and his family second edition

i

History of

Abraham Hunsaker and His Family Second Edition

iii

History of

Abraham Hunsakerand His Family

EDITORS

GWEN HUNSAKER HAWS

KENNETH B. HUNSAKER

Abraham Hunsaker Family Organization2001

Second Edition

iv

Second EditionPublished 2001 by

Abraham Hunsaker Family OrganizationKENNETH B. HUNSAKER, President

545 East 1000 NorthLogan, Utah 84321

435-752-8658e-mail [email protected]

Typesetting and Electronic Page MakeupGWEN HUNSAKER HAWS

1646 East 1185 NorthLogan, Utah 84341

435-752-9292e-mail [email protected]

Printing byPUBLISHERS PRESS

1900 West 2300 SouthSalt Lake City, Utah 84119

First Edition

Copyright 1957was published by

Hunsaker Family OrganizationEDITORS

Q MAURICE HUNSAKER

GWEN HUNSAKER HAWS

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Contents Contents Contents Contents ContentsPreface to First Edition viiPreface to Second Edition ix

Part I. The Ancestors of AbrahamPart I. The Ancestors of AbrahamPart I. The Ancestors of AbrahamPart I. The Ancestors of AbrahamPart I. The Ancestors of Abraham 11111

Chapter 1. Our Hunsaker Forefathers—Hartmann to Abraham 3

Part II. History of Abraham HunsakerPart II. History of Abraham HunsakerPart II. History of Abraham HunsakerPart II. History of Abraham HunsakerPart II. History of Abraham Hunsaker 1515151515

Chapter 2. Abraham’s Early History as Recorded in His Journal 16Chapter 3. Exodus from Nauvoo 24Chapter 4. The Mormon Battalion 28Chapter 5. Homeward Bound from California 40Chapter 6. The Last One Thousand Miles 42Chapter 7. Emigration of the Hunsaker Family, 1848 45Chapter 8. The Early Years in Utah 48Chapter 9. The Call to Carson Valley 57Chapter 10. The Hunsakers Settle in Brigham City 62Chapter 11. Honeyville, Home of the Hunsakers 76

Part III. His Family 93Part III. His Family 93Part III. His Family 93Part III. His Family 93Part III. His Family 93

Chapter 12. Sketches of Eliza Collins Hunsaker and Children 94 Mary Hunsaker Grant 100 Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead Boothe 102 Lewis Hunsaker 104 Allen Collins Hunsaker 105 Sarah Hunsaker Trimmer 108 Abraham Hunsaker, Jr. 110 Isaac Hunsaker 112 Israel Hunsaker 114 Franklin Hunsaker 117 Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)son 119

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Chapter 13. Sketches of Harriet Vernisha Beckstead Hunsakerand Children 121

Alexander Beckstead Hunsaker 125 Catherine Hunsaker Winward 127 Hyrum Hunsaker 129 Joseph Hunsaker 131 Enoch Hartman Hunsaker 133 Cyrus Hunsaker 135 John Luce Hunsaker 137 Gordon Walter Hunsaker 139 Elzarus Hunaker 141 Harriet Hunsaker Lewis 143 Daniel William Hunsaker 145 Lemuel Hunsaker 147

Chapter 14. Sketches of Margaret Sweeten Hunsaker and Children 149 Mary Ann Hunsaker Willie 153 Lorenzo Hunsaker 155 Idumea Hunsaker Zundel 157 Robert Sweeten Hunsaker 159

Chapter 15. Sketches of Ane Cathrine Jensen Hunsaker and Children 161 Anna Mariah Hunsaker Grant 165 Margaret Hunsaker Hawks 167 Julia Hunsaker Loveland 169 Esther Hunsaker Wagstaff 171 Hans Peter Hunsaker 173 Benham Hunsaker 175 Leo Hunsaker 177 Newman Hunsaker 179

Chapter 16. Sketches of Mary Luckham Hunsaker and Children 181 Susannah Hunsaker Graham 183 Martha Hunsaker Harper 185 Weldon Hunsaker 188 Oakham Hunsaker 190

Index 191About the Authors, Editors, Artist 198

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Preface to FPreface to FPreface to FPreface to FPreface to First Editionirst Editionirst Editionirst Editionirst EditionThis volume is prepared for and respectfully dedicated to the

descendants of Abraham Hunsaker. An exact count of the descendants ofthis sturdy pioneer and Mormon Battalion veteran is difficult to obtain, but,as accurately as can be determined, the number is 4,924 in 1957.

To Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl and Orpha Hunsaker Stohl goes credit forgathering most of the information presented in Parts I and II of this book.Gwen Hunsaker Haws accepts responsibility for the editorial work in thesetwo sections.

The sketches in Part III [wives and children of Abraham Hunsaker] arethe product of many persons’ efforts, and credit lines are given at the endof each sketch to the person or persons preparing it. The writers of somesketches are unknown; therefore, such sketches have been checked bysome representative of the family concerned in order to assure accuracy.Special mention should be made, however, of the work of Orpha HunsakerStohl, Helen Hunsaker Allen, Vernetta Hunsaker Wintle, and AleenHunsaker Hansen in gathering information and photographs for thissection. Necessary editing and correcting of family history data was doneby Q Maurice Hunsaker in order to make all family sketches as consistentas possible in length and content.

In publishing the original diary or journal of Abraham Hunsaker, wehave attempted to preserve his thoughts exactly as he wrote them. Somepersons in reading through this journal may feel that we should havecorrected some of his writing to conform to present-day usage. By ourstandards, Abraham may have needed some improvement in his spellingand mechanics of writing, but we hope that you will keep in mind that he didvery well for his day. You will note in the text that only one in three of aMissouri company of soldiers could even sign his name and that thepaymaster at Ft. Leavenworth was amazed to see that every man in theMormon Battalion could write. We have specific record of only three or fourmonths schooling for Abraham Hunsaker, but he obviously had more—ifhe could learn so much in three or four months we are even moreimpressed. You will note throughout his history that he was always a leaderin getting schools started and that when no schools were available, classes

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were taught in his home for his children and others. To anyone temptedto criticize Abraham‘s writing, we suggest also that you stop to considerhow your writing might appear a century from now.

We felt that the descendants of Abraham Hunsaker would rather readhis journal just as he wrote it rather than as we think he should havewritten it. We have, however, broken the writings into paragraphs andsentences to make reading easier. In the original journal, Abrahamwould write for pages without a sentence or paragraph break. Werationalized that we could aid the reader by inserting a few periods,commas, and capitals and by breaking it into paragraphs withoutchanging the flavor of Abraham’s writing. The words and spelling are his;our interpretations or insertions, which have been kept to the absoluteminimum necessary for clarity, are set off in brackets.

We have used Abraham’s journal to tell the story of the periods thatit covered; however, there are many years not included in the journal.Several historical sources and traditional stories in the family have beenused to fill in the events of these intervening years. The journal is set offin italics, and we have tried to document the other sources as accuratelyas we can.

Our admiration for Abraham Hunsaker and appreciation for theheritage he left us has been greatly increased by the information in thisvolume; we hope others of his descendants may also benefit from itscontents.

—Q MAURICE HUNSAKER and GWEN HUNSAKER HAWS, Editors

Approved by the Hunsaker Family Organization, August 10, 1957

REUEL W. HUNSAKER, PresidentQ MAURICE HUNSAKER, First Vice PresidentWILLIAM E. HUNSAKER, Second Vice PresidentH. B. HUNSAKER, Secretary

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Preface to Second EditionPreface to Second EditionPreface to Second EditionPreface to Second EditionPreface to Second Edition

Shortly after the printing of the First Edition, a sequel was planned thatwould include life sketches and pictures of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and other adult posterity. As the years have gone by, thenumber of descendants has increased exponentially. Whileprocrastination has brought computers and genealogy programs to makeour task easier, it has also resulted in huge numbers of “seeds” to count andaccount for.

Like Abraham of the Old Testament, Abraham Hunsaker hasdescendants almost as numerous as the sands of the sea; hence wecontemplated naming our volume—The Seed of Abraham. It is interestingthat Abraham’s patriarchal blessing, given by Patriarch John Smith 21 April1841 in Adams County, Illinois, promises “thy posterity shall become sogreat a multitude that they cannot be numbered.”

In addition to the large numbers, another complication has come withthe recent concern about individual rights of privacy, making it difficult, if notillegal, to publish information about living persons. With this in mind, we areabandoning the concept of The Seed of Abraham. The out-of-print FirstEdition, however, is being reprinted without enlarging its scope. Some newinformation and illustrations have been added regarding Abraham’shistory, but the number of generations covered has not changed.

Part I, The Ancestors of Abraham, is essentially the same as itappeared in the First Edition. Further information on this topic can be foundin A History of the Hunsaker Family in Early America and Switzerlandwritten and published by Q Maurice Hunsaker in 1993. Q’s nephew, Dr.Donald B. Croft, assisted him in completing and arranging for printing that1993 publication.

Part II, History of Abraham Hunsaker, is also very much the same as inthe First Edition. There are a few corrections, additions, and some newillustrations. Further documentation and details can be found in ADocumented History of Abraham Hunsaker, Section One, The NauvooPeriod, published by the Hunsaker Family Organization in 1979, andSection Two, Mormon Battalion Period, researched and compiled byZenda Hunsaker Hull, published by the Hunsaker Family Organization in1981.

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Part III, His Family, where we had planned extensive additions, remainsthe same as the 1957 First Edition, except for some changes in spelling ofnames and corrections and additions of some dates. If there arediscrepancies in names and dates between the First Edition and theSecond Edition, we have considered The Documented History of AbrahamHunsaker and his wives to be the most accurate information on Abraham’swives and children. For the grandchildren, we have used personal recordsand current genealogical databases. Where we have been aware that aperson was known by his or her middle name, that name is underlined.

We thank those who sent photos, histories, and family group sheets inresponse to our request for The Seed of Abraham material. We regret thatnew privacy policies and a litigious atmosphere prohibit us from publishingthat volume. Information and pictures will be returned to familyrepresentatives where possible, although this will be difficult as so manyindividuals and addresses have changed.

Hopefully smaller family organizations can tie to these children andgrandchildren of Abraham and extend their individual family lines.

—GWEN HUNSAKER HAWS and KENNETH B. HUNSAKER, Editors

Abraham Hunsaker Family Organization

KENNETH B. HUNSAKER, PresidentALLEN C. CHRISTENSEN, Vice PresidentCAROL LYNN C. HUNSAKER, Secretary

1OUR HUNSAKER FOREFATHERS—ABRAHAM TO HARTMANN

PPPPPart Iart Iart Iart Iart I

The AncestorsThe AncestorsThe AncestorsThe AncestorsThe Ancestors of Abr of Abr of Abr of Abr of Abrahamahamahamahamaham

2 ABRAHAM HUNSAKER AND HIS FAMILY


2William Henry Egle (Ed.), Names of ForeignersWho Took the Oath of Allegiance to the Provinceand State of Pennsylvania, 1727-1775, with ForeignArrivals, 1786-1808. Harrisburg, Pa.: Edwin K.Meyers, State Printer, 1892, pp. 25-28.

The name Martin Hunsecker is also listed amongpassengers of the Pennsylvania Merchant.

3Some evidence was found by Aleen HunsakerHansen from historical research in Washington, D.C., to indicate that Hartmann Hunsaker was born inWeisbaden, East Laben, Germany and that his wifeAnna’s maiden name was Stirtz.

4Concerning this record, Meltrude Hunsaker Stohlwrote: “Grandfather’s record, as we knew it, was inan ordinary account book and all in his ownhandwriting. It began with Hartmann Hunsaker andended with his own posterity. This record was lastseen . . . in about 1935. . . .

“. . . His family record . . . must have been gleanedfrom old Family Bibles, and other old Family Records.

“We have no doubt that upon [at least] threeoccasions, Abraham Hunsaker spent a few weeks ormonths doing missionary work among his own peoplein Illinois and elsewhere, as well as collecting records.”

Chapter 1Chapter 1Chapter 1Chapter 1Chapter 1

Our Hunsaker Forefathers—Our Hunsaker Forefathers—Our Hunsaker Forefathers—Our Hunsaker Forefathers—Our Hunsaker Forefathers—Hartmann to AbrHartmann to AbrHartmann to AbrHartmann to AbrHartmann to Abrahamahamahamahamaham

Hartmann HunsakerHartmann HunsakerHartmann HunsakerHartmann HunsakerHartmann Hunsaker

EDITORS’ NOTE: Q Maurice Hunsaker in hisbook, A History of the Hunsaker Familyin Early America and Switzerland,1 makesa supposition that Hartmann may have beennamed Johannes Hartmann Hunzicker(pages 3 and 30) with an ancestor namedMelchior Hunzicker (page 33). As thispublication goes to press, we have receivedno documentation verifying the relationshipof these people to the Hartmann Hunsakerwho landed in Pennsylvania in 1731

Hartmann Hunsaker, our immigrant an-cestor, arrived in Philadelphia, 10 Septem-ber 1731, aboard the ship Pennsylvania Mer-chant; John Stedman was master of the ves-sel. The ship’s record stated that it had sailedfrom Rotterdam, Holland; its passengers wereGerman-speaking emigrants from the coun-tries of Switzerland and Germany.

The next day these immigrants were per-mitted to land, after having first signed apledge of allegiance to Pennsylvania. A list ofthe ship’s passengers showed the followingmembers of the Hunsaker family.2 HartmannHunsaker (spelled Hartman Huntseker); over16 years of age—Anna, Eliz. (Elizabeth), andFrena (called Verene in other records ); under16 years—Ursse (spelled Ursula, Orcel, and

Orsula in other records), Meyer (called Maryin other records ), Anna, and Hannes (laterreferred to as Johannes or John). The firstAnna is assumed to be Hartmann’s wife, asthere is a child Anna.3

Hartmann must have been about 40years old at the time of his arrival in America,since he was the parent of two daughters over16 years of age; this would place the year ofhis birth about 1690.

In his record book4 Abraham Hunsakerlists Barbara Miller as Hartmann’s wife; how-

1Q Maurice Hunsaker, A History of theHunsaker Family in Early America and Switzerland,Hunsaker Family Organization, 1993, 264 pp.


4Another Hunsaker who apparently tookadvantage of the religious freedom offered inPennsylvania was Valentine Hunsicker, who arrivedat Germantown 14 years before Hartmann. We haveno proof as yet that any blood relationship existedbetween Hartmann and Valentine.

Valentine Hunsicker was born in the Canton ofZurich, Switzerland, in the year 1700. His parentsdied when he was a small child, leaving him in thecare of his mother’s people, Valentine Klemmer andhis wife. In 1717, the Klemmers and their 17-year-old grandson, with others of their relatives and friendsbelonging to the Mennonite Church, sailed forAmerica. After a short stay at Germantown,Pennsylvania, these emigrants pushed on farther intothe forests of Pennsylvania to Van Bebber, later calledSkippack, in Montgomery County. Here ValentineHunsicker assisted his Uncle Henry Klemmer to buildthe second Mennonite meeting house in America.(Taken from the Valentine Hunsicker Genealogy.)

ever, the record of Hartmann’s landing inPhiladelphia would indicate that his wife’sname was Anna. An explanation of this in-consistency is found in an old Swiss Bibleowned by Robert Hunsaker, who was a sonof Samuel Y. Hunsaker, who was a son ofSamuel, the youngest son of John Hunsaker,who came from Switzerland with his fatherHartmann. This old Swiss Bible names Bar-bara Miller as the mother of John’s wife,Magdalena Birg [Bieri], which would meanthat Barbara was John’s mother-in-law insteadof his mother. This Bible names the daugh-ters of Hartmann and their husbands, exactlyas does Abraham’s record; the second mar-riage of Hartmann is also mentioned in thisBible as are the names of the three daugh-ters—Catherine, Eva, and Elizabeth—withtheir husbands.

Hartmann Hunsaker and his family firstlocated at Germantown, Pennsylvania, a shortdistance from Philadelphia. But Germantownwas not their ultimate destination; they pushedon through Pennsylvania forests until theyreached an area in Lancaster County. Therethey found fertile farm lands and many neigh-bors who spoke their language and worshipedat the same church.

That Hartmann and his family came toAmerica to find religious freedom seems cer-tain since they were members of the DunkardSociety and they lived in Europe at a timewhen persecutions were heaped upon thosemen and women who forsook the establishedChurch. That they were religious outcasts isalso indicated by the fact that they settled in

Pennsylvania, where William Penn had of-fered homes to religious dissenters whowanted to enjoy liberty in matters of religion.4

We have no record of Hartmann’s deathdate. From the family records of some ofJohn’s sons, we learn that the Hunsaker fam-ily left Lancaster County, Pennsylvania andbegan to travel westward about 1789. Somedescendants of Hartmann have speculatedthat inasmuch as families often scatter anddrift apart after the death of the head of thefamily that Hartmann’s death may have oc-curred some time in the 1780s. His remainsprobably lie in some Dunkard burial ground,most likely in Lancaster County, Pennsylva-nia.


Children of Hartmann HunsakerChildren of Hartmann HunsakerChildren of Hartmann HunsakerChildren of Hartmann HunsakerChildren of Hartmann Hunsaker

NAME BORN DIED MARRIED

BY ANNA (LAST NAME UNKNOWN):Elizabeth Over 16 on

11 Sep 1731 Jacob GathVerene Over 16 on

11 Sep 1731 John RothUrsula (Ursse) Under 16 on

11 Sep 1731 Benjamin LandisR. Kopf

Mary (Meyer) Under 16 on11 Sep 1731 Casper Rowland

Anna Under 16 on11 Sep 1731 Louis Mohler

John (Hannes) 22 May 1728 July 1815 Magdelina Bieri (Birg)

BY _________ (NAME OF SECOND WIFE UNKNOWN):Catherine John Bieri (Birg)Eva John WeldyElizabeth Abraham Bieri (Birg)


JJJJJohn Hunsakerohn Hunsakerohn Hunsakerohn Hunsakerohn Hunsaker

John Hunsaker was born 22 May 1728in Switzerland, and was only three years oldwhen his family landed at Philadelphia. TheHunsakers settled first at Germantown, Penn-sylvania; it is not known how long they stayedthere but by 15 May 1750 when John mar-ried Magdalena Bieri (Birg), the family hadlocated in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.Magdalena was born 3 January 1732 in Penn-sylvania, a daughter of Barbara Miller andNicholaus Bieri (Birg).

5The Chronicles of Border Warfare records an incident in June 1791 where Indians invaded the settlementon Dunkard Creek in the County of Monongalia, West Virginia. A Mr. Hunsaker, his wife, and child weremurdered on the dividing ridge between Dunkard and Fish Creeks. The Hunsaker in this book is spelledHandsucker.

A. H. Hunsaker, Hunsaker Garage, 222 Hull Alley, Fairmont, West Virginia, wrote in a letter dated 19October 1946: “The place where Hunsaker was killed is not far from where I live, about twenty miles. I havebeen to the spot where the murder was committed. There is a high knob on the ridge that . . . has always goneby the name of Hunsaker Knob. . . . There is no doubt in my mind, that this is the same family. . . . This bookgives about a year’s difference in the date . . . but that could very easily be.” This A. H. Hunsaker is a directdescendant of Hartmann Hunsaker through John, Nicholaus, John, and John.

The deaths of John Hunsaker, his wife, and child are also reported in Q Maurice Hunsaker’s book, AHistory of the Hunsaker Family in Early America and Switzerland, 1993, pp 178-181.

John and Magdalena had 13 children,all born in Lancaster County.

By 1790, some members of the familyof John and Magdalena were in various coun-ties of Kentucky. John and Magdalena, withsome of their sons and daughters, made theirhome in Muhlenberg County. HereMagdalena died in 1796, about 14 years be-fore the Hunsakers migrated into southernIllinois, where they were led by 83-year-oldJohn. The place where the families settledwas later known as Jonesboro, Union County,Illinois; John Hunsaker was buried in theDunkard graveyard there in 1815.

Children of John Hunsaker and Magdelina Bieri (Birg)Children of John Hunsaker and Magdelina Bieri (Birg)Children of John Hunsaker and Magdelina Bieri (Birg)Children of John Hunsaker and Magdelina Bieri (Birg)Children of John Hunsaker and Magdelina Bieri (Birg)


Abraham 13 Jan 1751 In infancyJohn5 16 Sep 1752 18 Apr 1792 Elizabeth HuberBarbara 6 May 1754 27 Jul 1788Nicholaus 3 Feb 1756 28 Mar 1790 Catherine SnyderHartmann 20 Aug 1757 In infancyJacob 6 May 1759 11 Mar 1831 Catherine HuffmanJoseph 20 May 1761 25 Sep 1844 Margaret StevensonAbriam 25 Apr 1763 13 Nov 1841 Mary SnyderGeorge 12 Mar 1766 1845 Susannah MosureCatherine 5 Mar 1769Magdalena 24 Mar 1770 Valentine Leslie

Abner KeithAndrew 5 Jul 1772 17 Oct 1843 Mary RhodesSamuel 22 Nov 1777 27 Feb 1864 Hannah Rhodes


JJJJJacob Hunsakeracob Hunsakeracob Hunsakeracob Hunsakeracob Hunsaker, Sr, Sr, Sr, Sr, Sr.....

Jacob Hunsaker was born 6 May 1759in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and mar-ried Catherine Huffman (Kathrine Hufman)in the same county in about 1779. Little isknown of Catherine Huffman except that shewas born in Germany.

About 1790 the family of Jacob andCatherine, together with many Hunsakerfamilies, left their homes in Pennsylvania and

journeyed into Kentucky, finally settling inMuhlenberg County. Later they moved toUnion County in southern Illinois, where theywere among the first settlers in Jonesboro.Jacob died 11 March 1831 at Jonesboro,where he was buried in the Dunkard grave-yard; his wife lived to be 84 and was buriedin the same graveyard.

Children of Jacob Hunsaker, Sr. and Catherine HuffmanChildren of Jacob Hunsaker, Sr. and Catherine HuffmanChildren of Jacob Hunsaker, Sr. and Catherine HuffmanChildren of Jacob Hunsaker, Sr. and Catherine HuffmanChildren of Jacob Hunsaker, Sr. and Catherine Huffman


Anna 19 Apr 1780 29 Dec 1841 George Wolf

John Abt. 1781 In infancy --------------------

Jacob, Jr. 4 Dec 1781 26 Jan 1845 Polly Luce

Elizabeth Brown

Barbara 1784 1788 --------------------

George 12 Mar 1786 2 Feb 1881 Elizabeth Cokenower

Isabel Ellis

Catherine 6 Oct 1792 11 May 1861 Daniel Kimmel (Kimble)

Mary 23 Mar 1795 9 May 1831 Louis J. Simpson

Sarah 1797 John Hughs

Abraham 1799 1869 Polly Price


6Although this name appears in Abraham’s diaryas Nancy Mourton, other records show William Luce’swife to be Nancy Ann Newman. A letter from GeorgiaCrosthwaite, 9201 Imperial Avenue, Garden Grove,California, dated 4 April 1955 indicates a thirdpossibility. Miss Crosthwaite wrote, “You have it [AnnLuce’s maiden name] as Newman and our familytradition says it was Green(e).”

JJJJJacob Hunsakeracob Hunsakeracob Hunsakeracob Hunsakeracob Hunsaker, Jr, Jr, Jr, Jr, Jr.....

Jacob, Jr. was born 4 December 1781in Fayette County, Pennsylvania and wasabout nine years old when the family movedto Kentucky. In Muhlenberg County on 15February 1808, Jacob Hunsaker, Jr. and PollyLuce were married. Polly, born 24 Septem-ber 1790, was the eldest of the 11 childrenof Nancy Ann Newman (or Mourton orGreen)6 and William Luce. William Luce hadmoved to Muhlenberg County from Long Is-land, New York, where his parents had settledafter their emigration from the mountains ofWales. Will Luce and Nancy Newman weremarried 7 March 1788 in Nelson County.

Jacob and Polly’s first two children—Nancy and John Luce—were born inMuhlenberg County. Not long after the birthof their second child, they moved to UnionCounty in southern Il l inois. Here inJonesboro, Abraham Hunsaker, the third childof Jacob and Polly Luce Hunsaker, was bornin a little log cabin on 29 November 1812.Two other children came to that humblehome—Catherine and Jacob T. When JacobT. was little more than a year old, Polly, themother, passed away 21 November 1819leaving five motherless children.

On 9 March 1820 Jacob Hunsaker mar-ried Elizabeth Brown. Their first four childrenwere born in Jonesboro, the last five in AdamsCounty, Illinois.

Some of Abraham’s children recall thestories he told of life in Jonesboro in thoseearly days. The stories that he used to tell ofthe bands of ferocious wolves that roamedthrough the timber, filling the night with ter-ror because of their hideous wolf howls, madethe youngsters creep up close to their father,while they listened eagerly for the climax ofthe story.

That Abraham had a wholesome fear ofthose creatures was evident as he told of someof the tasks that he was required to performon the outskirts of the village. He used to tellof the improvised mill for grinding flour ormeal. It was operated by a long sweep or polewith a horse hitched near the outer end ofthe pole. This mill was set up at the edge ofthe clearing. It was Abraham’s job to put inthe grain and take out the flour or meal, whilehis little brother, Jacob T., rode the horse anddid the necessary urging to keep the animalat the proper gait to keep the mill grinding.

The forest was so near and the wolvesmade such hideous noises that it required alot of determination on the part of the twonervous boys to prevent them from abandon-ing the milling operations and scampering forhome. As they pursued their duties and lis-tened to the hungry wolves, the boys wouldrecall the story of the man traveling throughthe timber on horseback who was attackedby a band of those wolves. Having no weaponwith which to defend himself, he was almostoverpowered when he came to an abandonedlog hut, where he was able to protect himselfuntil help arrived. There were many suchtales—some that didn’t end so well for theperson under attack. So it is small wonderthat little Jacob, as he urged his horse around


the path of the mill sweep would cry out tohis older brother, “Abe, Abe! They’re com-ing closer! They’re coming closer!”

When Abraham was about 14 years old,part of the Hunsaker families moved again,

Children of Jacob Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Jacob Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Jacob Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Jacob Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Jacob Hunsaker, Jr.


BY POLLY LUCE:

Nancy 10 Feb 1809 Dec 1869 Jacob Wigle

John Luce 5 Nov 1810 25 Dec 1863 Martha Lemmons

Abraham 29 Nov 1812 3 Jan 1889 Eliza Collins

Harriet Beckstead

Margaret Sweeten

Cathrine Jensen

Mary Luckham

Catherine 30 Sep 1814 27 Apr 1893 John Wigle

Jacob T. 20 Jul 1818 20 Aug 1889 Emily Collins

BY ELIZABETH BROWN:

Mary Ann 29 Mar 1821 Sep 1860 --------------------

Barbara 10 Mar 1823 William J. Simpson

George Brown 28 Mar 1825 1884 --------------------

Joseph 11 Jan 1827 --------------------

Daniel Kimmel 10 Feb 1829 1852 --------------------

Elizabeth 14 Sep 1832 John C. Simpson

Eliza Jane 20 Apr 1834 1856 --------------------

Matilda 1 May 1836 1840 --------------------

Manerva 23 Jan 1839 1907 John Duff

this time to Adams County, Illinois, a distanceof some 800 miles.

Jacob Hunsaker died 26 January 1845and was buried in the Dunkard graveyard, 15miles east of Quincy, Illinois.


TTTTTrrrrraditions in theaditions in theaditions in theaditions in theaditions in theHunsaker FHunsaker FHunsaker FHunsaker FHunsaker Familyamilyamilyamilyamily

OrOrOrOrOrigin of the Nameigin of the Nameigin of the Nameigin of the Nameigin of the Name

The following information on the originof the Hunsaker name is quoted from the Val-entine Hunsicker Genealogy:7

In the center of the Black Forest about 70miles from Zurich, the Huns, probably duringthe time of Attila’s invasion, made theirheadquarters. This tribe left its name onlandmarks: Hunruck (ridge); Hunsback(creek); etc. Among them is Hunseck, orHuns valley. The German name ecke, orcorner, is common in valley locations in theBlack Forest (Schwarzwald). It has come tomean the end of the valley that widens out.There are Longeck (Long Valley); Rotheck(Red Valley); and Hunseck (Huns Valley).

The large part of the family names in thispart of the world are derived from the localitywith which the early stock was identified. Weeasily infer that the name Hunsiker camefrom Hunseck.

The Hunsaker Coat of ArmsThe Hunsaker Coat of ArmsThe Hunsaker Coat of ArmsThe Hunsaker Coat of ArmsThe Hunsaker Coat of Arms

A pen sketch of the Hunsaker Coat ofArms was among the notes and papers thatGertrude G. Baird sent to Joseph Hunsaker,son of Abraham, following his visit to Swit-zerland about 1885. Mrs. Baird was a Swiss-

German who was hired by Joseph to do re-search for the Hunsaker family. She foundthe coat of arms in the archives at Aargau,Switzerland.

Later in 1935, Meltrude and OrphaHunsaker Stohl hired Mrs. Baird to reproducethe coat of arms in its original colors—red,silver, green, and gold. The darker parts ofthe drawing were red, and the white areassilver; the three mounds were green; the starsand some trim lines were gold. Mrs. Bairdalso sent the following explanation of themeaning of the Hunsaker Coat of Arms:

The main figure in the Shield is the Canineor Mastiff. That figure signifies Courage andTenacity. It also signifies Trustworthiness andDevotion.

The bearer of such a Coat of Arms musthave been a person who would endure severepersecution, even risking his life and all thathe possessed in defense of his Sovereign orof his country.

7This quotation came in a letter dated August1947 from Jerome C. Hunsaker, Department ofAeronautical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute ofTechnology, Cambridge 39, Massachusetts. JeromeC. Hunsaker is a direct descendant of HartmannHunsaker through John, Nicholaus, Jacob, GeorgeTroutman, and Walter Jerome.


It also signifies alertness, quickness toobserve, quickness to sense danger; yetsteadfast and gentle in nature.

The Mount, or hill, signifies Strength; as thestrength of soul that comes from the Earth.Three Mounts, or hills, denote three mainsources of strength to nurture and strengthenthe character described above.

The Mullet or star represents some Divinequality as received from the Heavens above.

Meaning: His virtues shine as a star inHeaven.

The name is spelled in various ways:Hunsaker, Hunzaker, Hunsiker, Hunsicker,Hunziker, Hunzicker, and Huntseker.

Earl Hunsaker Stohl, while serving as amissionary in the Swiss-German Mission in1936, saw the Hunsaker Coat of Arms dis-played in many places and clipped a copyfrom a Swiss newspaper.

Julius Billiter, genealogist, who has doneresearch for the Hunsaker family in Switzer-land, says he has records of thousands ofHunsakers in that land, but so far he has beenunable to find the connecting link betweenthe people there and Hartmann Hunsaker,our immigrant ancestor. Of the coat of arms,he says, “In all probability it belonged as muchto your ancestral line as to the people whohave adopted it over here.”

From this same Canton of Aargau, theletter quoted below was sent to JosephHunsaker by the county clerk. Although theinformation in this letter has never been fur-ther proved nor disproved, it is included herefor what it may be worth. The letter has beentranslated from German.

Aargau, SwitzerlandAugust 11, 1886

Mr. Joseph HunzikerPostgasse 36Bern, Switzerland

Upon your announcement in the“Aargauer Nachrichten” (Aargau News) andthe “Aargauer Anzeiger” (AargauIntelligencer) wherein you ask for informationregarding the community from which a Mr.Hartmann Hunziker with his six children in1730 emigrated from Switzerland to theUnited States, I took pains with looking upold Financial Reports preserved in theAargau-State-Archives from the formerBernese County of Lenzburg where Hunzikerpeople have been quite numerous. It wasworth the trouble for I was fortunate enoughto find in the Report of July 1st, 1730, toJuly 1st, 1731, the following remark:

“INCOME FROM COLLECTED MONEY:

“Hanz Huntziker, Schoolteacher, fromKULM,

“paid me for his brother 6 (Franks?)”

Now, while the Christian name of this“brother” is not given, but you are so sure ingiving in your publication the exact year, andthere is no other “Hunziker” mentioned inthe whole year’s Report, then I think I amjustified in assuming that the “brother” ofHans Hunziker is the Hartmann Hunzikeryou are looking for. The fact that theChristian name Hartmann occurs quitefrequently in Lenzburg and surroundingcounties is another argument in favor of thisassumption. Furthermore the former countyof Lenzburg (under Bernese jurisdiction)included the entire district of the (Canton)Aargau where the Hartmann line isrepresented: Kulm, Gontenschwil, Leerau,Staffelbach and other places. While it is truethat the Hunziker families for centuries havesettled down in Aargau too, as well as in theCatholic villages of Hägglingen (in this placeperhaps only since the Reformation), theChristian name Hartmann is not commonin these places. The Hunzikers fromGontenschwil came from Kulm, and thosefrom Bern from Aargau, as well as those inWynau (Canton Berne).


Now with this information you have atleast some points of contact. You should nowproceed and consult the Church Records inKulm to find out the relatives of HartmannHunziker, which can be done for the registrartells me that these records are still available,back to the year 1650. May I advise you tocontact in this matter the “Civilstandsamt inUnter-Kulm” (the Civic office of Registration),which would be willing to let you know thebirth, marriage and baptism of Father andhis children, charging only the lawful fee forit. If there is no particular rush about it, Imyself would be glad to go to Kulm and dothe research and compile a kind of a PedigreeChart for you. Another question would be:is Unter- or Ober-Kulm the home town ofHartmann Hunziker? Years ago I have beentold those in Ober-Kulm originally came fromUnter-Kulm where all these familiesoriginated.

Where I have gone to details, somewhat,it is because I was under the impression thatyou are quite concerned to learn about thehome town of this family which emigrated.It would, however, be impossible to get anybenefit out of the respective citizenship, evenif you could produce the correct name.

Under the former Bernese Governmentany emigrant—even those going only fromone Canton to another—had to pay 10% ofhis fortune before he could leave.

Very truly yours,

(signed) Wilhelm Hemmeler

County Clerk

The WThe WThe WThe WThe William Tilliam Tilliam Tilliam Tilliam Tell Storyell Storyell Storyell Storyell Story

There was a tradition in the family dur-ing Abraham’s youth that the Hunsakers couldtrace their ancestry back to William Tell, oneof Switzerland’s heroes of bygone days.Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl wrote:

Many times I have heard Aunt MaryHunsaker Grant, also Aunt Susan DunnHunsaker, make that statement [that theHunsakers could trace their ancestry toWilliam Tell]. Just how or when the traditiongot its start is not known, but that it wasbelieved by more than Grandfather’shousehold is borne out by the fact that hisbrother Jacob’s family knew also of thetradition. When Jacob’s sons and daughtersinsisted upon knowing what the initial “T”stood for in his name, they asked their fatherif he had been named for the ancestor,William Tell. Jacob’s answer was that he hadadopted the initial “T” as a part of his name,so that he might be known from all the otherJacob Hunsakers.

A history of Switzerland tells us that oneof the early revolts, in 1308, against thetyranny of their rulers was headed by WilliamTell. In our school readers, we learned tohold William Tell in high esteem because ofthe skill he displayed when he was forced toshoot an apple, which had been placed onthe head of his son. One encyclopedia hasthis to say of William Tell: “He was a famouspeasant hero. He is said to have belongedto the Canton of Uri and is credited withbeing one of the instigators in his Canton ofa rebellion against their Austrianoppressors.” Kinsman or not, the traditionseems to have passed away in the AbrahamHunsaker family with our father’s generation.

The Dunkard TThe Dunkard TThe Dunkard TThe Dunkard TThe Dunkard Trrrrraditionsaditionsaditionsaditionsaditions

Speaking of the Mennonite, Dunkard,and Amish people who inhabit LancasterCounty, Pennsylvania, Fulton Lewis, Jr. saidin a radio broadcast:

Here is a clan of people who have livedon the land for nearly three hundred years.By way of a historical background of thesepeople, they originally came from the


German speaking area of Switzerland—some of them as far back as 1680—toescape religious persecution. On the waythey stopped long enough in Holland to geta Dutch inflection in their speech, which isthe explanation of their Pennsylvania Dutchdialect.

Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl commented:And that explanation would apply to our

Hunsaker ancestry. Often times as a child Ihave heard Grandmother, or some of theUncles or Aunts make the statement that the“Hunsakers were Pennsylvania Dutch.” It isprobable that Hartmann and his family didlive for a time in Holland, for it was fromRotterdam that they embarked for Americaon the ship Pennsylvania Merchant in theyear 1731.

That our Hunsaker ancestors were de-vout members of the Dunkard faith stands totheir credit. The Dunkards are a people whobelieve in work, in the home, in truthfulnessand honesty, and in keeping the Ten Com-mandments. They are a clean and thrifty

people who believe in paying their debts andhelping their neighbors.

Dunkard graveyards have provided theburial ground for most of our ancestors fromthe time Hartmann arrived in America untilAbraham joined the Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints. Aleen Hunsaker Hansenvisited the Dunkard burial ground nearJonesboro, Illinois in September 1945; shewrote of it in a letter:

The cemetery is right in the midst of acow pasture now; it is on rolling hills. Manyof the gravestones have been knocked downand cannot be seen unless you get right onto them. We had to search around a lot and,of course, did not find nearly all the graves.Many of the markers are almost covered withsoil and have toppled over, face down, sothey cannot be read at all.

The graves of Daniel Kimmel and his wife,Catherine Hunsaker, were enclosed in afenced lot, with several others, and the stoneswere standing erect. The writing is gettingquite blurred on some. The fence is brokendown on one side now, and it will not belong before they will be tumbled down too.

It is deplorable that those graves were nottaken care of. We found the graves ofAbraham and Mary Jane Snyder Hunsaker;they were in the old part of the cemeteryand the grass was about to our knees; it hadrained and the grass was wet, but wesearched every grave and found manyHunsakers. In the new part of the cemetery,we found many Hunsakers also; that part isbeautiful and is kept up fine.

The Dunkard Grave Yard in Jonesboro isowned by a widow . . . and it might be that itcould be bought from her and fenced fromthe rest of the pasture. If the graves [markers]were straightened, and if one could dig deepenough, we might uncover a lot of markersthat have been trodden down.

I would sure like to see something doneabout the Dunkard Grave Yard. It is ourpeople, almost entirely, that are buried there:Grandmother Polly, Great Grandfather

Old D u n k a r d cemetery near Jonesboro,Illinois w h e r e numerous Hunsaker relativesare buried.


8Q Maurice Hunsaker, A History of theHunsaker Family in Early America and Switzerland,Hunsaker Family Organization, 1993, pp. 40-65.

Jacob, and Great Great Grandfather John,according to Grandfather’s Diary.

Q Hunsaker described his experiencesexploring old cemeteries in Illinois and in-cluded 20 pictures (pages 222-233) in A His-tory of the Hunsaker Family in EarlyAmerica and Switzerland.

Editor Visits AarEditor Visits AarEditor Visits AarEditor Visits AarEditor Visits Aarau,au,au,au,au,Aargau, SwitzerlandAargau, SwitzerlandAargau, SwitzerlandAargau, SwitzerlandAargau, Switzerland

For more than a century descendants ofAbraham Hunsaker have been trying to findthe origin of Hartmann Hunsaker (Abraham’sgreat-great-grandfather). About 1885Abraham sent his son Joseph to Switzerlandto try to learn more about Hartmann. Sincethen many family members and several ge-nealogists hired by family members have triedto find evidences of Hartmann in Switzerlandand other parts of Europe.

When Editor Gwen Hunsaker Haws andher husband, Austin, made a two-month tourof Europe in 1991, they scheduled six daysin Aarau. Following up on a contact madeearlier by Donald Croft and Q MauriceHunsaker, they called Carolle Erne, a histo-rian in Aarau who speaks eight languages,six fluently.

With Carolle’s help Gwen and Austintoured the library at Aarau, where they foundin the card catalog 257 entries of publica-tions authored by Hunzikers (the most com-mon spelling of the Hunsaker name in Aarau).One of these entries was Die Hunziker vonAarau (The Hunzikers of Aarau), which wastranslated from the German in Volume 2 ofthe Hunsaker Family Bulletin in 1973. Thistranslation is also found in the book Q pub-

lished.8 The Hunzikers of Aarau traces theHunsaker family back to the 800s.

A Hunziker coat of arms which appearson a door in a historic area of Aarau is shownbelow. Carolle said that “hun” means houndin Germanand that thee a r l yHunsakersmay havebeen re-spons ib l efor trainingthe hounds,which wereimportantin huntingand protec-tion—hencethe nameand coat ofarms refer-ring toh o u n d s .(However,o t h e rsources (seepage 10) tiethe nameHunziker toplace namessuch asHunziken.)

One of three versions of theHunziker Coat of Arms seenin Switzerland.

15ABRAHAM’S EARLY HISTORY AS RECORDED IN HIS JOURNAL

PPPPPart IIart IIart IIart IIart II

History ofHistory ofHistory ofHistory ofHistory ofAbrAbrAbrAbrAbraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsaker

Abraham Hunsaker



AbrAbrAbrAbrAbraham’s Early Historyaham’s Early Historyaham’s Early Historyaham’s Early Historyaham’s Early Historyas Recorded in His Jas Recorded in His Jas Recorded in His Jas Recorded in His Jas Recorded in His Jourourourourournalnalnalnalnal

Short History ofShort History ofShort History ofShort History ofShort History ofAbrAbrAbrAbrAbraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsaker11111

Abraham Hunsaker was born in theyear 1812, Nov. 29, Jonesborough town,Union County, State of Illinois, son ofJacob Hunsaker and Polly Luce. My fatherwas born in Pennsylvania, sone of JacobHunsaker. He lived till he was some 64years old and he dyed. He was a good andhonest man all the days of his life. As longas I new him he never lyed or cheated ortook anything dishonestly. He even nevertook the name of the Lord in vane, but hehad self government over his passions sohe never s[p]oke rashly, but allways tem-perate and came [calm]. He belonged to theDuncard Society till his death. He was 27

years old when maryed to my mother. Hehad 5 children by my mother, viz: Nancy,John L., Abraham, Katharine, Jacob.

Nancy was maryed to Jacob Wigle andhad 7 or eight children.2

John maryed a girl whose name wasMarthy Lemmon and had 5 or 6 children.

Katharine maryed a man whose namewas John Wigle, brother to Jacob, [and] had2 or 3 children.

Jacob maryed a girl by the name ofEmely Collins, cousin to Eliza, my first wife.They had 6 or 7 children when we saw themlast. They all moved to Oregon except mybrother, John. He was in Texas when I lastheard. I am looking for him to moove here.

My father allso maryed [a] girl after mymother dyed by the name of ElizabethBrown. They had 9 children when my fa-ther dyed.

My father’s father’s name was Jacob.He lived till he was 84 years old when hedyed. He was a hatter by trade, a good andhonest man.

My father’s father’s father, being mygreat grandfather, his name was Jacob. Helived to a good old age and full of years.My great granfather was 106, one hundredand six, years old when he dyed.3 Mygranfather and great granfather and

1This is the title Abraham Hunsaker placed at thebeginning of his journal. No date is given for this firstentry. In publishing this journal, the editors haveattempted to reproduce the original wording, as nearlyas it can be interpreted, including the spelling andsentence construction. In the interest of clarity, somepunctuation has been inserted. Words and letters inbrackets are the editor’s and do not appear in theoriginal journal. Information from Abraham’s journalappears in italics.

Abraham’s journal was desposited in BrighamYoung University library about 1958 and microfilmed.Copies were made from the microfilm and a limitednumber printed by the Hunsaker Family Organizationin 1984.

2Abraham left several blank lines after mentioningeach brother and sister, apparently intending to fill innames of their children or other information later.

3This statement, written before Abraham hadaccess to family records, seems inaccurate. His laterrecords showed his great-grandfather’s name was Johnand that he lived to be 87 years old.


granmother were buryed with my mothersome 2 miles west of Jonesborough town,Union County, State of Illinois, near whereI was born. My granmother Hunsaker’sname was Katharine and she was 84 yearsold when she dyed.

My mother was some 30 years oldwhen she dyed. She was buryed with mostall my fourfathers in a graveyard that wecalled the Duncard graveyard, for most allwere duncards or belonged to the duncardsociety, near Uncle George Wolf’s farm whowas the main minister of that society. Mymother while on her death bed said she sawvisions and would have the bible with hirin hir death bed till she dyed. In hir visionsshe saw that all relidgion was rong and thatthe true gosple would yet be revealed. Hirname was Poly Luce, daughter of WilliamLuce and Nancy Mourton.

My granfather Luce was an honest manand honerable in all his dealings. He wassome 80 years old when he dyed and wasburyed with his wife, Nancy, in mulinburghcounty on green river near the mouth ofmuddy river. He was a passionate man somelike myself. He would have governmentover all his house; all had to obey him. Hehad some 8 or 9 children that lived to stateof manhood whose name is Jacob, Isaack,Jonathan, Poly, Hety, Elizabeth. Some oftheir name[s] I forget.

My granfather Hunsaker had 7 chil-dren that lived to rais tollerable largefamilys. Their names is called Jacob,George, Abraham, Anny, Katharine, Mary,Sally. One boy dyed when young, nameHenry. My father and his father were thefirst settlers of Jonesborough town, Unioncounty. It was a heavy timbered contry,tollerable hilly and broken so they had tomoove in on pack animals and afoot. [They]had to undergo hardships of new setledcontry deprived of evry comfort of life ex-cept that they raised by them[selves] and

neighbors. It was tollerable sickly placesome 10 [miles] east of mississippi river. Thebottom near the river was full of lakes andslues.

My father lived here in Union Countytill I was 14, fourteen, years old. He thenmooved to Adams County and settled some15 miles east of Quincy. I had lived on breadand milk and vegitables till I was 14 yearsold. When we started on our journey toAdams County, being near 300, three hun-dred, miles the way we had to go at thattime, I could not get milk and vegitablesand I was taken sick haven to change mydiet. I had to commence eating meat; I gotwell in a few days. The road was mudy, itbeing in the month of March. We traveledover flat wet country where I first beheldprairy country. I had lived in very heavytimbered country where the large poplar,and oak, and gum grew.

I lived with my father for some 3 yearswhen he sent me and my brother Jacob backto Union County to get some cattle thatwas coming to my father for his farm hehad sold. While we wer here in unioncounty, my brother Jacob was taken sickwith chill and fever. He was quite sick butrecovered when we started home. The daybefore we started l gave him enough whis-key to mak him drunk hoping it would curehim. It cured him. While I was here in Unioncounty I went to school to a babtis [Baptist]minister which my father had sold his farmto. We wer here some 3 or 4 months. Icollected togeather the cattle and camehome to my father.

My brother John had, gone to Galenato work in the lead mines. He stayed 2 or 3years and made considerable and he thenbought a lead [mine] and gave all he hadmade and went in debt or promised more.The man had placed some [ore] in the leadmine [and] made him think it was a veryrich mine, but my brother was mistaken—


it was no count and he came home in debtsome 4 or 5 hundred dollars. It was notexactly by my father’s council for him togo to the mine, but by my brother’s request.

I was the oldest boy that lived at homeafter my brother John left and had chargeof his farm in summer, and in winter tookcare of his cattle some 15 miles from homewhere my father bought a quarter of sec-tion of land. He gave this farm to my sisterNancy and my brother John after he camehome. While I was here on this place, Iand my sister Nancy, being the only onesthat was at home, we concluded to go andhunt beer [bear] as I had some fine courses.We had not gone farther than one milewhen I was bit by a rattlesnake. We had noneighbors neare[r] than 3 miles. We wereboth young and inexperienced in cureingsnakebite; however I immeaditly tyed mygalluses as tight as I could round my leg.The snake bight got worse for twelve hoursat which time the poison ran threw my bodyand I fainted away for 2 or 3 times. Theysupposed I was dying but when I came toafter the first time I had apatite to drinklard, and I drank one pint of hog’s lard. Igot better and got well directly.

When I was betwen 17 and 18 years ofage I saw my wife Eliza and when I see hirshe was spinning flax on a little wheal andit appeared to me that I had see hir beforein some other cuntry. It was allso mademanifest she was [to be] my wife in a fewmonths. I talked with hir on the subject ofmariage. We entered in mariage contractand agreed to wate for 2 years or more be-fore we should get maried. We were tooyoung both of us; I was not 18, Eliza wasbut 13 past. I see hir some times in thetime before we wer maried, but finily I wastempted to not have hir till the full 2 yearswas passed by. I being in the neighborhoodwhere she lived, it was impressed on me togo and see hir for she is [to be] your wife. Iaccordenly went immeadiately in my dirty

close for I was some 10 miles from homeon business teaming with cattle. I went andtold hir that I had come to renew ourmariage contract. She was very glad for sheknew I had slighted her. This was Dec. 23,1832. I told hir if our parents wer willingwe would get maryed the following Thurs-day week. So I asked hir father and motherif they wer willing to the match; they readilyconsented. I allso asked my father; he con-sented to the mach.

I took my first wife Eliza and was mar-ried January 3, 1833 when I was 20,twenty, years old and 34 days; Eliza was15 years and 10 months lacking 2 days.We lived with my father for 2 months till Icould build me a cabin, then we commencedhousekeeping. My father had let me makean improvement on some vacant land; welived here some 2 years. I had dug for wattersome 65 feet and the watter was not good.I sold out and bought me a farm where welived and built a frame house and largerough barn and set out a large orchard ofaple and peach trees. We lived here till wejoined the mormon society, but I am aheadof [my] story.

I lived with my wife Eliza for ninemonths and two weeks when a boy was bornOct. 22, 1833. We call his name Jacobafter his granfather Jacob Hunsaker. Helived eight weeks and he dyed. We buryedhim in the duncard graveyard where my fa-ther and aunts Any, Mary, Sally was buryedas allso some of my half sisters and con-nection. The graveyard is 15 miles east ofQuincy near Uncle George Woolfs, whomaryed my father’s sister Any. My auntSally maryed John Hughs and raise[d] largefamily. Aunt Mary maryed Lewis Simpson,raise[d] large family. Aunt Katharine maryeDaniel Kimble and had large family. Myuncle George maryed a girl whose namewas Sible Ellis, raised large family of girls.Uncle Abraham maried a girl whos sir namewas Dodd and had large family.


To return to my subject, as I had statedwe had bought a peace of land and im-proved it and mooved on it and in the yearDec. 3, 1835 a daughter was born. We callhir name Mary after Eliza’s mother; she wasa very hansom child.

I continue farming on my farm nearPigeon creak, allso near Payson. We havea good farm and do well as to raising grainand pork for some 2 years, when Eliza hasanother daughter born to hir. We call hirElizabeth; [she] was born Nov. 17, 1837.My brother Jacob was pedlin apples andhad a waggon load at my house the dayElizabeth was born; he had to be routedof[f] as boys wer not needed at such times.We still continue farming and seting outaple and peach trees till I have some threehundred trees set out in one orchard.

In 1839 Lewis Jones Hunsaker wasborn Saturday night near 12 o’clock atmidnight April 6, 1839 near Payson,Adams County, State of Illinois. At thesame time the Latterday Saints had beendriven out of the State of Misouri by cruelmobs and one family by the name of AmosMcbride had stoped in my house haven noderent [different] house to go in. I took himin with me; it was the first time I had theprivilege of hearing the Latter day saints.The Lord told me by His holy spirit theywer the servent of God.

April 6, 1839 I was led to investigatmormonism. I went to hear David Evens[Evans] lecture on mormonism [and] wasconvinced he was a servant of God, but mytradition was very strong for I belonged tothe Duncard society. I continued to hearmormonism more or less all summer tillwinter when my half sister Mary Ann whowas blind had a vision and she said person-ages came to hir and told hir many things,allso told hir she would receive hir sight.Those mesonagers [messengers] came to hir3 time[s] and told hir the same things.

Hir parents did think the mormons werimposters and did not take hir to themormon meetings and she told me shewould come and live with me for awhile if Iwould take hir to meeting and have theMormon Elders administer to hir. I told hirI would take hir to hear Mormonism. I didso and called on Elisha Grover, an Elder,with some other elders. They did not liketo administer to hir, but they did reluctantlyafter asking several questions but had notmuch faith. Her eyes did not receive sight.I doughted mormonism, but my sister saidthey wer the very men that apeard to hir inhir vision and was the same questionsasked, and it was allso told hir in the visionthat she would not receive hir sight till shecalled on the elders 3 times.

Time goes on till in the somer of 1840when I became convinced that mormonismwas from the Lord, but my parents wasopposed to my joining the church.

On the first Monday of November in1840, on the day General Harison waselected president of the U.S.A., on this daymy brother John was healed of a verysurvear sickness. He had been under Doc-tor Langrum for several days. He wasbegining to believe a little in mormonismbut was to[o] proud to say so publicly. Onthe day Harison was elected there wasseverall folks in his house for he lived inthe villige of Payson keeping store wherethe election was held. He became very sickand there was severall mormons in hishouse at the same time. My brother calledon David Evans to pray for him; he accord-ingly done so with the assistance of Bro.Weeb and the Lord heard their prairs andhealed him so he rose up out of bed andate his dinner and went to the poles andvoted. He was tollerable hi spirited and didnot lik to eald [yield] to mormonism. Hebegan to dought in mormonism andthought he would not acknowledge the


hand of the Lord in it and was taken sickagain and was sicker than he was before sohe sent for the elders again and they laidhands on him in the name of Jesus and [he]was healed instantly. But he being so proud,he was determined not to acknowledgemormonism and yeald to that despised so-ciety and his mind was darkend thre, 3,times so he was taken sick again and wasallmost dead when he again sent for theElders and the[y] praid for him again andhe was healed allmost well when he thendeclaired he would testify that the Lord hadhealed him for 3 times if it was the lastwords he had to speak. So he was babtizedinto the Church of Latterday Saint andstarted of[f] some 220 mile[s] to St. Louisto purchase good[s].

