LYDIA CATHERINE HAWS HASKELL

LYDIA CATHERINE HAWS HASKELL

    Lydia Catherine Haws was born in Morgan County Illinois 23 February 1835 a daughter of Elijah Haws and Catherine Floyd Pease.   
    As a young girl, Catherine and her sister's were orphaned. Her father, Captain Asa Pease had been killed in the War of 1812 at Black Rock in Erie, Pennsylvania leaving her mother, Eunice Brown Pease, to support the family of five daughters. Eunice also died a few short years later. The oldest daughter, Lois, married Andrew Patten at a reasonably young age and took care of the other four sisters.
    The western movement was taking place country wide and Elijah and family were part of the movement to Illinois, where about this time, they arrived in Morgan County Illinois and settled down here for a number of years, with Lydia Catherine Haws being born 23 February 1835.
    They were once again moving, this time southward to Jackson County Illinois.  They returned to Cass County, just to the north of Morgan County, about 1840 to 1842. While there, they were approached by missionaries of the new "Latter-day Saints Church" and joined the new organization.
    Shortly thereafter, they were again going Westward through Quincy, Illinois and across the state of Missouri and Iowa to Wroughten, Pottowattomie County Iowa.
    The Spirit of God, gathering his righteous God-fearing people to Nauvoo, came upon them also, and they once again moved to Hancock County Illinois with the people of the new church.  Elijah and family moved to a farm, three miles East of Nauvoo.  There was so much strife and contention with the old settler's of the area, disrespect of property, and the L. D. S. people themselves, that Fall, they moved into the city of Nauvoo. But they soon found, that in the city, there was internal strife and too much intimidation going on.
    That spring,  they moved to Keosauqua, Iowa and farmed there. They lived there two years.  It was here in Van Buren County that they met a friend they had not seen for many years. He had grown into a man, had several farms in the area too. His name was Andrew Jackson Stewart.   He had formerly worked for Elijah Haws. While there, he had saved Eunice from drowning in the family well as a young girl. The grateful mother had told him that he could marry her when they were older. The romance came about, and Andrew and Eunice were married 1 January 1844. The couple later went to Nauvoo and were married by a man with the authority of God in the Nauvoo Temple for "Time and Eternity", 12 January 1846.
    Elijah went westward again to Pottowattomie County Iowa and took up a farm across from where the Platte River enters the Missouri River. The family remained here to the spring of 1852. Many of the Saints stopped here with them, on their way across the plains and mountains to Utah.
Andrew Jackson Stewart and Eunice were coming to Utah with a wagon company in 1850. While stopping and living with Elijah and family for a time, it was decided that Nathaniel P Haws would come with them to Utah. He was to help find a likely farm for them and to help Andrew build a cabin and also prepare one for the family that they would be able to take shelter in for the winter, next year.
    Unknown to them was a devastating fire that occurred and delayed the family from coming till 1852. Elijah, with his entire family which included his son, Jason, and his family arrived in the  Salt Lake Valley in the Fall of 1852. They stayed a short time with relatives of Catherine at Cottonwood Creek.  They then proceeded to Payson, Utah where Nathaniel and Eunice was anxious to see them. It was readily seen that another room was needed on the cabin to accommodate them this winter and the men set to work and added the necessary space.  Nathaniel P Haws had also married in the interim, to Lucinda Colehill Crockett. She was a daughter of Payson's David Crockett. David Crockett was later Payson's first Mayor.
    During the winter 1852/53, Lydia Catherine Haws consented to be married to Chester Kise Haskell on 12 March 1853.  They moved to Provo, Utah. 1853 had not been kind to them in crops and they tried again the next year. The grain came up and looked very good, but the grasshoppers and crickets stripped the vegetation bare. They plowed and planted again only to have the second growth again stripped.
    The decision was made for the entire family of George Niles Haskell and Chester to go to California. It included George and wife Sally Runnells(Sarah Elizabeth Reynolds} Haskell, Joseph Meacham & wife, Malinda Haskell, and family, Ellis Eames and first wife, Olive Gibbs and second wife Sarah Haskell and families, Chester Kise Haskell and wife Lydia Catherine Haws with toddler Henry Chester Haskell. They joined a wagon train assembled at Payson to leave for California.
    They had asked President Brigham Young to give them a blessing before embarking on the trek to California. He had came to Payson to give them a blessing. Upon his arrival and finding out the size of the wagon train with the number of people leaving for California, he was so disappointed in his people, that he refused to give them the blessing that his people desired. Pres. Young had told them many times they would prosper here and to not go to California.
    The Haskell's settled  near San Bernardino, California. It had not been an easy trek of near 900 miles through the desert and over the mountains. California was also having it's share of troubles as it had been a drought year and their crops were short with an ever increasing populace.
    The land grant the Mormons had obtained from the Mexican's was not as large as first thought either. They had to borrow money or goods at inflated rates of interest, but were finally able to pay it back. Word reached them in California in the Fall of 1857,  that Brigham Young wanted all of the saints to return to Zion and gave them the particulars of Johnston's Army being sent to Utah  to put the Mormon People under subjection.
