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Mable was born 12 July 1909 and was the 6th of 9 children of John Lambert and Adeline Miller. Fred Dall was the oldest (27 Aug 1897), Mary (12 Nov 1899), Emily who died in infancy (12 Oct 1902), George (15 Feb 1905), Clarissa (19 Feb 1907), (Mable), John (28 Feb 1912), Maude (2 Dec 1913), and then Helen (11 Dec 1913). She was able to entertain herself, her aunt said even as a baby she would sit in a quilt and play by herself while the women quilted under the trees or in the house. Her grandfather Simon Miller passed away in 1911 when she was only two.
When she was 3 ½ the family moved to Miami, Arizona a copper mining town where her father worked. There were a few Mormon families there so they had a Sunday School. If they had church she doesn’t remember. Meetings were held in a rented Hall but later a church was built in lower Miami. She lived across the street from the grade school so each evening the children would play on the school grounds if the weather was good. They played baseball mostly, boys and girls together, it took all to make enough to play.
Every summer her mother would gather the kids and off they went to visit relatives in the valley (Pima). Sometimes they took the train from Miami to Bowie and then on to Pima. They would pack a picnic basket and all their clothes packed in a trunk. They would play jacks, old maid and other card games. All the neighborhood kids loved to come over to the house. Her dolls were her favorite toys. She had two beautiful dolls that she took good care of and kept in a special drawer. One night she remembered being woke up and there was her mother and aunts making doll clothes. She was about 12 when she received her last doll, a porcelain German doll. In High School the young people would come over to her house to learn to dance, she had a phonograph for music. Her dad was always away on prospecting trips.
Her mother was a good cook and liked all food except for fish. Everyone always had a special birthday cake but says she never did like the white fluffy egg white frosting. She remembers her mother always giving her anything they wanted. Sometimes she would buy a large Hershey bar and break off the squares, most candy was about 5 cents a bag. Her mother used to sing the song ‘Put your shoulder to the wheel’ as she worked around the house.
Growing up most people would walk from place to place, some had a horse and buggy but others used a wagon when more than one or two went anywhere. My father walked all the time. The families first auto was a Studebaker. Her sister Clarissa bought a Chevrolet and her younger brother John and sister Maude stole it to visit relatives, they could barely see over the steering wheel, but they wrecked it and went home.
Fred Wilson and Mable Lambert were married 27 June 1925 in Miami, Arizona, she was only 16. They lived with his parents for a year while both continued to go to school.Fred graduated a year later and Mable only finished her sophomore year. Fred’s folks sold the transfer business and their home and they left Miami to get a business in a more secure location than a mining camp. The family looked around in California for a month but were soon back in Miami. San Diego was very different then, a lot of open space and the buildings were only 5 stories high. Balboa didn’t have a zoo then, instead it was a large camping site with tents and small cabins, each had a place to cook and every day the fruit and vegetable truck came by with fresh produce. Long Beach was a big amusement park with rides. They ate a lot of Chinese food and drank a special tea (Tao Tea) it was Amelia’s favorite. The roads were not very good on the return and out of Yuma there were sand dunes and over the dunes was laid a plank highway with turnouts every so often. When you met someone, one would have to back up to a turnout, if one got off the plank road you were enviably stuck. The tires were terrible about 3 inches across and bullheads could cause a flat, always fixing flats. They camped along the road in route. Fred went to work for the Miami Commercial Company.
Amelia, Fred’s mother, wanted something to do to pass the long lonely hours away while her husband was away hauling goods to Chrisitile, an asbestos mining camp. The trip was 24 miles of dirt roads and would take all day to go to the mine and back if he got started early enough and the road wasn’t to bad. Amelia bought the Tiffany’s service station at Hill Top. She found it was to much for her so asked if Fred and Mable to come help in the Fall of 1926. After packing the few things they had they went to help Mother Wilson. The winter was early and bad and Mable was expecting so in December they went to Miami to stay with her folks. Billee Louise was born Sunday 13 March 1927. They had her blessed the first Sunday in April. When Billee was a month old the family returned to the mountain where it was still quite cold. The folks had bought a cow and Fred and Mable had learned to milk her with some trials. Mable said one day Fred tied a rope to the cow and then wrapped it around his own waist but must have pinched the cow because she took off and dragged him all over the corral. The owners of the other service station (Hills) decided there wasn’t enough room for two stations so they sold us theirs. For a time they had a store and service station at one and a restaurant and service station at the other. Fred Robert Jr was born in Miami 2 February 1929 and returned home as soon as the weather permitted. It was still cold and the baby had colic for several months. Mother Wilson was sick most of the time and was in the hospital in Globe.
Fred Wilson-Mable Lambert Wilson-Fred Wilson Jr-Billee Louise
Grandfather Wilson was a partner now in the White Mountain Stage Line and was one of the drivers. The depression was well on its way for most people in the U.S.A. but the family was getting along very well by working 18-20 hours a day. There was an engineering party surveying the Salt River Canyon planning a diversion dam for power for the mining companies who bought supplies and stayed making trips in and out of the river. This project kept the family on its feet. The cattle ranches in the area would get supplies also so they got along quite well.
The 1st of June 1930 was a sad day for everyone, Mother Wilson (just 48 years old) died. A family lot in Tempe, Arizona was bought in the Tempe Butte Cemetery and a large stone made for the center of the plot with just WILSON engraved on it and a small marker for the grave.
When Fred Jr was two when the first contract for the new highway 60 was issued a the family got a permit from the San Carlos Indian Reservation to locate their place on the new highway. They built a store and service station. After a month they received a contract to run a boarding house and Company Store. Fred an Mable lived at Hill Top for 5 ½ years, then moved to Seneca Creek where the new highway 60 went through between Globe and Show Low and lived there many years. They enjoyed the camp and people and had a good place to live and plenty of everything. The children had Shetland ponies and all the trappings. They would saddle up and go visit friends at the mines some 10-12 miles away.
On 10 February 1932 Norman Edward was born in Miami Inspiration Hospital. The road building was very slow but they had cows, chickens, pigs, and a nice garden. There was no place to go so they didn’t need money anyway. When Billie was 6 ½ she was brought to Bakersfield to stay with Aunt Maude to go to school where she received a good foundation. The next year they bought a house in Globe and sent the children to school there for 1 ½ years and then back to Fish Camp where they had a one room school.
Grandfather Wilson was quite a horseman so we all had a horse and would go with him to visit friends, Fred Sr didn’t like to ride. The family had a few head of cattle which were kept on the mountain about 2 miles from the Trading Post, so had to go look after them every few weeks. Norman was to small so he stayed home with his dad, he never liked to go even when he got older but said it was better than washing dishes. They would hunt for arrow heads each week. Norman was 11 when George came 12 January 1943.
The Trading Post at Seneca was sold in the Summer when George was 4 and moved to Lakeside where they bought 20 acres on the Lake front. It was nice there in the summer but very cold in the winter -20°F. Fred went to work at a general store for awhile, worked as a fire guard one season, and worked for McNary Lumber Co. After he quit they bought a lease on a restaurant in Show Low but only had it a short time. Fred’s heart was bad so had to leave the high altitude. After school was out the family moved to Vista, California. This is where they met the Missionaries and joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints on 2 December 1950. Fred, Mable, Norman, and George were baptized in a manmade lake (cow pasture pond). Fred Jr had joined the Navy and Billee Louise was married so weren’t with the family at this time.
