Early Life in Missouri and Illinois
Born in 1832 in Jackson County, Missouri, Samuel Knight was descended from New England Yankee stock. His grandfather, Joseph Knight, and his father, Newell Knight, had been early supporters of the Mormon founder Joseph Smith in upstate New York. They had been part of the "Colesville Branch" that moved in 1831 to Jackson County in western Missouri. In 1833, conflict with the original settlers in Jackson County drove the Mormon newcomers into northwestern Missouri.
While they squatted along the river bottoms, Knight's mother died shortly after childbirth. His father married Lydia Goldthwait and the family briefly settled in Ray County in northwest Missouri but in 1836 were pressured to leave. They homesteaded at Far West in nearby Caldwell County where in 1838 more armed conflict ensued between the original settlers and the Mormon newcomers. Knight's father participated in the militia actions around Far West. In early 1839, after their ouster from western Missouri, they moved to Commerce, Illinois, then upriver to Nauvoo on the Illinois frontier.
Migration to Utah
The Knight family departed Illinois in 1846 and were among the vanguard company that wintered on the traditional lands of the Ponca Indians in present-day Nebraska. There his father died in early 1847. To avoid possible legal claims to him from his mother's family, Knight's step-mother sent him ahead on the trail.
At the age of fourteen and traveling apart from his step-mother's and his half-brothers and -sisters, Knight entered Great Salt Lake Valley in fall 1847. He was reunited with his stepmother and siblings in 1850.
Indian Interpreter in the Southern Indian Mission
Fort Clara, sketch, 1855-1862.jpgIn October 1853, at the age of twenty, Knight was called as an Indian missionary to southern Utah and arrived at Fort Harmony in spring 1854. He was among Jacob Hamblin's Indian interpreters who founded Fort Clara on the lower Santa Clara, 1854-55. In 1856, he married Danish emigrant Carolyn Beck (1836-1869).
In 1857, the Southern Indian Mission were headquartered at Fort Clara on the lower Santa Clara River near modern-day St. George, Utah. It was part of the Iron Military District which consisted of four battalions. The platoons and companies in the first battalion drew on men in and around Parowan. (It had no involvement at Mountain Meadows.) Major Isaac Haight commanded the 2nd Battalion whose personnel in its many platoons and two companies came from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the north such as Fort Johnson. Major John Higbee headed the 3rd Battalion whose many platoons and two companies were drawn from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the southwest such as Fort Hamilton. Major John D. Lee of Fort Harmony headed the 4th Battalion whose platoons and companies drew on its militia personnel from Fort Harmony, the Southerners at the newly-founded settlement in Washington, the Indian interpreters at Fort Clara, and the new settlers at Pinto. Samue Knight, 24, was a private in company H in John D. Lee's 4th Battalion. Other Indian interpreters in Lee's geographically sprawling battalion were Dudley Leavitt, Oscar Hamblin, and Amos Thornton (Fort Clara), Carl Shirts (Fort Harmony), and David Tullis (Pinto).
In mid-1857, to avoid the summer heat on the lower Santa Clara, Samuel Knight, Jacob Hamblin, David Tullis and others were homesteading a mountain ranch at the Mountain Meadows. In early August, Knight's wife Caroline gave birth to their first child. His wife was seriously ill and they remained there for several months while she recuperated from her difficult delivery.
Around Saturday, September 5, having received orders from Cedar City, Knight carried orders south to Fort Clara (and perhaps Washington) to incite Indians on the lower Santa Clara to gather at Mountain Meadows. A militia contingent from these southern communities was also to muster to Mountain Meadows.
On Monday, September 7th in the evening, following the first attack on the Arkansas emigrants at Mountain Meadows, Knight and other southern militiamen met Major John D. Lee south of the Meadows, joined him and moved up to the Meadows the following day.
They arrived at Mountain Meadows around noon on Tuesday, September 8. Knight went back to the northern end of the valley to Jacob Hamblin's cabin where his wife was convalescing in their wagon box. The rest of the militiamen from the souther settlements camped in a separate encampment from the Cedar City detachment which had already arrived and set up their own encampment.
