Among the names of those called missions by President Brigham Young in the October General Conference of 1852 was Robert Hodgson Skelton of Tooele becoming the first called from that community, which was then in its infancy

The call was to serve in far-off India, and it came only three years after he had traveled across the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Plains of the American West to join the Latter-day Saints in Utah.

Born in Carlisle, Cumberland, England, on Nov. 28, 1824 to Thomas and Mary Hodgson Skelton, he joined the Church there, sailed to America, and came to Utah at the age of 24 in 1849 with the Ezra T. Benson company of pioneers.

Shortly after arriving, he was appointed with Bishop John Rowberry to settle in the valley west of the Oquirrh Mountains off the southern tip of The Great Salt Lake.

Founding of Tooele

Arriving on September 2, 1849, they built their first houses on the banks of Settlement Canyon Creek, then later moved them up further on the hillside where they could see farther and know when Indians were coming. Even then, Indians could climb to the top of Little Mountain and shoot at settlers without themselves being seen. The final move, then, was to the present site of Tooele.

When the mission call came, the young, still unmarried Englishman took only three weeks to begin his journey, without purse or script. There was no equivalent of today's missionary farewell, only a short talk at Sacrament Meeting.

Departure was from Salt Lake City on October 24, 1852, for San Francisco. The trip meant exposure to weather, thirst and hunger; it was a month's wagon train journey, perhaps he walked much of the way. The missionaries who gathered in the port city were bound for the Pacific islands, for Siam, for China and India. They had expected to seek work in the gold fields to pay their passage, or earn it by working aboard ship. However, a wealthy Church member, John M. Horner of San Francisco, contributed nearly six thousand dollars to assist this group of missionaries, and they sailed January 29, 1853.

After 13 weeks on a sailing vessel, he arrived at his destination of Calcutta India on April 26. With Robert Owens as companion, he was appointed to labor in Madras three days later. There they were to labor among Europeans living in the area.

There are few letters to document his mission; Robert had been the only member of his family to join the Church.

Two years after his arrival, Elder Robert H. Skelton became President Skelton from March 5, 1855 until his departure for home a year later, on May 2, 1856, after appointing James P. Meik to succeed him. He was the last American Elder to leave India, which was then abandoned as a mission.

Return to Tooele

A few months after returning from his world travels, he was married on January 17, 1857 to Angelina Gollaher. They had a family of 12 children, 11 of whom grew to maturity.

Their Tooele home was adorned by the exotic Paradise trees, from seeds he brought from India; one of them is marked by a plaque placed by one of his descendants. From the original tree, many others were planted in Tooele.

With only a common school education, he became self-educated, and was active in civic and Church affairs. He managed the Tooele Sheep Co-op Company; most of the early pioneers had stock in the company. He was successful in his life's occupation of farmer and stockman, and was a private in the Infantry Rangers during the Indian Wars.

In addition, he served in the Territorial Legislature in 1856-57, also served as Tooele's Mayor, as City Councilman and as Accessor. He was counselor to Bishop Thomas Atkin for 15 years. An excellent public speaker, he had a remarkable knowledge of the scriptures.

Feud over Water

Skelton's leadership in a contest over water rights was a blessing to the community. In 1875, he and Samuel W. Orme, Sr. each filed on 160 acres of land in Erda, five miles north of Tooele. They surveyed and legally recorded a ditch to use surplus winter water from Settlement Canyon.

Older Tooele settlers had neglected to file legal claim to water rights. An opportunist surveyed and recorded a ditch from the canyon to a new claim west of Tooele and claimed that the town people's water had been forfeited by negligence.

The courts acknowledged the claim, but ruled that the Skelton-Orme ditch had precedence and placed the water rights in their names. They then gave it back to the original townspeople, without charge.

In his later years, Skelton took a second wife, Mary Beatrice Brown Rosbeck, whom he married at Logan, Utah.

Death claimed Robert Skelton February 1, 1895. He was buried in the Tooele cemetery after living a full life in the community he had helped to settle nearly half a century earlier.