Gilberth Oliver Haws

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Biographical Summary:

Note on name. The biographical summary below uses the spelling of "Gilbert" and not "Gilberth" for the given name. In other publications such as "Conquerors of the West, Volume 1" his name is listed as "Gilberth".

Gilberth Haws (1801-1877) the son of Jacob Haws and Hannah Neill was born 10 March 1801.

"...In the year 1822 on June the second, Gilbert Haws married Hannah Whitcomb.

In the year 1842 Gilbert Haws and Hannah Whitcomb Haws were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by Jefferson Hunt, in Wagneco, Ill. They were never attached to any religious sect until they joined the Mormons.

They remained in Illinois until May, 1847, when they started west, going as far as Iowa, where we stopped for the winter.

In the spring of 1848 we went to Winter Quarters where we joined the first company of the season. We crossed the Missouri River in Lorenzo Snow’s company on our way to the Rocky Mountains. We traveled the distance with ox teams, arriving in Salt Lake Valley, September 23, 1848.

We had one horse team which my mother drove all the way. The family consisted of father and mother, seven sons, and six daughters.

My father bought a small adobe house twelve feet square with 2 small holes ten inches square for windows, where we stayed during the winter of 1848-49.

In December, 1848, three of the daughters were married to 3 Mormon Battalion men, who were making their return trip to the East from California, after their discharge. Their names are Shadrack Holdaway, Walter Barney, and George Pickup.

In the spring of 1849 Gilberth Haws and family, with one married daughter and her husband, were members of the first company who came in settle Provo, and helped to build the first fort, which was built near where the lower bridge now stands. In June, 1849, their second daughter died and was buried on a little knoll near the river, afterwards moved to Provo cemetery.

The next important event was the birth of their eighth son, Gilbert Oliver, born October 8, 1849. This was the second white child born in Provo, the first being born to the wife of Edward Holden a few days prior to the birth of my mother’s child. There being no doctor or midwife here at that time, my father went to Salt Lake and brought back a midwife by the name of Angel. Mother Angel she was called, and she cared for Mrs. Holden first, and one or two others while here.

Gilbert Haws and wife, with their fourteen sons and daughters, were active members in laying the foundation and in the growth and prosperity of Provo, sharing all the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life at that period in Utah. Father and sons cultivated the soil, made roads and ditches, brought timber from the mountain for fuel and building purposes and to make their crude implements for farming, and other necessary articles, tanned hides, making shoes for the family and labored under the greatest difficulties with the implements in use at that time.

The sons were engaged in all the Indian wars and guard duty in the early days—that is, the older ones. Mother and daughters bore their share also, converting the raw material into food and clothing, cooking by a fireplace, and sometimes grinding grains on a coffee mill to make bread; spinning, weaving, knitting, and sewing by hand for the family; and gathering herbs, barks, brush and leaves for coloring yarns and cloth; doing their washing on a wooden board, making soap from wood ashes and grease scraps.

When we started to Provo to make our home in 1849, my sister and husband, Shadrack Holdaway, started East to get machinery for a woolen mill. When they returned he built his first mill, or what is known as the Foresyth farm, but on account of Indian troubles, moved into town in 1853 and built his mills where the Provo Foundry now stands. At first he only made rolls and bats, but later made john for mens’ wear, and also shawls and blankets. He also had a blacksmith shop and a shop to make chairs and other things.

From 1848 until 1853 we moved four times, first from Salt Lake to Provo in the first fort, then to the second fort which was built where Provo North Park is located, then my father took up the land known as the Tanner Farm and moved there. During th time we lived on the farm Provo City was laid out, and on account of Indian troubles we moved into town in 1853 and located on 4th West and 1st North street, where we lived until we were all married and scattered.

We did not have much change in those days to get an education, for we neither had books nor time. Everybody brought a few books, and when they were finished it was out of the question to get more. We had but little time in winter to go to school, and had but few months’ schooling—just a month or two at a time when we could best be spared. I went two months to the first high school that was taught in Provo. This was taught by a man by the name of Wandle. He was the first teacher that ever taught the students to write composition. It was in 1862, and he taught in the old seminary which stood where the Third Ward Meeting House now stands.

I commenced to weave cloth at about the age of 13, and we did not quit making home-made cloth until I was married and had 3 children, so you see I have been pretty well educated in a practical way, if in no other.

Children:

The names of the members of the family and whom they married:

1. Caroline Haws married Walter Barney
2. Lucinda Haws married Shadrach Holdaway
3. Eliza Haws married George Pickup
4. Marion Haws married Sarah A. Jones
5. Amos Haws married Mary Bean
6. William Haws married Barbery Mills
7. Albert Haws married Nancy Haws
8. Caleb Haws married Eliza A. Snow
9. George Haws married Elisabeth A. Worsley
10. Emma Haws married Lyman Carter
11. Mary Haws married James C. York
12. John Haws married Martha Glazier
13. Oliver Haws married Luella I. Newell

Brother George and I are all that are left. Brother William went on a mission to Illinois among our people, also sent to Ariz. and New Mexico—was either called or volunteered. Brother Caleb Willman went on a mission to England, where he died with small pox in 1871, leaving a wife and 3 children in Provo, 2 daughters and 1 son. The son was born after he started on his mission. Brother John Haws filled a mission to the Southern States and was mission president or conference president during his stay..."

SOURCE: York, Mary O. Haws; A Short Sketch of the Life of Gilbert Haws and Family; Daughters of the Utah Pioneers