133. Samuel Miles returns from Mormon Battalion, gets married, starts his family and fills a mission to California
This is the 3rd entry from Samuel Miles' journal. Entries # 128 and 130 tell of his early life, and his time in the Mormon Battalion. Blog # 131 is a brief history of his life, written by his granddaughter, my aunt Sarah.
This begins after he returned home from California, after working a year at Sutter's Fort after being in the Mormon Battalion.
We arrived at the fort in the Salt lake Valley on the 10th of September 1848. The families who followed the pioneers were living in a fort built of logs and adobes. I found my brother Ira and wife here he having come with the company who followed the pioneers and had returned with some of the Battalion men going to the frontiers. I made my home with them and we bought a log house in the fort where we lived through the winter. I sent one hundred dollars to assist my folks to the valley. I learned of the death of my father who died December 22nd 1847 in St. Louis Missouri on his return from a trip he had taken to see his relatives in Connecticut. He was a true Latter-Day-Saint and an industrious hard working man and reared his family in the faith of the gospel. President Young and the emigrating companies arrived in the valley shortly after we came. The land south of the site for the city was now surveyed into 5 and 10 acre lots for farming. I put my name in for a 10 acre lot and as they were secured by lot I drew one near Millcreek, bought me a yoke of oxen and went to work on my land putting in wheat.
I got me a city lot in the 3rd ward and moved my log house on to it. I found it unfit for a garden from minerals and obtained a lot in the 2nd ward and moved my house onto it. I raised a tolerable good crop of wheat. On the 6th day of Sept 1849 I was married to Hannah Marinda Colborn by Heber C. Kimball. This fall my mother, brothers William and Orson, and sister Sarah arrived from the frontiers. I was joyful to meet them again. They made their homes with us.
I started on the 10th of November with a company of the brethren with ox teams to the gold mines by the southern route to California. We sold our teams here and went by water from San Pedre to San Francisco. We made our way to the mines where we worked through the season generally with very poor success. We arrived at home in the valley, most of us after one year’s absence, with pace animal with little to show for our years work. I found my wife and folks well. I learned the lesson that to stay at home and help to develop the country was better than hunting for gold.
I was ordained a Seventy January 18th 1851 and joined the 8th Quorum. I farmed my land in the field, cultivated my city lot, raised 150 bushels of wheat with other products, settled up my tithing to date, my team was a yoke of oxen. Our first child William Gustavus (Pal's grandfather) was born 13th September, 1851.
My mother (Prudence Marks Miles) died February 9th 1852 after an illness of one week of lung fever. She was a true wife, a devoted Latter-Day-Saint, kind and faithful and a loving mother. Myself and my wife received our endowments in the Council House March 1852. I carried on farming as usual and got me a horse team and built an adobe house 25 by 15, a story and a half high. We moved into it in December 1852.
1853 - I settled my tithing and finished my house, carrying it on my land. On the 25th of December was born to us another son. We called him Samuel.
1854 - Through a severe hailstorm in the vicinity lost most of my wheat crop. Done considerable team work through the season and bought a hay lot in the field for $45 which furnished me with most of the hay needed for my stock, I also bought a good cook-stove at $75. My wife and I enjoyed ourselves very much. We tried to live our religion and attend to our duties as members of the church.
The saints had become numerous in the Valleys of the Mountains and been admitted as a Territory with our beloved President Brigham Young as Governor. From comparative poverty, we had become well supplied with the blessings of the earth by productiveness of the land and the blessing of the Lord. Many of the Elders had been sent to preach to the different nations carrying the Gospel and many were gathered to the mountains to partake of the blessings of the saints. I taught school in the 9th ward near my home through the winter 1854-5.
1855 - I made an effort at carrying on my land this season. It proved a very calamitous season to the saints in most of the settlements through the scourge of grasshoppers. Some corn was raised and in some of the settlements north of the city some wheat. Drought prevailed, there not being sufficient water in our streams to water the land as is our custom. I raised 30 bushels of wheat and 50 of potatoes, settled my tithing as usual.
My father-in-law Thomas Colborn returned from his mission to the United States and Europe (Germany) in October. His family had lived with us during his absence which was since June 1853. I went north to Brigham’s Fort near Ogden and taught school during the winter and thus obtained wheat to help us through the great scarcity that prevailed. I returned home the last of February. My Father-in-law and family moved to his own home near mine. The scarcity of provisions began to be felt much already. Our third son Thomas Colborn Miles was born March 12th 1855. I lost my span of horses turned on the range through the severity of the winter or being stolen. This season cultivated my land, raised a small crop; many had to go without bread before harvest. Scarcity prevailed but sufficient was raised to supply the country. I bought me a yoke of oxen. I went out with my team in company with others to assist the handcart companies who were caught in the mountains in the severity of the early winter storm. (He writes this as being in 1855 -- but the handcart companies came in 1856 ? This is all he mentions about helping the handcart companies. I wish there were more details!)