Norman was going into the Navy and the family returned to Pima, Arizona to take care of Mom Lambert who was no longer able to live alone. The family got a good foundation in church work there and met many nice people and relatives. Lived in Pima 4 ½ years till Mom Lambert decided to go live with her oldest son Fred Lambert in Oregon. The family moved to Van Nye, California with Billee Louise and Arthur Pearson.
In 1951 Fred, Mable, and George traveled to Cardston, Alberta, Canada to a family reunion with the Dall family. While there they attended the temple. They met the missionaries for the church and they were poorly dressed and unkempt, at that time they served without purse or scrip in the mission field. On the way home they stopped at the Idaho Falls Temple on 5 July 1951 and were sealed as a family.
In the 50’s they traveled by freighter to Puerto Rico to visit Billee Louise and family. As she remembers this was when she flew on an airplane for the first time when they flew home. Mable also traveled to Georgia through the southern states to visit the Pearson’s and her brother John. She enjoyed eating catfish but loved the beautiful big homes with the magnolia trees in full bloom.
Moved to La Mesa, California where Fred worked and became a registered nurse and worked at the hospital. Mable spent here days working on her yard and garden. She had fig trees, citrus and a small garden, and loved her flowers. Mable never drove but relied on the bus system to get around and would travel to Balboa Park and the San Diego Zoo. Here she would collect cuttings from the exotic vegetation and would take it home to propagate and develop here own garden. Family would visit and would spend time on the coast on the beaches playing and swimming, sometimes they would stay late to catch grunion by the light of campfires as they swam up and spawned on the beaches. She loved to visit Sea Port Village and picnic in the park. Sometimes family would drive to the peer to tour a ship at dock, to Balboa Park to walk around or to visit one of the museums (free on Tuesdays), or to the zoo. Fred died of a heart attack 8 October 1974 and was taken back to Arizona and buried in the family plot in Tempe, Double Butte Cemetery. Mable lived alone in the house until she sold the house in 2005 and moved to Payson, Utah and moved in with her granddaughter Jennie Little.
Mable loves jewelry and has a very nice collection, mostly Indian, turquoise, coral, and silver. While in Arizona she compiled a collection of rugs, pottery and baskets.
Family has gathered several times to celebrate Mable’s life either at a family members home or the last two big gatherings in Park City, Utah for her 95th and 100th birthday, two books have been published from these events. I hope everyone remembers to stay in contact with Mable my grandmother and the Matriarch of the Wilson family. She has been such a great inspiration in my life and a source of knowledge and wisdom throughout my life. This was written in celebration of her 101st birthday.
This is a typewritten transcription of a letter written to Ruel Potter (Ransom's brother) by Rhoda Ferrell Potter and Ransom R. Potter.
Addressed to: Mr. Ruel Potter (1) Naugatuk New Haven County Connecticut
Post Mark: Princeton Mo. (2)} in manuscript December 17 (3)}
Rate mark: 10 in manuscript.
December the 11 Brother and Sisters (4) I now sit down to write a few words to you all for I want to hear where you all be and how you git along and I did not know but you would like to hear whether we was in the land of the living yet, or not, so I shall try to tell you something about it. We went from New haven to Nauvoo (5) and as the Church (6) was going west nothing would do but we must go to, so we started for California with the rest, (6) went as far as Garden Grove a distance of nearly 2 hundred miles. there we stoped through the Summer, built a house planted about five Acres of corn, had a first garden. all things went along well un-till about the middle of July when Ransom was taken sick with the ague and fever which lasted but 1 week, then the Black Canker (7) set which seemed as if it would kill or at least eat his mouth up in spite of all we could do. his tounge teeth and so on were as black as the Chimney. all most at the last one of the Bretheren heard how he was and got on his horse and come to see him, said he could help him right off. Says he to me take a piece of Blue vitteral (8) as large as a pea: salt peter twice as large as a pea: Copper as twice as large that; one Table spoonful of Gun powder; Sharp vinegar, enough to dissolve it, put in a bottle cold together; shook up every time used; wash the mouth morning, noon and night; with a swab, then wait always after washing five minutes, then rense the mouth with salt and water; I had washed his mouth onely three or four times before the dead peices of flesh begun to come out as large as the end of my finger and he after a little begun to mend. then I was taken with the ague and fever, then Frank, (9) and in 3 or 4 days after Isaac.(10) Ransom he Baked once or twice tried to take care of us but his strength was not sufficient he was soon taken down with the bilious fever which run eleven days and left him as low as I ever see him. We though he could live he said he should not and begged of me not to try to do anything more for him onely give him drink, But every time that I could set up long enough I would rub him with flannel, wash him all over with saleratus water, (11) try to git something down him to strengthen him and he has finely got so as to work again but is not as well as he used to be. He complaints more, is not as strong. He had a large swelling under his Arm and under the same Arm he got annother coming. its the effects of the fever I suppose. I suppose it would be impossible to tell you how we looked and much more how I felt when the chill come which once a day the boys would call for Mother and I could not get off the bed to go to them. Ransom he lay thier with the fever some times crazy some times fainting. I used to stand by him untill I felt the Chill come on then I could do no more untill night when the fever left me. I had to git up off the bed sit by or stand by him to keep the breath of life in him. anxiety held me up in some degree. I think if he is careful now he will git his health again. I am well and the boys are getting quite smart. Emiline is married to William Miller (12) and has gone to the Bluff one hundred and fifty miles from here. I have not herd from her in some time. we expect a letter soon. we now live in a log house. I must say this is the handsomest country of land I ever see but I do not think it is as healthy as Ohio.(13) I wish you and we was both in Ohio. we shall not go on to California. I think if R gits his oxen and waggon I should rather go east to live, if you would meet us half way and get you a farm. I tell R if he has not gone west far enough to go jest as far as he wants to this time (14) but I believe he does not think it best to go on at least rather go to some healthy place he is doing first rate here and can do well for a year if health is spared him. The Boys send there best respects to all the cousins and often say they wish that they could see Frank (15) and Charles (16) and Lorren (17) and Elisabeth. (18) I shall send this to you Ruel and want you should take paines to find Garry (19) and let him read it and tell him to write soon to us and let us hear what he is doing and how he gits along and how his folks all do then we will write hi, I wish to be remembered to Father and Mother Potter, (20) Ann Smith (21) and her family and to all of our friends. We are living very comfortably here in Mosouria about forty miles from the Lower Camp. (22) when you write direct your letters to Princeton Post Office Mercer County State of Mosouria. Clarissa (23) write soon, tell us all about the folks. Rhoda Potter (24) must tell you how much wheat is a bushel. Here its fifty cents and five bushels of corn is 1 Dollar shelled corn Pork 2 Dollars a hundred. They have Apples some few here, grapes, plumbs an abundance. the people here are kind to us, very kind indeed most of them well off;, since the mob drove the last company from Nauvoo there is many that’s poor and distressed at the camp, (25) their property taken and they left to suffer. I do think those that have comfortable homes had better not leave at presant that is to go to California. [Here the handwriting changes to a feminine hand] as I find some room I will write some two, it has been about fifteen months since I left you (26) and I have done some work since and been sick a good deal and lazy or not and am alive yet and expect to live as long as I can see any body alive. I want you should carry this up to Plymouth (28) and let father and mother read it and tel them that if they and we all live I think I shall see them again for I think I shall come down there but not to stay long. I want to see you all, I could do wel here I think better than any other country I was in. I could make property very fast but health is better but what I shall do I cannot tell as yet but I think some of going to Ohio as soon as I can get my team and wagonn (29) if I do I shall come down there soon after. I want you should write to me and tel me what oxen is worth good ones four or five years old and also cows and tell me whither they would be ready sale for cash. tell gary to write to me give me all the information you can. this is to you all write soon from Ransom R Potter (30) you all we have not heard one word from any of you since we left there. I wrote to Garry and Ann (34) I have wrote to Erastus (32) Emiline sent one letter to Lucy Potter but not a word have we got back.
