23. How Did They Do It? -- Some Pioneer History !
Today I woke up, thinking about my great-grandfather, Haden (or Hayden) Wells Church, and his wife Sarah Ann Arterbury, and the fact that they were two of the original pioneers to enter this St. George valley in December,1861.
Their story begins much earlier. The only mention of Haden in the Hickman County Tennessee History, where he was from,-- telling of some of the first school teachers states: "Hayden Church, who also taught on this creek (Swan Creek), was a typical old-time schoolmaster who spoiled no child by sparing the rod."
In 1840 when Haden, an unmarried school teacher, was about 23 years old, he heard the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sing their first song, and knew they were speaking the truth. He desired to know more, and from Tennessee he journeyed the four hundred miles to Nauvoo, Illinois. There he met the Prophet Joseph Smith, who baptized him on April 5, 1841. Soon he was called on his first mission to Alabama, and there he met Sarah Ann, the oldest daughter of Elias and Matilda Arterbury. The missionaries were called back home after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph on June 27, 1844, and shortly after he went back to Alabama where he married Sarah Ann.
Their first baby, Hyrum Smith Church, was born March 9, 1846, in or near Nauvoo, during the time the Saints were being expelled or driven from their homes in Nauvoo. (If you remember, the first Saints were driven out of Nauvoo on Feb. 6, 1846, just around a month before.) He joined the Mormon Battalion later that year, traveled with them to California, and had many difficult times there. He came home with other Battalion members to the Salt Lake Valley just a few days after the arrival of Brigham Young's company -- either July 27 or July 29th. Sarah and her baby came to the Salt Lake Valley with a company, arriving on September 25, 1847. They spent that difficult winter 1847-1848 in the valley where they had a very meager diet, and many other hardships.
Haden was called on five missions altogether, and he passed away in 1875 with typhoid fever on his last mission to his homeland of Tennessee, and was buried near his parents. His second mission was to England, where he arrived in Liverpool on April 19, 1850. He was gone about 2 years and 10 months. His third mission call was in April of 1854, to go back to Tennessee, where he served another 2 years. My grandmother, Paralee Amanda, (their 4th child) was born on July 8, 1857, after he returned from that mission.
His fourth mission was his calling to come to St. George to help raise cotton. The calls to this mission were read in General Conference on October 6, 1861, and they were asked to be ready to leave in one month. The main company of the pioneer saints began to arrive in the St. George Valley on December 1, 1861, continuing until the 4th of December. (Today is Dec. 3rd, 2013) They made their first camp about where Dixie State University is now, -- on the eastern side of the valley. It was fortunate for the pioneers that the winter that year was a mild one, as they had to live in their wagons or tents until the town could be laid out. Haden worked with the committee whose job was to harness the water in the "Virgin River", and he also was the first school teacher in this valley.
On December 27, 1861, the new tent and wagon city of St. George selected a committee to choose school teachers and to organize schools as there was a potential of 103 day school students and 48 evening school students. The candidates for teaching were asked to apply in writing to the committee. According to Bleak's ANNALS OF THE SOUTHERN UTAH MISSION, Haden Church was the first teacher selected by the committee. Their first schools were either a wagon with the tarps thrown back, or later willow school houses. There was a shortage of instructional materials, and it is assumed that "such books as had found their way to this frontier were used -- such as the blue-backed speller, an arithmetic book, McGuffey's Readers, The Book of Mormon, etc."
No missionary work was done in Tennessee during the Civil War, but it was begun again by Elder Haden Church, receiving his call on March 17, 1868, hand-delivered to him in St. George, by Erastus Snow who had been in Salt Lake City attending the Territorial Legislature. The call was officially sustained at General Conference on April 8, 1868, and he was set apart on April 9th, 1868, and again was gone about two years. During his time away from his family, his wife, Sarah Ann, helped support their family of five children, by working as a pioneer midwife. I wish we had more stories about Sarah Ann !
This is enough for today. But as we enjoy the blessings of living in this beautiful area, or wherever you readers live, you can think back ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO years, to what they were experiencing at exactly this exact time of the year! (More history to come.) Condensed from "Histories of Orson Pratt Miles and Ruth Allen Miles and Some of Their Ancestors," pages 67 to 79.
