John Western
John Weston/Western, his personal and family background, and his involvment in the Mountain Meadows Massacre
John Weston/Western
1807-1865
Biographical Sketch
Early Life in Devonshire, England
John Weston/Western was born in Devonshire, England in October 1807, the third of fourteen children born to John Western and Elizabeth Curham. Little is known of his early life. However, judging from his later life, he had work experience in the British iron works, he had a musical background, and he seems to have been a person of at least modest means.
Conversion to Mormonism
Evidently, during the 1840s he heard the message of Mormon missionaries that many English in that era found so hopeful. He converted to Mormonism in 1848 and became an enthusiastic follower in Great Britain.
Contributions to the Formation of the Deseret Iron Company in England
Meanwhile, in 1849, Mormon explorers in southern Utah discovered significant iron deposits. Because of the enormous cost of importing iron goods to Utah Territory, it was inevitable that early Mormon settlers in the Great Basin would attempt to establish an iron industry there. It was natural, then, that with the conversion to Mormonism of Englishmen such as John Weston with experience in iron production, they would become involved in various ways in these early attempts to establish an iron industry in Utah. Thus, in 1852, John Weston was among a group of British Latter-day Saints who met in Liverpool, England to form the Deseret Iron Company (DIC). While others contributed significant financial backing, Weston's vital contribution was his practical experience as an overseer of an iron works. Around the same time in Utah, Mormon leader Brigham Young established the Iron Mission in southern Utah with headquarters in the new settlement of Cedar City.
In April 1853, Weston attended the organizational meeting of the DIC in Liverpool and became a subscriber to its articles of incorporation. Weston received one of the eight shares issued, each valued at 500 pounds British sterling ($2,420), and became a member of the DIC's board of directors. Quickly, Weston made plans to immigrate to Utah. While some early Mormons came to Utah with no clear idea of where they might settle, such was not the case with John Weston and other British Saints in the Deseret Iron Company or with experience in the iron mills. They were bound for the "Iron Mission" in Cedar City.
Immigration to America and onto Utah
Soon Weston and his family immigrated to America. At Keokuk, Iowa, they joined the John Brown Company, which departed in early July to cross the plains to Utah Territory.
They passed the usual milestones on the trail: Fort Kearney, the South Fork of the Platte River, Chimney Rock, Fort Laramie, the Sweetwater River, Independence Rock, Devil's Gate, Green River, Fort Bridger, Bear River, and Weber River. After suffering the usual hardships of overland trail they arrived in the valley of the Great Salt Lake in mid-October.
To Cedar City and the Ironworks
Then they headed south into southern Utah. By spring 1854, Weston was settled in Cedar City. City records reflect that he was the owner of a series of building lots. In the mid-1850s, Weston also served as director of the "English Choir" in Cedar City with its English, Welsh and Scottish voices.
In moving to Cedar City, John Weston was settling in an area dominated by the Deseret Iron Company, known more familiarly as the Ironworks. See Summary of Deseret Iron Company for a brief summary of its early development. However, in 1857, he did not donate labour to the ironworks according to its account book. It reflects that Weston acquired goods from the company store and that he was debited for a city lot in June. There is one final, enigmatic entry on October 3, 1857, in which he and Isaac Haight were credited "for 31 Gall & 3 quarts whiskey for the Hands [?]" at $8 per gallon for a total credit of $254.
Early Married Life
While the above facts are well attested, uncovering his married life from missing records and contradictory data is difficult. However, it appears that during the 1830s-1840s, Weston had married Mary Ann Sharples (1800-1860s?) and they had a son, Tom.
Following their conversion to Mormonism in the late 1840s, they immigrated to Utah in the early 1850s. With them was a 15-year-old English girl, Matilda Pool (1838-1903). Matilda had been born in Spain, the daughter of an English diplomat to the Spanish court. Weston married Matilda as a plural wife, probably late in 1853, after their arrival in Utah Territory. Late in 1854, after they had settled in Cedar City, Matilda gave birth to twin girls, one of whom survived. She later gave birth to four other children.
In the Iron Military District: Sergeant John Weston, Company F, John M. Higbee's 3rd Battalion
In 1857, the Iron Military District consisted of four battalions led by regimental commander Col. William H. Dame. 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.
