Welcome

This blog is a tribute to my parents, Wilfred and Kathryn Hardy Burrell. Chapters are listed on the right side. You can click on them to load them and read them. I have prepared this material specially for their children and  grandchildren. I hope you will become closer to Wilf and Kay as you learn more about them.

I would welcome all who are related to them or who feel any association to them to learn a little more about them and their lives.

W. Craig Burrell

Life Story of Wilfred Burrell

Autobiography edited by Wilfred Craig Burrell

My Birth 20 December 1914

            I believe at the time of my birth, Brother Herbert grew to be my extra father. With Mother being sick, he seemed to take me over together with my sister Gladys. Herbert and I seemed to have a mutual bond. I can barely remember him going on a mission to Northern England and can still remember the deep disappointment I felt when he immigrated to Salt Lake City in 1921. He was and still is a very tender spirit.

            I am grateful that all of my brothers and sisters grew up with a strong testimony of the Gospel and have all been very active in the Church. They married partners who have been very active and to this date many of their children and grandchildren have fulfilled missions. None have fallen away from the Church.

            As for myself, I grew up in a normal life starting at Thorpe Hamlet Kindergarten at the age of four years; my sister Doris taking me. I graduated to what was the big boy’s school, which was separate from the kindergarten. I was not a good student. In looking back, I know I could have done better. I had too much of a tendency to fool around. The only teacher I recall having a great impression on me was Mr. Chilvers. I recently wrote a letter to him, but to date have had no reply.

Secondary School 1924

            At the age of ten, I took a test to see if I could qualify for secondary school commonly called the Red Cap School. Somehow I passed the exam, but because the financial status of the family had increased, I would have to pay for my schooling. My brother Arthur, who had previously won a free scholarship and had now immigrated to America, came to our rescue. He felt it was very essential that I attend high school. Each time the money was due, he would send a check for it. I have since been very thankful for the extra education I received there.

            One of the friends I grew up with was Norman Brown, a member who later left the Church. Raymond Clark was my neighbor, a non member, who was a very fine person. At the age of ten, he moved away to Brundall, a semi rural town about five miles away. I spent many happy days and occasional nights at their place. I would ride over there on my bike.

            My bike was my means of transportation. I can remember receiving my first one when I was ten years old. I would ride it three and a half miles to school and also fifteen miles to the Norfolk broads to fish. Sometimes I rode to the coast, Yarmouth, Lowestoft, or Sea Palling which were eighteen to twenty seven miles away. I took great pride in my bikes. I always kept them in shape, clean and in good mechanical condition.

My Parents, Alfred and Emma Louisa Cogman Burrell

            Now I write an insight into the personalities of my parents. My mother was short and plump with a pleasant smile and a very strong sense of humor. She would sing around the house one song after another. She loved to sing. She had been raised in a large family and almost all her siblings were musically inclined. At that time, music and drama troupes would circulate around the towns bringing new songs. As a family, the Cogmans were quick to learn the songs. At that time, there were no movies or recording devices of any kind.

            Mother was a courageous little woman. I have seen her turn on a bunch of hecklers at a missionary street meeting. She would shake her black cane at them and give them a reprimand or voice a humorous remark that would make the balance of the crowd laugh at the hecklers.

            Mother was the stricter of my two parents- more so with my older brothers and sisters. She had feared that this was the reason for them to be so anxious to leave home for America. I assured her that this was not the case and felt that it was the will of the Lord. I am sure that she was much more lenient with me than she may have been with the others. I won’t say to whos advantage.

            Father had been brought up in quite a different atmosphere. He had never known his father, who had died when he was a baby. He had very little education because he quit school at the age of ten to learn the shoe making business. Thanks to this his children never went barefoot. From the age of eighteen until his retirement he worked for the railroad. He started as an engine cleaner and finally graduated to an engine driver. He was an engine driver when he retired.

            He was a reserved individual standing five feet nine inches tall. His walrus mustache was his most distinguishing feature. The grandchildren disliked being tickled by the mustache as he kissed them. While Mother could have a flair of temper, I cannot remember Dad getting really mad. I always felt he was wise in his decisions. He never bluffed when he did not know something. However, it seemed that he always knew a little more than he had spoken. People who knew him say I resemble him.

            I believe that Dad’s love besides his family was the Gospel. He had a strong testimony of its truthfulness and did his best to live it. Herbert commented, “Wilfred talks and writes like Dad. He has a similar action with his head, sings like him and has the same even temperament.”

            To return to my growing period, I was ordained a Deacon at the age of twelve. Prior to that time I was in the habit of helping Arthur clean up the sacrament table. I was doing this at a Conference where James E. Talmage was presiding. He asked me if I was a Deacon. I told him not quite yet. He suggested that I not touch the sacrament table until I was.

            We were often hosts to some of the Church authorities. Many of them ate or even slept in our humble abode. President John A. Wistoe and President Joseph Merrill were two that we hosted. I also remember David O. McKay having me stand by his side and tell me that I was a millionaire. Every part of my body was worth 10,000 pounds.

The Norwich Branch

            The Norwich Branch was small with a membership of 140 people. The Mormons were not popular enough to congregate in one edifice for very long. Sometimes we had to move in a hurry. Then the piano or organ would come into our home where we held cottage meetings. These meetings were also held in homes in other parts of town. During the years, many of the members left for America depleting our numbers.

            For a period of time, we were meeting in what was called ‘The Jews Hall’ in St. Benedict Street. On Sunday morning it was necessary to get there early to air out the place. The night before, the Jews had their Sabbath and a party; and the place reeked of smoke. It was then that the Mission president and Dad found the pretty little chapel at 60 Park Lane. I will not say that the dedication was uninterrupted. Hecklers, bad eggs and stink bombs attended the service.

            The new chapel was an answer to our prayers. It had the most beautiful stained glass widows, a pipe organ, a baptismal font, a recreation hall, a small foyer and a vestibule. I can still see the beautiful sign board announcing the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It showed our meeting schedule. At the bottom it said, “Surely the Lord God will do nothing except he revealeth His secrets to His servants the prophets.”

            It was in this little chapel that I grew up in the Gospel. For many years I was the Branch Clerk. I believe that I did everything but play the organ. My sister Doris did a very fine job on that. We had M.I.A and produced one act plays. We had minstrel shows all of which were very amateurish. Under the circumstances they were somewhat rewarding. We had dances, Gold and Green Balls and other activities.

            There were times when missionaries were scarce and the local brethren were sent out on circuit once or twice a month to the different branches. In 1935 when my Dad was made the District president, I would rent a car and the four of us would travel around on Sunday to the different branches.

            I might say that the Church had been the body of my life, but not entirely. Life at the City of Norwich School was not empty. I cannot say that I was the athletic type. I must admit that although I did not dislike English Football and Cricket, I was a complete flop at both.