On Friday the 11th, Major John D. Lee recruited Knight and Sergeant Samuel McMurdie to drive their wagons to the emigrant wagon circle and carry away young children and wounded adults. As the emigrants filed out of their wagon circle, John D. Lee with McMurdie and Knight carrying the small children and several injured adults were in the lead. Some distance behind trailed the women and children. Bringing up the rear were the emigrant men, shadowed by a militia guard unit from Cedar City.
What occurred in the final massacre at the head of the line is contested. McMurdie and Knight testified in Lee's second trial in 1876 that Lee shot the injured adults in McMurdie's wagon. Knight said he was calming his fractious horses which were unnerved by the shooting. When McMurdie was questioned about his role, he invoked his right against self-incrimination. In Lee's later published statements he denied any killing, saying his gun had jammed and that McMurdie and Knight had shot the injured adults. But before his execution, Lee was more forthcoming; his gun had jammed after he had shot several of the adults. After the final massacre these two wagons carried the seventeen surviving children to Hamblin's ranch where Rachel Hamblin tried to calm them as best she could.
Scouting to Encounter the U.S. Army in 1858
In 1858, Knight was in the patrol to southern Nevada with Jacob Hamblin, Dudley Leavitt, Ira Hatch and others to scout for the approach of the U. S. Army from the West Coast.
Later Life in Santa Clara
In 1862, when Swiss emigrants moved to Santa Clara in southwest Utah, Knight and his family was among the few native-born Americans to remain. Except for a brief stint in eastern Nevada in 1864-65, Knight remained in Santa Clara in southwestern Utah for the remainder of his life. He accompanied Jacob Hamblin's exploring parties to the Hopi mesas and Navajo lands in Arizona in 1858, 1863 and 1873. Following the lead of Jacob Hamblin, many Indian interpreters eventually moved to Arizona to pursue their interest in the Hopi. Knight, however, remained in southern Utah and worked among the "Piedes," or Southern Paiutes.
By the time of the death of his wife Carolyn in 1869, she had borne him six children. Following her death, he married Dudley Leavitt's sister, Laura Malvina Leavitt (1851-1922), Utah born with Canadian and New England roots, who bore him ten children.
Testifying in John D. Lee's Second Trial, 1876
In 1876, Knight, along with Nephi Johnson, Joel White, Samuel McMurdie, and Jacob Hamblin, were called as prosecution witnesses in the second trial of John D. Lee. Knight's testimony can be found here.
His only polygamous marriage was in 1888 to a Missouri-born widow, Susan Charlotte Nanney Hunt (1832?- ?), just two years before the Mormon Church's Manifesto that officially ended the practice.
Later Statements about the Massacre
In the 1890s and the early twentieth century he gave several important interviews and statements concerning the massacre. With the exception of some statements contained in third-party journals, all of Samuel Knight's written statements and affidavits have now been published in Turley and Walker, Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Jenson and Morris Collections.His trial testimony in the 1876 trial of John D. Lee is available online.
Final Years
He lived on in Santa Clara, earning his livelihood as a farmer and rancher and continuing to work with the local Paiutes. He spent more than 50 years in Santa Clara. He died in 1910 and was buried there, survived by his second wife Laura and eleven children (see photo of his second family, below).
At the time of his death, his obituary noted that he was known for recounting his early years in Missouri and Illinois where he and his family had been driven from their homes on four occasions, an indication of the persistence and power of these early life experiences to shape Mormon memory and identity.
********************************************
A Sketch of the Life of Samuel Knight 1832-1910
Frontiersman, Indian Missionary,
Early Dixie Pioneer and Churchman
by
Arthur Knight Hafen - a Grandson
Writtein in St. George, Utah Mar, 1960
(Contributed by Vicki Lasswell of Santa Clara from family histories.
Copied by Georgene Cahoon Evans, Washington City Historical Society February 1993.)
Forward
When I was teaching school in Santa Clara a year or two before Grandfather died, he asked me -- in fact, pleaed with me -- to write the story of his life. I did not think seriously enought about it to become interested. i have regretted many times that I did not get the information he could have given me. So, much of his life's experiences will neer be known because so little is written.
However, he dictated some memoirs late in life which are helpful. Also, some of his experiences and the things he did are available in books or diaries written about others with whom he associated closely. It is from these sources, and from personal memories, that this sketch is compiled. This records will, therefore, not be as complete nor as accurate as I wish it were.
