Brigham Young University BYU ScholarsArchive Theses and Dissertations 1975 Stephen Markham: Man of Valour Mervin LeRoy Gifford Brigham Young University - Provo Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd Part of the Cultural History Commons, and the Mormon Studies Commons BYU ScholarsArchive Citation Gifford, Mervin LeRoy, "Stephen Markham: Man of Valour" (1975). Theses and Dissertations. 4714. https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/4714 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by BYU ScholarsArchive. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of BYU ScholarsArchive. For more information, please contact [email protected], [email protected]. STEPHEN MARKHAM MAN OF VALOUR A thesis presented to the department of church history and doctrine brigham young university in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree master of arts by mervin leroy gifford august 1975 this thesis by mervin leroy gifford is accepted in its present form by the department of church history and doctrine as satisfying the thesis requirements for the degree of master of arts leialeinLCIA urrlUrrL richard 0 cowan committeearrlchairman 77 melvin J tOsonpetesonpetosonPepeerson committeetumember 7 7 dadatedace77e lar Ccy porter acting department chairman ii acknowledgments the writer would like to express his appreciation to the following who have made it possible to bring this work to its present form to richard 0 cowan chairman of the advisory co- mmittee for willingly devoting many hours to see this man- uscript completed his kindness understanding and valu- able suggestions will always be appreciated to melvin J peterson representing the minor department for his valuable suggestions to the staffs of both the church historians library and the special collections library at brigham young university for their willing assistance which made the completion of this thesis possible to members of the stephen markham family for their help and encouragement to ann hansen who sacrificed so much of her time to type and help edit this work to my wonderful wife marjory who has given constant encouragement and sacrificed much time and iii iv companionship during the many hours spent in the completing of this thesis to my children brent kenneth kevin annette sherri and byron who were willing to forego many activ- ities with their dad to see this goal accomplished TABLE OF CONTENTS page acknowledgments iii chapter 1 introduction 1 purpose of study 2 limitationsdelimitationsDe 3 method of procedure and sources used 3 2 EARLY LIFE birth and family 5 baptism 6 MARKHAM IN MISSOURI 7 extermination order 8 REMOVAL FROM MISSOURI 9 markhamsMarkhams duties 10 blakely episode 11 3 STEPHEN MARKHAM IN ILLINOIS 14 SETTLING NAUVOO 14 MARKHAM IN NAUVOO 16 nauvoo legion 16 civic involvement 18 v vi chapter page ecclesiastical activities 19 prophet bodyguard 20 arrest at dixon 21 personal sacrifice 26 UNREST IN NAUVOO 27 riot charge 27 martial law declared 28 29 10 the martyrdom 4 WESIWARDWESTWARD TO THE ROCKIES 34 EXODUS FROM NAUVOO 34 preparations and problems 37 sugar creek 38 TREK ACROSS IOWA 41 Richardrichardsonrichardsonsrichardsonbsons point 41 chariton river 42 601Golgoiboldensgoldengoidengoldensdens point incident 43 garden grove 44 cutler park 45 winter quarters 46 EXODUS TO THE GREAT BASIN 47 elkhorn river 47 no guns no hat 49 scotts bluff 49 viivilv1lvilviival chapter page entering the great basin 50 the return 52 5 MARKHAM IN THE GREAT BASIN 53 RETURN TO THE GREAT BASIN 53 THE SPANISH FORK AREA 54 branch organized 56 palmyra settled 56 living conditions 58 community development 59 ward divided 60 walker war 61 fort supply 66 STEPHEN MARKHAM THE MAN 68 orator storyteller 71 family 72 DEMISE 73 6 SUMMARY AND conclusions 75 SELECTED bibliography 79 appendixes 84 chapter 1 introduction the church of jesus christ of latter day saints has a rich history surrounding its restoration and struggle for survival countless saints have aided in the building of the kingdom of god on earth one of these was stephen markham personal bodyguard of joseph smith stephen heard the gospel while living iinI1 n chester geaughgeauga county ohio through the efforts of a zealous missionary he was converted to the mormon faith and bap- tized in july 1837 from that time until his death in 1878 markham tried vigorously to do his part in building gods kingdom having to sacrifice was a common thing to the early members of the church and this new convert was no excep- tion on two different occasions he sold his property and gave the proceeds to the church markham also freely gave of his time on one occasion he rode 212 miles in less than three days to alert joseph smith of a plot to 1 arrest him 1 just prior to theche martyrdom