*Note: Scroll all the way down as there is a lot of information here including obituaries & information about him in the Mormon Battalion
Jacob Micah Truman 1826
Jacob Micah Truman 1826
PIONEER AND SERVANT OF GOD
By Robert Goodwin
I – ANCESTRY
Jacob himself was from hearty Pioneer stock. His mother was descended from the early colonial settlers of Massachusetts and Connecticut. His father's family, though the name is English, was from the Dutch settlements of New York. Jacob's mother, Martha Spencer, was born the 22nd of July. 1793 in the town of Unadilla, Otsego County, New York, where her father, Mica Spencer had spent his youth. He had moved there from Massachusetts as a child and in 1792 had married Rhoda Mudge. Mica Spencer and his family lived in Unadilla until Martha, their oldest child was about thirteen years old. At that time Mica, along, with some of his brothers decided to move to Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Tioga County in 1806 was a newly settled area with great tracts of land that were still unoccupied. Mica and Martha's uncles found an area near what was later Canoe Camp in Richmond Township, which was not yet been settled. After scouting out its possibilities they soon settled there. Soon after the family had moved to Tioga County, Martha's uncle - Amos Spencer built a gristmill to grind flour while the others started farming. Later, Amos also built a sawmill to provide lumber for many of the new settlers then moving into the area. This lumber was needed to build permanent houses and barns. Amos’ saw mill kept many of the family employed, both logging and sawing lumber while they struggled to get their farms settlers moved into the area the towns of Mansfield, Canoe Camp, Lamb's Creek, and Kelleytown were founded. Mica Spencer, taking advantage of the increased population opened a bookstore which provided extra income for his family. It was while living in Tioga County that Martha Spencer met John F. Truman. John Franklin Truman was born the 28th of January 1789 in either Connecticut or Vermont. He spent his early youth in Burlington, Vermont on the shores of Lake Champlain. Shortly before 1800 his parents moved across the lake to Plattsburgh, New York. Shortly afterwards, John was apprenticed out to another family to learn a trade. In apprenticeships the employer usually furnished food, clothes, lodging and some schooling, while the apprentice was required to work assisting his employer in whatever work was needed. Eventually the apprentice was to learn a useful trade. After a time this family moved away and John lost track of his family. John stayed with this family until he was twenty-one, when his apprenticeship ended, and probably moved with them to the area of Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Soon after his release he met Martha Spencer and in 1810 they were married. For a time John and Martha stayed in Tioga County where John built Martha a nice frame house, which stood on a knoll just south of Kelleytown. This house was later used as one of the first school houses in the area. John and Martha did not stay long in Tioga County, though. Shortly before Anna Maria was born, in 1811, they moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. An important commercial center, and departure point for people traveling down the Ohio River to the Western lands beyond. They stayed in Pittsburgh until after their second daughter, Adeliza Lauretta, was born. They then moved back to Tioga County for a while before moving on to New York. According to tradition, while in New York at this time, John and Martha lived not far from the St. Lawrence River in Northern New York where John ran a tavern and the family “owned land with many maple sugar trees growing, where they made enough for their own use and to spare. “ This tradition has not been verified though. While living in New York, John and Martha's third daughter, Rhoda Sarah, was born in 1820. But again they didn't stay long and soon moved to Canada where Almus Spencer, their first son, was born in 1822. By 1825, when Jacob Mica was born, they had again moved. This time back to New York, in Niagara County where Martha's father had moved for his family's health. Here John bought a small farm from the Holland Land Company not far from where his father lived. John's father, Jacob L. Truman, at this time was also living in Niagara County, no doubt John not only took the opportunity to get re-acquainted with his father, but also to meet his new step-mother, Abigail Horton, and his three young half-brothers. Because it was about this time that John decided to visit his mother, who had stayed behind in Burlington, Vermont and had since remarried. He took his brother-in-law George C. Spencer and started off for Burlington. When they arrived they found his mother at home one night. George was to do the talking. He did so and they got permission to stay. John kept his hat on. He had curly hair and thought his mother might recognize him. She looked at him, walked over and raised his hat, and said: “John, my son.“ What a happy meeting that must have been. They sat up and talked all night.
II - BIRTH AND CHILDHOOD
After Jacob Mica's birth in 1825 his family stayed in Niagara for almost five years. While his father tried to make their new farm productive, many of his family took sick, probably with the ague, and his grandmother, Rhoda Mudge, finally became so ill that she died on October 1st, 1828. This, along with the family's constant moving, illness, and financial woes, finally became too much for John and Martha. Mica Spencer, who lived with them, and who had apparently just suffered some financial setbacks when his son, Roswell, lost the land they were trying to buy expressed their sentiments in a letter to a purchasing agent in Canada. Here Mica expressed his desire to move to Canada, where he thought life would be better. He wrote:
Niagara, N.Y.
Sept. 23d 1829
“Owning to sickness and other misfortunes we were unable to pay for the soil of the lot Roswell Articled for in this place. We have sold our improvements and as Dorastus and Amos have purchased a lot at Long Point we should like to go ther too . . . Mrs. Spencer is dead she died the first day of last October. The rest of the family are all living but some are in a very indifferent state of health vix. myself Roswell George and Sophia. We came here to git into a healthy country. Than which a more unhealthy place cannot be found on the face of God’s earth. the inhabitants have more the appearance of Dondering Ghosts than living mortals if we can once more get well seated in Canada the inhabitants of the States may enjoy all their boasted liberty (which God knows is more wind that reality) and wellcome.”
