Excerpts taken from Susannah Washburn Bowles’ biography of her mother Tamer Washburn (1805–1886). Tamer joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often inadvertently called the “Mormon Church,” in 1838 and continued full of faith in the Church until the time of her death in 1886.

 

Tamer Washburn

Abraham and Tamer’s family consisted of Daniel born July 23, 1826 (died at age 9), Mary Ann born November 18, 1828, Emma Jane born July 28, 1830, Elizabeth Underhill born August 23, 1834 (died at age 3), Daniel Abraham born September 8, 1837, Sarah Elizabeth born August 16, 1839, John “E” born April 13, 1842, Susanna born June 23, 1843, Joseph Bates born July 20, 1845, Artmissa Minerva born June 17, 1847.

While living at Sing Sing, Tamer had the following dream: She went to heaven. Everything was beautiful and in perfect order. She visited many wonderful places. In beautiful parks, she saw many groups of happy children at play. They were in the charge of and their play was supervised by very fine, intelligent women. She came to one group where two of her own children were playing. She was surprised to see them there, and when she looked up inquiringly into the face of the lady who had them in charge, the lady said, “Sister Washburn, it is your privilege to see beforehand where your children will be, so that the parting will not be so hard.”

In a few weeks, the two children died. Tamer said that when they died, she could not shed a tear because the vision she had had was continually before her mind.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

One morning we thought we would go and gather gooseberries. Father [John] Tanner harnessed a span of horses to a light wagon. And with his little granddaughter [Matilda], two Sisters Lyman [Matilda’s mother and Father Tanner’s daughter being one of them], and I, Father Tanner started out. When we reached the woods we told the old gentleman to go to a house which was in sight and rest while we picked the berries. It was not long before the little girl and I strayed some distance from the others, when we suddenly heard shouts. The little girl thought it was her grandfather, and she was going to answer, but I restrained her, thinking it might be Indians. We walked until within sight of Father Tanner, when we saw he was running his team around. As we approached we saw Indians gathering around the wagon, whooping and yelling as others came and joined them. When he saw us approaching, Father Tanner drove over and we got into the wagon to start, when four of the Indians took hold of the wagon wheels to stop the wagon, and two others held the horses by the bits, and another came to take me out of the wagon. I then began to be afraid, and asked Father Tanner to let me get out of the wagon and run for assistance. He said, “No, poor child, it is too late!”

I told him they should not take me alive. Father Tanner’s face was white as a sheet.

The Indians commenced to strip him of his belongings. They had taken his watch and handkerchief, and were trying to pull me out of the wagon. I began silently to appeal to my Heavenly Father. While praying and struggling, the Spirit of the Almighty fell upon me and I arose with great power, and no tongue can tell my feelings. I was as happy as I could be. A few moments before, I saw worse than death staring me in the face, and now my hand was raised by the power of God, and I talked with those Indians in their own language. They let go the horses and wagon, and stood in front of me while I talked to them by the power of God. They bowed their heads and answered yes in a way that made me know they understood. The little girl and Father Tanner looked on in speechless amazement.

I realized our situation. Their calculation was to kill Father Tanner, burn the wagon and take us women prisoners. This was plainly shown to me; but they were convinced by the power of God manifested through me, to change their minds. When I stopped talking, they shook hands with all three of us and returned all they had taken from Father Tanner, who gave them back the handkerchief, and I gave them berries and crackers. By this time the other young women came up and we hastened home.

The Lord gave me a portion of the interpretation of what I had said, which was as follows: “I suppose you Indian warriors think you are going to kill us. Don’t you know that the Great Spirit is watching you, and knows everything in your hearts? We have come out here to gather some of our Father’s fruit. We have not come to injure you, and if you harm us or injure one hair of our heads, the Great Spirit will smite you to the earth, and you will not have power to breathe another breath. We have been driven from our homes and so have you. We have come out here to do you good, not to injure you.

“We are the Lord’s people and so are you, but you must cease your murders and wickedness. The Lord is displeased with it and will not prosper you if you continue in it. You think you own all this land, this timber, this water, all these horses; why, you do not own one thing on earth, not even the air you breathe. It all belongs to the Great Spirit.”

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

William Greenwood was born March 4, 1819 in Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England, to William Greenwood I and Sarah Utley.

William I and Sarah Utley Greenwood

The elder William was a blacksmith by trade, but at an early age he got a spark in one of his eyes.  In trying to doctor it, he lost the sight of both eyes, so he never saw most of his thirteen children.  He and his wife Sarah, all of his children, and some of his brothers and sisters, joined the Latter-day Saint Church in England in 1840-41, and they emigrated to America.  Although William I was blind, he became quite handy at doing things with his hands such as making various articles of furniture, really specializing in good bedsteads.

The family came across the ocean on the ship “Tyrene” which landed at New Orleans, with Joseph Fielding as captain.  They settled first in Warsaw, Illinois.  It had been a long and wearing trip of about eight weeks on the ocean.  Before they could get adjusted to this new climate and conditions, they all came down with what was called “ague” fever and chills.  At times they were unable to help each other to get even so much as a drink of water.  Seven of the Greenwood family members died of this malady within nine weeks, including William I and Sarah, his wife.  They were all buried in or near Warsaw, Illinois.  It was said of Sarah by her daughter-in-law Ann Hartley Greenwood, “She was one of the best women that ever lived.  She had a strong testimony of the gospel, to which she testified as she sat up in bed just before she died.  She entreated her family to remain true to it.  She talked in tongues.”

William’s Life in England

William II (hereafter just referred to as William) must have grown up working in a clothing factory, as did so many of the children in that part of England, because as a young man he had become a steam loom overseer.  He met his wife, Ann Hartley, in the factory, as she too was a worker at the looms.  He was twenty years old and she was eighteen when they were married in 1839.

Soon after their marriage, he followed his wife’s lead in joining the LDS Church, and they came with William’s parents to America.  William had the ague along with the rest while they were at Warsaw, Illinois, and it left him so weak and debilitated that he couldn’t work at all for a year and a half.

