Hambleton
During the winter of 1851 and 1852,
Madison D. Hambleton and Gardner Potter, left Manti going to Pleasant Creek
Canyon to get out lumber for the market. Some shingles were manufactured in
1851, and the lumber produced was used in 1852 to build the first house erected
in Allred's Settlement on Canal Creek, later this settlement was known as
Spring Town.
In the spring of 1852, under the direction
of Madison D. Hambleton and Gardner Potter, about half a dozen families
proceeded to move northward from Manti, for the purpose of establishing a new
colony. Among these settlers were Henry Wilcox, John Lowry Jr., William Davis,
Seth Dodge, and John 'Bench. They located on both sides of the stream, just below
where Mount Pleasant is now situated, and north of the main road running
(History of Mt. Pleasant by Hilda Madsen Longsdorf pp 18-19
So who was Gardner Potter?
Gardner Godfrey Potter and his brother William Washington Potter
Gardner Godfrey Potter
Born 7 Jul 1811, Fort Ann, Washington, New York
Death 14 Mar 1857, Springville, Utah, Utah
Father: Thomas Theodore Potter
Wealthy Weiler
Married Emily Allen 1834
Married Evelina Maria Hinman Dec 1844
Arrived in Utah 20 Sep 1848 in Brigham Young - Along with Hosea Stout
Author of History: Helen Potter Severson, 1981 assisted by Gary Boren, a descendant of William Potter, Historical Writer, USU, Logan Utah
Article on file with the Daughters of Utah Pioneers History Library, SaltLake City, Utah
Source of some information: Diary of Hosea Stout; other sourcesreferred to in the article are: 1825 Census of Washington County, NewYork; Deeds of property 1829 & 1831, Essex County, New York; 1830 Censusof Schroon, Essex, New York; 1830 census of Parma, Cuyahoga County, Ohio;LDS Journal History; Patriarchal blessing of Gardner Godfrey Potter; Book"The Mormons of Latter-day Saints in the valley of the Great Salt Lake,published 1857, by Captain Gunnison; journal of Albert Carrington;
(Comment by Sherrie Chynoweth: This is a well researched document; however, it is unfortunate that all the sources weren't listed. There are some liberties taken by the author to guess what things were like or what probably happened, but these assertions are apparent and the writer made it clear it was not based on evidence. Even though the article is titled "Gardner Godfrey Potter," it is apparent that the writer incorporated all Potter information she uncovered in her research onGardner and his family. Fortunately, there is much information regarding William Washington Potter, Gardner's brother.)
Gardner Godfrey Potter, son of Thomas Potter and Wealthy Weiler, was born7 July 1811 at Fort Ann, Washington County, New York. His paternalancestry goes through six generations of Potters in Massachusetts andRhode Island to Coventry, Warwickshare, England where Nathaniel Potterwas born about 1615 and came to America and died in South Kingston,Washington County, Rhode Island, sometime before 1644. Few facts areknown of the Potters in England before Nathaniel. It is known that ThomasPotter was mayor of Coventry in 1622-23. In 1628, Thomas Potter,Alderman, lost an election. In 1822, an avenue of ornamental treesplanted by Thomas Potter was destroyed. In May 22, 1895 there was alegal problem with a house built on the common by Thomas Potter.Numerous Potters were dignitaries in the Church of England. Some livedon New Street. Later generations were in Dartmouth, Bristol,Massachusetts and Joseph, father of Thomas, settled in Fort Ann sometimebefore 1774 where Thomas was born. It is believed that Joseph Potterfought in the Revolution war under Washington, perhaps at Bunker Hill,Dartmouth and Dorchester (where several of his sons-in-law also served.)
Thomas Theodore Potter who was born in 1774 in Fort Ann, married WealthyWeiler, daughter of Amos and Marian Weller, first settlers of "Weller'sHill" near Fort Ann in 1799. There were the parents of ten children, allborn at Fort Ann. Thomas is listed in the 1825 census of WashingtonCounty, New York, but sometime between 1825 and 1828, he removed for atime to Essex County where some of his children remained temporarily andmarried. Thomas was deeded property there in 1829 from WilliamStevenson. He is listed in the 1830 census of Schroon, Essex, New York,and deeded property from Peter Smith in 1831. At the south end ofSchroon Lake is a town called Potterville.
