Age and Social Background of the Militiamen

 Age, Kin & Marriage Relationships of Iron County Militiamen in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

How Old Were the Militiamen and What Were the Kin and Marriage Relationships?

The List of the Accused identifies more than sixty men and the sources that connect them with the massacre. What were some of the general characteristics of these militiamen?

Age

In age the militiamen varied considerably. When militiaman William Young (1805-1875) testified in the Lee trial in 1875, it was with good reason that he was designated as "Old Mister Young." Seventy years old when he testified, he was in his early fifties at the time of the massacre. Another ten men or so were in their forties as of 1857.

Among them was Major John D. Lee (1812-1877) who was about forty-five. In Lee’s several accounts, he mentioned that he consulted with men like Charles Hopkins (1810-1863) and William Rufus Slade (1811-1872). These were among the senior men (in age) on the scene, both one to two years older than Lee. Lee’s account of consulting with these senior men seems entirely plausible.

By far the largest group of militiamen were in their twenties (approximately twenty-five) or thirties (approximately twenty). There were also a few in their teens. Columbus Reed Freeman (1838-1907) was nineteen years old; James Pearce (1839-1922), the son of Harrison Pearce, was eighteen; and William Edwards (1841-1925) was not yet sixteen. Those between twenty and twenty-five were George Washington Adair (1837-1909), Daniel Sinclair Macfarlane (1837-1914), Ira Hatch (1835-1909), Benjamin Arthur (1834-1883) and William Slade (1834-1902).

Kin Relationships

The father-son relationships included Indianan Ira Allen (1821-1900) and his son Andrew Allen (1836-1907); Mississippian James Pearce and his father, Harrison Pearce (1818-1889); Louisianan William Rufus Slade and his son, William Slade (1834-1902). The brothers included the Alabamans John Mangum (1817-1885) and his younger brother, James Mangum (1820-1888); and the Scottish Highlanders John Menzies Macfarlane (1833-1892) and his younger brother, Daniel Sinclair Macfarlane (1837-1914). The in-law relationships included John D. Lee and his son-in-law, Don Carlos (Carl) Shirts (1836-1922); Sims Lafayette Matheny (1833-1881) and his brother-in-law, William Schroeder Hawley (1829-1893); and John Mangum and his brother-in-law George W. Adair (1837-1909). Sometimes these in-law relationships explain why, for example, William Hawley, a Westerner, joined the Southerners who founding the "Cotton Mission" in the town of Washington.

When so many young unattached adults, both male and female, moved to the southern frontier of Utah Territory it is not surprising that many soon married, creating kin relationships among others in the immediate community. These kinship relationships grew more involved over time. The practice of polygamy, or as Mormons termed it, "plural marriage," only increased the complexity of these relationships.

Just how intricate these relationships could be is illustrated by Isaac Chauncey Haight (1813-1886) and his relationship with the Macfarlane brothers, John Menzies and Daniel Sinclair Macfarlane. Haight was to play many roles in Cedar City: trustee, shareholder, president pro tem and general manager of the Deseret Iron Company, city mayor, president of the stake (similar to a diocese), major in the militia and territorial legislator. In 1853, Haight was one of the leaders of a Perpetual Emigration company that included Isabella Sinclair Macfarlane, a Scottish widow, and her two sons, John and Daniel Macfarlane. When she married Haight that fall on the eve of their move to Cedar City, she became his fourth wife and he became the stepfather to her sons. Later, when Daniel sought a bride, he married Haight’s daughter (and his stepsister), Temperance Keturah Haight. Now Haight was not only his stepfather but his father-in-law.

Marital Practices

The militiamen varied in their marriage practices. Not surprisingly, many of the younger men under age twenty-five were unmarried while most of those more than twenty-five were married. Regarding polygamy, the militiamen’s enthusiasm for the practice, both then and later, varied considerably.

Most of the religious and military leaders were in polygamous relationships as was natural for that place and time. These included Col. William H. Dame and majors Isaac C. Haight, John M. Higbee and John D. Lee. Among those of lower rank, Ira Allen, Ezra Curtis, Samuel Jewkes/Jukes, Philip Klingensmith, Dudley Leavitt and Harrison Pearce had multiple wives. Most had two while some had three or four. By the late 1850s, John D. Lee had seventeen and he eventually had eighteen wives. An anomaly among his fellow militiamen, Lee was by far the most married man in southern Utah.