Nov. 15, 1840—I was babtized byDavid Evans, allso my wife Eliza [and] sev-eral others. We wer babtized in Pigeoncreak. Held meeting at my house at thesame time [and I] was confirmed under thehands of David Evans and Chas. Weeb intothe Church of Latterday Saints on 15 ofNov.1840.

Allen Hunsaker was born July 9, 1840;he was named for his granfather AllenCollings [previously spelled without the g].

We still continyou to live on the farmwhere I joined the church till March 1842when I swaped my farm to a Mr. Hibbardfor one in Hancock County on the rapidsof the Mississippi near Nauvoo, some 3miles below Nauvo where we mooved.

March 1842.—I settle on my farm inHancock County on the rapids of the Mis-sissippi. In this spring my daughter Mary istaken very sick for 3 or 4 weeks. The Lordheald hir of hir sickness. After she gets well,my son Lewis Jones was taken very sickallso. He had hitherto been very stouthealthy child, allso very smart and sensible,but he was sick nigh unto death but I con-tinued in fasten and prair [fasting and

prayer] with my wife Eliza. [We] did not liketo let him go. The devil buffeted him verysorely for some 5 or 6 weeks and I sincearlybeleive it was the time he was to go henceand I finily halfway gave him up, but Elizacould not give him up to dy, so she clungto him and the devil was rebuked threwfaith in administering to him, by babtizinghim in the font of the temple of Nauvoo,and by the laying on of hands. He washealed and restored to health but was in-jured very much in hearing and allso in hissence, but he is a tollerable smartthurogoing young boy, would accomplishanything he would set his hand to doo, ornearly so. He was some headstrong andwould have his own way sometimes, but hewas faithful to doo that which I sent him todoo.

I commenced farming here on thebluffs on the banks of the Mississippi river.We have a tollerable good peach orchardon this farm. We here have the privelige ofgoing to meeting every Sunday to the grovein Nauvoo where we heare the Prophet Jo-seph Smith speak on the stand to the saintsand allso heare the twelve Apostels preachthe gospel in its beauty.

Brother James Owins and familymoove here and lives with me for severalmonths. We have considerable manypeaches this sumer and fall and we have agood many visitors allso.

August 31, 1842—Sary Hunsaker wasborn Aug. 31, 1842 while Br. James Owinsfolks lives in one of our rooms. About Sept.2, Br. Heber C. Kimball and wife and oth-ers come and pay us visit; we gave them 3or 4 bushels of peaches to take home withthem. This was the first time I had visit with[an] Apostle of Jesus.

We continue our farming operationshere for 2 or 3 years and settleing saintson my land and farm. There has [been] some20 familys besides mine which has located


on the land I swaped for. Several of thempurchased land of me so we are liven ingood neighborhood, so I can send my old-est children to school and we have nightand day meetings to go to freequently.

I have a small mision pointed [ap-pointed] me haven been ordained an elderunder the hands of Br. Wilford Woodruff,orderd to be ordaind in a General confer-ence held in Nauvoo. Br. Joseph Smithpreached.

I went on mission to Indiany with Br.Nathen Packer where we babtized 5 or 6persons, s[t]arted [a] little branch some 20miles from Indianapolis. We was gone some2 or 3 months, returned home, found allwell, and we had bin blessed on our mis-sion.

March 1844—I [s]wap of[f] part of myfarm to Br. Nickerell for steem mill on thebank of river where I moove down the hillclose on the bank of river where I com-mence sawing and grinding for the Breth-ren and working very hard day and night.

Abraham Hunsaker’s mill and peach orchard as depicted in Jacque Baker’s painting of HistoricNauvoo 1839–1846 (see colored reproduction in the endpapers at the front of this history).


June 27, 1844—This is a day of sollon[solemn] darkness to the saints of the mosthigh for Joseph and Hyrum Smith, theProphet and Patriarch, have bin shot inCarthage jail and Br. John Tailor [Taylor]survearly wounded. They were shot by anarmed mob painted black while under thepledge of the Governer, Ford. The Governergave them a sollem pledge that they shouldbe protected and not molested when theygave themselves up to their enemys to betryed for supposed cryme got up by Mor-mon desenters and others for the expresspurpose of murdering them. They had buin

taken and tryed some 50 times, or at leastJoseph had, but never found guilty, so heof course came of[f] clean but he has suf-fered much by mobs for they have beatingand clubed him nearly to death or quite todeath, but the Lord healed him and restoredhim to life again for to doo the work oflaying the foundation of the church andrestoreing the Preasthood and ordenencesbelonging to the holy preasthood.

The Governer had some 500 soldiersin Carthage when the Prophet and Patri-arch gave themselves up to be tryed by law,and after they had commited them to jailthe Governer discharged several of his sol-diers to go and fix for murdering theProphet.

4A Documented History of Abraham Hunsaker.Section One: The Nauvoo Period. Published byHunsaker Family Organization, 1979.

Mis

siss

ippi

Riv

er

Land owned by Abraham Hunsaker in Sonora Township,Hancock County, Illinois (3 miles south of Nauvoo, NE¼Section 19 TWP 6 NR8W). Before he left for the West, hesold the land as listed at the right by lot number, name,date of sale, or if unrecorded deed or sale.4

Lot 1. John B. Smith (unrecorded)

Lot 4. John M. Stewart (unrecorded)

Lot 14. William Fawsett (unrecorded)

Lot 16. Adam E. Kummel (unrecorded)

Lot 20. Charles A. Savage (unrecorded)

Lot 6A. Sarah Heberling, 2 April 1846, $150

Lot 6B. George B. Hunsaker, Mill and 1Acre, $500 (unrecorded)

Lot 2. LDS Church, 2 Dec. 1843,(unrecorded)

Lot 3. Henry Kearnes, 23 March 1846, $220

Lots 5 and 8. Christopher Tallent, 6 March1846, $280

Lots 7 and 9. John B. Smith, 13 April 1846,$1,000.00

Lot 10. David Boss, 11 May 1842, $250

Lot 11. Thomas Heberling, 29 May 1846,$20, recorded 1858

Lot 13. William W. Reed, 27 May 1846, $50

Lots 15 and 18. William W. Reed, 23 April1846, $225

Lots 17.and 19. William Smith, 29 June1843, $294.24

Lot 21. John B. Smith, 27 April 1846, $230

Lot 22. David Evans, 8 September 1842,$100


Page from the Journal of Abraham Hunsaker containing his comments on the martyrdom ofJoseph Smith.


Chapter 3

Exodus from NauvooExodus from NauvooExodus from NauvooExodus from NauvooExodus from Nauvoo

After the death of Joseph and HyrumSmith, Abraham did not write in his journalagain for 12 years. He made his next entrywhile the circumstances surrounding the dis-appearance of his son Lewis during an In-dian uprising were still fresh in his mind. Ap-parently he intended to go back and fill in theimportant events of the intervening 12 years,for he left 23 blank pages in the old ledgerwhich he used as a journal. The informationpresented in this volume about AbrahamHunsaker, other than his journal, has beengleaned from various historical sources andfrom traditional stories in the family.

Following the assassination of theProphet Joseph Smith, abuses and persecu-tions of the Saints were continued until theywere forced to abandon their beautiful andcomfortable homes in Nauvoo.

The Church leaders had given their wordthat as soon as the grass began to grow suffi-ciently to furnish feed for their livestock, theywould leave the state. Preparations were inprogress for their departure—every home wasa workshop where the Saints fashioned equip-ment and vehicles that would enable them tofollow wherever their leaders led.

It was while thus engaged that rumorsreached Brigham Young that the migrationof the Mormons must be held up, that theirarms must be confiscated, lest they join withBritain in the Oregon Country, or withMexico, or some other country to take fromour nation a part of the coveted western ter-ritory. In Nauvoo, the Beautiful it is re-ported.1

Almost every day in January broughtreports to Brigham Young that the enemy

would prevent their [the Mormons’] westernmigration until they were disarmed orseverely disciplined. . . . These reportsprompted Brigham Young to begin theirjourney at once, so outwitting the foe thatall the able-bodied persons would be out ofNauvoo before the spring unlocked thefrozen portals of the Mississippi, enabling thetroops to ascend the river and intercept theMormons. . . .

On the fourth day of February [1846] thefirst covered wagons, laden with a scantsupply of provisions for a nation in flight,

1E. Cecil McGavin, Nauvoo, the Beautiful. SaltLake City: Stevens & Wallis, 1940, pp. 219-222.

Abraham and Eliza Hunsaker were endowedin the Nauvoo Temple 31 January 1846, lessthan a month before they left Nauvoo. (Drawingby Jacque Baker.)

25EXODUS FROM NAUVOO

were drawn onto the flatboats and wereferried across the dangerous river. . . . Severalflatboats, some old lighters, and a numberof skiffs, forming a considerable fleet, werepressed into service, working night and dayin a determined effort to transport the exilesbeyond the reach of their enemy.

A sketch of the life of Eliza CollinsHunsaker, written by her granddaughter, BelleGrant Tolman, assisted by Belle’s mother,Mary Hunsaker Grant, adds to the story ofthe Hunsaker family at this period:

During the latter part of the year 1845and the beginning of 1846, all of the Saintswere busy preparing for the journey theywere soon to begin. Even the children werebusily assisting in those preparations. Eliza’schildren parched quantities of corn, whichafterwards were taken to their father’s milland ground up. This parched corn could beeaten without further cooking, during stormydays, or at times when they could not stopto make a fire to cook their food. The millwas kept busy day and night, sawing andgrinding for the brethren.

The Mill was finally traded for an ox and acow, which would be of use to the family ontheir journey. The Hunsakers left their homein February and crossed the Mississippi Riveron the ice, not knowing where they weregoing nor what the future would bring them,but placing their lives and their future inGod’s hands.

Abraham and Eliza took their cattle, alsoa few sheep with them, the latter that theymight have wool to make their clothes, forthis mother had her spinning wheel and wasprepared to make the yarn and knit thestockings or weave the cloth and make theclothing, as their needs required. Mary, theoldest child, then about 11 years old, wasplaced on a horse to drive her father’s stock.(This Mary was Mary Hunsaker Grant, whohelped record the three foregoingparagraphs. )

President Young and the members of theTwelve crossed the river on February 15 byway of the fleet of old watercrafts, which werein use day and night to convey the exiledSaints and their belongings to the oppositeshore of the river.

Abraham and his family must havecrossed the Mississippi about February 25 orsoon after, since they crossed on the floor ofice. Nauvoo, the Beautiful, p. 222, quotesthe “Journal History” as follows:

On the 25th, Charles C. Rich walkedacross the river near Montrose, on the ice.The next few days witnessed the strangestsight of all, long caravans streaking out acrossthe mighty river over a solid floor of ice whichstretched from bank to bank a distance ofone mile. A few days later this uniqueroadway was broken, and the line of caravanswas halted as great blocks of ice choked theriver.

From One Hundred Years of Mormon-ism2 we learn that upon leaving Nauvoo, theSaints first camped on the river, directly op-posite the city of Nauvoo. As soon as theycould contrive a method of transportation,they moved on to Sugar Creek, which wasabout nine miles northwest. There theycleared away the snow as best they could andpitched their tents on the frozen ground. ThisCamp of Israel was increased every day bynewcomers until by the end of February therewere 400 wagons.

On March 1 the command was given tothis Camp of Israel, as it was called, to beginits westward journey. The company was di-vided into two groups with Brigham Youngand Heber C. Kimball in general charge; thesewere again divided into companies of hun-dreds, fifties, and tens, with the necessaryofficers to look after the needs of each group.

2John Henry Evans, One Hundred Years ofMormonism. (2nd Ed.) Salt Lake City: Deseret SundaySchool Union, 1909, 536 pp.


On April 24 the advance companyreached a point just beyond the Chariton, andstopped there long enough to make a settle-ment. On the second day of their sojournthere, 350 men, in response to a request fromBrigham Young, reported for labor. One hun-dred of the men were directed to cut downtrees for logs and rails; 10 were to buildfences; 48 were to build houses; 12 to digwells; 10 to build bridges; and the rest wereto clear the land, plow, and plant seed. In justa few days thereafter, several acres of landhad been fenced, crops put in, and houseserected.

This place they called Garden Grove. Afew persons were left to guard it, and the mainbody of the Saints moved on. These homesand farm lands were to be used by needymembers who would come along later.

Another city sprang up in exactly thesame manner some thirty-odd miles west ofGarden Grove. Homes, farms, and other ne-cessities were prepared in the same way, bythe first company, for the benefit of the lessfortunate emigrants who would follow. In thisplace more than a thousand acres of land werefenced and put under cultivation. This wasMt. Pisgah, about 130 miles distant from theMissouri River.

Concerning these stations, MeltrudeHunsaker Stohl wrote:

Knowing my grandfather, as I did, it is notdifficult to picture him assisting in theconstruction of those wayside stations, Mt.Pisgah and Garden City. His ready responseto every call that came from his Churchleaders makes it almost a certainty thatAbraham Hunsaker was one among thehundreds of volunteers who prepared a placeof refuge for the many Saints who wouldfollow on the long, hard trail.

The main body of the Saints reachedCouncil Bluffs on the east bank of the Mis-souri River, about 400 miles from Nauvoo,

Abraham, Eliza and their six children crossedthe Mississippi River on the ice as the Hunsakerfamily left Nauvoo in February 1846.

27EXODUS FROM NAUVOO

by the middle of June. By the time the firstcompany reached Council Bluffs almost theentire distance back was covered by a trainof wagons.

However, it was more than two weekslater, in the early part of July that theHunsaker family reached Council Bluffs. Evi-dence of this is found in the following state-ments quoted in the Church Section of TheDeseret News of 13 July 1946:

On Friday morning, July 3rd, 1846,President Brigham Young, riding in hiscarriage with Heber C. Kimball and WillardRichards, started back over the Mormon Trailto Mt. Pisgah, about 130 miles distant, wherethey were to meet with the inhabitants ofthat settlement and encourage the youngmen to enlist in the Battalion that was then

forming to take part in the war with Mexico.. . .

On this second day of his journey,President Young and his companions passed206 wagons traveling westward, includingthose of William Weeks, Frank Pullin,Abraham Hunsaker, John Murdock, IsaacHoustron, Robert Peirce, Father Morley andJoseph S. Clark. During the afternoon therewas a heavy rainstorm, and the brethrenwere forced to remain for several hours inJoseph Clark’s wagon. Thus they spentIndependence Day July 4, 1846.

Upon reaching the Missouri, Abrahamfound a suitable camping ground for his fam-ily and his stock on Honey Creek, about aday’s journey north from Council Bluffs.



The Mormon BattalionThe Mormon BattalionThe Mormon BattalionThe Mormon BattalionThe Mormon Battalion11111

Abraham Hunsaker was one of the firstto respond when the call came for 500 youngable-bodied volunteers to serve in the waragainst Mexico. At this time he was nearinghis thirty-fourth birthday.

After he had time to reflect he fearedthat he had acted unwisely in offering his ser-vices. He knew that this response meant thathe would have to leave Eliza, his wife, withsix small children, the oldest being 11 yearsold. His family would be homeless with noth-ing but a covered wagon to shelter them andwould have little provisions for even the bar-est necessities of life. He knew not how longhis services might be required; he knew alsothat his travels would take him over manymiles of uncharted territory, where hazardsand dangers of every description might belying in wait for him, making the possibilityof his return doubtful.

With all this in mind, he wrote to Eliza’sparents telling them of her situation and ask-ing if they would look after her and the chil-dren until his return.

Church leaders urged the men to jointhe Mormon Battalion regardless of personalsacrifices and promised to care for the fami-lies that were left. Brigham Young stated:

If we want the privilege of going wherewe can worship God according to the dictatesof our conscience, we must raise the

Battalion. I say it is right and who cares forsacrificing our comfort for a few years.2

Now I want you men to go and all thatcan go, young or married. I will see that theirfamilies are taken care of; they shall go onas far as mine, and fare the same.3

The men of the Battalion were musteredinto service Thursday, 16 July 1846 andmarched toward Sarpy’s Store, a trader’s postsome 10 miles away on the Missouri River,where they were to obtain blankets and com-missary supplies for the journey to FortLeavenworth, Kansas.

How Abraham felt at leaving his wife andlittle children at Council Bluffs is pretty welldescribed in the journal of William Hyde, whoalso served in this expedition. Hyde wrote,“The thoughts of leaving my family at thiscritical time are indescribable. They are farfrom the land of their nativity, situated on alonely prairie with no dwelling but a wagon,and the scorching sun beating upon them,with the prospect of the cold winds of De-cember finding them in the same bleak, drearyplace.”

The day after the Battalion left, a meet-ing of all the Saints was called and there manyinstructions were given, as well as comfort-

1Source of much of the information for this andthe following two chapters is: Sergeant Daniel Tyler,A Concise History of the Mormon Battalion in theMexican War, 1846-1847. (Place of publication is notindicated.) 1881, 376 pp. A second edition waspublished in 1969 by the Rio Grande Press, Inc.

3B. H. Roberts, A Comprehensive History ofthe Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,Century I, Vol. III. Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret NewsPress, 1930, p. 87.

2B. H. Roberts, The Mormon Battalion, ItsHistory and Achievements. Salt Lake City, Utah: TheDeseret News, 1919, p. 18.

29THE MORMON BATTALION

ing assurances. At the conclusion of the meet-ing, a number of bishops were appointed totake care of the families of the men who hadgone to serve their country.

On the following day, July 18, PresidentBrigham Young met with the members of theBattalion as they were about to begin theirmarch from Sarpy’s Store to FortLeavenworth, a distance of about 200 miles.President Young encouraged the men by pre-dicting that not one of them would fall by thehands of the nation’s foe and that their onlyfighting would be with wild beasts. They mustbe true to their country, he said, and true toGod. Not on a single occasion, he added pro-phetically, should they be required to shedhuman blood. They were to remember theirprayers; to refrain from profanity, obscenelanguage, and the improper use of Deity’sname; to be strictly virtuous and cleanly; totreat all men with kindness, and never takethat which did not belong to them, even fromtheir worst enemies in time of war, if theycould possibly avoid it.

On 20 July 1846 the memorable marchof the Mormon Battalion began. Even that200-mile march to Fort Leavenworth was notwithout its hardships and suffering. On theirfourth day out they crossed the NishnabotanyRiver at Hunsaker’s Ferry and camped nearLindon, Missouri. Before reaching the fortthey had run out of flour, and for three daysthey marched through heat and dust, rain andmud, alternately, without sufficient food.

Lieutenant Colonel James Allen, underwhom the Battalion enlisted, was in favor ofmoderate marches; but Adjutant George P.Dykes, being himself a great walker and hav-ing the advantage of a horse to ride, urgedlong marches. It is no wonder that at thevery outset the health of many of the menbegan to fail.

One of the first nights out they wereawakened when a strong gale hit the area in

which their camp lay. Trees were uprootedall around them; lightning flashed and thun-der roared, making the whole region a sceneof terror, but not one tree fell in the camp ofthe Battalion and only one ox was killed.

At Fort Leavenworth, Kansas on August3, the members of the Battalion drew theirarms and accoutrements, and on August 5each man received $42.00 clothing moneyfor the year. Abraham Hunsaker and a ma-jority of the men sent most of the money backto help their families and to assist in prepara-tions of the Saints for the journey west.

Sergeant Daniel Tyler in his MormonBattalion History, page 136-137, wrote:

The paymaster was much surprised to seeevery man able to sign his own name to thepay roll, as, according to a reliable journal inmy possession, only about one in three ofthe Missouri volunteers, who drew their paypreviously, could put his signature to thatdocument.

The first three companies took up theirline of march on August 12; two days laterCompany D, to which Abraham Hunsakerbelonged, and Company E left the fort. It wasonly a few days before the last two compa-nies had caught up with the main army atStone Coal Creek. Here another terriblestorm assailed them; when the storm hit camponly five or six out of more than 100 tentswere left standing, and it took six men to eachtent to hold it. Three wagons were upset, twoof which were heavy government baggagewagons. A patch of willows was flattened bythe wind like lodged grain. However, no onewas injured. The day after the storm, it wasnecessary to rest and dry their clothing andbedding.

Colonel James Allen, who was dearly be-loved by the members of the Battalion, passedaway 27 July 1840; after his death the hard-ships and suffering of the Mormon boys were


much increased. The new commander, Lieu-tenant A.J. Smith, was appointed withoutconsulting the soldiers; he and the Battalionsurgeon, Dr. George B. Sanderson, contrivedbetween them to abuse the men unmercifully.The medicine which the doctor compelled themen to take was ruinous to their health andhelped to make them unfit for the longmarches, without water and on reduced ra-tions. According to Mormon Battalion His-tory, page 147:

It would have been difficult to select thesame number of American citizens from anyother community who would have submittedto the tyranny and abuse that the Battaliondid from Smith and Sanderson. Nor wouldwe have done so on any consideration otherthan as servants to our God and patriots toour country.

Abraham often told of “Doc” Sandersonand his old rusty iron spoon from which ev-ery man was forced to take his dose of calomeland arsenic if he showed any inclination tobe unable to carry his end of the load. Con-cerning this old iron spoon, Sergeant DanielTyler said on p. 146 of Mormon BattalionHistory:

It was customary every morning for thesick to be marched to the tune of “Jim alongJoe” to the Doctor’s quarters, and take theirportion from that same old iron spoon. Itwas believed by many that this spoon hadbeen thrown away by some soldier at thegarrison and picked up by the Doctor,thinking a new one would either be tooexpensive or too good for the “Mormons”to use in taking their medicine. It may,however, have descended from the Doctor’sancestors and been preserved by him as aprecious heirloom.

So determined was Dr. Sanderson that themen should take his calomel and arsenic(these being all, or nearly all, the medicineshe used except a decoction of bayberry barkand camomile flowers, as strengthening

bitters to the convalescent), that hethreatened with an oath, to cut the throat ofany man who would administer any medicinewithout his orders.

As fast as one obstacle was overcome,the Battalion boys were confronted by an-other; there were creeks and rivers whosebanks were so steep that it was necessary totie strong ropes to the wagons, which severalmen had to hold onto as the wagon was letdown. Then the process was reversed on theother bank and the men pulled on the ropesto bring the wagons to the top again. Therewere long stretches of sand where the sol-diers were ordered to march in two columnsto make tracks for the wagons to follow. Therewere also long stretches over steep ascentsor through sand beds where as many as 20men had to pull on long ropes to help theteams drag the wagons along.

To add to all of the physical suffering ofthese men was the anxiety about the dearones left near Council Bluffs. Abraham spentmany a restless night, thinking of his little fam-ily, worrying about them, and praying forthem. In those days, there was no postal ser-vice that reached so far beyond the boundsof civilization.

During one of these harrowing nights,he had pictured Eliza and their six childrenout on the lonely prairie in a crudely built,homemade, covered wagon, perhaps evennow suffering for lack of food and from theinclemencies of the weather. He recalled thesadness of their parting and Eliza’s tearfulassurance that the Lord would take care ofthem. Then he pleaded with the Lord to pro-tect and care for them and that he might havesome sustaining assurance that all was wellwith them.

The following morning, as the men werewashing and preparing for breakfast, a doveflew into the camp, straight to Abraham, and


lighted upon his head. Some of his compan-ions called attention to the bird resting onHunsaker’s head. It stayed there but a mo-ment then flew back over the trail made bythe Battalion the day before; it flew low di-rectly over the line of march. Abrahamwatched the dove as far as the eye could see,and in his heart there was a feeling of peace,a feeling that a blessing and a promise hadbeen sealed upon his head.

The next morning as the men preparedfor breakfast, the dove again appeared. Thistime it circled around Abraham’s head, thenflew away. Some of his companions re-marked, “There is Hunsaker’s dove,” but noone else realized, as did Abraham, that it hadcome to him in answer to his prayers, bring-ing with it the assurance that all was well withhis loved ones, that they were in God’s keep-ing, and that His promises never fail.4

From the sketch of Eliza CollinsHunsaker, we learn that friends built a cabinfor the Hunsaker family “up Honey Creek.”On the map of Iowa there is a Honey Creekwhich empties into the Missouri River about10 or 15 miles to the north of Council Bluffs;this likely is the creek where Eliza’s cabin wasbuilt.

Of her grandmother, Eliza CollinsHunsaker, Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl wrote:

In the years that I knew GrandmotherHunsaker, although I heard from her manyPioneer stories, there was never a complaintof the hard times, or of a scarcity of food orclothing or any other necessity during theyear and a half that she waited for the returnof her husband. She was independent, thrifty,and resourceful, and most likely she and

her children were able to eke out an existencewithout being a burden to her friends.

The previously mentioned sketch of ElizaHunsaker added this information:

Her people wrote again and again beggingEliza to return to them, criticizing herhusband severely for leaving his family in suchdestitute circumstances, promising thatneither she nor the children should want foranything if she would but renounce herhusband and her religion and return to them.Her brother, who lived near Council Bluffs,repeatedly offered to take Eliza and herchildren to his home, telling her she wouldnever see her husband again. But nothingtempted her nor shook her faith. She hadcomplete assurance that her Heavenly Fatherwas caring for her and that he would bringher husband safely back. She knew well thetrials and hardships that awaited her, but herhusband and her religion were her dearestpossessions, and not for any earthly pleasureor comfort would she forsake either.

On October 2 the Battalion reached theRed River; orders had been received fromGeneral S. F. Kearney that unless the com-mand reached Santa Fe by October 10 theywould be discharged. He suggested selecting50 able-bodied men from each company, tak-ing the best teams and traveling on a doubleforced march, leaving the sick with the weakteams to follow as best they could. Previousto this, 55 of the sick had been sent back toPueblo.

According to Mormon Battalion His-tory, p. 163:

The sorrow which they [the sick] felt atthe loss of friends through having theBattalion divided, was in a great measurecompensated by the relief they experiencedat being rid of the Doctor’s drugs and cursingfor a few days. There was a noticeableimprovement, too, in most of those whowere sick after the Doctor left. . . .

4Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl wrote: “The foregoingstory of the dove I have heard from Grandmother manytimes. Benham Hunsaker, a son of Abraham andCathrine Jensen Hunsaker, is authority for it as itappears here.”


After the division of the command, nounnecessary time was spent on the road evenby those who brought up the rear. They wereanxious to reach Santa Fe as early aspossible, lest their friends of the advancedivision should be attached to some othercorps and they be left to serve under theirold religious persecutor of Missouri memory,Colonel Sterling Price.

Feed for the animals and water for allbecame more plentiful as they advanced, andthe invalid soldiers were able to reach SantaFe only three days behind the main Battal-ion.

The first division of the Battalion arrivedat Santa Fe on the evening of 9 October1846. On their approach, General Doniphan,the commander of the post, ordered a saluteof 100 guns to be fired from the roofs ofhouses, in honor of the Mormon Battalion.This same General Doniphan had been a law-yer in Clay County, Missouri, when JosephSmith and others were tried by a court mar-tial of the mob at Far West in 1838. Whenthe prisoners were sentenced upon that oc-casion to be shot in presence of their fami-lies, General Doniphan denounced the deci-sion as “cold-blooded murder,” and by hisinfluence the court martial was changed.

The Battalion passed through a numberof Mexican towns where they visited the in-habitants. While passing through the villageof San Miguel, Abraham saw, for the firsttime, Spanish sheep and goats, and he wasmuch amused at watching the process of milk-ing the goats. It was generally done by boyswho sat at the rear of the animals, and ofcourse the milk pail caught frequent droppingsof “nanny-berries” which the boys carefullyskimmed out with their fingers. Abraham of-ten described the process and always with agreat deal of enjoyment.

From Santa Fe, the Battalion traveled un-der Lieutenant Colonel P. St. George Cooke,

whose judgment in traveling was much bet-ter than Smith’s. Colonel Cooke nevercrowded the men unnecessarily, but the roadsas the company advanced grew so muchworse that both men and teams failed fast.Their only hope lay, as Daniel Tyler put it,“in our faith in God and on pulling at theropes.” Food, which was always scarce, be-came more so. The commanding officer, be-cause of the discouraging reports of his prin-cipal guide, found it necessary to again re-duce rations, which were already insufficientto keep up the strength of the men. On topof all this, they received orders to construct awagon road to the west coast.

On November 8, four scouts who hadbeen sent out by Colonel Cooke to explorethe route ahead returned with the disheart-ening report that, in their opinion, it was im-possible to get through with wagons. But theColonel had started out to make a wagonroad, and he was determined not to abandonthe enterprise.

Wagon after wagon had to be aban-doned, also some of the tents and army equip-ment, even a part of their meager supply offood had to be left behind as the roads be-came more and more rugged and difficult.

The following entry dated Monday, No-vember 16 is of special interest to descen-dants of Abraham Hunsaker:

Levi Hancock told the men not to whip theiranimals or swear so much. He said the meatwould be better to eat when it was butcheredif the animals hadn’t been beaten. Hesuggested the men imitate AbrahamHunsaker, Company D, as he didn’t whipmuch or swear any and had a mild spirit.5

By November 17 the Battalion struck acopper mine road leading to Yanos. The

5Norma Baldwin Ricketts, The MormonBattalion, U.S. Army of the West, 1846-1848.Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 1996.p.82.


guides had traveled on 12miles ahead and had been ableto see much farther, but foundno indication of water. Theyreported that, in their opinion,no water would he found shortof the Gila River, 100 milesdistant.

The Colonel was dumb-founded. To turn back wasstarvation and chagrin; to goforward seemed rashness; andto follow the road to Yanosand through other Mexicansettlements would be to fallunder General Wool’s com-mand and the men would findthemselves in Mexico instead of California atthe end of their year’s enlistment. The com-mander and his staff held a council and de-cided to follow the road to Yanos through thesettlements where food and fresh teams couldbe obtained.

A gloom was cast over the whole Battal-ion. All of the men’s hopes, dreams, conver-sation, and songs since they had been forcedto leave Nauvoo were centered in California;somewhere near there they hoped to find theirfamilies and friends.

In this critical moment Brother DavidPettegrew, better known as Father Pettegrewowing to his silver locks and fatherly coun-sels, and Brother Levi W. Hancock, went fromtent to tent and in a low tone counseled themen to “pray to the Lord to change theColonel’s mind.” A few of the men slippedout to a secret place where they could unitein prayer. That night in the tents there weremore than 300 fervent prayers asking for thatone favor.

The following morning the journey wasresumed along the Yanos road for about twomiles, then the Colonel stopped. He lookedin the direction of the road, then to the south-west, then west, saying, “I don’t want to get

under General Wool, and lose my trip to Cali-fornia.” He rose in his saddle and ordered ahalt. He then said with firmness, “This is notmy course, I was ordered to California, and Iwill go there or die in the attempt!”

At this juncture, Father Pettegrew invol-untarily exclaimed, “God bless the Colonel.”

From here on the men found scarcelyenough water to keep them and their ani-mals alive. They drank from puddles wherethey had to spoon the water out; they drankfrom swamp holes; they dug deep wells; andmany a night they made camp with no waterat all. The summit of the mountain was fi-nally reached with the wagons, but goingdown the other side was even more difficult.It was necessary to let the wagons down withropes upon which the men pulled. But byDecember 1 the Battalion had reached thevalley where there was water in abundance.

It was on the San Pedro River that thebattle with the bulls occurred. This sectionseemed to be overrun with herds of wild Mexi-can cattle, and the bulls were very ferocious.They would gather along the line of marchout of curiosity and would alternately run awayand approach. Then the bolder ones wouldcharge the marching column. Several mules

This sword was carried by Abraham Hunsaker when he was amember of the Mormon Battalion. Abraham gave the sword tohis grandson, Jedediah Grant, who passed it on to his son,Benjamin Grant.

Abraham’s Bible (shown above) was given to his eldest daughter,Mary, when it was more than a hundred years old. Mary gave itto her son, Jedediah Grant, who gave it to his son, Royal Grant.


were gored to death by the wild bulls, and theend-gates of one or two wagons were stovein. Several men nearly lost their lives in thebattle with the bulls. Abraham often told ofthe narrow escape he had when a chargingbull selected him for its victim. He barelymissed being gored by dodging behind awagon.

Vividly descriptive of these battles was asong composed by Levi W. Hancock; this wasone of the Battalion songs that Abraham usedto sing. It was a great favorite with the youngergeneration in later years; in fact, some of thesmall Hunsaker boys could sing along withtheir father the entire nineteen stanzas.

THE BULL FIGHT ON THE SAN PEDRO

By Levi W. Hancock

Under command of Colonel Cooke,When passing down San Pedro’s brook,Where cane-grass, growing rank and high,Was waving as the breeze pass’d by:

There, as we gain’d ascending ground,Out from the grass, with fearful bound,A wild, ferocious bull appear’d,And challeng’d fight, with horns uprear’d.

“Stop, stop!” said one, “just see that brute!”“Hold!” was responded, “let me shoot.”He flashed, but failed to fire the gun—Both stood their ground, and would not run.

The man exclaimed, “I want some meat,I think that bull will do to eat;”And saying thus, again he shotAnd fell’d the creature on the spot:

It soon arose to run away,And then the guns began to play;All hands at work—amid the roar,The bull was dropp’d to rise no more.

But lo! It did not end the fight—

A furious herd rushed into sight,And then the bulls and men around,Seemed all resolved to stand their ground.

In nature’s pasture, all unfenc’d,A dreadful battle was commenc’d;We knew we must ourselves defend,And each, to others, aid extend.

The bulls with madden’d fury raged—The men a skillful warfare waged;Tho’ some, from danger, had to fleeAnd hide or clamber up a tree.

A bull at one man made a pass,Who hid himself amid the grass,And breathless lay until the brutePass’d him and took another shoot.

The bulls rushed on like unicorns,And gored the mules with piercing horns,As if the battle ground to gain,When men and mules should all be slain.

With brutal strength and iron will,Poised on his horns with master skill,A bull, one mule o’er mule did throw,Then made the latter’s entrails flow.

One bull was shot and when he fell,A butcher ran his blood to spill,The bull threw up his horns and caughtThe butcher’s cap, upon the spot.

“Give up my cap!” exclaimed the man,And chased the bull, as on he ran:The butcher beat, and with his knifeCut the bull’s throat and closed his life.

O. Cox from one bull’s horns was thrownTen feet in air: when he came down,A gaping flesh-wound met his eye—The vicious beast had gored his thigh.

The Colonel and his staff were there,Mounted, and witnessing the war:A bull, one hundred yards away,Eyed Colonel Cooke as easy prey.

But Corp’ral Frost stood bravely by,


And watch’d the bull with steady eye;The brute approach’d near and more near,But Frost betray’d no sign of fear.

The Colonel ordered him to run—Unmov’d he stood with loaded gun;The bull came up with daring tread,When near his feet, Frost shot him dead.

Whatever cause, we did not know,But something prompted them to go;When all at once in frantic fright,The bulls ran bellowing out of sight.

And when the fearful fight was o’er,And sound of muskets heard no more,At least a score of bulls were found,And two mules dead upon the ground.

Again after a few days march, water be-came scarce. The straggling, worn out, fam-ished men came into camp at all hours of thenight. Then one morning it was reported thatthere was water about 14 miles ahead, butthere was no water. And to make mattersworse, at intervals during the day, the menhad to pull on the ropes to help the teamsthrough the stretches of sand. At sundown asmall pool was found, enough to give thosepresent a drink by lying down; but as beforethe main portion of the camp had no water.When water was finally found the followingday, those who were able to get to it filledtheir canteens and carried them back to theirsuffering comrades.

About noon on 27 January 1847 thetired, footsore, hungry, emaciated men of theMormon Battalion reached the old desertedCatholic Mission of San Luis Rey. One milebelow the mission, they ascended a bluff6

where the long-looked-for Pacific Ocean ap-peared to their view only about three milesdistant.

An express from General Kearney di-rected that the Battalion take quarters in aCatholic mission, five miles from San Diego.They arrived at this mission January 29.

Here the Battalion learned for the firsttime their commander’s real sentiments to-ward them. Colonel Cooke issued the follow-ing “order” dated 30 January 1847:7

Monument near San Luis Rey, where MormonBattalion first saw the Pacific Ocean.

6A monument to the Mormon Battalion waserected on this bluff 100 years later. 7Mormon Battalion History, pp. 254-255.


The Lieutenant-Colonel commanding,congratulates the Battalion on their safearrival on the shore of the Pacific Ocean andthe conclusion of their march of over twothousand miles.

History may be searched in vain for anequal march of infantry. Half of it has beenthrough a wilderness where nothing butsavages and wild beasts are found, or desertswhere, for want of water, there is no livingcreature. There, with almost hopeless laborwe have dug deep wells, which the futuretraveler will enjoy. Without a guide who hadtraversed them, we have ventured intotrackless tablelands where water was notfound for several marches. With crowbar andpick and axe in hand, we have worked ourway over mountains, which seemed to defyaught save the wild goat, and hewed apassage through a chasm of living rock morenarrow than our wagons. To bring these firstwagons to the Pacific, we have preservedthe strength of our mules by herding themover large tracts, which you have laboriouslyguarded without loss. The garrison of fourpresidios of Sonora concentrated within thewalls of Tucson, gave us no pause. We drovethem out, with their artillery, but ourintercourse with the citizens was unmarkedby a single act of injustice. Thus, marchinghalf naked and half fed, and living upon wildanimals, we have discovered and made aroad of great value to our country.

Arrived at the first settlement of California,after a single day’s rest, you cheerfully turnedoff from the route to this point of promisedrepose, to enter upon a campaign, and meet,as we supposed, the approach of an enemy;and this too, without even salt to season yoursole subsistence of fresh meat.

The Battalion returned to San Luis ReyFebruary 3 and orders were issued requiringthe men to comply with all of the regulationsof soldiers in garrison, such as lines of pa-rade, cleaning arms and clothes, shaving,cutting hair, and saluting officers. The onlycomplaint was that some who had not shaved

since leaving home didn’t want to do so untilthey returned to their families. But militaryorders were imperative; according to its rules,no beard should be allowed to grow belowthe tip of the ear; hence the mustache onlycould be saved. The hair also must be clippedeven with the tip of the ear.

At this time the men were nearly bare-footed; some used, instead of shoes, rawhidewrapped around their feet, while others im-provised a novel style of boots by strippingthe skin from the leg of an ox. To do this, aring was cut around the hide above and be-low the gambrel joint, and then the skin takenoff without cutting it lengthwise. After this,the lower end was sewed up with sinews;when it was ready for the wearer, the naturalcrook of the hide adapted it somewhat to theshape of the foot. Some of the men had madetrousers of old wagon covers. Clothing wasscarce in California and what little there wasin the country was far too expensive for theMormon soldiers to purchase.

Whenever possible religious serviceswere held on Sunday. Captain Jefferson Huntfrequently presided, but sometimes FatherPettegrew or Levi W. Hancock was in charge.

Private Abraham Hunsaker was ap-pointed a sergeant in Company D on 18March 1847 on the recommendation of hiscommanding captain. On the same date FirstLieutenant George W. Oman and SergeantEbenezer Brown and nine privates of Com-pany A, eight privates of Company C, Ser-geant Hunsaker and five privates of CompanyD, and eight privates of Company E wereordered to comprise the detachment whichwould remain to garrison the post of San LuisRey.

They remained at this post until April 6,when the post was ordered discontinued, andthey were ordered to join the main Battalionat Los Angeles.

On April 24 the Mormon Battalion re-ceived orders to erect a small fort on the emi-


8According to the California IntermountainNews dated 2 March 1954, a monument honoringthe Mormon Battalion and other Los Angeles pioneersis under construction. The article stated, “As theBattalion members were the first to raise the stars andstripes over the city, on Ft. Moore Hill, they will behonored by a huge flagpole and pylon. . . . Names ofthe Mormon soldiers who made the longest infantrymarch in history, from Council Bluffs to San Diego(and then to Los Angeles) . . . [will be] placed on themonument.“ Also, according to this article, Dr.

nence which com-manded the town ofLos Angeles. Com-pany A commencedwork immediately atexcavating the groundfor the fort, and thework was afterwardsprosecuted by 28men from each com-pany who were re-lieved every fourthday. A liberty pole,consisting of two largepine logs each 50 feetlong, was raised at thefort on July 1 by theBattalion.8

When GeneralKearney arrived atLos Angeles fromMonterey on May 9,he remarked to anofficer that historymight he searched invain for an infantrymarch equal to thatperformed by the Bat-talion, all circum-stances considered,and added:“Bonaparte crossedthe Alps, but these

Fauntleroy Hunsaker, president of East Los AngelesStake (and great grandson of Abraham Hunsaker), willbe among the descendants of that valiant group whowill be honored when the memorial monument in thecivic center is dedicated.

Faun reported in a letter dated 1 August 1957that the Fort Moore Monument was then about four-fifths completed. He added that “members of thechurch here raised near $100,000.00 as a gift towardthe completion of the monument.”

In March 1950 three of Abraham Hunsaker’s grandsons from Honeyville,with their wives, were part of a Sons of Utah Pioneers group who pickedup the Mormon Battalion route at Phoenix and followed it to San Diegoand back to Utah. Left to right are: Ken and Sylvia Hunsaker, Horaceand Viola Hunsaker, Loren and Millie Hunsaker. These grandsons woreBattalion uniforms, but Abraham didn’t—his uniform allowance was senthome to help the Saints prepare for the move west.


men have crossed a continent.”9

The promise of Brigham Young that notone of the Battalion would fall by the handsof the nation’s foe and that their only fight-ing would be with wild beasts was literally ful-filled. When the Battalion approached Tuc-son it was a veritable Mexican stronghold. Butword reached the Mexican officers that a vastarmy was approaching and that their advancescouts numbered several hundred. Conse-quently the Mexican troops quartered in Tuc-son fled the city and the Mormon soldiersmarched through its streets without even see-ing the enemy. Again, though Santa Fe hadsurrendered and the war apparently was atan end a month before the Battalion reachedCalifornia, one of the most bloody battles ofthe war was fought in an encounter withMexican guerrillas near San Diego, shortlybefore the Battalion boys reached the SanLuis Rey Mission.

As the time drew near for the release ofthe Battalion, various offers and plans werebrought forward to induce the men to reen-list for another six months. Some of the of-ficers suggested that the men be compelledto do so. But most of the men were too ea-ger to get back to their families to listen toany plan that might keep them longer thanthe year of their enlistment.

The men of the Battalion were permit-ted to take jobs, such as making adobes, burn-ing brick, building houses, digging wells, andperforming various other kinds of labor. Manyavailed themselves of the opportunity to la-bor to obtain provisions for the journey home.

On 16 July 1847 the five companiescomprising the Mormon Battalion wereformed in lines according to the letter of thecompany. Lieutenant A. J. Smith marched

down between the lines, saying the words,“You are discharged.” Abraham Hunsakerwas a first sergeant in Company D at the timeof mustering out.

9Mormon Battalion History, pp. 281-282.


Top: Mormon Battalion Monument, PresidioPark (Old Fort Stockton). The petrachrome wallof soldiers was a joint project by the San DiegoChapter of the Daughters of Utah Pioneers andthe United States Government.

Right and Bottom: Mormon Battalion Visitors’Center, Old Town San Diego, California.

Left (on preceding page): Statue of a MormonBattalion soldier by Edward Fraughton and mapshowing freeway routes to Old Town San Diegoand the Mormon Battalion Visitors’ Center. TheMormon Battalion’s 2,000-mile march stillstands as the longest infantry march by anyunit of the United States Army.

Pictures were taken in 1999 by Patricia Ensign Canady, great-granddaughter of Abraham Hunsaker.



HomeHomeHomeHomeHomewwwwward Bound from Califorard Bound from Califorard Bound from Califorard Bound from Califorard Bound from Californianianianiania

The men received their pay, and on July20 the majority of those who did not reenlistwere organized into companies for traveling,with captains of hundreds, of fifties, and oftens. A few of the men who did not havesufficient money to buy their needed suppliesstopped at Sacramento, where there wasopportunity to obtain work at good wages.Some of these men were on the scene whengold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill.

The balance of the men continued theirjourney. All were badly in need of clothing,but from past experiences they had learnedthat food and a means of transportation werethe most vital necessities. Consequentlyhorses and mules were obtained, and atFrancisco’s Rancho, where the companystopped for three or four days, beef cattle werepurchased for all of the men who were re-turning. They obtained but little flour, forwhich they paid $8.00 per hundred pounds.Beef cattle and horses were very cheap: forexample, wild mares sold for $3.00 or $4.00each and horses broken to ride for $10.00to $20.00.

Their plan was to drive the beef animalsbefore them, slaughtering them only as theirneeds required. However, they had not trav-eled far when they decided this plan was notfeasible; there were many high and steepmountains and some of the cattle were lostwithin the first few days. Therefore it becamenecessary to make camp for a few days whilethey slaughtered and dried their beef.

Before these travelers were well over theSierra Nevada Mountains, many difficultieshad been encountered. They crossed on thesame route that the ill-fated Donner Party had

attempted to travel the preceding winter andwere witness to some of the gruesome re-minders of the tragedy that had befallen thatcompany. Abraham Hunsaker told manytimes of the terrible scene that the melting ofthe winter snows had uncovered by the timethese Battalion men were journeying towardtheir loved ones.

On September 6, the morning after theypassed the remains of the Donner Party, theBattalion men met Samuel Brannan return-ing from his trip to meet the Saints. Here isDaniel Tyler’s account of that meeting as re-corded in Mormon Battalion History, p.315:

We learned from him [Samuel Brannan]that the Pioneers had reached Salt LakeValley in safety, but his description of thevalley and its facilities was anything butencouraging. Among other things, BrotherBrannan said the Saints could not possiblysubsist in the Great Salt Lake Valley, as,according to the testimony of mountaineers,it froze there every month in the year, andthe ground was too dry to sprout seedswithout irrigation, and if irrigated with thecold mountain streams, the seeds plantedwould be chilled and prevented fromgrowing, or, if they did grow, they would besickly and fail to mature. He considered itno place for an agricultural people, andexpressed his confidence that the Saintswould emigrate to California the next spring.. . .

We camped overnight with Brannan, andafter he had left us the following morning,Captain James Brown, of the Pueblodetachment, which arrived in Salt Lake Valleyon the 27th of July, came up with a smallparty. He brought a goodly number of letters

41HOMEWARD BOUND FROM CALIFORNIA

from the families of the soldiers, also anepistle from the Twelve Apostles, ad- visingthose who had not means of subsistence toremain in California and labor, and bring theirearnings with them in the spring.

Before they reached Salt Lake, there wassome suffering from lack of water, but to theseveterans who had endured so much while onthe march to California, present hardshipswere but minor affairs. They arrived in SaltLake City on 16 October 1847.

A few of the Battalion members foundtheir families already in the Salt Lake Valley,and for them it was the end of the journey.Some of the men were so worn out with fa-tigue and sickness that they were unable toproceed farther eastward at that time. Still

others preferred to remain in the valley to tryto prepare a home for their families.

But there were thirty-two of the return-ing veterans who were so eager to meet theirwives and children that they did not hesitateabout continuing their journey another thou-sand miles, even at that late season of theyear. One of that number was AbrahamHunsaker.

Abraham had hoped to find Eliza andthe children awaiting him in the valley. It hasbeen said by some of the older children in hisfamily that his disappointment and his dis-pleasure were very keen when he found thatthey had been left behind and were still withthe Saints who awaited their turn upon thebanks of the Missouri River.

Travels of Abraham Hunsaker.(Map drawn by Eugene K. Shepherd, a great-grandson of Abraham Hunsaker.)



The LThe LThe LThe LThe Last One Thousand Milesast One Thousand Milesast One Thousand Milesast One Thousand Milesast One Thousand Miles

Abraham Hunsaker and his 31 comradesdid not tarry long in Salt Lake Valley whenthey learned that their families had not yetarrived; the second day after their arrival inthe valley found this little group of veteransagain on the march.

They were unable to obtain flour in thevalley. The Saints had scarcely enough foodto supply their own needs and it was doubtfulthat they would have sufficient to last untilthey could harvest a crop. The veterans wereinformed, however, that plenty of flour couldbe obtained at Fort Bridger, only 115 milesdistant.

So these men began their thousand-milejourney on 18 October 1847, with but 10pounds of flour each, mounted on horses ormules. Some of the men were still garbed inthe clothing, or what was left of it, which theywore when they left home. Others, whoseclothing had completely worn out, were cladin outfits of various sizes, styles, and colors—whatever the Saints in Salt Lake could sparefrom their own already scanty wardrobes.Abraham wore the same boots on his returnas he did when he left, but they were patchedand mended and reinforced until no part ofthe old original boot could be seen.

Fort Bridger was reached during a rathersevere snow storm, and, as if the weatherwere not sufficient to dampen the spirits ofthe travelers, they learned that there was noflour at the fort. Jim Bridger said his entiresupply had been sold to emigrants to Califor-nia and Oregon. However, the returning vet-erans were able to purchase a little beef andwere assured that they would be able to pur-chase all the flour they wanted at Laramie.

Before reaching Laramie they killed twobuffalo bulls and jerked the best of the meat.They had also been able to kill other gamefor food. It was about November 10 whenthe men reached Fort Laramie. They had usedthe last of their flour a week before. But againthey were doomed to disappointment—noflour was to be had at any price. On top ofthis the post trader advised them not to killany buffalo as it would offend the Indians. Hesuggested that it would be a better plan tohire the Indians to kill their buffalo for them.

Twelve miles below Laramie they foundan Indian trader on the south side of the PlatteRiver. A few of the men crossed over andpurchased 100 pounds of flour for $25.00.This gave them about three pounds to theman, so they decided to use it only for mak-ing gravy or for thickening soup so that itwould last for a longer time.

When they were about 60 or 70 milesbelow the fort, their meat supply was ex-hausted. They were among buffalo, but re-membering the advice of the post trader hadnot dared to kill any. Finally their hunger drovethem to kill a bull and a calf; they reasonedthat they might as well die of battle as of hun-ger—at least in battle their sufferings wouldbe of shorter duration.

About 150 miles below Fort Laramiethey awoke one morning to find 12 inches ofsnow. From this point to Winter Quarters, adistance of some 350 miles, they had to breaktrail through snow from one to two feet deep.

Some of their animals were either lostor stolen by the Indians just before and aftercrossing the Loup Fork River. Near the cross-

43THE LAST ONE THOUSAND MILES

ing they found the head of a donkey whichhad been killed by a company some time be-fore. Captain Allred took an ax and openedthe skull, and he and his messmates had afine supper of the brains. Near the same point,Corporal Newell opened the head of a mulethat had been killed the day before by Colo-nel James Pace’s company with the sameresult.

The day before they reached Loup Forkthey divided and ate the last of their food,which in the main consisted of rawhide saddlebags which they had used from California topack their provisions in. This was during acold storm which lasted several days. Theirnext food was one of Captain Lytle’s mulesthat had become unfit for travel.

Because of floating ice they were unableto cross the Loup Fork for five days, in whichtime they traveled down the river a few milesand found Captain Pace’s company just intime to save it from being robbed by the Paw-nee Indians. The two companies remainedtogether for the rest of the journey.

It was here that Abraham Hunsaker, inthe hope of procuring some corn from anIndian corn field on the other side of the river,took his frying pan full of coals from the fireand started across the ice on his hands andknees. He used two long sticks as skis andpushed his frying pan ahead of him. Whennear the other shore, he broke through theice and went under, frying pan and all. Hepoured the water off the coals to save his fire,as the fire was his chief concern at the mo-ment.

According to Benham Hunsaker this isthe story as he heard it many times from hisfather’s lips:

Father quickly slid the frying pan acrossthe ice to the other bank of the river, thenbegan his fight to get out. Since the ice wouldnot hold him up and since his feet couldscarcely touch the bottom, it was a desperatefight from there on to break the ice and fight

his way out, inch by inch, as he was forcedto do in that icy water.

He finally reached the other shore, almostfrozen. There he saw, right in front of him,an old rotted stump of a tree, which he feltsure Providence must have provided. Hegathered some of the slivers and laid themover the coals in his frying pan, which atthat moment showed not a sign of life. Heblew and blew until his breath was almostexhausted, then he rested and blew again.Finally his efforts were rewarded when hecould see a faint glowing among the coals,and soon after that he had a roaring fire.He dried his clothes and warmed himself.

Later he again filled his frying pan withcoals and pushed on alone to the Indian cornfield. He saw no Indians, for which he wasthankful. By diligent searching, he succeededin finding a few nubbins of corn—enoughfor a feast as it seemed to him at that time.This he carried to an abandoned Indianwickiup, where he renewed his fire andparched the ears of corn. He ate until hewas satisfied—or at least he ate as much asprudence allowed that he partake.

That night he slept in the abandonedIndian hut. The following morning he wentagain to the corn field—this time he hopedto gather corn for his friends. He had justreturned to the hut with a few nubbins whenthree Indians appeared looking veryforbidding and warlike. When they appearedin front of him, he thought, “This is probablythe end.” As he told the story, he used tosay at this point, “I stood up as tall, straight,and fearless as it was possible for me to do.The Indians grunted and jabbered, andjabbered and grunted, and looked me overfrom head to heel. Then with a look ofdisdain on their faces, they turned and rodeaway. Perhaps they thought such a skeletonof a man could not long survive anyway,why bother with him. And yet I know that ifI had tried to escape from them, or hadshown in any way the fear that I felt, theywould have taken my life, then and there.Again my Heavenly Father had overruled inmy behalf.”


The cold then became so intense the riverfroze over and Abraham returned to hisgroup, to be greeted apathetically by hiscompanions who were near death fromstarvation and cold. They said, “HelloHunsaker, we had given you up for dead.”The corn Abraham gave the menstrengthened them enough that they couldthen continue the march.

