 |
| 1995 at Nauvoo in front of Simeon Adams Dunn's home |
SIMEON ADAMS DUNN
(The following is taken from history by Eva (Tebe) Snow and
Nancy Dunn Watson)
Simeon Adams Dunn was born August 7, 1804 in or around
Groveland, New York. He was the 4th
in a line of "Simeon" Dunn's. The first was born somewhere in Scotland in
the early 1700's. His
son, Simeon Adam's grandfather, was born in 1752 and married
Ann Gustin, also of Scotland. They
came to America and lived for a time in New Brunswick, New
Jersey, then moved to Groveland,
New York (what is now Williamstown, in Livingston County).
Simeon Adam's father was born
April 24, 1774, just 2 years before the American revolution.
He married Sarah (Sally) Bath, who
came to America from England. Simeon Adams was their third
child.
We know little about Simeon Adams' childhood. He lived with
a family by the name of Skinner for
a number of years. When Simeon was eight years old his
mother died. His father had left home to
join the War of 1812 and thus the children were left orphans
and were taken into the homes of
friends to be cared for. He finally left the state of New
York and settled in Michigan where he met
a family by the name of Rawson. About 1828, he married their
daughter, Adaline. They had seven
children, but only three daughters survived infancy. They
lived in Belville, Wayne County,
Michigan in a fine farm home. They had animals, barns and
orchards of fruit trees. Was a hard
worker and an able farmer and they had a prosperous life.
Simeon became acquainted with the Mormons. Apparently
impressed with the Book of Mormon,
when twin sons were born to Simeon in February, 1837, he
named one Mosiah. In 1838, James
Dunn, Simeon Adams' younger brother came to their home in
Van Buren, Michigan, as a
missionary of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. He preached the gospel to the family
and Simeon Adams and his wife were baptized April 15, 1839.
On June 20, 1840, Simeon left on foot for Nauvoo and there
for the first time saw a prophet of God.
After a short time he returned home, still walking. He got
his family, which at that time included
his three surviving little daughters, and headed out for
Nauvoo. They arrived August 15, 1841.
Simeon purchased land from Joseph Smith and built a home.
They lived in Nauvoo until the Saints
were driven out. His house in Nauvoo has been restored by
the church and is now used to house
missionary couples.
On October 22, 1841, just two months after arriving at
Nauvoo, his wife passed away. His oldest
child was but eleven years old. On the 19th of June, 1842,
Simeon married Margaret Sneider in the
Nauvoo Temple (although they did not receive their
endowments). While in Nauvoo, Simeon
served diligently. He was a guard to the Prophet Joseph and
labored to build the Nauvoo temple.
The Prophet was often called upon to heal the sick and the
Dunn family could bear testimony to his
power of healing. Once when Simeon was very sick and sent
for the Prophet to come, Joseph laid
his hands on Simeon's head and asked if Simeon had ever had
the measles. Simeon answered,
"No." "You will have them," replied the
Prophet. Before he removed his hands from Simeon's
head, he was broken out with thick spots. Simeon's baby
daughter became sick with what was
called "black canker". Margaret took the baby to
the Prophet, who then went with the family to a
stream of water. Joseph took the baby, laid it across his
hand, face down and immersed it in the
water. The baby recovered.
At the time of the Prophet's martyrdom, Simeon was on a
mission to New York to promote the
Prophet's candidacy for president of the United States. The
work on the temple continued almost
unabated despite the mob activities which increased after
the acquittal of the murderers of the
Prophet and Hyrum. The Saints were warned to leave the state
or be the cause of much bloodshed,
including their own. Brigham Young agreed to move the saints
out, but requested time to prepare,
sell their homes, etc. In December of 1845, the ordinance
work was commenced by the general
membership in the temple. Simeon was endowed and sealed to
his wife on December 27, 1845.
The winter was harsh and cold and on February 4, 1846, the
first of the Saints left Nauvoo. Simeon
was not among those leaving, for Margaret was due to deliver
their second child. The baby
(Simeon) was born to them, February 9, 1846. On this same
date a detachment of the governor's
troops came into the city and caused a great deal of fuss.
