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Show rrrrx rrTT fr'rT Spencer Home Was Built When Owner Was 70 Years Old built a house and some barns. Some time later his father also bought a farm eight miles from MAGNA. Its a wonderful old the town. There the family lived house that stands midway during the summer and when between the Open Door Baptist winter came they went back to Church and 8800 West on 2700 the city. South. In addition to farming his father A monarch of the past, it has worked to help build the Nauvoo survived time, neglect, use and Temple. He was in charge of abuse, and still stands proudly hauling rocks to construct the along the roadside to remind majestic building that stood on a residents and tourists alike of hill. The family was also well another life - another time. acquainted with Joseph Smith, As with most houses, there is a the founder of the religion, who story to tell about how it came visited their home often. into being and what transpired In 1839, the Spencer children within the walls of the home and acquired a stepmother when their the land surrounding it. However, father Hiram Sr. married Emily this house has particular Thompson at Nauvoo, and two historical significance that makes more children were added to the it a jewel in the crown of Magna. family from that union. But the harmony of their lives was First of A Series disrupted in the spring of 1846 It was built in 1905 by Hiram when they were driven out of Theron Spencer, who came to this their homes by a mob. Fearing for their lives they area in 1852, and it not only all they could get into their loaded for represented a new beginning the builder at age 70, when he wagons, leaving the bulk of their was forced to leave his home at worldly possessions behind. Since Point of West Mountains, it also it was February, and very cold, provided him sanctuary in the they were able to cross the Mississippi River on the ice. last days of his life. Hiram Therons father had two He was bom in West Stock wagons for his family of 10 children and his wife, and his Bridge, Berkshire County, Mass, on Nov. 13, 1835, and had he not brother Daniel also had two for been bom under the sign of his wife Mary and three children. since their older Scorpio, the strongest sign in the However, zodiac, it is highly unlikely that brother, Orson Spencer, was away he would have survived as long as on a mission to England, his he did. family of six children and his wife Catherine had only one light For his life was a hard one, as and one horse. wagon He well, as being colorful. To make matters worse, to odds struggled against great Catherine was so sick that she achieve all that he could in a had to be carried from her bed in world that was harsh and cold the house and placed in the to those of the Mormon wagon, which was hitched to a faith. balky horse who refused to go When he was three years old his unless someone rode him. Since there were no children old mother, Mary Spencer, died. Soon after his father sold out and enough to ride the horse, the task fell moved the family of eight children to Hiram Theron who to Nauvoo, 111. where he bought a managed to keep in sight of his fathers place near the public square and However, wagon. by LaRee Pehrson Green Sheet Staff Writer -- progress was slow because the road through the country was so bad that they got stuck often and it would take two or three teams to pull them out. It rained and snowed most of the time during February and March and some day3 they moved camp only a mile or a mile and a half. The women, and sometimes the children, had to walk through the mud and water that was up to their knees, following the wagon. They would have to stop now and then to rest. When they made camp at night the men cut limbs from the trees and laid them on the ground to hold the beds up out of the mud and water. Some of the travelers slept in the wagons, but many of them had to sleep on the ground due to the lack of space. After about three weeks, Catherine Spencer died, and Hiram Spencer Sr. and his nephew Cladina B. Spender took her body back to bury her in Nauvoo. While they were there Hiram Sr. bought some supplies and cattle. In addition he rounded up the ones he had received for the land he left behind, and started back to join the wagon train. But he received word that the mob was close at hand to relieve them of what was rightfully theirs. By then the ice had broken on the river, and they were afraid to cross by ferry for fear of meeting the mob. So they traveled 15 miles up river to another crossing. It was then that fatigue, fear and cold weather began to take their toll. Hiram Sr. caught a severe cold that developed into pneumonia and died on the trail, just after his companions had taken him down from his horse and laid him on the side of the road. His body was taken to Mount Pisgah (or Mountain Grove, 111.) and buried, while the rest of the party hurried to join the wagon train. One month after the pioneers had been on the trail, Daniel Spencers wife Mary died. During her last illness she had a bed of tree limbs, and because of a severe rainstorm Hiram Theron helped to hold two umbrellas over her to shelter her from the weather. She was only 30 years old at the time of her death. In the fall of 1846, while living Winter Quarters, Daniel Spencer married his brothers widow, Emily Thompson Spencer. They came together out of mutual need, for Daniel had three motherless children and Emily 10 fatherless ones. at The men in the party built log houses to live in during the winter, but part of them went back to Missouri to work splitting rails and earning provisions for the people in the fort. It was such a bad winter that many of the cattle and horses died from lack of That season, members of the wagon train had to lay over a week at a time while the men food. worked for farmers cutting rails The following spring, those who and cordwood to earn enough for could get cattle and horses provisions to live on. Every week enough to pull their wagons or two they made these stops started westward. However, there earning flour, commeal and bacon were a great many who were left for pay, and as a result they spent behind because they didnt have the whole summer season of 1846 the money to buy the necessary going from Nauvoo to Winter means of transportation. Quarters on the Missouri River. Brigham Young and his party had left earlier in the year. The Spencer families were part of the group who followed later. In his writings, Hiram Theron recalled having to help drive the loose cattle, walking most of the time behind the wagon train. He also wrote that the Buffalo were so thick about 50 miles from Winter Quarters, on the Platte River, that it was necessary to drive the teams three and four abreast between the river and the bluffs, where it was wide enough, so that the train would not be scattered out so far that the Buffalo could run through or OF THE PAST ... The Spencer house has survived time, neglect, use and abuse, and still stands proudly along the roadside to remind Magna MONARCH residents and tourists alike of another life, another time, stampede the horses and cattle. Traveling westward all that summer, they arrived in the Salt Lake Valley Sept. 20, 1847. There were between 75 and 100 families altogether, with Daniel Spencer as captain of the 100 and Horace the captain of a Eldredge of 50 that they were company with. traveling (To Be Continued) Be sure to use your VISA, MasterCard , American Express or your True Value Charge Cord 6383 WEST 3500 SOUTH WEST VALLEY, UTAH PHONE: MIL SBEDDMHER SiPPlMSS BRUSHES, PAINTS, PADS, CHARCOAL PAPER, TRACING PAPER, ETC. 969-343- 7 |