There is no signature
(The following are explanations to the numbered footnotes in the letter. The numbers as well as the explanation were added by an unknown person)
The main body of the letter is written by Rhoda Farrell Potter. The last paragraph, after her signature is written by Ransom Robert Potter
1. “Mr. Ruel Potter” is the brother of Ransom Potter. The Potter and Farrell families all lived in various towns in New Haven County Connecticut, except Ransom’s parents, who lived a short distance away in Litchfield County, Connecticut 2. “Princeton, Mo.” is the county seat of Mercer County, Missouri and is just south of the Iowa border. It is about 30 miles directly south of Garden Grove, Iowa. Both are on the east side of the Weldon River. 3. “December 17” (no year stated) The letter most likely was written in December of 1846. Ransom states that it has been fifteen months since they left New Haven. That would be September of 1845. Ransom, Rhoda, and Emeline all received LDS Temple ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple in December of 1845. (Nauvoo Endowment Records) (The Nauvoo Temple Endowment Register at the FHL in SLC, UT, gives February 6, 1846 as the date Ransom and Emeline were endowed. Rhoda was endowed on February 7, 1846, the same day she was sealed to William Miller) 4. “Bothers and Sisters” is a literal greeting. Although the letter is addressed to Ruel Potter, the letter was to be taken around and read by other family members including Rhoda’s brother, Garry Farrell. 5. “…went from New Haven to Nauvoo…” The Ransom Potter family had previously lived in Geauga Co, Ohio. They are in that county on the 1840 census and the births of their sons Issac Potter (1833) and Benjamin Franklin Potter (1837) are listed as Geauga County, Ohio (Pioneers and Prominent Men and the Springville Ward records respectively) It appears they went back from Ohio to New Haven County, Connecticut before moving west to Nauvoo. 6. “…started for California with the rest…” This is more evidence that the letter was written in 1846 rather than 1847. By December of 1847 it was quite clear to the Latter-day Saints that they were not going to California, but were going to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. 7. “Black Canker” From the diary of Priddy Meeks, a physician and a mormon pioneer from the same period: “One case of Sister Erwin: the first I heard of her, she was about dying with what they called the Black Kanker in her mouth and throat. She did die in a few hours and we halted to bury her, and the daughter Rachel Erwin was found to have the same complaint and quite deep seated. I told them I thought I could cure her. My daughter Elizabeth waited on her while I doctored her and she was not long in getting well. The palate of the old lady’s mouth was eat up and the fauces of her mouth partly gone. All was in a mortified state. I am convinced that it was the diphtheria they both had.” 8. “Blue Vitteral” Blue vitriol is copper sulfate. 9. “Frank” is Benjamin Franklin Potter, 9-year-old son of Rhoda and Ransom Potter. 10. “Isaac” is Isaac Smith Potter, 13-year-old (in 1846) son of Rhoda and Ransom Potter. 11. “Saleratus water” is a solution of water and bicarbonate of soda. 12. “Emiline is married to William Miller…” Rhoda Emeline Potter is the daughter of Ransom and Rhoda Potter. She was the third polygamous wife of William Miller. They were sealed in the Nauvoo Temple February 7, 1846. 13. “I do not think it as healthy as Ohio…” The Potters had previously lived in Ohio for at least 7 years. 14. “I tell R if he has not gone west far enough to go jest as far as he wants to this time” It is probable that the Potter’s move west to Ohio was motivated by the desire to go west rather than any affiliation with the Latter-day Saints. The family was in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio by 1833, but Ransom was not baptized into the LDS Church until November of 1837. 15. “Frank” is the 16-year-old (in 1846) son of Ruel and Clarissa Potter. 16. “Charles” is the 13-year-old (in 1846) son of Ruel and Clarissa Potter. 17. “Lorren” is the 4-year-old (in 1846) son of Garry and Ann Farrell. 18. “Elizabeth” is the 2-year-old (in 1846) daughter of Garry and Ann Farrell. She would likely have been born while the Ransom Potter family was in New Haven, before they left for Nauvoo. 19. ‘Garry” is Ira Garry Ferrell, the younger brother of Rhoda Ferrell Potter. He lived in Prospect, New Haven County, Connecticut in 1850. (1850 Federal Census) 20. “Father and Mother Potter” are Lemuel and Lois Potter 21. “Ann Smith” is the sister of Ransom Potter. She is married to Hubbard Smith and lived in Naugatuck, New Haven County, Connecticut in 1850. (1850 Federal Census) 22. “…forty mile from the lower camp.” The lower camp is Garden Grove, Iowa. It was a camp for the Latter-day Saint refugees from Nauvoo in 1846. Princeton is directly south of Garden Grove. 23. “Clarissa” is Clarissa Forbes Potter, the wife of Ruel Potter. 24. “Rhoda Potter” This is her signature on the letter although there are six lines of postscript following her signature. 25. “…since the mob drove the last company from Nauvoo…” The last mob action in Nauvoo was in September of 1846. 26. “…fifteen months since I left you…” If the letter is written in December of 1846, they would have left New Haven in September of 1845. 27. “…something over 3,000 miles…” The trip from New Haven to Nauvoo by way of Ohio is about 1200 miles. Nauvoo to Garden grove is 150 miles, and Garden grove to Princeton is 30-40 miles. That adds up to less than 1500 miles. 28. “…up to Plymouth…” Ransoms’ parents, Lemuel and Lois Potter lived in Plymouth, Litchfield County, Connecticut. (1850 Federal Census) 29. “…going to Ohio as soon as I can get my team and waggon…” Iowa was frontier country and as such, goods were not available for purchase, nor was there much of anyplace to earn money to purchase goods. Travelers went south into Missouri, both to earn money and to purchase needed supplies. In the diary of Priddy Meeks he records instructions from Brigham Young: “’Brother Meeks, you may take your family down to Missouri and make fit-out by next spring.’ Although it was strictly forbidden for men to take their families down to Missouri. He also said, ‘keep your eye skinned down there and if it gets too hot bring your family back to the Bluffs.’” 30. “from Ransom R. Potter” This is his signature on the portion of the letter. He also adds several lines of postscript. 31. “Ann” is Mary Ann Matthews Farrell, wife of Ira Garry Farrell (Rhoda Potter’s brother). 32. “Erastus” is Erastus P. Potter, the brother of Ransom Potter. He lived in Waterbury, New Haven County, Connecticut in 1840 and 1850. (1840 and 1850 Federal Census)
Source: Folders A-604-1 and A-604-2 Label: Potter, Ransom R. Utah State Historical Society Salt Lake City, UT
This article is an abstract from several articles and I would like to express my appreciation for all of their hard work which has helped me grow closer to my ancestors. I have not published the total findings that I have because it would be a small book. If you would like to read the entire story you can find it at Isaac Potter Research by Aletta Moore2008, Ransom Robert Potter History by Lee H. Potter..
Ransom Robert Potter, born on 4 March, 1807 in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut and died November 15, 1884. Ransom Robert Potter’s parents were Lemuel Potter and Lois Roberts.Ransom Robert Potter died on November 15, 1884 in Albion, Cassia County, Idaho.
