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Bullock's Grove

Location

Physical description of the site

Bullock Grove is located “in the north half of the northeast quarter of the east section 25, and the south half of the southeast quarter of Section 24, Lewis Township, [and was] found there when the original survey was made in 1852.”(1)

Is it located within another township?

Yes, it is in Lewis Township.(2)

History

Who were the early residents?

Considering the name of the community and its relation to a family of Latter-day Saints who resided there, one concludes that Mormon pioneers were the original inhabitants of the community.(3)

Did it have other names?

It was also called Bullock’s Farm.(4)

How were the names established?

Doubtless, Bullock’s Grove received its name from Benjamin Bullock, Frontier Guardian agent and resident of the settlement.(5)

Were there any unique contributions or events during their stay?

“Gardner, Amos, son of Moses J. and Polly Gardner, [died] 23 May 1850, at Bullock’s Grove, of small pox, 13 years, 2 months, and 19 days. (Frontier Guardian, 29 May 1850).

“B. K. Bullock and Miss Martha Hart, both of Pottawatamie county, Iowa, [no date], at Bullock’s Grove, by Isaac Bullock. (Frontier Guardian, 7 February 1851)

“James W. Preston and Miss Emeline Houston, both of Pottawatamie county, Iowa, 2 March 1851, At Bullock’s Grove, by Orson Hyde. (Frontier Guardian, 7 March 1851)”(6)

On January 27, 1853, a splinter church, which called itself the Church of Jesus Christ of the New Jerusalem, or “‘The New Church’” for short, advertised its intention of holding “two days meetings . . . monthly at the same place [i.e. Kanesville], and also meetings on the intervening Sabbaths, at Bullocks Grove, or Macedonia, and other placers where there are openings for the Elders until furthers notice.” The article, of which the foregoing is part, is signed by Richard Stephens and Joseph Bardsley, “Presidents of the Church.”(7) By the time of this article, most, if not all of the faithful Latter-day Saints known on record to have lived at Bullock’s Grove had already moved west.(8)

When did most of the Mormons leave?

Ezra Bickford and his family left in 1850 with the “William Snow/Joseph Young Company.” (9) On 21 August 1850, the Frontier Guardian published the following: “We have received two letters from the two last emigrating companies for the Valley. . . . Ezra Bickford, from Bullock’s Grove in this country, died since the mail came through. . . .”(10) No doubt the residents of Bullock’s Grove grieved the loss of their fellow-citizen and brother in the faith.

Asa Bartlett York explains how he helped Mrs. Bickford reach the valley of the Great Salt Lake after her husband’s death.

Brother Joseph Young was captain of our company that was to cross the plains. He rode a good deal of the way with me as we were very dear friends. I was chosen to drive an ox team across the plains for an aged couple. Brother and Sister Bigfor[d]. This was when I was 18 years old. Brother Bigford was seized with cholera and died, and I helped to bury him near the Platte river. His sorrowing widow [Emily] was then placed in my care and I delivered her safe and sound on the public square in Salt Lake City, Utah, free of charge. This I did willingly and gladly.(11)

Presumably, the other two people traveling with the Bickfords, whether children or some other relations or friends, also accepted the charity of Asa York.(12)

Isaac Houston, a member of the community at Bullock’s Grove, wrote the following letter to Brigham Young en route to the Salt Lake Valley:

Houston, Isaac, to Brigham Young, 18 Aug. 1851

Two hundred sixty one and a half miles
From Salt Lake City August 18th, 1851

President Brigham Young

Dear Sir

I heard yours of the 1 st Inst. read on the 10 th, with much pleasure and satisfaction, and in answer to your request would say that on the 22 nd Day of June last I left Bullocks Grove 8 miles south of Kanesville with my Family with my Soninlaw and Daughter Brother John Riggs & Family also Br. Edward Duckworth and Lady[.] we came to Platt[e]ville[.]

Crossed the Mo. River on the 26th[.]

left the River 27th and on the 29th lef[t] Council Grove, 12 miles this side of s d River. Our little Band consists of the above mentioned together with Isaac Sampson & Family[,] James Lemmon & Family[,] W m Nelson & Family[,] (& Capt. W m McPhirson & Family[,] also four men with him (viz) Perly Dickinson[,] Thomas McFarlin[,] W m Reas & Adam--he has two thrashing Machines with him all from wisconsin)[.] we have all had good hea[l]th as usual and have been blessed of our Heavenly Father and prospered thus far on our way for which we have great re[a]son to be thankful[.] we have not been hindered from traveling but 3 hours by high waters since we crossed the Mo. River[.] we have heard of no sickness on the south Route this Season[.] the Roads have been Dry most of the way[.] Feed not Plenty since we were 100 mils below Fort Laramie. Capt. M c p[h]erson went throug[h] to the Gold mines last year.

In haste [I] Remain y obet. Servt,  

ISAAC HOUSTON(13)

 

Brother Houston was traveling in the William McPherson Company of 1851. Another company, that of Isaac Bullock that traveled to the Salt Lake Valley in 1852 contained at least four families who lived in Bullock’s Grove at some point.(14)

Did the town have a Frontier Guardian representative, if so who?

