Daughter of Amos Fairbanks and Mary Bartholomew
Married Christopher Merkley, 17 Jan 1858, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Children - Sarah Frances Merkley, Christopher Amos Merkley, Jacob Nathaniel Merkley, Alva Marion Merkley, Martha Elizabeth Merkley, Mary Jane Merkley, Sousa "Susie" Merkley, Lucy Merkley
History - Xarissa was born 29 October 1838 at LaPorte, Indiana, the daughter of Amos Fairbanks and Mary Bartholomew Fairbanks. Her mother died on 7 April 1843, leaving four young children: Alva who was nine, Xarissa who was four, Viola Jane who was three, and Chauncy , the baby boy who was just two months old. Chauncy died before he was one year old.
Amos and Mary had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so when he was left alone, Amos took his young children to Nauvoo. They lived through the hardships and the persecutions of the saints there, and with them made the journey across the plains. Although she was only thirteen years old, Xarissa drove a four-team wagon all the way, besides caring for the family. They reached the Salt Lake valley in October, 1851.
Times were hare and Amos was concerned for his children. Shortly after they arrived, he met and married Catherine Raymond, a widow, who had a number of children. The family moved to Bountiful. There was never enough money and conditions were rather unpleasant, especially for Xarissa. She was a sensitive young girl who was given too much responsibility while she was too young. When she was nineteen years old she had an unfortunate experience which resulted in her baby, who was born out of wedlock. She named her Sarah Francis, and she was born 19 May 1857 in Salt Lake City.
Christopher Merkley had been born in Williamsburg, Ontario, Canada 18 December 1808. He was raised in a strict Methodist family and was very religious. He married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Davis, when they were both quite young. Their only son, Nelson, was born 11 November 1828 when Christopher was not quite twenty and Sarah was just seventeen.
They heard the Gospel preached while they were in Canada, and were converted to the truthfulness of the new Latter-day Saint religion. They left their home and joined, finally, with the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. They passed through many of the trials experienced by other members of the Church during the early days. While in Nauvoo he was taught the principle of plural marriage, and in 1846, married Minerva Stowell in the Nauvoo Temple. This marriage was later cancelled in Salt Lake in 1856.
Christopher and his family arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1849 in the Enoch Reese Company. He bought a lot in the 17th Ward and built a house on the corner of 200 West and North Temple. Christopher was an industrious, versatile man, and by 1858 had accumulated a farm where he had wheat fields, an orchard, and large vegetable gardens.
That year he heard of Xarissa Fairbanks and her circumstance. Although he was at that time fifty years old and Xarissa was only twenty, with the encouragement of his wife, Sarah, he asked Xarissa to be his wife. When Xarissa learned that Christopher was a diligent Church worker and a prosperous leader in the community, she felt that the marriage would be an answer to her prayers. She accepted his proposal and they were married by President Brigham Young in his office on the 17th of January in 1858.
Christopher took Xarissa and her baby, whom she called Fannie, home where his first wife, Sarah, welcomed them. The two women were congenial and happy together. Each tried to help the other. Sarah took the place of the mother that Xarissa had lost when she was so young. In later years the children said that they had “never heard an angry word between the two women. They shared each other’s joys as well as their sorrows.”
Xarissa was always strong and healthy, so she did the heavy, outdoor work. She took care of the garden and the orchard. She always made the fires whether Christopher was at home or not. She did the washing, the cooking, and made all of the clothes. Sarah, who was never very strong, tended the children, who called her Grandma. She spun the wool, knitted the socks, and did the light housework.
The first home had four good-sized rooms downstairs on the main level, and two bedrooms upstairs. There were few comforts in those first years - no washing machine, only scrubbing boards, candles were made by hand with tallow from the animals poured into molds until they set. That gave the light needed along with the lanterns that had to be cleaned and cared for carefully. Braided rugs were made from rags to cover the rough plank floors. All of the clothes were made by hand, and very few of those were made from cloth that was purchased at the market.
While Xarissa was in Salt Lake, she and Christopher were blessed with twin boys. Jacob Nathanial and Christopher Amos were born 28 February 1859. Jake was a robust, healthy baby, but Chris was weak and sickly. He was hardly expected to live for the first year of his life. Due largely to the constant loving care of both of the two women, he became a strong and sturdy child. He grew into the same sort of man and lived until he was seventy-three years old. Fanny, Xarissa’s oldest child, was adopted by Christopher. She was a great help to her mother and brothers as they grew bigger.
Alva Marion, or Al as he was called, was born 5 November 1862. He was a particular favorite of Grandma, as he called Sarah. She treated him as any grandmother would. Martha Elizabeth and Mary Jane, or Matt and Mamie as they were known were the next set of twins, born 18 March 1866. Matt was a beautiful, healthy girl, but poor Mamie was injured at birth. She had curvature of the spine causing her to drag her foot, and her brain was affected as well. She was a constant care all of her life. She live to be sixty-one years old and died 27 January 1927. So, the two women had their hands full with five children under the age of seven. By this time Christopher was a ‘young’ fifty-eight years old.
When the children were old enough to go to school, Christopher arranged for Xarissa and her children to go to John Morgan’s College. He bought a life membership in this school for Xarissa and six of her children. They attended it for three of four years, thus fulfilling her lifelong dream of obtaining an education.
