An American Family of FILLMORE

An American Family of FILLMORE:
Woodsmen...early Mormon Pioneers...

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John Adam Fillmore, Jr.
b. Apr 7, 1790, Granville, Addison County, Vermont
d. Aug 18, 1850, Franklin Mill, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Father - John (Adam) Fillmore
Mother - < Lydia Ann >

   Martha Minerva (Calkins) Fillmore
b. Mar 7, 1795, Hebron, Franklin County, Vermont
d. May 10 1882, Payson, Utah County, Utah
Father - (Bishop) Israel Calkins, Sr.
Mother - Mary Grigg(s)

The FILLMORE FAMILY of AMERICA

JOHN ADAM FILLMORE: There seems to be much confusion over this family -of the five FILLMORE books that I've found and studied regarding his origin, etc., and the genealogical information I've recovered from other FILLMORE, including the ones here in Oklahoma, I'm beginning to wonder about some things:
Sources -
1. The Fillmores of River Phillip, Cumberland County, Nova Scotia, by Charles Lockhart Fillmore,(1901-1980), Truro, Nova Scotia: Colchester Historical Society, 1979.
2. So Soon Forgotten, Three Thousand Fillmores: the Descendants of John, the Mariner, and his wife, Abigail (Tilton) FILLMORE, by Charles Lockhart Fillmore, Rutland, Vermont: E. F. Etter, 1984 (Rutland, VT.: Daamen). Notes completed by Peter A. Fillmore, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
3. History and Genealogy of the Fillmore family, June 19, 1701 - Dec 25, 1975., by John L. Fillmore (1816-1898), Benecia, California: B. P. & M. F. Carrick, 1975. Publication of manuscript found among personal effects of Ray Wharton Dudley (1889-1975) - initially compiled by Major John L. Fillmore in 1856, updated in 1864 and 1898 - some genealogy added by Beverly p. and Michael Carrick, Benicia, California.
4. Our Oklahoma Fillmore Brethren: Church of the Brethren Pioneers of Cushing, Oklahoma and area; Compiled by Teddie Anne (DRIGGS) STUEBER (1952-0000) - family journals, cemetery records, stories submitted to local publications, printed concerning the 1891 "Cimarron Race" (land run) of Oklahoma, by Mrs. Pat Fillmore of Cushing, Oklahoma, family group records and pedigree charts of this family, beginning with John Fillmore (b.1725- ENG.).[Compilation incomplete and non-published as of this writing - 1998).
5. The Fillmores: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow: a history written by the late William Rosland Fillmore (b.1894), originally published in 1959, Spanish Fork, UT.

Our family records have been obtained through the many years of research and exhausted resources of William R. Fillmore, a descendant of Milan Lucian Fillmore, brother of my ancestor, Daniel Babcock Fillmore. He writes in his research that he was never able to completely resolve the question of whether or not our JOHN FILLMORE was a relative of John The Mariner and Abigail (TILTON) FILLMORE. He observed that he could find no other spelling of the name as such except in America prior to the time of John the Mariner.  But William Fillmore could not positively ascertain that our line came from this same FILLMORE. The main issue that seems to prevent this conclusion stems from the extracted dates


1. John Fillmore was born in 1676, of Kent County, England. He immigrated to Massachusetts Colony with family members, and is said to have married Abigail Tilton by 1701 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, then removing to New Hampshire, where he died in 1711. His son, John Fillmore (b. 1702), married Mary Spillar in 1724 and lived in Norwich, CT. After Mary Fillmore died, John remarried Dorcas Day on 16 Mar., 1735, of Windham, CT. John Fillmore died on 22 Feb., 1777 at Norwich, CT.
John Fillmore (1725/1726-1796, son of John and Mary (Spillar) Fillmore, married Leah Day in 1747 in Norwich, CT. and later immigrated from Connecticut to Fort Lawrence, Nova Scotia, still later removing to Jolicure (Jolly Coeur), Westmorland County, New Brunswick (then part of Nova Scotia) at about the time of the American Revolution - Records show that they were "Loyalists" to the English Crown. This move is probably a result of that position and the death of his father.
2. According to the records of William R. Fillmore: John Fillmore said to have been born in Kent, ENG. in 1632 and immigrated to New England, apparently with other family members. He is stated as living in Connecticut by 1755, married to Lydia Ann ( ?  ) Fillmore. Listed with them are: George Fillmore, born 1756, Jonathan Blount Fillmore, born 1758. Then there is a list as shown: Asa Ransom (Cel) Fillmore, born 1766, Michael Fillmore, born 1768, James Fillmore, born 1770, E. Sheldon (Lunt) Fillmore, born 1775, and John Adam Fillmore, born 1790 in Vermont. Mr. Fillmore seemed to think that Lydia Ann was the wife and the following two children from that union, along with the remaining persons. However, from the Connecticut records which I have reviewed and the histories of various other FILLMORE families I believe that Lydia Ann was the daughter of John and Dorcas (DAY) FILLMORE:

A. I found a record in Connecticut that says: John Fillmore / Mary Spillar (Mar 1724 in Norwich, CT.) -

1. son: John Fillmore (1725 Norwich, New London Co., CT).- mar. Leah Day 12 Nov., 1747 New London, CT. - Leah Day (b. Abt. 1728 Norwich, New London Co., CT.)

2. dau.: Abigail Fillmore (b 25 Mar., 1728 New London Co., Norwich, CT.)
mar: Nathaniel Kimball Nov., 1749, New London Co., Norwich, CT.;

3. dau.: Mary Fillmore (17 Aug.1731, Norwich, New London Co., CT)

4. son: Henry Fillmore (28 Jun., 1733 Norwich, New London Co., CT.)