Ann soon became so homesick that she thought she must return to England.  William was not in favor of this, so he would not cooperate with her in any way in making the arrangements for the trip back.  He did, however, return with her to England in 1843.  They found work again at the factory, but he was never satisfied or happy.  So, in 1846, he decided he would have to return to America to be with the LDS people, with or without his wife.  That must have been a sorry parting, as she decided to stay in England.  However, it didn’t take Ann long to decide that her happiness lay with her husband, so she joined him again in about 1848.  Upon his return to Warsaw, William had to accept work at fifty cents a day, as that was the going wage of the time.

William Obeyed the Word of Wisdom

William had grown up without any prejudice against the use of tobacco, tea, and coffee, and he was fond of all of them.  His new religion forbade the use of them.  He had embraced it in its entirety, so he was determined to take them out of his appetite and life.  It was a hard struggle for him, but he finally succeeded.  It is told of him that in the early days of his life in America when he went to work for a certain man, he was not offered any tea.  He went home disgusted, refusing to go back to work if they didn’t serve afternoon tea.

William and Ann Crossed The Plains and Then Were Called Settle the Desert

William Greenwood

William and Ann began making preparations to make the trek across the plains to join with the church members in Utah.  In May of 1852, they were ready to start, arriving in Salt Lake in November of that year.  They came with the Benjamin Gardner Company.  Ann had born four children previous to this time, but two had died and been buried in England, so they had two living.  Another son was born to them on the plains, and they named him William.

This little family had only been in Salt Lake three weeks, barely enough time to get rested after such a strenuous trip, when they were called by Church authorities to go to Cedar City to settle.  This meant another long hard trip into a very wild new region, and a great contrast to anything they could ever have imagined.  After several years of trying to overcome the adverse conditions in Cedar City, most of the settlers became discouraged and disgruntled.  They felt it was an impossible situation.  Many planned to go to California, but the Greenwoods wanted to stay closer to the center of the Church.

They had heard that there were good opportunities for homesteading in Millard County, so they took their ox teams and covered wagons and their children and set out in the winter month of February, 1856.  When they got as far north as Beaver Valley, they camped on the bank of the Beaver river.  They liked the area with its abundant supply of water, good supply of wood in the canyon, etc.  They continued north until they got as far as Wild Cat Canyon, a narrow place which they found blocked with deep snow so that they couldn’t get through.  They turned back and decided to settle in Beaver Valley.

The wagon box was lifted off of the wheels and it became their first home in Beaver.  They worked hard to plant grain, only to have it all spoiled by three weeks of rain after it had been cut.  Their scant supply of provisions had become completely exhausted, and they had to live on the milk from one cow, along with wild berries, roots, and greens which they could find in the wild.  William herded the town cows, barefoot all the year, wearing just buckskin pants which he had gotten from Indians.  Gradually, through using every bit of ambition, good management or sheer ingenuity which they could muster, they accumulated a few animals and were able to eke out an existence until things got somewhat better for them.

William built a log cabin and added on to it until there were three rooms.  Soon the Indians became a real problem, and they decided to move closer to other settlers, several miles north of their first location.  They first had a log house but later build a home of the native bluestone, and kept adding on until they had six rooms and an upstairs attic where their grandchildren would love to play in later years.

The Indians were still a problem.  One time, William was herding his sheep on the hills south of town when he was caught by a group of Indians.  They threw him to the ground and drew a sharp knife across his throat in a menacing gesture several times.  He didn’t cry out or show the fear he felt, so they relented saying, “Heap brave man no squaw,” and they spared his life.  The Indians tried several times to steal a lovely little gray mare which the Greenwoods owned, and finally succeeded.  After quite a bit of trouble, William got the mare back, after which the family decided to bring her into the kitchen at night for safe keeping.

In 1869, the Church called on William for a wagon and team to go east across the plains for immigrants.  It was decided that young Barney, the oldest son, should make the trip.  He was only sixteen and small, but he was responsible for his age.  It was a long and arduous journey of six months.  The Greenwoods had no thought but to answer the call, so while Barney was away, his father did two men’s work at home.

The Greenwoods, along with other families in the area, soon began to transport the goods that they could raise, selling them in other areas.  Later, the US soldiers took up residence at Fort Cameron, east of Beaver, and they purchased many things from the settlers such as eggs, milk, cream, straw, hay and grain.  So the standard of living began to increase.

Sometime during this period, William met an Englishman who had just come from the “old country.”  He had a red silk scarf which must have created a nostalgia in William’s soul, as he wanted it so much that he traded a little pig worth four dollars for it.  The scarf remained in the family as a cherished relic.

A Mormon Pioneer’s Final Days

After the death of William’s wife in 1897, he lived with his daughter Mary Ann for two years.  He was so pleasant and kind to his grandchildren that they always remembered him fondly.

As there was now train transportation to Milford, 30 miles west of Beaver, Mary Ann and her husband thought they would take a trip to Salt Lake in October of 1899.  They took William along with them and enjoyed the trip very much.  On the return trip, the train made a stop at Clearwater (or Clear Lake) in Millard County.  William was in a different car than Mary Ann and her husband, and for some unknown reason, he decided to get off the train.  It was dark and stormy and the wind blew his hat off his head.  He tried to follow and recover it, and while so doing the train pulled away, leaving him.  He started walking along the track until he met up with an employee of the railroad who quizzed him as to where he was going and found out that he was lost.  He asked the way to Fillmore, and the man pointed along the tracks.

Next morning, the employee heard the old man was missing.  He went out to look for him in the vicinity of where he had encountered him.  He picked up his tracks in the direction of the Sevier River, only to find that he had stepped into a low place along the bank, which had caused him to stumble and fall into about two feet of water.  Apparently he had been unable to recover himself, and so there he lay, drowned.  An inquest afterwards brought out this weird story.  His daughter and her husband knew nothing of his doings until arriving in Milford next morning, whereupon they started the investigation as to his whereabouts.  It was a tragic thing to have happen while he was still enjoying good health.