During the early days of the settlement in Utah, there were many hard times. At the time when the grasshoppers and crickets came into the valley, the whole family worked in the fields to save the crops. Christopher made nets out of burlap sacks, and fastened a hoop of wire in the top end with a handle attached. They would swing these as if mowing with a scythe, thus catching bushels of the pests which they burned or buried. Jake and Chris, holding the ends of a rope which was stretched across the field, would go from one end to the other keeping the grasshoppers moving. How happy they were as the hundreds of seagulls arrived and saved their crops.
Jake tells that he learned the care of horses and cattle at an early age, and herded them in the nearby pastures and hillsides. He and Chris would often go into the nearby hills to gather segos, which were used for food and were considered quite a luxury. They would also go, if they had leisure time, to the nearby hot springs lake to go swimming. It was quite a gathering place for old and young alike. Once, a soldier who was watching the fun said, “If those Mormon people can bathe in the water, so can I.” Then stripping off his clothes he jumped in to the main spring, severely burning himself.
At the time Johnson’s Army had been threatening to invade Salt Lake City, the saints had been ready to destroy everything they had built, rather than let yet another group come in and take the results of so much hard work, as had been the case in so many other places they had settled. Xarissa and all of her children were loaded into a wagon, and they went as far south as Springville. Only a few men and older boys had been left in the city to destroy it if necessary. The nearby foundation for the Temple had been covered over, and crops were planted, so it would not show where it was.
Fortunately, an agreement was made between President Brigham Young and the Army which allowed them to enter the city, on the condition that they would cause no trouble. They still stayed in the city for some time, but they were mostly there to keep an eye on those ‘troublesome Mormons.’ Gradually the families came back to their homes and resumed their lives. Nevertheless, those were troubling times.
Christopher had some serious accidents with his arms, leaving him so crippled that he could not do any hard manual labor. The children were taught early in life to take responsibilities that normally belonged to men. At nine years of age, the twin boys loaded the hay and cared for the cattle and horses. Christopher was very fond of horses and had quite a band of them. When they were driven into the corral, all of the children in the neighborhood came and climbed onto the high pole fence to watch the excitement, as nobody else had so many horses.
Christopher was a good provider and had a number of schemes for making a living. He was very handy at several different occupations, which taught all of his children that any kind of honest labor was good. At one time he built a ‘house on wheels,’ rather like an early version of modern motor homes. He had learned how to take likenesses, and often took Xarissa with him as he traveled around, even to southern Utah, taking pictures of the early settlers. The following picture of Xarissa and her children was taken by him.
By the middle of the 1860, polygamy was declared illegal, and those who refused to give up their plural wives were sent to prison. To comply with the law, Xarissa and her family lived apart. Christopher sold some of his property in Salt Lake, and, in about 1874, bought a ranch and a mill in the Bear Lake area of Idaho. While the family was there, developing a working ranch on the east shore of the lake, their third set of twins were born. Susie and Lucy were born 11 July 1875 in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. He remained there for a short time before returning with Sarah and Nelson to Salt Lake City, where life would be easier for them. Christopher by this time was sixty-seven and Sarah was sixty-four. He did come up when it was harvest times to do his share of the jobs. There came a time when he divided the property into thirds among his sons, with the proviso that whoever had the mill would take over the needs of Xarissa.
Jake tells that ‘My mother was a very kind and generous woman, and no one ever passed her door seeking food or shelter, but what they were cared for. In those early days means of travel were slow, and people would become tired and hungry before their journey’s end. They always found a haven of rest at my mother’s place.’
On the ranch it was Xarissa who took the responsibility for the family. They first lived on a ranch about fourteen miles from St, Charles. She was a good nurse and was called out many, many times to attend the sick. The night was never too dark, nor the job too hard for her to go wherever she was needed. Her son, Al, said ‘Her home and all she had, she would share with those in need.’
Every Sunday for several years, Xarissa and as many of her children as were at the ranch went to church in a horse and buggy. They traveled the fourteen miles there and back and never missed a Sunday, and were never late. She was a devout Latter-day Saint, and raised her children to be fine men and women of whom she could be proud. She said they were the greatest joy of her life.
Xarissa’s greatest pleasure, other than her children and her Church, was reading. She read everything she could get, especially the scriptures. She read all the latest news and magazines including Perry’s Monthly, the Juvenile instructor, and the Exponent, and later the Era. She always read out of the best books. She had many scrapbooks which showed the extent of her reading. When she finished with a volume of magazines she would tie them together so that she could pass them on for someone else to enjoy.
She was one of those quiet people whose life is their most eloquent sermon. She lived to see all of her children, except Mamie, happily married. Chris lived on the farm and ran the flour mill, but when he moved away, Jake and his family moved to the farm. Xarissa moved to a house in St, Charles where she spent the rest of her life.
During his later years Christopher spent his time working on building temples and doing ordinance work in them. He was 86 years old and Sarah was 83 when the capstone of the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, 6 April 1893. It was a cold spring day and Christopher attended the ceremony. He got chilled and it developed into pneumonia. Sarah was very sick at the time and was not expected to live. When he died on 3 May 1893, his body was held for two days, when she died. a funeral was held for both of them and they were buried together in one grave 19 May 1893.
Xarissa died in her home in St, Charles on 29 November 1904 from blood poisoning, caused by a splinter of glass which had lodged in her finger. She was buried in the St, Charles cemetery. Her last years were happy and fulfilling. She enjoyed her children and her grandchildren who lived nearby.