The children of Lemuel and Lois:
1.Unknown, born 1803
2.Erastus Potter, born 1805
3.Ransom Potter, born 4 March 1807
4.Anne Potter, born 1810
Ransom Robert Potter married for the first time to Rhoda Emmaline Farrell, who was born on 10 January 1807 in Waterbury, New Haven, Connecticut to Benjamin Farrell/Ferrell and Patience Terrill. She died in Albion. They were married on September 25, 1825 in Cheshire, New Haven, Connecticut.
Their children were:
1.Unknown, died as a newborn 17 June 1826
2.Rhoda Emeline Potter, born 18 May 1827 in Plymouth, Litchfield, CT
3.Ransom Robert Potter
4.Isaac Smith Potter born on April 19, 1833
5.Benjamin F Potter born 18 July 1836, and died on 5 July, 1922
6.Thomas Potter born around 1843, and listed as “came with Ransom.”[1]
A new religion was formed “the Mormon Church” in 1830 and some of its members moved to Northern Ohio. It was here that the Potter family and Mormonism crossed paths. Ransom embraced the faith and was baptized in November of 1837. By 1840 the main body of the Mormon Church had moved further westward, but the 1840 census shows that Ransom was still living in Ohio.
We know that the family was in Burton, Geauga, Ohio in 1833 and 1836, when Isaac and Benjamin were born.In the 1840 census they are in Quincy, Adams, Illinois
Sept 29, 1841, Ransom sold his farm toJohnson F. Welton and returned to Connecticut. He remained here until September of 1845 when he moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. We know he was in Illinois in early 1846 as Ransom, Rhoda and Emeline received their temple ordinances in the Nauvoo Temple.By summer they were in Mercer County, Missouri where they had built a cabin and planted 5 acres of corn. As with many families, they stayed and worked in the area until they could purchase the necessary equipment and supplies to move on. They are recorded living here in the 1850 census.
Ransom R. Potter came to Utah with the James McGaw Company in 1852.[2]
Emelina Potter Miller[3], wife of William Miller came to this city with the first settlers and for ten years was a resident here; moving to Provo in 1860 where she has since resided. She was the principal weaver in the Miller household. During parts of the first year she and Mrs. Marilla Miller taught school in the village. William Mendenhall born in Millhundred, New Castle County, Delaware came to Utah in 1862 and laid adobes for the houses of Joseph Kelly and Ransom Potter. James Potter[4] and Jacob Hentz built the first flour mill in Springville.O.M. Allen was the miller. By the time the storm clouds began to gather and the wintry blasts to howl through the valley, ushering in the winter of 1853, our village had taken on quite an air of respectability. During the autumn of 1852 a number of immigrants had rolled through Main Street in their prairie schooners followed by their flocks to settle further south in the valley so that the main street village had the appearance of much travel. Many families had stopped here to cast their lot with the first comers among whom can be remembered Lorenzo Johnson, Huntington Johnson, the three Yogar brothers, Murdock McKenzie, Walter Bird, Henry Brooks, Gardiner Curtis and family, John, Samuel and Lucy Pint, Jerome and Olive Benson, laham Morris, George Marion, Joseph Kelly, Ransom Potter and family, Daniel Sumsion and family, Andrew Hamilton and family, John Maycock, Andrew Leslie, Newman Huckly and family, Elem Cheeney, Stephen Thornton, Horace Thornton, Joseph Bartholomew and family, William Robinson and family, Aseph Blanchard and family, Sanford Fuller, Aaron Whitmore and Mrs. Lucretia Warthen and family.During the winter they had dances in Bishop Johnson’s house. He had a great big long room with two fireplaces in it. The men had to furnish the wood to burn in it. They used fires for heat as well as light, because candles were very scarce. They used tallow with string for candles. Towards Christmas much snow had fallen and the lake was frozen over, the men made bob sleds and crossed over the lake for wood for fuel and light. Indian trouble came to Springville in 1853 when an Indian squaw was caught stealing things in a pioneer house. The men fought with her and she was cut badly by a knife. When Bishop Johnson heard about it he sent Mr. Wild, Ransom Potter and William Smith to overtake them and offer them anything within reason. They found them encamped at the mouth of Payson Canyon and in a frenzy of excitement just before reaching the hostile camp, Wild and Potter were left with the horses and Smith, the interpreter, went to the red men shouting peace and making signs with his hands. They settled on payment of one beef, one gun and a pair of blankets. One Indian went back with them to get the things. They were able to get everything but the pair of blankets. No one had much bedding. The Indian got discouraged and went back to camp. The squaw died and this caused a war…
Ransom Robert Potter married a second, plural wife: Agnes Myrtle Milross.[5] Agnes, age 16, was living with the Gardner family in the 1850 census, her parents had died in 1848. She was divorced from her first husband, John Halmagh Van Wagoner. He evidently treated her poorly and she left him soon after their marriage in 1854. In asking Agnes to become his plural wife, he promised her that he would always care and provide for her.
The children of Ransom Robert Potter and Agnes Millross Potter were:
1.Heber Carlos Potter, born 20 May, 1856 in Springville, Utah, Utah. Died on 3 April 1936 in Ashton, Fremont, Idaho.Married Julia Deseret Hophines,[6] who was born on 17 July 1854 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake Utah. They married on 28 October, 1878 in Salt Lake City.
2.Anne Emmaline Potter, born on 5 August, 1865 in Springville, Utah, Utah. She died on 11 August, 1945 She married Franklin Samuel Robbins on 4 December 1881 in Cassia, Idaho.
3.James Monroe Potter, born on 19 October 1867 in Coalville, Summit, Utah. Died on 11 May, 1943 in Nampa, Canyon, Idaho. Married Henrietta S. Bird on 9 January 1893 in Teton, Fremont, Idaho.
Near the mid-1860’s Ransom and Agnes moved to Coalville. It is not known if Rhoda moved with them or stayed in Springville where members of the family still resided. Ransom lived in a dugout on the banks of the Weber River about three miles north of Coalville. Ike Potter also moved his residence to Coalville.
History of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.):
Isaac Smith Potter who was born 19 April 1833 in Burton, Geauga, Ohio. He died on 1 August, 1867 in Coalville, Summit, Utah. He married four times.
First Wife of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.):
His first wife was Mary Ford. They married in 1853 in Salt Lake City. Mary was born on December 15, 1837 in Caldwell County, Missouri and died on December 9, 1855 in Springville, Utah County, Utah, probably in childbirth. Her parents are Jonathan Ford, born 24 February 1802 in Ohio, and Rachel Robertson, born around 1805 in Ohio. Jonathan and Rachel married on 16 April, 1826 in Bartholomew, Indiana. Jonathan Ford would die on May 3, 1851 in Springville, Utah, Utah.
The children of Jonathan Ford and Rachel Robertson Ford were:
1.Ester Ford, born around 1827 in Indiana.
2.Sarah Ford, born on April 17, 1830 in Columbus, Batholomew, Indiana. She died on May 8, 1851.
3.Margaret Jane Ford, born 17 April 1830 in Bartholomew, Indiana. She married Aaron Johnson on May 8, 1854 in Springville, Utah County, Utah.[7]
4.Rachel Robinson Ford, born 10 October 1835 in Bartholomew, Indiana. She also married Aaron Johnson on 25 April, 1852 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. She died on 17 February, 1878.
5.Mary Ford, born on 15 December 1839 in Missouri.