As the company started across on theice, it bent and cracked, and holes were bro-ken in places, but the men succeeded in get-ting across. As soon as that was accomplishedthe ice broke up. The men felt that a kindprovidence had made a bridge of ice for theirspecial benefit and then removed it as soonas it had filled its purpose.

From the time they killed Captain Lytle’smule until they reached Winter Quarters,probably 10 days, these Battalion veteranslived on mule meat alone and that withoutsalt.

They reached the Elkhorn River, about30 miles from Winter Quarters, on 17 De-cember 1847. They found the ferry boat with

ropes stretched across waiting for them tostep into and pull over. This ferry had beenbuilt for and by the Pioneers who had goneon to Salt Lake Valley. It had been used by allof the various companies going that way andat this time by the returning Mormon Battal-ion, for whom it had been last left.

The next morning the men arose earlyand took up their line of march. The fore-most men, including Abraham Hunsaker, ar-rived in Winter Quarters about sundown, whilethe rear came in a little after dark on 18 De-cember 1847. They had been just twomonths making the journey from Salt LakeValley to the Missouri River.

For most of the men, Winter Quarterswas the end of the trail, but for AbrahamHunsaker there was still another day of travel.There was the Missouri River to cross, thenfrom Council Bluffs it was almost a day’s jour-ney up the river to Honey Creek, where hehad parted from his family and where friendshad built a cabin for Eliza and the children.Happy indeed was that reunion of theHunsaker family just before Christmas in1847.

45EMIGRATION OF THE HUNSAKER FAMILY 1848


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The experiences which AbrahamHunsaker and his thirty-one companions hadso recently passed through in their journeyback to Winter Quarters were of value to themwhen the real exodus with their families be-gan. They knew now the route they would beobliged to follow, the unending wearisomemiles to be covered, and the difficulties thatmust be faced. They realized too, perhapsbetter than those who had not traveled thosemiles, the need to be thoroughly prepared.

Early in June, Abraham and Eliza hadcompleted preparations and were on theirway with all of their possessions. From HoneyCreek to Winter Quarters was almost a fullday’s journey; when they reached that point,they found all hands busy preparing for thegreat journey across the plains to the newhome of the Saints.

Two large companies had gone earlierand the third division led by Willard Richardswas to follow with the remaining Saints, assoon as they could procure outfits and be inreadiness for the journey. The Hunsaker fam-ily was assigned to the Richards Division, soit became necessary for them to wait a fewdays at Winter Quarters for others to com-plete preparations.

1Orpha Hunsaker Stohl, who did the research inthe Church Historian’s Office, found two or threedifferent accounts of the Willard Richard’s Division ofPioneers. She copied all of them, and MeltrudeHunsaker Stohl sorted out the parts where theCunningham Company was specially referred to orthe company in which there was reason to believeAbraham was traveling.

President Richards called the brethren to-gether around his wagon on Friday, June 25and addressed them on the propriety of be-ing vigilant day and night. Apostle Amasa M.Lyman bore testimony, and the men agreedto act as directed.

The next day President Richards re-marked to his brethren that it was just fouryears ago that he accompanied the ProphetJoseph Smith to Carthage, when the “thun-der and lightning, hell and damnation werelet loose upon the earth.” Also on June 24Elder George A. Smith, writing from WinterQuarters to President Brigham Young, said:

We have raked the country with a finetooth comb for cattle and wagons for Bro.Richards company and find that the brethrenwho are willing to help have already done allthey are able to do, while those who wereilliberal in the spring still remain so.

On 29 June 1848, the Amasa M. LymanCompany, in which the Hunsaker family trav-eled, rolled out of Winter Quarters at 4 p.m.,Amasa M. Lyman and Jonathan Crosby onhorseback giving directions.

The following day, Apostle Lyman’scompany was called together and organizedwith captains of hundreds, fifties, and of tens.Cunningham was chosen leader or captainof the sixth ten, which was the unit to whichAbraham Hunsaker had been assigned.

On July 1 and 2 teams bound for themountains continued to roll out of WinterQuarters, until there were only a few left inthe town. A place out on the prairie, about


three miles from the city, was selected forthe Willard Richards’ encampment.

The Lyman Company left their encamp-ment early July 2 and arrived at the ElkhornRiver at 9 a.m. Here they turned out theirteams and breakfasted near the old raftingplace. The brethren searched for a ford acrossthe river and found one three-fourths of a mileupstream, where the water ranged in depthfrom 6 to 20 inches. After cutting down thebanks, they returned to camp, and the groupthen moved up the river and commenced tocross. By about sundown, all the teams weresafely over the river. After dark several teamsarrived from Winter Quarters and they werehelped across by those in advance.

Andrew L. Lameraux and John P.Barnard of the Amasa Lyman Company vis-ited the Willard Richards Company on July 5and brought news that the camp had crossedthe Elkhorn River and there awaited the ar-rival of Dr. Richards. The next day theRichards Company traveled 15 miles to theElkhorn River, crossed over by doubling teamsand found Lyman’s Company, which con-sisted of 108 wagons, corralled on the north-west bank and waiting for them. From thistime on for a few days, the companies at-tempted to keep near each other—one daythe Lyman Company traveled ahead, the nextday it would be the Richards Company in ad-vance.

Sunday, July 9, meetings were held be-tween the two corrals formed by the Richardsand Lyman Companies. Remarks were madeby some of the brethren and the followingrules were adopted:

1. That each ten shall travel ahead, al-ternately, according to its number.

2. That all lost property when found shallbe brought to the captain of fifty’s quarters.

3. All dogs shall be tied up at night.

4. No man shall be allowed to leave campby himself without the consent of the cap-tain.

5. Captains of tens are to instruct theirmen to have their families attend prayers atthe sound of the horn.

6. Guards are to be placed around campat 8:30 p.m.

7. Sounding of horn will be the signalfor camp to arise.

8. Camp shall be ready to start at 7:30a.m.

9. Obedience to officers is required.

10. Men owning horses or mules are tobring them into camp at sundown and makethem fast.

The statistics of the Richards and LymanCompanies as reported at this time showed:502 whites, 24 Negroes, 169 wagons, 50horses, 20 mules, 515 oxen, 426 cows andloose cattle, 369 sheep, 63 pigs, 5 goats, 44dogs, 170 chickens, 4 turkeys, 7 ducks, and5 doves.

The Lyman Company drove to CedarCreek July 14 and the first ten went aheadand found a good crossing, then returned andcamped with the rest of the company on theeast side of the creek. Because they were nearan Indian village, the Omahas, the companyfired a cannon before retiring and put on adouble guard. Guards shot off guns every halfhour before calling time.

The next day the two companies trav-eled as far as Shell Creek. The day was verywarm—so warm two hogs died of the heat.

At a meeting held on July 30, it was con-cluded to divide the entire camp into threeparts: Willard Richards would have charge ofthree tens, Amasa Lyman would have threetens, and Andrew Cunningham would be cap-tain of the three tens known as the Third Di-vision. The Hunsaker family was in theCunningham Division, which took the lead

47EMIGRATION OF THE HUNSAKER FAMILY 1848

at this time. Again during the ensuing daysfirst one company was ahead, then another.

On August 19 it was recorded that thefirst company traveled 14½ miles and campedat Warm Springs. The brethren in CaptainCunningham’s company corralled on the riverbank.

In a letter dated 21 August 1848, AmasaM. Lyman informed church officials yet atCouncil Bluffs that the group had come thusfar with little or no difficulty. “Feed has beentolerably good,” he said, “and teams havedone well, with the exception of sore necks,and a few cows and more animals are lame.”

On August 24 a blacksmith forge wasset up and considerable repair work was done.Hunters obtained some meat for camp. Threefamilies of Captain Cunningham’s com-pany—Edwards, Hunsaker, and Kippen—ar-rived in camp with their five wagons. The nextday the blacksmith forge was kept busy andthe rest of Captain Cunningham’s companyarrived at 4:30 p.m.

September 2 found the CunninghamCompany safely across the Platte River andcontinuing on to Mineral Springs. By the 12ththey had reached Chimney Rock.

On Sunday, 16 September 1848, oc-curred an incident which does not seem tohave been recorded in Church history, butwhich was of considerable importance to theHunsaker family. On the night of Septem-ber 15, Abraham Hunsaker and several ofhis more-or-less impatient comrades were afew miles ahead of the company; their wag-ons were camped on the Little Sandy Creekin what is now Wyoming, while the rest ofthe company was back near Devil’s Gate. As

was the rule in the various camps, Sundaywas a day of rest; consequently preparationswere made to observe that rule the next day.

It was told by members of the Hunsakerfamily in later years that in the area wherethe Hunsakers and their companions thenfound themselves, the Indians had been prettymuch in evidence. As a result there was notmuch rest in the little camp that night. Therewas a guard on watch and every man sleptwith his gun within easy reach.

Under these strained circumstances onLittle Sandy Creek, Eliza Collins Hunsakergave birth to a son in their wagon at 10 a.m.Sunday, 16 September 1848. This eighthchild was blessed by his father and given thename of Abraham. Little Sandy Creek lieson the west side of the mountains which formthe continental divide and to the north of theBad Lands in what is now SweetwaterCounty, Wyoming. Two days later the mainbody of the Cunningham Company reachedthis point.

On September 19 the entireCunningham group reached the Big Sandy;the next day they reached the Green River,169 miles from Salt Lake City; on Septem-ber 22 Fort Bridger was their campingground. They made camp at Bear River onOctober 1 and at Weber River on October 5.The whole Cunningham Company arrived atGreat Salt Lake 12 October 1848.

A list of the pioneers who arrived in theCunningham Company appears in theChurch Historian’s Office at Salt Lake City.That list includes the names of AbrahamHunsaker and Eliza Collins Hunsaker, his wife.



The Early Years in UtahThe Early Years in UtahThe Early Years in UtahThe Early Years in UtahThe Early Years in Utah

Church officials had prepared certainplaces where new arrivals might camp andenjoy the best accommodations afforded inthe newly settled land. One of the first of thesewas Pioneer Park, another was in the arealater occupied by West High School, and athird at the present site of the City and CountyBuilding. Those pioneers who brought cattlewith them settled even farther south of thecity.

The following is quoted from Tales of aTriumphant People1 published by the SaltLake County Company of the Daughters ofUtah Pioneers:

In the spring of 1849 [the spring afterAbraham’s arrival] the large swale which runsnorth of Forty-eighth South and east andwest of Highland Drive was settled. F. A.Hammond, William Bringhurst, CharlesHarper, Mrs. R. W. Riter, Abram Hunsaker,and John Neff, and one or two others werefirst to take up land in this tract. . . .

Nearly all the houses built between 1848and 1860 were of logs, which were choppedand hauled from the nearby canyons. Thesehouses were built in an oblong shape, thelogs being smoothed and edged with a broadax. After they were cut the right lengths, theywere laid in the wall with the ends dovetailedtogether, thus forming the sides and ends.The gable was three logs higher than thesquare on which extended the log which heldthe boughs, lumber, rushes, or dirt whichmade the roof. The fireplace was in one side

of the room and was from three to four feetwide.

Because of rattlesnakes the people did notlive in these houses very long but soonlearned to make adobes. . . . The first adobesthat were made were tramped out by feet,and then the clay was placed in moulds byhand. . . .

The first schoolhouse was built in the fallof 1849 by Abraham Hunsaker assisted byCharles A. Harper, Solomon Chase, WilliamBringhurst, Randolph Alexander, and FrancisHammond. This primitive schoolhouse stoodabout a half mile west of the present wardmeetinghouse where the old Church canalcrosses Forty-eighth South. It was an adobestructure, about fourteen by fourteen, andhad a roof of logs, poles, rushes, and dirt.

The school had only one desk whichextended the entire length of one side of theroom. It was not long enough toaccommodate all the children at the sametime, so of course they were obliged to taketurns in doing their written work. There wereabout thirty-five pupils in the school. . . .

About every two weeks during the winter,a dance was held in the schoolhouse. Twoor three boys would hire a fiddler who wouldcharge from a dollar and a half to two dollarsand a half a night. The admission ticket wassometimes paid in produce such as bacon,flour, potatoes, molasses, or corn. The dancestarted at early candle light and lasted untilnearly morning.

Other settlers at Mill Creek, now knownas Holladay, were the families of RogerLuckham and Alexander Beckstead. Isaacwas born to Eliza and Abraham at Mill Creek

1Francis W. Kirkham and Harold Lundstrom(Eds.), Tales of a Triumphant People. Salt Lake City,Utah: Stevens & Wallis, 1947, pp. 86-89.

49THE EARLY YEARS IN UTAH

11 October 1850, just two years after theirarrival in Salt Lake Valley.

Harriet Vernisha Beckstead, daughter ofAlexander and Catherine Elnore LintzBeckstead, became the second wife ofAbraham Hunsaker on 22 November 1850,when she was little more than 19 years old.

When the principle of plural marriagewas first made known to the Church,Abraham had been loud in his denunciationof it; he asserted that it was the promptingsof Satan himself, who was trying to lead thebrethren astray and so destroy the Church.However, at the time that he and Eliza hadaccepted the Gospel and had been baptized,they had done so with the firm convictionthat Joseph Smith was the Prophet chosenby the Lord Himself to direct the affairs ofthe Church and that the principles and rulesgoverning its conduct would be revealedthrough His prophets.

Abraham reasoned that if any of theteachings and principles of the Gospel asgiven to the Church by the Prophet were fromGod, then all were from the same source, andif he rejected one he was acknowledging alack of faith in the leadership of the Churchand in the Gospel.

Both Abraham and Eliza prayed sincerelyand earnestly that the Lord would makeknown to them whether the principle of po-lygamy was of divine origin. In answer to theirsupplication, they received the testimony thatit was from God and that those who acceptedit as such, and correctly lived it, would re-ceive countless blessings. And so it was withthe full and free approval of Eliza, the firstwife, that Abraham married a second wife.

The first child of Harriet and Abrahamwas a boy, Alexander Beckstead Hunsaker,born 11 May 1852 in Dry Canyon, near thepresent site of the town of Draper, Salt LakeCounty, where in all probability the Hunsakershad at that time some sort of a house andgrazing land for stock.

In this same year Mary, oldest daughterof Eliza and Abraham, married David Grant;she was the first of the Hunsaker children tomarry. Also in 1852 Israel was born to Elizaand Abraham on September 28, at Sandy,15 miles south of Salt Lake City.

Records in the Church Historian’s Of-fice show that the Mormon settlers at Sandyand other nearby points met for Church ser-vices in the little ward on the Jordan River.At that place, in the Jordan Mill Race, Eliza’sson Nephi was baptized in May 1854. This isthe little settlement referred to in Abraham’sjournal as the “settlement at the mill,” wherethe Hunsaker women and children were takenfor safety in 1856 at the time of the Indianuprising when Lewis was killed or captured.

Margaret Sweeten became the third wifeof Abraham Hunsaker 5 May 1854 at theage of 17½ years. She was the daughter ofGeorge and Mary Gardner Sweeten and thestepdaughter of Roger Luckham, whom hermother married after her father’s death.

The following incidents taken from theLife of Archibald Gardner compiled by DelilaG. Hughes furnish us with a bit more infor-mation relative to the life of AbrahamHunsaker in those first years in Utah. Accord-ing to this source, Archibald Gardner and hisbrother Robert with a force of men dug a millrace 2½ miles long in 1850 taking the waterout of the Jordan River at the old Hunsakerplace. This farm from which the canal had itsbeginning was owned by the Hunsakers priorto 1850. According to the Gardner history,it was one of the first canals dug in Utah andwas used to run a saw mill. In 1853 ArchibaldGardner built the first grist mill.

The Hunsaker family attended churchmeetings, day school, dances, and amuse-ments in a small log house built near the spotwhere the West Jordan ward house stands.Later, in 1861 after the Hunsakers had settledin Brigham City, the West Jordan rock meet-ing house was begun.


In 1855 three births are recorded at Jor-dan: Hyrum born in May to Harriet, FranklinCollins born in July to Eliza, and Mary Annborn in September to Margaret.

It was probably in 1855 that AbrahamHunsaker became interested in the area atthe southwest end of Utah Lake as a herdground for his cattle and sheep. Besides car-ing for his own stock in that region, he tookcare of cattle for some of his neighbors in theCottonwood area. His eldest son, Lewis,seems to have been the main herdsman, as-sisted by the “lesser boys,” as Abraham calledthem. Harriet, the second wife, with her threechildren—Alexander, Catherine, andHyrum—lived there in a cabin built for thatpurpose so she might look after the boys whotook care of the stock.

Indians were numerous in that locality,but Abraham seemed to get along well withthem. He had bought from a band of Indianwarriors a little Piede Indian boy, who hadbeen made a prisoner in a tribal war. To savethe child from a cruel death by these savages,Abraham had paid the price they demanded,and had taken the little Indian boy home tohis wife Harriet. They gave him the name ofLemuel, and he was as much a member ofthe Hunsaker family as were their own sonsand daughters.

Lemuel was probably about six years oldwhen he was adopted by the Hunsakers, forAbraham records Lemuel’s baptism in CarsonRiver (Nevada) on 15 March 1857. Evidentlythe little Indian boy had reached or passedhis eighth birthday by this date.

The remainder of this chapter is quotedfrom Abraham Hunsaker’s journal:

FEB. 22, 1856—Fryday morning Iunited in prair wit my family this morningand started to my herd on the south end ofUtah lake where my wife Hariet and hirchildren and Lewis J. and Allen and Nephi

and Lemuel was taken care of my cattleand sheep. I went in my cariage and tookmy sone Abraham with me. We got as faras Carson’s herd when our horses gave outbeing fateigued traveling in snow and mud.We slept on Carson’s dirt floor on a quiltand covered with another. We did not restmuch; the night was cold. I talked withGeorge Carson and Henry Moron and theyhad no fear of the Indians at present allthoBr. Carson told me that the Indians weregetting mad and that they wer getting veryhungary for a fight and that they entendedto fight when warm weather come.

FEB. 23, 1856—I got up in the morn-ing by daylight and started for my folks atthe hird before breakfast calculating to eatbreakfast with our folks at hird and allsoget their in time to have Lewis get in thehorses, to gether [gather] up the cattle andgo back to Salt Lake County with my stock.We got to the hird by 10 o’clock but myhorses gave out so we had hard work to gettheir, and when I got home Lewis and Ipulled of[f] the harness when we see twoIndians coming after us riding furiously andI thought all was not right.

I had taking an Indian and his familyto be with me and we wer friendly with themand gave them milk and bread to eat. Weallso had given all other Indians somethingwhen they asked for it. This Indian that Ihad made friendly by giveing him thingshe wanted and talking friendly with himwas sick with the measels when I see thosemad Indians coming. I ran to Moto, myfriendly Indian, to get to him before thoseIndians came up, but they commenced[shouting] very furiously as soon as theycame in gunshot and Moto jumped up outof his bed and ran out to them and theyhollored very furiously as tho they wer verymad. Moto ran to his tent and took hisbough and arows and gethered their dudsand left. In the meanwhile I ran in the house


and had the children come in allso exceptone to watch the Indians.

I loaded my gun or I loaded 2—onemusket, one U. S. rifle—and Lewis loaded1 rifle. Lewis was the first to notice Motogether his bough and arows. Those Indiansand their family went of[f] some 200 yardsand stoped some 20 minuets when theystarted of[f] west corse. I told my folks thatI knew they would kill us if they could andwe must get away immediately or theywould waylay us and kill us all of[f]. Wehad nothing to take us of[f] but one marethat Lewis had in. I told Lewis to put theharnes on the mare and the one that wastired out and we would try to go. I alls[o]sent Alen and Lemuel to bring the sheepto take them off with us.

I then thought that if our team wouldgave out we would be in worse fix than ifwe would stay in the house, so I told Lewishe had better ride on the fresh mare andget one that I had seen on the road comingin wich was some 2 miles of[f]. He readilyconsented and jumped on the mare. I toldhim she was on this side of the seaders [ce-dars]. He understood me she was the otherside and he said that was a good way of[f].I told him again the mare was this side. Heexclaimed, “O, I thought you said the otherside,” and he started northwest course. Itold him to be quick. He started in a gallopand kep on the jump till he came to themare.

The Indians when they sea my boysafter the sheep, they turned, quarting [quar-tering] after them, but when they saw Lewison the horse they turned, quarting afterhim. He had some 2 miles to go beforereaching the mare I sent him after. I allsosent 2 other lesser boys to fetch the sheepand have Alen and Lemuel bring some oxenthat I had seen. They brought the sheepand Allen fetched some cattle. We got oneyoak out of the cattle he [brought] and we

hitched the cattle to the waggon and thetired out horse to the cariage, and westarted home to flee from the Indians.

As Lewis had not returned I feared hewas killed by the Indians, so we started af-ter Lewis, for the mare was out of sight thatI sent him after. I drove 2 te[ams] withoutany road and the boys and Hariet drovethe sheep and cattle while Allen was get-ting all the cattle he could for the horseswere lying down with being tired. I was inhopes he would find some we could work.He finily got Jane Turpens ox and weyoaked a cow with him so we could travelas fast as the sheep could go and faster to[o].We came to where Lewis found the mare Isent him after and he was not their, but Icould sea where his mare or some otheranimal was on the jump.

We traveled on with all speed posiblefor we could not look for Lewis only as wetraveled for I was the only guarde for myfamily that could shoot to advantage. Wewere fearing the Indians would rush out ofthe seaders or sage brush and kill us allof[f]. Some of our sheep gave out before wegot to Carson’s hird.

I sent my boy Allen on to Carsons toget an express to Provo to get a companyto follow the Indians but when he got theirhe found the house plundered and no per-son at home. He came back and met ushalf mile before we got their and told usthey were not in the house so we drove closeto Carsons house and I went in and foundthe house robed of all the clothing and bedcloths. All their guns were gone. It was nowvery dark so I told our family we wouldleave our sheep and cattle close at this placeand that we would yoak up another yoakof cattle and travel on to Wicksams. So wefound a yoak of cattle and hitch them onand started down the lake. I was drivingthe lead teem with my gun on my shoulderand Allen was driven the other teem with


the axe ready to chop down if the Indiansshould make attack on us, while the leserboys and Hariet was riding in the waggons.

I had Lemuel to wach for rear guardeas he was an Indian and could see betterthan any of us, whilst Allen and myself werewat[c]hing and looking on evry side and infront. We had not traveled over 3 hundredyards till I see a man lying on his back dead.I stooped down close to his face and recog-nized him to be George Carson. I feared itwas my son Lewis. I told the family it wasCarson lying dead. They were very muchfrightened and the weather was very coldand I left him lying till I could raise a com-pany and come back to get the dead andstock that might be left, as I thought itwould excite my family the more if I shouldtake him with us so we left him and cameto Wicksoms. They had not heard of [theuprising]; we got here by one o’clock atnight.

FEB. 24 SONDAY—David Sanders andmyself started and got Bishop Richards’grey mare to go with express to dry creak.The mare was very poor, but David Sand-ers started and met a company from wil-low creak, Salt Lake County, ColonelBrown at their head. [They] were comingafter their cattle at Carsons herd. They hadonly ten men so Colonel Brown took hishors and went with express to ColonelDavid Evens [Evans]. Colonel Evens raised25 men immeadiately and placed Capt.Willis at their head; they arrived to the placewhere my family was at Weaksoms on thelak[e] youtah [Utah] west side. The companytraveled on the ice on the lake. Capt. Willisgot here by sonedown and he rested till mid-night when we arose and harnesed our bag-gage waggons and sadled our ponys andstarted back to my herd ground by way ofCarsons.

[FEB. 25]—We came to Carsons, some12 miles, and we serched for the dead body

which was near their. We found HenryMoren lying flat on his belly wit his armsstreached out dead, being shot with 2 bul-lets threw his body. His dog was lyingbetwen his legs. We allso came to where Ihad seen Carson in the night; he was lyingon his back with his cap in his right handlying on his brest. He was shot in the bodyallso.

We rested our ponys and eat brakefastand I left Nephi and Lemuel, my small boys,to gether the sheep and watch them and acompany was left allso to look up Carson’shird whilest Capt. Willis and his companyof 20 men and myself and Allen went toserch for Lewis and look up my herd andtake them home.

We serched diligently for Lewis, but invain did we search for we could not findhim. We found where the Indians had cometo where he was driven the mare I sent himafter, and we allso see where his horse wason the jump appearantly as the Indians weretrying to catch him. My boy Lewis had nogun for he was not expert in shooting andI had not told him to take a gun for I sup-posed it would be in his way. We found thatnight was comeing close and drove downto my shack to sleep. Thus the 25 day hadpast of[f] and accomplished nothing.

FEB. 26—Tuesday morning we sadledour poneys and harnessed to our bagagewagons and some of the boys went in serchof the cattle and horses whilest I went onfoot in serch of Lewis. I tracked Lewis’ mareto where the Indians came to where he wasdriven the mare and those Indians whichwas at my house did not chase him if wecould track him corectly, but I fear theirwas another Indian which was stoped whereDiomead was feeding, the mare’s name thatI sent my boy after, and this [Indian] whichwas stoped perhaps had caught Diomeadand saw Lewis coming after hir and the


Indian might have hid himself to kill myboy.

When those Indians tracks came towhere Diomeade was, one more track cameinto their trail and those 2 pony tracks wentstrait ahead for one mile when two moretracks fell in the Indian trail. I fear one ofthose tracks was the pony my boy rode andthe other one was the Indian which hadcaught Diomead and ran after Lewis andshot him, for Diomead was the fastestruning animal.

I went on by myself on this Indian trailtill I was satisfyed that the Indians had killedmy boy before the trails came together orelse they had taken him prisiner by the in-fluence of Moto, the friendly Indian.

I deemed it unnecessary and unsafe forme to go any farther by myself so I wentback to where the boys had collected some100 and fifteen head of cattle. They saidthey had got all on the rang. I told them Iwas not satisfyed to leave the cattle on therange without searching a little more, for Iwas satisfyed they had not geathered halfthe cattle, so I told Capt. Willis I would goafoot with my boy Allen and search a littlemore, but the Capt. consented to have metake a horse and he sent 3 more boys withme. We found some 100 forty more cattlein two hours and I was satisfyed we hadgethered all the cattle on the range.

By the time we got back the boys hadmade camp close by a large grove of ceder,and they had killed one of my steer to eatfor their provisions was scarce. I roasted apease of fresh beef and eat it. My boys allsoroasted and eat, and I and Allen my boystarted to the ceders in serch of Lewis andsheep, and while we were in the ceders, theIndians rushed to where the boys wer campeand allso where the cattl were gethered inthe ceders and the Indians fired on the boysand killed 2 of them. The Indians rushedin threw the ceaders and took the boys on

surpris and unprepared, and it gave theboys such an [a]larm that they wer thrownin confusion and the Indians drove of[f]mostall of the cattle and some seventeen of theirhorses. I doo not know if the boys killedany Indian or not.

The battle was shet of mrom [shut offfrom] me and my boy Allen for we was inthe ceader where the Indians were and wenever knew of the Indians comeing on theboys till they had started of[f] with the cattle.The first we knew we saw the cattle goingof[f] in a close herd in two droves. The nextwe see was a man lying dead. It was get-ting dark. I told Allen, “Here lyes Lewisnow.” Allen looked at him and said it wasnot Lewis. I went close to him and couldsee he had whiskers on and I discuvered itwas not Lewis. I took holt of his arm andfound it was limber and the blood was nothard that was run from him and then I knewthe Indians were close by. We squated downand lo[o]k all round and lisened if we couldhear anything but hear nothing no[r] seeany person. We ran stooped over till wecame 100 yards from camp. We stoped andstill heard nothing but we see the cariageand some 4 of the horses but could not seeor hear the boys. I feared the Indians hadkilled them all of[f] and drove all the cattleand horses of[f] for we had just see 2 largedrove going, but we ran stooped over tillwe came within 40 yards of camp. Wesquated and listned and could hear the boystalking low. We then walked strait in tocamp. When we wer [with]in 20 yards ofcamp, we wer hailed by Capt. Willis. Hetold us to come here quick. He allso toldus that he thought we wer Indians and thathe had taken aim at me and could not pullof[f] the triger and all[so] 2 other boys saidthey wer pulling triggers and aimeing at mewhen Willis hailed.

I told them I see a dead man up in theceders and John Lot exclaimed, “There lyes2 more and if any of us gets of[f] alive we


will doo wel.” I told [him to] be calm andnot fear and we would all be safe fromharm. I felt to speak in the spirit of theLord.

The battle is over and Capt. Willis saysto start home to quarters at Weckesomswhere I had left my family. I beged of theCapt. to only moove camp out fa[r]ther fromthe ceders in an open place where we wouldhave equal chance with the Indian and sendout two men in hast to get more men in bydaylight, but the Capt. thought best to pushfor quarters. We hitched to the cariage andput one wounded man in the cariage, whichwas mortily wounded for he dyed in 36hours after he was shot. We walke in thesnow for 8 miles to where I had left myboys wit Capt. Joseph Rollins. We rought[routed] them out and we all traveled onthe lake Utah for the ice was 15 inchesthick. We came to Weeksoms hird by 2o’clock Wednesday 27 where part of myfamily was.

Capt. Willis sent a mesenger after moreforce to persue the Indians. The mesengerwent to Lehi fort where David Evans pre-sided. They sent all threw Utah county toraise men to go after those Indians and re-take their spoil if posible.

Wednesday, [FEB.] 27—Some moreforce came from Lehi to go in search ofthose killed in battle the evening before.They rest till midnight when some 20 per-sons start after those that wer killed. Thenames of the killed is an Englishman bythe name of Courens, one Frenchman bythe name of Catlin, and one young manname Win. Courens had 3 wives, Catlin onewife and [a] family of children.

THURSDAY, [FEB.] 28—The boys arivewith the 2 corps[es] today, and we seeCourens has been scalped by the Indians. Iallso start my wife Hariet home to Salt LakeCounty with hir 3 children and Eliza’s 2boys, Nephi and Abraham, to drive the ox

and cow team. They go wit little cotton-wood herd.

This evening some more me[n] arivesto go with me after my stock and to searchfor Lewis. We orgenize ourselvs this eveningto start tonight after midnight.

FEB. 29, 1856—We rise this morning1 hour after midnight to fix and start aftermy herd that may be left or escaped fromthe Indians. I have to go on foot for theIndians stole the horses in my hird the firstday that the Indians took Lewis or killedhim.

We get to Carsons by daylight, some12 miles march. I leave Allen and Lemuelto gether what sheep they can and takethem to Weekesoms for we con[s]ider themmore safe at Weeksoms, and some 10 ofus boys gets on horses and goes in serch ofLewis and my cattl that is left. We couldnot find Lewis but find some 175 head ofcattle and we drive them to Carson’s herdwhere the boys are gethering up Carson’sherd.

JAN. [MAR.] 1, 1856—Saturday morn-ing we gether up all the cattle we can findand I alls[o] find my tired out mare and muleand hitch them to the cariage and starthome with our cattle. A number o[f] calvstired out and we had to hall them. We cameto Weeksoms and find our boys had arivedsafe with the sheep ecept some that gaveout.

SUNDAY [MAR.] 2—We harnes up thismorning after pasing another night in saftyby keeping a good guard out. We came toWeaver’s hird cabbens and they had left forsafty allso. I sent my boys ahead with thesheep. We put our cattle in Weaver’s yardand Alen and I sorted out all of ours andwe traveled within 5 miles of our herd whereEdmond Trimmer and Thomas Ervin metus. They camp with us this night and helpedus over a very steep hollow wich was veryhard to get over.


MONDAY [MAR.] 3—We sent EdmondTrimmer after our family for the settlementat the mill had remooved them their forsafty whilest we wer gethering our stalk[stock] and hunting for Lewis. We drovehard all day and got home at night and ourfolks had arived at home and prepared ussopper. We got home at soneset or after.

MAR 4, 1856 TUESDAY—Eliza and hirgirls felt to lement with me for [our] oldestson Lewis. I will here stat I have felt to mornfor my sone more grief than in all my lifebefore and it is all that I can doo to refrainand govern myself not knowing where myson is and whether he is dead or alive, butI will here state that I mustered up courageand spoke to my family this evening con-cerning Lewis—that he was sometimes dis-obedient and would have his oan course,bu[t] I will further state that he was a thor-oughgoing boy and when he undertookanything he would accomplish it at allhazzards. He was not profane. I allso statedto my family that he had not commited theunpardonable sin, but he may come up inthe first reserection. I allso stated that itmade no matter when we dyed, only so thatwe had accomplished our work and pre-pared ourselves for entering into a celes-tial Kingdom.

WEDNESDAY [MAR] 5, THURSDAY 6, FRYDAY

7, 1856—We have buinn [been] mooveingour property back on our farm and find thatsome theif has been plundering our prop-erty which was left at home whilst the Indi-ans ha[d] plundered our stock and takenmost all of them. I consider it was a meanlow lifed person which was known to ourfolks leaving [knew our folks were leaving]for safty and that is the way that poor theifsimpethized for us in our bereavement.

I am calling on all the folks to comeand take the stock which we are herdingthat is left of the Indians steeling, as my

principal herdsman is gone and we haveno horses to herd on.

SATURDAY [MAR.] 8, 1856—At home fix-ing my gun and waiting anxiously to hearfrom my boy. I had goan [gone] out to poremy sole in prair to God that if posible thetrouble which I have been warned of wascoming on me, that it might pass by, andallso if my sone was alive that he mightreturn, if dead that it might come to myunderstanding, and when I was [in h]eart[felt] prair I see a teem coming whichbrought [a] sad and dismal report. The re-port is that the Indians have taken my sonprisenor and murderd him and cut him inpeices. Such news allmost overcame me tothink that I have raised a boy to be slain.He was kind and good to the Indians andeven to those who took him prisinor andperhaps those who tortured him andtheirfore I feel that he shall have a marterreward and be crowned with the marter[s]of Jesus.

MARCH 12, 1856—I and Andrew Kilfoilstart south to see the Indians if posible whohad killed my son Lewis and try to findwhere they had killed him so that I mightget his remains and bury them with thesaints in some graveyard and to try to getsome of the stock which was stolen by theIndians. We got friendly Indians to go withus to go and talk with the Indians but wecould not find out anything certain concern-ing my boy. But we got some of the cattlethe Indians had stolen as they had sent outsome 200, [two] hundred, men to catchthose Indians which had stolen and killedconsiderable stock. They could not find myson Lewis; neither could they find the Indi-ans for they scattered and fled in the moun-tains.

Colonel Peter Conover was at the headof this company which persued after thoseIndians. He charged me one-third of thestock for getting those cattle and horses


the Indians had stolen. I paid up for themand took them home and delivered themto the oners as soon as I could get the onersto come and settle with me and take themaway.

We continue to take care of our cattleand sheep till April 6 when I go to our Gen-eral Conference when I was called upon bysaid Conference to go on a mission toCarson Valley and settle that place andpurchase out the Gentiles if they would sellreasonable. I was at conference some 3 or4 days till it was finished when I returnedhome and commenced fixen for my mis-sion, allso wating till those hostile Indianswould come in so that I might get to seesome of them to find my son which waskilled. I had to start on my mission withinone month after conference and I had mostof my cattle and sheep to deliver to theowners and trade for all of my teems as Ihad none but some 2 year olds. I allsowanted to find the remains of Lewis beforeI left the place.

APRIL 25, 1856—I get Westly Killfoilto go with me to make another serch forthose Indians which killed my son Lewis.We came to Payson and talk with friendlyIndians which tell us that they think thatthey can find those Indians which wer stillhostile and find out of them where theyhave killed my son Lewis. So I get one

friendly Indian to go with us to salt creakfort for he said those hostile Indians werenear their, but when we got their he talkedwith those friendly Indians which was atsalt creak. They persaded him to not go tothose hostile Indians. [They] said they weregone to the navihu Indians and taken allthe horses with them, so I could not gethim to go to those hostile Indians.

Then I went in search of all the Indi-ans that knew me and finily I found onewhich told me he thought he could find theremains of my son Lewis by what thosehostile Indians had told him. I told thatIndian I would give him a cow and provi-sion if he would go with me and find theremains of my sone Lewis, so he went withus and we hunted till he said he could notfind his remains and we went home withthe calculation of leaveing his remains neverto be found and buryed, for it was time thatwe wer starting on our Mision for thecompanys were allready starting, and I hadnot got my teems yet, so I returned homeon the 3 of May.

While we wer hunting for our son LewisI had previously went and got permissionfor my daughter Elizabeth and my soneAllen to receive their endowments, andwhen I got home they had received them inthe endowment house on the temple blockin G. S. L. City.

57THE CALL TO CARSON VALLEY


The Call to Carson VThe Call to Carson VThe Call to Carson VThe Call to Carson VThe Call to Carson Valleyalleyalleyalleyalley11111

May 11, 1856—After setleing up myaffairs and delivered all my herd cattle andsheep, [I] allso traded of[f] my farm toArchabald Gardenir and got some teemsto help me s[t]art on my mision. I accord-ingly start this morning and traveled toFather Becksteads and here my wife Harietis confined to hir bed and Joseph is born ina few minutes after we get here.

I find my teem rather insufficient tohall my waggons so I get [a] chance to tradeof[f] some sheep for oxen. I allso trade fora gun and pare of six shooters and we starton our journey and travel some 4 miles,and Mother Beckstead starts to come withus for some 60 miles.

MAY 12—We get to Great S. L. Citywhere we see several of our friends andneighbors, Mother Luckham and RogerLuckham, where we bid them goodby, andtravel on above the hot springs and camp.We continue our journey.

Our two oldest daughters wer still withus till we came most to weaver [Weber]where I parted with my oldest daughterMary and before I left hir I sealed a father’sblessing on hir and told hir she would beblessed and overcome all evil and becomea mother in Israel. I was sory to leave hir ashir husband was still on a mission and hadbeen for most four years.

We allso parted with MotherBeckstead, but they returned to us againand Gorden Beckstead with them andGorden asked me for Elizabeth for wife. Itold him if him and hir, or Elizabeth andhe, thought if they could live together inpeace I was agreed, but Gorden returnedhome and came to us again after we hadtraveled on our journey to Boxelder wherehe and Mother Beckstead and my daugh-ter Mary again overtook us and campedwith us near Boxelder where I delivered toBr. Lorenzo Snow his sheep and traded for3 head of cattle and we took breakfast withBr. Lorenzo Snow.

MAY 18—This day Gorden harnessedhis horses and wanted to start back witheElizabeth, but I told him they must travel 2or 3 miles with us today as it was late inthe day, so he consented to doo so and wecamped all together one more night.

MAY 19—I arise this morning and blessmy sone Joseph and gave him [a] name.

Allso Elizabeth desires me to leave afather’s blessing with hir. I accordinglyplaced my hands on hir head and blessedhir with a good blessing, and we bade themall farewell and parted with my two oldestdaughters and sone Gorden and MotherBeckstead.

We came on to Bear River, but Elizawas very loft [loath] to part with hir daugh-ters and felt rather downharted, but I toldhir if they were satisfied and could live withtheir men and doo good on the eart[h] Iwas satisfyed and would rejoice and meetewith them again.

1This chapter, dealing with the experiences of theHunsaker family in settling Carson Valley in what isnow Nevada, comes entirely from the journal ofAbraham Hunsaker. The call to go on a mission tosettle Carson Valley came during April Conference in1856; one month later the Hunsakers were on theirway there.


We stoped at Bear River some 2 daysand then continued on our journey till wearived in Carson valley. We had tollerablehard time getting threw haven so muchcattle to drive and take care of and verylittle help. We lost some 25 head of cattleand 50 head of sheep, the alkely being verybad on the stock.

When we arive here I looked round meconsiderably to get a good location. Finilyby the council of Br. Orson Hyde, I and Br.Murdock bought the best farm in CarsonCounty of a man known by the name ofLucky Bill. We got enough bread wheat andpotatoes, turnips and garden stuff enoughto doo us plentiful.

JULY 17, 1856—We settle on our farmand commence makeing hay and fixen forharvesting. The wheat is very smuty. Bar-ley and potatoes is very good.

25—We commence thrashing wheatand barley. [We] have considerable tothrash and clean up, only get half we thrashand clean. While thrashing wheat I purchaseanother improvement of George Lamb andpay him some 60 chois [choice] sheep andone good mare for his place.

After I have purchased this last im-provement a man whose name is Wadeclaims part of the survey and the dificultywas tride to be settled before Lamb wentof[f], but Wade finely backed out and didnot settle this. Mr. Wade talked very saucyconcerning the place and Mormons. I toldhim if he would not settle with Lamb that Iwanted him forever after [to] hold his peaceor let me alone as I had paid for the placeand had peacible possesion, but Mr. Wadewent of[f] mad and said he would keap orhold part of the claim.

This fall the old settlers, or some ofthem, hold considerable many meetings forthe purpose of raising a mob to put downthe laws of Utah and establish a mob law

into rule in this county. They have suc-ceeded so far as to stop a shurefs sail[sheriff’s sale] which execution was gave infavor of Reare and Co. and against oneSides by the Circuit Court held in CarsonCounty by Judge Drumings. They raised amob of some 50 men and the shurif stopedsail of said court on acount of not enoughto stand with him to put down the mobwithout being rather too much exposed. Sothey droped the sail for preasent. The mobcontinued their meeting and passingresilutions. Their resilutions wer as follows:

First—Resolved to drive this Lucky Billof[f] of his ranch by force if he would refuseto go when notifyed to leave.

2, Second—That they would maketheir oan laws and officers.

3, Third—Then go and demand thetaxes which they had paid to the sesser [as-sessor] of Utah and report.

They could not raise sufficient force todrive this Lucky Bill of[f] his ranch and infailing in this they have stoped their pro-ceedings for the present and are tollerablefriendly.

JANUARY 1, 1857—This fall and win-ter I am ingaged getting lumber and postsfor building and fencing pasture, garden,corill, and so forth. Allso Margaret isteach[ing] school for my children and learnsthem very well for which I am thankful, forwe have never had much chance for school-ing our children, but they stick close toschool all fall and winter.

I have paid for some 15, fifteen, thou-sand feet of plank since I settled on thisfarm.

We allso hold meetings evry 3 days ortwice a week with Bro. Joseph Murdock andfamily. His family and mine fill [a] consid-erable sized room. Br. James Wilson meetswith us sometimes, but the jentiles doo not


meet with us much. I like this farm verywell and I am well pleased with it.

I will here state a hard trip that I hadthis winter after a man by the name ofJames Scisson. He was caught in the moun-tains in [a] very cold time and was frooze sohis feet had to be cut off to save his life.The snow was 5 or 6 feet deepe. We wenton snow sceats [skis] and halled him out ofthe mountains in a hand slay [sleigh]. Itwas very hard and tiresom trip, gone 4 daysand saved the man’s life. He was a connec-tion to James J. Strong, the dissentor ofour church, but was very thankful to us forsaveing his life. He did not believe Mormon-ism as yet alltho I had the privilege of talk-ing to him and 5 more jentiles that wentwith me. I bore strong testimony to them,told them Mormonism was true and thatthe preasthood was again res[t]ored by Pe-ter, James, and John of the ancient Apostelsto Joseph Smith and had comanded andauthorized him to organize his church againon the eart[h] and so forth. But Mr. Waderejected my testimony and said he believedthe heads of the church wer damed rascals.I told [him] he ought to be careful how hetalked about them for I new they were thebest men on the earth.

MARCH 15, 1857—I have started theboys to plowing some 9 days ago. I havebeen engaged in pailing me a garden andsetting out shade trees and pleasureshrubery.

I have allso had a disease called theshingles and toothache for one week past.It is getting tollerable painfull. Hariet, oneof my companions, has had a very hard spellof rheumatism in hir left rist which hasbrought hir to hir bed for 8 days past. Sheis getting better.

MARCH 15, 1857 [same date as above]—This day I have our horse harnesed up tothe cariag and go to the west fork of Carsonriver with my family. Allso Br. Joseph

Murdock and his folks. Where we s[t]op onthe bank of the stream and sing a hymnand have prair and go down in the watterand babtize my sone Abraham and my boyLemuel which is a Lamonite or Nephite.Allso Br. Joseph Murdock babtises his 2Lamonites, viz., Burnetta and Picket. Wereturned home and I was taken rather worseof my sickness, viz., shingles and toothache,so I called on Br. Joseph Murdock. He cameand anointed me with oil and laid handson me for my recovery. I got better andwent to meeting where we laid hands onthose 4 persons which we babtize today andconfirmed them in the Church of Later daysaints and praid the holy sperit to dwellwith them and enlighten their minds thatthey might doo good in their jeneration.

MARCH 16—Sent my oldest boy Alenand Isaac to the mill and to get some moneywhich was due me from Doctor Dagert.Allso sent Robert and Nephi and Abrahamfor rose bushes to set round my house. AllsoI am having onion seeds and aple and peachseeds planted, allso other shrubery andvegitables planted and sowed.

APRIL 15, 1857—We are beginning toplow and sow our wheat, onions, beats,parsnips, turnips, and allso fence me apailed garden. Allso plant out shade treesand fence a good calf pasture. We are putingin a large crop of potatoes, onions, beats,wheat, barley, and corn and quite a largevariety of other vegitables.

Allso our wimmen are milking some20 or 30 cows and makeing considerablebutter. We have our hands very full thisspring haveing very large farm to cultivate,so we are very busy. I allso drill some 46rods of ground with 5 pound of sevenheaded wheat to try and see how much itwill yeald to the acre. We have some 80 or90 acres of ground to cultivate this season.We allso are thinking that we will have tosoon break up and leave the country, but


we have no word to leave as yet, so we goahead with all our might to fix our farm ingood order and have everything in good rigfor we are living on the best farm I everoand in my life for to raise all kind of pro-duce.

JUNE 1, 1857—We have finily got allmost all of our garden seeds and grain andpotatoes in the ground and they all beginto look very well. We still are very busytending the crop. We have planted some 6acres of potatoes. We have to water all ofour grain and garden stuff. We send ourboy Allen over the mountains with somebutter to get some things we need such asgrocerys and clothing. He had tollerablegood luck in going and geting the thing weneeded. He went to Murphy’s digings inCalliforney. He took over some 5 or 6 largekeags of butter. Our farm flurishes finely,everything grows and ripenings very well,so we have a fair show for a bountiful har-vest. We begin to sell some garden stuffsuch as beets, turnips, onions, and so forth.This is in June.

JULY 10, 1857—Our wheat and barleyis begining to get ripe ready for harvest sowe commence cutting wheat and barley.Allso Hariet is selling considerable gardenstuff.

We are living on the road leading toCalliforney from Missouri and G. S. Lake.A great many men are comeing fromCalliforney looking at our country inCarson valley. They like it very well. Someare looking for gold, some are looking for[a] place to live, others looking for some-thing to steel and go back on the road androb the poor emigrants.

We still expect to hear word fromBrigham to leave the county as the Jentiles’world is begining to be very full of predudice[prejudice] against the saints, and we ex-pect that the U. S. will try to kill the saints

and destroy them of[f] the face of the earth.But we mind our oan business and go aheadharvesting and saveing our grain. I allsopurchase a half of a good thrashing andcleaning machine to clean our large har-vest. I allso have a chance to sell one of myfarms for the money. I gladly imbrace theoppertunity as I have no hopes of liveinghere long, altho we are liveing in the bestplace to make money that I ever lived in,but that is no incuragement to me to stayhere alltho I am some tired of mooveing,but as we were sent here to live I wasdetermind to stay till called home or hadthe liberty to come home.

SEPT. 5—We receive an express fromBrigham Young to sell out and start homein 2 weeks as the U. S. had waged waragainst the saint[s] and was sending somethree thousand soldiers to Great Salt Lake.Br. Brigham allso told us he did not expectthey would be aloud [allowed] to come in.That put an end to our farming in this coun-try. I had all my property to sell and dis-pose of before I could go and here was notmany persons to buy us out. Was noneable to b[u]y my farm so I had to send toCaliforney for some one to buy my farmand cattle.

SEPT. 21, 1857—After 2 weeks fixingwaggons and thrashing wheat and barley,alls[o] going over to Calliforney to get themoney for my farm and cows and getingsome artickels we needed to tak with us tothe valley. I run some risk in bringing mymoney over the mountains as I was liableto be robed as many are in this place, beinga mountaineous country and some 80 mileswithout inhabitents. I road with my pistlein hand in the most dangerous places, butI got home safe, found all well at home,and I continued making ready to moove.So we started in two weak[s] after we gotword to leave. I bought two or three hun-dred pounds of powder and lead to take


with me to the Salt Lake. We met with thesaints in Eagle Valley, where we all left thecounty in one large company of 200waggons. Here I left my thrashing machineand go[t] nothing mutch for it.

[SEPT. 22, 1857]—We started fromEagle Valley in Carson on the 22 day ofSept. and traveled all the way home in thislarge company. We kept up [a] good strongguard as we feared they would follow usfrom Calliforney and stop us from goinghome for they had sent several expresses

to Calliforney to have a large force of sol-diers to stop us.

So we traveled in mass and had 50 menon garde in one night most all the waythrough. We traveled as fast as our teamscould stand to go for we feared the snowwould overtak us before we got home, butwe got through safe and sound and lostnothing. But Eliza had found one little girlon Deep Creak 4 days before we got toBrigham City. We call the girl’s name Eliza.



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In theWIn theWIn theWIn theWIn theWords of Hisords of Hisords of Hisords of Hisords of HisJJJJJourourourourournalnalnalnalnal11111

[NOV. 2, 1857]—When we arived inBrigham City, we found the brethren wereout trying to keep the U. S. army fromcomeing in and prepareing for war. Istaked my waggons and Samuel Smith’s byhis request and sent [a] few lines toBrigham to know where he wanted me tostop. He said stop here. Allso LorenzoSnow wished me to stop here. I gladly didso.

NOV. 8, 1857—This day I was called togo out to ecco [Echo] with some 2,000 ofthe brethren to keep out Uncle Sam’sarmy, but I preivelously bought a house ofBr. Lorenzo Snow. I gave him one hundredand fifty dollars, $150, for the house. Iallso gave him a present of $50. He pulledof[f] his hat and thanked me very kindly.We went on our road for Ecco; it was verywindy and cold. I came past Weeber Valleythe day after I started and see my daughterElizabeth and my wife Hariet’s mother. Iwas glad to see them, but I could not staywith them for my company went on. It wasthen night. I took supper with them andwent on. I allso gave some twelve dollars tothe boys for them to get a little dram as itwas very cold. We traveled som 8 or 10miles farther to and stoped the ballance ofthe night at Ben Simons.

The next day we got to headquarters inEcco where we made wiciups and fortifyedthe canion [canyon] so our enimys couldnot pass threw. We made breastworks toshoot from in the canion and on the sides.

We stayed some 4 weeks and thenreturned home. Some of our boys hadtaken a train of sixty waggons and burntthe waggons loaded with provision andallso drove of[f] some 1,000 head of theircattle which partialy disenabeled themfrom coming in and they thought best tomak quarters for the winter. So our boys allcame home safe and sound.

We have setled here in Brigham City inBoxelder County. I have the privilige ofgoing to meeting this winter which seamsquite comfertable to live under theteachings of one of the twelve Apostles. Ifeel thankfull of the oppertunity. Thesaints have some dances allso this winter. Igo to a few of them. We have to use willowbrush for firewood as we did not get setledin time to get our wood till winter set in andour oxen are poor.

FEB. 10, 1858—I have had to purchaseall my bread and meat that we use for ourlarge family, so I have some two thousanddollars left over and above the expences ofthe year. So I go to Br. Lorenzo for to knowwhat is best to doo with it. He told me it wasright to turn it in[to] any kind of propertythat I pleased to make my familycomfertable, so I go south to purchasecattle. I go as fare as Provo City where I1The first part of this chapter is told in the words

of Abraham Hunsaker as recorded in his journal.

63THE HUNSAKERS SETTLE IN BRIGHAM CITY

purchase some 110, one hundred and ten,head of cattle and some 40, forty, sheepand returned home safe haveing a trip ofsome one hundred and twenty miles.

The presidents of the church calls for athousand men for [a] standing army to befited out with 2 good horses or mulesapeice. I accordenly fited out my oldest sonAllen for the armey, butfinily the army was no[t]used much, but the wordof the Lord came toBrigham for all thefamilys of the saintsnorth of Utah county tomoove south with alltheir substance. Thiscommenced a new eary[era] of things, having tostop farming operationsmostly in our northcountry and we had notseeded our farms inBoxelder County. Wehad to secure bread forone year or nearly so,which made it hard workfor us in Brigham Cityhaveing very few teems.So the Brethren went tomooveing south and mak-ing waggons, ox yoak,and evrything that wouldenable us to moove. Agreat many brethren hadto tak their scantybedcloths to cover theirwaggons for we werevery scarce of clothing,no stores being alowd tocome in by the soldiersfrom the states. A personknowing the condition ofthe saints would havesaid we could no[t] moovein so small a time as it

was done, but by the kindness of our Fatherin Heaven, we have accomplished the moveand left a rear guard to take care of thefarm and houses and allso to burn down allof our possesions if our enimys shouldcome in in hostile position. The Indianshave most all joined the soldiers, I believeto help masecree all the saint[s]. I believethe officers of Uncle Sam have hired them.

Specimen page from Abraham Hunsaker’s journal showing mannerof listing deaths of children.


MARCH 16, 18582—Nephi deceased,March 16, 1858 in the morning at sunrise.He dyed without a strugle. He was babtizedby his father in Jorden mill race on May 29,1854, confirmed the same day by hisfather. He had mooved with us to CarsonValley and was a good perservering boy.His eyes was some little weak alltho hewent to school and had learnt to spell andread tollerable well. He was a great favoriteof Lewis Jones in his lifetime. I allwaysthought he was better satisfyed in hiscompany than any where else. He wasgoing to Hariet Snow’s school when he wastaken with his death sickness. He had asurvear feaver till he dyed. I had a dreamsome few weeks before his death which toldme I had to gave up 2 more of my boys in ashort time, and I could not get faith to havehim get well in his sickness alltho Br.Samuel Smith said he would get well. Weburyed him southeast of Brigham Citysome 50 rods.

