James was brought to Utah when he was twenty four by two of his
uncles Henry and Daniel Miller who were very active members of
the church. His own mother stayed behind. He also left his father in
law behind in Nauvoo. James Miller died there in 1845
James was a farmer but in his youth he learned to be a glazier. He
also learned to tan hides and could make an excellent buck-skin. He
was a good woodsman and great with an ax.
James was baptized in 1853 after his arrival in the Valley [Utah
Valley]. He was a glazier, farmer, woodsman, plasterer, and molasses
maker--whatever it took to earn a living for his family. He served a
mission to Salmon River Indian Mission in Idaho in 1857-1858. He was
ordained a patriarch in 1901. He was left-handed but he could do
nearly everything with either hand. He made bob- and hand sleds and a
revolving one-horse hayrack.
He married Anna Maria and they raised a big family. He took a scond
wife, a widow with a son. He was much in demand for his ability to do
things. He was a hard worker and served the church and the community
whenever he could, when he wasn't working to support his large family
of 23 children.
2010 James David Wilcox in Nauvoo from Deborah Gardiner on Vimeo.
“James was the fifth child of a family of eight children. He grew up in Pittefiled, MA. He came of a family of farmers, but in his youth he learned the glaziers trade, he also learned to tan hides and could make an excellent quality of buckskin; he was naturally left-handed and he always said that if the school teacher would have allowed him to write with his left hand, he would have been much better at penmanship. He could drive a nail, throw a ball or rock, bat a ball, pitch quoits, shoot a gun, push a plane, plaster or put on a pane of glass with either hand, so the teacher was not so bad to tell him after all. James was a farmer but in his youth he learned to be a glazier. He also learned to tan hides and could make an excellent buckskin. He was a good woodsman and great with an ax.
James left is own mother and father-in-law behind in Nauvoo. James Miller died there in 1845. He came to Utah in Henry Miller’s company and was the company hunter, more than one buffalo was killed by him so near to the wagon – road that by the time the train came up, the carcass had been prepared so that a supply of meat was handed out to each wagon, without stopping the team. James was baptized in 1853 after his arrival in the Valley [Utah Valley]. He thought he was on the way to California but while working for Joseph L Robinson in Farmington, UT, he fell in love with his daughter Anna Naria and they were married in November 26, 1854. In the great Sale Lake City by Elder Orson Hyde. They were endowed and sealed May 9, in the Endowment house.
He married for a second time, Mrs. Judith Oviatt Knapp, taking into his family her son Nathan Willis Knapp 15 Feb 1862. He was the father of 23 children and was ordained a patriarch by Elder John W. Taylor in 1901.
He was a glazier, farmer, woodsman, plasterer, and molasses maker--whatever it took to earn a living for his family. He served a mission to Salmon River Indian Mission in Idaho in 1857-1858. He was ordained a patriarch in 1901. Even though he was left-handed but he could do nearly everything with either hand. He made bob- and hand sleds and a revolving one-horse hayrack.
He lived in Farmington, UT where he cut grain with the first mowing machine in the valley. He cut grain in Weber and Cache Counties. He was always an early riser and he was careful and painstaking in all his affairs, his hay and grain stack were put up so that storms count cause loss. He had a small flock of sheep that furnished apparel, quilts, sheets and etc. He was a good woodman, an excellent hand with an ax. He could cut a cord of wood today if the wood was not too hard. From white pine trees found in the canyon he made shingles that were more durable than machine made shingles.
President Charles W. Penrose, speaking at father’s funeral, held at Farmington, UT said a more honest man than Brother James D. Wilcox never lived.” James H. Wilcox, son
Kent,
I have attached the photo you requested. I also attached a kind of funny family photo from when James and Anna were younger. How are you related to James David Wilcox? He is my 2nd great grandfather through his son Oliver.
Please let me know if I can help with anything else.
Jodi
James Henry Wilcox, James David Wilcox,
503 Back-David, Henry, Ebenezer, George, Oliver
Back David, Henry, Ebenezer, George, Oliver Front Anna Marie, Margaret Ruth, James David, Orson, Julia.