Before the end of the year, Jacob's whole family including his grandfather, Mica Spencer and his family had moved to Charlottesville, Canada. On the way Almus, Jacob's only brother took sick and on the 4th of January 1830 he died; leaving Jacob as the only son in a family of three sisters. Jacob and his family lived in Canada for eight years. The longest that they had stayed anywhere. While there, they worked together to build Lauretta a new home. Not long after they had arrived, Lauretta, started seeing a young man named Henry Barnum. He was a local boy who had grown up in the vicinity. Henry worked as a boatman or mariner on Lake Erie. As John was also a boatman, it was only natural that he would have met some of John's family. The courtship must not have lasted long for on the 22nd of March, 1831, hardly a year after they had arrived in Charlottesville, Lauretta, then only 16, and Henry Barnum were married by the local Presbyterian minister John F. Truman, Mica Rhoda. Listed, as witnesses at the marriage were Spencer, and Jacob's nine-year-old sister Rhoda. As a consequence of Lauretta knowing Henry Barnum, Anna Maria met Henry's brother, James Barnum. They quickly fell in love and they were married a year afterward on the 20th of June 1832, at the local Baptist church. During these years the family stayed together and worked hard, making improvements to the land on which they lived. Jacob helped out where he could laboring in the fields, helping his father and uncles clear land, and helping make the necessary improvements to their land. In 1837 Upper Canada, as Ontario was then known, was in the midst of political turmoil. Due to some of the arbitrary decisions make by many of the British appointed officials, who seemed to favor the rich and landed interests over the less wealthy settlers, many of whom were originally from the United States, a revolt broke out, led by William Lyon Mackenzie. This was an effort to get Canada to join the United States. One of the hotbeds of the revolt was the area of Long Point and Charlottesville. This revolt, or Patriot’s Rebellion as it was known, was quickly put down in December of 1837, and many of its leaders were captured. At least one of Jacob’s uncles took part in this revolt. Henry Barnum was captured during the rebellion, tried for treason, and transported to Tasmania for life imprisonment, the family thinking he was dead. John F. Truman, Mica Spencer, James Barnum, Lauretta Barnum, and their families all quickly left, and by 1838 were all living in the area of Ypsilanti, Washtenaw County, Michigan (a short distance from Detroit). It was while Jacob’s family lived in Michigan that tragedy struck his family. On December 26th, 1839, the day after Christmas, just a year after they had moved to Michigan, John F. Truman, according to tradition, went “fishing” and never returned — dying while away from his family. Jacob was only 14 when this happened and he was left to help care for his mother, something he faithfully did until she died. For a time Martha, Rhoda, and Jacob lived with his sister Lauretta and her family where they appeared in the 1840 census of Ypsilanti, Michigan. It was while they were living in Ypsilanti that Jacob’s family first heard about the Book of Mormon and the restoration of the Gospel by Joseph Smith, from missionaries sent out from Nauvoo. Lauretta was presumably the first to receive the Gospel and was baptized November 17th, 1842. The rest of the family didn’t accept the Church quite as fast. Apparently wanting time to think about this new religion before joining.
III - NAUVOO AND THE JOURNEY WEST
About this time a lot of things started happening at once to Jacob’s family. First, Anna Maria’s husband died in 1842 leaving her with three small children. Rhoda married Stephen Hicks in 1844 and moved away. And Mica Spencer decided to move to Knox County, Illinois in 1845, where a small Mormon settlement had been established by Michigan Saints gathering to the vicinity of Nauvoo as Brigham Young had urged. The whole family moved with Mica Spencer and after their arrival in Illinois Lauretta married Ashel Murrey as a second wife. It was at this time that Jacob decided to seriously considering joining the Church, but wanted to go to Nauvoo before doing so. In the summer of 1845, while Brigham Young was trying to gather the scattered Saints to Nauvoo and making plans to travel West the next spring, Jacob moved to Nauvoo and was baptized June 10th 1845 by Lyman Stoddard. Two months later on the 22nd of August Jacob received his patriarchal blessing. Eight days later, on his twentieth birthday he was ordained a Seventy in the 30th Quorum of Seventies. When the Saints were driven from Nauvoo in the winter and early spring of 1846, Jacob returned to Knox County, and with his mother and sister, Anna Maria, gathered their possessions and oxen, and gathered with the Saints on the west side of the Mississippi River. During the spring and early summer they struggled across Iowa to Council Bluffs where semi-permanent camps were being made to gather the Saints. While at Council Bluffs, the call for the Mormon Battalion came and Jacob Mica Truman enlisted on the 16th (of) July 1846 in Company “C” commanded by Capt. James Brown. There were only five days to prepare for service with battalion. Jacob left his mother and sister in the best care he could and departed with the Battalion around the 21st of July and traveled to Fort Leavenworth, in Kansas, to be outfitted and equipped for their journey. Since no one was familiar with such a lengthy march for infantry, estimates of what supplies were needed were greatly underestimated. This was to trouble the Battalion throughout their whole march. All of the men liked their first commander, Colonel James Allen, the man who had raised the Battalion. But shortly after they left Ft. Leavenworth he took sick and died. His replacement Lt. Col. A. J. Smith of the regular Army was extremely un-liked and many of the men wanted to make Capt. Jefferson Hunt of Company “A” their commander, he being the senior officer of the Battalion itself. This request was turned down, and it wasn’t until October 19th, 10 days before arriving at Santa Fe, that Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke arrived to take permanent command of the Battalion. He was regarded by all as a just and honorable soldier. One of the officers that the Battalion disliked most was Dr. Sanderson, the Battalion doctor and a non-Mormon. Most of the men regarded Dr. Sanderson with a mixture of fear and loathing. Many times Dr. Sanderson showed his contempt and dislike for the “Mormon” Battalion members, and was willing to let many men suffer rather than to properly treat them. Most men were willing to endure their illnesses and the rigors of marching with the Battalion rather than to submit to Dr. Sanderson’s “cures” before being allowed to ride in the sick wagons. Since Jacob was one of the younger Battalion members, one of his duties was to help care for the stock and help “break in” any new animals they got for their work. One of these animals, either a mule or a horse was especially wild, and when Jacob tried to mount it, it ran off running and bucking wildly into the desert with Jacob on top. Three different versions of this story relate what happened next:
“The horse ran under a tree whose branches knocked Jacob to the ground and he was badly hurt. The doctor of the company said he would not live long - that they would have to go on and leave him there to die. Four of his comrades begged the doctor to dress his wounds and let them stay behind with him for a little while. The request was granted. As soon as the company moved on, the four boys formed a circle and offered up a fervent prayer for the recovery of their comrade. After a short time Jacob was sufficiently recovered to be put on a horse and all rejoined the camp that evening. The doctor, not being of their faith said: ‘You can’t kill those d . . . Mormons.‘ “
“One day, while attempting to ‘break’ a mule for riding, the mule ran bolting and bucking across the desert. He ran under a tree, bucking as he went. A low branch knocked Jacob from the saddle and he lay bleeding on the ground. A few hours later he was found by his companions, who had traced the mules tracks when the mule had returned to camp rider-less. At first, Jacob was thought to be dead, but he was not, although the blow had laid open his head to the bone, in a gash from ear to ear. The Army doctor examined him and said he could do nothing. Since the Army was breaking camp, they decided to leave him to die as they had no facilities to care for while traveling. After much persuasion, three members of the Battalion obtained permission to stay and bury Jacob, promising to catch up with the remainder of the Army at their next camp. As soon as the Army left, the Elders laid hands on Jacob and administered to him. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Battalion kept watch for their comrades who had stayed behind. As they looked back on their trail, a moving dot became larger and larger until finally it was evident to all that walking toward them were four, not three men as expected! Jacob had not only been healed through the power of the Priesthood, but had walked a day’s journey across the desert, with only a scar to show that an accident had occurred (the scar he carried to his grave). When the doctor saw him, he exclaimed, ‘You can’t kill those d... Mormons!’ “
“Jacob M. Truman had a scar on his head across and 1/2 inch deep. A horse fell with ran under a tree. The tree cut his head. He all night and then made his way back to camp. The doctor said they couldn’t hold the whole camp for him, ‘He won’t live more than an hour anyway.‘ They asked the doctor to bind up his wound. The doctor didn’t want to, but did anyway. Brother Morris (sic Moore) and three other men stayed with him and told the camp that they would catch up with them by noon. As soon as they were out of sight, the four brethren knelt down and blessed him. He got up and walked back to camp. The doctor never had to bind the wound up again. The doctor said: ‘The Go* da**ed Mormons — Knock all their brains out and they get up and walk.’ “
After Jacob and the men left Santa Fe, their supply situation became worse. Not only were they footsore, but their food supply was running out rapidly. Eventually the Battalion was forced to start eating some of their own oxen before arriving at the San Diego Mission on January 29th, 1847. After the Battalion arrived at San Diego, and until the battalion was discharged, the Battalion performed garrison duty at San Diego, San Luis Rey, and Los Angeles. After their release, those who did not want to re-enlist, which was the majority, traveled as a group north to the Sacramento River with the intent to lay over there, a few days before crossing the mountains to the East and finding the body of the Saints. Jacob was among this group. In August this company reached Sutter’s Fort where they rested and relaxed while they prepared for the rest of their journey. While at Sutter’s Fort they met Sam Brannan with the news that the pioneers had reached the Salt Lake Valley. He seemed discouraged that he had not been able to convince Brigham Young to settle the saints in the more fertile and prosperous areas of California, instead of the barren wastes of the Salt Lake Valley. He also brought with him an epistle from the Apostles instructing those Battalion members who did not have the means to finish the trip to Salt Lake to remain in California over the winter and work; and then to bring their earnings with them to Salt Lake in the spring. About half of the men decided to stay the winter, while the others forged ahead to the Salt Lake Valley. Jacob decided he had better stay and was able to find employment nearby. One of the larger employers in the area was John Sutter. He was attempting to build a gristmill and flume to supplement his large land holdings. In order to build these he employed many of the former Battalion members who were in the area seeking work. It is possible that Jacob found a job there also, for in January of 1848 gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill by James Brown a former Battalion member employed by John Sutter. . “Gold Fever” quickly spread like wild fire and just about everybody dropped what they were doing and started hunting for gold, which they found was quite easy to find. Jacob joined in this hysteria and panned for gold most of that winter; and reportedly brought back a small sack of it with him to Salt Lake. Wanting to get back to their families an expedition of former Battalion members, including Jacob formed early the next spring to travel to Salt Lake. They planned to go in early May but were forced to wait until July 2nd before they found the passes through the Sierra Nevada's clear enough to go. On October 1st 1848 they arrived in Salt Lake where they were heartily welcomed.
