History of Daniel & Amanda Bradley Henrie

Written 1955 for Daughters of Utah Pioneers

By Callie O. Morley -- great-grand daughter

At times the name Henrie has been spelled 39 different ways, the most notable being
Henry, Henery, Hendry, Henerie and Henrie. William, the heir of the Utah line, chose
Henrie as his way of spelling it when he came west, and all of his descendants have
retained it.
Daniel Henrie was born 15 November 1824 at Miami, Hamilton County, Ohio, to
William and Myra Mayall Henrie.
He was of Scotch Irish descent, his progenitors having fled from Ayrshire, Scotland to
North Ireland in the 13th Century because of religious persecution. In the 17th century
they were mostly settled around Colerain when religious persecutions again broke and
Jean and Michial Henrie who were the first to start the line in America sailed from
Newbury, Ireland and landed at Perth Amboy, New Jersey. From there we follow six
generations of a family who produced many leaders for a new land when it was fighting
for its life. William Henrie became a very influential man around Lancaster County,
Pennsylvania. His activities in behalf of the colonies as Commissary of the regiment of
troops and member of the Continental Congress later in 1784 are notable, and those of his
son Michial as a general in the Revolutionary War are matters of history.
Michial's son, Daniel, was a noted government surveyor, having had a part in the
surveying of the Mason Dixon line.
Daniel's second son, William Henrie, was born in West Virginia, settled in Ohio, married
Myra Mayall, migrated westward with the "Mormons" to Jackson County, Missouri, then
to Nauvoo and later to Utah as a member of the first Brigham Young Company to enter
Salt Lake Valley. (For a more detailed account of these progenitors read the history of
Wm and Myra Mayall Henrie which I wrote and precedes this story.)
When Daniel first came into the world his parents were already part of the great
westward movement. William, the father, had left his widowed mother and two sisters on
their estate at Millers Run, Wood County, West Virginia, and his mother, Myra Mayall
whose parents were from Saddleworth, York, England, and whose step father was James
Radcliff, (founder of Radcliff College at Boston, Mass. ???) had her way westward to
Cincinnati where she married William, 17 November 1824. (???)
They settled on a large tract of land at Miami, Ohio and proceeded to build a saw mill,
grist mill, till the land and raise fine horses. Seven children were born to them. They were
Daniel, James, Joseph, Margaret, Sara, Samuel and Mary.
Up to the time Daniel was about 10 years old his family was engrossed in the struggles of
making a living and forging ahead when there became much talk of a new religion
headed by Joseph Smith Jr., commonly called Mormonism. The Henries were Methodists
and did not pay too much attention to the rumors until Parley P. Pratt and Samuel Smith
came to their home preaching the Latter Day Saints or Mormon doctrine. They were
impressed with the gospel message and felt that it was true, but were reluctant to join the
group. However, many cottage meetings were held in their home. They were counciled
further in the principles of the gospel, asked to help the brethren in the building of the
stakes of Zion and furthering the cause both spiritually and materially.
They were not baptized into the church however, until after they had met the prophet,
Joseph Smith. When he came to their home they said he possessed a magnetic personality
that was so great that it almost seemed that a power drew you toward him with both
hands.
All members of the family except Daniel were baptized into the church 17 July 1842.
Over a period of the last 10 years feeling and persecution of the Mormons raised to a
fever pitch, birck bats were thrown through windows, walls were torn down, homes were
set on fire, and LDS members were chased by mobs, tarred and feathered, and held up to
public mockery as figures of contempt. Daily papers carried articles of ridicule, and many
members holding high authority in the church were forced to flee to Jackson County,
Missouri.
As soon as they could after their baptism, the Henrie family began to dispose of their
holdings. Loading as much of their machinery, tools, and household things as they could
into wagons, they went their second son James and some hired men overland to the new
church settlement at Jackson County, Missouri, while the rest of the family except
Daniel, proceeded by boat down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers to the same place.
Daniel was left behind to dispose of any unfinished business, and upon its completion he
followed them west to Nauvoo where the family had gone when they were driven from
Jackson County with the other saints.
They bought a fam belonging to Joseph Smith, and it was located in the middle of two
other pieces of land owned by him. Every day the prophet would pass by their home and
drop in for a friendly chat, a glass of cold butter milk, a hot biscuit or anything mother
Myra might have on hand. All of the Henrie boys admired and loved him because he was
a good athlete as well as a spiritual leader. All of the Henrie boys were strong and wirey.
They loved to wrestle, throw weights, foot race and high jump.
Daniel told of one instance when he walked up to one of their high corral gates. He said it
measured up to his chin, he backed up, took a running jump and cleared it easily. His
brothers performed the same feat. The Prophet loved to participate in these sports and
although the Henrie boys often outran him or beat him in other things, when he thought it
was his turn to win, and he really tried, he could out do them all. He was their friend, but
also a leader of men in the ways of God. He always pronounced a blessing upon the
family before he left the place.
As we know from church history, Nauvoo was made into a beautiful city by the Saints,
but many people who dwelt there were warped by false notions of hate and greed,
persecution of the saints became a ritual, with the wicked inflicting hardships, mob
violence, confiscation of property, tar and feathering of individuals, burning of homes,
lynching and finally murder when the Prophet and his brother Hyram were martyred.
The Henrie family like all of the other saints lived through these perilous times and did
what they could. They helped build the Nauvoo temple, hauling rocks, mixing mortar,
using the hammer and saw, standing watch or whatever was required of them. They built
and ran a gist mill, grew grain for flower and raised cattle, and continued to raise many
fine horses. Brother Taylor borrowed one of these horses for the Prophet's last trip to the
Carthage jail, the trip from which he did not return alive. The Henries were among the
many mourners at the Prophet's funeral and spoke of seeing Emma kneeling at the side of
here husband's casket before the services.
After this event things worsened materially for the saints, persecutions not only continued
but internal strife as to who had the authority of leadership was a threat to their survival.
When a meeting for all the members of the church was called to determine who was to be
the new Latter-day Saint leader, William and his sons Daniel, James, Joseph and Samuel
all were in attendance, but when Brigham Young stepped forward to present his claims to
the position, and the mantle of Joseph fell upon him, all those present took it as a sign or
manifestation that this man was the chosen leader.
The Henrie family talked of this miracle for days and they were not alone, hundreds of
people saw and testified to it.
It was the final thing that made Daniel seek membership in the church. He was baptized
in the Mississippi River 16 July 1845 (Temple record). He testified many times to what
he saw in this meeting, but many years later in Panguitch, Utah where they had met for a
family reunion those same four brothers, Daniel, James, Joseph and Samuel all arose to
their feet and told of seeing and hearing this soul stirring event. They said they were wide
awake, there was no hokus-pokus about it. It was true and it was real and an unforgettable
testimony of the gospel.
When conditions became so bad the saints could endure them no longer, and Brigham
Young advised them to move to Iowa, they hurriedly packed as many of their belongings
as possible and crossed the ice in the dead of winter to make a camp on Sugar Creek.
Their was ice on the river, but some of the cattle Daniel was in charge of went through
the ice and headed down stream. Daniel jumped into the water and tried to head them
back in the right direction, but the water was so cold he began to get cramps and had to
turn back.
The Henries established themselves with the others when they reached Nebraska and
went in to Winter Quarters. Here Daniel was made official captain of the night watch for
all the community corralled cattle. They had to herd these cattle all night long to keep
Indians, thieves and marauders away, but Daniel liked the job because he liked cattle and
horses, and it left him free part of the day to plant grain, make repairs on wagon
harnesses or for whatever was needed for the forth coming big immigration westward.
