| Notes |
- History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, 1912
By Albert Clayton Beckwith
Isaiah Hamblin (Barnabas 5, Sylvanus 4, Elkanah 3, James 21) was son
of Mary Bassett and was born at Falmouth, Massachusetts, in 1790; marri
Daphne, daughter of William Haines, November 30, 1812; moved to Kirtlan
Ohio, whence he came in 1836 to section 25, Lafayette, where he built h
cabin and with his wife endured the first hard winter. His son-in-law, Isaac
Fuller, came also. Mr. Hamblin was a disciple of the prophet of Palmyra,
Kirtland, and Nauvoo, and in a few years after coming to this county he
followed his tribe to Utah, and died at Santa Clara in 1958. His wife died in
1847 in Pottawattomie County, Iowa.
History of Isaiah Hamblin
Isaiah Hamblin was born at Falmouth, Massachusetts, 20 Jun 1790. He
was the eighth child of the nine children born to Barnabus and Mary Bassett
Hamblin. The family moved to Vermont when Isaiah was a child. Barnabus died
when Isaiah was seven or nine. There are two dates of his death, 10 May 1797
or 1799.
On Nov. 30, 1812 Isaiah married Daphne Haynes at North Hero, Vermont.
Daphne is the daughter of William and Polly Stoddard Haynes. She was born 29
August, 1797 in North Hero, Grand-Isle County, Vermont. Grand-Isle co. is two
Islands. North and South Hero are in Lake Champlain, Vermont.
Isaiah was a soldier in the war of 1812. He served under Gen.
Dearborn. He was wounded at Plattsburg, New York. When his wife heard the guns
of battle she put her baby, born 2 Feb 1814, some bandages and medicine into a
boat and rowed twenty miles to the scene of action just in time to see the
British flag go down. Isaiah's hearing was damaged by being so close to the
cannon.
Their first baby, Melissa, was born 2 Feb 1814 in North Hero, Vermont.
Their second daughter, Emily, was born in North Hero on 31 Aug 181
They lived in North Hero for awhile, but after the war Isaiah worked
in lumbering on the St. Lawrence River in northern New York. He employed
Canadian workmen. They lived in lumber camps with crude bunks for sleeping.
These were arranged around an open fireplace. The natives often slept with
their feet to the fire to keep them warm. The "Kanucks" had a habit of putting
pitchwood splinters between the toes of the "Yankees" when they were asleep.
then lighting them and burning their feet. They did this just for sport. Some
of the men were disabled this way, and so Isaiah determined to put a stop to
it. The Kanucks were in the habit of stripping naked to go to bed. Isaiah went
to bed and pretended to be asleep. A big Kanuck crept quietly from his bed
looking for his next victim. He saw Isaiah asleep with his feet stickin out
of his bunk. He whispered to the others, "Lasha! Lasha!" (the boss, the boss).
Then he prepared the splinters for the fun. As he stooped to set them on fire
Isaiah drew back his feet and kicked the fellow in the chest landing him stark
naked on the bed of live coals. This raised an uproar and turned out the
entire camp. Isaiah regretted the affair, but there was no more burned feet
in the camp. The man was burned rather badly. This wasn't the end of the
matter.
While taking his raft of lumber down the river the following spring,
Isaiah ran aground near a settlement which proved to be the home of the man
who was burned at the camp. Isaiah went ashore with his brother-in-law William
Haynes and a Mr. Dodge to get supplies. A crowd gathered around the pla
where they were trading, and as they came out of the store a big fellow
grabbed Isaiah and another did the same with Mr. Haynes telling th
boisterous way that they must wrestle with them. Isaiah told Mr. Dod
hurry quickly to the raft with their supplies while he and Mr. Haynes stopped
to settled with the mob. Some of the crowd, seeing what they were going to do,
ran for the raft and reached it before Mr. Dodge did. Isaiah and Mr. Haynes
threw down their assailants, and ran for the raft. When they reached it Mr.
Dodge was knocking Kanucks right and left with a heavy chain and soon had the
raft clear. The raft floated and they were again safe on their journey. (This
story was taken from the Hamblin Family by Franklin Andrews).