Truly William Greenwood was a man of deep and sterling qualities, never complaining of his adversity, but going ahead steadily against the greatest of odds, true to his faith and family.  No one could live more faithfully and nobly.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Mary became acquainted with Joseph Smith through introduction by her son David Whitmer. Joseph experienced strong persecution while translating the Book of Mormon, and the Whitmer family boarded Joseph, his wife Emma, and his scribe Oliver Cowdery.  Caring for the boarders as well as her large family became quite a burden for Mary.

During this time frame, Joseph, Oliver, and Mary’s sons discussed being shown the Gold Plates. Five of Mary’s sons became official witnesses of the Book of Mormon. They saw the actual golden plates.

The following account by Mary’s grandson John C. Whitmer in 1878 is Mary’s account to her sons and grandchildren about an experience she had one day, while the work of the translation was commencing.

I have heard my grandmother (Mary Musselman Whitmer) say on several occasions that she was shown the plates of the Book of Mormon by a holy angel, whom she always called Brother Nephi. (She undoubtedly refers to Moroni, the angel who had the plates in charge.)

It was at the time, she said, when the translation was going on at the house of the elder Peter Whitmer, her husband. Joseph Smith with his wife and Oliver Cowdery, whom David Whitmer a short time previous had brought up from Harmony, Pennsylvania, were all boarding with the Whitmers, and my grandmother in having so many extra persons to care for, besides her own large household, was often overloaded with work to such an extent that she felt it to be quite a burden.

One evening, when (after having done her usual day’s work in the house) she went to the barn to milk the cows, she met a stranger carrying something on his back that looked like a knapsack. At first she was a little afraid of him, but when he spoke to her in a kind, friendly tone and began to explain to her the nature of the work which was going on in her house, she was filled with inexpressible joy and satisfaction. He then untied his knapsack and showed her a bundle of plates, which in size and appearance corresponded with the description subsequently given by the witnesses to the Book of Mormon. This strange person turned the leaves of the book of plates over, leaf after leaf, and also showed her the engravings upon them; after which he told her to be patient and faithful in bearing her burden a little longer, promising that if she would do so, she should be blessed; and her reward would be sure, if she proved faithful to the end. The personage then suddenly vanished with the plates, and where he went, she could not tell.

From that moment my grandmother was enabled to perform her household duties with comparative ease, and she felt no more inclination to murmur because her lot was hard. I knew my grandmother to be a good, noble and truthful woman, and I have not the least doubt of her statement in regard to seeing the plates being strictly true. She was a strong believer in the Book of Mormon until the day of her death.

References:

Historical Record,” Vol. 7, p. 621

LDS Biographical Encyclopedia, Andrew Jenson, Vol. 1, p.283

B. H. Roberts, New Witnesses for God, Vol.2, p.125

Deseret News, 27 Nov. 1878, p. 674.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Ann Hartley Greenwood

Ann Hartley was born into the home of Bernard Hartley and Mary Beck, July 26, 1821, at Addingham, Yorkshire, England.  She had two sisters, Margaret and Martha, and three brothers, Barnard who died young, Joseph, and another Barnard.  Of her mother, Ann said, “She was a very good looking woman, having white pearly teeth and a rosy complexion.  She was a very good manager with quite a business sense.”

Her father was a clothing manufacturer near Burnley.  It was customary at that time for little children to be carried to work at looms in the factories at a very early age.  Ann related that she was carried on her father’s shoulders as soon as she was old enough to start work.  A never-to-be forgotten memory for her were the moaning cries of these little children being thus carried to work in the early morning hours. Ann grew up thus being kept busy with factory life until she became very adept at the looms, being able to handle three with the help of one little girl by the time that she was married.

Ann met William Greenwood who was a loom overseer.  As they grew very fond of each other, they decided to get married, which they did in 1838, when Ann was only eighteen years old.  Since they both went on working, it seemed expedient that they should live in Ann’s father’s home, paying board.

Baptism By Mormon Missionaries

About this time, Ann heard missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints preaching.  She was very much interested in it, and began leaving her home, alone, to hear more of the gospel message.  She was afraid to let her husband or family know what she was doing for fear they would not approve.  As was to be expected, her husband became curious, so he decided to follow her one evening to see what was going on.  He listened attentively to the message and became so interested that he began attending the meetings regularly with her.  Ann’s family hated to have Ann join the Church, and she was the only one of the family ever to do so.  She was baptized September 8, 1840, and William followed in June of 1841.

Joining The Saints In Illinois

William and Ann began making plans to go to America to be with the church members there. William and Ann arrived at New Orleans November 24, 1841, after a seven to nine week trip in the ship Tyrene. They settled in Warsaw, Hancock County, Illinois. Before they could adjust to the new climate, they all came down with the “ague” and were very, very sick for a long time.They found it hard to adjust to the new life, as living conditions were very hard.  Ann decided that it was just unbearable.  Her family had told her that if she ever wanted to return to them to let them know and they would send her the money for the return voyage.  She tried to talk William into writing to them to tell them of her desire to return.  He wasn’t in favor of the action, so wouldn’t write the letter.  She then went to another William Greenwood, a friend of theirs, and got him to write the letter for her.  The money was immediately forthcoming.

They returned to England in 1843, taking with them the little girl Martha who had been born in Warsaw.  This child died and was buried in Burnley in 1844.  Two other children were born to them here, Sarah and Foster.  Foster also died and was buried in the same place as Martha.

William was very unhappy back in England, so he decided he would have to leave Ann there, as she still wanted to stay, and return to the new land alone, which he did in 1846 or 47.  But Ann was not long in deciding that living with her husband was worth more than living in England without him.  She went to work and earned enough money to bring herself to Warsaw in 1848.  Their son Bernard was born in Warsaw in September of 1849.

Crossing The Plains

The Greenwoods began making preparations to cross the plains to Utah, and left Illinois in May of 1852. When it had come time for baby William to be born July 27, 1852, the family merely pulled off the road behind the wagon train and, with the help of some of the kind women, the baby came into the world.  That baby lived to be one of the healthiest and long-lived of the family, so everything must have gone well.

