©2003 Brigham Young University. All rights reserved.
The Silas L. Fish Collection came to Brigham Young University in June 1977. It was donated by Lorna Carpenter, on behalf of the children of Silas L. Fish. The materials had been in the possession of the Silas L. Fish family from the time of Elder Fish's death until their transfer to the University.
Except for the restriction placed upon photocopies of certain letters, this collection is open to use in accordance with the policies and procedures of the Department of Special Collections and Manuscripts of the Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University. Appropriate copyright clearance must be obtained for all materials published in their entirety, other than fair-use excerpts.
The letters that cannot be copied are those written to Silas Fish by persons who may still be living. They are located in box 4, folders 3 through 7. The family has requested the restriction to honor the privacy of the correspondents.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from Silas L. Fish Collection must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
Silas L. Fish was born Jan. 17, 1880, at Snowflake, Apache Co., Arizona. He was the second of three sons born to Mormon pioneer and noted historian, Joseph Fish and his wife Adelaide Margaret Smith Fish. The union of Silas' parents was the third of four polygamist marriages entered into by Joseph Fish. Silas' personal history recounts the economic hardships suffered by the family when his father was hiding from authorities during the persecutions of polygamists.
When Silas was eight years old, his father moved the family into a two room log house. Another two rooms were added later. Though his family was economically challenged, Silas had a happy childhood and dearly loved his parents. He was motivated from an early age to grow in the gospel and to develop his talents to the best of his abilities.
In part due to necessity, Silas developed a strong work ethic which he applied to every aspect of his life for as long as he lived. When he was thirteen years of age he learned to operate the telegraph which was located in the family home, and became the area operator. In later life Silas was fond of recounting how, at the age of fourteen, he worked out a deal with the military at Fort Apache, Arizona, to ship them 270 dozen eggs. His youthful business acumen proved to be an economic blessing for the small community in which he lived.
Crediting the prompting of a loving mother, Silas received the best education that could be obtained under limited circumstances. He attended grade school in Snowflake and remembered, with great fondness, a teacher named Frank K. Seegmiller who awakened a desire in him to attend high school and college. Due to the lack of opportunity, he didn't earn his eighth grade diploma until he was eighteen years old. He says in his writings, "I could have had two years of high school work, but there was no high school available."
Silas was determined to obtain a proper education, and the following year he sought out teachers and coaches who would give him advanced work. In September of 1899, just about a year and a half after obtaining his eighth grade diploma, Silas passed the Navajo County Teacher's Examination. Three months later he passed the Apache County Teacher's Examination. That same year he taught at Alpine, Apache County, Arizona. He had established the course of his life's work.
During the summer of 1900, Silas was employed in an adobe yard making bricks for the Snowflake Stake Academy Building. He earned enough money to leave in the fall for Provo, Utah, and the Brigham Young Academy. Further schooling was interrupted in December of that same year when he received a mission call to Samoa.
Silas arrived in Samoa on his 21st birthday. He worked in the mission field for four years and returned home December 1904. Within a month of his return, he was substitute teaching for the Snowflake Stake Academy and working part-time at the Flake Brothers Store as a salesman.
That spring Silas was married and sealed in the Salt Lake Temple, for time and eternity, to his childhood sweetheart, Margaret Miller. The young couple left in the fall for Flagstaff, Arizona to attend Northern Arizona Normal School, returning the following summer to Snowflake.
March 8, 1907, Margaret gave birth to Jesse Allen and just three weeks
later she died of child bed fever. The death of his beloved was a terrible blow
to the young husband. They had been married for less than two years. He
immediately immersed himself in furthering his education. Going summer and
winter terms to Northern Arizona Normal School, Silas graduated August 1908
with a life diploma to teach in Arizona schools. He immediately went to work
teaching fifth and sixth grades at Snowflake in the
The next several years were very busy for Silas. He remarried in the summer of 1910. He and Pearl Emmaline Noble were sealed in the Logan Temple at Logan, Utah. Over the next sixteen years, Pearl gave birth to six children, losing just one baby boy at the age of fourteen months. Silas served for seven years as Bishop of Snowflake Ward. Along with his teaching duties, he was principal of the grade school and of the Academy at Snowflake. When Snowflake Union High School opened in 1924, he was named principal and held that position for twenty-two years.
During these same years Silas taught seminary and was active in his church callings. He was set apart as a member of the Snowflake Stake High Council in 1924 and served in that capacity for twenty years. Silas sought, always, to improve himself and consistently attended classes at various colleges and universities through the years. Eventually, He was awarded a Master of Arts degree from the University of California in Dec. of 1931. But even after he earned his master's degree he continued to attend college classes.
