Born at St. Clair, Columbiana, Ohio

Son of Peter Shirts and Margaret Cameron

Married Margaret Ann Haslam, 5 February 1855, Fort Harmony, Iron, Utah

Children - William Darius Shirts, Moroni Shirts, Margaret Ann Shirts, George Henry Shurts, Miriam Elizabeth Shirts, James Ellis Shirts, Joseph Francis Shurtz, Mary Ellen Shirts, Reese Napoleon Shirts, Sariah Jane Shirts, John Wesley Shirts, Alice Malinda Shirts

History - Darius' parents moved to Nauvoo with four children under four years of age. Their fifth child was a daughter who died with chills and fever. Darius' parents were very poor, but they followed the Saints with the Prophet Joseph Smith and settled in Nauvoo. There his father joined the Nauvoo Legion and helped to build the Nauvoo Temple. Darius was eleven years old when Joseph and Hyrum were martyred.

King Darius Shirts traveled to Utah with the Howard Egan company, departing 18 Apr 1849. This company arrived in the Great Salt Lake City, 7 Aug 1849. His parents traveled later in the Benjamin Hawkins Train in 1850.

During the journey to Zion Darius' mother died and was buried on the Platte River bank, wrapped in a sheet and placed in a wagon box coffin. Darius' father and his six young children trudged on until they reached the Great Salt Lake Valley.

The Shirts' family was called to move several times helping to settle Harmony and upper Sevier. Finally they settled on a little farm, and the stream of water nearby was called Shirts Creek.

Darius' father had led a company of pioneers in their efforts to establish communities and had been given the title of Captain Shirts. Darius also lived in the Fort at some time as a protection against Indians.

King Darius knew the loneliness and hardships of a motherless pioneer boy although he had three stepmothers after his own mother's death. He also knew the terror of battle for he fought in the Black Hawk War.

At the age of twenty two, King Darius Shirts married Margaret Ann Haslam and made a home for his family in Old Harmony. Darius and Margaret bore 12 children.

Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel, Benjamin Hawkins Company (1850); Age at Departure: 16