Person:John Lee (20)

John P. Lee was born April 20 1824 in Lincoln County Tenn; Joined the Church in Texas. He emigrated to Utah in 1850 and later was one of those who helped establish a colony in San Bernardino County Cal. He come from Beaver County Utah to Arizona in 1887. Father Lee was a man of sterling good character. His funeral was conducted here on the 2nd inst. by Bishop's Counselor John Afton of the Thatcher ward, when many friends of the deceased turned out to show their respect to him.

Address: Name: John Percival Lee Sort by: John Percival Lee

Birth Place could be Arkansas, or North Carolinia. I favor North Carolinia as his first children was born in Kentucky. John Percival Lee is one of the best remembered teachers of those early days. He began teaching in his home, which was llocated two blocks north of the West Ward Church. It was a two room log house. His family lived in one room and he held school in the other. He was a large, fleshy man who had come to Utah from Alabama. His pupils nicknamed him "pumkin Lee", so he was soon called that by everyone. One of his pupils said "He taught by the rule of the hickory stick." He never spared the rod. One first lick around the room each morning was to see how many switches wer piled in the corner to help our educational advancement that day. There were always plenty" other teachers who left lasting memories wer Mrs. Lucinda Lee Dalton who taught in both the Lumber and Brick schools almost continously until the late 1880's and Miss Ida Hunt one of the first teachers in the Brick school.

 This information has been obtained through Heart Throbs of the West
 Compiled by The Daughters of the Pioneers