Their story begins much earlier. The only mention of Haden in the Hickman County Tennessee History, where he was from,-- telling of some of the first school teachers states: "Hayden Church, who also taught on this creek (Swan Creek), was a typical old-time schoolmaster who spoiled no child by sparing the rod."
In 1840 when Haden, an unmarried school teacher, was about 23 years old, he heard the missionaries of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints sing their first song, and knew they were speaking the truth. He desired to know more, and from Tennessee he journeyed the four hundred miles to Nauvoo, Illinois. There he met the Prophet Joseph Smith, who baptized him on April 5, 1841. Soon he was called on his first mission to Alabama, and there he met Sarah Ann, the oldest daughter of Elias and Matilda Arterbury. The missionaries were called back home after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph on June 27, 1844, and shortly after he went back to Alabama where he married Sarah Ann.
Their first baby, Hyrum Smith Church, was born March 9, 1846, in or near Nauvoo, during the time the Saints were being expelled or driven from their homes in Nauvoo. (If you remember, the first Saints were driven out of Nauvoo on Feb. 6, 1846, just around a month before.) He joined the Mormon Battalion later that year, traveled with them to California, and had many difficult times there. He came home with other Battalion members to the Salt Lake Valley just a few days after the arrival of Brigham Young's company -- either July 27 or July 29th. Sarah and her baby came to the Salt Lake Valley with a company, arriving on September 25, 1847. They spent that difficult winter 1847-1848 in the valley where they had a very meager diet, and many other hardships.
Haden was called on five missions altogether, and he passed away in 1875 with typhoid fever on his last mission to his homeland of Tennessee, and was buried near his parents. His second mission was to England, where he arrived in Liverpool on April 19, 1850. He was gone about 2 years and 10 months. His third mission call was in April of 1854, to go back to Tennessee, where he served another 2 years. My grandmother, Paralee Amanda, (their 4th child) was born on July 8, 1857, after he returned from that mission.
His fourth mission was his calling to come to St. George to help raise cotton. The calls to this mission were read in General Conference on October 6, 1861, and they were asked to be ready to leave in one month. The main company of the pioneer saints began to arrive in the St. George Valley on December 1, 1861, continuing until the 4th of December. (Today is Dec. 3rd, 2013) They made their first camp about where Dixie State University is now, -- on the eastern side of the valley. It was fortunate for the pioneers that the winter that year was a mild one, as they had to live in their wagons or tents until the town could be laid out. Haden worked with the committee whose job was to harness the water in the "Virgin River", and he also was the first school teacher in this valley.
On December 27, 1861, the new tent and wagon city of St. George selected a committee to choose school teachers and to organize schools as there was a potential of 103 day school students and 48 evening school students. The candidates for teaching were asked to apply in writing to the committee. According to Bleak's ANNALS OF THE SOUTHERN UTAH MISSION, Haden Church was the first teacher selected by the committee. Their first schools were either a wagon with the tarps thrown back, or later willow school houses. There was a shortage of instructional materials, and it is assumed that "such books as had found their way to this frontier were used -- such as the blue-backed speller, an arithmetic book, McGuffey's Readers, The Book of Mormon, etc."
No missionary work was done in Tennessee during the Civil War, but it was begun again by Elder Haden Church, receiving his call on March 17, 1868, hand-delivered to him in St. George, by Erastus Snow who had been in Salt Lake City attending the Territorial Legislature. The call was officially sustained at General Conference on April 8, 1868, and he was set apart on April 9th, 1868, and again was gone about two years. During his time away from his family, his wife, Sarah Ann, helped support their family of five children, by working as a pioneer midwife. I wish we had more stories about Sarah Ann !
This is enough for today. But as we enjoy the blessings of living in this beautiful area, or wherever you readers live, you can think back ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY-TWO years, to what they were experiencing at exactly this exact time of the year! (More history to come.) Condensed from "Histories of Orson Pratt Miles and Ruth Allen Miles and Some of Their Ancestors," pages 67 to 79.
This is the only photograph we have of Haden Wells Church, and it is in
"Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah"
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