3. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his path; for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem." Isaiah 2:2
Historians call it: "Manifest Destiny" or the call to go West. It was like a spiritual fever to build "Zion". Zion! Zion! God is calling. Calling thee from lands of woe. Babylon the great is falling and her powers shall over throw.
The temple of the Lord was truly built in the top of the Rocky Mountains, or the Valley of the Great Salt Lake, fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah. Our forefathers were part of that great migration west to "the top of the mountains". They knew they had a great mission to settle and colonize the American west, to build temples unto God and to establish Zion upon this earth.
Calvin Delos McOmber's family Elizabeth Carson Griffith Calvin's maternal Grandmother Born July 7, 1822 Mifflin Co. Penn. Married Patison Delos Griffith at Nauvoo, 26 April 1846 Crossed the plains, left Nauvoo May 17, '51, arrived October 1851, Travelled with the Garden Grove Co, and H. Walton Elizabeth Carson Griffith was a well-respected pioneer mother of eight children Relief Society Worker of Hyde Park Died November 7, 1898 at Auburn, Uintah, Wyoming A TRIBUTE OF RESPECT TO ELIZABETH CARSON GRIFFITH July 7, l887, A birthday tribute By Nina B. Thurman , Niece, Hyde Park
Dear Friend and mother we are here
to prove our love to you
For you have shown us many years,
That yours for us is true
Though some are absent that we fair
Would have with us today
Ere long they be with us again
Then let us for them pray
The Lord has blessed you many years
And may he do so still
May comfort, joy and peace be yours
Till your days of life are filled
Look upward, God is watching ore
His Saints , we need not fear
The trial may be hard and soar
But deliverance is near
A young Latter-day Saint couple, Patison D. Griffith and Elizabeth Carson, were married in Nauvoo on April 26, 1846, just at the height of mob persecutions. The first few years of their life together, they lived wherever they could survive the mobs. Then in 1851 we find them and two children with a Mormon Pioneer company making their way across the plains. (W. Walton co.) They were equipped with two wagons; one drawn by a joke of oxen, the other by two milk cows to furnish them with milk and butter as they traveled.They arrived in Utah in October of 1851 and lived in various towns until they settled at Fairfield, or Cedar Fort, where Elizabeth's brothers, William, David, George, and Washington were located. Patison and Washington took up land outside the fort. They had cleared the land, fenced and had built two granaries and a small cabin. The hostilities between the Indians and the settlers of Utah began.
In the spring of 1856 a battle was fought at Cedar Fort with the indians where George was killed. Elizabeth, with her small family, watched the battle from the fort and saw her brother's white horse come up the trail with his lifeless body thrown over the saddle. The Indians were driven away and sent out past the farms where Washington and Patison were working. They revenged themselves by killing and scalping Washington and his hired man. They burned the buildings, machinery and even the fence posts. The harnesses were cut into small pieces and parts of the machinery that would not burn were twisted and broken beyond repair and all of the livestock was stolen. Fortunately, Patison had finished his planting, sacked up what wheat was left and he was gone to another settlement to have it ground before the Indians came, so his life was spared. But, all they had acquired had been lost and they must start over again among hostile Indians. Elizabeth did not know what had happened to her husband for some time later, when he returned with his grain from the mill.
After Elizabeth married Patison Delos Griffith on April 26, 1846, the Carson family came to Utah but she remained in Illinois until 1851. They all came to the valley September 24, 1851. . .leaving May 17, 1851.
After they came to Utah there was trouble with the Indians. Two brothers: Washington and George were killed on February 21, 1856, due to an Indian raid.
Bertie goes on the say, "Grandmother saw the falling stars spoken of in Church History. She described A few years later, in April 1860, Patison and Elizabeth packed their family and belongings in a wagon, tied an old cow to the back to lead the herd, and set out for Cache Valley. Elizabeth drove the wagon. Patison, on a pony, and with the help of the older children on foot, followed behind and drove the cattle. They settled near a big spring of clear, cool water. . .one of the first few families in the settlement, later known as Hyde Park, Utah.
They were now in a new frontier and had to depend entirely on their own resources to survive the coming winter. This meant that they not only had to break the virgin soil to plant grain and gardens, but they must bring water from Logan river to irrigate these crops. Then too, they had to go into the canyons and bring out wood for their winter's fuel and logs for the house that must be built. To provide winter feed for the sheep and cattle, they had to go to the meadows and cut the grass with a scythe, rake it with an hand rake, haul it in and stack it. All the time a constant watch must be kept to protect the families and cattle from marauding Indians.
That fall the Hyde Park was organized. William Hyde was ordained as bishop, Patison Griffith as first councilor and Simpson Molen as second councilor. Patison was faithful and active in this calling. The name of P.D. Griffith appears often in the ward records as the member of the Priesthood who gave blessings to babies, baptized, confirmed and ordained to various offices of the Priesthood."
"Elizabeth Carson, my grandmother, was born July 7, 1822 at Lewiston, Mifflin Co., Pennsylvania. Her parents were George Carson and Ann Hough. She was the third child of a family of eight. Her parents joined the church when she was a young girl, and they suffered many of the persecutions that the early saints passed through.One night when a mob came upon them, the women took what bedding they could carry and their little ones and fled to the woods for safety. They tied the bushes together, spread the quilts over them and put the children underneath, thus partly protecting them from the heavy storm of rain, thunder and lightning, while the mothers stood guard with their young babies in their arms. The husbands and brothers stayed as near home as they dared to save all that they could. Many of the homes were burned but my grandparents home were spared, to which they returned in the morning.