William Fillmore did not know where John Fillmore (b. 1632) came into America, only that by 1758 he was living in Connecticut. It does not say how the first three children listed are related to him, but records listing children in groups like that are normally to be considered as the children of the adult male heading the family; in this case, John Fillmore. It could be that this John Fillmore was the "descendant" of the one who came into New England in Abt.1630-1632, as this was the time when ships were bringing passengers to Massachusetts and immigrants were going to Connecticut and Rhode Island settlements.

B. In William Fillmore's book, he states that John Fillmore (b. 1702) married Mary Spillar (1724)- and then 2ndly, married Dorcas Day, on 16 Mar., 1735 at Windham, Pomfret, Connecticut. I have found records indicating that he also married a woman named Mary Roach. This has been neither confirmed by me nor negated at this time. According to Connecticut records, John Fillmore and Mary Spillar had a son named John Fillmore who married Leah Day, 12 Nov., 1747, at Norwich, CT. This son, John Fillmore and his family removed to Nova Scotia. I have found no other "John" born of the earlier John Fillmore with any of the three wives who could be my ancestor, John Adam Fillmore, nor any indication that they could be related, except that they all originally came from Kent County, England. Children of John and Dorcas found listed in Connecticut records are:

1. Jemima Fillmore (1 May 1737 Windham, CT.)

2. Miriam Fillmore (22 Nov., 1738 Windham, CT.)

3. Nathaniel Fillmore (20 Mar., 1739, Hartford, CT.)

4. Comfort Day Fillmore (26 Jan., 1741,Norwich, CT.) -#1 Mar. Serviah Bosworth, 22 Jun., 1763, Norwich, N. L. Co., CT. - #2 Mar.: Annice Bailey, 16 Mar., 1813, Franklin, N. L. Co., CT.

5. Amaziah Fillmore (23 Nov.,1743, Norwich, CT.)

6. Benjamin Fillmore (28 Jan., 1744 Norwich, CT.)

C. - John Fillmore, son of John and Mary (Spillar) Fillmore, born 1725, married "Leah Day" in 1747, in Connecticut. Listed as children are:

1. Lydia Ann Fillmore (15 Nov., 1747 Norwich, CT.)- mar. Jacob Pember, 29 Jan.,1767, Franklin TWP, New London Co., CT.

2. Margaret Fillmore (16 May, 1748 Norwich, N. L. Co., CT.)

3. Luther Fillmore (14 Jan., 1749 Norwich, CT.)

4. Abigail Fillmore (21 Apr., 1750 Norwich, CT.)

5. Deliverance Fillmore "DILLIE" (2 Jan,1751 Norwich, CT.) - named after the ship they came to America on: "The Deliverance".- Mar. John Prior, 12 Sep., 1776, Norwich, N. L. Co., CT.

6. Calvin Fillmore (24 Feb., 1752 Norwich, CT.)- died as a child.

7. Deborah Fillmore (21 Jun., 1755 Norwich, CT.)

8. George Fillmore (1756 Norwich, CT)

9. Jonathan Blount Fillmore ( 1758, Norwich, Ct)


* Found a "Dorcas Fillmore", dau of John and Leah (Day) Fillmore, born Abt. 1747 - she married Abel Page. Apparently, she was named after Dorcas (Day) Fillmore.

Then, suddenly, we have appear the following children:

1. Asa Ransom Fillmore (Cel) (b. 1766)

2. Michael Fillmore (b. 1768)

3. James Fillmore (b. 1770)

4. E. Sheldon Fillmore (Lunt) (b. 1775)

5. John Adam Fillmore (b. 1790 VT.)



There are no records in William R. "Ross" Fillmore's research that accounts for the eight years that lapse between child #9 and Asa Ransom born in 1766, Michael Fillmore, born in 1768, James Fillmore, born in 1770, E. Sheldon (Lunt) Fillmore, born in 1785, and lastly, John Adam Fillmore, born in 1790 in Vermont. He states that there are some researchers who think that John Adam Fillmore would have been over a hundred years old when his last children were born and he stated that it is not impossible for a man of advanced years to still produce children. I totally agree with that.  I knew a man in Louisiana years ago, who had been a polygamous Mormon. He had married several women during the years when it was a practice in the LDS church in his younger years and even after legally divorcing them, as ordered by the law, he was still Sealed to them all in the Temple of the Lord, so he continued as their spouse and cared for all his many, many children, as well. He was at the time I knew him, of the advanced age of 114 years,  his youngest son only 19 years old! He saw all of them off to college before his death.  The problem I have with his William Rosland Fillmore's conclusions for these being the children of John Fillmore (b. 1725), is that of the gap of 44 years between George Fillmore and John Adam Fillmore JR, supposedly full brothers. The early record in Vermont shows him using the name only as John Fillmore. In his later years in New York, he is found in records as Adam Fillmore. It is assumed therefore that his name was John Adam Fillmore, but not affirmed. It is also assumed that this John Fillmore of Vermont, is the same one as the one of Connecticut, yet I see no conclusions per se. These things would seem to indicate to my thinking that there was either another wife for John Fillmore Sr.,  or that yet another Fillmore was in between the two men, the son of the former and the father of  John Adam Fillmore Jr.

Also, the wording in the record regarding these people. Ross claimed the record indicated that Lydia Ann, George, and Jonathan were children of a John Fillmore (b 1725) "who immigrated to Connecticut in 1755". Some genealogists indicate that this "Lydia Ann" was his wife, while others follow WRF's conclusion that she was his daughter. If so, then where is the wife? Who was she? Perhaps the daughter was named after the mother, but the records gives us no clue that either was the case or even that these were John's children. The records, as I have read them, merely states that "a Lydia, George and Jonathan Fillmore" accompanied John Fillmore...it does not state how they were related or even if they were related that I can see. Also, other records show that the Fillmores removed to Nova Scotia. They were  Loyalists during the Revolutionary war, and many colonialists removed to Canada during that time for safety reasons. Many also returned after the War was ended. The FILLMORE family lived there for nearly twenty years. This is also the exact location of our CALKINS family at that time. It seems reasonable to me to believe that there is yet another son between John Fillmore of Connecticut (b. 1725- 1796) who moved to Nova Scotia and the John Fillmore of Franklin, Vermont, who fathered John Adam Fillmore, JR. (1790) and died in 1829. William Rosland Fillmore himself stated in his Family History that he was not sure either. He exhausted every resource available to him trying to solve the mystery.
 

