Merlin Plumb jr.

Merlin Plumb Jr.

Merlin Plumb and Elizabeth Cleopatra Bellows

History of Merlin Plumb Jr.

Born 14 August 1826, Mulberry Delaware, Ohio

Died 20 September 1901, Payson, Utah County, Utah

Arrived in Utah 1850

Stephen Markham Company

Married Elizabeth Cleopatra Bellows

Written and submitted to the DUP by 

Mary Elizabeth Wiltbank Burton, his great-granddaughter

with a few clarifications by her daughter, Kathryn Burton Castleton

Merlin Plumb Jr. was the son of Merlin Plumb Sr. and Sarah (Sally) Roberts Plumb.  He was born the 14th of August 1826 in Mulberry, Clermont County, Ohio.  He was the second son of a family of twelve children.  It was his lot to survive the rigors of mormon pioneer life from infancy to early childhood.  Merlin was but 4 years of age when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was organized through the prophet Joseph Smith.

Delaware County, Ohio was located only a few miles from Kirtland Ohio.  It was in this area that a great zeal of missionary work was being performed by the LDS church.  When Merlin's parents heard the gospel preached, they readily accepted it.

Merlin Plumb Sr. was a doctor of medicine, a well educated man and could speak five languages.  He and his family were to be baptized by the prophet Joseph Smith, but as written in the Bellows family history, the prophet was killed by the mob before that baptism took place.  While being chased by the mob, the Prophet came to their home and they hid him under a feather mattress.  Then, an infant baby which was being taken care of by the doctor was laid upon the mattress.  When the mob came they were told that the baby was too ill to be moved.

These quoted come from the Allen Bellows history: "Merlin, with the rest of his family were to be baptized by the prophet Joseph Smith, but when the appointed time came, cruel mobs were persecuting the saints and seeking the life of their leader.

"The Prophet Joseph SMith, was hid in their home, at one time, while the mob was hunting him, he was hid under the feather bed.  While fleeing the mobs at this time, Merlin Sr., the father, died.  The family was ordered to leave and be out of sight by sundown, the family hurriedly buried their father, packed their few belongings in readiness to leave their home.  With faith God would guide them and protect them, they obeyed the wicked mob.  They started on their journey, being driven from place to place with thousands of other Saints.  Being poor, persecuted, suffering many trials, through the evil doings of wicked men.

The family moved to Nauvoo Illinois with the rest of the saints.  "Going into a swamp at Nauvoo, they helped to build a beautiful city.  Hearing the Prophet Joseph Smith praising them. Here too, they witnessed and suffered the death of Joseph and Hyrum Smith.  Soon, they were driven from their home and shelters."

(Copied from Allen Bellows' Bellows History)

"In the year 1838, Merlin was baptized by David Fulmer, then again on 11 March 1839 when he was 13 years old.  At Winter Quarters, homes were built by the Saints.  Living here in the year 1848, with his mother Sarah (Sally) Roberts and his sister, Marilla Plumb, waiting to come West, Marilla met and married John Fergerson Bellows

(I am unable to find anything about the younger sister, Sarah, born 29 April 1830, or his younger brother, Marion born 14 January 1832, or any of the older children.)

"While being driven and persecuted by the people, from place to place, Merlin Jr. met Elizabeth Cleopatra Bellows, they being married around the year 1843.  Merlin was 18 years old and his wife, Elizabeth Cleopatra, being 16 years old, when their first son, A.I. Plumb was born 1844, in Ohio.  Evidently the boy died as there is no further information about him.

While living in Pottawattamie, Kegs Creek, Iowa the second child was born.  His name was John Henry Plumb and he was born on 27 November 1848.

"The family lived there, working to get money, wagons, and provisions to come West.  June 1, 1850, Merlin Plumb Jr. and his wife, Elizabeth Cleopatra and baby son, John Henry, his mother, Sarah (Sally) Plumb, John F. Bellows, and his wife, Marilla Plumb and son, James Merlin Bellows came West as a family with the Stephen Markham Company.  Merlin Plumb Jr. walked with his brother-in-law, John F. Bellows, and his wife Marilla, the entire distance, from Iowa City to Salt Lake.  The wagon, only one, had to serve the entire family.  The family arrived in Salt Lake city on 5 October 1850, after a five month journey.  Merlin was a cooper by trade.  He made the first barrel and churn in Salt Lake city.  Merlin was now 24 years old."

