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From: "Ronald Colby" <>
Subject: [HANDCART-L] Joseph Smith Part 5
Date: Tue, 17 Mar 98 14:48:02 PST

SIXTH GENERATION

52. Zopher GEE was born on 28 AUG 1763. He died on 14 AUG 1829.

He was married to Esther BECKWITH (daughter of Zenao BECKWITH and
Anna HARRIS). Esther BECKWITH was born on 6 JUN 1770. She died
on 31 AUG 1794. Zopher GEE and Esther BECKWITH had the following
children:

87 i. Saloman GEE.

53. Harmon SAWYER was born about 1771 in Vermont. He died in
Walton, Delaware County, New York.

He was married to Katherine Elizabeth WHITE. Katherine Elizabeth
WHITE was born in 1771 in Vermont. Harmon SAWYER and Katherine
Elizabeth WHITE had the following children:

88 i. Horace Seymour SAWYER.

54. Ruth CHEESEMAN was born on 20 FEB 1777 in Hampshire County,
Massachusetts. She died on 15 AUG 1826.

She was married to Abiah CURTIS (son of Joseph CURTIS and Lydia
PALMER) on 2 DEC 1799. Abiah CURTIS was born on 5 SEP 1777 in
Dutches County, New York. He died on 9 NOV 1861 in Jefferson
County, New York. Ruth CHEESEMAN and Abiah CURTIS had the
following children:

89 i. Mary B. CURTIS.
90 ii. Betsey Cary CURTIS.
91 iii. Lydia CURTIS.
92 iv. Sebra Ann CURTIS.
93 v. Cheesman CURTIS.
94 vi. Philander CURTIS.
95 vii. Henry CURTIS.

64. Mary MACK was born on 4 SEP 1793 in New Hampshire. She was
baptized into the LDS church on 3 JUL 1948. She was endowed on
14 SEP 1949.

She was married to David DORT on 2 JUN 1813.

65. Almira MACK was born on 28 APR 1805 in Tunbridge, Orange
County, Vermont. She was baptized into the LDS church in MAY
1830. Alternate date: September 1830 She was endowed on 3 JAN
1846 in the Nauvoo, Illinois LDS temple. She died on 10 MAR 1886
in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah.

She was married to William SCOBY on 23 OCT 1836 in Clay County,
Missouri. She was sealed to spouse on 21 JAN 1846 in the Nauvoo,
Illinois LDS temple. Almira MACK and William SCOBY had the
following children:

96 i. Enoch SCOBY.
97 ii. Joseph SCOBY.

98 iii. Andrew Almon SCOBY.
99 iv. Hyrum SCOBY.

77. Hyrum SMITH was born on 9 FEB 1800 in Tunbridge, Orange
County, Vermont. He died on 27 JUN 1844 in Carthage, Hancock
County, Illinois.

He was married to Jerusha BARDEN on 2 NOV 1826 in Manchester,
Ontario County, New York. Jerusha BARDEN died on 13 OCT 1837 in
Kirtland, Lake County, Ohio. Hyrum SMITH and Jerusha BARDEN had
the following children:

100 i. Lovina SMITH was born on 16 SEP 1827. She died on
8 OCT 1876.
101 ii. Mary SMITH was born on 27 JUN 1829. She died on
29 MAY 1832.
102 iii. John SMITH was born on 22 SEP 1832.
Smith, John, the sixth presiding Patriarch of the
Church and the present incumbent of that office, is the son of
Hyrum Smith and Jerusha Burden, and was born Sept. 22, 1832, in
Kirtland, Geuaga (now Lake) county, Ohio. His mother died Oct.
13, 1837. She had six children-two sons and four daughters, and
she died when the youngest was eight days old. His father was
away from home at the time of her death. Dec. 24, 1837, his
father married Miss Mary Fielding, who bore him two children, a
son and a daughter. In the spring of 1838 John went with his
father's family to Far West, Caldwell county, Missouri, where he
shared with the rest of the Saints in the persecutions. In the
fall of 1838 his father, his uncle Joseph and others, were taken
prisoners by a ruthless mob, and, after being abused in many
ways, threatened with death, etc., were finally lodged in
Liberty, Clay county jail. During the winter his father's family,
in connection with many others, were driven out of Missouri.
Although small, John suffered much from cold and hunger. The
family landed at Quincy, Ill.., early in 1839, where they
remained a short time.

Brother Hyrum Smith came home from Liberty jail
April 22, 1839. The family subsequently went up the Mississippi
river to a place called Commerce, afterwards the city of Nauvoo.
Soon afterwards they moved about two miles down the river, where
they remained in comparative peace for a short season. His father
and his uncle, Joseph the Prophet, were martyred in Carthage jail
by a bloodthirsty mob, June 27, 1844. In the month of February,
1847, John left his father's folks and started west with Heber C.
Kimball's family. At this time he did not know where the people
were going, but he supposed to California.

