John S. Haslam

John S. Haslam was born on May 31, 1823 in Bolton, Lancashire (now Bolton, Greater Manchester), England. The initial letter S may represent either Samuel or Spencer. No christening record or other primary documentary proof has been found to establish the exact facts of John's birth. There is very little known about his parentage. The record of John Haslam as a Seventy in Nauvoo just shows his father as William, with no last name given (Source: 70s Rec, 29 Qrm, Bk B Sel, 1845, LDS Arc, pg. 113, Land and Records Office, Nauvoo). John Haslam's internment entry shows his mother as Jane.

In 1842, when John S Haslam was 19, he was converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Orson Hyde. According to records on file in the Land and Records Office in Nauvoo, John was baptized on 15 September 1842. John came to the United States in the fall of 1842 on the ship with Elder Hyde.

John met the Samuel Hamer family. They were very kind to him, and he grew to love them. Samuel Hamer was a blacksmith, and John came to work for him. Samuel died of malaria in August 1843 in Nauvoo. John became very close to the Hamer family, and married Samuel's daughter, Martha. They were married by Orson Hyde in St. Louis on March 4, 1845. The witness was Samuel Worthen.

In 1845, John and Martha moved to Nauvoo. A letter from the Church Historical Department says, "Another document states that John S. Haslam operated the elevator of Haines and Lambert's cannon during the Battle of Nauvoo, which occurred in September 1846 and resulted in the small remnant of Saints still in Nauvoo to be forcibly ejected from their homes." John was part of this.

Their first child, Jane Ellen, was born February 5, 1846 in Nauvoo. Persecution increased in Nauvoo, and the Saints began to leave in large numbers between February and July of 1846. "In February 1846, the first wagons pulled from the yards and shops and moved toward the river. All during the spring and summer, the chief sounds of the city were the crunching of wagon wheels on streets leading to the ferry, the hammers and saws now silently packed away in toolboxes in the departing wagons. No other city in American history had ever undergone such a transformation in so few months. No other people, en masse, had closed the doors of their homes in such a flourishing city and abandoned so much. By October 1846 external forces had reduced the once magnificent city to a virtual ghost town." (In Old Nauvoo)

A second son, Samuel Hamer Haslam, was born to John and Martha in Ferryville, Pottawattamie, Iowa, on March 2, 1851. About twenty-five hundred Saints were camped on Pottawattamie Indian lands on the east side of the Missouri river. Ferryville was the site of the North Mormon Ferry.

John did not leave for the Salt Lake Valley until 1851. The family traveled with the Orson Pratt company. John Henry Haslem tells, "In crossing the plains they all started with Brigham Young and the first company in 1847, but when they got to where they built the wagons and handcarts, Brigham asked John S. Haslem and Mr. Hamer to stay there and make wagons and handcarts for the immigrants for a year or more. He told them to let the rest of their families go on. Had they taken Brigham Young's advice they wouldn't have had trouble, as they had plenty of food there to get them through in good shape. But they didn't like to be separated, so decided to all stay (twenty or more men), and they would hurry and get all the carts and wagons made, and then go the next summer, as they thought they would have food to last that long. But next spring they had no surplus wagons as the immigrants took them as fast as they could make them. By the way, if they did get any pay for their work, they didn't get enough to replace their food they ate while they were making these wagons. If the immigrants didn't have anything to trade for wagons, Brigham said to let them have them anyway, as their labor was classed as a mission for the Church. So they didn't want to be pikers after Brigham had asked them to stay, so the years went by until they were getting so short of food they decided if they were going to get to Utah as all, they had to start.

At Winter Quarters they built a one-room house of logs, and lived there several years while Samuel Hamer, Jr. and John S. Haslam helped the Saints carry supplies and immigrants across the Missouri River. They also did blacksmith work while living at Winter Quarters. A son, John Joseph, was born to John and Martha in Winter Quarters on March 2, 1848. After the birth of the new baby, John S. and Samuel Hamer, Jr. went back to the Missouri River to work to get money to immigrate to Utah.

They arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in October of 1851. John went to work in the Church blacksmith shop. Each family of settlers received an allotment of ten acres of land. The Haslams owned a block of land between 1st and 2nd North, and between 5th and 6th West. The Haslams made their home in the 16th Ward. Ward records show that John and Martha and their children lived next door to Martha's mother, and brother and his family. Martha's brother, John, also worked as a blacksmith. John took the letter "S" to differentiate himself from a neighbor, John R. Haslam, who was also from Bolton. This John R Haslam was the John Haslam mentioned in Brigham Young's daughter's book, as her father's storekeeper. The store records are still in the possession of his descendants.

This was a productive time for John and Martha Haslam. More children came into the Haslam family, to join the Haslam's daughter and two sons. Martha Ann was born February 13, 1852. Then another son, Thomas was born February 1855. A third daughter, Elizabeth, was born next, on September 1857. A fourth son, Brigham was born March 21, 1860. He was the first of the Haslam children to die as a child. One year later, on June 20, 1861, another son, William was born. A daughter, Mary, was born two years later, on April 25, 1863. Next a son, Joshua Haslem, was born on February 2, 1865. Finally, a daughter, Ruth, was born on June 6, 1867. Altogether, John and Martha had eleven children, six sons and five daughters. Martha was 41 at the birth of her last daughter. It was a difficult birth, and Martha lingered for ten days before dying of complications due to childbirth. The baby, Ruth, only lived three months before she also died.

John sorrowed for the loss of his wife of 22 years, and struggled with the job of raising a large family of young children. On the 8th of October, 1867, at the first conference that convened in the Tabernacle, many missionaries were called to settle and strengthen the settlements of southern Utah. John was called by President Brigham Young to take his family and go settle Panaca, Lincoln County, Utah, on what was called the "Muddy Mission". President Young advised him to marry again. He suggested Mary Ann Kay Openshaw. She was an abused wife, with a young daughter, who had been given a temple divorce. John agreed, and they were married on November 9, 1867. Two weeks later they left for Panaca. John sold most of his land in Salt Lake, except for 200 feet or so each way from the northeast corner of the block. He bought a team of oxen for the 300 mile trip. Their time on this mission was challenging.

John and his family returned to Salt Lake City in June of 1871. They built a two-room house with a summer kitchen on the property he had not sold. Later other rooms were added to the part brick and part frame house. Mary Ann was a loving mother to all the children. Three more were born to John and Mary Ann: Zina in 1873, Enos Moroni in 1875, and Annie Isabel in 1878. "Maggie died of Scarlet Fever at the age of six years, and Enos and Zina died within a week of each other with Diphtheria. In those days they had high mortality rates. John and Mary lost seven children in twelve years in addition to John and Martha's baby Ruth, and Martha herself in 1867. One child died each year for four years, and two in one week from contagious diseases. This indicated the trying times that they lived in. John S Haslam had sixteen children by his two wives, and adopted Martha Jane Openshaw whom he raised as his own." (Gladys Haslam Drennan)

John went to work for James Lawson at his blacksmith shop on 2nd West and 1st North. He also worked at the church blacksmith shop, and for the Utah Central Railroad, where he lost his sight in one eye, "It was here that he got a piece of steel in his eye, requiring him to have an operation on it. Several people at work helped to raise the money for the surgery, but it was not a success, and he went blind in that eye." (Gladys Haslam Drennan) Shortly after that he found that he had a cataract in the other eye, and needed another operation. By 1883 he was totally blind.

Excerpts from his history by Gladys Haslam Drennan