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Company Unknown (1852); Age at Departure: 13
Married Christopher Merkley, 17 Jan 1858, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Children - Sarah Frances Merkley, Christopher Amos Merkley, Jacob Nathaniel Merkley, Alva Marion Merkley, Martha Elizabeth Merkley, Mary Jane Merkley, Sousa "Susie" Merkley, Lucy Merkley
History - Xarissa was born 29 October 1838 at LaPorte, Indiana, the daughter of Amos Fairbanks and Mary Bartholomew Fairbanks. Her mother died on 7 April 1843, leaving four young children: Alva who was nine, Xarissa who was four, Viola Jane who was three, and Chauncy , the baby boy who was just two months old. Chauncy died before he was one year old.
Amos and Mary had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so when he was left alone, Amos took his young children to Nauvoo. They lived through the hardships and the persecutions of the saints there, and with them made the journey across the plains. Although she was only thirteen years old, Xarissa drove a four-team wagon all the way, besides caring for the family. They reached the Salt Lake valley in October, 1851.
Times were hare and Amos was concerned for his children. Shortly after they arrived, he met and married Catherine Raymond, a widow, who had a number of children. The family moved to Bountiful. There was never enough money and conditions were rather unpleasant, especially for Xarissa. She was a sensitive young girl who was given too much responsibility while she was too young. When she was nineteen years old she had an unfortunate experience which resulted in her baby, who was born out of wedlock. She named her Sarah Francis, and she was born 19 May 1857 in Salt Lake City.
Christopher Merkley had been born in Williamsburg, Ontario, Canada 18 December 1808. He was raised in a strict Methodist family and was very religious. He married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Davis, when they were both quite young. Their only son, Nelson, was born 11 November 1828 when Christopher was not quite twenty and Sarah was just seventeen.
They heard the Gospel preached while they were in Canada, and were converted to the truthfulness of the new Latter-day Saint religion. They left their home and joined, finally, with the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. They passed through many of the trials experienced by other members of the Church during the early days. While in Nauvoo he was taught the principle of plural marriage, and in 1846, married Minerva Stowell in the Nauvoo Temple. This marriage was later cancelled in Salt Lake in 1856.
Christopher and his family arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1849 in the Enoch Reese Company. He bought a lot in the 17th Ward and built a house on the corner of 200 West and North Temple. Christopher was an industrious, versatile man, and by 1858 had accumulated a farm where he had wheat fields, an orchard, and large vegetable gardens.
That year he heard of Xarissa Fairbanks and her circumstance. Although he was at that time fifty years old and Xarissa was only twenty, with the encouragement of his wife, Sarah, he asked Xarissa to be his wife. When Xarissa learned that Christopher was a diligent Church worker and a prosperous leader in the community, she felt that the marriage would be an answer to her prayers. She accepted his proposal and they were married by President Brigham Young in his office on the 17th of January in 1858.
Christopher took Xarissa and her baby, whom she called Fannie, home where his first wife, Sarah, welcomed them. The two women were congenial and happy together. Each tried to help the other. Sarah took the place of the mother that Xarissa had lost when she was so young. In later years the children said that they had “never heard an angry word between the two women. They shared each other’s joys as well as their sorrows.”
Xarissa was always strong and healthy, so she did the heavy, outdoor work. She took care of the garden and the orchard. She always made the fires whether Christopher was at home or not. She did the washing, the cooking, and made all of the clothes. Sarah, who was never very strong, tended the children, who called her Grandma. She spun the wool, knitted the socks, and did the light housework.
The first home had four good-sized rooms downstairs on the main level, and two bedrooms upstairs. There were few comforts in those first years - no washing machine, only scrubbing boards, candles were made by hand with tallow from the animals poured into molds until they set. That gave the light needed along with the lanterns that had to be cleaned and cared for carefully. Braided rugs were made from rags to cover the rough plank floors. All of the clothes were made by hand, and very few of those were made from cloth that was purchased at the market.
While Xarissa was in Salt Lake, she and Christopher were blessed with twin boys. Jacob Nathanial and Christopher Amos were born 28 February 1859. Jake was a robust, healthy baby, but Chris was weak and sickly. He was hardly expected to live for the first year of his life. Due largely to the constant loving care of both of the two women, he became a strong and sturdy child. He grew into the same sort of man and lived until he was seventy-three years old. Fanny, Xarissa’s oldest child, was adopted by Christopher. She was a great help to her mother and brothers as they grew bigger.
Alva Marion, or Al as he was called, was born 5 November 1862. He was a particular favorite of Grandma, as he called Sarah. She treated him as any grandmother would. Martha Elizabeth and Mary Jane, or Matt and Mamie as they were known were the next set of twins, born 18 March 1866. Matt was a beautiful, healthy girl, but poor Mamie was injured at birth. She had curvature of the spine causing her to drag her foot, and her brain was affected as well. She was a constant care all of her life. She live to be sixty-one years old and died 27 January 1927. So, the two women had their hands full with five children under the age of seven. By this time Christopher was a ‘young’ fifty-eight years old.
When the children were old enough to go to school, Christopher arranged for Xarissa and her children to go to John Morgan’s College. He bought a life membership in this school for Xarissa and six of her children. They attended it for three of four years, thus fulfilling her lifelong dream of obtaining an education.
