CLEMONS – SMITH – TUBBS -- MORMON BATTALION

I began researching family history about 1975, shortly after moving to Utah and having to compile a four-generation ancestry chart as an assignment in a Utah history class. I was hooked, and most of my research was done in the LDS Family History Library in Salt Lake City. I spent untold hours pouring over old microfilm and microfiche records, discovering information about our ancestors not before documented by anyone in our family. The more recent information was uncovered by my sister Marilyn Wolfe Knackert; it gave me places to follow up on this story which I'd abandoned twenty years ago.

A few tidbits of information intrigued me as I searched in vain for information about the parents of Jabez Burdick Clemons, our great-great-grandfather, born in Oswego, New York, in 1820. The History of Fond du Lac County (Wisconsin) reports that in 1844, Jabez C. Clemens (sic) settled in an area known as Mound Prairie in Byron Township, Wisconsin. “These pioneers on Mound Prairie were, many of them, nearly destitute of capital when they arrived at their new homes. They were able, however, to purchase some cows, which were then very cheap in Illinois."***

Jabez married Sarah Ann Sargent, born in England. From 1846 to 1853 Jabez and Sarah bought and sold several parcels of land in the northeast corner of Byron Township. About 1857 they and four other pioneer families moved from Wisconsin to Olmsted County, Minnesota (south of Rochester). (The Stewartville Story 1857-1976)

The 1880 U.S. Census shows them living in Leroy Township, Blue Earth County, some eighty miles west of Stewartville, and also that a widowed sister, Sophia Smith, age 70, born in New York, was also living with them. Sophia Smith signed his death certificate or some other document I ran across in my search.

Here the story leaves Jabez and moves to sister Sophia -- and I cannot remember how or why I started digging into this one. Somehow I thought that there might be a 'Mormon connection' to Jabez and his sister. I thought Sophia Clemons's husband's name was Alanson Smith; it turned out to be Elansing Smith. I'd found that William Rockwell Tubbs and his wife Sophia were neighbors to Jabez. Tubbs had been a member of the Mormon Battalion (more information follows); his wife had also gone on their legendary march, Sophia as a laundress. But this Sophia (Tubbs) was the daughter of Sophia Clemons Smith (and niece to Jabez).

Here our story leaves Jabez's sister Sophia Smith and moves to niece Sophia Tubbs. Sophia was married first to William Gribble, also a Battalion marcher. Gribble (and his wife Sophia) and William Rockwell Tubbs were members of Company D but left the main march (to California) at Santa Fe to winter at Pueblo, Colorado in a company of sick soldiers plus most of the women and families. They joined the main body of the Mormon pioneers in Salt Lake City in July 1847. Sophia and William Gribble were divorced shortly after arriving in Salt Lake Valley, and Sophia married William Tubbs** immediately on 17 August 1847. From here they must have left Utah, for their oldest child was born in Sacramento in 1848. When they returned to Salt Lake City in February 1849, Tubbs was excommunicated from the LDS Church. Census records show their second child was born in Iowa in in 1851, child #3 was born in 1854 in Wisconsin, and child #4 in Minnesota; subsequent children were all born in Stewartville, Minnesota. Census records indicated they lived close to or even next door to Jabez.

When I visited Stewartville and the Woodlawn Cemetery in the 1980's, I found it strange that Hulda Tubbs is buried separately from the rest of the family. I found several existing relatives there and tried to contact them, including sending a letter outlining what I'd found about the Mormon Battalion. I never received any response or even acknowledgement.

***The tidbit about Jabez and the Wisconsin pioneers getting livestock cheap in Illinois about that time intrigued me a little, causing me to wonder again if there was a more significant 'Mormon connection' for Jabez than his sister and her family.