IV - SOUTH COTTONWOOD
Soon after arriving in Salt Lake, on April the 19th, 1849 Jacob married Elizabeth Boyce, the daughter of George Boyce. The Boyces had lived in Redford and Livonia, Michigan, where they had become members of the Church, before coming West with the Saints in 1847. Redford and Livonia are close to Ypsilanti and were the centers of the Church in Southern Michigan. No doubt Jacob and Elizabeth had already become acquainted with each other there, while Jacob was investigating the Church and before he moved to Nauvoo. On seeing her already in Salt Lake he quickly fell in love and married her. After their marriage Jacob received an allotment of 12 acres of land in South Cottonwood on the Northwest corner of what is now 56th South and Woodcrest Drive in Salt Lake. Jacob and Elizabeth worked hard to build a home and plant crops to sustain them. Twice in those early years they had to endure cricket infestations which destroyed many of their crops. South Cottonwood was one of the hardest hit. But, through their hard work and industriousness they were able to overcome these difficulties and add another 22 acres on the east side, between Woodcrest Drive and Highland Drive, to their holdings. Gradually they were also able to acquire 46 additional acres on which Jacob planned to settle his mother and sisters, who had not yet arrived in Utah. Jacob supplemented his income by serving as an officer in the Nauvoo Legion, as Utah’s state militia was then called. In February of 1850 he was called on with the rest of his company on an expedition against some Indians who had killed some cattle and stolen some horses. Expeditions like these paid well for early Utah, with Jacob as a private making as much as a dollar fifty to two dollars a day while gone. This was much needed cash at a time when any sort of currency was scarce in Utah. Jacob gradually came up through the ranks to become first a lieutenant, then captain, and finally commanding his own company in 1857. Jacob’s first three children - Martha Ann, John Franklin, and Emma Boyce were born during this time and before Jacob went back East to bring his mother and family to Utah. Martha Ann was born in 1850, John Franklin in 1851, and Emma Maria in 1852. In 1853 Jacob decided it was time to go back East and bring his mother and sisters back to Utah. In 1849 Jacob’s grandfather, Mica Spencer had died leaving only his uncle George C. Spencer to care for them. Martha and Anna Maria had originally gone to Council Bluffs during the exodus from Nauvoo, and had intended to emigrate with the main body of the Saints, but were financially unable to. They had moved back to their farm in Knox County where they were joined by Lauretta’s family and were waiting for Jacob to come back for them. Jacob brought them to Utah the next year in 1854, as part of a small independent company led by Perigrin Sessions. After their arrival he settled them on some of the land he had previously prepared for them in South Cottonwood. After returning to Salt Lake, Jacob was called by Brigham Young to enter into polygamy by taking a second wife, Catherine Maxwell. Catherine had received the gospel in her native Scotland along with her family. A man named Gaddis had helped pay her way to Utah with the intention of marrying her when she arrived. But Brigham Young had advised him to marry someone else first and to marry Catherine as a second wife. After she arrived in Salt Lake and found out the situation, Catherine refused to marry him, and made her brother tell him that she wouldn’t. She said: “I will not be the second wife to any man.” She later met Jacob, and, since he was more to her liking, quickly broke her oath and married him on December 21st, 1856. Brigham Young officiated. Catherine and Elizabeth were able to get along. Catherine had to learn to cook and clean house, something she hadn’t learned to do in Scotland because she had worked in factories all of her life. Jacob helped in the training and she did learn to cook somewhat. But she never did learn the fine art of proper housekeeping, Jacob never did complain though, so they got along just fine. Jacob’s third marriage did not work out near as well. On June 7th 1857 Jacob married Julia Ardena Hales, a young girl of 16. When Jacob brought her home to Elizabeth and Catherine, and they found out how young she was, things started going wrong from the start. It wasn’t long before she and Elizabeth had a major disagreement and she refused to stay any longer. Jacob tried to talk her out of leaving, but she left anyway and never came back. She and Jacob soon divorced. Later she married a man by the name of Berry. While living in South Cottonwood most of Jacob’s children were born. Jacob Boyce was the first to be born after his return from the East, being born on July 24th 1855. George Almus followed in 1857, then Catherine’s first child Ralph Maxwell was born. Also in 1857, William Thomas, Elizabeth’s sixth child was born in 1858. Rhoda Maria, Catherine’s second was born in 1859. The last of Jacob’s children to be born in South Cottonwood was Elizabeth’s little Lucius, born in 1860, who lived for only a few months. As Jacob’s family grew so did his relative wealth. In 1853 Jacob owned land and improvements worth $300. By 1857 this had grown to $600. In 1856 Jacob purchased 26 more acres adjoining the land that he already owned. In all, by 1860 Jacob owned around 103 acres in South Cottonwood, on which he supported himself, his two wives, his mother, his uncle George C. Spencer, and his two sisters and their families. His place was considered “one of the outstanding homes and small farms in that district.” In 1857, during what is known as the “Utah War”, Jacob moved his family, along with the other families in South Cottonwood to the South side of Utah Lake near Pond Town (now Salem) to wait out the expected fighting that everyone thought was sure to come when Johnston’s Army reached Utah. As a Captain in the Nauvoo Legion, and the commander of one of the companies of soldiers, Jacob was probably placed in charge of seeing that the citizens were safely evacuated from South Cottonwood, and to burn their homes if called on to do so. After it was safe to return to their homes, Jacob went back to Pond Town and retrieved his family. All were glad that bloodshed had been avoided and that their homes had not been destroyed. In 1860, Jacob was called by Brigham Young to help settle Peoa in Summit County, Utah. But, Jacob didn’t immediately go there with both of his wives, he decided instead to take Catherine and leave Elizabeth in South Cottonwood to help run the farm there. Jacob was able to go to Peoa in two days by wagon and faster by horse, so he felt that he was close enough that he could both manage his farm in South Cottonwood and help build up the new settlement at Peoa. Apparently, Jacob split his time evenly between his two homes. Others that helped settle Peoa were Henry and William Boyce - Elizabeth’s brothers, Jacob’s sister Anna Maria Barnum, his uncle George C. Spencer, and Catherine’s brother John Maxwell and his family. In 1861, Jacob was appointed as one of the Selectmen for the new County of Summit. Part of his duties as a selectman were to oversee the construction and upkeep of the roads, the gathering of taxes, and to otherwise run the County. Much like being a County Commissioner now.