It is written with the hope that our ancestors and forebears will not be forgotten and that the work they did and the heritage they left us will be cherished and honored. Samuel Knight is one of many who deserve such recognition
Arthur Knight Hafen
a grandson, Mar 1960
The Name of "Knight":
The name and family of Knight (from the Media Research Bureau) is perhaps of Anglo Saxon origin - Hampshire branch as early as the 14th century. They were of the landed gentry of Great Britain. Probably the first in America was Walter Knight who came to Salem, Massachusetts in 1622. Others are listed in the 1630's and the 1640's. There were leaders in almost every field. An unusual number have been outstanding as educators, scientists, lawyers, writers, and businessmen. Several are listed as officers in the Revolutionary War.
Coat of Arms:
Northampton Knights
Arms: "Argent, on a feese between three bulls' heads erased sable, armed and ringed on the nose, or a fret between two doves of the field."
Crest: "A dexter arm embowed, vested bendy wavy sinister of four and gules, supporting with the hand a sword in pale, the point resting on wreath, the pommel surmounting a pair of spurs proper."
Hamshire Knights
Arms: 11: "Argent, three pales guiles, on the canton of the second a spur or, within a bordure engrailed azure."
Crest: "On a ducal coronet gules, an eagle displayed or."
The Knight Family Before 1832
His father: Newel Knight (1800-1847)
His mother: Sally Co(l)burn (1804-1834)
His father's father: Joseph Knight (1772-1847)
His father's mother: Polly Peck (1774-1831)
His mother's father: Amasa Coburn
His mother's mother: Experience (?) or Elizabeth Rend-Noah.
From Cordelia Knight's record the following is quoted:
"The Knight family in the early rise of the New England states was founded by two brothers, Richard and John (these are supposed to be brothers). They came to America on the ship "James", in the year 1635 from Romsey, England.
I. John, who is our ancestor, married in England, Mary (whose surname we do not know). They had four children when they came, three boys and a girl. John was born in England about 1595, making him forty years old when they came to America with his wife and children. The land that John acquired in Massachusetts was still owned and occupied two hundred years later by his descendants: 1846.
II. John, son of John the first, born 1622 in Romsey, England had five wives and was the father of 17 children; history states, "That in spite of the many wives, he lived to be a good old age." He died at the age of 92.
III. The third in line is Samuel, son of John and Mary Bridge; the third wife. Samuel was born 1675, Charleston, Massachusetts. He married Rachel Cahse' they were the parents of six children. John died 1721, age 46.
IV. The fourth in line is Samuel, son of Samuel and Rachel Chase. He was born 1709-10 in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Samuel married (1) Mary Rice; (1 [?]) Annie Eames. He was the father of eight children. He died 1801, age 82 years.
V. The fifth in line is Benjamin, the son of Samuel and Annie Eames. Benjamin was born 1744 in Sudbury, Massachusetts. He married Hannah, by whom he had five children. After her death, he married Sarah. They had four children. Benjamin died 1802, age 58.
VI. The next in line is Joseph Knight, Sr., our great and noble ancestor, whose name stands at the head of our organization. Joseph was the son of Benjamin and Hannah. Joseph was born 26 November 1772, Oakham, Massachusetts. Joseph married (1) Polly Peck. They were the parents of seven children: Naham, Esther, Newel, Anna, Joseph Jr., Polly and Elizabeth. Josehp married (2) Pheby Crosby. They were the parents of two children: Esther and Charles.
Samuel Knight was the son of Newel Knight and Sally Coburn. His mother died before he was two years old. She had given birth to another son, whom they named Eli. He died shortly after birth. Grandfather lived with an aged aunt until his father married again.
His father went on a mission to Kirtland, Ohio, shortly after the death of his wife and infant son. He labored on the Kirtland Temple until it was completed.
During this time he became acquainted with Lydia Goldthwaite, while he was living at the home of Hyrum Smith, the Prophet's brother. They were married November 23, 1835 by Joseph Smith, the first marriage ceremony he ever performed.
Part of the Church was established in Jackson County, Missouri, and part in Kirtland, Ohio. Persecution was severe, and the Saints were driven from their homes and suffered extremely, as recorded in the annals of the Church. Newel was instrumental in moving the Saints from Kirtland to Jackson County in 1838. He was a member of the High Council in Missouri and also later in Nauvoo, Illinois. He had experienced the mobbings and the abuse of the Saints. He had been with the Prophet in different localities before moving to Nauvoo, where he was living at the time of the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum.