This scheme of immigrating the saints became popular in bringing in the saints from the old countries.
1856 - I taught school at the Holladay settlement in Big Cottonwood during the winter. Reformation by the saints was the order of the day and a very stirring time among the saints was the result of the efforts put forth to turn the hearts of the people to their religion and devotion to the Lord. All renewed their covenant by baptism.
At the annual Conference on April 7th I was called as a missionary to California to preach the Gospel. I was set apart for my mission by Franklin D. Richards on the 21st. Many were called to go on missions to the east, these to go by hand-carts. I was sealed to my wife in the Council House April 21st. I left my family and other interests in charge of my Father-in-law Thomas Colborn. (He left Hannah with 3 children, ages 4, 2, and almost 1, and was gone 1 year and 9 months.)
I started on my mission May 12, 1856, with David P. Rainy, also a missionary to California, and others to work in the Standard office, a paper then being printed in San Francisco and edited by George Q. Cannon. We assisted in driving a herd of beef cattle belonging to Capt. William H. Hooper thus paying our way to our field of labor. A company of missionaries going to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) also assisted in driving the herd. The herd of cattle, 322 head, were under the charge of William Smith.
When we reached California we received $15 per month for helping drive the stock. The herd remained in Carson Valley to be prepared for the market and we went over the mountains with the teams of Mr. Nexon going for goods, he being a merchant at Carson. We went by the big tree route to Stockton and the Sacramento River to San Francisco where I remained ten days meeting with and enjoying the society of the saints there. On the 10th of July I was appointed to labor in the city of Stockton and vicinity. Bro. James Keeler went with me to try and obtain means to pursue his journey with the other missionaries appointed to the Sandwich Islands. We arrived in Stockton July 22nd and found a few who professed to be Mormons.
A Brother John Abbot was very kind to us giving us a stopping place at his home. We tried to obtain places to hold meetings in, but without success. We held street meetings where roughly used eggs were thrown at us. We started into the country districts holding meetings in many places. Prejudice against our people made it difficult to get at the people.
We returned to Stockton where we received word that the Elders would likely be called home, the government soldiers being on the road to Utah to put down the reported rebellion. We were called into San Francisco by President Cannon. All the saints and Elders were called home. I started with Elder Wandell’s company of saints down the Fullary Valley by the Tejon pass to the Mojave River to join the southern saints going home to Utah. I arrived safely at home the 17th of January 1858 and found my family well. I went to work in the Canyon hauling wood.
The army was held at Ft. Bridger through the winter. The saints now made preparations to move to the South and mostly left the city. I took my family to Lehi and obtained a house for them from Abraham Hatch. I returned and kept guard in the city until arrangements were made through commissioners sent to our people by President Buchannon for the army to be permitted to come in. Our people returned to their homes. I moved my family back in July. Father Colborn and his family went with us to Lehi and returned with us. I attended to putting in some crop and garden then I went to hauling wood from the Canyon. I then commenced teaching school November 15th at Big Cottonwood.
1859 - I enjoyed myself much feeling thankful for the blessings of the Lord to me and my family.
William Gustavus was baptized by Bishop Isaac Hill being 8 years of age (October 22nd date of baptism). I did some farming and worked at wood hauling. I taught school in the seventh ward in Salt Lake City through the winter. Ira was born December 17, 1859. I acted as a ward teacher having as my companion James Leech. We were greatly blessed in our labors.
1860 - I continued my school until the first of March. I carried on my land in the field. My wife spun and prepared the yarn to make us each a suit of clothes. The army began to withdraw from us.
By the elections of November, Abraham Lincoln was chosen President of the United States. The southern states commenced to withdraw, South Carolina taking the lead. I commenced teaching school in the 4th ward December 3rd 1860.
1861 - I taught school 3 months in the 4th ward. I enjoyed the privilege of attending different meetings for instructions from Seventies and Bishops. I acted as a teacher thereby receiving great spiritual strength; assisted the Bishop Isaac Hill in settling up the tithing. The northern and southern states are arrayed against each other, war has commenced. All the Federal troops have left our Territory. I farmed and had good crops and followed wood hauling through the fall. I commenced teaching school in the 8th ward of the city the 18th of November. I was very much blessed with my family prospering in our labors and strengthened in our faith. In view of the conflict in the States and that we might be self sustaining, President Young sent a company to the Southern part of our Territory to raise cotton.