V - ST. GEORGE
1862 was a pivotal year for Jacob Mica Truman. This was the year that he volunteered to go to Utah’s Dixie to help build up the settlement of St. George. The actual call came during the October Conference of 1861. Going to St. George meant that Jacob had to either give up his home in South Cottonwood, or abandon his attempt to settle in Peoa. Jacob decided to sell both his farms and take Elizabeth and Catherine with him, at least for the time being. According to Elizabeth, the trip to St. George was one of the most trying, hard, and perilous trips the pioneers had encountered. When they came to the Black Ridge, south of Cedar City she could not see how they would ever get down it. The story is told how in places the gulches were so straight down and narrow that is was necessary to unload the wagons, take them apart, and then piece by piece, take them to the other side. While on the road, George Almus, only five years old fell out of the wagon and broke his leg. The Company had to lay over a day to set the limb before they could continue on. After they first arrived, they lived in their wagon until the town was laid out and lots were assigned to each family. Jacob was given a lot on the corner of 2nd South and 1st West where he went to work building a small one room adobe house. Later he would enlarge it to accommodate both of his families. Neither Catherine nor Elizabeth liked St. George very well. It was too hot, the water was terrible and brackish, and if you drank too much of it you would get sick. Sand blew everywhere. During the first three or four summers the whole family would move up to Diamond Valley where they would make butter and cheese for everyone who had cows in the surrounding settlements. Later Jacob again enlarged his home in St. George so that it eventually became known as a “nice place”. On their allotted farm land Jacob grew cotton. Catherine knew how to spin cotton from working in the cotton factories of Scotland. So she would spin it while Elizabeth would pick the seeds out. They would make all of their own clothes out of the cotton they spun. Life in St. George was a lot harder than in the Salt Lake Valley. During a particularly hard time, when food got scarce, Catherine sold her fine black silk dress, which had been woven in Scotland before she came to Utah, for flour to feed the family. This hurt Catherine more than anything else she ever did. Despite the hardness of their lives, Jacob’s family continued to grow. In 1861 Catherine Lauretta was born to Catherine while still in Peoa. But in 1863 Elizabeth Ann was born, only to die a few months later. Lucy Elizabeth was born in 1864, Mica Spencer in 1865, Albert Henry in 1867, Ellen Sophia in 1868, and Arthur Monroe in 1870, while Catherine was visiting in Peoa. From hard work, Jacob gradually increased his wealth. In 1865 he was worth only $500 while by 1868 his worth had grown to over $1000. The tax assessment records for these years show how his small herd of cattle and horses gradually increased from one horse and nine head of cattle in 1865 to 18 head of cattle four horses in 1870, the year they moved to Hamblin.