This company crossed the Mississippi river on a
ferryboat, and encamped on Sugar creek, about nine miles out.
After two or three days, boy-like, he got homesick and went back
to see his folks. During his stay at home, which was only for a
few days, the river froze over, and he crossed back on skates,
and joined the company. During the journey he had to drive loose
stock, drive team, herd cattle and horses, and do any kind of
work he could. Many times he was drenched in the rain. On one
occasion Brother Heber P. Kimball and himself were driven by the
force of the storm, stock and all, for a mile or so, although
they were on horseback. The company journeyed westward through
Iowa, stopping many times by the way in consequence of storms and
soft roads, or, to speak more correctly, no roads but soft
prairie. They finally landed on the hill where now stands Council
Bluffs city, and crossed over the Missouri river at anoint near
the present site of Omaha, called at that time Sarpee's Trading
Post, among the Pottawatamie Indians. They then went up about six
miles to the Little Pupillon, and remained a short time. During
his stay there he became acquainted with Col. Thomas L. Kane, who
was taken very sick, and John was his nurse for two weeks. In or
about the month of August they moved into Winter Quarters, where
the town of Florence now stands. In the fore part of September he
learned that his father's family were on the road, and he went,
in company with Brother Almon W. Babbitt, back about one hundred
and fifty miles and met them. They
came to Winter Quarters, where they remained two
winters. John went to work with hired help, built a log house for
the winter, and during the summer of 1847 made fence, tilled the
soil, and took a man's place in the hay and harvest field, as he
was the only male member of the family who was able to work. In
April, 1848, the family started for Great Salt Lake valley. It
was rather a hard journey, as they did not have teams enough.
John had to drive a team composed of wild steers, cows and oxen,
with two wagons tied together, and, before they had traveled more
than two miles, a wagon tongue broke and they had to camp for the
night. On the way over the plains he broke and they had to camp
for the steers to work. He had to take a man's place, by standing
guard at night, and in the day time to be the boy who brought the
wood and water, herded the cows and assisted to double teams over
bad places, up hills, etc. On one occasion a circumstance
occurred which he will never forget. One day about sundown, while
the party were encamped on the Platte river, it was reported that
a woman was lost. Without ceremony he took his coat on his arm
and a piece of corn bread in his hand and started out up the
road, to follow a party of the company which had left at noon. He
had not gone far when he came up with a dead carcass, which was
covered with wolves fighting and howling. He walked past as fast
and as quietly as possible. He traveled six miles before he came
up with any wagons. During this distance he passed about twenty
such frightful scenes, but he got through safe, and he thinks he
was unnoticed by the wolves. He stopped for the balance of the
night with an acquaintance, and at daybreak proceeded on his
journey, and found the lost woman, a little after sunrise, safe
with her mother, six miles from where he stayed for the night. On
Sept. 22, 1848, his sixteenth birthday, he drove five wagons down
the "Big Mountain," east of Salt Lake City; it was dark long
before he got into camp with the last wagon. On the way, one
wheel of his wagon ran into a tree which was about fifteen inches
through. He had to lie on his back and chop the tree down with a
dull ax before he could go any further. The next day he arrived
in the Great Salt Lake valley. In the spring of 1850 John was
enrolled in a company of horsemen, called the "Battalion of Life
Guards," for the purpose of standing guard, or going out at a
minute's warning, to protect the settlements from the marauding
Indians, who were very angry at that time. For about ten years he
was compelled to keep on hand a saddle horse and everything
necessary for that purpose. Many times he was called and got up
in the night and started off at once; at other times he had to
leave in the heat of harvest, and then his wife was obliged to
take his place in the field. This he had to do in connection with
working in the canyon and attending to the farm to support the
family. Sept. 21, 1852, his stepmother died, leaving him to
provide for a family of eight, three of them-one man and two
women-being old people, the youngest over sixty-three years old;
also one brother and three sisters younger than himself. He was
at that time twenty years, less one day, old. Dec. 25, 1853, he
married Miss Helen Maria Fisher, who bore him nine children, five
sons and four daughters. In the spring of 1856 he went on
horseback to Salmon river with Pres. Brigham Young's party, a
distance of 480 miles, and returned, which trip occupied six
weeks' time. Feb. 18, 1855, Brother Smith was ordained to the
office of Patriarch under the hands of Presidents Brigham Young,
Heber C. Kimball and Jedediah M. Grant, and Apostles Orson Hyde,
Orson Pratt, Wilford Woodruff, George A. Smith
and Lorenzo Snow, Pres. Young being mouth. It may
be well here to state that this is the only office in the Church
which is handed down from father to son by right of lineage. His
grandfather, Joseph Smith, sen., was the first Patriarch to the
Church. He was ordained by his son, the Prophet Joseph Smith.
John's father, Hyrum Smith, was ordained to this office by his
father; and John would doubtless have been ordained by his father
if he had lived until John had arrived at a proper age. Sept. 16,