The final part of Samuel Miles' life will come in the next blog -- When he was called to St. George as a pioneer, one year after the first group had gone -- and the rest of his life. He wrote such a detailed journal that it seemed good to include much of it here. Hope you readers enjoy it!
This begins after he returned home from California, after working a year at Sutter's Fort after being in the Mormon Battalion.
We arrived at the fort in the Salt lake Valley on the 10th of September 1848. The families who followed the pioneers were living in a fort built of logs and adobes. I found my brother Ira and wife here he having come with the company who followed the pioneers and had returned with some of the Battalion men going to the frontiers. I made my home with them and we bought a log house in the fort where we lived through the winter. I sent one hundred dollars to assist my folks to the valley. I learned of the death of my father who died December 22nd 1847 in St. Louis Missouri on his return from a trip he had taken to see his relatives in Connecticut. He was a true Latter-Day-Saint and an industrious hard working man and reared his family in the faith of the gospel. President Young and the emigrating companies arrived in the valley shortly after we came. The land south of the site for the city was now surveyed into 5 and 10 acre lots for farming. I put my name in for a 10 acre lot and as they were secured by lot I drew one near Millcreek, bought me a yoke of oxen and went to work on my land putting in wheat.
I got me a city lot in the 3rd ward and moved my log house on to it. I found it unfit for a garden from minerals and obtained a lot in the 2nd ward and moved my house onto it. I raised a tolerable good crop of wheat. On the 6th day of Sept 1849 I was married to Hannah Marinda Colborn by Heber C. Kimball. This fall my mother, brothers William and Orson, and sister Sarah arrived from the frontiers. I was joyful to meet them again. They made their homes with us.
I started on the 10th of November with a company of the brethren with ox teams to the gold mines by the southern route to California. We sold our teams here and went by water from San Pedre to San Francisco. We made our way to the mines where we worked through the season generally with very poor success. We arrived at home in the valley, most of us after one year’s absence, with pace animal with little to show for our years work. I found my wife and folks well. I learned the lesson that to stay at home and help to develop the country was better than hunting for gold.
I was ordained a Seventy January 18th 1851 and joined the 8th Quorum. I farmed my land in the field, cultivated my city lot, raised 150 bushels of wheat with other products, settled up my tithing to date, my team was a yoke of oxen. Our first child William Gustavus (Pal's grandfather) was born 13th September, 1851.
My mother (Prudence Marks Miles) died February 9th 1852 after an illness of one week of lung fever. She was a true wife, a devoted Latter-Day-Saint, kind and faithful and a loving mother. Myself and my wife received our endowments in the Council House March 1852. I carried on farming as usual and got me a horse team and built an adobe house 25 by 15, a story and a half high. We moved into it in December 1852.
1853 - I settled my tithing and finished my house, carrying it on my land. On the 25th of December was born to us another son. We called him Samuel.
1854 - Through a severe hailstorm in the vicinity lost most of my wheat crop. Done considerable team work through the season and bought a hay lot in the field for $45 which furnished me with most of the hay needed for my stock, I also bought a good cook-stove at $75. My wife and I enjoyed ourselves very much. We tried to live our religion and attend to our duties as members of the church.
The saints had become numerous in the Valleys of the Mountains and been admitted as a Territory with our beloved President Brigham Young as Governor. From comparative poverty, we had become well supplied with the blessings of the earth by productiveness of the land and the blessing of the Lord. Many of the Elders had been sent to preach to the different nations carrying the Gospel and many were gathered to the mountains to partake of the blessings of the saints. I taught school in the 9th ward near my home through the winter 1854-5.
1855 - I made an effort at carrying on my land this season. It proved a very calamitous season to the saints in most of the settlements through the scourge of grasshoppers. Some corn was raised and in some of the settlements north of the city some wheat. Drought prevailed, there not being sufficient water in our streams to water the land as is our custom. I raised 30 bushels of wheat and 50 of potatoes, settled my tithing as usual.
My father-in-law Thomas Colborn returned from his mission to the United States and Europe (Germany) in October. His family had lived with us during his absence which was since June 1853. I went north to Brigham’s Fort near Ogden and taught school during the winter and thus obtained wheat to help us through the great scarcity that prevailed. I returned home the last of February. My Father-in-law and family moved to his own home near mine. The scarcity of provisions began to be felt much already. Our third son Thomas Colborn Miles was born March 12th 1855. I lost my span of horses turned on the range through the severity of the winter or being stolen. This season cultivated my land, raised a small crop; many had to go without bread before harvest. Scarcity prevailed but sufficient was raised to supply the country. I bought me a yoke of oxen. I went out with my team in company with others to assist the handcart companies who were caught in the mountains in the severity of the early winter storm. (He writes this as being in 1855 -- but the handcart companies came in 1856 ? This is all he mentions about helping the handcart companies. I wish there were more details!)