From the Family records kept by a FILLMORE family of Cushing, Payne County, Oklahoma, however, I have not yet been able to reconcile our John Fillmore with the presence of theirs. The problem being that their John Fillmore (b.1763) in New Brunswick, Canada, who was the son of John Fillmore (b. 1725) and Leah (Day) Fillmore. I do not believe that a parent would name two sons John. Their records seems to be better documented and our line gets hazy back into the pedigree of John Adam Fillmore Jr. But this is what I have put together and until someone finds a better explanation or documents a different pedigree, it is the best I can theorize

 

" Come, Come Ye saints...no toil nor labor fear...but with joy, wend your way." From the LINK above, you may access & read the official LDS message made about this song that sustained so many of the Saints through the decades of hardships. Read about William Clayton, the Church Historian and beloved songwriter and the story behind his song, "All Is Well"

Daniel Babcock Fillmore in his younger years

Elder Daniel Babcock Fillmore (later years)
b. Oct 17, 1819. Camillus, Onondaga county, NY.
d. Dec 21, 1894, Payson, Utah county, UT.
LDS High Priest & "Seventy", Payson, Utah (1860-1894)

Thankful Ann GRANT in her younger years

Thankful Ann (Grant) Fillmore (later years)
b. May 6, 1812, Batavia, Genesee county, NY.
d. Apr 23, 1899, Payson, Utah county, UT.

 

DANIEL BABCOCK FILLMORE was born on 17 Oct. 1819 at Camillus, Onondaga County, New York. He was the 5th child born to John Adam FILLMORE, JR. & Martha Minerva CALKINS.

Origin of his Our Ancestor's Given Name:
In William R. Fillmore's family history, "FILLMORES, Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow", he writes: "when the Family of JOHN ADAM FILLMORE lived in Granville, Addison county, Vermont, there was in that same community or nearby Kingston, a man by the name of DANIEL BABCOCK born 17 Nov., 1786, in Westerly, Rhode Island. In 1817, he received his license to preach and became an Itinerant Preacher in the Baptist Church, traveling far and near. Sometime during his travels, he came to know John Adam Fillmore, Sr., after John had moved with his family to New York state. Daniel Babcock was by then in his 32nd year of age. He must have made a decided impression on our ancestor during the years 1827 to 1819, for when John's son was born on October 17th, 1819, John named him DANIEL BABCOCK FILLMORE. William Ross Fillmore goes on to say, "This gives us an incite into the (former) Religious preference of our ancestor, John Adam Fillmore, JR.", before he became a Latter-day Saint in the 1830s. (WRF cite3)
 

EARLY LIFE OF DANIEL BABCOCK FILLMORE

On 22 Sep., 1839, at the age of 20 years, he married Miss THANKFUL ANN GRANT. She was born on 6 May, 1812 at Batavia, Genesee County, New York. She was therefore a little more than seven years his senior. THANKFUL ANN GRANT was the daughter of JOHN GRANT JR. and SARAH "Sally" OSGOOD. She came from quite a well-to-do family and in her early life was a school teacher. It was in her class room that Daniel became acquainted with Thankful Ann, and fell in love with her. On September 22, 1837, Daniel and Thankful Ann were married in the State of New York. Little is known about their early years together. They had ten children born to them, five boys and five girls. Three of the children died in infancy or early childhood and the 4th, a daughter, died at the age of 21.

Daniel's father & mother, JOHN ADAM FILLMORE JR. and MARTHA MINERVA (nee CALKINS) were early converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, although the dates of their baptism are not known. Daniel joined the Church on June 19th, 1840, Baptized by Elder David McQuetha. All of John Adam and Martha's children had been converted and had joined the Church at this early time.

Martha was the daughter of  ISRAEL CALKINS Sr. & Mary GRIGGS or GRIGG. Mary Griggs-Calkins died young in 1807, when Martha was about 12 years of age. Her father married again within a year's time to his first cousin, HANNAH CALKINS, daughter of AARON CALKINS, who was the brother of Israel's father, DAVID CALKINS.  ISRAEL CALKINS SR. was an early convert to the LDS Church, which was organized in 1830. No Baptismal record has been found to date. However, I did find in Early LDS Membership microfiche files that he was made an Elder (High Priest) and received his Patriarchal Blessing from the 1st Church Patriarch, Joseph Smith, Sr., the Prophet's father, on July 7th, 1836 in Freedom, Cattaraugus County, NY.  The CALKINS family was at that time living in Westfield, Chautauqua county, NY. The period following this is rather cloudy, but apparently, they left New York, answering "the call" for the Saints to pull out of New York and Pennsylvania and go to Kirtland, Ohio, where a Mormon community was being developed and a temple was to be built. Many other CALKINS relatives also went to Kirtland, according to early LDS Church History (Vols.) and records I have recovered from the LDS Archives. An uncle and cousins of Israel Calkins also joined the Mormon Church and in the early 1830s were among the "Saints" who were sent to establish "ZION" in Jackson county, Missouri. Their names appear on the LDS Petition of Missouri in the early 1830s.  When trouble started, word was sent for the Saints to join the main body in Kirtland, Ohio.  But the Saints were forced out of Kirtland, not long after the completion of the Kirtland Temple and the historical Conference that was held there. So, they pushed on farther west and found a swampy area in southern Illinois along the Mississippi river. It was mosquito ridden, marshy region along the river, harboring disease, and generally thought of as worthless land. The Saints set to work, draining the swamps and building up the land. Within a very short period of time, it became a beautiful city.  Joseph renamed it "Nauvoo" which supposedly means beautiful city. By 1840, it is here that we next find our ancestor, ISRAEL CALKINS SR. being called and sustained as one of the ten bishops in the new Mormon city of Nauvoo, Hancock County, Illinois, also known as Commerce, Illinois.

