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Arza Adams was born 22 Jan 1804 in Beverly, Leeds, Canada. He married four times. He died 15 Apr 1889 in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory, United States. He was the first of 11 children born to Captain Joshua Adams and Elizabeth "Betsy" Adams (nee Chipman). On March 23, 1831, he married Sabrina Clark. Arza was 27 and Sabrina was 18 at the time of their marriage. On February 2, 1832, Sabrina gave birth to their son, Nathan Adams. [1]
Arza and Sabrina joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1836. He was ordained a Seventy [2]on Jan 5, 1839. He left Far West to go to Illinois. Young John Nicoll accompanied Arza on his wagon trip back to Illinois. They left on May 6, 1840, and by putting in long days they reached Quincy on June 5th. He was in Carthage at the martyrdom of the Prophet and carried the letter from John Taylor to Nauvoo announcing the event. He was sealed to his wife December 31, 1845, in the Nauvoo temple. He migrated to Utah in 1848 and in 1850 was given permission by Brigham Young to settle American Fork, along with his brother Barnabas and five others. He married four other women: Editha Morgan Anderson on December 7, 1853; Marillah Olney and Catherine Cunningham on March 7, 1857, and Elizabeth Gaskill on August 11, 1857. Editha and Catherine were spiritual wives only. With the other three he had 26 children.
On February 24, 1856, he was called on a mission to Fort Supply (Green River, Wyoming) at a General Conference in the Tabernacle in Salt Lake City.
He apparently was very possessive of his property and in his journal tells of being mocked by his neighbors and was subject to their hatred and envy. He homesteaded 120 acres in the southeast area of Highland (#95 on the 1958 Highland map - interactive, larger) but, according to David Durfey, never lived there, although his was the earliest recorded Highland patent in 1875. His patent also included 40 acres in section 12 south of his Highland property, in American Fork. His patent affidavit shows that he built his home and moved into it on September 1, 1869, and was still living there on September 10, 1875, when his patent was issued. He also built a “flouring mill” on the property. It’s probable that the home and mill were on the American Fork portion of his homestead next to American Fork Creek. The 1870 census shows him living in American Fork.
Arza died April 15, 1889, in American Fork and was buried in the Pioneer cemetery, later transferred to the American Fork City Cemetery.
Abstract:
December 25, 1836 to October 9, 1857. The diaries begin with Adams' baptism in 1836.
Mobs drive him from Missouri to Illinois in 1839. He serves a mission to Canada from July 1839 to April 1840. He returns to Illinois in May 1840. He writes briefly of a second mission to Canada sometime before 1842. He serves yet another mission to Canada from January to June 1843. Adams takes a raft to St. Louis in the summer of 1843 and falls ill with Ague. Heber C. Kimball promises Adams that he will recover if he works on the Nauvoo Temple. Adams goes to work on the temple and recovers.
After a mob kills Joseph and Hyrum Smith, John Taylor and Willard Richards give Adams letters to take to Nauvoo from Carthage.
In 1845, Church leaders appoint Adams as one of seven presidents of the Fourteenth Quorum of Seventy. Adams provides a list of the members of that quorum. Church leaders appoint Adams as captain of fifty for Nauvoo exodus. He leaves for Winter Quarters in 1846 and works for the government at Fort Child, Nebraska and Fort Leavenworth, Kansas to raise funds for continuation of the trip.
He leaves Winter Quarters on June 7, 1849 and arrives in Salt Lake City on September 25, 1849. Adams provides names and dates of various family members. He settles with his family in American Fork, Utah. Adams recounts daily life in Utah, including grasshopper raids, fights with Indians, difficulties with neighbors over land, and religious life.
Brigham Young calls Adams to start a flour mill at Fort Supply, Wyoming. Adams recounts the Reformation and his role in rescuing handcart companies in 1856. The back of the fifth diary provides Adams' genealogy. "Arza Adams", Early Mormon Missionaries, accessed June 21, 2017, [3] [4] [5]
High priest; missionary to Canada; ward teacher. Justice of peace. First miller in American Fork. Died April 15, 1889, American Fork, Utah.
First Wife
Children of Arza Matson and Sabina Ane Clark Adams
Children of Arza Matson and Editha Morgan Anderson Adams
Editha married as spiritual wife only, She lived separately, known by maiden name. No known Children [12]
Third Wife
Fourth Wife
Children of Arza Matson and Catherine Cunningham Adams
Fifth Wife
Children of Arza Matson and Elizabeth Gaskill Adams
Elizabeth married as spiritual wife only. They didn't have children together.
Spouses and some of 27 children:
Married: March 23, 1831 (1)Sabina Clark 1812-1861, Buried American Fork Pioneer Cemetery; Children: Nathan Adams Joshua Adams* (wife Mary Bathgate Logan) George Adams Sabina Ann (Nicoll) Adams Sidney Moses Adams (died Illinois, cholera) Elizabeth Nancy Adams Theothan Plandemie Adams Joseph Smith Adams Orpha E. Adams (Robinson)
1853 Married Married 7 December 1853 (2)Editha Morgan Anderson 1803-1877, born 15 March 1803, Massachusetts Editha was a spiritual wife only. She lived separately, known by maiden name thereafter. died 1 April 1877, Buried Am Fork with Arza
1857 Married: Utah March 7 (3)Catherine Cunningham 1838-1912, Buried with Arza Children: James Arza Adams Elizabeth E. Adams (Robinson) Charles Adams Beulah Adams (Rhodes) Agnes Adams Alexander Adams Margaret Ann Adams(Mulliner) Phoebe Adams Mary Adams (Anderson) Isabell Adams (Householder) Daniel Erwin Adams
Married: March 7, 1857 (4)Marillah Olney 1833-1899, Buried with Arza Children: Davis Adams Arza Quincy Adams John Olney Adams Alvah Barnabus Adams Alvin Francis Adams Lucy Ann Adams(Ambrose) Mary Adaline Adams Moroni Adams
Married: August 11, 1857 (5)Elizabeth Gaskill 1836-death unkn, Burial unknown. Elizabeth was a spiritual wife only. Quote by Bishop Leonard Harrington, Elizabeth "has some little property, but she is one of the smart kind and knows how to manage better than anyone else."
1804 Jan 22:
Birth of Arza Matson Adams in Bastard, Leeds, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Joshua Adams and Elizabeth Chipman. Arza was a polygamist with multiple wives and therefore many of his siblings birth dates from one mother overlapped with the birth dates of his siblings from another mother.
1805 Nov 23:
Birth of brother, Alvah Adams in Bastard and South Burgess Leeds and Grandville, Ontario, Canada.
1808 Feb 06:
Birth of brother, Richard Adams in Bastard, Leeds, Ontario, Canada.