[MAY 28, 1858]—We landed inPontown, Utah Valley on 28 of May withall of our family as [well as] stock—sheep,cattle and horses. Margaret has not binwith us in this moove. She went a fewweeks ahead of us to tak care of hir Motheras she was very sick even on hir death bed.We overtak hir here at Spanish fork justafter the death of hir Mother a fewminutes. She was sick several years withconsumption and was expecting to departthis life [a]while before she did. When Ibeheld Margaret she was standing by hirMother as she had just deceased. A ladywas holding hir boy George, and I did notknow him for he had taken sick a few daysprevious with his death sickness. Weproceeded to get [a] coffin to buryMargaret’s Mother. We buryed hir and

took Margaret and hir children to thewaggons with us, but hir boy was very sickwith high fever, the same disease thatcaused Nephi death. We allso did all wecould to raise [him] from his sickness, as weallso done all we could for Nephi, butnothing gave them ease, and finily we hadto gave him up to go behind the veil forawhile.

[JUNE 12, 1858]—George HunsakerSweeten [George Sweeten Hunsaker]departed this life June 12, 1858 in themorning at sunrise, the same time [of] daythat Nephi Hunsaker Collings [NephiCollins Hunsaker] dyed. We prepair thegrave of his grandmother Luckham and webury him by hir side as she called him hirboy on hir deathbed. Hapy are those thatdye without sin for they will finily beresurected without sin. We buryed him eastof Palmyry City some 3 miles north ofSpanish Fork half mile on top of the hill.

We have considerable fear of theIndians making a break on us here. Theymake threats to that effect. Quite a numberof our sheep has dyed in this place haveingto travel in the dus[t] some 8 miles evrydayin order to get grass and water. We are incompleete orgenizeation her[e] to defendourselves from the Indians.

JUNE 20, 1858 — I leave Pontown andgo up in the canion to camp in order to savemy sheep from dying. Our stock does wellher[e]. We stay one week and leave, for afriendly Indian tells us the Indians arecomeing to kill us so we leave forthwith inthe forepart of the night. We stop in thebottom betwen Payson and Spanish Forkby ourselves. We bring our waggons in asquar in order to fort[ify] from the Indiansas they are very saucy, but they have no[t]come on us.

JUNE 28—We receive word to go hometo our several houses which we have lef.The soldiers have made a treety with us and

2This entry was made elsewhere in the book in asection previously left blank, so its place in the sequenceof the journal is not entirely clear.


say they will let us alone, so we return backto Brigham City. On our road in returningwe meet all the band of soldiers on Jurdennear where we used to live before we wentto Carson Valley. They have drove of[f] onemule from me which I had gave to LorenzoSnow as a present.

[JULY 19]—We arived safe in BrighamCity on July 19 where we stoped in thehouse we bought of Br. Snow, but we tookthe stock in Boxelder valley some 4, four,miles east of Br. [Brigham] City, where wekeep them for the summer and fall.3 I allsopurchase a small peice of farm land and 2lots and foundation of a house in Br. Cityof Br. Etelmon for five hundred dollers,and I commence getting lumber to coverand finish the house which I purchase. Iallso drive ahead to get tanbark for to tansome leather as I oan a share in a tanyardwith Samuel Smith. I allso get all theshoumac [sumac] for taning purposes.Margaret my wife gethers the mos[t] of theshoemac. I allso keep cattle for the folksliveing in Brigham City.

Taking all in consideration we are verybusy for fall. Am helping to build [a] houseon the tanyard. I allso have taken a hirdground over Bear River at West Mountainfor winter range, some 15 miles from Br.City, where I expect to keep my stock thiswinter.

NOV. 13, 1858—I was sealed to a girlby the name of Katharine Jenson.President Brigham Young sealed us in oneof his rooms in his fine house. She istollerable young, being most sixteen yearsold, will be sixteen in next Febuary.Katharine Hunsaker Jenson [CathrineJensen Hunsaker] was born in DenmarkFebuary 12, 1843.

[NOV. 23, 1858]—We have to leaveBoxelder Valley Nov. 23 and go to WestMountain. The snow is near one foot deepin the valley. The weather is very cold. Wecross Bear River on the ice with our stock.We get to west mountain and locate ourherd and camp. I am allso working verybusy in dressing board to finish of[f] ourhouse and lathing and plastering my houseso we can be comfortable fixed this winter.Margaret allso has takeing a school in oneof our upstairs rume which is a good [d]ealof satisfaction to me to have my boyslearning to read and wright.

I have procured some 50 or 60 hidesthis fall and winter for taning purposes inthe spring, have skined most of themmyself. We allso finish, 3, three, of ourrooms so they are comfortable and havethe rest underway.

My tithing comes to some two hundreddollars this year. I have allso setled andpaid it most all up and hope soon to pay all.I believe in paying up all contracts or debtsas allso all tithing that is due. I allways havecontributed to the benefit of the Kingdomof God.4 When living in Nauvoo, I settledand paid up all my tithing and allso gavethree hundred dollars, $300, to thebuilding of the Nauvoo house. Allso I gavenear three hundred dollars, $300, to theagriculturing society for to find leighbour[labor] for the poor by counsil of BrighamYoung as allso destributing to several ofthe poor, such as I gave one yoak of oxen toBr. Watkins for he was very sick and poor.He wanted to moove west to Great SaltLake. Allso one yoak to Sister Owins who

4Aleen Hunsaker Hansen has related an incidentconnected with the starting of the Perpetual EmigrantFund: Lorenzo Snow called a number of the brethrentogether to discuss this fund, and after it had beendecided upon, President Snow started the fund with$50.00. Brother Hunsaker followed with $49.99—he would not go above his leader.

3This grazing ground was near the present townof Mantua.


allso wanted to go west, and I helpedseveral other[s] to teems and other meansand had a scanty outfit for the west myself.And while on the road I enlisted underColonel Allen, a U. S. oficer, for a soldierand left my family at the Council Bluffs forone year and a half, yet the Lord still mooreabundently blesses me, and since I arivedin the valley I have paid an extry tenth andallso paid all my tithing yearly, and I praythe Lord may more abundently bless me.

Jan. 1, 1859—We have got in ourhouse being tollerable comfortable situ-ated for the winter. I s[t]op out with thestock most half my time. The ballence ofmy time I stop in Br. City at home. Ourstock winters just tollerable well. The snowlay on the ground all winter some 12 or 18inches deep all over the valley and 5 or 6feet deep on the mountains. But where Ikeep my stock the snow melts of[f] so theground is jenerly bear or uncovereddirectly when the snow falls.

We have lost some 4 or 5 head of cattleover here at our herd this winter besidessome 4 or 5 calvs out of one hundred andtwenty head. We have allso lost some 3 or4 sheep out of fifty head. I call that justtollerable. The wolvs or Indian dogs killedthe most of them.

JANUARY 31, 1859—Hariet brings oneother girl in hir family which I call hir nameElnore.

FEB. 18—Eliza has gone down to SaltLake City with Brother Lorenzo Snow tosee hir daughter Mary as she wishes to seehir mother. She has bin confined to hir bedwith a daughter. Margaret has ceasedkeeping school as hir health is tollerablepoor.

Bro. Lorenzo [Snow] and SamuelSmith has placed me one of the presidentsof the mass corum [Quorum] of Seventys.We meet once every week. Sometimes I am

not at home to attend meetings but Igeneraly attend. We have a tedieouswinter. The snow is yet one foot deep, itbeing March 11, 1859.

This is the end of the journal as such. Inthe back of the journal is a record of the birthsof himself, his wives, and his children bornbefore 1877. He also lists deaths occurring inhis immediate family up to 5 January 1878.Abraham’s blessings are recorded in full forthe following children: Nephi, Alexander,Israel, George, Idumea, Enoch, Cyrus, Julia,Gordon, Susannah, Elzarus, Esther, Martha,and Raphael. A listing is made of blessingsgiven between 1870 and 1877 to 10 otherchildren as follows: Peter, Harriet, Roger,Benham, William, Thomas, Ila, Weldon,Walter Royal, and Frederick.

The following notations regardingfinances and trade transactions have beencopied from the back cover of Abraham’sjournal:

Nov. 11th 1862

gold on hand $237.00

green backs 200.00

gold 98.35

gold dust 83.00

618.35

May 24 Coin received of

Angus Balenteen $25

gold dust 11

July 20

Oct 10 in gold dust 575.15

Sept. 16 paper money 60

May 24 paper money

received of august 90

Jun. 31 the last 35

July 12 or near that time 30

April 24

Allen got paper money$85


Oct 10 received of august

paper money 768

in gold 5$ in coin 75 ct.

august gave susan 25 or 24 in dust

April 23 allen got 23$ of august

Oct. 16

loaned L. Snow oats 1346 pounds

Abraham

The House Built inThe House Built inThe House Built inThe House Built inThe House Built inBrBrBrBrBrigham City in 1igham City in 1igham City in 1igham City in 1igham City in 1858858858858858

Before the house built in 1858 wasfinished, the entire Hunsaker family lived fora few months in a little adobe housepurchased from Lorenzo Snow. At this timethe family consisted of Eliza and eightchildren, the youngest only four days oldwhen they arrived in Brigham City; Harrietand four children and a fifth born about amonth after their arrival; and Margaret andone child. After the new house was finishedon 1 January 1859, the little adobe dwelling

continued to be the home of Eliza and herfamily for the next seven or eight years. Thisadobe house was located on First East Street,a little more than a block north of the courthouse.

One of the first pianos to grace a homein Brigham was owned by AbrahamHunsaker and occupied a corner of the newhouse. In the early 1860s he had sent twosons, Allen and Abraham, with ox teams backover the Pioneer Trail to Omaha, Nebraskato bring farm machinery and two huge grandpianos—one for Lorenzo Snow, the other forhis own family. The farm machinery includedthe first threshing machine in Box ElderCounty.

Concerning this piano, MeltrudeHunsaker Stohl wrote in a letter dated 10August 1955:

Later it was moved to the Big HunsakerHouse one block south of the Tabernacle;and while Aunt Katie lived beside the millon the west side of Salt Creek [at Honeyville],the old piano occupied a corner of the largeliving room there. [It was still in CathrineJensen Hunsaker’s second home inHoneyville when she died in 1927.]

Second Hunsaker home in Brigham City, built in 1858.


Abraham Hunsaker’s square grand piano brought over the Pioneer Trail in a wagon by sonsAllen and Abraham, Jr. about 1862.5 To transport the piano, which is more than six feet longand three feet wide, they had to take off the legs so the body could sit flat in the wagon. Ineastern Wyoming they apparently had problems and buried the piano, wrapping it four-deepwith buffalo robes, using the fur side to cushion the piano. The next year they went back andretrieved the instrument. This piano is on display in the Daughters of Utah Pioneers Museum inSalt Lake City. (Photo courtesy of Deseret News, 5 November 1998, page A17, photographerLaura Seitz.)

5One source gives this date as 1860, another1862, and a third 1864.

I remember it well because I was greatlyinterested in the treasures that were storedon top of it. There was the Old Bible ofGrandfather’s mother, Polly Luce, encasedin that crocheted cover made by his blindsister. Then there was the Diary, which weread again and again. Also there was hisfamily record, which has been lost

somewhere. . . . Also there was the swordwhich Grandfather had carried in theMormon Battalion. Maybe that wasn’t thestorage place for the sword, but I have seenit there. [See page 33 for picture of thissword and old Bible.]

The first child born under this roof was adaughter Elnore, who came to Harriet butlived only about a year. The first son to arrive


at that home came to Margaret in March1859 and was given the name of Lorenzo.

Other children came to this household—born to Harriet, to Margaret, and toCathrine—but Margaret did not live to seeher sons and daughters grow to manhoodand womanhood. On 12 October 1862, theday that her son, Robert Sweeten Hunsaker,was born, she passed away leaving fourmotherless children, ranging in age fromseven years to a few hours, to be cared for byothers. At the time Abraham was away fromhome doing missionary work. Since therewas no way to notify him of the tragedy in hishome, Margaret was buried before his return.

Harriet at once took the little motherlessinfant, and he was loved and cared for alongwith her own three-month-old baby, Cyrus.Lorenzo, Margaret’s 3½-year-old son, wasadopted by Cathrine and reared as one of herown.

Soon after Abraham’s return hepersuaded Mary Luckham, the half sister ofMargaret, to enter his family circle for thepurpose of caring for her sister’s children.And so on 13 February 1863, at the age of18, Mary, daughter of Roger and MaryGardner Sweeten Luckham, became the fifthwife of Abraham Hunsaker.

Weldon Hunsaker, a son of Abrahamand Mary born in that house in 1875,remembered when his mother taught schoolin one of the rooms there. Not only thechildren of the Hunsaker family were pupilsof the school taught by Mary, but in additionmost of the children in the neighborhoodbegan their education there. Margaret alsotaught school in this house.

Margaret Hunsaker Hawks, born in1863 in that home, a daughter of Cathrine,recalled a time when her mother, Harriet,and Mary, with their families all lived underthat roof, each family having its own quarters.She also told of the orchard and of the

quantities of peaches and other fruit that thewomen of the family preserved by drying.

Concerning the wives of AbrahamHunsaker, Margaret Hunsaker Hawks wrotein her autobiography:

There was love and peace among thesewomen, in fact they treated and looked uponeach other as sisters. One regular event ofmy life stands out vividly in my mind. Thatwas the calling together in our home of eachwife and her family to prayer every morningand evening. Each wife was given her turnto lead in prayer, being mouth in prayer asthey termed it then, and each child that wasold enough was given his turn. Also fathertaught us all the law of tithing and set theexample to the letter himself.

President Lorenzo Snow said my father’sprosperity was the result of his honest tithepaying and his great generosity to the poorand the sick. . . .

My father owned shares in the woolenmills, in Zion’s Co-op Store, and in thetannery, where leather was made for shoes.He also owned sheep and cattle . . . andworked a large farm.

It was while the families still occupiedthat home that Lemuel, the Piede Indian boyadopted by Abraham, was killed by a soldiernear what is now Mantua. More details aboutthis incident are told in the sketch of LemuelHunsaker, pages 147-148.

The county records show that AbrahamHunsaker owned a farm of 107 acres justnorth of Brigham City, which he hadpurchased from J. C. Wright. Several yearslater he sold 61 acres of that farm to HenryKotter.

Margaret Hunsaker Hawks said of thisfarm:

It was such nice, rich soil. Father had asummer cabin there. We all used to go outthere and hoe and pull weeds. I was small,but Father made us all think we were


working, whether we were helping or not.He raised sugar cane and made molasses;he had a molasses mill of his own. Everykind of farm product and fruit grew on thatfarm.

Joseph Watkins told of going out to thisfarm with Abraham and the boys when hewas cutting grain with a reaper. A wholeswarm of boys would follow after the machinetying the bundles of grain. After going a fewrounds, Abraham would say to the boys,“Now, boys, let’s rest, and while we’re restingwe’ll just shock up these bundles of grain.”And away they’d all go, said Mr. Watkins,working harder than ever, but that was allright for their father had said they wereresting.

The house built in 1858 was the home ofMary Luckham until 1879, some time afterthe birth of Minta. Mary then moved toHoneyville, where most of the family thenresided, into a house which had been built forher. The county records show that Abrahamsold this home and his other property on theblock 5 February 1883 to O. G. Snow; thepurchase price was $500. This was after all ofthe Hunsaker wives had moved toHoneyville.

For many years, this house was knownas the Davis rooming house. The records ofBox Elder County show that the lot uponwhich this house stood extended north to andincluded that land which the CooleyMemorial Hospital later occupied. In June1949 the old home was torn down to makeway for an office building.

The Hunsaker Big HouseThe Hunsaker Big HouseThe Hunsaker Big HouseThe Hunsaker Big HouseThe Hunsaker Big House

In the early 1860s the Hunsaker familybegan to realize that more room was neededfor the comfort and convenience of thisrapidly growing family. And so a new homewas planned and building began on a largetwo-story adobe house. It was located onMain Street in Brigham City one block southof where the Tabernacle now stands.

This new home was a modern, up-to-date, comfortable house for that period oftime. There were none better in Brighamthen, and the Hunsakers were exceedinglyproud of it. The walls were the thickness ofseveral adobes, and the work of laying themwas done by a Swedish immigrant who hadlearned his trade in his native land.

About this house Meltrude HunsakerStohl wrote:

I met the craftsman’s daughter, a Mrs.John Neeley, in Rexburg, Idaho, in 1944.She told me the story of the building of thathouse. Every part of the building was madeof the best material available, and her fatherwas very careful and painstaking in his work.Then came the job of painting the woodworkand that job was done by AbrahamHunsaker, much to the consternation andregret of the builder, for he felt that the housedeserved a really artistic finishing.

The wide hall and broad front doors insidewere adorned with the stars and stripes inthe colors of our national flag. Over eachwindow in the large living room was an arch.Years after when the home had changedhands many times, these mottoes, letteredin his [Abraham’s] own hand, still adornedthe window moldings. Among them were:“God bless our home,” “In God we trust,”and “Honor thy father and thy mother.”

In building this home, the parents hadsensed the needs of their growing sons anddaughters for a place of recreation, where


they might entertain their friends in a socialway. And so a large room was built to meetthat need, and in that room in the BigHunsaker House, many parties were held;even dances were conducted andoccasionally a Church meeting was heldthere.

Those were the days when the dancingbegan at 7 o’clock in the evening andcontinued until 4 in the morning. Thosewere the days when the boy came to thedance with his partner holding to one armwhile in the other he carried a pumpkin, afew pounds of potatoes, or even part of asack of flour to help pay the fiddler. Therewere no Ward Halls in those days; the CourtHouse furnished the room for dances,meetings, and plays, as well as for carryingon the business affairs of the community.

The Big House was arranged toaccommodate three families. Eliza with hersons and daughters occupied the rooms onthe north side of the hall, Cathrine and herchildren lived on the south side, while Harrietand her family occupied the rooms at the east

end of the building. First child to be born inthe Big House was Cathrine’s daughter,Julia. As the years went by, there wereEsther, Peter, and Benham, all born toCathrine there, while Gordon, Elzarus,Raphael, Harriet, and Daniel William came toHarriet while she resided there.

It was while the Hunsaker family livedthere, in June 1867, that Brigham City wasgranted a charter, and Chester Loveland waschosen as its first mayor with AbrahamHunsaker as one of the councilmen. AbrahamHunsaker was also one of Brigham’s first roadsupervisors. He was one of the original stock-holders of the Brigham City Co-operative In-stitute and a member of the United OrderCouncil. When the Militia of Box Elder Countywas organized in 1858, Abraham served inthe Territorial Militia as a captain.6

6Lydia Walker Forsgren, History of Box ElderCounty, 1851-1937. (Place and date of publicationare not indicated.) 390 pp.

The Hunsaker Big House built in early 1860s.


The following story related by HoraceNeeley Hunsaker illustrates that Abrahamhad considerable athletic ability even in thosedays—at least enough to outrun an Indianwho had the head start. Horace heard thisstory often from his father, Israel:

During the time Grandfather [Abraham]lived in Brigham City and farmed inHoneyville, the Indians told him of a wagontrain that had been burned by the Indianswest of Great Salt Lake. Grandfather and aneighbor hired an Indian to lead them tothe place that they might recover the ironfrom the wagons, as scrap iron was veryvaluable at that time for repair work.

They found the place and were heavilyloaded with the iron. On the way home theroad was soft in places and the horses weregetting very tired. Grandfather and his friendwere walking to lighten their load.

Grandfather asked the Indian to get off too,but he refused. Grandfather tried to reasonwith him, but the Indian just grunted and satthere. The horses were sweating and verytired; finally in desperation, Grandfatherordered the Indian off and then had to takehim off.

Just previous to this they had seen someIndians in the distance. Grandfather knewthat if this Indian reached those other Indiansin his present frame of mind their lives maybe at stake. He watched the Indian as heworked his way a little further from thewagon until he had a good lead and thenbroke into a run. Grandfather said, “We’vegot to stop him” and dropped his lines andtook after him. Grandfather chased theIndian for nearly half a mile and caught himand brought him back. That night they tookturns guarding the Indian and later whenthey felt they were out of danger they told

First Brigham City Council, 1867. Left to right: Councilmen Abraham Hunsaker, Alvin Nichols,Hans Peter Jensen (father of Abraham Hunsaker’s wife, Cathrine Jensen), William Box, MayorChester Loveland (standing at table), Ephraim Wight, William Watkins (seated in foreground),John D. Reese, Johnathan Packer, and John Burt.


him he could go anytime he wanted, butthe Indian rode back to Brigham City withthem.

In 1874 Israel Hunsaker and LaurettaNeeley were married and began theirhousekeeping in one of the rooms of the BigHouse. This was Lauretta’s home for abouttwo years. Israel, in obedience to a call fromthe Presiding Authorities, left Brigham inOctober 1874 to fill a laboring mission on theCo-op Cotton Farm in Utah’s Dixie; hereturned a year and a half later for his wifeand baby, Meltrude.

Mary Hunsaker Grant, following thedeath of her husband in December 1868 atMill Creek, Salt Lake County, returned to herparents with her five children, and theyoccupied a part of the Big House until 1877when she moved to Honeyville. AbrahamHunsaker, Jr. and Annie Wright moved intothe Big House following their marriage, andtheir son, Jonathan C., was born there inMarch 1877 in the room up under the gablenext to the roof.7 Other sons and daughtersof Abraham Hunsaker spent a part of theirmarried life as occupants of the Big House.

Some time in 1880, Eliza CollinsHunsaker moved from the Big House toHoneyville, where her husband and thegreater part of her family resided.

On 20 December 1881 the house wassold to Michael C. Christensen for $700.Since that time it has been remodeled and hasserved as a family residence, for nearly nineyears as the Cooley hospital, and then as anapartment house with six apartments.

In May 1983 the Big Hunsaker house onFourth South and Main Street in Brigham

was torn down. An article in the Box ElderNews Journal dated 14 May 1983 describedthe three-foot-thick walls of the historic houseas it succumbed to the blows of a bulldozer.

The DrThe DrThe DrThe DrThe Driving of theiving of theiving of theiving of theiving of theGGGGGolden Spikeolden Spikeolden Spikeolden Spikeolden Spike

Abraham Hunsaker watched with keeninterest the advancement of the firsttranscontinental railroad, which would meanso much in the progress and development ofthe resources of the territory of Utah. Duringthis period of railroad construction he wasengaged in dry farming and stock raising atHoneyville, besides operating a grist millthere. But at this time he still spent most ofthe winter months with his family at BrighamCity.

He, with some of his older sons,contracted with the Central Pacific Companyfor the construction of a mile of road gradeout near the Little Mountain [west ofCorinne]. Many of the Hunsaker boys andgirls recalled in later years the time when theirolder brothers labored with mule teams in theconstruction of that mile of roadbed. On oneoccasion when driving westward towardPromontory with Robert and Helen Allen,Israel pointed out to them the remains of thatmile of grade made by the Hunsakers. Itbegan near the south end of the LittleMountain and extended eastward towardCorinne.

John L. Hunsaker, in a letter written 14December 1944, only about four monthsbefore his death, stated, “I remember living ina cave near the Little Mountain west ofCorinne, while Father and the older boyswere building a grade for the new railroad toSan Francisco.” He also told that his mother,Harriet, cooked for the boys who worked on

7According to Jedediah M. Grant, son of MaryHunsaker Grant, this third story room under the gablewas once called the “Lamanite Room.” Indians passingthrough Brigham City often stored belongings thereuntil their return.


that part of the railroad while living in thatcave (see picture page 123).

Israel often told how he and some of hisbrothers worked to get the timber from themountains east of Honeyville to be used in theconstruction of a railroad bridge for theCentral Pacific Company over the Bear Rivernear Corinne. He said that some of thetimbers were sawed into a specified length inthe saw mill at Honeyville, but most of thetimber was delivered just as it came from thecanyons. That bridge was never built, nor wasthe mile of grade made by the Hunsakers everused as the Central Pacific Railroad washalted at Promontory.

The government had offered the UnionPacific and Central Pacific Companies everyalternate section of land lying within a 20-mile radius on each side of its part of thecompleted line. So intense was the war for

mileage that the two outfits passed each otherin preparing and grading the roadbeds.

When Congress finally chose Promon-tory station as the point where the two linesshould be linked together and the GoldenSpike ceremony was scheduled for 10 May1869, most of the settlers in Box ElderCounty turned out to witness this historicincident. Among them was AbrahamHunsaker. Israel often recalled, among otherhappenings of that day, the meeting of thetwo rival locomotives on the newlyconstructed railway.

The first office of the Union PacificRailroad in Brigham City was established inthe fall of 1869 in the northwest room of theHunsaker Big House.8

8History of Box Elder County, p. 30.

Driving of the Golden Spike at the completion of the first transcontinental railroad. AbrahamHunsaker is third from the right on the front row (see arrow), and Israel is the gangling boy leftof him.


9Much of the information in the foregoing storywas gleaned from the Ogden Standard Examiner,September, 1942.

The next year, in 1943, Gwen Hunsaker, Israel’sgranddaughter and the editor of this history, was hiredto edit The Seagull, the newspaper at the Navy basewhich was utilizing those historic rails.

Israel Hunsaker (second from left) was atPromontory Point in 1869 for the GoldenSpike ceremony and again in 1942 when therails were salvaged for the Clearfield NavalSupply Depot.

For 36 years trains rumbled overPromontory Mountain, pushed and pulled byhelper engines for the grade was steep. TheLucin Cut-off was built across Great Salt Lakein 1906 and that route eliminated the heavypull over the mountain and consequently theextra engines and crews. When the cut-offwas completed, an effort was made by therailroad officials to abandon the “Old Line,”but Box Elder County objected. AttorneyLewis Jones was sent back to Washington inbehalf of the retention of the old line and wonhis case with the argument that in case anenemy ever destroyed the road across thelake, the old Promontory road could be usefulfor shifting traffic around the lake as of old.

In 1942 during World War II when railswere so badly needed in the defense effort,there was no argument against theabandonment of the old road and the removalof the rails. The line was salvaged and the railsrelaid at Clearfield, Utah at the huge 80-million-dollar naval supply depot. There thethousands of tons of rails, fish-plates, spikes,bolts, and other equipment played animportant role in the defense effort of ournation.

Before the old Promontory Road wasfinally abandoned, another celebration wasstaged on the isolated plateau atop thePromontory Mountain on 8 September1942. Representing the state of Utah at thisclosing chapter of the Old Road wasGovernor Herbert B. Maw, who led acavalcade of automobiles filled with railroad,state, and church officials from Salt Lake Cityto the historic spot.

Israel Hunsaker, Sr., then 90 years old,attended the celebration, and his picture wastaken along with the officials. He was theoldest living man to have worked on thatrailroad during its construction. With hisfather, he witnessed the driving of the GoldenSpike in 1869 and 73 years later Israel was awitness to its removal, which meant thedismantling and abandonment of the oldroad.9



Honeyville, Home of the HunsakersHoneyville, Home of the HunsakersHoneyville, Home of the HunsakersHoneyville, Home of the HunsakersHoneyville, Home of the Hunsakers

Early History ofEarly History ofEarly History ofEarly History ofEarly History ofHoneyvilleHoneyvilleHoneyvilleHoneyvilleHoneyville11111

As early as 1861 Abraham Hunsaker hadobtained grazing land in the Honeyville area.Lewis N. Boothe wrote in his diary that yearthat he had rented a piece of land of AbrahamHunsaker intending to raise a small garden.2

Abraham moved a part of his family fromBrigham City in the spring of 1864 and madehis home in a little cabin near the saw mill hehad purchased on Salt Creek. This saw millwas bought from Ezra Barnard and NathanielClark, who had obtained it from the originalowner, a Brother Call from Bountiful.

Later in the fall Abraham moved his fam-ily back to Brigham City for the winter. Forten years each wife took her turn living in thecabin on Salt Creek during the summer, whileshe prepared the meals for the boys whocared for the cattle and did the farm work.The women also churned quantities of butterand preserved it for winter use. This arrange-ment continued until 1874 when Harriet andCathrine with their families became perma-nent residents of the little settlement at themill, which later acquired the name ofHoneyville. Although Abraham was the firstman to bring his family to the present site ofHoneyville, Joseph Orme was the first per-manent settler, as he located there in the fall

of 1866; Orme built his home about half amile south of the present center of Honeyville.

Abraham was the first person to engagein dry farming in Box Elder County, accord-ing to the History of Box Elder County,pages 56-57:

The first dry farm grain in Box ElderCounty was raised by Abraham Hunsakerin the vicinity of Honeyville in the year 1863.That season he harvested between three andfour hundred bushels of white touse wheat.Hand plows and harrows were used inpreparing the soil, and the grain was cutwith a side rake, then a luxury since mostgrain was cut with a cradle. To operate thismachine it required one man to drive andone to rake the grain from the machine.Five or six men followed with wooden handrakes, gathered up the grain, bound it intobundles, and tied it with the long stalks ofthe wheat. Farmers could cut two or threeacres of grain a day using this method.

The experience of 1863 led Mr. Hunsakerto try the plan of summer fallowing. Heprepared seventy-five acres of ground in thismanner and in August planted it to a varietyof spring grain. The ground was moist andthe grain grew rapidly. He pastured it thatfall and the next season his grain yieldedsixty bushels per acre.

Another account of Abraham Hunsaker’sexperiences raising the first dry farm wheatin Box Elder County is found in an article,“Changes in a Modern World,” by AdolphM. Reeder, Corinne, Utah. In 1954 Mr.Reeder’s article was given the senior award,first place, by the Salt Lake Luncheon Cluband second place by the National Society of

1Much of the information in this section representsdata found in the Church Historian’s Office by Meltrudeand Orpha Hunsaker Stohl in 1946.

2History of Box Elder County, p. 278.

77HONEYVILLE, HOME OF THE HUNSAKERS

Eliza Collins Hunsaker home(left) at Honeyville.

Harriet Beckstead Hunsaker’srock home (left) on the eastbank of Salt Creek and west ofthe Honeyville Park. Thishouse was still in use in 2001,although the rock exterior hadbeen covered over.

The original Honeyville homesof Mary Luckham Hunsakerand Cathrine Jensen Hunsakerwere nearby. Mary LuckhamHunsaker’s home in Honey-ville originally consisted of afour-room adobe house; latertwo rooms of rock constructionwere added.

Cathrine Jensen Hunsakermoved into this home (left)from her house on the westbank of Salt Creek.


the Sons of Utah Pioneers. The following isquoted from this prize-winning article:

Hoping the earth to respond well, BrotherHunsaker planted a few acres of wheat in1862. It matured without irrigation in 1863,and thus encouraged, he and his sonsplowed 200 acres on both sides of SaltCreek. Planting the wheat in August, 1863,and followed by a nice rain storm, it soonmade a green covering of the ground andfurnished considerable fall pasture for thelivestock.

The spring of 1864 he purchased theHoneyville saw mill to saw and preparegranaries for the acres of wheat which gavepromise of a great harvest. His son, Allen,was now 24 years of age and he andAbraham Jr. at age 16, were called intocouncil. These two young men wereappointed and given $2,000 in cash andinstructed and outfitted for a long journey.They were to join a Caravan en route to theMissouri River. They were to buy a threshingmachine and two pianos (one for Pres. Snowand one for the Hunsaker family) and toreturn in time for threshing the expectedgrain crop. No one has related theexperiences of these boys in undertaking thatlong journey and pulling a threshing machineacross the plains. The hazards and hardshipsencountered along the trails seem to be alost story, but there were surely many tryingcircumstances.

When President Young heard of theextensive venture and the promising yieldof the great wheat crop, he made it a pointto inquire of Brother Hunsaker, “BrotherHunsaker what will you do with all thatwheat? Markets are far away and our peoplehere have so little money?” With the helpof his many sons they were sawing lumberand preparing storage granaries so he couldassure President Young he expected pooremigrants and poor widows to be comingalong who would need some wheat to getstarted in Zion and he would give them help.President Young must have thought it anoble idea as he placed his hand uponBrother Hunsaker’s shoulder with a blessed

assurance, “Brother Hunsaker, if you dothat, your wheat bins will never be empty.”His grandson, Lewis, testified they neverwere empty. It has been reported that thisgreat crop without irrigation yielded morethan sixty bushels per acre and more than12,000 bushels of good wheat. He wasgenerous to the poor. Much of it was soldat Corinne in 1869 at $5.00 per bushel toserve the needs of the railroad builders andconstruction camps. . . .

Thus the Hunsakers became our firstsuccessful dry farmers and acquired the firstharvesting machinery. The USAC [UtahState Agricultural College, now Utah StateUniversity] Experiment Station has this tosay in Bulletin 282 [page 9] speaking of thefirst Box Elder dry land wheat in 1863,“Thus, dry farming, which has since spreadto all states in the arid west, had itsbeginning.”

When the first settlers came toHoneyville, they made a dam between thecold water spring and hot water spring atCrystal Springs. The springs and the landsurrounding was preempted by Abraham, andit was under his supervision that the dam wasmade. Also there was a small stream fromCold Water Canyon. Each family was allot-ted their portion of water from the twosources. Joseph Watkins said that when a newfamily took up their abode in Honeyville,Abraham would say, “Boys, we’ll each haveto give a part of our water turn to Brother—so he can have a garden too.” Joseph Watkinstold many stories of how kind Abraham wasto the poor emigrants just coming to the val-ley.

Water from the hot spring was used toturn the mill wheels for Abraham’s saw andgrist mills. The site of these cold and hot wa-ter springs is now a resort, known as CrystalSprings, where many of the Hunsaker Fam-ily Reunions have been held through theyears. In the early days this site was used as afreight and stagecoach station on the north-


ern route to California and the routes to Boise,Helena, and Butte.

The grist mill which was built in 1867was originally a burr mill, but it was changedinto a roller mill in the fall of 1889, it beingthe first roller mill in Box Elder County.Lorenzo and Hans Peter Hunsaker were themillers after it became a roller mill. Accord-ing to John L. Hunsaker, the grist mill wasbuilt just south of the saw mill.

That Abraham operated a ferry acrossBear River for awhile is indicated in the His-tory of Box Elder County, page 147:

In 1850 William Empy received a grantfrom the Legislature giving permission toestablish a ferry across the Bear River. Itwas located just west of where Deweyvillenow stands. He later sold the ferry toAbraham Hunsaker. [Abraham apparentlymoved this ferry to a site just north of theHoneyville flour mill.]

There are several versions to the storyof how Honeyville got its name. Most ver-sions agree that the suggestion was first madethat the settlement be named Hunsaker orHunsakerville to honor Abraham but that heobjected. Suggestion of the name ofHoneyville is sometimes credited to Abrahamand sometimes to Lorenzo Snow. Reasonsfor the choice of Honeyville as a name arevaried: that it somewhat resembles Hunsaker,that Abraham kept honey bees, or that it wasa reminder of the Biblical land of milk andhoney since the early settlers had many bee-hives and dairy cattle.

In 1868, Frederick James Grahamsettled at Honeyville. He stated that at thetime of his arrival, only half a dozen familiesresided in that neighborhood. He was the firstward teacher appointed to labor in that partof the country, which at the time constituteda part of the Brigham City Ward. In fact, itformed only a part of the so-called Call’s FortDistrict of the Brigham City Ward, and only

occasional meetings were held in the neigh-borhood prior to 1877.

According to records in the ChurchHistorian’s Office, Lorenzo Hunsaker taughtthe first school in Honeyville during the win-ter of 1875 and 1876 and for several yearsafter that. Schools and meetings were held inthe Hunsaker residence by the mill. However,the History of Box Elder County, page 280,lists Melissa Hunsaker as the first schoolteacher in Honeyville and names Susan DunnHunsaker, Mary L. Hunsaker, and LorenzoHunsaker as other early day teachers.

On the 24th of July Abraham often gath-ered up his young boys and some of the grand-sons and dressed them up for Battalion boysand had a parade. Their flags and drums werehomemade and their “uniforms” were easy—just ragged clothes. Most of the boys knewone or two of the Battalion songs which theysang during the parade.

In a special conference held at BrighamCity 19 August 1877 the Saints residing inand about Hunsaker’s Mill were organized asa ward named Honeyville. AbrahamHunsaker was sustained as first Bishop of theward. About three weeks later, 9 September1877, he was ordained a High Priest and

First meeting house in Honeyville, built in1878, was also used as a school house. Thisbuilding later housed Tolman and Sons store.The rock first floor still stands in 2001.


Bishop and was set apart to his position byLorenzo Snow. On the same occasion Ben-jamin H. Tolman and Lewis Nathaniel Boothewere ordained High Priests and set apart toact as first and second counselors to BishopHunsaker, who retained the same counselorsuntil his death.

Soon after the organization of the warda Sunday School was organized with Ben-jamin H. Tolman as superintendent, and on15 December 1877 a Young Men’s MutualImprovement Association was organized withAlexander Hunsaker as president.

Early in 1878 steps were taken to builda meeting house in Honeyville; the groundwas broken 14 January 1878. A month lateron February 19, a Relief Society was orga-nized in Honeyville with Harriet Hunsaker aspresident.

The stucco meeting house at left was completed in 1896. After a new brick chapel (right) wasfinished in 1951, the stucco building was torn down and its site became part of the churchparking lot. (Photo taken in in 1950 from Tribune-Telegram helicopter.)

The new meeting house was dedicated5 January 1879 by Lorenzo Snow. It wasbuilt of rock, 24 by 47 feet, at a cost of$1,500. It was the only meeting house andschool house built in Honeyville up to 1896,when the stucco meeting house was com-pleted. The rock meeting house later housedTolman and Sons store and the rock groundstory still stands (2001) just east of the rail-road track about a block west of the presentchapel grounds. Ward members now meet ina spacious, modern brick chapel, which wasdedicated 17 June 1951. Concerning thefirst and the latest chapels in Honeyville,Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl reminisced in a let-ter dated 23 August 1954:

I thought of . . . that first old meetinghouse. . . . I went to Sunday School andmeeting many many times in that oldbuilding, and I had heard Grandfather bear


his testimony time and again there, and hadbeen there many times when he had selectedthe hymn to be sung and when he hadstarted it himself. I had been to celebrationsin that old church when Grandfather hadtold stories of the . . . Mormon Battalionand had heard him sing their Battalionsongs.

I feel sure that this new Chapel built byhis descendants and the members of theWard he had served so long and had lovedso well, would far exceed any of his dreamsof the future of his people. His hopes andhis desires were all for the welfare of thepeople who made this [Honeyville] theirhome.

In 1881 a Young Ladies Mutual Improve-ment Association and a Primary were orga-nized, the first on March 20 with Laura NeeleyHunsaker as president and the latter on June15 with Mary Hunsaker as president.

According to records in the ChurchHistorian’s Office, there were in 1887 inHoneyville 26 families, or 109 baptized mem-bers, or a total of officers and members, in-cluding children under eight years, 161 souls.There were 1 Patriarch (Abraham Hunsaker),8 High Priests, 6 Seventies, 13 Elders, 1Priest, 5 Teachers, and 13 Deacons includedin the total. All families lived in their ownhouses.

Records in the Church Historian’s Of-fice show that Abraham was ordained a Pa-triarch, but the record does not show by whomthe ordination was performed nor when it wasdone.

Bishop Abraham Hunsaker died 3 Janu-ary 1889, after which his counselors took tem-porary charge. The ward was reorganized 8September 1889 at a special meeting calledat Honeyville by Elder Lorenzo Snow, of theCouncil of the Twelve Apostles. B. H. Tolmanwas sustained as Bishop with Isaac Hunsakeras first counselor and Joseph Hunsaker assecond counselor. Isaac was ordained a High

Priest and set apart by Rudger Clawson, andJoseph was ordained and set apart by CharlesKelley.

Missions of AbrMissions of AbrMissions of AbrMissions of AbrMissions of AbrahamahamahamahamahamHunsakerHunsakerHunsakerHunsakerHunsaker

Abraham’s first mission to Indiana is re-corded in his journal (see page 21). That hewas serving as a missionary when his thirdwife, Margaret Sweeten Hunsaker, passedaway has also been mentioned previously.

A record of missionaries in the ChurchHistorian’s Office, Salt Lake City, shows thatAbraham Hunsaker was set apart as a mis-sionary 10 October 1874 by C. C. Rich toserve in the United States. The date of hisreturn is not given nor is his field of laborspecified, but it is believed that his labors wereamong his kinsmen in Illinois.

Benham Hunsaker recalls a time about1876, when he was four or five years old—too young to attend school, yet old enoughto be interested in school room activities. Hisfather was absent from home doing mission-ary work; the school was being taught byLorenzo Hunsaker in the south room of hismother’s home on the west bank of Salt Creekat Honeyville. The school consisted mostlyof Hunsaker boys; one of them was especiallydifficult to control, causing considerabletrouble in the little school. The teacher indesperation threatened the unruly boy thatas soon as his father got home, he should betold of the boy’s bad behavior and he shouldbe punished properly. Benham was oldenough to appreciate the fact that nothingbut the return of his father could straightenout affairs in the little schoolroom.

It seems that upon at least three or fouroccasions, Abraham Hunsaker spent a fewweeks or months doing missionary work


among his people in Illinois and elsewhere,as well as collecting records. It is likely thatupon one of these occasions he came intopossession of the family Bible of his parents,Jacob and Polly Luce Hunsaker (see picturepage 33).

LLLLLetters of Abretters of Abretters of Abretters of Abretters of AbrahamahamahamahamahamHunsakerHunsakerHunsakerHunsakerHunsaker

Copy of a letter from Abraham to hisbrother, Jacob T. Hunsaker:

Honeyville Boxelder Co. Utah

Sept. 7, 1884

Beloved Br. Jacob T.

It is with feeling of a brother long sincelost that I sit down to wright you a few lines.All is well with your brother Abraham, yourelder Brother. I received a letter from youa month or two since. I hope you will ex-cuse me for not writen sooner. I have binwaiting to see if things would shape so thatI could come to see you all but it seams astho things are harder for me to come theirat present as you allready know that I havea large family to care for [and] have only 3small boys to doo my farming, no large onesto look after things, besides we as a peoplehave the gosple to preach to all nations,Tongo, and all people white or black be-fore the coming of the Lord Jesus and hiscoming is near.

It costs our church some 30,000, thirtythousand, dollars per year to preach thegosple without purse or scrip, it allso costssome fifty thousand per year to buildTemples to have place for to pass thru or-deals for the dead, allso a quite portion ofour time to work in those Tempels for ourdead, besides we have to live by eating andweavin cloas as all mortals doo. So you can

behold we are not idle, neither have we timefor much pride. I was very sory to heareyou say doo not come expecting to preachfor I wish to fetch one of my boys with meto preach the gosple of our Lord and sav-ior—Jesus Christ. You, brother, look atthings as they are, if you knew that youwere enjoying the truths of heaven or thetrue gospel and you allso new that I was inthe dark and on the down wave road wouldyou not wish to tell me as a brother andfriend and give me a chance to live in theenjoyment of the light of God? Can younot see this is the same persicuted gospelas it was anciantly? We preach the gospelas it was anciantly. We are pursicuted,hunted, and even slain as the anciant saints,tared and feathered, whiped, and all man-ner of lies heaped on us as a people asanciantialy. You know the constitution ofAmerica allows evry man to worship Godacorden to the dictates of his conciounces.Why then not let us alone? We interfearwith no one, we mind our own business andlet every one doo the same but thisjeneration is so much better than even theGreat God that they condem the latterdaysaints for that which God has sancioned andcommanded to doo. We have God on ourside and will finily com out at the head ofthe heap alltho the wicked may slay andmarter the latterday saints, we will finilytryumph for the time is close when he thatwill not take his sword to fight his neigh-bor will flee here for safty.

I have 3 sons and one Daughtermooved with their familys to Arizona to life.I allso have another boy gone to Tenesseeand Missispipi to preach the gospel. Ourfolks are makein many converts in the southwhich makes the preachers of the sects madso they head mobs to persicute and marterour bretheren. Crops have bin plentiful herethis season. Money is scarce, wheat some40 cts. per bushel, other grain in propor-tion. I suppose you are well enough of[f] to


pay us a visit. You can come and preachany doctrin you believe. All denominationspreach here as they choose, freedom is tol-erated here, if you doo not come and seeus, I hope to come and see you all yet be-fore I dye. May God bless and preserve youall. Go[o]d night from

ABRAHAM HUNSAKER

Copy of a copy of a letter from AbrahamHunsaker to his cousin, Harrison Hunsaker,in Portland, Oregon.

Honeyville, Box Elder Co., Utah

Nov. 26, 1886

Cousin Harrison,

It is with pleasure that I pen you a fewlines. We are all well at present. Hope thiswill find you all the same.

I was delayed at the Yaquina Bay, wait-ing for the ship to leave. Well, when I goton the ship and went out to sea, I was verysick. Did not get well when we landed inFrisco. I thought I wasn’t able to go downto visit your father and uncle, as I did nothave their full address. I felt quite disap-pointed.

The persecution is still going on againstus, thicker and faster. We expect it will con-tinue for three or four years yet. By thattime we as a people will likely be strippedof most all our property. But this is God’sKingdom, and He will send a deliverer andwill redeem us out of the hands of our en-emies, when we are humbled enough. Ihumbly pray that God will enable you tosee the right way of life and that you mayescape the judgment that God is beginninto pour out on the nations of the earth, forgreat pestilence, earthquakes, cyclones,wars, and bloodshed. The time is truly closeat hand, when he that will not take up the

sword to fight against his neighbor, will haveto flee here to Zion for safety. The UnitedStates is trying to destroy us as a people,or the Holy Priesthood, but they will neversucceed, for this Kingdom will stand whilstall others will crumble and fall, for we willnever give up our religion, though we mayhave to go to the pen with thieves andmurderers, as our Saviour was crucifiedbetween two thieves, also by law, as “UncleSam” is serving us.

My son that was on a mission in Swit-zerland [Joseph] has come home. He hasgot some four or five thousand names ofprojenitors and connections. We find thatour second great grandfather, HartmannHunsaker, left Switzerland in 1730, withhis wife, Barbara Miller, and his son, John,our great grandfather. Our first greatgrandmother’s name is Magdaline Biry. Ihave given you the geneaology of the chil-dren on another sheet. Your grandfather,Joseph, and my grandfather, Jacob, are twoof their children. I will give you the nameof my second great grandfather and hiswife, children’s names and who each onemarried. John married Magdalena Biry.

Elizabeth Hunsaker married JacobGath, Vienna married John Rolph, OrscalHunsaker married a man by the name ofLanders, Mary married Casper Rowland,Any married Lewis Molar, CatherineHunsaker married John Biry. Those weremarried in Pennsylvania. I have not got anyof the girl’s geneaologies in the U, S. Myson has five or six thousand names whichhe got in Switzerland and he did not getperhaps one quarter as he might. But hisway was hedged up for the present so hecame home, being quite tired, having beenon a mission some two years before he wentto Switzerland, but I hope he will be ableto go again so I can get a tollerable fullhistory of our family. I think some of pub-lishing a book if I am able to do so. Mybrother Jacob write to me telling me that


he had a letter from your folks in Califor-nia, saying that they had information fromthe East saying there was a large Estate inSwitzerland for the Hunsakers in America.I think its all a hoax. I think it all startedthrough jealousy by some of them who saidthat I had perhaps heard there was some-thing comming to the Hunsakers and I amworking to get it, having my son in the oldcountry working at it. But I place no suchgood, more I haven’t any idea.

May God bless you all

From your cousin

ABRAHAM HUNSAKER

AbrAbrAbrAbrAbraham as Othersaham as Othersaham as Othersaham as Othersaham as OthersSaSaSaSaSaw Himw Himw Himw Himw Him

As Recorded inAs Recorded inAs Recorded inAs Recorded inAs Recorded inB. H. TB. H. TB. H. TB. H. TB. H. Tolman’s Diaryolman’s Diaryolman’s Diaryolman’s Diaryolman’s Diary33333

The following excerpts from B.H.Tolman’s diary are included here because theyindicate how Abraham Hunsaker appearedto his friends and neighbors. Also they reflectlife in Honeyville during this era.

JUNE 1, 1877—I have been to Honeyvilleand I expect to make my home there. I havegot a lot picked out and will fence it when Ican. Brother Abraham Hunsaker have gaveme the privelidge of homesteading an 80acre piece of land.

SEPT. 9, 1877—I was set apart ascouncilor to Bishop Hunsaker of Honeyville,Utah. Lewis N. Booth [is] second councilor.. . . We hold meetings . . . every Sunday.The present number of famileys here are11, eleven.

DEC. 17, 1877—Acording to apointmentI met with Bro. Madson and Joseph Ormeto select a suitable place to build a meetinghouse. But we have hardly decided notknowing where the street would run.

In this evening . . . Bishop Hunsaker [and]Bros. Orme and Graham had a dedicatoryprayer offered. Even the house [site]dedicated to the Lord by Bishop Hunsaker.

FEB. 19, 1878—Sister Harriet Snow fromBrigham City came to my place andorganized the Female Relief Society ofHoneyville. It has been the lot for theHoneyville Branch to furnish a hand on theTemple at Logan. One man ceased to laborthere because we was unable to keep himon the Temple and pay him $2.00 per dayin cash or its equivalent. We therefore hiredThomas Bowcutt and discarded . . . theformer hand wich was the vote of thepriesthood. . . .

NOV. 29, 1878—was spent by a goodlynumber of Bishop Hunsakers family andrelatives by partakeing of a bountiful feast.In the evening Bro. H. adresed his numerousfamily on the subject of unity, order, andmany wise and glorious princeples calculatedto prepare them for the glory of the [eternal]Kingdom, followed by Bro. J. C. Wright ofBrigham City.

DEC. 1878—Our Sabbath School is verywell attended. . . . I have been buildingbenches for the meeting house, prepareingfor dedication. Christmas pased of[f] in a veryquiet and orderley manner. In the eveningthe meeting house was crowded to hear thecomic songs, readings, resitations, and otheramusements all got up in an amusing manerafter the good old stile of our BelovedBishop. During the amusements Santa Clausmade his apearance and the cakes and nutssuffered. . . . All the ward received a presentfrom the Christmas tree.

JAN. 5, 1879—Apostle Lorenzo Snowcame up and dedicated our meeting house,has a fine time . . . said to be the finestmeeting in this Stake of Zion.

JAN. 24, 1879—Congres passed a bill in1862 to punnish those who were practicing

3As with Abraham Hunsaker’s journal, the editorshave attempted to reproduce these excerpts from B.H. Tolman’s diary exactly as they were recorded. Thewords and spelling are his unless enclosed in brackets;however, some punctuation has been added.


a plurality of wives . . . and recently theSupreme Court has ruled in favor of the saidbill. . . .

APRIL 9, 1879—Bishop Hunsaker cameup from conference [at Salt Lake City] andinformed me that my land was ready to behomesteaded.

JULY 24, 1879—was a day long to beremembered . . . being a day of enjoymentfor the Saints in memory of the entrance ofthe Pioneers in these valyes 32 years ago.Among other things Bishop A. Hunsakerrepresented the returning home of theMormon Batalion. A paper was written,entitled the Honeyville Herald. This was readto the amusement of the large asembly.[There were] comic songs, etc., in theevening dancing.

NOV. 29, 1879—This being the 67 birth-day of our Bishop A. Hunsaker. Weprepared a bountiful feast and a large portionof his family [was] invited and had a joyfultime. In the evening he gave some verywise and ernest council, followed by myself,William Willey and Isaac Hunsaker, who gaveshort addresses. . . .

JAN. 11, 1880—Had missionaries fromBear River. . . . Eclipse almost total on thesun. . . . Sister Harriet Hunsaker sick. . . .The Lord has been with us in ouradministrating to the sick in this ward. . . .

MAR. 20, 1880—Bro. Denmark Jensonand I bargained with Bro. Hunsaker for awatter right known as Sink Springs, situatedsome three quarters of a mile east of thisplace.

APRIL 19, 1880—I took possession of thePost Office, mail semi-weekly.

JUNE 8, 1880—Our Bishop Bro.Hunsaker has had some time since [he]received a severe kick from a horse on theleg wich is asuming at present fearfuldemensions.

JUNE 14, 1880—Went to Logan City towork on Temple. . . . Gave about 10 dayswork with team, $39.82, hauling rock andlumber.

JUNE 24, 1880—Returned home with aload of rock for Brigham City Tabernacle. .. . Bro. Hunsakers leg healed up.

NOV. 29, 1880—In the evening atendeda birth day party of our respected BishopA. Hunsaker. A bountiful feast was partakenof and later wise and timely council wasimparted. God bless Brother H. with manysuch happy days, with his family obeyinghis fatherly council.

DEC. 17, 1880—Went to Brigham Citywith Bro. A. Hunsaker. Took dinner withApostle Lorenzo Snow.

JAN. 24, 1881—Nearly the wole of theward fasted and prayed that the Lord wouldrestore to health Sister Harriet Hunsakerwho is very sick. . . .

MAR. 4, 1881 — A surprise party to AuntEliza Hunsaker, first wife to the bishop, beingher 64th pleasant time. Had a fine game ofball in the afternoon. Brother A. Hunsakergave an interesting acount of his travels inthe Mormon Battalion. In the evening wehad a dance.

MAR. 6, 1881—. . . Two o’clock atendedmeeting in the new Tabernacle [at BrighamCity], the first meeting held since completed.It is a beautiful place and a credit to thosewho aided in its construction. . . .