It is not known exactly how, when , or where John Adam Fillmore, JR and Martha M. Calkins met. Family stories have it that Daniel B. and Thankful Ann were married in Wisconsin, while other family stories state they married in Batavia, New York and then removed to Wisconsin. Presumably, they must have met in New York.

CHILDREN of Daniel B. Fillmore & Martha Minerva Calkins:

Mary Jane FILLMORE, b. Racine, WI. - (became my GG-Gramma Lamb)
Martha Minerva FILLMORE, b. Racine, WI.
Alma Silas FILLMORE, b. Raymond, WI.
Daniel Ransom FILLMORE, b. Raymond, WI.
Miranda Ann FILLMORE, b. Raymond, WI.
Thankful Rosilla FILLMORE, b. Raymond, WI.- "Aunt Dilly"
John Waterman FILLMORE, b. Raymond, WI.
Milan Lucian FILLMORE, b. Raymond, WI.
Oscar Newman FILLMORE, b. Raymond, WI.
Antha Almira FILLMORE, b. Sargeant, Mower county, MN.

While still living in New York, they heard and accepted the Gospel from the Mormon Missionaries. I found two baptismal records for them. One record shows they were baptized there into the Church on June 19th, 1842, according to old Payson, Utah Church records of the Nebo Stake, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. In the early Church Members Microfiche Records, I found their baptismal date as 1840. This may seem contradictory for a church record, but in the first years of the Organization of the Church, the Saints were baptized over and over again. Early records may have been destroyed or lost in those troubled times when they were attacked by angry mobs and forced out of their homes. There may be other reasons that this author is not aware of that would cause the discrepancy in early church records or the two baptismal dates. One interesting bit of information I found regarding early Church baptisms was that it even became a practice among some of the early Saints to be re-baptized on their anniversary every year, as a form of rededication or recommitment. It was not a doctrinal practice, but more of a tradition. This practiced was banned by President Snow in the later 1800s.
[No specific dates are given as to when he was ordained to the Priesthood, but he did hold the higher Priesthood, for he was called to be a SEVENTY before 1860. A Seventy is a calling to be a perpetual missionary for the Church and is a life-long calling.]. As an ordained Elder, Daniel Babcock Fillmore was sent back to Wisconsin by Brigham Young, to convert other family and friends and to bring them back to Utah Territory, which he did.

According to William R. Fillmore, sometime after their conversion, Daniel & Thankful left New York and moved to Wisconsin and lived there until 1857, when they sold out and moved to Minnesota. Five of the neighboring families also moved at this time, Daniel's brother MILAN LUCIAN FILLMORE, being one of them. William R. Fillmore, grandson of Milan Lucian Fillmore wrote in his Family History of The Fillmores that in his family there had perpetuated the story told that Daniel & his brother, Milan Lucian had once had the privilege of meeting the Prophet Joseph smith, JR., but that he had not been able to document this story. In the writings of Don Q. Cannon, an early LDS Church Historian which covers the time when the Mormons were in Nauvoo, Illinois, and during the Exodus West to Utah, "The Far West Records", he notes that "Brother Daniel Babcock Fillmore was sent to Wisconsin to the Pineries on Black River to obtain timber for the Nauvoo Temple buildings." According to the Census Records for 1844, Daniel was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois.

This is a list of Latter-Day Saint family members mentioned in the LDS Church Historical records during the Mormon Nauvoo years, with ref. to where they are cited:

CALKINS

Calkin, Lyman L. 2:28
Calkins, Alva C. 2:13
Calkins, Asa 3:47
Calkins, Edwin R. 2:13
*Calkins, Israel 2:28; 3:5,11
Calkins, James W. 2:13
Calkins, Luman H. 1:35; 2:28; 3:3
Calkins, Luman Hopkins 3:5
Calkins, Mehitable 1:35; 3:3
Calkins, Sylvanus 2:13

FILLMORE

*Fillmore, Daniel Babcock 9:1:35
Fillmore, Millard 7:2:60

Daniel B. Fillmore - There was sawdust in his hair
I have been asked many, many times by fellow researchers, why it was that the Fillmores did not go West in the 1845 Exodus with the main Mormon group and our CALKINS et al families. Why did they chose to stay in Wisconsin and later Minnesota? Why did they later go on to Utah in 1860? I will tell you truly, that I do not have all the answers. But here are some of the facts that I have found. There is more data that I have found that will be published with this record, and I will be adding it as I have time to do so. Please fell free to check back from time to time for any possible new additions.

The LDS Black River Lumber Company of 1841

In William Rosland Fillmore' s Family History, "FILLMORES, Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow", he wrote that in his family, there was the legend that Milan Lucian and Daniel Babcock Fillmore had once had the honor of meeting the Prophet Joseph Smith, Jr. just before his Martyrdom. He had found no evidence to this support this family story.