The below article was written by Lucinda Lee Dalton and read by her on April 16th, 1912. Sarah Lucinda Lee Dalton was the second child of John Percival Lee and Eliza Foscue Lee. She married Charles Wakeman Dalton on October 03, 1868 in Salt Lake City Utah and was his forth wife of a polygamous marriage. "Sketch of the life of John Percival Lee" by Lucinda Lee Dalton. Among the converts to the new and much abused faith called in derision "Mormonism", Encamped in Council Bluffs, Pottawatomie Co. Iowa during the winter of 1849-50 was a small family named Lee, consisting of father, mother and three small children. The father, John Percival Lee was born in the state of Tennessee; The mother who was formerly Miss Eliza Foscue, was born in Florida, the first child in Kentucky, the second in Alabama and the third in Texas; and in after years it was said of the Lee that they hunted up their children all over the U.S. It was in Texas, Dewitt Co. that they first met a missionary, his name was Preston Thomas, teaching the principles of the new gospel dispensation. They hailed the doctrines with had long hungered and regarded with amazement their neighbors who could not discuss their principles or their advocates without anger. Undeterred, however by the opinions of others, Mr. and Mrs. Lee received baptism at the hands of these Elders. They felt to congratulate themselves on the fact that they had not yet invested the small means they had brought with them from Alabama because now they could clearly see there would be no peace for them among their former friends and the only course was for them to go West where the Saints were located two years before. They hired a team to convey them to San Antonio Bay at the mouth of Guadeloupe River from thence sailing along the coast to New Orleans. The writer, the Alabama child has been suspected of gross error for insisting that she remembers clearly one small incident connected with the re-embarkation on board a river steam boat at New Orleans, but I do remember it and ever shall. I and my brother, the Kentuckian were allowed to stand near a railing and look through at a swarm of row boats laden with various things for sale. We were both wildly excited when we spied a small clean boat which displayed a beautiful array of seashells and brought our mother to come and look. On her arrival the boatman began importuning her to buy and we children were not slow to add our entreaties. I coveted a snow white shell about the size of my two little fists, that was pink or red inside; and my brother begged for a spotted one. Our mother finally bought a few, giving each of we children two. And where is the wonder that even so small a child should remember the first real treasure upon which her baby heart had ever been set? I also remember how some four or five years later those two shells went out of my possession and who was to blame for it? The treasures of childhood are few and precious and to be bereft of them is tragic. I do not remember anything about the voyage up the Mississippi nor the debarkation; butsomething about the encampment at Council Bluffs. The ground was slightly rolling with clumps of trees, here and there, a few log houses and many tents and wagons and the Indians were called Pottawattamies. Apostle Orson Hyde was presiding over the saints; advising, cheering, encouraging the motley and mixed assemblage of humanity, most of whom had been driven with violence and reviling from there comfortable homes in Missouri and Illinois. They may be said to have been in want of all things because it was so little that they could bring away with them. My father who had come by water had scarcely a beginning of a traveling outfit. He had been brought up in a county store, was little used to teaming and worst of all was afflicted with ague, and as he himself said could not be counted for more than "half a hand" He and others in like predicament secured the countryside in search of wagons, teams etc. and be succeeded in securing at very high rated, a light wagon and a heavy one, a span of horses, two yoke of oxen, three dry cows and a small tent. He desired a teamster to drive the ox team, thinking the light rig enough for a semi invalid to handle. No really suitable person was found and finally my father accepted the services of a gold seeker without bag or baggage. In the meantime the spring was advancing and the camp growing more and more congested. Even those whose preparations were completed, would not begin their long journey because there had been no rain consequently there was no feed for the teams. Day after day and week after week the weather remained fair and bright, the people were steadily consuming their provisions, anxiety was increasing and still all reports from westward said, "No rain, no grass". Finally Bro. Hyde told the people on Sunday that all needful blessings had been promised to the Saints and no good thing would be withheld From them and it was their right and privilege to ask from their Heavenly Father and receive whatever they stood in need for. He instructed them to go home and prepare for rain. Not only put their possessions under cover, but see that no human soul was left shelter less, open their houses or tents to such as had none. When all was in readinessThey would hold a three-day meeting and pray in faith for rain. Besides the Saints there was quite a large number of gold-seekers also waiting for rain and chafing in extreme impatience. They could not forbear to ridicule these grave and diligent preparations for rain when there was not the smallest indication in nature. However they desired it as much as anybody, so they curbed their scorn in some degree and waited. On the appointed day the Saints met to sing and pray and praise and some of the gold seekers hung round the edges of the congregation to listen and smile. The first day of fasting was fair and pleasant and the second was like it, except that in the afternoon appeared on the horizon, a little cloud about the size of a man's hand. On the third day rain began to fall before the congregation was dismissed. That night and for a whole week, the windows of heaven were open and the thirsty earth was filled and satisfied. Saints and sinners rejoice together, while the latter said it is a "fine coincidence".The former said, "Our God has heard our prayers". Just as soon as the ground dried a little, they started out.