The ice began building up on the Mississippi River during
the latter part of February. Many of the
Saints crossing the river in rafts were in great difficulty
because of it. One such young woman,
Harriet Atwood Silver, a young lady from Vermont, was on a
ferry traveling across the icy waters
One of the ropes broke and the boat went down, but through
hard work they were all saved and she
traveled on to Winter Quarters.
Simeon stayed in Nauvoo after the main body of the Saints
had departed. The baby, Simeon, died
shortly after its birth. Margaret never fully recovered from
the trauma of the events and died also in
Nauvoo, leaving Simeon with a fourth daughter.
In May of 1846, Simeon and his four daughters left Nauvoo to
follow the Saints westward. They
had two wagons, one yoke of oxen and one yoke of cows. The
milk from the cows would be put in
a can and hung on the back of the wagon. At night there
would be butter for supper.
Later in 1846, Simeon married Jane Caldwell and she had a
son born to her in February of 1847.
His wife apparently left him before the baby was born and
ultimately took their son back east.
Simeon, with his four daughters, left for the west, after
spending the winter at Winter Quarters,
where he met and married Harriet Atwood Silver on the 3rd of
January, 1847. They were married
by Brigham Young. They left Winter Quarters on the 16th of
May, 1848.
Harriet was a great help to the family. At first they all
had no shoes. Once Simeon had stopped the
wagons by a bed of prickly pears. Mary, Simeon's daughter,
not noticing the cactuses jumped out of
the wagon right into them. They had a terrible time getting
the stickers out of her feet. Her dear
father was so careful, but it was painful and Mary's feet
were sore for a long time.
Then while crossing the plains they passed great herds of
buffalo. It often seemed like the land was
covered for miles with buffalo. The wagons would have to
stop until they passed as buffalo were
very vicious if they were molested. Some of the men followed
them to get meat as that was about
all they would have. Harriet took advantage of this
encounter with the buffalo. She took pieces of
buffalo robe and made shoes, with the woolly side in for
warmth. She also made stockings for the
girls from bits of buffalo wool which the girls could gather
from the willows by the river bank
where the buffalo came to drink. Harriet had learned the
tailors trade as a young girl and her talents
with a needle and thread were very handy during the pioneer
hardships. Further across the prairies
they also encountered barking ground squirrels, deer and
antelope. And of course, Indians.
After arriving in the Salt Lake Valley on September 28, 1848
with the company of Brigham Young,
they had to ration their food even more strictly. The crops
of the Saints who were already in the
valley had been sparse due to hoards of crickets devouring
much of them. Harriet baked a corn cake
every morning and that would do for the day. They called it
Johnny Cake. She would cut the cake
up in five pieces, one piece for each of them. On Sunday,
Harriet made flour biscuits. Simeon
spent much of his time out of doors and worked hard to keep
his family from being hungry.
In September, 1850 Simeon was called on a mission to the
South Sea Islands. His family had no
means of support but President Brigham Young promised Simeon
that if he would go the Lord
would bless him with health and that his family would not
want or suffer during his absence. He
left soon after for Tahiti. He served an honorable mission
and the promises made were fulfilled.
Harriet supported her family in his absence without calling
on the Church for help. From frozen
rushes gathered by the river she put bottoms in chairs and
also made brooms out of split birch.
These she sold to the settlers in the valley and made a
meager living for her family. Simeon
returned in 1852.
Simeon and Harriet had seven children, including our
grandfather, Charles Oscar Dunn. The story
concerning their twins and Harriet's subsequent death bears
repeating here. (This is taken from the
account given by Aunt "Tebe". )
The twins were born December 31, 1857 - a boy and a girl.
The girl died shortly after birth, and
two days later, on January 2nd, Harriett also died, giving
her life to bring life. Simeon's heart was
broken as he placed his young wife in the crude, home-made
casket and laid their baby daughter in
her arms. Three months later, in April, 1858, the call came
for all Saints to leave their homes in
Northern Utah and journey southward in order to elude
Johnston's Army. Like others in the
community, Simeon loaded a few provisions and household
effects into his covered wagon, assisted
his motherless children to their place in the wagon box and
cracking his long whip over the backs of
his oxen, commenced his journey. He had also provided a
wagon for his eldest daughter and her
three little girls. The husband and father of this little
family, Martin Luther Ensign, at that time was
serving as a missionary for the church.