Several years before I had read Ross's Family History, I had discovered some very Early LDS Church records, wherein it showed that Daniel B. Fillmore had been and early convert and had been a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois, in the mid 1840s. Daniel's maternal grandfather, ISRAEL CALKINS, was a very early convert to the Mormon church (1836), and he was not only a resident of the Mormon city of Nauvoo, but he was also one of the ten bishops there in Nauvoo from 1840  till the Exodus in 1845 and 1846. He lived south of Knight street, which was where his congregational district lay, called a "Ward".  I also later found a citation in a Church History text book for an Institute Study course, that Daniel B. Fillmore had not only lived in Nauvoo (1840 census records for Hancock county, IL), but had been called to go to Wisconsin to obtain lumber for building the new temple. Joseph Smith called upon 118 men to go up to the Pineries along the Black River (a tributary of the Mississippi river), and build a mill for cutting cut lumber. It was to be floated down the Mississippi river to Nauvoo.  Bishop George Miller organized the Black River Company in the fall of 1841, and purchased the mills in the Pineries on Black River to float lumber down the Mississippi to Nauvoo for construction of the new temple and housing for members.  Brother Miller was bishop over all the Latter Day Saints, and later president over the high priests' quorum. He arrived at the Falls of Black River for the first time on 31 December 1842, returning occasionally to Nauvoo. In August 1843, Joseph Smith assigned Daniel Babcock FILLMORE to take charge of the milling operation of the Black River Lumber Company with Bishop Miller as the overseer.  Both Miller and Wight returned to Nauvoo at the end of April 1844, shortly afterward after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith Jr,  the mills fell out of the hands of the church, and local Mormons dispersed throughout Wisconsin. [Ref. - Early MORMONS in WISCONSIN - a Closer View of the Early settlement (Black River), 1835-1875].

Nonetheless, during the time when the Church Lumber company was operational, thousands upon thousands of board feet of lumber from the Pineries had been sent down to Nauvoo on huge rafts and the beautiful new Temple was built, as well as many fine homes.

From the La Crosse, Wisconsin Library web site at http://lplcat.lacrosse.lib.wi.us/genealogy/laxhistory/Ethnicity.asp#Pioneers

"In October 1844, a community of 20 families of the Mormon faith from Nauvoo, Illinois, landed at La Crosse. The Mormon peoples had been in the Black River Pineries as early as 1839, harvesting lumber for their Temple at Nauvoo. The La Crosse contingent built several cabins, twenty-five or thirty, in the area now called Mormon Coulee in the Town of Shelby, approximately five miles south of Myrick's trading post. Myrick & Miller employed several of the men to cut cordwood and make shingles over the winter. Myrick paid them for their services in food and other provisions for the fledgling community. In the spring of 1845, the settlement left the La Crosse area en masse, burned their houses, and eventually moved to Texas.

Despite their brief time in what was to become La Crosse County, the Mormons left their name on two important pieces of real estate: Mormon Coulee and Mormon Creek. The Mormon Coulee ("coolie") area follows the Mormon Creek from Running Slough in the Town of Shelby on the west through the Town of Greenfield and to the western part of the Town of Washington to the east on St. Joseph Ridge. It is bounded on the north by St. Joseph Ridge and on the south by Brinkman Ridge (initially called Brecken Ridge). Brinkman Ridge spills over into Vernon County."

  The Shantyman's Life

 ~ a popular nineteenth century folk song, lyrics by Elmer De Noyer ~

The Shantyman's life is a worrisome one,
though some call it free from care.
Its a ringing of the ax from morning 'til night
In the middle of the forest fair.
While life in the shanties bleak and cold,
While the wintery winds do blow,
As soon as the morning star does appear,
To the wild woods we must go.

All you jolly fellows, come listen to my song;
It’s all about the pinery boys and how they got along.
They’re the jolliest lot of fellows, so merrily and fine,
They will spend the pleasant winter months in cutting down the pine.
 
Some would leave their friends and homes, and others they love dear,
And into the lonesome pine woods their pathway they do steer.
Into the lonesome pine woods all winter to remain,
A’waiting for the springtime to return again.
 
Springtime comes, oh, glad will be its day!
Some return to home and friends, while others go astray.
The sawyers and the choppers, they lay their timber low.
The swampers and the teamsters they haul it to and fro.
 
Next comes the loaders before the break of day.
Load up your sleighs, five thousand feet to the river, haste away.
Noon time rolls around, our foremen loudly screams,
"Lay down your tools, me boys, and we’ll haste to pork and beans."
 
We arrive at the shanty, the splashing then begins,
The banging of the water pails, the rattling of the tins.
In the middle of the splashing, our cook for dinner does cry.
We all arise and go, for we hate to lose our pie.
 
Dinner being over, we into our shanty go.
We all fill up our pipes and smoke ‘til everything looks blue.
"It’s time for the wood, me boys," our foreman he does say.
We all gather up our hats and caps, to the woods we haste away.
 
We all go with a welcome heart and a well contented mind
For the winter winds blow cold among the waving pines.
The ringing of saws and axes until the sun goes down.
"Lay down your tools, me boys, for the shanties we are bound."
 
We arrive at the shanties with cold and wet feet,
Take off our overboots and packs, the supper we must eat.
Supper being ready, we all arise and go
For it ain’t the style of lumberjack to lose his hash, you know.
 
At three o’clock in the morning, our bold cook loudly shouts,
"Roll out, roll out, you teamsters, it time that you are out."
The teamsters they get up in a fright and manful wail:
"Where is my boots? Oh, where’s my pack? My rubbers have gone astray."
They other men they then get up, their packs they cannot find
And they lay it to the teamsters, and they curse them ‘til they’re blind.
 
Springtime comes, Oh, glad will be the day!
Lay down your tools, me boys, and we’ll haste to break away.
The floating ice is over, and business now destroyed.
And all the able-bodied men are wanted on the Pelican drive.
 
With jam-pikes and peavys those able men do go
Up all those wild and dreary streams to risk their lives you know.
On cold and frosty mornings they shiver with the cold,
So much ice upon their jam-pikes, they scarcely them can hold.
 
Now whenever you hear those verses, believe them to be true.
For if you doubt one word of them, just ask Bob Munson’s crew.
It was in Bob Munson’s shanties where they were sung with glee
And the ending of my song is signed with C, D, F, and G.