            The education I received there was very comprehensive and provided a background to most all fields: Chemistry, Physics, Geometry, Algebra, and even higher math. We also studied History, Geography, Art, Physical Education, shop work, English and one foreign language. I took French. I was sixteen years old when I completed school. There were no formal graduations in the schools. Up to that time the only job I had was to sell records for a record store. I would dress in a page boy suit and do the running for the store. About that time, talking movies were just being introduced and also automatic record changers. I would go to the movie theatre where a new talking picture would be shown. I would stand in the lobby with a stack of records that had all the hit tunes. I would call out the name of the record store and call out the names of the songs. This way I would sell the records. The first record I sold this way was Al Jolson’s “Climb Upon My Knee Sonny Boy.”

1930 An Apprenticeship

            With school behind me, now I would have to face the world. I had always fooled around a little with electricity. I will mention that only a few years previous to this our family had its first experience with electricity in our home. Now we had 220 V DC electric lights; before this we only had an incandescent gas light in each room. Nevertheless, in 1930 we still had a gas oven to cook with and coal fires for heat.

            With new expectation for electricity, I wanted to be an electrician. The largest plant in England for the manufacture of generators and dynamos, Lawrence and Scotts, was in Norwich. I applied for work there and was hired. The work seemed so unimpressive for me at the time. They were making generators for the luxury liner, The Queen Mary. However, the job of stamping out armature plates held no thrill for me during an eight hour work day. I wanted to quit, but I can remember Dad saying, “Never throw away dirty water until you’re sure you have some clean.”

            My eldest brother, Alfred had been a watch maker’s apprentice to Marsden Willmott many years before. Marsden’s brother had married Dad’s sister Alice. Dad checked with him to see if there would be an opportunity to apprentice with him. The bargain was made. I was apprenticed to this trade for three years. My first year, I was to get five shillings per week and ten shilling a week for the second year. The third year I would receive fifteen shillings a week.

            My first job was to dismantle old watches and sort the parts. I could cry to think of some of the beautiful hand made movements that I had to destroy this way. England had just gone off the gold standard and the cases of these relics fetched a good price to be broken up for gold content. I learned to fix a lot of old English grandfather clocks and many French clocks to restoration. (Many of these relics were one hundred years old in 1930.)

            The Wimott store was located originally in Surrey Street. However, Wilmott had moved it to Prince of Wales Road a short distance from the Thorpe Railway Station. It stood across the river bridge.

            I remember in the early part of my apprenticeship being in the company of an older employee, Mr. Wiffl. We were to clean the clock in the tower of an old church at Poswick about three miles out of the town. The church was several hundred years old and had no electricity. We climbed musty stone steps to the belfry and tower. Then we ascended a wood ladder to the platform where the clock works were located. We had a flashlight and the Reverend provided us with some candles. We were to clean the clock with gasoline. I objected, but the older man was the boss. He placed a candle on one end of the platform and placed the container of gas on the other end next to the ladder. Suffice it to say that the container of gas caught fire. The old man panicked. He was ready to make a fifteen foot jump off of the platform. I said a quick prayer. Wiffl was dressed in a long smock. I pulled it off of him and smothered the flames. I do not know why the gasoline did not explode to this day.

1934 Working as a Watch Maker

            I stayed with Mr. Wilmott for an additional year after I completed my apprenticeship. Then I figured that I should get some more experience in another shop. I got a job with Tillot Jewelers in St. Giles. It was a family business and I worked out in the shop with a Mr. Lewis Brady. I enjoyed working there very much. They were very fine people. After two years there I started to make plans to move to Utah.

1937 The Burrells move to Utah

            My older brothers Alfred, Bert and Arthur and my older sister Gladys had been located in Utah for several years. In 1937 Dad had retired, and it was a hard decision for my parents to leave there homeland and join the rest of the family in Utah. As I have grown older, I can appreciate much more the extent of this decision.

            We left for America on May 8^th of 1937 on the S S Manhattan. Our family consisted of my parents, my older sister Doris and me. It was a pleasant trip. We noticed several missionaries on board the ship on their way home. While I watched them playing on the deck, I hummed “Come Come Ye Saints.” They eyed me curiously, and we introduced ourselves. We were the only English family on board, and they were glad to see us. There was one French family and 800 German Jews who were fleeing from the Hitler Natzi cleansing.

            While we were on board the ship, King Edward VIII abdicated from the English throne. Things were starting to boil in Europe. Mother was very nervous during the whole trip.

            Bert met us as we came off of the ship. It was a very happy reunion. We had not seen him for seventeen years. We toured around New York a while then we took the train to Chicago where we stayed over night. We toured Chicago a little on a bus. We then continued on the train to Utah where we were united with the rest of the family.

Settling into Utah

            In 1937 the United States had still not recovered from the Great Depression. Franklin Roosevelt had made great strides, but jobs were still hard to find. I could not find any work in Ogden where we were staying with Bert’s family. Then I heard of a small Jewelry store to be sold in Salt Lake City by a Mr. Brian Sear. He had not been in business long, but decided to give it up for a good job with the Ford Motor Company. He was asking $900 for the cabinets and equipment in the store including the inventory of stock. I would take over his lease. I had $300 saved. I borrowed another $600 and was in business for myself at the age of twenty two. I was new in town, not known, but I had high hopes.

A home on O Street

            Alfred, Emma, Doris and I moved to Salt Lake and moved into a little home on O Street. (Wilfred often told his children that it was a very inconvenient place since they had to travel a block to P). They settled into the 27^th Ward which was a lot different than their small branch in Norwich.

            Doris gave this account of her brother. “When Wilfred first came to America, he was quite an attraction to some of the girls in the neighborhood. One of them in particular was a frequent visitor. She came often to the house just to take a look at him, but he was never home. She thought he looked like Errol Flynn. We lived at 125 O Street at the time. He was active in the MIA and participated in plays and musicals in the 27^th ward where we first attended church.”

            I had some wonderful experiences in the 27^th Ward. I made some very fine friends. Among these were Durston and Ken Hardy, Robert Higham, the Murphy Brothers, Farrell McGhie and Dale Swensen. These have been lasting friends to this day. Later our family moved to a home Dad purchased on 1211 South Eighth East. We moved from the 27^th Ward to the 31^st Ward. Nevertheless, I still maintained my Church activities and affiliations in the 27^th Ward.

Wilfred and Kathryn

            Kathryn told the story of how Wilfred and she fist met. “On one occasion, Margery Lulow, a girl friend to my Cousin Durston Hardy, arranged for a group get-together up the canyon. I was a friend of Margery, and I arranged for a group of my friends to meet with them at the same place. This was the first time I met Wilfred. I was with a boy friend at the time. During the evening Wilfred sang a little English song that we now call the ‘Pig Song.’ It was a very silly song; however, it stimulated my interest in him. At a later date Margery and Durston invited Wilfred and me to go on a double date with them to Saltair. This was our first date about the first of July in 1939.”

            I recall my first impression of Kathryn. She was a congenial brown haired girl with an olive type complexion. I thought we hit it off right away. I did not know at the time I had so much competition. It took me over a year to put the competition aside and get engaged to her. Since then, Kathryn and I have formed a friendship which has ripened into a life-time companionship.