Yes, Benjamin Bullock was the man.(15)

Notes:
1. Allen Wortman, Ghost Towns of Mills County, Iowa (Malvern, Iowa: Wortman, 1975), 74.
2. Allen Wortman, Ghost Towns of Mills County, Iowa, 74.
3. Kanesville, Iowa, The Frontier Guardian, 2 October 1850, in Myrtle Stevens Hyde, comp., Kanesville Conditions (Ogden, Utah: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1997), 59.
4. J. (Joseph) Grassl and Joseph Meyer, Iowa ( Hildburghausen: Bibliographischen Instituts, 1852 ), in David Rumsey Collection v4.0, www.davidrumsey.com. Myrtle Stevens Hyde, Kanesville Conditions (Ogden, Utah: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1997), 83-84, 114.
5. Kanesville, Iowa, The Frontier Guardian, 2 October 1850, in Hyde, comp., Kanesville Conditions, 59.
6. Lyndon W. Cook, Death and Marriage Notices from the Frontier Guardian, 1849-1852 (Orem, Utah: Center for Research of Mormon Origins, 1990), 9, 31.
7. Kanesville, Iowa, The Frontier Guardian and Iowa Sentinel, 27 January 1853, in Hyde, comp., Kanesville Conditions, 119.
8. Kanesville, Iowa, Frontier Guardian, 4 April 1851, 298 reel 21, item 4, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah. Cook, Death and Marriage Notices from the Frontier Guardian, 1849-1852, 9, 31. Kanesville, Iowa, The Frontier Guardian, 2 May 1851, 18 June 1852, in Hyde, comp., Kanesville Conditions, 107, 108, 176.
9. www.lds.org/churchhistory/
10. Kanesville, Iowa, Frontier Guardian, 21 August 1850, p.2, col. 3, in Hyde, comp., Kanesville Conditions, 55.
11. York, Asa Bartlett, Autobiographical sketch, in Mormon biographical sketches collection [ca. 1900-1975], reel 14, box 20, fd. 4, no. 3, 2. Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah, in www.lds.org/churchhistory/. Mrs. Bickford’s name was found in the list of individuals traveling in the Snow/Young Company at www.lds.org/churchhistory/.
12. http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneerdetails/0,15791,4018-1-6760,00.html
13. Brigham Young, Office Files 1832-1878, reel 31, box 22, fd. 7, Church Archives, Salt Lake City, Utah, in www.lds.org/churchhistory/
14. www.lds.org
15. Kanesville, Iowa, Frontier Guardian, 4 April 1851, microfilm # 298 reel 21, item 4, L. Tom Perry Special Collections, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.

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Carterville

Location

Physical description of the site

“[Carterville’s] site, which is now a farm field, is almost directly east of the Milwaukee railroad tracks at the Greendale crossings. In 1850 and 1852 Cartersville was a flourishing village of about 500 people, and the principal stopping place for the emigrants enroute west. The rise of Council Bluffs, then Kanesville, however, soon ended the glory of Cartersville, and rapidly placed it among the list of deserted villages.”(1)

Is it located within another township?

Yes, it is located in Garner Township.(2)

 Any unique features such as located by a creek, river, etc.

Carterville was just two miles from Kanesville.(3)

History

When was it established?

Carterville was in existence by 1847, and the Mormon pioneers arrived in the region in 1846, so it had to have been established either in one of the two years.(4)

Who were the early residents?

“Cartersville was established by the Mormons emigrating from Illinois to Utah, many of whom stopped to rest in this vicinity.”(5) The early residents included Joseph Young, Robert Calwell, Dominicus Carter, Joseph Kelly, “Mr. Curtis,” Benjamin Waldron, Thomas Waldron, John Walsh, Andrew N. Henderson, Isabella Livingston, Davis Bartholomew, Ruth J. Jones, and possibly T. D. Brown, who married Davis Bartholomew and Ruth J. Jones.(6)

Were there any unique contributions or events during their stay?

The pioneers built a “new road running between . . . [Kanesville] and Carterville.”(7) In its planning stages, the road was referred to as follows: “It is proposed that a committee of three persons be appointed, one from Carterville, one from Kanesville, and one from Big Pigeon, to examine and determine the most feasable route for a public road leading from the prairie south of Carterville through the latter place, passing through or near Kanesville and extending up the Tabernacle hollow to Little and Big Pigeon. Joseph Kelley, of Carterville, Henry Miller, of Kanesville, and Alvah Benson of Big Pigeon are appointed that committee by a number of citizens from all these places. This is destined to be one of the great thoroughfares threw this county, and calls for energetic measures in relation to it; and this committee are the very men to enter into such measures; and after the work is done, the commissioners will probably sanction it. But it requires to be opened sooner than it can be done by petition. We expect that every public spirited man will be on hand, up and doing while it is called today.”(8)

When the “Traveling Elders” set “a schedule . . . for their visits” around 8 August 1849 they included Carterville in their list of places to minister.(9)

“April 3, 1850: Stolen. A valuable set of harness for two horses, (brass mounted,) was stolen from the yard of Mr. Robert Calwell, near Carterville.”(10)

In the issue of the Frontier Guardian for the above date, the following was announced: “The Annual Conference of the Church will commence on Saturday, the 6 th inst., at 10 o’clock, A.M., in the Valley, a little South of Kanesville, on the new road running between the former place and Carterville, if the weather permit.”(11)

“ Davis Bartholomew and Miss Ruth J. Jones [were married] 27 March 1851, at Carterville, by Orson Hyde.”(12)

“Andrew N. Henderson and Isabella Livingston, both natives of Scotland, [were married] 15 May 1851, at Ca[r]terville, by T. D. Brown.”(13)

“Waldron, Thomas A. [died] 30 January 1851 at Carterville, 16 years, 3 months, and 27 days.”(14)

“Walsh, John, a native of Yorkshire, England, 15 October 1851, [died] at the residence of Benjamin Waldron in Carterville, 30 years old.”(15)

“Elder Benson” made an appointment to be at Carterville on Monday, 1 December 1851, starting at 10:00 a.m. His next appointment was the same day at 3:00 p.m. in Springville. The source gives no indication as to the purpose of the appointments.(16)

“ Seymour B. Young’s father [Joseph Young] and family, not having the means necessary to emigrate in 1847, and not obtaining sufficient until three years later, remained in Winter Quarters until the spring of 1848, when, with the rest of the people who were unable to take up their long journey to the mountains, they re-crossed the Missouri river into the State of Iowa. Winter Quarters was then in the Indian Territory and reservation, and hence the Saints were compelled to vacate this temporary abiding place and seek new homes in the State of Iowa.