Some of those then single or in a monogamous relationship later became polygamists. Examples of those in long-term polygamous relationships include Tennessean Sims Lafayette Matheny, who later married two sisters, and Scottish emigrant David Wilson Tullis (1833-1902), who married an English widow, Mary Alice Hardman Eccles (1821-1883), and later married her daughter (and his stepdaughter), Martha Eccles (1847-1915). Although these marriages are contrary to our current notions of propriety, they seem to have worked.

Others in long-term polygamous relationships were Benjamin Arthur (1834-1883), Daniel Sinclair Macfarlane (1837-1914), John Menzies Macfarlane (1833-1892), Nephi Johnson (1833-1919), Amos Griswold Thornton (1832-1902) and Dudley Leavitt (1830-1908).

However, other militiamen were reluctant or unsuccessful polygamists. Samuel Knight (1832-1910) entered his first polygamous marriage in 1888 at a time when the practice was in decline. Others such as Samuel McMurdie (1830-1922) were unsuccessful in the practice. McMurdie took a second wife but the marriage soon ended in divorce.

But these polygamous relationships were not the majority. Then and later, most militiamen were in monogamous relationships.

Not surprisingly, marriages were common among those in the same or nearby villages. Those in Cedar City tended to marry those within their village or the neighboring villages of Parowan, Enoch, or Fort Hamilton. Because of distance, however, marriages with those in Washington or Fort Clara were much less likely.

Thus, in 1860, John M. Higbee married English emigrant Eunice Bladen (1844-1908). Her father was Thomas Bladen who had been prominent in the iron works in Cedar City. Joseph Clews married Mary Ann Bladen (1839-?), another daughter of Thomas and Mary Balden. In 1856, Elliot Willden married Joseph Clews’ sister, Emma Jane Clews (1839-1890). And as already mentioned, Daniel Macfarlane selected his bride from within Cedar City and within his stepfather’s polygamous family.

Except for complications created by polygamous marriages, none of this is particularly unusual. Intermarriage among families within small communities has always been commonplace. But it does suggest how their sense of loyalty to kith and kin made local residents uncooperative when federal officials came to Cedar City to investigate men like Isaac C. Haight, John M. Higbee and Philip Klingensmith about their role in the massacre. Their blood and marriage ties within the community were extensive.

Reformation-era Marriages

Another aspect of marriage practices concerns the period of the so-called "Mormon Reformation" of 1856-1857. The Reformation efforts to reverse moral or spiritual backsliding had a variety of societal and cultural effects, one of which was an increase in marriages, both first marriages among the younger men and polygamous marriages among the older men.

In the period of 1856-1857 before the Mountain Meadows Massacre, Nephi Johnson (1833-1919) married a Michigan native; Missouri-native Samuel Knight married a Danish emigrant; Canadian-native Amos Griswold Thornton (1832-1902) married a Lancashire emigrant; twenty-six-year-old Englishman Samuel McMurdie married a fifteen-year-old Lancashire emigrant, John Main Urie (1835-1921) married an emigrant from his Scottish homeland, and Philip Klingensmith took a third wife by marrying Swiss emigrant Margaretha Elliker, recently arrived in Utah in one of the 1856 handcart companies.

The marriages of that period increased the family and clan interconnections. As we just saw, Elliot Willden (1833-1920) married Joseph Clews’s sister while James Nicholas Mathews (1827-1871) married William Rufus Slade’s daughter.

In one of the most interesting cases, in January 1857, Carl Shirts (1836-1922) married one of John D. Lee’s daughters. Then, following the premature death of Shirt’s brother, he married his brother’s widow. This last occurred in late August 1857 in the midst of the crisis spawned by rumors of war and invasion.

Summary

Recapping these group interconnections, we have already seen the blood relationships between Ira and Andrew Allen (father-son); Harrison and James Pearce (father-son); and William Rufus Slade and William Slade (father-son). The pairs of brothers included the Southerners, John and James Mangum, and the Scots, John and Daniel Macfarlane.

The relationships created by marriage included the step-relationship between Isaac C. Haight and his stepsons, John and Daniel Macfarlane. In-law relationships included John D. Lee and son-in-law, Carl Shirts; William S. Hawley and his brother-in-law Sims Matheny; and John Mangum and his brother-in-law George W. Adair. Later, Daniel Macfarlane would marry one of Isaac Haight’s daughters, John Urie would marry one of Philip Klingensmith’s daughters, and Samuel Knight would married Dudley Leavitt’s sister.

While this is not an exhaustive list of blood and marriage ties, it does illustrate some of the group interconnections in the 1850s. These only became more intertwined as the years passed.