Plans for this trip had been presented to the saints in a meeting at Sugar Creek at which
time it was also decided that here should be an advance company of 100 mounted men
sent forth to blaze the trail and find suitable place to settle while the main body of the
church members should go into Winter Quarters and make preparations to grow crops of
grain during the summer and be ready to push forward to their new home the following
year.
Aside from his strength of body and character, Daniel's father William Henrie had many
other fine qualities which made him a good candidate for this trip. He was an experienced
frontier woodsman and excellent marksman and hunter, and had good equipment and
many fine horses. He was chosen as a member of the 5th 10 of the second 50 group under
Captain Stephen H. Goddard.
But this trip was delayed when the U.S. Government asked for 500 volunteers to form a
battalion from their members to march to Mexico in Lower California to help put down
the rebellion there. Col. Kerney and Col. Allen made the request in behalf of the
President of the United States. Daniel Henrie stepped forth and signed his name as one of
the 500 volunteers for this assignment at Council Bluffs on the 16th day of July 1846. He
was assigned to Company D. under Captain Nelson Higgins.
They were told that it would be a way of getting to the west at government expense, plus
7 dollars per month if a private, and 50 dollars per month if an officer, and that there
would be certain advantages to them as to all military such as guns, ammunition, land
rights, etc.
Brigham Young called all these men together on the 19th of July and gave them
instruction and council. He told them to go and server their country and be faithful to
their church and people. That their efforts would be rewarded with success and that much
good would come from this service.
For the next few days great preparations were made. Daniel turned his job of official
Captain of the night watch of the community cattle over to his brother James, outfitted
himself with a blanket and some heavy woolen clothing for winter use and did what he
could to prepare for a years journey.
For some time now Daniel had been keeping company with Amanda, the beautiful dark
haired daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Betsy Kroll Bradley. Amanda's father had died
when she was a little girl back in New York and her mother had married her father's
younger brother, George W. Bradley who had raised them, loved them, and been like a
father to her, her brother Jerome and sister Cynthia Abiah, and now there were other
younger children in the family.
During the festivities of dancing and singing that had been arranged to give the boys a
good send off, Amanda told Daniel that she would wait for him and meet him in Zion.
And on the 21st of March 1846, the men of the battalion marched away to the tune of
"The Girl I Left Behind Me", and many unshed tears dimmed the eyes of those same
girls.
The soldiers began their long journey on foot and after 11 days arrived at Fort
Levenworth, Kansas where they received blankets, utensils, canteen, guns, ammunition
and rations and were allowed a short rest. Their next stop was to be Santa Fe. New
Mexico, and before this place was reached they suffered untold miseries of heat, deep
sand, lack of water, sickness, and things almost beyond endurance. Daniel recalled more
than one incident of bravery when great herds of buffalo bore down on them, tramping
everything under their pounding hoofs, but they were advised to hold their fire till they
could kill the leaders, and this separated the herd so that men, animals, wagons and
supplies were all saved. The buffalo that were killed were used as food for a few days and
when any wood could be found there would be a good fire and heat for their bodies, but
most of their cooking had to be done with buffalo chips for the prairie was barren. They
had to dig for water most every day and when they did reach it, it was salty or swampy,
sulphurous and often unfit for use.
They were called to load their 16 lbs of equipment on their back and hitch up the animals
to the supply wagon, then begin the march at 2 a.m. in the morning to get out of some of
the heat at 11 a.m. they would stop and camp while they got a little something to eat, but
food became very scarce. Rations were being cut until there was almost nothing left to
eat. Men got so hungry they killed snakes, cut off their heads, skinned, cooked and ate
them, and even became so desperate that they boiled old buffalo hides they found lying
on the plains, ate thistle roots if they could find them, and in desperation finally boiled
their leather belts and saddle bags to get what little strength there might be in the broth.
Sickness set in, men women and children suffered with chills, fever, pneumonia and
diahrea. They ran out of food, but Daniel said they never ran out of Camomile tea. It was
passed around by the Captains, with orders to drink it and each man was forced to take a
swallow or two of it, for it was supposed to keep sickness and disease away. Daniel hated
the stuff so bad that he could not make himself swallow it and would hold it in his mouth
until he could get where he could spit it out, and years afterward when his teeth loosened
and had to be pulled he swore it was due to the effects of this terrible tea and just one
more sacrifice he made for the good of the cause.
When Colonel Allen died, August 23, 1846, it was a severe blow to the Mormon
Battalion for he had been their friend, they admired and respected him and he was kind
and considerate of them. The opposite was true of the officer who later took his place,
and the extra marches and work he put them to was especially hard on the Mormons
because they were already weakened by their experiences at Nauvoo.
It was especially hard on the women folk who had been allowed to go along with their
husbands as wash somen, cooks, etc. and so at Arkansas, 15 families were sent back to
Fort Pueblo under Captain Brown. From Santa Fe, 86 sick men were sent back to Pueblo
and from there they were sent north till they joined the main caravan of Pioneers who
were on the march to Utah.
Those who remained with the Battalion often traveled 25 miles a day through intense sun,
heat and sand with no water or feed for their mules or pack animals, and with shriveled
grass no more than a couple of inches high. Then on October 2nd when they reached the
Red River, they received word that if they did not reach Santa Fe by October 10th they
would be discharged. Many of the men were so exhausted, foot sore and disabled that a
picked number of 250 men were sent ahead. Daniel was on of the more sturdy soldiers
and was one of those chosen to go. They arrived at Santa Fe on the 9th of October where
Colonel Cook formally took command. They received their mustering out pay here and
stayed till the 19th of October.
One blanket was all they had to roll up in the night and it was scarcely enough when
weather got cold and the ground was hard and frozen. The animals also were breaking
down because of lack of food.
Daniel said he would never forget the 15th day of November, 1846 for it was on that day
he was assigned the task of loading a small detail of men back to find a poor sick old
white draft ox that had been left behind to die. He said they pulled bunch grass with their
hands and poured water from canteens into his hat so the poor old thing could drink and
with much hissing and coaxing, they finally got the emaciated animal to its feet and back
to camp where the quartermaster ordered it killed and rationed out to the men for food.
Because of this incident this place has retained the name of White Ox Creek or Valley
and is now a thriving part of Arizona.
Colonel Cook's hatred toward his men never ceased, he gave orders for work and travel
on empty stomachs and cared more that his mules be watered than that the parched lips of
his men be moistened. Wells had been dug most of the way, but here more often than not
dry holes were encountered. Daniel gave the last water he had in his canteen to a man
burning up with fever and out of his head in delirium, then walked for 70 miles in
blistering heat before getting any water for himself and by this time his lips were parched
and his tongue was swollen.
In a few places meat was plentiful from wild cattle on the plains, but Colonel Cook
would not allow his men to kill any for food. However, Daniel said many of them
sneaked out in the dark of night and did kill a little to eat, then they would roll up in their
blanket on the hard ground and try to sleep. They suffered untold privations going
through this hot and cold desolate land, now Arizona.
On December 20, 1846 at Pima, the Maricopa Indians who lived along the Salt River and
wore little if any clothing, proved friendly and sold them dry beans, squash and other
articles. These Indians now live on part of the Pima Reservation. The men traded them
the clothes off their backs for these things and then Colonel Cook came and said they
could not take the extra stuff with them, but they managed to hide it and take it along
anyway. After this they were marched far out of their way south and over the border of
what is now old Mexico.
On January the 8th they reached the Gila River in Arizona and for the next 3 days traveled
over hot deep sands where they encountered drought and extreme temperatures. These
conditions coupled with short rations caused the men to drop in their tracks like flies.