VI - HAMBLIN AND LATER LIFE
After living in St. George for 8 years, Erastus Snow, the presiding Church authority in St. George, called Jacob to go to Fort Hamblin (Mountain Meadows) to help build up the small settlement there. Several people, for now unknown reasons, threatened to kill him if he and his family attempted to settle in Hamblin. But President Snow promised him that no one would have the power to kill him. Both Elizabeth and Catherine objected to having to move again, especially to a locality that was so isolated, but Jacob insisted and the family moved. Again everyone had to work hard to carve out a new home for themselves. Deed records show that Jacob purchased three lots in Hamblin. There was plenty of room for everyone since there were only nine families that lived there. The only occupations at Hamblin other than growing a few garden crops were ranching. The hills round about provided good grazing for cattle and the grass at the Meadows was sufficient for the cattle to winter over there. Jacob’s herd of cattle grew quickly from 18 to 36 head. At times he had as many as 8 horses. After his arrival in Hamblin, Jacob became presiding Elder there. Hamblin was part of the Pinto Ward, but because of its isolation they would send someone to church in Pinto who would attend the Ward meetings there, and then in turn return and report on the proceedings at a separate Church meeting at Hamblin. This continued as long as Jacob lived there. The Gospel played a large part in Jacob’s life. When Emma Marie decided to get married to Franklin Everton Holt in 1874 the St. George Temple had not yet been completed. Jacob decided that they would get married by the authority of the Church in the proper way. This meant that they had to go to Salt Lake to properly seal the marriage. It took three weeks to make this long trip to Salt Lake. Jacob took Elizabeth along with the future bride and groom, so that she could visit some of her family who were still living in the Holladay area. After the wedding Jacob and Elizabeth visited with Elizabeth’s sister Nona Boyce Taylor. She was touched at the signs of hardship and toil that Jacob and Elizabeth had been through so she said “Out yonder is plenty of corn. If you will shuck it, you may have all your wagon can hold.” Thanking the Lord, Jacob and Elizabeth set about shucking all that they could. In a few hours the wagon was heaped with corn. This they took, along with bags of dried peaches from Hamblin, to the market in Salt Lake and sold it. With the money they bought clothing shoes, yarn and cloth. All commodities lacking in Southern Utah. Elizabeth is quoted as saying before they left Salt Lake: “Alright Jacob, we can go home now and be assured that we are covered until prosperity and markets come to Southern Utah.” Hamblin was not free from its share of occasional trouble. Though Jacob was 6 feet tall with curly hair and blue eyes, he was and slender of build and wiry. He was also quick tempered, stern and outspoken. Some of his neighbors called him “Old Walking Jesus” because of the way in which he would walk around from place to place in Hamblin giving his opinions on how he thought things should be run, or on what he thought people should be doing. His daughter, Nell Brockbank said that no one ever disobeyed Jacob Truman. One time John Reed, a local ruffian and sometimes outlaw was gotten drunk by some of Jacob’s enemies and sent to Jacob’s house to cause trouble. Jacob was just getting over a bout with pneumonia and was still weak. When the family saw him coming, Almus stationed himself with a gun out by the fence just in case of trouble. Jacob told Almus that he must not kill Reed under any circumstances because “I wouldn’t have that dirty rascal’s blood on my hands for anything.” While Jacob and Almus waited outside, Catherine made up a lye solution to throw in his face if he tried to come inside the house. When Reed saw that Jacob was ready for him, he didn’t try to force his way inside the gate, but stayed outside whooping and hollering for a while before riding off. The next morning Jacob got up, put an old gray shawl around his shoulders and went to see Reed to find out what the trouble was. All Reed would say was that some of the fellows had got him drunk and that he didn’t have anything personal against Jacob. Jacob told him that if he tried something like that again, he would kill him. Another time, Elizabeth looked out of the window just in time to see Jacob running toward the house just as fast as he could run, with another man right behind trying to catch him. Jacob dashed into the house, shut the door behind him and slipped quickly upstairs. The man, obviously upset, flung open the door and hollered at Elizabeth “Where’s Jake?” Elizabeth pointed towards the kitchen. The man thinking she meant that he had gone out the back door, ran through the house and out the back, still hunting and hollering: “Where‘s Jake?” Later this same man came back sneaking around the house. When he saw that the table was set for dinner, he proceeded to take the plates, one by one, and broke them by dropping them on the floor. No one knows what Jacob did to upset him so much. While living in Hamblin John D. Lee, the man the Government and the Church blamed for leading the Mountain Meadows Massacre, was brought to the sight of the massacre after his trial to be shot. Jacob took some of his boys to see the execution but wouldn’t let them get very close. They did hear John D. Lee say “Yes, Joseph Smith is a true Prophet of God, but Brigham Young is leading the people astray.” Later Jacob would say about John D. Lee: “He has done our church more harm than any other thousand men in the world.” In 1877 Jacob located a spot two and a half miles below Gunlock and started a second Ranch. He settled Elizabeth and her family in this new house where Elizabeth lived the rest of her life. Gunlock and Hamblin were only about a day’s ride apart so Jacob found it easy to travel back and forth between the two ranches as he saw fit. Jacob’s last three children were born while the family in Hamblin. Mary Lois was born in 1871, Lucina Almina, in 1873, Esther Priscilla in 1876.
VII - DEATH AND AFTER
In November of 1881 Jacob contacted pneumonia for a second time and after suffering for a week he died on November 23rd, 1881 in his home in Gunlock. He was buried in the Hamblin Cemetery later on the 26th. He was only 56 years old. At the time of Jacob’s Death, Mica Spencer Truman (16 years old) and some of his neighbors were cutting timber in the mountains near their home when Mike stopped work and started looking around him, as though he had lost something.
"What are you doing, Mike?" asked one of his co-workers.
"Looking for something."
"What?"
"I don’t know, I just had this sudden feeling that I had lost something, so I am looking for it."
After a diligent search of the surrounding area, Mike went back to work, continuing to glance frequently about him and on the ground, as a sense of loss persisted. The next day, a rider came into camp and told the timbering crew that Jacob Truman had died.
"What time was that?" asked Mike.
When they told him the time, Mike realized what he had lost the night before, and just how fruitless his search for he had lost his father.
OBITUARY
Deseret News
November 29, 1881
STILL ANOTHER VETERAN GONE - Bro. Pulsipher wrote from Hamblin, Washington Co., on the 26th inst. - “This morning I report the sad news of the demise of our beloved brother Jacob Mica Truman, who died at this place at 8 o’clock last Wednesday evening the 23rd inst. after one week’s suffering with lung fever.
Bro. Truman was born in the State of New York on the 30th of August 1825. Joining the Church in Nauvoo in 1845 and from that time he has been a firm and faithful servant of the Lord, ever ready to speak and act in defense of the Latter-day work. He was one of the brave men known as the Mormon Battalion that performed so important a part in freeing this portion of our country from the rule of foreign power.