6.Moroni Ford, born 15 December 1837 in Caldwell, Missouri.[8]
The children of Isaac Smith Potter and Mary Ford were:
1.Isaac Smith Potter, born on December 9, 1955.
Second Wife of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.):
The second wife of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.) was Asenath Annette Lawrence. They married in 1855. She was born on February 22, 1940 in Parry Pike County, Illinois.[9] She came to Utah, by herself, in the Robert Wimmer Company in 1852, where she is listed as Acenith Lawrence.[10] She died on May 26, 1878 in Springville, Utah, Utah.
The children of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.) and Asenath include:
1.Emily Miranda Potter, born 19 November 1855 in Springville, Utah, Utah.[11] She married John Abelbert Warner (1852-1934) on February 16, 1874 in Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah. They had children.
2.James Franklin Potter, born on April 19, 1857 in Springville, Utah, Utah. He married Elizabeth Jane Winters (1861-1951) and they had a child. He died on 10 May 1935 in Milford, Utah.
3.Rhoda Maria Potter, born 13 December 1859 in Springville, Utah, Utah. She married James T. Clyde (1856-1919) on 16 December 1877. They had children. She died on 13 February, 1944 in Salt Lake City.
4.Rosalia Nancy Potter, born 7 November 1861 in Springville, Utah, Utah. She married John Henry Ferre (1858-1943) on 23 June 1880 in Salt Lake City. They had children. She died on 21 January 1948 in Provo, Utah, Utah.
5.Bertha Melissa Potter, born on 13 January 1863 in Springville, Utah, Utah. She married David William Holdaway (1851-1939) on 13 January 1883. They had a child. She died in August of 1901 in Price, Carbon, Utah.
6.William Wallace Potter, born on 25 September 1865 in Coalville, Summit, Utah. He married Sarah J. Burrows (1869-1962). He died on 7 February 1926 in Heber City, Summit, Utah.
Third Wife of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.):
The third wife of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.) was Amelia Ann Brown (1837-1899). They married on 12 February 1856 in Salt Lake City. Amelia Ann Brown was born on June 19, 1839 in Wilmington, Newcastle, Delaware. Her father was probably Isaac Seal Brown, born around 1801. Her mother was probably Lydia Miller, born around 1815. Amelia Brown and her family were living in Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Pottawattamie, Iowa, in 1850 and 1853.[12] Isaac Seal Brown was born on December 1, 1806 in Wilmington, Newcastle, Delaware. He married Lydia Miller on June 2, 1830. He died on August 17, 1852. Lydia Miller was born on March 4, 1814 in New Holland, Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She died on April 11, 1886.[13]
The children of Isaac Seal Brown and Lydia (Miller) Brown, besides Amelia, included:
1.William Brown, born around 1839
2.Edward Brown, born around 1843
3.Rebecca Brown, born around 1840
4.Mary Brown, born around 1837 in Delaware.
Fourth Wife of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.):
The fourth wife of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.) was Harriet Jane Gully born on April 30, 1840 in Laurence, Mississippi and died around 1888 in San Bernardino, California. They married on August 2, 1859 in Salt Lake City. Harriet came to Utah, at the age of 9, with her father, Samuel Gully. The company was the Samuel Gully/Orson Spencer Company (1849). Samuel Gully was born on May 27, 1809, and died of cholera on July 4, 1849 while en route to Utah. He was captain of a hundred. Samuel was 40 years old at the time.
They reportedly[14] traveled in a group of 7 people:
1.Samuel Gully, 40 years old, born 27 May, 1809.
2.Jane Jones Frylick Gully, born on May 22, 1794.[15] She died before April 13, 1881. She was probably Samuel’s first wife.
3.Martha Gully, 13 years old, born April 1836, died 15 December 1851. Martha is Harriet's sister.
4.Ovanda Fuller Gully, born 27 July, 1822, died 24 December 1856. This is a plural wife of Samuel Gully.
5.Samuel Gully, infant, born 1849. This is the son of Samuel Gully and Ovanda Fuller Gully.
Note that there is a reference in the Brigham Young Company in 1848 to a Sarah Ann Fuller Gully[17], which says: “Her husband Samuel Gully remained in Winter Quarters and died en route to Utah in 1849.
The children of Isaac Smith Potter (Sr.) and Harriet Jane Gully Potter were:
1.Martha Viola Potter, born on June 19, 1859 in Utah. She married George W. Wilson on December 25, 1873 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California. She died on November 7, 1888 in Phoenix, Maricopa, Arizona.
2.Harriet Emiline Potter, born September 24, 1863 in San Bernardino, San Bernardino, California. She died in 1898. The birth place of this child indicates that Harriet may not have been living with her husband in the years before his death, which occurred in 1867.
Who was Isaac Smith Potter?
There are well known stories regarding Isaac (or Ike as he was apparently known) and, depending on the viewpoint of the author, the stories differ: some view him as a cattle thief and criminal, some as a possible apostate, some as a possible government (US) agent, and some as an individual who may have been, at least partially, wronged by others. But, the general outline of what happened remains the same.
Ogden Standard Examiner, Union Vedette, Deseret News,United States Congressional Serial Set, Salt Lake Daily Tribune
Isaac Smith Potter, Terror or Terrorized? The Rest of the Story. By Helen Wilson Swim, great-granddaughter of Isaac.
Helen, comfortable in her Mormon religion, would show that, contrary to established belief, Ike Potter was not an apostatized Mormon and an outlaw, but was in good standing with the Church. According to Helen Swim, most if not all of Ike Potter's problems were due to a lustful and revengeful Bishop Aaron Johnson who used religion as a pretext for his misdeeds.
The story of how Ike Potter came to lie dead on the main street of Coalville, Utah, his throat slashed from ear to ear in "blood atonement" is more than one tale. It was the struggle between two strong men. One of the men was Ike Potter, to his family a hard-working and beloved husband of four wives and a faithful member of the Mormon Church. To others he was an apostatized Mormon, the outlaw leader of the Ike Potter Gang and a Ute Indian sub-chief during the Blackhawk War.
The other man was Aaron Johnson, friend and counselor to Brigham Young, Mormon bishop of Springville, Utah, and General in the Nauvoo Legion.
The murder of Ike Potter, it could not be other than murder, rent a once united Mormon family down the middle. Those strong in their religion yet loyal to the memory of their ancestor shake their heads in disbelief that fanatics used their beloved Mormonism as an excuse to commit a heinous crime. Others, disillusioned with Mormonism, would blame the Church not only for the murder of their father but for most crimes both great and small committed in frontier Utah and Idaho. Where lies the truth? Let the reader judge.
Aaron Johnson, with four wives and a gaggle of children in 1853, settled Hobble Creek, later Springville, Utah. Bishop Johnson would later be blessed with 12 wives, three of them being teenage sisters he married at one time.
As his name implies, Squash-Head was an exceedingly ugly Indian, ugly in deed as well as appearance. It is generally believed that Squash, described as the terror of the neighborhood, had killed and cannibalized a Mormon child and the peculiar shape of his head (for which he was named) convinced many settlers that he and his relatives were subhuman.[18]In 1856 Squash-Head and other Indians went on a rampage of horse and cattle stealing and threatening settlers. Squash-Head was captured and held in Bishop Johnson's house.Shackled and held prisoner in Bishop Aaron Johnson's house in Springville, mysteriously had his throat slit `from ear to ear,' his guards claiming he committed suicide with a common table knife with which he had been breakfasting. Even among the Mormons `it was darkly hinted at the time that some white person had done the bloody deed.”[19]
In 1853 the Jonathan and Rachel Ford family rolled into Springville. Ford was prosperous. He cultivated a large spread and owned a fine herd of cattle. Ford had been in Springville only nine months when he, a daughter and a son died of black canker [diphtheria.] Aaron Johnson helped the widow Ford sow her crops. For his efforts, he harvested two of Ford's daughters. Rachel and Margaret Ford were added to the bishop's storehouse of wives.
