HISTORY OF

PATISON DELOS GRIFFETH

Born:                          3 January 1824

At:                               Berretown, Orleans Co., New York

Came to Utah:           October 1851 in the William H. Walton Co.

Died:                           11 May 1901 at Grover, Wyoming

History was written by children and grandchildren

Read by Albertie G. Griffiths in the Daytona Camp Dayton, Idaho

History of Patison Delos Griffeth

(What I remember of My Father – by Anciel F. Griffeth)

I remember my father telling me about his father Judah Griffeth belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  He joined it just when it was in its infancy.  I think my grandfather was born in 1795.

My father, Patison Delos, was born the 3^rd day of January 1824.  That made him about twenty years old when the Prophet Joseph was killed.  I have often heard him tell how they felt when they heard the sad news.  And I have heard him tell about Brigham Young talking with the voice and appearance of the Prophet Joseph.

When Father had been here about twenty-two years, he went back east for a visit and brought his father back to Hyde Park with him.  Grandfather was then a member of the Reorganized or Jospehite Church and he seemed just as sincere in his belief in his Church as Father was sure that our Church is right.

Father was a man about five feet eleven and a half inches with blue eyes and dark brown hair.  He was stately, very neat and particular.  He was a carpenter and a musician, and a dancer.  When he was seventy-four years old he used to step dance (not clog) at Arburn, Wyoming.  He enjoyed singing: music he loved.  And he loved honesty and virtue.  He used to do a lot of fine carpenter work and he played the violin for dances all over Cache Valley.  While he lived in Hyde Park he was the choir leader.  He was very kind; didn’t even scold, yet we knew we had to do what we should do.

He surely was a good parent.  He loved his Family, and he loved the gospel.  He enjoyed a good joke.  At one time he and his cousin were traveling together.  They stayed at a hotel where there were two Irishmen.  The cousin mimicked a hen and chickens and the Irishmen hunted for them which greatly amused Father.  He never told a joke that was not fit for everyone to hear.  I consider him a model man.

(What I Remember of My Father – by Ina Griffeth Jensen, his youngest child)

I remember my father as a gray-haired, hazel-eyed very fine looking man.  He was gentle and kind.  The thing that impressed me was the way he prayed in family prayer.  Every word was spoken so clearly that everyone could hear all that was said.

I was not very old when my father died and not being with him all the time, it is difficult to remember all the things about him.  I know I loved him very mush, and that he was honest and truthful in everything he did.

( What I Remember – by George A. Griffeth)

As far back as I remember, Grandfather had gray hair.  Aunt Phoebe and her three boys lived with Grandfather and Grandmother after Uncle William died.  I remember how Grandfather used to catch us boys and have us saw off two or three lengths of wood before we went to play.  We didn’t have coal.  The wood was always piled high and neat.

He moved from Lehi to Cache Valley and settled in Hyde Park, Utah.  He was one of the first settlers.

Uncle William Hyde had a balky horse.  I have heard Grandfather tell about hitching an ox onto it and pulling it up the hill.  Coming west he drove a team of oxen and a team of cows.  They milked the cows and made butter.

Grandfather was very tenderhearted and sympathetic.  It was a pleasure to associate with him.

(What Edward T. Griffeth Remembers)

I was with him as much as or more than any of his grandchildren.

I could always use his tools, if I put them back in order.

Grandfather was a gentle man.  He was always prepared and had things in order.  He had friends everywhere.

Because of having two wives, he had to go out into Star Valley, Wyoming where the Mormon polygamists were not persecuted so badly.  While there he freighted supplies from Montpelier, Idaho to Star Valley.  One night it was very stormy and cold when it was time to make camp.  He found another freighter near by nearly frozen.  He revived and cared for the man.  Then four other wagons came into camp.  The drivers of these wagons were very profane and they were drinking liquor and smoking.  Grandfather rebuked them.  He said, “Mister, I don’t like your smoke any better than your language.”  At first one of the men acted as if he wanted to fight, but thought better finally.

