Archibald Waller Overton Buchanan history

Note: All references to the "Church" indicate the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly called the Mormon Church.

I have added very few corrections, shown in [brackets]. The history here begins as it appears on page 10a of the book (and continues up to page 30):

It would seem the logical place to begin the history of the Utah Buchanans (Maybe we should say the Sevier County Buchanans) would be to start with John Buchanan who was born 11 Jan. 1786 in Ramelton, Donegal County, Ireland. He was the first Buchanan of our line, at least, to come to the United States. He left Ireland and came to the bluegrass country of Kentucky and settled in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. We do not have the date of this emigration but it was before 1812 because on 12 April, 1812 he married Nancy Ann Bache in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky. (We find the name Bache is spelled three ways - Back, Bach and Bache. We do not know which is correct although the original records seem to spell it Bache.)

Much of the adult life of both John and Nancy was spent in Kentucky as most of their children were born there, including our grandfather Archibald. He was born 9 Feb. 1830 in Lexington, Kentucky and was the last child of the family to be born there. In the years between 1830 and 1833, the entire family moved from Kentucky to Illinois. They settled in the County of Tazewell, Illinois, where the tenth and last child of the family was born.

It is interesting to note the family names that have come down such as: Jane, Elizabeth, Lorenzo Dow, John, Mary Ann and Archibald. In going back over the history of the family even before they came to America, while they were still in Ireland and earlier in Scotland, these and other names have been handed down for generations so that names like Lorenzo Dow, Mary Ann and Archibald are completely natural in the family line.

Since most of the work in the future will be with Archibald Waller Overton Buchanan and his descendants we note that he was born in the same year that the Church was organized, in fact only about two months before the organization of the Church.

One does not have to use a great deal of imagination to picture this big family living in the woods of Illinois in a log cabin, ekeing out an existence on a farm of their own making. The County of Tazewell is some eighty or ninety miles due east of the city of Nauvoo, which at that time had not been thought of. Picture in your minds if you can, everybody working just to gain the necessary subsistence for life.

In the years 1832-34, missionaries were sent from the Church Headquarters to preach the gospel. Some of them went west and finally came to Tazewell County, Illinois. There they found the family of John Buchanan and taught them the gospel. Emmeline, the fourth child of the family was the first to join the Church. She was baptized in February of 1834. The Church was only four years old then, therefore she would have been among the very first of the converts in the field. She was fourteen years old at the time of her baptism. That is the same age the Prophet was when he received his first vision.

John Buchanan was baptized 23 March 1835 and his wife Nancy Ann Bache and his oldest daughter, Jane Buchanan, were baptized 8 Sept. 1835. It is to be noted that some of the older children who were old enough were not baptized at that time, but did come into the Church later. In fact, every member of this big family did join the Church. Our Grandfather Archibald was baptized on his ninth birthday, 9 Feb. 1839.

The oldest daughter Jane was married in 1831 so she would have been married four years before she joined the Church. The record indicates that her husband Alexander B. Davis was baptized at that time.

It is doubtful that many families had joined this new religion at an earlier time than did our own people. There were families close to the Prophet in the eastern part of the United States, but here was a family living in the forest on the fringe of civilization in Illinois who heard the gospel and became members as it was taught to them.

History and their records are not plain as to the activities of the family for the next few years. They did go to Caldwell County in Missouri and joined the saints there. We find that they were included in the mobbings and suffered the violence of being expelled from the state with the rest of the saints in 1838. The Buchanan family, with the sons-in-law, had stayed together closely and we find them in late 1838 and 1839 in Quincy and Lima in Adams County, Illinois with the saints there.

Elizabeth Coolidge and her husband had seven children born to them in and around Nauvoo from 1835 to 1847 - the year of the expulsion from Nauvoo. We quote these last dates to give an indication of the unity of the family, and the fact that they went through all the difficulties of the early saints and their wanderings to Missouri and back into Illinois. We can trace them later to Council Bluffs. The Coolidge family did not come west with the rest of the family but remained in Iowa.

The father of the family, John, did not live long enough lo see all of this accomplished as he died in 1839 in Lima, Adams County, Illinois. Lima is just a short distance from Quincy so we know that the Buchanans were together at that time. After his death, Nancy Ann took her big family, together with her sons-in-law, to Nauvoo where they were in close contact with the Prophet and the saints there.

Let us pause a few moments to see what was happening in and around Lima during the year of 1839 and immediately following that time. We quote from the book The Life of Heber C. Kimball, page 266.

To give a little background for this quote, history records that President Brigham Young and Heber C. Kimball had received a call to go to England to open up that country for the gospel. They left their families in desperate straits. Both Brigham and Heber were sick and had to be helped into the wagons. They left their children and wives without any means of support.

We quote from Kimball's diary, September 18:

"Charles Hubbard sent his boy with the wagon and a span of horses to my house. Our trunks were put in by some of the brethren and I went to my bed and shook hands with my wife, who was then shaking with a chill, having two children laying by her side. I embraced her and my children and bade them farewell. My only well child was little Heber P. and it was with difficulty that he could carry a couple of quarts of water at a time to assist in quenching their thirst. It was with difficulty we got into the wagon and started down the hill about ten rods. It appeared to me as though my inmost parts would melt within me at leaving my family in such a conditions as it was almost in the arms of death. I felt as though I could not endure it. I asked the teamster to stop and said to Brigham: 'This is pretty tough isn't it? Let's rise up and give them a cheer.'

"We were without purse or scrip and were carried across the prairie about fourteen miles to a shanty near the railroad where Brother O. N. Duel lived. We were unable to carry our small trunks into the house. Sister Duel, seeing our feeble condition, assisted the boy in carrying them in. September 19th, Brother Duel took us in his wagon to Lima, about twelve miles, where he gave each of us a dollar. Brother Bidwell then carried us in his wagon to John L. Milesell's near Quincy, about twenty miles. The fatigue of that day's journey was too much for our feeble health. We were prostrated and obliged to tarry a few days in Quincy. My sorrow was great to see so many of my brethren sick and dying in consequences of having been driven and exposed to hunger and cold."

We must remember that our grandparents were at Lima at this time, and this is the description that he gives of the people there.