James David Wilcox's wife, Judith Oviatt:
James David Wilcox's wife, Judith Oviatt:
From Nauvoo Records Office:
Birth 17 Jan 1827 Lexington, Greene, New York, USA Gender Male Person ID I28067 Early Latter-day Saints Last Modified 07 Feb 2007 Father Henry Wilcox, b. 13 Jan 1813, Gates, Monroe, New York, USA , d. 2 Jul 1850, Crossing the Plains, Wyoming, USA
Mother Susanna Miller, b. 2 Mar 1800, Lexington, Greene, New York, USA Married 19 Feb 1819 Family ID F8797 Group Sheet Family 1 Anne Maria Robinson, b. 8 Jun 1838 Married 26 Nov 1854 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA Family ID F17186 Group Sheet Family 2 Judith Oviatt, b. 22 Mar 1841, Kirtland, Lake, Ohio, USA Married 15 Feb 1862 Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA Family ID F17187 Group Sheet -
Event Map Map data ©2009 Google -Event
Married - 26 Nov 1854 - Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA Married - 15 Feb 1862 - Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA = Link to Google Maps
= Link to Google Earth
Pin Legend = Address
= Location
= City/Town
= County/Shire
= State/Province
= Country
= Not Set
-
Notes - PROPERTY:
Kimball 1st: Block 1, Lot 76, 1/3 Acre
HISTORY/HISTORIES:
A sketch of the Life of Pioneer Judith Oviatt Wilcox
Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, p 1245, p 356
Conquerors of the West, p. 2709-2711
Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol 1, pp 14-15; Vol 7, pp 154-55,158-59, 162-63, 188-89
- PROPERTY:
-
Sources - [S121] Book - Conquerors of the West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers, 4 vols., Youngberg, Florence C., Compiler, (Sons of the Utah Pioneers, 1999), , p. 2709-2711.
- [S8] Book - Our Pioneer Heritage, 20 vols., Daughters of the Utah Pioneers, (Salt Lake City: 1958-1977), , Vol 1, pp 14-15; Vol 7, pp 154-55,158-59, 162-63, 188-89.
- [S19] Book - Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah, 2 vols, Esshom, Frank, (Salt Lake City: 1913), , p 1245, p 356.
- [S28260]
- [S121] Book - Conquerors of the West: Stalwart Mormon Pioneers, 4 vols., Youngberg, Florence C., Compiler, (Sons of the Utah Pioneers, 1999), , p. 2709-2711.
James David Wilcox was the son of Henry Wilcox and Susanna Miller Wilcox. He was the fifth child of a family of eight children and was born January 17, 1827, at Lexington Green County, New york, but grew to manhood at Pittsfield Massachusetts. He came of a family of farmers, but in his youth he learned the glazier’s trade. He also learned to tan hides and could make an excellent quality of buckskin. He was naturally left-handed and he always said that if the schoolteacher had allowed him to write with his left hand he would have been much better penman. But that as it may, he became very much both-handed (ambidextrous). He could drive a nail, throw a ball or a rock, bat a ball, pitch quoits, shoot a gun, plush a plane, plaster or put in a pane of glass, etc., with either hand, so the teacher was not so bad to him after all.
He came to Utah in 1852 in his Uncle Henry Miller’s company of Mormon emigrants and he was the company hunter. More than one buffalo was killed by him so near to the wagon – road that by the time the train came up, the carcass had been prepared so that a supply of meat was handed out to each wagon, without stopping the team. He thought he was on the way to California, but while working for Joseph L. Robinson in Farmington, Utah, he fell in love with his daughter, Anna Maria Anna Naria and they were married in November 26, 1854. In the great Sale Lake City by Elder Orson Hyde. They were endowed and sealed May 9, in the Endowment house.
He married for a second time, Mrs. Judith Oviatt Knapp, taking into his family her son Nathan Willis Knapp 15 Feb 1862. He was the father of 23 children and was ordained a patriarch by Elder John W. Taylor in 1901.
He and his brother-in=law, Oliver L. Robinson, worked together. They bought the first mowing machine owned in Farmington (a buckeye), doing custom work with it and later with a combined mower and reaper, going into both Cache and Weber Counties cutting grains. He was strong and active and taught more by example than by precept. He was always an early riser. He was careful and painstaking in all his affairs. His hay and grains were put up so that storms would not cause loss. He had a small
flock of sheep that furnished apparel, quilts, sheets and etc. Father was a good woodman, an excellent hand with an ax. Governor Bamburger told me (James Henry Wilcox) at an old folks’ party in Farmington, father said the could cut a cord of wood today if the wood was not too hard. From white pine trees found in the canyon he made shingles that were more durable than machine-made shingles. From his diary for 1856 and the first six months of 1857 he was making shingles 23 days, mowing with a scythe 13 days, and cradling grain 20 days. The scythe and the cradle were his own make. His mowing was level, not high at each edge and low in the middle. Wilcox Canyon (east of Farmington) was named after him because he made the road into it. His axes were made from second growth oak. He tried to grow hickory for the sake of the timber, but neither it nor the butternut or the sweet chestnut would grow in Utah at our elevation. He was a plasterer, a molasses maker and made both bob and hand sleds, and he made the revolving one-horse hayrack used by him and Oliver L. Robinson. A boy rode the horse and the man who operated the rake walked, but the rake did clean work and put the machine-cut hay into windrows two swatch at a time. He kept the glass in the schoolhouse and the church in order, and his tanned hides put the drums in repair for the band on the Fourth of July and on Pioneer Day. Sister Susan Richards made most serviceable gloves from his buckskin. The first to be used by Henry and his family was used by father and mother, and on which henry put a new top. The bedsteads and trundle bed and the cradles and also the rolling pins, the potato-mashers, the butter-ladle’s and paddles were his make. When sheep-shearing time came, it took all the boys to hold the legs of the sheep as it laid on its side while father sheered, and often a half-sheared sheep did get up and drag wool around the yard in spite of all.