GLOSSARY

 

Daniel Babcock Fillmore, b. Oct. 17, 1819 in NY, was my GGG-Grandfather. The above photo of him and Martha Minerva Calkins, his wife, was taken after they removed to Payson, Utah, in 1860. They were baptized June 19, 1840 (1842 in Payson records) by Elder David McQuetha, New York State (Early Church Membership records). Martha's father, ISRAEL CALKINS was a Bishop of one of the ten ecclesiastical wards in Nauvoo, IL, "that area east of the city and south of Knight St" Aug. 20, 1842.

Daniel was at that time a resident in Nauvoo (census) , but was called to go to Black River to assist Elder George Miller in organizing the Black River Company in the fall of 1841 (Ref. History of the Church). Mills were built (or purchased) at the Pineries on Black River and lumber was then floated down the Mississippi for the temple project in Nauvoo. Daniel never was a follower of the "Strangites" group. He and his family were faithful members of the Church. He removed to Racine, Wisconsin by 1846, after the Saints were driven out of Nauvoo. The Fillmores remained in Wisc until 1857, when they removed to Minnesota. I have more about the Fillmore & Lamb family migrations westward & their histories, including the John Smith Company Wagon Train trip to Utah in 1860, and the 28 family members of the Wagon Train, if any of you are interested. Much ado is being made about the "Strangites group" and it seems that every Mormon involved in the Lumbering project is being lumped in with that bunch, which is not the case. Outbreaks of cholera may have caused them to stay in Wisconsin. John Fillmore, his father and other family members, died as a result.

Food Supplies recommended for the Exodus West out of Nauvoo in 1847

(Taken from the Nauvoo Neighbor, a Nauvoo, Illinois newspaper in 1845)

Jerky: beef or venison, Dried Fruit: apples, peaches, Dried Vegetables, Dried Beans: navy beans (small white), red beans, Fresh meat as available: Antelope, Goose, Duck, Rabbit, Deer, Buffalo, Rice, Flour or Breadstuffs, Saleratus (baking soda), Milk (if you had a milch cow), Salt, Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Cloves, Mustard, Black Pepper, Cayenne Pepper, Sugar, Eggs (if you had chickens)

Most of the CALKINS family took part in the EXODUS to Winter Quarters, Nebraska & Council Bluffs, Iowa. Some of them took part in the Mormon Battalion during the Mexican War, and returned to Iowa after being discharged. Some of these went farther south into Iowa, remaining faithful Saints all their lives, but choosing not to go out to Salt Lake Valley.

Israel and his wife, Hannah Calkins, died in Iowa and never made it to Salt Lake Valley. They are buried there somewhere, probably in one of the long abandoned cemeteries along the Mormon Trail.

While in Iowa, the Calkins families took part in the Kanesville Conference in the first Mormon Tabernacle ever built, which was under the direction of Brigham Young - purportedly "the world's biggest log cabin" built by white men, anyway, that could house ALL the Saints...over 1,000 were able to be inside for the Conference. It was here that Brigham Young was finally sustained by the Church body "with a show of all hands" vote during the Conference, as the new Prophet and President of the Church Of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

<- CLICK ON IMAGE for  a LINK to the official LDS web site, to read more about the Kanesville Tabernacle.  An exact replica was built of this amazing structure. The original structure was designed and built by brother Harry Miller, a close friend of Abraham Lincoln. A log Cabin that could hold 1,000 people!

To Learn more about the Mormon Exodus of 1845, check this LINK.


Daniel FILLMORE is shown as a High Priest. (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints -LDS).
Daniel & Thankful Ann Fillmore lived in Raymond, Racine, Wisconsin, a small town between Milwaukee and Chicago, IL. on the west shore of Lake Michigan. In 1856, they decided to move from Wisconsin to Minnesota, a neighboring state. The distance moved was four Hundred miles, with an ox team and heavy wagon. This was by no means an easy trip for the large family, in those early days.

Soon after this, in 1859, Daniel & Thankful and his brother, MILAN LUCIAN FILLMORE and his family, felt they wanted to be with the Saints in Utah, so they sold their home, packed what things they could take with them and started towards Nebraska, to the "jumping off" place in Florence, from where the Mormon Wagon train was getting outfitted for the trip and from where they would commence on their journey West to Utah Territory.

Their mother, Martha Minerva (Calkins) Fillmore, who had been a widow since 1850, did not go with them. Just before the Fillmore and Lamb families left for Utah, Martha Fillmore put her arms around her boys, and said, "God bless and protect you; keep an eye open for me, for I may yet come to Utah." It was some ten years later that her desire was fulfilled (WRF cit.3).



The Fillmore families left Minnesota, heading south to Florence, Nebraska, to join up with the John Smith Wagon Company, a Mormon Emigrant Wagon Train, leaving out of Florence. They were accompanied by the LAMB Families, also of Minnesota. James and Osmer Lamb, brothers, had both married Fillmore girls in Wisconsin - cousins.

This was one of the last two Mormon sponsored Emigration Wagon Trains.
Read more about this historic journey!

Daniel B. Fillmore became a great missionary for the church and became a High Priest. He and Thankful Ann, & later his mother, Martha M. Calkins-Fillmore, as well as many other family members, lived out their lives in Payson, UT.

  MARY JANE FILLMORE, one of Daniel's daughters, married JAMES O. LAMB, a non-Mormon. James and his older brother, OSMER LAMB both had married Mormon girls while in Wisconsin, had gone to Utah in 1860, where they lived and worked for over six years. They hauled supply freight over the mountains in wagons and Utah wheat to other states. They also worked as riders for the now famous Pony Express, which was a Mormon courier system that lasted only 18 months, before the telegraph system did away with the need for it. (April 3, 1860, to late October 1861.) In 1867, the Lambs left Utah, the Mormon way of life, and their wives families behind, and headed for California. 