Church History, Vol. 2, Pg. 474 records some of the persecutions the saints sustained in that area during the time our people were there. A note on the bottom of page 474 says:

"The Morley Settlement was situated in Lima Township, Adams County, just over the south line of Hancock County, and about 25 miles due south of Nauvoo. It is a neighborhood where quite a number of the saints resided in 1839 to 1846. Most of those in Morley Settlement however located southeast of Lima in the extreme south end of Hancock County.

"The anti-mormons from their neighborhood ... Speaking of this outrage, the editor of the Quincy Whig, who was a non-Mormon, said: ''Seriously, these outrages must stop. If the Mormons have been guilty of crimes, punish them but do not visit their sins upon the heads of defenseless women and children. This is as bad as the savages do ! ... An attack was made upon the Morley Settlement and on the 11th of the month Sept. 1845, though the burnings began on the tenth, twenty-nine houses were burned down while their occupants were driven into the bushes and men, women and children laid drenched with rain throughout the night, anxiously awaiting the breaking of the day. "

The early persecution of the Church in Illinois began in and around Quincy and Lima and our great grandparents were in the midst of it.

The grandfather of Nancy Ann Bache was Hermann Bache [Bach] who was born 13 May 1708 at Freudenberg, Westfalen, Germany. He married Anna Margrethe Hausmann who was born 13 Mar. 1712 at Bottenberg, Westfalen, Germany. Their oldest child was born in Bottenberg, Germany 10 Mar. 1737. Their next child was born in Madsen [Madison] County, Virginia, so they must have emigrated to the United States between 10 Mar. 1737 and 1738. To this union were born five children. The youngest was a boy whom they named Harmon Bache and he was born between 1745 and 1750. We do not have the exact date but it was about this time. We do not have the name of the woman he married but they did have a family. Among the children born to them was a girl whom they named Nancy Ann. She was born 23 Feb. 1790 in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky, which just happens to be the same town where her future husband, John Buchanan, was also born [he was actually born in Ireland] and where he grew up. John Buchanan and Nancy Ann Bache were married 12 Apr 1812 in Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky and a Reverend McCloud performed the ceremony, the two fathers acting as witnesses - John Buchanan and Harmon Bache.

I am sure we could do some speculating about their early childhood and maybe some romantic guessing about their teenage life and maybe even about their courtship, but history is silent on the subject, merely giving us the witnesses and the officiator.

They began their family immediately as their oldest child Jane was born 1 July 1813 in Lexington, Kentucky. For the records, Jane married Alexander B. Davis on 19 July 1831. The second child was Elizabeth and she was born 1 July 1815 in Lexington and married Joseph Wellington L. Collidge 17 Dec. 1835. The third child was Lorenzo Dow, born 14 July 1817 at Lexington and he died at the age of 16. The fourth child was Emmeline, born 1 Mar. 1820. She married Simmons Philander Curtis 4 July 1840. Next child was Catherine, We don't have the exact date except that she was born in 1823 in Lexington and she died at the age of 15. Then John was born 25 Jan. 1825 in Lexington and he married Adeline Coons, 23 Feb. 1851. He also married a second wife but that record will come at a later time. This John is the John that came to Utah and is the immediate progenitor of the John Buchanan family in Manti, and we will have considerable more to say about him. The next child was Mary Ann, again, another good old Buchanan name, born 1 Aug. 1827 in Lexington. She married Preston Guard but we do not have the date. The next child was Eleanora, born in 1828 or 1829 in Lexington. She died at the age of 10. The next to the last child was Archibald Waller Overton who was born 9 Feb. 1830 at Lexington and his first wife was Helen Amelia Whiting. They were married 22 Aug. 1855. Archibald is the father and the grandfather of the Glenwood and Sevier County Buchanans and is the subject of our study; the basic character in our story as we go forward. The last and tenth child was Martha Maris who was born 7 Mar. 1833 in Tazewell County, Illinois. She married Reuben Nurce Howell. We do not have the date.

This would indicate that the Buchanan family emigrated from Lexington, Kentucky to Tazewell County, Illinois sometime after 1830 and before 1833. From 1833 to 1839 when her husband John passed away, her life would be parallel with that of her husband. She, with him and the family, passed through the persecutions and mobbings incident to the settlement of that part of the country by the Latter-day Saints.

After her husband's death, and in order to protect herself from future mobbings and violence, she moved her family to Nauvoo where they could be closer to the Prophet and to the body of the saints. It should be noted that her sons-in-law accompanied them from Lima to Nauvoo where they spent the next few years as a family.

It should be remembered that these were trying times for the saints even in Nauvoo. The temple was under construction and the saints were exerting every ounce of strength and effort and using every dollar to finance and complete the temple so that the sacred ordinances of the gospel could be administered in their fullness. June 27, 1844, the Prophet and his brother Hyrum were martyred by the mob in Carthage, Illinois, and we find the Buchanan family deeply concerned and wrapped up in that historical event because of their love for the Prophet and for the Church.

Persecutions and drivings and threats continued during the next several years after the death of the Prophet. The mobs felt now that the Prophet was gone that just a little extra effort on their part and a few more burnings and killings would destroy the Mormon people completely. Little did they know the faith of those who had accepted the Gospel of Jesus Christ and those who had a testimony of its divinity. Persecutions and mobbings only drove them closer together.

In the year of 1845 certain parts of the temple were nearing completion so that the ordinances of the endowment could be administered. There was a great rush of the people to receive these blessings before they left the country.

By the year 1846 it was a foregone conclusion that the saints would have to leave Nauvoo and go west into the plains. Before the Prophet's death he prophesied that the saints would go to the Rocky Mountains and there would build cities and towns and prosper in the valleys of the west.

The endowment ordinance as he had received it from the Lord had been given to the Twelve and a few others. The great program of sealing wives to husbands and children to parents was also explained and begun before the Prophet's life was taken. Under the direction of President Brigham Young the endowment work in the temple was commenced again in earnest and a number of the leading brethren and sisters of the Church received their blessings in the temple.

Let us picture in our minds the situation as it existed in Nauvoo and surrounding areas. Here was the House of the Lord. Here was the temple which they had built in their poverty and which they had dedicated to holy purposes, now they were being forced to leave it. Many of the worthy saints desired these blessings, not knowing if they would ever see another temple in their lifetime.