1808 Oct 07:
Death of brother, Richard Adams in Bastard, Leeds, Ontario, Canada. He was 7 months old.
1810 Jan 26:
Birth of sister, Beulah Adams in Bastard, Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1812 Aug 28:
Birth of brother, Barnabas Adams in Bastard, Leeds, Upper Canada, British Colonial America.
1815:
Birth of brother, Joshua Adams in Beverly, Bastard Leeds, Ontario, Canada.
1817 Dec 05:
Birth of sister, Lucinda Adams in Perth, Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1819 Oct 16:
Birth of brother, James Adams in Perth, Drummond Township Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1820 Oct:
Death of brother, James Adams in Perth, Drummond Township Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1820 Oct 17:
Birth of brother, Daniel Adams in Perth, Drummond Township Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1823 Jan 27:
Birth of brother, Franklin Adams in Adamsville, Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1825 Apr 25:
Birth of brother, Joshua Adams, Jr. in Adamsville, Leeds, Ontario, Canada.
1827 May 03:
Birth of sister, Elizabeth Adams in Adamsville, Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1830 Jan 22:
Birth of sister, Lydia Adams in Adamsville, Lanark, Ontario, Canada.
1831 Jan 23:
Marriage of brother, Alvah Adams to Hester Bailey in Leeds, Ontario, Canada. She was born September 22, 1808 in Cornwall, Stormont County, Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of John Levi Bailey and Margaret McNairn.
1831 Mar 23:
Marriage of Arza Adams to 1st wife, Sabina Clark. She was born September 12, 1812 in Grenville Park, Frontenac County, Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of Nathan Clark Jr. and Nancy McEathron.
1832 Feb 02:
Birth of son, Nathan Adams in Perth, Canada. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1833 Aug 28:
Marriage of sister, Beulah Adams to Rev. Dr. John Saltkill Carroll in Adamsville, River Tay, Lanark County, Bathurst District, Ontario, Canada. He was born August 8, 1809 in New Brunswick, Canada and was the son of Joseph Carroll and Molly Rideout. He was a minister in the Methodist Church of Canada.
1833 Sep 26:
Birth of son, Joshua Adams in New Perth, Kings, Prince Edward Island, Canada. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1835 Sep 09:
Marriage of brother, Alvah Adams to Hester Madden in Johnstown, Quinte West, Hastings, Ontario, Canada. She was born March 29, 1810 in Augusta, Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of Rev. Thomas Madden and Mary Wright Breakenridge.
1835 Feb 16:
Birth of son, George Adams in Adamsville, South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce, Ontario, Canada. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1836:
Arza and his wife, Sabina Clark joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They immigrated with the Saints to Utah Territory and settled in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory.
1837 Feb 17:
Birth of daughter, Sabina Adams in Perth, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1839 May 01:
Birth of son, Sidney Adams in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1840 Aug 07:
Death of son, Sidney Adams in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. He died from cholera. He was 1 year old. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1840 Aug 09:
Death of son, George Adams in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. He died from cholera. He was 5 years old. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1842 Apr 30:
Birth of daughter, Elizabeth Adams in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1844:
When the Latter-day Saint Prophet, Joseph Smith, was killed in Carthage, Illinois by persecuting mobs in 1844, Arza Adams was the church member requested by church leaders to carry the news 16 miles north to the Mormon city of Nauvoo. Arza knew the Prophet, Joseph Smith well and at one time heard him preach to the Iowa Indians in their own tongue. He was working in the fields near by when the Prophet Joseph was assassinated by the mob at Carthage jail.
1844 Sep 12:
Marriage of sister, Lucinda Adams to George Heck in Bathurst District, Ontario, Canada. He was born about 1912 in Ontario, Canada.
1845 Mar 04:
Birth of daughter, Theothan Adams in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1846 Jun 23:
Marriage of brother, Barnabas Adams to 1st wife, Julia Banker in Des Moines, Polk, Iowa. She was born May 6, 1826 in Plattsburg, Clinton, New York and was the daughter of Platt Banker and Thankful Marshall.
1846 Dec 14:
Birth of son, Joseph Adams in Pottawattamie, Iowa. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1847 Jan 12:
Marriage of brother, Alvah Adams to Amelia Smith in Johnstown, Quinte West, Hastings, Ontario, Canada. She was born August 22, 1823 in Bastard, Leeds, Ontario, Canada.
1847 Feb 03:
Marriage of sister, Elizabeth Adams to Lt. Henry Moorhouse Esq. in Bathurst, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. He was born July 14, 1818 in St. Lawrence River, Ontario, Canada and was the son of William Moorhouse and Margaret Rath.
1848:
Marriage of brother, Joshua Adams, Jr. to Ann Padfield in Canada. She was born May 28, 1827 in York, Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of James Reverend Padfield and (?).
1848:
Marriage of brother, Daniel Adams to Margaret Drysdale in Ontario, Canada. She was born about 1827 in Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of John Drysdale and Hattie Dolcie Clawson.
1849 May 28:
Arza, 45, traveled with his wife, Sabina Clark, 45, and children, Nathan Adams, 17; Joshua Adams, 15; Sabina Adams, 12; Elizabeth Adams, 7; Theothan Adams, 4; and Joseph Adams, 2, with the Utah Mormon pioneer Overland Company with the Samuel Gully/Orson Spencer Company.
1849 Jul 25:
Marriage of brother, Joshua Adams to Anne Padfield in Franktown, Beckwith Township, Lanark, Bathurst District, Canada West. She was born May 28, 1827 in York, Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of James Reverend Padfield.
1849 Oct 23:
Birth of daughter, Orpha Adams in Millcreek, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1850:
Arza, 48, lived in Utah County, Territory of Utah, with his wife, Sabina Clark, 39, and children, Nathan Adams, 19; Joshua Adams, 17; Sabrina Adams, 14; Elizabeth Adams, 7; Jonathan, 6; Joseph Adams, 5; Orpha Adams, 1; and Abram Coon, 26. Arza was a farmer; Abram was a woodman.
1851 Oct 09:
Marriage of sister, Lydia Adams to Rev. James William Armstrong in Adamsville, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. He was born about 1825 and was the son of George Armstrong and Jane J. Smith.
1852:
Death of daughter, Theothan Adams in Utah. She was 6 years old. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1852 Jan 16:
Death of sister, Lucinda Adams Heck in Prescott, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, Canada. She was buried at the Blue Church Cemetery, Blue Church, Leeds and Grenville United Counties, Ontario, Canada. MEMORIAL ID: 72194189. She was 34 years old.
1852 Oct 18:
Marriage of brother, Franklin Adams to Charlotte Ann McCormick in Prescott, Ontario, Canada. She was born in 1830 in Ogdensburgh, State, New York.