Citing from William Ross Fillmores family history ( WRF cit3),  JAMES O. LAMB had married MARY JANE FILLMORE, dau. of Daniel & Thankful Ann Fillmore. They both had a young families. Aunt Dilly (WRF cit. 3) said of James Orrin Lamb & his brother, Osmer Lamb, who had married the two FILLMORE COUSINS, they were " two of the handsomest young men any girl could look at" , and she "didn't blame Ruby Jane & Mary Jane for falling in love with the those two boys."
OSMER LAMB had married RUBY JANE FILLMORE, who was the daughter of NORMAN FILLMORE, oldest brother of Daniel B. Fillmore. It was a large family migration from Minnesota to Utah in the company of other Mormon families in the John Smith Company.  The trip took six months; just think of making a trip with an ox team and wagon that would take a full half a year!! They withstood these hardships just to be with the Saints. They followed the trail made by the Mormons 13 years earlier, who served for the United States as the "Mormon Battalion" in the Mexican War of 1847-1848.

PONY EXPRESS - LINKS:

1. American West - Pony Express Information
2. City of St. Joseph - Pony Express Museum - Awesome Graphics!
3. The Gold Rush of California: A Bibliography of Periodical Articles
4. Pony Express Home Station
5. California State Historic Landmark 696
6. Hollenberg, Kansas a Pony Express Station
7. Pony Express History
8. Another PE link
9. City of San Francisco Museum - Founding of the Pony Express - 1860 - this one has a lot of information!

Read this LINK to Rootsweb Iowa site about the Historic Mormon Trail and the restoration of the Kanesville Tabernacle.

Take the Mormon Trail Historical Tours . You can see photos of these historic sites, and see where our ancestor's once tread...and maybe even maybe died.

And lots of great attractions & places to visit at this site; Welcome to Council Bluffs

1860 ~ John Smith Wagon Company - of the Mormon Migration "Perpetual Immigration Fund"

The Captain of the Wagon Train was - Capt. John Smith
The Chaplain was Karl G. Maeser
and the Capt of the Guard was Nathan Davis

At Fort Laramie, Wyoming, on 27 July, 1860, John Smith telegraphed a brief letter to President Brigham Young, reporting on the condition of the Wagon Train that left out of Florence on Monday 22 June 1860. He said that he thought they would make it OK, although some families might be a little short on supplies before they reached the (Salt Lake) Valley.
Including Fillmores and Lambs, there were 28 members of both families in the Smith Wagon Train.
They were:
Capt John Smith
Chaplain Karl G. Maeser
Capt of the Guard Nathan Davis

In the details of the train were listed the following families:

Milan Fillmore age 42, 1 wagon, 3 Yoke of Oxen, 775 lbs of Bread Stuff, 1 cow
Elizabeth Fillmore age 23
Edgar Fillmore age 14
Norman Fillmore age 12
James Fillmore age 8
Julie Fillmore age 4
Alma Fillmore age 1½

Daniel Fillmore age 41, 1 Wagon, 2 Yoke of Oxen, 800 lbs of Bread Stuff, 2 cows
Thankful age 45
Martha age 18
Ranson age 14
Marantha age 12
Rosillie age 10
Oscar age 6
Antha age 2

Osmar (Osmer) Lamb age 32 , 1 Wagon, 2 Yoke of Oxen, 350 lbs of Bread Stuff, 1 Cow
Jane age 25
Luazanne age 9
Andrew Jackson age7
Clarence age 6
Eveline age 4
Oscar G. age 2
Charles age 1

James O. Lamb age 30 , 1 Wagon, 2 Yoke of Oxen, 450 lbs of Bread Stuff, 1 Cow
Mary Jane age 21
Jerome age 5
Caliste age 3 (sic "Calista")
Denver age 1 (My great-Grampa Lamb)

"AUNT DILLY" recalled years later (WRF cit.3), that in spite of the hardships they endured, and the long hours they traveled most every day, they never forgot their prayers night and morning. The family always kneeled in a circle and thanked the Lord for His protecting care and guidance in their travels. Like many other companies of pioneers who crossed the Great Plains, they sang the songs that were dear to their hearts as they rode and walked along, and around the camp-fires at night.
Although it had been many years since the family made the trip to Utah, and Aunt Dilly had been only a young child at the time, she recalled quite vividly one incident that occurred during the trip in 1860. She said that some Indians with painted faces had come into their camp one night. They came to the wagons and she remembered talking with them. They must have been friendly Indians for they were not afraid of them. Little did Aunt Dilly think back then at the age of eleven years old, that she would ever live to be over one hundred & two years old. Thankful Rosilla (Aunt Dilly) and sister, MIRANDA ANN FILLMORE were baptized along the trail to Utah in 1860, when THANKFUL ROSILLA was eleven years old. It had to be re-done later when they got to Utah.
When the families of Fillmore and Lamb arrived in Salt Lake Valley, they were told to go farther south among some of the families that had settled there. Daniel's family went to Spring Valley, Utah, a little village fifteen or so miles south of Provo, Utah County, Utah.

Payson, Utah, Utah Territory - A new Home in Deseret

Daniel B. Fillmore built a house in Payson, where he and Thankful Ann lived the rest of their lives.

