Mary Elizabeth Meeks life started out in July 02, 1823 in Spencer Co. Indi ana, where her father, Priddy and her mother, Mary was living at the tim e. She had two brothers and one sister born before her.
Mary Elizabeth was only 7 months old when her Mother passed away on Jan. 2 4th, 1824. Mary Elizabeth was then raised by her step-mother, Sarah Mahur in, who her father married on Dec. 24th, 1826.
The Priddy Meeks family moved from Indiana to Illinois and settled on a fa rm on the River "Embarras"
The family however did not stay for long, but next moved west to Morgan Co unty and built a log cabin on the banks of the Illinois River. Again th ey did not stay for long, before moving west. In Priddy Meeks
own words:
"I lived lived on the south side of the Illinois River (Morgan Co.) Short ly after this i bought land at the bluffs on the north side (Brown Co.) ha lf a mile from the river and moved over to it. Three milles west of us w as a new town was laid off, called "Versailles" right on the public road.. ..built a good log house under the bluffs and had a good sugar orcha rd on the land"
Again it was time to move futher west. This time to the city that the Morm on's were building on the Missississi River. The Meeks family arrived in t he city in April of 1842.
The move to Nauvoo was the fourth that the family had made in Illinios. Fi rst were the farms on the Embarros River, then Morgan county, next acro ss the Illinois River to brown county and now finilly to Nauvoo in Hanco ck county with the Mormon's.
It was while living in Nuvoo that Mary Elizabeth, now about xxx old h ad a horrying experence involving her father. It seems that her father h ad been arrested on a charge of Forgerly. The explainion for this is copi ed from the book; "The life and times of Dr. Priddy Meeks and his Progenit ors' by Dalton R. & Lenora Meeks.
Meeks was one of the many involved in wagon making. He was trying very ha rd to be ready to move with the Saints on their projected departure in Apr il. It was imperative for him to sell his real property in Brown Coun ty to have the cash to buy the supplies he would need. His son-in-law Ors on Adams had property to dispose of there as well. Orson had given Dr. Pri ddy his power of attorney to sell his land, Orson's non-L.D.S. brothers sa id that Priddy had forged Orson's name, so they went to Carthage and had h im arrested and jailed in the same cell where Joseph and Hyrum Smith had b eer killed.
Dr. Priddy's oldest daughter Elizabeth often went to see her father in jai l. One day she went with Sheriff Beckenstoes on horseback to Carthage. T he Sheriff led a horse on which her father could ride home. Elizabeth w as left in the woods outside Carthage. She was holding the extra horse a nd the Sheriff went to the jail and talked witt her father. The Sheriff to ld Priddy Meeks if the jail door should happen to be left open and he g ot out, for him to walk right into the woods and he would find a girl the re on a horse, holding a horse for him. The Sheriff then went out leavi ng the door open. Priddy soon found his daughter with the extra horse a nd they rode quickly to Nauvoo. Priddy tells it this way:
In 1845, I was returning home (to Nauvoo) from a business trip. While pass ing through Carthage, a mob took me and put me in jail where the blo od of Joseph and Hyrum Smith was to be seen, and kept me there till the Sh eriff, who was my f riend,ag said he knew they could not hurt me by the la w, but only wanted to persecute me because I was a Mormon, 'but they may b other you so you cannot get off to the west this season." I had sent for E dmunds, a friendly lawyer who tended to the difficulties necessary to he lp us get off. The sheriff went to Nauvoo and filed a bond for my releas e, signed as security by Charies Price. John Vanbeek came with the sheri ff from Nauvoo and brought me a horse to ride home on. When we started fr om the jail, the jailer and Sheriff says, "Don't you look back till you re ach the timber, or they might suspicion you." It was a task for me to ke ep my head straight, but I did accomplish it. Then we did not spare hor se flesh much until we got home.
Priddy's daughter Margaret Jane Hamilton reported on this event:
My father was imprisoned in Carthage jail, just after the bodies of Jose ph and Hyrum were taken away, their blood was still on the floor. We we re not permitted to go into the building, but Mother and I went there a nd talked with Father thru the iron grating over
the window.