Thomas is listed in the 1830 census of Parma, Cuyahoga County, Ohio anddied in 1832 in Ingham County, Michigan "en route to visit his daughterwho lived there". [These statements that Thomas was found in New York andOhio in 1830 is problematiccould just be a typo, but will need furtherresearch.] His widow, Wealthy, survived him only two years and died in1834 in Parma, Ohio. Their ten children were born between 1800 and 1819. They were Jane, Joseph, Rebecca, Stephen, Sylvia, Gardner Godfrey,Susan, Betsey, Samuel or Lemuel, and William Washington. All thechildren were born in Fort Ann, Washington County, New York. Fort Annwas established during the war of 1812 from a small Colonial New Englandcommunity called Westfield. Gardner grew up around Fort Ann, attendingschool and working on nearby farms, and hunting in the woods to helpbring food to the table for the large family. He had two older brothers,three elder sisters, two younger brothers and two younger sisters.
To the east of Fort Ann was the Atlantic Ocean, and to the west lay theboundary of the wilderness inhabited by unfriendly Indians. Gardner andhis brothers became the products of the frontier at an early age.Sometime between 1825 and 1828, the family migrated to nearby EssexCounty where they set up temporary residence, but remained in touch withrelatives in Washington County. His older brother Stephen remained inWashington County as postmaster and later went to California. Several ofhis sisters remained there and three of them married Whitney boys. Hisyounger brother William married Sarah Ann Whitney, who after the death ofher father and being homeless, was taken in by kindly old father ThomasPotter who claimed her as his own.
From Schroon, Essex, New York, the family migrated west. In 1834 or 35they moved to Parma, Cuyahoga, Ohio not far from Kirtland where thehead-quarters of the Latter-Day Saint church had been established in1831. Here in 1834 Gardner married Emily Allen. Joseph Smith hadreceived a revelation instructing the people to build a temple.Accordingly he sent men northward into the forests of Michigan for timberfor the temple. Many skilled tradesmen were needed for this purpose.Gardner's brother, William, a product of the Atlantic Coast wharves,designed and built a boat and several barges, to transport the requiredmaterials from Michigan to Ohio via Lake Erie, where they were depositedon the Cleveland docks and taken to Kirtland.
In May 1842, Gardner Godfrey and William Washington Potter were baptizedinto the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, probably in Parma,Cuyohoga, Ohio, and moved to Nauvoo in 1843. It is not known whether anyof the other Potter family joined the church or not. Gardner and Williamhad always been very close and associated together in every endeavor andremained so all their lives. They were both loyal members of the church,were rugged individualists who preferred the frontier, outdoor life.They were brave, daring, fearless, and handsome. Gardner had red hairand a temper to match. He had a love for fine clothes and alwayspresented a good appearance. This fact probably had something to do withhis nickname being "Duff". In Nauvoo, William lived on the banks of theMississippi River and probably pursued his occupation of boat building.Gardner probably occupied himself with stock raising and farming.Gardner's wife Emily having died, he married Evelina Maria HinmanDecember 1844 on the Iowa River, Johnson, Iowa.
Gardner Godfrey Potter was a close friend and associate of Hosea Stout,the stalwart Mormon leader and diaryist who was constable of the NauvooLegion in Nauvoo and Winter Quarters. He was later Attorney General ofthe state of Deseret and the Territory of Utah. He was United StatesDistrict Attorney for Utah, and President of the House of the UtahTerritorial Legislature. Gardner himself was a member of the Nauvoo Legion, the largest military body of the time, second only to the United States Army. Since both Gardner and William Potter were murdered in Utahin the 50's and left no written record, we are dependent on the diaries and journals of others and the public records for information about them. Hosea Stout makes several entries about Gardner in his journal. Theywere associated together in Nauvoo, Winter Quarters,, crossed the plainsin the same company and for a while together in Salt Lake. The Journal History also makes a number of references to the Potters.