He had been called to Commerce (name later changed to Nauvoo) to assist in the erection of a flour mill. Because of persecution it was later decided that the Saints move West. Preparations were accordingly made the winter of 1845-46, and by spring all was in readiness for the move. Homes and farms were sold at extremely low prices to people who flocked from all parts of the country to the beautiful city to purchase what the people must leave behind.
Newel was appointed to take charge of the first company of fifty. Because of delays, they could not continue to the Rocky Mountains, so they wintered on the prairies of Nebraska, on lands of the Ponca Indians. There was feed for the cattle, and the Indians were friendly.
Newel's health was poor during the winter, and early in January he suffered severely and died on the morning of the 11th, 1847 (age 46). He was buried that evening in a coffin made ofa wagon box. Years later on this spot on the Niobrara River, a monument was erected, enclosed with an iron fence in memory of those who died in that camp that winter.
Newel's family at this time consisted of:
Child of his first wife:
Samuel, born in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri.
Children of his second wife:
Sally, born in Clay County, Missouri
James P., born at Far West, Caldwell County, Missouri
Joseph, born in Nauvoo, Illinois
Newel, born in Nauvoo, Illinois
Lydia, born in Nauvoo, Illinois
Jesse, born in Nauvoo, Illinois
Hyrum, born in August 1847 at the Ponca Camp in Missouri.
A daughter, Artemisia, was born in 1852 in Utah after the mother's marriage to John Dalton.
Sally married Zemira Palmer; James P. Married Elizabeth Jones' Joseph married Jane Judd; Newel married Jane Caroline Loveless; Lydia married John B. Young, Jesse married Amanda M. McCune. Hyrum H. never married.
******
Samuel Knight
Samuel Knight was born in Independence, Jackson County, Missouri, 14 October 1832 to Newel Knight and Sally Colburn.
Grandfather experienced much of the persecution and hardships in Missouri and in Illinois during the early years of his life. His mother's death was caused by exposure to cold and stormy weather and preivations. His folks were driven from their homes in that beautiful country, for Missouri had soil and climate and opportunities for developing beautiful settlements. Nauvoo, too, so named from a hebrew word meaning, 'A beautiful place' was developed from swampy ground to become one of the most important cities in Illinois at that time.
Age 6-7
In his memoirs he states, "In 1838-39 the Saints had been driven out of Jackson County and were now living in Caldwell County, in a town near the Missouri boundary called Far West. A large mob, with state officers directing them, had assembled to drive the Mormons out of the state. On the public square opposite our home, the Church leaders were betrayed into the hands of the mob who threatened to kill Joseph Smith. There was such a yelling and howling as I had never heard from wolves or other wild animals. It kept up nearly all night. The Porphet was dragged to Liberty Jail and abused and insulted. The Saints were forced to give up their arms and give up their property. Other indignations were inflicted until in the winter months they were forced to flee to Quincy, Illinois."
He remembers a hired man driving their family through snow 10-12 inches deep, requiring several days to make the journey. He says Brigham Young and his family were in the company. They were soon commanded to go to Commerce (Nauvoo). There, many took down with malaria fever, among the his parents. He remembers carrying water to the sick. The temple was built there and many received their endowments, but the mobs raged again and the people moved across the river and began their westward trek as previously narrated.
Another incident I have heard him narrate was when the succession to the presidency of the Church, after the martyrdom, was being discussed, and he was in attendance at the meeting. As a small boy, perhaps playing with his marbles or otherwise passing the time, he was surprised to hear what he thought was the voice of Joseph Smith. He arose in astonishment and beheld the transfiguration of Brigham Young as related in Church history.
Go West 1847 - Age 15
In the spring of 1847, at the age of 15, upon the advice of President Young and friends, he decided to go west, as he was the oldest in the family, and try to prepare for those who came later by raising grain and other foodstuffs. He went with a company of 660 wagons and arrived in Salt Lake Valley July 24th. Whether he drove or assited in any way, he does not say, but I presume he helped as he could to pay his way.
He was put in the charge of a man named Dickerson, a fisherman from Cape Cod, rough in his manner and unkind in his treatment of the boy. With limited rations, it was almost starvation during the motns until harvest time. They subsisted upon roots, esegos, pigweeds, grass, or anything they could collect.