MAR. 13, 1881—... East windcommenced to blow and grew harder andfierce . . . some considerable damage wasdone. Bro. A. Hunsaker had one house badlyridled, the roof nearly all taken and twogables went crashing through the floor. Butprovidentialy no one was within. 5 box carswere thrown from the track here. Bro.Ormes barn stable roof was hurled of[f] andother minor objects suffered. . . .

MAR. 20, 1881—Sister Minnie Snow andothers came up and organized the youngladies in a mutial I. A. [Young Ladies MutualImprovement Association].

JUNE 5, 1881—Sister Eliza R. Snow andZina Young came up and we had a meeting.The children were organized in a PrimaryAssociation.


NOV. 8, 1881—I hung doors for Bro.Hunsaker in Marys and Harriets houses.

NOV. 29, 1881—. . . In the afternoonatended Bishop Hunsaker family gathering,the ocasion of his 69th birth day. A goodtime, wise council, and happy reunion.

MAR. 21, 1882—Sister Mary Hunsakerhas had a very close call and is still very lowwith consumption.

MAY 6, 1882—I returned this evening andfound Sister Mary Hunsaker dead, diedyesterday. Her sufferings has been severeand long.

MAY 7, 1882—We buried her [MaryLuckham Hunsaker] at Brigham City. Thecorps[e] was taken in the Tabernacle andBros. Boothe, Graham, Orme and I eachspoke . . . in relation to her worth, etc.

JUNE 15, 1882—. . . Bro. Hunsaker isprepareing to build a new grist mill. . . . Wehave lately held a meeting in relation to theHoneyville Co-op Store. I was apointedpresident.

NOV. 29, 1882—. . . This is BishopHunsakers birthday witch was celebrated inthe usual way with a big dinner and goodcouncil, etc., etc.

MAR. 5, 1883—Gave Sister ElizaHunsaker a surprise and big dinner, it beingthe anniversary of her birthday.

APRIL 17, 1883—Working for Bro.Hunsaker on the mill, a new one he isbuilding.

APRIL 20, 1883—Working on the millpreparing to set the whell and build apenstock. . . . We have a daily mail now.

APRIL 21, 1883—We put the wheel inposition today. It is a different kind of terbinewheel than any I have seen, made by C.Ridgeway and Son., Coatsville, Penn.

MAY 18, 1883—. . . I have been workingall the time on the mill and at this date theold one has been torn down, two-thirds ofwhich frame has been ysed on the newbuilding. The new one is covered in. Thework on the inside has commenced and the

floors are all laid, except the greatest portionof the upper floor.

AUGUST 9, 1883—Worked in grist millwich has started to make flour. Some bother,the old gentleman has no millwright, andconsequently the anoyance in starting, butwill overcome all them in a few davs.

NOV. 29, 1883—Worked for A.Hunsaker. In the evening had a familygathering it being the 71st birth day of thebirth of our esteemed Bishop. We had agood time.

NOV. 12, 1887—. . . I stoped . . . inOgden and payed a bill for doors andwindows . . . [that I had] ordered . . . throughthe telephone thirty miles distant and plainlyrecognized voices as much so as though Iwere in there presence. . . .

APRIL 13, 1888—U. S. Marshalls were inHoneyville for Bro. Hunsaker. He suceededin evading them. They also enquired for meor my second wife.

APRIL 17, 1888—This evening Bro.Hunsaker had a runaway, throwing him outand hurting him very bad. Several ribs arereported broken.

APRIL 18, 1888—I stayed most of the daywith Brother Hunsaker, who seems to begrowing worse.

APRIL 19, 1880[8]—Bro. Hunsakerscondition is critical. His family and a numberof friends united in a family prayer and ittranspires that Bro. H. commenced to restamd get easy and received the first testimonythat he was going to get better. . . .

APRIL 22, 1888—I called in to see Bro.Hunsaker this evening and found him veryrapidly mending. . . . I sais, “Praise theLord for what he so miraculously has done.”

“Yes,” sais he, “praise the Lord. Praisethe Lord for he has done it.” He was so lowprevious that arrangements were being madefor his death, and he was giving directionsregarding his funeral. . . . But now by hisfamily becoming so united and earnest . . .today he is a living witness of His power forhis children.


MAY 6, 1888—Brother Hunsaker cameout to meeting and talked to us. . . .

AUG. 18, 1888—Bro. Hunsaker and hiswife Eliza are feeble with old age. . . . Theenimy is still alert. . . . [The marshalls] haveofered little boys as high as $20.00 to tellwhere I was. Bro. Hunsaker has had severalclose calls and it seems the hour is dark.

OCT. 13, 1888—This morning at abouthalf past 4, Aunt Eliza [Eliza CollinsHunsaker], the good and noble soul, passedfrom the earth, in peace and quietly. [Thereare] few women more noble than she.

OCT. 14, 1888—Aunt Eliza was taken toBrigham and intered.

OCT. 25, 1888—I met Bro. Hunsaker andsome of his family early below Logan goingto Temple. The roads was [so] heavy that Iwas all day going about 12 miles. . . .

DEC. 26, 1888—Bishop Hunsaker isfeeble indeed, continues to grow graduallyworse, and Sister Neeley also. Many prayersacending for them or at least offered.

DEC. 29, 1888—Bro. Hunsaker isdangerously ill and his son Lorenzo will arrivebefore morning as Robert H. has gone forhim to Washakie, where he is laboring inthe . . . Indian Mission. We prayed in a circlefor him, and it seems from his generalactions that the end is fast aproaching.

DEC. 30, 1888—Our meeting was turnedinto one of prayer this afternoon and somehave hopes . . . that he will get well. It seemsto me, however, that his work on earth isfinished nearly.

DEC. 31, 1888—. . . Our patriarch andbishop is very weak, but has shownremarkable power today. He has gaveblessings to perhaps nearly 40—between 35and 40—of his children and their familiestoday. And truly there sat a Patriarch andone of God’s noble spirits. As Adam ourforefather called his posterity together andblessed them, even so, Brother Hunsakerhas done the same thing, telling them whatwould befall them, etc. etc. . . . BrotherHunsaker has a host of friends and as few

enemies as any man I think. . . . The lasthours of eighteen hundred and eighty eightwill long be remembered by many that werepresent. . . . God had given him strength tobless his family, and he seem[ed] to do thatwich a well man could hardly do, let alone aman that could not sit up hardly. He got upinto his chair only to atend to the blessing,and since he is failing fast.

JAN. 2, 1889—The meeting of Franklinwith his father today was very efecting andsad. It is said today that our beloved bishopis very low, almost to[o] low to speak,suffering fearfully. We met at Sister Harrietsand prayed for his release if it is the will ofthe Lord. . . .

JAN. 3, 1889—Fast day and one long tobe remembered. News from Bro. Hunsakersbedside is that he is fast sinking. We meetand open by prayer and ask the Lord totake him. Brother Graham soon after praysand sais he [the Bishop] is gone he feels. Afew more speak and a . . . hymn is sung,and in comes Lewis Grant with swelled eyes,and then I know all is over. He soon arrisesand sais, “Our father has passed away.” Ohhow lonesome [we are]. We have indeed losta father and a noble man of God, a grandold patriarch, concious to the end . . . diedwith the name of his maker on his lips.

Oh how liberal and good he has been,firm as the rock of ages to the princeples ofeverlasting truth and has gone to his maker.

They who may look at him who haveknown him in life will see a loud sermon offaith and honesty. Any atempt of mine isto[o] weak to aproach his great heart. I dohope his family will walk in his footsteps forthey have, a noble example and he waspermitted to bless them all that came to seehim, for he said as he raised from his bedthat God had given him strength to blesshis children and there [he] sat for hours likethe patriarchs of old, even Jacob,blessed andblessed, asking them to come forward if theywanted a blessing from their old father beforehe parted (for a season) from them. . . .


JAN. 5, 1889—At theappointed hour, half pasteight, the rattling ofwagons over the frozenground indicated that thepeople was alive andready to show thererespects to the grand oldman. But oweing to thesevere cold weather therewas not the turn out fromall quarters that therewould be under favorablecircumstances. As it was,the body of thetabernacle [in BrighamCity] was fil led. Thespeakers on this ocasionwas Apostle LorenzoSnow, Samuel Smith, W.L. Watkins, A[dolph]Madson, Chas. Kelley,and Bro. [Rudger]Clawson. The hymn, “Lothe Mighty God Appearing,” at Bro.Hunsakers request was sung at the loweringof the coffin at the grave. I omited the factthat he wanted the [Bear River] Brass bandto play also, but on acount of the frostyweather it could not be atended to. They,however, played “Nearer My God to Thee”before we left home (very sweet). Wereturned home about 4 o’clock.

As Recorded in the PressAs Recorded in the PressAs Recorded in the PressAs Recorded in the PressAs Recorded in the PressThe following obituary of Abraham

Hunsaker was published in The Deseret Newson 16 January 1889:

It is said that every past life has a lessonfor every life that is left behind, and thisseems to be more than verified in the lifeand death of this noble man of God, the lasthours of whose life were particularlyinteresting. His, too, was a glorious death,because of the blessings and testimonies ofa faithful patriarch which will leave animpression, not soon forgotten. His noble

deeds and his great heart will doubtless godown to posterity. . . .

He frequently clapped his hands with joy,and praised God for having revealed to himthat his work in the Logan Temple—whichwas considerable—had been accepted. . . .

When the law of celestial marriage wasfirst whispered to him he opposed it,exclaiming, “It is of the devil.” But Godknew his heart, and in open day a messengerfrom heaven, with three women clothed inbright raiment, stood before him several feetfrom the ground, and addressed him thus:“You can never receive a full and completesalvation in My Kingdom unless yourgarments are pure and white, and you havethree counselors like me.” I need not addthat he was convinced, for he was thehusband of five wives, (two of whom survivehim), and the father of 50 children. He wasalso the grandfather of 124 children, andthe great grandfather of 34. He told hiswife, Eliza C., whom he survived but twomonths and twenty days, that their workwould be done here when he had made one

Abraham had requested that this Bear River Brass Band play at hisgraveside, but the weather was too frosty in January (see B.H.Tolman account at left).


more trip to Logan Temple, which heafterwards accomplished. This remark wasmade a few hours before her death, and headded that he would “soon follow her.” She,too, lived and died greatly beloved by herhusband and numerous friends.

. . . Brother Hunsaker had done much inthe interest of cooperation. His charity wasunbounded; he was loved by all and lookedup to as a noble man whom God had madegreat through his humble life. He died as hehad lived, firm as a rock in the faith.

B. H. TOLMAN

An article by Bernice Gibbs Anderson,published in the Salt Lake Tribune 29 July1956 says of Abraham Hunsaker, “A man ofcharity, he freely gave money, flour, pork,and farm produce to the needy, often just leav-ing it on a porch, or against their door with-out saying anything about it.”

MemorMemorMemorMemorMemories of a Gries of a Gries of a Gries of a Gries of a GranddaughteranddaughteranddaughteranddaughteranddaughterCommenting on her grandfather,

Abraham Hunsaker, Meltrude HunsakerStohl, wrote in a letter dated 10 August 1955:

Grandfather seemed to be the centralfigure in everything (during those early yearsin Honeyville). Yet when the near end of hislife came, he didn’t think that he had everdone anything praiseworthy, that he didn’tmerit a funeral service. He planned agraveside service with the Bear River Citybrass band; two of his daughters were tosing one of the songs they used to sing athome, then the old favorite hymn whichUncle B. H. Tolman refers to in his diary, aprayer, and that was all. This was to be atthe graveside before the coffin was loweredinto the grave. Aunt Julia Loveland said theycouldn’t keep back the tears to sing, so SisterSummerill sang the hymn for them. Thediary of Uncle B. H. Tolman tells the rest.

I remember the prayer circles everyevening; I remember when it came Father’sand Mother’s turn to go to Aunt Katie’s

home to his bedside to receive their blessing. . . and I remember that every one waspraying for Grandfather’s recovery. It givesyou a little idea of the esteem in which hewas held by his family, as well as the wholeneighborhood.

Additional WAdditional WAdditional WAdditional WAdditional WivesivesivesivesivesSealed toSealed toSealed toSealed toSealed to

AbrAbrAbrAbrAbraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsaker

In addition to the five wives—ElizaCollins, Harriet Vernisha Beckstead, Marga-ret Sweeten, Ane Cathrine Jensen, and MaryLuckham—he married and with whom hereared children, Abraham was sealed to fivewomen after their respective deaths.

Logan Temple Record GS #178060shows:

6. Jerusha Abbott 19 Mar 1885

7. Emily McBride 22 Oct 1885

8. Areminta Hunsaker 22 Oct 1885

9. Martha Luce 25 Feb 1886

10. Isabel Randleman 25 Feb 1886

A Monument toA Monument toA Monument toA Monument toA Monument toAbrAbrAbrAbrAbraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsaker

A monument honoring the memory andlife of Abraham Hunsaker was erected in1956 and dedicated at the annual HunsakerFamily Reunion on August 11. T. EarlHunsaker was chairman of the monumentcommittee. The monument is located on thegrounds of the Honeyville Ward Chapel, justwest of Highway 38.


The dedicatory prayer was offered byElder Delbert Stapley, member of the Coun-cil of Twelve Apostles, Church of Jesus Christof Latter-day Saints, and great-grandson ofAbraham Hunsaker. This prayer follows:

We who are descendants and relatives bymarriage of Abraham Hunsaker, assembleourselves about this monument to dedicateit to his memory. May this monumenterected in his honor be a constant reminderof the rich heritage and choice blessingsvouchsafed to us, his posterity, throughnoble birth under the new and the everlastingcovenant. This monument, with theapproval of the First Presidency, erected tohis honor is a historic recognition of his loyaldevotions and accomplishments duringtrying and difficult times in helping toestablish the work of God on earth.

We recognize our parent as a great soul,a true servant, a sturdy pioneer who did notknow defeat, a colonizer having establisheda lasting settlement in this valley, over whichhe presided as Bishop until his death. Hewas a faithful devoted family man. Weexpress gratefulness for him and the trueexample of his life. We express sincerethanks for the Gospel of our Lord and forthe ministry of Thy Son on earth; for thecalling, work, and ministry of Thy latter-dayprophet, Joseph Smith. We are grateful forthe Church of Thy Son which possesses thepower to draw strong men of character andleadership like Abraham Hunsaker into itsfold.

We are proud of our heritage andtherefore honor our parent, AbrahamHunsaker, for all the blessings we enjoybecause of him, for his honesty and devotionto every call and responsibility. We aregrateful for his wives who stood loyally byhis side. We express our love for him and

for them, and we are grateful to be numberedamong their descendants. We humbly praythat the rich heritage bequeathed to us shallalways be exemplified in our lives by ourfaithfully maintaining all Gospel standards.May we remain together unitedly always, inthe bonds of family love, affection,brotherhood and sisterhood doing honor toour noble parent by properly representingall he stood for in life. We know he possessedtrue and Godlike virtues so characteristic ofheaven’s nobility.

In the authority of the Holy Priesthood,we dedicate the ground reserved for thismonument and all that pertains to it inmemory of our beloved forebearer who welovingly recognize and honor this day. Blessthose who initiated this movement andcarried it through to completion. We honorAbraham Hunsaker as a sturdy pioneer whodid not flinch nor lose courage in fulfillinghis life’s mission. We honor him for helpingto establish Thy Kingdom on Earth and inbuilding the cause of Zion here in the topsof the mountains, according to theassignments and inspiration given to him.As we and future generations of his posteritylook upon this monument, may we and theyresolve to follow his worthy example to causehim to be proud of us.

Abraham and his wives are all buried inthe Brigham City cemetery. Grave locationsare as follows:

Abraham B-16-47-7

Eliza B-16-47-8

Harriet B-16-47-9

Margaret B-16-492W

Cathrine B-16-49-7

Mary B-16-49-9


Monument to Abraham Hunsaker at Honeyville, Utah.


ABRAHAM HUNSAKER’S WIVES AND CHILDREN

Abraham (29 Nov 1812 – 3 Jan 1889)

married 3 Jan 1833 Eliza Collins (5 Mar 1817 – 13 Oct 1888)

married 22 Nov 1850 Harriet Beckstead (17 Jan 1831 – 6 Jan 1905)

married 5 May 1854 Margaret Sweeten (28 Dec 1837 – 12 Oct 1862)

married 13 Nov 1858 Ane Cathrine Jensen (12 Feb 1843 – 15 Sep 1927)

married 14 Mar 1863 Mary Luckham (15 Aug 1845 – 5 May 1882)

Eliza Collins

Jacob

Mary J.

Elizabeth

Lewis Jones

Allen Collins

Sarah

Nephi Collins

Abraham, Jr.

Isaac

Israel

Franklin Collins

Eliza

12 children

9 married

Harriet Beckstead

Lemuel

Alexander

Catherine

Hyrum

Joseph

Polly

Elnora

Enoch

Cyrus

John Luce

Gordon Walter

Elzarus

Raphael

Harriet

Daniel William

Walter Royal

16 children

11 married

Margaret Sweeten

Mary Ann

George

Lorenzo

Idumea

Robert Sweeten

5 children

4 married

Ane CathrineJensen

Anna Maria

Margaret

Julia

Esther

Hans Peter

Benham

Ila

Frederick

Leo

Newman

10 children

8 married

Mary

Luckham

Susannah

Martha

Roger

Thomas

Weldon

Minta

Oakham

Amos

8 children

3 married

Abraham’s Children = 51 Number Married = 35

93ELIZA COLLINS HUNSAKER AND CHILDREN

PPPPPart IIIart IIIart IIIart IIIart III

His FHis FHis FHis FHis Familyamilyamilyamilyamily


Sketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofEliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins Hunsaker

and Childrenand Childrenand Childrenand Childrenand Children


Eliza Collins Hunsaker


Eliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins HunsakerEliza Collins Hunsaker

EDITORS’ NOTE: The life story of Eliza isthe life story of Abraham. Because of theimportant role she played in Abraham’sfamily, and the development of Utah, herhistory is given here in as much detail aspossible even though it is largely containedin Abraham’s section.

Eliza Collins was born on 5 March 1817,near Louisville, Spencer County, Kentucky.Her parents were Allen Collins, a Welchman,and Mary Broady, a Scotswoman.

Eliza was 13 years of age when she firstmet Abraham Hunsaker. On the occasion oftheir first meeting, Eliza was at home spin-ning flax on her spinning wheel. Abrahamthought her the most beautiful girl he had everseen. It was made known to him that she wasto be his wife, and before he left the neigh-borhood, they became engaged to be mar-ried two years from that day. During thiswaiting period, Abraham and Eliza met onlya few times. Indeed, so long was the timebetween visits, that Eliza sometimes wonderedif her fiance had ceased to care for her. Whentwo years finally had elapsed, however, theyoung couple obtained the consent of theirparents and were married on 3 January 1833at Quincy, Illinois. Eliza was 15 years and 10months old at the time, and her husband wasa little over 20 years old.

The couple lived with Abraham’s fatheron a farm near Quincy for the first two monthsof their married life while their own small logcabin was being built. As soon as it was fin-ished, they began keeping house for them-selves.

The first little baby, whom they calledJacob, lived only eight weeks and was buriedin the Dunkard Graveyard, as they then be-

longed to the Dunkard Church. Their secondchild was not born until two years later.

Eliza and Abraham sold their first homeand moved to a farm on Pigeon Creek, nearPayson, Illinois. There they raised grain andhogs and cattle and became a very happy andprosperous couple in their new home. Beingvery sympathetic and generous, they openedtheir house to any one in need. In this way afamily by the name of McBride came to livewith them. Through the McBrides, who wereLatter-day Saints, Eliza and Abraham had theprivilege of hearing the Gospel for the firsttime.

They were greatly impressed with theteachings of the Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-day Saints, and made use of everyopportunity to learn all they could about it.After their investigations they were anxiousto join the Church, but did not do so until 15November 1840, when they were baptizedin Pigeon Creek by Elder David Evans. Theywere confirmed members of the Church thesame day at a meeting held in their home.

The young couple now had a desire tolive nearer the Prophet Joseph Smith, so thatthey might have the privilege of hearing himspeak the truths of their doctrine from timeto time. To accomplish this, they sold theirfarm on Pigeon Creek and moved to a placeon the Mississippi River about three milesbelow the City of Nauvoo. The location ofthis farm, in the river lowlands, was not veryhealthy and the dampness caused consider-able sickness in the little family. Their eldestdaughter, Mary, became seriously ill, but withthe tender care of the mother and the faithand prayers of the Elders, she was finally re-stored to health. Their second son, Lewis,was stricken with a serious disease. Previousto this he had been a bright and healthy child,


but when he became ill it seemed that nopower on earth could bring him back to lifeand health. Eliza tenderly nursed him andprayed to God to spare his life. Time andtime again she and Abraham fasted andprayed for their son’s recovery, as it seemedthey just could not give him up. Finally, Lewiswas taken to the Nauvoo Temple and bap-tized for his health. Because of the great faithof the parents, and the faith exercised in hisbehalf by the Saints, Lewis’ life was spared,but he never entirely recovered from the ef-fects of this illness.

Eliza and Abraham felt it a privilege toentertain the servants of God and felt theycould not do enough to make the Elders whovisited them comfortable. The first timeAbraham and Eliza were visited by an Apostleof the Church was when Brother Heber C.Kimball and his family partook of their hospi-tality.

About 20 families desired to make homesin this same locality and bought lots on theHunsaker farm where they built their houses.A little community sprang up and theHunsakers held religious meetings and alsoprovided a school in their house. After themurder of Joseph Smith in 1844, the perse-cutions of the Mormon people became greaterthan they could endure. Homes were burned,property destroyed, and even the lives ofwomen and children were not safe. AlthoughAbraham and Eliza were a little better off thanmost of their neighbors because Abrahamowned a flour mill, they began making prepa-rations to leave Nauvoo with the rest of theSaints. In the winter of 1845-46 they tradedthe mill for an ox and a cow, a wagon, andthe other things to make the journey awayfrom Nauvoo. They left their home in Febru-ary 1846 and crossed the Mississippi Riveron the ice, not knowing where they weregoing, or what the future would bring them,but placing their trust in God. They took theircattle and sheep with them. The sheep were

to provide wool for Eliza to make clothes forher family on her precious spinning wheel.

After they reached Kanesville, nowknown as Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the Mis-souri River, a call came to this band of home-less people to provide 500 volunteer soldiersto fight in the war between Mexico and theUnited States. Abraham was one of the firstto volunteer. After he had taken time to re-flect on his action, he feared he had done thewrong thing, or at least had been most un-wise in offering his services. He knew hewould have to leave his wife and six little chil-dren with nothing but a covered wagon forshelter, and with little or no provisions to pro-vide even the barest subsistence for life. Heknew not how long his services would be re-quired, nor when, if ever, he would return tohis family.

Eliza had a very well-to-do brother wholived nearby. This brother told Eliza that ifshe would give up the Mormon religion, thatshe and her children could come and live withhim and they would never want for anything.He told her that Abraham would never comeback, and that she should renounce this newand strange religion. Eliza answered herbrother that her husband would be back, andthat she would never give up her religion. Sheremained with the Saints who built a smallcabin for her and her children to live in. Whenher husband did finally return in Decemberof 1847, he found his family living in thisprimitive cabin.

In 1847 the Saints had started their trekto Utah. When Abraham returned to his fam-ily, they immediately made preparations totravel westward, and left Council Bluffs in1848 in the Cunningham Company.

Abraham was a very generous man, andsometimes was too generous for the comfortand well being of his own family. He couldnever stand to see anyone in need withoutoffering to share his own substance. As a re-sult, his family often suffered many hardships


when Abraham divided his means with oth-ers who wanted to go westward and did nothave the means to do so.

After arriving in Utah, Abraham and Elizasettled in the southwest part of the Salt LakeValley, in what is now West Jordan. Here theyaccumulated a large herd of cattle, sheep, andhorses, which they grazed around Utah Lake.Abraham also took care of livestock for otherpeople, and he and Eliza and their childrenspent a great deal of their time with the live-stock.

About this time the Indians became verytroublesome and began stealing livestock andoccasionally killing the settlers. Abraham re-alized it was unsafe to have his family in theUtah Lake region, and on 23 February 1856,went there to bring them home. Abrahamsent his son Lewis to round up the horseswhile he made preparations to move the fam-ily to Salt Lake Valley. Lewis was never seennor heard from again, and Abraham wasobliged to tell Eliza that their son had fallen avictim to the Indians. The grief of Eliza at thisnews can better be imagined than told. Shealways waited to hear some word from herlost son, and the uncertainty of his death wasalmost more than she could bear. With thefaith of a true Latter-day Saint, she put hertrust in God, as she did with all her troublesand sorrows, and went on with her life.

When Abraham was called by the Churchauthorities to settle what is now Carson City,Nevada, he sold all their possessions exceptlivestock, which they took with them, and Elizamoved with him to this new wilderness. Thejourney was a difficult one. The road, whichwas very rough, was by the roundabout routeknown as Point Lookout, Blind Springs, andCurlew Valley, then southward into Nevada.Water was very scarce in this desert area andmany cattle died on the way. On 17 July 1856the family located on what became one ofthe best farms in Carson Valley, on the spot

where the present center of Carson City nowstands.

Abraham and his sons soon planted theircrops, and the women milked cows, madebutter, and raised chickens and garden foods.As the farm was located on the Missouri toCalifornia trail, they had a good market forfood and produce which they sold to the trav-elers passing through.

The family was prospering when a callcame from Brigham Young to sell out andreturn immediately to Utah. The United StatesArmy had been authorized by the Congressto make war on the Latter-day Saints becauseof polygamy, and 2,000 soldiers were march-ing against the Saints. Abraham, always obe-dient to his leader’s commands, sold or gaveaway what he had and started on the returntrip to Utah. During this trip, at what is nowSnowville, Utah, Eliza gave birth to her lastchild, Eliza, in a covered wagon.

When the Hunsakers arrived in Utah,President Brigham Young and ApostleLorenzo Snow told Abraham to settle inBrigham City. Here Abraham bought anadobe brick home for Eliza from LorenzoSnow.

In 1858 the Saints left Northern Utahand moved south to the area around Paysonbecause of the coming of the army. Abrahamand his families participated in this move, al-though it again meant tearing up their familyroots and enduring new hardships and suf-ferings incident to a forced move of this kind.

Later in 1858, they returned to BrighamCity. About 1864-65 Abraham built the houseat Fourth South and Main Streets which be-came known as the “Hunsaker Big House.”In 1874, Church authorities requestedAbraham to settle the area north of Brigham.He moved part of his families northward andfounded the settlement which was later namedHoneyville. Eliza remained at this home inBrigham City until 1880, when she toomoved to Honeyville.


Eliza was a woman of sterling character,and was honest and virtuous. She was alwayshospitable, and of a pleasant, but very inde-pendent disposition. She was always willingto sacrifice and endure hardships for the sakeof the Gospel and for those she loved. Shehad a fair complexion and dark brown, wavyhair. She was a little above medium height,and in later years, rather stout of figure. Shewas not a woman who liked taking part inpublic affairs, and was not a good publicspeaker. On one occasion, when asked tobear her testimony, she said, “When my hus-band accepted the Gospel and was baptized,I too was ready; and when the principle ofplural marriage was made known to us, I be-lieved it to be sent of God and consented tomy husband taking four other wives, and Ihave never regretted it.”

Eliza was honored and respected by herhusband, her children, and by all who knewher. She had little education, and it was hergreatest pleasure to have her children orgrandchildren read to her from the Bible. Eventhough traveling was extremely uncomfort-able then, she made a trip to Santa Barbara,

California during the winter of 1884-85 tosee her daughter, Sarah, who lived there. InAugust 1886, Eliza made a second trip toCalifornia to see her daughter. At about thissame time, Abraham went to Oregon to seehis brother, Jacob T. Hunsaker, and a cousin,Harrison Hunsaker. He then travelled by boatfrom Oregon to Santa Barbara, and he andEliza returned to Utah 29 September 1886.

On the 13th of October 1888, Elizapassed away in the house in Honeyville whichAbraham had built for her. During her lastdays Abraham spent most of his time by herbedside. His blessings and his presenceseemed to bring her comfort and rest. As hesat by her bedside, her hand in his, he said toher “Only one or two more trips to the Lo-gan Temple and my work here will be fin-ished; I shall be with you soon.” Less thanthree months later Abraham’s words saw ful-fillment.

Eliza was buried in the Brigham City cem-etery.

Written by

HELEN HUNSAKER ALLEN


Children of Eliza Collins HunsakerChildren of Eliza Collins HunsakerChildren of Eliza Collins HunsakerChildren of Eliza Collins HunsakerChildren of Eliza Collins Hunsaker


Jacob 22 Oct 1833 17 Dec 1833 --------------------

Mary Jane 3 Dec 1835 7 Nov 1914 David Grant

Elizabeth 17 Nov 1837 30 Aug 1894 Gordon S. Beckstead

Lewis N. Boothe

Lewis Jones 6 Apr 1839 23 Feb 1856 --------------------

Allen Collins 9 Jul 1840 25 Oct 1917 Susannah Dunn

Eveline S. Dunn

Sarah 31 Aug 1842 11 Aug 1927 Robert Trimmer

Nephi Collins 11 Dec 1844 16 Mar 1858 --------------------

Abraham, Jr. 16 Sep 1848 25 Sep 1917 Annie Wright

Hannah Jeppson

Isaac 11 Oct 1850 28 Jan 1928 Eliza Marie Hansen

Israel 28 Sep 1852 26 Oct 1943 Esther Lauretta Neeley

Margaret Fisher Bowen

Franklin Collins 2 Jul 1855 21 Dec 1900 Laura Eliza Neeley

Eliza 29 Oct 1857 11 Jan 1906 Heber Charles Ham(p)son


Mary Hunsaker GrMary Hunsaker GrMary Hunsaker GrMary Hunsaker GrMary Hunsaker Grantantantantant

Mary, the second child of Eliza Collinsand Abraham Hunsaker, was born at Payson,Adams County, Illinois on 3 December 1835.Her first real memories were those connectedwith the Saints at Nauvoo, Illinois, where herhome was on the bank of the MississippiRiver. Her father built a swingfrom the high trees that grewon the edge of the river, andMary used to say, “Oh, whata thrill it was to swing out overthe edge of the water, espe-cially when father or motherwould push me higher andhigher.”

Mary remembered thenight when the Prophet Jo-seph Smith was murdered,and said, “I will never forgetthat night. Father came in thehouse weeping and said, ‘Amob has killed our belovedPresident.’ I felt so bad I wentout near the house in a clumpof bushes and kneeled downand cried out, ‘Oh Father,what shall we do, for ourprophet has been killed.’ Af-ter praying for a short time, afeeling of joy came over meand a voice said, ‘I will raiseup another prophet to leadmy people.’ With great joy Iran back to my father andmother and told them of myexperience and they too re-joiced.”

Mary was the oldest ofthe six children Abraham leftwith Eliza when he went withthe Mormon Battalion on the

MARY HUNSAKER GRANT FAMILY

Top: David Grant, Mary Hunsaker Grant. Center: Eliza Belle,Bottom: Lewis, Robert Bruce, Jedediah Mill.

long trek to Mexico. When Abraham returnedand the family started out overland for Utah,Mary remembered vividly the long arduoustrail from Winter Quarters to Zion.

Mary met David Grant, a convert to theChurch from Scotland and a tailor by trade,


and married him in the Endowment Housein Salt Lake City on 8 March 1852. He wascalled on a four-year mission to England thefollowing September. When he returned,Mary and David settled in Mill Creek, justoutside Salt Lake City, and Mary lived thereuntil after her husband’s death in 1868, whenshe moved to Honeyville. When her husbanddied, Mary was left with five living children,the youngest of whom was just seven monthsold.

The Honeyville Relief Society was orga-nized in her home on 19 February 1878, andMary was sustained as first counselor. Marywas first and foremost a Latter-day Saint, andwas always very optimistic.

Mary died on 7 November 1914 atHoneyville. She was buried in the HoneyvilleCemetery.

Written by

ABINADI TOLMAN

AUSTIN TOLMAN

NORMA GRANT GILMORE

Children of Mary Hunsaker GrantChildren of Mary Hunsaker GrantChildren of Mary Hunsaker GrantChildren of Mary Hunsaker GrantChildren of Mary Hunsaker Grant


Abraham 22 Sep 1857 15 Dec 1857 ---------------------

Eliza Belle 8 Feb 1859 12 Sep 1933 Benjamin H. Tolman

Jacob 14 Sep 1860 25 May 1872 ---------------------

Lewis 1 Jan 1863 7 Oct 1932 Anna Maria Hunsaker

Robert Bruce 22 Feb 1865 18 Dec 1938 (never married)

Alexander 13 Apr 1867 14 Apr 1867 ---------------------

Jedediah Mill 7 May 1868 12 Jun 1950 Annie K. Bowcutt


ELIZABETH HUNSAKER BECKSTEAD BOOTHE FAMILY

Top: Gordon Eli, Eliza Collins. Bottom: Abraham, Barbara Etta,Rosa (Rose) May.

Elizabeth, the third child of Eliza Collinsand Abraham Hunsaker, was born on 17November 1837 at Payson, Adams County,Illinois. She moved to Nauvoo with her par-ents and then made the journey to Utah fromWinter Quarters in 1848. When Abrahamwas called to settle Carson Valley, Nevada,Elizabeth stayed in West Jordan where shemarried Gordon Beckstead, becoming his sec-ond wife in a polygamous marriage.

The Becksteads lived in Riverdale, We-ber County, Utah, for about seven years, andthen moved to Brigham City where they livedfor about 11 years.

Elizabeth parted from Beckstead andmarried Louis N. Boothe on 26 April 1880.They lived in Honeyville for some time where

Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheElizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheElizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheElizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheElizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead Boothe

the one child of this union was born.Elizabeth’s daughter Eliza and her sonAlexander lived in Oxford, Idaho, and her sonGordon lived in nearby Swan Lake, so thatElizabeth eventually moved to Oxford to benear her children.

Elizabeth thought so much of GordonBeckstead’s first wife, Barbara, that she re-quested that she be buried by Barbara’s sidein the Brigham City Cemetery. Although herhusband tried to carry out this wish when Eliza-beth died on 30 August 1894 at Oxford, hewas unable to do so because of transporta-tion difficulties. Elizabeth was buried in theOxford Cemetery on 2 September 1894.

Approved by

LEO BECKSTEAD


Children of Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheChildren of Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheChildren of Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheChildren of Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead BootheChildren of Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead Boothe


BY GORDON SILAS BECKSTEAD:

Gordon Eli 17 Oct 1857 10 Jan 1945 Delina C. Smith

Eliza Collins 29 Aug 1859 29 Aug 1930 Hyrum Ham(p)son

Abraham 8 Mar 1861 1950 Margaret Jane Fifer

Myrtle I. Doles

Alexander 8 Apr 1864 6 Apr 1949 Eliza R. Christensen

Henry A. 2 May 1867 16 Aug 1881 ---------------------

Louis Alfonzo 6 Mar 1869 1947 Carrie Roilke

Barbara Etta 10 Apr 1871 15 Mar 1913 Robert O. Gruwell

Elizabeth 1873 ---------------------

BY LOUIS NATHANIEL BOOTHE:

Rosa May 9 Mar 1881 20 Feb 1943 John G. Wheatley


Lewis, the fourth child of Eliza Collinsand Abraham Hunsaker, was born on 6 April1839 at Pigeon Creek, near Payson, Illinois.Jacob, the first son of Abraham, had diedwhen only two months old and Lewis, thesecond son, became his father’s pride andjoy. Lewis was very sick when a young boyand never completely recovered from this ill-ness. The arduous journey to Utah when hewas only nine years old was doubly hard onhim because of the effects of his illness.

At the time Abraham and his familieswere living at West Jordan, Abraham grazedlivestock near Utah Lake. Lewis was a greathelp to his father in this work and was moreor less in charge of the herds. When troublewith the Indians arose, Abraham decided tomove his families back into Salt Lake Valley.

While getting ready to do so on 23 Feb-ruary 1856, Lewis was sent out to bring in amare which had ranged rather far away fromthe main camp. In the meantime, Abrahamgot his families, possessions, and other live-stock ready to start. After a while, when Lewisdid not come, Abraham became worriedabout his son’s safety. After starting his fami-lies on the road to Salt Lake City, Abrahamwent out to look for Lewis.

Abraham spent a great deal of time try-ing to find Lewis, or to find out what hadhappened to his son. Abraham apparentlybelieved that Lewis had not been killed bythe Indians who captured him but had beentaken farther southward where he was traded

or sold to another tribe of Indians. No defi-nite proof of what actually happened to Lewiswas ever discovered by Abraham.

In 1951, Horace N. Hunsaker met a manfrom Burley, Idaho, who told him that theBoy Scouts of Goshen, Utah were caring forthe grave of Lewis Hunsaker. The same storywas reported to Vernetta Hunsaker Wintle.“In the fall of 1953,” said Horace, “my sis-ters Meltrude, Helen, Orpha, Ara, and mywife and I made a trip to Goshen to trace thisstory. We found the story untrue but learnedof another story that had been handed downfrom generation to generation. We met anold man born in 1866, about ten years afterthe death of Lewis. He said the following storywas told him at his earliest recollection; wetalked with other people who also believedthe story to be true. They said Lewis was ridinga very fast horse which the Indians wanted.They chased him for many hours—until thehorse dropped dead from exhaustion. TheIndians were so mad at losing the horse theykilled Lewis and probably buried him nearby.They used his blood and painted a coiledsnake a short distance up a canyon. In lateryears, white people in the area traced theoutline of the snake with red paint. As a re-sult, there is visible today on this cliff, a crudeoutline of a snake.”

Written by

Q MAURICE HUNSAKER

HORACE N. HUNSAKER

LLLLLeeeeewis Hunsakerwis Hunsakerwis Hunsakerwis Hunsakerwis Hunsaker

Children of Lewis Jones HunsakerChildren of Lewis Jones HunsakerChildren of Lewis Jones HunsakerChildren of Lewis Jones HunsakerChildren of Lewis Jones Hunsaker Lewis Jones Hunsaker was presumed killed by Indians in 1856 several weeks before his 17th

birthday. He was not married, but in 1885 his temple work was completed in the Logan temple and on19 March 1885 he was sealed to Eliza Jane Hunsaker, a daughter of Jacob Hunsaker and ElizabethBrown. The sealing proxies were Allen Hunsaker and Elizabeth Hunsaker Boothe.


ALLEN COLLINS HUNSAKER FAMILY

FAMILY OF SUSANNAH DUNN:Top: Allen C. Hunsaker and Susannah Dunn Hunsaker. Bottom:Eliza, Allen Dunn, Abraham, Martin L.FAMILY OF EVELINE DUNN:Top: Vessie, Letitia, Sue, Ethel, Maud, Aleen, Margaret. Center:Eva, Allen C. Hunsaker and Eveline Dunn Hunsaker, Lewis,Lily. Bottom: Lorenzo, Amy, Simeon (portrait).

Allen Collins HunsakerAllen Collins HunsakerAllen Collins HunsakerAllen Collins HunsakerAllen Collins Hunsaker

Allen Collins, the fifth child of ElizaCollins and Abraham Hunsaker, was born on9 July 1840 at Quincy, Adams County, Illi-nois. He was only six years old when theSaints were driven out of Nauvoo in 1846.

With his parents he went to Winter Quarters,and remained there with his mother while hisfather went with the Mormon Battalion. Allenwas eight years old when his family emigratedto Utah.

Allen was with his fatherat the time Lewis was cap-tured or killed by Indians atUtah Lake. At the time, anumber of other people werekilled and Allen used to tell hischildren that he was afraid tolook at each body he discov-ered for fear that it would bethat of his brother Lewis.

While Allen and his fa-ther were looking for Lewis,some soldiers arrived fromSalt Lake City to help them.The soldiers turned wagonsover for protection against theIndians and to provide a safeplace from which to shoot. Itgrew dark, and when Allenand his father returned aftertheir fruitless search, the sol-diers thought they were Indi-ans and their captain gave theorder to fire. The hand ofprovidence intervened andthe soldiers’ guns failed to gooff.

When Abraham went tosettle Carson Valley, Nevada,Allen went with him to helpin this endeavor. They wererecalled to Utah, and Allenand his father were amongthe men sent to Echo Can-yon to stop Johnston’s Armyfrom marching into Utah.


This group built fortifications and delayed thearmy in the canyon for four weeks. Duringthis time the Saints were advised to movesouth into Utah County and the soldiers thenwere allowed to enter the Salt Lake Valley.Allen was detailed to the group of men whoseresponsibility it was to burn houses and farmsif the soldiers showed any further hostility.Many Indians had joined the army and seri-ous trouble was feared.

Allen moved to Honeyville with his fa-ther. There he met Susannah Dunn and mar-ried her on 24 April 1858 at Brigham City.In 1864 he was called to go to the MissouriRiver to get a threshing machine and two pi-anos. After returning from this trip he madehis home in Brigham City until 1869 whenhe moved back to Honeyville.

On 5 October 1868, Allen marriedEveline Dunn, the sister of Susannah, in apolygamous marriage, in Salt Lake City. Hecontinued living in Honeyville until 1879when he moved his families to Elwood, whichwas then just a sagebrush flat. At this time hekept a large herd of sheep.

In 1887 the raids of the federal marshalsagainst the polygamists started, and in orderto avoid being arrested, Allen and his wiveshad to stay in hiding away from their homesmost of the time. Allen was finally caught,however, and sent to prison for six months.After he was released and had been homeonly a few months, the marshals arrested him

several times more. These arrests were madeto harass Allen, and as they could find nonew charges to make against him, he wasfinally left in peace.

At the time he was serving his prisonsentence, there were many other Mormonsthere, among them Rudger Clawson andLorenzo Snow. Allen formed a lasting friend-ship with these men which endured the re-mainder of his life.

Allen was very active in the affairs of theElwood Ward. He was ordained a High Priestand Presiding Elder by President LorenzoSnow and held this position for ten years.The meetings were held in his house, and hishouse also served as the school for manyyears. Allen paid a teacher to live there andteach the children.

About 1900, Allen disposed of all but afew of his sheep which he kept at Clarkston.He had been losing his eyesight for some time,and in 1914 he went blind. His blindness wasvery hard on him as he could not get aroundas he was accustomed to doing and as a re-sult his general health failed very fast. De-spite this, Allen was always cheerful. He usedto enjoy sitting in his big chair for hours at atime while he sang his favorite songs of Zion.

Allen died on 25 October 1917 atElwood. He was buried in the Brigham CityCemetery.

Written by

ALEEN HUNSAKER HANSEN


Children of Allen Collins HunsakerChildren of Allen Collins HunsakerChildren of Allen Collins HunsakerChildren of Allen Collins HunsakerChildren of Allen Collins Hunsaker


BY SUSANNAH DUNN:

Eliza 17 Mar 1862 1 Dec 1927 John S. Willie

Allen Dunn 2 Sep 1865 24 Jul 1920 Ivy May Green

Abraham 22 Apr 1870 21 Jan 1945 Annie Lee Giles Farber

Jacob 8 Jul 1873 16 Dec 1875 -------------------

Martin LeRoy 22 Oct 1876 1 Mar 1958 Anna A. Christensen

Kalla Lilly Frisby

BY EVELINE DUNN:

Simeon Atwood 20 Jul 1869 12 Oct 1902 Mary Ada Green

Mathilda C. Teuber

Lewis 17 Jan 1871 20 Jul 1956 Sarah Ellen Warner

Eva Louisa 4 Oct 1872 7 May 1959 Hyrum C. Christensen

Lily Mary 28 Apr 1874 8 Jan 1935 Seymour L. Miller

Emeline Maud 15 Jan 1876 23 Mar 1964 Henry Seeger

Albert Fisher

Nephi W. Hansen

Harriet Vessie 27 Oct 1877 4 Aug 1961 Charles M. Haws

Ethel 2 Apr 1879 4 Jun 1946 John William Smith Blake

Adeline 3 Dec 1880 7 Mar 1881 -------------------

Letitia 19 Jan 1882 21 Feb 1966 Lester L. Hansen

Margaret 24 Nov 1883 19 Sep 1935 Parley Christensen

Susie 20 Oct 1885 6 Nov 1975 Wilford Christensen

Aleen 13 Mar 1887 27 Jun 1955 John N. Thomas

James C. Hansen

Nephi 10 Jul 1889 8 Jun 1891 -------------------

Oscar 1 Jun 1891 24 Jun 1891 -------------------

Lorenzo Snow 18 May 1892 13 Feb 1974 Ella Blanche Larsen

Amy 18 Oct 1894 18 Dec 1988 George M. Richman

Harold 6 Nov 1897 23 Nov 1897 -------------------


SARAH HUNSAKER TRIMMER FAMILY

Robert and Sarah Hunsaker Trimmer and daughter, FrancesElla.

Sarah, the sixth child of Eliza Collins andAbraham Hunsaker, was born on 31 August1842, in Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois.Sarah was a little over five years old whenher parents crossed the plains to Utah in1848. Along with the other children in thisfamily she endured many hardships andlearned to accept responsibility very early inlife.

Sarah was nearly 14 years old when herparents were called to settle Carson Valley,Nevada. When they returned to Utah in 1857,Sarah remained there and at the age of 15,became the wife of Robert Trimmer. Thenewly married couple re-mained in Nevada for sometime where they were ranch-ers, and then went over theSierra Nevada Mountains ina covered wagon to Sacra-mento, California.

Robert and Sarah madefive trips across the plains toMissouri. Two children wereborn in Missouri, one in Kan-sas, and one in Salt Lake City,Utah while making thesetrips. On their first trip, theIndians came at themwarwhooping in a very hos-tile fashion. Robert stood upin his wagon and swung hisarms so energetically the In-dians left him alone and af-terwards protected himagainst other Indians.

Robert Trimmer wasgreatly respected by the Indi-ans. Friendly Indians wouldoften scout his trails to pro-

SarSarSarSarSarah Hunsaker Tah Hunsaker Tah Hunsaker Tah Hunsaker Tah Hunsaker Trrrrrimmerimmerimmerimmerimmer

tect him against unfriendly tribes. He andSarah fed the Indians, which was the advicegiven the Pioneers by Church Authorities,even if it meant giving them their last food.On one of these trips Robert and Sarah wereeating only very little in order to conserve theirfood supplies while passing through an areawhere no natural food was to be found. Theywere approached by Indians, who gave themthe sign of friendship. Sarah, with her heartsinking, cooked the last of their food for thesehungry Indians. That night the family went tobed hungry, with the parents sad because theycould not provide food for their children. Earlythe next morning the Indians came again to


their wagon, but this time they brought giftsand sufficient food to last the Trimmers untilthey came to a place where food was avail-able.

The story is told how Sarah saved herfamily and home from a prairie fire while liv-ing in Woodfords, Diamond Valley, AlpineCounty, California, by starting a backfire.Robert was in town and when he returnedhome had to race as fast as he could throughthe fire, singeing his clothes and skin, and

fully expecting to find his family burned todeath. His joy knew no bounds when he sawhis family and home safe.

Sarah died on 11 August 1928 at SantaBarbara, California, where she had gone tolive, and where she had been visited by herparents despite the long and arduous journeyit was in the early days.

Written by

VERA MCDOWELL

Children of Sarah Hunsaker TrimmerChildren of Sarah Hunsaker TrimmerChildren of Sarah Hunsaker TrimmerChildren of Sarah Hunsaker TrimmerChildren of Sarah Hunsaker Trimmer


Eliza Anna 18 Nov 1858 Abt. 1861 -----------------------

Thomas Edward 20 Dec 1859 16 Sep 1941 [never married]

Sarah Elizabeth 28 Jun 1861 14 May 1894 Alexander H. Stevens

Robert Allen 14 Sep 1862 11 Aug 1955 Sarah E. Vallam

Mary Jane 12 Jan 1864 1864 --------------------

Emma Moriah 7 Jan 1865 13 Jul 1943 William Maxwell

Anna N. 10 May 1867 18 Feb 1951 John Talcott Gould

Thomas Stern

Etta Morilda 20 Jun 1869 9 Sep 1870 --------------------

Josephine Lillian 6 May 1871 27 Nov 1952 Charles C. Fillippini

Harriet Merrietta 13 Mar 1873 21 Apr 1965 Richard J. H. Dowell

William A. B. Depew

Henrietta Collins 2 Nov 1877 8 Aug 1970 Frank C. Ferretta

Frances Ella 3 Jan 1881 28 Feb 1976 Clarence T. Moulton

Ivy Rozell 5 Nov 1883 4 Apr 1969 William A. Koenig


ABRAHAM HUNSAKER, JR.FAMILY

Top: Frank, Abraham III,Hannah Jeppsen Hunsaker,

Abraham Hunsaker, Jr.,Annie Wright Hunsaker,

John, Mahala.

Bottom: Allen, Mary,Wanetta, Dora, Hazel, Oscar.

AbrAbrAbrAbrAbraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsakeraham Hunsaker, Jr, Jr, Jr, Jr, Jr.....

Abraham, Jr., the eighth child of ElizaCollins and Abraham Hunsaker, was born on16 September 1848 in a covered wagon atLittle Sandy, Wyoming while his parents weremaking the long trek from Winter Quartersto Utah. The Indians were very troublesomeand Abraham stood guard all night the nightthat Abraham, Jr. was born. Two days laterthe wagon train moved on.

Upon arriving in Utah, the family settledin West Jordan, where Abraham, Jr. lived untilthe family moved to Carson Valley, Nevada.He was baptized by his father in the WestFork of the Carson River on 15 March 1857,along with Abraham, Sr.’s Indian boy,Lemuel.

When Abraham, Sr. later returned toUtah, Abraham, Jr. went to Mantua Valley,where his father founded a settlement, andherded cattle and took care of his father’sstock there.

When Abraham, Jr. was about 25 yearsold he fell in love with Annie Wright. Theywere married on 12 March 1877 and hadone son, Jonathan C., before Annie died,about three years after their marriage.

Abraham, Jr. then married HannahJeppsen a month after he met her, who wasonly seventeen years old at the time of theirmarriage. For the first six months of theirmarried life they lived in Brigham City andthen moved to Harper. In Harper they firstlived in a one-room log cabin where their firstfive children were born and where they had ahard time keeping the skunks and badgersout from under their house during coldweather.

Abraham, Jr. (often called Ham) hadcattle and sheep and the family moved toPenrose where he kept his livestock. How-ever, they did not live there very long as theironly neighbors were Chinese and snakes, andHannah was afraid of them, especially thesnakes.

They moved back to Harper for aboutsix years. Later, in 1888, they bought a ranchat Clarkston and spent their summers theretaking care of the cattle and sheep. They againmoved back to Harper in December 1892.

Abraham, Jr. had a lot of cattle. Hebought a ranch on the Bear River in order tohave a place to keep his cattle. He had to go


look after them every two or three days, butas he got older he was crippled by rheuma-tism and it was difficult for him to get around.Because of this affliction, he had to have shoesespecially made of very soft leather as he couldhardly stand to have anything touch his skin.

His rheumatism got steadily worse astime went on, and Abraham, Jr. moved toBrigham City where he could get better medi-cal care. He was an invalid for about 15 yearsbefore his death on 25 September 1917.

Abraham, Jr. was always a good pro-vider, and no one ever went away from hisdoor hungry. He was like his father and any-one who came to his house was always wel-come, regardless of race or color. A coloredboy, who Abraham, Jr.’s son Frank broughthome, lived with them for several years untilhe was old enough to get a job and take careof himself.

Children of Abraham Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Abraham Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Abraham Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Abraham Hunsaker, Jr.Children of Abraham Hunsaker, Jr.


BY ANNIE WRIGHT:

Jonathan Caulkins 12 Mar 1877 7 Jun 1955 Amanda S. Rolph

BY HANNAH DORTHEA (JOHANNAH) ANDERSON JEPP(E)SEN:

Abraham III 9 May 1880 23 Dec 1925 Lettie M. Godfrey

Christine Nielsen

Mahala 24 May 1882 27 Oct 1899 Joseph Tingey

Franklin Delmar 17 Jan 1885 18 Jan 1953 Harriet (Hattie) M. Barnard

Annie 22 Feb 1888 27 Dec 1892 --------------------

Israel 16 Jan 1891 21 Aug 1892 --------------------

Julia Wanetta 22 Aug 1893 16 Apr 1966 Charles Alfred Whitaker

Oscar Fitzallen 18 Jul 1896 22 Aug 1966 Sussanna Mathison

Manila 8 Apr 1899 1 Jul 1899 --------------------

Hazel Verdella 17 Jun 1900 9 Mar 1969 Maurice C. Shaw

Ralph Atkinson

Allen Collins 21 Feb 1903 16 Apr 1970 Clara Harmston

Maudell Williams

Dora Eliza 24 Oct 1904 23 Jul 1976 James H. Eddy

Orin E. Troup

Mary Elisabeth 15 Mar 1908 10 Apr 1981 Harold W. Proctor, Sr.


ISAAC HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Isaac Hunsaker, Eliza Marie Hansen Hunsaker. Center:William Knudsen, Alma, Alvin, George, Oscar, Isaac, Jr., Elijah,Heber. Bottom: Annie, Lillian, Pansy, Laura, Pearl, Margaret,Beulah, Zina. (The last seven named are daughters-in-law.)

Isaac HunsakerIsaac HunsakerIsaac HunsakerIsaac HunsakerIsaac Hunsaker

Isaac, the ninth child of Eliza Collins andAbraham Hunsaker, was born on 11 Octo-ber 1850 at Mill Creek, in Salt Lake Valley.The earliest memories of Isaac were of lifewith his father in Carson Valley, Nevada. Heremembered his father raising grain and hav-ing sheep which Isaac and his brothers herded.

Isaac was a witness to the murder ofLemuel, the Indian boy, by U.S. soldiers inMantua Valley after Abraham had returnedto Utah.