1853 Nov 30:
Death of daughter, Elizabeth Adams in Millcreek, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. She was buried at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. MEMORIAL ID: 15965824. She was 12 years old. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1853 Dec 07:
Marriage of Arza Adams to 2nd wife,Edith Anderson in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was born March 15, 1803 in Montague, Franklin, Massachusetts and was the daughter of Ezra Anderson and Tryphena Howard Morgan. Editha was a spiritual wife only. She lived
separately, known by her maiden name thereafter.
1854 Feb 17:
Marriage of daughter, Sabina Adams to Alexander Nicoll in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was born June 30, 1830 in Perth, Drummond, Lanark, Ontario, Canada and was the son of Peter Nicoll and Margaret McPhail. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1854 Nov 01:
Marriage of son, Joshua Adams to Lydia Thornton in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was born October 19, 1830 in Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of Oliver E. Thornton and Mary Griswold. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1855 Feb 15:
Marriage of son, Nathan Adams to Mary Plunkett in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was born May 1, 1837 in Brockville, Leeds, Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of Robert Plunkett and Sarah Kennedy. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1856 Feb 29:
Death of mother, Elizabeth Chipman Adams in Glen Tay, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada. She was buried at the Saint Paul's United Church Cemetery in Perth, Lanark County, Ontario, Canada in Plot: OGS 47. MEMORIAL ID: 33243505. She was born February 28, 1786 in Salisbury, Addison, Vermont and was the daughter of Barnabas Chipman and Beulah Evarts.
1856 Nov 16:
Marriage of brother, Barnabas Adams to his 2nd wife, Hannah Chase in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. She was born December 11, 1834 in Lincoln, Addison, Vermont and was the daughter of Sisson Chase and Miriam Gove.
1856 Nov 21:
Birth of son, Davis Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1856 Nov 22:
Death of son, Davis Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1857 Mar 07:
Marriage of Arza Adams to 3rd wife,Catherine Cunningham in Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. She was born August 17, 1838 in Fife, Scotland and was the daughter of James Cunningham and Elizabeth Nicholson.
1857 Mar 07:
Marriage of Arza Adams to 4th wife, Marillah Olney in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. She was born June 18, 1833 in Ontario, Canada and was the daughter of Davis Mac Olney and Lucy Sally Downey.
1857 Aug 17:
Marriage of Arza Adams to 5th wife, Elizabeth Gaskill in the Endowment House, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory. She was born September 30, 1817 in Pennybridge, Lancashire, England and was the daughter of William Gaskill and Hannah (?). Elizabeth was a spiritual wife only.
1858 Oct 18:
Birth of son, Arza Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah McOlney.
1859 Apr 07:
Death of son, Arza Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was buried at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. MEMORIAL ID: 15965812. He was 5 months old. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah McOlney.
1859 Oct 19:
Birth of son, James Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1859 Dec 22:
Marriage of son, Joshua Adams to Mary Maud Bathgate Logan. She was born March 22, 1844 in Scotland and was the daughter of John Logan and Mary Bathgate. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1860:
Arza, 55, lived in Lake City, Utah, Utah Territory, with his three wives, Sabina Clark, 49; Marillah Olney, 27; Catherine Cunningham, 22; and children, Joseph Adams, 14; Orpha Adams , 11; James Adams, infant, and Hy Hardin, 23.
1860 Sep 24:
Death of son, James Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was buried at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in American Fork, Utah County, Utah Territory. MEMORIAL ID:15965794. He was 11 months old. He was the son of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1860 Nov 26:
Birth of daughter, Elizabeth Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1861 Jan 17:
Birth of son, John Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah McOlney.
1861 Jul 26:
Marriage of son, Joshua Adams to Mary Hoggard in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah territory. She was born November 22,1843 in Calverton, Gedling Borough, Nottinghamshire, England and was the daughter of James Hoggard and Emily Blacknell. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1861 Oct 24:
Death of 1st wife, Sabina Clark in American Fork, Utah County, Utah Territory. She was buried at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. MEMORIAL ID: 15965787. Her grave site was later moved to the American Fork City Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the 1st wife of Arza Adams. She was 49 years old.
1862 Apr 11:
Birth of son, Charles Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1862 Oct 06:
Death of son, Charles Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was buried at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. MEMORIAL ID: 15965802. He was 5 months old. He was the son of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1862 Dec 19:
Birth of son, Alvah Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah McOlney.
1863 Apr 23:
Death of father, Captain Joshua Adams in Perth, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. He was buried in Saint Paul's United Church Cemetery, Perth, Lanark, Ontario, Canada, in Plot: OGS 54. He was 83 years old. He passed away at the home of his son-in-law Henry Moorhouse, as the result of a fall on the linoleum of the hall floor. His last utterance to his surrounding children and friends were: "All is well...I am going home." He was born May 5, 1780 in Rutland, Rutland, Vermont and was the son of Richard Saxton Adams and Lucy Matson.
1863 Jun 22:
Birth of daughter, Beulah Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1865 Mar 23:
Birth of son, Alvin Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah McOlney.
1865 Jun 09:
Birth of daughter, Agnes Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1865 Aug 01:
Marriage of brother, Barnabas Adams to his 3rd wife, Elizabeth Nelson, 18, in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory and was the daughter of Isaac Nelson and Hannah Barrow.
1865 Dec 27:
Marriage of daughter, Orpha Adams to William Robinson. He was born July 29, 1840 in Lancashire, England and was the son of Edward Robinson and Mary Smith. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1866 Sep 22:
Death of daughter, Agnes Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was buried at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. MEMORIAL ID: 15965804. She was 1 year old. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1867 Jan 10:
Birth of son, Alexander Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1867 Aug 05:
Birth of daughter, Lucy Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and Marillah Olney.
1868 Nov 25:
Birth of daughter, Mary Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah Olney.
1869 Jan 21:
Birth of daughter, Margaret Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1869 Mar 08:
Marriage of son, Joseph Adams to Caroline Hansen. She was born January 14, 1849 in Copenhagen, Kobenhavns Kommune, Hovedstaden, Denmark and was the daughter of Christian Hansen and Inger Mortensen. He was the son of Arza Adams and 1st wife, Sabina Clark.
1869 Jun 02:
Death of brother, Barnabus Adams in Salt Lake, Utah. He was buried at the Salt Lake City Cemetery in Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah Territory in Plot: D_4_24, MEMORIAL ID: 19368934. He was 56 years old.
1869 Sep 01:
Marriage of brother, Joshua Adams Jr. to Harriett Elizabeth Amelia Carman in Sarnia, Lambton, Ontario, Canada. She was born June 6, 1831 in Nova Scotia, Canada and was the daughter of William Weymouth Carman Jr. and Anne Elizabeth Dean.
1870 Aug 25 before:
Birth of son, Moroni Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah Olney.
1870 Aug 25 before:
Death of son, Moroni Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was buried at the Pioneer Memorial Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. MEMORIAL ID: 15965818. He died in infancy. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah Olney.