This country is now known as death valley. There was no grass for a stretch of over 400
miles and no water for over 100 miles. Animals lived on buds off the mesquite brush and
men trudged on to Pometo where they arrived January 19th to receive plenty of water and
sample grass for their animals. They hoped things would be better now, but it was not so
for when they crossed the Gila River they lost almost all of their remaining flour and had
nothing left to eat but beef and not enough of that.
All along the way and especially from Santa Fe they had dug wells for water, but when
they reached the Colorado Desert very deep holes had to be dug and again often dry holes
were encountered. Men had to help the teams pull supplies by attached ropes and in their
weakened condition it was torture. They wrapped raw hide around their feet to protect
them from sharp rocks and burning sands, for their shoes had long since worn out. It was
blazing hot in the day and cold at night and their thirst, hunger and fatique so weakened
them that they were hardly able to speak.
Wagons had to be taken apart and raised with ropes over a precipice or else roads cut
through solid rock. And all of this with very little if any food in their stomachs. No trees
had been seen for about eight hundred miles, then finally on the 21st of January the
summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains was reached and a couple of days later they
came upon an oak tree. And it seemed to be the only one in existence for even when they
reached the wild oat clover covered hills and bluffs above San Diego there were still no
trees, only wide stretches of white, sandy beach and the blue of the great Pacific Ocean.
They camped about 3 miles from the Beach and then on January 29, 1847 were
garrisoned at the San Louis Ray Mission where they were kept busy drilling wells,
building roads and digging ditches.
Daniel, ever on the alert to serve his fellow man as well as himself, began to buy beef
cattle from Mexicans who brought them to camp to sell. He had picked up a good bit of
the Mexican language, and although he got so he could bargain well and be understood
by these people he also found he could not trust them. They would sell cattle to him
during the day, then come and steal the critters back during the night and try to sell them
to him again the next morning. He soon got next to what was going on and conducted a
profitable business till the battalion was honorably released with mustering out pay, July
16, 1847 at Los Angeles.
The Battalion men were so well liked that they were asked to stay and reenlist in the
service. They had determined the rights of the United States to New Mexico, Western
Colorado, California, Nevada and Utah territory and now most of them were anxious to
return home. They organized into groups of 100, 50, and 10 with Captains over each
group as had been done before and started their long march north to Sacramento. They
were told that it was 70 miles by way of the sea shore or 600 miles along the base of the
mountain route. They arrived at Sutters Fort near Sacramento on August 26, 1847, after
about one month of very difficult, steady traveling.
At Sacramento, work seemed to be plentiful and word had come that food was scarce in
the great Salt Lake basin, so Daniel decided to stay where he was over winter. He found a
place where he could get board and room for $3.50 per week, so he took it, then went to
work building log houses and thus built some of the first homes ever built in this capitol
city of California.
He was glad he had made this decision for many of those who had decided to go on to
Salt Lake returned when word was sent from relatives and the authorities of the Church
to stay and work so they could earn money to help their families.
Daniel replenished his clothes and bought a pair of shoes which cost him $4.50. He also
opened up a meat market, bought and slaughtered cattle and cut it up and sold it to the
settlers again.
On Monday morning January 4, 1848, news leaked out that James Marshal and the crew
at Sutters Mill in American Canyon, California had found gold. Daniel being an
opportunist immediately went there and began panning for the precious metal below the
floom of the mill. This was very wild country. The place was surrounded by high
mountains, tall redwood, pines and thick under brush. It also abounded with grizzly bear,
wolves, and Indians, so men had to take precautions to protect themselves.
Daniel was very successful in his efforts. He would pan and gather what gold he could
find in the day and then at night he would sew it into little square canvas bags, so that by
the time he decided to go to Salt Lake, around the first of May, in 1849, he had a sizeable
salt sack full of nuggets and much gold dust. The question was how to take it with him.
So he began looking around for some good, strong animals. One day he found just what
he was looking for, a beautiful great big black stallion. It was a beauty, full of life, vigor,
and fight. So he bought it and took it to his camp. It was the envy of all the men there and
one fellow offered him $1,000 for the horse. He thought this was such a good price that
he sold him. But he could not feel good about it. He tossed and turned all night and could
not sleep for thinking about that beautiful horse. So at sun up the next morning he went
back to the buyer and offered him more money to trade back and man accepted the deal.
He was so tickled to get the stallion back that he had silver shoes made and nailed on his
feet and rode him about the settlement with great pride. He then set about making
preparations to go to Salt Lake city.
All of the little bags of gold dust he had labored over so hard all winter were sewn
between two blankets and when he was ready to leave, this blanket was doubled once and
laid over the stallion's back like a saddle blanket, fastened underneath and the saddle put
on top and sinched in place. Next came his bed roll, bake oven, skillet, utensils, and water
canteen. All were tied on and he began his perilous journey over the high, dangerous
Sierra Nevada Mountains alone. The rough, granite ledges and steep canyons would have
been treacherous even if he had dared follow the broken immigrant trail, but highway
robbers, bad men and marauding Indians lay in wait at every turn, ready to relieve their
unsuspecting victim or Mormon prospector of any good or gold he may have. A man's
life meant nothing to these human parasites, they were always ready to kill a traveler for
what loot they could find on him, so Daniel avoided the beaten path.
He walked, and traveled mostly by night to conceal his movements and so his heavily
laden horse would be spared the heat and thus reserve as much strength as possible for
the long hazardous trip. During the day he would try to find some water and grazing for
his horse and a place to hide up and sleep and rest. Sometimes it would be in a ravine
behind a large rock or in the shade of underbrush, or wherever possible. If he could find a
stream he would catch fish and eat them raw for in most cases he did not dare build a fire
for fear the smell of smoke would bring down his enemies upon him. In some places he
was lucky enough to find and pick wild servis berries which were delicious, especially on
the first part of his journey when he traveled through Bear Valley. Here there were plenty
of huge trees and scrub oak, bear tracks were al over and he saw many deer, but as he
went further north eastward into what is now Nevada no trees were to be seen anywhere,
only miles and miles of sage brush and in many places it was so hot and dry that even the
sage brush refused to grow. Daniel was hard pressed to find even shriveled wisps of grass
or anything he could pull to feed his horse. When he could, he followed the trail near the
Humbolt River and came upon the site of the Indian (?) massacre of the Donner party, he
said it was sure a mess. Wagon wheels and parts of wagons were scattered everywhere.
Bones and old weather beaten bits of clothing, skeletons and hides of what was once
horses and oxen were strewn about the camp site and even partly uncovered shallow
graves were exposed to view.
Daniel always kept his canteen full of water, for sometimes there would be days when the
canteen had to supply water for him and his horse, and if there was not enough for both
he went without and at one time two days went by.
He was successful in killing a coyote, a few jack rabbits and even shot a few ducks near
some marshes when he felt it was safe to shoot, but this he dared not do very often.
After months of weary travel he passed over the southern boundary of what is now Idaho,
skirted the north end of the great Salt Lake, came through what is now Box Elder County,
through the settlement of Ogden and finally on to Bountiful or the Sessions settlement
where he had a most happy reunion with his family. He thanked God that his life had
been spared and protected from harm and disease and that he had good health so that he
could return to enjoy this moment, for he had just completed a march of over two
thousand miles for what is now known as the longest march in history. It was October
1949.
