Lemuel Herrick & Sally Judd

Lemuel Herrick

Lemuel Herrick was born 13 March 1792 at Charleston, New York, the son of Amos and Eunice Searle. His father, Amos, served in the Revolutionary War in Vermont, and later going into New York State.  He married Deborah Filmore in Connington, Vermont, where she died; he then married Eunice Searl, who was the daughter of John and Margaret (Cook) Searl.  Lemuel was the fourth child in a family of six children.

Lemuel married at Hamilton, New York, Sally Judd, who was born 17 March 1792 at Warren, Connecticut. They lived at Madison County, New York, where their first son, Clinton Jeremiah, was born in 1814.  From there they moved to Herkimer County where Eliza Ann was born in 1815, then to Niagara County where the little son, Clinton, died, and their third child was born, Alonzo Tarquin, in 1817.

At this time many people were migrating into the valley of Ohio, and Lemuel and Sally were among this group of people.  They settled in Portage County along with some of Sally’s brothers and Lemuel’s parents.  This is where their fourth child was born. They ended up having 11 children together.

Organization of the Church. April 6, 1830

Just one year later a little group of Mormons at Fayette, New York, being previously baptized, were gathered together, 6 April 1830 and they were at the home of Peter Whitmer, Senior. Only six men were present, and while here at this meeting Joseph Smith ordained Oliver Cowdery, and in return Oliver Cowdery ordained Joseph, then both men confirmed each other a member into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. How this group of six men grew, until in October, 1830, Joseph set Parley P. Pratt and Ziba Peterson apart as missionaries to go westward and teach the Lamanites. So Parley P. Pratt, being a native of Ohio [New York], on his journey went into the wilderness into Ohio preaching as they went and converting many. When they came to Kirtland, [Ohio], near the home of Orson Pratt, they tarried for some time and many souls learned of the restored gospel and many of them were baptized, and among them were Lemuel Herrick and his wife Sally, who were baptized in Ohio in 1830.

The Saints in 1831 were now settling in Missouri, so Lemuel and Sally and their six children left Ohio and traveled into the state of Missouri, going into Jackson County. Here their eleventh child was born, Dianna, [on] September 29, 1832. Lemuel’s father, Amos, had died in 1823 at Portage County, Ohio, so now his mother, being a widow and alone, went with Lemuel and his family into Missouri. They were then driven by mobs from Jackson County in 1834 into Caldwell County where they lived four years, and on the 6 September 1838 his mother passed away, age 77. This was at a time [when] the Saints were being so severely persecuted by the people and great suffering was caused among the Saints, and especially the poor aged.

The following is the affidavit of Lemuel Herrick that was submitted to the House Judiciary Committee seeking redress for damages done in Missouri by the mobs. 

(The information was taken from: Individual Affidavits from the LDS Historical Department G–O)

HERRICK, Lemuel

SL

in the year 1834 in Jackson County Mo

to the Burning my house	$150.00
to Burning my fence laying my impruvment wast[e]	150.00
to the desstrucktion of my Crops	100.00
to mooving from place to place for 8 weeks	100.00
to loss of propoty in Caldwell in 1838 to three horses stolen	100.00
to loss in my land	600.00
to loss in persnell property	200.00
to Mooving from Caldwell to Ilanoiss	100.00
	$1,500.00

 A Bill of damage done by the Mobbers of Missouri to me

Lemuel Herrick

I certify the within acount to Be Just and true a cording to the Best of my Knowledg

Lemuel Herrick 

I have a letter sent me by a Mrs. Crocker who happens to not be a member of our church, but related through the Searle line. I was very impressed by the letter because this is what happened to our Eunice (Searle) Herrick’s grave.

Dear Mrs. Crocker:

Your letter requiring to Eunice Searle was handed me, because the Caldwell Co. authorities said they did not see how there could be any records and they considered me as one who knows about early residents of this county, if anyone does, I do this work as Historian of our local D.A.R. chapter, hence it is entirely gratuitous, and I am glad to get such inquiries, - cannot always answer them as in your case for the following causes:

Caldwell Co. as you may know, was the so-called Mormon County in (l838—9) and as such was the center of much war and trouble from the few Gentiles in the county. We have the records of about four Mormon deaths of adults, but sense shows there were more in the four year period before their expulsion in 1838-9.

The LDS had a graveyard at Far West, near here. (This is where Eunice was buried). But when they were driven out the graveyard was plowed over as a field, and the grave stones were taken off by gentiles to be used as foundations, there were Mormons all over and some were said to be buried at Mud Creek. If there were any records left they would probably be destroyed, the Gentiles hated them so bad and the Civil War burned and destroyed the court house.

I have a feeling that the Searle-Herrick family was Mormons, and I believe they took their records with them, I am wondering if you know this rather unique history of Caldwell County, I myself am not a Mormon but having been born in this County and appreciating the rare history here, I have gone into the L.D.S. History research, as much as I can. Far West, once a city of 3000 settlers, is absolutely gone, except a few stones of the attempt to build a Mormon Temple. If you ever come out this far in the car, it would be an interesting detour to go to Far West site.