Many of the widows and the women who were not married wanted these blessings before they left Nauvoo and if possible to be sealed to one of the leading brethren of the Church. Maybe all things were not fully understood by them then, but their desire was to do the will of the Lord.

Nancy Ann Bache Buchanan had been a widow for seven years. Now she was facing the plains of Iowa and maybe further persecution and even death. On 22 Jan. 1846 she entered the temple and received her endowment. In the evening of the 22 Jan. 1846 she was sealed to Isaac Morley for time and for eternity. The children were not sealed. She was sealed and legally married to Isaac Morley on the above date. The writer has verified this fact and has seen the temple records of Nauvoo. She was sealed to him on the above date by Brigham Young at 7:15 in the evening and the witnesses were Willard Richards and a man by the name of A. M. Lyman. The writer has also searched and has been informed by the brethren that this sealing was never cancelled. He has gone through the history of the Morley family and through their genealogy and in not one place is there a mention of his sealing to Nancy Ann. All of the circumstances indicate that they never lived together as husband and wife. (See information page 210) Isaac Morley did not accompany them, nor did he bring them to Utah as you would expect from a husband. As far as history goes on either side of the two lines there is nothing to suggest that he helped the family financially or physically in their move across the plains. The records indicate that Nancy Ann was finally sealed to her own husband John in the Manti Temple 17 June 1896.

Here we have a woman sealed to two husbands. This last sealing took place after her death and the brethren allowed it to happen since they did not know her wishes in the matter. During the Millennium she will have to make a choice but she will have her free agency to decide which husband she wants.

I might add that her position is similar to hundreds of others in like circumstances. There was a great deal of confusion in the early times.

Four of her children, including our grandfather Archie, were sealed to their father and mother the same day. Archie came all the way from Glenwood at the age of 66 to have it done. All of the family have since been sealed to their parents.

Nancy lived with her family. She and her two sons-in-law and her two sons, John and Archibald, who was now 16 years of age, and the girls started out and braved the mud and the cold of the winter of 1846 and 47. We find them in Council Bluffs in the spring of 1847.

The widow Buchanan at Council Bluffs was called upon to allow her oldest son John to go with the Mormon Battalion. She remained with the family at Council Bluffs and at Mount Pisgah until John had finished his term in the army.

John was not impressed with the deserts of the west and the difficulties of living in the mountains. He tried to persuade his mother and his family to remain in the beautiful rolling lands of Iowa and to take up farms there and make that their home, but Nancy Ann was not to be deterred. She had made up her mind long ago to follow the Prophet and the saints. She convinced her family to follow and all of them did except one of her sons-in-law, the Coolidge family, who remained behind in Iowa.

The Buchanan group had accumulated sufficient food and animals so they left for Utah with the Howell train of pioneers. They arrived in Salt Lake Valley 13 Sept. 1852. They were immediately advised by Brigham Young to go south and settle in Sanpete County. They continued on south and the entire family arrived in Manti, where Nancy Ann and John spent the rest of their lives. He raised two big and good families in this area, which have been a credit to the Church and to their community. John died 11 Oct. 1897 and was buried at Manti.

Our grandfather, Archibald Waller Overton Buchanan, who had accompanied the family, was 22 years old when he arrived in Utah with his mother and her family. Nancy Ann's family was now all grown, the youngest child being 18, on their arrival in the valley. She had lost three in death and after many years of drivings, persecutions and difficulties with mob neighbors she undoubtedly was glad to see the broad valley of Sanpete County, and more than glad to settle down with her family to enjoy even pioneer privations and difficulties. The balance of her life was spent in making and building the present town of Manti, Utah. She died still proud of her heritage and her Buchanan name, 17 Aug. 1884 and lies buried in the Manti Cemetery.

From Manti, as her daughters married they went to other parts of the states. We do not have the history of many of them but her sons John and Archie stayed together in Manti until Archibald was called to go to Sevier County. John, Archibald and Lorenzo Dow, who died at an early age, were the only boys in the family of ten. This is completely contrary to the Buchanan pattern of families.

DESERET NEWS, 27 Aug. 1884 p. 512

BUCHANAN -- At Manti, Utah August 17, 1884, at the residence of her son, Brother John Buchanan, of extreme old age, Sister Nancy Bach Buchanan, born in Mercer County, Ky., Feb 25, 1790 and was consequently 94 years 5 months and 22 days old. She was of German extraction as her maiden name indicates, and was married to John Buchanan 1812 emigrated in 1830 to Illinois, where she first heard the Gospel. She was baptized in the winter of 1835 and in 1837 she joined the Saints in Caldwell Co., Missouri, where she passed through the privations and hardships of the Saints there. In the winter of 1837-38 she was expelled from the state and returned to Quincy, Ill. and from thence to Lima, and that state, where through disease brought on by exposure and hardship endured in Missouri, her husband died in 1839, leaving her with a family of eight children to provide for, In 1844 she was driven by mob violence from Lima to Nauvoo, where she remained until the Spring of 1846, when she, with a large company of Saints took up the line of march to the great west.

At Winter Quarters her son John, her only help, enlisted in the Mormon Battalions and at the expiration of his term he returned to Winter Quarters, made arrangements and started with his mother and the younger children across the plains. They reached Salt Lake Valley in 1853 (1852) and continued their journey to Sanpete Valley the same seasons where they have continued to reside.

Sister Buchanan knew but little of the pleasures of this life until her arrival here. Since that time, however she has enjoyed peace and happiness in her sons' households where all that loving hearts and willing hands could do to render her comfortable and happy was done.

She retained her mental powers to the last moments and was an untiring and uncompromising Latter-day Saint. In all her persecutions and trials she never faltered nor wavered for a moment, but died as she had lived -- full of love for the gospel, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

It would be quite impossible to give an accurate record of the early history of the Buchanans without going into the life of John Buchanan and also a brief history of the Mormon Battalion since they were all a part of our history.

We also have Mary Ann Brown, the second wife of Archibald, in this group so it is important that this part of the history be given at least briefly.

The big family of Buchanan was now fatherless on the plains of Iowa and at the mercies of the climate and the pioneer conditions.