Another time, Grandfather took Grandmother and her two small children, (my father was the younger one), out into a corn patch, where they stayed for several hours in a drizzling rain, while Grandfather went back to help protect the city from the mob."
Grandmother saw the falling stars spoken of in Church history. She described them as flakes of fire falling like flakes of snow in a snow storm, remaining light until a few feet from the ground. She had a family of eight: Phoebe, born February 9, 1847; Andrew, born January 5, 1849; Louisa, born September 19, 1851; Lovina, born February 19, 1854; Marinda, born March 7, 1857; Urmina, born January 12, 1860; Mary, born July 17, 1862 and Patison Delos, born March 2, 1867. Patison Jr.,died when only a few weeks old.
Grandmother was a tall, stately woman with auburn hair and rich brown eyes that looked like velvet. She was rather quiet, a real homebody, yet she had time to work in the church. She was active in Relief Society work, being counselor to the president at one time. I never remember seeing Grandmother without her hair combed and without her black lace cap on her head and black drop-earrings. She often wore checked waist aprons with cross-stitch trimming.
Her house was one large log room, which served for bedroom and living room. She had two double beds in there and they were always made and the white spreads on them before we children were awake. She had white crocheted throws over the backs of her chairs and over the corners of the pictures on the wall. Everything was so white and orderly in that room always. . .well, it was orderly throughout the whole house.
On the north was a lean-to room with a door in the east and a window in the north. This was the kitchen. The stove was at the east and by the north wall, the cupboard by the west wall and the table in-between. South of the cupboard you went out of a door and up a winding stairway to a large bedroom. You came into that room at the northwest corner. In the northeast corner, with the head to the east, was the bed where we children slept, when visiting our grandparents. ....The greatest thrill of sleeping there was being awakened by the lowing of the town cow herd as the cows were being driven to the pasture west of town. I would always jump out of bed and watch until they were all out of sight and look at the bird picture before dressing. . . As you came into the room, right by the door, there was a chest where Grandmother kept her linen. When my baby sister was born, I remember Grandmother coming up for something and when she saw that I was awake, she said, 'Did you know that there was a little kitten in bed with your mother?' I remember how she stood there and smiled as I peeked over Mother's shoulder and saw the new baby.
It was always a pleasure for me when Grandmother would say, 'Bertie, would you like to go down the cellar with me?' We would go out of the east door, into the open shanty, which Grandmother used, in summer when she prepared vegetables, pealed apples for drying etc. At the east was the deep well with the proverbial "old oaken bucket' ...two of them. One went down as the other came up full of water. The well was very deep and rocked all the way up, with a good high curbing so no child could fall into the well. By the side of the well, was the black walnut tree, where we children cracked nuts with rocks. But we were going to the cellar weren't we? Well, when we got out of the east door, instead of going east to the well, we would turn north on the path that led to the clotheslines. After going a few steps north, we would turn west then north to a door which led down into the cellar under the granary. The cellar was only a hole dug in the hard ground with the granary for a covering.
There was a wide shelf, just off the ground all around it. On that shelf, Grandmother would set her milk, butter, and food she wanted kept cool. I enjoyed helping her carry food up for a meal. I thought it wonderful because she would carry a full pan of milk in one hand and I remember how big I felt when I could do the same. She always had honey and cucumber pickles on the table.
She was a bee woman. She could handle the bees with her bare hands when putting them into a new box. She used to go all over Hyde Park taking out honey and boxing swarms of bees. Their apiary, with a goodly number of swarms, was out northeast of the house by an apple tree that had yellow, sweet apples on it. I think Grandmother called them 'Golden Sweets.' She would say, ' Go out by the bee hives and get you a good, sweet apple.' And many of those sweet apples I have eaten when I really wanted a good juicy, sour one from the tree down in the southeast corner of the lot.
She didn't play with us children but she never spoke an unpleasant word. Grandmother would say, ' you children run out and play while I read to your Father.' But Grandmother never seemed annoyed at anything we did. Her homemade canker medicine was kept over the door between the front room and the kitchen. We usually all got a spoonful of it when we were there. Grandmother was always a faithful Latter Day Saint. While on a visit to her daughters home in Star Valley, Wyoming, she was taken sick and died on November 7, 1898. She was brought to Hyde Park for burial. Bertie used to dance the highland fling and step dance. Her father, Andrew, played the fiddle and they did a lot of entertaining in Hyde Park. Grandfather, Patison most likely taught them since he enjoyed step dancing, singing, and playing the violin.
Perhaps Calvin D. also enjoyed times with his Grandmother as did Bertie, since he lived so close to her when he was growing up. Did he see the bees, and eat the apples and cucumbers? Most likely. . . yes.
George Carson, Elizabeth's father, was. born July 17, 1794 in Miflin, Pennsylvania. His parents were William and Ruth Carson. It is thought that William was born in Ireland, and Ruth was born in Pennsylvania. Ann Hough was born June 27, 1794 in Tuscarora, Pennsylvania. She recorded that her parents names were Jonathan and Ann Hough. Ann and George were married around 1817. They moved to Ohio in the early 1820's and were living in Wayne Co.Ohio, just sixty miles from Kirtland, when they first heard the restored gospel in 1831. They moved with the LDS Church from Ohio to Missouri to Nauvoo, then to Iowa and on to Utah. They arrived in the Great Salt Lake Valley in September 1851. Three months later, in December 1851, George Carson died at South Cottonwood, near the present town of Union. He is probably buried in the Union Pioneer Memorial Cemetery. His wife, Ann Hough Carson, died February 1, 1869 at the home of their daughter, Elizabeth Carson Griffith in Hyde Park, Utah, a few miles north of Logan. She is buried in the Hyde Park Cemetery. George and Ann had eight children.