At one time, the animals became frightened and stampeded while Ann was driving. She had William shortly before and was not yet strong enough to walk by the wagon. She hung onto the animals, talking gently to soothe them down, until they finally continued on without any harm being done.  What a breathtaking experience for this factory maid from civilized England!

Settling The Desert

The Greenwoods arrived in Utah in November and soon were called to help settle Cedar City.  Their first year in Cedar City they lived in a sort of cave or dugout.  After several discouraging years in Cedar City, the family relocated in Beaver.  The first year in Beaver was very hard for them.  The only shoes Ann had were moccasins purchased from the Indians.  Her daughter Mary Ann wrote:  “Having no dress to her back, she wore what was called a sack, along with a quilted petticoat which she secured by making a quilt for a neighbor.  Ann went out doing washing or helping in any way when possible, but this was not often, as very few could afford such a luxury in that day.”

Ann had never had any experience in making clothing or doing housework before she was married, as she was practically raised at the loom in the factory.  She became very adept at all kinds of such work connected with raising a large family.  She was a very good cook and housekeeper, and she could make clothing in all its steps, starting from the sheep’s back to the finished product.  Mary Ann wrote,   “Clothing was extremely scarce.  It was not an uncommon thing for my mother to bathe her children on Saturday night and put them to bed perfectly nude while she sat up and washed and dried their clothes by the fire so they could have clean things for Sunday.”  The boys also sometimes ran around the house in their shirt tails while their trousers were being mended.  Even her husband had to go to bed when his trousers needed mending.

At this time, William and Ann had only one quilt for their bed.  It had worn very thin in the middle.  In desperation, they tore it in two so that they could each make better use of their piece, as they could tuck it in around their backs a little better.  They kept wood fires burning day and night, as wood was quite accessible, and it did help in keeping the biting cold away.

An interesting incident of this first year was of Ann walking a mile or so to an old fort to milk a teacup of milk from a cow that was about to go dry.  Her husband called her a fool for doing it.  However, the cow didn’t go dry; her milk came back, giving the family all the milk they needed, and it became their chief food.  Then her husband had to admit it hadn’t been foolishness, but extreme foresight and wisdom.

At one time, the family lived on potatoes and salt for three weeks.  They had not had a taste of bread all that time.  They went up to North Creek to gather bullberries at this time.  When Ann got out of the wagon to help gather the berries, she was so weak and faint from hunger that it was impossible for her to help gather any berries.  These bullberries were a great delicacy, heated up in their milk.  Hunger was the sweetener for the dish.  Bullberries were the only fruit they had for years.  They made many uses of them, such as drying them for storage and use all through the year.  In later days, they made dumplings of the berries with the other usual ingredients which gave a most delicious dessert.

Although their economic situation gradually improved somewhat, as late as 1863 when Ann’s baby Rachel was born, Ann could not provide a single piece of clothing for the baby to wear.  It was only through help from kind neighbors that the child had any clothing at all.  In 1861, when Titus had been born, Ann could only scare up two cotton diapers.

Every family in Beaver secured a barrel of molasses from Utah’s “Dixie” for the winter.  Except for an occasional bit of brown sugar, this was their only sweet flavoring.  Molasses candy combined with parched corn was their greatest delicacy.  Ann would make molasses candy loaded with cayenne pepper whenever a cold appeared among the children.

Eight of Ann’s children grew to maturity, and soon there were grandchildren.  They were always welcome in Ann’s home.  Cookies and apples in season were always on hand.  It was great sport to run and climb among the orchard trees and in the cattle corral and barn.  Most of all they loved to play in “Grandma’s Attic.”  They took picnics together and picked the yummy apples from the trees in the fall.

Ann was a dearly beloved mother with a sweet disposition.  She was a hard worker and a good example of the sturdy, long-suffering, patient pioneer woman of her day.  She was crippled up for many of the later years of her life so that she had to use a cane to get about.  She did much of her housework sitting and moving about on a chair.  She passed away in her bluestone house in Beaver on July 18, 1897, at the age of 76.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Tamer Washburn was a daughter of Jesse and Susannah Tompkins Washburn. She was born July 4^th, 1805, at Mt Pleasant, Westchester County, New York. When she was 19 years old, Tamer married Abraham Washburn (whose grandfather was her father’s brother) on March 16, 1824, at Mt. Pleasant, New York. In their early married life, they moved to Sing Sing, where Abraham went into the shoe-making and tanning business.

Mormon Missionaries

When Parley P. Pratt came to New York with the gospel message, Abraham Washburn was converted immediately; the message was so plain and beautiful that he believed everybody could readily be converted. Abraham took Brother Pratt home with him to explain the wonderful message to his wife. Brother Pratt told her that the Lord and His Son had visited, in person, the boy Joseph Smith, and later sent heavenly messengers who had restored the Priesthood, both Aaronic and Melchizedek, and that the Lord was giving the boy Prophet continued revelations, revealing the gospel of Jesus Christ in its fulness. He said that the Angel Moroni had delivered the history of the ancient inhabitants of this continent, written on gold plates, to the Prophet, and he had by the power of God, translated them, and that the book was now published and was called The Book of Mormon.

This was too much for this dear lady, who was a staunch Methodist, yet retaining many ideas of the Quaker faith in which she had been reared. She was infuriated at what she had just heard; it was impossible for God to give new revelations to man; all such things had ceased with the death of the ancient Prophets and Apostles. This man was surely an imposter teaching false doctrine. Her righteous indignation arose and she turned on Brother Pratt and poured out the venom of her wrath in no gentle tones. Her husband tried in vain to soothe her. He, however, knew that the message was true and in a short time was baptized. He tried gently, at every opportunity to convert his dear wife, but it seemed, for some time, that his efforts were useless.

One evening, while he was attending an evening meeting, Abraham received a message to come home quickly: his wife was in a terrible nervous condition on account of his being at a Mormon meeting. As he was leaving, Brother Pratt said, “Be of good cheer, Brother Washburn, for in a very short time your wife will be a member of the Church.” It was but a few weeks until she asked Brother Pratt to baptize her.

She learned to love Brother Pratt and the gospel of Jesus Christ. Her home was ever after a home for the Mormon missionaries.