His diary records the getting of an elk skin from George McBride, to have a pair of pants made for himself. He also made boots and shoes and soldered holes in the tinware. He was a good husband and an indulgent father, though sometimes severe in punishment, and a good neighbor. When U.S. Marshalls called at Judge Hector W. Haight’s home north of Miller’s field where father was, and told him they were on the way to arrest Jim Wilcox. Judge Haight said, “You can’t arrest that man, my friend, unless you do it over my dead body.” No arrest was made.
My mother’s fervent prayer as she knelt at the side of the trundle bed on which I (James Henry Wilcox) was sleeping, awoke me, to hear her prayer to the Lord to protect father and others whom the Governor of the State had sent as a posse to Morristown to curb the unlawful doings of the Morrisites.
He was a member of the Salmon River Mission. On September 26, he wrote, “Moved in with Oliver L. Robinson, getting ready to go north, Wednesday 9/30 – loading my wagon ready to start for Salmon River in the morning. Thursday 10/1 – start for Salmon River and Tuesday 10/27, came to the fork. All well.” While he was mess cook, he was making boots for himself and others between meals, and made a door, a chair and did shoemaking. From Tuesday, January 19, to February 6, 1858, he was not able to do any work on account of a felon on his thumb. He wrote: “During that time I suffered more than I can write.” Thursday, February 25, 1858 – Oliver Robinson and I went to the Fort with loads and went down to get a load of logs and other articles. We discovered several bands of Indians west of the river going towards the Fort, and before we reached our place we met a good many Indians, mostly Shoshones, on the east side of the river. Those west of the river proved to be Bannocks, led by their chief Rothecay. They crossed to the west of the river and gathered on the bench about a mile below the Fort, 115 or more in number. We continued to work, being five men: Milton D. Hammond, Haskel Shurtliff, James T. Miller, Oliver L. Robinson and myself and having four teams and wagons. We heard some gun firing but did not think it was anything serious. We started for the Fort with two loads of hay and two loads of logs and other things for about the house. When we had gone about half a mile, some six or eight Indians rode toward us manifesting a hostile attitude and yelling most fearfully, as I thought to scare our teams, but we soon found they were not in fun, for one of them dismounted and leveling his rifle, he fired at us deliberately as if he were shooting at wolves. About thirty more started for us at full speed, firing as they came and we ran for the river, so as to take shelter in the willows. About the time we left the teams, Haskel Shurtliff was shot through the arm and Oliver L. Robinson was shot through the palm of his left hand. We turned upon them with our arms and they retreated and we ran for the willows; but they pursued us again and James T. Miller was shot in the left side, passing through his body near his heart. His pistol came apart and I picked up the cylinder and the barrel and came up to him as we were running, and he handed the butt of the pistol to me saying as he did so, “Take this, I can do no more.” We were side by side as we reached the willows, and I supposed he was safe in them, but he fell at the very edge. Milton D. Hammond swam the river and remained secreted until night when we returned to the Fort. There, we were told by Brother Doree, that George MBride had been killed and Fountain Welch and Andrew Quigly were severely wounded and that Thomas S. Smith had been shot through the arm and that the Indians had taken two hundred cattle and thirty horses that were in the herd. The brethren were on guard all night. Friday, February 26th, we went down and brought Brother James Miller’s body, and found that the Indians had burned the wagons that were loaded with hay and had taken all that was of value of the other two loads.
Saturday, February 27, we busied ourselves making bastions and preparing to defend ourselves in case of an attack. The Indians on the bench east of the Fort rode the war circle and made other hostile signs and said all the Indians were coming to fight, but they went as they came. In the evening I helped to bury the bodies of Brother Miller and Brother McBride.
“Sunday, February 28, we were called together in the open air and were addressed by Brother Thomas S. Smith and others. Ezra Bernard and B. Watts were chosen to start as soon as it was dark to take word to Salt Lake Valley of the condition here. Monday, march 1, 1858 I went in company of ten men and brought the two wagons that were not burned and we finished four bastions. Tuesday, March 2, we continued defense preparations. An Indian came on to the bench and fired a gun toward the Fort, and in the evening a last summer herder came to the Fort and stayed all night. We continued defense preparations as we thought the Indians would try to take the Fort. We kept strong guards at night and went on the lookout all day.