Daniel Fillmore Home
This is the home of Daniel Babcock Fillmore, built at what is now 212 S. 1st West, Payson, Utah. It was to this home that Daniel brought his mother, (Martha Minerva (Calkins) Fillmore), to when he returned from his mission to Wisconsin in the summer of 1870. He baptized a number of his family that lived in Wisconsin, and brought them back to Utah Territory, including Samuel Bills, the husband of his niece, Phoebe Fillmore (Bills), and their dau., Martha Eunice. All of them came back to Utah with him that summer. It was on this porch that Martha Minerva (Calkins) Fillmore (Daniel's mother and the GGG-Grandmother of this author - t.a.d 2002) used to sit after she became blind, and where the children used to stop to sit and visit with her in her last years of life. (WRF -cit3)

Thankful Rosilla FILLMORE  aka "Dilly"

It was there in Spring Valley, also, that AUNT "DILLY" (THANKFUL ROSILLA) FILLMORE met JOSEPH EZEKIEL JOHNSON, a son of another large Mormon family. Their friendship ripened into love, and nine years after the family arrived in Utah, on 28 July, 1869 in Spring Valley, Utah Territory, Aunt Dilly married Joseph Ezekiel. A few months after they were married civilly, they journeyed to Salt Lake and were married in the Endowment House, hence we often find two different marriage dates. (info taken from the records and Memoirs of Mrs. Elizabeth CROCKETT and her records obtained from Aunt Dilly JOHNSON)

Read the LAMB Anecdote about "The Spanking He Never Forgot"- a Recollection as told by my Great-Grampa, Denver O. Lamb. about his Aunt Dilly Fillmore-Johnson, Mary Jane Fillmore-Lamb, his mother,  and himself as a little boy while the LAMB Family lived in Spring Valley, Utah Territory in the 1860s.

 

Benjamin F. Johnson

Joseph Johnson's father, BENJAMIN F. JOHNSON,  was a Payson Utah Pioneer (1818-1869). He had been the former close friend and private secretary (& body guard) of the late Prophet Joseph Smith JR. He was one of the original pioneers who entered the Salt Lake Valley on July 24, 1847 with Brigham Young.  He later served as a church patriarch. 
 

In May, 1882, Aunt Dilly and her family received a "Mission Calling" to go south to Arizona to establish a new settlement in Tempe, Arizona. The trip took them two months, a trip that today by automobile would take less than 18 hours. Aunt Dilly Johnson's family eventually settled in what became Mesa, Arizona, and descendants still live there today.
She lived to be 103 years old, dying just a few days shy of reaching her 103rd birthday. She was buried there in Mesa, Arizona. she spent 70 years in the Salt Valley at Tempe, Maricopa county, AZ, originally known as Hayden's Ferry, named after Charles Trumbull Hayden, who owned a flour mill, general store and other enterprises.

SOURCES for Early Mormon Records

Far West Record written by Don Q. Cannon, (page 261),
Temple Index Bureau (TIB);
Membership Card Index, (Margetts, Minnie),
IGI Files
Family Group Records of Daniel Babcock Fillmore (self made record):
His Death Date is shown as December 21, 1894, Payson, Utah.

Daniel B. Fillmore was a Mormon or Latter-Day Saint -  a member of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. He was Baptized on June 19, 1840 by Elder David McQuetha, New York State.
Don Q. Cannon was the Church Historian at the time the Mormons were in Nauvoo and during the Exodus West to Utah. In his writings, "The Far West Records" he notes that "Daniel was sent to Wisconsin to obtain timber for the Nauvoo Temple buildings. According to the Census Records for 1840-1844, Daniel was a resident of Nauvoo, Illinois.
 



 Mormon Immigration- John Smith Company Wagon Train of 1860, set out from Florence, Nebraska and headed to Utah:
John Smith, Journal History after 31-Dec-1860 p. 38-46 [film 125746]

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints set up a fund to finance the migration of the Saints to Utah. IT was called the Perpetual Immigration Fund, and continued until after 1860 when the Transcontinental Railroad was finished. The John Smith Wagon Train company was one of the last two wagon train companies to be financed by the Perpetual Immigration Fund to make the trip from Florence, Nebraska to the Great Salt Lake Valley in Utah Territory. Elder John Smith became the Patriarch of the Church.

According to my LAMB family rumors, the lambs set out from Minnesota with a wagon train of miners headed California on the Oregon Trail, but got way-laid in Utah after being robbed in Echo Canyon, so they stayed for awhile in Utah.

 
Fillmore, Alma, 1860, 1,
Fillmore, Antha, 1860, age 2
Fillmore, Daniel, 1860, age 41
Fillmore, Edgar, 1860, age 14 
Fillmore, Elizabeth, 1860, age 23
Fillmore, James, 1860, age 8
Fillmore, Julie, 1860, age 4 
Fillmore, Marantha, 1860, age 12 
Fillmore, Martha, 1860, age 18
Fillmore, Milan, 1860, age 42
Fillmore, Norman, 1860, age 12 
Fillmore, Oscar, 1860, age 6
Fillmore, Ransom, 1860, age 14
Fillmore, Rosillie, 1860, age 10
Fillmore, Thankful, 1860, age 45

More from the John Smith Wagon Train Journal - to COME!

SOURCES:
1. Personal Family records & stories
2. A collection of stories & tales about our family, written by Margaret N. Hindorff-Ray
3. "The FILLMORES, Yesterday, Today, & Tomorrow" by William Rosiland Fillmore (WRF cit)
4. John Smith Company Wagon Train of 1860 - Journal History
5. Memoirs & Family Hist. of Rosilla (Dilly) Fillmore-Johnson, Mesa, AZ.(1849-1952)
6. Personal Family Hist. Archives of Kenneth Crocket
7. IGI files
8. Church History; Smith, Joseph
Volume: 5 Page: 119
Volume: 7 Page: 298
9. Ancestral Files
10. Early LDS Church Membership Records (microfiche)
11. Records of Don Q. Cannon - Early Church Historian
12. birth records: (F Utah P 16 Pt. 2)
13. Baptism records (1842 by David McQuetha)
-LDS Members to 1871 - Libr. #15663 / F Utah P 16 Pt. #3 Libr. #10871
14. Records of LDS Members -Early to 1898.

LINKS to Related things of Interest:

Witness History in the Making!

NAUVOO Temple Cam

Map of Nauvoo

BACK to Lamb Family Page

J.O. LAMB

Very Special Thanks to
Doran Anderson

(LDS Hymns) LDS Hymns MIDI page

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