His guardian married and left the Church and joined the flood of gold seekers on their way to California, leaving Samuel without anything for his support. He says, "He drove away, leaving me a poor homeless orphan without any friends." Not knowing what to do, he wandered around until nightfall. In the fort he found a small stack of hay belonging to John Smith, the president of the stake. He crawled into the hay for protection for the night. In the morning as Mr. Smith came to feed his cow, he stuck the foot of a boy with the fork and uncovered him and assisted him to his feet. "I was in a pitiful plight - ragged, dirty and anything but respectable. I had slept out all winter without anything to protect me - in a wagon box, on sheep skins, and sage brush. My clothes had worn out, but had never been replaced by Dickerson."
He was taken in by mr. Smith's son-in-law, Thomas Callister, who was kind to him. He lived with these people two summers and one winter. "The first good meal we had in 1848 was from wheat sown by me. When it began to ripen, the family went out into the field and selected the ripe heads, dried them in the oven, shelled them by hand, then dried the wheat sufficient to make some bread. The flour was ground in a coffee mill. This was the first meal we had enjoyed in seven months.
1850 (Age 18)
His family, his mother and the children (I shall call her his mother rather than his step-mother, for she was the only mother he knew, and she was very good to him - always treated him with the kindness she showed to her own children.) Arrived in the valley in October, 1850. Needless to say, he was very happy to be reunited with them. They soon set about to build an adobe house in the southeastern part of the city. The mother taught school, and in time they were out of debt.
John Dalton proposed, to be her guardian for life and give her a good home and care for the family. She married him and moved to a farm on the Jordan River six miles west of town. It afforded her a livelihood and work for the children. They lived there five years, then returned to Salt Lake City, she having been released from her marriage. Her husband had another family and a good home in the city.
During the time they were living on the farm, important events happened to grandfather. From records available, we learn of his call, with others, to go as a missionary among the Indians in southern Utah. Exploration of the region in southwestern Utah had been made in the winter of 1849-50, but no settlement was made in Washington County until 1852. This was the settlement of Harmony by John D. Lee and a small company. At the general conference of the Church in October, 1853, the first missionaries to the Indians of the south were called and given the winter to prepare before starting from Salt lake. An open route to the sea, and protection of travelers along the Old Spanish Trail were motives for this move, but religious motives were in mind also. The leaders of the Church felt that the Indians should be taught Christianity and the ways of the civilized life.
1854 - Age 21
On April 14, 1854, a company under the leadership of Rufus C. Allen, as Captain, and David Lewis and Samuel F. Atwood, as lieutenants, started on their missions. Most of them had been set apart of their missions. They were joined by others who had been called in settlements along the way. There were 21 men and 2 young boys accompanying their fathers in that group. It was among this group that Samuel Knight went to southern Utah where he was to spend practically all of this remaining years, He was at this time in his twenty-second year. Since practically all of the men in this company were close accosiates of grandfather during the next several years, I will list them as given by Thomas D. Brown, recorder and historian of the company:
Hyrum Burgess (17)
Ira Hatch (18)
Benjamin Knell (19)
Thales H. Haskell (20)
Amos G. Thornton (21)
Samuel Knight (21)
Augustus P. Hardy (23)
Richard Robinson (23)
Isaac Riddle (24)
Rufus C. Allen (26)
John Lott (26)
John Murdock (27)
Samuel F. Atwood (29)
William Henefer (30)
Lorenzo Roundy (34)
Jacob Hamblin (35)
David Lewis (40)
Elnathan Eldridge (42)
Thomas D. Brown (46)
Robert M. Dickson (46)
Robert Ritchie (47)
In the outfit were 10 wagons, 25 horses and mules, 13 cattle, 4,420 lbs of flour, 20 wheat, 10 corn, 18 axes, 1 saw, 20 guns, 3 pistols, 2 swords, 5 ploughs, full ammunition and many "fixings." They arrived at harmony May 2nd, after being halted several times by bands of Indians, whom they satisfied by giving them bread, flour and tobacco.
(As stated, the missionaries were set apart for their missions. From the family record, we learn grandfather was given his endowments August 6, 1852, and he received his Patriarchal Blessing at the hands of John Smith August 4, 1856. This latter date was the same year he was married. The first date is before his call to the Southern Mission.)
