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According to his own record in the Temple archives, Richard Rawle was born on the 14th of August, 1814, at Kentisbury, Devonshire, England. He was the oldest boy and second child of John Rawle and Ann Blackmore. The family was poor, and when Richard was still in his teens it was determined that he should learn a trade and support himself. Accordingly, at the age of 16 or 17 he put all of his clothes in a bag and started walking to Bristol, the nearest large city. He chopped wood at farmhouses for room and board, and walked most of the way. Occasionally he rode on wagons with friendly farmers who would stop because they felt sorry for him.
After arriving in Bristol, he began looking for work. He had a hard time finding it, but finally a cobbler agreed to let him run errands and deliver shoes for the business. This cobbler was a friendly fellow and helped Richard find a place to live. Over the years they became very close friends, and Richard entered the business of shoe making with the cobbler.
The Christmas that he was 18, his new friend gave him a pipe with a solid gold tip and his name engraved on it, saying he was old enough to smoke now. He had not yet heard of the church nor was the Word of Wisdom even revealed at that time, so he treasured his pipe as his dearest possession.
Richard would go to watch the birds in a park near the river each day. Near the river was the Sweetland home, and the oldest daughter, Sarah Ann, looked out of the window one day and saw him. She was eight years younger than he was, but admired this straight, tall, handsome man. "Someday I'm going to marry a man like that," she said.
Richard was a most sincere and honest person. As soon as he heard about the church he joined it, and even asked his friend the cobbler if he could take leave of his job for a time and return to Kentisbury to teach his family the gospel. He walked all of the way home as he had before, chopping wood for food and lodging. As he neared his home he passed his brother on the road but wasn't recognized as he had changed over the many years he had been away.
Richard went to the kitchen door of his own home and knocked. His mother didn't know him so he said, "I'm hungry, madam, could you feed me?" She replied, "Yes, if you'll chop some wood." He did, then washed up in an outside basin. As he entered the house and sat at the table, his mother glanced at him, then turned back to the stove. Suddenly she turned and dropped her pan. "Well bless me heart!" she exclaimed, hurrying to him and hugging him "Well bless me heart! I didn't even know me own child!"
Richard taught the gospel to his family and baptized them, and after some time returned to his job at Bristol and Sarah Ann.
One day he and Sarah Ann were walking by the river, and she said, "I'll never marry a man that smokes a pipe." He replied, "Well, if that's all it takes . . ." and threw his prized gift into the river. Grandma Sarah Ann loved to tell this story many times as it showed how much he loved her.
About 1844 he married Sarah Ann, and they lived happily together.
While in Bristol, he served as a local missionary, and was almost killed several times by mobs. He was busily conducting a street meeting one time, when a man slipped through the crowd and whispered that the mob was coming and were planning to kill them. He and his companion closed the meeting and stepped down just as the mob ran up, and in order to avoid detection they ran along with the mob, pretending to be chasing themselves, until they could turn down a side street and escape.
Another time he was caught by a mob and severely beaten but managed to get away and run before they could beat him to death. With the mob chasing him he ran, bleeding, to the home of a church member, "Please give me shelter from the mob!" he begged, but the man refused, saying he didn't want to get involved. Richard leaned against the man's wall and prayed, for he knew that if the mob got him down again they would kill him. The mob came to the door and the leader stood right beside Richard, knocked, and asked the homeowner where the blankety blank Mormon was. The homeowner replied that he didn't know. The Lord shielded Richard from the eyes of the mob that they could not see him. The homeowner, in confessing and repenting of this incident, bore testimony that he knew Richard was there but that God was protecting him.
Richard eventually moved to Morgan, Utah, where he served as Stake Patriarch for the Morgan Stake for many years. He helped operate a lime silt with his son James that provided lime for most of Morgan's buildings. He died August 10, 1901, just four days short of his 87th birthday, loved and respected by all who knew him. A truly great man.
Summarized by Dale S. King