            My business was not exactly flourishing. I did not feel I could support a wife for a while. After an enjoyable courtship and a year’s engagement, we were married on my parent’s anniversary, April 11^th of 1941. We were sealed in the Salt Lake Temple by Apostle David O. McKay.

Wilfred and Kathryn start a life together

            We were very much in love. Kay, as she was often called, was working for Mr. Ludlow, her friend’s father, at Mountain States Supply.

            For our honeymoon, we took a trip to Los Angeles and San Francisco. We arrived at home just in time, because we had run out of money and gas. The gas stations across Nevada would not take a personal check. We ran out of gas in front of our basement apartment at 1080 South Lake Street.

            Later we moved into a basement apartment at the home of Kathryn’s parents on Eight East and Yale Avenue. While we were there, our first child, Kaylene was born. Our next move was to 1363 Thornton Avenue in 1944. We bought a brick bungalow. Craig and Charles were born while we were living there.

            In 1950 Ken Hardy and I bought neighboring one acre lots in the Cottonwood area. I bought some horses and enjoyed the place in the country. In 1954 I built a home on our lot at 2265 E. 6525 So. I did most of the construction work on the home except for laying the cinder block. Kathryn and I added to our family after we moved to Cottonwood. Connie and Kent were born while we lived there.

           

Wilf Burrell Photo Album

Little Lord Wilfred  1917

Wilfred 1924

Wilfred 1926

Guess what movie star?

Wilfred 1937

Wilfred 1937

Horseback Ride at Sweeten Ranch 1938
Wilf is on the left.

Recovering from Horseback Ride at Sweeten Ranch about 1938
Wilf is the man in the center.

Alfred Wilfred and Craig Burrell  1949

Charles J. Hardy and Wilfred 1949

Wilfred at  His Store 1944

Wilfred at Watch Bench about 1960

Burrell Jewelry about 1960

Wilf and Diamond B Champ 1981

Kathryn Hardy Burrell Life Story

Compiled and Edited by Wilfred Craig Burrell

            Kathryn was born on November 20^th of 1919 to Clarice Melina Harding Hardy and Charles Jesse Hardy.

            Kathryn had two sisters. Josephine Marinda was eight years older than her having been born on February 22^nd of 1911. Clarice Ruth was born on March 12 of 1913. She was six years old when Kathryn was born. Clarice died on her eighth birthday when Kathryn was not yet two years old.

            Kathryn’s mother said this about Clarice’s death. “Life never seemed the same after this tragedy. For sometime I had notices Clarice being very slow eating her food at the table. She seemed well and full of energy like all children are at eight years old otherwise. My brother J. Dwight, a doctor in Ogden, was down one day and I asked him to check her heart and see if he could ascertain any trouble. He did this and said that she had quite a murmur in her heart. I took her the next day to Dr. Blood. He was highly recommended to me as a child doctor. He found a bad murmur. Dr. Blood didn’t do a thing for her; he was a poor excuse for a doctor. I called in other doctors later, but it seemed they never helped. She passed away at 2:20 PM eight years after her birth to the minute on March 12^th of 1921. Those tragedies never make life seem the same. I never could understand why the Lord would take her away when I only had the three children, but I guess some day we will know and understand.”

            Kathryn said it was difficult for her to get close to her sister Josephine. It was more than the ten years difference in their ages. Jo had been very close to Clarice and she was hurt badly when Clarice died. It seemed that she was reluctant to get close to another sister and get hurt again

            In December of the following year, both of Kathryn’s Grandmothers died. It was a hard winter with deep snow. Matilda died on December 26^th of 1922 and was buried in the Willard Cemetery on  December 29^th.  Marinda died on December 27^th of 1922 and was buried in the Salt Lake City Cemetery on December 31^st. It was very difficult to get around in the deep snow.

            During September of 1925 Kathryn started kindergarten at the Hamilton School.

She recollected some of her teachers. “My first grade teacher was Miss Christensen. In third grade I had Miss Littleford. She told us that her glasses were her headlights. In fourth grade I had a red headed teacher named Miss Bond and also Miss Morris. In fifth grade I had Miss Barkley and Miss Beck in sixth grade. My class friends were Elva Lund, Gene Nicholson and Margie Averson.”

            “I started taking piano lessons when I was eight years old from Merna Morris. I played the piano in the graduation exercises for Hamilton School.”

            “I had a little black coal stove under the grape arbor in the back yard. My friends would bring some of the ingredients, and we would bake cakes in the little stove.”

            “One year I had Chicken Pox, German Measles and the Red Measles all in one school year. I got real run down after that and lost a lot of weight. Mother started giving me Cod Liver Oil, and I gained ten pounds. I have never been underweight since.”

             Kay was raised on the corner of Eighth East and Yale Avenue in Salt Lake City. It was a large corner lot and her mother had a lot of flower gardens. Her Dad always had a coop full of chickens in the rear of the lot.

            Charles Lindbergh made a historic transatlantic flight from New York to Paris on May the 20^th and 21^st of 1927. He was a national hero, and his nickname was Lindy. Lindy made a tour of the United States shortly after this flight. He came to Liberty Park in Salt Lake City. They were transporting his plane, The Spirit of St. Louis, on a truck. Liberty Park was only three blocks west of Kathryn’s home. She walked down to the park to listen to his speech and see the plane. This was an exciting day for her.

            On the way home from the park she found a stray kitten. Since it didn’t have a home, she took it home for adoption. She named it Lindy. Later she learned the cat was not a male. It had a litter of kittens.

            She had several cats over the years. There was a boy down on Lake Street that had a large Boxer dog. When he walked the dog past her house, he would sic the dog on her cat. This made her very angry, and the cat was not very happy about it either. One day the boy came by while Kathryn was playing with her cat in the front yard. The boy sent his dog after the cat and the cat climbed up into a tree. The cat waited for the boxer to position itself just right under the tree. Then the cat jumped onto the dog’s neck sinking its claws into the sides of the neck. The dog howled and ran home with the cat riding on its neck. Later the cat came home just as happy as it could be. They never had any problem with the boy and his Boxer again.

            Kay had a dog named Spot for a short while. However, he was hit by a car and killed while she had the measles.

            She took ballet and acrobatic dance lessons for a while. Miss Whipple had a dance studio on Eleventh East. Kathryn was in several recitals at the Ladies Literary Club.

            Kathryn was very close to her cousins in Box Elder County. “Every summer I spent one week in Willard with Aunt Edith and Uncle Dan and one week in Brigham City with Aunt Sarah and Uncle Will. When I was in Willard, I would swim in the irrigation pond with my cousins Elaine, Elizabeth and Lewis. We would all ride on the big draft horse bareback to the pond.”

            “On Saturday evening Dan would take us all to Ogden for a movie show. Everyone would want to go to a different show. We would split up into groups and agree on where we would meet. Uncle Dan would forget where he was supposed to meet us. He would drive around town until he finally found us. Then Uncle Dan would fall asleep on the way home and almost run off of the road. Aunt Edith would shout at him to try and keep him awake.”

