Adopted son of Abraham Hunsaker and Harriet Vernisha Beckstead

No mention is made in the diary of Abraham of a specific date when Lemuel became a member of his family; however, other events indicate it could have been in 1854, when the family lived in Sandy and grazed stock on the west side of the Jordan River. By 1855 Abraham had moved his stock to the south end of Utah Lake where he built a small wooden home. Aunt Harriet Beckstead, his second wife, lived there at the herd ground to make things more comfortable for the boys. Lewis, the oldest, looked after the stock. He was seventeen, Allen was nearly sixteen, Nephi twelve and Lemuel probably eight or nine.

I can remember my grandfather, Israel Hunsaker, saying, "Oh, Pa could never stand to see a child abused." Ben H., his half-brother said, "Father bought him from a tribe of Indians, paying a high price in goods of various kinds." One stroy was that Abraham Hunsaker found the boy after most of his people had been killed and the others routed. Aunt Meltrude Hunsaker Stohl read all she could from the writings of Hamblin and others. She felt it improbable that a child would be left behind. It was much more likely that he would be taken as part of the spoils of war, for even an Indian child could be traded for some articles of value.

Jacob Hamblin had been sent to work among the Indians by President Brigham Young. He found that one of the cruelest practices was that of stealing children from other tribes and selling them into slavery. Girls, women, and half-grown boys brought the best prices. The Utes were a very large tribe, and the Piede Indians were much in fear of them-for good reason. President Young, knowing of this problem, had instructed Jacob Hamblin and others to buy the captive children and find homes for them. Knowing Abraham Hunsaker as they did, his family was sure that he would never had stood by and witnessed the inhuman treatment of a captive child-Indian or otherwise. His implicit obedience to those in authority makes certain the fact that the boy was purchased to save him from a terrible fate.

The first mention of Lemuel is February 23, 1856. On this day the Indians attacked the family living at the south end of Utah Lake. Abraham was on his way to his family at the herd ground and realized there was trouble ahead. His team was tired, but he knew he must get his family and his stock away as soon as possible. When he arrived, he found no horses for the return journey. He sent Lewis back a couple of miles to get a horse he had seen grazing. He hurriedly sent Allen and Lemuel to gather the sheep. Lemuel then helped Allen drive in the cattle, from which they selected two to hitch to the wagon. By this time Lewis was separated from the family-never to be seen again. When darkness came, the family began to make their escape. Abraham wrote, "I drove two teams, without any road, and the boys and Harriet drove the sheep and cattle we could gather as we went along. Lemuel was chosen as rear guard as he could see in the dark better than any white man.

"Lewis had not returned. I feared he had been killed by Indians. We went in the direction he had gone. He came to where Lewis had found the mare, and we could see where his horse or some other animal was on the jump. We traveled with all possible speed. Some of our sheep gave out before we got to Carson's herd. I sent Allen on to Carsons to get a company to follow the Indians, but when He got there, he found the house had been plundered; and no one was there. He came back to meet us, and then we went on to the Carson cabin. Everything had been taken.

"It was very dark, so we decided to leave the cattle and sheep there and to on to Wixom's. I was driving the lead team with my gun on my shoulder. Allen drove the other team of oxen and had only an ax for protection. Harriet and the lesser boys rode in the wagon.

"We traveled about 300 yards when I saw a man lying on his back dead. I feared that it was my son Lewis, but when I got down and looked, it proved to be George Carson. We reached Wixom's cabin about one o'clock in the night."

Sunday, Feb. 24, by nightfall about twenty-five men had been gathered. The whole company started for the herd ground by way of Carson's. There they found two dead men, the men Abraham had stayed with on Friday night. At the Hunsaker herd ground they tried to trace what had happened.

Abraham had allowed to take a horse and three men to go on searching. They also found about 140 cattle. Then later, with Abraham and Allen still searching for Lewis, they could see that their stock had been drivn into two large groups and concluded the herd men had been trying to move them to a safer place.