Isaiah and his family moved to Ohio, first to Salem, Ashtabula county
where Isaiah was sheriff for awhile, and then to Geauga county, a wilderness
covered with a heavy growth of timber. It took twenty days of hard work to
clear one acre of land to be harrowed and planted with wheat. In about three
years the stumps would rot and the soil could then be plowed. Isaiah was over
some first mills there.
While the family lived in Salem Jacob and Olive were born, Jacob on 2
Apr 1819 and Olive on 7 May 1821. Three other children were born in Muson,
Ohio, Adeline 18 Sep 1823, Obed 25 Oct and Alsen 28 Apr 1827. According to
records Isaiah was the first settler of the town of LaFayette, Ohio. In the
book "History of Walworth County", the chapter "First Settlers in To
LaFayette" (page 921-22) it states, "Isaiah Hamblin, first settler in t
town, a native of the state of Ohio. He came to LaFayette, Ohio with his wife
in the month of June, 1836, and settled on the southeast quarter of section
twenty-five on July 18. The logs for his house being ready, the settlers from
neighboring towns turned out to assist him in "raising" the first house in the
town of LaFayette." Page 925 states "The first marriage in LaFayette was of
Henry Johnson, son of Alpheus Johnson, to Miss Hamblin in 1837. Col Ter
Merrick of Spring Prairie solomized the marriage. Hamblin genealogy states that
Olive Hamblin married Henery Johnson, however the date we have is 27 Aug 1838.
(Parts of the following history were taken from Jacob Hamblin's
Journal)
In late 1836 Isaiah and his son Jacob moved to Spring Prairie,
Wisconsin, to make a new home for the family. They passed through Chicago,
Illinois, on the way. It was then a small village.
Jacob said about Spring Prairie, "It was the most delightful country I
had seen. It was beautiful with rolling prairies, groves of timber, numerous
springs of pure water, and an occasional lake abounding with fish. My father
and I each made a claim on 80 acres of government land which was expected soon
to come in to the market. I was not yet of age and my father, wishing to
return to Ohio for his family, proffered to give me the remainder of my time
during the summer if I would take care of the crop already sown
It isn't known just when the family moved to Wisconsin. Possibly the
summer of 1837 was spent in Spring Prairie preparing soil and planting crops. A
record says that Isaiah's daughter Olive was married in LaFayette, Ohio, in
1837, another says 1838. They probably moved to Spring Prairie in 1838. A son,
Francis Marion was born in Walmouth County, Wisconsin, 27 Nov 1838. The
youngest son, Frederick, was born in Spring Prairie 12 Feb 1841. Daphney was
then 43 years old, Frederick was their twelfth child. Their daughter Olive had
died in 1839 in Ohio.
Jacob married Lucinda Taylor 30 Apr 1839. While they were living in
Wisconsin Jacob was converted to the LDS, Mormon Church, and was baptized 3
Mar 1842 by Elder Lyman Stoddard. Jacob said, "When my father learned that I
had joined the Mormon church he said he thought he had brought up his children
so that none of them would be deceived by false teachers and he turned from my
gate and refused to enter my house. Other relatives said that my father knew
better than to be deceived as I had been. I answered by predicting that my
father, much as he knew, would be baptized into the church before I was two
years older.
Jacob's Journal continues, "In the autumn of 1842 Elder Stoddard
returned to the country where I lived to labor in the ministry and ordained me
an Elder. About the same time my wife was taken very sick. By her request I
administered to her and she was immediately healed. I visited my father and
told him that signs follow the believer as in the days of the apostles; that I
was a believer, and had been ordained an Elder in the Church of Jesus Christ
of Latter Day Saints and that signs followed my ministration.
"He ordered me out of his house for believing such nonsense. I went
out reflecting as to whether or not I had done wrong in predicting th
would baptize him in less than two years. Some time after this he was taken
sick, and I went to see him. My mother told me that he had the spotted fever,
and that there was no hope of his recovery. She believed he was dying, and so
it appeared to me, but I thought that God could and would save him if I prayed
for him.
