The life of Mariner Wood Merrill embodies a rich tapestry of faith, resilience, and unwavering dedication to his beliefs. His legacy serves as a beacon of inspiration for generations to come, showcasing the transformative power of faith in navigating life’s trials and tribulations.
The Legacy of Mariner Wood Merrill: A Testament to Faith and Resilience
Mariner Wood Merrill, a distinguished pioneer and apostle, left a profound impact on Utah’s history through his relentless dedication to faith and work ethic. His remarkable journey from logging to becoming a prominent figure in settling Utah is a testament to his unwavering commitment to his beliefs. With a legacy spanning generations, his story continues to inspire and resonate with those who value faith and perseverance.
Early Life and Achievements:
Born into a time of great challenges and opportunities, Mariner Wood Merrill navigated the hardships of pioneering life with resilience and determination. His early endeavors in logging and farming laid the foundation for his future successes as a contractor and businessman. His pivotal role in the development of the Northern Utah railway system and ownership of multiple farms and ranches showcased his entrepreneurial spirit and vision for progress.
Spiritual Leadership and Challenges:
Mariner Wood Merrill’s calling as an apostle and President of the Logan Temple exemplified his unwavering faith and dedication to his religious duties. His encounter with adversity, such as the visitation of “Saint Satan” at the temple grounds, highlighted his steadfast resolve in upholding the sacred work despite opposition. The challenges he faced only served to strengthen his conviction and deepen his commitment to his beliefs.
Family and Personal Loss:
The tragic loss of his eldest son, Mariner Jr., brought immense sorrow and burden to Mariner Wood Merrill, presenting a profound test of his faith and resilience. The impact of this loss reverberated through his personal and professional life, underscoring the complexities of balancing familial responsibilities with his myriad of business ventures. Despite the grief and challenges, Mariner Wood Merrill’s legacy of strength and perseverance endured.
Legacy and Influence:
Mariner Wood Merrill’s enduring legacy extends beyond his own lifetime, shaping the lives of his descendants and leaving a lasting impact on Utah’s history. His ability to overcome adversity, uphold his religious convictions, and navigate personal loss with grace serves as a timeless example of faith and resilience. The lessons gleaned from his life story continue to inspire and guide those who seek to emulate his unwavering dedication to faith and family.
Reflections on Faith and Resilience:
The intersection of faith and resilience in Mariner Wood Merrill’s life offers profound insights into the power of unwavering belief in the face of adversity. His unwavering commitment to his religious duties and his ability to weather personal storms with grace and fortitude stand as a testament to the enduring strength found in faith. Through his legacy, we are reminded of the transformative power of belief and resilience in overcoming life’s challenges.
Hi there. This is Brother Merrill’s Inspirational Stories. I wanted to tell another story about my great great grandfather, Mariner Wood Merrill. He was one of the pioneers and helped really settle Utah. He was quite an amazing man. He was a busy man. He was called to be an apostle at one Point. And this is a picture of him with President George Q. Canon and the other 12 Apostles at the time. By way of making a living, he started off logging and doing whatever he could to make a living. And then he bought farms and he got involved building. He was one of the early contractors on the Northern Utah railway system. He owned the Logan Mercantile Association. He was a postmaster general in Logan. He owned over 40 farms and ranches. He was called to be the first President of the Logan Temple. At the same time, he was an apostle, so he was a busy guy. When he was the President of the Logan Temple. This is a story that you can find in several books. Temples are the Most High is one of them, and I don’t particularly agree with the way that it’s presented there.
The book that I really like the account in, and it’s more accurate to Mariner Wood’s personal journal entries on the subject, is Logan Temple: The First 100 Years. It’s a great book. If you have never read it, there’s some wonderful stories in it. Under the Story of an Interesting Visitor. One day, President Merrill was sitting in the office of the temple. I’m going to read parts of this because they’re in Mariner’s own words, and it’s very interesting. He was sitting in his office, and he noticed a large group of people that were dressed very shabbily, and they were in a variety of conveyances. Some were walking, some were riding horses, some were in buggies, groups were in wagons, and they just took possession, as he says, of the temple grounds. And he got worried. He thought, there is no way we can get all these people into the temple. They don’t have an appointment. We didn’t know anybody was coming like this, and we couldn’t fit this many people in the temple. As a side note, they could fit about 3,500 people in the rooms of the temple. So we’re not talking a small group.
We’re talking a huge, huge group of people. So Barron Wood was curious. He went outside. He said, who are you guys? And he looked around and he identified the man that seemed to be in charge, and they had not made any effort to enter the temple. President Merrill asked him who they were and who the man was that was leading them. And he answered, I am Saint Satan, and these are my people. President Merrill asked, What do you want? Why have you come here? And Satan replied, I do not like what is being done in the Logan temple, and you have to stop it. I didn’t know President Merrill since he died quite a long time before I was born. But I’ve known members of his family, and I can imagine how he reacted. And he told him, No, we won’t stop this work. This is the work of the Lord, and it must go on. And you know that you or anyone else cannot stop the work of the Lord. And then Satan said to him, If you refuse to stop it, I’ll tell you what I propose to do. I will scatter this congregation of people throughout the valley, and we will keep people from coming to the temple.