It was a trying time for all of them, as they never expected
to return to their homes and did not know
what or where their flight would lead to. As they proceeded
on their way, baby Henry became very
ill. They camped on Kay's Creek (now Kaysville) and there
they saw the life depart from their three
month old son and brother. Simeon made his little family as
safe and comfortable as possible in this
temporary camp and with a sad and heavy heart slowly wended his way back to the lonely grave in
the Brigham City Cemetery. Near to it, he dug a very small grave
and in it tenderly laid the remains
of his baby boy.
He found the town empty, except for a few men who had
remained behind ready at a moment's
notice to touch a match to the homes and buildings if the
enemy should enter the city. He entered
his house expecting to spend the night there, but it was so
quiet and lonely that it was more than he
could bear, so he went to the stable, laid down by his
faithful oxen and spent the night. Early the
next morning he was on his way to rejoin his family. He found
them safe and well and they
continued on with their journey as far south as Payson,
where they made their camp and remained
until the government issued a manifesto offering amnesty to
all of the "disloyal Mormons" and the
Saints were counseled by the church leaders to return to
their homes. Upon their safe arrival home,
they found their house empty and all of their possessions
gone! Possibly members of Johnston's
army ransacked the homes or at the very least did not safeguard
them as promised.
Simeon married, for the fifth time (none polygamous!) in
1864 to Elizabeth Wickham. They had
two children born to them when Simeon was well into his
60's! All together, Simeon fathered 19
children!
Simeon died the 22nd of February, 1883 in Brigham City,
Utah.
Simeon also kept a personal record from which the following
is copied. Simeon was one of the
early members of the church, joining just nine short years
after the church was officially restored in
April of 1830.
Simeon Adams Dunn
Church Record and Testimony
I was baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints on the third Monday (the 15th) in
April, 1839, by Elder James Dunn, in the town of Van Buren,
Wayne County, Michigan, in the
Huron River. I was the first man ever baptized in that
river, by authority from Heaven, and he, my
brother James Dunn, the first Elder that I ever saw. My wife
Adaline was baptized a week after I
was, she being the second person baptized in the river.
I was ordained to the office of Priest by Elder Stephen
Post, on the 22nd of July, 1839. I officiated in that
calling.
In June 1840, I was ordained an Elder by Elders Post and
Franklin, in Van Buren, Wayne County,
Michigan. In June, 1840 I started for Nauvoo, on foot and
alone, 500 miles distant. June 20, 1840 I
arrived in Nauvoo, and for the first time in this life mine
eyes beheld an acknowledged Prophet of
God. On June 22, 1840 I visited the first Patriarch of the
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints, and he, Joseph Smith Senior, blessed me with a
Father's blessing, and explained to me the
history of Abraham, from the Scripture.
On July 10, 1840 I started and returned to my home in
Michigan, bearing my testimony of the
everlasting gospel, going and coming, with much rejoicing.
On June 20, 1841, I set off with my family to gather with
the Saints in Nauvoo. We arrived in
Nauvoo, August 5, 1841, settled and lived in that city until
the saints left for the mountains.
In April, 1844 I was ordained one of the Seventies, under
the hands of Levi Hancock. In May,
1844, I was sent on a mission to the State of New York, to
advocate the Prophet's claim to the
Presidency of the United States of America.
On January 26, 1845, I was ordained and set apart to be the
Senior President of the 15th Quorum of
Seventies, under the direction of President Joseph Young,
Senior President of all the Seventies.
In December, 1843 I was chosen by the Prophet Joseph as one
of forty-three policemen, to guard
the city and the Temple of the Lord.
In September, 1841, I was sent to West Canada on a mission
to preach the gospel.