My father's anxiety was at its height when the gold hunter presented himself and offered to drive for his keep, saying that he had been in partnership with two others in a light rig and a few supplies, but that the others had taken advantage of a temporary absence of himself and had sneaked away with all he owned, And now he wanted nothing on earth but to overtake them on their side of hell. The companies were organized in fifties, fifty wagons or families to a company with a Captain at the head. These were subdivided into tens, each with a Captain of ten, so that all measures of safety and business could be conducted without jar or friction and not the least unit be neglected. Here I have another glimpse of memory. The wagon I was in proceeded a short distance and stopped facing the great Missouri River and I looked out the front of the wagon at the dark rolling flood and wondered if it were possible for our horses to wade through it. I must have fallen asleep and missed the crossing in a flat boat, for the next thing I remember was looking through the back of the wagon and wondering how the river got behind us. The Omaha Indians on the west side of us were friendly, but by the time we reached the Platte River, we had left all friendly Indians behind us. Captains cautioned the women and children to stay with the wagons. My mother had a very vivid dream that made her extra cautious. It seemed that because her children grew very restless in the wagon, for a little change she alighted with them to walk a little. The Kentucky boy and the AlabamaGirl was able to use their own little trotters but the Texas girl who was puny and ailing had to be carried in arms. The children ran from side to side in the road and wanted to examine every new object, making so little distance that the mother soon says that this would not do. On raising her eyes she was frightened to see the last wagon, which happened to be her own, disappear round a point of the hill and she could not hurry the little ones even enough to catch sight of the last train. Soon she was surrounded by mounted Indians who leaned from their horses and caught up the last helpless ones. SheRemembered the dash into the hills, the weariness of the swift face, the fretting of her teething babe, the silent fear of the two older children held in the arms of the naked savages; and her own blank despair; also the cold sleepless night spent on the bare ground with the children in her arms. But the culmination of horror came at dawn when the screaming children were torn from her arms and born away in three different directions and herself in a forth. She awake sobbing and shaking to find herself and her darlings still safe and to resolve never to be guilty of the smallest indiscretion of that kind. The Indians hovered round sometime succeeding in spite of all care in killing an ox or a cow or in stealing a horse; but did not capture any stragglers, or ever really attack the train. At one crossing of the Platte, two of our cows bought forth beautiful heifer calves; but since they could not travel and there was no means of transportation, the pretty little things had to be killed and their poor loving mothers driven away without them. The grass was sweet and young and these cows gave an abundance of milk, which was a Great blessing to their owners and others. The Indians soon killed one of our oxen and my father was obliged to put the dry into the yoke. The poor uneducated creature fretted and worried and wasted what strength she had and it was not very long until she was so reduced to a poor skeleton, with tender feet and sore shoulders. Then she could no longer walk beside her ill-tempered yoke mate. One of the other ones was substituted and it still Was a failure the failure the cows could not take the place of oxen. My father's health continued to be very poor and although he managed to do his part of guard duty, take his turn at driving the loose stock etc; he was poor help around his own camp fire. Timber was very scarce and the travelers would have suffered from lack of fuel had not the noble buffalo, who at that time roamed those plains in vast herds kindly strewn the earth with droppings, which the travelers could use for fuel. Mr. Clay, the driver of the ox team proved to be a surly ungracious churl, who would look after his team, but never lent a hand at anything else. Once while mother was gathering chips for cooking supper and her baby fretted and cried in the wagon. Clay lay on his back contentedly until a neighbor said, "Clay, why don't you gather that fuel and let Mrs. Lee tend to her baby?" He answered gruffly "I earn my salary by driving the team and never bargained to do women's work" "Oh bother your bargain, persisted the neighbor, while a little tired woman waits on your lazy bones while a baby cries for it's mother" Nothing seems to effect him. When cholera broke out Mr. Clay was one of the first victims. He suffered terribly and mother did all she could for him but he soon succumbed. We wondered whether or not he met those who had defrauded him. Numbers of others old and young passed away with that dreadful disease and were buried the best way possible with a fire burned over each grave to keep wild animals away from the grave.

The refugees who had been driven from their comfortable homes with curses and boasts and rejoicing from their enemies that if the wilderness did not swallow them up that savages surly would, had resolved to face all these dangers with songs and gladness and never show a sign of fear. To this end they conducted public prayers and almost nightly concerts around their central fires and further more they often brought out a violin or two and danced under the stars.