His parents had preceded him to Utah. His father had come with the 5th ten in the first
Brigham Young company. He had helped to build the old pioneer fort and lived there for
a short time and had been one of the first speakers in the old willow covered bowery. He
had helped Parley P. Pratt scout Utah Lake, Cedar Valley, Tooele Valley, and the wide
stretch between Salt Lake and the Santa Clara River which was virgin territory to the foot
of the white man. He was in the Bishopric of the old First Ward and lived for a short time
in the old 8th Ward, then early in 1848 the church authorities had sent him 9 miles north
of Salt Lake to help Perrigrine Sessions settle what later became North Bountiful.
Sessions had lived there alone during the winter in a dugout with skins over the top.
Daniel's mother and four brothers and one sister all spent the winter of 1846 and 1847 at
Winter Quarters at Council Bluffs, Iowa, then came west with the 2nd big Brigham Young
company under Capt. Heber C. Kimball. That is, all except brother James who drove a
team in the Allen Taylor and Samuel Snyder company.
Father William had selected some land which he was homesteading in the Sessions
settlement and had a place in the nearby canyon ready to erect a mill. He built a log house
and took advantage of a spot on his land by which a creek ran to build a mill pond and a
wheel race so he could saw wood.
His sons James, Joseph and Sam were all busy preparing the soil and freighting to
Oregon for the Church for sugar factory machinery. Mother Myra taught the
neighborhood children how to read, write and spell.
Daniel was tired for a short time after his journey, but he was young, burning with
ambition and ready to take up his new life in Zion and settle down. So with some of his
precious gold dust he purchased some choice land that was covered with tall, waving
grass in South Bountiful or Sessions settlement and built a nice two room log house. He
skinned the logs so it would have a nice appearance. And it was decided that the street
running east by Daniel Henrie's house should be opened within a month and be called
Henrie Street (old Bountiful record).
Then on the 29th of October 1849 he rode into Salt Lake and was married to his
sweetheart Amanda Bradley. They were married by President Brigham Young in the
front room of the new log house that her folks had built a short time before. Amanda had
in her hope chest some linen sheets she had spun and wove herself, and Daniel gave his
bride a lovely full set of pink on white, garden scenery, Long port China for a wedding
present. It was made by T.J. and G.T. Mayer and was quite a gift in those days.
One day shortly after they were settled in their own home there seemed to be quite a
commotion out in the corral. Daniel and Amanda rushed out to see the big black stallion
with glazed eyes, snorting and rearing on his hind legs, and pawing anything in sight with
his front feet. Daniel tried to quiet the animal, but something had badly frightened it and
he seemed to be enraged. Daniel picked up a club to protect himself and yelled at his wife
to get away from the fence, but he was too late, one of the flying hoofs had hit a glancing
blow and cut a deep jagged gash on Amanda's cheek. Daniel on seeing all of that blood
on his wife's face became so angry at the horse that he hit it as hard as he could over the
head with his club and the great horse fell dead at his feet. Amanda carried the scar to her
grave.
At every opportunity Daniel encouraged Amanda to tell him about their experiences at
Winter Quarters, of their trip to the great west and of her family and people. Amanda's
parents had come from Salem, Erie County, New York. They had joined the Latter-day
Saints Church the 2nd day of July 1842 and cast their fortunes with a brave, but
persecuted people. George W. followed the trade of Cooper and they traveled with the
saints westward to Kirtland, Ohio, through Indiana and Mississippi to Nauvoo in Illinois
where they had settled on a farm belonging to Joseph Smith and adjoining the land
bought by the William Henrie family. And like the Henrie family they had been
threatened, robbed, mobbed and were forced to flee for their lives from the beautiful city
they had helped to build and learned to love. Because of improper shelter, food and
clothing, little Jacob Joseph and baby Levina became ill; they died and were buried on
the way to the west. A half bushel of meal in three weeks and what wild greens they
could gather were scarcely enough for a family of nine.
The Bradleys made their way on to Council Bluffs and settled down at Winter Quarters
living in wagon boxes and crude shelters. People came down with chills and fever and
when snow swirled around the wagon boxes people died with pneumonia. Amanda
herself had become a victim to the terrible plague of black canker. Her throat and mouth
were so sore she could not eat, and large canker sores as big as 50 pieces covered her
entire body. No one expected she could possibly live till an old woman came to the
wagon to offer her services to the desperate family. She said, "Sister Bradley I think I can
cure your daughter," and she gave Betsy a bottle of reddish-brown medicine that looked
something like catsup, only it was sweet and had a pleasant flavor. Amanda was
administered to by the Elders and took this medicine, a teaspoon full 3 times a day and
was returned to health. The old lady to ld Betsy and Amanda how to make this medicine
by burning coppurs and alum on a fire shovel and adding healing golden seal and other
ingredients to it. This recipe has been made, given away or sold by members of this
family since that day and is still sold in Moroni and surrounding towns by some of
Amanda's great grand children.
They had left Winter Quarters to come to Utah the 27th of May with the 1st Division, 3rd
Company of the 2nd or big Brigham Young Company. Lorenzo Snow was the Captain
over their 100.
She remembered the howl of the coyote when they took turns standing watch at night and
by day the lizards, the prairie dogs, rattle snakes and terrible, terrible choking dust.
Amanda drove an ox team and walked almost all the way bare foot so that some of the
younger children could ride. A loaded pistol was fastened near the front of the wagon
where she could reach it quickly for protection, especially against hostile Indians. The
wagon had to drive double file in Indian country where danger was greater, and the
double clouds of dust made it almost impossible for any of them to breathe, but especially
was it so of Amanda and her mother Betsy. Both fought for their breath, coughed and
suffered greatly.
The sight of cottonwood trees, grass and bushes were always a welcome sight, and some
streams provided them with a meal of fish which they caught with stick, hook and string
line. They were mostly suckers, carp or cat fish, but they tasted good and sometimes they
saw and killed an antelope or deer for food. Every morning the wagons began to move at
7 a.m. and sometimes made as much as 20 miles, other times they made no more than 3
miles. Sometimes they encountered rivers with quick sand in the bottom and suitable
crossings up or down stream had to be located. Sometimes they had to fasten ropes to the
wagons and help the critters pull them over the steep mountain passes and at other times
they encountered chuck holes, mud or deep sand. On the prairies there was terrific heat
and in the mountains cold nights, but they finally arrived in the great Salt Lake Valley the
15th of September 1848.
After checking in they drove 6 miles north of Salt Lake Valley and camped by some good
hot springs and high willows, thus becoming the first to settle South Bountiful or the
Willow settlements as it was known then. About 8 families came and moved near them
that winter. (Ref. Andrew Jonsen, South Bountiful Ward Record). Here they took up 50
acres of land built a log cabin and planted 4 acres of corn, but the crickets took
everything and the parents and brothers and sisters subsisted that first year mostly on
sego lily roots, buds off the grease wood, wild greens and jack rabbits or anything they
could find to eat to keep body and soul together.
In the spring of 1849 they moved to Salt Lake City where they built another log house
and farmed land he had been given in the big field at 9th south (in the vicinity of the
present Liberty Park), and thought themselves very fortunate indeed when they secured a
few potato peelings to plant for seed from the Heber C. Kinbal family.
Amanda knew that her folks with 50 other families had received a call on the 28th of
October 1949, to go south and help build a new settlement in Sanpete County under the
leadership of Father Isaac Morley. But she had not realized how lonesome or homesick
she would be without them for she loved them all dearly. George W. was really her uncle,
but since he had married her mother he had taken care of Jerome, Cynthia, Abiah, and
herself and loved them as his own children and they in turn loved him and their half
brothers and sisters.