    Brigham Young, years before had made the statement if they would leave us alone for ten years, they couldn't remove us. It was, "ten years" and he asked the people "to come to the defence of Zion", We're going to fight! He also asked them to bring all the caps, lead, and powder they could.
    It was at this time many people came back to Utah from Carson City, Oregon, San Bernardino, Las Vegas, Idaho & etc. The family of George Niles Haskell was one of the many who returned in preparation for the fight, never flinching; back over the mountains and deserts, 900 miles to Utah. The families had increased, yet Ellis Eames and his first wife and their children refused to return. The second wife, Sarah Haskell and her four children left him behind and returned with the rest of the family.   Her youngest daughter was just three days old when they left California and three months old when they arrive in Payson.  She later would marry Shadrach Richardson of Benjamin around 1860. He was a brother-in-law of Benjamin F. Stewart.
    The wagons were crowded, not only with goods they had not sold, but also with the added children. Ellis' not returning cut down on the number of wagons returning also. The two boys, two and  three years old, were loaded on a team horse in a bed tick, much like a pack saddle, Henry on one side and James on the other and they also walked. Lydia and the young daughter would walk once or twice a day also.
    George Niles Haskell and his wife Sally settled in Payson at about 25 South 100 West in today’s address system.  He later sold the property in 1880 to Joseph Bills.  There were many that had been in the Mormon Battalion that were living in Payson. Chester Kise and his wife Lydia Catherine and three children settled in Pondtown(Salem) about three miles to the East of Payson. Joseph Meacham, his wife Malinda and his children settled in Spanish Fork, about seven miles northeast of Payson, in the Spring of 1858.
    Many people came to Payson from the Salt Lake area and other points in Utah County in the "big move". The homes and businesses were vacated and filled with straw in preparation of burning everything if the soldiers showed an inclination of fighting or looting of the area.
    Colonel Thomas L Caine/Kane helped to avert this ready disaster by his coming from Washington DC and negotiated having the soldiers not leave rank and to march through the city to an out-lying area agreed upon. The Mormon People were so serious as to this outcome that even the temple foundation was filled up and the block looked like a plowed field ready to plant. By Fall, many had again moved back to the Salt Lake area and the promised skirmish was averted. The governorship was changed peacefully with Governor Cummings replacing President Brigham Young.
    Chief Wakara created much strife and uneasiness for the Mormon People and the period of time became known as the Walker Indian War. He became ill and died and was buried in the range of mountains near Scipio and Holden. There is a Walker flat near Holden that he and his band camped at often, also another up Payson Canyon that they camped on, and traveled on over the canyon many times en route to the San Pitch Valley. At the beginning of this war, the Indians burned several saw-mills in the canyon at the outset of the Walker Indian War of the mid 1850's, one being Elijah Haws', a part owner in one.
    Lydia Catherine and Chester Kise Haskell had a daughter, Isodora in 1857.  They had three more girls to increase the size of their family in Pondtown (Salem). The first, named Lydia Catherine, not only looked like her mother but was named for her too. The next girl was very dark of hair and complexion and was named Arvilla Rosetta, and next was a curley-haired red-head and named Sariah Lavina.
    The Indians once again were becoming very troublesome and not to be trusted, when Henry and James were set upon by a group of Indians while herding cows. One very respected Indian rode up to them where the Indians had taken James and Henry from the cows and he in turn took the boys home to Chester and told him, that because of him, the boys weren't scalped, but not to let them out alone again. It was but a short time after this incident that the family moved to the Payson Fort. This was during the Blackhawk Indian War in 1864. The War.   Chief Blackhawk signed a peace agreement and came to Spring Lake, became ill and died. He was buried up one of the gulches to the East of Spring Lake.
    Lydia and Chester had a baby girl in 1866 at the fort and they named her Lois Ann., but she died one year, 2 months and 3 days later. She is buried in the Payson City Cemetery beside her father.
    Chester, Lydia, and family moved West of Payson to Spring Creek to a farm there. During the time they were at this farm, four more girls were born to them; Matilda Alvira, an auburn haired brown-eyed baby; next came a petite blond named Mary Elizabeth; followed by another with striking blond(had a gold cast) and sort of brown eyes with gold flecks in them named Mable Maria; and the last was also of dark hair but a lighter complexion than Arvilla, which was named Fidelia.  The Haskell’s had a total of eleven children.  Only one of the children died as an infant.  The other ten reached maturity, married and had families of their own.
    The family now moved to Benjamin on a farm. While here Chester had a habit that Lydia much anxiety and complaint, finally ending in divorce. Chester moved around quite a bit and got a ulcer or cancer in his stomach which caused him a great deal of pain, especially when he ate something. He spent his last few years with his son, Henry Chester Haskell in Haskellville on the farm he had there. He died October 19, 1899.