We will whisper in their ears and discourage them from attending the temple. This will stop your temple work. And then there’s quite a few accounts in here, and I find it very interesting, the work all but stopped. In the following year at the Logan temple, they did about three times more ordinances than they had previously done in one day. President Robert Daines, he was a temple President in Provo. He was also a relative, a descendant of Mariner Wood. His mother was a maril. And he told me that we do more ordinances in one day in the old Provo temple, now the Rock Canyon Provo temple, than they did in that entire year. And there are several accounts of people that said that if they said out loud that they were going to go to the temple, that all hell conspired against them. There was a group of girls coming to do baptisms for the dead, and they got just to where they could see the temple as they came over the in Hyde Park, and the wagon lost a wheel. By the time they got to the temple, all four wheels had come off the wagon one at a time.
The yoke that had the team tied together had broken. One of the straps that tied the horse to the yoke had broken, and they got there and they had already drained the font and called it a day. But there were some brothers in there that were willing to refill the font and do these baptisms that the girls had hoped to Another couple said that they had to develop secret signals while they were at the temple, like the third base coach and the first base coach. They give each other a little signal, and that meant, Grab your stuff were going to the temple, and don’t do anything else. Just go right now. Because if they said out loud that they were going to go to the temple, everything that could go wrong went wrong. There’s stories of the mills breaking down and wagons breaking down and all the cows getting out and all the horses getting out. Every time people said they were going to go to the temple, they just couldn’t make it. So you saints that have you recommend, it is the Lord’s work. And you need to get to the temple because that’s how we’re gathering Israel right now on the other side of the veil.
And that’s how the vast majority of Israel is going to be gathered. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Mariner continued to have so much going and my great grandfather was his oldest son, Mariner Jr. And Mariner Jr. Died when my grandpa was just three years old. He was the business manager for Mariner senior, because here he was an apostle and the temple President at the same time. And he had all these other businesses and things that he was doing. And when his oldest son died, Mariner Jr. It just devastated him. He just could hardly bear it. He just went into terrible mourning. For one thing, it was just a huge burden because all of a sudden, the guy that was doing a large portion of his business, running the implement store and running the post office and managing all these different farms and ranches. And all of a sudden, his son was gone. Mariner Jr. Had three wives, so he had quite a few children. It really shook the Old Apostle. In Mariner Wood Merrill’s personal journals up in Salt Lake, I used to go up after work to the genealogy library. And back in those days, in the ’70s, you could go in and you could read journals from pioneers.
And so I, for several months, went up to the genealogy library at night, and I would sit and read Mariner Wood’s seniors journal entries. And there was everything from business, statistical information to the mood of his wife. So there was a lot of stuff in there. But when it came time that he buried my great grandfather, his oldest son, it really became apparent that it was a dark cloud, and it was a really hard thing for him. After the funeral and about a week’s worth of reading, I was reading along, and he’s He was riding out to Lewiston to take care of some business out there. And he said, Mariner rode up on a white horse, and he stopped the buggy, tied the horse to the buggy, and then Mariner got in the buggy, and they visited. I thought, wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. Mariner’s dead. No, this can’t be right. I looked at the dates and I come back. Yeah, he died three months ago. They didn’t even act like it was an angel or the spirit or a visitation. He just acted like his friend drove up and they stopped the car and got in together.
But it was his dead son. They talked about several different things. He said something very interesting. Mariner told him that the order of heaven was set up in a way that if one of your loved ones was in peril or in need, that became your priority assignment to go comfort or assist your loved one. And he said, Father, I was called to the other side to do a very specific work, and I can’t get it done because I’m spending all my time trying to help you feel better. He said, You’ve got to quit mourning my loss and realize that God called me to the other side for a reason. And his dad said, Well, son, you’ve got all these children, and I They’re so busy. And he said, Father, don’t worry about my children. My children will be fine. Now, just to put it in perspective, Mariner Wood Merrill, senior, had 46 children with multiple wives. He had 291 grandchildren, of which my grandfather was one. A lot of his descendants, particularly his grandchildren, became inactive in the church. My grandpa was one of them. He was always a little bitter because the old apostle took his son at his word.
He didn’t worry about his grandkids. I don’t know how I could even begin to know their names. 291 grandkids. That’s amazing. But the grandkids really felt like the old apostle didn’t care about them. It It wasn’t that he didn’t care about them. It’s just he knew that they were going to be fine. My grandfather had 10 siblings, and they all became professional people, doctors, attorneys, or they owned their own businesses. They were all very successful. But just as a side note, my grandfather was not active in the church. He was a very successful dentist. And my dad had a tender heart, just a wonderful, wonderful man. When he was 12 years old, he had decided he was going to be a deacon. And so my grandpa was pacing back and forth in front of the church, smoking a cigar, walking back and forth, waiting for his 12-year-old kid to come out. And this wonderful bishop came out and said, Brother Merrill, I want you to come in and confer the Aaronic priesthood on your son, an Ardanian, to be a deacon. And the spirit touched my grandfather, and he spit out that cigar and stepped on it, went into the church, and performed that ordinance of bestowing those priesthood keys on his young son.
And then he and my grandmother became very active in the church. And I thank God for that bishop. I hope you enjoyed this story. These are Brother Merrill’s inspirational stories. Thanks for watching.
dyejo
J Washburn
Guest Author