Later, when Abraham moved toHoneyville, where he ran a saw mill, Isaacand his brothers hauled logs out of the moun-tains for this mill. Oxen were used to haul thelogs, and being difficult animals to handle,there were many narrow escapes. On oneoccasion a huge log rolled right over Isaac.Although he was knocked unconscious andwas seriously hurt, he recovered.

Isaac married Eliza Marie Hansen, thedaughter of the man who ran the grist millfor his father. They were married in the En-dowment House in Salt Lake City on 1 No-vember 1868. They lived in Honeyville whereIsaac helped erect the first and second meet-ing houses and the school house. He waschosen by Bishop B. H. Tolman as first coun-selor and held this position for more than tenyears.

In 1883 Isaac and his family moved tothe Snake River Valley, but the climate theredid not agree with his wife, and they returnedto Honeyville the following year.

Isaac’s wife died in 1906 and Isaac wasleft to raise six children. Isaac died on 28 Janu-ary 1928.

Written by

PANSY PERRY HUNSAKER


Children of Isaac HunsakerChildren of Isaac HunsakerChildren of Isaac HunsakerChildren of Isaac HunsakerChildren of Isaac Hunsaker


Isaac, Jr. 24 Jan 1870 23 Oct 1945 Margaret Baird

Alma 16 Jul 1878 26 Sep 1927 Lillian Boothe

Elijah 14 Jan 1881 13 Mar 1946 Betty Beulah Sasser

Annie Eliza 13 Jun 1883 10 Sep 1958 William E. Knudsen

Heber Collins 27 Nov 1885 3 Jan 1975 Zina Davis

George A. 24 Jun 1888 15 Oct 1954 Laura Sophie Dustman

Oscar Lavan 16 Aug 1890 11 Jul 1978 Pearl Dellamay Horrall

Alvin Austin 16 May 1895 10 Mar 1968 Pansy Perry


IsrIsrIsrIsrIsrael Hunsakerael Hunsakerael Hunsakerael Hunsakerael Hunsaker

Israel, the tenth child of Eliza Collins andAbraham Hunsaker, was born on 28 Sep-tember 1852 in a covered wagon near Jor-dan, Utah. Israel’s life was not one of com-fort but full of the hardships of pioneer life.He used to tell his grandchildren tales of wrap-ping his feet in sacks because he didn’t haveshoes to keep them warm, of walking fromBrigham to Honeyville, and of walking fromHoneyville to Corinne.

When he was 18 years old, Israel gotcaught in the machinery in his father’s gristmill. He was whirled around and around andeach time he came down he struck his feeton the floor. His screams could not be heardby the miller, who did notice a slowing downof the machinery, however, and applied morewater power, which caused the machinery toturn faster. Finally the young son of the millersaw Israel’s plight, and stopped the machin-ery, a feat which seemed impossible for sucha small lad. Israel felt that the Lord had a mis-sion for him to perform and so had saved hislife.

Israel, a community spirited man, waselected the first mayor when Honeyville wasincorporated in 1911. All his life he was en-gaged in projects to better the life of the com-munity. He was always anxious for develop-ment and urged the issue of the franchise forbringing electricity into town. He was promi-nent in the development of the water system,and urged landscaping, the creation of a publicpark, and the improvement of roads, as wellas anything that might mean more comfortto his fellow citizens.

Israel could have been a very rich manhad he not backed so many improvementprojects with his own money. A quotationfrom Box Elder Lore brings out this fact by

saying, “Israel Hunsaker was perhaps thegreatest contributor to the building of the EastSide Canal, which brought water to the fer-tile lands to the east in the Bear River Basin.It is only fair to add that into the canal wentthe life savings of Mr. Hunsaker. His cattle,his herds of sheep, all were sold to raise theneeded money. His valuable farm lands—allwere mortgaged to the limit—yet when thecanal system was completed he possessed nopart of it. But, no one ever heard any com-plaints or recriminations from him; it was asatisfaction to him that he had been instru-mental in doing all that lay in his power tomake living better for the people of the com-munity of which he was a member.”

Israel married Esther Lauretta Neeley inthe Endowment House in Salt Lake City on23 February 1874. While their first baby wasstill very small, they moved to Dixie to helpestablish a colony and develop the Churchcotton farm. Their hardships were many whilethere, a scarce water supply, very poor crops,and inadequate housing. While in this areathey also lived near the mines at Silver Reefand on a ranch in the Kolob Mountains. Is-rael logged and did most everything that hecould to make a living for his family. Whenthey returned northward, they had a familyof five children and had buried a baby daugh-ter at Washington, Utah.

Upon returning to the northern part ofthe state, they lived with Israel’s mother forabout a year until Israel could build a home ofhis own. The home which he built was de-stroyed by fire in the later years of Israel’slife. Seven more children were born to themafter returning to northern Utah.

Lauretta Neeley Hunsaker died on 16June 1914, and Israel married MargaretFisher Bowen on 13 September 1916.


ISRAEL HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Horace, Veda, Israel, Jr. Center: Ruby, Ara, Leland, Helen. Bottom: Meltrude, IsraelHunsaker, Lauretta Neeley Hunsaker, Orpha.

Right: Margaret FisherBowen Hunsaker and Rula.

Ivalue Utah


Israel left monuments of worth in elec-tricity and water, but greater still is the righ-teous family that he left bearing his name.Israel remained keen of mind and healthy of

body until the very end of his life. He died atthe age of 91 on 26 October 1943.

Written by

JUNE IVERSON HUNSAKER

Children of Israel HunsakerChildren of Israel HunsakerChildren of Israel HunsakerChildren of Israel HunsakerChildren of Israel Hunsaker


BY E. LAURETTA NEELEY:

Meltrude Lauretta 9 Feb 1875 21 Nov 1955 Heber Nelson Stohl

Helen Eliza 14 Nov 1876 19 Nov 1969 John Robert Allen

Belle 14 Aug 1878 14 Aug 1878 --------------------

Orpha Vilate 16 Apr 1880 29 Dec 1965 Joseph Nelson Stohl

Israel, Jr. 19 Dec 1882 9 Apr 1962 Rosabell Carter

Adelina Patti 4 Apr 1884 4 Jan 1888 --------------------

Veda Laura 1 Jul 1887 3 Sep 1971 Wallace C. Miller

Ivalue 8 Oct 1889 17 Aug 1900 --------------------

Horace Neeley 10 Jun 1891 11 Mar 1974 Viola Eliason

Althea Elizabeth Whitby

Utah 13 Sep 1893 8 Apr 1904 --------------------

Ara Elizabeth 2 Feb 1896 5 Jan 1989 Horace Samuel Ensign, Jr.

Charles Perry Brown

Ruby 22 Sep 1898 12 Sep 1967 Ivan Ray Miller

Leland Abraham 16 Jul 1902 8 Jan 1985 June Iverson

BY MARGARET FISHER BOWEN:

Rula 18 Jun 1918 25 Aug 1996 Sterling Talbot (div)


FrFrFrFrFranklin Collins Hunsakeranklin Collins Hunsakeranklin Collins Hunsakeranklin Collins Hunsakeranklin Collins Hunsaker

Franklin Collins, the eleventh child ofEliza Collins and Abraham Hunsaker, wasborn on 2 July 1855 at West Jordan, Utah.He was only seven months old when he wastaken by his parents to Carson Valley, Ne-vada. Franklin grew up in Brigham City andin Honeyville after his parents returned toUtah from Nevada.

He married Laura Neeley on 10 Octo-ber 1879. Shortly after getting marriedFranklin built what people called “the old rock

house” in Honeyville. Later Franklin sold thishouse to his father for the use of Franklin’smother, and the house was thereafter referredto as “Grandma Eliza’s home” (see picture,page 77).

After selling this house, Franklin andLaura moved to Rockland, Idaho in 1880.They did not stay there long and returned toHoneyville in 1884. They lived with Franklin’smother for a while until they could secure ahouse of their own.

FRANKLIN

HUNSAKER

FAMILY

Top Picture:FranklinHunsakerand LauraNeeleyHunsaker.Bottom Picture:N o b 1 e,Cleone, Hazel,Varenna, Sybil(inset).


Franklin and Laura were married sixyears before a child was born, a boy, whodied at the age of 13 months. Their next childwas not born for three years more.

Franklin was a jovial man and pleasantto be around. He was justly proud of his greatstrength. His brother Israel told of one occa-sion when a wagon bogged down in the mud.Franklin put his shoulders to the back end of

the wagon and lifted it enough that the horsescould then pull the wagon out of the mud.

Franklin died on 21 December 1900 asthe result of pneumonia. At the time of hisdeath his eldest child was 12 years old andthe youngest just six weeks old.

Written by

MELTRUDE HUNSAKER STOHL

Children of Franklin Collins HunsakerChildren of Franklin Collins HunsakerChildren of Franklin Collins HunsakerChildren of Franklin Collins HunsakerChildren of Franklin Collins Hunsaker


Franklin Neeley 31 Aug 1885 30 Sep 1886 --------------------

William Noble 11 Jan 1888 18 Dec 1982 Ellen Marianne Carter

Cleone Arthur 13 Dec 1889 8 Jan 1968 Vivian A. Gardner

Fametta Laura 23 Sep 1891 10 Aug 1893 --------------------

Varenna Collins 12 Apr 1895 21 Apr 1966 Ezra Peter Benson

Hazel Viroque 22 Dec 1896 8 Feb 1950 Arthur Wheatley

John Heber Miller

Sybil Helen 2 Nov 1900 1 Jun 1981 Reuben Isaac Benson


ELIZA HUNSAKER HAM(P)SON FAMILY

Top: Heber Ham(p)son and Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)son. Groupat left: Sarah, Mabel, Thelma. Center right: Cora, Heber Eugene.Bottom right: Myrtle, Lula Eliza.

Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonEliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonEliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonEliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonEliza Hunsaker Ham(p)son

Eliza, the last child of Eliza Collins andAbraham Hunsaker, was born on 29 Octo-ber 1857 in a covered wagon at Deep Creek,now Snowville, Utah. Her father and motherwere en route from Carson Valley, Nevadato Brigham City, Utah at the time of her birth.

Eliza grew up in Brigham City and latermoved to Honeyville. She had a good educa-tion and later taught school at Harper. Shehad to walk six miles from her home to theschool where she taught.

Eliza met Heber Charles Ham(p)son inBrigham City when she was asmall girl going to school.Later he took her to a houseparty, where they danced, andEliza remembered that Heberhad to go barefooted as hisfamily was too poor to buyhim shoes. They were marriedin the Endowment House inSalt Lake City on 18 Septem-ber 1877. At the time, Elizalacked a month of being 20years old.

After their marriage,Eliza and Heber lived atHoneyville where Heberworked for Eliza’s father. Laterthey homesteaded atRockland, Idaho. There theyraised cattle, chickens, andpigs, and Eliza made butterwhich she sold in Twin Fallsand Pocatello. During the firstwinter in their house inRockland, which was a logcabin, they had only a dirtfloor until Heber could getsome logs from the mountainsto make a wooden floor. Elizatold the story that one day,when their son Eugene wasvery young, a mad bullcharged him while he wasplaying in the yard. Eliza


dashed out, grabbed up Eugene, and man-aged to get into the granary and shut the door,just as the bull’s horns crashed into it. It tookEliza a long time to get over this experience,and may have had something to do with theirselling out and moving back to Honeyville.

They lived with Eliza’s mother for a whileuntil Heber bought a farm at Call’s Fort. In1892 he built a brick home there, just acrossfrom the pond, where they lived for the restof their lives. For a while they raised sheep

and farmed, but later disposed of the sheep.Eliza’s health had become bad while they wereliving in Rockland and she had trouble withher eyes. Although her eyes were operatedon, they gave her a great deal of trouble formost of her life.

Eliza died on 11 January 1906 at Harperand was buried in the Brigham City Cemetery.

Written by

MABEL H. DAVIS

Children of Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonChildren of Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonChildren of Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonChildren of Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)sonChildren of Eliza Hunsaker Ham(p)son


Cora Collins 23 Jan 1898 ...... Jones

...... Jensen

Heber Eugene 4 Dec 1880 11 Dec 1939 [never married]

Lula Eliza 30 Jun 1883 16 May 1921 Andrew Holst

Doris Lavern 7 Dec 1886 8 Feb 1888 --------------------

Mabel 14 Nov 1889 9 Nov 1964 Christian Acel Nelson

Walter B. Davis

Sarah 14 Mar 1892 15 Jul 1992 Jacob Guy Smith

Thelma 28 Jan 1894 Feb 1953 Peter Williams

Joseph Nelson

Myrtle 17 Mar 1897 16 Jun 1917 --------------------

121HARRIET V. BECKSTEAD HUNSAKER AND CHILDREN

Sketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofHarrHarrHarrHarrHarriet V. Beckstead Hunsakeriet V. Beckstead Hunsakeriet V. Beckstead Hunsakeriet V. Beckstead Hunsakeriet V. Beckstead Hunsaker



Harriet Vernisha Beckstead Hunsaker


HarrHarrHarrHarrHarriet Viet Viet Viet Viet Vererererernisha Beckstead Hunsakernisha Beckstead Hunsakernisha Beckstead Hunsakernisha Beckstead Hunsakernisha Beckstead Hunsaker

Harriet Vernisha Beckstead was born on17 June 1831, in Williamsburg, Canada. Herparents were Alexander Beckstead andCatherine Elinor Luce. Her ancestors werefrom Saxony, Germany.

At the age of 18, Harriet went to Utahwith her family. They traveled in the ReddinAllred Company of Pioneers and arrived inthe Salt Lake Valley in September 1849. Herfamily settled in West Jordan in 1850. In or-der to help the family financially, Harriet hiredout as a helper in homes.

During the fall of 1850 she was workingfor Abraham Hunsaker, whose wife, ElizaCollins, was confined to her bed. Romanceseemed to have very little part in the earlydays of Pioneer life, and one day, whenHarriet was hanging the family wash on theline, Abraham asked her to become his sec-ond wife. Without any courtship or prepara-tion for a wedding she married him on 22November 1850 at the Endowment Housein Salt Lake City. She then moved into hishome to continue taking care of Eliza andher family.

Abraham appreciated Harriet’s sturdyqualities and her endurance and capabilities,as she was able to do any task from manuallabor on the farm to the finest art in the home.Harriet helped shear the sheep, wash thewool, weave it into cloth, and then finallymake it into clothing for her children to wear.

Four children were born to Harriet atWest Jordan. In April 1856, when she wentto Carson Valley with Abraham, her young-est son was only seven days old.

Harriet returned to Utah with her hus-band in 1857. All the rest of Harriet’s chil-dren, except one, were born in Brigham City.In addition to having 15 children herself,

Harriet raised Robert, the baby of MargaretSweeten Hunsaker, as her own. Also, an In-dian boy, Lemuel, lived as a member of herfamily for several years.

When Abraham settled north of BrighamCity, Harriet and Cathrine, Abraham’s fourthwife, were the first families to move there in1874. Harriet lived first in a log house onSalt Creek until Abraham built her the rockhouse still standing in 2001 (see page 77).

Harriet took the brunt of the hardships,spending summers at Little Mountain herd-ing sheep and other stock, and living in a cavewith one or two of her children. Her sonElzarus remembered staying there with herand told stories of how he held the sheep whilehis mother sheared them.

Harriet served as the first Relief SocietyPresident of the Honeyville Ward, and re-mained in that position for many years. Shewas independent, uncomplaining, and afraidof nothing. Her daughter Harriet lived inAlbion, Idaho, and Harriet made many tripsthere in a single horse, blacktopped buggy. Ittook several days to make the trip, and shestopped wherever night overtook her, sleep-ing on the ground between the wheels of thebuggy, and preparing her food over a camp-fire. At that time there were few ranches alongthe way. On some of these trips she took hersmall granddaughter, Polly, along for com-pany. Harriet was a real Pioneer, taking lifeas it came and making the best of it.

When Harriet married she could not readnor write, and although Abraham taught herthe rudiments, it was so difficult she had tohave her children and grandchildren read andwrite for her.

Harriet lived a good, wholesome and un-pretentious life. She was always a friend to


both red and white man, and spent her timelooking after the wants of the needy. Shesuffered a great deal from rheumatism off andon during her later life. She was stricken withblood poisoning, caused by a blister on herlittle toe which she got while rocking a cradle.

HARRIET V. BECKSTEAD

HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: John, Catherine, Enoch,Daniel William, Harriet,Elzarus.

Bottom: Joseph, Alexander,Harriet Beckstead Hunsaker,Hyrum, Robert (son ofMargaret Sweeten Hunsaker).

She died on 6 January 1905 at Honeyville,and was buried in the Brigham City Cemetery.

Written by

JENNIE HUNSAKER CROWLEY

POLLY MAY BARNES

Close up (left) and more distant view of the cave near Little Mountainwhere Harriet and Abraham Hunsaker and some of the children lived whilethey worked on the transcontinental railroad grade.


Children of Harriet Vernisha Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Harriet Vernisha Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Harriet Vernisha Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Harriet Vernisha Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Harriet Vernisha Beckstead Hunsaker


Lemuel (adopted) 1847 13 Aug 1859 --------------------

Alexander Beckstead 19 May 1852 10 Jun 1910 Melissa C. Johnson

Catherine (Cassie) 8 Aug 1853 11 Oct 1931 John W. Winward, Jr.

Hyrum 12 Mar 1855 11 Nov 1933 Julianne C.J.V. Hansen

Joseph 11 May 1856 15 Apr 1937 Emily J. Graham

Polly 24 Dec 1857 24 Dec 1866 --------------------

Elnore 31 Jan 1859 19 Sep 1859 --------------------

Enoch Hartman 8 Sep 1860 24 Jul 1930 Martha Ellen May

Cyrus 20 Jul 1862 2 May 1927 Ane Marie Andersen

John Luce 11 Jul 1864 10 Apr 1945 Celestia Catherine Allen

Gordon Walter 27 Mar 1866 20 Sep 1921 Annie Peterson

Elzarus 15 Jun 1867 14 May 1940 Evelyn May

Raphael 29 Dec 1869 27 Jan 1870 --------------------

Harriet 18 Mar 1871 27 Jul 1944 Hyrum Smith Lewis

Daniel William 13 Sep 1872 26 Sep 1944 Marian Alfaretta Neeley

Walter Royal 28 Sep 1876 19 Dec 1877 --------------------


ALEXANDER HUNSAKER FAMILY

First row: Alexander Hunsaker and Melissa Johnson Hunsaker.Second row: Alexander, Edgar, Polly Mae.Third row: Essie, Jarvis Elbert, Edna Melissa, Abraham Leon.Bottom row: Hester Lila, Grace, Velda Jean, Oral.

Alexander Beckstead HunsakerAlexander Beckstead HunsakerAlexander Beckstead HunsakerAlexander Beckstead HunsakerAlexander Beckstead Hunsaker

Alexander Beckstead, the first child ofHarriet Beckstead and Abraham Hunsaker,was born on 19 May 1852 in Little Cotton-wood, just outside Salt Lake City. He spentmost of his young life there. He married Me-lissa Caroline Johnson on 29November 1870, in the En-dowment House in Salt LakeCity. He later went to live inHoneyville. In October 1875,he and his wife were called ona mission to the ShoshoneIndians at Washakie, Utah,where they labored faithfullyfor nine years and then re-turned to Honeyville.

In 1884 they were calledto settle in Arizona. Accom-panied by their seven childrenand Alexander’s two brothers,Gordon and Hyrum, they de-parted for Arizona, drivingwith them a large herd ofcattle. When they reached thenorthern part of Arizona theystopped one night in a smalltwo-room abandoned cabin.In the morning, while Melissawas preparing breakfast, aband of Indians rode intocamp and demanded food.While the food was being pre-pared for them, they ran-sacked the contents of everywagon looking for ammuni-tion, then came into the cabinand sat in a circle while theywere fed. After eating theywent outside and held a powwow, then got on their horses

and rode off to the next ranch, where theykilled all five members of the family livingthere.

Alexander and Melissa settled in Snow-flake, Arizona, in the Apache Indian country.


After a year they moved to Safford for an-other year, and then moved to Mesa, wherethey settled permanently.

When the Alma Ward was reorganizedin 1891, Alexander was set apart as Bishopby John Henry Smith, Joseph F. Smith, andJohn Winder. He held this position for 18years until he had to be released on accountof ill health. Upon his release, his son Edgarwas named Bishop. At this time, Alexanderwas called to be a member of the High Councilof the Maricopa Stake. He was later chosensupervisor of Maricopa County, which posi-tion he held until 1908.

After arriving at Mesa, Alexander oper-ated a stage coach line between Maricopa,which was the rail head at the time, and Phoe-

nix, Mesa, and Fort McDowell. A little laterhe opened a hardware store which he oper-ated until 1895. He sold this to a son-in-law,O. S. Stapley, by whose name it becameknown. He later bought another dry goodsstore but had to give it up because of ill health.While in business he was very generous withthe poor who could not purchase what theyneeded. He always kept what he called “awidow’s mite,” and anyone who came intothe store without money never left withoutthe necessities he needed.

Alexander died on 10 June 1910 atMesa, Arizona. He was buried in the MesaCemetery.

Written by

JEAN HUNSAKER LESEUER

Children of Alexander Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Alexander Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Alexander Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Alexander Beckstead HunsakerChildren of Alexander Beckstead Hunsaker


Alexander, Jr. 20 Oct 1870 11 Apr 1925 Henrietta S. Standage

Edgar 17 Oct 1872 8 Feb 1925 Nellie Elmeda Mullins

Polly May 24 Dec 1874 4 Mar 1935 Orley Seymour Stapley

Essie Vernisha 17 Jun 1877 11 Mar 1935 Rosel Cooley

Jarvis Elbert 12 Sep 1879 7 Aug 1943 Annie Laura Bagley

Edna Melissa 18 Sep 1881 8 Jul 1919 Hugh Dana

Abraham Leon 29 Aug 1883 9 Feb 1934 Ollie Maybelle Coleman

Hester Lila 14 Jan 1886 24 Sep 1947 William Morris Newell, Jr.

Mary Ada 20 Jan 1888 6 Jan 1889 --------------------

Grace 8 Aug 1890 13 Nov 1954 Vivian Shipley Burton

Velda Jean 6 Dec 1892 4 Nov 1952 Charles Taylor LeSueur

Oral Hugh 27 Apr 1898 7 Mar 1932 Gladys May Bond


CATHERINE HUNSAKER

WINWARD FAMILY

Top: Lola, Abraham,Vernitia, Bertie, Polly.

Center: CatherineHunsaker Winward, Bryan,

John Winward.

Bottom: Veressa, Irene.

CatherCatherCatherCatherCatherine Hunsaker Wine Hunsaker Wine Hunsaker Wine Hunsaker Wine Hunsaker WinwinwinwinwinwardardardardardCatherine, familiarly called “Cassie,” the

second child of Harriet Beckstead andAbraham Hunsaker, was born at South Jor-dan, Utah on 8 August 1853, where she liveduntil Abraham went to Carson Valley, Ne-vada. When the family was returning fromCarson Valley, Catherine, who was riding infront of the wagon, lost her balance and fellunderneath the front wheel. Before her fa-ther could stop the oxen, the wagon, whichwas loaded to capacity with all their provi-sions and household belongings, ran over herand the rear wheel stopped directly on herhead. Abraham was afraid that if he called tothe oxen to move on, the jerk of the startingmight do much harm. So, without hesitation,he lifted the wagon by the wheel, a feat whichordinarily took three men to accomplish.Catherine received no injuries, other than abruised head, as the ground was soft sand.

Catherine used to do much spinning andweaving. She spun, wove, cut, and sewed allof her own clothes and most of her brothers’and sisters’ clothes. Sometimes she spun andwove for other people too.

Catherine described their food as con-sisting mainly of corn mush and milk forbreakfast, molasses and corn bread for din-ner, and milk and corn mush again for sup-per. She described their clothes as consistingalmost entirely of homespun. Most of the timethey went barefoot as they had only one pairof shoes which they reserved for Sunday.

Catherine had a very good education forthe time. She got to the fifth reader, whichamounted to about two years of schooling.She was a very brilliant girl, learned rapidly,and absorbed a great deal. She later taughtschool for several years and thus helped herparents. She was an accomplished musicianin both voice and piano, and taught pianofor many years. She gave each of her girlstheir first piano lessons, and was organist forseveral church organizations in Brigham City.She was also a member of the choir that wentto Salt Lake City to sing for Conference inthe early days of the Church.

Catherine married John WilliamWinward, Jr. on 22 November 1875. She


spent the first winter of her married life withher husband’s father and mother in order totake care of John’s mother who was very ill.Their first home was a one-room log house,eight by ten feet in size. Their furniture washand made and the bedstead was made ofadobe. After the birth of her sixth child, herhealth, which had never been good, was seri-ously impaired, and she was never completelywell from then on.

In April 1885, her husband married asecond wife, Loretta Beckstead, in a polyga-mous marriage. When Loretta died in March1908, Catherine reared Loretta’s four chil-dren as her own. She also reared one of hergranddaughters.

Catherine died 11 October 1931 atPreston, Idaho and was buried at Whitney,Idaho.

Children of Catherine Hunsaker WinwardChildren of Catherine Hunsaker WinwardChildren of Catherine Hunsaker WinwardChildren of Catherine Hunsaker WinwardChildren of Catherine Hunsaker Winward


Bertie William 26 Sep 1876 29 Dec 1959 Lula Effie Dalley

Abraham 9 Aug 1878 29 Jun 1950 Cecelia Marie Hansen

Clarence Edgar 9 Aug 1880 20 Jan 1881 --------------------

Vernitia Elizabeth 30 Oct 1881 5 Sep 1940 Joseph Moser

James Hoggan

Polly Ocelia 8 Oct 1883 1 Oct 1947 Melvin John Bishop

Lola Catherine 15 Nov 1885 11 Sep 1965 Alma Clifford Sant

Lucy Elnor 13 Mar 1888 24 Nov 1888 --------------------

Harriet Veressa 26 Dec 1889 12 Oct 1971 Philando Perkins Packer

Irene 11 Jan 1892 8 Apr 1966 Samuel Stevenson

John L. 14 Dec 1894 14 Dec 1894 --------------------

Adelia 14 Dec 1894 14 Dec 1894 --------------------

Bryan Hunsaker 3 Jan 1897 10 Nov 1976 Elsie May Farmer


HYRUM HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Amos, Vessie, Ora,Melvina, Clarence.

Bottom: Gertrude,Hyrum Hunsaker,

Julianne Hansen Hunsaker,Parley.

Hyrum HunsakerHyrum HunsakerHyrum HunsakerHyrum HunsakerHyrum Hunsaker

Hyrum, the third child of HarrietBeckstead and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornon 12 March 1855 at West Jordan, Utah.The following year the family moved toCarson Valley, Nevada. After returning toUtah later, Hyrum helped his father grazecattle and sheep north of Brigham, in the vi-cinity of what is now Honeyville. In 1874Hyrum’s mother moved to Honeyville to livepermanently.

In 1869, just previous to this move,Hyrum, his father and mother, and some ofHyrum’s older brothers, went to Little Moun-tain where they worked on the grading ofthe transcontinental railroad. They lived in acave while there, and Hyrum was present atthe driving of the golden spike.

In 1875, Hyrum was called to help settlethe Little Colorado River in Arizona. Hereturned to Utah in 1876 and freighted sup-plies by wagon train to Montana from therailroad at Corinne.

On 1 February 1878, Hyrum marriedJulianne Victoria Hansen in the EndowmentHouse in Salt Lake City. The trip to SaltLake City and back to Honeyville required aseven days’ journey. Hyrum and Juliannelived in Honeyville for a while, and then movedto Arizona to help colonize that area. Theyspent over four months on the journey to Ari-zona, and the hardships they endured werealmost unbearable. They finally arrived inArizona in September 1884. They first settledat Mesa, and later moved to Snowflake.

Hyrum’s health was not good in Arizona,and they returned to Honeyville in 1887. Thereturn journey, which took only two monthsand 20 days, was much easier than the jour-ney going south.

After his return to Utah, Hyrum farmedat Honeyville. Part of the time he did con-tract work for others and also operated athreshing machine. In the spring of 1893,Hyrum, and others of Abraham’s family,homesteaded land at Blue Creek, Utah. This


land was very difficult to farm, and althoughHyrum proved up on his homestead, hetraded his land there and moved farther north-ward into Pocatello Valley and took up landthere.

As time went on, however, Hyrumspent more and more time in Honeyville,

where he was active in Church affairs. Hyrumdied on 11 November 1933, at Honeyville.He was buried in the Honeyville Cemetery.

Written by

HYRUM ORA HUNSAKER

Children of Hyrum HunsakerChildren of Hyrum HunsakerChildren of Hyrum HunsakerChildren of Hyrum HunsakerChildren of Hyrum Hunsaker


Hyrum Ora 27 Dec 1878 30 Oct 1960 Mary Amelia Nye

Parley Lorenzo 28 Dec 1880 31 Mar 1939 Lima Louise Seal

Abraham LaVon 21 Jan 1883 8 Mar 1883 --------------------

James Clarence 22 Jan 1884 23 Mar 1948 Selma Matson

Madeline Virginia Showell

Gertrude Victoria 22 Oct 1887 25 Nov 1954 Francis Parley Gibbs

Amos Ernest 5 Sep 1890 21 Jul 1971 [never married]

Vessie Hortense 1 Jul 1893 27 Jul 1955 Arthur Herbert Tyler

Verda Melvina 25 Jun 1898 18 Apr 1975 Clarence Burton Love

Max August Wiseman


JJJJJoseph Hunsakeroseph Hunsakeroseph Hunsakeroseph Hunsakeroseph Hunsaker

Joseph, the fourth child of HarrietBeckstead and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornat West Jordan, Utah on 11 May 1856. Hisbirth took place in a covered wagon as thefamily was preparing to leave for Carson Val-ley, Nevada.

After the family returned from Nevadaand settled at Brigham City, Joseph’smother lived on a farm north of Brigham.Joseph, who was about six years old at thistime, became very ill with a severe pain in hishead and a high fever. His sickness lastedabout six weeks and settled in his right leg.His mother said she never undressed for theentire time of his sickness, and she had tocarry him as he could not walk. Although hisparents were fearful that their little boy woulddie, Joseph told his father that on a certainday he would get better. This seemed such astrange statement for a little boy to makethat his father wrote the date down. On thatdate, a piece of bone worked its way out of

Joseph’s ankle and he immediately began toget better.

He still could not walk, however, andhad to crawl or be carried. Again he told hisfather that on a certain date he would walk.On that date he crawled out into the orchardand then stood up and started to walk. Theexperience frightened him so he got downand crawled back to the house. Just beforehe got to the house he again stood up andwalked into the house. Although his leg thenbecame better, he suffered the rest of his lifewith it.

In 1876, Joseph moved to Honeyvillewith his mother. In this same year he wentwith Robert Angesley with a load of provi-sions to Arizona to help those from Box ElderCounty who had gone there to colonize. Hereturned to Utah in the early part of 1877.

He married Emily Graham on 1 Febru-ary 1878 in the Endowment House in SaltLake City. He built a home in Honeyville

JOSEPH HUNSAKER AND EMILY GRAHAM HUNSAKER


He attended a Sunday School course inProvo, he served as a home missionary, andas secretary for the High Priests. He alsoserved in the Bishopric in Honeyville for anumber of years with B. H. Tolman.

Although Joseph and Emily had no chil-dren of their own, they raised five childrenwhose parents had died, or who were unableto take care of them.

Joseph died 15 April 1937. He was bur-ied in the Honeyville Cemetery.

Written by

LIMA S. HUNSAKER

and resided there for the remainder of hislife. For awhile he operated the flour mill forhis father. He became active in church andcivic affairs and was Justice of the Peace, Post-master for seven years, school teacher, store-keeper for 14 years, town treasurer, schooltrustee, and choir leader for many years.

He fulfilled two missions for the Church,one to the Southern States in 1884, and oneto Europe in 1885. While in Europe he gath-ered some 4,000 names for genealogy work.

EDITORS’ NOTE: Some of the informationregarding the Hunsaker family which Josephgathered in Europe has been used in thishistory.)

Foster Children of Joseph HunsakerFoster Children of Joseph HunsakerFoster Children of Joseph HunsakerFoster Children of Joseph HunsakerFoster Children of Joseph Hunsaker NAME BORN

Eunice (daughter of Emily’s sister) abt. 1880

Hester abt. 1882

Adella abt. 1888

Virginia abt. 1912

Veran abt. 1914


ENOCH HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Ray, Ellen, James, Polly, Ross, Velda. Center: Hartman,Enoch Hunsaker, Eldon, Martha Ellen May Hunsaker, Martha.Bottom: Ruth, Coleman, Milton.

Enoch Hartman HunsakerEnoch Hartman HunsakerEnoch Hartman HunsakerEnoch Hartman HunsakerEnoch Hartman Hunsaker

Enoch, the seventh child of HarrietBeckstead and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornin Brigham City, Utah on 8 September 1860.He grew up in Honeyville and attended schoolthere until the fourth or fifth grade. When hewas 17 years old he went to Dixie where heworked in the mines around Silver Reef. Heremained in southern Utah for some months,and then returned to Honeyville. He workedas a freighter, driving a four-horse team andhauling goods to Montana from Corinne.

In the spring of 1883 Enoch went toRockland, Idaho where he met Martha EllenMay, who taught school there. After theyreturned to Honeyville in the fall they weremarried in the Salt Lake Endowment Houseon 25 October 1883.

Enoch had acquired about ten acres ofland and a one-room rock house into whichthey moved. They lived the rest of their

lives on this same land. Soon after they weremarried, Abraham Hunsaker made them apresent of an old sow and her litter; Ellen’sfather gave them a cow; and the young couplefelt they were very rich.

Enoch was constable for the Honeyvilleprecinct for many years. He never knew theword fear, and one time when the local storehad been burglarized, he went after the cul-prits. He found them—seven tramps—andbrought them all into town single-handed andheld them until the sheriff came fromBrigham City to take them into custody.

After Enoch and Ellen had been mar-ried a few years, they built a new house justup the hill a short distance from their firsthome. This was a large house, with fourbedrooms and a large kitchen and livingroom. It was a very fine house and they wereproud of it.


Enoch used to haul all his own fire-wood. Sometimes he would secure it in themountains east of Honeyville, but more of-ten from the Promontory Mountains. He al-ways liked to take baths in the hot mineralsprings at Little Mountain and trips to thesesprings constituted the only real vacation heand Ellen ever took. On these trips, Enoch

would always show his children the cavewhere he had lived with his mother, and theIndian writings on the rocks nearby.

Enoch died on 24 July 1930. He wasburied in the Honeyville Cemetery.

Written by

POLLY MAY HUNSAKER BARNES

Children of Enoch Hartman HunsakerChildren of Enoch Hartman HunsakerChildren of Enoch Hartman HunsakerChildren of Enoch Hartman HunsakerChildren of Enoch Hartman Hunsaker


Sarah Ellen 10 Jul 1884 7 May 1975 Eli Carl Anderson

Polly May 28 Jul 1886 15 Nov 1954 Walter W. Richardson

Walter Craig Barnes

Hartman Abraham 2 Jul 1888 14 Oct 1960 Eliza EllaVon Madsen

Martha Vernitia 16 Jul 1890 27 Oct 1965 Christen P.C. Kilsgaard

Enoch Coleman 22 Jul 1892 27 Sep 1917 Hazel Keyes

Velda Evelyn 17 Oct 1894 9 Mar 1983 Alma Wilrick Cook

James Leland 21 Feb 1897 30 Mar 1966 VaLoye Neeley

Belva Jean Birch Stark

Edna Johnson Bywater

Joseph Ross 18 Mar 1899 17 Nov 1989 O.L.E. (Nellie) Lawrence

Richard Reed 15 Feb 1901 22 Apr 1901 --------------------

Ray Luce 1 Jun 1902 30 Dec 1924 [never married]

Milton Lavon 1 Apr 1904 6 Dec 1987 Mary Rose Ferrlan

Ruth 1 Oct 1905 28 Jul 1930 Earl Ashliman

Jewel Smith Horton

William Eldon 6 Aug 1909 11 Aug 1996 Neoma Nora Hunsaker


CYRUS HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: John, Joseph. Center: Cyrus Hunsaker, Anne Marie Ander-son Hunsaker. Bottom: Lars P., Leslie, Delbert.

Cyrus HunsakerCyrus HunsakerCyrus HunsakerCyrus HunsakerCyrus Hunsaker

Cyrus, the eighth child of HarrietBeckstead and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornon 20 July 1862, at Brigham City, Utah.When he was a young boy, the family movedto Honeyville, where he spent his boyhood.While still a young man he was called to helpwith the building of the Temple at St. George,Utah. He later worked as first section fore-man on the railroad at Red Rock, Montana.He also drove freight wagons,carrying freight fromCorinne, Utah to Helena,Montana.

Cyrus and one of hisbrothers met Anne MarieAnderson and were both at-tracted to her. It becamequite a problem which of thetwo brothers would ask forher hand. They decided torun a footrace to see whowould win Anne. Cyrus, whowon the race and won theprize, married Anne in July1880 at Honeyville.

The newlyweds settledfirst in southern Utah on theSevier River between Rich-field and Orderville. In April1884, Cyrus’ brothersHyrum, Gordon, andAlexander, with their families,were called to settle in Ari-zona. Cyrus and Mary andtheir two children joined thecompany. They journeyed toArizona by teams and wag-ons, driving their cattle andhorses with them. Theysettled in what was called the

Sweet Water Country, and took up farming.They remained there until the fall of 1887,when they returned to Honeyville.

Upon arriving in Honeyville, Cyrus andMary took up a homestead and built a smallhouse on their land. In 1901 Cyrus decidedhe would like to seek out some new territoryagain. He went into Idaho, along the SnakeRiver and, as the land looked promising, de-


cided to settle there. He returned toHoneyville to get some of his older sons. Theydrove their cattle and sheep with them, and ittook a long time to reach their destinationwhich was in the Archer-Lyman area. Whenthey got there, they lived in a sheep camp fora year.

Cyrus purchased a 160-acre farm andthen returned to Honeyville to get his wifeand the rest of his children. Upon finally ar-riving at their new land they lived in a tentthe first winter until they could build a per-manent home, which then became theirhome for the rest of their days.

This area was still quite primitive and un-developed, and there were only a few settlersin the valley. Cyrus and his boys had to work

very hard to break up the land and level it foragriculture. They, along with the other earlysettlers of the valley, spent much of their timebuilding canals and ditches to carry SnakeRiver water to their farms in order to irrigatetheir crops.

Cyrus and Mary lived a full life, and hadhigh respect for each other. People likedthem as they were generous in sharing whatthey had with others who were less fortunate.Many times Cyrus took his equipment andseed and planted a neighbor’s crop when theneighbor could not do it himself.

Cyrus died on 2 May 1927 at Idaho Falls,Idaho and was buried in the Idaho Falls Cem-etery.

Children of Cyrus HunsakerChildren of Cyrus HunsakerChildren of Cyrus HunsakerChildren of Cyrus HunsakerChildren of Cyrus Hunsaker


John L. 24 Jun 1881 19 Dec 1954 Sarah Theresa Smout

Cyrus Albert 4 Feb 1883 7 Jul 1890 --------------------

Joseph Elzyrus 27 Jan 1885 28 Jul 1938 Janet Pryde Hawley

Gordon Leslie 20 Jan 1887 28 Jan 1936 Leah Oakley Smout

Lars Pearl 18 Mar 1889 1 Jun 1960 Ethel Agnes Butler

Delbert 27 Jun 1891 1 Feb 1920 Nesseil Cowley

Rose Mary 23 Mar 1894 6 Mar 1953 Ward Emerson Taylor

Owen 8 Jun 1896 28 Dec 1942 Lucy Luella Higley

Melvin 18 Jul 1898 26 Apr 1974 Clara Elizabeth Briggs

Elvin 18 Jul 1898 Jan 1899 --------------------

Lydia 25 Jul 1900 23 Nov 1972 Isaac Newton Schultz

Lavon 12 Dec 1902 26 Aug 1912 --------------------

Arvon 10 Jun 1906 27 Aug 1930 Florence Mildred Hill

Myrtle 20 Jan 1909 17 Apr 1910 --------------------


JOHN LUCE HUNSAKER FAMILY

John Albert, Celestia Allen Hunsaker, Martha, John LuceHunsaker.

JJJJJohn Lohn Lohn Lohn Lohn Luce Hunsakeruce Hunsakeruce Hunsakeruce Hunsakeruce Hunsaker

John Luce Hunsaker, the ninth child ofHarriet Beckstead and Abraham Hunsakerwas born in Brigham City, Utah on 11 July1864. He received his first schooling at hisfather’s home there, with Mary Luckham ashis teacher. Later he went to school in theBox Elder County Courthouse where AnsonCall and Lauretta Neeley were his teachers.

Abraham Hunsaker furnished most of themoney and labor to build the first school housein Honeyville. John L. received the rest ofhis elementary education above the thirdgrade in this school house. He later studied ayear at Brigham Young College in Logan. Likeall pioneer children, John L. had to do hisshare of the work. At the age of nine he

milked eight cows and was always happy tohelp his father with the farm work.

When John L. was 13 years old, BrighamYoung came to Brigham City to organize theBox Elder Stake. This was in August 1877and President Lorenzo Snow made John L.acquainted with Brigham Young who shookhands with him. The same day the childrenlined up along the streets and put flowers inhis path. It was the custom to greet BrighamYoung and the Apostles in this way to showthem great honor.

When John L. married CelestiaCatherine Allen on 3 October 1883 in theEndowment House in Salt Lake City, theytraveled from Honeyville by wagon, taking two


days to make the journey. They made theirhome in Honeyville.

Just before he died, Abraham called JohnL. to his side and told him, “Brother John, Ifeel as though you should go on a mission.”

“Father,” John answered, “I have just re-ceived a letter from the President of theChurch asking me to go.” Abraham called allhis family together just before he died andgave them each a blessing, like Abraham andJacob of old. These blessings proved to be agreat help and comfort to the childrenthroughout their lives.

A way was provided, and John L. wascalled to serve in the Southern States Mis-sion, and he left on 22 May 1889.

While in the mission field, he was ap-pointed President of the Conference of HadinCounty, Kentucky. His labors there were verysuccessful.

John L. homesteaded near Point Look-out after he returned from his mission, andthis place later became known as Bothwell.He was the first superintendent of theBothwell Ward Sunday School, which was or-ganized in 1893. He held this position for10 years. In 1894 he was elected Justice ofthe Peace in the Rawlins Precinct.

In 1907 he was ordained Bishop of theBothwell Ward by Joseph Fielding Smith. Heserved as Bishop two different times, and wasfinally released in 1921. He was also veryactive in the High Council of the Bear RiverStake. In 1925 he moved to Twin Falls, Idaho.In 1928 he went on a second mission for theChurch to the Southern States Mission. Af-ter returning he moved to Starrah’s Ferry,Idaho, to be with his daughter MarthaJohnson. He died there on 10 April 1945and was buried in the Honeyville Cemetery.

Approved by

MARTHA HUNSAKER BURGESS

Children of John Luce HunsakerChildren of John Luce HunsakerChildren of John Luce HunsakerChildren of John Luce HunsakerChildren of John Luce Hunsaker


John Albert 17 Feb 1885 12 Jan 1962 Martha Annie Priest

Jude Lester 12 Nov 1886 19 Jan 1888 --------------------

Amy Elnora 1 Feb 1889 11 May 1891 --------------------

Francis Vivian 16 Mar 1892 26 Aug 1892 --------------------

Martha Elmena 13 June 1893 11 Nov 1961 George Herbert Johnson

Harrison Burgess


GORDON HUNSAKER FAMILY

Ann Peterson Hunsaker and Gordon Hunsaker. Children: Myrtleand Gordon Walter.

GGGGGordon Wordon Wordon Wordon Wordon Walter Hunsakeralter Hunsakeralter Hunsakeralter Hunsakeralter Hunsaker

Gordon Walter Hunsaker, the tenth childof Harriet Beckstead and Abraham Hunsaker,was born on 27 March 1866 at Brigham City,Utah. When he was a small boy the familymoved to Honeyville where he lived until hewas 18 years old. He went to Arizona withhis brothers Alexander and Hyrum in 1884.

He married Ann Peterson, originally ofPeterson, Utah in Mesa, Arizona on 1 Janu-ary 1890.

Gordon left Mesa and moved to thedesert and in 1909 took up a claim. His wife’sbrothers, Charles and Ted Peterson, and alsoher sister and husband, James Schadney, also


took up claims. They lived there for five years.While there the children had to walk five milesto a school for several years. In 1912 the townof Chandler, Arizona was started, a largenumber of people came in and took up home-steads. Some of the settlers, who had moremoney, cleared and plowed their land andgot it ready for cultivation. Later the EasternCanal was established and the area becamegood farmland.

Gordon never had enough money to de-velop his land, and in about 1917 he sold hishomestead and moved to a ranch farther outin the desert. This place, which had only afour-room adobe house on it, was called the

Apple-B Ranch, and rattlesnakes were thickthere. The grass was good though and pro-vided good feed for cattle.

After a while the family moved into thetown of Chandler, where Gordon and hisbrother-in-law started a secondhand storewhich they operated for two years. After thishe cleared some more land and returned tofarming.

Gordon died on 21 September 1921 atPhoenix, Arizona.

Written by

VIOLET ANN TENNEY

Children of Gordon Walter HunsakerChildren of Gordon Walter HunsakerChildren of Gordon Walter HunsakerChildren of Gordon Walter HunsakerChildren of Gordon Walter Hunsaker


Gordon Walter, Jr. 4 Apr 1891 17 Jun 1902 --------------------

Joseph Leroy 6 Aug 1892 30 Jan 1893 --------------------

Myrtle Harriet 11 Nov 1894 24 Jul 1978 Dio Delbert Griffith

Charles Ivan 8 Oct 1899 22 Mar 1985 Deanie Brown

Violet Ann 26 Jan 1902 2 Sep 1990 Anthony Ivans Tenney

Melissa Caroline 5 Oct 1907 14 Sep 1982 James Otis Goodrich

Martha Ellen 6 Nov 1913 Buford Arvine Cutler


ELZARUS HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Jennie, LeGrande. Bottom: Elzarus Hunsaker, Evelyn MayHunsaker.

Elzarus HunsakerElzarus HunsakerElzarus HunsakerElzarus HunsakerElzarus Hunsaker

Elzarus Hunsaker, the eleventh child ofHarriet Beckstead and Abraham Hunsaker,was born in Brigham City, Utah on 15 June1867. He was raised to manhood inHoneyville. He was the president of the firstDeacon’s Quorum organized in Honeyville in1898, with Hyrum O. Hunsaker as first coun-selor and Reginald Baily as second counse-lor.

Elzarus was always known as “UncleZade.” The town of Honeyville was awakenedeach morning by his whistling which became

an alarm clock to everyone. He served onthe Honeyville Town Board for many years.

He resided in Honeyville all his life ex-cept for a short time when he pioneered inRockland, Idaho soon after his marriage toEvelyn May which took place in March 1886.Although he purchased a large ranch in Ches-terfield, Idaho in 1918, he maintained hishome in Honeyville.

Elzarus was a great lover of animals, es-pecially horses. A great part of his life was


spent buying, selling, trading, and trainingbeautiful horses. Regardless of the breed ofanimal, they would all come running to hiswhistle. His sunny disposition and his kindand jovial way of life made him a favoriteamong all the neighborhood people wholoved to talk to him.

Although his education was limited, hehad good business sense and was a hard work-

ing, ambitious man. He did his farming andeverything else on a large scale and becamevery successful.

Elzarus died on 14 May 1940 atTremonton, Utah and was buried in theHoneyville Cemetery.

Written by

ANNIE HARPER HUNSAKER

Children of Elzarus HunsakerChildren of Elzarus HunsakerChildren of Elzarus HunsakerChildren of Elzarus HunsakerChildren of Elzarus Hunsaker


Jennie Maud 8 Jun 1888 4 Oct 1950 Jaren Grant Tolman

Jerry Norval Crowley

Elzarus Lavon 30 Mar 1890 7 Jan 1903 --------------------

LeGrande 13 Oct 1892 22 Jun 1968 Annie Rachael Harper

Martha Harriet 22 Jan 1895 23 Jan 1895 --------------------


HARRIET HUNSAKER LEWIS FAMILY

Top: Reed, Wayne, Oleen, Hyrum Leroy. Center: Camilla,Rachael, Eola. Bottom: Harriet Hunsaker Lewis, Hyrum Lewis.

HarrHarrHarrHarrHarriet Hunsaker Liet Hunsaker Liet Hunsaker Liet Hunsaker Liet Hunsaker Leeeeewiswiswiswiswis

Harriet Hunsaker, the thirteenth child ofHarriet Beckstead and Abraham Hunsaker,was born on 18 March 1871 at Brigham City,Utah. She moved to Honeyville where shespent her early life and received her school-ing. She later taught school there and wasactive in church affairs.

On 8 November 1888 she marriedHyrum Smith Lewis in the Logan Temple,and shortly afterward moved to Albion, Idaho,where she knew all the hardships that a wifeand mother had to go through in the earlydays. Many nights she was left alone as herhusband did freighting with six head of horsesand two wagons. The nights she was expect-ing her husband to come home, she wouldlisten after it got dark for the sound of thewagons, and her husband always whistledwhen he returned.

Harriet possessed a living faith in Godand knew He heard and answered herprayers. One morning whenshe offered the family prayer,she asked that a way wouldbe opened for them to getsome money as they were indire need of the necessities oflife. After breakfast, as herhusband rode his horsethrough the sage he found ashining five-dollar gold piece.You can imagine the joy andthanksgiving for the blessingsthat came to them with thefinding of this money.

Harriet was a wonderfulnurse and when anyone wassick or in need she alwayswent to help. At one timethere was a terrible siege oftyphoid fever at Albion, and

Harriet worked night and day to help the onlydoctor. One night she attended a woman whodied from the disease, while Harriet’s hus-band was attending the woman’s brother, whoalso died that night.

One of the hardest things Harriet had todo was leave her home in Albion after it hadbecome established and was comfortable withshade trees and good drinking water andhomestead raw sagebrush land at Declo. Thisoccurred in 1904, and the first few years werevery hard while the sagebrush was beingcleared as the wind blew the dust all the timeand the nearest water was the Snake Rivertwo miles away. Although Harriet was gladwhen she had to return to Albion for the chil-dren to attend school, it eventually developedthat the farm at Declo was a very good oneand after canals were constructed and irriga-tion water brought in, the old house at Albionwas sold and a much nicer one built at Declo.


Before Declo had been developed, how-ever, Harriet had a dream that she saw a rail-road and heard a train whistle just a few rodsfrom her house, and that her daughter AlfaMyrle was still a child. When she related herdream, her husband said, “This will all cometrue and Alfa Myrle will still be a little girl whenthe train comes.” When Harriet’s brotherPeter died she desired to go to Honeyville toattend his funeral and it was then necessaryto go to Burley by buggy to take the train.Construction of the railroad was in progressthen and as a work train was going by, herhusband asked the superintendent if Harrietand Alfa Myrle could ride to Burley. The su-perintendent replied, “We are not preparedto accommodate passengers, but if she willbe at the side of the track we will stop andtake her to Burley.” Thus, Harriet and AlfaMyrle, still a little girl, were the first passen-gers from Declo to Burley, and Harriet’sdream had come true.

Harriet was always active in Churchwork. In November 1893 she was chosenPresident of the YWMIA, and held this posi-

tion for 15 years. On 19 March 1916 shewas chosen first President of the Declo ReliefSociety and held this position until 24 April1927. On 13 March 1927 she was sustainedas a board member of the Burley Stake Re-lief Society and held this position until 24August 1941.

Harriet had a very interesting life and dida great deal of traveling. She visited the his-toric places of the early days of Mormonismin Illinois and Missouri. When her husbandwas a member of the Idaho State Legislature,she was chosen as the “Mother of the Houseof Representatives.”

At the time Harriet and her husband cel-ebrated their golden wedding anniversary, alarge department store in Salt Lake Citybroadcast the story of their lives over the ra-dio. Harriet was a charter member of the79’ers Association.

Harriet died on 27 July 1944 and wasburied in the Declo Cemetery.

Written by

RACHAEL LEWIS

Children of Harriet Hunsaker LewisChildren of Harriet Hunsaker LewisChildren of Harriet Hunsaker LewisChildren of Harriet Hunsaker LewisChildren of Harriet Hunsaker Lewis NAME BORN DIED MARRIED

Hyrum Leroy 26 Aug 1889 1 Feb 1969 Alice Clark

Inez Elvira Bowman Parker

Mary Vernitia 27 Dec 1890 9 Jan 1891 --------------------

Harriet Eola 7 Nov 1891 23 Nov 1965 Robert Franklin Fisher

Alice Camilla 28 Jul 1894 16 May 1982 James Lewis Bronson

Rachel 21 Feb 1896 27 Nov 1963 [never married]

Anton Rudger 2 Feb 1898 11 Feb 1917 [never married]

Oleen Arvil 12 Dec 1900 14 Oct 1988 Anna Deloris Jeppsen

Wayne Oral 12 Jul 1903 2 Jun 1982 Alice Stark

Alfa Merle 3 Sep 1904 25 Jun 1926 [never married]

Reed Hunsaker 13 Feb 1915 16 Jul 1984 Marzo Roberts

Helen Perry


DANIEL WILLIAM HUNSAKER AND ALFARETTA NEELEY HUNSAKER

Daniel Daniel Daniel Daniel Daniel WWWWWilliamilliamilliamilliamilliam Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker

Daniel William Hunsaker, the fourteenthchild of Harriet Beckstead and AbrahamHunsaker, was born on 13 September 1872at Brigham City, Utah. He was two years oldwhen he moved with his mother toHoneyville, where they lived in the house onSalt Creek.