During the early days of the settlement in Utah, there were many hard times. At the time when the grasshoppers and crickets came into the valley, the whole family worked in the fields to save the crops. Christopher made nets out of burlap sacks, and fastened a hoop of wire in the top end with a handle attached. They would swing these as if mowing with a scythe, thus catching bushels of the pests which they burned or buried. Jake and Chris, holding the ends of a rope which was stretched across the field, would go from one end to the other keeping the grasshoppers moving. How happy they were as the hundreds of seagulls arrived and saved their crops.
Jake tells that he learned the care of horses and cattle at an early age, and herded them in the nearby pastures and hillsides. He and Chris would often go into the nearby hills to gather segos, which were used for food and were considered quite a luxury. They would also go, if they had leisure time, to the nearby hot springs lake to go swimming. It was quite a gathering place for old and young alike. Once, a soldier who was watching the fun said, “If those Mormon people can bathe in the water, so can I.” Then stripping off his clothes he jumped in to the main spring, severely burning himself.
At the time Johnson’s Army had been threatening to invade Salt Lake City, the saints had been ready to destroy everything they had built, rather than let yet another group come in and take the results of so much hard work, as had been the case in so many other places they had settled. Xarissa and all of her children were loaded into a wagon, and they went as far south as Springville. Only a few men and older boys had been left in the city to destroy it if necessary. The nearby foundation for the Temple had been covered over, and crops were planted, so it would not show where it was.
Fortunately, an agreement was made between President Brigham Young and the Army which allowed them to enter the city, on the condition that they would cause no trouble. They still stayed in the city for some time, but they were mostly there to keep an eye on those ‘troublesome Mormons.’ Gradually the families came back to their homes and resumed their lives. Nevertheless, those were troubling times.
Christopher had some serious accidents with his arms, leaving him so crippled that he could not do any hard manual labor. The children were taught early in life to take responsibilities that normally belonged to men. At nine years of age, the twin boys loaded the hay and cared for the cattle and horses. Christopher was very fond of horses and had quite a band of them. When they were driven into the corral, all of the children in the neighborhood came and climbed onto the high pole fence to watch the excitement, as nobody else had so many horses.
Christopher was a good provider and had a number of schemes for making a living. He was very handy at several different occupations, which taught all of his children that any kind of honest labor was good. At one time he built a ‘house on wheels,’ rather like an early version of modern motor homes. He had learned how to take likenesses, and often took Xarissa with him as he traveled around, even to southern Utah, taking pictures of the early settlers. The following picture of Xarissa and her children was taken by him.
By the middle of the 1860, polygamy was declared illegal, and those who refused to give up their plural wives were sent to prison. To comply with the law, Xarissa and her family lived apart. Christopher sold some of his property in Salt Lake, and, in about 1874, bought a ranch and a mill in the Bear Lake area of Idaho. While the family was there, developing a working ranch on the east shore of the lake, their third set of twins were born. Susie and Lucy were born 11 July 1875 in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. He remained there for a short time before returning with Sarah and Nelson to Salt Lake City, where life would be easier for them. Christopher by this time was sixty-seven and Sarah was sixty-four. He did come up when it was harvest times to do his share of the jobs. There came a time when he divided the property into thirds among his sons, with the proviso that whoever had the mill would take over the needs of Xarissa.
Jake tells that ‘My mother was a very kind and generous woman, and no one ever passed her door seeking food or shelter, but what they were cared for. In those early days means of travel were slow, and people would become tired and hungry before their journey’s end. They always found a haven of rest at my mother’s place.’
On the ranch it was Xarissa who took the responsibility for the family. They first lived on a ranch about fourteen miles from St, Charles. She was a good nurse and was called out many, many times to attend the sick. The night was never too dark, nor the job too hard for her to go wherever she was needed. Her son, Al, said ‘Her home and all she had, she would share with those in need.’
Every Sunday for several years, Xarissa and as many of her children as were at the ranch went to church in a horse and buggy. They traveled the fourteen miles there and back and never missed a Sunday, and were never late. She was a devout Latter-day Saint, and raised her children to be fine men and women of whom she could be proud. She said they were the greatest joy of her life.
Xarissa’s greatest pleasure, other than her children and her Church, was reading. She read everything she could get, especially the scriptures. She read all the latest news and magazines including Perry’s Monthly, the Juvenile instructor, and the Exponent, and later the Era. She always read out of the best books. She had many scrapbooks which showed the extent of her reading. When she finished with a volume of magazines she would tie them together so that she could pass them on for someone else to enjoy.
She was one of those quiet people whose life is their most eloquent sermon. She lived to see all of her children, except Mamie, happily married. Chris lived on the farm and ran the flour mill, but when he moved away, Jake and his family moved to the farm. Xarissa moved to a house in St, Charles where she spent the rest of her life.
During his later years Christopher spent his time working on building temples and doing ordinance work in them. He was 86 years old and Sarah was 83 when the capstone of the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, 6 April 1893. It was a cold spring day and Christopher attended the ceremony. He got chilled and it developed into pneumonia. Sarah was very sick at the time and was not expected to live. When he died on 3 May 1893, his body was held for two days, when she died. a funeral was held for both of them and they were buried together in one grave 19 May 1893.
Xarissa died in her home in St, Charles on 29 November 1904 from blood poisoning, caused by a splinter of glass which had lodged in her finger. She was buried in the St, Charles cemetery. Her last years were happy and fulfilling. She enjoyed her children and her grandchildren who lived nearby.
