Jonathan H. Holmes

History of Jonathan H. Holmes

My grandfather, Jonathan H. Holmes, was a near associate of Joseph Smith, the Prophet, but his service was probably as disciple rather than as counselor. He was a bodyguard of the prophet.

When Joseph Smith was martyred, my grandfather, true to his character a faithful retainer with a half dozen other men, buried his body, and later moved it to a more secure resting place. Certain it is that after the Prophet’s death, probably at his direction, my grandfather married one of his plural wives, Elvira Annie Cowles Smith.

Another conspicuous service rendered by my grandfather lifted his life entirely out of the commonplace. In July of 1846, while he and his young wife were living in a temporary shelter in Council Bluffs, Iowa, by direction of Brigham Young, he volunteered his services in the United States Army as a member of the Mormon Battalion. The Mormon Battalion arrived on the West Coast, January 1, 1847, after leaving Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in July, 1846. Jonathan Harriman Holmes served until his term of enlistment expired in the following July, 1847. After being discharged, he immediately started east, taking with him a mule and side arms generously furnished by the United States Government to honorably discharged men, For this year of service, he had received 1120 in advance, The cash, so earned, no doubt made the trip across the plains possible for his wife and child, He joined them in Salt Lake City in the fall of 1848.
Written by Milton H. Welling 1/25/38

As soon as the Battalion was disbanded (July 1847) and the soldiers were allowed to go or stay as they chose, father made all preparations as soon as possible to come on to the Salt Lake Valley and join his wife and child. He and some others came, not as they would now, but riding a mule and driving their pack animal. Their provisions got low and they were obliged to lay over two or three days and rest themselves and animals, and while they did so, they boiled the raw hide off their saddles until it was soft enough to chew or make soup, to keep life in them until they could get where they could get food. When father reached what was then home, his little girl cried and said, “That is not my father.” He looked more like a tramp, with long bread, long shaggy hair and worn and dirty clothes, but I think it was not long until she knew him. They remained in the Old Fort (now Pioneer Park) until, I think, about the fall of 1850 when they moved to Farmington, Davis County, where they lived ever after.

Father was a shoemaker by trade and also a farmer. Mother was a weaver, and wove all kinds of cloth. They kept cows and made butter and cheese which they exchanged with a tanner in Salt Lake City for leather. Father made shoes for his own family and for many others. They also kept sheep. The wool was spun into cloth of various kinds as well as for knitting. Written by Phebe Louise Welling 2/9/38

After the martyrdom of Joseph Smith, Elvira Annie Cowles (smith) married a young widowed, Jonathan Holmes, who had served faithfully as a bodyguard of the prophet. Jonathan Holmes” wife, Marietta Carter, had died and left a lovely little daughter, Sarah Elizabeth, now around six years old, This little family suffered the sorrows, the drivings, and privations of the Saints, The first child born to Jonathan and Elvira, Lucy Elvira was born October 11, 1845, and died June 1, 1846
in Nauvoo. Written by Roxy Taylor