Will was a very good business man, butoften times too trusting. It was surprising thathe didn’t make mistakes on his judgment andlose out on many of his ventures. His maininterest during his life was farming and horseraising. He was also interested in the old “rockstore” with his brother Elzarus. He was aheavy stockholder in the Farmers’ Cash Unionand the telephone company at Tremonton.He managed the Honeyville Milling Companyfor some time.

He told his niece, Pauline T. Boothe, thathe could have been a very wealthy man hadhe taken more chances in business. One ven-ture that he failed to take advantage of wasthe zipper. The man who invented the zipperasked Will to help finance him to get his in-vention manufactured and on the market, but

Will thought it such a simple invention thathe refused to go along with it.

He served as a missionary in Michiganin 1898-1900. His experiences in the mis-sion field served to give him a very strongtestimony of the Gospel and he remained trueto his faith up to the time of his death. Eventhough he participated in the sporting world,especially horse racing, he kept the Word ofWisdom. His companions could never waiverhis determination to withstand tobacco andstrong drink.

Will married Alfaretta Neeley on 24 April1901 in the Logan Temple. She had had avery good education and was an accomplishedmusician.

Although they much desired them, Willand Alfa never had children of their own, butthey adopted Keith and took care of five oth-ers at various times for periods of one to 10years. These five were: Dagmar Jensen, bornabout 1897, married Harold Wheatley; Ma-rina Staples, born about 1921, marriedHalvor Glenn; Lettie Staples, born abt. 1923;Douglas Sparks and Albert Flickinger.


Will was one of the first men to own anautomobile in Honeyville and enjoyed givingpeople a ride in it. He never seemed to learnto drive a car properly, however, and his poordriving ability was quite a joke among hisfriends. He seemed to drive the car whereverhe was looking, with the result that he droveinto canals, fences, etc. One time he parkedhis car on the edge of the precipice overlook-ing the Shoshone Falls at Twin Falls, Idahoand failed to set the brakes properly. Alfa hadjust gotten out of the car, with the baby Keithin her arms, when the car rolled over the edgeand fell hundreds of feet into the canyon.

Will had an uncanny ability with horsesand seemed to talk their language. Even whenother people could not handle wild horses,

Will could talk to them and pet them and calmthem down so that soon they would be fol-lowing him around.

Will was farming on land west ofTremonton when his tractor fell on top ofhim with the treads right on his legs. Afterlying under it for several hours he managedto throw a loop of rope over the gear leverand cause the tractor, whose engine was stillrunning, to move off him. Even though hislegs were completely smashed, he managedto drag himself to his car and drive it towardTremonton until someone found him and tookhim to the Tremonton hospital. He died asthe result of this accident on 26 September1944 and was buried in the Honeyville Cem-etery.

Children of Daniel Children of Daniel Children of Daniel Children of Daniel Children of Daniel WilliamWilliamWilliamWilliamWilliam Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker


Keith William 23 Jan 1915 26 Jan 1975 Dauna Jensen

Lawana Knudsen

Anna Mae Hansen


LLLLLemuel Hunsakeremuel Hunsakeremuel Hunsakeremuel Hunsakeremuel Hunsaker

Abraham Hunsaker bought from a bandof Indian warriors a little Piede Indian boywho had been made a prisoner in a recenttribal war. To save the child from a cruel deathby these savages, Abraham paid the price theydemanded, and took the little Indian boy hometo his wife Harriet. They gave him the nameof Lemuel, and he was as much a member ofthe Hunsaker family as were their own sonsand daughters.

Lemuel was probably about six years oldwhen he was adopted by the Hunsakers.Abraham records Lemuel’s baptism in hisjournal on 15 March 1857, which means thelittle Indian boy had reached or passed hiseighth birthday by that date.

On 13 August 1859 Lemuel was shotand killed by a soldier. An old man by thename of Gilbert who lived in Brigham City, aneighbor of the Hunsakers during that pe-riod, used to tell the story of what he calledthe cold blooded murder of AbrahamHunsaker’s Indian boy.

According to his story, bands of maraud-ing Indians had been causing the settlers ofnorthern Utah a great deal of trouble by steal-ing their cattle and horses, even to plunder-ing their cornfields, and in one or more in-stances they had killed a man who had triedto retrieve his stolen property. The citizenshad appealed to the government for help.

In answer to this request, an army of sol-diers had been sent to show the Indians thatthey meant “business” and that such conductmust cease. When the troops reachedBrigham City, they were told of the Hunsakerboy, who had been adopted by the family,and had attended school and Church gather-ings with the family, exactly as those childrenborn in the family had been required to do.

The soldiers were warned that the HunsakerIndian boy would be found taking care of hisfather’s stock in Little Valley (now Mantua)and that on no account were they to injurehim.

Sheriff Cutler had ridden into the LittleValley that morning, somewhat in advanceof the Army. He had stopped at the Hunsakercabin. Lemuel had been told to go to the fieldacross the valley to bring in a team so thefamily might drive down to Brigham City. Hehad started off on foot. Sheriff Cutler wasleading an extra horse, and at his invitation,Lemuel got on that animal and rode away onhis errand.

The boy had gone only a part of the waywhen Abraham saw the soldiers, a long pro-cession of them entering the valley. He real-ized at once the danger that threatened hisboy Lemuel when the soldiers saw that theboy was an Indian. And his worst fears wererealized, for although he ran and shouted atthe top of his voice, “Don’t shoot my boy!Don’t shoot my son,” the shot had been firedand the little Indian boy was breathing his lastwhen Abraham reached his side.

It was said by the family that Abrahamwas very angry and threatened to shoot thecoward who had shot the defenseless child,just because he was an Indian. The Hunsakerfamily mourned for Lemuel as for a brother.Services were held at Brigham City andLemuel was buried in the Hunsaker familyplot in the Brigham City cemetery.

Written by

MELTRUDE HUNSAKER STOHL

The following is taken from History ofBox Elder County, page 150:


Sheriff Cuttler had ridden from the sceneof the encounter over to the Hunsaker homeon one of the soldier’s horses. Fearing thatthe Indians, in their hurry to escape, mightdrive away some of his animals which werein an enclosure a short distance from thehouse, Mr. Hunsaker told Indian Lemuel to

mount the Sheriff’s horse and go after theanimals. The soldiers thought the boy wasstealing one of their horses and fired a shotwhich proved fatal. Lemuel was brought toBrigham by Susan Hunsaker; his body wasinterred in the Brigham City Cemetery.

149MARGARET SWEETEN HUNSAKER AND CHILDREN

Sketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofMargaret SwMargaret SwMargaret SwMargaret SwMargaret Sweeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsaker




Margaret SwMargaret SwMargaret SwMargaret SwMargaret Sweeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsaker

Margaret Sweeten, a product of sturdyPioneer stock, was a Pioneer herself. Hermother (Mary Gardner) went to Canada fromher native Scotland when she was only 15with her father, Robert Gardner, and a brotherin the spring of 1822; Mary’s mother (Mar-garet Calinder Gardner) and the rest of thefamily emigrated in the spring of 1823. Thefamily knew all the hardships of early Pio-neer days in Canada.

In the fall of 1835, the Gardner familymoved to Warwick, Canada, and MaryGardner and George Sweeten met. George,the son of David and Martha Wilson Sweeten,who were also Pioneers in Canada, was bornin Belfast, Ireland. George Sweeten and MaryGardner were married on 29 March 1836and set up housekeeping just two miles fromMary’s parents. George was a foundrymanby trade, but made his living by farming. Hewas a hard working man, honest, and onewho always kept his word.

Several children were born to them inBrooke Township, Kent County, Canada, in-cluding twins, but all of them died except Mar-garet, who was born on 28 December 1837,and her brother Robert. George Sweeten diedon Christmas Eve, 1842 of a broken bloodvessel, probably caused by overwork. Marywas a brave woman, and though she was awidow, stayed on the farm to make a livingfor herself and her children.

On 21 October 1844, Mary marriedRoger Luckham, a young Englishman. Adaughter, Mary, was born to them in Canadain 1845, and another daughter, Susan, wasborn in Utah in 1848. Roger, a farmer, wasa good and honest man. He was kind andconsiderate and always treated Margaret andRobert as though he were their real father.

The Gardner family, which consisted ofthree sons, William, Archibald, and Robert,and one daughter, Mary, and their families,were deeply religious. Lacking a suitable placeto worship, they erected their own church.When two LDS missionaries, JohnBorrowman and Samuel Bolton, contactedthe Gardners, the message of the missionar-ies was readily accepted, and they were bap-tized in September 1845.

Antagonism towards the Mormons be-came so severe, however, that the entire fam-ily decided to leave Canada. They had no ideawhere they would end up, but felt that theyshould go to join the Saints. They left Canadain March 1846, for Nauvoo, Illinois. Whenthe group of Mormon converts from Canadareached Nauvoo, however, they found thatthe Saints had been driven out only a weekbefore. They stayed at Nauvoo, in some aban-doned houses, long enough to repair theirwagons and procure fresh supplies. Theycrossed the Mississippi River on 1 May 1846,and went on westward and spent the winterat Winter Quarters. They endured many hard-ships during that winter and nearly everymember of the party was sick. Margaret’sstepfather and grandfather were especially illwith scurvy, the general complaint, which wasthought to be due to the lack of fresh veg-etables in the diet. Two of Margaret’s cous-ins died and were buried at Winter Quarters.

During the spring of 1847, every onemade preparations for the long journey west-ward. The second hundred wagons to be or-ganized and prepared to leave was under theleadership of Bishop Edward Hunter. Thisgroup was in turn divided into two compa-nies, with the first fifty wagons under Cap-tain Joseph Horne. Each ten wagons was also


divided into a unit. Archibald Gardner wascaptain of the third group of ten wagons ofthe first fifty, and all the Gardner family trav-eled in this group. John Taylor, a member ofthe Council of Twelve, traveled with them.The company began its long journey on 21June 1847.

This trek across the plains was a never-to-be-forgotten experience for nine-year-oldMargaret. On one occasion the wagon trainwas crossing a narrow but deep stream. TheLuckham wagon had just been put on a make-shift raft to be pulled across the river whenMargaret’s mother decided to take the chil-dren out of the wagon before making thecrossing. As the wagon reached the middleof the stream, the raft suddenly flopped overand dumped everything the Luckhams ownedinto the water. Margaret’s mother jumped intothe stream, fully clothed, to try and save whatshe could. Her family always felt that the shockand exposure of this experience weakenedher and eventually led to the illness whichcaused her death in Spanish Fork in 1858.

The family saw Brigham Young for thefirst time at Green River, Wyoming, when hewas on his way back to Winter Quarters toget his family and to assist more of the Saintsacross the plains. Tree stumps proved to beone of the greatest difficulties faced by theCanadians. In many places trees had been

chopped down to allow the wagons to pass,but it was found that the low-slung Canadianwagons were too close to the ground, andthe stumps had to be chopped even lower toallow the wagons to pass.

The group arrived in Salt Lake Valley on1 October 1847. A fort had been constructedat what is now Pioneer Park, and within itswalls Roger Luckham constructed an adobehouse for his family. He planted 20 acres ofwheat, but never harvested a crop as the in-famous plague of crickets destroyed it. Thefollowing year, 1848, the Luckhams, andmost of the Gardners, moved to Mill Creek.Here again they planted wheat but practicallyall of their second crop was lost.

By the spring of 1854, Margaret was atall and slender girl of 16, with black hair,and everyone considered her to be really beau-tiful. Abraham Hunsaker, who lived at WestJordan, also owned a farm at Mill Creek nearthe Gardner farm, and thus met Margaret.On 5 May 1854, Margaret becameAbraham’s third wife in a polygamous mar-riage in the Endowment House in Salt LakeCity. She went to live with her husband atWest Jordan, where their first child was born.

When Abraham was called to settleCarson Valley, Nevada in 1856, he sold hisfarm to Archibald Gardner, and Margaretwent with her husband to Nevada. She taught

Fort Great Salt Lake was constructed at what is now Pioneer Park. Roger Luckham built anadobe house here in 1847 for his family—which included Margaret Sweeten and Mary Luckham.


school there. While in Nevada, she gave birthto her second child. They returned to Utah inSeptember 1857 and settled at Brigham City.In 1858, “the great move South” was madebecause of the coming of Johnston’s Army.Abraham Hunsaker and his families, with alltheir possessions and livestock, moved to nearSpanish Fork. While living there, Margaret’smother died on 12 June 1858. On the sameday, Margaret’s son George died, and he wasburied in the Spanish Fork Cemetery next tohis grandmother.

On June 28 the Saints received word togo back to their homes. Abraham returnedto Brigham City, where he built the BigHouse. This house was large enough to al-low each of the families to live separately. At

the Big House, an upstairs room was set asideas a schoolroom, and Margaret was given theresponsibility of teaching Abraham’s children.As some of the older boys were rough anddisorderly, Abraham made a strong whip andinstructed Margaret to use it, but Margaretfound other means of keeping the boys inline.

Margaret was a very artistic youngwoman and was known for her drawings andpaintings. A picture she drew of her daugh-ter, Mary Ann, is a precious Willie family keep-sake.

While in Brigham, Margaret had threemore children. She died giving birth to thelast one, Robert, on 12 October 1862 andwas buried in the Brigham City Cemetery.

Children of Margaret Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Margaret Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Margaret Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Margaret Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Margaret Sweeten Hunsaker


Mary Ann 16 Sep 1855 24 Jan 1925 William Pettit Willie

George Sweeten 27 Jul 1857 12 Jun 1858 --------------------

Lorenzo 21 Mar 1859 7 Oct 1941 Florida Isadora Castile

Sarah Alice Nye

Idumea 8 Dec 1860 26 Nov 1937 Isaac E. D. Zundel

Robert Sweeten 12 Oct 1862 18 Oct 1939 Minnie May Wheatley


MARY ANN HUNSAKER WILLIE FAMILY

Top: William Pettit Willie, Mary Ann Hunsaker Willie. Secondrow: Margaret Ella, Mary Ada, William Lorenzo. Third row:Idumea, Robert. Fourth row: Arminta, Ila, Vera. Bottom row:Arthur Golden, Leslie Abraham.

Mary Ann Hunsaker WMary Ann Hunsaker WMary Ann Hunsaker WMary Ann Hunsaker WMary Ann Hunsaker Willieillieillieillieillie

Mary Ann, the first child of MargaretSweeten and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornat West Jordan, Utah on 16 September 1855.At the time Abraham moved to Brigham City,upon returning from Nevada, there were noschools, so Mary Ann at-tended the school taught byher mother on the secondfloor of the Big House. Hereshe also learned to play thepiano. The piano upon whichshe learned was one of twowhich Abraham had hadbrought across the plains fromthe Missouri River. There wasonly one other piano in thevicinity at this time.

In the Hunsaker house-hold a bell was rung each nightand morning to call the fami-lies together for familyprayers. The families also heldhome evenings twice a week,and each member took a parton the program.

Mary Ann was only sevenyears old when her motherdied. She and her brothersand sisters were cared for byothers of the family. Mary Annalways did her share of thework wherever she went.Mary Ann was a beautiful girl,slender, of medium height,and possessing small features,brown hair and brown eyes.She had beautiful hair, longenough to sit on, which waskept in two braids. Her hairwas never cut until after hermother’s death.

When Mary Ann was about 19 she wentto Mendon, Utah to stay with her uncle, Rob-ert Sweeten, while his wife paid a visit to herfamily in Canada. While staying there she metWilliam Pettit Willie, whom she married on


February 8, 1875, at the Endowment Housein Salt Lake City. After marriage, Mary Annmade her home in Mendon for the rest ofher life. She always worked very hard andtried to give her children every advantage shepossibly could. In 1881 her husband wascalled on a mission for the Church and wentto England. During his absence, she managedthe farm with the help of her 14-year-oldbrother, Robert, and took care of her foursmall children. In addition to farming, she tookin boarders.

Mary Ann was an excellent housekeeper,and even at the age of 10 could cook verywell. She loved to entertain and never turnedanyone away hungry from her door. Manytimes she made a bed in her kitchen or parlorto accommodate strangers. She will alwaysbe remembered for her spirit of hospitality.Many poor folk came to William and MaryAnn with their troubles. Out of the goodnessof his heart William would often find them ajob—chopping wood, building a shed, orsome other make-work job—to help them out.They were always well paid in money andwith food, both from Mary Ann’s table andto take home with them.

All her life Mary Ann had great respectfor her father, Abraham Hunsaker, whom she

loved dearly. She often spoke of the devo-tion and kindness he bestowed upon herthroughout his life. When she was 34 yearsold, word came that her father was dying andwanted his children around him. As soon asMary Ann arrived, he recognized her and said,“My girl, I have seen your mother. She is veryhappy. She has come to take me home.”

Mary Ann took an active part in Churchwork. She possessed one of the first organsin Mendon and played it very well. She servedas a counselor in the Relief Society until shewas 54 years old. At this time she had astroke, which left her a cripple for the next15 years. During all the time she was crippledshe never complained and was always sweetand cheerful. Throughout her life Mary Annshowed a great deal of faith and courage,bearing a strong testimony of the gospel. Shewas blessed with a kind and loving disposi-tion. She was greatly loved and respected byall who knew her. Her children never remem-ber her speaking an unkind word, always rul-ing them with great patience and love.

Mary Ann passed away quietly after ashort illness at the age of 69 on 24 January1925 at Mendon, Utah and was buried in theMendon Cemetery.

Children of Mary Ann Hunsaker WillieChildren of Mary Ann Hunsaker WillieChildren of Mary Ann Hunsaker WillieChildren of Mary Ann Hunsaker WillieChildren of Mary Ann Hunsaker Willie NAME BORN DIED MARRIED

Margaret Ella 4 Feb 1876 24 Feb 1937 Robert SmithElizabeth Hunsaker 17 Sep 1877 17 Jan 1878 --------------------Mary Ada 26 Dec 1878 3 Jun 1917 Seth HoopesWilliam Lorenzo 10 Mar 1881 4 Nov 1913 Laura C. HolbrookIduma Hunsaker 26 Aug 1884 18 Sep 1980 William Farnes KingRobert Hunsaker 4 Mar 1886 18 Jan 1964 Letitia Thomas

Lulu Reynolds BaldwinArminta 15 May 1889 6 Aug 1956 George Albert SmithIla 10 Apr 1891 26 Mar 1978 Seth HoopesVera 4 Mar 1893 7 Sep 1951 Verland Findley SheltonArthur Golden 24 Nov 1895 9 Jun 1975 Selina Fern AtkinsonLeslie Abraham 14 Sep 1898 6 Aug 1968 Eunice Hughes


LORENZO HUNSAKER FAMILY

Left: Lorenzo Hunsaker. Right: Lavona, Florida CastileHunsaker, Naomi, Armada.

LLLLLorenzo Hunsakerorenzo Hunsakerorenzo Hunsakerorenzo Hunsakerorenzo Hunsaker

Lorenzo, the third child of MargaretSweeten and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornat Brigham City on 21 March 1859. Hisparents moved to Honeyville when he was ayoung man, and Lorenzo spent his early lifethere. Lorenzo was a very bright young manand obtained a good education. His fatheralways considered Lorenzo outstandingly in-telligent.

In 1880 Lorenzo went on a mission forthe Church to Tennessee and Alabama. InHorse Creek, Tennessee he met FloridaCastile and her brother James and baptizedthem into the Church. In 1882, Florida andJames came to Utah. Lorenzo and Floridawere married in the Salt Lake Temple on 9October 1882.

Lorenzo and his wife went to Arizona in1883 with Alexander and Gordon Hunsakerand settled in Safford. They later returned toUtah where Lorenzo worked as a millwrightand took care of the account books for hisfather. He also taught school in Brigham City,at the Washakie Indian Reservation in Utah,at the Shoshone Indian Reservation in Idaho,at Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and at Honeyville.

Lorenzo married Sarah Alice Nye 17March 1886; this polygamous marriageended in divorce in 1897.

In 1900, Lorenzo and his family againmoved to Arizona. They first settled in Globe,but after a very short while they moved toThatcher. In 1904 or 1905, they moved backto Globe. Lorenzo became the first bishop of


the LDS Church in Globe, and served until1935. He established a Singer Sewing Ma-chine agency in Globe, and he and Floridarepresented that company in both Arizonaand New Mexico. He built a home in Globein 1912 and lived there until 1940.

In 1928, Florida became ill and was al-most constantly bedridden until 1940, whenshe died. After her death, Lorenzo went toPrescott, where he died on 12 October 1941.He was taken back to Globe for burial.

Written by

ARMADA HUNSAKER MARTIN

AMANDA SANDERS HUNSAKER

Children of Lorenzo HunsakerChildren of Lorenzo HunsakerChildren of Lorenzo HunsakerChildren of Lorenzo HunsakerChildren of Lorenzo Hunsaker


BY FLORIDA ISADORA CASTILE:

Lavona Jane 15 Mar 1884 17 Jan 1944 Israel Perle McBride

Armada Ione 21 Oct 1887 23 Oct 1962 Louis T. Martin

Florida Naomi 9 Oct 1890 14 Se[ 1983 William Lepper

Golden Lorenzo 24 Feb 1900 31 Dec 1954 Ruperta Brimhall

Amanda Sanders

BY SARAH ALICE NYE:

Elizabeth Alice 8 Oct 1888 1 Aug 1963 Parley Gilbert Thompson


IDUMEA HUNSAKER ZUNDEL FAMILY

Inset: Idumea Hunsaker Zundel. Center: Weldon, Lavon,Lorenzo, Harold. Bottom: Golden, Earl.

Idumea Hunsaker ZundelIdumea Hunsaker ZundelIdumea Hunsaker ZundelIdumea Hunsaker ZundelIdumea Hunsaker Zundel

Idumea, the fourth child of MargaretSweeten and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornin Brigham City on 8 December 1860. Totell the life story of Idumea would be to re-count the lonesome years of childhood. Hermother died when she was only two yearsold. The hardships and poverty of most ofthe pioneers were the lot of Idumea duringher youth.

She married Isaac E. Zundel on 11 Oc-tober 1883. The first years of her marriedlife were trying ones as she was a plural wife.

Idumea made the long and arduous jour-ney walking to Mexico, carrying one baby andwith three small children tugging along at herside. She reared seven children under verydifficult conditions. For some time she livedin Arizona where her husband was a Bishop,and where on various occasions she enter-

tained high Church authorities. During thelatter years of her life she lived in eastern andsouthern Oregon, where she died in 1937.

At her funeral, her daughter-in-law,Myrtle R. Zundel, paid her this tribute:“Mother, we are hoping you can see and hearus. Today we have met to pay homage toone of the dearest, kindest mothers that everlived. Your life has been one of sacrifice andservice—two of the noblest attributes of thehuman soul. Your wise counsel has helped uson the pathway to happiness. You have beena pal with us. In your life there has been noshow nor pretense—all your acts have beenupright and honorable. In the many years Ihave been privileged to call you Mother, I can’trecall an unkind word between us. And toyou is due the credit for you were one of themost peace loving persons I have ever known.


“The other day, as we saw Mt. Shastatowering in all its white majestic beauty, wewere reminded of you—how your purity oflife, your high ideals and acts, stand out inmajesty and grandeur. Your mission in lifehas been a homemaker. You have gone intohouses that would have discouraged mostwomen but in a short time under your skilland industry, that house has been transformedinto a happy comfortable home.

“Your ambition has not only been for atemporal home—but it has been your desireto have a Heavenly home to which your lovedones may come in due time. We hope to bewith you when we pass through the gates.”

Written by

MYRTLE R. ZUNDEL

Children of Idumea Hunsaker ZundelChildren of Idumea Hunsaker ZundelChildren of Idumea Hunsaker ZundelChildren of Idumea Hunsaker ZundelChildren of Idumea Hunsaker Zundel


Eberhart Lorenzo 29 Dec 1884 15 Jul 1958 [never married]

Earl 27 Aug 1886 22 Dec 1972 Myrtle Rosenbaum

Irvin 27 Aug 1886 14 Oct 1902 --------------------

Lavon 6 Jan 1888 14 Jun 1954 Hylda Lyon

Harold 24 Nov 1891 21 Jun 1970 Dorothy von der Helen

Weldon 20 Aug 1897 6 Jan 1987 Mary Dunaway

Golden 13 Jan 1903 31 Dec 1973 Elizabeth Farlow


ROBERT SWEETEN HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Wallace, Catherine, Earl, Loren, Francis. Center: Jesse,Minnie Wheatley Hunsaker, Robert Sweeten Hunsaker, Olive.Bottom: Orlin, Ronilla, Mamie.

Robert SwRobert SwRobert SwRobert SwRobert Sweeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsakereeten Hunsaker

Robert Sweeten, the fifth and last childborn to Margaret Sweeten and AbrahamHunsaker, was born on 12 October 1862 atBrigham City, in the Big House. A few hoursafter his birth, Robert’s mother died fromcomplications resulting from childbirth.

Robert was raised by Harriet BecksteadHunsaker, the second wife of Abraham. Shewas very good to him, sometimes even bet-ter to him than to her own children. Robertloved her very much and always appreciatedwhat she had done for him.

At the age of 14, Robert spent one win-ter in the hills of Montana getting out lumber.At the age of 15 he was sent by his father towork on the Logan Temple and worked therefor two years. He donated his time and laborto the Church.

Robert married Minnie May Wheatley on9 April 1885 in the Temple he had helpedbuild. They lived in Honeyville until 1909when they moved to Malad, Idaho, whereRobert was field man for the Utah-IdahoSugar Company, as he had been while livingin Honeyville. He was very active in theChurch and served as president of the EldersQuorum in Malad Stake. He also served theChurch in other capacities, such as wardteacher, in all the wards in which he lived.

In 1925, Robert moved to Logan, Utah,in order to be able to do Temple work, whichhe did nearly every day for the rest of his life.He died in Logan on 18 October 1939, andwas buried in the Honeyville Cemetery.

Approved by

T. EARL HUNSAKER


Children of Robert Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Robert Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Robert Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Robert Sweeten HunsakerChildren of Robert Sweeten Hunsaker


Robert Jesse 8 Jun 1886 28 May 1964 Eda Matilda Hansen

Maria Palmer

Olive Maria 31 Mar 1888 3 Jul 1951 John Morris Richards

Margaret 12 Jun 1890 1 Mar 1891 --------------------

Alma Loren 15 May 1892 3 Jul 1959 Amelia Camp

Thomas Earl 13 Aug 1894 23 Nov 1985 Laura Merle Higginson

Della P. E. Nelson

Francis 4 Sep 1896 8 Aug 1958 Mabel Jane Thomas

Emma Camp

Catherine 5 Jan 1900 11 Nov 1994 Melvin Boswell

Abraham Wallace 21 Aug 1902 20 Nov 1979 Amy Burnham

Lorenzo 11 Aug 1904 31 Aug 1905 --------------------

Orlin Wheatley 15 Jan 1906 17 Apr 1973 Mary Lee

Mamie May 9 Dec 1908 10 Sep 1986 V. Theodore Jorgensen

Joseph Russell Carlson

Ronilla 28 Oct 1910 26 Mar 1936 Rulon Green

161CATHRINE JENSEN HUNSAKER AND CHILDREN

Sketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofAne Ane Ane Ane Ane CathrCathrCathrCathrCathrineineineineine J J J J Jensen Hunsakerensen Hunsakerensen Hunsakerensen Hunsakerensen Hunsaker



A. Cathrine Jensen Hunsaker


Ane Ane Ane Ane Ane CathrCathrCathrCathrCathrineineineineine J J J J Jensen Hunsakerensen Hunsakerensen Hunsakerensen Hunsakerensen Hunsaker

EDITORS’ NOTE: Cathrine Jensen Hunsaker’sname was spelled with a K in the FirstEdition. It appears with both spellings inAbraham’s records and in Honeyville Wardrecords. Her birth record in Denmark spellsher name Ane Cathrine Jensen, and herendowment record shows Catherine Jensensealed to Abraham Hunsaker. (But her nameis spelled Katharine on the MarriageLicense.)1 It appears that the first name Anewas seldom used and that the more officialrecords favor use of C rather than K.

Cathrine Jensen’s mother, Anna Mariah(Ane Marie) Clawsen, was a lady-in-waitingto the Queen of Denmark. Her father, HansPeter Jensen, was head gardener at the pal-ace. The two fell in love and were marriedand had four children—John, Cathrine, Anna,and Frederic. Shortly after their marriage, thecouple accepted a new and strange religion,Mormonism. Because Cathrine’s mothermarried beneath her station in life and be-cause of her acceptance of this new religion,her parents, who were the wealthy owners ofa steel mill, disinherited her from her full in-heritance and cut her off from her family.

Cathrine was born on 12 February 1843,in the town of Norlundy, Denmark. Not be-ing used to the hardships she had to sufferafter marrying a poor man, Cathrine’s motherdied soon after her fourth baby was born. Herchildren were taken care of by Julia Jensenuntil Cathrine’s father remarried. Aunt Juliaalso accompanied the children when theyemigrated to the United States in about 1849.

Cathrine’s father went on a mission forthe LDS Church in Germany. There he metSarah Clason, who became his second wife,and Sarah’s sister who later became his thirdwife. Upon his remarriage Sarah took careof the children of Anna Mariah Clawsen, butwas never very good to them. After she hadchildren of her own, she was very partial toher own children and unfair to her stepchil-dren. Several people who knew the familysaid that Sarah was mean to her stepchildrenand let them go hungry while she pamperedher own children.

Later, Anna Mariah Clawsen’s childrenreceived some of their mother’s inheritance,but Sarah took this money to build a housefor herself and her sister. John Jensen,Cathrine’s brother, said that he had to learnto read and write by himself while herdingsheep on the hills near Mantua, Utah.Frederic, the youngest brother, died of themeasles while sleeping outside in a granaryin the middle of winter. Cathrine and her sis-ter Anna had to go out to work when theywere very young.

Cathrine was 13 years old when she wentto work for Eliza Collins, the first wife ofAbraham Hunsaker. Eliza felt sorry forCathrine and employed her mainly to helpher and to give her a place to live. Cathrine,who always loved Eliza, appreciated her kind-ness and called her “Aunt Eliza.”

Cathrine married Abraham Hunsaker on15 November 1858, just before she was 16years old. She became the mother of 10 chil-dren, all of whom lived to maturity excepttwo. For the first part of her married life shelived in the Big House in Brigham City. WhenAbraham moved to Honeyville, she wentthere to live in about 1874. For many years

1The Documented Family Group Sheets ofAbraham Hunsaker and Ane Cathrine Jensen.Published by the Abraham Hunsaker FamilyOrganization, 1981, 75pp.


she lived in the house by Salt Creek, west ofHoneyville. She moved into Honeyville later.(See picture of this second home on page 77.)

While in Honeyville she cooked for theolder boys who farmed and herded livestock.She had many experiences with stray Indianswho came begging for food. She was alwaysafraid of the Indians, and one time took hersmall children and hid out in a cornfield forseveral hours until some Indians had goneaway from her home.

Cathrine was called “little grandma” asshe only weighed 90 pounds. According toher brother John, this was no joke, however,

CATHRINE JENSEN HUNSAKER

FAMILY

Top: Benham, Margaret,Hans Peter, Esther.

Center: Julia, CathrineJensen Hunsaker, AnnaMaria, Ilah.

Bottom: Newman, Leo.

as she had had to contend with hunger muchof her life. Cathrine never had very goodhealth, although she lived to be 84 years old.She had a nervous condition, probablybrought on by malnutrition in her early life.She was a faithful little lady and expected allof her children and grandchildren to be ladiesand gentlemen.

Cathrine died on 15 September 1927in Honeyville. She was buried in the BrighamCity Cemetery.

Written by

VERNETTA HUNSAKER WINTLE


Children of Ane Children of Ane Children of Ane Children of Ane Children of Ane CathrineCathrineCathrineCathrineCathrine Jensen Hunsaker Jensen Hunsaker Jensen Hunsaker Jensen Hunsaker Jensen Hunsaker


Anna Maria(h) 10 Feb 1862 15 Apr 1933 Lewis Grant

Margaret 5 Dec 1863 12 Mar 1947 Joshua White Hawks

Julia 28 Nov 1865 14 May 1948 David Loveland

Esther 29 Feb 1868 16 Mar 1938 Alma Wilkinson Wagstaff

Hans Peter 9 Jul 1870 24 Oct 1912 Martha Matilda Allen

Benham 5 Jul 1872 21 Oct 1957 Emily Summerill

Ila 16 Jan 1875 1 May 1891 --------------------

Frederick 28 Jun 1877 5 Jun 1878 --------------------

Leo 15 Feb 1879 19 Nov 1981 Theresa Emilie Neumeyer

Mattie Marie Tyree

Newman 7 Jul 1881 24 Dec 1955 Myrtle Jane Smith

Eva Cecelia Chlarson


ANNA MARIAH “RYE”HUNSAKER GRANT FAMILY

Top: Abraham, Effie, Arverna.

Center: Anna MariahHunsaker Grant, Lewis Grant.

Bottom: Alta, Waldo, David.

Anna MarAnna MarAnna MarAnna MarAnna Mariah Hunsaker Griah Hunsaker Griah Hunsaker Griah Hunsaker Griah Hunsaker Grantantantantant

Anna Mariah, the first child of CathrineJensen and Abraham Hunsaker, was born atBrigham City on 10 February 1862. She wasnamed after her grandmother, Anna Mariah(Ane Marie) Clawsen.

“Rye,” as she was always called, workedas a child in the fields, and throughout herlife she always enjoyed outdoor work and pre-ferred it to housework. Rye married LewisGrant on 8 April 1883. Her husband was agrandson of her father and his first wife, ElizaCollins, through their daughter Mary.

Rye always had a difficult time at child-birth. When her first child was born, her fa-ther got up from a sickbed to rebuke her formaking such a fuss. He told her, “No one butyou can have that baby, so make up your mindto go to work and get it done.” He, of course,had seen so many babies born that he wascalloused to childbirth and thought Rye wasmaking much ado about nothing. When thebaby finally came, its head was crushed, andthe family then realized what a difficult labor

it had been. Of the 12 children born to Rye,five of them died from injuries at birth.

Rye and Lew took charge of part ofAbraham’s livestock for several years. Dur-ing the summers they would take the herd toStar Valley, Wyoming, where they greatly en-joyed life in that picturesque valley with goodfishing and hunting. They also spent anotherpleasant year with the livestock at ConnorSprings in Box Elder County.

When Lew was not working with live-stock, he freighted from Corinne to Montana.In about 1894, Lew and Rye homesteadedin Blue Creek where they wrangled wildhorses and raised dry land wheat. For theremainder of their lives, their livelihood wasfrom their farm and wild horse stock in BlueCreek. Their home in Blue Creek was a mud-chinked log cabin of two rooms. Their hometown, however, was always Honeyville, wherethey spent their winters. There they had abig beautiful home which was always open tofriends, relatives, and travelers, even hoboes.


About 1910 they took over the BlueCreek store and post office. Life in the drybarren Blue Creek Valley was harsh and notrees would grow to temper the summer heat,although Rye diligently planted cuttings ev-ery spring. Their only water was from thewarm, salty, sulfurous Blue Creek Spring, andvery little success was had with growing gar-den vegetables. Their main diet was rabbit,sage hen, dried fruits, flour, beans, and cured

meat. In spite of these meager supplies, any-one who came by during mealtime was al-ways welcome to partake of their food.

Lew suffered serious injuries in a wagonaccident and died on 7 October 1932. Ryefollowed her husband in death only six monthslater, on 15 April 1933, at the age of 71years. She was buried in the Honeyville Cem-etery.

Children of Anna Mariah Hunsaker GrantChildren of Anna Mariah Hunsaker GrantChildren of Anna Mariah Hunsaker GrantChildren of Anna Mariah Hunsaker GrantChildren of Anna Mariah Hunsaker Grant


Annie 1 Jun 1884 2 Jun 1884 --------------------

Lewis 14 May 1885 20 May 1885 --------------------

Effie Winona 18 Nov 1886 1 Jun 1978 Arthur John Davis

Gilbert Gillespie

George Metsker

Jeneva 22 Dec 1888 23 Dec 1888 --------------------

Abraham 26 Nov 1889 13 Jul 1974 Flora May Theurer

Alice Dalton Leavitt

Arverna 24 Apr 1892 11 Jun 1962 Alma Rudolph Theurer

David 26 Aug 1894 29 May 1982 Pearl Emma Theurer

Nephi 28 Dec 1896 28 Dec 1896 --------------------

Alta 4 Feb 1898 31 Jul 1993 Alvin Jacob Zollinger

Erwin Waldo 18 Nov 1900 28 Sep 1984 Uleda Fredericksen

Benjamin 17 Jul 1905 18 Jul 1905 --------------------

Percy Vernon 22 Sep 1906 2 Jun 1909 --------------------


MARGARET HUNSAKER HAWKS

FAMILY

Top: Roy, Frank, Amos.

Center: Wallace, Laveda, Eva,Ila, Lafayette.

Bottom: Joshua Hawks,Urilla, Margaret HunsakerHawks, Berlin (on lap).

Margaret Hunsaker HaMargaret Hunsaker HaMargaret Hunsaker HaMargaret Hunsaker HaMargaret Hunsaker Hawkswkswkswkswks

Margaret, the second child of CathrineJensen and Abraham Hunsaker, was born atBrigham City on 5 December 1863. She wasborn in the house just behind the courthouse,and later moved to the Big House. She at-tended school in the courthouse. When shewas 10, the family moved to Honeyville.

One regular event of Margaret’s early lifestood out in her memory. That was the call-ing together in the Big House of each wifeand her family to prayer every morning andevening. Each wife was given her turn to leadin prayer, being “mouth in prayer” as theytermed it. Also, each child who was oldenough was given a turn.

When Margaret was 16 she went toUtah’s Dixie with her brother Israel and hiswife to help them settle the cotton colonythere. She lived in St. George, Washington,and Silver Reef.

While Margaret was living in Silver Reef,the family of Amos Hawks stopped there on

their way from Franklin, Idaho, to Mexico tocolonize for the Church. After an interestingcourtship, Joshua Hawks, the eldest son ofAmos, asked for Margaret’s hand from herbrother Israel, who had been delegated to helpselect a husband for Margaret by their father.

Josh and Margaret were married in theSt. George Temple in February 1880. Im-mediately after their marriage they started outfor Mexico in a company of nine or ten wag-ons. Apparently, from Margaret’s diary, thiscompany made the descent to the ColoradoRiver through the infamous “slot” and thencontinued southward into what is now Ari-zona and settled in Mesa.

Life was very difficult in Mesa as this wasthen a barren desert, but Josh and Margaretmanaged to make out and were very happytogether. As Josh had promised to take Mar-garet back to see her family one day, theyreturned to Utah after about a year. Theystayed in Honeyville, where Josh worked for


his father-in-law in the grist mill for about threeand a half years, and then they returned toMesa.

Josh did not have good health in Ari-zona, so they moved northward to Escalante,Utah. Good land was scarce there and theywent back to Honeyville, and then on toPocatello Valley. For four years Margaret ranthe farm there, and for four years more sheran a farm at Portage while Josh helped buildthe coke ovens at Sunnyside, Utah and theDeseret News Building in Salt Lake City, inorder to get cash for the family to live on.

In 1914 they moved to Brigham City,and then after World War I was over, they

moved to an irrigated farm near Blackfoot,Idaho.

In about 1926, the family moved backto Portage. Because Josh’s health was fail-ing, they went back to Mesa during the win-ters. Josh died at Portage in 1936. Marga-ret died on 12 March 1947 at Tremontonand was buried at Portage.

Written by

MARGARET HUNSAKER HAWKS

Approved by

ILA HUNSAKER WILLIAMS

Children of Margaret Hunsaker HawksChildren of Margaret Hunsaker HawksChildren of Margaret Hunsaker HawksChildren of Margaret Hunsaker HawksChildren of Margaret Hunsaker Hawks


Joshua 13 Apr 1882 14 Apr 1882 --------------------

Catherine 13 Apr 1882 14 Apr 1882 --------------------

Amos 20 Jun 1883 16 Apr 1971 Vilate Parkinson

Minnie Myrtle Wise

Abraham Deroy 20 Feb 1885 12 Feb 1973 Grace Elizabeth Harris

Pearl Lavina Halford

Agnes Evaline 2 Jun 1887 29 Jan 1973 Chester Sylvanis Hall

Harrison Reid Farrar

Franklin Levi 25 Sep 1889 25 Jul 1972 Chloe Maria Harris

Ila 6 Dec 1891 13 Apr 1979 Charles Frederick Williams

Maggie Laveda 26 Jan 1894 18 Sep 1960 Francis Brown Gunnell

Wallace 9 Nov 1896 14 Sep 1960 Sarah Ellis Ivie

Lafayette 15 Jan 1899 11 May 1965 Inez Lula King

Nevada Urilla 11 Jan 1904 17 Mar 1914 --------------------

Berlin 27 May 1908 22 Mar 1928 [never married]


DAVID LOVELAND AND JULIA HUNSAKER LOVELAND

Julia Hunsaker LJulia Hunsaker LJulia Hunsaker LJulia Hunsaker LJulia Hunsaker Lovelandovelandovelandovelandoveland

Julia, the third child of Cathrine Jensenand Abraham Hunsaker, was born at BrighamCity on 28 November 1865. Julia had astrong and noble character and was well edu-cated for an early pioneer child.

She married David Loveland in the En-dowment House in Salt Lake City on 6 De-cember 1883. Her first six children were bornin Honeyville or in Calls Fort. The familymoved to Pocatello Valley, where they livedfor a short time on a farm. They then movedto Logan, Utah, where twin boys were born.She raised a family of 10 children and had towork very hard as all the people in those daysdid. She baked bread, sewed her family’sclothes, and scrubbed the bare wood floorswith plenty of homemade soap.

She had to draw water from a well, carryit to the house, and wash the family clotheson a board. It was a long hard day’s work asall the white clothes had to be boiled to keep

them pretty and white. When she ironed shesometimes had to chop wood to stuff in thehot stove to heat the irons. While she ironed,she always baked a batch of bread or boiled abig pot of beans. When the children had theirbaths, she had to do part of them one nightand the rest on another night, as all the wa-ter had to be heated in a wash boiler on thestove. A wash tub was put by the stove, be-hind a blanket spread over two chairs whichprovided a little privacy.

In 1911 the family moved to Hinckley,Utah, where they resided until 1917, whenthey moved to Tabiona, Utah. Neither Julianor her husband had good health in Tabiona,so they moved to Salt Lake City in 1938 or1939.

Julia had a very beautiful voice and sangher children to sleep, and always sang orhummed at her work. ‘When she was on herdeathbed she had to have her hymn book with


her and would sing softly to herself after therest of the family had gone to bed. When shebecame too ill to sing, she would just lie qui-etly in bed and say the words of her favoritehymns.

Julia died on 14 May 1948 at Salt LakeCity. She was entombed in Salt Lake City.

Written by

VERA LOVELAND HAWS

LILLIAN LOVELAND KELLER

Children of Julia Hunsaker LovelandChildren of Julia Hunsaker LovelandChildren of Julia Hunsaker LovelandChildren of Julia Hunsaker LovelandChildren of Julia Hunsaker Loveland


David Chauncey 15 Nov 1884 22 Apr 1969 Amy Matilda Fonnesbeck

Inger Marie Rasmussen

Chester 5 Jan 1887 13 Apr 1962 Mary Louisa Davidson

Gertrude Edwina Arnin

Lydia Lily Schaffer George

Vera Delila 6 May 1889 1 Sep 1965 John Ervin Haws

Oscar Fitzallen 25 Feb 1892 9 Feb 1982 Roxie Keller

Harvey Ray 5 Oct 1894 18 Feb 1920 Mary Louisa Mecham

Lillian 3 Oct 1897 18 Feb 1980 William Allen Keller

Cloyd Francis 11 Jun 1902 17 Jul 1996 Vera Wadley

Virginia Donovan Keeland

Floyd Elmer 11 Jun 1902 12 Nov 1903 --------------------

Seth Victor 15 May 1905 26 Nov 1911 --------------------

Glen Ursel 3 May 1908 3 Feb 1953 Eva Harcourt

Patricia Haggerty


ALMA W. WAGSTAFF AND ESTHER HUNSAKER WAGSTAFF

Esther Hunsaker WEsther Hunsaker WEsther Hunsaker WEsther Hunsaker WEsther Hunsaker Wagstaffagstaffagstaffagstaffagstaff

Esther, the fourth child of CathrineJensen and Abraham Hunsaker, was born atBrigham City on 29 February 1868. As achild she had very good training as a mem-ber of a large family. At the age of 15 shewent to Salt Lake City to study obstetrics un-der Dr. Ellis Shipp. She spent two years at-tending school there and acquiring practicalexperience. Years later, Dr. Shipp paid her awonderful tribute by saying, “Of all the pu-pils I have taught, Esther has had the largestpractice and has been the most successful.”At the age of 17 she had her first call to offi-ciate at the birth of a child by herself.

When she was 22, she married Alma W.Wagstaff, of Mendon, in the Logan Templeon 27 November 1889. They were the par-ents of 11 children, four of whom died at birth,

one at 11 months, and two died after theywere grown.

The family lived for several years atCharleston, Utah, in Wasatch County, whereEsther practiced obstetrics and still found timeto do Church work. She was superintendentof the YLMIA and was also a counselor inthe Relief Society.

In 1910, the family moved to the UintahBasin, near Tabiona, where they homesteadeda ranch. Esther was the only person in thatpart of the country who had any medical train-ing and was the first one called upon in anyemergency. She took care of pneumoniacases, smallpox cases, and set broken bones,but her main calling was to assist at the birthof babies. If a death occurred, she would layout the body, and her husband, who was a


carpenter, would build the casket, whichEsther would then cover. Esther also helpedmake the burial clothes.

Because of the primitive condition of theroads at the time, Esther often had to ridehorseback to take care of the sick. It has beensaid of her that Tabiona and its vicinity couldnot have been settled at that time if it had notbeen for her. She never refused to go when acall came for her, no matter how sick or tiredshe was.

Esther delivered more than 2,500 babiesthat were registered, and many before regis-tration was required. One day, when she wasanswering a call, the horse ran away with thesmall sleigh in which she was riding. She triedto jump out and was thrown to the ground.She suffered a broken arm, sprained ankle,and a dislocated shoulder. In time the sprainand broken arm healed, but the shouldernever was put in place right, and she wasnever able to raise her right arm above herhead afterwards and it was always a greathandicap to her.

Esther’s husband was made Bishop ofTabiona Ward, and she was able to do muchgood for the people there. She took care ofthose who didn’t have much money withoutever expecting pay. When she was asked howshe could go among those sick with conta-gious diseases without contracting the diseasesherself, she said, “When I was a young girl,my father gave me a patriarchal blessing inwhich I was told that I had a very importantwork to do, and if I went willingly and did mybest, that the Lord would help me in times ofneed and that success would be mine.” Thisblessing proved true as she never lost a motherand very few babies.

Esther moved to Provo for a few years,but most of her family was living in Tabionaso she moved back to be near her childrenand her many friends, who continued to al-ways call upon her for advice. She died inTabiona on 16 March 1938 and was buriedthere.

Children of Esther Hunsaker WagstaffChildren of Esther Hunsaker WagstaffChildren of Esther Hunsaker WagstaffChildren of Esther Hunsaker WagstaffChildren of Esther Hunsaker Wagstaff


Lorenzo 10 Jul 1890 17 Jul 1890 --------------------

Claude Lorin 17 Apr 1891 1 Mar 1978 Armina Shepard

Blanche Oberhansely

Esther May 20 Aug 1892 21 Sep 1892 --------------------

Ila Lila 14 May 1893 18 Oct 1933 George Gilbert Greer

Ada Lula 14 May 1893 5 May 1964 Joseph Enoch Rhoades

Lester 5 Apr 1897 5 Apr 1897 --------------------

Orpha Ellis 15 Nov 1899 9 Dec 1966 Marvin Robert Michie

Alta Laverna 5 Dec 1901 12 Nov 1917 --------------------

Duery Dermont 19 Jan 1905 8 Nov 1987 Afton Dixon

Joseph 27 Apr 1907 27 Apr 1907 --------------------

Ladacy 19 Mar 1909 28 Jan 1910 --------------------


HANS PETER HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Hans Peter Hunsaker and Matilda Allen Hunsaker. Secondrow: Vernetta, Lisle, Leon, Lavoy. Bottom row: Blanche, Ursel,J. Golden, Cecil, Ben.

Hans Hans Hans Hans Hans PPPPPeteretereteretereter Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker Hunsaker

Hans Peter, the first son of CathrineJensen and Abraham Hunsaker, was born on9 July 1870 at Brigham City. As Cathrinealready had four daughters she was veryhappy when a son was born and wanted togive him an especially nice name. When herhusband named him Hans Peter, she was quitedisappointed. Her husband said, however, “IfHans Peter was good enough for your father,it is good enough for your son.”

Pete, as he was always called, was some-what of a dreamer when he was a young boy,and would get so interested in the wondersof nature that he forgot what he had been

sent for when on an errand. Consequentlyhe received a number of switchings. He usedto tell an amusing story about how he gotnine switchings in one day. His father wasthreshing and Pete was supposed to keep themen in fresh drinking water, but he neverseemed to be able to get back with the wateruntil it was warm or dirty. He would stop tocount the ants in an ant hill or to chase somebird or butterfly. Abraham would tell his boysto get a switch, and of course, they wouldalways find the smallest one they could.

Pete married Martha Matilda Allen in theEndowment House in Salt Lake City.


Pete was always a great reader and wouldread anything that he could get his hands on.He didn’t have much schooling, but he knewthe Book of Mormon, the Bible, and otherChurch works. He also read Grimm’s FairyTales, and when his own children were grow-ing up, he would tell them many stories fromthese books. He was a good mimic and wouldact out these stories as he told them.

Pete spent the last few years of his lifebuying cattle and sheep for his brotherBenham. When he died in Brigham on 24October 1912, after an operation for appen-dicitis, he left his wife with nine children toraise by herself. He was buried in theHoneyville Cemetery.

Written by

VERNETTA HUNSAKER WINTLE

Children of Hans Peter HunsakerChildren of Hans Peter HunsakerChildren of Hans Peter HunsakerChildren of Hans Peter HunsakerChildren of Hans Peter Hunsaker


Ila Chloe 19 Sep 1892 14 Oct 1892 --------------------

Vernetta 3 Dec 1893 10 Dec 1970 Earl Joseph Wintle

Lisle Allen 3 Sep 1895 19 Dec 1957 Zilpha Josephine Simmons

Leon Peter 1 Jan 1897 26 Jan 1971 Mary Catherine Wintle

Lavoy Matilda 19 Jul 1899 28 Jan 1972 Lyman Edward Chlarson

Blanche 1 Aug 1900 1 Jul 1978 Leland Erastus Anderson

Newell Ellis 11 Dec 1901 29 Mar 1902 --------------------

Ursel Melvin 8 Apr 1903 11 Nov 1986 Leone Zundel

J Golden 2 Jun 1905 22 Jun 1985 Deverne Kristine Koford

Cecil Allen 16 Nov 1907 19 Oct 1928 [never married]

Ben Ervin 24 Jan 1911 21 Oct 1944 Ruth May Wight


BENHAM HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Alice, Leah, Monida,Romania, Clifford.

Bottom: Q Maurice, EmilySummerill Hunsaker, BenhamHunsaker, Carma.

Benham HunsakerBenham HunsakerBenham HunsakerBenham HunsakerBenham Hunsaker

Benham, the sixth child of CathrineJensen and Abraham Hunsaker, was born inthe Big House in Brigham City on 5 July1872. When he was about one year old hisparents moved to Honeyville, where Benhamgrew up.

During Ben’s early boyhood, the U.S.marshalls were attempting to arrest Abrahamfor polygamy and it was necessary forAbraham to spend a great portion of his lastyears hiding out. On several occasions themarshalls came to the house, and once,Abraham hid in a small attic room which wasentered through a false panel in the wall. Themarshall was on the verge of discovering thefalse panel so Benham boldly told him, “Goahead, push out that wall and you’ll find myfather hiding behind it.” The marshall thoughtthe young boy was just being a smart aleckand, afraid of being embarrassed by a mereboy, did not push on the wall, and Abrahamwas not discovered.

On another occasion, a marshall toldBenham to tell Abraham that if he wouldcome in peacefully and give himself up, hewould not put him in jail. The marshall fol-

lowed Benham when he went to deliver themessage and thus found Abraham. Benhamwas so furious at being tricked that themarshall had to draw his gun. Benham daredthe marshall to shoot and the marshall finallyhad to holster his gun and admit defeat by ayoung boy.

Ben married Emily Summerill in the Lo-gan Temple on 8 March 1893. A month later,in full winter, the young couple loaded a sleighwith lumber and set out to homestead in BlueCreek Valley. They arrived there at night, andBen immediately went to work to build ahome. The house was a three-sided lean-tobuilt against a hill with a roof; one wall andthe floor were of dirt. Ben worked all nightby the light of the moon, and by morningtheir house was ready.

Ben and Emily lived at Blue Creek untiltheir first child died. Emily always felt that thechild’s death was due to lack of medical careand insisted that they move back toHoneyville. They maintained the homestead,but lived in Honeyville until 1911, when theymoved to Ogden.


Ben served a mission for the Church inthe Southern States. Emily joined him afterthe first year and took care of the MissionHome in Cincinnatti, Ohio.

Ben was active in livestock most of hislife and was largely responsible for buildingthe Ogden Union Stockyards. In 1926 hewent into the automobile business, and in ad-dition was the vice-president of an oil com-pany located in Casper, Wyoming. In 1934he purchased a gold mine in western Utah.In 1940 he retired from active work and de-voted his time to operating a large farm he

had bought from his mother near Thatcher,and later purchased another large farm atCorinne. Ben always had the knack of mak-ing money, and as he was kind and gener-ous, enjoyed helping other people who werein less fortunate circumstances.