The Potter families endured all the hardships and disruption of theirlives connected with the murder of Joseph Hyrum Smith, and the violenceand destruction perpetrated by the mob, resulting in the Saints being driven from their homes and having to cross the ice on the Mississippi River during the winter of 1846, and struggling across Iowa to Winter Quarters.
Brigham Young hired eight or ten good men to go to the Ponca Camp toraise a group for the Indians of the Omaha Nation to keep them away from Winter Quarters that fall. Gardner and his wife Evalina were left at Pawnee on the Ponca River near Winter Quarters. On October 8, 1846, the Potter brothers offered to herd the cattle of members of the Mormon Battalion for $200 [this seems wrong] a head and be responsible for the loss. This was accepted by Brigham Young. On June 3, 1847, Hosea Stoutsent G. G. Potter out in his place to meet some Indians and conduct them into Winter Quarters with fifteen other men, with twelve horsemen and two wagons to meet the pioneers who were returning from the Rocky Mountains,to put them on guard against the Indians, to take them supplies and assist them in case they needed help. Gardner was listed as having one round of shot. On Sunday October 17, 1847, while on the Platte River,four of the men killed a buffalo. When Brother Potter and Glines came up, they said the buffalo was too poor to eat, which they did not believe until they opened him and found that it was so.
February 13, 1848, Gardner and his wife, Evalina received their Patriarchal blessings at the Ponca Camp given by Isaac Morley. Among other things Gardner was promised that "he would yet become an instrument in the hands of his God in the gathering of the people to the lands of their inheritance, for thou shalt participate with them when they are crowned in the lands of their inheritance. Let thy heart become stored,thy mind filled with intelligence to the rules and laws of Christ's Kingdom, and remember that thou will be placed in responsible stations,for thou wilt yet have to stand in the defense of truth, and stations that will call forth the energies of thy mind and the faculties of thy soul. Let thy heart be comforted for an enemy will never frighten three,for thee shall have victory over all that oppress three, and the candle of truth. Thou hast a gift to be cultivated and improved that yet neverhas been known to thine own mind."
March 13, 1848, a son, Gardner Godfrey, was born and died at Winter Quarters. He is buried in the Mormon Cemetery at Florence, Nebraska andhis name is on the monument there. On June 1, 1848, Gardner and Evelina left the Elkhorn River, Nebraska, with President Young's First Division to cross the plains in 1848. They arrived in Salt Lake 20 September 1848. Gardner's brother William and family had arrived in Salt Lake the year before, having crossed the plains in the Daniel Spencer company with John Taylor, captain of their ten. When a baby boy was born to William and Sarah Ann Whitney Potter August 12, 1847 while crossing the plains,John Taylor asked William to name the child after him as his godson. Sothe third son of William and Sarah was named Elijah John Potter.
The Potter brothers settled in the area adjacent to the old fort where Pioneer Park now is. They assisted in the construction of the fort for protection against the hostile Indians. It is said by Cary Boren,Descendant of William Potter, who does research and writes history for the Utah State University in Logan, and recently accompanied Robert Redford on his tour of outlaw trails in the west, that the log house which formerly occupied a place on the temple grounds was occupied by the Potter family. Shortly after their arrival in Utah, the Potters settledin the Sessions settlement, now Bountiful, ten miles north of Salt Lake where a colony of followers of Isaac Morley had grown up around his home. There is a hint that Isaac Morley, affectionately called "Father Morley", and early convert of the church, had converted and baptized the Potter brothers. Anyway, they were close friends who had associated together in Kirtland, Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, and had received patriarchal blessings from him while at the Ponca Camp. This beloved patriarch had a loyal following of about a thousand people including thePotters who pledged to follow him wherever he counseled them to go.
On December 24, 1848, there was a meeting of the Council of Fifty at the home of Heber C. Kimball, where Brigham Young nominated John D. Lee and John Pack Captains each to choose one hundred men to carry on a war of extermination against the wolves, wildcats, catamounts, pole cats, minks,bear, panthers, eagles, hawks, owls, crows or ravens and magpies. Each bird or animal was assigned a certain number of points from 1 for a raven to 50 for a bear or panther. The hunt started on Christmas day to thefirst of February. The side winning the least number of points was topay for a dinner for both parties. Gardner Godfrey was one chosen for John D. Lee's side. The time was extended, but it was never decided who was the winner and no dinner was ever had.