From the Patriarch blessing of Ann Hough (Huff) Carson, given at Cedar Valley, Aug. 26, 1857 By John Young, June 27, 1794, daughter of Jonathan and Ann Huff:
Sister Ann, I lay my hands upon your head and bless you and you shall be blessed from this time forth and forever. You are entitled to the blessings of the fathers and I say your posterity shall be numerous, and you shall be blessed to the latest generation because of your integrity and perseverance, and notwithstanding you have had to pass through tribulations and your heart has been rent, yet the Lord almighty has sustained you and upheld you and you shall live till you are satisfied with life, be an honor and a blessing to your Father's house hold, lay a good foundation for the time to come. I seal upon you the blessings of natural life and of health....ye shall be blessed the remainder of your days, you shall be blessed of the Lord.....you desire to see the kingdom flourish and therefore your generations after you shall be blessed..... (......means some sentences are omitted)
I.V. Long, Reporter and Recorder.
Born January 3, 1824, Bury township, Orleans County, New York.
Son of Judah and Mariah Rockwell Griffeth.
Married at Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, April 26, 1846,
Elizabeth Carson, parents of 8 children.
Crossed the plains with the Garden Grove Co,(also H. Walton)
1860, Pioneered Hyde Park, served in Bishopric and Nauvoo Legion
Married second wife: Sarah Elizabeth Gibson Roberts February 7, 1863 at
Hyde Park, parents of 9 children
Carpenter, Musician, Dancer
Died: May 11, 1901
Buried May 1901 Grover, Uintah, Wyoming
(spelling is both Griffith, or Griffeth)
While living in Amherst, Ohio, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day saints was organized. One year after the organization of the Church, Judah Griffeth, Patison's father heard the gospel and accepted it. He was baptized in the small town of Amherst, Ohio. As the children grew up they too joined the church. Patison was baptized the 7th of April, 1841 at the age of seventeen. According to early church records, Judah was ordained a high priest by Joseph Smith Sr., in Kirtland, Ohio. Records show that the Griffeth family must have given up their homes to live with the body of the church, moving where the church moved.
While the family was living in Amherst, Ohio, they owned a grove of sugar maple trees from which they extracted the maple sap. The sap was processed and sold as syrup. To process the liquid, it had to be boiled down in large vats over fires out of doors. Once it started to boil it had to be kept boiling night and day until it was done. Patison being very young took his turn in watching the boiling vats. Timber wolves were numerous and rather vicious and would come out at night to the yard close to the fires. Whoever kept watch at night would sit or stand by the cabin so that the wolves could not attack from the rear. Patison has related that many nights as he sat watching, he could see a row of wolves eyes on the opposite side of the fires.
When Patison was twenty years old, he walked a great distance going without sleep two days and a night in order to attend the funeral of the Prophet Joseph Smith. He also bore testimony that he had witnessed the occasion when Brigham Young appeared in the personage of Joseph Smith and the voice of President Young was heard as that of the Prophet's. He was the only one who witnessed this and the only one of the family that chose Brigham Young as the new prophet.
It was about this time Elizabeth Carson, a girl from Pennsylvania came into his life. She was the daughter of George Carson and Ann Hough. Their friendship led to courtship and soon the marriage date was set. Patison needed a new suit of clothes for the occasion, so he and his cousin walked over to a town on the other side of the Mississippi River to make the purchase. They had crossed the river on the ice, but when they returned the river had swollen by flood waters of a spring freshet, and the ice was beginning to break up. There was no possible way for them to return home without crossing the river on foot. Patison would not break his promise to his betrothed, so he ventured across disregarding the danger. His new suit and items were placed into a small bundle and tied to him. Each young man found a pole which they placed under each arm for protection. They jumped from one piece of ice to another until they made it to the other side of the river. Patison married Elizabeth in Nauvoo, Illinois April 26, 1846. Due to the persecutions toward the Mormon settlers at that time, they were driven and had no permanent home. Phoebe their first child was born February 9, 1847 in Garden Grove, Decator, Iowa. Two years later they were back in Greenbush, Warren County, Illinois when their second child, George Andrew who was born January 5, 1849.
One rainy evening in the early summer of 1850 a mob attacked the town where Patison and his family were living, and the saints had to fight for their lives. Patison took his wife and two small children out into the field and hid them in a corn patch. The corn was not very high so they had to lie down to keep under cover. For several hours they lay there in the rain not knowing what minute the mob may come or whether their husband and father would be killed and never return to them.
During the winter 1850-51, plans were being made to make the journey westward to be with the body of the church. Patison moved from Greenbush, Illinois, taking his wife and children and joining his wife's family, the Carsons in Garden Grove, Iowa. The company that was being outfitted to make the journey west was known as the Garden Grove Company. On May 17, 1851 the Garden Grove Company left for the Salt Lake Valley. In the company along with others were the Carsons, Egberts, Ewings and Griffeths. When the company arrived at Council Bluff, Iowa they obtained the services of Harry Walton to lead them to Salt Lake City. William Huff Carson, a brother to Elizabeth, was a captain of ten, comprising the families listed above. There were 60 wagons in the company. Patison had two wagons, one drawn by oxen and the other pulled by cows. They used the cows to supply milk along the way.