Grandfather always kept a clean camp.  I never heard a nasty yarn from him and he never spoke unkindly.  He often said, “Don’t say anything anywhere to anybody that you couldn’t say before your mother.”

(What has been compiled by Eudell Bodily Gaily with the help of her mother, Eleanor Griffeth Bodily and her sister Zola Bodily Daines, and also Uncle Anciel Griffeth)

Patison was the oldest of the family of five boys and five girls.  His father was a farmer.  At one time they owned a grove of sugar maple, from which they made and sold maple syrup.  The syrup had to be boiled in large vats or barrels over fires out-of-doors.  Once the syrup started to boil it had to be kept going night and day.

The timber wolves were numerous and rather vicious at that time and would come at night to the fires.  To protect themselves from these invaders, a small log cabin was built out in the yard close to the boilers.  Whoever kept watch of the fires at night would sit or stand by the cabin so that the wolves could not attack him from the back.

Patison said that there were many nights, as he sat watching, he could see a row of wolves eyes on the opposite side of the fire.

Just one year after the organization of the Latter-day Saint Church Judah Griffeth, Patison’s father heard the Gospel and accepted it.  He was baptized in the small town of Amherst, Lorain Co., Ohio.  As the children grew up they too joined the Church.  Patison was baptized on the 7^th day of April 1841 when he was 17 years of age.

It appears that the Griffith must have given up their homes to live with the body of the Saints for the records show that they left New York and went to Ohio and later Illinois.  Although they were willing to forsake their home for their new-found religion their faith was not strong enough to keep them in the Church when a division came, with the exception of Patison they all dropped out of the Church.  Some of them later joined the Josephite Church.  Patison remained true and faithful.

The story is told that he walked a great distance and went without sleep for two days ad a night to attend the funeral of the Prophet.

About this time Elizabeth Carson, a girl from Pennsylvania, came into his life.  Their friendship led to courtship and soon the marriage date was set.  Patison needed a new suit for the occasion so he and his cousin walked over to a town on the other side of the river to make the purchase.  They had to cross on the ice, but when they returned the river had been swollen by flood waters of a spring freshet and the ice had broken loose.  There was no possible way for them to return home without crossing the river on foot.  Patison would not break his promise to his betrothed.  Disregarding the danger of such a crossing, the new suit and a few other belongings were made into a small bundle and tied to them so that they would be safe and dry.  Each young man found a small pole of considerable length which was placed under his arms.  Jumping from one piece of ice to another, they made their way to the opposite side of the river, arriving safe and sound.

This was the year when the mobs attacked Nauvoo and heaped such punishment upon the Saints.  Patison and his wife suffered from these persecutions with the rest of the Saints.  They had no permanent home but were driven hither and yon.  Their oldest child, Phoebe, was born in Garden Grove, Iowa.  Two years later they were back in Greenbush, Illinois, where a son, George Andrew was born.

The mob continued to harass the Saints.  One rainy evening in the early summer of 1851, a mob attacked the town where Patison and family were living and the Saints had to fight for their lives.  Patison took his wife and two small children out into the field and hid them in a corn patch.  The corn was not very high, so they had to lie down to keep under cover.  Here Patison left them while he went back to help the other men drive the mob out.  For several hours the wife and children lay there in the rain not knowing what minute the mob may come their way or whether their husband and father would be killed and never return to them.

When the Saints were finally driven from Nauvoo the Griffeths were among those who came west.  They crossed the plains in the William H. Walton Company.

In order that Elizabeth may ride more comfortably, Patison made one of the wagons into a bed.  This was done by stringing rope from one side of the wagon box to the other, securing them with pegs crossing them in the manner of the old rope beds.  The bedding was then placed upon the ropes, which served as springs.

Elizabeth needed a comfortable bed as she was awaiting the arrival of a third child.  Before they reached the valley the little one came.  On the 19^th day of September 1851, Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter Louisa.  They were camped at the time on the banks of Green River in Wyoming.  The Griffeths with one other family to assist them, laid over for a short time but the main company moved on.  Patison and company had to drive hard to catch up to them.