Priddy continued with his story:
"I then had to wheel and cut to the best advantage to get away from my per secutors and go across the river. I had been working with William McClear y, brother-in-law to the Prophet, making each of us a wagon to cross the p lains in. Mine was only half done, but I had to drop everything to get aw ay and give a one-horse wagon two-horse wagon that looked like faili ng to pieces, having no iron about it but the tire. I wedged and wet it wi th water, then put a light load in it. It was thought I might go twenty mi les to a blacksmith shop, supposed that twenty dollars worth would f ix it so I could get to the buffs with it, having to leave part of my fam ily in Nauvoo with my house and lot and furniture and stock and book s, in fact, everything that I had, and never got anything for it"
So once again, Priddy Meeks uprooted his family from its home. This was o nd time he had done it for religious purposes. This time he was actually f orced to leave his home and possessions. His family was compelled to trav el in a flimsy wagon with few provisions.
Mary Elizabeth Meeks after a very long and hard trip across the plains wi th her family finely arrived in the "Valley of the Saints" on the fir st of Oct. 1847.
Upon arriving in the Valley most Saints, including Priddy,settled in the ' Old Fort" built of adobe by the first group of Pioneers on the ten-acre si te which is now Pioneer Park. Among the many things that needed to be do ne when Priddy's group arrived was to enlarge the Fort. Two more ten-ac re blocks were added to the Fort, 450 log cabins were built, an adobe wa ll around the Fort was completed, a fence was constructed around the ci ty to contain the livestock, and a number of roads and bridges were buil t. In addition the "big field" of 5,133 acres was cultivated, with 872 acr es already planted in winter wheat.
The first winter in the Valley was mild, but there were many discomfor ts in the Old Fort. Wolves, foxes, and other predators annoyed the peopl e. Swarms of mice were also a nuisance. The ground was full of them. Th ey ran over the people while they slept, ate into their boxes, and destroy ed much of their clothing. Various kinds of traps were devised. One of t he most valuable possessions in the Fort that first winter was a cat. T he Saints sent word back to Winter Quarters for the group who were comi ng the following year to bring as many cats as possible. Although their te mporal needs were great, the spiritual life of the Saints was not neglecte d. Priddy remembered:
"Now, the first winter that we were in the Valley, we had most glorious ni ght meetings. The Spirit of the Lord was much enjoyed. Preaching, prayin g, singing and speaking in tongues and the interpretation of tongues and p rophesying was abundantly enjoyed among us".
The Saints were very much surprised when after such a warm winter, March a nd April turned stormy with heavy spring snow and rain. Not realizing th at this would happen the Saints had built their homes with flat sod root s, which in the rain leaked profusely, still another discomfort to be endu red.
Romance did not wait for comfort to come to the Valley. Twenty-four year-o ld Elizabeth Meeks was married to Edward Dalton on March 6, 1848 by Brigh am Young. Edward was the son of John Dalton, longtime friends of the Mee ks family. Elizabeth and Edward had known each other in Nauvoo and Edwa rd had served in the Mormon Battalion Company C.
In December, 1850, a company, which numbered 118 men, which included thir ty families, with 101 wagons, left the Salt Lake colony for "Little Salt L ake Valley" The company of settlers arrived in Little Salt Lake valley, ov er 200 miles south of Salt Lake City, on the 13th of January, 1851. In th is first Company there was Priddy Meeks and Edward Dalton and his wife, Ma ry Elizabeth Meeks Dalton. They named this new settlement, "Parowan"
It is believed that Mary Elizabeth never lived anywhere else by in Parowa n, even after her husband married two other wife's in polygamy and he mov ed around to other towns in the Southwest. Mary Elizabeth Meeks Dalton rai sed eight children to maturity.
His first wife raised eight children to maturity.
One of Mary Elizabeth's sons, Edward Meeks Dalton was murdered by U.S. Mar shall William Thompson Jr. on Dec. 16 1886. This happened in Parowan, Ir on Co. Utah.
(See the history of Edward Meeks Dalton in Chapter 7 of this book)
After living a tough and hard life as a Pioneer women in a era of polygam y, Mary Elizabeth Meeks Dalton died on October 04, 1892 and is buried in t he Parowan City Cemetery. This Cemetery has a rock wall around it and is o ne of the most beautiful and well-kept cemeteries in the West.
1823 - 1892 (69 år)
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