It will be remembered that in the spring of 1847 the Government made a request of the pioneers for 500 men to fight in the Mexican War. These men were furnished and were called the Mormon Battalion. Among those who were called was John, the oldest son of Nancy Ann. He was 22 years old at the time. He left his mother and the family on the plains of Iowa and in the care of his Father in Heaven.

John Buchanan, the son of John Buchanan and Nancy Ann Bache, was born 25 Jan. 1825 in Lexington, Ky. He married two wives and had families with both. He married Adeline or Adelaid Coons on 23 Feb. 1851 and later in Manti, Utah he married Sarah Wilkenson on 28 Apr. 1866. He died on 11 Oct 1897 in Manti, Utah and was buried there.

We will spend a few moments on his history at this point and indicate that he went with the Battalion as far south as Santa Fe, New Mexico and for some reason he was chosen from the rest of the group to be a guard of the Sick Detachment on its way to Pueblo, Colorado. History tells us that when the detachment reached Santa Fe many of the soldiers were ill and the difficulties of travel would become progressively greater with each mile. A decision was made to send those who were sick back to Pueblo, where a small fort existed, and where they would spend the winter. As indicated above, John went along as a guard and helper for this small detachment.

A small Mormon camp at Pueblo consisted really of three groups of Latter-day Saints. One was the group of sick soldiers who had returned from Santa Fe. The second group was made up of women and children who went along with the Battalion from Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas to the Arkansas River where they were instructed to leave the main part of the army and go up the river to Pueblo and to spend the winter there. They were under the direction of Captain Nelson Higgins. As a matter of interest and as a part of history, this was the same Nelson Higgins that was among the first seven men to come down to Richfield, Utah and pioneered that area. He settled in Richfield and later moved to Elsinore where he had a farm. He passed away on his farm just south of Elsinore, Utah.

The third group was made up of a group of converts known as the Mississippi Detachment. Missionaries had gone into Mississippi and Arkansas and had converted a small group of people there, ten or twelve families, and they had decided to emigrate and join the saints in the Rocky Mountains. They started out west and they too wound up in Pueblo for the winter of 1846-47.

As spring approached, the entire camp was anxious to be on the move and eleven men were selected from the group to go ahead and make roads wherever necessary. They cut the Mormon Trail in the vicinity of Laramie, Wyoming. The name of John Buchanan is listed in the history as being among the eleven who were sent to find the way.

We now quote from the history written by Daniel Taylor:

"Monday, May 24, 1847. The sick detachment of the Mormon Battalion and the Mississippi Saints referred to took their departure from Pueblo leaving both pleasant and sad memories behind.

The following details of the journey of the company are culled from Daniel Tyler's history of the Mormon Battalion:

On the 26th of May 1847 the company laid in waiting for the provision wagons from Bent's Fort, and the following day Captain Higgins went back to Pueblo for the loose cattle.

On the 29th travel was resumed towards California by way of Fort Laramie. The South Fork of the Platte River was reached on the 3rd of June and the course of travel lay for some distance down the stream.

On the 5th the South Fork of the Platte River was crossed, and owing to the great depth of the water, the wagon boxes had to be raised and blocks of wood put under them to keep the loading dry.

On the afternoon of June 11th, while on Pole Creek, to the great joy of the detachments, they were met by Elder Amasa M. Lyman of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who was accompanied by Brothers Thomas Woolsey, Roswell Stevens and John H. Tippets, from Winter Quarters, bringing letters from the families and friends of the soldiers, as well as counsel from President Brigham Young; also news of the travels and probable destination of the church.

After the meeting with Brother Amasa M. Lyman and those who accompanied him, the company from Pueblo resumed the journey, and on the 11th of June, while resting during the afternoon, the detachment was addressed by Apostle Lyman who imparted such instructions to them as he had received from President Brigham Young and the Quorum of the Twelve for the Battalion. Among other things Elder Lyman exhorted the soldiers and those who traveled with them to conduct themselves as true Saints and followers of Jesus Christ. At that time it was supposed that the detachment would have to march to California to be discharged.

On the night of June 16th the command camped within one mile of Fort Laramie and about 540 miles west of Council Bluffs, where they had been mustered into service eleven months before. President Brigham Young with his company of pioneers, making their way westward had passed Laramie twelve days previously, and with a view to overtaking them the command made an early start on the morning of June 17th. The road was bad, almost impassable in places, so that travel was necessarily slow and tedious. But they gradually gained on the pioneers and occasionally learned something about them by finding posts set up at the camping places with writing on them showing that the pioneers had passed there. On arriving at the Platte Ferry the command learned that the pioneers were only one day's travel in advance. Finding a blacksmith working at this point, a halt was made for one day in order to get animals shod. Many emigrants on their way to Oregon and California were crossing the ferry and among them many of the old enemies of the Saints, the Missouri mobbers. All the way from this point to where the pioneer trail branched off from the Oregon route, many emigrants were seen making their way to the western coast by the so-called northern route. Nothing of importance seems to occur during the remainder of the journey of the detachment to Salt Lake Valley. The command failed to overtake the pioneers, except eleven men who overtook them at Green River July 4th, 1847. A few days after the pioneers under President Brigham Young had entered the valley. Here on July 29, 1847 they were bid a hearty welcome by the pioneers, some of whom, including President Brigham Young himself met them at the mouth of Emigration Canyon and escorted the detachment to the pioneer camp on City Creek.

At the pioneer encampment in Great Salt Lake Valley the detachment was formally disbanded without having to proceed on to California as expected. (Tyler 201)"

With the Mississippi Detachment were several wives and daughters so they, together with the women and the children of the Battalion group of pioneers, were the first of the pioneer women to enter Salt Lake Valley with the exception of the three women who accompanied the main caravan.

Our grandmother, Mary Ann Brown, was one of the first dozen or so female souls to enter the Salt Lake Valley. She would have been four and one half years old. John was also with this group.

The Pueblo Detachment was under the command of Captain James Brown, (not our James Polly) Brown, but another James Brown who later went up and settled Brown's Hole in the Ogden area. ) Our Grandfather Brown must not be confused with the original James Brown. This James Brown was in command of the Sick Detachment. Our James (Polly) Brown was a guard with the laundresses and the children.

When they arrived in Salt Lake they were discharged from the Army and later they received their pay for the time they had spent thus ended the Mormon Battalion's work as far as the Pueblo Sick Detachment was concerned.