At the outbreak of the Utah War in September 1857, William C. Stewart was first lieutenant and Weston, 49, was sergeant of the First Platoon in Company F of the Iron Military District, the local militia. Joseph Clews and Joseph H. Smith was privates in the same platoon. Company F was lead by Captain William Tait and it was attached to Major John M. Higbee's 3rd Battalion. See A Basic Account for a full description of the massacre.
If Weston was at Mountain Meadows, it seems probable that he marched there from Cedar City in one of several detachments sent to the Meadows during the week of September 7-11. He could have arrived as early as Tuesday the 8th or as late as Thursday the 10th. He is not mentioned among those at the fateful militia council on Thursday evening attended by leading Cedar City church and militia leaders. His exact role, if any, in the massacre on Friday, September 11, is not known.
Although many Cedar City militiamen implicated in the massacre were named in Judge John Cradlebaugh's 1859 arrest warrant, Weston was not mentioned. Perhaps he was omitted because he had already left the area, having moved north to Beaver County. In 1877, William Bishop listed "John Weston (dead) of Cedar City" in his list of "assassins" appended to John D. Lee's Mormonism Unveiled. Lee himself does not mention Weston in any of his statements. However, Nephi Johnson included Weston among those at Mountain Meadows.
In their Appendix C listing known and suspected militiamen, Walker, Leonard and Turley claim, mistakenly, that no one by the name of "John Weston" is attested in southern Utah in the mid- to late-1850s. However, in the historical records of Iron and Beaver counties, he is consistently identified as John "Weston" while the records and accounts of his later life in Millard County identify him as John "Western." Because he was a noted choral director in each of these area, there is little doubt that the sources reference the same man.
In the early 1890s, Andrew Jenson, the assistant church historian of the Mormon Church, conducted interviews with several surviving militiamen from the massacre. Among his miscellaneous notes from these interviews is the notation, "John Weston was not there [at the massacre]." He does not identify the source, if any, for this conclusion.
Later Life: Musicianship and Hardship
In 1858, Weston and his family were among those who abandoned Cedar City, probably influenced by the dual disasters the previous year: the massacre at Mountain Meadows and the failure of the ironworks in Cedar City. He and his two wives and children moved north to Beaver County and were among the founding settlers in the city of Beaver. He also organized the first choir there. He was regarded as a good musician, skillful in harmony and composition. In addition, his favorable reputation with the Cedar City choir had preceded him.
Final Years
By the early 1860s, Weston's oldest son, Tom, had moved north to Meadow in Millard County. (Meadow is south of Fillmore, near Kanosh, in what had been the traditional lands of Chief Kanosh and the Pauvant Utes.) Following his son's lead, Weston and his two wives and children settled in Meadow. Reportedly, "the first wife [Mary Ann] and Matilda loved each other, so John got a farm with a three roomed house on it, in which all of the family could live." (Day, ed., Builders of Early Millard, 753.) Following past practice, he began a choir in Meadow. In 1864, Matilda gave birth to John's and her last child.
By then, however, John Weston was in poor health. He died in 1865 at the age of 57. Weston did not survive to the 1870s when the Mountain Meadows Massacre erupted in waves of controversy that consumed the attention of Utah's legal and political system and attracted national attention to the fervent but underfunded attempts to bring its perpetrators to justice.
The exact date of death of Weston's first wife, Mary Ann Sharples Weston, is unknown. Later, his second wife, Mitilda Pool Weston, moved north with her children to Ogden to be nearer her relatives. She died in 1903.
References
Bennett, "History of Meadow," in Day, ed., Milestones of Millard, 311-340; Brooks, ed., Journal of the Southern Indian Mission, 70, 77, 84, 122; Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage, 12:28; Day, ed., "The John Western Family," in Builders of Early Millard, 753; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 272, 273, 380; Lee Trial transcripts; Merkley, ed., Monuments to Courage: A History of Beaver County, x, 134; New.FamilySearch.org; Seegmiller, The History of Iron County, 238, 239; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, 255-57, 283 fn. 53 & 55, 331, 465, 469, 476, 486-88; Turley and Walker, Mountain Meadows Massacre: The Jenson and Morris Collections, 236; Walker, Turley and Leonard, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C, 263.
For full bibliographic information see Bibliography.
External Links
For further information on John Weston/Western, see:
- http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
- Deseret Iron Company Account Book, 1854-1867: http://www.footnote.com/document/241905844/
Further information and confirmation needed. Please contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.