Deceased was among the first settlers of St. George having arrived there twenty years ago this fall. He breathed his last after business was ended, like going to sleep, in the midst of his numerous family. May the Lord comfort them. The funeral was attended by almost the entire inhabitants of this town and a good number from other places. Bishop Robert Knell, of Pinto, presided, Elders Jos. Eldredge and Richard Harrison and others gave much good instruction to comfort and encourage all.
The Mormon Battalion
--Jacob Mica Truman, Soldier--
The five companies of the Mormon Battalion, Army of the West, [of which Jacob M. Truman was a Private in Company C] were discharged officially at Fort Moore in Los Angeles on July 16, 1847, one year after their enlistment. There were 317 men who lined up for the brief ceremony. After discharge, it took several days for them to receive their pay and to complete arrangements for their journey [to join their families in Utah or wherever they might be at the time]...Each man received $31.50, but no transportation allowance for traveling back as promised. When the companies were paid, they purchased animals and supplies for the return journey. Several men noted [in their journals] that the price of horses increased when the Mormons began buying so many. Quantities of flour and salt were purchased.” 1 Jacob Truman was among the 223 men of the Levi Hancock company who traveled north from Los Angeles to take the northern route over the Sierra Mountains. They broke into smaller groups, but all ended up together again in the Sierras after a brief stop in Sacramento to replenish their supplies and provisions for the trip from John Sutter. When they were together at Truckee Lake, Captain James Brown, who had been sent to California by church authorities to collect the pay from the Army for the soldiers in the sick detachment that went to Pueblo, came into their camp with a letter from President Brigham Young. “Brown delivered the letter from the church leaders, dictated by Brigham Young and addressed to ‘Capt. Jefferson Hunt and the officers and soldiers of the Mormon Battalion.’ It was dated August 7, 1847, Valley of the Great Salt Lake. Brigham Young and the pioneers had been in the valley only two weeks when he wrote the letter to the battalion. Already they were in destitute circumstances in the valley, and Brigham Young’s concern about an influx of people and the resulting strain and hardships it would make on the meager resources of the pioneers in the valley was understandable...
“The letter recommended that those men with adequate provisions proceed to Salt Lake Valley. Others were asked to remain in California to labor until spring, then bring their provisions and earnings with them... “After hearing the letter from Mormon Church authorities, the group divided, with approximately half...continuing on and half returning to Sutter’s Fort to find employment.” 2 Jacob M. Truman was among those who returned to Sacramento. “After meeting Capt. James Brown in the mountains, the men returning to Sutter’s Fort gave most of their supplies and animals to those continuing to Salt Lake Valley. “When approximately 100 ex-soldiers returned to Sutter’s Fort after the Sierra meeting with Brown, they joined their comrades who had remained behind. About 20 continued on to San Francisco to find employment. The rest were put to work immediately by Capt. John Sutter, who wrote in the Fort log after the Mormons had returned. ‘I employed about 80 of them.’ “Sutter and the Mormons entered into a contract for various work throughout his growing empire.” 3
They helped build a flour mill, and a saw mill, “Records kept by Sutter’s clerk reveal the Mormons worked as carpenters and laborers, dug ditches, made shoes, tanned hides, built granaries, and a grist mill in Coloma. Others split shingles and clapboards. There were farms to be cultivated and cattle and sheep to be tended.” 4 There were blacksmiths and butchers.
While the men were working in Coloma building the saw mill, gold was discovered. “The journal entry [of Henry Bigler, an ex-soldier of the Mormon Battalion] that preserved this historic moment for California was the following. ‘This day some kind of metle was found in the tail of race that looks like goald.’” 5 It is the only known source indicating the exact date gold was first found. Two of the ex-soldiers, Sidney Willes and Wilford Hudson, were some of the first to locate and show others where the gold was being found. “The Willes-Hudson strike came to be known as Mormon Island and turned out to be the second major gold strike, one with very ‘rich diggings. “It was not long until many of the ex-soldiers and men from the ship Brooklyn gathered on Mormon Island to search for gold. They marked off plots of five square yards for each man and worked five men together. The Mormons were situated ideally, being on site at the beginning of the gold rush, working with friends before the onslaught of Forty-niners. The atmosphere was one of openness and trust. They tossed their daily golden findings into containers on their plot and left their tools out at night. One group divided $17,000 at the end of one week. Mormon Island became a very busy place, with about two hundred ex-soldiers and Brooklyn men all panning for gold. . .6 [This picture was reversed completely when the gold seekers arrived. The goldfields were no longer safe and friendly. Thievery, treachery, and murder became the order of the day.] 7 On April 12, Henry Bigler wrote that ‘the Willes boys...met with Sam Brannan to let him in on the secret.’” 6
“When Sam Brannan visited the gold fields to collect tithing, payment of tithes became a topic of discussion. Brannan asked for 30 percent--10 percent for tithing, 10 percent for rent to Willes and Hudson for finding gold on Mormon Island, and 10 percent to build up the kingdom. Other times Brannan’s statement was contradictory with the last 10 percent going to build a temple or to obtain cattle for the Mormon Church. The men thought this assessment was too high...[Some] questioned if Brannan actually gave their tithes to the church or he kept the money himself.” 8 “No record has been found that any of the tithes collected by Brannan were turned over to the Mormon Church. Brannan benefitted in another way from the gold the men found. He operated a store just outside the front gate of Sutter’s Fort with C.C. Smith (a Mormon)...[and} also a store at Coloma and grew rich from both earnings . . making 300 to 500 percent profit.” 9 San Brannan was California’s first millionaire. Jacob Truman’s name appears on the roster of “Sutter’s Workmen” but does not say what kind of work he did for him. However, in another part of Ricketts’ book it is noted that Jacob must have been a very good horseman. As he traveled from California to Utah in the spring of 1848 with the Holmes-Thompson Company, it is noted that “Jacob Truman broke a horse for Samuel Rogers for $2.50.” 10 And again, [on Sept. 27, 1848] about 8 days prior to the company reaching Salt Lake, “[Several] men, anxious to see their families, mounted their horses and rode ahead. They planned to reach Salt Lake the next day...They left their loose horses and cattle in care of Jacob Truman and James S. Brown, who agreed to herd them to the valley for one cent per day per head.” 11 So I would assume Jacob probably also worked with Sutter’s animals in some way while he was in Sacramento . .