Her folks sold their home now and let a man have their acreage in the big field for a span
of mules, then packed and left for Sanpete. Now word had come that the company had
arrived at their destination 22 November 1849, but already were experiencing a great
shortage of supplies. The city fathers could see that they could not possibly make it
through the winter and Salt Lake City was the closest source of supply. So Jerome
Bradley and John Hart volunteered to take the two Bradley wagons. Justus Dodge took
his wagons and John Baker took the Jezrel Shoemaker wagon. Jerome was made captain
or leader of the group and their trip to the city was uneventful.
So when Amanda found her brother knocking on her door one bright morning she was
overjoyed. Messages were delivered, new exchanged and wagons were loaded, mostly
with corn meal and other desperately needed supplies. At the last minute Daniel decided
that since it was so late in the year much could not be accomplished on the farm and since
Amanda was so homesick for her folks a visit might accomplish them on what they
thought was to be a sort of delayed honeymoon.
They arrived at Provo without incident and Daniel decided it would be a good thing to
call on his good friend Chief Walker. Walker was chief of all of the Utah Indians. He was
a good friend of President Brigham Young and had been baptized into the Mormon
Church by him on the June 14, 1849 and it had been in answer to the Chief's request that
his people be taught how to farm and make homes that President Young had decided to
make a white settlement in Sanpete County. Daniel learned that Chief Walker was away
in the Navaho country on a horse raid and that while he had been gone one of the
members of his own immediate band had been killed. Reprisals were sought and "The
Walker War" was on. Had Chief Walker been here at that time perhaps much trouble
could have been averted. At any rate the travelers were told it was very dangerous to
travel, especially since there had just been another killing.
The party was delayed at Provo for two weeks and at the end of that time friendly Chief
Anawkats offered to let his son Tabinan go with them and act as guide. They were beset
by the usual bad roads, mud holes, make shift bridges over wash outs and unsettled
weather, but they arrived at the narrows or forks of Salt Creek (Nephi Canyon) when it
began to snow. The Shoemaker team which was in better shape and was ahead of the
Bradley team kept on going and got on through the canyon and eventually made it to
Manti, but the Bradley teams became exhausted and were forced to make camp. Snow
fell heavily all that night and for 3 weeks it snowed every day and the sun did not shine
but there was continued storm clouds and snow. Snow piled up above the high willows
along the creek and fire word and food became a major problem.
One night a sick and injured Indian staggered into camp. He was half dead from
exhaustion, starvation and loss of blood. They bound his wounds as best they could and
fed him until he was strong enough to get about. Tabinan said he had been in on a cattle
raid, had been wounded and left behind because he was too weak to travel.
Then one night some time later several painted Indians swooped down upon the camp
and seemed bent on destruction until they saw the wounded Indian. Apparently they (???)
were his pals who had left him to die for he seemed to know them and a heated argument
went on. Then suddenly they left without doing any harm. The wounded Indian went with
them and they were told by Tabinan that this Indian whom they had befriended had in
turn saved their lives.
As time went on all they had left to eat was corn meal dodgers or Johney cakes, and
melted snow water, so in desperation Daniel decided to go out and see if he could not
find some meat. He was successful in shooting a small faun which he tried to bring to
camp, but the crusted snow would break and let him through and he would flounder and
pull the animal, only to fall again until in his weakened condition he finally became
exhausted and dropped in the snow almost unconscious. When night fall came on and
Daniel had not arrived back in camp, they became alarmed and went out to look for him
and were guided to his whereabouts when they heard a low moan no too far from camp.
This meat along with a couple of jack rabbits caught by Jerome, materially strengthened
them and their stomachs felt better than they had for many a day.
By the time they had been in the canyon six weeks they knew that if they did not get out
of there soon they would starve to death for it was now late in January, so Agustus Dodge
and the Indian Tabinan bound their legs and feet with empty burlap fee sacks and tied
them with buckskin, wrapped themselves in blankets and started for Manti. The trip was a
most hazardous one. When the crusted snow broke under weight the sharp edges hacked
at their buck-skin trousers tearing and wearing them off to above the knee. The burlap on
their feet and legs was cut to ribbons leaving these parts exposed and blue with cold, and
each new scratch and cut left its trail of red blood on the seemingly endless expanse of
white snow.
At a point just west of Ephraim by an old oak tree (which still stands as of now), Dodge
was wrapped in what was left of his blanket and left to die. Tabinan struggled on and
made it to the outskirts of Manti where he was found more dead than alive. He notified
the settlement of the destitute condition of the trapped travelers. A relief party was
immediately organized under the direction of Amanda's father, George W. Bradley and
friend Daniel B. Funk. Chief Walker had showed them how to make snow shoes and
these were of great value to them now. They also took along a big hand sleigh made by
Brother Funk. Part of the men stopped to rescue Justus Dodge and brought him into
Manti. The others made their way to the point of the mountain south of Wales, then
moved northward to the big spring (Ft. Green) where they spent the first night in an old
Indian wigwam. The next day they pressed on over the divide and then into the canyon.
Advance Indian runners returned to assure the company that the travelers were still alive
and well. The rescuers finally reached the camp, but some of them were suffering from
frozen feet so they rested briefly.
During their short stay there, ten horsemen from the north arrived with a message for
President Morley. They divided their scanty supplies with these men, but they were not
satisfied. During the night two of the men got up and stole what more they could find
before going on their way.
Amanda was pulled on the hand sleigh out of the canyon, her husband, father and Brother
Funk taking turns at the task. They had been fortunate the first night out to find a clump
of dry willows for fire wood and protection for it was bitter cold, and so after a most
harrowing experience of combating hunger, snow and the elements for 35 miles they
finally arrived in Manti, almost more dead than alive. They were so exhausted that
George W. said if he had had to walk just one more mile he could not have done it.
The next day the sun came out and began to thaw. The whole valley became a sea of
slush, making it impossible for feed to be uncovered for the stock. It was like a good
omen or prediction of brighter things to come for all of these brave people.
Amanda's folks lost over $1,000 in cash that had been laid out for supplies on this trip,
for it was impossible to bring out the wagons till the following March, so people in the
settlement now put themselves on rations and shared what they had.
The Bradleys had built the second log house in Manti (Seth Taft built the first one). It
was a small 2 room structure, but they placed their wagon boxes against the house and
close to the door way so they could be used as protection as well as extra rooms. It was
much better than the dugouts in the hill side where damp floors and slithering snakes
caused sickness and danger.
When the days grew warmer it seemed the whole side of the hill began to move and hiss
with these venomous creatures. So all of the men of the settlement formed a squad to
exterminate them. They carried pine know torches and clubs and killed over 500 snakes.
Neither man nor beast had all they could eat that terrible winter in Manti. Conditions
were so severe that out of the Bradley herd of stock all that were saved when spring came
were 4 animals, a horse, cow and 2 oxen. Some people lost all they had. Everyone
suffered heavily. Sage brush and cedar was hunted for fire wood and brought in on hand
and bob sleighs. Bobcats and coyotes got away with sheep and chickens. There was colds
and sickness in almost every home, and snow ranged from 6 to 20 feet deep. Starving
Indians hung around waiting to make off with dead cattle so they cold feast on the poor
emaciated corpse.
The Henries stayed on in Manti with the Bradleys until spring broke and travel was again
possible. Daniel then returned to Bountiful where he planted his crops and attended to
other matters. Amanda stayed on in Manti until June, sewing and preparing for the new
baby that was expected in the fall, then got a ride with a supply wagon going to Salt Lake
and returned to her home in Bountiful. Their daughter, Mary Amanda, was born here the
4th of September 1850.
When the crops were harvested in the fall, President Brigham Young called Daniel and
Amanda on a mission to return to Manti among her people and help with the settlement.
