Jeremiah Stokes
Author, Attorney, Storyteller
by D.G. Jones © 2001
“In all of my creations . . . I endeavored to drive home by example
some principle of correct conduct . . .
[and] purposely eliminated all things that were not in harmony with
clean entertainment and constructive thought.”
-- Jeremiah Stokes, 1932
Jeremiah Stokes: Author, Attorney, Storyteller
Extract from the "Biographical Note", Thunder Cave Millennium EditionTM,
by D.G. Jones © 2001.
Featured in the Utah Spirit magazine, July 1, 2005 issue:
"Thundering Back to the Past",
article by Jan Hopkins of ClipperToday.
. . . Jeremiah Stokes, Jr., was born November 23, 1877, in Draper, Utah, to Jeremiah and Josephine [Olsen] Stokes. He was educated
first at Brigham Young University and LDS Business College, then at Grant University in Chattanooga, Tennessee, where he
received his L.L.B. in 1907. It was in Salt Lake City -- where he married Susan Eugenia Neff in 1904 (13) -- that the new attorney
set up his law practice and, with his wife, raised a family of three daughters and one son. (14) Stokes "was a marvelous story teller,"
entertaining not only his children at bedtime, but also future generations, including the students of his daughters who became
elementary school teachers. (15)
The 1932 "Preface and Dedication" reflects Stokes' profound love for his wife and his gratitude for her part in bringing his "Giant
Stories" (16) to print as Thunder Cave. The 1945 "Preface and Dedication" shows his loss at her death just before Christmas in
1943. (17)
Sometime before 1948, Stokes moved to Chicago, Illinois, where he married Elizabeth Kirpatrick Dilling. He died in a Chicago
hospital October 31, 1954, at the age of 76, and is buried beside Susan Eugenia Neff Stokes in Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park,
Salt Lake City, Utah. (18)
In addition to Thunder Cave (1932, 1945), Stokes authored several religious books, including The Soul's Fire (1936; historical
fiction) (19) and Modern Miracles (1935), a compilation that included some of his own personal experiences (20) . . .
In Modern Miracles, the reader sees both Stokes' continuing commitment to his beliefs and the meticulous, painstaking, and
systematic gathering and documenting of evidence -- and the testimonies of witnesses for the defense -- by Stokes, the lawyer.
However, one senses that his subject is infinitely more important to him than a mere court case. His sincerity is evident in all his
writings.
As an attorney, Jeremiah Stokes authored Americans' Castle of Freedom (22) and a number of other patriotic publications, legal
papers, and speeches. (23) . . .
Reading his titles, one can see a chronology of World War
I and World War II, and also Stokes' fervent dedication to maintaining American Constitutional rights and liberties.
Reading his own words in both his religious books and in Thunder Cave, (24) one feels the depth of his convictions and his desire to
bring good to the rising generation -- whatever the year . . .
© 2001 by D.G. Jones.
| Read how Jeremiah Stokes met Jack Sears |
| Order book (contains complete six-page "Biographical Note") |
| "The Optimist" by Jeremiah Stokes |
About Jack Sears |
View "The Optimist" Art Card by Jack Sears with
sentiment by Beverly Gray** [Jeremiah Stokes]. *
|
Card front |
Card back |
Story |
(Transcription forthcoming.)
Extract from the "Biographical Note" by D.G. Jones
(from the introductory pages to the Millennium EditionTM)
(Book contains complete six-page "Biographical Note")
13. "Utah Author, Attorney Succumbs in Chicago," Salt Lake Tribune, Monday, November 1, 1954.
14. Salt Lake Tribune, Nov. 1, 1954.
15. Douglas E. Bagley, e-mail to editor, May 25, 2001.
16. See "Preface and Dedication".
17. Susan Eugenia Neff Stokes died December 7, 1943. (Source: Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park records).
18. Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park records.
19. The Soul's Fire, by Jeremiah Stokes, Los Angeles: Suttonhouse Ltd., 1936. 291 p.
20. Modern Miracles: Authenticated Testimonies of Living Witnesses, compiled by Jeremiah Stokes, Salt Lake City:
Deseret News Press, 1935. 191 p.
22. Americans' Castle of Freedom, under Bolshevik Fire on Our Home Front: Fateful Facts All Americans must Know,
by Attorney Jeremiah Stokes, 2nd ed., Salt Lake City: Federated Libraries, 1944. 83 p.
23. See BYU's Harold B. Lee Library online catalog: <http://www.lib.byu.edu/hbll/>.
24. See "Preface and Dedication".
* Used by permission, courtesy Peggy Sears.
** Information on "Beverly Gray" (Jeremiah Stokes' pseudonym) courtesy of Douglas E. Bagley,
Louis Hoyt DeMers, and Floyd Shiery (Humanities, Rare Books, and Manuscripts Cataloger, J. Willard Marriott Library, University of Utah).
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