            “I always picked raspberries for Uncle Will to earn some spending money. I enjoyed staying in Aunt Sarah’s big house. She was very nice and I had a deep affection for her. Cousin Naomi was very close to me, and we had a good time together.”

            At the age of twelve, Kathryn’s family took a trip to Glacier National Park and then into Canada. She traveled with her dad and mom, Josephine and of course Aunt Lizzie who was always invited on family vacations.

            Kathryn described the car. “We traveled in Dad’s old Chevrolet Touring Car. Dad built some wooden boxes that he secured on the running boards to pack things in. The roof of the car leaked, and we had to hold a cup under the leak when it rained. The car was open sided, but it had snap on sides for inclement weather.”

            “We had a wonderful stay in Waterton Lakes. It is a beautiful place. Tame deer wandered around the cabins and grounds at the lodge. I was able to feed them jelly beans out of my hands.”

            “On the way back home we toured Yellowstone. One night we stayed in the cabins near the Canyon Lodge. I will never forget that night. The lodge caught fire. Dad went to help with the bucket brigade. There was no equipment to fight a large fire. The lodge was lost that night.”

            “The next day while we were touring, a bear broke into the groceries that were in the boxes on the running boards and devoured our stash of food. The bear also broke a window in a new car that was parked in the parking lot. He climbed in and had a feast. The bear found a can of honey and opened it. He really enjoyed the treat spreading it all over the upholstery of the car. The fabric on the seats was torn with his claws as he tried to get every drop of honey.”

            Kathryn attended Roosevelt Junior High School. While she was there, she developed some very close friendships. They formed a club they called the Birthday Club. They always got together to celebrate each others birthdays. This club persisted until there were not enough of them living to get together. This club included Marvel, Maxine, Elsie, Ruby, Elaine, Ruth, Miriam, and Beatrice.

            After she left junior high school, Kathryn attended East High. There were only eleven grades then. During the Christmas break of her last year of school; she worked at the F. W. Woolworth Company five and dime store. Part of her job was to advertise chocolates in the store. She had to hold up a box of chocolates and say a lot of sweet things about them. She was very self conscious about doing this.

            When Kathryn was fifteen years old, she traveled to California for a summer vacation with her mom, Aunt Lizzie and her cousin Gilman. They stayed in a cottage at Ocean Park only one block from the beach. They stayed in San Diego in a house close to the park and zoo. After Lizzie and Gilman returned home, Kathryn and her mother stayed another week with Uncle George and Aunt Birdie Harding. Mother did genealogical research at the Los Angeles library. Kathryn spent a lot of time with some of her cousins. Kathryn wrote, “When Dad picked me up at the train station, he hardly could recognize me because I was so tanned. He said he was not sure that I belonged to him. I had people tell me that I looked like Joan Crawford the movie star when I came home.”

            In 1936 when Kathryn was only sixteen, she graduated from East High. “She recorded. “My graduation formal was white. I really felt mature to be graduating. Mom and Dad took my friend Marvel and me on a drive and treated us to ice cream after the graduation.”

            “I did date in high school. My first date was with a young man named Harry. I wore my first pair of high heeled shoes. We had to walk from my house to the Ninth East bus stop. He treated me to a movie at the Rialto Theater on Main Street just north of Third South. After my date paid for the tickets, someone stole the rest of his money. We had to walk home. My new shoes gave me big blisters.”

            Kathryn attended LDS Business College in the fall of 1936. “During Christmas break I worked at the S. H. Kress and Company five and ten cent store in the Christmas card section. That year my friend Miriam and I were in the women’s choir and traveled by bus with the choir to perform in several high schools. I also joined the Alpha Iota national business sorority along with my friends Majorie and Miriam. I was chairman of the refreshment committee. Once I was in charge of the refreshments for 500 people at a big fashion show that was held at the U of U.”

            Katherine wrote. “While I was in Business College, my sixteen year old cousin Elaine Harding died of blood poisoning. I was very sad. She was a very beautiful girl, and I was very close to her. She had been a member of the Box Elder High School band. The band followed the poll bearers from her parent’s house to the Chapel. I was asked to record the funeral services in short hand. It was a difficult task because I was trying to control my emotions. It was a two hour service, and I was emotionally drained at the end of it.”

            Kathryn found a job with Salt Lake Glass and Paint in the spring of 1937. “My immediate boss was Mr. Moore who was the credit manager. I also took dictation from Mr. Shepherd who was the president of the company. I learned a lot while I worked there. It was a good experience for me. Since I had some money, I was able to purchase a ‘Gone With the Wind’ dress. While I worked there I dated a lot and was having a good time. One of the young men I dated while I worked there was Hugh Sweeten. Later in life he became the drill master for the Olympus Mountie youth riding club.”

            Kathryn kept active in her home ward as she attended high school and business school. “I always enjoyed dramatics. I was in several plays and road shows. My mother designed the costumes. Brother Morr wrote the road shows and directed most of these productions. He also made beautiful scenery. I was in every road show that our ward produced. There were twelve wards in our stake, however, we received first place in the road shows almost every year.”

            Not being satisfied with her business education, Kathryn attended BYU in the fall of 1937. “It was necessary for me to work my way through school. Because of a good reference from Mr. Moore, I was hired as a secretary and clerk in the BYU book store. I was on NYA which paid for my tuition and books. I lived in a basement apartment at 775 North University Avenue in Provo. My roommates were my cousin Naomi, Marie Coleby, and Neda Anderson who were all from Brigham City. When Neda went home, Nola Barker took her place as our roommate. It was a fun year. My duties at the bookstore included secretarial work, waiting on customers and writing out checks. Times have really changed. Sometimes I would have to take a bank deposit of several thousand dollars from the bookstore on North University Avenue to the bank on Center Street. I never even worried about walking by myself with that much money. I met a lot of nice young people while working at the bookstore, and I dated a lot of nice young men in my freshman year. Every other week I spent the weekend in Salt Lake. I usually had a date on these weekends. I rode the train from Provo to Salt Lake. Sometimes I rode with a friend and paid them gas for their car. Usually Dad drove me to the train early on Monday morning so I could be to work at the bookstore by 8 AM.”

            “During the school year I had several attacks of appendicitis. Our family physician Dr. George Cochran suggested that I have them removed during summer break. I had my appendix removed in July and spent ten days in the LDS Hospital.”

            “The operation was a bit of a setback, and I didn’t feel like returning to BYU in the fall. I enrolled at the University of Utah on September 24 of 1938. I didn’t like it as well as BYU, but it was still an eventful year. I recall that I took a General Exercise class, Fencing and Swimming during the three quarters that I was there.”

            Kathryn gave up school and went to work in the spring of 1939. “I decided to work instead of completing a bachelor’s degree. I applied at several places and was hired in the office of Pacific Finance. A few days later, my friend Margorie told me that her father was looking for a stenographer at Mountain States Supply Co. It was a better opportunity. I quit the job at Pacific Finance and took the job at Mountain States Supply on June 20^th of 1939. I took a lot of dictation for Mr. Ludlow and Mr. Hale the credit manager. I answered the phone, ran copies on the mimeograph machine for the salesman and performed many other tasks in the office. When I quit two years later, they hired two girls to take my place.”