December 27, 1845, I and my wife, Margaret, received our
endowments in the Temple of the Lord,
City of Nauvoo, Illinois.
On January 21, 1846, I was called and worked as a hand in
the Temple. Worked sixteen days. On
January 22, 1846, I was called and had sealed to me Margaret
Sneider and Adaline Rawson, who
was dead. On February 6, 1846, I was called with my wife
Margaret, and received our second
annointings and sealed on us all the blessings thereof,
under the hands of Elder Zebedee Coltran.
On February 9, 1846, the Twelve Apostles left Nauvoo and
crossed the Mississippi River for the
wilderness. May 18th I left Nauvoo to follow in their wake,
and shared in all the toils and
sufferings of the Saints until November 20th. After laying
out a city called Winter Quarters, on the
west bank of the Missouri River, I was appointed on of a
company of police to guard the city. I
remained in Omaha until the 16th of May, 1848, when I, with
my family set off for Salt Lake
Valley, where we arrived September 28, 1848. I remained
there until I was called to go to the South
Sea Isles. On May 7, 1850, I set off on a mission to the
South Pacific Sea Isles.
On April 21, 1852, I arrived home, having been gone two
years. In May 1852, I settled in Box
Elder County and then Weber County.
In April, 1858, I fled south with the rest of the saints
from Johnston's Army, to allude their grasp.
On July 25th, I broke for home again, Brigham City, by the
wise leadership of President Lorenzo
Snow, under God.
We have been wonderfully blessed, both temporally and
spiritually.
On October 19, 1871, I left Brigham City for the States, on
a mission to look up the genealogy of
my dead friends, which proved to be a very successful
mission. I returned home the 19th of July,
1874, having travelled 10,000 on rail and on the U.S. Seal.
On November 1, 1877, I was privileged with a mission to St.
George, Utah, to officiate for my dead
in the Holy Temple of our God. On January 27, 1878, I
returned home, having accomplished the
desire of my heart for this time, in this direction.
February 11, 1878 - This year I am seventy-five years old. I
have had born to me nineteen children,
thirty-nine grand-children, ten great grand-children, and
they are all within the vales of the Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
I can say in my heart, "God Bless You".
(Signed) Simeon Adams Dunn
Elder, in the Church of Jesus Christ of latter-day Saints.
The following is the patriarchal blessing given to Simeon by
the first patriarch of the church, Joseph Smith Senior:
Simeon A. Dunn, son of Simeon and Sarah Dunn, was born in
Livingston County, town of
Groveland, State of New York, on the 7th day of August in
the year of our Lord 1803.
This 22nd day of June, A.D. 1840, I lay my hands upon thee,
in the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, and bless thee with the blessings of a Father, for
thou art an orphan, and I bless thee with
all the blessings of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and not many
months hence thou shalt be filled with
the Holy Ghost; thou shalt become might in word and in deed,
and thou shalt have power to heal the
sick and to cast out devils.
Thou shalt have the vision of angels, and thou shalt hear an
audible voice speaking unto thee to
direct thy course in the pathway of life, for the Lord has
looked upon thee from Eternity, and thy
mission has been known unto him.
Thou art sealed unto the covenant of thy Fathers, and from
this time thou shalt be called of the seed
of Joseph, for thou art an Ephraimite and one of the House
of Joseph, to push the people together
from the ends of the earth.
Thy mission shall be to many parts of the United States, and
also to foreign lands, and thou shalt
speak before Kings and Nobles, and they shall be astonished
at thee because of the power of God
which is in thee.
Thou shalt pass through perils and thou shalt be engulfed by
the waves, but thou shalt have power to
command them, for Satan shall seek to destroy thee, but
shall not prevail against thee if thou art
faithful, but thou shalt return to thy family in peace.
Thou shalt have power over thy own kindred flesh to teach
them the way of life and salvation. Thy
companion shall be blessed with thee and thy posterity after
thee, with all the blessings pertaining to
the Priesthood, and I seal thee up to eternal life, even so,
Amen
 |
| Simeon's stone in Brigham City, Utah |
1 comment:
Wow, amazing!!!!
Post a Comment