Alexander G. Ingram

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Alexander G. Ingram, his personal and family background, and his alleged involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre



Alexander G. Ingram

1822-after 1887



[There is uncertainty whether Alexander Ingram participated in the Mountain Meadows Massacre or was on the ground when the Arkansas company was attacked or besieged.]

Biographical Sketch

Early Life in Scotland

Alexander G. Ingram was born in October 1822 in Crieff, Perthshire, Scotland. His middle name may have been either Gordon or Graham. Evidently, he was among the Scottish converts to Mormonism in the early 1840s.

Immigration to America and onto Utah

The year of his immigration is uncertain but evidently it was prior to 1847. In 1847, he was with the Mormons in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa. That year, he married Agnes Rankin (1822-1885), also a Scot. She was born in Londonderry, Scotland.

To Southern Utah

By 1855, if not before, the Ingrams were in southern Utah in the small settlement of New Harmony where John D. Lee was a prominent figure. The Deseret Iron Company account book for the ironworks in nearby Cedar City makes passing reference to Alex Ingram, noting that he subscribed to the Deseret News and St. Louis Luminary and ordered sundries at the storehouse. Evidently, however, he did not work directly on the furnace or associated processes in the Cedar City ironworks, or at least there is no mention of it.

In the Iron Military District: Captain Alex Ingram, Company H, Major Lee's 4th Battalion

The Iron County militia muster rolls for June 1857 list "Alex. G. Ingram" and "Alex J. Ingram" but they are probably the same man. Ingram is listed as a 2nd Lt. in one of the Iron County militia platoons. During the militia reorganization during summer 1857, Ingram was promoted to Captain of Company H headquartered in Harmony, one of two companies in Major John D. Lee's 4th Battalion. As Captain of Company H, he was over two platoons from Fort Harmony, two from Fort Clara, and one from Painter Creek (Pinto). Some of the men in his company included Oscar Hamblin, Ira Hatch, Samuel Knight, Dudley Leavitt, Carl Shirts, Amos Thornton, and David Tullis. Most of these were from Fort Clara.

Whether he was a Mountain Meadows and, if so, what his role was is not known with certainty.

"_____ Ingram" was listed in Judge John Cradlebaugh's 1859 arrest warrant and also in T.B.H. Stenhouse's 1873 Rocky Mountain Saints (which followed the arrest warrant). However, he was not mentioned in the trials of John D. Lee, 1875-76, in Lee's Mormonism Unveiled, or in the list of the accused prepared by Lee's attorney, William Bishop.

In Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Walker, Turley and Leonard do not mention Ingram in their list of men associated with the massacre. In a footnote they state: "Alexander Ingram was another man who had one of the surviving children in 1859 and shortly thereafter Judge John Cradlebaugh issued an arrest warrant for him. . . . Ingram, a Harmony resident, was recorded speaking in a Church meeting after John D. Lee had left Harmony and was not identified by any of the witnesses at Mountain Meadows." (p. 401, fn. 54.)

Later Life

An 1860 census record lists Alexander Ingram in Virgin City, Washington County, Utah. It suggests that his date of birth was 1802 but this is an evident error. In 1863, Ingram was listed as one of seven presidents of Seventy, a church quorum, in Cedar City. John M. Macfarlane and Christopher J. Arthur were also members of this same quorum. However, the Ingrams apparently left a short time later.

Moving to Panguitch, Sevier County

In 1864, "Alex G. Ingraham" was among the founders of the new settlement of Panguitch, the county seat of Garfield County, in the upper Sevier River Valley. Panguitch is located 40 miles east of Parowan in the southern end of the Panguitch Valley. Initially, some fifty families settled in the valley and soon began clearing and fencing land, making ditches, building log houses, raising grain and tending livestock. In 1866, Ute Indian depredations were increasing. Ingram was captain of the guard in Panguitch and among the "Minutemen" organized to provide security. Another account refers to him as the drill sergeant. But the depredations led to full scale war. By 1866, the Black Hawk War was underway and In May of that year, Panguitch was abandoned, being deemed less secure than the lower, more established settlements of Beaver, Parowan and Cedar City. The new settlers of Panguitch relocated to these more secure and defensible communities. Undoubtedly, this is reason the Ingrams relocated to Beaver County.

To Beaver County

In 1869, after the formation of the Beaver Stake, Ingram's wife was an officer in the church women's organization, the Relief Society, in the Beaver Third Ward which comprised Adamsville and Greenville. In 1873, an Alexander Ingram was listed as a postmaster in Adamsville, Beaver County.

Mission to Great Britain

In 1874, an Alexander Ingram was called to serve a church mission in Great Britain. He departed Utah in November and is said to have visited his relatives in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. He embarked from New York in early February 1875 and he arrived in Liverpool two weeks later. His arrival was noted in the Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star and also appeared in the Deseret News. His initial assignment was to the church's Glasgow Conference in Scotland.

The 1880 census lists "Alex G. Ingran" and "Agness R. Ingran" in Kingston, Piute County. This suggests that after the fear of Indian depredations had passed, the Ingrams returned to the highland area along the Sevier River. Ingram was 58 and his employment was listed as iron moulder.

Agnes R. Ingram evidently died around 1885. There is evidence that Alexander Ingram married Sarah Rankin in 1887 in Beaver County, Utah. This may have been the younger sister of Agnes Ingram.

The date of Alexander Ingram's death is unknown.

References

Chidester, Golden Nuggets of Pioneer Days: A History of Garfield County, 13, 14; Jenson, Church Chronology, 62; Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star, 37 (1875), 122; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled; Lee Trial transcripts; Merkley, ed., Monuments to Courage: A History of Beaver County, 33, 34; Newell and Talbot, A History of Garfield County, 64; Federal census, 1860, 1880; Official Register of the United States, 1873, 932; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C; Webster, Diary of Francis Webster, April 17, 1863.

External Links

For further information on Alexander Ingram, see:

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