            Wilfred and Kathryn met in the summer of 1939. “I met Wilfred at a canyon party up Emigration Canyon on June 27^th after I started working at Mountain States Supply. My friend Marge Ludlow was dating my cousin Durston Hardy. Wilf and Durston, who was nicknamed Gus, were good friends. We were all at the canyon party, and I was there with a date. Wilfred got up and sang a song about a man name Souzan who had some fat pigs. The song was very funny having a lot of whistles and pig oinks in it. He caught my attention. Durston and Marge arranged for Wilfred and I to go on a double date with them to Saltair the following week. I dated him almost once a week after that  but I still dated other boys.”

            “Wilfred planned a surprise party for my birthday, November 20^th of 1939. He had a lot of our crowd come to his house. His sister in law, Vera, made a fancy birthday cake for the occasion. It sat in the middle of the table on a plate that turned around.

            “On April 15^th of 1940 Wilf took me down to his store while he did some watch work. Then he took me on a little drive in his car. We drove up above the cemetery. He asked me to marry him. I said yes, and he gave me a beautiful diamond ring. I was so excited and surprised. The ring had a half carat stone in the center and smaller stones on either side of it. I was so much in love with Wilfred and felt sure he was the one I should marry. We planned to wait for a year to get married until he could be in a better financial situation. During our engagement, I saved money and bought a bedroom set. Wilf bought an overstuffed set, a couch and chair. He also bought a kitchen set and a green front room rug. We had a fun year.”

             “In July of that year I took the train to Los Angeles and stayed with Aunt Jennie Harding a week. Keith and Don Emberson, my cousin Wilma’s boys, showed me around. I had dinner with my old girlfriend, June Nicholsen, and also dined with Aunt Birdie and Uncle George Harding. I took the train to San Francisco and stayed with DeeRae Webb and her mother. While I was staying with DeeRae, I got stuck in the elevator of the apartment building. There was no emergency button and I was there for a long time.”

            “While I was in San Francisco I went to the Worlds Fair several times. I sure missed Wilfred. The last day in California I took a train to Oakland and visited my cousin Doug Brim and his wife Winifred. I had supper with them. Doug drove me back to the train station and left me on the platform to wait for a train to Salt Lake City. I was very nervous standing there all alone. I understood then why Doug had never attained knighthood. There was a wood shack by the platform. One lone light illuminated the building, and I was the only one there. It was a long wait.”

            “The ride back to Salt Lake was interesting. The train traveled to Lucerne and then cut off across the Great Salt Lake to Ogden. I had to take a train from there to get to Salt Lake. Wilf, Mom and Dad met me at the train station. I was so excited to see them.”

            Over the Labor Day holiday that year, Wilf and Kay traveled with Durston Hardy and Marge, plus Ken Hardy and his girl friend to Bryce Canyon. Kathryn wrote. “We drove in Wilf’s 1937 Dodge. The Dodge broke down in Marysville, Utah. Wilf and I had to travel back to Salina in the garage man’s truck to get a part while the others waited. We also traveled to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park on that trip. At night we slept with three boys in one room and three girls in another.”

            “Wilf gave me a cedar chest for Christmas. Unfortunately, I had the flu over Christmas holiday. He came to visit me. I was not feeling super for New Years Eve, however, we went to the Union Building for a dinner dance with the crowd.

            Wilfred and Kathryn were married on April 11^th of 1941. It was Wilfred’s parent’s 43^rd wedding anniversary. Wilf and Kay were sealed in the Salt Lake temple by David O. McKay.

Kay Burrell Photo Album

Kay's Sisters Josephine and Clarice 1915

Clarice about 1920

Kay loved hats. About 1922

Kay loved flowers. 1922

Kay 1922

Kay in the yard with her cats. 1928

Sister Josephine

Family trip.
Aunt Lizzie, Charlie, Josephine, Kay and Clarice

Kay and her cousins pose as bathing beauties.
She is second to the left.

Kay in an elaborate  road show costume

Kay after high school graduation.

Kay about 1938

Kay's Wedding Line April 11, 1941

A Brief History of Burrell Jewelry

By W. Craig Burrell

Front Window of Store in 1960s

Burrell Jewelry

Wilfred Burrell established Burrell Jewelry in 1937 shortly after arriving in Utah from England. He and his wife Kathryn made it a success, and it gave them a livelihood for 45 years. This is a brief history of Kay and Wilf and their store.

Wilfred has written a history of his years that prepared him for his future occupation and his emigration to America. “I might almost say that the Church had been the body of my life but not entirely. Life at the City of Norwich School was not empty. I cannot say that I was the Athletic Type, and I must admit that although I did not dislike English football or Cricket, I was a plain flop at it. The education I received there was very comprehensive and had a good background to most all fields: Chemistry, Physics , Geometry, Algebra and even higher math. I was also schooled in History, Geography, Art, Physical Education, Shop, English and one foreign language. I took French. I was 16 years old when I got through school, and there were no formal graduations in the schools. Up to that time, the only work I had done was selling records for a record store. I would be dressed in a page boy type suit and do the running at the store. About that time, talking movies and automatic record changers were just being introduced. I would go to the Movie Theatre where a new talking picture was being shown and stand in the lobby with a sack of records of the hit tunes. I would call out the songs, naming the store and would sell the records. The first one I sold this way was Al Jolsen’s ‘Climb upon my knee Sonny Boy.’”

Wilfred Burrell at his watch bench during his apprenticeship

Preparing to be a Watchmaker

“With school behind me, I would now have to face the world. I had always fooled around a little with electricity. I might also mention that only a few years previous to this, we had our first experience with electricity in our home. Now we had 220 V DC electric lights. Before that, we only had incandescent gas lights in each room. We had a gas oven to cook on and coal fires for heat. With this new hope for electricity, I wanted to be an electrician. The largest plant in all of England for the manufacture of generators and dynamos, Lawrence and Scott’s, was in Norwich. I applied for work there and got a job. It seemed so impressive at the time. They were making generators and electrical equipment for the luxury liner the Queen Mary. However, the job of stamping out armature plates for eight hours a day was not a thrill. I wanted to quit, but I can still remember Dad saying, “Never throw away dirty water until you’re sure you have some clean.” So Dad checked with Marsden Willmot, whose brother had married his sister Alice, to see about learning the trade as a watch maker. My eldest brother, Alfred, had been an apprentice to the same man many years before. I was apprenticed to this trade for three years. My first year I would receive 5 shillings ($1.25) a week, the next year 10 shillings ($2.50) a week, and the final year 15 shillings ($3.75) a week.”