During the journey west, Elizabeth was expecting her third child. To make the journey more comfortable, Patison laced rope back and forth making a hammock across the wagon box, helping to make the trip more comfortable for her. Elizabeth rode on this bed a good share of the way. While camped on the Green River, Sweet Water, Wyoming, she gave birth to a little girl, Louisa Emily, born September 19, 1851. The next morningż the main company moved on and one family stayed behind with Patison and Elizabeth. The following morning Patison and friend drove fast and finally caught up with the main company.
The Garden Grove Company arrived in Salt Lake Valley September 24, 1851.
The company was sent to South Cottonwood about ten miles south of Salt Lake City where the pioneers had made preparations for the Garden Grove Company to settle. They stayed here long enough for their fourth child to be born, Lovina Samantha, February 19, 1854. Some time later they moved to Fairfield, Utah County, Utah where they suffered greatly from the depredations of the Indians. Their fifth child, Marinda Elizabeth was born March 7, 1857 in Fairfield. Shortly after, they moved and lived in the old Cedar Fort.
We are not sure when Patison moved his family to Lehi, Utah County, but Urmina Tryphena, their sixth child was born January 12, 1860 there. At this time, a call came from Brigham Young to go to Cache Valley as a scouting party to select places for settlements. Due to this call, Patison and his family were among the first settlers in Hyde Park, Cache County, Utah. Their seventh child, Mary Melissa was born here July 17, 1862. Patison farmed the land, ran a store and worked as a carpenter. He was well known for the many pieces of furniture he built for his home and other settlers of Hyde Park.
Patison married his second wife, Sarah Elizabeth Gibson Roberts, in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, February 7, 1863. To this marriage came nine children all of which were born in Hyde Park. They are: Sarah, William, Charles, Susan, Eleanor, Edgar, Ancil, Eva, and Ina.
Patison was talented and trained in both music and dance. He played and taught the violin and was a master dancer. He called for the square dances all over Cache Valley. He served as the choir director of Hyde Park. Step dancing (not clogging) was a great joy to him.
Patison was commissioned Major of the 3rd Battalion Infantry, first regiment, first brigade of the Nauvoo Legion in Cache Military District of Utah. This commission was signed by Charles Durkes, Governor, and Edwin Higgins, Secretary of the Territory of Utah on the 5th day of August 1865. He was commissioned to the rank of Captain, Company B, 2st regiment, 1st Brigade by the Territory of Utah on the 20th day of August 1869. He was part of this infantry in order to protect and defend their families and homes against the Indians and possible intruders.
Patison and his son, George Andrew were the first settlers to go into Fairview, Idaho. During the winter of 1869 they hauled lumber to build a house. Before the house was completed Patison and his wife, Sarah lived in a dug out and in a covered wagon. Upon completion of the house, Patison and Sarah lived there two years and then returned to Hyde Park. During the two years in Fairview, they were troubled with the Indians but nothing violent. Sarah always gave the Indians food, though she needed it herself, she always shared what she could. The indians remained quite friendly.
Though Indians came, another problem came to the Mormon colonies: United State Marshals. Now that Patison was a polygamist and since the federal government had passed a law forbidding polygamy, there were federal officers assigned to Utah. Their raids and imprisonments and persecutions were so severe that he took Sarah to Star Valley Wyoming where there was more freedom of religion and worship. He was among the first settlers in Star Valley. Sarah and her family lived there for five years, then came back to Fairview, Idaho for five more years. Then they moved back to Grover, in Star Valley where they settled permanently. Elizabeth stayed in Hyde Park. Patison drove between his two homes by horse and buggy, often driving a little high-spirited white mare named "Nora".
His children and grand children have high regard for Patison and considered him a model father and grandfather. He was 5 foot 11 inches tall, blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was stately, very neat and was very kind . . . didn't even scold yet he was firm and taught the principles of the gospel. He had a great sense of humor and enjoyed a good and decent joke. He died a faithful Latter Day Saint in the home of his wife, Sarah, in Star Valley, Wyoming the 11, May 1901, and buried in Grover, Wyoming.
Front: Patison Delos, Father; Elizabeth Carson Griffeth (Mother), Pheobe Griffeth (Hyde) and George Andrew Griffeth
Sarah was converted to the church along with her mother, uncle and grandmother. They lived at the home of her mothers parents and her father gave herself and a brother money to make the journey to Zion. Before leaving Liverpool on the 15 of April 1856, she and her brother William were baptized by Joseph Burrows and confirmed April 18, 1856, by John Oakley. They set sail on the 19th of April 1856 with Captain Samuel Curling. On May 23, 1856 they landed in Boston, Mass. Since they had no money to go west, her mother sewed shirts for the stores until they could save for the journey. They went to St. Lewis where she attended school for two years. Her mother died Oct. 21, 1860 and was buried in Bellville, St. Clair C. Illinois. Her aunt Mary Perkes, also a convert made a home for the children until they came to Utah in 1862.
She went west with Captain Henry Miller from Florence Nebraska on the 6th of August with sixty wagons and about six hundred immigrants. About 28 died on that journey to Salt Lake. In July, l862 thousands of saints were gathered at Florence when a terrible storm came and two brethren were killed by lightening and Joseph W. Young was severely hurt. On Monday June 15, 1862, with Sampson M. Gibson as captain and also her brother William Gibson Roberts as teamster, and Captain Chester Loveland, and Edward Thurman as teamster they left for the valley. They arrived in Salt Lake City October 17, 1862 and the next day they started for Hyde Park, Cache County, Utah. They went to the home of Brother and Sister Sleight who were very kind and they stayed there until Uncle Perkes and the boys could get logs to build a cabin.