Almost with the arrival of the Latter-day Saints in the valleys of the mountains they began to spread out in all directions. Brigham Young sent exploring groups north into Idaho searching for areas where the people might live. He sent them west into Nevada, again trying to find some green spots and places where the people would be safe and where they could establish farms and cities and towns and extend the boundaries of Zion in that direction. He sent explorers into the southwest, down the Rio Virgin River (at that time the folks called it the Muddy River), down to Las Vegas and beyond into California and the San Bernardino area. Other scouts were sent south and explored Sanpete and Sevier and then, of course, the Beaver and the Cedar City country down to St. George and Santa Clara.

It was Brigham Young's intent and the feeling of the brethren that they should possess and control all of the territory contained in the Great Basin, from north to south and from east to west. They felt if they could control the water and the choice lands in all of that area it would make it harder for their enemies to come upon them. This was to be a land of Zion indeed - and so, as fast as the saints emigrated to Utah, they were sent in all directions to settle and to live. Colonies were planted up through Davis County into Ogden, into Cache Valley and on up into Idaho. People were sent west into the Carson Valley and a thriving colony of saints were eventually established in that region. There were also several communities established on the Muddy. Sanpete received colonists in the late forty's and the early fifty's. As their exploration proceeded they were looking for streams that came out of the mountains to irrigate their land.

Others had been there before them, and in most cases were living on the choice places. These were the native Americans who had lived on these same streams and in these beautiful areas from the beginning of the Lamanite population in the West. Naturally, there was resentment and friction between the two cultures.

The Indians saw their grazing land being taken from them. They saw the beautiful meadows and grasslands that in some cases stretched from mountain to mountain, being overrun by sheep and cattle. They saw their means of livelihood being destroyed, their streams being taken. Upon returning from a hunting expedition they found a Mormon log cabin had been built where their wickiups and homes had once sat. They found fences being built and crops being planted. All of this they did not completely understand. In the mind of the Indian, man could not own the earth. It was not his to buy or sell, The earth and all its natural resources belonged to God, and man should be free to come and go as it pleased him.

When the settlers came and took possession of the land naturally they didn't want the Indian trespassing upon it. It was "theirs", their property. When the Indians came with their horses and put them in a field the pioneers resented it. The natives had lived on the same land for generations and now they found it occupied by intruders. Both the settlers and the Indians felt they were right and friction was the natural result.

It was the feeling of the pioneers that the Indians were not using the land and therefore it was open to their settlements and their use. The Indians felt, on the other hand, that they were using it and that they had used it for years and therefore no one had the right to interfere with their mode of life and their use of the land.

In addition to such basic differences in concepts on the use of the land and the natural resources, such as timber and various other assets that naturally belonged to the earth, there were personal differences. Each side could not understand the other. The Indians had their set of values. It did not include values such as these new intruders brought . They had never known money nor its uses, nor could they understand why and how money could help in their lives. They were used to bartering and trading among themselves so they did understand that. But for people to claim ownership to something that belonged to everybody was a complete contradiction to their thinking.

On many occasions, the pioneers could not accept the ethics nor the ways of the native people, such as the buying and selling of children and even of women, and so as time moved forward there was an edge of disagreement among them. Try as the people would, they could not and did not even begin to approach the basis idealogies of the native people. Therefore bloodshed began to happen here and there. People would meet with the Indians, perhaps trade horses and then the Indian would want to trade back, or some other personal incident that caused a fight.

This difficulty was already raising its head in Sanpete County when Nancy Ann Bache and her family, now all grown, entered Sanpete County and began to settle there as a unit. Our Grandfather Archie was now twenty-two years old, a strong, well built, healthy young man who in time was to become a great friend and champion of these native Americans. In order to help solve some of the problems with the Indian people, even before they might happen, Brigham Young felt that if he could establish missions or colonies among the Indian people in some of their central locations that we might be able to teach them and to show them that we were their friends; possibly to teach them agricultural pursuits and help them to become a people of communities rather than a people living in roving and traveling bands.

Accordingly, young men of the Church were called to go north into Idaho to settle on the Salmon River. They established the community of Limhi but were forced out of that area very soon after its establishment.

The Ute Indians were causing trouble for the people in the south, particularly in Sanpete County, and making threats to the little groups scattered up and down the Sevier. To meet this situation it was decided by the brethren to establish a mission in the heart of the Ute Country. This mission was to be known as the Elk Mountain Mission. From the very beginning it was destined to fail.

Forty-one brethren were called at a General Conference of the Church in April 1855 to settle in the vicinity of the Elk Mountains (now called the LaSalle Mountains) near Moab, Utah, to educate and convert the roving bands of Utes who frequented this area. Alfred N. Billings was appointed president of the mission by Brigham Young. They were set apart 7 May 1855 with instructions to gather at Manti and leave from there with the necessary equipment and livestock to establish a mission and live among the Indians. This group left Manti 21 May 1855.

Among those called was our Grandfather Archie. His name was among the roster and was with the group who left.

For those who may have interest, there is a monument erected by the Daughters of the Utah Pioneers at Moab with the names of the missionaries, and the name of our Grandfather Archibald Waller Overton Buchanan is among them.

I find it extremely interesting to read the list of equipment that they took with them:

 41 men              2 1/2 bushels corn

 15 wagons           33 bushels potatoes

 65 oxen             22 bushels peas

 16 cows             4 bushels oats

 13 horses           1 whip saw

 2 bulls             22 axes

 1 calf              6 scythes

 2 pigs              2 iron bars

 4 dogs              6 trowels

 12 chickens         7 hoes

 14,656 lbs. flour  11 shovels

 32 bushels wheat    5 plows

John and Archie were both married and it seemed for awhile that peace could be in their homes and they could live somewhat of a normal life on the frontier. There was land to break up and crops to plant and sagebrush to dig and wood to haul, canals to be made and grasshoppers to be dealt with.

The usual amount of sickness and death was among the colony. They were even troubled during the early years of their settlement with a plague of rattlesnakes that came out of the rocks and the ledges in the spring as the sun warmed the cliffs on the south side of the hill where the Manti Temple now stands. There were literally thousands of these snakes. The people began to eradicate them as fast as they could and fortunately no one was bitten.