Thursday, March 4, 1858. Fast Day we met at Green Taylor’s and had an excellent meeting. Brother T.S. Smith said, “Keep cool and don’t get excited if the Indians do come near the Fort.” Friday, March 5, 1858: About noon a herder and two more Indians came to the Fort. We let them in and shut the gate. They talked about the fuss and promised to bring in thirty cattle the next day, but no cattle came. The Indians had lied again a little as before. Sunday march 7, 1858: Sacrament Meeting at Brother Green Taylor’s Speakers, I. J. Clark and M. D. Hammond. Monday, March 8, 1858: Eight more cattle brought in and one horse brought on Friday, Saturday I made a yard for Oliver L. Robinson and my ox. Sunday, March 21st seven men came before daylight. Tuesday, March 23 Colonel Cunningham came with his company. Wednesday, March 29: Some of the Chief Indians came to the Fort, but would not come to terms, so we kept them till morning and some ninety men went to their camp for stock. They recovered three cows and some horses. Thursday, March 25: H. D. Haight and company came. Saturday, March 27; we left Fort Lemhi for Utah. Monday April 12, 1858 reached Farmington in the evening. My family and friends all well and preparing to move south. Many are gone now. I left Farmington on move south, Monday, May 11. At Willowcreek, Monday, May 17. Started back to Farmington, May 22, and at Farmington, May 27, and from may 27 to July 10, 1858 hauling people and things to and from Clover Creek. We were back in our own home from move South Monday, September 27, 1858.
In the trouble with the Indians at Salmon River, Chief Rothecay of the Bannocks snapped his gun twice at father. From his diary we learn that he was a regular attendant at sacrament and fast meetings, which at the time were held on the first Thursday of each month, and not as now on the first Sunday of each month. He acted as ward teacher, and in his diary he records three days spent in ward teaching during one week. He was ordained a seventy, March 5, 1855, by Ezra T. Clark, First president of the 49th Quorum of Seventies. Later James D. Wilcox was set apart as one of the seven presidents of the 56th Quorum of Seventies.
Form now on, Father’s life was spent raising a family, practically all of his time passed at the Miller field farm. Aunt Judith lived there several summers in a large tent, sleeping in the cleaned up horse stable, fighting flies and mosquitoes and providing meals for the workers during thresher times, and all was true and faithful. The farm was sold to Thomas F. Wilcox and by him to others.
When father and Aunt Judith were living in the old home in town, father was looking for the lot, attending to his duties as patriarch, etc., at ward meetings, old folks’ reunions visiting his children in Farmington, Syracuse, Garland, Fielding, Littletown, Salt Lake City, Canada and Arizona, conferences’, fairs, circuses, liberty Bell, and celebrations in Salt Lake City, and often visiting his brother, Jonathan, on the mountain side at Farmington.
His Youngest brother, Dr. Dorvil M. Wilcox, wrote me (James Henry Wilcox) answering a letter telling him of father’s death quote: “Your father taught me the ABC’s, was a guide to me always and I never knew him to do a mean thing in his life.
President Charles W. Penrose, speaking at father’s funeral, held at Farmington, UT said a more honest man than Brother James D. Wilcox never lived.” James H. Wilcox, son
Spouses:
Judith Oviatt Wilcox (1841 - 1918)
Anna Maria Robinson Wilcox (1838 - 1897)*
Children:
James Henry Wilcox (1855 - 1938)*
Joseph Dorvil Wilcox (1857 - 1857)*
Ebenezer Orlando Wilcox (1859 - 1947)*
Lucy Anella Wilcox (1863 - 1864)*
Ruth Angela Wilcox (1863 - 1864)*
Mary Evelyn Wilcox (1865 - 1867)*
Oliver Leroy Wilcox (1865 - 1951)*
Annabelle Wilcox (1867 - 1867)*
Clara Orliva Wilcox Steed (1868 - 1943)*
Margaret Ruth Wilcox Manning (1869 - 1942)*
Thomas Ferris Wilcox (1870 - 1934)*
William Arnold Wilcox (1874 - 1875)*
George Wallace Wilcox (1876 - 1918)*
Ira Herman Wilcox (1877 - 1896)*
Mary Helen Wilcox (1879 - 1880)*
Orrin Miller Wilcox (1881 - 1925)*
Ruby Lavenia Wilcox Toone (1887 - 1977)*
Burial:
Farmington City Cemetery
Farmington
Davis County
Utah, USA
Plot: E-74-5
Farmington City Cemetery
Farmington
Davis County
Utah, USA
Plot: E-74-5