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Company Unknown (1852); Age at Departure: 13
Daughter of Amos Fairbanks and Mary Bartholomew
Married Christopher Merkley, 17 Jan 1858, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Children - Sarah Frances Merkley, Christopher Amos Merkley, Jacob Nathaniel Merkley, Alva Marion Merkley, Martha Elizabeth Merkley, Mary Jane Merkley, Sousa "Susie" Merkley, Lucy Merkley
History - Xarissa was born 29 October 1838 at LaPorte, Indiana, the daughter of Amos Fairbanks and Mary Bartholomew Fairbanks. Her mother died on 7 April 1843, leaving four young children: Alva who was nine, Xarissa who was four, Viola Jane who was three, and Chauncy , the baby boy who was just two months old. Chauncy died before he was one year old.
Amos and Mary had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so when he was left alone, Amos took his young children to Nauvoo. They lived through the hardships and the persecutions of the saints there, and with them made the journey across the plains. Although she was only thirteen years old, Xarissa drove a four-team wagon all the way, besides caring for the family. They reached the Salt Lake valley in October, 1851.
Times were hare and Amos was concerned for his children. Shortly after they arrived, he met and married Catherine Raymond, a widow, who had a number of children. The family moved to Bountiful. There was never enough money and conditions were rather unpleasant, especially for Xarissa. She was a sensitive young girl who was given too much responsibility while she was too young. When she was nineteen years old she had an unfortunate experience which resulted in her baby, who was born out of wedlock. She named her Sarah Francis, and she was born 19 May 1857 in Salt Lake City.
Christopher Merkley had been born in Williamsburg, Ontario, Canada 18 December 1808. He was raised in a strict Methodist family and was very religious. He married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Davis, when they were both quite young. Their only son, Nelson, was born 11 November 1828 when Christopher was not quite twenty and Sarah was just seventeen.
They heard the Gospel preached while they were in Canada, and were converted to the truthfulness of the new Latter-day Saint religion. They left their home and joined, finally, with the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. They passed through many of the trials experienced by other members of the Church during the early days. While in Nauvoo he was taught the principle of plural marriage, and in 1846, married Minerva Stowell in the Nauvoo Temple. This marriage was later cancelled in Salt Lake in 1856.
Christopher and his family arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1849 in the Enoch Reese Company. He bought a lot in the 17th Ward and built a house on the corner of 200 West and North Temple. Christopher was an industrious, versatile man, and by 1858 had accumulated a farm where he had wheat fields, an orchard, and large vegetable gardens.
That year he heard of Xarissa Fairbanks and her circumstance. Although he was at that time fifty years old and Xarissa was only twenty, with the encouragement of his wife, Sarah, he asked Xarissa to be his wife. When Xarissa learned that Christopher was a diligent Church worker and a prosperous leader in the community, she felt that the marriage would be an answer to her prayers. She accepted his proposal and they were married by President Brigham Young in his office on the 17th of January in 1858.
Christopher took Xarissa and her baby, whom she called Fannie, home where his first wife, Sarah, welcomed them. The two women were congenial and happy together. Each tried to help the other. Sarah took the place of the mother that Xarissa had lost when she was so young. In later years the children said that they had “never heard an angry word between the two women. They shared each other’s joys as well as their sorrows.”
Xarissa was always strong and healthy, so she did the heavy, outdoor work. She took care of the garden and the orchard. She always made the fires whether Christopher was at home or not. She did the washing, the cooking, and made all of the clothes. Sarah, who was never very strong, tended the children, who called her Grandma. She spun the wool, knitted the socks, and did the light housework.
The first home had four good-sized rooms downstairs on the main level, and two bedrooms upstairs. There were few comforts in those first years - no washing machine, only scrubbing boards, candles were made by hand with tallow from the animals poured into molds until they set. That gave the light needed along with the lanterns that had to be cleaned and cared for carefully. Braided rugs were made from rags to cover the rough plank floors. All of the clothes were made by hand, and very few of those were made from cloth that was purchased at the market.
While Xarissa was in Salt Lake, she and Christopher were blessed with twin boys. Jacob Nathanial and Christopher Amos were born 28 February 1859. Jake was a robust, healthy baby, but Chris was weak and sickly. He was hardly expected to live for the first year of his life. Due largely to the constant loving care of both of the two women, he became a strong and sturdy child. He grew into the same sort of man and lived until he was seventy-three years old. Fanny, Xarissa’s oldest child, was adopted by Christopher. She was a great help to her mother and brothers as they grew bigger.
Alva Marion, or Al as he was called, was born 5 November 1862. He was a particular favorite of Grandma, as he called Sarah. She treated him as any grandmother would. Martha Elizabeth and Mary Jane, or Matt and Mamie as they were known were the next set of twins, born 18 March 1866. Matt was a beautiful, healthy girl, but poor Mamie was injured at birth. She had curvature of the spine causing her to drag her foot, and her brain was affected as well. She was a constant care all of her life. She live to be sixty-one years old and died 27 January 1927. So, the two women had their hands full with five children under the age of seven. By this time Christopher was a ‘young’ fifty-eight years old.
When the children were old enough to go to school, Christopher arranged for Xarissa and her children to go to John Morgan’s College. He bought a life membership in this school for Xarissa and six of her children. They attended it for three of four years, thus fulfilling her lifelong dream of obtaining an education.