They arrived in Utah October 1851.  They settled first at Cottonwood in Salt Lake County.  Later they moved farther south living at Fairfield and Lehi and finally going to Cedar Valley where they lived in the old Cedar Fort.

While they were living here President Brigham Young called Patison to be member of a scouting party to go into Cache Valley to select places for settlement.  As a consequence of this call, Patison and family were among the first settlers in Hyde Park, Utah.  Here Patison farmed his land, ran a store and worked as a carpenter.  He had a turning lathe and he made a great deal of furniture for his own and many other early homes in Hyde Park.

He was a musician and a dancing master.  He played his violin, taught and called for dances all over Cache Valley.

He was a faithful Church member serving as counselor to Bishop William Hyde for a while.  When the call came for him to turn over his store to a Church Cooperative, he was willing to do so.  This project failed and Patison suffered a great financial loss.

Patison and his son, Andrew were the first settlers to go into Fairview, Idaho.  During the winter of 1869 they hauled the lumber to build a house.  The following spring, Sarah and her two children came to Fairview to make their home.  They lived for two years then returned to Hyde Park.

The persecution of polygamists became so severe that Patison decided to move Sarah and her family to Wyoming.  The “dents” as they were called were very rude and unkind.  At one time they burst into Aunt Sarah’s bedroom early in the morning while the girls were dressing.  They taunted “How are Mr. Griffeth and his wives?”  Aunt Sarah replied, “Fine, how are you and the women you live with?”  They finally left felling rather beaten.

Patison, at this time, took up land at Auburn, Wyoming, and again they were pioneers of a new town.  Sarah and her family lived here for five years, then came back to Fairview for five years more, then went to Grover, Wyoming, where they settled permanently.

During this time Elizabeth and family had remained in Hyde Park.  Patison divided his time between the two families driving a little high-spirited white mare named “Nora”.  He died in the home of Sarah and was buried in Grover, Wyoming.

Patison was commissioned Major of the 3^rd Battalion Infantry, 1^st Regiment, 1^st Brigade of the Nauvoo Legion in Cache Military District of the Territory of Utah.  This commission was signed by Charles Durkee, Governor, and Edwin Higgins, secretary of the Territory of Utah in the 5^th day of August 1865.  Then he was commissioned to the rank of Captain Company B 1^st Regiment, 1^st Brigade by the Territory of Utah on the 29^th day of August 1869.

I, Albertie Griffeth Griffeths, would like to add that Grandpa was a great reader.  I remember how he would tell us children that we had to go out and play or sit down and be quiet because he had something that he wanted to read to his father.  So we would gladly go out and sit by the curb of the old deep well with its moss covered bucket, where there was a good rick for cracking walnuts which fell from the big tree by the well.

And I remember how we used to watch him do carpenter work.  When he would plane a board he would often take the curls of wood and hang them on our hair, telling us that we had pretty ringlets.

As Uncle Anciel said, he was born on the 3^rd day of January 1824 and it was at Barretown, Orleans Co., New York.  He was the son of Judah and Maria Rockwell Griffeth.  He was married at Nauvoo on the 26^th of April 1846 to Elizabeth Carson who was tall, quiet, neat with brown eyes and auburn hair.  From this union came the following family: Phoebe, George Andrew, Louisa, Lovina, Marinda, Ermina, and Mary, also Patison Delos who died when an infant.

Then for his plural wife he chose the pretty, saucy, seventeen-year-old English girl, Sarah Elizabeth Gibson Roberts.  They were married the 7^th of February 1863.  Their family consisted of Angeline, William and Charles (twins). Emiline, Eleanor, Edgar, Anciel, Eva and Iva.  The twins and Edgar died in infancy.

The seven of the first family and the six of the second family all lived to marry and have families except Eleanor (Aunt Ella as we called her).  She never married until after Aunt Eva died so never had children of her own.  She married Aunt Eva’s husband, Henry Bodily and reared their family.

Grandfather died the 11^th day of May 1901, a faithful Latter-day Saint.