After arriving at Fort Harmony, missionary work among the Indians began. Food and seed had been donated to them at Parowan and at Cedar City. They were advised to feed and clothe the Indians and to teach them. Conditions were deplorable. Jacob Hamblin describes the Indians as being in a very low, degraded condition - loathsome and filthy beyond description.
Labor among the Indians on the Santa Clara began as early as June. Whether grandfather went with the first group, I cannot determine, but he was called in December to go to Santa Clara and there is record of his being there January 11, 1855. They had gone to build a dam across the creek to enable them to take water for their crops.
******
In the fall of 1855 Jacob Hamblin brought his family, his brother, Oscar, and Dudley Leavitt and their families from Tooele. These were the first women and children to join the missionaries there.
During the winter of 1855-56 the stone fort was built. It was west of the present town of Santa Clara and east and south of the cemetery. We read of grandfather's acting as a guard in a company of four wagons and eight mounted men returning to Harmony, where the women and children were to remain until the fort was completed. Little was accomplished before 1857. (In 1857 a group was called to the south to grow cotton. They settled in Washington).
They had built several cabins of small cottonwood logs covered with willows and dirt. They were built in a square, surrounded with a rock wall. About 30 or 40 acres of land had been cultivated, and good crops were noted, among them cotton, which proved to do very well in this climate.
Sometimes scarcely enough water to be palatable reached the town.
(Indians at both the Muddy and Las egas had been included in the mission, but little had been accomplished in raising the standeards of the Indians' living)
In 1858 emigrants moving from San Bernardino, California (called back to Utah by Brigham Young when Johnston's Army came west) stayed temporarily with the residents at Santa Clara, and some took up permanent abode.
With the advent of the Swiss Company (1861) Indian missionaries were called to other parts of the territoy and the Southern Indian Mission passed out of existence. Years later, the government established a reservation for the Indians.)
1855
In the fall of 1855 with the arrival of the families from Tooele, there were ten families at the fort.
1856
In the summer of 1856 other families were selected. These included Weir Leavitt, Lemuel Leavitt, three brothers of Jacob Hamblin (Franklin, Alsen and Frederick), Zadoc K. Judd and Andrew S. Gibbons.
1857
Jacob Hamblin was appointed president of the Mission in 1857. He chose Samuel Knight and Dudley Leavitt as counselors. Meetings were held somewhat irregularly thereafter in the fort. The colony now was large enough that some of the families lived outside the fort. To record in detail the activities of these few years would be to give a complete history of early Santa Clara. Interesting as it would be, it is expedient here to mention only a few of the events concerning grandfather.
1856 - Age 23
Of the most importance is his marriage. Details are lacking. He went to visit his folks in Salt lake and met a young Danish girl, a recent convert to the Church. She was Caroline Beck, daughter of Herman Beck and Anne Christine Due, born May 12, 1831, in Orter Larsken, Bernholm, Denmark.
Evidently their courtship, and even their acquaintance, was brief. They were married August 3, 1856 in the Endowment House, I assume, for his record shows he was baptized October 14, 1840, endowed August 6, 1852, and sealed August 3, 1856.
If their courtship before marriage was short, their married life was happy considering conditions. She returned with him to the Indian Mission the same year. In addition to sharing the privations of the times, she had to adjust to a life among the Indians, learn a new language, and form new acquaintances. Their daughter, Mary Josephine, says of her: "It would have been difficult to find a woman with better management of the home. For the first few years she had no help, except an Indian girl. They spun and carded thread, and colored and made their own clothes. She always had food stored away for themselves, and when travelers passed on their way to or from California, she had eggs and other commodities to exchange for goods that were needed in the home."
Because of the extreme heat in the summer and o way to meet conditions by refrigeration, etc., as we do today, the families went to Mountain Meadows, about 35 miles to the north, to spend the summer to enjoy the cool air. They ranched and were able to collect a supply of butter and cheese and other foodstuffs for the winter months. There was excellent food for livestock. Jacob Hamblin owned a ranch there, and it was at his place that grandfather and grandmother had gone in the summer of 1857. Their first child was to be born there. Grandfather had employment with Hamblin, building a house, and an Indian boy, their helper, was herding with hamblin's adobpted Indian boy, Albert.
