Lehi Curtis (1832 - 1899)

Born 22 Oct 1832 in Covington, Fountain, Indiana, USA

Ancestors

Son of Uriah Curtis and Phoebe Martin

Husband of Eliza (Barnum) Curtis — married 6 Jun 1852 in Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States

Descendants

Died 18 Mar 1899 at age 66 in Basin City, Coburn, Big Horn, Wyoming, USA

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Lehi Curtis was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Biography

Married Eliza Barnum 6 June 1852 (at the age of 19)
Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States

Immigrated to Utah in 1852 at the age of 19 with the Pioneer Company: "Uriah Curtis Company"
Departure date: 28 June 1852
Arriving about 29 September - 1 October 1852

They first settled in Springville, Utah where their first 3 children were born. They then moved to Ogden and then Willard.
In 1864 they Settled in Hyrum, Cache Valley.

In 1867 Lehi became a polygamist and married without the consent of his first wife. He married Anne Marie Sorensen, a recent convert from Denmark, March 16, 1867. Their first son Levi David was born 5 Dec 1871.

Lehi and Eliza had 11 children:
Mary Elizabeth Curtis 1854–1925
Lehi Uriah Curtis 1856–1886
Eliza Ann Curtis 1858–1943
Sarah Jane Curtis 1860–1943
Phebe Sophia Curtis 1861–1891
Charles Barnum Curtis 1863–1889
John Alma Curtis 1866–1943
Genebra Curtis 1868–1915
Estella Curtis 1871–1920
Alfred Brigham Curtis 1873–1937
Lester Curtis 1874–1932

This short history was written in a letter by his son, Levi David Curtis to his grandaughter, Sue Dette Crandall, on 4 May 1948. He writes:

A short history of Lehi Curtis born in Indiana. He emigrated to Utah finally settling in Hyrum. He was one of the early pioneers in Hyrum. He helped build the fort on Main Street to protect them from raids by the indians.

He married (1) Eliza Barnum in the Salt Lake Endowment house. To them were born 11 children. Later he married (2) Annie Marie Sorensen; to them were born 4 children.

As more people came to the Cache valley, they needed more timber and lumber, so it was decided to build a road up Blacksmith Canyon. Lehi Curtis, Oliver McBride,and Charles Anderson surveyed this road through the mountains and the road was finished on August 23 and on August 25, Pres. Brigham Young and his party traveled over the road to the Bear Lake.

He also herded the Chruch's cattle for a number of years and had a small dairy and made butter and cheese. Leaving the ranch he decided to do railroad work and help build the railroads in Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Oregon, Washington, and Montana.

He also did some freighting in Montana; later he and the family moved to Wyoming settling in the Big Horn Basin. There he took up farming and stock raising. He lived here for a number of years. Here he pased away and that is his final resting place.

Born: 28 Oct 1832, Covington, Fountain, Indiana; Died 18 Mar 1899, Basis City, Big Horn, Wyoming

Another biography

Lehi was a cowboy and thought he could do better in the livestock business if he moved north, so in the late 1850s he moved Eliza and the children to the Willard area. He herded and ran cattle on the Promontory and would have been there the same time the Weaver boys were there. The Benson, Wilson, and Barnum families were friends from the Uriah Curtis Company wagon train days. So when these other families settled in Cache Valley it was easy for Lehi and Eliza and their six children to go also.

Lehi to Cache Valley.

Ezra Taft Benson, at the October 1862 Conference, called families to go to Cache Valley. Lehi Curtis, O.S. McBride, and Charles Anderson were appointed to survey a new road through Blacksmith Fork canyon to Bear Lake. In August of 1873 Brigham Young wrote that he was coming to travel the length of their new road. They still had not finished two of the fourteen miles (Brigham probably knew this and was giving them an incentive to hurry). Everyone put their shoulder to the wheel and they had it finished when he got there .

Lehi helped on the road, ran cattle, and operated his two "roadhouses" between Millville and Copenhagen (Mantua). The franchise for the roadhouse operation was given him in 1866 by Thomas G. Winn, Cache County Superintendent of Roads. They were to "provide a place for travelers to stop. He (Lehi) was permitted to keep the profits from the sale of liquors, feed, victuals, etc.. He was also expected to work on the road."

Lehi and his family had moved to Hyrum and had build a log house on main street. They made Hyrum their home for several years and their seventh child, John Alma, was born here in 1866. Lehi was a little slower than his father about getting up to speed on the polygamy practice, but in 1867 he took a second (and younger) wife, Anne Marie Sorensen, a recent convert from Denmark. He did not get the consent of Eliza to marry Anne. Lehi's family was growing, Genebra in 1868, and Estella in 1871. Also Anne bore him there first child, Levi David, in 1871.

Lehi worked with the Weaver brothers running church cattle, and their own, in Blacksmith Fork Canyon. He was impressed with the open meadows and beautiful streams and grassland in the canyon. He took a squatters right and located a ranch about fourteen miles from Hyrum in the canyon. He built a cabin, corrals, and shelters, fenced some, and had milk cows for several years. The girls did most of the milking and the boys did the herding. They would bring the operation back to Hyrum in the winter. The ranch became quite a center for herders and other activities in the canyon. Curtis Creek and other landmarks in the canyon still bear the Curtis name. By 1883 Eliza had born eleven children, Anne had born four, and all were still living. They were all busy making ends meet.

Sources

"United States Census, 1880," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MNSJ-N52 : 14 July 2016), Lehi Curtis, Hyrum, Cache, Utah, United States; citing enumeration district ED 10, sheet 162C, NARA microfilm publication T9 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.), roll 1335; FHL microfilm 1,255,335.

"United States Census, 1870," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MNCR-NG5 : 17 October 2014), Lehi Curtis, Utah, United States; citing p. 2, family 12, NARA microfilm publication M593 (Washington D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.); FHL microfilm 553,109.

"United States Census, 1850," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MZ4N-PD2 : 9 November 2014), Lehi Curtis in household of Uriah Curtis, Pottawattamie county, Pottawattamie, Iowa, United States; citing family 698, NARA microfilm publication M432 (Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.).

"Utah Death Certificates, 1904-1964", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/XZGL-1R8 : 11 September 2015), Lehi Curtis in entry for Mary Elizabeth Mcbride, 1925.