1870 Aug 25:
Arza, 66, lived in Utah Territory with his 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham, 30; and children, Elizabeth Adams, 9; Beulah Adams, 7; and Margaret Adams, 2. Arza worked for a mill; their home was worth $10,000; their personal property was worth $1,500. There house number was 55.
1870 Aug 25:
Arza's son, Joseph Adams, 23, wife, Caroline, 20, and daughter, Sabina, 1, lived in house number 56; and his 4th wife, Marillah Olney, 32; and children, John Adams, 9; Alvah Adams; 7; Alvin Adams, 5; Alexander Adams, 3; Lucy Adams, 2; lived in house number 57.
1870 Sep 17:
Birth of daughter, Phoebe Adams "Rhebe" in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1872 Jul 25:
Birth of daughter, Mary Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1874 Jul 30:
Birth of daughter, Isabell Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1876 Oct 11:
Birth of son, Daniel Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was the son of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1877 Apr 01:
Death of 2nd wife, Edith Anderson in Utah Territory. She was buried at the American Fork Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory in Plot: E-233-5, MEMORIAL ID: 16144530. She was 74 years old.
1879 Jun 04:
Marriage of daughter, Elizabeth Adams to William Angus Robinson. He was born July 19, 1858 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah Territory and was the son of William Davis Robinson and Ellatheria Peria. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham.
1880:
Arza, 76, lived in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory with his 3rd wife, Catherine Cunningham, 42, and children, Elizabeth Adams Robinson, 19; Beulah Adams, 17; Alexander Adams, 13; Margaret Adams, 11; Phoebe Adams, 9; Mary Adams, 7; Isabell Adams, 5; Daniel Adams, 3; and son-in-law, William Robinson, 22; his 4th wife, Marillah Olney, 47; and children, John Adams, 19; Alvah Adams, 17;
Alvin Adams,15;
and Lucy Adams ,12. Arza was a retired Flour Miller; Alexander, John, Alvah, and Alvin worked on a farm; Margaret worked herding stock.
1882 Jan 17:
Marriage of brother, Franklin Adams, 58, to Agnes McLaren, 25, in Perth, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. She was the daughter of James Mclaren and and Agnes Mclaren. Franklin worked as a bookkeeper.
1884 May 19:
Marriage of son, John Adams to Mattie Marie Peterson. She was born May 4, 1864 in Vesterskov, Voer, Hjørring, Denmark and was the daughter of Lars Peter Pedersen and Sine Marie Olesdatter. He was the son of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah Olney.
1884 Jun 17:
Death of brother, Rev. Alvah Adams in Brooke, Lanark, Ontario, Canada. He was buried at the Brooke Methodist Cemetery in Brooke, Lanark, Canada. MEMORIAL ID: 164020794. He was 78 years old.
1886 Jun 08:
Marriage of daughter, Lucy Adams to Nicholes Martin Ambrose in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was born January 1, 1861 in Empire, Carson City, Ormsby, Nevada and was the son of Nicholas Martin Ambrose and Rebecca Oxendine. She was the daughter of Arza Adams and 4th wife, Marillah Olney.
1889 Apr 15:
Death of Arza Matson Adams in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory. He was 85 years old.
1889 Apr 16:
Burial of Arza Matson Adams at the American Fork Cemetery in American Fork, Utah, Utah Territory in Plot: E-233-2.
Carried news of martyrdom to Nauvoo.
Originally Methodist
1836 LDS baptism December 25 by Elder Jo [John] Page
A muggy evening added to Arza’s discomfort with the chills and fever. Malaria had driven him to bed for several days, even though he had much work to do on his farm located just north of the village of Carthage, Illinois. It was dusk when William and John Barnes, two non-Mormon acquaintances, knocked on the cabin door with devastating news: Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum had just been murdered in Carthage. One of two survivors, Willard Richards, wrote a short letter describing the disaster and asked the Barnes brothers to deliver the letter to Arza Adams, one of the few Mormons living near Carthage. Although seriously ill, a surge of adrenaline permitted Arza to drag himself out of bed, saddle his horse, ride to Benjamin Leyland’s cabin and ask him to join in a dash to Nauvoo. They were fearful of taking the main road to Nauvoo, so they took a round-about way, not arriving in Nauvoo until dawn. The note delivered by the pair on June 28, 1844 was the first verification to reach Nauvoo of the tragedy in Carthage.
Among the earliest LDS missionaries, John E. Page was perhaps the most successful. Often working alone, he made hundreds of converts in Ontario, Canada during 1836-37, three of whom were Arza Adams, his wife Sabina, and his brother Barnabas Adams. Page had earlier converted some of Arza’s relatives who lived further south in Bastard Township, near where Arza was born. The religious message that Page brought had an instant effect on the Adamses. Only two weeks after hearing him first preach, they celebrated Christmas by being baptized in a hole in the ice in a small river near Perth, Canada. In addition to the discomfort of being baptized on an extremely cold day, becoming a Mormon, and later migrating west, their conversion caused additional family problems. Arza and Barnabas gave up secure positions working in the mills of their prosperous father, Joshua Adams. They also caused stress in a family that had been strong Methodists.
After serving a local mission, Arza and his family joined thousands of Canadians, including many LDS converts, who moved to the western frontier of the United States in early 1838. The family included four children: Nathan, Joshua, George and Sabina Ann. The Adams’s route took them over the St. Lawrence River, through northern Ohio to Kirtland, then down through the mid-west to DeWitt, Missouri where they planned to settle. Unbeknownst to the Adamses they were walking into a buzz saw. Hearing that the Mormons planned to settle in large numbers in DeWitt, several hundred anti-Mormons invested the community about the time Arza and his family arrived there. The belligerent vigilantes blocked access to arriving immigrants and forced those Mormons who were there to leave at the point of a gun in late September 1838.
As Arza and his family left they must have been puzzled by what happened in DeWitt and worried about what they would face in Far West. Several vigilante leaders were prominent religious leaders. If the Adamses had still been Methodists these hostile leaders would have welcomed them with open arms into their congregations. The only difference between the vigilantes and those being driving out of town was that the latter were Mormons. As rough as the Adamses and other Mormons were treated in DeWitt, at least many of them weren’t murdered, as occurred a month later in the Haun’s Mill Massacre about 30 miles northeast of DeWitt. Being driven out of DeWitt was only the first of various up-rootings that Arza and his family would endure over the next several decades.
The refugees from DeWitt found little respite in Far West. They faced a severe housing shortage, food scarcity, sporadic vigilante attacks, threats from the state militia, and an early and severe winter. After finding shelter for his family, Arza was drawn into the military clashes that preceded the incarceration of Joseph Smith and other church leaders. Amid this chaos, Arza and 30 other men were ordained Seventies on January 5, 1839. Only three months later, as soon as the weather warmed, Arza and family again pulled up stakes and fled 150 miles east to Quincy, Illinois.