"It seems that Cleopatra and her mother Sarah (Sally) Roberts Plumb drove the team of oxen the whole journey.  Although it has been told that Sally rode a horse much of the way and carried a gun to help fight off the Indians."

(They were sent to Provo from Salt Lake and first camped on the Provo river where Merlin's baby son, John Henry (age 2) lived, but sadly the baby son of Marilla, (James Merlin Bellows) died.)

"They stayed in Provo, until after November.  Merlin's third son, Jeremiah, was born there 27 November 1850.  The name Jeremiah was after Merlin Sr's brother Jeremiah."

  An interesting account or story told by my mother, Geneva P. Wiltbank about Jeremiah follows.  Jeremiah was born Jan. 24, 1818 at Delaware, Caldwell County, Ohio.  He was among a party coming west with the Mormons.  He and some others were sent back to retrieve some stock the mob had stolen from the traveling Saints.  He became defiant with the mob and was sentenced to serve ten years in prison.  In prison, he was found to be a good cooper and was required to make so many barrels a day while serving his sentence.  For some reason the Saints failed to get Jerry paroled as they did the others that were taken prisoner with him.  He had a wife, Diantha and a child ( a small girl), that went on with the Saints.  It is said that Apostle Amasa Lyman married Diantha as a plural wife after they reached the Salt Lake valley.  The little girl fell from a high platform and was instantly killed about two months after Lyman married her mother.

Jeremiah or Jerry as he was called served his jail sentence and the family never heard from him again.  Yet, on the family group sheet it has him listed as married to (2) Mrs. Sarah Hales (no dat given) (3) Eliza Blake, November 17, 1868.  My mother, Geneva Wiltbank also said that his brother, Merlin Jr. my great grandfather, went back to see him while he was in prison.  But because of his large family and their mother being a widow, they had no means to do anything to get him released.

Jerry was very bitter toward some of the Mormon people for not trying to get him out of prison.  He did not forsake the mormon religion, but was bitter against some of the people.  And we need to know more about him and his descendants. 

After leaving Provo, Merlin Plumb Jr. and his family, his mother Sarah (Sally) Roberts and John F. Bellows and family moved on to Payson.  The Plumb and Bellows families lived close together in the Fort.  Here Merlin became very active in the church.  While living in Payson first Ward he was baptized several times.  Even up to March 16, 1857.  Cleopatra was baptized also in Payson 1851 and 1854.  (Early church members somehow had a misunderstanding concerning the baptism ordinance.)

While living in Payson, four more children were born.  They were Merlin James on May 2, 1853.  On November 17, 1855 Elizabeth Elenor, (probably called Ellen) was born.  It was that same year that Sally Roberts received her Patriarchal Blessing on February 14, 1855 by Isaac Morley.  Elizabeth Elenor only lived until she was 11 months old.  She died March 1856.  Martha Jane was born October 14, 1857 and then Euphrates on Febriary 9, 1860.  He died in 1861.  Great Grandmother Sally said he only lived 11 months so he would have died December 1860.  His death date is 1861 so he must have died in January 1861.

During the year 1860 the family was called to settle Pond Town (now called Salem, Utah.)  The following excerpts are taken from the Salem history.

Merlin Plumb was a pioneer of Pond Town and settled to the east of Payson and on the far west and south end of the river.  He also helped to set up the pattern of irrigation for Salem.  The twon was first called Pond Town because of the pond of wather in the center of town.