During the early days of the settlement in Utah, there were many hard times. At the time when the grasshoppers and crickets came into the valley, the whole family worked in the fields to save the crops. Christopher made nets out of burlap sacks, and fastened a hoop of wire in the top end with a handle attached. They would swing these as if mowing with a scythe, thus catching bushels of the pests which they burned or buried. Jake and Chris, holding the ends of a rope which was stretched across the field, would go from one end to the other keeping the grasshoppers moving. How happy they were as the hundreds of seagulls arrived and saved their crops.
Jake tells that he learned the care of horses and cattle at an early age, and herded them in the nearby pastures and hillsides. He and Chris would often go into the nearby hills to gather segos, which were used for food and were considered quite a luxury. They would also go, if they had leisure time, to the nearby hot springs lake to go swimming. It was quite a gathering place for old and young alike. Once, a soldier who was watching the fun said, “If those Mormon people can bathe in the water, so can I.” Then stripping off his clothes he jumped in to the main spring, severely burning himself.
At the time Johnson’s Army had been threatening to invade Salt Lake City, the saints had been ready to destroy everything they had built, rather than let yet another group come in and take the results of so much hard work, as had been the case in so many other places they had settled. Xarissa and all of her children were loaded into a wagon, and they went as far south as Springville. Only a few men and older boys had been left in the city to destroy it if necessary. The nearby foundation for the Temple had been covered over, and crops were planted, so it would not show where it was.
Fortunately, an agreement was made between President Brigham Young and the Army which allowed them to enter the city, on the condition that they would cause no trouble. They still stayed in the city for some time, but they were mostly there to keep an eye on those ‘troublesome Mormons.’ Gradually the families came back to their homes and resumed their lives. Nevertheless, those were troubling times.
Christopher had some serious accidents with his arms, leaving him so crippled that he could not do any hard manual labor. The children were taught early in life to take responsibilities that normally belonged to men. At nine years of age, the twin boys loaded the hay and cared for the cattle and horses. Christopher was very fond of horses and had quite a band of them. When they were driven into the corral, all of the children in the neighborhood came and climbed onto the high pole fence to watch the excitement, as nobody else had so many horses.
Christopher was a good provider and had a number of schemes for making a living. He was very handy at several different occupations, which taught all of his children that any kind of honest labor was good. At one time he built a ‘house on wheels,’ rather like an early version of modern motor homes. He had learned how to take likenesses, and often took Xarissa with him as he traveled around, even to southern Utah, taking pictures of the early settlers. The following picture of Xarissa and her children was taken by him.
By the middle of the 1860, polygamy was declared illegal, and those who refused to give up their plural wives were sent to prison. To comply with the law, Xarissa and her family lived apart. Christopher sold some of his property in Salt Lake, and, in about 1874, bought a ranch and a mill in the Bear Lake area of Idaho. While the family was there, developing a working ranch on the east shore of the lake, their third set of twins were born. Susie and Lucy were born 11 July 1875 in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. He remained there for a short time before returning with Sarah and Nelson to Salt Lake City, where life would be easier for them. Christopher by this time was sixty-seven and Sarah was sixty-four. He did come up when it was harvest times to do his share of the jobs. There came a time when he divided the property into thirds among his sons, with the proviso that whoever had the mill would take over the needs of Xarissa.
Jake tells that ‘My mother was a very kind and generous woman, and no one ever passed her door seeking food or shelter, but what they were cared for. In those early days means of travel were slow, and people would become tired and hungry before their journey’s end. They always found a haven of rest at my mother’s place.’
On the ranch it was Xarissa who took the responsibility for the family. They first lived on a ranch about fourteen miles from St, Charles. She was a good nurse and was called out many, many times to attend the sick. The night was never too dark, nor the job too hard for her to go wherever she was needed. Her son, Al, said ‘Her home and all she had, she would share with those in need.’
Every Sunday for several years, Xarissa and as many of her children as were at the ranch went to church in a horse and buggy. They traveled the fourteen miles there and back and never missed a Sunday, and were never late. She was a devout Latter-day Saint, and raised her children to be fine men and women of whom she could be proud. She said they were the greatest joy of her life.
Xarissa’s greatest pleasure, other than her children and her Church, was reading. She read everything she could get, especially the scriptures. She read all the latest news and magazines including Perry’s Monthly, the Juvenile instructor, and the Exponent, and later the Era. She always read out of the best books. She had many scrapbooks which showed the extent of her reading. When she finished with a volume of magazines she would tie them together so that she could pass them on for someone else to enjoy.
She was one of those quiet people whose life is their most eloquent sermon. She lived to see all of her children, except Mamie, happily married. Chris lived on the farm and ran the flour mill, but when he moved away, Jake and his family moved to the farm. Xarissa moved to a house in St, Charles where she spent the rest of her life.
During his later years Christopher spent his time working on building temples and doing ordinance work in them. He was 86 years old and Sarah was 83 when the capstone of the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, 6 April 1893. It was a cold spring day and Christopher attended the ceremony. He got chilled and it developed into pneumonia. Sarah was very sick at the time and was not expected to live. When he died on 3 May 1893, his body was held for two days, when she died. a funeral was held for both of them and they were buried together in one grave 19 May 1893.
Xarissa died in her home in St, Charles on 29 November 1904 from blood poisoning, caused by a splinter of glass which had lodged in her finger. She was buried in the St, Charles cemetery. Her last years were happy and fulfilling. She enjoyed her children and her grandchildren who lived nearby.