As time passed, both Parley and Orson Pratt made their home with the Washburns while doing Missionary work in New York. On one occasion, Orson Pratt brought his wife. She wore, as was the custom in those days, a lace cap with bows of ribbon and small artificial flowers on the side of her cap. Tamer had not yet sufficiently recovered from her Quaker notions to be able to tolerate these ‘excessive’ practices, so she asked Sister Pratt to please remove the trimmings from her cap while she remained her guest.  Sister Pratt complied with the request to please Sister Washburn. In after years, Tamer laughed as she related the story wondering how she could have been so narrow minded because she herself wore just such little lace caps to the end of her days and enjoyed having them handsomely decorated.

Abraham was a prosperous business man and he gave Tamer a regular allowance of 75 dollars a month. She was saving, and deposited a part of her allowance each month in the bank. Once, Orson Pratt was going to England on a mission; he arrived in New York with no money to pay his traveling expenses. Tamer gave him enough money from her savings account to pay his passage to England.

A Blessing and Promise from the Prophet Joseph Smith

After joining the body of the Church at Nauvoo, Brother Washburn was a member of the Nauvoo Legion. They were friends of the Prophet, Joseph Smith. The Prophet Joseph Smith visited with Tamer and her folks many times. On one occasion when the Smiths and others were at their home at an evening social, the Prophet arose to his feet and said, “Sister Washburn, there is a special blessing from the Lord to you, and the Lord says that you’re just as sure of your Celestial crown as though you already had it on your head.” The sisters assembled said to the Prophet, “This is enough to make us jealous.” And then the Prophet said, “This blessing is for Mother Washburn above the rest, because she is a free giver. She could always give and never regret.”  Her salvation in the Celestial Kingdom was assured on account of her liberality.

Mormon Polygamy and Victory Over Herself

They came from Winter Quarters to Salt Lake City early in 1848 with the Richards Company. Tamer drove three yoke of wild steers across the trackless desert. Shortly after their arrival in the valley, Abraham married Flora Clorinda Gleason Johnson.

Tamer was a social person, and usually very optimistic, yet she was capable of very intense feelings. Flora’s daughter Lorena related, “Tamer told me how hard it was to live in plural marriage, and for a long time she was unkind to my mother although she loved mother. She prayed often for strength, and God finally gave her victory over herself. After that, plural marriage ceased to be a trial, and my mother became one of her best earthly friends.”

Such is a few of the trials and only a few that she with others passed through because they believed that God lived and had a Soul and Body like unto that of Man whom He had created and because they believed that He had the right and privilege to converse with the men He had created and that He did make known His mind and will and they believed it and would not deny it and troubles were multiplied upon them.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

My father’s name was Edmund Durfee, he was born in Rhode Island on the 3rd October 1788 of Dutch decent [SIC]. My mother’s name was Magdalena “Lana” Pickle and she was born 6 June 1788. Her father and mother were from Holland. I was born 6 March 1813 in Lennox, Madison County, New York and lived there until I was about nine years old when we moved to Amboy, Oswego County. Father bought some land, built him a house, made a small farm, and worked at his trade that was mostly carpenter and millwright. We lived there until the first of June 1830, father bought more land. There were lots of maple trees. Then father wanted to go West so he sold his sugar bush and farm and started for the south of Ohio. We went through Camden Village to the canal, went on the canal to Buffalo, we went to Briggles (Ruggles) in Huron County.

Mormon Missionary Introduces The Book of Mormon

Father bought land and went to work to make a home, and the next winter in 1830 we heard about the Mormons and the “Gold Bible.” The next spring Solomon Hancock came preaching about Joseph Smith and said that the Angel Moroni had revealed them to Joseph Smith. Solomon Hancock joined in with us, the Methodists and Campbellites, and he would preach in our meetinghouse. We would go to hear him and many were astonished at his message for it was so much different from what had been reported.

This was sometime in April 1831, and my father Edmond Durfee was baptized about the middle of May and my mother and sister, Martha and brother, Edmund were baptized about the first of June by Solomon Hancock.

Edmond served a Mormon Mission to Chautauqua, Genesee, New York in December 1831-February 1832.

Gathering with the Saints in KirtlanD

My father gathered some of his carpenter tools, seed grain, farming tools and in a company with others, he started for Kirtland, Ohio, on the first of February 1832 to build a place for all his family to go. He came home in the fall of 1832, sold his farm and all his possessions and we started for Kirtland, Ohio on the first of May 1833. The Lord had said “He would keep a strong hold” for five years in Kirtland. We bought us a farm, built us some houses and prepared to live.

A great many things transpired about this time that I haven’t time to write and some that I can’t place them. Land came up and sold for a large sum of money and they had a great land speculation, and many left the Church of the Latter-day Saints.

Missourian Mob Violence Against the Mormons

In the Spring of 1837, my father sold his farm and all his possessions and started for Caldwell County, Missouri, where we stayed that summer and fall, and lived on what they called “Log Creek” six miles from Far West. I was there when they killed David Patten, when they took a lot of prisoners and the Saints had to lay down their lives to their enemies.

The mob gathered and killed many and drove all the Mormons from Adam-ondi-Ahman to Far West. Not being satisfied, the whole state with the Governor at their head gathered by the thousands to drive them from Far West. They wanted Joseph Smith & Sidney Rigdon, our leaders and the Twelve, and all they could get and put them in prison. Some were bailed out and others had to stay and take up with such a fare as they could get and be fed on human flesh, but Joseph told them “not to eat it,” for the spirit of the Lord told him that it was human. Thus we were plundered, smitten and driven from our homes, our lives were threatened and we were ill-treated on every side by our enemies. Enemies to the truths of heaven came along, one to five hundred right to our houses and nobody around but women and little children. Took our men prisoners without any cause, only because they were Mormons and believed in the truths of the Gospel. They wanted to know if we had any guns, pistols or ammunition or butcher knives and such things.

No one can tell, only those that passed through it and was an eye witness to it can describe the feeling of the Saints and what they passed through.