Quincy residents responded to the pitiful conditions of the LDS refugees by providing food and emergency shelter. Only a month after reaching Quincy, Sabina had her fifth child and they named him Sidney Moses. In all of this confusion Arza was fortunate to arrange a two-year lease on a farm located about four miles northeast of Quincy. With the help of his brother Barnabas, he soon planted crops there and moved his family into a refurbished cabin. Shortly thereafter, about the time his family felt somewhat settled, Arza received a mission call. After all of the turmoil his family endured over the previous year, one wonders how he mustered the willpower to leave a nearly-destitute family to seek converts in Canada. He was forced to borrow $25 from his brother to finance the journey.
He left Quincy on July 11, 1839 and travelled mostly by water in returning to his parents’ home near Perth, arriving there on August 2nd. After being gone for more than a year, Arza had much to share with his parents. It must have been painful and perhaps embarrassing for him to describe the persecution his family endured in Missouri and to describe their humble circumstances in Quincy. Whatever their feelings, Arza’s parents gave him support and a place to rest during the time he sought converts in the area. He was a successful missionary. In less than a year he and an occasional companion, Christopher Merkley, baptized about six dozen people, including a couple of families, the Motts and the Plunketts, who later settled near Arza in Utah.
Between missionary forays, Arza worked in his father’s mill, sold some property, and most likely, received some inheritance from his parents. This allowed him to buy new clothes and return to Quincy with a team and wagon loaded with some of his family’s goods. Young John Nicoll accompanied Arza on his wagon trip back to Illinois. They left on May 6, 1840, and by putting in long days they reached Quincy on June 5th. Sabina left no record of her feelings about Arza’s return, but she must have been tremendously relieved. Her joy was short lived, however, since, within a few days, Arza again left to help his brother float a raft of timber down river to St. Louis. The two brothers returned to Quincy by steamship, but during the trip Arza came down with the ague (malaria), an illness that bedeviled him off-and-on for the next several years.
Between bouts of malaria, Arza felt his life was returning to a semblance of normalcy after two years of turmoil. But, in early August disaster struck when his two youngest sons, George and Sidney, died from cholera. Given the unsanitary conditions in which they lived, it’s a wonder that more members of the family didn’t perish from this terrible malady that periodically swept up the Mississippi River.
Arza was resourceful and hard working. Anticipating the end of his farm lease, he scouted around Nauvoo for property. With money he brought from Canada, he purchased a couple of urban lots in Nauvoo and several parcels of land east and south of Nauvoo, along with property across the river in Iowa. Being a skilled lumberman and carpenter, Arza soon erected a cabin in Nauvoo and moved his family there in early August. With his brother, he harvested and sold timber, and was also employed in constructing the Law and Foster store in Nauvoo.
Over the next couple of years Arza joined the Masons, built another home in Nauvoo, and joined his brother in harvesting timber on an island in the Mississippi River. He also worked on the new temple, between farming, lumbering, and buying and selling land. His increasingly normal life was again interrupted when he was called on a mission to Michigan/Canada. In the dead of winter, on January 25, 1843, he began his third mission by leaving on foot for Port Huron, Michigan. Along the way he stayed with church members where he could, paid to stay in several inns, and traded copies of the Book of Mormon for other lodging. Arza kept a journal on this and earlier missionary assignments, but he seldom recorded emotions. An exception was mentioning how tired and depressed he was when he finally arrived at his destination in Michigan.
His mood quickly improved, however. During the four months that he did missionary work alone in St Clair County he kept up a frantic pace, preaching about 100 times. Arza didn’t mention meeting any LDS church members so he apparently made all his contacts from scratch. People liked him. He stayed with many families, only some of whom were later baptized. In all, he converted 16 or 17 people and organized a small branch near Newport (Marine City), Michigan.
In addition to his religious calling, Arza had other motives for going to St. Clair County. In 1836 his father was granted several large parcels of Crown Land, including 200 acres just across the St Clair River from what is now Marine City, Michigan. Most likely, Arza was given this parcel as part of his inheritance. After selling the property, Arza bought a horse from one of his converts and rode back to Nauvoo. Taking two weeks to complete the trip, the weary traveler rode into Nauvoo on June 27th. He reported finding his family, “nearly naked and almost out of provisions.” Their lot was quickly improved, nonetheless, with the money realized from the sale of the land in Canada.
Shortly after returning from his mission, Arza joined the Nauvoo police force. They were formed, in part, to protect church leaders, especially Joseph Smith. They were also charged with, “ferreting out all grog shops, gambling houses, brothels, and disorderly conduct.” The city council and mayor authorized them to cuff the ears of anyone who resisted arrest, shoot to kill anyone who pointed a gun at them, to guard against horse theft, to enforce city ordinances, and to preserve the peace. Much of their service was rendered at night and they were paid a dollar a day. Arza had this job for only a few months before renting a farm a mile-or-so north of Carthage and moving his family there. The few months that he spent on the rented farm were not a happy time for the family. In addition to dealing with the nearby deaths of the two Smith brothers, Arza was sick off-and-on much of the time with malaria and his harvests that fall were skimpy. Although he doesn’t mention it in his journal, the increasing threats from vigilantes may have also prompted their move back to Nauvoo in November 1844.
Bouts with malaria continued to dog Arza in Nauvoo, and this led to him asking for a blessing from church Patriarch John Smith on May 16, 1845. Elder Smith rebuked the fever that preyed on Arza and promised him he would recover if he worked on the temple. Soon after, Arza left his sickbed, took up his carpenter tools, and commenced working on the temple. He recorded in his journal that it was hard at first, but that over time he gained strength and continued to labor on the public works until fall. Not being a reflective person, he never, later, recorded how he felt about leaving a sick bed to complete an edifice that was abandoned just a few months later.
Increasing conflict led church leaders to abandon Nauvoo and move their flock west. A flurry of temple ordnances and frantic efforts to sell assets followed. Arza and Sabina received their endowments on December 31, 1845, but Arza realized little for his attempts to sell land. He laments in his journal that he “sold” 40 acres, located about six miles southwest of Nauvoo, for “love and good will.” During the increasing turmoil he may have moved his family across the river to Montrose, close to where his brother Barnabas lived. There, Arza and Barney worked in a shop making wagons and wagon wheels for the exodus.