This peace was not to last for long. The Indian people living around them were demanding more and more. They wanted more food and it was given to them because Brigham Young had told the settlers that it was better to feed the Indians than to fight them. However the Indians became more demanding and trouble was about to begin.

During the winter of 1864-65 a small band of Indians camped near Gunnison had contracted smallpox and because they were not immune to the disease many of them had died. They felt their sickness was caused by the white people and they threatened to kill them all and steal their horses and cattle. Smallpox and other diseases peculiar to the white man were not known to tribes of the west and therefore they had no resistance to them. To settle the trouble, arrangements were made to hold a meeting in Manti on the afternoon of 9 Apr. 1865. Archibald Buchanan and John Lowry, who was later to become Archie's brother-in-law, were to act as interpreters and try to persuade the Indians not to fight. Among the group of Indians was a young chief called "Yene-wood" who was also called Jake Arrowpan. He just would not be pacified. He kept talking and making demonstrations while the peace negotiations were going on.

John Lowry, who was said to be somewhat under the influence of liquor, demanded that the young chief be still and let him talk; whereupon someone shouted, "Look out, he's getting his arrows, " John Lowry quickly stepped forward and took the young chief by the arm and yanked him from his horse and was going to give him a "licking". Grandfather Archie would not permit this and there was some little scuffling and difficulties.

Indian Joe mounted his horse and rode out of town to the Indian camp at Gunnison and reported what was happening. This caused much excitement among the Indians and they sent runners to distant Indian camps with the information. In consequence of the difficulties the Indians broke camp at Gunnison and moved into Sevier Valley, mainly at the present site of Richfield. Immediately after this they began stealing stock and killing the pioneers whenever they could find one alone. They killed a man by the name of Peter Ludvickson and they caused other difficulties.

Grandfather Archie still felt that if he could get to the chiefs of the tribes and the leaders in the various camps around the area that he could bring about a settlement without a war and without bloodshed. He had difficulty in persuading the authorities in Manti that he should go alone. Many felt they should raise a small army and go and fight the Indians and kill as many as they could. This was not Archie's thought and he knew it would only lead to additional killings,

Finally he did receive permission to take with him a man named Fred Cox. They went to an Indian camp at Shumway Springs to talk with the chief. (I have not been able to locate Shumway Springs). On their arrival there they handed the reins of their horses to a young Indian to hold while they went into the chief's tent. He seemed sullen at first and would not talk. Grandfather Archie told him what they had come for and finally the old Indian called for his pipe. Grandfather knew he could get a hearing. The old chief said there was only one Indian that was mad and that if he, (Grandpa) would go with him, he could get the stock back which the Indians had taken.

Grandfather decided to go but felt they should report back to Manti and tell of their conversation with the chief. Accordingly, he and Cox went back to the pioneers in the Fort at Manti and reported. The leaders of the community felt that the Indians were treacherous and they would not allow Grandfather to pursue his project of peace. Grandfather always thought he could have prevented the war that followed, had he been allowed to go back to the Indians and talk with the "man who was mad".

Various historians have felt this was the turning point in the beginning of the Black Hawk War.

The history of the Black Hawk War is a well recorded event and we shall not spend a great deal of time concerning it. Suffice it to say here that during this time Grandpa Archie was busy trying to protect the saints and generally trying to bring about peace. He had learned to love the Indians and realized that they had a very definite point of view and were only trying to protect their land and their food supply, which included fish, elk and deer and the natural products of the country. He felt they had a right to live but they should all live in peace. He spent most of his remaining life trying to get each side to see the other fellow's needs and desires.

In a later chapter we will tell some of the personal experiences and stories that happened particularly to Grandpa Archie, but for now we will continue the historical part chronologically.

This event was the opening of hostilities between the white settlers and the Indians in southern Utah, which continued for several years and was most disastrous to the white populations. The wars and depredations continued during the balance of the years 1865, 1866 and 1867, during which time many of the saints were killed up and down the valleys of southern Utah, including the early pioneers who had settled in Sevier County, Piute County, Beaver County, Panguitch and even on down into Iron County.

Hostilities became so bad that the settlers of Sevier County were called to leave their homes and return to Manti. This included those at Glenwood, Richfield, Salina and Monroe. In the month of April in 1868, Bishop Frederick Olson and a party of settlers re-entered and reoccupied Richfield, which had been abandoned the previous year. They were attacked at Rocky Ford on the Sevier River between Salina and Richfield. Two men were killed there. The fighting continued until in 1869. Chief Black Hawk was persuaded to discontinue further fighting. He retired as an active leader of the hostile Indians and went to the Uintah Reservation and lived in the Colorado River area during the rest of the war. However, various other chiefs did continue their raids. Our Grandfather Archie was continually on the move trying to pacify one group and then the other.

It would seem that not more than one hundred renegade Indians were actively engaged in the war. Some forty or fifty of these were killed. In August of 1868 a treaty of peace was negotiated in Strawberry Valley with several of the remaining chiefs. It seemed that many of the murders accredited to Black Hawk were actually done by other chiefs who boasted at this peace conference that they had killed certain of the pioneers. Even after the treaty of peace was signed in 1868 there were desultory raids in southern Utah on many of the communities. It should be noted that Chief Blackhawk, after he decided to quit fighting, kept his promise and was a great influence for peace and persuaded all of the chiefs to "bury the hatchet". This action should be to his everlasting credit.

It should be noted that Grandfather Archie was not busy with the Black Hawk War all the time because all of the children of the first family, mothered by Aunt Amelia, were born before the end of the war activities. He had married Mary Ann Brown 1 Jane 1860 and some of her children were born before the peace treaty was signed.

About one year after the treaty of peace, Grandfather felt the urge to have a third wife and so on the 11th of Oct. 1869 he married Anna Maria Larson. Immediately thereafter he moved to Glenwood.

As indicated previously, Grandfather Archie moved to Glenwood in 1871. He was now 41 years of age. Immediately after arriving in Glenwood, he was set apart as the Branch President of the Glenwood Branch and continued in that office for several years.

