A Note Regarding the 1860 Mountain Meadows Massacre Depositions
In modern times, Mr. Ron Loving, a descendant of John Fancher (Captain Alexander Fancher's brother) located the sixty pages of 1860 Depositions in the National Archives in Territorial Papers of the United States Senate 1789 - 1873, Roll 15, Utah December 31, 1849 - June 11, 1870. These depositions were part of a futile effort by Arkansas's U. S. Senator William K. Sebastian, prompted by State senator William C. Mitchell (father of Charles R. and Joel D. Mitchell who died in the Massacre), to have the Federal Government reimburse some of the surviving children for the financial losses they had sustained.
In these 1860 depositions, the Carroll County, Arkansas families (Baker, DeShazo, Rush) and Senator Mitchell's own family from Marion County, Arkansas and their Dunlap relations, are included. These depositions also include the Jones brothers from Washington County, Arkansas, but does not include depositions specific to the property of the Tackitts (related to Jones), Cameron, Miller, or Huff families referenced briefly in the Jones depositions. {Years later, in 1877, Malinda (Cameron) Scott Thurston's deposition (RG 123, Indian Depredation Claim 8479, Thurston vs. the United States and the Ute Indians, National Archives) filed in San Joaquin County, California, provided information on the Cameron family from Johnson County, Arkansas who died in the Massacre.} The 1860 depositions also do not include the other Marion County families: Wood, Wilson, and Pruett. They appear to be primarily related to the families connected to Senator Mitchell. The bulk of the depositions are limited to the Baker Train, from Carroll County, and the Mitchell and Dunlap Trains from Marion County, whose families were related to each other, and therefore connected to Senator Mitchell. The last group of depositions are regarding the Jones brothers who were not members of either of these two other trains, and were part of the Tackett and Jones Trains from Washington County, Arkansas. The Jones brothers were related to Minerva A. (Beller) Baker (wife of George W. Baker) through the Wilburn family, which probably explains their inclusion in the depositions that Senator Mitchell collected.
To date, there have never been any depositions located for the Fanchers, or the other families who were members of the trains. Senator Mitchell was also instrumental in returning the seventeen children to their families, and provided a list of their names on 27 April 1860, months before the 1860 depositions were taken. Although the Monument at Harrison, Arkansas, and some other early information records Captain Alexander Fancher being from Carroll County, he actually was from Benton County, Arkansas and the Fancher Train departed from Benton County. (Senator Mitchell's list of the victims, dated around 1860, does correctly note that Capt. Fancher was from Benton Co.) However, Captain Alexander's paternal Uncle, James Fancher, was a resident of Carroll County at the time these depositions were collected by Senator Mitchell, and Captain Alexander's cousin Hampton Bynum Fancher, also of Carroll County, raised Captain Alexander Fancher's two surviving children. The return of the Fancher children pre-dated the depositions, and the question arises as to why no Fancher, or other family, depositions were included in the documents Senator Mitchell collected. He certainly was aware that the two Fancher children were returned to the Fanchers in Carroll County. Senator Mitchell's list also included the name of Robert Fancher, from Carroll County, although it did not include Robert's brother James Mathew Fancher. The Fancher boys were cousins of Captain Alexander Fancher, and their family was in Carroll County. While the Fanchers living in Carroll County probably would not be able to testify to the value of Captain Fancher's property at the time he departed from Benton County, they would have been able to testify regarding his two surviving heirs. It seems very likely that Hampton Bynum Fancher would have attempted to recoup the losses of his two young Fancher wards. Captain Alexander Fancher's brother, John, was living in California at that time, and he may have been able to testify regarding the number and value of stock because they had planned to sell the stock together, once Captain Alexander reached California. Neighbors in Benton County may have been able to testify to the property in Captain Alexander Fancher's possession when he departed. There seems little question that the family of Robert and James Mathew Fancher in Carroll County would have been able to testify to their property. It is possible that there were Fancher depositions, and researchers have not given up hope that they will be located.
Sarah Frances (Baker) Mitchell, a survivor of the
Mountain Meadows Massacre