I retired to a private place, and prayed to the God of Abraham to have
mercy on my father, and heal him that he might have an opportunity of obeying
the gospel. It was a moonlight night, and when I returned to the hou
mother stood at the door. She spoke to me and very kindly said: 'Jacob, the
fever has left your father; he has spoken and wants to see you.' As I
approached him he said, "The fever has left me, and your mother says that you
came to see me and went away again. What has made the sudden change? Do you
know? I answered that I had prayed for him, that I was a believer in the
gospel. 'Well', said he, 'If it is the gospel I would like to know it, but if
it is priestcraft I want nothing to do with it.'
"Soon after the sickness of my father I sold my home and started for
Nauvoo, Hancock county, Illinois. In passing my father's house I found him
quite well, and he desired me to remain overnight. He showed much interest in
the principles of the gospel, and when I left his house in the morning the
spirit manifested to me that my father and his household would yet accept the
truth."
Jacob continues, "The following winter I assisted in guarding t
Saints in and around the city of Nauvoo. My brother Obed lived about 30 miles
out in the country. He was taken sick, and sent for me to come and see him. On
arriving at his house I found that he had been sick for nearly three months,
and that doubts were entertained of his recovery. He was in very bad and dirty
conditions being there alone and so ill. I anointed him with oil, and in the
name of the Lord Jesus, layed on hands and prayed for him, and told him that
he should recover, which he did immediately.
The occurrence had much influence on my parents. They both attended
the following April 1845 conference in Nauvoo. At its close my father asked me
if I did not wish to baptize him and my mother. As they were both desirous
that I should do so, I baptized them in the Mississippi river on April 11,
1845.
"My father told me that it was not any man's preaching that had
convinced him of the truth of the gospel, but the Lord had shown it to him in
night visions. Said he, 'It is your privilege to baptize your parents, for you
have prayed for them in secret and in public; you never gave up on them. You
will be a Joseph to your father's house."
In 1845 Isaiah and Daphne moved in with Jacob and Lucinda for awhile.
Melissa had married Issac Fullmer in 1833. They lived on a farm not too far
from Nauvoo. Melissa became ill and died later that year.
Isaiah and Daphne didn't go back to Wisconsin. Alsen 17, and William
15 moved the rest of the family to Illinois. Edwin was 10, Francis and
Frederick were younger. This was a time of rejoicing as all but Emily h
gathered to Illinois. She had married James Fullmer (Issac's brother) and had
later died (4 July 1945) in Wisconsin. Olive had died earlier in Ohi
Isaiah and Jacob got occasional work. They also spent time working on
the Nauvoo temple. Then it became necessary to help with preparations for the
move from Nauvoo. Wagons had to be made, harnesses and oxen bought, and
provisions gathered.
Daphne and Isaiah received their patriarchal blessings in Jan. 1846 by
John Smith. Isaiah's lineage was given as Manassah; Daphne just as Abraham.
They received their endowments in the Nauvoo Temple Feb. 2, 1846, not long
before leaving with the exiled saints. (The saints began leaving Feb. 4, but
the Hamblins left a short time later.)
(Parts of the following history were taken from a book written by Paul
Baily). By a great effort the Hamblins, in spite of poverty and delay, had
gotten themselves started westward before the summer was out and Nauvoo was
fallen to the enemies. They settled first in Sugar Creek, Iowa; the fir
stopping place for the saints. They later crossed Iowa, moving westward to
Pottawattame county 150 miles from Nauvoo. There a "welfare unit or camping
place was set up named Garden Grove. Log houses were built, wells dug, crops
planted. It became an "oasis in the desert" to thousands of exiled Mormons
who stopped there to get more food before starting on west again. 75 miles
further on another town was started, Mt. Pisgah, for the same purpose. It was
larger than Garden Grove. Two other stopping places were Winter Quarter
Nebraska, now Florence and Kanesville (Council Bluffs), Iow
As the Hamblin family began preparations to leave for Council Bluffs
in 1847, Daphne became ill. They waited two days hoping she would become
better but she died there and was buried along the trail, only a crude marker
for her grave. Her youngest child, Frederick, was then about five or si
Francis about nine, and Edwin twelve. Several older sons were also with the
family.
On April 11, 1847 Jacob arrived at his father's home in Iowa to find
that four of his brothers had embraced the gospel. His mother had died not
long before his arrival.