The Mormon flight from the Nauvoo area began in early February 1846 but wasn’t completed until the middle of September. Arza recorded that his family left for the west during the summer with two wagons, one driven by Arza and the other by his oldest son Nathan. The second oldest son, Joshua, was in charge of the lose cattle. Arza and Sabina must have reflected on their 5 year sojourn in and around Nauvoo. Sabina had nurse Arza back to good health, and added two more children to the family, Elizabeth and Theothen. Arza had completed a successful mission, reached a mid-level position in the church, and they had both participated in spiritual experiences in temple ceremonies. At the same time, they lost most of their property and experienced being driven from their home at gun point for the third time.
At the time that Arza’s family arrived in western Iowa, Latter-day Saints were concentrating in two locations, one on each side of the Missouri River near Council Bluffs. His family settled on the east side of the river, on Pigeon Creek about six miles north of Miller’s Hollow. Shortly thereafter, Arza’s brother arrived with his new wife and settled in a nearby community called Farmersville. The two brothers helped each other build cabins and provided their families with shelter from winter storms. The birth of another son, named Joseph Smith Adams, on December 14, 1846 meant that Sabina dealt with eight people crowded into a small cabin.
During the winter of 1846-47 Arza and Henry W. Miller were hired to tend a large herd comprised mostly of church-owned cattle some 50-60 miles north of Council Bluffs. That spring Barnabas joined Brigham Young and others in the scouting party that made its way to Utah in 1847. Arza and Sabina looked after Barnabas’s wife, Julia Ann Banker, until Barnabas returned in the fall.
Initially, Arza planned to move his family to Utah in the spring of 1848, but at the last minute concluded he was too short of resources to make the journey. To accumulate money, he worked for the U.S. Army, first helping to build what would later be called Ft. Kearny, and in the fall and winter working in and out of Ft. Leavenworth. Arza and his family joined the flood of people who flocked west in 1849, most of them seeking California gold. By mid-June nearly 7,500 wagon-loads of gold seekers past what would later become Ft. Kearny in central Nebraska. The Adamses were in the first of five wagon trains that left Winter Quarter in 1849. They entered Salt Lake Valley in late September. In a few days they located on the lower reaches of Mill Creek where they stayed for almost a year.
Arza’s first job in the valley was working for a Mr. Giles in a mill on Mill Creek. During the hard winter of 1849-50 some of his livestock died. He later obtained use of a small farm along the creek, but harvested a skimpy crop, perhaps because he had little experience with irrigation. Because much of the good land in Salt Lake Valley was already claimed, Arza looked elsewhere for a place to settle. In the early summer of 1850 Arza and a cousin, Stephen Chipman, along with two of their sons, were freighting goods to Ft. Provo in Utah Valley. They camped on American Fork Creek and liked what they saw there. Soon after, Arza helped with a survey of Utah Valley conducted by Captain Stansbury. This included doing a baseline from Salt Lake City to the southern end of Utah Valley, and later doing a more detailed survey of the area around American Fork Creek.
The custom at the time was for Brigham Young to authorize the settlement of new communities. Arza and Stephen Chipman sought and received permission to settle the area along American Fork Creek. The place was originally called McArthursville, later Lake City, and still later American Fork. In the fall of 1850 Arza built a cabin on the creek and soon moved his family there, thus becoming the first settler in the community. Initially, the settlement was organized as a joint stock company, including about two thousand acres. By the spring of 1851 enough people had settled in Lake City to justify organizing a church branch there. Leonard Harrington was named bishop with Arza and James Guyman as his counselors.
Soon after settling in Lake City, Arza build a small grist mill on American Fork Creek, the first such mill in northern Utah Valley. Indian threats in 1853 led to the settlers concentrating most of their homes within the fort, forcing Arza to move his mill to the north edge of the fort wall. He demonstrated his independence by building his home and mill outside the fort walls. A few years later he built a third mill about a mile further north on the creek.
In late 1853 Arza entered the practice of polygamy when he married Editha Morgan Anderson. She was a 50-year-old school teacher and had not been married previously. Editha was only Arza’s spiritual wife. She lived separately and was always known by her maiden name thereafter.
The system of joint ownership of land in the community was mostly disbanded only a year or so after it was established. The breakup put the Bishop, Leonard Harrington, in the middle of parceling out farm land, city lots, timber lots, and water rights. In Mormon settlements the bishop was the judge and jury in both civil and ecclesiastical affairs. This arrangement was problematic because disagreements about civil judgments spilled over into tests of religious faithfulness. Regardless of what decisions the bishop made, some of them were bound to hurt someone’s feelings. Early settlers, such as Arza, probably felt they deserved priority in the allocation of resources, while the bishop must have tried to treat everyone equally, first-comers and later-comers alike. The bishop’s decisions about resource ownership and use upset Arza and several other members of the community. Hard feelings were compounded when Brigham Young intervened and approved diverting part of the water from American Fork Creek to the residents in nearby Lehi.
When the dispute began is unclear, but it came to a head when Arza resigned as Harrington’s counselor in late 1853. The problem festered until the next spring when Arza was called before a Bishop’s Court to defend his church membership. Since Bishop Harrington was a party in the dispute, a travelling Bishop, Alfred Cordon, conducted the court. His judgment was that, “Brother Adams had a lack of respect for God and had said things against the priesthood.” He was cut off from the branch in Lake City until he made restitution. In the church meeting the following Sunday Arza confessed speaking against those placed over him and wished to be forgiven, which he was.
Despite his contrition, Arza continued to have problems with Bishop Harrington, faced another Bishop’s Court in early 1855, and lost his church membership for about five weeks. A high level council including Joseph Young, Orin Porter Rockwell, Joseph Gates, and Daniel Wells met with Arza and smoothed the troubled waters in the community. Arza and his two oldest sons, Nathan and Joshua, were re-baptized shortly thereafter. In the next few months the stress between Arza and the bishop lessened and they cooperated in building a meeting house. Harrington was the superintendent while Arza was the woodwork foreman. Nonetheless, the disputes about allocation of communal land in Lake City were not completely resolved until two years later.
In early 1856 Arza and several dozen other men were called on a mission to reinforce settlement of Fort Supply in Southeast Wyoming. His experience with grist and lumber mills were likely reasons for him being included in the call. Over the next year Arza made several trips to Ft. Supply, including taking some of his livestock there and building a cabin. On his last trip he was accompanied by his oldest son Nathan and his wife. The plans were for Nathan to set up a grist mill and settle his family there in Ft. Supply. Arza even gave some thought to moving his whole family to Ft. Supply. The news that Johnson’s Army was on its way to suppress the so called rebellion in Utah put the chi bash on these plans. In short order the settlers in Ft. Supply burned their buildings and returned to Utah.
During 1857 Arza married three other women: Marilla Olney and Catherine Cunningham on March 7th, and Elizabeth Gaskell on August 11th. Arza had children with Marilla and Catherine, but the marriage to Elizabeth was only a spiritual arrangement.