However, despite Bishop Johnson's importuning and going to the effort of proving his devotion by having one of her suitors castrated, the fairest plum of them all, Mary Ford, spurned the bishop's advances. She liked Ike Potter.[20],[21]
In 1854 Ike Potter was 21. He farmed with his father, Ransom, in Springville, Utah and defied the cupidity of Bishop Aaron Johnson by marrying 16-year-old Mary Ford and also 16-year-old Asenith Lawrence. Mary Ford died in childbirth the 9th of December, 1855. Ike's father, Ransom, raised the child, Isaac Smith Potter Jr.
In 1856 Ike Potter added another wife, 18-year-old Amelia Ann Brown. Then in February, 1858, Ike made plans to have Amelia Ann, Asenith Lawrence, and the dead Mary Ford sealed to him by Brigham Young for time and eternity in the endowment house in Salt Lake City [the Mormon temple was not yet completed.] Later that year, Isaac married for the last time. His final wife was Harriet Jane Gully.
At the time Ike was going to be sealed, Bishop Johnson had eight wives. Johnson asked Ike Potter to let him, Aaron Johnson, be sealed to the dead Mary Ford for eternity. There was a confrontation.
Ike Potter was sealed to Mary Ford. That same year Bishop Johnson also was sealed to Mary Ford.
Shortly thereafter, Ike Potter's legal troubles started. Ike's defenders aver that Ike was a good man and that all his woes were due to the malice of Bishop Johnson. Ike's detractors maintain that Ike was a rustler, murderer and renegade. The reader may decide which story to believe. What is readily apparent is that Ike was sorely treated by Mormon courts and kindly treated by gentile judges.
In March 1862, Bishop Johnson's son-in-law, William Miller, accused Ike of stealing his horse. The case was tried before the father-in-law, Bishop Aaron Johnson. Ike was found guilty and fined $400. A year later, in March 1863, Ike and a couple of pals were charged with larceny (rustling?). The pals got off but before Ike could be tried on this count, he was charged with murder.
A man named T. T. Barney had a couple of his horses run off by a gang of Indians led by Ike Potter. Barney's bishop, Albert King Thurber, advised Barney to "go get what property he could and go to work." That was in September of 1862. Barney went to get his stock back and subsequently got himself killed. Ike Potter and two Indians, Dick and Schicho, were charged with murder.
The same bishop, Thurber, was to testify at the trial. Two days before he testified he noted in his journal that "John Barney and Benjamin came to see me, said that it was reported that five or six Indians were blacked up [in war paint.] They thought that they were seeking their or some other person's life in consequence of one Isaac Potter being arrested and to have a trial for the murder of one T. T. Barney. The Indians were supposed to be his accomplices." Whether this had anything to do with the verdict is open to conjecture.
The trial was before Judge Zerrubabbel Snow. Bishop Thurber's testimony was "of a confession of Barney, the first Tuesday in September, that he [Potter] was connected with a gang of thieves in Springville and that Potter was the Captain of the organization reaching through the territory and that two horses delivered to him [Barney] were run off...." Thurber's testimony then continued to where he had told Barney to go get his property.
The trial lasted three days. Ike Potter, Dick and Schicho were found: Not Guilty.
Not long after this trial, Chief Black Hawk and his men led several attacks against gentiles [non-Mormons]. The Indians plundered government property while large numbers of armed Mormons cheerfully watched while the Indians robbed their mutual enemy.
Gen. Connor sent troops up Spanish Fork Canyon after the marauders. "But Mormons, including one Isaac Potter, a cattle thief who would later figure prominently in encouraging and even planning some of Black Hawk's raids, alerted the Indians and thus thwarted Connor's plan for a surprise attack.[22]
Shortly thereafter, in Magistrate Court before Judge George Bean, a friend of Bishop Aaron Johnson, Ike and Newell Knight were found guilty of stealing "Snednik's cattle." Knight was fined $50, and Ike was sent to prison. However, Ike spent only a short time in prison. Gen. Connor had the gentile judge, Drake, release Ike so he could help in peace negotiations with the Indians.
In 1866 Judge Bean and his friend Bishop Johnson exacted revenge on Ike Potter. "We sold him out of house and home at Provo for selling liquor to Indians and hiring them to steal cattle.[23] Now homeless, Ike went to Coalville, where his father, Ransom, was living below the town in a dugout on an island in the Weber River.
Many in the Coalville area viewed with alarm the presence of Ike Potter in their town. In October 1866, several prominent men of Coalville met and formed a resolve to be rid of Ike Potter. Those at the meeting were: Jacob Hoffman, Jackson Redding, William Smith, Charles Livingston, Dick Eldredge [sic], and Joseph Brim. They bided their time until the opportune moment came to strike. All the while stories of Ike Potter and his gang flew through the Mormon populace.
Sometime after the beginning of the Blackhawk War, Indians told Mormons that Potter and his men instructed them `to go down to Sanpete, and gather up a large lot of the horses and cattle there and drive them down East. And, they would be there and trade the horses and cattle to emigrants, and get them money, tobacco, whiskey and horses that would be their own. So, they went and got the horses and cattle, and drove them where the men wanted and the men sold them the way they said.'
The following summer, Potter was described by whites at the Uintah Agency as having been drafted as `War Chief by angry Utes, and along with a handful of white ruffians, he was frequently seen with Black Hawk's brother, Mountain, and sometimes with Black Hawk himself. That same year, the extent of Potter's involvement with the raiders began to come clear, as Mormons learned that `four whites' were `coleaging' with the raiders. Ike Potter was suspected of being with the Indians in June 1866, at the battle of Thistle Valley in Spanish Fork Canyon. There, Black Hawk's men fought a pitched battle with a force of Mormon Militia.[24] By 1867 Mormons living nearest the Uintah Reservation were convinced `the notorious renegade' Isaac Potter was the leader of a band of Ute raiders who were assisted by 15 whites.[25]
In the spring of 1867 Ike Potter was again in trouble. Stephan Nixon gave Ike on March 4th an assignment of 45 sacks of grain to be delivered to the army at Fort Bridger, Wyoming. Ike didn't deliver. Instead he stowed the assignment in Cache Cave, a large cave in Echo Valley. Nixon, worried about the fate of his grain, filed suit on May 3 for non-delivery and had another man go get the grain. Ike was ordered to pay $135.90 plus court costs. The consensus in the valley was that Ike had tried to steal the grain, as there is no other explanation as to why he didn't fulfill his contract.
Near the end of June 1867, Ike, accompanied by Chief Black Hawk's brother, Mountain, showed up at the home of Coalville's bishop (mayor) William W. Cluff.Potter and Mountain claimed that they represented Chiefs Tabby, Sowiette and other reservation Indians. They demanded 15 beefs and a lot of flour.