“During the stay of his father’s family for the three intervening years, Brother Seymour was baptized in 1848, at Carterville, Iowa, by Ezekiel Lee; he also gained his first experience as a cowboy, and like others of his brethren was exposed to the raids of hostile Indians and white cattle thieves. About the middle of June his father’s family bid good-bye to their homes in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, and started for the Valley.”(17)

“The first school ever taught in Pottawattamie county is claimed to have been held in the little Mormon suburb of Kanesville called Carterville. This was in 1847. A Mr. Curtis was the teacher and he contracted to teach for $12 per month, but at close of school was compelled to compromise for a part.”(18)

When did most of the Mormons leave?

Possibly three families from Carterville left for the Salt Lake Valley in the Joseph Outhouse Company of 1852.(19)

Did the town have a Frontier Guardian representative, if so who?

Yes. The first agents' name was Dominicus Carter.(20) On 23 January 1852, B. B. Messenger held the responsibility of Frontier Guardian “agent,” and just six months after, the paper’s title had changed to The Frontier Guardian and Iowa Sentinel, and the paper lists no agent for Carterville.(21)

3. Include any pictures or video clips of the settlement, GPS location, and/or modern driving directions as to location. If after an internet search, interesting sites are discovered, write down the URL so that we can provide a link to it.

Cemeteries

“Old settlement of Cartersville, a flourishing Mormon village, discovered by workmen while excavating for new railroad. Rev. Henry De Long recalls romantic story of Amelia Meekin, who drowned herself rather than become fifth wife of Joseph Young.

“The human bones which the Great Western graders exhumed east of Greendale a few days ago have proven to be those of Mormon pioneers who were buried in the frontier cemetery at Cartersville, some fifty years ago, says the Council Bluffs, Nonperiel of October 14 th. The right of way of the new railroad cuts across a corner of the almost forgotten burying ground, which has for years been used as a cornfield, all visible traces of the old cemetery having disappeared long ago. . .

“During the existence of Cartersville a cemetery was located on the knoll just east of the town, and there it is said that some 200 or 300 people were buried, it then being the only bu[r]ying ground in miles of country. The advent of the Great Western and the cut made by its graders through a corner of the old cemetery has occasioned a refreshing of the memories of the pioneers concerning Cartersville.

CEMETERY IS LOCATED

“Yesterday afternoon Rev. Henry De Long, who came west with the first Mormon emigration in 1846, visited the place where the graders dug out several skeletons last week, in company with a Nonpariel reporter.

“Mr. De Long has assisted in burying a number of people in the old Cartersville cemetery, and he readily located the ground. The Great Western makes a cut of 12 feet on the east side of the old cemetery, and it was there that the bones were discovered at a depth of four or five feet. Only three or four skeletons were exhumed, however, as just one corner of the cemetery evidently lay within the Great Western right of way. The main portion of the burying ground is in the corn field, just west of the cut, and there, according to Mr. DeLong, some 200 or 300 burials were made. Had the graders cut 20 or 30 feet further into the cemetery there would have been a wholesale disinterment of bones.

PIONEERS DIED OF EXPOSURE

“Though 200 or 300 burials seems a rather large number for a small village like Cartersville was, to have in the few years of its existence Rev. Henry DeLong explains his estimate by the fact that it was the only cemetery in this section of the country at that time, and people came from miles around to bury their dead here. Then, too, the death rate among the Mormon pioneers, who had just made the wagon trip across the State from Illinois was great, scores succumbing to the exposure and from scurvy. As far as Mr. DeLong can remember, no plague or contagious disease assisted in filling the cemetery.”(22)

“‘About 300 Mormons were buried in the Carterville cemetery, about two miles east of Council Bluffs, in the vicinity of Green’s packing house. The grounds were well kept and were in an excellent state of preservation until 1854, when they were abandoned. The cemetery was on the old Mormon trail to Council Bluffs a[n]d was started by Joseph Young when Carterville was a rival for Council Bluffs. When the Great Western railroad entered this city several graves were plowed up. [T]he bones were placed in one box and buried along the right-of-way of the railroad.”(23)

“ Nothing but the bare bones of the skeletons were found in the grave thus opened, however, fifty years of burial having turned practically everything else back to dust again. In a few places along the newly cut embankment traces of the boards of a coffin or burial box may be found, but the onetime boards now crumble to dust at the touch. Around other skeletons no evidence whatever of a coffin could be discovered. Rev. DeLong explains this by the fact that in the pioneer days, when Cartersville existed, coffins were unknown to this part of the country, and that it was only rarely that boards could be obtained with which to make even a burial box. Thus, probably the majority of the interments at the Cartersville cemetery were made with the body wrapped in clothes and blankets.

BONES PILED ON GROUND

“All the bones that have been brought to light, and they still remain piled in small heaps along the embankment made by the graders last week, are evidently those of adult white males. They are still in a good state of preservation, though stained a copper color by the action of the clay in which they were buried.

“Concerning the Cartersville cemetery, Mr. DeLong says that he remembers it to have been in good condition as late as 1854, at which time many of the graves had wooden headboards, and a number of them were fenced in with wooden picket fences, as was the custom at that time. Later, however, it rapidly passed into decay, and just when the last traces of its existence as a cemetery were obliterated cannot now be recalled.

The failure to maintain the cemetery is largely explained by the fact that nearly all of the burials were from Mormon families, which soon after moved on to Utah, thus leaving no one in this vicinity directly concerned in the cemetery or its continuance. Then, too, the desertion of Cartersville also practically ended the burials there. When the cemetery was established it was on government land, and, in fact,the first surveys were not made until about 1854. It is probable that nearly all the headboards and fences had disappeared before the land was ever put under cultivation. In any event, the cemetery ground has been used as a grain field for many years.

