Jonathan Golden Kimball (1853-1938)

Jonathan Golden Kimball (1853-1938) AKA: J Golden Kimball or Uncle Golden

LDS Missionary, Senior President of the First Council of Seventy and Bear Valley Rancher

Vital Stats

 * Son of Heber Chase Kimball (1801-1868) and Christine Golden (1823-1896)
 * 1853-Jun-26 : Birth in Salt Lake City, Utah at the Old Kimball Mansion on North Main Street
 * 1938-Sep-02 : Died near Reno, Washoe County, Nevada, USA

Biography
J. Golden Kimball was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, on June 9, 1853. He grew up in an unusually beautiful Utah home -- one of the many residences of his father's, Heber Chase Kimball -- that was erected in 1848-49.

BY Academy High School Class of 1881. Jonathan G. Kimball. A Commercial Program student, he received a Certificate in Bookkeeping & Commercial Arithmetic. Source: The Territorial Enquirer, June 22, 1881, Provo, Utah.

His 67-year-old father died on June 22, 1868, as a delayed result of a buggy accident in Provo at night in the spring of 1868. J. Golden Kimball was only 15 years old at the time.

Fatherless, the large Kimball family fell on hard economic times. Being the eldest child of his mother's family and feeling the need to provide income for his family, against his mother's wishes, the gangly teenager early secured a team of government freighter mules and set out to haul for the railroads, getting good pay. Most of the hauling for the railroads, however, terminated soon after the celebrated joining of the Union and Central Pacific railroads in 1869. J. Golden continued to drive wagon teams engaged in such tasks as hauling wood from the canyons, ore from the mines, etc. In short, he became a "muleskinner". He contracted jobs until he was 20, and was known for his honesty, punctuality and fairness. He also earned money by digging cellars, and was often up at 4:00 am to start his work.