The mayor and other Coalville settlers gave the two very little. Cluff wrote to President Brigham Young, "Potter is part of an organized band of thieves that steal stock from the residents, travelers and ... coal haulers.... They had infested the area for a long time, call themselves Latter-day Saints and had frequently been arrested but because of their cunning they evaded the law.... The request by Potter was simply a scheme to give him greater influence with the Indians.”[26]
It was probably at this meeting that Mountain grabbed the mayor's hat and began taunting him. "An Indian pulled his hat off, raised it on a pole in the middle of the street and a war-dance was had around it.”[27]However, Cluff kept his cool and told them that he could spare only one beef and a little flour and that was it. Piqued, Potter and the Indians rode off.[28]
Seeking revenge, shortly after the incident with Cluff, the Indians made an attack on a sawmill on Chalk Creek, 15 miles from Coalville. Two Indians were killed and two Mormons slightly wounded. Dispatches as to the incident read, "Ike Potter, a notorious renegade white man, was the principal leader of these Indians.”[29]
During the next few weeks several incidents occurred that, though hard to place in precise chronological order, were significant to the saga of Ike Potter. The time was ripe for the Coalville Conspirators to strike. The opening gambit was a rustling charge.
Sent packing by Bishop Cluff and then repulsed at the sawmill raid on Chalk Creek, Ike Potter was in a foul mood when he learned that another charge had been laid upon him. Jacob Huffman (Huffman,) one of the conspirators, claimed that he had found where an animal had been killed on July 20 about 200 yards from Ransom Potter's dugout home on his Weber River Island. Mr. Wheaton, a neighbor, was missing a lame-footed red and white ox. August Nelson would testify that he was camped near Ransom Potter's house the night of July 19. The next morning, just before sunrise, Nelson saw a man drive a red and white ox of four or five years old from the hills and put it in Potter's corral. Then Ike Potter and another man, Charles Wilson, put a rope on the animal, and Wilson led while Ike followed as they took the ox to the river. A shot was then fired. A key witness to the happening, John Y Greene (Green), who could testify as to the identification of the animal, never showed for the upcoming trial.
Ike Potter felt it was a bad rap. When word reached him that he and two of his sidekicks, Charles Wilson and John Walker, were to be charged with rustling, the trio took off for Fort Bridger to get help from the soldiers at that post.
On the way to the fort, Potter and his pals met a group of miners headed for Coalville. Andrew Miller, one of the miners, related that at this meeting Potter said "that the people of Coalville accused them of stealing and they were going to Bridger to ask protection from the soldiers. If they could not get it there they would call in Black Hawk and clear out Coalville." The story as told and enlarged upon in Coalville caused considerable apprehension.
Potter got no help at Fort Bridger. He did get a letter from the post commander, Lt. Col. Amon Mills that was found in Ike's pocket after he was murdered. Col. Mills' letter read: "July 26th, 67. I have just received your note. If you are charged with any crime and are pursued the best thing you can do is to come in and surrender yourself to Judge Carter and let the law run its course. No one shall do you any unlawful harm if I can prevent it.”[30]
When Ike Potter left Fort Bridger he sent a letter to his father, Ransom, back at Coalville. The mail carrier was John Y. Greene, the same man that would fail to show up and testify at Ike's rustling trial. The story around Coalville was that Greene "intercepted" a letter between Ike Potter and his father. How a man sworn and paid to deliver the mail can intercept a letter is beyond me. But then again during the years of the Reformation, little escaped the All-Seeing Mormon Eye.
The letter, of which no copy has been found, was produced at the investigation after the death of Ike Potter. Bishop Cluff would testify that the letter stated "that he (Potter) had just received a letter from Colonel Mills who promised to protect him and that if the damned Mormons hurt him, he, Mills, would send them all to hell the damned sons-of-bitches.”[31]
About this time, Potter and his gang powwowed with a group of Indians on the Bear River. Supposedly, Black Hawk was with this group. The Indians later reported that Ike Potter with eight to 10 other white men rode into their camp on Bear River and wanted the Indians to go to Coalville with them. Potter said they were going to have some fun. The Indians thought there would be trouble and refused to go. Potter told them that if they would go with him they would have all the beef, mutton and whiskey they wanted. In this manner, Potter was able to recruit six or seven Indians.[32]
Ike Potter had put the fear of the Lord into the people of Coalville. J.C. Roundy, the Summit County sheriff, had a warrant for the arrest of Potter, Wilson and Walker for the rustling of Wheaton's ox. But when on the afternoon of July 28, 1867, word reached Roundy that Ike Potter with 15 white men and some Indians was camped on his father's island below town, the sheriff felt it prudent to form a posse to serve the arrest warrant.
Deputy Sheriff Hawkins called for help on Capt. Alma Eldredge of the Coalville Cavalry (Mormon Militia.) Eldredge and his company (about 13 men) accompanied Hawkins and sneaked up on and surrounded Ike Potter and his gang.[33] "Four men were tapped for the job of exterminating Potter and his gang, Chester Staley, John Staley, William H. Smith and Alma Eldredge, all known to be accurate riflemen.”[34]
Apparently, Ike Potter and his gang didn't know that they had been sneaked up on as nothing happened that night. The next morning John Staley walked into the outlaw camp, served the warrant and accepted the peaceful surrender of Potter, Wilson and Walker.
The indictment was read before Judge George G. Snyder. The trio pled innocent and was released on bond and the trial set for July 31.
As previously noted, at the trial on the 31st, the conspirators' main witness, the mailman John Y. Greene, didn't show. Because of this, the case was continued until August 10. The prisoners were again released on bail.
The conspirators were frantic. Their pigeon was about to fly the coop. A man was sent galloping to Salt Lake City to get the help of the Danite Arza Hinkley. The conspirators got Isaac Shaw on behalf of his business partner, Williams, to allege that he also had a missing cow stolen by Potter, Wilson and Walker.
On August 1, Potter, Wilson and Walker came to the courthouse to answer to the new charges. Because Judge Snyder had an ongoing case, they were remanded to jail until the next day. Joshua Wiseman and James Mahoney were to guard them in the rock school building. The pigeons were back in the coop. Now, if only Arza Hinkley would get there in time.
Midnight, from the north hooves pounded down the main street of Coalville. Ten grim men reined in before the rock school. The door was kicked in. Wiseman and Mahoney scurried to one side. "Come out!" barked Arza Hinkey. The story as told by Judge R. N. Baskin:
"Isaac Potter, Charles Wilson and John Walker, residing at Coalville, were apostate Mormons. Walker was a boy about nineteen years of age. These three persons had previously been arrested for alleged thefts, and in every instance had been discharged by Judge Snyder, who at the time was probate judge of Summit County. In August of this year, they were again arrested on the charge of having stolen a cow. While they were under guard in the schoolhouse at Coalville, ten persons, armed, appeared about twelve o'clock at night at the building and ordered the prisoners to leave. Upon reaching the street they were placed in single file, a short distance apart, and in each intervening space two of the armed persons placed themselves. The others took positions at the front and rear of the procession thus formed. In this order they marched along the principal street of Coalville, through the mainly inhabited part of the town. Arriving at the outskirts, and their captors continuing to move on, Potter turned around and said to Walker: `John, they are going to murder us! Wouldn't you like to see your mother before you die?' Thereupon one of the armed men marching behind Potter thrust the muzzle of a shotgun against Potter's mouth. Potter in terror, shouted `murder!' Whereupon the armed man discharged the gun against the body of Potter at a range so close as to cause his instant death. At the discharge of the gun, both Wilson and Walker broke away and ran for their lives. Wilson was overtaken and killed at the edge of the Weber River. As Walker made his escape, a charge from a shotgun grazed his breast and lacerated his hand and wrist. He was wearing neither coat nor vest, and the charge set his shirt on fire and as he ran he extinguished the fire by the blood from his wounds. He was an athletic youth and soon distanced his pursuers. Although a number of shots were fired at him in the pursuit, he reached the river without further injury, swam across, and thereby escaped assassination. After numerous hardships he succeeded in reaching Camp Douglas, where the commanding officer, upon hearing what had taken place gave him support and protection.”[35]
Ike Potter lay dead on the main street of Coalville, a gaping wound in his chest, in blood atonement, his throat slit from ear to car. His 10-year-old son, Charley, looked down and three times called his father's name. He then would have taken his father home but was prevented from moving the body by men who would later say that no one claimed Ike Potter's body. The outlaw was buried face down outside the cemetery north of town.