FATE OF AMELIA MEEKIN

“Of the burials at the Cartersville cemetery, Rev. Henry DeLong could yesterday recall the name of but one person, that of Amelia Meekin, a beautiful young Mormon woman who committed suicide by jumping into Mosquito Creek, near where Green's packing house now stands. Amelia's parents had insisted on her marrying Joseph Young, one of Brigham Young's disciples, who was the leader of the Cartersville colony. Now Joseph already had four wives, and Amelia objected strenuously to becoming the fifth. After a few days at the Young home, where she found that she was not the only one in the affection of her husband, she returned to the household of her parents. The Meekins, however, insisted on Amelia returning to the Young home. She accordingly left the house, but instead of returning to the arms of Joseph Young, Amelia proceeded forthwith to the banks of Mosquito Creek where she took off her wedding gown and plunged into the water. Her body was found a day or two afterward and interred in the cemetery which has just been relocated.”(24)

Notes:

1.“‘ Old Mormon Cemetery’: Railroad Graders in Iowa Unearth Bones. Once Town, now Cornfield,” The Salt Lake Tribune ( Salt Lake City, Utah), 18 October 1902, in http://www.rootsweb.com/~iapottaw/CemCartersville.html.
2. Homer H. Field, History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa: From the Earliest Historic Times to 1907 (Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1907), 1:192, 194, microfilm #900 no. 148, Harold B. Lee Library, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah.
3. Hosea B. Horn, Horn's overland guide from the U.S. Indian Sub-Agency, Council Bluffs, on the Missouri River to the City of Sacramento, in California : containing a table of distances, and showing all the rivers, creeks, lakes, springs, mountains, hills, camping-places, and other prominent objects; with remarks on the country, roads, timbers, grasses, curiosities, etc.; the entire route having been tracked by a road measurer, and the distances from place to place, and from the Missouri river, accurately ascertained; with a complete and accurate map , ( New York : J.H. Colton, 1853) , in Orson Hyde, ed., Frontier Guardian, Kanesville, Iowa, 3 April 1850, in Myrtle Stevens Hyde, Kanesville Conditions (Ogden, Utah: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1997), 114.
4. Gail George Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & E Nebraska ( Omaha, Nebraska: Omaha LDS Institute of Religion, 2000), 1; Field, History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa: From the Earliest Historic Times to 1907, 1:194.

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Centerville

History

The names of those who are recorded as having lived in Centerville the following: Isaac Caulkins, Edwin Harley, William J. Jolly and Dr. L. Johnson. Each was living there in 1849. (1)

“Dr. L. Johnson, of Centerville . . . [offered] his professional services [as a ‘botanical physician'] to the afflicted portion of the citizens of Pottawatamie county. From the success that has attended his professional labors heretofore, particularly in surgery and obstetics, he feels a confident assurance in the management of the most difficult cases; and also feels competent to manage most diseases incident to this climate.” (2)

Of the few individuals known to have lived in Centerville, only one has information available on lds.org concerning his travel to Utah . He, Edwin Harley, left in an unidentified wagon company in 1852. (3)

Notes:

1. Orson Hyde, ed., Frontier Guardian , 7 February-2 May 1849, quoted in Myrtle Stevens Hyde, comp., Kanesville Advertisements (Ogden, Utah: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1993), 2, 20, 26.

2. Orson Hyde, ed., Frontier Guardian , 7 February-2 May 1849, quoted in Myrtle Stevens Hyde, comp., Kanesville Advertisements (Ogden, Utah: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1993), 2.

3. http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/library/pioneerdetails/0,15791,4018-1-40866,00.html

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Council Point

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Elm Grove

Location

“Prior to 1853, the county was simply divided into election precincts and had no distinctive township organization and administration.” So, during most of the time the Saints lived in Elm Grove, the village was not located in a township. However, on 12 February 1853, Rocky Ford Township was created, along with Kane and Macedonia Townships.(1) It was presumably in the second of these three that Elm Grove lay. The Frontier Guardian described the location of the settlement as being “the Elm Grove West of Kanesville, on the banks of the Missouri river.”(2)

It was located “on the banks of the Missouri river.”(3)

History

The Kanesville High Council “resolved that one company of emigrants for the Valley of the Salt Lake, be organized at the Elm Grove.”(4)

Elm Grove did not have a Frontier Guardian representative.(5)

Describe any unique community setup or buildings

By reading the quote from The Frontier Guardian of 29 May 1850, one might not be sure that Elm Grove was anything more than a well-known landmark. However, in the issue from 10 July 1850 of The Frontier Guardian, Daniel Grenig offered a reward for the location of a stray cow lost “from the road leading from Elm Grove to Kanesville.”(6) This statement gives the impression that Elm Grove was more than just a stand of trees.

Notes:

1. John H. Keatley, History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a History from the earliest settlement to the present time, embracing its topographical, geological, physical and climatic features; its agricultural, railroad interests, etc.; giving an account of its aboriginal inhabitants, early settlement by the whites, pioneer incidents, its growth, its improvements, organization of the County, the judicial history, the business and industries, churches, schools, etc.; Biographical Sketches; Portraits of some of the Early Settlers, Prominent Men, etc. (Chicago: O. L. Baskin & Co., Historical Publishers, 1883), 276.
2. Orson Hyde, ed., The Frontier Guardian ( Kanesville, Iowa) 29 May 1850, in Myrtle Stevens Hyde, Kanesville Conditions (Ogden, Utah: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1997), 49.
3. Orson Hyde, ed., The Frontier Guardian, 29 May 1850, in Myrtle Hyde, Conditions, 49.
4. Orson Hyde, ed., The Frontier Guardian, 29 May 1850, in Myrtle Hyde, Conditions, 49.
5. Orson Hyde, ed., The Frontier Guardian, 4 April 1851.
6. Orson Hyde, ed., The Frontier Guardian, 10 July 1850, in Myrtle Stevens Hyde, Kanesville Advertisements (Ogden, Utah: Myrtle Stevens Hyde, 1993), 59.