It was here that Elizabeth met Patison and later married him on February 7, 1863 at the age of 17 years in the Endowment house by Daniel Wells. Patison was 22 years older and had been married for 17 years to Elizabeth Carson G. She was the second wife to Patison D. Griffith.
Sarah Roberts Griffeth was a staunch pioneer and the first white woman to live in the new settlement of Fairview, Idaho. The homestead was located 1 1/2 miles north of the Utah, Idaho line on the Bear River. She was an excellent nurse and helped her neighbors in times of illness. She was always busy, taking care of her children, spinning, knitting, weaving or gardening. She loved to read good books and after the days work was done, she would read all night and long into the morning hours by the light of homemade candles which were made by braiding a rag stem and dipping it into tallow fat.
She read all the church books available. She did not complain for all the moves she had to make due to Polygamy. She had great faith that the Lord would care for his children. She lived to be 81 years of age and died at the home of her daughter, Eleanor Griffeth Bodily, wife of Henry Bodily, Iona, Idaho, seven miles Northwest of Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Sarah Elizabeth Gibson Roberts Griffeth Family Group Record, Documentation
"Grandfather (Patison D Griffith) became a counselor to William Hyde in organization of Hyde Park Ward. He homesteaded on the south side of main road which later became the home of Appy Wolf and D.D. Lee. He went to Lewiston or Fairview, woolen mill at Franklin, Idaho's oldest settlement. Uncle Andrew and Uncle Heman herded cattle in plains south of Preston. They also, (Uncle Austin and Aunt Mary) obtained land. Uncle Heman's experienced giving a bob cat a ride on his saddle horse. At Fairview I first knew Aunt Sarah, the second wife of Grandfather (Sarah Gibson). She had carpet looms. I remember Aunt Emma - Merrill at Trenton. I remember Uncle Parley Merrill's flower mill on the Muddy and Terry's store just east where my mother bought my first V metal fold red top boots.
Uncle Tom and Aunt Angie at Treasureton lived their first year at the granary until harvest time on their dry farm. The pioneer spirit and polygamy took grandfather, and Sarah, Uncle Heman, Aunt Min, Uncle Austin, Aunt Marg, Aunt Phoebe Hyde and sons , Uncle Ted Thurman and wives to Star Valley. Grandfather found that "By ginger, it's cold weather out here". Uncle Austin's family moved to Rupurt where Uncle A and A. Mary passed away. Uncle Heman died at Payson at Dora Porters. Aunt Phoebe died at Grover in 1890, soon after LeRoy's birth and all her children, but Ida, have gone to their reward early in life, four having died of Typhoid Fever. Patison D. died May 11, 1901 at Aunt Sarah Home in Grover, and Elizabeth Anne Griffith died Nov. 7 1899 at Auborn at Aunt Mary's home."
My father was born January 3,1824. That made him about twenty years old when the Prophet Joseph was killed. I have often heard him tell how they felt when they heard the sad news. And I have heard him tell about Brigham Young talking with the voice and appearance of the Prophet Joseph.When Father had been here about twenty-two years, he went back east for a visit and brought his father back to Hyde Park with him. Grandfather was then a member of the Reorganized or Josephite Church and he seemed just as sincere in his belief in his church as Father was sure that our church is right.
Father was a man about five feet eleven and a half inches, with blue eyes and dark brown hair. He was stately, very neat, and particular. He was very kind didn't ever scold yet we knew we had to do what we should. He was a carpenter and a musician and a dancer. When he was seventy-four years old he used to step dance at Arburn, Wyoming. He enjoyed this very much. He played the violin for dances all over Cache Valley. While living in Hyde Park he was a choir leader. He was known as a very fine carpenter. He loved honesty and virtue.
I remember my father as a gray-haired, hazel-eyed, very fine looking man. He was gentle and kind. The thing that impressed me was the way he prayed in family prayers. Every word was spoken so clearly that every one could hear all that he said.I was not very old when my father died and not being with him all the time it is difficult to remember all the things about him. I know I loved him very much, and that he was honest and truthful in everything he did.
Grandfather was a gentle man. He was always prepared and had things in order. He had friends everywhere. Because he was a polygamist he had to go into Star Valley where the Mormon polygamists were not persecuted so much. While there, he freighted supplies from Montpelier to Star Valley. One night it was very stormy and cold when it was time to make camp. He found another freighter near by nearly frozen. He revived and cared for the man. Then four other wagons came into camp. The drivers of theseż wagons were very profane men and they were drinking liquor and smoking. Grandfather rebuked them. He said: "Mister, I don't like your smoke any better than your language." At first, one of the men acted as if he wanted to fight but he thought better finally.Grandfather always kept a clean camp. I never heard a nasty yarn from him and he never spoke unkindly. He often said: "Don't say anything anywhere to anybody that you couldn't say before your mother."
Patison was the oldest of a family of five boys and five girls. His father was a farmer. At one time they owned a grove of sugar maple trees, from which they made and sold maple syrup. The syrup had to be boiled in large vats or barrels over fires out of doors. Once the syrup started to boil, it had to be kept going night and day. The timber wolves were very numerous and rather vicious at that time and would come at night to the fires. To protect themselves from these invaders, a small log cabin was built out in the yard close to the boilers. Whoever kept watch of the fires at night would sit or stand by the cabin so that the wolves could not attack him from the back. Patison said that there were many nights as he was watching, he could see a row of wolves' eyes on the opposite side of the fire.
Just one year after the organization of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day, Judah Griffeth, Patison's Father, heard the gospel and accepted it. He was baptized in the small town of Amherst, Lorain County, Ohio. As the children grew up they too joined the church. Patison was Baptized on April 7, 1841 when he was seventeen years of age.