During the winter of 1846-47 the saints lived in crude homes and
shelters. There was so much death and sickness there was hardly anyone to bury
the dead. There was no time to make coffins so many were wrapped in gra
clothes and buried with split logs at the bottom of graves. Many graves were
robbed by the wolves. During the first year at Winter Quarters over 600 saints
died.
People in the companies going west were divided into orderly camps of
hundred, fifties, and tens with a captain over each camp. Feed for cattle was
scarce as well as food for people. The faith of the saints was truely a
severely tested, and the Hamblins were no exception. Obed died in 1848, Jacob's
Lucinda had left him, and there were now two motherless families to care for.
Jacob married Rachel Judd in 1849.
The family, except for William who had already left, was ready to leave
for Utah in 1850. They joined the Aaron Johnson company. The older boys drove
cattle while the others came in two wagons.
As they began the trip West cholera attacked the camp. Jacob got it.
His father blessed him and he was healed. The next day Jacob's son Lyman
became ill. Isaiah administered to him and as he did he rebuked the destroyer
and commanded it to leave him, the family and the camp. There were no more
cases of cholera after that.
One day Jacob's oldest son Duane took the reins to drive the team and
he fell forward. Both iron wheels passed over him. They didn't think he would
breath again. Isaiah stopped the team, knelt, and administered to him. Duane
arose, brushed the dust from himself, and said he wasn't hurt. The rest of the
trip, as far as we know, was quite uneventful except while crossing a river
Jacob was thrown from the wagon or ferry, and nearly drowned.
The trip would have seen hot, dry, dusty and windy days, wet, muddy
days, hunger, thirst, heat, and cold. They always camped on Sunday to rest and
worship. At night, after supper, there was usually singing and dancing to help
lift the spirits of the travel weary saints. After prayer, night guards would
be posted, men and older boys taking turns.
On 31 Aug 1850, at mid day, they came out of the canyon and looked out
over the Salt Lake valley at the farms, irrigation ditches, and houses of the
city. It was a welcome sight; Isaiah wept aloud for joy. They had at la
reached Zion. They had left behind them Mother Daphney, 1847, also Obed who
died in 1848. Three daughters had also died before the family left Nauvoo:
Olive, Emily and Melissa.
They arrived in Salt Lake the next day. They all knelt in Union Square
in common prayer.
Quite a few business structures and homes had been built in Great Salt
Lake City, even a few two story buildings. Trees had been planted, lots had
been fenced. There were many log and adobe houses. There were about 5,0
inhabitants there now. Many Saints had gone to settle in outlying area
Isaiah's son William had come to Utah in 1848 with a team for G.A.
Smith. His daughter Adeline Amarilla Littlefield came to Utah also, but there
was no mention of her coming with Isaiah and his family. She married again to
John Ensign Riggs in 1851 at Tooele, Utah. She had married Lyman "C"
Littlefield Jan. 31, 1847 or 47.
The Hamblins were called to settle in Tooele Valley early in 1851.
Tooele had been settled in the fall of 1849. It was about 35 miles South West
of Salt Lake City, located on elevated land overlooking Tooele Valley and part
of the Great Salt Lake. It is near the west base of the Oquirrh Mountains that
separate Tooele Valley from Salt Lake Valley.
Before the Hamblins arrived in Tooele Valley a water ditch had been
made and some houses built about a mile Southwest of where Tooele City now
stands. The houses were built on the bank of a creek. They were built so close
together that they were almost joined under one roof.
On April 24, 1850 the Saints in Tooele Valley, where the present town
is, were organized into a branch of the church by Apostle Ezra T. Benson. The
Saints who settled Tooele were loyal and willing people who rolled up their
sleeves and went to work plowing, planting, fencing, digging ditches, making
dams and building homes. Usually one of the first buildings was a public house
where Church meetings, school, dances and socials were hel
In the 1851 Utah Census of Tooele, the following was listed for Isaiah
Hamblin: Isaiah Hamblin 61 born Mass. Real estate $100, farmer; William Hamblin
20 farmer born Ohio; Oscar 18 farmer born Ohio; Edward 16 born Ohio farmer;
Francis 12, born Wisconsin; Frederick 10 born Wisconsin, Lydia 51 born Maine.
Isaiah was sealed to a Lydia Emroy in 1850 or 51. I have nothing else about
her anywhere.