of joseph and hyrum smith stephen was asked to leave the carthage jail to secure medicine for one of the prisoners upon returning 2 he was forced to leave carthacarthagee at gun point pioneering the west was an undertaking common to stephen markham he aided in the exodus of the saints from nauvoo to the great basin and pioneered a settlement in the rockies he was also involved with the establishment of an express line in the west durpospurpospurpose of studstudy leonard J arrington church historian stated that the true history of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints will not be fully comprehended until the con- tributions made by those who are not general authorities or top church leaders are known although markham was not one of these top leaders the purpose of this research is to discuss these contributions ljosephjoseph smith historvhistory of the church of jesus christ of latterlateer day saints ed B Hyay1 roberts ad2d ed rev salt lake city deseret book co 1959601959 60 V 436 here- after cited as DIICDHC Q 2territorialterritorial enquirer spanish3panish fork aratiuratiucah77 march 21211216 1878 3 limitationsdelimitationsDe this thesis is desidesignedned to discuss only those his- torical events with which markham was directly connected since becoming a member of the church only a very limited amount of space is devoted to Stepscepstephensstephentsstepheneshentshenis life prior to baptism since such information to the writers know- ledge is unavailable the writer is employed by the church as a coordin- ator of the seminary and program 11 institute 0 method of procedure and sources used the chapters will follow in a chronological order dealing with events in the life of stephen markham from his baptism until his death in 1878 stephen markham never kept a personal journal or diary hence this study was based on other sources of in- formation the primary sources include the journal history of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints the history of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints by joseph smith the times and seasons the territorial enquirer the deseret news and other periodicals private journals diaries reminiscences and his- tories of monnonmormon converts were studied extensively 4 valuable information was found in the libraries of brigham young university the genealogical society and the histori- cal department of the church also the writer personally interviewed several descendants of stephen markham chapter 2 EARLY LIFE birth and family stephen markham was born february 9 1800 in rush later avon livingston county new york he was the second son born to dinah merry and david markham in july 1802 his father a revolutionary soldier was ac- cicidentlydently shot and killed during a celebration approxim- ately two years after davids death dinah married samuel kelsey to them was born the first daughter of the family when sarah was only two years old stephens stepfatherstep father passed away dinah was married a third time to samuel potter of unionvilleUnionville new york by potter markhamsMarkhams mother bore five children for a total of eight they were nathaniel and stephen born to her first husband sarah to the second and samuel whiting elizabeth lucy I1 and edward to mr potter little is known of stephen marhMarkmarkhamsmarkham1shams life before ljulinajulina crow markham stephenestephennstephen markham in the history of thehe church of jesus Cliristchristchrisc of latter day saints unpublished 1967 5r 6 I1 joiningoi nixicrxich0 the church of jesus christ of latter day saints prior to his affiliation with mormonism stephen met and married hannah hogleboonHog leboon a native of manchester vermont 9 baiebalebaptismt ism through the zealous efforts of a young missionary abel lamb markham was taught the gospel and later bap 3 tizedsized in july 1837 in chester geaughgeauga county ohio stephens mother was greatly concerned over her sontssons accepting Monnonmormonismism his sister sarah felt that either hannah was the cause of her brother following joseph smith the mormon prophet or that he was drugged mormons by the Morcormonsmons she further suggestedC that stephen must have been mentally deranged to have joined such a strange minority christian group 4 stephens baptism came during trying times of the church in ohio the saints with joseph smiths encourage- ment organized a banking institution in an efforaefforeeffofforeoru to give some much needed financial aid to the Morcormonsmormonsmons excited over the future prospects of this kirtland safety societysociety1111 the comptrollers loaned excessive amounts of money without 21bidbid 31bd31bid 41bidbid 7 collecting a sufficient number of outstanding debts the prophet cautioned the bank officers