It appears that the Griffeth's must have given up their homes to live with the body of the saints for the records show that they left New York and went to Ohio and Later to Illinois. Although they were willing to forsake their home for their new religion, their faith was not strong enough to keep them in the Church when a division came. With the exception of Patison, they all dropped out of the church. Some of them later joined the Josephite Church. Patison remained true and faithful. The story is told that he walked a great distance and went without sleep for two days and night to attend the funeral of the Prophet Joseph.
About this time, Elizabeth Carson, a girl from Pennsylvania, came into his life. Their friendship led to courtship and soon the marriage date was set. Patison needed a new suit for the occasion so he and his cousin walked over to a town on the other side of the river to make the purchase. They had crossed on the ice but when they returned the river had been swollen by flood waters of a spring freshet and the ice had broken loose. There was no possible way for them to return home without crossing the river on foot. Patison would not break his promise to his betrothed. Disregarding the danger of such a crossing, the new suit and a few other belongings wereż made into small bundles and tied to the boys so that they would be safe and dry. Each young man found a small pole of considerable length which he placed under his arms. Jumping from one piece of ice to an other they made their way to the opposite side of the river arriving safe and sound.
This was the year when the mobs attacked Nauvoo and heaped much punishment upon the Saints. Patison and his wife suffered from these persecutions with the rest of the Saints. They had no permanent home, but were driven hither and yon. Their oldest child, Phoebe was born in Garden Grove, Iowa. Two years later they were back in Greenbush, Illinois where a son George Andrew was born. The mobs continued to harass the Saints. One rainy evening in the early summer of 1851, a mob attacked the town where Patison and family were living and the Saints had to fight for their lives. Patison took his wife and two small children out into the field and hid them in a corn patch. The corn was not very high so they ha to lie down to deep under cover. Here Patison left them while he went back to help the other men drive the mob out. For several hours the wife and children lay there in the rain not knowing what minute the mob might come their way or whether their husband and father would be killed.
When the Saints were finally driven from Nauvoo, the Griffeths were among those who came west. They crossed the plains in the William H. Walton Company. In order that Elizabeth may ride more comfortably, Patison made one of the wagons into a bed. This was done by stringing rope from one side of the wagon box to the other, securing them with pegs, crossing them in the manner of the old rope beds. The bedding was then placed upon the ropes which served as springs. Elizabeth needed a comfortable bed as she was awaiting the arrival of a third child. Before they reached the valley, the little one came. On September 19, 1851, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter, Louisa. They were camped at the time on the Green River in Wyoming. The Griffeths with one other family to assist them, laid over for a short time, but the main company moved on. Patison and co. had to drive hard to catch up to them.
They arrived in Utah in October, 1851. They settled first at Cottonwood in Salt Lake County. Later they moved farther South, living at Fairfield and Lehi, and finally going to Cedar Valley where they lived in the old Cedar Fort. While they were living here President Brigham Young called Patison to be a member of a scouting party to go into Cache Valley to select places for settlement. As a consequence of this call, Patison and family were among the first settlers in Hyde Park, Utah. Here Patison farmed his land, ran a store and worked as a carpenter. He had a turning lathe and he made a great deal of furniture for his own and many other early homes in Hyde Park. He was a musician and a dancing master. He played his violin, taught and called for dances all over Cache Valley. He was a faithful church member, serving as counselor to Bishop William Hyde for awhile. When the call came for him to turn over his store to a church cooperative, he was willing to do so. This project failed and Patison suffered a great financial loss. His testimony did not waver.
Patison and his son Andrew were the first settlers to go into Fairview, Idaho. During the winter of 1869, they hauled the lumber to build a house. The following spring, Sarah and her two children came to Fairview to make their home. They lived here for two years then returned to Hyde Park.
The persecution of polygamists became so severe that Patison decided to move Sarah and her family to Wyoming where polygamy was lawful. They took up land in Arburn and Sarah and her family lived there for five years then came back to Fairview for five more years. Sarah and her family were finally moved to Grover, Wyoming and lived there permanently. During this time Elizabeth and family had remained in Hyde Park. Patison divided his time between the two families, driving the distance between homes usually in a one horse buggy often driving a little high spirited white mare named "Nora". He died in the home of Sarah and was buried in Grove, Wyoming.
Patison was commissioned Major of the 3rd Battalion Infantry, 1st Regiment 1st Brigade of the Nauvoo Legion in Cache Military District of Utah Territory. This Commission was signed by Charles Durkee, Governor and Edwin Higgins, Secretary of Utah Territory on the 5th day of August, 1865. Then he was commissioned to the rank of Captain, Company B, First regiment Infantry, first Brigade by the Territory of Utah on the 20th day of August, 1869. The Utah Militia was a definite necessity for protection against the Indians. They were known as 'minute men'.
I, Albertie Griffeth Griffiths, would like to add that Grandpa was a great reader. I remember how he would tell us children that we had to go out and play or sit down and be quiet because he had something that he wanted to read to Father. I remember how we used to watch him do carpenter work. When he would plane a board he would often take the curls of wood and hang them on our hair telling us that we had pretty ringlets.
As Uncle Anciel said, he was born on the 3rd of January 1824 and it was at Berretown, Orleans County, New York. He was the son of Judah and Mariah Rockwell Griffeth. He was married at Nauvoo, 26 April 1846 to Elizabeth Carson, tall, neat, with brown eyes and auburn hair. From this union came the following family: Phoebe Ann, George Andrew, Louisa Emiline, Lovina Samantha, Marinda Elizabeth, Urmina Tryphena, Mary Malissa and Patison Delos, who died when he was a few months old.