With the turmoil of the Reformation during 1856, and the confrontation with Johnson’s Army in 1857 behind them, Arza’ life settled into the routine experienced by many others who lived in fledgling communities in Utah. In addition to operating his grist mill, he also farmed, had some livestock, and even experimented with Angora goats. After his first wife, Sabina, died in 1861 Arza built separate homes for Marilla and Catherine. Over a period of 44 years Arza had a total of 27 children, the last being born when he was 72. Seventeen of his children grew to adulthood and he had 139 grandchildren, most of them growing to adulthood. Several of his sons and sons-in-law would become prominent sheep men in central Utah.
Although still hale and hearty, Arza semi-retired about 1873 when he sold parts of his farm land along with his grist mill. Earlier, Arza had served as city alderman and he continued to serve as a director of the cooperative store. He spent an increasing amount of time visiting with his old friends, some of whom were his Canadian converts. He youngest son Daniel remembered accompanying his father on some of these visits and hearing them talk about battles in Missouri and the adventures of moving west. Perhaps because of his advanced age, Arza was not hounded during the early 1880s because of his plural marriages. Surrounded by family he passed away in American Fork on April 15, 1889.
Several features of Arza’s personality and character stand out. He was remembered for being independent, not always going along with the crowd, and reacting negatively to being pushed or crowded. His family remembered him as a good provider. Even though he had a large family, and encountered a number of challenges during his life, he always landed on his feet and provided ample food and shelter for his family.
From an historical standpoint, Arza’s latter life illustrates the problems associated with joining temporal and spiritual issues. His religious fervor waned substantially after his run-in with Bishop Harrington over the distribution of property rights in Lake City. Several of Arza supporters in the fracas left the church because of their disagreements with the bishop over temporal matters. Harrington and Arza later tolerated each other, but were never close after this affair. The problem was extended while Harrington served as bishop for 27 years. Perhaps this is an additional reason for having bishops serve for only a few years. [32] © The National Society of the Sons of Utah Pioneers. http://www.pioneerstories.org/story/arza-madsen-adams [33]
In 1827, 21-year-old Joseph Smith announced that he had unearthed a set of golden plates, inscribed with the tenants of God’s true church. Smith said that he had been directed to the plates by an angel named Moroni, who also had given him divine tools for translating the ancient inscriptions into English. Smith used these to produce new Scripture called the Book of Mormon. In 1830, in western New York, he organized a legal entity that would later become The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His followers became known as Mormons.
Important differences between mainstream Christianity and Mormon doctrine quickly emerged, but it was primarily hostilities over land, business, and politics that caused Smith repeatedly to move church headquarters. Driven out of Missouri in 1838, the Mormons finally settled along a bend of the Mississippi River in Illinois. There they established a community they called Nauvoo, a Hebrew word meaning “beautiful place.” It was at Nauvoo that Smith cautiously began introducing the Old Testament practice of “plural marriage,” or polygamy, among select church leaders.
Thousands of converts flocked to Nauvoo, soon making it the largest town in Illinois. Neighbors initially welcomed the orderly, industrious settlers despite their religious differences. But relations gradually soured, with complaints centering on Mormons’ clannish business practices, accusations of theft, their electoral sway, and Smith’s political aspirations. Meanwhile, dissent emerged within the church as rumors leaked of secret plural marriages. After an opposition newspaper publicly accused the prophet and other leaders of polygamy, Nauvoo’s city council and Smith declared the paper a public nuisance and Smith ordered destruction of its press. For that he and others were arrested and jailed at Carthage, Illinois. On June 27, 1844, a mob broke into the jail and murdered Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. Other vigilantes attacked Mormon farms around Nauvoo in an attempt to expel them.
Brigham Young stepped up as Smith’s successor and began planning an orderly, spring 1846 evacuation of some 15,000 faithful to the Great Basin, Mexican-held territory beyond the Rocky Mountains. However, as anti-Mormon violence heated, Young decided to organize a vanguard of church leaders to depart in late winter, hoping that would pacify the vigilantes until the main body of Mormons could start west in April. On February 4, 1846, the first wagons ferried across the Mississippi to Iowa. This group halted after five miles and set up camp at Sugar Creek for a lengthy wait as Young and his associates concluded business at Nauvoo. Meanwhile others, anxious not to be left behind, drifted over to join the Sugar Creek camp. Young’s vanguard company unexpectedly swelled from his intended 1,800 emigrants to around 3,000—many without their own wagons and provisions.
On March 1, 1846, some 500 Mormon wagons lurched northwesterly across the winter-bare Iowa prairie toward the Missouri River. Their route is the Mormon Trail. [34]
Brigham Young initially intended for his Mormon vanguard out of Nauvoo to overwinter in the Rocky Mountains and then continue to the Great Basin in spring 1847. However, the difficulty of the journey, fatigue, and starvation changed his plans. The 1846 trek would be from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Missouri River at today’s Omaha, Nebraska; and the 1847 journey would continue from there to the Great Salt Lake Valley at present-day Salt Lake City, Utah.
The first 260 miles tested the vanguard Mormons most severely. Leadership was disorganized and groups strung out along the trail. Men forayed into settlements along the route to barter or labor for food and hay. Freezing nights, steady rain, axle-deep mud, and flooding streams slowed the company’s progress and caused tremendous suffering among the emigrants. The first death along the trail occurred on March 18 at Richardson’s Point, Iowa, where a man succumbed to illness and exposure.
At the end of March, Young reorganized the camp into three companies of 100 families each. These were subdivided into “Fifties” and then tens, with captains for each unit. The new discipline helped, but weeks of slogging had exhausted the emigrants and depleted their provisions. On April 24, the wagons stopped on the prairie about halfway across Iowa, 144 miles west of Nauvoo. Here the Mormons established a farm settlement called Garden Grove, where the weakest travelers would stay and plant crops to feed the second wave of emigrants, already on their way. They established another farm settlement, Mount Pisgah, 30 miles up the trail near today’s town of Murray, Iowa. Meanwhile, Young sent wagons back to Nauvoo to carry out the remaining emigrants, those too poor or ill to start west on their own.
On May 14, advance riders spotted 18 wagons up ahead: they were part of the spring exodus that had rolled out of Nauvoo once the grass was high enough to feed the oxen. Because they were well supplied and road conditions had improved, these companies took just three weeks to catch up with Young’s weather-beaten, starving vanguard pioneers—who at this point had been trudging across Iowa for two and a half months.
On June 14, 1846, the wagons reached the Missouri River at Council Bluffs, Iowa. The trip from Sugar Creek had taken 105 days, covering approximately 260 miles at an average of two and a half miles per day. They could go no farther. Some of the company stayed on the Iowa side of the river, forming a settlement they named Kanesville and scattering to isolated family camps in places having wood for their cooking fires and grass for their cattle. Others crossed the Missouri and dug in at the main settlement, Winter Quarters, in present-day Omaha. Oncoming emigrants from Nauvoo joined them throughout the summer.