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Grand Encampment

Location

Physical description of the site

Grand Encampment was a long string of wagons, strung out along roughly a nine mile stretch from west to east in western Pottawattamie County, starting about three miles east of the Missouri River. This was, as evidenced by the name, an encampment—the most temporary of all the temporary settlements created by the Latter-day Saints in the region. It lasted a mere two months, “from June until late July or early August 1846” (1). The saints drew up their wagons and pitched their tents in orderly squares, some of which were “enclosed with split-rail fences” (2). As the saints continued to arrive, they set up their tents and wagons further and further east, beside the saints who had arrived before them (3). Grand Encampment was really a network of smaller encampments located on the bluffs, according to Colonel Thomas L. Kane, who visited the Latter-day Saints in the end of June. He wrote that,

“each one of the Council Bluff hills . . . was crowned with its own great camp, gay with bright white canvas, and alive with the busy stir of swarming occupants . . . Countless roads and by-paths checkered all manner of geometric figures on the hillsides. Herd boys were dozing on the slopes; sheep and horses, cows and oxen, were feeding around them, and other herds in the luxuriant meadow of the then swollen river” (4).

Although the Saints enjoyed some good weather, massive storms also flooded local creeks and blew over tents at times during the saints’ sojourn at Grand Encampment (5).

The saints left Grand Encampment gradually, moving across the Missouri to Cold Springs Camp, Indian Territory by ferry. The saints started going to Indian Territory about the first of July and continued at least through the first of August. Probably, the emigration perpetuated into mid-August (6).

History

The saints became somewhat acquainted with their neighbors and formulated plans for their movement to the Rocky Mountains. Their neighbors included local indigenous tribes and a few white people. The whites included fur traders (some of French descent) and a federal Indian agent.

The Church leaders’ plans had to be altered when the United States Government sent Captain James Allen to recruit what became the Mormon Battalion. The saints complied with the government’s request, and gave up over five hundred men to serve in the Mexican War. With “this loss of manpower,” President Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles had to check plans to send a pioneer company to the Rockies that year (7).

When did most of the Mormons leave?

Most saints appear to have left in the end of July and beginning of August. (8) “Grand Encampment was beginning to fall apart. The advancing season brought more heat and less moisture. The three pioneer staples of wood, water and grass were getting harder and harder to find in the vicinity of Grand Encampment.” Various groups of saints scattered throughout southwestern Iowa in search of those three necessities of pioneer life while they waited to be able to cross the Missouri River on the ferry. (9)

The Encampment had a post office which operated out of a wagon, or perhaps at times out of a tent instead. A tall flagpole flying the American flag indicated the location of President Brigham Young’s tent. (10)

Notes:

1. Gail Geo. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & E Nebraska ( Omaha, Nebraska: Omaha LDS Institute of Religion, 2000), 38.

2. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 38.

3. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 38.

4. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 38-39.

5. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 39; Hosea Stout, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844-1861, Juanita Brooks, ed. (Salt Lake City, Utah: University of Utah Press, 1964), 176, 177, 181.

6. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 41; Stout, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844-1861, 181-82.

7. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 39-41.

8. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 38; Stout, On the Mormon Frontier: The Diary of Hosea Stout, 1844-1861, 181-82.

9. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 41.

10. Holmes, Old Council Bluff(s): Mormon Developments, 1846-1853, in the Missouri and Platte River Valleys of SW Iowa & Nebraska, 38.

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Highland Grove

Location:

Highland Grove is located in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, 2 miles from the Keg Creek settlement (1) and eight to ten miles south of Kanesville. (2) There is another Highland Grove located in Jones County in western Iowa which should not to be confused with the Mormon Pioneer settlement in Pottawattamie. (3)

History:

The initial settlement of Highland Grove began as early as 1846 and remained a Mormon settlement until about 1852. (4)One source reports that William Cazier was the presiding elder of the branch around 1846, and “about 10-12 families lived there and they had regular Sabbath and evening meetings.” (5) As of December 31 st, 1848 Martin Bushman was the Branch President of Highland Grove. (6) In 1851 James Fisher became the bishop of Highland Grove and remained so until 1852 when he headed west to Utah. (7) There are records of Mormons leaving the area for Utah as early as 1847, and as late as 1852. (8)

Early institutions like church quickly arose for the benefit of the population and the settlers even established a school “where children were given the rudiments of an education.” (9)

Some of the families listed have written their experiences about Highland Grove and include details about living within or contributing to its settlement. One such family was the Thomas Mantle family who resided there for five years, farming and living in a log hut. (10) Another resident of the area was the Charles Sperry family who mentions that they “had hired a man to build us a house” and shares that there were dances held “in the houses nearby” which gave the settlers a positive release from their day to day struggles. (11)

Life was difficult and trying for many of the settlers in Highland Grove. Charles Sperry speaks of various illnesses in the family, and although they may not have contracted those illnesses in the settlement, they were recovering while living there and some passed away. (12) Another story of hardship comes from Sarah Ann Bushman ( Rhodes). She taught school in Highland Grove from 1850-1851, and worked in Missouri during the summer of 1850 in order to alleviate some of the financial burdens of her family. (13) Her brother, Martin, described the family’s life as one of hard ship, and that they “suffered for want of proper food and clothing”. Some family members had to go “into the neighboring state to get work so they could git [sic] food and clothing for the family.” (14) The family’s father, Martin, had to travel over 100 miles into Missouri in order to earn wages by splitting rails. (15) Martin Benjamin, the son of Martin Bushman, wrote concerning his father’s diligence in providing for his family stating,

Here again the Husband tried to make wife and children comfortable, he built them a house of logs and covered it as best he could with sticks and dirt,   He then went into the state of Missouri and labored to procure them something to eat, after working for some time he received [sic] for his pay some corn meal and pork and a few other little things, he then returned to his Family with a Joyful heart that he had procured something to eat for them.  He then took up some land and raised some crops, he stayed there four years and was prospered so he had sufficient to bring him to Utah, in May 1851 he started on that journey[.] (16)

Another, temporary, resident of the settlement was William Whitehead Taylor. Originally from England, Taylor eventually settled in Highland Grove with the Stott family. In this excerpt he shares his struggles revealing that,

We worked hard, but the man for whom we did most of the work was very unfortunate. We lived a long distance from Kanesville, and at one time got out of stuffs. I went and tried to borrow a little flour or cornmeal; I did not get it, but found a man sitting astride a bench, grating corn on a home-made grater; he let me have the grater and some ears of corn, saying I could take them and do as he was doing. I never ate better mush than was made from that corn. I had no bed to lie on, and did not have my clothing off for twelve weeks. (17)

The occasional visitor to the town was announced in the newspaper, The Frontier Guardian, and was generally some church official. A scheduled visit to Highland Grove from the Traveling Elders was set for the 6 th of August 1849 and afterwards they would continue on to visit other settlements near Council Bluffs.(18) Also, Elder Benson scheduled a visit to the community at six o'clock in the evening on Monday, December 8, 1851. The announcement in The Frontier Guardian did not state the purpose of his visit (19).