Then for his plural wife, he chose the pretty, saucy, seventeen year old English girl, Sarah Elizabeth Gibson Roberts. They were married February 7, 1863. Their family consisted of Sarah Aneline, William Arden and Charles Henry (twins), Susan Emiline, Eleanor Elizabeth, Milton Edgar, Anciel Fernando, Eva May and Ina Maria. The twins and Edgar died in infancy.
The seven of the first family and the six of the second family all lived to marry and all had families except Eleanor (Aunt Ella's we called her.) She did not marry until after Aunt Eva died and left a family. Then she married Aunt Eva's husband, Henry Bodily, and reared the family.
Grandfather died 11 May, a faithful Latter Day Saint."
Patison helped to build the railroads through Utah and Idaho, working on the grade himself and also contracted and directed the completion of certain stripes of the grading. The railroad company was unable to pay the contractors, but there was the satisfaction of contributing to the outside world of Rail Road.
Patison was a sturdy, capable pioneer. Yet, in spite of the rugged life he lived he remained a dignified gentleman, a loving husband and father and a faithful and staunch Latter-Day Saint.
Another source from the book: Our Pioneer Heritage, we read some very interesting accounts of some of the autobiographies of the 1855 time period. One account by Mads Fredrick T. Christensen, pages 394-411 give us information with his dealings with the Carsons and the Griffeths. The following is Mads account which gives some new insights into their lives:
After arriving in Salt Lake, Mother and I were treated to Pumpkin bread and also wheat coffee and bread... the bread was good and fresh and we enjoyed it. As we did not own any part of the team we were put off on the public square or general campground until we could be picked up by someone who had use for our labor. I was picked up by George Carson who lived eight miles south of Salt Lake City. He was riding a horse and I was placed behind the saddle and this made me so sore that I could hardly walk for days. He was a rather rough character, unfeeling and not religiously inclined. He had a young wife and baby. I liked the baby best for it did not mock me nor use me for a scapegoat. I had the language to learn and scarcely knew the meaning of a dozen English words, but the first lessons were the hardest. In the Spring of 1855 I engaged to work for a year for George Carson for which services he agreed to pay me two good steers and one heifer, all one year of age, besides keeping me in food and clothes. I worked faithfully for him the year agreed upon, but he was killed in an Indian skirmish which occurred in the fall of 1855 near the fort. I was standing in the gateway of the fort on guard duty and saw the shooting from a distance. Carson was brought home on a horse in a state of near death and he expired at one o'clock. I and some others stood guard that night at the little stone fort, listening and watching closely, expecting a possible attack by revengeful Indians. We could hear moaning and mournings by refugees who, during the night, were moving their camp and effects west into Rush Valley for safety, having some wounded ones with them and having left one Indian and a squaw on the battleground. During the night some of the Indians rode to Utah Lake some twelve miles away and murdered two men who were herding cattle. Only a short time before this, I was herding the cattle near Utah Lake but my employer sold out his interest ...I was thus luckily preserved from death. There was great sorrow and mourning in the little fort when the corpses of the murdered men were brought in from the ranch by Utah Lake. I continued to work there until my time expired on the first of May 1856. It was a very hard time to be turned out of employment, as a famine for breadstuffs caused by grasshoppers was in evidence. The previous season they had practically destroyed the crops in Utah, and the territory was then isolated from the rest of the world by 1,000 miles.
I was paid off with two one-year-old steers. I did not get the expected heifer as agreed upon. I was discharged in the midst of the famine but a good samaritan, Patison Griffith, asked where I was going to find employment until I had served out my time; he said he could find work for me if I could take such fare as his own family had to live on, which would be pretty short rations until harvest time, when half a crop was expected. He would let me board with him for my work and pay me eight dollars a month. I accepted his offer and was making a Spanish wall fence around a field which was hard labor on small rations, but I endured alright. He was to me as kind as a father. I had no sooner started to work for him than he discovered that my head was lousy. The Carson widow had for a long time hidden the fine tooth comb, and my only help to keep the lice reduced was to take a piece of soap at night and steal away down to the creek and wash my head with soap and thus work out some of the surplus stock. Seeing my predicament, he (Patison) spoke to me about it and proposed to cut my hair. After a few hair cuttings and combings I was delivered from this evil. About the last of May the bread was all gone in the family and none could be bought or borrowed. Mr. Griffith had about a dozen sheep so he sold one for six dollars and with this money started out on horseback, taking a grain sack with him. He went to Lehi, which is 25 miles away, then to Salt Lake Valley calling at the mills as he went along. He went on to Ogden without finding any flour or bread for sale, at any price. He returned home without anything. The next day he started out again, going to Lehi, American Fork, Provo, Springville, Spanish Fork, and then to Payson; afterwards to Santaquin where he obtained 50 pounds of ground, unbolted wheat for six dollars, and with this supply he came home. We lived on greasewood sprouts, pigweeds and a few green vegetables, some milk curdled with rennet and a very small ration of meat. When this small supply of breadstuff was exhausted, there were yet six weeks before the earliest wheat could be gathered from a two-acre plot with voluntary bunches of wheat, very far apart. This we were permitted to help gather in and we all turned out one day and drove five miles to gather it. Forming a row at one end we pulled it up root and all, bunch by bunch. The following day the oxen were put upon it on a smooth place on the ground and it was trampled out by four head of oxen. Then the chaff was fanned away, and the wheat sacked and sent to the mill thirty miles distant to be ground.