1	Joshua Smith, born about 1760.
	m. Earl
	2	"Elanrmy" B. Smith, born 1807, New York; died 24 November 1876, Minnesota. (Seeing 'Elansing' as the middle name for his seventh grandson made me think that Elanrmy was probably a misread that had been perpetuated.) Elansing Smith, born 30 August 1801, died 25 November 1875 age 75 years, 2 months, 25 days; buried Woodlawn Cemetery, Stewartville, High Forest township, Olmsted County, Minnesota. 1860 US Census,Eden, Fayette County, Iowa: age 58, born about 1802, New York. Household includes Sophia Smith, age 58; Heleman* E. Smith, age 16; C. W. Smith, age 28; Phoeoba Jane Smith, age 21; Julia W. Smith, age 1. *The name 'Helaman' is the name of a warrier in the Book of Mormon.
		m. Sophia Clemons, born about 1801, probably New York, sister to Jabez Burdick Clemons.
		3	Huldah Sophia Smith, born 28 June 1829, New York, died 1903 in Olmsted County, Minnesota, burial Woodlawn Cemetery Stewartville, Olmsted Co. Minnesota. She is listed in the 1880 US Census, High Forest township, Olmsted County, Minnesota.
			m. William Gribble, divorced 1847, Salt Lake City, Utah.
			m. William Rockwell Tubbs, born 25 July 1824 in Bricksville, Cuyahoga, Ohio, to Elisha and Cynthia Rockwell Tubbs. Married 17 August 1847, Salt Lake City, Utah** (not New York as shown in other sources), died 6 May 1897, Olmsted County, Minnesota. He appears on the 1880 US Census in High Forest township, Olmsted County, Minnesota. He was a farmer in 1887 in Stewartville, Olmsted County, Minnesota.
			4	Helen Mar Tubbs, born 26 September 1848 in Sacramento, Sacramento, California.
				m. Gilbert Monette, born 8 Decenber 1851.
			4	William Henry Tubbs, born 16 November 1851 in Iowa.
				m. Rosa Emma Harris, born 4 October 1854.
			4	Elliott Rockwell Tubbs, born 24 March 1854 in Wisconsin.
				m. Anna Halitskok.
			4	Lucinda Myrtle Tubbs, born 15 February 1856 in Minnesota.
				m. Charles Knox.
				m. Edward Hutchins, born 4 August 1852.
			4	Ida Mae Tubbs, born 30 July 1858 in Stewartville, Olmsted, Minnesota.
				m. John Owen, born 19 September 1847.
			4	Merritt Elansing Tubbs, born 24 August 1860 in Minnesota. He appears on the 1880 US Census in High Forest township, Olmsted County, Minnesota, unmarried and living with his parents.
				m. Sarah (Sadie) D. Wooldridge, born in 1871, on August 19, 1890 (Record and Union). Sarah Tubbs died in 1928.
			4	Lucy Sophia Tubbs, born 10 October 1862, died 10 May 1866.
			4	Charles Stewart Tubbs, born 27 August 1864 in Minnesota. He appears on the 1880 US Census in High Forest township, Olmsted County, Minnesota.
			4	Anna Maybelle Tubbs, born 26 October 1866 in Minnesota. She appears on the 1880 US Census in High Forest township, Olmsted County, Minnesota. She was living in 1887 in Stewartville, Olmsted County, Minnesota.
				m. William Schermerhorn.
			4	Lester Grey Tubbs, born 4 December 1868 in Minnesota. He appears on the 1880 US Census in High Forest township, Olmsted County, Minnesota.

BRIEF HISTORY OF THE LDS CHURCH EARLY YEARS

Some background from the LDS Church website -- The history of the LDS (Mormon) Church began with Joseph Smith's vision in 1820 in Palmyra, New York, not too far west from Oswego, where Jabez was born. In 1831 the group moved west to Kirtland, Ohio, near Cincinnati, leaving there about 1836. Another Mormon settlement at Independence, Missouri, had been established about the same time; it was to be the eventual Zion or gathering place for the 'Saints.' Driven out of Missouri in 1838 by mobs, the Mormons established Nauvoo, Illinois, across the Mississippi River. Nauvoo became a prosperous settlement but again came into conflict with the local citizens and the government. Joseph Smith and his brother were killed in 1844***. Succession of the presidency was contested, several factions left (at least one came to Wisconsin), and by 1846 the Saints were on the move west again, now under the leadership of Brigham Young.

THE MORMON BATTALION

(The following information is pieced together from a variety of sources (including Wikipedia).
The Mormon Battalion was a volunteer unit of 500 soldiers formed in July 1846 in Iowa (some sources say Missouri) in response to a request by the US government to help fight in the recently-declared war against Mexico. This was an opportunity for the Mormons to obtain badly-needed cash. Some wives, several large families, and several teen age boys accompanied the Battalion. The Battalion made a grueling march from Council Bluffs, Iowa, to San Diego, California, opening a southern wagon route to California. In Santa Fe all the women and children, except for a very few, and many sick men were sent to Pueblo, in present-day Colorado.