Births:

Several families had children within their short stay at Highland Grove and the names, birth dates, and parents of these children are as follows: Sarah Jane Mantle, 7 March 1848, to Llewellyn and Catherine Watkins Mantle (20); Mary Matilda Watkins, 8 July 1849 to Robert James and Mary Smallman Watkins (21); Elias Albert Bushman, 6 December 1849, to Martin and Elizabeth Degen Bushman (22).

Deaths:

While there is no record of a Highland Grove cemetery, the deaths near or within the settlement included:

Aaron Sperry, 15 December 1846 (23)

Joy Sperry, 1 January 1847 (24)

Frontier Guardian Representative:

The Frontier Guardian and Iowa Sentinel representative for the area was Hiram Hoyt. (25)

Notes:

1. Emigrants Guide and Directory as found in Kanesville Conditions, Myrtle Stevens Hyde compiler (Ogden, UT: 1997), 113.

2. Edwin Stott, “A Sketch of my Life”, Utah Historical Quarterly, July/October 1941, vol. 9, no. 3-4, 184-185.

3. http://brainygeography.com/features/IA.locale/highlandgrove.html

4. Martin Benjamin Bushman, Thomas Mantle, Charles Sperry.

5. Derryfield N. Smith ed. John Bushman: Utah-Arizona Pioneer 1843-1926. (Provo, UT: John Bushman Family Association, 1975), 7.

6. Richard E. Bennett. Mormons at the Missouri, 1846-1852: “And Should we Die…” (Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987), 218.

7. Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, vol. 4, (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, Co, 1904), 438.

8. Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, 1847-1868

9. Derryfield N. Smith ed. John Bushman: Utah-Arizona Pioneer 1843-1926. (Provo, UT: John Bushman Family Association, 1975), 8.

10. “From Wales to Presting, England; Nauvoo, Illinois; Highland Grove, Iowa to Slat Lake City and Taylorsville, Utah, as Mormon Pioneers: The story of the Mantle and Watkins family”, http://www.geocities.com/iluv_familyhistory/mantles.htm

11. Kate B. Carter, ed. Our Pioneer Heritage, “Charles Sperry”, Salt Lake City: International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958-1977.

12. Ibid.

13. Newbern I. Butt, “Bushman Family History”, compiled for the Bushman Family History Committee, The Bushman Family, Originally of Pennsylvania and the Rocky Mountain States, Provo, UT 1956, p.54,

www.geocities.com/~wallyg/L5sarah_ann_bushman.htm

14. Martin Benjamin Bushman, “A Short Biographical Sketch of Sarah Ann Bushman (Mrs. Alonzo D. Rhodes) (1833-1917)”, originally located in the Temple Record Book of his father, Jacob Bushman, 1916, pp. 6-10, electronic transcript by Ann Laemmlen Lewis, May 2007 www.geocities.com/~wallyg/L5sarah_ann_bushman.htm

15. Derryfield N. Smith ed. John Bushman: Utah-Arizona Pioneer 1843-1926. (Provo, UT: John Bushman Family Association, 1975), 8.

16. Esshom, Frank (Frank Ellwood), “Sketch of the Life of Martin and Elizabeth Bushman”, Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah ( Salt Lake City : Western Epics Inc.), 1966.

17. Orson F. Whitney, History of Utah, vol. 4 (Salt Lake City: George Q. Cannon and Sons, 1904), 424.

18. Frontier Guardian, 8 August 1849 as found in Kanesville Conditions, 25.

19. Frontier Guardian, 28 November 1851 as found in Kanesville Conditions, 90.

20. Familysearch.org, search “Sarah Jane Mantle”.

21. Familysearch.org, search “Mary Matilda Watkins”.

22. Familysearch.org, search “Elias Albert Bushman”. Or http://www.geocities.com/~wallyg/M28.htm, Biography of Martin Bushman and Elizabeth Degen (Based upon Bushman Family History,** compiled 1956 by Newbern I. Butt for the Bushman Family History Committee, pp. 12-15). Additions by second great grandson Elden L. Stewart. (Written by Elden L. Stewart; retyped and submitted by Ella Mae [Turley] Judd.) **The full name and particulars of the book: The Bushman Family: Originally of Pennsylvania and the Rocky Mountain States by Newbern Butt, main author. Its Family History Library call number is 929.273 B964bn. It is located in the Joseph Smith Memorial Building Family History Book Section. It is also on microfilm, FHL 896926, item 5. (In the main library located in the FHL US/CAN Film section.)

23. Kate B. Carter, ed. Our Pioneer Heritage, “Charles Sperry”, Salt Lake City: International Society, Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958-1977.

24. Ibid.

25. Frontier Guardian, 2 October 1850, 27 June 1851, 9 January 1852, and 18 June 1852 as found in Kanesville Conditions, 58.

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Hyde Park

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Indian Creek

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Kanesville, Iowa

(Council Bluff's, Miller's Hollow)

The setlement of Kanesville, Iowa was given its name on April 8, 1848 by Orson Hyde, in honor of Colonel Thomas L. Kane, a loyal and influential friend of the Mormon people. Today this city is known as Council Bluffs, Iowa.