In 1839, we crossed over to Quincy, went up the river to a place called Lima, Hancock county, Illinois. There we built us a house and bought a small place and fixed to live here a short time. But the devil wasn’t dead yet. In a short time there was some that would go to Lima and get drunk and come back swearing and tearing enough to frighten men, let alone women and children.

Mobbers Murdered Edmond in Cold Blood in Lima, Illinois

The gentiles and the mobocrats threatened us and told around how they would kill and drive them (the Mormons). They did kill and drive us from Lima, and shot my father Edmund Durfee and killed him instantly on 19 November 1845. He who had never done them any harm in his life, but on the contrary, had always taught them good principles of truth and uprightness and greatness and morality and industries all the days of his life.

But before this, they drove the Saints out of Father Morley’s Settlement and turned their sick ones out. Drove them all out to live or die. Rolled my brother, Nephi, up in a bed and threw it outdoors when he was sick. Went to the oat stack and got two bundles of oats and put a brand of fire in them and threw them on top of the house and said they would be back next morning. Father was trying to move some place and they came back and shot all their guns and ran them all off, and plundered and made a fire, burned houses, furniture, clothing, yarn looms, cloth, carpenter tools. The iron from the tools they picked and filled a barrel. Everything all around burned to ashes, and the mob went from house to house driving them out, sick or well, it made no difference, till they burned every house in the town that was Mormons.

The men from Nauvoo got their teams and started for Lima and traveled all night and day to get the families that had been burned out doors. My husband was one that traveled all night and got cold, took a chill and was ill for a long time. The mob said that they could come back and gather their crops. They were nearly done, so decided to stay over Sunday. When it got dark the mob came back and built a fire close by the barns. The Mormons thought they meant to burn their houses and rushed out. The mob stood back in the timber and as the men got between them, they shot off about a dozen guns, my father was the only one killed.

The mob built a fire in different places, one in the corn crib and the shucks was on and dry rail and dry shucks and it burned a little and went out, so you see, they couldn’t go any further than the Lord let them. This was the fall of 1845.

B.H. Roberts wrote of Edmond, “Mr. Durfee was one of the most industrious, inoffensive and good men that could be found.” This description was published in the ‘History of the Church’ by B.H. Roberts, on page 2024.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

Lorena Washburn (1860-1945) was born in Manti, Utah, five years before the Black Hawk War. Her family belonged to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often inadvertently called the Mormon Church). Her parents Abraham and Flora Gleason Washburn were Mormon pioneers and emigrated from Nauvoo, Illinois, to Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1848.  Brigham Young, president of The Church of Jesus Christ, called the Washburns to settle Manti in 1849 after Ute chiefs Wakara and Sowiette visited him asking for permanent settlers in the area. In 1865, the Chiefs became uneasy as settlements expanded. Because of starvation among the Utes, a few of them began stealing the Mormons’cattle. On April 9, 1865, in Manti, at a meeting between the Mormons and the Utes discussing the cattle thefts, an altercation ignited the violence. Black Hawk, an Indian brave, successfully united neighboring tribes against the Mormons.

My Memories of the Black Hawk War

I was just a small child when the Black Hawk War with the Ute Indians began in April, 1865. We lived in Manti, Utah.  All the people living in the east part of town were told to move onto our street or into houses not farther east than the second row of blocks east of Main Street. That would make it easier to defend the town against the Indians.

In our home there was one large living room, a bedroom, and a kitchen. Under the living room was a large cellar with a trap door in the living room. During the war, we were in danger of Indian attacks at any time of day or night. Mother told us and the neighborhood children to be  on the lookout in the daytime. If we saw a group of horsemen coming at any time, we were to all run to our house and she would hide us in the cellar.  We had one such scare. A large group of horsemen came riding around Temple Hill and came galloping up our street. We all ran and were quickly hidden in the cellar. Then Mother discovered that it was a scouting party who had been out looking for Indians.

South of Manti the country was covered with an alkali called saleratus. It was crude soda and supplied Utah with soda. It was used in combination with lime and a solution made from wood ashes to make soap.  One day during the Indian War, Father was going to get a load of it. He told us children we could go along, as he was just going a little way from town.  When we

got there, Father and the boys were busy shoveling it into the wagon and we smaller ones were dipping it up with tin plates.  All at once Father looked to the south and saw horsemen coming over a hill. They were too far off for us to tell if they were Indians or whites. It didn’t take us long to hop into the wagon. Father made the ox team run until we were well into town. Again, it was a scouting party returning.

The worst possible sound at that time was the sound of the big bass drum in the night. That was the signal of trouble. Perhaps the Indians had stolen some cattle or attacked some traveler. Perhaps they were attacking our town. The drum was the signal for every man in town to hurry to the public square to do his part, if need be, in fighting the Indians.

The majority of the locks on the house doors were very primitive in those days, they consisted of a long wooden latch on the inside, with a catch nailed on the door casing for the latch to fall into, and just above the latch was a small hole in the door through which a buck skin string was put to the outside of the door. You pulled the string and the latch would fly up and the door opened. On occasions when the men were all called out in the night time the mother or some member of those left in the house would pull the string inside and all hands would begin to move a large flour box or the heaviest movable thing in the house against the door for greater protection.

While the men were gone, the women and children huddled in dark corners, hiding and hoping that the Indians were going some other way. They stayed hidden until some of the menfolk returned to give the word that they were not in danger. When we finally got to bed again, we were always so excited that it was almost impossible to get back to sleep.

[Father] had an old style flint lock musket with a bayonet on the end, which he had used as a member of the Nauvoo Legion, but when the Indians got on the war path he sold a fine ox valued at forty dollars for a new Ballard gun.

At one time a group of Indian prisoners were lodged in the Manti jail which was the upstairs of the old court house. This was near our home.  The Indians were chained up and so considered helpless so far as making an escape was concerned. The people took turns cooking food for them. It was delivered to the guards at the jail. The members of the guard took the food to the prisoners up a back stair on the east side of the old court house to an upstairs door in the jail room.  The place was heavily guarded, but in some unknown way the Indians had gotten a knife. They made the knife into a saw and at last sawed their chains in two. One day, as the guard opened the door to pass the food in, the Indians rushed and overpowered him and the other guards nearby. They jumped from the stair and headed east toward the mountains. Other guards on the ground sent a shower of bullets after them.