He said, "As we moved toward the camp, we saw another man lying dead. We thought surely it was Lewis, but it was not. It was one of the herdsmen, and we found the other two also slain. It was after dark, and we crept back to the search camp. When we were sure who was there, we stood up. Captain Willis thought it was another surprise Indian attack. He had taken aim at me but could not pull the trigger.

"We reached our home in Salt Lake County on Monday, March 3rd, with the sad news about Lewis; Eliza and the girls lamented with me."

After the escape, the family, with others, was directed to go to Carson Valley, Nevada. In his diary he wrote on March 18, 1857, "This day I hitched our horses to the carriage to go to the West Fork of the Carson River with my family, Bro. Joseph Murdock, and his family. We stopped at a stream, sang a song, had a prayer, and I went down to the water and baptized my son Abraham (nearly nine), my boy Lemuel who is a Lamanite or a Nephite. Bro. Murdock baptized his two Lamanites, Burnette and Pickette. Lemuel is probably older than my son Abraham."

Later he wrote, "One of my wives is teaching school. It gives me much pleasure to see Lemuel doing so well in his schoolwork."

Sometime later the Hunsaker familyw as requested to move to Brigham City. Rangeland for his stock was found in Little Valley which was later called Mantua. In 1858 Abraham built the large home east of the Courthouse in Brigham, his family attended school in that area. A Bro. Gilbert, in 1898, told my Aunt Meltrude H. Stohl, a teacher in the 4th Ward School, that Lemuel was a fine-looking Indian boy, that he was an excellent student, well behaved, honest, dependable, and trustworthy-just like all the other Hunsaker boys. He excelled in the games they played and was never shunned because he was an Indian.

It is true that in 1858-1859 some of the Indians in southern Idaho and northern Utah had become troublesome. They had done a lot of pilfering, even stealing crops from the fields and driving away horses and cattle whenever they could. Men had even been killed trying to save or recover their property. Complaints were made to the soldiers at Fort Douglas, and a company of men Under Colonel Connor were sent north to put a stop the the problems.

There were fifteen lodges of Indians camped at Devil's Slide to the south of Mantua. They were not the troublesome Indians, so they were warned by Sheriff Sheldon Cutler that troops were coming. They moved their squaws, papooses, and horses back into the hills for safety. Also, the troops were told by everybody they talked to that the Hunsaker boy would be in Little Valley looking after the family stock, and under no circumstances were they to injure him. Abraham was concerned for fear there would be a problem, so he went up immediately. Sheriff Cutler had Lemuel go on his horse because they felt there wasn't time to round up other horses on foot. They were moving the stock to another feed ground.

When Abraham saw the soldiers entering the valley, he feared for his boy and ran with all the speed he could muster-all the time shouting, "Don't kill my boy-don't kill my son!" The fatal shot was fired just as he reached Lemuel.

Abraham went directly to the company commander, who denied giving an order to shoot. Then he went down the complete length of the line of soldiers, daring the guilty one to face him. Each soldier denied any guilt. They must have had to admit there was no band of marauding Indians, only a defenseless thirteen-year-old boy shot down while caring for the family stock.

My grandfather, Israel Hunsaker, was seven years old when Lemuel was killed. Also, at that time, Abraham had four wives and seventeen children. The older boys who could help with the livestock usually were cared for my the wife who lived nearest the feeding rounds; and so, in a sense, everyone belonged to everybody.

Abraham had a great way of getting jobs done. He'd say "Now, while we are resting, let's get this feed carried," or "let's get this wood stacked," or whatever job needed doing. Then, he would comment, "Amazing how much can be done while we are resting."

The family had lived together, played together, prayed together, worked together, and now they grieved together. Lemuel had truly belonged. Lemuel's body was brought to Brigham City by Susie Dunn Hunsaker. He was laid to rest in the Hunsaker burial plot, mourned for as though he had been their own son.

Abraham's journal showing deaths in his family, lists the following information: LEMUEL HUNSAKER, a Piede Indian, who was killed by a soldier, August 13th 1859.

"Indian Lemuel," Ruth S. Summerhays, Family Diaries.