Later, a dam covered the burial site. Still later, during a low-water year, the bones washed up at "Potter's Point," and for years were displayed in the Summit County sheriff's office. They were finally buried in an unmarked grave in the Provo, Utah, Pioneer Cemetery.
Word of the murder was leaked to the gentile judge, John Titus. There were to be hearings. The two principal government witnesses were the escaped John Walker and a man known only as "Negro Tom."
John Walker hung around Fort Douglas, letting his wounds heal and awaiting time to testify. Someone slipped him a note, "Your mother is deathly ill. Come immediately." He never made it to Coalville. He was never heard from again.
Negro Tom, who had been brought to the Territory by the Mormons as a slave, and lived many years in the family of Brigham Young and other dignitaries called upon some Federal officials and stated that he could give important evidence in regard to some of these murders. A few days after, his body was found upon the `bench' two miles east of the city, horribly mangled, his throat cut from ear to ear, and on his breast a large plaque marked: "Let White Women Alone.”
In all such cases of assassination, Mormons can command abundant evidence that the victim has `insulted a Mormon woman.' Thus the best witness of these crimes was removed, and the proof put beyond the reach of earthly courts.[36]
Hearings were held before Judge Titus, but as the key witnesses were gone there was no testimony of substance. The guards Wiseman and Mahoney said that Potter and the others tried to escape and that they shot at the fleeing prisoners but didn't think they hit them. Bishop Cluff said that, accompanied by John Y. Greene, he left town about midnight to amputate the leg of a boy and didn't get back until after everything was over. All the other men of Coalville testified that when the shootings occurred they were home in bed. They mocked the judge and got away with it. The Danite Arza, Hinkley was installed as probate judge of Summit County. And that was the end of Ike Potter, the father of Lava's first permanent settler.
There is a story whispered among the Mormon Potters that provides some comfort. The story is that shortly after the death of Ike, daughter Anna Potter came running in from the privy shouting, "I saw daddy! I saw daddy!"
When questioned, the child said she saw her father standing out by the privy. "He had a bandage around his neck and was wearing a green apron." The neck bandage is obvious. The green apron, to an adult practicing Mormon, signifies the endowment ceremony. The child's vision meant that Ike Potter died in good standing with his church and was in heaven.
The effect Ike’s murder had on the Potter family was profound, with elements of tragedy as well as redemption. Charlie Potter, Ike’s 10 year old son, when he saw his father’s body with its throat slashed ear to ear, swore he would seek vengeance on those responsible for the act. However, Charlie eventually fell in love with Finis Wakely, a faithful Mormon girl, and married her. He eventually became the first LDS Bishop in the Downey, Idaho region. Charlie also learned a few lessons from his father, as he was always kind to the Indians and gave generously to them. Charlie’s mother, Amelia, lived in fear the rest of her life, troubled by nightmares. She is buried in Lava Hot Springs, Idaho, on the “Catholic” side of the cemetery. Ransom’s eleven year old son, Heber Carlos, remained bitter towards the LDS faith until later in life when his deceased wife came to him in a dream, where she, who had been a faithful member, implored him to join the church so they could be together in the next life. Apparently the love of his wife at that stage of his life overcame his resentment and he was baptized. Lastly, Ike’s death seems to have shaken the faith of the family patriarch, Ransom Robert Potter. There’s a copy of the ordination of Ransom to the office of Elder. At first glance it appears that this is an ordination certificate issued by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Indeed the printing says a much. Itsays Ransom was ordained by A.H. Smith, E. C. Brand and W. W. Blair. At the bottom, the certificate is signed by W. W. Blair, President of the Pacific Mission and Alex W. Smith, Asst. Pres. of the Pacific Mission. It turns out, his Pacific Mission was part of an effort of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ ofLatter-Day Saints (RLDS) to convert the followers of Brigham Young. W.W. Blair, was an apostle in the RLDS church, Alex W. Smith, was a son of Joseph Smith and RLDS member, and E.C. Brand was an RLDS member who left Utah and the LDS church in 1854. Maybe Ransom still had faith in the teachings of Joseph Smith but did not want to be a part of the LDS church, who many in the family, possibly including Ransom, blamed for Ike’s murder.
Ransom Potter died November 15, 1884 in Albion, Idaho and is buried there in a field called Pioneer Cemetery. This plot of ground is high sagebrush on land presently owned by Larry Mahoney and located approximately two and one-half miles southeast of Albion, and around one mile west of the old Stage-Freight station is referred to as the Pioneer Cemetery. It is unfenced with two groups of unmarked graves, barely visible now due to the ravages of time and elements. In the first group lies buried six persons including Ransom R. Potter, born 1807 at Waterbury, Connecticut and died Nov. 15, 1883. His wife was Rhoda E. Farrell Potter. He was known as "Stiff-Neck Potter" and was a freighter between Kelton, Utah and Boise, Idaho on the old stage-freight route.A passerby would not realize that anyone lay buried here in this small almost forgotten cemetery. All that remains are a few rocks used as markers and a rotting piece or two of lumber, which may at one time have been part of a fence.
[1] Note that in the 1850 census of Mercer County, Missouri, Thomas Potter is not living with this family.He would have been about 7 years old. I am not sure if he is a brother or had some other relationship to the family.
[2] Early LDS database, and Overland Pioneer Trail
[3] This is child we have as Rhoda Emmaline Farrell Potter. Information from Verla Ostbert, 12 April 1974, Film #164620:
[4] I am not sure who James Potter was – not the son of Ransom Potter and his second wife, who was not born until 1867,
[5] Life Story of Agnes Millross by Verla Potter Ostbert
[6] Her name may be Hofheins.She was first married to Nelson Lewis Brown, and had a child, George Newton Brown on 14 October 1869. They apparently divorced since he did not die until some years after she married Heber Carlos Potter.
[7] Interestingly in the Pioneer Overland Trail database there is an “Infant Ford”, unaccompanied by any other people with the surname of Ford, who dies on the trail to Utah with the Aaron Johnson family.
[15] This may be wrong, as some family history files have her birth date as around 1801, based on the Hebron Ward Record of Members.
[16] See Family Tree under individual members of this family for more information.
[17] Possibly an older sister to Ovanda Fuller Gully, and another plural wife of Samuel Gully?She was born on October 24, 1815 and died on March 15, 1897.
[20] Potter, Charles. Potter Family History as told by Charley Potter to his eldest son Luther, undated, Provided by Nancy Lee Hendricks, Potter descendant, August, 2001.
[27] Tullidge, Edw. W., Tullidge’s Histories, Volume II, SaltLakeCity, 1889, p. 142.
[28] Hampshire, Bradley and Roberts, A History ofSummitCounty, Utah State Historical Society, SaltLakeCity, Utah, 1998, pp. 22-23. I have not seen this.Inter-library loan.
Newest great great grandson Kale Andrew Wilson
