Daughters of the Utah Pioneers. Treasures of Pioneer History. Salt Lake City: International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers. Vol 6, p. 54.
John Banks
by Junius Banks
One of the ablest and most eloquent local missionaries of the British Mission, John was born February 6, 1806 at Colne, Lancashire, England. He was baptized September 8, 1840 by Parley Pratt. During the following years he spent most of his time doing missionary work. In September 1847, he was appointed President of the Manchester Conference but before the end of the year his field of labor was changed to London, where he presided over the conference until 1850.
In 1850 John Banks emigrated to America crossing the Atlantic on the ship Argo which sailed from Liverpool January 10, 1850. He crossed the plains the same year and the following is in the Journal History of the Church October 6, 1850:
"The afternoon meeting held in the bowery (Grove) Lake City, Utah, was addressed by Elder John Banks, lately from England, Parley P. Pratt and Orson Spencer. Elder Banks reported the work in England had made marvelous progress. In London 2,569 souls had been baptized and thirty flourishing branches organized. He believed that a thousand Elders could be busy."
Practically no information is at hand relative to the early life of John Banks. After his marriage to Ellen Edmundson Kendall approximately 1835, six children were born to them.
Arriving in Utah, the family, after a brief stay in Salt City, located in Pleasant Grove in the fall of 1850—John and William H. Adams being among the first to settle in town. The first home was a wagon box located one-half mile along the lane leading to American Fork. Here the first winter was the family then moved to the Grove where they lived two more still in the wagon box. In the meantime a log cabin was being structed in the lane and the family moved there. In order to protect themselves from the Indians, the settlers made a fort and once finished, the family moved into a cabin in the fort. This cabin was traded for an adobe house just across the street from the present grove.
The Banks family were no sooner settled in their new home than John was called to fill a mission in Indiana. He left in spring of 1853 and remained until the fall of 1856 when he was put in charge of a wagon company, reaching Salt Lake City in October that year. He arrived home with a horse and saddle, a wagon, a and a load of dry goods given to him by his converts. Similar tokens of appreciation were given to him by the Saints in England. John Banks became so accustomed to being taken care of by Saints that when he was reminded by his wife that he was becoming shabby he said, ‘When the Saints get tired of seeing me in these clothes they may get me some new ones.’ And he was often presented with new clothes from Salt Lake City merchants.
Intellectually, John Banks was far above the average. He possessed remarkable powers as an orator. His preaching was not only entrancing but convincing. Many Saints gave him credit for their conversion. This wonderful gift was both a blessing and a curse to its possessor. A blessing because of the great good he was able to accomplish; a curse because, through it, he became idolized and spoiled. He expected the same patronizing treatment in Utah as he had received in England.
Being more or less a stranger in Utah he had little opportunity to exercise his talents and became disgruntled. When Brigham Young offered him a position in Salt Lake City he curtly refused it. He later joined the Morrisires at Morrisville near Ogden, Utah, and was wounded when that group was called upon to surrender in the early summer of 1862. His wounds were not mortal but he refused medical assistance stating that his blood would atone for his sins. He was buried in the Salt Lake City cemetery but the exact location of his grave is unknown.