Reference: Life of Lyman Curtis, Pioneer of 1847
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Life of Lyman Curtis, Pioneer of 1847
Document Number: 101

Classification: COMPILED: FamilyHistory
Location: USA
Date Range: BTWN 1812 and 1898

Biography of CURTIS, Lyman

Document Entry Number: 1

Transcription:
     Lyman Curtis' grandfather, Moses Curtis, was born in Boxford, Massachusetts. He afterward settled in New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts, where he married Molly Meacham, by whom he raised a large family.
     Lyman Curtis' father, Nahum Curtis, third son of Moses Curtis and Molly Meacham, was born July 7, 1784, in New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts. In 1809, he married Millicent Waitt, daughter of Phineas Waitt and Mehitable Foster, born January 30, 1878, in Athall, Franklin County, Massachusetts. They had a family of ten children, of whom Lyman, born January 21, 1812, in New Salem, Massachusetts, was the second child. About the year 1823 they moved to Pontiac, Oakland County, Michigan.
     During the years 1832-33, his father's family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Lymas joined on March 14, 1833. In 1834 he and eighteen others were called upon by Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight to join Zion's camp and go with that company to Missouri and help redeem Zion. After traveling about one thousand miles under the guidance of Hyrum Smith and Lyman Wight, they joined the main camp, June 8, 1834. When Zion's camp was disbanded, each member was given a blessing by Patriarch Joseph Smith, Sr., and some of the promises made to Lyman Curtis will be referred to later in this history.
     In 1836, his father, with the rest of the family, and two of his brothers Jacob and Jeremiah Curtis and their families, settled in Caldwell County, Missouri.
     In February of 1836, Lyman was married to Charlotte Alvord, daughter of Thadeus Alvord and Sally Wellington, born in the state of New York in 1815. His mother Millicent Curtis died September 3, 1838, in Caldwell County, Missouri, and about that same time they buried their oldest son, Ammon Curtis.
     Lyman purchased land from the government built houses and began to gather around them the comforts of life, but during the fall of 1838, they were surrounded by a mob militia, part of whom were painted black. They were subjected to all the horrors of the mob violence and at last were compelled to give up their arms and leave their home to the mob to defray the expenses of mobbing them. This was under the exterminating order of Lilburn W. Boggs, Governor of Missouri, and was carried out by his ever ready tool, General Lucas. They left the state suffering from the inclemency of the weather added to mob violence. Many of the Saints were compelled to travel in open wagons, exposed to all the changes of the weather, many of them not having enough clothes to keep them comfortable.
     They next settled in Nauvoo where they obtained land, built houses and again began to gather around them the comforts of life. Lyman helped in building both the Kirtland Temple and the Nauvoo Temple. He traveled farther up the Mississippi River where, for nearly two years he and his brother Moses worked getting timber for the Nauvoo Temple and floating it down the river. When the timber and logs were on the river, they were bound together with wooden pins and hickory withes, then the workmen would pile their belongings on the joined logs and float down to the landing. Once, when they were bringing a raft of timber down the river, it was necessary to stop at one place for provisions. They drew near the bank and Lyman took the rope, sprang to the land and wrapped the rope around a young tree that grew near the water's edge. The force of the current on the raft drew the tree down under taking Lyman with it, as he did not let it loose. If he had loosened, his hold, he would have been carried under the raft. When he went out of sight, some of the bystanders said, "Well, there's one Mormon gone to ____ (the hot place they would have consigned all Mormons to), but the supple elasticity of the tree drew the raft back and out of the water, giving Lyman a chance to continue his journey little the worse for the wetting.
     Lyman's son, Samuel B. Curtis, was born in LaCrosse while they were getting the timber. There is a small town or school district near LaCrosse that still bears the name Mormon Coulee from their having camped there. Lyman also aided his father and brothers in polishing stones used in building the Nauvoo Temple. It sometimes took days to polish a single stone. Sand was poured on a cut stone then another large flat one was laid on top and ground back and forth until the understone was polished.
     Here also they shared in the persecutions of the Saints. He was present and viewed the dead martyrs, Joseph and Hyrum Smith. At the time of the martyrdom, enemies offered a reward for the head of the Prophet Joseph Smith. Lyman, his father, and brother George, with others, were guards over the bodies.
     Lyman's father died March 11, 1836, in Nauvoo, Illinois. In the spring of 1846, Lyman shared with his family the lot of the Saints in their wholesale expulsion from their homes. When they were leaving, he sold enough corn at fifteen cents a bushel to buy a horse. The remainder of the crop was left in the bin. They again took up the line of march for a new home, this time traveling westward to Council Bluffs, where they spent the winter in making preparations for the onward journey the next season.
     When the call was made for the Battalion, Lyman's brother, Foster Curtis, joined that company and shared the privation and fatigue of that long and tedious journey. He was one of the men who was working on the millrace when the first gold in California was discovered. He soon returned and joined the main body of the Saints in Salt Lake City.
     In the spring of 1847, Lyman left his family at Council Bluffs and, in company with Elder Levi Jackman, joined President Brigham Young's Company as pioneers to travel to the Rocky Mountains. He and Levi Jackman traveled in the same wagon. At the time the mod made the Saints put their guns in the public square, under promise that they would be protected, Lyman's gun, which at that time was an extra good gun, was placed with the others. He felt he simply could not let it go, so, watching his chance when no one was near, he retrieved it. President Young appointed Lyman one of the two hunters for the pioneers and he carried this gun on his shoulders to Utah and back across the Plains, often using it to great advantage. At one time he broke the back of a deer eight hundred steps away. He had the weapon with him on his five-year Indian Mission in the Santa Clara, Washington County area in 1854-59. The gun is now in the possession of his youngest son, Dr. A. L. Curtis of Payson, Utah.
     Great care had to be used in killing game. The hunters dared not kill buffalo on the run, as the smell of blood would cause the males to fight and make trouble. So, when they were away, Lyman and the other hunters would kill the females, bringing in the meat. At camp, ropes were stretched to dry or smoke the meat. When they arrived in the Valley, they still had two sacks of jerky. With fish caught in the streams and the lake, it made a fine living.
     After enduring all the incidents consequent to traveling through a new country without roads or bridges, they arrived in Salt Lake Valley on July 22, in Apostle Orson Pratt's company, President Young and a portion of the company having been detained some miles back on account of sickness. Lyman built the first fire, which he said was the only honor attributed to him. During the few weeks following his arrival he assisted in plowing, planting, getting water for irrigation, making adobes, etc.
     When President Young got ready to return to the Saints at Council Bluffs, Lyman and Levi Jackman divided their small stock of provisions, Lyman took one part and the team and returned in President Young's company to his family. During the summer of 1848, his brother Hyrum, George, and Joseph came to the valley. Lyman remained at Winter Quarters until 1850, where he and his brother Moses and others were busy building and repairing wagons in order that the Saints could leave for the Valley as fast as possible.
     In 1850 Lyman brought his family to Utah, his brother Moses accompanying with his family.

