One Side by Himself: the Life and Times of Lewis Barney, 1808-1894
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Utah State University DigitalCommons@USU All USU Press Publications USU Press 2001 One Side by Himself: The Life and Times of Lewis Barney, 1808-1894 Ronald O. Barney Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usupress_pubs Part of the History of Religion Commons Recommended Citation Barney, R. O. (2001). One side by himself: The life and times of Lewis Barney, 1808-1894. Logan: Utah State University Press. This Book is brought to you for free and open access by the USU Press at DigitalCommons@USU. It has been accepted for inclusion in All USU Press Publications by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@USU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. One Side by Himself One Side by Himself The Life and Times of Lewis Barney, 1808–1894 by Ronald O. Barney Utah State University Press Logan, UT Copyright © 2001 Utah State University Press All rights reserved Utah State University Press Logan, Utah 84322-7800 Manufactured in the United States of America Printed on acid-free paper 654321 010203040506 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Barney, Ronald O., 1949– One side by himself : the life and times of Lewis Barney, 1808–1894 / Ronald O. Barney. p.cm. — (Western experience series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-87421-428-9 (cloth) — ISBN 0-87421-427-0 (pbk.) 1. Mormon pioneers—West (U.S.)—Biography. 2. Mormon pioneers—Utah— Biography. 3. Frontier and pioneer life—West (U.S.). 4. Frontier and pioneer life—Utah. 5. Mormon Church—History—19th century. 6. West (U.S.)—Biography. 7. Utah— Biography. I. Title. II. Series. F593 B24 2001 978.02'092—dc21 2001005898 Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction xi Chapter 1 The Barneys on America’s Frontier: The Holland Land Purchase, 1800–1811 1 Chapter 2 The Silhouette of Ohio: Barneys in America’s Interior, 1811–1826 9 Chapter 3 These Fertile Prairies: Yankees on the Illinois Frontier, 1826–1832 23 Chapter 4 On My Farm: Lewis Barney Comes of Age, 1833–1839 38 Chapter 5 An Honest, Industrious People: Conversion to Mormonism, 1839–1840 47 Chapter 6 Unaccustomed to City Life: Nauvoo and the Hancock Prairie, 1841–1844 59 Chapter 7 A Gloom over the Country: The Final Years in Hancock County, 1844–1846 74 Chapter 8 Midst Sighs and Lamentations: Iowa—Prelude to the West, 1846 84 Chapter 9 A Story Makes a People: The Exodus to Zion, 1847 95 Chapter 10 A Band of Brethren: The Return to Winter Quarters, 1847 106 Chapter 11 Barney’s Grove: Iowa and the Last Trek to Zion, 1847–1852 117 Chapter 12 We Managed to Live: The Palmyra Plain, 1852–1856 137 Chapter 13 He Would Not Forsake His People: Spanish Fork and the Utah War, 1856–1858 153 Chapter 14 We Left Them Crying: Spanish Fork and Springville, 1858–1861 171 Chapter 15 Busted Up: Utah’s Sanpete and Sevier Valleys, 1861–1865 183 Chapter 16 Beginning to Be Old: The Indian War and the Railway, 1865–1869 195 Chapter 17 A Frontier Village: Monroe, Utah, 1871–1874 211 Chapter 18 A Division with the People: The Monroe United Order of Enoch, 1874–1878 222 Chapter 19 The Salvation of Thy Relatives and Friends: The Last Years in Sevier Valley, 1877–1882 238 Chapter 20 Better Situated: Farther into the Frontier, 1882–1886 250 Chapter 21 If It Takes the Rest of My Life: The Quixotical Family Kingdom, 1886–1894 270 Barney Family Relationships 287 Notes 288 Bibliography 369 Index 394 Illustrations Photographs Lewis Barney, Reminiscence, ca 1886 xiii Lewis Barney, Reminiscence and Diary, 1878–1882 xiv Lewis Barney, Reminiscence and Diary, 1878–1882, page 27 xv “It Is Winter” 4 Owl Creek, Ohio 12 Yeoman Mill on Paint Creek, Ohio 16 Elizabeth Turner Barney 39 Joseph Smith 48 Nauvoo with temple in background 67 Brick or Widow’s Row, Nauvoo, Illinois 73 Walter Barney 118 Henry Barney 121 Elizabeth Beard Barney 126 First Presidency and Twelve Apostles, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints 128 Benjamin Franklin Barney 156 Lewis Barney 170 Walter Turner Barney 172 Joseph Smith Barney and family 212 James Henry Barney 213 Monroe, Utah 215 St. George with temple in background 245 Arthur Barney and family 247 Elisabeth Beard, David, and Martha Barney 251 David Barney and family 255 Lewis Barney, inscription, 29 November 1883, at Willow Springs, Arizona 260 Manti with temple in background 274 Sarah Emeline Barney with children 276 Maps Western New York, 1809, showing Holland Land Purchase. xxii Eastern Ohio, 1823 10 Western Illinois, 1838 24 Hancock County, Illinois, ca. 1843 60 Iowa, 1860, showing Mormon trails to the Missouri River 88 Mormon Routes 96 Utah Lake and neighboring valleys, 1856 138 Utah, 1879 196 New Mexico, 1894 262 Arizona, 1879 265 Southwestern Colorado, 1894 278 Acknowledgments am grateful to the many who have make this project possible, both individ- Iuals and institutions. A number of Barney family members have been very helpful. In particular, I am grateful to Raymond