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Company Unknown (1852); Age at Departure: 13
Married Christopher Merkley, 17 Jan 1858, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
Children - Sarah Frances Merkley, Christopher Amos Merkley, Jacob Nathaniel Merkley, Alva Marion Merkley, Martha Elizabeth Merkley, Mary Jane Merkley, Sousa "Susie" Merkley, Lucy Merkley
History - Xarissa was born 29 October 1838 at LaPorte, Indiana, the daughter of Amos Fairbanks and Mary Bartholomew Fairbanks. Her mother died on 7 April 1843, leaving four young children: Alva who was nine, Xarissa who was four, Viola Jane who was three, and Chauncy , the baby boy who was just two months old. Chauncy died before he was one year old.
Amos and Mary had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, so when he was left alone, Amos took his young children to Nauvoo. They lived through the hardships and the persecutions of the saints there, and with them made the journey across the plains. Although she was only thirteen years old, Xarissa drove a four-team wagon all the way, besides caring for the family. They reached the Salt Lake valley in October, 1851.
Times were hare and Amos was concerned for his children. Shortly after they arrived, he met and married Catherine Raymond, a widow, who had a number of children. The family moved to Bountiful. There was never enough money and conditions were rather unpleasant, especially for Xarissa. She was a sensitive young girl who was given too much responsibility while she was too young. When she was nineteen years old she had an unfortunate experience which resulted in her baby, who was born out of wedlock. She named her Sarah Francis, and she was born 19 May 1857 in Salt Lake City.
Christopher Merkley had been born in Williamsburg, Ontario, Canada 18 December 1808. He was raised in a strict Methodist family and was very religious. He married his childhood sweetheart, Sarah Davis, when they were both quite young. Their only son, Nelson, was born 11 November 1828 when Christopher was not quite twenty and Sarah was just seventeen.
They heard the Gospel preached while they were in Canada, and were converted to the truthfulness of the new Latter-day Saint religion. They left their home and joined, finally, with the saints in Nauvoo, Illinois. They passed through many of the trials experienced by other members of the Church during the early days. While in Nauvoo he was taught the principle of plural marriage, and in 1846, married Minerva Stowell in the Nauvoo Temple. This marriage was later cancelled in Salt Lake in 1856.
Christopher and his family arrived in the Salt Lake valley in 1849 in the Enoch Reese Company. He bought a lot in the 17th Ward and built a house on the corner of 200 West and North Temple. Christopher was an industrious, versatile man, and by 1858 had accumulated a farm where he had wheat fields, an orchard, and large vegetable gardens.
That year he heard of Xarissa Fairbanks and her circumstance. Although he was at that time fifty years old and Xarissa was only twenty, with the encouragement of his wife, Sarah, he asked Xarissa to be his wife. When Xarissa learned that Christopher was a diligent Church worker and a prosperous leader in the community, she felt that the marriage would be an answer to her prayers. She accepted his proposal and they were married by President Brigham Young in his office on the 17th of January in 1858.
Christopher took Xarissa and her baby, whom she called Fannie, home where his first wife, Sarah, welcomed them. The two women were congenial and happy together. Each tried to help the other. Sarah took the place of the mother that Xarissa had lost when she was so young. In later years the children said that they had “never heard an angry word between the two women. They shared each other’s joys as well as their sorrows.”
Xarissa was always strong and healthy, so she did the heavy, outdoor work. She took care of the garden and the orchard. She always made the fires whether Christopher was at home or not. She did the washing, the cooking, and made all of the clothes. Sarah, who was never very strong, tended the children, who called her Grandma. She spun the wool, knitted the socks, and did the light housework.
The first home had four good-sized rooms downstairs on the main level, and two bedrooms upstairs. There were few comforts in those first years - no washing machine, only scrubbing boards, candles were made by hand with tallow from the animals poured into molds until they set. That gave the light needed along with the lanterns that had to be cleaned and cared for carefully. Braided rugs were made from rags to cover the rough plank floors. All of the clothes were made by hand, and very few of those were made from cloth that was purchased at the market.
While Xarissa was in Salt Lake, she and Christopher were blessed with twin boys. Jacob Nathanial and Christopher Amos were born 28 February 1859. Jake was a robust, healthy baby, but Chris was weak and sickly. He was hardly expected to live for the first year of his life. Due largely to the constant loving care of both of the two women, he became a strong and sturdy child. He grew into the same sort of man and lived until he was seventy-three years old. Fanny, Xarissa’s oldest child, was adopted by Christopher. She was a great help to her mother and brothers as they grew bigger.
Alva Marion, or Al as he was called, was born 5 November 1862. He was a particular favorite of Grandma, as he called Sarah. She treated him as any grandmother would. Martha Elizabeth and Mary Jane, or Matt and Mamie as they were known were the next set of twins, born 18 March 1866. Matt was a beautiful, healthy girl, but poor Mamie was injured at birth. She had curvature of the spine causing her to drag her foot, and her brain was affected as well. She was a constant care all of her life. She live to be sixty-one years old and died 27 January 1927. So, the two women had their hands full with five children under the age of seven. By this time Christopher was a ‘young’ fifty-eight years old.
When the children were old enough to go to school, Christopher arranged for Xarissa and her children to go to John Morgan’s College. He bought a life membership in this school for Xarissa and six of her children. They attended it for three of four years, thus fulfilling her lifelong dream of obtaining an education.