My sister, Huetta, lived east of the jail. When the firing started she looked out of her back door. She saw the Indians, with the guard after them, running straight for her open back door. She was too frightened to move. Her husband grabbed her and held her against the inside of the adobe wall, away from doors and windows and out of the way of stray bullets. Luckily the Indians passed the house without coming in.

The Indians hadn’t gotten out of town; instead they hid in corrals and among haystacks. Darkness came on. There was no moon and it was really dark. There were few lanterns to be had. Every man in town who was brave enough was out hunting Indians in the eastern part of town, while the women and children in that part of town sat or laid [sic] on the floor below the range of the windows, that they might be protected from bullets which might come through the windows. Our large living room floor was filled with people. One of our neighbors came running with his whole family of children to our house as soon as the fleeing Indians and guards had passed his door. His family stayed there until the trouble was over.

There were other battles near town and many scares.  Men were killed. We had guards posted along the road.  One night the guards heard someone coming along the road. “Who goes there?” they called. There was no answer. The guard got ready for trouble. They called again. Still no answer. A guard called out, “Answer or I’ll shoot!”  Suddenly a voice came out of the darkness. “Oh, ve is yust two peoples going to the south.” It was a couple just arrived in Utah from Norway or Sweden. They had been traveling at night, since they thought that was safer.

Another day of awful excitement was the day that the Indians on their way from the Ephraim east mountains going after the herds of cattle in the region of San Pitch River had killed people in the Ephraim fields. A messenger arrived at Manti in a very short time, and the news spread like wild fire. Men, women, and children filled the streets. The more excitable ones were crying, others trying to soothe them.

There were a few Indians who had worked for [Father] prior to the war, and some of them loved him dearly for his kindness to them and his honesty in his dealings with them. Among them was Indian Joe, a chief and on a few occasions when the whites were in battle with them or very close on their trail he would call to some men whom he knew and send a message to [Father] and others of his dear friends. On some occasions when cattle were being driven off, he would turn back some that had the brand of his special friends on them. It was understood quite generally among the men that he was a friend of the whites.

Years after that war Indian Joe met some of [Father]’s sons in Grass Valley and he hugged and kissed them for the love which he bore for their father. On one occasion after [Father] moved to Monroe the son of Indian Joe, who was now a chief, brought his band of Indians there and when he saw [Father] he was overjoyed and gave him his finest buffalo robe as a token of his father’s great love for him.

A few months after the treaty of peace was signed with Black Hawk and his warriors, one late afternoon I was sitting near the hearth in our living room with my back toward the open door. I heard a light footstep and turned quickly and, to my amazement and horror, there stood two large Indian men in the doorway grinning at me. They were the first Indians I had seen since the war. I was so terrified that I never knew how I got past them and out into the garden where Mother and the rest of the family were.

In the fall of 1868 or 69, Mother went to Utah County to dry fruit and put up preserves. She took me with her. My brother Hyrum drove the ox team. We camped in Salt Creek Canyon one night near where some people had been killed during the Indian war. That event had been talked about after we made our camp that evening. I scarcely slept a wink during that night. Early next morning I was up and dressed, waiting for the folks to go on. And wondering if we would ever get out of that canyon alive.  I saw a carriage coming toward us and ran out and hailed it and asked the driver how much farther it was through that canyon. My people laughed heartily and could not imagine what prompted me to run out and stop a passing stranger.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

I, William Marsden, son of Abraham Marsden and Hannah Thornton…was born…on the 16^th of March 1814, in the town of Oldham, County of Lancashire, England. My father was by trade a cotton spinner. I was brought up in the cotton business, and followed the same until I was twenty-five, years of age. My parents were strictly Methodists, they belonged to what was called the New Connection Methodists.

Conversion and Mormon Missionary Service

At the age of twenty four I joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I was baptized on the 7^th of October 1839 in the river Irnvel, Manchester County of Lancashire, by James Mahon, Priest. I was also ordained a Priest January 5, 1840, by Parley Peter Pratt and Brigham Young, two of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The next day being Sunday, President Brigham Young requested me to go to Oldham to preach to the people as they did not have any Latter-day Saint preacher there. I did go having to make the journey on foot, a distance of seven miles. I invited Thomas Yates and James Mahon, Priests, to accompany me which they did. Thomas Yates and myself continued to labor there. In six weeks there were six persons baptized, each one belonging to a different denomination. I continued to labor there until a branch of the Church was organized. The branch was organized on Sunday February 17^th, 1840. I then went to labor in new places, wherever I could get an opportunity to preach to the people.

On the 16^th day of October 1840, I was ordained an Elder under the hands of Brigham Young and Willard Richards. The blessings pronounced on me were that I should have power over unclean spirits, and cast them out, and to heal the sick. I labored in Oldham and nearby places until April and in May I was appointed by Parley P. Pratt on a mission of Leeds in Yorkshire. I was there two weeks and returned home to Manchester County, a distance of 30 miles, the journey I performed on foot, being without purse or script [sic], and found sickness in my family.

A few days after my arrival home, my son Abraham died. Previous to being sent to Leeds, I was in the employ of a Mr. Francis Parnell, who by reason of my religious faith, discharged me, he being a prominent officer in the Methodist Church, and thought it a disgrace to have in his employ any Latter-day Saint, in consequence of which I was I was very poor, yet the Saints came to my aid and assisted me so that I was able to bury my dead. Soon after I was counseled by Parley P. Pratt to emigrate to America and there earn means to send for my family.

Mormon Emigration to America

Consequently I sold my household furniture, and by small donations from my friends was able to emigrate. I left the shores of England, from the Liverpool docks, by the ship “Clifton” on the 23^rd day of September, and landed in New York the 12^th of November 1840. I searched a few days for employment, but could not obtain any.

Under the direction of the church leader in the area, William preached in New York City and New Jersey.

