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Show i - FEDERAL WRITERS PROJECT Pioneer Personal History Mrs. Laura Smith Hadfield UTAH HRS 314 Revised 3-9-37 I Virginia Howell Elvera Manful Ogden, Utah Weber County August 31, 1939 Mrs. Laura Smith Hadfield was born, May 27, 1858, in Juab County, Utah. "I cannot tell you the name· of the town where I was born, for the simple reason that I don't know it. There wasn't any town there at the time anyway, as my f.-Olks bad gone to Juab County when Johnston's army came, and all the saints moved south. Ir it hadn't been for that, I'd have been born in Farmington. My father, Wells Smith was a brother of Lot Smith, and my mother was Miriam Davis, daughter of Captain Daniel c. Davis of the W~rmon Battalion. Davis County is named for my grandfather. I guess my father moved his family as far south as any of the. Saints ever did go . I don't know if he thought he could .escape the soldiers or not, but I suppose if they had wanted to get tllem, they could have caught up with them in a few days. Father rrade a camp, got out some cottonwood logs and let the wagon box down on them, and made everything as comfortable as possible for mother, and then went back to Farmington to watch the soldiers and see that they didn't molest anything when they went through. If the soldiers had stopped, or even tried to molest the homes, the men on guard would have set fire to their homes and all of their improvements, so that nothing but desolation would have remained. They were determined not to give up their homes as they had back east. The soldiers , however, marched straight through to Camp Floyd where trey set up their fort. Governor Cummings told the people to return to their homes, and promised to protect them. It wasn't long before 13righam Young told the saints to come back as he felt assured that they would not be molested by the soldiers . Everyone said that Governor Cwmnings was one of the finest men in the world. |
