Joseph Barlow Forbes Joseph Barlow Forbes ( January 29 , 1840 – May 5 , 1927 ) was a member of the Forbes family and a pioneering educator in early Utah history . Early years . Forbes was born January 29 , 1840 in Bangor , Maine . His parents encouraged him to become a doctor and educated him to that purpose , but his goals were for the sea . In his early twenties he sailed to Calcutta on the family - owned " Pocahontas " . This voyage was followed by a voyage as first mate to Southern Europe . His return arrival to Boston discovered the nation in the midst of a civil war . He returned to Maine to enlist in Company H , Second Maine Volunteers . As a lieutenant , he fought in the Bull Run and the Peninsular Campaign . He was wounded twice . His regiment was discharged in 1862 . The following year he sailed to California , where he accepted a commission as " assistant adjutant - general , with the rank of major " under John Bidwell . He and a fellow officer left the Army in 1865 to return to the eastern United States by land , with a side trip through Brigham Young ' s so - called empire . While they were Young ' s guests , he suggested they use their education to help the Mormons set up schools . They rejected that idea and headed south from Salt Lake City . There he met Nancy Dayton and decided to take a room with her stepfather and begin teaching school . Shortly thereafter , in 1866 , he married Dayton , followed by his conversion to the Latter - day Saint faith , to which he remained committed the remainder of his life . Mormon years . In ten years following his marriage to Nancy Dayton , she gave birth to ten children and was deeded a farm from her stepfather . They were supported financially by his teaching and her midwifery ( she earned five dollars per birth ) . Janie Gardner came to live with the family as hired help , and in 1876 , she became Forbes ' s second wife . In 1887 with the passage of the Edmunds - Tucker Act , plural marriage became a crime , and Forbes was forced into hiding . Eventually he was arrested and contained in the penitentiary in Salt Lake until he signed a document indicating his intention to consider himself married only to his first wife . When Janie had another baby , the family decided that Forbes would take her and her children to Colorado . About a year later , at Forbes ' s insistence , Nancy moved there as well . Due to local controversy , she moved out of the community and over the border into New Mexico . The family ' s moves remained frequent and complicated until Wilford Woodruff issued the Manifesto ending polygamy and enabling families like the Forbes to return to Utah without fear . Forbes Day . In 1921 , the citizens of American Fork decided to honor Forbes for his long service to the community . In the early stages of planning , this letter was released : April 15 , 1921 was selected to be Forbes Day , and the original plan for a dinner and social event turned into a true holiday , with businesses and schools closed . A parade was held with Forbes and his two wives at epicenter . Speeches were given . Then Forbes himself stood to talk . He began with simple weeping , then thanked the residents for their love and returned it , then declared the meeting his funeral : that he was now ready to die and " face my Maker unafraid , and with joy in my heart . " In fact , he held on until May 5 , 1927 . The " Deseret News " reported in his obituary that he " had been a teacher for 54 years continuously , 46 years in this community [ American Fork ] , where three generations attended his schools , a record probably unparalleled in the history of education in the west . " In literature . His grandson Paul Dayton Bailey wrote extensively about his grandfather in books such as " Grandpa Was a Polygamist " and " Polygamy Was Better than Monotony " .