During the early days of the settlement in Utah, there were many hard times. At the time when the grasshoppers and crickets came into the valley, the whole family worked in the fields to save the crops. Christopher made nets out of burlap sacks, and fastened a hoop of wire in the top end with a handle attached. They would swing these as if mowing with a scythe, thus catching bushels of the pests which they burned or buried. Jake and Chris, holding the ends of a rope which was stretched across the field, would go from one end to the other keeping the grasshoppers moving. How happy they were as the hundreds of seagulls arrived and saved their crops.
Jake tells that he learned the care of horses and cattle at an early age, and herded them in the nearby pastures and hillsides. He and Chris would often go into the nearby hills to gather segos, which were used for food and were considered quite a luxury. They would also go, if they had leisure time, to the nearby hot springs lake to go swimming. It was quite a gathering place for old and young alike. Once, a soldier who was watching the fun said, “If those Mormon people can bathe in the water, so can I.” Then stripping off his clothes he jumped in to the main spring, severely burning himself.
At the time Johnson’s Army had been threatening to invade Salt Lake City, the saints had been ready to destroy everything they had built, rather than let yet another group come in and take the results of so much hard work, as had been the case in so many other places they had settled. Xarissa and all of her children were loaded into a wagon, and they went as far south as Springville. Only a few men and older boys had been left in the city to destroy it if necessary. The nearby foundation for the Temple had been covered over, and crops were planted, so it would not show where it was.
Fortunately, an agreement was made between President Brigham Young and the Army which allowed them to enter the city, on the condition that they would cause no trouble. They still stayed in the city for some time, but they were mostly there to keep an eye on those ‘troublesome Mormons.’ Gradually the families came back to their homes and resumed their lives. Nevertheless, those were troubling times.
Christopher had some serious accidents with his arms, leaving him so crippled that he could not do any hard manual labor. The children were taught early in life to take responsibilities that normally belonged to men. At nine years of age, the twin boys loaded the hay and cared for the cattle and horses. Christopher was very fond of horses and had quite a band of them. When they were driven into the corral, all of the children in the neighborhood came and climbed onto the high pole fence to watch the excitement, as nobody else had so many horses.
Christopher was a good provider and had a number of schemes for making a living. He was very handy at several different occupations, which taught all of his children that any kind of honest labor was good. At one time he built a ‘house on wheels,’ rather like an early version of modern motor homes. He had learned how to take likenesses, and often took Xarissa with him as he traveled around, even to southern Utah, taking pictures of the early settlers. The following picture of Xarissa and her children was taken by him.
By the middle of the 1860, polygamy was declared illegal, and those who refused to give up their plural wives were sent to prison. To comply with the law, Xarissa and her family lived apart. Christopher sold some of his property in Salt Lake, and, in about 1874, bought a ranch and a mill in the Bear Lake area of Idaho. While the family was there, developing a working ranch on the east shore of the lake, their third set of twins were born. Susie and Lucy were born 11 July 1875 in St. Charles, Bear Lake, Idaho. He remained there for a short time before returning with Sarah and Nelson to Salt Lake City, where life would be easier for them. Christopher by this time was sixty-seven and Sarah was sixty-four. He did come up when it was harvest times to do his share of the jobs. There came a time when he divided the property into thirds among his sons, with the proviso that whoever had the mill would take over the needs of Xarissa.
Jake tells that ‘My mother was a very kind and generous woman, and no one ever passed her door seeking food or shelter, but what they were cared for. In those early days means of travel were slow, and people would become tired and hungry before their journey’s end. They always found a haven of rest at my mother’s place.’
On the ranch it was Xarissa who took the responsibility for the family. They first lived on a ranch about fourteen miles from St, Charles. She was a good nurse and was called out many, many times to attend the sick. The night was never too dark, nor the job too hard for her to go wherever she was needed. Her son, Al, said ‘Her home and all she had, she would share with those in need.’
Every Sunday for several years, Xarissa and as many of her children as were at the ranch went to church in a horse and buggy. They traveled the fourteen miles there and back and never missed a Sunday, and were never late. She was a devout Latter-day Saint, and raised her children to be fine men and women of whom she could be proud. She said they were the greatest joy of her life.
Xarissa’s greatest pleasure, other than her children and her Church, was reading. She read everything she could get, especially the scriptures. She read all the latest news and magazines including Perry’s Monthly, the Juvenile instructor, and the Exponent, and later the Era. She always read out of the best books. She had many scrapbooks which showed the extent of her reading. When she finished with a volume of magazines she would tie them together so that she could pass them on for someone else to enjoy.
She was one of those quiet people whose life is their most eloquent sermon. She lived to see all of her children, except Mamie, happily married. Chris lived on the farm and ran the flour mill, but when he moved away, Jake and his family moved to the farm. Xarissa moved to a house in St, Charles where she spent the rest of her life.
During his later years Christopher spent his time working on building temples and doing ordinance work in them. He was 86 years old and Sarah was 83 when the capstone of the Salt Lake Temple was dedicated, 6 April 1893. It was a cold spring day and Christopher attended the ceremony. He got chilled and it developed into pneumonia. Sarah was very sick at the time and was not expected to live. When he died on 3 May 1893, his body was held for two days, when she died. a funeral was held for both of them and they were buried together in one grave 19 May 1893.
Xarissa died in her home in St, Charles on 29 November 1904 from blood poisoning, caused by a splinter of glass which had lodged in her finger. She was buried in the St, Charles cemetery. Her last years were happy and fulfilling. She enjoyed her children and her grandchildren who lived nearby.
Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Company Unknown (1852); Age at Departure: 13
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