In 1852 they started having trouble with Indians. President Brigham
Young encouraged the people to feed rather than fight the Indians. Jacob was
given a special calling to work with the Indians as a peacemaker. It may be
interesting to note that in Isaiah's Patriarchal Blessing his lineage is given
as of Manassah.
Jacob and his family were called to Southern Utah, Santa Clara, to help
settle it and to work with the Indian people. Soon Oscar and family joined
them. Isaiah refused to leave Tooele, "grasshoppers or no grasshoppers".
Eventually the rest of Isaiah's family settled in Southern Utah, some going to
Nevada and Arizona.
By mid 1855 Isaiah's sons were married except Francis and Frederick.
Isaiah was helping his grandson, Duane run the farm. Jacob returned to Tooele
in the spring of 1856 to get his father. He had been ill, but still didn't
want to go with Jacob. Jacob persuaded his father to go with him. They left
for Southern Utah in April. After leaving they got into a big spring snowstorm
that dumped about 18 inches of snow.
After arriving in Santa Clara Isaiah stayed with Oscar and family.
Jacob went to Pine Valley with his sheep herd. Returning to Santa Clara in
October, Jacob found his father quite ill. Quoting from Jacob's Journal he
writes, "I stepped to the bed; he caught me by the hand and said 'Jacob, I am
going to leave you, but I am not afraid to die.'
"I answered, 'I was in hopes you had got your health. You seemed so
much better when I left.' He had suffered much. I laid my hands on him, and
prayed for him; asking the Lord that he might be freed from pain and depart in
peace.
"He slept comfortably that night and after giving much good advice and
instructions the next day he died."
Now quoting from "Jacob Hamblin" by Paul Baily: "The faithful a
steadfast Isaiah was buried in the little graveyard on the hill above t
fort. The few graves already there were mostly those of Indians who died in
the faith. This thought brought a peculiar sensation to Jacob Hamblin as the
crude box, fashioned of the planking sawed out of Pine Valley, was lowered to
the red earth of the Tonaquint. For in the beginning it had been Jacob who had
first heeded the new strange doctrine of the American prophet, Joseph Smith.
Isaiah had resisted it mightily. Only the tenacity of Jacob Hamblin and the
religion's odd appeal had eventually brought the man to the water of its
baptism. And now here was Isaiah Hamblin, a man who had endured much for his
faith, buried among the Indians in the half-wild lands of Southern Utah --
endless miles from the accepted Christian beliefs of his fathers, endle
miles from the lands of his youth.
"But Isaiah, through good works, and the deeply spiritual nature
underlying his brusque exterior, had assuredly magnified himself before man
and God. Suffering had not made him bitter. Burial of Daphney Hamblin along
the trail of the great migration had not lessened his belief in the rightness
of the thing for which son Jacob had brought him out of Wisconsin. He had gone
to his death with calm, and deep conviction... Isaiah had endeared himself to
the faithful brethren during his half-year sojourn at the fort
Isaiah was very tall, being six feet six inches tall. He was a patient,
mild tempered man of great faith. He was a Democrat and an Elder in the Mormon
or Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was also a Patriarch in the
Church.
He and Daphney had twelve children and now countless posterit
Nearly 100 years after Isaiah's death a special monument was placed on
his grave in the Santa Clara graveyard. It was dedicated by a great grandson,
Bishop James Edwin Hamblin. Quite a number of descendants were there for the
dedication. A copy of the prayer will be found near the end of this history.
The following Obituary was found in the Deseret News, March 11, 1857,
page 8: "In Fort Clara, Santa Clara, Sept.7, 1856 (he died Oct. 7, 1856)
Isaiah Hamblin, aged 66 years. Elder Hamblin was born in Barnstable county,
Mass.; fought as a volunteer under General Dearborn in the last war with Great
Britain. At the battle of Plattsburg, had his hearing greatly impaired by the
roar of the cannon; and at the close of the war was honorably discharged."
Hearing of the Latter Day work he went to Nauvoo in 1845 and was
baptized; shared in the trouble of the Saints in Nauvoo, produced by the sons
of those with whom he fought side-by-side for his country's liberty! -- and
had the mortification to see the government he had fought to establish and
maintain, avow such acts!......
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Bassett Family Association Database
1790 - 1856 (66 years)