Margery (Wilkerson) Stewart (1832 - 1870)

Born 16 Nov 1832 in Jackson County, Indiana, USA

Ancestors

Wife of Levi Stewart — married 13 Dec 1852 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA

Descendants

Died 14 Dec 1870 at age 38 in Kanab, Kane, Utah, USA

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Margery (Wilkerson) Stewart was a Latter Day Saint pioneer.

Biography

• Margery's sister, Artemacy, was also married to polygamist Levi Stewart
• Died, along with several children, in a domestic household fire

Daughter of Thomas Wilkerson and Eliza Followell

Married Levi Stewart, 13 Dec 1852, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, who was also married to her sister, Artemacy Wilkerson.

Children - William Thomas Stewart, Eliza Luella Stewart, Charles Courtland Stewart, Margery Ann Stewart, Heber Carlos Stewart, Edward Lorenzo Stewart, Lucinda Araminta Stewart, Hyrum Smith Stewart

A Kanab fire which took the lives of her sister's (Artemacy) son, Urban Van, and Margery's three sons and herself. Upon the death of Margery, Artemacy lovingly cared for Margery's children.

In December of that same first year, 1870, came the tragedy that was to leave its scar on the lives of this family and almost disrupt the entire settlement of Kanab, Utah. The Navajo and Northern Indians had been making raids on the settlements. The young men took turns guarding the cattle at night from a small dugout in the side of a hill. The other men took turns guarding the fort. Once Jacob Hamblin persuaded the Navajos to come to Kanab and hold a peace conference as there was always tension.

On the night of December 14, the guard who was to relieve Brother Pugh as guard at one o'clock did no awaken but seemed to be overpowered with sleep. He was roused once, then twice, and even started to dress. Brother Pugh went home and to bed, thinking all was well, but in some way the guard fell back over on the bed asleep, leaving the fort unguarded. At four o'clock, fire was discovered in the Stewart section of the fort.

Little Lucinda remembers how her father rushed to see what he could do. Margery quickly threw a spread around herself and rushed over to the burning portion. Their own room was safe as it was separated from the burning part by many feet. There was a space left for another room which had not yet been built and which was protected only by a row of wagons drawn together. These wagons were used as sleeping quarters for some of the older children.

The kitchen roof was already ablaze so there was no hope of saving that part of the house. But in the bedroom next to it, the one on the corner, slept the boys, Margery's three, Artimacy's two, a hired man, and Levi, the youngest son of the first wife, Melinda. This room had no windows as did none of the outside rooms of the fort in order to make them impregnable to the Indians. The only exit was through the flaming kitchen.

Levi and the other men, knowing that this bedroom held stores of kerosene and powder, seized axes and started battering out the logs of the wall. They got two logs out and crawled through into the suffocating smoke-filled room. They found the beds empty and no one in the room. It was impossible to get into the blazing inferno of the kitchen. They knew that the smoking powder and kerosene might explode any minute, so they crawled back out.

Levi ordered the others out and carried two kegs of powder already smoking and dumped them into the creek. Then the kerosene exploded and went up in flames.

Little did Levi realize what was happening on the other side of the kitchen. When Margery rushed out of their bedroom, she immediately took in the situation and knew that the only hope for the boys was through the kitchen. Her mother's love was greater than her fears or her reasoning power, and unseen by any except her daughter Ella, who happened to be there from Pipe Springs, she rushed into the flames. Ella tried to follow her mother but was held back by the men.

Once in the kitchen, Margery met Artimacy's boy Alonzo Lafayette and the hired man, Harvey Stout, who, blinded by the smoke, were groping around trying to find an exit. She pushed them through the door and turned to find the others.

No one knows what really happened then. The explosion prevented anyone else from entering. They found the six charred bodies; the mother and three boys were found huddled in the immense fireplace as if she had been trying to lift them up the chimney. One was under the big stove, less burned than the others. They dug out the bodies and sadly buried them in one grave.

Alonzo told afterward of how his brother, Levi had tried, when they found themselves trapped, to lift the sod roof of the bedroom, but it had been too firmly packed with grass and willows.

The funeral was heartrending. Some of the neighbors tried to sing but itwas no use. One after another, several brethren tried to speak but no words would come. It was the heartbroken father and husband who alone could control his emotions enough to offer his tribute to the beloved wife who had given her life to save her sons.

It is hard to imagine the heartbreak and gloom that enveloped the little settlement. Levi was crushed by the terrible tragedy, but still his valiant spirit held steadfast. When the other men said they wanted to give up the settlement, that they could not bear to live there any longer, Levi begged them to stay and complete the mission President Young had sent them to perform. At last when they still wavered, he said, "Well, if you must go, God be with you, but as for me, I will stay if I have to stay alone." The other men remained.

Levi never dared give way to his grief before others because he felt that as their leader he must keep up the morale of the disheartened people. Jacob Hamblin told of finding him one day way up the canyon pouring out his grief and praying for strength. His health gradually broke and five years later he was released from the Bishopric.

As soon as President Young heard the news of the fire, he set out in his buggy for Kanab to offer what comfort and spiritual strength he could. He had greatly admired Margery and was always free in expressing his confidence in Levi and his admiration and friendship from him. He said, "Brother Levi, Sister Margery went to heaven in a flame of glory." And indeed her memory has always been enshrined as a heroine in the hearts of her children and descendants.

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Robert Wimmer Company (1852) Family Members Parents

Photo Thomas Wilkerson

1797–1882 Photo Eliza Followell Wilkerson

1807–1883

Spouse

Photo Levi Stewart

1812–1878

Siblings

Photo William Wilkerson

1828–1906 Photo Artemacy Wilkerson Stewart

1834–1914 Sarah Elizabeth Wilkerson Tanner

1845–1895 Wallace Tallard Wilkerson

1845–1879

Children

Photo William Thomas Stewart

1853–1935 Photo Eliza Luella Stewart Udall

1855–1937 Photo Charles Courtland Stewart

1857–1870 Photo Margery Ann Stewart Riggs

1858–1936 Photo Heber Carlos Stewart

1861–1870 Photo Edward Lorenzo Stewart

1863–1870 Photo Lucinda Araminta Stewart Brown

1865–1941

Sources

• findagrave.com