Ben died on 21 October 1957, at theage of 85 in Ogden, Utah and was buried inthe Honeyville Cemetery.

Written by

Q MAURICE HUNSAKER

Children of Benham HunsakerChildren of Benham HunsakerChildren of Benham HunsakerChildren of Benham HunsakerChildren of Benham Hunsaker


Frumillia Elizabeth 8 Dec 1893 5 May 1894 --------------------

Monida Emily 1 Jun 1895 27 Aug 1976 John Ira Davis

Romania Julia 13 Oct 1896 30 May 1928 Heber Joseph McKell

Benham 29 Dec 1898 1 Mar 1899 --------------------

Ilah Hortense 25 Sep 1901 3 Aug 1903 --------------------

Leah Katherine 17 Aug 1904 16 Jun 1981 Ransom Quinn

Clifford Summerill 31 Oct 1906 19 Feb 1992 Dorothy Nell Williams

Alice Lucille 6 Sep 1908 4 Jun 1986 James Augustus Shepherd

Boyd Cook

Carma May 18 May 1910 22 Feb 1988 Gordon Yan Croft

Morton Phillip Stein

George Aaron Fox

Alfred 22 Sep 1912 22 Sep 1912 --------------------

Q Maurice 25 Jul 1916 5 Apr 1996 Dorothy Louise Stone

Maria Hortensia Hartmann


LEO HUNSAKER FAMILY

Theressa Neumeyer Hunsaker, Otto, Edna, Leo Hunsaker.

LLLLLeo Hunsakereo Hunsakereo Hunsakereo Hunsakereo Hunsaker

Leo, the next to last child of CathrineJensen and Abraham Hunsaker, was born inHoneyville on 15 February 1879. He wasraised and educated in Box Elder County un-til he attended the Brigham Young Academyat Logan. He later specialized in business ad-ministration at the Salt Lake City BusinessCollege.

At the age of 18, he began work as theassistant secretary to the First Council of Sev-enties and the General Board of the DeseretSunday School Union. He was sustained clerkof the Salt Lake Stake and High Council on8 June 1902. In 1956, he was the only sur-viving member of these groups.

Leo married Theressa E. Neumeyer on4 May 1904. His wife was a convert to theChurch from Neuwark, Munchen Gladbach,Germany. They were the parents of threesons and three daughters. Theressa died inSalt Lake City in 1948.

Leo engaged in railroad work as a youngman. Also, as he put it, “In 1906 I moved toGoldfield and Tonopah, Nevada during thegold rush, and engaged in gold mining withsome success until the mine petered out.” Hereturned to Honeyville in 1910, where hefarmed and worked at the flour mill. He wasvery active in Church and civic affairs whileliving there. He was twice elected presidentof the Town Board, and served as Bishop forseven years.

In about 1928, Leo sold the farm andmoved to Salt Lake City, where he engagedin painting and interior decorating. In 1956he became foreman at Deseret Industries andChaplain for the 175 workers there.

He married Mattie Marie Tyree on 22March 1946.

At the time the first edition went to pressin 1957, Leo was the only surviving child ofAbraham. He died 19 November 1981 atthe age of 102 and nine months.


Children of Leo HunsakerChildren of Leo HunsakerChildren of Leo HunsakerChildren of Leo HunsakerChildren of Leo Hunsaker


BY THERESA EMILIE NEUMEYER:

Otto Leo 22 Feb 1906 28 Oct 1978 Cressa Cluff

Edna 3 Aug 1908 26 Apr 1982 Arthur Levi Wooten

Irma 18 Feb 1910 Grant Ernest Peterson

Glen Loyd 19 Dec 1912 6 Sep 1999 Elizabeth (Betty) Ure

Wilford Rex 22 Mar 1915 3 Aug 1996 Karma Krantz

Mary Luella 17 Jul 1918 Garland F. Potts

BY MATTIE MARIE TYREE:

(none)


NEWMAN HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Newman Hunsaker, Myrtle Smith Hunsaker. Bottom:Barbara, Hugh, Ardis, John, Oreita.

NeNeNeNeNewman Hunsakerwman Hunsakerwman Hunsakerwman Hunsakerwman Hunsaker

Newman, the last child of CathrineJensen and Abraham Hunsaker, was born inHoneyville on 7 July 1881. He lived most ofhis life in the house on the southeast cornerof the crossroads, which had been hismother’s home.

Newman married Myrtle Jane Smith on16 July 1902, and for several years of their

early married life they dry farmed in BlueCreek Valley. Later they returned toHoneyville to live, and Newman remainedthere the rest of his life. He ran farms west ofHoneyville up to the time of his death.

Newman was an ardent baseball fan andalways played the game at every opportunity.First he played with the “singles” as a young


man, and later with the “marrieds,” as themen of Honeyville used to team up accord-ing to their marital status. Newman had a realinventive ability and was very mechanicallyminded. In his younger years he spent muchof his spare time in an old shed designingand making many useful tools. He was ad-vised many times to patent some of his in-ventions, but he never did, preferring to letanyone use his tools and ideas without obli-gation.

Newman owned one of the first auto-mobiles in Honeyville, a beautiful red andblack two-passenger car. As automobiles wereso rare at that time, it was considered a verywonderful thing, and Newman spent most ofhis Sunday afternoons taking people for a ridein his new auto.

Newman’s oldest son, Foster, was killedin a hunting accident when he was 14. An-

other son, Kless, tumbled into a tub of boil-ing water and was scalded to death when hewas only three years old.

Myrtle died on 18 May 1922, after a longillness. Newman married Eva CeceliaChlarson on 12 September 1923.

Although Newman never took a veryactive part in the affairs of the Church, hewas a good man and always tried to live bythe “Golden Rule.” In the opinion of all thosewho knew him, he succeeded very well indoing so. He was always loved and respectednot only by his children but by all who knewhim.

Newman died of a heart attack on Christ-mas Eve, 1955. He was buried in theHoneyville Cemetery.

Written by

RITA HUNSAKER LARSEN

Children of Newman HunsakerChildren of Newman HunsakerChildren of Newman HunsakerChildren of Newman HunsakerChildren of Newman Hunsaker


BY MYRTLE JANE SMITH:

Newman Foster 3 May 1904 18 Nov 1918 --------------------

Oreita (Rita) 7 Feb 1908 28 Feb 1993 Merlin Antone Larsen

Oral John 2 Jan 1910 10 May 1996 Emma Ree Orme

Kless Ford 16 Dec 1916 8 Feb 1919 --------------------

Darwin Austin 3 Aug 1918 Beth Grant

Edith Fogleberg

BY EVA CECELIA CHLARSON:

Ardis 7 Nov 1924 Marion Kenneth Burbank

Barbara 17 Feb 1927 Dee R. Jeppesen

Hugh Deloy 27 Jun 1929 Jane Iantha Hipple

181MARY LUCKHAM HUNSAKER AND CHILDREN

Sketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofSketches ofMary LMary LMary LMary LMary Luckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsaker




Mary LMary LMary LMary LMary Luckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsakeruckham Hunsaker

Mary Luckham was a half sister of Mar-garet Sweeten. Margaret was the child of MaryGardner and George Sweeten. GeorgeSweeten died in 1842 and, in 1844, MaryGardner married Roger Luckham. Mary wasborn to them on 15 August 1845, in Brooke,Ontario, Canada.

The early history of Margaret Sweetenand Mary Luckham is therefore almost ex-actly the same. Upon arriving in Utah, Mar-garet, then 17 years old, married AbrahamHunsaker, becoming his third wife in a po-lygamous marriage. Almost 10 years later,on 4 February 1863, Mary Luckham, whowas then 18 years old, married Abraham tobecome his fifth, and last, wife.

After arriving in Utah, the Luckham fam-ily lived for a while in the fort at what is nowPioneer Park in Salt Lake City, and thenmoved to Mill Creek, where they experiencedthe same terrible hardships as the other Pio-neers. When Johnston’s Army was expected,the family moved southward with the rest ofthe Saints.

When the Saints returned northward, theLuckhams moved to Cache Valley and madetheir home at Mendon. The Luckhams wereamong the first Pioneers to settle Cache Val-ley.

After her marriage, Mary taught schoolfor several years in Brigham City. She was adevoted wife and mother and was loved byeveryone who knew her. When Abrahammoved to Honeyville, Mary became the firstPrimary President of the Honeyville Ward.Her home in Honeyville was four rooms con-structed of adobe and brick. A year or twolater, two more rooms were added; theserooms were made of rock.

A premature child was born in March1881; he lived a few hours, long enough tobe named Amos. Mary died on 5 May 1882;she had suffered from consumption for manyyears. She was buried in the Brigham CityCemetery.

Written by

SUSANNAH HUNSAKER GRAHAM

WELDON HUNSAKER

Children of Mary Luckham HunsakerChildren of Mary Luckham HunsakerChildren of Mary Luckham HunsakerChildren of Mary Luckham HunsakerChildren of Mary Luckham Hunsaker NAME BORN DIED MARRIED

Susannah 25 Feb 1867 11 Apr 1929 Frederick James Graham

Martha 8 Apr 1869 9 Jul 1933 George Harper

Roger 8 Jun 1871 21 May 1873 --------------------

Thomas Luckham 13 Oct 1873 9 Aug 1878 --------------------

Weldon 20 Nov 1875 14 Feb 1957 Rose Vilate Allen

Minta 15 Feb 1878 6 Nov 1887 --------------------

Oakham 15 Dec 1879 20 Jan 1947 [never married]

Amos 8 Mar 1881 8 Mar 1881 --------------------


SUSANNAH HUNSAKER

GRAHAM FAMILY

Frederick Graham, Promison,Susannah Hunsaker Graham,Viola.

Susannah Hunsaker GrSusannah Hunsaker GrSusannah Hunsaker GrSusannah Hunsaker GrSusannah Hunsaker Grahamahamahamahamaham

Susannah, the first child of MaryLuckham and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornon 25 February 1867 at Brigham City, Utah.

When Susannah was about eight yearsold a tragic accident happened. She and hersister, Martha, and two half brothers, prob-ably Robert and Leo, went into the attic ofthe Big House in Brigham City, looking forpigeon eggs. Susannah didn’t know she wassupposed to walk on the rafters and whenshe stepped on the plaster it gave way, andshe fell through the ceiling and then downthe stairway. The fall broke her back. Shewas in such great pain at the time that shecould not tell anyone where she was hurt. Itwas a wonder that she lived at all. The bones

did not knit properly, and in her own words,she “suffered a thousand deaths.”

As she grew, her back gradually becamemore and more humped. When she quit grow-ing, the physical pain eased, but the mentalpain of her affliction must have been as great,if not more, than the physical pain. Becauseof her crippled back, she was left out of nearlyeverything.

When Susannah was about 15, hermother died. As Susannah was the oldest ofthe children, she had to take the responsibil-ity of the other four children, the youngest ofwhom was only three at the time. Althoughothers helped, the main responsibility of rais-ing these children fell on Susannah.


As Susannah grew into womanhood shelearned to crochet, knit, braid straw hats,make ornaments, braid rugs, and to play theorgan and sing. She was very talented anddid all these things well, and with her handi-crafts supported herself.

When her sister Martha married GeorgeHarper, they invited Susannah to live withthem. Later Susannah purchased land fromGeorge and had a three-room house built onit by Benjamin Tolman and Jedediah Grant.About this time she went to Salt Lake Cityand studied obstetrics under Dr. Ellis Shippfor two years. She returned to Honeyville,but only practiced this profession a shortwhile.

In 1887, Susannah was given a patriar-chal blessing by John Smith. Among someof the things he told her was “your positionshall be as a mother in Israel, among whomyou will be crowned hereafter.” Due to herdeformity, Susannah felt that she would bean old maid, and at the time thought the bless-ing meant she would raise someone else’s chil-dren.

On 24 October 1901, Susannah mar-ried Frederick James Graham in the LoganTemple. Graham had been married previously

but his wife had died. At the time of theirmarriage he was 74, and she was 34 yearsold. Susannah had a daughter and in 1905had a son. As Graham’s patriarchal blessinghad promised him a son, the son was namedPromison.

Susannah was a hard working woman.As her husband was so much older than she,a great deal of the work around the houseand farm, that would ordinarily be done by aman, had to be done by Susannah. In addi-tion, she was active in the Church, where sheserved as organist, sang in the choir, and wasa Relief Society block teacher. Her husbanddied in 1911 at the age of 84.

For a long time Susannah tried to runthe farm with the help of her children. Asshe got older, she suffered a great deal fromher back, and from other illnesses, and hadtrouble breathing. She used to spend a greatdeal of time kneeling in front of a chair, as ifin prayer, as this was the most comfortableposition for her to breathe. She died, kneel-ing in front of a chair, in the Tremonton Hos-pital on 9 April 1929 at the age of 62.

Written by

VIOLA GRAHAM COOPER

Children of Susannah Hunsaker GrahamChildren of Susannah Hunsaker GrahamChildren of Susannah Hunsaker GrahamChildren of Susannah Hunsaker GrahamChildren of Susannah Hunsaker Graham


Viola 5 Jan 1903 19 Nov 1983 Sidney William Elswood

Arthur Cooper

Promison 21 Feb 1905 13 Feb 1946 Gladys Hudnall


Martha Hunsaker HarperMartha Hunsaker HarperMartha Hunsaker HarperMartha Hunsaker HarperMartha Hunsaker Harper

Martha, the second child of MaryLuckham and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornon 8 April 1869 in Brigham City, where shespent her early years. When she was about10, the family moved to Honeyville, and soonafter this move, Mary Luckham passed away.On her death bed, Mary pleaded that herchildren remain together. For about two yearsthe family did remain together, with Marthaand Susannah helping take care of the otherchildren. Their father tried to spend nightswith them, but his health was failing so at lastit seemed best to separate them.

Martha went to Logan to live with a Mrs.Morrell. Mrs. Morrell was a dressmaker, andwhile Martha was in this home she helpedwith the sewing so she could learn dressmak-ing. Later she went back to Honeyville, andthen her half brother, Lorenzo, took her toWashakie to clerk in his store. Martha’s onegreat desire was that her brothers and sistersshould have the things they wanted, and muchof the money she earned was spent buyingthings for them and in trying to make themhappy.

When Martha was 18, her youngest sis-ter, Minta, became ill with diphtheria. Becauseof the danger of the disease, Martha was notpermitted to see Minta until just before Mintadied. Martha had not realized just how ill Mintawas, and had bought perfume and otherthings she thought Minta would like. Mintakept asking for Martha, and when the doctorsaid the end was near, Martha was permittedto come in. As Martha went to the door, Mintasmiled, stretched her arms out to her, andthen passed away. Martha never quite recov-ered from the death of her younger sister. Inlater years when she talked about Minta, tearswould come to her eyes and she would say,

“Poor girl, she didn’t have a very happy lifewhile she was on this earth.”

After her marriage on 9 January 1891to George Harper in the Logan Temple, shehad her brothers and sisters come to live withher until, one by one, they got married.

The first four years of Martha’s marriedlife were spent at Salt Creek. She then movedto Calls Fort where her husband worked inthe canyons cutting trees and preparing tim-ber to build a house. They later moved toHoneyville and stayed with LorenzoHunsaker. In 1898, they moved into a newhouse George had built. For about a year anda half they lived on Keough’s Ranch on theRaft River in Cassia County, Idaho, whereGeorge was foreman, and Martha did thecooking. About this time there was talk ofbringing the canal into Honeyville, so theyreturned to their own home there.

The beautiful thing about Martha and herhusband’s life together was their absolute de-votion to one another and their children. Theywere together 25 years, and during all thattime there were hardly any cross words be-tween them. Martha’s one thought was thecomfort of her husband and family. In a way,she was too good to her family and workedtoo hard for them. Her husband was morestrict and usually arranged for his children tohave plenty of work to keep them busy.Martha always tried to make life easier forher children.

George had a stroke, and for two yearsbefore he died he was unable to do muchwork. During this time the worry, and mostof the work, fell upon Martha’s shoulders.When her husband died in 1916, the wholeresponsibility of the family was left to her.


Her husband’s death was a great blow toMartha, but she turned her whole attentionto her boys and girls, determined that theyshould have the best that she could offer them.

MARTHA HUNSAKER HARPER FAMILY

Top: George Harper and Martha Hunsaker Harper. Second row:Arminta, Osmond, Elsie. Third row: Estelle, Alda, Clayton.Bottom: Venna, Leath, Lester, Kenneth.

Martha died on 9 July 1933, as a resultof an accident, and was buried in theHoneyville Cemetery.

Written by

DAUGHTERS OF MARTHA


Children of Martha Hunsaker HarperChildren of Martha Hunsaker HarperChildren of Martha Hunsaker HarperChildren of Martha Hunsaker HarperChildren of Martha Hunsaker Harper


Mary Arminta 21 Jan 1892 22 Jun 1960 Estrus Manly Sackett

George Osmon 7 Aug 1893 3 Jun 1945 Ella McCullough

Ervin 23 Apr 1895 27 Apr 1895 --------------------

Hannah Elsie 19 Apr 1896 19 Jul 1965 Joseph Robert Chlarson

Susannah Estelle 17 May 1898 22 May 1968 John Barton

Alda Verne 20 May 1900 17 Feb 1981 John Grant Holton

Ephraim D. Paxton

Thomas Clayton 15 Apr 1902 13 Sep 1950 [never married]

Venna 20 Apr 1904 3 Dec 1974 Simon Leron Jensen

Leath Abraham 29 May 1906 4 Jan 1958 [never married]

Reese Lester 26 Feb 1908 4 Jan 1967 Ann Wheatley

Hazel Burdett

Kenneth 31 Jan 1910 16 Sep 1972 Leatha Burbanks

Katherine Maker


WELDON HUNSAKER FAMILY

Top: Verlie, Elva, Lavon,Wanda, Keith, Gladys, June.

Bottom: Lygia, WeldonHunsaker, Rose Allen

Hunsaker, Reuel. Inset: Jude.

Weldon HunsakerWeldon HunsakerWeldon HunsakerWeldon HunsakerWeldon Hunsaker

Weldon, the fifth child of Mary Luckhamand Abraham Hunsaker, was born on 20November 1875 in Brigham City. He movedto Honeyville five years later. Abraham builthomes for all his wives, and Weldon’s mother,being the last wife, was the last one to re-ceive a home. Her home in Honeyville origi-nally consisted of a four-room adobe house.Later, two rooms of rock construction wereadded.

When Weldon was seven years old hismother died. Weldon, Roger, and Oakhamwere taken care of by their sisters, Susannahand Martha. As the two girls were very youngthemselves, Weldon remembered that whenany of them got sick, Abraham would takethe children to one of the other wives to becared for. While thus living with his sisters,Weldon remembered running home fromschool at lunch time to eat molasses, madefrom corn stalks, and bread. Because of thispoor diet, Weldon developed worms and wellremembered the doses of turpentine andsugar which were given him to get rid of theworms.

For a while the children were raised byHarriet Beckstead Hunsaker, and for anotherperiod, by Eliza Collins Hunsaker. LorenzoHunsaker was named as their guardian, andwhen he went to the Washakie Indian Reser-vation to teach school, Weldon and Oakhamwent with him.

Weldon was given the task of taking careof the hogs which Abraham owned, andwhich ran in the bend of the Bear River westof Honeyville. Oakham and Newman wereassigned to help Weldon, but being very youngthey were of little help and Weldon had torun so much chasing the hogs that his anklesbecame swollen. At about this time the fed-eral marshalls were after the polygamists.Weldon and some younger boys were told tosit by the roadside and watch for the approachof the marshall. When they could see hisbuggy coming, they would run home and telltheir father, who would then go into hiding.One time the marshall said that if Weldonwould lead him to his father and let him talkto him, that he would never bother Abraham


again. Although Weldon was fearful themarshall might not keep his promise, he tooka chance and led him to his father. After theconversation, the marshall did keep his prom-ise and never molested Abraham again.

Weldon was very young when Abrahamdied. For a while he worked for IsraelHunsaker, and when he was 20 years old hewent into partnership with Neal Wright. Whenhe was 22, he drew his share out of this part-nership and married Rose Vilate Allen on 20September 1897 in Brigham City.

Shortly after his marriage, Weldonfarmed land at Honeyville. During this time

he was second counselor in the superinten-dency of the Sunday School. After some time,Weldon and Rose sold out and moved toRandolph, Rich County, where they operateda ranch. Later they moved to Woodruff. Asthis was a very cold and disagreeable coun-try, they moved to Salt Lake Valley and boughta farm at Draper, and a home in Salt LakeCity.

Weldon died in Salt Lake City on 14 Feb-ruary 1957, and was buried in the Roy, Utah,Cemetery.

Written by

WELDON HUNSAKER

Children of Weldon HunsakerChildren of Weldon HunsakerChildren of Weldon HunsakerChildren of Weldon HunsakerChildren of Weldon Hunsaker


Reuel Weldon 26 Nov 1898 24 Aug 1983 Zilpha Cox

Ervin Jude 14 Nov 1900 14 Sep 1942 Elva Rebecca Robinson

Clara Hutchinson

Mary Lygia 18 Dec 1902 17 Mar 1995 Wilbur Hadley

Verlie Rose 12 Dec 1904 17 May 1972 William Amasa Baker

Elva 7 Oct 1906 27 Sep 1983 Clawson Spicer Elliott

Oral 20 Oct 1907 20 Oct 1907 --------------------

Gladys 7 Dec 1909 14 Jan 1985 Hugh Leo Martin, Sr.

Lavon Allen 28 Jan 1913 23 Jun 1966 Marian June Carney

June 30 Jun 1914 7 May 1997 Carl Oakden

Keith Allen 9 Jan 1916 16 Apr 1988 Lola Mae Harvey

Cecelia Alice Wiklund

Wanda 3 May 1919 Clyde Leo Petersen

Samuel Thomas Soto


Oakham HunsakerOakham HunsakerOakham HunsakerOakham HunsakerOakham Hunsaker

Oakham, the seventh child of MaryLuckham and Abraham Hunsaker, was bornon 15 December 1879 in Honeyville. MaryLuckham died when Oak was only two yearsold, and like the other younger children ofthe family, he was raised by his sisters,Susannah and Martha, and by others ofAbraham’s wives. He lived with Martha andGeorge Harper for more than 30 years.

Once, while herding sheep on MonteCristo, Oakham was struck by lightning. Hisdog, standing at his side, was killed, but Oakwas only stunned. Somehow, in a dazed con-

dition, he got on his horse which took him toa camp. Oak never fully recovered from theeffects of this incident. Later, an abscessformed on his lungs, and although he wasoperated on for this, he was never very wellafterwards.

Oak spent the last few years of his life ina hospital, where he passed away 20 Janu-ary 1947. He was buried in the HoneyvilleCemetery.

Written by

WELDON HUNSAKER

191INDEX OF ANCESTORS AND DESCENDANTS

IndexIndexIndexIndexIndex

Allen, Helen Hunsaker, gdau, viii, 73, 98, 104,115-116

Allred, Reddin, Company of Pioneers, 122Anderson, Blanche Hunsaker, gdau, 173-174Anderson, Sarah Ellen Hunsaker, gdau, 133-

134Atkinson, Hazel Verdella Hunsaker, gdau, 110-

111

Baker, Jacque, gggdau, endsheets, 21, 24,197, 198

Baker, Nola Hawks, ggdau, endsheets, 198Baker, Verlie Rose Hunsaker, gdau, 188-189Baptism of Abraham and Eliza, 20Barnes, Polly May Hunsaker, gdau, 123, 133-

134Barton, S. Estelle Harper, gdau, 186-187Battalion, Mormon, 27, 28-39Bear River Brass Band, 88Beckstead, Abraham, gs, 102-103Beckstead, Alexander, gs, 103Beckstead, Elizabeth, gdau, 103Beckstead, Gordon Eli, gs, 102-103Beckstead, Henry A., gs, 103Beckstead, Leo, ggs, 102Beckstead, Louis Alfonzo, gs, 103Benson, Sybil H. Hunsaker, gdau, 117-118Benson, Varenna C. Hunsaker, gdau, 117-118Bible, old family, 33, 68, 82Bieri (Birg), Barbara Miller, gggm, 2, 3, 4, 6Bieri (Birg), Nicholaus, gggf, 2, 6

Bishop, Polly Ocelia Winward, gdau, 127-128Boothe, Elizabeth Hunsaker Beckstead, dau,

19, 56, 57, 62, 92, 99, 102-103, 104Boswell, Catherine Hunsaker, gdau, 159-160Brigham City, Hunsakers Settle in, 62-75Brigham City Council, First, 72Bronson, Alice Camilla Lewis, gdau, 143-144Bull Fight on the San Pedro, 33-35Burbank, Ardis Hunsaker, gdau, 179-180Burgess, Martha E. Hunsaker, gdau, 137-138Burton, Grace Hunsaker, gdau, 125-126

Canady, Patricia Ensign, ggdau, 39Carson Valley, Nevada, 57-61, 97, 108Cave near Little Mountain, 73, 123Children of Abraham Hunsaker, 92Chlarson, H. Elsie Harper, gdau, 186-187Chlarson, Lavoy M. Hunsaker, gdau, 173-174Christensen, Allen C., gggs, xChristensen, Eva Louise Hunsaker, gdau, 105-

107Christensen, Margaret Hunsaker, gdau, 105-

107Christensen, Susie Hunsaker, gdau, 105-107Coat of Arms, Hunsaker, 1, 10-11, 14Cook, Alice L. Hunsaker, gdau, 175-176Cook, Velda E. Hunsaker, gdau, 133-134Cooley, Essie Vernisha Hunsaker, gdau, 125-

126Cooper, Viola Graham, gdau, 183-184Corn nubbins and pan of coals, story of, 43-44Council Bluffs, 26-27, 44, 96Croft, Donald B., ggs, ix, 14Crowley, Jennie M. Hunsaker, gdau, 123, 141-

142Cunningham Company, 45-47, 96Cutler, Martha Ellen Hunsaker, gdau, 140

Dana, Edna Melissa Hunsaker, gdau, 125-126Davis, Mabel Ham(p)son, gdau, 119-120

Including Direct Descendants and Ancestors of Abraham HunsakerAppearing in This Volume1

1Relationship of each person to AbrahamHunsaker is indicated as follows: f, father; m, mother;gf, grandfather; gm, grandmother; ggf, great-grandfather; ggm, great-grandmother; gggf, great-great-grandfather; gggm, great- greai-grandmother; w,wife; s, son; dau, daughter; gs, grandson; gdau,granddaughter; ggs, great-grandson; ggdau, great-granddaughter, gggs, great-great-grandson, andgggdau, great-great-granddaughter.


Davis, Monida E. Hunsaker, gdau, 175-176Depew, Harriet (Hattie) Merrieta Trimmer,

gdau, 109Dove, story of, 30-31Dunkard traditions, 12-14

Elliott, Elva Hunsaker, gdau, 188-189Ensign, Ara Elizabeth Hunsaker, gdau, 104,

115-116

Farrer, Agnes Eveline Hawks, gdau, 167-168Ferretta, Henrietta Trimmer, gdau, 109Fillippini, Josephine Lillian Trimmer, 109Fisher, Emeline Maud Hunsaker, gdau, 105-

107Fisher, Harriet Eola Lewis, gdau, 143-144Fort Bridger, 42Fort Laramie, 42Fort Great Salt Lake, 151, 182

Garden Grove, 26Gardner, Archibald, wagon group, 150Gibbs, Gertrude Victoria Hunsaker, gdau, 129-

130Gilmore, Norma Grant, ggdau, 101Golden Spike Ceremony, 73-75, 129Goodrich, Melissa Caroline Hunsaker, gdau,

140Gould, Anna Trimmer, gdau, 109Gillespie, Effie Winona Grant, gdau, 165-166Graham, Promison, gs, 183-184Graham, Susannah Hunsaker, dau, 66, 92,

182, 183-184, 185Grant, Abraham, gs, 101Grant, Abraham, gs and ggs, 165-166Grant, Alexander, gs, 101Grant, Anna Mariah Hunsaker, dau, 92, 163-

164, 165-166Grant, Annie, gdau, 166Grant, Benjamin, gs, 166Grant, Benjamin, ggs, 33Grant, David, gs, 165-166Grant, E. Waldo, gs, 165-166Grant, Jacob, gs, 101Grant, Jedediah Mill, gs, 33, 73, 100-101Grant, Jeneva, gdau, 166Grant, Lewis, gs, 87, 100, 101, 165Grant, Lewis, Jr., gs and ggs, 166Grant, Mary Hunsaker, dau, 12, 19, 20, 25,

33, 49, 57, 66, 73, 92, 95, 99, 100-101

Grant, Nephi, gs, 166Grant, Percy Vernon, gs, 166Grant, Robert Bruce, gs, 100-101Grant, Royal, ggs, 33Grave locations for Abraham and wives, 90Greer, Ila Lila Wagstaff, gdau, 172Green, Ronilla Hunsaker, gdau, 159-160Griffith, Myrtle Harriet Hunsaker, gdau, 139-

140Gruwell, Barbara Etta Beckstead, gdau, 102-

103Gunnell, Maggie Laveda Hawks, gdau, 167-

168

Hadley, M. Lygia Hunsaker, gdau, 188-189Hallock, Martha Reeves, gggm, 2Hallock, Zebulon, gggf, 2Ham(p)son, Eliza Collins Beckstead, gdau, 102-

103Ham(p)son, Doris Lavern, gdau, 120Ham(p)son, Eliza Hunsaker, dau, 61, 92, 97,

99, 119-120Ham(p)son, Heber Eugene, gs, 119-120Ham(p)son, Myrtle, gdau, 119-120Hansen, Aleen Hunsaker, gdau, viii, 3, 13, 65,

105-107Hansen, Letitia Hunsaker, gdau, 105-107Harper, George Osmon, gs, 186-187Harper, Ervin, gs, 187Harper, Kenneth, gs, 186-187Harper, Leath A., gs, 186-187Harper, Reese Lester, gs, 186-187Harper, Martha Hunsaker, dau, 66, 92, 182,

185-187Harper, Thomas Clayton, gs, 186-187Hawks, Abraham Deroy, gs, 167-168Hawks, Amos, gs, 167-168Hawks, Berlin, gs, 167-168Hawks, Catherine, gdau, 168Hawks, Franklin Levi, gs, 167-168Hawks, Joshua Jr., gs, 168Hawks, Lafayette, gs, front endpapers, 168-

169, 198Hawks, Margaret Hunsaker, dau, front endpa-

pers, 69-70, 92, 163-164, 167-168, 198Hawks, Nevada Urilla, gdau, 167-168Hawks, Wallace, gs, 167-168Haws, Gwen Hunsaker, ggdau, iii, iv, vii, viii, x,

14, 75, 198


Haws, Harriet Vessie Hunsaker, gdau, 105-107Haws, Vera Delila Loveland, gdau, 170Holst, Lula Eliza Ham(p)son, gdau, 119-120Honey Creek, 27, 31, 44, 45Honeyville, 76-91Hoopes, Ila Willie, gdau, 153-154Hoopes, Mary Ada Willie, gdau, 153-154Hoggan, Vernitia Elizabeth Winward, gdau,

127-128Horton, Ruth Hunsaker, gdau, 133-134Huffman, Catherine, ggm, 2Huffman, Jacob, ggf, 2Huffman, John, gggf, 2Hull, Zenda Hunsaker, ggdau, ixHunsaker, A. Loren, gs, 37, 159-160Hunsaker, A. Wallace, gs, 159-160Hunsaker, Abraham, gs, 105-107Hunsaker, Abraham, Jr., s, 47, 54, 59, 68, 73,

78, 92, 99, 110-111Hunsaker, Abraham III, gs, 110-111Hunsaker, Abraham LaVon, gs, 130Hunsaker, Abraham Leon, gs, 125-126Hunsaker, Adaline, gdau, 107Hunsaker, Adelina Patti, gdau, 116Hunsaker, Alexander Beckstead, s, 49, 50, 66,

80, 92, 123-124, 125-126Hunsaker, Alexander, Jr., gs, 125-126Hunsaker,. Alfred, gs, 176Hunsaker, Allen Collins, s, 20, 50-56, 59, 60,

66, 67, 68, 78, 92, 99, 104, 105-107, 198Hunsaker, Allen Collins, gs, 110-111Hunsaker, Allen Dunn, gs, 105-107Hunsaker, Alma, gs, 112-113Hunsaker, Alvin A., gs, 112-113Hunsaker, Amos, s, 92, 182Hunsaker, Amos Ernest, gs, 129-130Hunsaker, Amy E., gdau, 138Hunsaker, Anna, gggm, 2-5Hunsaker, Annie, gdau, 111Hunsaker, Arvon, gs, 136Hunsaker, Belle, gdau, 116Hunsaker, Ben E., gs, 173-174Hunsaker, Benham, s, 31, 43-44, 66, 71, 81,

92, 163-164, 175-176, 198Hunsaker, Benham, Jr., gs, 176Hunsaker, Burnice, ggs, 198Hunsaker, Carol Lynn C., xHunsaker, Catherine Huffman, gm, 2, 6, 7, 17Hunsaker, Cathrine Jensen, w, 2, 9, 31, 65,

67, 69, 71, 76, 77, 89, 90, 91, 92, 161-180, 198

Hunsaker, Cecil Allen, gs, 173-174Hunsaker, Charles Ivan, gs, 140Hunsaker, Cleone Arthur, gs, 117-118Hunsaker, Clifford Summerill, gs, 175-176Hunsaker, Cyrus, s, 66, 69, 92, 124, 135-136Hunsaker, Cyrus Albert, gs, 136Hunsaker, Daniel William, s, 66, 71, 92, 123-

124, 145-146Hunsaker, Darwin, gs, 180Hunsaker, Delbert, gs, 135-136Hunsaker, E. Jude, gs, 188-189Hunsaker, Edgar, gs, 125-126Hunsaker, Elijah, gs, 110-111Hunsaker, Eliza Collins, w, 2, 9, 18-22, 25,

28, 30-31, 41, 44, 45-47, 48-50, 54-56,57, 61, 66, 67, 71, 77, 85-92, 94-120,198

Hunsaker, Elnore, dau, 63, 66, 68, 92, 124Hunsaker, Elvin, gs, 136Hunsaker, Elzarus, s, 66, 71, 92, 123-124,

141-142Hunsaker, Elzarus Lavon, gs, 142Hunsaker, Enoch Hartman, s, 66, 92, 123-

124, 133-134Hunsaker, Enoch Coleman, gs, 133-134Hunsaker, Fametta Laura, gdau, 118Hunsaker, Fauntleroy, ggs, 37Hunsaker, Newman Foster, gs, 180Hunsaker, Francis, gs, 159-160Hunsaker, Francis Vivian, gdau, 138Hunsaker, Franklin Collins, s, 50, 87, 92, 99,

117-118Hunsaker, Franklin Delmar, gs, 110-111Hunsaker, Franklin Neeley, gs, 118Hunsaker, Frederick, s, 63, 66, 92, 164Hunsaker, Frumilla Elizabeth, gdau, 176Hunsaker, George A., gs, 112-113Hunsaker, George Sweeten, s, 63, 64, 66, 92,

152Hunsaker, Glen L., gs, 178Hunsaker, Golden Lorenzo, gs, 156Hunsaker, Gordon Leslie, gs, 135-136Hunsaker, Gordon Walter, s, 66, 71, 92, 124,

125, 139-140Hunsaker, Gordon Walter, Jr., gs, 139-40Hunsaker, H. B., ggs, viiiHunsaker, Hans Peter, s, 66, 71, 79, 92, 144,


163-164, 173-174Hunsaker, Harold, gs, 107Hunsaker, Harriet Beckstead, w, 2, 9, 48-50,

59, 60, 62, 66-69, 71, 73, 76, 77, 80, 85-87, 89-92, 121-148, 159

Hunsaker, Hartman Abraham, gs, 133-134Hunsaker, Hartmann, gggf, 2-5, 11, 14, 83Hunsaker, Heber Collins, gs, 112-113Hunsaker, Horace Neeley, gs, 37, 72-73, 104,

115-116, 198Hunsaker, Hugh D., gs, 179-180Hunsaker, Hyrum, s, 50, 92, 123-124, 125,

129-130Hunsaker, Hyrum Ora, gs, 129-130Hunsaker, Ila, dau, 66, 92, 163-164,Hunsaker, Ilah Chloe, gdau, 174Hunsaker, Ilah Hortense, gdau, 176Hunsaker, Isaac, Jr., gs, 112-113Hunsaker, Isaac, Sr., s, 48, 59, 81, 85, 92, 99,

112-113Hunsaker, Israel, gs, 111Hunsaker, Israel, Jr., gs, 115-116Hunsaker, Israel, Sr., s, 49, 66, 72-75, 92, 99.

114-116, 198Hunsaker, Ivalue, gdau, 115-116Hunsaker, J. Golden, gs, 173-174Hunsaker, J. Ross, gs, 133-134Hunsaker, Jacob, s, 18, 63, 92, 95, 99Hunsaker, Jacob, gs, 107Hunsaker, Jacob, Jr., f, 2, 7, 8-9, 16-18, 82Hunsaker, Jacob, Sr., gf, 2, 6, 7, 13-14, 16,

83Hunsaker, James Clarence, gs, 129-130Hunsaker, James L., gs, 133-134Hunsaker, Jarvis Elbert, gs, 125-126Hunsaker, John (Johannes), ggf, 2, 5-6, 13-14,

83Hunsaker, John Albert, gs, 137-138Hunsaker, John L., gs, 135-136Hunsaker, John Luce, s, 78, 79, 92, 123-124,

137-138Hunsaker Jonathan Caulkins, gs, 73, 110-111Hunsaker, Joseph, s, 10-12, 14, 81, 83, 92,

123-124, 131-132Hunsaker, Joseph E., gs, 135-136Hunsaker, Joseph Leroy, gs, 140Hunsaker, Jude Lester, gs, 138Hunsaker, Keith Allen, gs, 188-189Hunsaker, Keith William, gs, 145-146

Hunsaker, Ken, gggs, 37Hunsaker, Kenneth B., gggs, iii, iv, x, 198Hunsaker, Kless Ford, gs, 180Hunsaker, Lars P., gs, 135-136Hunsaker, Lavon, gs, 136Hunsaker, Lavon Allen, gs, 188-189Hunsaker, LeGrande, gs, 141-142Hunsaker, Leland Abraham, gs, 115-116Hunsaker, Lemuel, adopted Indian son, 50, 52,

59, 63, 92, 122, 124, 147-148Hunsaker, Leo, s, 92, 163-164, 177-178Hunsaker, Leon P., gs, 173-174Hunsaker, Lewis, gs, 78, 105-107, 198Hunsaker, Lewis Jones, s, 19, 20, 24, 50-56,

63, 64, 92, 95-97, 99, 104Hunsaker, Lisle Allen, gs, 173-174Hunsaker, Lorenzo, s, 69, 79, 81, 87, 92,

152, 155-156, 185Hunsaker, Lorenzo Snow, gs, 105-107Hunsaker, Lorenzo, gs, 160Hunsaker, Magdalena Bieri (Birg), ggm, 2, 5-6,

83Hunsaker, Manila gdau, 111Hunsaker, Margaret, gdau, 160Hunsaker, Margaret Sweeten, w, 2, 9, 49, 50,

58, 63-67, 69, 81, 89-92, 122, 149-160Hunsaker, Martha Harriet, gdau, 142Hunsaker, Martin LeRoy, gs, 105-107Hunsaker, Mary Ada, gdau, 126Hunsaker, Mary Luckham, w, 2, 9, 69, 70, 77,

79, 81, 86, 89-92, 181-190Hunsaker, Melvin, gs, 136Hunsaker, Milton Lavon, gs, 133-134Hunsaker, Minta, dau, 70, 92, 182, 185Hunsaker, Myrtle, gdau, 136Hunsaker, Nephi, s, 49, 50, 52, 54, 59, 63,

64, 66, 92, 99Hunsaker, Nephi, gs, 107Hunsaker, Newell Ellis, gs, 174Hunsaker, Newman, s, 92, 163-164, 179-180Hunsaker, Oakham, s, 92, 182, 190Hunsaker, Oral, gs, 189Hunsaker, Oral Hugh, gs, 125-126Hunsaker, Oral John, gs, 179-180Hunsaker, Orlin Wheatley, gs, 159-160Hunsaker, Oscar, gs, 107Hunsaker, Oscar Fitzallen, gs, 110-111Hunsaker, Oscar Lavan, gs, 112-113Hunsaker, Otto Leo, gs, 177-178


Hunsaker, Owen, gs, 136Hunsaker, Parley Lorenzo, gs, 129-130Hunsaker, Polly, dau, 63, 92, 124Hunsaker, Polly Luce, m, 2, 7-9, 16, 17, 68,

82Hunsaker, Q Maurice, gs, iv, vii, viii, ix, 3, 14,

104, 175-176, 198Hunsaker, Raphael, s, 63, 66, 71, 92, 124Hunsaker, Ray Luce, gs, 133-134Hunsaker, Reuel W., gs, viii, 188-189Hunsaker, Richard Reed, gs, 134Hunsaker, Robert Jesse, gs, 159-160Hunsaker, Robert Sweeten, s, 69, 87, 92, 122,

123, 150-152, 159-160Hunsaker, Roger, s, 66, 92, 182Hunsaker, Rula, gdau, 115-116Hunsaker, Simeon Atwood, gs, 105-107Hunsaker, T. Earl, gs, 89, 159-160Hunsaker, Thomas Luckham, s, 66, 92, 182Hunsaker, Ursel M., gs, 173-174Hunsaker, Utah, gdau, 115-116Hunsaker, Walter Royal, s, 63, 66, 92, 124Hunsaker, Weldon, s, 66, 69, 92, 182, 188-

189, 190Hunsaker, Wilford R., gs, 178Hunsaker, William Eldon, gs, viii, 133-134Hunsaker, William Noble, gs, 117-118

Ice, crossing Mississsippi River on, 25-26

Jensen, Cora C. Ham(p)son, gdau, 119-120Jensen, Venna Harper, gdau, 186-187Jeppesen, Barbara Hunsaker, gdau, 179-180Jorgensen, Mamie Hunsaker, gdau, 159-160Journal, Abraham’s, deposited in Brigham

Young University library, 16

Keller, Lillian Loveland, gdau, 170Kilsgaard, Martha V. Hunsaker, gdau, 133-134King, Iduma Hunsaker Willie, gdau, 153-154Knudsen, Annie Eliza Hunsaker, gdau, 112-113Koenig, Ivy Rozell Trimmer, gdau, 109

Lamanite room in Hunsaker Big House, 73Land, housing lots near Nauvoo sold by

Abraham, 22, 96Larsen, Oreita Hunsaker, gdau, 179-180Lepper, Florida Naomi Hunsaker, gdau, 155-

156

LeSeuer, Velda Jean Hunsaker, gdau, 125-126Lewis, Alfa Myrle, gdau, 144Lewis, Anton Rudger, gs, 144Lewis, Harriet Hunsaker, dau, 66, 71, 92, 123-

124, 143-144Lewis, Hyrum Leroy, gs, 143-144Lewis, May Venitia, gdau, 144Lewis, Oleen Orville, gs, 143-144Lewis, Rachael, gdau, 143-144Lewis, Reed Hunsaker, gs, 143-144Lewis, Wayne Oral, gs, 143-144Love, Verda Melvina Hunsaker, gdau, 129-130Loveland, Chester, gs, 170Loveland, Cloyd Francis, gs, 170Loveland, David Chauncey, gs, 170Loveland, Floyd Elmer, gs, 170Loveland, Glen Ersel, gs, 170Loveland, Harvey Ray, gs, 170Loveland, Julia Hunsaker, dau, 66, 71, 89, 92,

163-164, 169-170Loveland, Oscar Fitz Allen, gs,170Loveland, Seth Victor, gs, 170Luce, Abiah Hallock, gggm, 2Luce, Abner, ggf, 2Luce, Eleazar, gggf, 2Luce, Mehitable Hallock, ggm, 2Luce, Nancy Ann Newman, gm, 2, 8, 17Luce, William, gf, 2, 8, 17

Map of Abraham’s travels, 41Martin, Armanda lone Hunsaker, gdau, 155-

156Martin, Gladys Hunsaker, gdau, 188-189Martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, 22-

23, 100Maxwell, Emma Moriah Trimmer, gdau, 109McBride, Lavona Jane Hunsaker, gdau, 155-

156McDowell, Vera, ggdau, 109McKell, Romania J. Hunsaker, gdau, 175-176Michie, Orpha Ellis Wagstaff, gdau, 172Mill, Hunsaker, front endpages, 21, 78-79Miller, Hazel V. Hunsaker, gdau, 117-118Miller, Lily Mary Hunsaker, gdau, 105-107Miller, Ruby Hunsaker, gdau, 115-116Miller, Veda L. Hunsaker, gdau, 115-116Missions of Abraham Hunsaker, 81-82Monument

at Mormon Battalion Visitors Center, 38-39


Ft Moore, 37near San Luis Rey, 35to Abraham and Family at Honeyville, 89-91

Moulton, Frances Ella Trimmer, gdau, 108-109Mt. Pisgah, 26, 27

Nauvoo temple, Abraham and Eliza endowed in24, 96

Nelson, Thelma Ham(p)son, gdau, 119-120Newell, Hester Lila Hunsaker, gdau, 125-126Newman, Jonathan, gggf, 2Newman, Martha Hawkins, gggm, 2Newman, Mary Corcoran, ggm, 2Newman, Thomas, ggf, 2

Oakden, June Hunsaker, gdau, 188-189Origin of Hunsaker names, 10, 14

Packer, Harriet Veressa Winward, gdau, 127-128

Paxton, Alda V. Harper, gdau, 186-187Peach orchard, 19, 20, 21Peterson, Irma Hunsaker, gdau, 178Piano, Abraham’s square grand, 67-68, 106Potts, M. Luella Hunsaker, gdau, 178Proctor, Mary Elizabeth Hunsaker, gdau, 110-

111

Quinn, Leah C. Hunsaker, gdau, 175-176

Railroad Office, First, in Hunsaker Big House,74

Rhoades, Ada Lula Wagstaff, gdau, 172Richards, Olive Maria Hunsaker, gdau, 159-

160Richards, Willard, Division, 45-47Richman, Amy Hunsaker, gdau, 105-107

Sackett, M. Arminta Harper, gdau, 186-187Sant, Lola Catherine Winward, gdau, 127-128Schultz, Lydia Hunsaker, gdau, 136Shelton, Vera Willie, gdau, 153-154Shepherd, Eugene K., ggs, 41Smith, Arminta Willie, gdau, 153-154Smith, Ethel Hunsaker, gdau, 105-107Smith, Margaret Ella Willie, gdau, 153-154Smith, Sarah Ham(p)son, gdau, 119-120Soto, Wanda Hunsaker, gdau, 188-189Springs, hot and cold at Crystal, 78-79

Stapley, Delbert L., ggs, 89-90Stapley, Polly May Hunsaker, gdau, 125-126Stein, Carma M. Hunsaker, gdau, 175-176Stevens, Sarah Elizabeth Trimmer, gdau, 109Stevenson, Irene Winward, gdau, 127-128Stohl, Earl Hunsaker, ggs, 11Stohl, Meltrude Hunsaker, gdau, vii, 3, 10, 12.

13, 26, 31, 45, 67, 70, 76, 80, 89, 104,115-116, 147, 198

Stohl, Orpha Hunsaker, gdau, vii, 10, 45, 76,104, 115-116, 198

Sword, Mormon Battalion, 33, 68

Taylor, Rose M. Hunsaker, gdau, 136Tell, William, story, 12Tenney, Violet Ann Hunsaker, gdau, 140Theurer, Arvena Grant, gdau, 165-166Thompson, Elizabeth Alice Hunsaker, gdau,

156Tingey, Mahala Hunsaker, gdau, 110-111Tolman, Abinadi, ggs, 101Tolman, Eliza Belle Grant, gdau, 25, 100-101Transcontinental Railroad, 73-75, 123Trimmer, Edward Thomas, gs, 109Trimmer, Eliza Anna, gdau, 109Trimmer, Etta Morilda, gdau, 109Trimmer, Mary Jane, gdau, 109Trimmer, Robert Allen, gs, 109Trimmer, Sarah Hunsaker, dau, 20, 92, 98, 99,

108-109Troup, Dora Eliza Hunsaker, gdau, 110-111Tyler, Vessie Hortense Hunsaker, gdau, 129-

130

Wagstaff, Alta Lavona, gdau, 172Wagstaff, Claude Lorin, gs, 172Wagstaff, Duery Dermont, gs, 172Wagstaff, Esther Hunsaker, dau, 66, 71, 92,

163-164, 171-172Wagstaff, Esther May, gdau, 172Wagstaff, Joseph, gs, 172Wagstaff, Ledacy, gs, 172Wagstaff, Lester, gs, 172Wagstaff, Lorenzo, gs, 172Wheat, first successful dry farm, 76, 78Wheatley, Rose May Boothe, gdau, 102-103Whitaker, Julia Wanetta Hunsaker, gdau, 110-

111Winter Quarters, 42, 44, 45, 150Williams, Ila Hawks, gdau, 167-168


Willie, Arthur Golden, gs, 153-154Willie, Eliza Hunsaker, gdau, 105-107Willie, Elizabeth Hunsaker, gdau, 154Willie, Leslie Abraham, gs, 153-154Willie, Mary Ann Hunsaker, dau, 50, 92, 152,

153-154Willie, Robert Hunsaker, gs, 153-154Willie, William Lorenzo, gs, 153-154Wintle, Vernetta Hunsaker, gdau, viii, 173-174Winward, Abraham, gs, 127-128Winward, Adelia, gdau, 128Winward, Bertie William, gs, 127-128Winward, Bryan Hunsaker, gs, 127-128Winward, Catherine (Cassie) Hunsaker, dau,

50, 92, 123-124, 127-128Winward, Clarence Edgar, gs, 128Winward, John L., gs, 128Winward, Lucy Elnor, gdau, 128Wives sealed to Abraham Hunsaker, 89Wootten, Edna Hunsaker, gdau, 177-178

Zollinger, Alta Grant, gdau, 165-166Zundel, E. Lorenzo, gs, 157-158Zundel, Earl, gs, 157-158Zundel, Golden, gs, 157-158Zundel, Harold, gs, 157-158Zundel, Idumea Hunsaker, dau, 66, 92, 150-

152, 157-158Zundel, Irvin, gs, 158Zundel, Lavon, gs, 157-158Zundel, Weldon, gs, 157-158

Abraham Hunsaker’s “illustrious” descendantJacque Baker and George Bush, President ofthe United States 1988-1992, with her paintingcommissioned by the Bush family. This picturewas taken in 2000 at the Bush summer homein Kennebunkport, Maine.


AbAbAbAbAbout the Authors, Editors, Artistout the Authors, Editors, Artistout the Authors, Editors, Artistout the Authors, Editors, Artistout the Authors, Editors, Artist

Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl (1875-1955) andOrpha Hunsaker Stohl (1880-1965) were sis-ters who gathered much of the material for Parts

I and II of this book. They weredaughters of Israel Hunsaker,granddaughters of Abrahamand ElizaC o l l i n sHunsaker,and mar-ried broth-ers, Heberand Joseph

Stohl. Meltrude lived inTremonton, Utah, where shewrote some of the orginalmanuscript, and Orpha lived in Salt Lake City,which was convenient for research in Church of-fices.

Q Maurice Hunsaker (1916-1996) compiledand edited the information in Part III on the wivesand children of Abraham Hunsaker. After his re-

tirement from the Central In-telligence Agency in 1973, Qtold coeditor Gwen HunsakerHaws that collecting materialfor the Hunsaker book had pro-vided a cover for some of hisCIA activities in the 50s. Agraduate of Southeastern LawSchool in Washington, D. C.,Q worked for United StatesNavy Intelligence during WorldWar II in Argentina, where he

married Hortensia Hartmann in 1945. Q was ason of Benham Hunsaker and a grandson ofAbraham and Cathrine Jensen Hunsaker. He wasvice president of the Utah Hunsaker Family Or-ganization 1953-58; president 1958-61; histo-rian, 1965-93. He authored, edited, and in 1993published A History of the Hunsaker Family inEarly America and Switzerland.

Jacque Baker was inspired by the four sentencesAbraham Hunsaker wrote in his journal about hismill and peach orchard in Hancock County [Illi-nois] to draw that mill and peachorchard and include them in herpainting of Historic Nauvoo1839–1846. Her depiction ofBox Elder County (inside theback cover) is dedicated to hermother, Nola Hawks Baker.Jacque is a granddaughter ofLafayette Hawks, great-grand-daughter of Margaret Hunsaker Hawks, and great-great-granddaughter of Abraham and CathrineJensen Hunsaker.

Gwen Hunsaker Haws edited both the first andsecond editions of this history and served for manyyears as editor of the HunsakerFamily Bulletin (1972-81,1987-92). In 1986 she retiredfrom Utah State University asuniversity editor and director ofPublication Design and Produc-tion. She is a daughter ofHorace Neeley Hunsaker,granddaughter of IsraelHunsaker, and great-grand-daughter of Abraham and Eliza Collins Hunsaker.

Kenneth B. Hunsaker has served as presidentof the Abraham Hunsaker Family Organizationsince 1989. He is professoremeritus and former head ofthe Department of English atUtah State University. In addi-tion to editorial services, Dr.Hunsaker has contributedgreatly to the family through or-ganizing and computerizingfamily history data. He is agreat-great-grandson ofAbraham and Eliza Collins Hunsaker throughBurnice, Lewis, and Allen Collins Hunsaker.

and his family second edition

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