“My first job was to dismantle and sort parts from old watches. I could cry to think of some of the beautiful hand made movements I had to destroy this way. England had just gone off the Gold Standard, and their cases had fetched a good price to be broken up for gold content. I learned to fix a lot of old English grandfather clocks and many French clocks for restoration. (Most of them were 100 years old back in 1930.) The store had been on Surrey Street, however, Mr. Wilmott had moved it to Prince Road a short distance from the Thorpe Railroad Station. In fact, it was just across the bridge.”

“I remember in the early part of my apprenticeship being in the company of an older employee, a Mr. Wiffle. We were sent to clean the clock in the tower of an old church at Postwick about three miles out of town. The Church was several hundred years old and had no electricity. We climbed musty stone steps to the belfry and tower. Then we climbed up a wood ladder to a platform where the clock works were. We had a flashlight and the Reverend provided us with some candles. We were to clean the clock with gasoline. (This was white gas.) I objected, but the older man was the boss. He put the candle on one end of the platform and the gas can on the other end, right at the top of the ladder. Suffice it to say that the open can of gasoline caught fire. The old man panicked and was about to jump out of the tower about 15 feet to the ground. I said a quick prayer. He had a long smock on. I pulled it off of him and smothered the flames. I do not know why it did not explode to this day.”

“I stayed with Mr. Wilmott for one year after my apprenticeship was up, and then figured that I should get some more experience in another shop. I secured employment with Mr. and Mrs. Tillott and their two sons. One of them was an Optician. I worked out in the shop with a Mr. Lewis Brady. I enjoyed working there very much. They were very fine people. After about 2 years, I decided I was ready to go to Utah.”

Marsden Willmot's son and Wilfred during apprenticeship

We Emigrate to America

“My Dad had retired, and it was a hard decision for my parents to make, to leave their homeland and join the rest of the family in Utah. As I have grown older, I can appreciate much more the decision they had to make. We left on May 8, 1937 on the S. S. Manhattan. It was a pleasant trip. There were several missionaries aboard on their way back home. While I watched them playing on deck, I hummed “Come Come Ye Saints.” Then we introduced ourselves. They were grateful to see us since we were the only English family aboard. There was one French family and 800 German Jews who were fleeing from the Hitler Nazi Cleansing.”

“While we were aboard the ship, King Edward VIII abdicated from the English throne. Things were starting to boil in Europe. Mother was very nervous the whole trip. Bert was at New York to meet us, and it was a very happy reunion. We visited around New York and then took the train to Chicago where we stayed overnight and rode the bus around town.”

“In 1937, the United States was not completely over the depression. Franklin Roosevelt had made great strides, but jobs were still hard to find. I could not find any work in Ogden. Then I heard of a small store that was up for sale. Mr. Brian Sear had not been in business for long but decided to give it up for a good job with Ford Motor Company. He asked $900 for the inventory in stock and almost new fixtures. I borrowed $600. I had $300 in savings. I was in business for myself at 22 years of age, new in town, not known, but with high hopes.” Wilfred made a profit that first year in business. Although he made less than $1000, he was determined to make a success of Burrell Jewelry. Little by little, he established a reputation as a watchmaker. He was able to get the contract as a watch inspector for the Western Pacific railroad. The situation slowly improved.

Building a Partnership

In 1939 Wilfred met Kathryn Hardy. When they were married, Kathryn became his partner not only in the home but also in the store. Kathryn had grown up in Salt Lake City and graduated from East High School in 1936. The next year she attended LDS Business College. The following summer she was able to get a job in the office at Salt Lake Glass and Paint.

Her cousin, Naomi, wanted her to attend BYU the next year with her. Mr. Moore, the credit manager for Salt Lake Glass and Paint, had a friend that managed the book store at BYU. He was able to get Kathryn a job at the BYU bookstore. She was able to attend BYU and work part time. She loved working there because she was able to meet everybody on campus. She did some book keeping in addition to waiting on patrons. The task she remembers most was having to make the bank deposit. She would place the deposit in her purse and walk all the way from the old lower campus to the bank on Center Street in Provo. She never had a mishap. It was a safer world then.

The summer after Kathryn’s first year at BYU, she had appendicitis and ended up having surgery. She decided to remain in Salt Lake and attend the University of Utah that fall. After three quarters at U of U, she secured a good job with Mountain States Supply. She made $80 per month. This was top wages. Good stenographer positions usually paid only $60 per month.

On July 27, 1939, Kathryn went to a canyon party up Mill Creek Canyon. We will tell this story in her words. “I was with a group of my friends, and my friend Marjorie Ludlow invited a group of friends.

The young people in the group Wilfred was with were friends of Durston Hardy (my second cousin) and Marjorie Ludlow (My good friend since junior high school). Wilfred was asked to sing the “Pig Song.” I was pleased to hear him sing that funny song. Wilfred told Marjorie and Durston that he would like to take me on a date.

Marjorie talked to me, and I said I would like to go out with him. On Saturday July 1, 1939, I went to Saltair dancing with Wilfred, Durston and Marjorie. I enjoyed a fun evening.”

Wilfred proposed to Kathryn on April 15, 1940. He explained, “My business was not exactly flourishing, and I did not feel I could support a wife for a while. After an enjoyable courtship and a year’s engagement, we were married April 11, 1941 on my parents wedding anniversary in the Salt Lake Temple by no other than Elder David O. McKay."

Wilf and Kay after thier engagement. Dad intended to take it 'slow.'

I always thought that it was clever of my Dad to marry a qualified book keeper. Right from the start of their marriage, she helped him one day a week at the store and kept the books. She also helped him wait on customers. She liked to work on the window displays. The window silk would get sun bleached and dirty in a short time. It was a constant project to keep the displays looking fresh. The old silk was brought home for us kids to use for Super Man capes and royal robes. Mom was a little more conservative than Dad on money matters. However, they never argued. They counseled together and worked things out. One of them did not dominate the other. As the younger children grew up, Mom started going to the store twice a week. When there were no longer children to care for in the home, Kathryn went to work with Wilfred every day. They had a very special relationship.

Burrell Jewelry is a Success

Dad waiting on a customer about 1940 

In the early days of the store, there was an upstairs room. There were a couple of extra watch benches and a lot of “interesting old stuff.” After World War II, Dad trained two veterans that had been injured during the war. Their names were Ed Leslie and George Hatch. They became Wilf’s good friends. He had many good fishing and hunting experiences with them. They were only there a few years for the training experience. With this exception, the only workers at Burrell Jewelry were Kay and Wilf.

During the years of 1956 and 1957, extensive remodeling was performed on the Utah Oil Building. Automatic elevators were installed eliminating a need for an elevator attendant. (Kaylene, Charley and I were fascinated with the new elevators.) The lobby was changed extensively and so was Burrell Jewelry. The upper level was eliminated, and the lower level lost a corner. It did make the store smaller even though it was more appealing.

Burrell Jewelry never advertised on radio or television, in the newspaper or on billboards. They never had special sales or used other promotional schemes. However, when Wilf and Kay retired and closed the store in 1982, there were customers that had been coming to the store since 1938.