When a sack of the flour and one of bran were brought into the house, there was a time of rejoicing hard to describe. The good housewife was touched to tears over what we had passed through, while the chatter of the children was about the bread which was in prospect. Soon we got it in the form of warm biscuit and bread, which never tasted better. Later a moderate harvest was gathered in Utah and the famine was a thing of the past.
After Mads built a mud fence for the Griffiths, he later left for employment as a saddler in Provo. We can only imagine the hardship it was for Patison to get one bag of flour for his family. This account helps us appreciate the hardships that the Carsons and the Griffiths had to deal with when settling in the Utah Valley in the 1850's.
Marinda's brother: George Andrew Griffith (Calvin's spelling)
Front row L to R: George Andrew Griffith, Alberita, George Andrew Jr, Azuba (Alder) with mother, Mary Elizabeth Thurman Griffeth,
Back:Patison Delos (Dee) Griffeth, Elanor Griffith (Bodily), Irene Griffith (Talbert), Edward Griffith, Gertrude Griffith (Thomas). "My mother's brother and his family were very good people, CDMc."
Cousins" L to R: Mary Miles, Melissa and Bertha Therman Dublan Horse and Riders. Perhaps a July 4th celebration
To Calvin D.McOmber from his cousin, Bertha Thurman, Dublan Mexico
L to R: Lucy McCombs, Henry Nelsen, Augusta Anderson, Mary Miles, Barton Lowde, Winoia ?, Zilpha ?, Annie Kirby, Francis H., Milo Anderson, Nellie Jensen, BURTHA THURMAN, Edward, Christenson, Stena Nelson, James A., Lillian Nelson,
Return Address: Grover, Uinta Co. Wyoming
Major Roads and Trails, 1780 -1860
Territories of 1819, USA
Stagecoach Inn, Home of "Uncle John Carson"
George and Ann Carson's Children:
Family group of George and Ann Hough Carson
Indian Attacks caused the Carson family to build: Camp Lloyd at Fairfield, a shelter from the Indians
The Carson Family Newsletter
Continuation of Carson Newsletter
My Genealogy, Calvin D. McOmber Sr Your cut-and-paste page died November 20,1969
Born August 22, 1885, Hyde Park,Born Oct. 9, 1844 Cache Co, Utah
Gaines, Orleans, NY
Died November 4, 1932
Father buried at the Soldier's cemetery
Roseburg, Dgls, Oregon,( for Civil War Vets).
Judah Griffith
Born May 23, 1795 at NY
Married October 10,1822
Died June 3, 1879
Mariah, no picture
Parents were: Isaac Rockwell
Mother:Phoebe Hempstead
Josiah Janes, Ashford, Conn. Nov, II, 1792 ( Axie's heritage)
Asenath Slafter, Mansfield, Con,.Aug.18,1796
L.to right: Arthur B. Clark
LeRoy Hyde, cousin
Marinda Griffith Clark (Mother)
Calvin Delos McOmber, 17 Yrs.
Sealed to AB Clark 1902, moved to Old Mexico
Marinda Elizabeth Griffeth
Born March 7, 1857
Fairfield, Utah, utah
Died June 29, 1916 at Hyde Park, Cache, Utah
Patison Delos Griffeth
Born January 1824
at Barre, Orleans, NY
Married April 26, 1846
Died May 11, 1901, Grover, Uintah, Wyoming
Elizabeth Carson
Born July 7, 1822
At Lewiston, Mifflin, Penns
Died November 7, 1898
at Auburn, Uinta, Wyoming
Family of Patison and Elizabeth Carson Griffith:
Seated:Father, Patison Delos Griffith, mother, Elizabeth Ann Carson
Griffith
Pheobe Ann G.Hyde, George Andrew G.Standing: Urmina Tryphena
G.Hyde, Louisa Emiline G.Seamon, Marinda Elizabeth Griffith McOmber
Clark, Lovina Samantha G.Thurman, Mary Melissa G. Hyde
Married at Nauvoo, Crossed the plains in 1851 as a young couple & family moved to Fairfield, Utah, Assigned by Brigham Young to settle Hyde Park, Utah
Patisons Parents: Juda Griffith, Joined the church
Born May 23,1795 Barre Orleans, NY
Married October 10, 1822
to Mariah Rockwell,
Parents of ten children
Died June 30, 1879 at Thurman Frmnt, Iowa
Did not follow Brigham Young, stayed
in the Josephite Church (Reorganized LDS)
Mariah Rockwell
Born May 12, 1800 at Pompey, Onndg, NY
Died Feb. 15, 1852
Parents name: Isaac Rockwell and Phebe Hempstead
Elizabeth Carsons parents:
George Carson, father and wife, Ann Hough crossed
the Plains. He was a captain of ten, and
arrived in the valley 1851.
George Carson
Born July 17, 1794
Mifflin Co., Penns
Died December 1851
(Hyde Park, Cache, Utah ?)
Or at the Union Pioneer cemetery, SLC
Ann Hough
Born June 27, 1794
Tuscarora, Mifflin, PA
Died 1869 at Hyde Park, Cache, Utah
at her daughter's home, Eliza
Richard McOmber, father of Orange
Born July 2, 1811, Gaines, Orleans, NY
Married December 7, 1834
Died December 19, 1871, Albion, Orleans,Father and Grandfather named
Richard
Eliza Cook, Mother of Orange
Born June 22, 1818, Gaines, Orlns, New York
Married Dec. 7, 1834
Died 1880 at Gaines, NY
Born July 2, 1811, Gaines, Orleans, NY
Married December 7, 1834
Died December 19, 1871
Albion, Orleans, NY