Daniel was a man of decision and was spoken of as a man who really got things done. He
could speak the Indian language and was friendly with them. He also had a good wagon,
team of horses and other assets which the church authorities thought would be of great
worth to the struggling settlement. This move entailed great sacrifice on the part of the
Henries. It meant they must give up their favorable location, fertile land, their new home
and the association of Daniel's own family. But Daniel felt that since he had been called
by authority he could not refuse to go. Amanda was delighted. So they sold out and
moved to Manti. The settlers there had by this time decided that being good to the red
man was not enough, some sort of more adequate protection had to be found. So they
selected 4 square blocks in the center of the settlement and enclosed it with a high log
fence, forming a fort (later it was replaced by a 10 foot rock wall and enclosed the space
later occupied by the tithing yard and tabernacle). Daniel and Amanda built a one room
log house in the north east corner of this inclosure and out of necessity lived there for a
while sharing their lot with that of their neighbors.
The Indians became more disgruntled and harder to please each day. They were camped
to the east of the settlement over 700 strong, their wick-i-ups forging a semi-circle. After
a successful foraging trip they would beat drums and dance all night long, and with
waving scalps and war clubs would tantalize their hostages. They lived fine until they had
used up what they had stolen, but were shiftless, lazy and starving, and to make matters
worse a siege of measles struck the camp. They blamed all of their troubles on the white
man, and the tempo of bad feelings was stepped up. They begged by day and stole by
night. It was said they planned to kill the men, take all of the women, carry off all
supplies and wipe out the settlement. The weird beat of the Tom Toms increased and the
wild dances around a pole hung with an ever increasing number of human scalps added to
the uneasiness of the settlers.
President Morley advised the people to fee them rather than fight them, but it was almost
impossible, most of their cattle had died and been carried away by the Indians before it
was even cold. There had been scanty crops because of frost, and dangerous roads lay
between them and their only source of more supplies. Their patience was at a breaking
point, but still Indian demands rose higher.
One night the Bradley family were all huddled together, an Indian had been killed by a
white man and revenge was sworn by the red chiefs. Daniel and Amanda kept watch with
her folks, for the feeling of eminent disaster seemed to hang over the settlement like a
shroud. Then Amon, an Indian whom the Bradleys had fed in their home, came under
cover of darkness and bid them all goodby for he said he would not be seeing them again.
He said there was a massacre planned for that night at which time the entire settlement
would be wiped out. He said Chief Arapine had argued with Chief Walker, but it did no
good as he was set on getting the scalp of Charles Shumway and some others whom he
had a grudge against.
Daniel Henrie, George W. Bradley and others went immediately to President Morley with
this story and found the report to be true. He told them also that overtures for a settlement
had been extended to the Indians, but he had been asked to give up his youngest son
Simeon, whom Chief Walker had taken a special liking to, as his price for peace. Such a
heart breaking deal had not been anticipated. All of the men there were stunned and
secretly wondered in their hearts what their answer would be if they were faced with the
same decision as Father Morley. It was heart breaking, but finally the words came. He
said, if this is the price of peace let it be so, better that one child should be lost even
though it is my own rather than that the whole settlement be wiped out. People stood by
their guns all the rest of the night and expected trouble for weeks afterward. But after 3
nights and days Chief Walker brought the child back to its parents saying the faith and
friendship of his white friend had been tested and found good. They were told much later
that a very old Indian by the name of Sowiatat had done much to keep the peace, but that
Chief Walker had not been at all happy about it.
This was only one of the incidents that took place during those first hectic years in the
settlement. Chief Walker was a crafty, grasping, hypocritical Indian who could not be
trusted even by his own people. He and his tribe of chieftains conspired and raised many
cries provoking situations and Daniel Henrie as well as many other fine men of Manti
were instrumental in keeping the peace.
On the 14th of February 1851 Amanda's sister cynthia Abiah married young Isaac Morley
Jr. and on July 16th of that same year her brother Jerome died at age of 20 years. His
health had been so undermined by his experience in the canyon that he was unable to
combat a siege of pneumonia and died one month before he was to have been married.
Many Indians came and wept at his funeral and even followed the cortege to the
cemetery, for he was a great favorite with them and spoke their language fluently. His
was the first grave in the new cemetery, but the 3rd death in the settlement.
In the spring of 1850 lands had been allotted to each family in the settlement by vote of
the entire camp and provisions had been made so that squatters rights could be secured by
them. Jessie W. Fox was the territorial surveyor and measured out the land.
Daniel secured a good sized farm north west of town and a city lot across the road and a
little west of the rock fort. In the middle of this block he build a rock house with one
room, where they lived for a while and where their second daughter, Myra Elizabeth was
born on the 27th of January 1852. But as the size of their family increased this place was
not big enough, so Daniel built a fine big 2 story rock house just west of the first one
where Susan, Daniel Jr., Diantha, James B, Jerome B, Margaret, Melinda, Luna, Thomas,
Jediah, and Loren were all born. The last 3 died babies.
After moving into the new home he often allowed poor immigrants to use the first one
until they could find a place of their own. Still later when some of his children got
married they used it as a sort of a honeymoon cottage. It was pressed into service and
used longer than usual by a certain English immigrant family. The man of this family was
especially handy with seeds and plants. He loved to work with them and had what we
today call a green thumb. Daniel would give him money and he would send back to
England for special seeks, bulbs, starts and cuttings of different plants, shrubs and trees.
He had shipped from England the first sweet pit apricot and English walnut trees in
Manti, and Daniel distributed them all over the town that people might share his joy in
raising thses things in their yards. He raised the first peaches in the valley, and was also
successful in raising apples, pears, plums, gooseberries and English currents. At canning
time Amanda would always see to it that the sweet pits from the apricots were saved
because children loved to crack them with the hammer and eat them and they were very
good in cookies, jam and molasses cake.
But each time the little house became vacant it would revert to a granary or else a supply
room which Daniel kept locked. He always managed to have sugar on hand for his
family, but since it was very scarce he kept it locked up here and would ration it out to
members of his family himself. He wanted them to have what they needed, but he was
exceedingly thrifty and wanted to see to it personally that not a single grain of the
precious commodity was lost.
On the extreme southwest corner of his property Daniel built a one-room shack of sawed
pine which he kept scrupulously clean and used as a butcher shop. He had not been slow
to realize that here as well as in California people would pay a good price to have their
meat slaughtered and cut up for them. So he constructed a slaughter house outside of
town. He was very fussy about choosing the animals to be killed, but he would bring it to
the shop and cut it up into any size roast, boil or fry that his customers wanted. When he
had fresh meat he would put out a red flag nailed to the end of a protruding board on the
shack, and about 6 o'clock in the morning people seeing it would rush to the place with
their containers and usually all of the meat was gone by 9 o'clock the same morning. He
never kept books, but if anyone could not pay he wrote their name down on one of the
boards of the shop wall and when payment was received he scratched it off. Indians
coming to the shp were often given free meat, and if ti was a widow or the wife of a
missionary he did not charge her.
One day while cutting up a beef the saw slipped and cut a deep gash in the fleshy part of
Daniel's hand, between the thumb and first finger. The sight and feeling of his own warm
blood spurting out over his arm made him deathly sick and he fainted dead away. His
son, Will came and saw him all covered with blood and he fainted too. Fred Cox and
another customer coming into the shop for meat dragged them both outside near the ditch
and threw cold water on them until they came to.
In the fall Daniel and his boys would go to the mountains and bring back deer and make
jerky. It was made in two different ways, sometimes it was just wrapped in salt and left to
dehydrate and cure for about 10 days, and the other was to put it in salt brine with a little
brown sugar and salt peter added and cure it like pork, then hang it from the rafters in the
supply room or shop to dry. This meat when sliced thin like chipped beef made delicious
sandwich meat and was very good added to milk gravy.
