John S. Humphries

John Samuel Humphries, his personal and family background, and his alleged involvement in the Mountain Meadows Massacre

John S. Humphries

1826-1903

Biographical Sketch

Early Years in the East Midlands of England

John Samuel Humphries was born in 1826 in Gosberton, Lincolnshire, England, the oldest son of Samuel Humphries and Rebecca Thompson. After contact with Mormon missionaries, he converted to Mormonism.

Immigration to America and onto Utah

In the late 1840s, Humphries immigrated to America. In 1849, the 23-year-old Humphries crossed the plains to Utah Territory.

To Cedar City and the Ironworks

The Early Ironworks in Cedar City

During the 1850s, Humphries lived in Cedar City, where he farmed and labored at the Iron Works. Iron Works records reflect that at some time Humphries worked as a filler, keeping the charge in the blast furnace. He owned lots for a home and garden plot in Cedar City. In September 1854, Humphries traveled to the general church conference in the company of Bishop Philip Klingensmith and Thomas D. Brown, secretary of the Southern Indian Mission. In 1855, Humphries married Hannah Baugh of Shropshire, England, the daughter of John and Rachel Bailey Baugh.

The Deseret Iron Company

In moving to Cedar City, Humphries was settling in an area dominated by the Deseret Iron Company, known more familiarly as the Ironworks. See Summary of Deseret Iron Company for a brief summary of its early development. During an iron run on January 1, 1855, Humphries was overcome by furnace fumes and nearly suffocated. They treated him by "semi-burying him, & letting him breath in the fresh turned up earth." (Brooks, ed., Journal of the Southern Indian Mission, 107.) Although the treatment was unorthodox, Humphries recovered.

The Ironworks in 1857

In April 1857, the delivery of a new steam engine from Great Salt Lake City seemed to breathe new life for the Ironworks. Working from April to June they installed the steam engine and completed the new engine house. In the first week of July, they were ready to begin smelting. They “put on the blast” and had a modicum of success. But they continued to be plagued with problems ranging from poor quality raw materials to smelting equipment that lacked technical sophistication. When in late July the steam engine seized with sand from the dirty creek water, they speedily dug a reservoir to store a supply of clean water for the boiler. They continued making smelting runs through August. All the while crews at the ironworks manned all the necessary functions there, while other crews, mainly miners and teamsters, gathered the raw materials – iron ore, coal, limestone, and wood – necessary to sustain smelting.

The smelting continued until September 13. In other words, around September 3, when a dispute arose between some settlers and several men in the passing Arkansas company, the blast furnace was running nonstop. And when Cedar City militiamen, many of them ironworkers, mustered to Mountain Meadows where they were involved in the massacre on September 11, other ironworkers in Cedar City continued the smelting runs night and day. For additional details, see Smelting at the Ironworks in 1857.

From late April to September, those working up the canyon in mining or hauling wood, coal, limestone, rock, sand or “adobies” to the ironworks were Isaac C. Haight, James Williamson, George Hunter, Joseph H. Smith, Ira Allen, Ellott Wilden, Swen Jacobs, Alex Loveridge, Joel White, Ezra Curtis, Samuel McMurdie, Samuel Pollock, John Jacobs, John M. Higbee, John M. Macfarlane, Samuel Jewkes, Nephi Johnson, Thomas Cartwright, William Bateman, Elias Morris, Benjamin Arthur, Joseph H. Smith, Robert Wiley, and Philip Klingensmith. Those working at the ironworks on the furnace, engine, coke ovens or blacksmith shop included Elias Morris, John Humphries, Ira Allen, John Urie, Benjamin Arthur, James Williamson, Joseph H. Smith, Samuel Jewkes, Joseph Clews, Richard Harrison, William C. Stewart, William Bateman, John M Macfarlane, John M. Higbee, John Jacobs, George Hunter, Samuel Pollock, William S. Riggs, Alex Loveridge, Ellott Wilden, Ezra Curtis, Eliezar Edwards, Swen Jacobs, Joel White, and Thomas Cartwright. (The two lists overlap because some worked both in the canyon and at the Ironworks.) Other prominent figures at the ironworks who were not later involved at Mountain Meadows were Samuel Leigh, George Horton, James H. Haslem, Laban Morrell, John Chatterley, Thomas Gower, Thomas Crowther and others.