Why did people come back to Burrell Jewelry? “Well we’ve tried not to be greedy on prices, and we’ve tried to give as much attention as we could to our customers,” Wilf said once to a newspaper reporter. “Wilf is an excellent repairman who takes pride in doing his work well. Our business was built on his excellent reputation, the dependability of his work and our genial attitude toward customers. The major part of our business through the years has been from repeat customers who have confidence in Wilf’s craftsmanship,” Kay related to the same reporter, “People who have moved away from Salt Lake City often send watches from all over the United States. We were one of the few stores left that has its own repairman. A woman came in here yesterday and reminded us, ‘I’ve been coming to you since 1938.’”

It was always fun to spend the day working at the store with Dad. I would clean things up, and he would put me to work cleaning Big Ben alarm clocks. If a customer asked me if I was learning to be a watch maker, Dad would say. “There is no future in watch making. Watches in the future will be disposable and won’t require repair.” He would send Kaylene or me across town to jewelry supply houses and other stores. Back in those days, Dad wouldn’t worry about sending a ten or twelve year old kid across town with several hundred dollars of jewelry in their pocket, my how times have changed. The most amazing thing about working in the store was to observe Dad interacting with customers. It seemed that he knew them all by their first name. He always remembered what watch the person had brought in. When a young man came in for an engagement ring, he never was intimidated with high pressure because dealing with Dad was fun. Nevertheless, the lad always got a good deal and some loving fatherly advice.

Wilfred was a watch inspector for the Western Pacific Railroad. He checked and maintained the watches for engineers and switchmen every two weeks. This was especially critical during World War II.

There were some misadventures over the years. During one especially frightening period, the store was broken into three times during a six-week period. Once, Wilf was held up. A man came in the store and confronted him. The man had something in his pocket (It turned out to be a homemade blackjack). He ordered two young men that were in the store to step behind the counter and into the back room. Wilf asked the man if it was a stick up, and the man assured him that it was.

Burrell Jewelry was next to the lobby of what used to be the Utah Oil Building. The FBI had offices in the building, and Wilf knew many of the agents. As they came thru the lobby, they would often stop to talk or they would wave as they walked by the windows of the store. As the man stood threatening Wilf, Agent Wenger walked through the lobby. Wilf whistled and motioned to him. The agent entered the store and soon figured out what was going on. The stick up man was placed in custody. Burrell Jewelry was in the paper that night. The ‘would be’ robber spent one year in jail. When he was released, he came by the store and apologized for any anguish that he had caused.

During the years from 1937 to 1982, many changes occurred in the watch and jewelry industry. Prices increased dramatically in gold and diamonds. Watches changed. The pocket watch lost popularity, and the market was dominated by the wrist watch. Automatic watches and electric battery driven watches were developed. The Bulova Acutron was invented and dominated the high end of the watch industry for several years. Timex sold inexpensive, disposable watches that had a sealed case and could not even be worked on. The quartz watch was invented and made all of the other watches collectors items. Wilfred had to adapt to all of these changes. He kept himself current on changes in watch movements.

He took schooling to keep himself current. At one time, he was the most qualified watchmaker in Utah to work on the Bulova Acutron. Mr. Shubach, who owned the jewelry store on the corner of 3rd South and Main, paid a very special compliment to Wilf. He brought his personal Acutron into the store for Wilf to service. He told him that he did not trust the watchmaker that he had employed, and he knew that Dad was the best in town.

The lower picture shows the Utah Oil Building in the 1940s. 

The picture above shows the changes that were made in the 1960s.

Burrell Jewelry a Legacy

Wilfred collected a lot of old pocket watches over the years. They meant a lot to him, and they are now being distributed to his grandchildren. They are meant to be a memory of Burrell Jewelry. They are a token of the example that Grandma and Grandpa Burrell set for them. If Grandpa Wilf were here, he would leave you with this advice to his posterity:

1. Prepare yourself to be serviceable to others. 

2. Take pride in what you do and do quality work. 

3. Always be dependable and honest. 

4. Never be greedy. Always be fair in your dealings with others.

5. Love your work and the people you work for. 

6. Always keep in proper perspective your commitment to God and your family.

Wilfred with one of his apprentices in the 1940s

A Brief History of the Watch Industry By W. Craig Burrell

Today most watches are mass produced quartz watches and are sold at a place like Walmart. The watch business has changed a lot over the years. I thought I would write a short history of the watch industry that was such a great part of Wilfred Burrell’s life.

Early History Prior to 1850

During this period of time, the English dominated the watch industry making the highest quality, most accurate timepieces in the world. Their greatest rival was the Swiss. Swiss watches varied greatly in quality but were more stylish than English watches.

Many inventions were applied in this period. In 1704, the Swiss Fatio de Duilier and the Frenchmen Pierre and Jean Debaufre invented bearings for watch movements. While living in England, they developed a technique that made it possible to drill holes in small jewels, usually rubies. These jewels were then used as bearings eliminating metal against metal friction and wear. Jeweled movements were costly and remained so until 1902 when Verneuil made the first artificial rubies.

During this period of time, the power for a watch was supplied by a mainspring. Nevertheless, the force supplied by the mainspring was erratic. In order to covert the raw power of the driving force of the mainspring into regular and uniform impulses, various escapements were invented.

An escapement mechanism creates a regular cycle of pause and forward that enables the mainspring to drive the movement at a constant rate. When you place a watch to your ear, you can hear the action of the escapement. It is what emits the ticking sound.

The first escapement invented was called the “verge“. It was developed in Italy in the 1500s and has been considered a crude device. Nevertheless, it was the only device used in watches for almost 300 years, and it was still used in cheap Swiss watches as late as 1880.

The “cylinder” escapement was invented by an Englishman, George Graham, in the 1720s. Its popularity was short lived, and it was replaced by more effective mechanisms. Wilfred had one watch with a cylinder escapement in his collection. It belonged to his grandmother Nevelia Brett Burrell.

The first “English Lever” watch was invented by Thomas Mudge in 1759. The function of the lever escapement is easily understood, however, its construction requires a lot of mathematics and precision work. Wilfred had several “Old English Levers” in his collection. Most of them needed parts, but he restored one to working order. These watches were made between 1834 and 1850.

Around 1850, the “English Lever” escapement was improved upon when the “Swiss lever escapement” was invented. Watches with this escapement allowed for precision of plus or minus one minute a day. These movements became the standard of the industry and were used in Swiss, English and American watches up to the time Wilfred closed his jewelry store. Needless to say, most of the pocket watches in his collection have “Swiss lever escapements.”

English and Swiss watches were made in small batches by small companies. The parts were made and fitted by hand. For this reason, no two watches were exactly alike. Wilfred talked about his apprenticeship, and how one of his first tasks was to disassemble old movements and sort parts. He said, “I could cry to think of some of the beautiful hand made movements I had to destroy this way.” He had great respect for the old watchmakers that had made the wonderful hand made movements.