More than 700 Mormon people died on the prairie from exposure, malnutrition, scurvy, tuberculosis, pneumonia, malaria, and other diseases during the winter and spring of 1846-47. [35]
Over the winter, Brigham Young collected travel reports and cross-examined men who had been west along the trail. Thanks to this added information and the previous summer’s experience, the second leg of the journey would be flawlessly executed. Moreover, the 1847 vanguard company would be limited to a handpicked party of 144 men, three wives, and two small boys. They would start in early spring, soon followed by the main body of emigrants.
On April 5, the first Mormon wagon train rolled out of Winter Quarters. The well-traveled Oregon Trail crossed Nebraska along the south side of the Platte and North Platte Rivers, but Young kept his company on an old fur-trade trace along the north bank, hoping to avoid clashes with anti-Mormons who might be bound for Oregon or California. As they traveled, the Mormon pioneers made improvements for those to follow. This would be the primary route for Mormon emigrants over the next two decades, and within a few years it also would become the preferred route of non-Mormons heading west.
The north-bank trail ended in eastern Wyoming, forcing the Mormon company to cross the North Platte River at Fort John (soon to become Fort Laramie) and merge with the general emigration on the Oregon Trail. From the east approached a fast-moving wagon train from Missouri, the state that had violently expelled the Latter-day Saints in 1838. The race was on! Mormons and Missourians leap-frogged, sometimes helping each other and sometimes competing, as they continued west.
Now began the long climb to the Continental Divide in the Rocky Mountains. On June 21 the Mormons paused to clamber up Independence Rock, one of the most famous landmarks on the trail, and offer prayers. Six days later, the third anniversary of the assassinations of Joseph and Hyrum Smith, the company crossed South Pass and continued toward Fort Bridger, a trading post in southeastern Wyoming.
There on July 9 the Mormons branched off the Oregon Trail onto the Hastings Cutoff, angling southwesterly toward today’s Utah. The previous year, the California-bound Donner-Reed Party had gone this way and grubbed a new wagon track through the Wasatch Mountains to reach the Salt Lake Valley. (Their labors cost them 18 days, causing them later to become trapped by snow in the Sierra Nevada.) The Mormons followed and improved their track over the most rugged 116 miles of the entire westward journey. Along this stretch of trail, Brigham Young became very ill and fell behind the main company, which entered the Salt Lake Valley two days ahead of him.
On July 24, 1847, Young’s carriage rolled into the Mormon camp located in today’s downtown Salt Lake City. His people were already at work digging irrigation ditches and planting crops for the oncoming emigration. From 1847 to 1868, when the transcontinental railroad reached Utah, nearly 70,000 Mormons would follow the trail to the Great Salt Lake Valley. [36]
A Man of Many Sterling Qualities Passes Away.
After Living on this earth over 85 years, the last 52 of which have been spent in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Brother Arza Adams, on the 15th of April, 1889, in full faith, went the way of all the world. Brother Adams was widely known in consequence of his noble and heroic deeds in defense of his religion in times of persecution. He has ever been found between his hearth and enemies. He carried a letter from John Taylor at Carthage to Nauvoo, containing information concerning the martyrdom of Joseph and Hyrum Smith. During the persecution in Missouri he was many times fired upon by mobs. Many of his years have been spent in the service of the Church, and by all who knew him he is pronounced one of the most useful members, and a true pioneer of Utah.
Together with his brother Barney, and five others, he carried the first surveyor's chain over the land along American Fork creek. Of the party of seven, Washburn Chipman is the only one now living. Father Adams built the first grist mill known to have been run by the waters of American Fork. For the last year or so his health had been very poor, but it was common to see him at the age of 83 assuming the physical responsibilities of a man in the prime of life.
Arza Adams was born January 22, 1904, and baptized into the Church by J. E. Page, on December 25, 1836.
He leaves a large family and many grandchildren. Just previous to his death he said that he was ready to die, and would go perfectly satisfied with his religious belief. "Mormonism" had in no way disappointed him. The funeral services were held in the meeting-house on Tuesday, the 16th. [37] Reference URL: https://newspapers.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1399801
Arza Adams was buried at Old Pioneer Cemetery and later moved to American Fork City Cemetery.
Arza Matson Adams
Birth: 22 Jan 1804 Ontario, Canada
Death:15 Apr 1889 (aged 85) American Fork, Utah County, Utah, USA
Burial: American Fork Cemetery American Fork, Utah County, Utah, USA Show Map
Plot E-233-2
Find A Grave: Memorial #16143652 Arza Matson Adams
Guides and Trail History Traveling the Trail Today
There are many good visitors' guides to the Mormon Pioneer National Historic Trail. Some encompass all of Mormon history, some follow just the pioneer trail from Nauvoo to Salt Lake City, and yet others focus on individual segments of the trail to Utah. Here are a few to try:
Berrett, LaMar C., gen. ed. Sacred Places: A Comprehensive Guide to Early LDS Historical Sites. 6 vol. (state by state) Salt Lake City: Deseret Book, 2004.
Black, Susan Easton, and William G. Hartley, eds. The Iowa Mormon Trail: Legacy of Faith and Courage. Orem, Utah: Helix Publishing, 1997.
Eldredge, John. Illustrated Emigrants' Guide to the Historic Sites Along the Hastings/Mormon Trail, Fort Bridger to the Salt Lake Valley. Salt Lake City: Trailbuff.com Press, 2005.
Franzwa, Gregory M. The Mormon Trail Revisited. Tooele, Utah: The Patrice Press, 2007.
Kimball, Stanley. The Mormon Pioneer Trail: The MTA 1997 Official Guide. Salt Lake City: Mormon Trails Association, 1997.
Knight, Hal, and Stanley B. Kimball. 111 Days to Zion. Salt Lake City: Big Moon Traders, 1997. Mormon Pioneer Trail History
Arrington, Leonard J. The Mormon Experience: A History of the Latter-day Saints. Alfred A. Knopf, 1st paperback ed., 1992.
Bennett, Richard E. Mormons at the Missouri: Winter Quarters, 1846-1852: “And Should we Die--.” Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1987.
---. We’ll Find the Place: The Mormon Exodus, 1846-1848. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2008.
Clayton, William. Willicam Clayton’s Journal: A Daily Record of the Journey of the Original Company of ‘Mormon’ Pioneers from Illinois, to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. 1921. Reprint, Dallas, Texas: G.K. Taylor Publishing, 1973.
Slaughter, William W. Trail of Hope: The Story of the Mormon Trail. Salt Lake City, Utah: Shadow Mountain Publishing, 1997.
Stegner, Wallace. The Gathering of Zion: The Story of the Mormon Trail. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1992.
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