This scheme of immigrating the saints became popular in bringing in the saints from the old countries.
1856 - I taught school at the Holladay settlement in Big Cottonwood during the winter. Reformation by the saints was the order of the day and a very stirring time among the saints was the result of the efforts put forth to turn the hearts of the people to their religion and devotion to the Lord. All renewed their covenant by baptism.
At the annual Conference on April 7th I was called as a missionary to California to preach the Gospel. I was set apart for my mission by Franklin D. Richards on the 21st. Many were called to go on missions to the east, these to go by hand-carts. I was sealed to my wife in the Council House April 21st. I left my family and other interests in charge of my Father-in-law Thomas Colborn. (He left Hannah with 3 children, ages 4, 2, and almost 1, and was gone 1 year and 9 months.)
I started on my mission May 12, 1856, with David P. Rainy, also a missionary to California, and others to work in the Standard office, a paper then being printed in San Francisco and edited by George Q. Cannon. We assisted in driving a herd of beef cattle belonging to Capt. William H. Hooper thus paying our way to our field of labor. A company of missionaries going to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) also assisted in driving the herd. The herd of cattle, 322 head, were under the charge of William Smith.
When we reached California we received $15 per month for helping drive the stock. The herd remained in Carson Valley to be prepared for the market and we went over the mountains with the teams of Mr. Nexon going for goods, he being a merchant at Carson. We went by the big tree route to Stockton and the Sacramento River to San Francisco where I remained ten days meeting with and enjoying the society of the saints there. On the 10th of July I was appointed to labor in the city of Stockton and vicinity. Bro. James Keeler went with me to try and obtain means to pursue his journey with the other missionaries appointed to the Sandwich Islands. We arrived in Stockton July 22nd and found a few who professed to be Mormons.
A Brother John Abbot was very kind to us giving us a stopping place at his home. We tried to obtain places to hold meetings in, but without success. We held street meetings where roughly used eggs were thrown at us. We started into the country districts holding meetings in many places. Prejudice against our people made it difficult to get at the people.
We returned to Stockton where we received word that the Elders would likely be called home, the government soldiers being on the road to Utah to put down the reported rebellion. We were called into San Francisco by President Cannon. All the saints and Elders were called home. I started with Elder Wandell’s company of saints down the Fullary Valley by the Tejon pass to the Mojave River to join the southern saints going home to Utah. I arrived safely at home the 17th of January 1858 and found my family well. I went to work in the Canyon hauling wood.
The army was held at Ft. Bridger through the winter. The saints now made preparations to move to the South and mostly left the city. I took my family to Lehi and obtained a house for them from Abraham Hatch. I returned and kept guard in the city until arrangements were made through commissioners sent to our people by President Buchannon for the army to be permitted to come in. Our people returned to their homes. I moved my family back in July. Father Colborn and his family went with us to Lehi and returned with us. I attended to putting in some crop and garden then I went to hauling wood from the Canyon. I then commenced teaching school November 15th at Big Cottonwood.
1859 - I enjoyed myself much feeling thankful for the blessings of the Lord to me and my family.
William Gustavus was baptized by Bishop Isaac Hill being 8 years of age (October 22nd date of baptism). I did some farming and worked at wood hauling. I taught school in the seventh ward in Salt Lake City through the winter. Ira was born December 17, 1859. I acted as a ward teacher having as my companion James Leech. We were greatly blessed in our labors.
1860 - I continued my school until the first of March. I carried on my land in the field. My wife spun and prepared the yarn to make us each a suit of clothes. The army began to withdraw from us.
1861 - I taught school 3 months in the 4th ward. I enjoyed the privilege of attending different meetings for instructions from Seventies and Bishops. I acted as a teacher thereby receiving great spiritual strength; assisted the Bishop Isaac Hill in settling up the tithing. The northern and southern states are arrayed against each other, war has commenced. All the Federal troops have left our Territory. I farmed and had good crops and followed wood hauling through the fall. I commenced teaching school in the 8th ward of the city the 18th of November. I was very much blessed with my family prospering in our labors and strengthened in our faith. In view of the conflict in the States and that we might be self sustaining, President Young sent a company to the Southern part of our Territory to raise cotton.
The final part of Samuel Miles' life will come in the next blog -- When he was called to St. George as a pioneer, one year after the first group had gone -- and the rest of his life. He wrote such a detailed journal that it seemed good to include much of it here. Hope you readers enjoy it!
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