“Even with the discovery of gold, most ex-battalion soldiers still planned to go to the church and their families. They remembered the letter from church authorities the previous August advising them to work until spring to obtain needed supplies, a plan which they seemed determined to follow...Sutter apparently attempted to settle his accounts with the battalion workers on April 18, 1848, when he wrote, ‘A very bussi day to settle accts with some of the Mormons.’ “Also, by this time California was experiencing the arrival of the first gold seekers, who appropriated Sutter’s cattle, sheep and, crops at will...[and] By the end of May all work on the grist mill in Coloma had stopped. The saw mill...was shut down. The shortage of labor closed all of Sutter’s projects. [And Sutter wrote:] “After the discovery of gold was known, it began to spread like wildfire all over California...all my plans and projects came to naught. One after another of my people disappeared in the direction of the gold fields. Only the Mormons behaved decently ...They were sorry for the difficulty in which I found myself, and some of them remained to finish their jobs.” 12
“The soldiers bartered for pay ‘in kind.’ Sutter gave them wild horses, mules, cattle, oxen, wagons they had made for him, plows, picks, shovels, iron, seeds, plant cuttings, and other items that would be useful when they reached Salt Lake Valley.” 13 “Captain Sutter had two small brass cannon he purchased from the Russians when the Russians closed Fort Ross in northern California. They were small, decorated, parade cannons, one a four pounder the other a six pounder. The men decided to buy them and take them to the leaders of the Mormon Church. ...Gold flakes [were collected] from the men and paid [to] John Sutter for the cannon.” 14 The roster showing those who contributed to the purchase of the cannon and how much they contributed (from $1.50 to $25.00), shows that Jacob Truman contributed $15.40. “The cannon were placed on runners and hauled in a wagon to Salt Lake Valley by the Holmes-Thompson Company.” 15 Some have thought the cannon on the grounds of the St. George Temple is one of these cannons, but it is not. It is not known what happened to the two purchased by the ex-soldiers.
“ . . .A meeting was held by the ex-soldiers at the fort on April 9 ‘to talk over matters and things in regard to making arrangements to going up to the Great Salt Lake and come to some understanding when we should make the start.’...it was decided not to follow the established Truckee route because of crossing the river so many times [about 22 times}.” 16 “Nine pioneers chosen to find a trail over the mountains were Daniel Browett, captain, Ira J. Willes, James C. Sly, Israel Evans, Jacob G.(sic) Truman, Ezra Allen , James R. Allred, Henderson Cox, and Robert Pixton. They decided to follow the ridge between the waters of the Consumnes and the American rivers. It took them 3 days to reach Iron Mountain, where the snow was piled so high in the passes travel was impossible, so they returned to camp. “Henry Bigler, John S. White and Jacob M. Truman set out on the morning of June 17, 1848, to ‘select a place of gathering’. They found a nice little valley 40 or 50 miles east of Sutter’s Fort, which they named Pleasant Valley. They brought supplies, wagons and animals to the site but continued to hunt for gold up to the time they left California. More men arrived during the next two weeks. They began felling pine timbers to build a corral. Others came intermittently to the rendezvous”...17
“Browett, Ezra Allen, and Henderson Cox left to scout a road over the mountains. Their companions did not want them to go, but the three men were very anxious to get started and went ahead against advice.
“Everyone mined for gold while waiting for the three scouts to return. ... When the three scouts did not return [it was later learned the 3 had been killed and buried by Indians], the group decided to continue on. Later known as the Holmes-Thompson Company, they left Pleasant Valley July 3rd on the last segment of their epic journey. This was the first of several small groups of men who worked for John Sutter and in the San Francisco Bay area to leave California during the summer of 1848. They had worked a season as instructed; now they were going to their families and church. Other companies followed, but the Holmes-Thompson company led the way.” 18
“As they left California on the last portion of their history-making journey, members of the Holmes-Thompson company did not know they would pioneer two more wagon roads [besides those blazed earlier between Santa Fe and San Diego] before arriving in Salt Lake Valley. They took the first wagons over the Carson Pass and built the road that became a major entrance into California for thousands of gold seekers. [Now known as The Mormon Emigrant Trail near Hwy. 50]. Later on their journey they made the first wagon tracks over the Salt Lake Cutoff.” 19 Jacob M. Truman entered Salt Lake on October 6, 1848 with others of the Holmes-Thompson Company.
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