G. Briscoe, who has supported my work on Lewis Barney since its inception nearly twenty-five years ago by providing documents, photographs, and encouragement. Other family mem- bers who have been gracious to my solicitations, generous with their materials, and encouraging in my work are the late Rhoda Black Erickson, Nolan Barney, Ruth Mae Barney Harris, Alex and Nellie Barney, Mattie Barney Cornaby, Kathy Erickson, Gwen Barney, and William Clifford (Cliff) Barney, president of the Barney Family Historical Association. I am especially grateful to Charles S. Peterson, emeritus professor of his- tory at Utah State University and former editor of the Western Historical Quarterly, who employed me and encouraged my study of Lewis Barney while I prepared my master’s thesis many years ago. More recently he read and cri- tiqued the manuscript of this book, steering me into broader interpretations of Barney and his life. Will Bagley, editor and historian of the West, has encour- aged this project and has been very helpful in his careful review of the manu- script. His suggestions make the book much more readable and balanced, and his views of the Mormon experience in Utah and elsewhere have helped me consider a larger context for Barney’s place in Mormonism and in the West. Professor Gene A. Sessions of Weber State University also read the manuscript and offered a number of helpful suggestions to strengthen the volume. The late Professor S. George Ellsworth of Utah State University championed my proj- ect in its infancy and undoubtedly served as the initial stimulus directing me to this point. Many other individuals have been supportive of my work and provided me with historical documentation, ideas, and support that have helped me immea- surably. They include my colleagues in the Church Archives and Church History Library, who are generally underappreciated for their expertise and con- tribution to Mormon studies. In particular, Steven R. Sorensen, William W. Slaughter, Michael N. Landon, Ronald G. Watt, James L. Kimball, Scott R. Christensen, and Jeffery L. Anderson have been most helpful. I express appre- ciation also to friends and associates, some who have read portions of this book and others who have provided me with material and information which have contributed to it. They include Polly Aird, Lowell C. Bennion, Alfred Bush, Robert Carter, Ruth Dougherty, Bliss Hansen, William G. Hartley, Douglas C. ix x One Side by Himself Hill, Richard N. Holzapfel, J. P. Hughes, Myrtle Hyde, Stanley B. Kimball, E. Leo Lyman, John A. Peterson, Larry C. Porter, Ronald E. Romig, Carmen Smith, and my mother-in-law, Audine Kennington Stafford. I am also grateful to John R. Alley, executive editor, and the Utah State University Press staff for their assistance in the production of this volume. The staffs of numerous repositories and institutions whose materials I have used have unfailingly been courteous and helpful to me. They include, in Utah, the Church Archives, Church History Library, and Family History Library in Salt Lake City; the Utah State Historical Society in Salt Lake City; the L. Tom Perry Special Collections at Brigham Young University and Utah County Recorder’s Office in Provo; the Merrill Library Special Collections at Utah State University in Logan; and the Sevier County Recorder’s Office in Richfield. Outside of Utah the institutions include the Special Collections at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa; the Henry County Recorder’s Office and Mt. Pleasant Public Library in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa; the Church Archives of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (now titled the Community of Christ Archives) in Independence, Missouri; the Illinois State Historical Library, Illinois State Archives, and Springfield Public Library in Springfield, Illinois; the Primitive Baptist Library and Hancock County Recorder’s Office in Carthage, Illinois; the Case Western Reserve Historical Society in Cleveland, Ohio; the Ohio Historical Society in Columbus, Ohio; the Fayette County Historical Society in Washington Court House, Ohio; the Knox County Historical Society in Mt. Vernon, Ohio; the Clarence Historical Society in Clarence, New York; the Newstead Historical Society in Akron, New York; the Erie County Historical Society and Erie and Buffalo Public Library in Buffalo, New York; the Kroch Library at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York; the New York State Archives in Albany, New York; the Firestone Library at Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey; and the National Archives and Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Lastly, I am thankful to my immediate family for their patience, forbear- ance, encouragement, and support. My wife, Marilyn, endured countless nights over several years while I sequestered myself in front of our computer. Of course, there was a toll paid by my family for my distractions from other impor- tant family matters because of my preoccupation with my ancestor.