Glenwood Ward, Sevier County, Utah, consisted of Latter-Day Saints in the town of Glenwood and a few scattered settlers in the immediate neighborhood. The town, originally called Glenn's Cove, is pleasantly situated in a natural cove on Cove Creek on the east side of Sevier Valley. Farming and stock raising mainly furnish the livelihood. Farmers irrigate their land from Cove Creek, a remarkable stream which rises in the mountains southwest of town, from two main springs, one bulges out of the mountain big enough to run a mill and the other issues from a little lake. Cove River rises a short distance west of Glenwood, from a series of springs at the foot of a low mountain spur, After a short run with very little fall, it empties into Sevier River.

Glenwood is the oldest and by some classed as the best located settlement in Sevier Valley. It is six and a half miles east of Richfield. It was settled by Latter-day Saints in 1864, by Robert W. Glenn and others, who had been called by Apostle Orson Hyde to settle Sevier Valley. They arrived January 11, 1864, and James Warren was appointed to take charge of the settlement. Apostle Hyde visited the settlement in November 1864, and named the place Glenwood in place of Glenn's Cove.

Other families of Saints arrived in the fall of 1864 and twenty-five families spent the winter of 1864-65, living in log cabins, adobe houses, dug-outs, etc. Considerable canal work was done and other improvements made. A school house was built in 1865, and in March 1865, the Glenwood precinct was created.

Indian Wars threatened the very existence of the settlement. In 1866, it was temporarily abandoned and women and children went to Richfield for safety. The Spring of 1867 it was entirely vacated and the people went to the older settlements in Sanpete County for safety.

The town was re-established in 1870 by Joseph Wall and others, and a meeting held February 28, 1871 chose Archibald Waller 0, Buchanan as President of the Branch, succeeding Abraham Shaw. President Buchanan was succeeded by Helaman Pratt, who was succeeded in 1873 by George T. Wilson, who was succeeded in 1874 by Archibald T. Oldroyd who presided until July 13, 1887, when Glenwood was made a Ward with Archibald T. Oldroyd as Bishop. He was succeeded in 1886 by Herbert H. Bell, who in 1914 was succeeded by Andrew Oldroyd, who was succeeded in 1930 by Elmer Sorensen. The Ward at that time had 364 members, including 51 children.

During the summer of 1871 a special missionary conference was held at Prattsville. This conference was under the direction of Helaman Pratt who had come from Salt Lake to meet with the saints. At this conference Grandpa Archie was called as a special missionary to labor with the Indians. We have no record that he was ever released from this call. He was to spend his time teaching and helping the Indian people and to maintain peace whenever it was possible. [In] the remaining years of his life he was active in that calling.

It was about this time that he, in company with two other interpreters, A. K. Thurber and G. W. Bean, went with Brigham Young to meet with the Indian chiefs in the Red Cedar Grove in Grass Valley. There they worked out the details of a treaty of peace to end the Black Hawk War. These three brethren acted as interpreters.

On the 27th of Sept. 1876 Grandfather Archie took his fourth and last wife. Their family were all born in Glenwood except the pair of twins who were born in Mexico.

In the year 1878 the United Order was established in Glenwood and Grandfather and his four wives joined the order. It became the responsibility of the Buchanan family to take care of the milk cows of the community.

All of the cows were put together and driven up the canyon to the plateau country in and around Burrville. Here they were herded, milked, and the milk was processed into cheese and butter which was sent back to the valley to take care of the saints there. This lasted for only a year or two until the order was disbanded. It seemed that the spirit was willing but the flesh was weak and the people were just not ready to live the Law of Consecration or even the United Order as it had been outlined.

During the years of the 1880's the persecution of polygamy began in earnest by the officers of the United States. All those who had more than one wife were hunted from one place to another over the years. It is a matter of history that Grandfather and his wives were hiding in one community or another to escape the marshals. Much of this difficulty will be told by those who were actually there. I must say here that Grandfather and his wives and family went through all of this ordeal but were never caught. Many of the brethren were caught and went to the penitentiary where they served various terms. These persecutions continued until it seemed best that at least part of the family should leave Glenwood and move to Colorado, or even to Mexico. At first the decision was made to go to Mancus Creek, Colorado, because certain of their friends were already there, particularly the John R. Young family. It seemed best that Grandpa Archie should take his youngest wife, Aunt Caroline, and move to Colorado, at least for a period of time, until persecutions ceased. The other three wives were to remain in Glenwood and look after themselves the best they could. This must have been a difficult decision to make and a difficult one to carry out.

In the spring of 1890, Grandpa Archie, Aunt Caroline and her family, together with a son Eugene, left Glenwood to travel to Colorado. They went through Wayne County down by way of Fruita and Hanksville and then across the desert north to the present site of Green River. Here they hired a ferry to take them across the river. However, they had to wait several days because the ferry was on the other side of the river and would not come back across. It seemed that the men were having some sort of celebration or drinking beer. Eugene decided that he would swim the river so he went upstream a mile or two and then angled down through the river and finally got across and brought the ferry back to the west bank where the family loaded on and were ferried across the river. They then continued on down to Moab, along the same trail that Grandfather Archie had helped to make on the Elk Mountain Mission. Again, Eugene had to swim the Grand River [now Colorado] to get the ferry. They then continued on south and came to Mancus Creek and lived there for a few months. Eugene found the grave of his wife and decided to settle there where he could be near her grave. At the advice of Apostle John Henry Smith and others, he and the entire group decided to go on to Mexico, since that country was now permitting the polygamist colonies to enter their country and live at peace.

Grandpa Archie became sick on the way down and it was necessary for Aunt Caroline to drive the teams most of the way.

Again in the most primitive conditions the Buchanans began to build a new life. Grandfather was 60 years old by now. The writer visited the colonies several years ago and talked with one of the old bishops who remembered the Buchanans. He said the thing that he remembered about them was their extreme poverty. They arrived in Mexico with nothing and it was difficult for them to get started. They lived for several months in their wagon boxes and in tents.

Finally Grandfather got a job tending a grist mill and this helped to supply them with food and with money. Eugene went to work for the railroad to see what money he could make for his own child and to help with the family in any way he could.

Aunt Lyle gives us the following story of their move to Mexico and the difficulties along the way: "The first part of Oct. 1890 we began the long journey to Old Mexico, Brother John R. Young had four wagons and teams. Father had two wagons and teams, Brother Maynard Wright of Koosharem had one outfit. Eugene went along with us to drive one of the teams. The wagons were loaded with provisions and things we would need after reaching our destination in Mexico.