Labored in the town of Patterson, baptized quite a number of persons, then back to New York and then to Trenton, New Jersey on the 18^th of December 1840, and found my cousin Thomas Thornton.  He was a blacksmith by trade. I remained with him 16 days, which time I worked in a cotton factory for a Mr. Ives.

William journeyed, preaching the Gospel to Philadelphia and then again in New Jersey where he met Brother Mulford who said he would pay all expenses if William would accompany him to Nauvoo, Illinois.

I left Burlington on the 12^th of April 1841, traveling on the canal to Pittsburg, and arrived at Nauvoo about the last of April. On my arrival there President Brigham Young invited me to his house. He found me employment during my stay of 17 days, then my family arrived from England. My wife Jane Appleby Marsden, my son Samuel, my daughter Hannah Mariah, also my brother Samuel and his wife Sarah Wilkinson, they all sailed from Liverpool, England in the ship “Hanover” to the New Orleans, from there by steamboat up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo. They landed in New Orleans on the 1^st day of May 1841, and arrived in Nauvoo on the 15^th of May 1841.

Myself and family stayed with President Young for about 3 weeks, during which time my brother and myself made a house to live in. Brother Brigham let me have a city lot, and I being poor and destitute of tools of any kind, we borrowed an axe and got some hazel-brush and drove sticks in the ground and wove in brush like basket or wicker work. We then dobbed it with black mud inside and out, it had a board roof, the chimney and fireplace being made of sod, the size of the room was 10 by 12 feet. I then went to Oquawka, Henderson county, with Richard Hardman. We dug a well for Simon Owens, for which we received two cows with young calves. We worked there two weeks, and then I returned home to Nauvoo, bringing my cow and calf with me, which was very acceptable to my family, as they had been living on coarse corn meal and sour milk.  The milk was obtained through the charity of the neighbors. …

On the following November 11^th, my father and mother arrived in Nauvoo from England. I met them there and brought them to my house where they lived most of the time. My wife and I received our endowments in the Nauvoo Temple. Both my father and mother died on the 11^th day of November 1849 and were buried in the Oquawka, Illinois cemetery. They died of cholera. I also buried my wife Jane and three of our children.

On the 29^th day of April 1855, I left the state of Illinois for Utah, traveling by ox team with my family…arrived at the City of Salt Lake, September 3^rd, 1855, and on October 3^rd, I moved to Provo, Utah and I became acquainted with Lucius Nelson Scovil. On the 16^th day of September 1856, I married his daughter Sariah in the temple in the Salt Lake City.

Wheat Molasses

October 8, 1857, all the Militia was ordered out to Echo Canyon to confront the U.S. Troops sent out to Utah unlawfully by President James Buchanan. I was appointed Colonel of the Southern division. May 7, 1858, I guarded President Young and family on account of the US Troops. Next day I presented President Young a gallon of molasses I had made from wheat. President Young made a note of this on the Church record as I was the first man in Utah to make molasses from wheat.

Cotton Machinery

June 24, 1858, I went to Salt Lake City with Ebeneazer Hanks and visited with Brigham Young. He told me to manage and assist Hanks to get machinery to manufacture cotton. I commenced to make drawings for the cotton machine. I went to the machine house in Sugar House Ward, remained there and superintended the making of machinery until it was completed. Part of the iron we used was scrap iron left from Johnston’s Army at Camp Floyd.

October 15, 1861, I left Provo City for Parowan, Iron County, with my family and I superintended the cotton factory until October same year. Later January 1864, I spent superintending the factory until May 1869. I made the first cotton ever made in Utah by machinery.

I supervised and established a cotton factory in Parowan and was superintendent over the cotton factory for many years.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.

We must remember the law of polygamy was given to our Prophet in the early days of our church. The records say only about 20% of the male members had more than one wife and they had to have the sanction of the church authorities before taking a plural wife. Of course there were some who abused this privilege.

Being a daughter of a polygamist, I’ve been asked many questions about it. This is the way I have answered some of them: We in these latter days were given all of the other keys of an ancient church, why not polygamy? It was practiced all through the old Bible days. Our church teachings are not new, but a restoration of that which once was. And here is another idea–Our Heavenly Father may have wanted a people he could call His own. All of the first Mormons were converts, not one had been born a Latter-day Saint. Polygamy was one way of getting a lot of children who would be Latter-day Saints without any other religious training. Also, many more women than men joined the church and that too must be considered in polygamy, because we are taught we cannot gain the highest degree of glory without being sealed in the Temple…

January 11, 1869, when William Fisher Tolley was 46 years old he married Sarah Gadd, a little blue-eyed, fair haired girl who had just passed her 18th birthday. They were married in the Old Endowment House in Salt Lake City. So now he had two Sarahs.

After I was grown, I visited my mother’s brother, Uncle Isaac Gadd, who was then living in Provo. I asked him, “How come my mother married a man twice her age, didn’t she have any other beaus?” He said, “OH, yes, plenty of young men liked her, in fact she could have married the son if she had wanted to.”

The girls were taught that being a plural wife was a part of their religion and their reward in the hereafter would be much greater. I certainly hope so. I have often wondered which needed the most sympathy, the older woman who had to put up with her husband’s young wife or the young wife going into the home of another woman and starting a family of her own. Father Tolley’s oldest son was a year older and his oldest daughter a year younger than his new wife, and they had gone to school together. I have been told the two families got along very well together. Much better than some did. It seems the two families lived together about ten years or more.

Father was 70 years old when I was born so he would be 75 or 76 before I could remember him, but I remember he was a well built and well preserved old gentleman. His hair was still quite black and thick with just a bit of gray and his beard and mustache were white. His eyes were dark brown and still had a twinkle in them. I think he must of had quite an influence on his daughters because all ten of his daughters had dark brown eyes and most of them had black hair although both of his wives had blue eyes and light brown hair.

Delisa Hargrove

I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have moved 64 times and have not tired of experiencing this beautiful earth! I love the people, languages, histories/anthropologies, & especially religious cultures of the world. My life long passion is the study & searching out of religious symbolism, specifically related to ancient & modern temples. My husband Anthony and I love our bulldog Stig, adventures, traveling, movies, motorcycling, and time with friends and family.