The Battalion never fought and only nearly had a battle with a small detachment of provisional Mexican soldiers on December 16, 1846, near Tucson. As the Battalion approached, the Mexicans fled. Essentially, the war was already over.

The Mormon Battalion arrived in San Diego, California, on January 29, 1847 after a march of some 1,900 miles from Iowa. For the next five months until their discharge on July 16, 1847, the battalion trained and also performed occupation duties in several locations in southern California. Many of the men helped in civil works projects... About 80 of the men re-enlisted for another six months of service. A few discharged veterans worked in the Sacramento area for James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill when gold was discovered on January 24, 1848.

Orson Pratt Brown's website documents Captain James Brown's Sick Detachment, a group that wintered in Pueblo, Colorado, and entered the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, listing "Gribble William of Co. C, with wife Sophia Smith; divorced Aug 1847; she married William Tubbs." Somewhat confusing is that in another listing on the same page with the Lieutenant William W. Willis Detachment is the following: "On November 10. 1846, Colonel Cook sent Willis from the Rio Grande River back to Pueblo with the following group. They arrived on December 20, 1946 ... Gribble, Sophia Smith, wife of William Gribble; divorced Aug 1847; she then married Wm. Tubbs ... (and further down the list) Tubbs, William R., Co.D, and wife of William Gribble, Sophia Smith Gribble Tubbs ...." Later, on the same website, from Heart Throbs of the West, Vol. 8. DUP 1947, Page 412: "The following is a list of the families which arrived in Great Salt Lake Valley together with Capt. Brown's detachment of the Mormon Battalion, given from memory by Mayfield John Shelton [?], one of the company. List of the families in the Pueblo Company, which arrived in the Salt Lake Valley July 29, 1847: Mormon Battalion ... Wm. R. Tubbs and wife, Sophia."

"Sophia Smith Gribble was married to Gribble, who went to Pueblo in the Brown detachment. They were divorced shortly after arriving in Salt Lake Valley and she married William Tubbs** immediately. Because she was known as Sophia Tubbs in Salt Lake City, there was confusion as to who was with the battalion."
Thomas Bullock, The Pioneer Camp of the Saints, The 1846 and 1847 Mormon Trail Journals of Thomas Bullock, edited by Will Bagley. Spokane: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1997. 248, 253.

Crossroads -- Newsletter of the Utah Crossroads Chapter -- Oregon-California Trails Association -- Fall 1997 - Vol. 8, No. 4
Sophia Smith is listed on the roster.

Vern Taylor --Tubbs website
**"All the Tubb's tree connects to this database at Abisha Tubbs and Hepsibah Mack. Some of the events prove William Tubbs and Sophia Smith were in the U.S. Mormon Battalion. Both Sophia and her husband were detached from the Battalion and sent to Pueblo with the Willis Detachment in November 1846. Both made the march with the James Brown Company and would have entered the Salt Lake Valley on 29 July 1847. ... It is puzzling that their marriage date is after the discharge of the Battalion in 1847. Many journals claim she was William's wife and accompanied him on the Battalion march. They married in Salt Lake City in a civil ceremony performed August 17, 1847, by Orson Pratt. They must have continued on to California since in 1848 that is where their first child was born in Sacramento. They probably stayed in California during 1848-49 for the gold rush. By 1851 they had traveled East to Iowa, and later they were living in Wisconsin and Minnesota where they raised a large family." -- email Vern Taylor

The TUBBS Family Research Site -- Descendants of William B Tubbs of Duxbury as compiled by Richard M "Rich" Tubbs, 816 Mt. Vernon Avenue, Marion, OH 43302-5333. E-mail Rich Tubbs

Margaret Massey and Kathy Pike have ancestors of William Rockwell Tubbs on Ancestry.com.

Larson, A Database of the Mormon Battalion
"He applied for his pension 22 Mar 1887 from Stewartville, Olmstead County, Minnesota. He died in Stewartville, Minnesota, 6 May 1897." Headstone: W.R. Tubbs, Born, Jan 21 1824, Died, May 6 1897.