"Father was ill with mountain fever during part of the trip so Mother had to drive the team most of the way. There were eighteen in the group and we all rested on the Sabbath Day and had devotional exercises. We spent Christmas (1890) at Deming, New Mexico. Before we could cross the border into Mexico the Mexican officials checked everything we had and branded the letters A. F. A. on each wagon. Father laughed and said the letters stood for 'another fool arrived.'

"We spent New Year's Day in Colonia Dias, a small community of Mormon people who had gone to Mexico that they might live in peace with their families. After two more days we arrived in Dublan, our destination. "

Aunt Lyle further continues: "It was a new country and there were hardships to endure but no doubt it was a relief to father to feel free and know that the marshals were not on his trail."

Aunt Lyle states further that their first home was a tent and a wagon box set on the ground with the door cut in the end of the tent, which gave them a bedroom and a kitchen. She does not state how long they lived in the tent but they were living in an adobe house on Oct. 25, 1891. The twins, Earl and Myrle, were born in the adobe house.

While in Mexico Archibald was a watermaster, He also worked at the Joe Jackson Flour Mill. While he was running the mill a band of Mexicans came one day and acted like they intended to steal something. He walked to the door and drove his fist through the wood panel. This impressed the Mexicans and they left immediately as they noted that Grandfather was a big strong man and they just didn't want to do anything that would cause him to lose his temper.

Another story might be added. One night while irrigating in Dublan, he lay down on the ditch bank to sleep for awhile. When he awoke he had a rattlesnake coiled up beside him. Somehow the snake left without striking. When asked if he killed the snake he replied "If the snake was good enough not to hurt men I wasn't going to kill it. " He never did kill a snake after that.

In 1892[3] Grandpa Archie came to Salt Lake for the dedication of the Salt Lake Temple. He and some of the other brethren from Mexico made the trip. After the dedication he wanted to visit his family in Glenwood and persuade them, if possible, to move with him back to Mexico to join Aunt Caroline and the family there. After spending a few weeks among friends and finding that the persecutions over polygamy had abated somewhat, the family decided they would remain in Glenwood and Grandpa Archie went back to Mexico and got his family and brought them back to Glenwood.

As they came back to Utah an interesting decision had to be made by the family. Grandfather told his wives that if they were going to live in Utah they would have to obey the laws of the land. Aunt Caroline makes the statement that after they returned, she and Grandfather never lived together again as husband and wife, although she took care of him for the balance of his life.

Grandfather Archie lived with his family in Glenwood for eight or nine years after their return and then moved to Venice with Aunt Caroline. They would have made the move to Venice about the year 1900 or even 1901. Grandfather would have been 70 years old when they came to Venice.

During even these late years in his life he was called upon to act as an interpreter for the Indian problem. We find that history records he was in Koosharem area acting as an interpreter for President Seegmiller of the Sevier Stake and the Indians there.

His health began to fail and with the family all married and with their own problems and family life, Grandfather was left pretty much to himself. Earl and Myrle were the only two children at home during the latter part of his life. Aunt Caroline was working and in 1908 she went to Salt Lake and studied to become a midwife and so the balance of her life was spent with the sick in the vicinity of Venice.

He used to visit those of his sons and daughters who lived close to him, particularly Uncle Will and my father Eugene, and Aunt Lyle. I took particular interest in the old man because I loved to hear his stories and his history. I have sat on his lap or near him for many hours as he told me of his early life, of his conversion to the gospel, of the persecutions of the Saints and the murdering of the Prophet in Nauvoo, of the trip across the plains, of his Indian experiences as an interpreter and peacemakers and so these stories have remained with me. Some of them are somewhat dim in detail but the outline still strong in my memory. It is these memories and these stories that I shall now put in the next few chapters of this work.

Grandpa Archie passed from this life on 7 May 1915 at his home in Venice, Utah, and was buried May 1915 in the Glenwood Cemetery.

This brings to a close the life of one of the early pioneers of Utah. He had spent eighty-five years on the frontiers, moving from one place to another. He devoted himself to his family and to the Church but most of all he had devoted his life to peacemaking and to helping the Indian people to realize that their best way of life would be to follow that of their Mormon neighbors. He was a missionary, a peacemaker, a friend and one who could be trusted. His Indian friends said of him that he was a man that didn't have a "forked tongue".

The following is taken from the Deseret Evening News of May 18, 1915:

VENICE, UTAH

LAST TRIBUTE PAID TO VALIANT PIONEER

(Special Correspondence)

Venice, Sevier Co. May 17 - The funeral of Archibald W. Buchanan was held here Sunday. Mr. Buchanan died May 7 of infirmities incident to old age, being past 85 years old. He was born in Kentucky, Feb. 9, 1830. His parents joined the Church during the early persecutions and helped to build the city of Nauvoo where their son Archibald, while a youth, became acquainted with the Prophet Joseph Smith. He remembered the martyrdom of the prophet and his brother Hyrum and was present at the meeting in the groves when it was made manifest to the Saints that the leadership of the Church had fallen upon Brigham Young. Mr. Buchanan remained all his life a faithful and devoted member of the Church and always bore fervent testimony to the divine calling of Joseph Smith and his successors and to the truthfulness of the gospel principles. He came with his parents to Utah in 1862 [1852]. He became a pioneer of Sanpete and Sevier counties and in those early days he was known as a mediator and peacemaker between the Indians and the pioneers. He was the father of 30 children; and had 104 grandchildren and 76 great-grandchildren. He served as bishop of Glenwood for a period of years and went to Mexico in 1890, returning after a few years and making his home in Venice, where he lived the remainder of his days.

At the funeral the Venice ward choir sang appropriate selections and duets were rendered by Misses Ence and Christensen and by Mr. and Mrs. Payne. The opening prayer was by James M. Peterson and the closing prayer by Prest. James Christensen. The speakers were A. T. Oldroyd, Patriarch J. S. Horn, Prest. Robert D. Young, Mrs. Hepler, Newell K. Young and Patriarch W. H. Seegmiller. All spoke in the highest terms of the rugged, faithful pioneer and devoted father and friend, the exponent of peace and love and the sterling and valiant worker in the cause of truth. Interment was in the Glenwood cemetery.