In August of 1938 Pearl died leaving Silas widowed for the second time. As always, he worked, attended school, and kept up his church duties and responsibilities. In the sixteen years following Pearl's demise, he saw the last of his four children married. At the age of sixty-four, he was ordained Patriarch of the Snowflake Stake. Two years later he resigned as principal of the high school and moved, that year, to Phoenix, Arizona where he went to work for the Universal Air Conditioning Co.
Silas was soon busy, as usual. In Phoenix, he taught Seminary and managed the Phoenix Stake Cannery and Welfare Store, and in 1949 was sustained as Patriarch of the Phoenix Stake. At the age of seventy-four, this remarkable man took a bookkeeping course and began working at a feed store as a bookkeeper! Two years later he married and was sealed to Irene Jane Harris Wilkins in the Arizona Temple. Irene was a widow and had been a longtime acquaintance. She had served for many years as Silas secretary while he was Patriarch.
Finally, at the age of eighty-one, and after eight years working as a
bookkeeper, Silas decided to retire. He wasn't ready to quit completely though,
and soon began teaching a Seminary class. He was sorry to resign after one
year, saying, "My hearing is defective . . . could not hear well
enough." So, he did repair work about the house and grounds and re-wrote
what he referred to as his
Eight years later, Silas was honored on his ninetieth birthday with a wonderful celebration to his life. He lived an additional six years. Silas Leavitt Fish died March 25, 1976, in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of ninety-six.
The Silas L. Fish Collection is made up of the papers and letters he retained over the years. These materials provide a record of the personal growth, education, church activities, and professional career of one man whose life spanned the better part of a century. The collection includes correspondence with family members and others as well as a considerable amount of poetry composed by Silas. He also kept a record of funeral sermons he delivered, and church talks as well as other writings.
Much of Silas' career in education corresponds with the building and development of schools in Snowflake, Arizona. He had a personal, as well as professional interest in the schools and the students who attended them. As a result, he kept several school yearbooks. The collection holds books for years 1922 through 1946. As for his personal career achievements, one box contains diplomas, certificates, awards and testimonials honoring Silas.
In addition, the Fish family was among the founding families of Snowflake, Arizona and over the years Silas acquired material related to the history of the area while he was gathering information for a family and personal history. This material is also in the collection; much of it in the form of letters to his children and grandchildren and correspondence with members of family organizations.
When the collection was accessioned at Brigham Young University, much of the material had been gathered and placed in boxes without regard to its order. Some of the material, however, (such as Silas' Funeral Sermons and notes for his own life story) was obviously arranged in the manner in which he intended. Those materials remain as Silas filed them. Other items have been arranged according to subject and chronological date.
Election returns, Prohibition 1932
Mamie Bradford
Myra Cameron
Fredrick E. Kuhn
Serena Belle Langston
Maxine Lynn
Weaver B. Wren
Commencement Address 1944
Snowflake Union H.S. Honor Roll 1944
Talk to Students 1948
Talk in honor of D. A. Butler 1953
Snowflake Stake Academy
Snowflake Union High School
Building plans
Commencement Programs
General correspondence
Tax information
Girls Buff & Blue 1922
The Hyacinth 1933
U High Booster 1933
U High Booster 1934
La Historia 1934
U High Booster 1935
Commencement Booster 1935
El Mundo Fantastico 1935
U High Booster Commencement 1935-1936
El Cedro 1937
The Conqueror 1938
The Retort 1938- 1939
The Retort 1940
The Retort 1941
The Retort 1942
The Retort 1943
The Retort 1944
The Retort 1945
The Retort 1946
Missionary Cert. signed by Lorenzo Snow, Geo. Q. Cannon & Jos. F. Smith
Second Grade Co. Cert. (Navajo) 1899
Temp. Second Grade Co. Cert. (Apache) 1899
Second Grade Co. Cert. (Apache) 1899
Ordination Cert. to High Priest & Bishop signed by Rudger Clawson 1909
First Grade State Cert. (Arizona) 1912
Temp. High School Cert. (Utah) 1917
First Grade State Cert. (Arizona) 1918
Secondary Cert. (Arizona) 1921
Petition for M. A. ca. 1925
Administrative Cert. (Arizona) 1933
Cert. Arizona United War Fund 1943
Vo. Ed. Cert. for food production war training (Arizona) 1945
FFA Honorary State Farmer (Arizona) 1945
Typed Tribute from D. E. Heywood 1954
YMMIA Honorary Membership Cert. 1956
Diploma, Sr. Aaronic Priesthood School 1961
Program & letter, Alumni Distinguished Service Award BYU 1976
Rebecca S. Rogers, n.d.
1959 party for Silas 80th birthday
Eliot A. Butler 1968
Alice S. Hansen 1968
News clipping about tribute