1856. Flake and his siblings returned to Utah to live with Amasa Lyman and his family.

On December 30, 1858, William Flake married Lucy Hannah White; they were nineteen and sixteen years old respectively. A year later, they started a cattle ranch in Beaver County, Utah.{{cite book |last1=Flake |first1=Oz |title=William J. Flake, pioneer-colonizer |date=1948}}{{rp|30}} Flake was called by church leaders to enter into a plural marriage in 1868. Lucy agreed to the marriage, because of her belief in the LDS Church; she even helped choose his second wife.{{cite journal |last1=Boone |first1=David F. |title="As Bad as I Hated to Come": Lucy Hannah White Flake in Arizona |journal=Journal of Mormon History |date=Fall 2012 |volume=38 |issue=4 |pages=55–87 |doi=10.2307/23292632 |jstor=23292632 |s2cid=254488062 }}{{rp|57}} William Flake and Prudence Kartchner were married in October 1868. Flake and Kartchner would have seven children.

In 1877, he was called by LDS Church President Brigham Young to start a settlement in the northern area of what was then the Arizona Territory.{{cite book|author=Mary Jo Churchwell|title=Arizona: No Ordinary Journey|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NbZZuN14bPAC&pg=PA166|access-date=August 12, 2013|date=January 1, 2007|publisher=Ironwood Editions|isbn=978-0-9713016-1-0|pages=166–}} William left with a wagon train and herds of cattle for the Little Colorado River region of Arizona and arrived in January 1878. Despite much hardship after spending 13 months on the trail and a winter living in stables and wagons, the settlement survived. In the fall of 1878, Erastus Snow, an LDS Apostle, visited and joined with Flake naming the town Snowflake: "Snow for me and Flake for you."{{cite news |last1=Adair |first1=Jill B. |title=Temple fulfills old prophecies |url=https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900559/Temple-fulfills-old-prophecies.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181117022308/https://www.deseretnews.com/article/900559/Temple-fulfills-old-prophecies.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 17, 2018 |access-date=November 16, 2018 |work=Deseret News |publisher=Deseret News Publishing Company |date=March 9, 2002}}

On December 5, 1884, Flake was tried in Prescott, Arizona in the District Court and found guilty for practice of polygamy and unlawful cohabitation,{{cite journal |last1=Boone |first1=David |last2=Flake |first2=Chad J. |title=The Prison Diary of William Jordan Flake |journal=The Journal of Arizona History |date=Summer 1983 |volume=24 |issue=2 |pages=145–170 |jstor=41859506 }} a common charge used to prosecute LDS men under the Edmunds Act.{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Mary K. |title=Mr. Peay's Horses: The Federal Response to Mormon Polygamy, 1854-1887 |journal=Yale Journal of Law & Feminism |date=2001 |volume=13 |pages=29–70 |url=https://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://www.google.com/&httpsredir=1&article=1169&context=yjlf |access-date=November 16, 2018}} Flake received a $500 fine and was imprisoned in the Yuma Territorial Prison for six months.{{cite journal |last1=Bair |first1=JoAnn W. |last2=Jensen |first2=Richard L. |title=Prosecution of the Mormons in Arizona Territory in the 1880s |journal=Arizona and the West |date=Spring 1977 |volume=19 |issue=1 |pages=25–46 |jstor=40168577 }} While in prison, Flake still served as one of the counselors to the bishop of the Snowflake ward. Flake was treated humanely in prison, reportedly allowed to work how he pleased, read as much as he pleased, and eat "excellent food". He was released from prison on June 11, 1885.{{rp|75}} After he returned from prison, Prudence and Lucy became pregnant. Prudence gave birth to twins on June 7, 1886. They died at birth. Lucy gave birth on July 28, 1886; her child died a few months later from pneumonia.{{rp|75–76}}

Flake's plural wife Prudence died on February 8, 1896.{{rp|76}} During his marriage, Flake was often away from home, on the ranch and tending to livestock.{{rp|83}} His wife Lucy Flake died on January 27, 1900, at age fifty-seven. William Flake would never remarry.{{rp|86–87}} In 1901, Flake served in the Southern States mission. He also sponsored genealogical research and continued ranching.{{rp|87}}

In 1959, Flake was posthumously nominated and then inducted into the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in the Hall of Great Westerners for his contributions as a colonizer and cattleman as Arizona's fourth entry.{{Cite web | url=http://www.nationalcowboymuseum.org/info/awards-hof/Great-Westerners.aspx | title=Awards & Halls of Fame}}{{rp|87}}

William Jordan Flake was the father of 11 sons and nine daughters and lived to the age of 93, passing away on August 10, 1932, in Snowflake.{{rp|87}}

Legacy

Flake's descendants include:

(great-great-grandson) Jeff Flake, a former U.S. Senator (R-AZ) and current ambassador to Turkey
(great-great-granddaughter) Kathleen Flake, a professor of American religious history at the University of VirginiaCaroline Newman, [https://news.virginia.edu/content/qa-religious-studies-professor-bring-former-us-sen-jeff-flake-grounds Q&A: RELIGIOUS STUDIES PROFESSOR TO BRING FORMER U.S. SEN. JEFF FLAKE TO GROUNDS], UVA Today (September 10, 2018).
(great-grandson, and Jeff Flake's uncle) Former Speaker of the Arizona House and later State Senator Jake Flake{{cite news |last1=Altchek |first1=Ana |title=Rejecting his legacy, Flake boldly speaks out |url=https://pittnews.com/article/124415/opinions/rejecting-legacy-flake-boldly-speaks/ |access-date=January 10, 2019 |work=The Pitt News |date=November 1, 2017}}{{cite news |title=Arizona Sen. Jake Flake dies after fall, son says |url=http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue/2008/06/08/87620-arizona-sen-jake-flake-dies-after-fall-son-says/ |access-date=January 10, 2019 |work=Tucson Citizen |date=June 8, 2008}}

In 1959, Flake was inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners of the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.{{cite web |title=Hall of Great Westerners |url=https://nationalcowboymuseum.org/hall-of-great-westerners/ |website=National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum |access-date=November 22, 2019}}

Flake founded Snowflake, Arizona with Erastus Snow, and the town bears their names.

William J. Flake#Life and career

Life and career

Legacy

See also

References

Further reading