1859, John started for Florence with a four-mule team, to bring
his sister and her husband and family to Utah. He traveled in
company with Elder John Y. Greene across the plains, and made the
trip from Salt Lake City to Florence in thirty-two days, laying
over on the road two days of the timeùdistance, 1011 miles.
During his stay in the East he took his sister and her two
youngest children and traveled across Iowa to Montrose, a
distance of 350 miles, in eight days, with a pair of mules and a
light wagon, and visited Nauvoo and different places in Illinois,
reviewed many places of his boyhood, and found quite a number of
his connections. He returned to Florence in February, 1860, where
he spent considerable time in assisting to put wagons and
handcarts together, and in doing all he could to expedite the
starting of the European emigrants on the plains. In the month of
June he was appointed by Elder George Q. Cannon, who had charge
of the emigrants that season, to organize a company and take
charge of it across the plains. He went to work at once, got a
company of more than forty wagons in readiness, loaded his sister
and family, and started out. The trip was made in seventy days.
At the general conference, April, 1862, he was called to take a
mission to Scandinavia. On the 17th of May following he started
out on horseback, without purse or scrip, to cross the plains and
the ocean. He was invited by Elder John R. Murdock to go with him
to the Missouri river, as he had charge of a company of wagons
and teams to bring out emigrants. Brother Smith accepted the
invitation, and Brother Murdock assisted him with provisions. All
went well until about noon one day, as the company left the
Sweetwater river, when Brother Smith was taken down with mountain
fever. During the night the fever was very severe, and the pain
through every joint was excruciating. Toward the latter part of
the night he was administered to by some of the Elders, and in
the morning was able to pursue his journey on horseback. He was
very weak and had to get down often from his horse to rest. At
Fort Laramie he sold his horse, which was worth $90, for $40, and
at Florence his saddle, which was worth $20, for $10. He met
friends, who gave him money to assist him on his journey. His
fare from Florence to Liverpool was about $100. When he arrived
in Liverpool he had twenty-one shillings in his pocket. This paid
his fare to London, where he had to get a passport from the
American Minister before he could cross the continent of Europe.
There he borrowed money to take him through (which he afterwards
paid) from Hull, England, to Hamburg, Germany. The boat met
headwinds and a rough sea, and all on board were sick; even the
captain had to get on deck for air. At Hamburg he met his cousin,
Elder Jesse N. Smith, who had preceded him about eighteen months.
Brother Jesse had with him an interpreter, and all went well.
They landed at Korsoer, Denmark, Sept. 6, 1862. Brother Smith
remained on this mission until April 13, 1864, when he sailed
from Copenhagen, on his return home. While on this mission he
studied hard and obtained a good understanding of the
Scandinavian languagesùDanish-Norwegian and Swedish. On arriving
at Grimsby, England, they found some emigrants for Zion awaiting
them, who had traveled by way of Lubeck, and they all, about
three hundred in number, continued their journey by rail to
Liverpool. There he was appointed president of the ship's
company. He embarked in the large sailing ship, "Monarch of the
Sea," bound for New York, having on board 973 souls of the
Saints-Danes, Swedes, Norwegians, Germans, Scotch, Welsh, Irish,
English and Americans-the largest company of Latter-day Saints
which, up to that time, had left the shores of Europe. They were
over forty days out at sea, with head winds a good deal of the
time. On the banks of Newfoundland they saw a number of very
large icebergs. On their arrival at Castle Gardens, New York,
June 3, 1864, they went immediately on board the steamboat "St.
Johns," and sailed up the Hudson river to Albany; from there they
traveled by rail to St. Joseph, Missouri, and thence by steamboat
up the Missouri river to Wyoming, Nebraska. On Brother Smith's
arrival at Wyoming, he was appointed to take charge on the plains
of a Scandinavian company of thirty wagons. He was there joined
by more wagons in charge of Captain Patterson, making in all over
sixty, for safety against the Indians, as the latter were very
hostile that season, many people having been killed, and horses,
mules and cattle stolen, and wagons burned. Many times on the
journey ranchers, traders, and also officers at government posts
would use every argument possible to induce them to stop for
safety. The answer Brother Smith would give them was, "We are
used to Indian warfare, and we have only provisions enough to
take us home, even if we keep moving; and we would rather run our
risk of fighting Indians than starve on the plains." The company
reached Salt Lake City, Oct. 1, 1864. After a few days the
immigrants were distributed among their respective friends in the
various settlements, but for several years Brother Smith was kept
busy as an interpreter for the Scandinavians. Since that time he
has been engaged in the duties of his calling as a Patriarch,
traveling through the settlements of the Saints, and attending to
other business, and on the farm. Up to date he has given to the
Saints 15,660 patriarchal blessings.

103 iv. Hyrum SMITH II was born on 27 APR 1834. He died
on 21 SEP 1841.
104 v. Jerusha SMITH was born on 13 JAN 1836.
105 vi. Sarah SMITH was born on 2 OCT 1837. She died on 6
NOV 1876.

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