John Price
John Price, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre
John Price
1815-1893
Biographical Sketch
John Price was a native of Tennessee with other American forbears from backcountry Virginia. He moved from Tennessee to Mississippi, then to frontier Utah where he was a pioneer in southern Utah.
Price was born in Tennessee. His mother had been born in Tennessee; his father in Virginia. His earliest American forebears of which we know were in Westmoreland County, Virginia, and were from Scots-Irish descent.
Price married Eliza Ann Adair (1811-1892), a native of Tennessee whose parents were from South Carolina. Evidently, in the mid-1840s they were in Pickens County, Mississippi. Price’s wife was part of the large Adair clan which joined the Mormons.
Migration to Utah
During the late 1840s to early 1850s, the Adair clan and the Prices immigrated to Utah Territory.
Price and his wife and family settled in Salt Lake City.
Among the Southerners in Washington
In early 1857, they joined the Adairs and other kin in the Southern colony in southwestern Utah. Price was among the original settlers in Washington, Washington County. The mission of these Southerners was to establish cotton culture in Utah's "Dixie."
In the Iron Military District: Private John Price, Company I, John D. Lee's 4th Battalion, Washington
In September 1857, Price, 42, was a private in the third Washington platoon in Captain Harrison Pearce’s Company I in Major John D. Lee’s 4th Battalion. The 1859 arrest warrant lists "James Price" but he is not mentioned in other lists of participants. His exact role in the massacre is unknown.
Later Years
Price remained in Washington County. Among other things, he worked as a stone mason, cutting tombstones. According to the 1880 census, he also worked as a "bee raiser." He remained there until his death in 1893. He was survived by three children.
References
Larson, The Red Hills of November, 14, 170; Larson, "A Brief History of Washington," in Bradshaw, ed., Under Dixie Sun, 235; Larson, I Was Called to Dixie, 251; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, ; Lee Trial transcripts; New.FamilySearch.org; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.
Further information and confirmation needed. Please comment below or contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.