Humphries's Role in the Ironworks in 1857

During this period in 1857, John Humphries played various roles at the ironworks. In late April, he tended the masons as they worked on the new engine house. In late July, he spent several days filling the furnace. Around the start of August, he was in the large gang of more than 40 who constructed the reservoir to hold water for the steam engine.

The majority of the southern Utah militiamen at Mountain Meadows were from Cedar City. Of these, nearly all of them had worked at the Ironworks or supplied raw materials to it. Indeed, in the weeks before the Mountain Meadows Massacre, they had worked intensely together, hauling materials, building a new water reservoir, and making the latest run of the blast furnace. One perennial mystery of the massacre has been why the militiamen mustered to Mountain Meadows in “broken” militia units; that is, from different platoons and companies, none of which had a full compliment of its members. Perhaps the reason lies with the Ironworks. Those in the Ironworks knew each other and had worked alongside one another. Not only did John Humphries know those who mustered from Cedar City to Mountain Meadows, he had worked with them at the Ironworks. Perhaps the answer is that the men of the Ironworks were on hand and available and Isaac Haight, who himself had worked closely with them, assigned them to muster to Mountain Meadows.

In the Iron Military District: Fifer John Humphries, Company F, John Higbee's 3rd Battalion, Cedar City

In 1857, the Iron Military District consisted of four battalions led by regimental commander Col. William H. Dame. The platoons and companies in the first battalion drew on men in and around Parowan. (It had no involvement at Mountain Meadows.) Major Isaac Haight commanded the 2nd Battalion whose personnel in its many platoons and two companies came from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the north such as Fort Johnson. Major John Higbee headed the 3rd Battalion whose many platoons and two companies were drawn from Cedar City and outer-lying communities to the southwest such as Fort Hamilton. Major John D. Lee of Fort Harmony headed the 4th Battalion whose platoons and companies drew on its militia personnel from Fort Harmony, the Southerners at the newly-founded settlement in Washington, the Indian interpreters at Fort Clara, and the new settlers at Pinto.

In 1857, Humphries, 31, was a fifer in Company F, one of two companies in Major John M. Higbee's 3rd Battalion of the local militia. See A Basic Account for a full description of the massacre.

It is uncertain whether Humphries was actually at Mountain Meadows. He is not listed in Judge John Cradlebaugh's 1859 arrest warrant, which listed so many other Cedar City militiamen implicated in the massacre. Nor was he listed in the text of John D. Lee's Mormonism Unveiled or any other of Lee's statements. The only early source to identify him was William Bishop, John D. Lee's attorney, who listed "John Humphreys, of Cedar City". However, since Bishop's "list of assassins" appended to Mormonism Unveiled, virtually always follows Lee in identifying massacre participants, it may be that Bishop was mistaken in including Humphries in his list. On the other hand, Walker, Turley and Leonard list Humphries in their Appendix C, although they note that no source provides any specifics about his role.

At any rate, if he was at Mountain Meadows at the time of the massacre, he did not occupy a leadership position in either the militia or church. His role, if any, during the massacre is unknown.

Moving to Northern Utah

Judging from the fact that the Humphries's wife gave birth to a baby in Payson in late 1857 or early 1858, it appears that they were among the first families to abandon Cedar City after the disastrous massacre at Mountain Meadows and the many failures of the ironworks.

By the early 1862, the Humphries had moved farther north to Cache Valley where they settled in Wellsville and stayed for many years. In the early 1880s, they moved to Park City in Summit County.

Final Years

Over the years, the Humphries had 15 children. John S. Humphries died in 1903 in Salt Lake City, survived by his wife, Hannah, and twelve surviving children.

References

Brooks, Journal of the Southern Indian Mission, 87, 107, 111; Carter, Heartthrobs of the West, 10:457; Lee, Mormonism Unveiled, 379; Lee Trial transcripts; New.FamilySearch.org; Shirts and Shirts, A Trial Furnace, 293, 394, 486, 492; Walker, et al, Massacre at Mountain Meadows, Appendix C.

For full bibliographic information see Bibliography.

External Links

For further information on John S. Humphries, see:

• http://mountainmeadowsmassacre.org/appendices/appendix-c-the-militiamen
• Deseret Iron Company Account Book, 1854-1867: http://www.footnote.com/document/241905844/

Further information and confirmation needed. Please contact editor@1857ironcountymilitia.com.