Stephen Hales, Father,

Stone Carver, Pioneer
Stephen Hales Jr. is shown in the stone carvers shed on Temple Square about 1880.

preparing one of the two stones depicting the "clasped hands".

This was a traditional symbol of fellowship.
The curved "clasped hands" stone, is located at the top of the lowest of the three windows

in the center section of the temple facade.
Stephen Hales was born in 1820 in Rainham, Kent, England. In 1832 he emigrated to Toronto, Canada, with his family where they embraced the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In 1838 the family traveled to western Missouri, then to Quincy and Nauvoo, Illinois, and Garden Grove, Iowa. In 1851 they joined the main body of the Church in Salt Lake City, Utah.

During most of this time Stephen was a stone carver and farmer. While in Nauvoo, part of his assignment was to assist in carving the stone oxen in the temple baptistry. In Salt Lake City he held the position of "finish carver."

This painting, created by his great-great-grandson, Ronald D. Hales, shows Stephen preparing one of two stones depicting the "Clasped Hands" that are in place on both the east and west walls of the Salt Lake Temple. The photo of the east wall of the temple shows the stone with the hands, just above the lower center long window.  In the painting, the west facade of the Temple is seen as construction is nearing the level where it will receive Stephen's craftsmanship in the center of the building.

Mr. Hales is a retired architect, and did extensive research regarding the construction process the Mormon pioneers utilized in erecting their long-awaited Temple. The result is an accurate depiction of the building of the Temple, including the four ship-like booms and hoists operated by 5 men each, to lift and set the stone in place; the stone carvers' sheds on the northwest corner of the Temple site; how the stone was moved around the site by oxen; the challenge of shaping the stone; and the tools Stephen would have used. Since his retirement, Mr. Hales has established a career as a portrait artist and he used two of his sons and a granddaughter as models for this piece. They depict Stephen, an apprentice, and a young girl. While Stephen wrote but one page regarding his life story, the girl represents an allegory of all the family and Church histories that spoke of Stephen.

This remarkable story regarding Stephen, his expanded family, and their migration and service to their Church has been extensively researched by Lorraine, Ron's wife. The third edition of her well-documented and extremely valuable volume of almost 500 pages, will be available later this year in both printed form and on CD.

Ron and Lorraine can be contacted at halesrl@hotmail.com

Ron's portrait website is www.ronhalesportraits.com
GICLEE PRINTS
The highest standard for quality and accurate reproductions of art work available today is a fine ink jet process known as Giclee (pronounced zhee-clay). Giclee reproductions of this important family and historical story are now available. These prints are set on high quality archival quality Canvas in three sizes:

26" x 40 (the size of the original painting); 16" x 20" and 11" x 14".

Each print is coated with Optima Millennium XE™, a100 year ultra-violet fade resistant system.

The prices for the prints are:

-----11" x 14" = $37.50----- 16" x 20" = $64.50;------ 26" x 40" = $194.50 --------ORDER FORM
Please note that the 2 smaller size prints fit standard size commercial frames. However, because of the proportions of the original painting, the actual images are approximately 9 3/4" 13 3/4" and 13 3/4 " x 19 3/4 " respectively. Each of these two have a caption at the bottom as shown on the example..