On August 6, 1857, their first daughter, Caroline Kirstina, was born. The bedroom was a covered wagon. Jacob's wife, Rachel Hamblin, acted as midwife. From the lack of proper care, the mother took cold and was invalid the rest of her life.
Perhaps contributing to her condition was another event a little later in the season while they were still in Hamblin. In September the famous massacre occurred just a few miles south of the Hamblin home. Grandfather was drafted under marshall law, which prevailed in the territory at that time, and witnessed the horrible deeds. The effects upon both her and him can only be imagined. Although she was sick the resto f her life, not being able to sit up a day at a time, she gave birth to five more daughters. To quote Aunt Mary further, "Notwithstanding her sickness, she was cheerful and pleasant."
Their second daughter, mary Josephine, was born in Provo. I do not know the circumstances, but his step-mother was living there at the time, and it may be he sought her help for his wife in this event.
The other four girls (Lenora, Emma Eveline {Emmie}, Lydia Eva {Evie}, and Sally Romania {Manie}) were born in Santa Clara.
Their home life was happy even though they never knew luxuries, nor perhaps many toys or playthings except what they made. To quote Aunt Mary again, "Mother was a wonderful woman, quiet, sincere, tactful, wise in her judgement, thrifty, and always kept order and harmony in the home. She used no rough language with her children nor neighbors, neither was she one of the borrowing or gossiping kind. All who knew her praised her."
She died February 13, 1870, at the age of 39, leaving the six little girls, largely in the care of the oldest, who was not yet 13. The girls managed well for children, sharing the duties as fitted their age until grandfather married again about two years later. The little girls were helped and treated kindly by a family whose farm adjoined theirs. The name of this family was Lay.
***
In 1857, reports were given that crops were flourishing, farms were well kept, and Indians were faring better than other tribes in the country. Elder Amasa Lyman, leader of a group from San Bernardino, California, to Salt Lake City, arrived early Monday morning, May 18, 1857 and reports: "We arrived just as the inmates were arising from their sleep. We were kindly received and entertained by Elder Samuel Knight, who had charge of the post in the absence of brother Jacob Hamblin."
Branches of the ward at Santa Clara were organized in Hamblin, Pinto, and Pine Valley. Some of the original settlers, beause of limited opportunities, moved to other settlements or started settlements at Gunlock, Meadow Valley, Eagle Valley, Clover Valley, Kanab and later Mesquite and Bunkerville on the Rio Virgin.
Grandfather remained at Santa Clara, except for two years at Clover Valley in the middle sixties. All the other original settlers, except Marius Ensign and Lemuel Leavitt, moved elsewhere.
The Swiss colony came in 1861 by arrangements properly made, and settled where the present townsite now is. Grandfather's lot and home was at the edge of the hill near the west end of the town, some two or three blocks east of the old Hamblin home.
---- [mission experiences not included here, but are in original document]
In his later years, he was absorbed in an irrigation project which was finally consumated. He initiated the extension of one of the irrigation canals to reach a body of tillable ground beyond the "black rocks," a lava bed one mile east of the town. This was done without modern machinery to excavate and remove the dirt and rocks. Some good farms were developed on this land, but the cost of the project was such that little was left as profit. A small part of the land remained in the family, but in time it was sold as a matter of necessity. He wanted it said of him, his name was cut in the black rocks as a monument to his integrity.
He conformed his life to church service as far as practicable. His last years were spent largely in the temple at St. George. He would drive his one-horse carriage and attend one session each day he could. More sessions than one in those days were not conducted.
Likewise, he married a widow in Bunkerville, nevada, during his last years. I am sure in whatever he did he tried to conform to what he considered to be his duty.
I should not close this sketch without mentioning the service his second wife rendered to the community as a midwife. For many years she attended each birth in the town, giving what relief and aid she could to others and their newlyborn babies.
And so, in retrospect we have taken a hurried glance at some of our ancestors. If we have no honor for them, could we expect our descendants to honor us? In the words of Horace Mann, we have a truism: "It would be more honorable to our distinguished ancestors to priase them in words less, but in deeds to imitate them more."
"The inheritance of a distinguished and noble name is a proud inheritance to him who lives worthily of it." ....Colton.
Samuel Knight died in 1910 (age 78).