In Salem their seventh child Owen was born, Ohon Sacratus, in about 1861.  His death is recorded in Salem about 1862.  Great Grandmother, Sally , says he only lived ten months.  Next came Charles Riley on March 23, 1862.  Cleopatra's health was beginning to fail before he was born.  She was stricken with St. Vitus dance as it was called then, or Shaking Palsy, but she could still card wool to make all their clothes.  She also could weave baskets from reeds and as they had to be kept wet this caused her condition to grow worse.  Despite this, she had another child.  Sarah Judith was born in Payson on July 15, 1866."  copied from "Peteet Neet Sketches"

While living in Salem in 1866, Merlin Plumb went with a group of men back to the Missouri River to assist in bringing the Mormon immigrants to this territory.  Ten teams were fitted out, and loaded with provisions.  Merlin Plumb was in charge of these men.  Some of their names were L.M. Colvin, Ed Win Tanner, James Betts and 26 others ( this is taken from a letter from cousin Charles Plumb as he had stated the story as told to him by Aunt Martha Tryon, Merlin's daughter).  Merlin made two trips across the plains (to the states) for immigrants.  He was captain over 10 men.  On the first trip he became ill and they were afraid he would die.  The man in charge under him stopped the wagon train.

After they had stopped and camped they asked him what to do.  He replied to their question by saying, "Well boys, if you do what I say I will get well."  Then he told them to toake him into the tent and wash and anoint him with oil, and administer to him and he would get well.  So, they knelt down in a prayer circle.  The next morning, he was able to drive his own team.  He swam the Mississippi river in one of his trips.

After on of these trips their last child, Mary Marilla was born October 5, 1869.  Merlin and Cleopatra received their Patriarchal blessings in Salem given by John Smith, on December 9, 1869.

All of their children were blessed and baptized in Payson except Mary Marilla, who was baptized in St. George. (She is the mother of Thurza Hall Proctor who wrote a history of merlin Plumb.  It is from her history that I am taking a lot of this information.  And she received a lot of her information from my mother, Geneva Julia Plumb Wiltbank, the daughter of John Plumb Ada Adeline Elli.  John Plumb being Merlin's son.)  Thurza says that her mother, Mary Marilla was baptized in St. George because the family was there waiting to go to Arizona.  Thurza has also researched a great deal and written with specific dates and documentation.

Merlin married his second wife, Mary (Polly) Ann Clifford, January 11, 1870.  She had one child at the time he married her.  Thurza writes that her mother, Mary Ann Clifford had to marry her second husband Timothy Reed who already had a grown son.  The child Celestia Ann Reed was the result of this union. Merlin adopted this child and had her sealed to him.  It sates on the bottom of the family group sheet of Merlin and Polly that Polly Ann divorced Mr. Timothy Reed.  No dates found on divorce or marriage.  

Apparently Mary Marilla was 3 months when Merlin married his second wife.  Celestia Ann was born Dec. 10 1868.  Thes makes her about two years old at the time her mother married Merlin Plumb.

Merlin and Mary (Polly) Ann's first four children were born in Utah: Hiram, March 11, 1870, Salem, Utah: Henry, March 1, 1871, Salem, Utah: William Lafayette, May 15, 1875, Richfield, Utah: and Ellen CB. FEbruary 8, 1877, Salem, Utah.

Right after the Plumbs were called to settle Arizona along with a large group of Saints.  The took large amounts of supplies and cattle with them.

Mary Marilla was 8 years old at the time they started for Arizona and was baptized in St. George, en route.  Judith was 11 years old at the time.  Arriving in Taylor, Arizona,m where Merlin and Polly's sixth child was born, February 8, 1879.  The named him T.C. Plumb.  This child died young.

From here they moved to St. Johns.  While here they lived the United Order.  Food, clothing and necessities were proportioned out, and Judith says she got a little extra because her mother was sick (Cleopatra) was sick.  I do not know how long this lasted, but remember Judith saying that when they broke up finally, grandfather did not get out as many cattle as he had put in (taken from Marion Thatcher's history.)

It is hard to tell how much schooling any of them had.  It was very likely interrupted many times as they moved from place to place.

My mother, Geneva Wiltbank, has written that Merlin Plumb built the first adobe house in St. Johns.  He built one in the field and also one that his son John Henry raised his family in.  She said that up to the time the adobe home (John Henry's) was built they were living in a dugout and when they moved into the home a rich family took over the dugout and it made their family feel quite "high class" to be moving into a real home, and they quickly grew to appreciate their grandfather's building skills.  For many years they stood as a monument to his good work.  As adobe is not as long lasting as brick, after many years the home began to deteriorate.  My mother prized all of the relics that she could find around her father's property.  She even had the stove that went into the fireplaces and the yoke from which the oxen were driven.  It hung on our porch for as long as I can remember.

