Samuel Jewkes

Samuel Jewkes/Jukes, his personal and family background, and his involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

Samuel Jewkes/Jukes

1823-1900

Biographical Sketch

Early Life in England

Samuel Jewkes/Jukes was born in Tipton, Staffordshire in central England. His family resided in Staffordshire or Worcestershire for several generations. His wife Sophia Lewis Jewkes was born in Dover, Kent, England.

Immigration to America and onto Utah

He married his wife Sophia in St. Louis in 1851. By 1853, he and his family had migrated to Salt Lake County, Utah. By 1855, they had moved to Cedar City where he took a second wife, Mary Nash Garner.

In the Iron Military District: Private Samuel Jewkes, Company E, Elias Morris's 3rd Battalion

In the June 1857 militia list, Jewkes, 34, was listed as a company musician. In September 1857, Jewkes was a private in one of the Cedar City platoons in Elias Morris’ Company E in Isaac C. Haight’s2nd Battalion. He was among those recruited to Mountain Meadows during the week of September 7. According to John D. Lee, Jewkes was at the military council on Thursday evening, the 10th. His exact role in the massacre the following day is unknown.

Later Life

By 1861, they had moved to Moroni in Sanpete County. In the late 1860s, they moved to Fountain Green in the same county where they lived for many years. In 1862, he was director of the ward choir in Fountain Green. He was known in the community as an Englishman of musical ability.

Indicted for Complicity in the Massacre

Although Jewkes was a mere private in the 1857 militia and was not listed in the 1859 arrest warranty, for reasons now unclear he was named in the 1874 federal indictment issued against nine Iron County militiamen. The principal defendants were William H. Dame, Isaac C. Haight, John M. Higbee, Philip Klingensmith, John D. Lee and William C. Stewart. The two other privates indicted, besides Jewkes, were Ellott Willden and George Washington Adair.

Jewkes, however, was not actively prosecuted and the charges against him were eventually dropped.

Move to Emery County

Around 1879, Samuel Jewkes and his family settled on Cottonwood Creek near Castle Dale, Castle Valley, Emery County, and built the first sawmill on the creek. He also brought the first organ to Cottonwood Creek and organized the Orangeville Ward choir. He was probate judge and selectman. The 1880 census lists Jewkes as 57 years old.

The Jewkes family brought the first threshing machine, 1879 or 1880, and first gristmill, 1882, to that region. The family remained in the sawmill business for several generations. Later, Jewkes expanded his milling machinery by adding a molasses mill. Jewkes was a "church going man," yet his supper of choice was "toast and hot beer, the hot beer being poured over the toast in a large bowl from which he always ate." His two wives bore him twelve children.

Final Years

Jewkes remained in Emery County until his death in 1900. He was survived by _________.

References

Our Pioneer Heritage, 4:165; History of Emery County, 66, 68, 77-78, 86, 137-138, 141, 152, 156-157, 159; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, ; Lee Trail transcripts; 1880 federal census; FamilySearch.org; Seegmiller, A History of Iron County, 270; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, .

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