Painter, Royal Musician, Builder, Lawyer and Doctor

(This is a post I started last year but left it in draft condition all this time. I'm not sure what I was waiting for.)

When I think of John Toone, I think first of his musical skills, for his cello playing and his singing voice. Then I think of his mission in England and his journey back in the Martin Handcart Company. In a biography I learned that he received an education in music, law, carpentry and medicine. This blog post will include a couple of ways that his talents and skills were used to serve.

In a visit to Salt Lake and a fun breakfast reunion with my first mission companion in Korea, Dianne Toone (she came home and married a distant cousin!) shared an example of his talent as a builder.  We drove over to the site of a historical waymarker for the Twentieth Ward School. 

On this site in 1857 the Twentieth Ward or Twentieth District School was erected, John Toone builder. The one large room served for school, church and recreation. In 1860 a two-story addition was constructed. Pupils came from all parts of Salt Lake Valley and other Utah counties. The first teacher was a Mr. Dixon. In 1892 an eighteen class-room school, named "Lowell" was erected. It was razed by fire in 1960 and the present building completed and occupied in 1964.

Picture of the school as it looked after the 1860 addition was made.

http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm/ref/collection/USHS_Class/id/6929

In the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers publication "An Enduring Legacy" there is a short history of the settlement about an hour's drive north-east of Salt Lake City - Croydon, Morgan County, USA. 

Croydon, Morgan County, Utah

This text includes a mention of John Toone that shares another impressive talent. 


In 1874 the settlers reported a good harvest but expressed concern about a possible smallpox epidemic. Nearly all school children were vaccinated.  John Toone, painter, royal musician, and community doctor, obtained vaccine in the following manner: when his young son, Richard, got smallpox, John took the pox germ and inoculated a calf, from which he made vaccine.  He inoculated sixty persons, thus helping to end the epidemic.

How to make a smallpox vaccine. (from the website NOVA online, PBS)

So now I would love to find evidence of his talent as a painter. I did find a painting done by Emily McPhie when asked to paint a friend's ancestor, John Toone.  She did a great job.  If anyone reading this knows of any artwork by John Toone or stories about this talent, please share in the comments below. 

Finally, here is a great overview of John Toone's life written by Trent Toone, journalist for Deseret News, on his blog. Some of the same points of information I've shared but all put together in a well written article. Posted just a couple of weeks ago. I guess I should have looked for it before I started to write my last post!