The area that became Kanesville was once known as Miller's Hollow, near Indian and Mosquito creeks. Kanesville was originally established to be a temporary resting place for those heading west. It was actually never intended to be a permanent settlement. The rapidly growing city, however, soon became the hub of all other surrounding Mormon settlements in the area. Kanesville was the site of the tabernacle where Brigham Young was sustained as the second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Keg Creek

Location

The Keg Creek settlement was located in Keg Creek Township. View the Keg Creek Surveyor's Record.

History

"The general history of this township is that of Silver Creek up to [October 14,] 1873, when it was cut out of that township." It was given its name when some early settlers found several kegs of whiskey hidden in the willows along the banks of the creek running through the area." (1)

"KEG CREEK . Thought to have been at a site at headwaters of Keg Creek when post office established, about 7 miles northwest of Treynor, 5 miles south of McClelland (SE/SE Sec. 29, Hardin Twp. 75N, R42W), but later on the creek itself at a site 7 miles southwest of Treynor (SW Sec. 21, Keg Creek Twp. 74N, R42W). Established August 3, 1874, Henry F. Mudge; closed August 16, 1875; reopened January 4, 1880; closed November 28, 1881; reopened December 14, 1881, Mrs. Lucy A. Carson (Mrs. James D. Carson); closed February 28, 1883; reopened February 11, 1892, Rasmus Campbell; discontinued February 9, 1899." (2)

Residents

Click on this link http://www.morrillonline.com/html/MorrillLaban-1814-1900-DruryPermeliaHandmore.html to find information about the Morrill family who lived at Keg Creek.

Follow this link for information about the Richardson family who lived at Keg Creek: http://www.richardsonfamily.homestead.com/Shadrach.html

Cemeteries

Campbell or Keg Creek Cemetery

"This cemetery is located in Section 21, Township 74N, Range 42 W, and consists of one acre of land in the W ½ of SW ¼ of Keg Creek Township. It is located south of Highway 92, four miles west of Treynor, then south almost three miles. The cemetery is on the east side of the road. If traveling from G66, it is two miles east of L 45 and north ¼ mile, or three miles west of L 55 and ¼ mile north. The cemetery is fenced, in good repair and still active." (3)

Treynor St. Paul Lutheran Cemetery

Located about one mile west of Treynor on the south side of highway 92. The entrance is marked with brick pillars. The church is on the south side of Treynor. (4)

Zion Cedmetery

Notes:

1. History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, 202-203

2. Ghost Towns of Iowa, 375.

3. "Keg Creek Township Cemeteries," Historical Society of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, www.geocities.com.

4. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Plains/5660/kegcreek.htm

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Little Mosquito

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McOlney's Camp

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Mosquito Creek

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Point aux Poules

(Trader's Point, St. Francis)

"Pottawattamie/Mills County Line at Allis Rd and Applewood Ave.
Sign commemorates one of several locations, at least in the early and mid-1800s, of the French and Native American village of Pointe Aux Poules, (French for Prairie Chicken Crossing). Americans called it Traders Point. There were as many as three trade posts operating in the village at one time. Residents were mostly Native American wives and children of French, Spanish and American traders and trappers from the Missouri and Platte River valleys and Rocky Mountains. The site was also a crossing point for the first wagon train bound for California in 1844." (1)

Notes:

1. Council Bluffs Area Chamber of Commerce, http://www.councilbluffsiowa.com/tourism/attractions.asp.

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Pony Creek

Poney Creek was a settlement south of Council Bluffs in what is now called Oak Township in northern Mills County (1). Sources state that Poney Creek was 3 ½ miles from Coolidge’s Mill making it a very beneficially placed settlement due to the fact that this mill was one of two mills in the whole area, the other being an old government mill on Mosquito Creek (2). The settlements name was most likely given to this area because the Poney Creek Lake is located close by (3). Poney Creek was more of a scattered settlement of farmers that had a unified name under which they lived but they never established a main town for interaction or commerce making Poney Creek more of a region rather than a town (4). This settlement was the second to last stop prior to arriving in Kanesville on the Northern Road from Des Moines, Iowa so many travelers passed through the settlement during its existence (5).

Edson Whipple was one of the earlier settlers of Poney Creek and shares his experience in Poney Creek and his opinion of the land in his journal:

"On our arrival on the Missouri river we were counseled to locate for the winter on Poney Creek, down the river about 30 miles, but on our arrival there we found the place very unhealthy and thus unfit for habitation. My mother (Basmath Hutchins Whipple) died September 9, 1846. She was born September 7, 1769, in Massachusetts. A few days later (September 13, 1846) my wife died. She was born July 7, 1811, in Dummerston, Vermont. Of the whole camp consisting of 14 families all but two persons were sick, and while we were there we buried some whole families. We finally moved to another place, about 4 miles distant. My littel girl ( Mariah Blanch), when twenty-two months old, died at our new location, December 8, 1846, and her remains were taken to the place where her mother was buried. She was born February 15, 1845; her remains were placed in a coffin made of split plank (bugswood tree)." (6)

From this description we can gather that the early settlers had a very bleak situation to attend to in Poney Creek. Disease and death were very common place and afflicted nearly all of the early settlers’ families.

Economics in Poney Creek was primarily based on farming. Their location was highly beneficial due to the Wabash Railroad that “established a station at Poney Creek, 5 miles from Council Bluffs…” This helped settlers ship loads of their grains to market with general ease (7). Education for the youth also became a desire of the settlement and an ad was placed in The Frontier Guardian stating, “A good school teacher is wanted on-Poney Creek, 3 ½ miles this side of Coolidge’s Mill. Inquire of the trustees, David Holman, Timothy H. King, Jas. Davenport (8).” Earlier in 1847 James Davenport settled the area and set up a “blacksmith shop on what is now called the John Askwig farm on Pony Creek” (9).