1850 The Americans Steal the Market

A major change occurred in the watch industry about 1850. The Americans pioneered the use of automated machines to mass produce high quality watches with interchangeable parts. The Henry Ford of the watch industry was Edward Howard who established the Waltham Company. An example of their ability to mass produce identical copies of precision parts was demonstrated at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. Representatives of the Swiss watch industry were shocked by Waltham’s automated screw making machine. A spool of wire was fed into one end of the completely automated machine, and a steady stream of perfectly formed screws the size of pin heads were delivered out the other end.

Similar quality watch screws simply could not be made by the hand controlled machines the Swiss used. It wasn’t just screw making that the American’s had perfected. Almost every part of a watch had a specially designed machine that could make parts faster, more accurately and with less labor than anything the Swiss or English could do. Over 35 million Waltham watches were produced during the company’s long history, and many of them still exist today. Although they made many low and medium grade watches to suit the needs of the existing markets, Waltham also produce watches of exceedingly high quality.

The “National Watch Company” was founded in 1864 about the end of the Civil War. Its name was later changed to the “Elgin National Watch Company.” They shared the bulk of the market with Waltham producing good watches that could be sold and repaired relatively cheaply using factory made replacement parts that didn’t require hand adjusting. From 1867 to 1967, over 60 million Elgins were manufactured.  Wilfred sold a lot of Elgin watches over the years. I always had the impression that he was somewhat partial to them.

Several watch companies were established during the later part of the 1800s and early 1900s. Some companies failed, and their assets were sold out to more successful companies.

The South Bend Watch Company was actually owned by the Studebaker Company. Studebaker watches were identical to the South bend line and were made on the same production line. They had a great advertising campaign. Full- page ads showing the South Bend watch running in a block of ice were particularly effective. All watches carried an “insured for lifetime guarantee.” They produced watches from 1903 to 1929, and thousands of these watches are still running today.

The Illinois watch company was organized in 1869. They were well known for the number of railroad quality watches they produced. The company was sold out to the Hamilton Watch Company in 1927.

The Aurora Watch Company was organized in 1883. It failed financially in 1892, and the assets were sold to the Hamilton Watch Company.

The Hamilton Watch Company evolved from other smaller companies. In 1874 the Adams and Perry Watch Company was started, and it eventually turned into the Lancaster Watch Company in 1877. It was sold and renamed the Keystone Standard Watch Company in 1886.

Finally, it was sold to the Hamilton Watch Company in 1891. Hamilton bought out several other smaller companies. Hamilton produced many fine pocket watches of all sizes and grades, and some of their models were considered the main “Workhorses” of the railroad.

In 1877, John C Dueber established the Hampden Watch Company. The company made a wide variety of pocket watches of all sizes and grades. They were the first American company to produce a 23-jewel watch in 1894. In 1930, the company was sold out to a Russian Company.

Railroad Approved Watches

On April 19, 1891, a great train disaster occurred that would forever change timekeeping on the railroad. Two trains collided near Cleveland, Ohio because of an engineer’s faulty timepiece. Nine people lost their lives. Following the disaster, a commission was appointed to adopt a universal set of timekeeping standards by all railroads. Precision timing was now demanded in this enormous industry.

The watches used by the railroad had quality standards. These standards were: open face, 16 to 18 size, 17 or more jewels, adjusted to 5 positions, time to within 30 seconds a week, adjusted to temperature and isochronisms, double roller and a steel escape wheel.

Author notes: Many pocket watches have a “hunting case.” These cases would have a metal cover over the face of the watch. They were popular in the day of the Fox Hunt but were considered cumbersome for the railroad worker. The size 18s is the largest size pocket watch, and the size 16s is the second largest. Many of the ladies watches are only 6s.

Wilfred Burrell was appointed by the Western Pacific Railroad as an official watch inspector. Engineers and switchmen were required to bring their watches in at regular intervals for inspection. The watch was checked to make sure it met the standard of quality. It was inspected to make sure it was in good working order. If it needed cleaning or maintenance, Wilf put it in order. He regulated it to make sure it would keep time according to the stringent standard.

1937 to 1983 A Period of Change in the Watch Industry

During the lifetime of Burrell Jewelry, many changes occurred in the watch industry. The popularity of the pocket watch declined, and the wrist watch became the standard. The Swiss who had been badly beaten out of the market made a comeback with high quality complicated watches. As the Swiss built their industry back, many of American watches had Swiss movements.

Water resistant watches became the standard. The self-winding watches became very popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Calendars appeared on the faces of watches. A watchmaker had to keep up on all of these innovations.

A real blow came to the American watch industry with the introduction of the disposable watch. In 1962 one out of three watches sold in the U.S. was a Timex, and by 1973 Timex controlled 45% of the U.S. market and 86% of domestic production. The watches had no jewels, however, wear at pivot points was reduced by the use of hardened alloys. A blow that would break a jewel in any other watch would not hurt the Timex.

These timepieces were water resistant and promoted by advertising on the “electric television.” John Cameron Swasey did a wonderful demonstration on the tube that convinced America that the Timex was impervious to water. We used to sing a little song to the tune of “My Grandfathers Clock.” Here it is:

O my Grandfather’s watch is the best that is made by the Timex Company. 

It’s like, John Cameron Swasey had last night on the old TV. 

Oh, it works under water perfectly, and it still makes a ticking sound. 

I know cause my grandfather tried it last night, and that’s how the old man drowned.

Let it be known that Wilfred Burrell found no humor in Timex Watches. We normally never mentioned them in his presence. They were a definite threat to his profession.

The Bulova Watch Company had been importing its movements from Switzerland. However, in the 1960s they created the revolutionary electronic “Accutron” watch. This watch used a tuning fork to keep time instead of a rotating balance wheel, and the result was an incredibly accurate watch. It was the high-end watch in the industry from the early 1960s until the early 1970s. Working on an Accutron was a new challenge for a watchmaker. It worked on a different principle and required different tools for repairing and regulating it. Wilfred took special courses to qualify him, and he became one of the most qualified (probably the most qualified) Accutron specialists in Utah.

In the early 1970s, the Japanese perfected the quartz watch. It was a new paradigm in watch making. Nobody could challenge the accuracy of the quartz movement. The movement required virtually no maintenance. If something went wrong with one, it was either thrown away or sent back to the factory. The quartz movements were placed in very expensive and very inexpensive watches. Regardless of the price, the watches were accurate and dependable.

Wilfred Burrell was able to shift his paradigm. He did accept the quartz watches, and he sold a lot of them in his store. He stocked many different quartz watches and sold hundreds of Bulova Caravels. They were a high quality, relatively low priced quartz watch.

By the time he retired, good watchmakers were scarce. Wilf always had a supply of watches to repair. It was fortunate that he retired while there were still some of the older mechanical watches to work with. Dad prophesied the era of the disposable watch. He had prepared his sons for it.

A Very Special Watch

Pictured is a watch that belonged to Joseph Smith 

This watch has an old English lever movement. 
The watch was taken to Dayne’s Jewelry in Salt Lake City where Alfred Burrell repaired it.

(Photo by Alfred Burrell, Wilfred’s oldest brother)