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 1, p.508
"William H. Tubbs was a private in Company D. of the Mormon Battalion. When he enlisted he was given the privilege of taking his wife, Sophia, with him. They went to Pueblo in Lieut. Willis company from Santa Fe and came into the Valley of the Great Salt Lake July 29, 1847. Records from the L.D.S. Church report that they left for California where they made their future home."

LDS Vital Records/Pioneer Heritage Library from Ancestry LDS FH Suite 2 CD:
Tubs, William R. (Male)
Birth: Tubs, William R. (Male) Date: January 25, 1824
Marriage Information: Tubs, William R. (Male) Spouse: ___________, Sophia
Church Ordinance Data: Tubs, William R. (Male) Ordained Seventy
Temple Ordinance Data: Tubs, William R. (Male) Endowment Date: February 2, 1846 Temple: Nauvoo, Hancock, IL, USA
Comments: Tubs, William R. (Male)William was a private in company "D" of the Mormon Battalion.

USMB William Tubbs is probably the William Tubbs referred to in the following footnote of B. H. Roberts, Comprehensive History of the Church, Vol.3, Ch.90, p.456
16. The following incident is offered in proof: "On the 2nd [Feb., 1849] being informed that Wm. Tubbs was coming into the city with whiskey for sale, I gave an order to Elder C. C. Rich to apprehend him, take the liquor into custody and await a hearing. The next day Tubbs was tried before Bishop Tarlton Lewis and cut off for evil speaking against the first presidency." (History of Brigham Young, Ms., p. 4. Feb. 2. 1849). So throughout the moral law, and trespasses upon decency were promptly punished in the Salt Lake colony even before the state government went into commission.

GENWEB http://iagenweb.org/pottawattamie/mil/mormon-battalion-D.htm
"WILLIAM GRIBBLE, Private. On detached service since Oct. 17, 1846, by order of Colonel Doniphan, Commanding Army of the West. Mustered out with detachment, to date July 16, 1847 ...
WILLIAM TUBBS, (Tyler's list, WILLIAM R. TUBBS) Private. On detached service since Nov. 10, 1846, by Battalion Order No. 16. Mustered out with detachment, to date July 16, 1847"

The Journal of San Diego History Summer 1979, Volume 25, Number 3, "The Mormon Volunteers: The Recruitment and Service of a Unique Military Company," By JOHN F. VURTINUS

US Army of the West
"Below are lists of the 5 companies of the Mormon Battalion and their associated attendants. Source material for these lists is primarily the book written by Norma Ricketts entitled The Mormon Battalion, U.S. Army of the West, 1846-1848. These lists can now be found on five of the eight panels surrounding the base of the U.S. Army of the West / Mormon Battalion Monument erected in the West Wetlands Park of Yuma, Arizona on the 11th of January 2007. ... Company D -- Gribble, William; Tubbs, William; Gribble, Sophia, wife of William Gribble (laundress)

Desert USA -- good article about the battalion and the early Mormons

Old Buffalo Mormon Battalion page with extensive links to other sites

OnlineUtah -- Mormon Battalion History
"The first division of the Mormon Battalion approached Santa Fe on 9 October 1846. Their approach was heralded by Col. Alexander Doniphan, who ordered a one-hundred-gun salute in their honor. At Santa Fe, Smith was relieved of his command by Lt. Col. Philip St. George Cooke. Cooke, aware of the rugged trail between Santa Fe and California and also aware that one sick detachment had already been sent from the Arkansas River to Fort Pueblo in Colorado, ordered the remaining women and children to accompany the sick of the battalion to Pueblo for the winter. Three detachments consisting of 273 people eventually were sent to Pueblo for the winter of 1846-47."

Tubbs, Sophia, and Tubbs, William R.
Members of The Mormon Battalion by Susan Ward Easton. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University, 1980. @ p.69

Tubbs, William
Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah compiled by Frank Esshom. [Salt Lake City: Western Epics, Inc., 1966.] @ p.45

Wiggins, Marvin E. Mormons and Their Neighbors
Wiggins, Marvin E. Mormons and Their Neighbors (Supplement)

Tubbs, Williams H.
Our Pioneer Heritage compiled by Kate B. Carter. [Salt Lake City: Daughters of Utah Pioneers, 1958.] @ v.1, p.508

1880 Federal Census -- High Forest Twp., Olmsted Co., MN, page 385D

Manuscript...Louis MacCartney's "Descendants of William Tubbs" Page 280