In 1849, Chief Walker of the Sanpete Utes visited Brigham Young at SaltLake City, and asked the Mormon leader to send a colonization party to Sanpete in central Utah, to take up farms and settle the country. He offered to guide the company and help them to colonize the place.Brigham Young asked Father Morley to lead the company which he readily agreed to do. On November 12, 1849, he lead about fifty families to Sanpete including Gardner and William Potter and their families.
Almost immediately the snow began falling and the temperature dropped.The colonists hastily constructed dugouts in the near-by hills. It was the hardest winter ever remembered by the Indians. Newly born babies had to be wrapped in large cowhides to keep warm. Cattle froze to death b ythe hundreds and were devoured by the starving Indians. In the dugouts,sagebrush fires were kept burning and the inadequate ventilation caused the smoke to severely hurt the eyes of the occupants.
December 12, men were sent to Salt Lake City to obtain supplies. Theywere able to obtain the supplies, but on the return trip, they weretrapped by heavy snows in the mountains near Salt Creek. An Indian named Tabian (also known as Tabby, Tabinau, or Tabiana) rode into thesettlement and informed Father Morley of the plight of the men. William and Gardner Potter with a group of other men, traveled on snowshoes overthe mountains to rescue the trapped men.
During the first winter thousands of rattlesnakes had sought the warm dugouts and as many as 500 were killed in a single night. In Williams'dugout, the family used torches to drive out the snakes and no one was bitten.
In the spring of 1850, the men constructed log cabins and the dugoutswere abandoned. Isaac Morley named the settlement Manti, taken from the book of Mormon. A militia was formed and William and Gardner Potter were active members for three years.
On the 27th the blow of a horn called the men together, to pursue Indians who had stolen horses from Gardner Potter and others, and a posse of twenty men including the Potter brothers went in pursuit. They returned home March 1st. The record does not say if they were successful or not.On March 7th, a party from Manti went to what is now Mount Pleasant tohelp Gardner and two other men to raise their mill. When the temple wasbeing built in the spring of 1852, the people moved from the foothills to the vicinity of the temple site, as protection from the Indians who werehostile and to work on the temple. Father Morley, who was 72 years old worked 10,314 [this can't possibly be correct probably a typo] days with team and 36 without team, more than any other man. William worked fivedays with team. Gardner was probably busy building his mill at Mount Pleasant as he is not listed as a worker on the temple. Within a few years, he was living in Springville.
Chief Walker and his brother, Aropene, had turned out to be a traitorous enemy. He camped near the settlement and paraded through the settlement,wearing dripping scalps from a raiding trip into the Shoshone country. On one occasion Chief Walker demanded that Father Morley give his younges tson to the tribe. Realizing that to refuse would mean death to every settler, he took the child from the arms of its sobbing mother, and handed him to the chief who rode away with him. The settlers gathered together that night and prayed for the return of the child. The next day, Walker returned and delivered the boy back to his father, painted and clothed in buckskin, but unharmed.
In Springville [Spring City], the town was besieged by the Indians. Acompany of men came from Provo and the war commenced at Mount Pleasant.Gardner Potter participated in this skirmish in which six Indians were killed. The residents of Mount Pleasant, including Gardner and his family, moved to the fort at Spring City for safety, but the fort was attacked agin. Gardner Potter was sent as an express messenger to Manti for help, and was successful in eluding his pursuers and arrived about 3p.m. in Manti. Drums were sounded, cattle collected and sentries posted at all prominent points and hasty preparations made for sending relief toSpring City.
Three wagons were appropriated with twelve yoke of oxen attached to each,and twelve mounted guards including Gardner and William Potter. They arrived at daylight the following day, loaded the women and children in the wagons with most of the men walking behind and at the sides, and they were evacuated and brought safely to the fort in Manti which William had helped to construct the previous season. The grist mill at the mouth ofManti canyon had to be guarded constantly to insure a constant supply of flour to the colonists. The Potter brothers were among the guards until all the grain was ground. When the guard was relinquished, the mill was burned in the winter by the Indians.
Information Found in Family Search https://familysearch.org/photos/artifacts/7482631
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