Daniel was never a great hand to eat meat himself, but he liked this meat, he also liked
calves brains fried in butter. Other favorite dishes were squash pie and lumpy dick. This
latter he had taught his soldier buddies to make on the long march to California and back
with the battalion, but it was much better now that he could have cream and sugar on it.
Daniel also built an outside cellar with a rock floor where they kept the mild cool in the
summer time, stored potatoes and vegetables in the winter and even made cheese once in
a while.
Daniel never milked for he hated that job and always had the older girls, Mary and Myra
do it or a hired man, or his boys when they got old enough. They were all taught to gather
wild spinach or pig week greens for the table, and the older girls especially Mary and
Myra were taught to glean wheat in the fields. One day they were working away at this
job when they heard the cry of a baby, it seemed to be coming from the nearby canal, so
they both went to investigate and there in the bottom of the ditch on the damp sand lay a
new born little black haired Indian baby. It was almost entirely surrounded by thick tall
sweet clover and had been deserted not too long before they found it. They looked
everywhere to see if they could find its mother, but their search was in vain, so they took
the baby home to their mother who named her Sally and raised her to womanhood. She
grew up to be a beautiful girl, was an expert at spinning, weaving and sewing. She
became the plural wife of Rastes Curtus Sr. of Moroni, against the wishes of the Henrie
family, and died at the birth of her first child.
The Henries also took another young Indian girl into their home when an old buck came
and offered to trade her to them for a horse or bag of flour. She was a captured hostage
from another tribe and was about 7 years old. The Henries fearing for her life gave him
what he asked and took her in.
Several other incidents involving Indians happened to the Henries over a period of years.
I will relate some them briefly: Daniel had an unspoken understanding with the Indians.
He fed them and treated them well and they in turn protected him and his family and
made it possible for him to go alone on horseback many places that would have been
dangerous indeed for others to go. On one such trip Daniel had rolled up in a blanket
beside the warmed rocks of a deadened camp fire when his horse whinnied and he knew
other horses were near, and this meant only one thing to Daniel. In another second he was
surrounded by a raiding party of Indians. From their actions it was apparent that they
meant no good, but seemed to be looking for food. Finding little he felt sure they
intended to lift his scalp, when out of the darkness came still another Indian. Daniel
recognized him as the starving, wounded redman they had fed and befriended when snow
had trapped them in the canyon. The Indians departed without harming him.
Another incident occurred one night when a pinto pony belonging to Daniel disappeared.
Daniel suspected that the Indians had taken it and complained to the chief who was a
good friend of his. The chief said he would investigate, and the next day he brought the
pony and the 2 Indians who had confessed to the deed to Daniel to name the punishment.
The chief said they should be killed, but Daniel begged for their lives and they were set
free. These two Indians were so overcome with gratitude that they swore allegiance to an
everlasting friendship and said e would be their blood brother and from then on his
influence for peace was greatly strengthened.
Amanda had her share of Indian troubles too. One day 13 or 14 ragged Indian youths
walked into the Henrie home unannounced and said, "Want bread! Hungry, want bread",
and started toward the table to help themselves. Amanda grabbed the poker and told them
to stand back till she was ready to give them some. She gave each one a buttermilk
biscuit and told them to go. They said, "Heap brave squaw, good squaw." Her young son
(named Jerome after his uncle) followed them outside and wrestled with them in the yard
and got covered with lice, so his mother made him fill the wooden tub with water from
the ditch and discard his clothes and take a bath. Then she came outside and went over
his head with a fine tooth comb, much to his disgust. His mother hoped it might cure him,
but it did not, he wrestled with them every chance he got.
Amanda had cause to be called brave squaw on still another occasion. One day she arose
from the fire place to see a large Indian standing a few feet behind her, she whirled and
grabbed the frying pan from the fire and said, "If you come one step nearer I'll split your
head wide open." The Indian knew she meant what she said and left. Usually she was
kind to these people. Whenever squaws came from Kanosh or Grass Valley to beg she
always gave them a pie plate full of flour to put in the sack they carried on their back and
she also gave them any old clothes or hats that could be spared.
Amanda was an excellent cook, and on many occasions President Brigham Young and
his Apostles shared the hospitality of their bed and board. Chicken soup with Danish
dumplings was standard conference fare and no one made better dumplings than
Amanda. Buttermilk soda biscuits was also another of her specialties.
She was a scrupulous housekeeper, but most of her furniture, except the big iron stove
was home-made by Daniel or hired done by a carpenter, but it was always kept dusted
and her floors were scowered and scrubbed several times a week.
She was a fine religious woman, paid a full tithing and was very gifted in the art of home
nursing and the use of herbs. She raised and dried many of these herbs herself and
dispensed them to neighbors and towns people alike wherever her help was needed and
they came from far and near to buy her canker medicine. She was good looking with dark
piercing eyes and long thick lashes. Her hair was copper tinted dark brown, very long
(she could sit on it) and inclined to be wavy or curly, and her skin was smooth and clear.
She was stylish, wore her clothes very well and was very fussy about the way they fit.
She always insisted on a fine black dress for best, and it was usually trimmed in the latest
buttons, braid ruffles, pleats or tucks. She did not have much jewelry to wear outside of
amber and glass beads, but her ears were pierced and she loved to wear earrings. Daniel
had had earrings made of gold nuggets for her and her 2 oldest daughters Mary and Myra,
but they proved to be too heavy to wear so they were kept as heirlooms.
Amanda loved to go out, but she did not get the chance to very often, for it seemed she
was always pregnant or tied down with babies. On one occasion in 1856 just a day or so
after one of her babies (Dianthia) was born, Daniel was asked to go to Salt Lake on city
business. When he returned he brought a tall pleasant 18 year old girl to the bedside and
said, "Amanda this is Susan Colman, she is my new plural wife." (The church advocated
plural marriages at that time, but the practice has long since been outlawed by them). ???
Amanda never quite got over the shock or forgot or forgave him for the way he broke this
stupendous news to her. Susan was of rather large frame, tall and dark haired. She was
kind and a good worker, and she and Amanda became very good friends. Daniel built a
little house to the north of the big one for her and she carried much of the burden of the
Henrie household, doing most of the outside work. She did many favors for Amanda and
Amanda in turn helped her, even served as wet nurse for some of Susan's children when
her milk left her and Amanda had more milk than she needed for her own baby.
For years Amanda had been bothered with a cough. She doctored for it and tried anything
anyone prescribed, even to smoking a corn cob pipe. But nothing seemed to help too
much for very long. We know now that she had asthma and had had it on the plains when
she suffered so terribly much from the dust. This continual lung trouble affected her heart
and often kept her bedfast. As she grew older and all of her own children were married,
Daniel hired a girl or some of her grand children came in to help and to keep her
company. Often they were allowed to stay over night and sleep on the big couch in the
kitchen beside the fireplace, and in the light of the dying embers wold see a little field
mouse or two creep under the worn door step and scamper about the warm room looking
fro crumbs.
