Samuel Jewkes
Samuel Jewkes/Jukes, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre
Samuel Jewkes/Jukes
1823-1900
Biographical Sketch
Early Life in England
Samuel Jewkes/Jukes was born in Tipton, Staffordshire in central England. His family resided in Staffordshire or Worcestershire for several generations. His wife Sophia Lewis Jewkes was born in Dover, Kent, England.
Immigration to America and onto Utah
He married his wife Sophia in St. Louis in 1851. By 1853, he and his family had migrated to Salt Lake County, Utah. By 1855, they had moved to Cedar City where he took a second wife, Mary Nash Garner. During a test run of the furnace in the Cedar City ironworks in spring 1857, Jewkes and several other men drove the steam engine. The Cedar City land records reflect that Jewkes owned one lot there.
In the Iron Military District: Private Samuel Jewkes, Company E, Elias Morris's 3rd Battalion
In the June 1857 militia list, Jewkes, 34, was listed as a company musician. In September 1857, Jewkes was a private in one of the Cedar City platoons in Elias Morris’ Company E in Isaac C. Haight’s 2nd Battalion. He was among those recruited to Mountain Meadows during the week of September 7. According to John D. Lee, Jewkes was at the military council on Thursday evening, the 10th. His exact role in the massacre the following day is unknown.
In 1859, Judge John Cradlebaugh issued an arrest warrant for those alleged to be complicit in the massacre. He was informed by one or more anonymous militia sources on those involved and he implied that his sources were from in or around Cedar City. Thus, most of those listed in the 1859 arrest warrant were from Cedar City and environs. Samuel Jewkes, however, was not among them.
Later Life
By 1861, they had moved to Moroni in Sanpete County. During the Black Hawk War, 1865-68, Ute Indian depredations in Sanpete County were particularly heavy. The Jewkes must have been affected by the disruptions incident to the war. In the late 1860s, they moved to Fountain Green in the same county where they lived for many years. While in Fountain Green, Jewkes organized and directed the ward choir. He was known in the community as an Englishman of musical ability.
Indicted for Complicity in the Massacre
Although Jewkes was a mere private in the 1857 militia and was not listed in the 1859 arrest warranty, for reasons now unclear he was named in the 1874 federal indictment issued against nine Iron County militiamen. The principal defendants were William H. Dame, Isaac C. Haight, John M. Higbee, Philip Klingensmith, John D. Lee and William C. Stewart. The two other privates indicted, besides Jewkes, were Ellott Willden and George Washington Adair.
Jewkes, however, was not actively prosecuted and the charges against him were eventually dropped.
Move to Emery County
In fall 1878, Mormon officials in Sanpete County called on select group of men and their families to join the first settlers in Castle Valley in what was then eastern Sanpete County. Around 1879, Samuel Jewkes and his family pioneered in Castle Valley. He and his wife were among the oldest of those who homesteaded in this unsettled region. Jewkes and his sons built the first saw mill on Cottonwood Creek near the future site of Castle Dale. It was initially horse-powered. Later, however, creek water supplied the motive power after they completed a race mill. His sawmill supplied the lumber for much of the building in the area in the coming decades.
In 1880, the legislature created Emery County from the eastern portion of Sanpete County. They established the county seat at Castle Dale and appointed the first county officials. Jewkes, 57, was appointed probate judge. In first county elections later that year, Jewkes was elected county treasurer and stepped down as probate judge.
Their initial settlement on Cottonwood Creek was soon named Orangeville. It became his home for the rest of his life. By 1882, Jewkes had introduced the first grist mill and threshing machine into Castle Valley. Making use of musical talent and prior choral experience, Jewkes organized the Orangeville Ward choir and also brought the first organ to Cottonwood Creek. He drew heavily on members of his family and others he had trained during their time in Fountain Green. His son, Samuel R. Jewkes, formed the Orangeville band, also drawing on Jewkes family members. Later, Samuel R. and several other talented musicians in the community formed an orchestra that played for dances and theatrical productions in Castle Valley.
The Jewkes family remained in the sawmill business for several generations. Later, Jewkes expanded his milling machinery by adding a molasses mill for processing sugar cane or sorgum into molasses. Jewkes was a "church going man," yet his supper of choice was "toast and hot beer, the hot beer being poured over the toast in a large bowl from which he always ate." His wife Mary and several other women in the community were expert brewers of malt beer. These were cultural relics from Jewkes's English upbringing. His two wives bore him twelve children.
Final Years
Jewkes remained in Emery County until his death in 1900. He was survived by his many children and grandchildren.
In 1949, Castle Valley: A History of Emery County was published. It noted that Samuel Jewkes "played a colorful part in the enterprises and early settling of Orangeville."
References
Carter, Our Pioneer Heritage, 4:165; Geary, A History of Emery County, 66, 68, 76-78, 86, 137-138, 140-41, 156-157, 159; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 232, 379; Lee Trail transcripts; McElprang, Castle Valley: A History of Emery County, 23, 69, 89, 90, 304, 306-307, 309, 315, 323; 1880 federal census; FamilySearch.org; Seegmiller, A History of Iron County, 270; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, 394, 487, 495; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.
External Links
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