The deaths in camp interfered with the singing and dancing in some degree but did not suppress it altogether. Did not prevent Sunday services. The death of Mr. Clay left my father with both teams on his hands, and the days when his chills were on him he was not able to walk all day beside the oxen, as all ox drivers do, so on these days mother was obliged to drive the ox team. She had never done such a thing be fore, of course, but she never quailed under any new demand of duty born of the experiences of the times. On such days the two younger children rode in the ox wagon with her and here I remember another incident. Mother had been up in the wagon to comfort her baby and when ready to get out again, did not stop the team for they would have stopped every one behind it, but set her foot on the tongue and sprang to the ground behind the off ox which kicked at her with both feet as she went. This ox was a black one and hated Indians worse than his owners hated cholera and smallpox. He often gave warning by snorting and tossing his horns, when the Indians were anywhere near, especially if they were to windward and several times when Lee's black ox came bolting into camp from the herd ground, the guard was doubled. The train had not proceeded far on its way until our heavy wagon caught on fire, i.e., in the axle tree and one wheel had to be taken off and lashed on the back and the poor tired oxen made to pull the wagon with one axle being drug on a pole. At camp that night the wheel was fixed. Since both wagon and team were growing weak my father cast about for some means to lighten his load. Among his fellow travelers he found one who was willing for a reasonable consideration to take one box to Salt Lake City for him. When the time came that they could get another teamster they were glad to hire him, and he proved to be altogether better than Mr. Clay had been. His name was Moore. Now the way became strewn with bones of animals, part of household furniture, abandoned wagons, etc; etc; The chief Capt. whose name mother refuses to tell for his own sake eternally forbid any one of his company to pick up anything no matter how desirable it may be, for fear they might contain infection of cholera. One day this Capt. came to my father and informed him that someone's was weak and that Mr. Lee ought to take part of that load for the rest of the trip. My father explained that his own team was too weak to haul anymore and the Capt. grew angry and remained so the rest of the trip. Some in the company had to throw away some heavy articles to lighten their loads. At one time the baby had a canker of the mouth and had found a pickle to chew at, mother was frightened thinking that would prove dangerous, but a neighbor said "Why that is good for canker" so after ward they kept the pickles for sore mouths in children. They had to stop every once in a while to wash clothes, do hunting for food, etc; Word came that tomorrow they would cross the Platte again, which meant that they were leaving the longest part of the journey behind them, which was good news to all. In a little while Bro. Lee lost an ox and was left behind his company, but another one led by Shadrick Roundy came along and he joined his company on Bro. Roundy's request. On the Laramie plains occurred what mother calls the great stampede. The teams were tired, but one day suddenly, without known cause the whole outfit of oxen flung up heads and tails and with a dreadful bellowing set off at a wild gallop, scattering out on both sides of the road totally unmanageable. Mr. Moore was seated on the wagon tongue to give his weary feet a brief rest when the race began and he leaped in haste into the foot path, stepped on something that rolled and fell spraining his ankle badly. He sprang up and hobbled on in great fear for he knew he could not overtake them, they were headed directly toward a bluff, and Mr. Lees little boy was in the wagon. Providentially, some men on horse back, who had been out looking for game, rode in between the frantic oxen and the bluff, and gradually brought them into the road again, where they slowed down and stopped panting and exhausted. When the driver came up to them, the young Kentuckian looked out and cried cheerily, "I had a fine ride didn't I Mr. Moore"? How often do we escape danger without knowing it has been near us. When within a few hours drive of Salt Lake City the Company went into camp for the purpose of having a general washing and cleanup. It occupied two or three days and was so through that even the wagons were brushed and dusted, the horses curried, the men shaved and cropped and the children put into clean aprons. Mr. Moore was anxious to push onto California before the 49ers should get all the gold but he was equally anxious to have his own wardrobe put into some kind of order. He stayed by, gathered fuel, carried water, build fires, lifted tubs, hanged out the wet cloths, amused the children and helped in the good work all that a mere man could. Then all was prepared in putting the best foot foreword, they drove down to Salt Lake City, the three year old haven of refuge where the exiles hoped to have no fiercer foes than the Redman, who is as proud to display the scalp of a child as that of a fighting man. Here the gold seeker and the Mormon family, whom he had so faithfully served, parted with mutual kind regards, and good wishes, never to meet again. This family had been six long months on the road. They waited beside the Missouri for grass of spring, and before the journey ended the nights were frosty and the grass sere. It was with profound thankfulness that Bro. And sister Lee took possession for the winter of a small two roomed log house on Big Cottonwood, which they were so fortunate as to rent from Bro. Homer Duncan and there on the last day of the year 1850 there forth child was born. They're little Utah girl.

             Written by Lucinda Lee Dalton and read on 16, April 1912.