In 1863 the county seat was moved to Moroni, and Amanda's parents who had been
living in Nephi (Mr. Bradley was serving as District probate Judge there) were called and
asked to be the leaders of the new settlement. Indian affairs had become very
troublesome again and a white man was killed near Payson, so reprisals on both sides got
out of hand. Chief Walker was a Timpanogos Indian, lived near Spanish Fork and had
held things in check may times, but failed to do so now because one of his band was
involved. Then the five year Black Hawk war started April 1865. There were a number of
opinions as to the direct thing that set it off. One source said Abner Lowery slapped an
Indian Chief when he tried to steal flour from the mill, another source said Chief Jake had
been ignonimously yanked from a horse by a white man and a quarrel resulted in which
he swore vengeance on the settlers, but whatever it was, cattle raids increased, killings on
both sides increased, war scalp dances were again held nightly by the Indians, and in one
incident well remembered by Amanda and children they had waved goodby to two young
men the raced 6 or 12 twelve miles after Indians who had stolen their cattle, only to see
the horses return with their bodies full of arrows lashed to the saddle. Their scalps had
been lifted and their hearts still dripping blood were hung on the saddle horn. Amanda
fainted dead away at the gruesome bloody sight. Daniel was out rounding up their own
cattle and at first she thought one of the bodies might have been his.
The State Militia was called on for help, and when they arrived George W. Bradley was
called to organize the Minute Men for the protection of the county. Daniel was made
captain. He was commissioned by Gov. Dirkie, Captain of Co. A Infantry, First Battalion,
Second Regiment Nauvoo Legion. He took part in the salina encounter and remembered
the scare and excitement aroused when Chief Anawakets, Chief Anthrean, Wanteroge,
Sanpete, Wyplod's son Nats, John Aroupeen and Dick Broke jail in Manti, and the alarm
was sent out to all of the settlements to get them dead or alive. Some of these Indians
were killed others were taken alive near Nephi.
As Daniel grew older and Indian and civic affairs were running more smoothly he loved
to go on long walks and frolic with his grand children. He was always wanting to run
them a foot race or throw snow balls or anything with a lot of action, and it was said he
never left a group with leaving a smile or chuckle because of some joke or witty wise
crack he had left with them. In this way he was like his mother who had a great sense of
humor and loved to dance. Daniel was a gay blade with the ladies and loved to dance too,
so if neither of his wives could go with him he would take his daughters or go alone. He
was not much for style himself, but he liked to see that his family had all of the
necessities of life, anything over and above this they worked for on the side. His daughter
Myra remembered spinning and weaving all day at home then milking cows at night and
morning for Abner Lowery to buy a pair of store shoes for her wedding.
Daniel was always strict and economical with his own family, but was soft hearted and a
pushover for down and out immigrants who traveled a beaten path to his door. One
example of this was a man and a family who were destitute. He let them settle on some of
his land, and run it for several years. When the man made no attempt to pay him anything
for crops or use of the land he was told to move, whereupon the man claimed squatters
rights, and the wife cried and when Daniel saw the ragged condition of the children he
did not press things, but said I guess they need it worse than I do.
He supplied another immigrant family with milk, fruit and a place to live for several
years and all he got out of it was a couple of brass candle sticks which he gave Amanda
for use on the mantle.
He helped to build the council house tabernacle and many other public buildings in
Manti. He paid a full tithing and gave liberally to the poor and to missionaries in the
field.
For work on the Manti temple he furnished laborers, wagons and horses for many months
while that house of the Lord was being built and took part in its program of laying the
corner stone, April 14th 1879. He was its greatest cash donator giving over one thousand
dollars in gold.
Daniel never read much except in the standard church works or the daily Deseret News,
but he had a good speaking voice with much power behind it so he could be heard well in
a crowd. He was often asked to speak at patriotic gatherings such as the 4th or 24th of
July. And it is related that on one such occasion a large flood came roaring down through
the middle of town by way of willow creek, and when the alarm was sounded everyone
rushed from the church to see what was taking place. That is, everyone but Daniel, he
continued on to the end of his speech then ventured forth to see what all of the excitement
was about.
He was always interested in the growth and betterment of the community and brought the
first turkeys and hives of bees into that part of the state. His name was given people as a
reference for he was honest and truthful and could always be depended upon. His word
was as good as his bond. He was immovable in his convictions and always was known as
a man of rare good judgement and clean habits. He neither used tea, coffee, tobacco or
any strong drinks. His talents were versatile and he always applied himself well to the job
at hand, and had many good traits and qualities.
He was a farmer, stock raiser and road supervisor. He was Sheriff of Sanpete County for
1 year, City Treasurer for 3 years, President of the 48th Quorum of Seventies for over 35
years, and commissioned officer in both the Walker and Blackhawk Indian Wars.
His first wife Amanda was a wonderful, kind hearted woman who gave valuable aid and
assistance to the community in time of sickness, saved many a life and brought many a
baby into the world when a doctor or midwife was not available.
Daniel and Amanda were the parents of 14 children, all born in Manti, Utah except Mary
A. who was born in Bountiful. The last 3 died in infancy, they were Thomas Jefferson,
Udiah Grant, and Loren. All of the 11 others grew to maturity, married and had families,
and 3 were among the first colonizers of Emery County. Their names and names of their
husbands are as follows:
Mary Amanda married Ezra K. Funk
Myra Elizabeth married John Olson
Susan L. married George Byron Cox Sr.
Daniel Jr. married Alzina Stringham
Diantha married William Stringham
James B. married Mariah Westenskow and Thea A. Lund
Margaret Estella married Alma Johnson
Melenda Euphema married William J. Killpack
Luna Abiah married Otto Otteson
Amanda was born 15 January 1829 at the town of Clarence, Erie County, New York and
died at the age of 74 on the 7th of March 1903 at Manti and was buried in the Manti City
Cemetery.
His plural wife, Susan Coleman, was a fine hard working woman and a good mother,
some of her children helped settle places in Oregon and far away Canada. They were the
parents of 12 children, 5 of whom died in infancy. They are as follows:
Rachel married Charles Patton
Arthur married Mary C. Jorgensen
Samuel married Hannah E. Boyington
Elizabeth married Edward E. Ried
Joseph Thadeas married Mary Sorenson
Margaret F.
Nora Lenora
Coradell married John Franklin Maylett
Maud
Ethel
Ellis married Ethel Armstrong
Myra
Susan Colman was born 4th August 1839 at Niagra, Heartland County, New York and
died at the age of 77 on the 4th of February 1916 at Manti and was buried in the City
Cemetery.
Through thrift Daniel became well situated financially. He owned stock in the Manti
Coop store, sheep in the co-op herd and valuable farming and pasture lands just north of
town. He also owned a store house which still stands as a valuable landmark of pioneer
days.
In spite of the privations endured while a soldier in the Mormon Battalion and those
incident to Pioneer life, Daniel lived to the age of 89 years and was lovingly called Uncle
Daniel by all who knew him, friend and relative alike.
He died the 28th of June 1914 at Manti, Sanpete County, Utah and was buried in the
family plot of the Manti City Cemetery, "Across the road from the temple he so dearly
loved."
This history is written not only that it be used by the Daughters of Utah Pioneers but also
that members of my family might more fully appreciate the character, courage, ambition,
and accomplishments of this fine man who was our progenitor.
Thus I have used material from journals, histories and research for background, plus
family records, incidents told to me by friends and relatives, and many stories related to
me by my grandmother, Myra Henrie Olson, who was his 2nd child.
Since his background and the first part of his life is pretty much the same of that of his
father's family I will merely repeat here the fore part of the history I wrote about his
father and mother, William and Myra Mayall Henrie.
Other references
Article written for the Manti Sentinel by Daniel Henrie
Deseret News and Andrew Jensen references
D.U.P. Bulletin for battalion march back-ground.
Children:

• Myra Henrie Olson

• Margaret Henrie Johnson

• Jerome Henrie
Grand children:

• Lavern Funk Larson

• Alice Johnson Nielson

• Loretta Olson Draper

• Euphemia Olson Anderson

• Edna Olson Morley

• Daniel L. Olson

• Alphonso Henrie