There were also two adobe houses standing for many years in Snowflake, Arizona that Merlin built.  Of course, they had been added on to which helped give them supprot to last longer.  My mother, geneva remembered hearing about her grandfather, Merlin passing through Snowflake with two wagons, oxen and two large families.  She wrote, "just what the occasion was I did not learn." It may have been the tiime he took up a homestead on Silver Creek and was later driven out by the Indians.  Mother described her grandfather Merlin as being small of stature and had coal black eyes so she had been told.

Geneva Wiltbank writes about Merlin when she says, "I have always understood that he was a great friend of the Indians until after the skirmish at Walnut Springs.  At Walnut Springs he overheard the Indians plotting to make a raid on the town of Snowflake that day.  He left their camp as unsuspectingly as possible, taking the opposite direction.  The Indians soon got suspicious of him leaving camp and opened fire upon him.  He raced his team as fast as he could and reached the town in time to get word to the men.  They set up barricades and were able to fight the Indians off.  He was given credit for saving the town of Snowflake."

Geneva tells us another story about her father John Plumb who always befriended the Indians.  Many is the time they would look out the window and see a group of Indians making their camp on the front yard of the John Plumb home in St. Johns.  She said a sheriff had an Indian tied up and the sheriff was beating him.  No One dared interfere with what he was doing until John Plumb came along.  He wasn't afraid of anyone.  He was riding in a wagon at the time.  He jerked his team to a stop and got down from the wagon and untied the Indian.  He told the sheriff that was not the way to treat another human being.  The sheriff was taken aback by the look in his eyes and his voice rang out loud and clear.  After this it was the pass word.  "Look out for John Plumb!"  ( John Plumb grew up with the Indians in Utah when his father Merlin had a sawmill on Mt. Nebo while living in Payson, Pond Town or Salem.  He hired the Indians to help him and John had no other playmates.  He learned the Indian ways and it was said that his demeanor was a lot like an Indian.  this is also written in John Plumb's history.)

The Merlin Plumb families next moved to Brigham City (near Winslow), Arizona.  Here Merlin and Polly's seventh child was born, March 5, 1881.  They named her Etta Creola.  During this same year, they must have moved from Brigham city, to a place called Walnut Creek.  It is about 18 miles from the town of Snowflake.  The following story is written by a man by the name of Edward Wilson.  He states that the following incident took place in that year of 1881.

An Unwritten Story

by Edward Wilson

How many people know what became of the famous outlaw, Black Jack, or the equally infamous Indian called the Apache kid?

for the last few years, many of my friends have requested that I write a true account of some of the early events of Arizona never before seen or recorded.  

"An Unwritten History" that is what it is and the attempt was not to write a story, but to give a true account of what really happened.

I am indebted to Oliver D. Brown for a great deal of help in arranging the text, dates etc.  without his assistance, interest and energy this book might never have been written

(I take it from this that a whole book was written and what I have is only taken from the book.)

The next part of the history deals with Mr. Wilson and his folks making the trip to Arizona.  I am going to include this also because I think it very interesting in describing some of the pioneers coming to the West, although the first part has nothing to do with the Plumbs.

To cross the country from Arkansas, thirty five years ago meant a long hard journey.  the only means of travel at that time was by the old fashioned "Prairie Schooner"  The railroad in this part of the country was still an event of the future.

In the year 1879 my father decided to go out west or to be exact, away out west.  We lived about fifty miles east of Little Rock Arkansas, at the time.  Our journey was made over the Old Santa Fe Trail.  

Emigrants crossing the country during those days formed "trains" or "parties" and traveled together.  This was for their own protection as the country to the west and southwest was full of hostile Indians.

An emigrant train today would look rather odd.  some of the wagons had horses, some of them horses and mules, some had oxen and several in our particular "train" had two oxen and one horse in the lead.

We passed through country that today is thickly settled, with numerous towns and cities.  We traveled days , seeing no one except the members of our own party.  Trinidad, colorado was only a "tie camp" or a place where travelers made camp for the night.

                                                 Merlin Plumb Jr.

                                               Merlin Plumb Jr.

Merlin Plumb Sr.