Associated Persons and Marriages:
CURTIS, Moses (Id# 212) BornP, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Moses (Id# 212) LinkFToChildren, MEDIUM 
MEACHAM, Mary (Id# 211) LinkMToChildren, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) LinkCToFather, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) LinkCToMother, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) BornP, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) BornD, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) Religion, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) LinkFToChildren, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) DiedD, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Nahum (Id# 221) DiedP, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) LinkCToFather, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) LinkCToMother, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) BornP, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) BornD, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) Religion, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) LinkMToChildren, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) DiedD, MEDIUM 
WAITE, Millicent (Id# 220) DiedP, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Jacob (Id# 216) Name, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Jeremiah (Id# 219) Name, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Lyman (Id# 8685) LinkCToFather, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Lyman (Id# 8685) LinkCToMother, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Lyman (Id# 8685) BornP, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Lyman (Id# 8685) BornD, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Lyman (Id# 8685) Religion, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Lyman (Id# 8685) LinkFToChildren, MEDIUM 
ALVORD, Charlotte (Id# 8686) LinkCToFather, MEDIUM 
ALVORD, Charlotte (Id# 8686) LinkCToMother, MEDIUM 
ALVORD, Charlotte (Id# 8686) BornP, LOW 
ALVORD, Charlotte (Id# 8686) BornD, LOW 
ALVORD, Charlotte (Id# 8686) Religion, MEDIUM 
ALVORD, Charlotte (Id# 8686) LinkMToChildren, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Foster (Id# 8697) Name, MEDIUM 
CURTIS, Moses (Id# 8687) Name, MEDIUM 
(Living) and (Living) (Id# 210) LinkMarriage, MEDIUM 
(Living) and (Living) (Id# 210) MarrP, MEDIUM 
(Living) and (Living) (Id# 1080) LinkMarriage, MEDIUM 
(Living) and (Living) (Id# 1080) MarrD, MEDIUM 
(Living) and (Living) (Id# 7118) LinkMarriage, MEDIUM 
(Living) and (Living) (Id# 7118) MarrD, MEDIUM