Poney Creek was also a place where some enterprising men sought to engage in behavior that did not exactly adhere to the beliefs of honesty and uprightness that the LDS settlers held. The traders frequenting Trader’s Point, which was close to Poney Creek, began to discover that the “silver specie” used in some of the bartered deals was counterfeit. The equipment used to make the fake specie was found and hammered into pieces by a mob of upset persons in Traders Point. Around the same time this discovery was made “some material out of which to make the counterfeit specie was found in the timber on Pony Creek, a little west of where Elijah Dalton now lives (10).”

Other more honest entrepreneurial endeavors were taken up by men seeking to drive sheep for persons trekking to Utah. In 1852 William Martindale and several others placed an ad that proposed to “drive any number of sheep from this place to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake in the coming Spring on condition of one-half of the Sheep (11).” Taking sheep from Council Bluffs to Utah was quite a difficult endeavor and the men of Poney Creek seemed up to the challenge. They must have been quite adept in driving sheep and strong to endure the long and frustrating ordeal of coaxing sheep to move along the Mormon Trail which was about 1,032 miles long (12).

Other events of interest that occurred in Poney Creek were those of Marriage. All that is mentioned in The Frontier Guardian is that around January 9 th, 1850 two people from Poney Creek were married (13). Another marriage occurred in the Poney Creek Branch around May 1 st, 1850 (14).

Poney Creek was a brief Mormon establishment thriving from 1846-1853 (15). Many of the settlers moved on to the Great Salt Lake Valley and left Poney Creek to itself and any other enterprising individuals. Today the area is sparsely settled with several watersheds for the larger neighboring cities (For picture reference see note 16).

Notes:

1.GLO Survey Notes and Maps from 1851: Section 22 and 27 T73N, R43W.

2. “Wanted”, The Frontier Guardian, October 16, 1850.

3. www.visitmillscounty.com/images/map.jpg

4. Black, Susan. Settlements from the Frontier Guardian.

5. “Northern Road”, The Frontier Guardian and Iowa Sentinel, December 16, 1852; page 2 and column 2.

6. Whipple, Edson. Journal of Edson Whipple, in email of Susan Easton Black, March 6, 2009.

7. Keatley, John H. History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Chicago: O.L. Baksin & Co., Historical Publishers, 1883, page 337.

8. “Wanted”, The Frontier Guardian, October 16, 1850.

9. Wortman, Allen. Ghost Towns of Mills County, Iowa, 1975, pages 17-221.

10. Ibid.

11. “OH YES! OH YES!!, The Frontier Guardian. February 6-March 4, 1852.

12. http://www.americanwest.com/trails/pages/mormtrl.htm

13. The Frontier Guardian, January 9, 1850.

14. Ibid, May 1, 1850.

15.Black, Susan. Settlements from the Frontier Guardian.

16. www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/wsrehab/wsr_main/ppt_dir/TourofSmallFloodControlDamsin Iowa .ppt

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Stringtown

Though information regarding the settlement at Stringtown is scarce, it appears from various excerpts of the Frontier Guardian that the town suffered its share of disasters.

The Frontier Guardian of October 30, 1850 reported, "On the 16th, the Omaha Indians set fire to the Prairie, a little west of this town, and there being a high wind at the time spread the flames with great rapidity; burning stacks of hay and wheat, fields of corn, and fences, in its fury. At one time it threatened to burn the town, but the wind shearing round, it galloped towards Stringtown, doing immense damage, burning hay, wheat, &c., in its progress. The amount of damage sustained by individuals will amount in the aggregate from five to eight thousand dollars. The loss falls upon those the least able to bear it. It may be very pretty fun for the Indians to destroy the farmers all; but we would like to know where the owners of property are to seek redress for damages." (1)

The June 27, 1851 issue of the Gurdian reported, "Kanesville and the surrounding country received its share of the flood, though no particular loss has been sustained, except that of Bridges, and the roads being considerably broken up. No houses have been carried away that we have heard of; niether loss of life, with the exception of a young man named Webster, who resided in Stringtown, situated in this vicinity, who unfortunately was struck with lightning, which caused instant death. . . . The thunder and lightning during that night exceeded anything we ever witnessed before, the wide expanse at times appeared to resemble a caldron of molten brass, incessantly pouring its burnished contents in streams, promiscuously toward the earth; threatening in aspect demolition and utter destruction of life and property; but through the kind providence of a beneficient Creator and wise Ruler, the storm subsided between the hours of ten and eleven o'clock, without any further material damage." (2)

Notes:

1. Frontier Guardian, 30 October 1850, as cited in as cited in Myrtle Stevens Hyde, Kanesville Conditions (Ogden, Utah: Published by the Author, 1997), 60.

2. Frontier Guardian, 27 June 1851, as cited in Hyde, Kanesville Conditions, 78-79.

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Union

Map source: 1895 Iowa Atlas

Location

"Union township was originally a part of Lura which was named for the wife of Dr. G. S. Morrison, a prominent settler in Grant township. At that time Massena, Lura and Union constituted Lura township. When Lura was reorganized, Union became Breckenridge township being so named for John C. Breckenridge, vice-president at that time. As the sentiment of that locality was strongly in favor of the Union forces when the Civil war broke out and Breckenridge became a major general in the rebel army, the name was changed to Union in 1862." (1)

The town is located one mile east of Cartersville, as appears on maps of 1868 and later. (2)

History

Buoyo and Union Branch members: Ann Batson, Barbara Batson, William Batson, William Joseph Batson, Aryaline Carter, Sarilda Carter, Susanna Carter, Elizabeth Davis, Enoch Davis, John M. Davis, Martha Jane Davis, Merica Jane Davis, William L. Davis, James Hendrickson, Nickoles Hendrickson, Catherine Mendenhall, Sarah Nickerson, Sarah C. Nickerson, Uriah Nickerson, Moses Vince. (3)

Notes:

1. Southwestern Iowa Guide: Geology—Points of Interest—History , WPA, 1936, 39.

2. “Cities and Towns of Pottawattamie County," Dec 2005.

3. Ron Watts, LDS Iowa Branch Records Index, 1839-1859.

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