    Their son, James, was  married in June of 1877 to the daughter of Benjamin Franklin Stewart and Elizabeth Jane Davis Stewart of Benjamin, "Rachel Madia", and they moved to Payson. Rachel had three boys; James Edward in 1879 and Henry C. in 1880, also William Stewart Haskell in 1882. This was a bad flu year for mothers and children and the mother died in December of 1882. The young baby had progressed nearly 5 months before he also died.  He was under the care of his Grandmother Lydia Catherine Haws Haskell. James no longer had a job on the railroad and left the young boys in the care of his mother and left, searching for work.
    Lydia Catherine Haws Haskell was living in Benjamin with the her youngest girls. James had gone to Idaho to work in the timber and then to Newton where Uncle Hyrum Curtis lived.  James bought a small piece of property in Newton and built his home. Hyrum Curtis' wife was a sister to Lydia Catherine, named Mary Eliza. She had died in 1875 and was buried in the Newton Cemetery.
    James was coming to Payson to visit his young boys, his mother and other family members. He invited Uncle Hyrum to come with him.   Hyrum had family in Payson too. There was his father, Nahum Curtis and brothers and their families. Hyrum came and visited and talked Lydia Catherine Haskell into marrying him.
    Lydia went to Newton with her young girls that had not married yet and visited several relatives that were there and married Hyrum. Hyrum had several  and young boys.   Lydia and her girls and James two young boys, it was a houseful of people and many mouths to feed.
    James married Uncle Hyrum’s oldest daughter, Elizabeth Rosabell Curtis and moved to his place with his two young boys from his previous marriage, which removed three mouths from under Hyrum's roof. There was still bickering and finally Lydia moved from Hyrum's place and left him, returning to a little brick home that was the former home of her daughter, Lydia Catherine
    The two youngest girls, Mary Elizabeth and Fidelia,  married two boys from Newton. They were John Franklin Jenkins and Amos Edward Clarke, respectively. Mary Elizabeth married John Franklin Jenkins in the spring of 1890. They lived in Newton for several years and had two children, but the first child died and is buried in Newton Cemetery. About 1895 they moved to Freedom, Wyoming and John became a rancher. Later he was the President of the Cattlemans Assoc. there. Mary Elizabeth and John had three more children here. Mary was having trouble with Sugar Diabetes. She and the baby girl died in October of 1907 of child birth. Mary was thirty nine years old and left three children; Leslie, Claudia, and Denzil. John remarried to Annis Jessop in 1911. They had nine more children and raised their families together as one.
    Fidelia married Amos Edward Clarke at sixteen years of age and also lived at Newton. Amos Clarke's father was also named Amos Clarke.  They had nine children, one dying as an infant. Amos died at the young age of forty two. Fidelia moved to Salt Lake City to work and make her living. When she died in 1910. She was buried in Newton.
    Lydia Catherine Haskell lived in Benjamin at the little brick home the rest of her life. She enjoyed the grand children, telling them many stories, giving them goodies, even protecting them in the discipline that was administered. She died suddenly in her rocking chair 3 February 1912 and was buried in the Payson City Cemetery in her son's plot, Henry Chester Haskell, beside the little boy Arthur that was killed by a train car.
    A grand-daughter, Elizabeth "Lizzy" Haskell Petersen was having a recurring dream of her grandmother and grandfather.  The grandfather Chester Rise Haskell had been separated from the grandmother in the forepart of the 1880's and he died in 1899, 67 years old.  The grandmother, Lydia Catherine Haws had re-married to Hyrum Curtis about the time of the dedication and opening of the Logan Temple. She had not been married for "Time and all Eternity" and desired to be. Hyrum took her to the Temple and Lydia was the Proxy for her sister, Mary Eliza, and then she too was married to Hyrum Curtis.
    The dream was of Chester on one side of a great river in a black suit and a downcast look and trying to get across the great river. She asked her genealogy instructor for a meaning.  She then her bishop, who referred her to the Stake Presidency. Lizzy wrote her Aunt May Haskell Elmer and told her about it.
    Lizzy's father, James E. Haskell was very upset with the situation, but Lizzy wrote the General Authorities of the church. Yes, Lydia had loved Chester, leaving Hyrum after several short years of marriage because there was peace in her former home and not in the Curtis home. All of her children were Chester's. The General Authorities wrote a return letter of what they must do to have her grand mother married to Chester in the Temple.
    James was really upset now, for you don't trifle with Godly things, but Lizzy wrote her Aunt May again and arrangements were made and they met in Salt Lake City in 1922 and the marriage in the Logan Temple to Hyrum Curtis was revoked by President Heber J. Grant. Then her Grandmother and Grandfather were married in the Salt Lake Temple, with the family members acting as proxies thus completing these arrangements.
    Lizzy had another dream after this. It only occurred one time and follows: The scene of the river was duplicated, but with some deviation. Chester now was there in a white suit. Hyrum escorted Lydia, also dressed in white to Chester and put her hand in Chester's and presently Chester and Lydia left together and Hyrum returned to the group he had come from, also in white.



RESEARCH & INFORMATION COMPILED BY IVAN Y HASKELL, a descendant of Chester Kise and Lydia Catherine Haws Haskell.