Yours very truly,

Bertha Booth

So we can now see by this letter how the mob destroyed the graves of our people, and our Eunice (Searle) Herrick was numbered among our dead at this place.

Lemuel and his family went with the Saints into the state of Illinois; some left the fall of 1838 and some went the next spring, and hundreds of families were gathered together at the Missouri River, opposite the city of Quincy, awaiting their turn to cross in the one ferryboat that was plying back and forth carrying the exiled Saints from the cruel state of Missouri to the friendly state of Illinois.

What a scene--thousands of honest, humble followers of Christ, (writes one) destitute of the necessities of life, fleeing before a relentless mob made up [of] our own country men backed by the cruel extermination order of the governor, and all this because we believed in new revelations, that God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Lemuel and Sally with their children were among these Saints and were into Commerce, Illinois, later named Nauvoo, in Hancock County, Illinois. Here in Nauvoo they helped build the Nauvoo Temple and a beautiful city. There again Lemuel had great sorrow, for on the 17th of November, 1841, his dear beloved wife, Sally, died due to the privations and sufferings of the Saints, and Lemuel and his children was still here at Nauvoo when the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum were martyred 27 June 1844. He surely loved this great man, the prophet of God, and how their hearts were torn with sorrow, (quotes one) how tears poured down every cheek. It must have been similar among the disciples of Jesus when He was crucified, for you could meet no one but what they were weeping. Jesus said to His disciples, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world will rejoice, and ye shall be sorrowful, but the sorrow shall be turned into joy" (John 15:21).

The name of Sally Judd Herrick is listed as one of the graves
in the Old Nauvoo Cemetery.
There is no gravestone for her.
It's assumed it was originally made of wood
and did not survive the past 150 years

            Truly a cloud was over the whole city, but the living faith was in their hearts and God sent forth His comforter and comforted them, for they knew that the kingdom of God was set up to stand forever. And this mighty blow did not check the work in the least, for the people went to work with double diligence to finish the [Nauvoo] Temple, and to last--O! the joy when it was dedicated. Brother Watts sang the hymn "Come to Me, Will You Come to the Saints that have Died," and it seemed to them the whole house was filled with angels, and they now had the privilege of going into that beautiful temple and doing work for the living, and it was here that Lemuel Herrick was among the first, for he received his endowments on the 31 January 1846. And a good thing he did because the Saints were now driven out of Nauvoo, and Lemuel died before another temple was erected.

But alas, that hatred that killed the Prophet and his brother now gathered more thickly around them. The hand of persecution was upon them right and left. Over 20,000 people who had been gathered to that beautiful city and temple were now driven out of Nauvoo and again into the wilderness.

Lemuel Herrick Property with Red Arrow

Can any pen describe or tongue relate, the feelings of those thousands of innocent people driven into the wilderness of Iowa, winter approaching, leaving their homes and all they had, taking their children and very few things such as bedding, a few provisions such as they could carry, and crossing the Mississippi River into the prairies of Iowa--20,000 people without homes, not enough food, only enough to feed themselves for a few days, getting shelter as best they could; they could look back and see their city in smoke.

Thousands of them camped along the river, many sick, many poor among them, and we next find Lemuel and his children at Mount Pisgah, Iowa, in 1846. From there they traveled to Holt County where his daughter, Amanda, died at Omaha, Nebraska, 12 June 1850. She had married William Blandon in Quincy, Illinois, and had three children by him who had all died in infancy. And then at last Lemuel Herrick came on into the Great Salt Lake Valley with the Thomas Johnson Company, arriving 12 September 1850.

(I found conflicting information in the above paragraph regarding Amanda’s death and the company they joined traveling to Salt Lake City.  I am not sure which is true. On findagrave.com, the following information was found: Lemuel would be leaving Winter Quarters on 11 Jun 1850, at the age of 56, with the James Pace Company along with Amanda Herrick, Diana Herrick, Lester James Herrick, Lucy Jane Herrick, Nelson Herrick and two married daughters Eliza Ann (Herrick) Keyes and Lucinda (Herrick) Keyes and their husbands Harrison and Perry Keyes and grandchildren. Perry Keyes, his son-in-law, and Zenas Keyes, one of his grandchildren, died on the trek to the Salt Lake Valley.)

He and his children soon went into Ogden, for we find where Brigham Young, on the 28th August 1850, set out for Ogden to visit the growing settlement there and, at a meeting in the evening he gave the Weber Saints some advice, "He counseled them not to settle in the country, but to move on to the city lots, build good houses, schools, meetinghouses, and public buildings, fence their gardens and plant out fruit trees so that Ogden might be a permanent city and a suitable headquarters for the northern country." Then we know that Lemuel was to soon leave Salt Lake, for we find him helping to survey the city of Ogden. He carried the chain laying out the town; Jesse W. Fox was the engineer.

Lemuel followed the trade as a tailor, and no doubt his knowledge of being a good tailor came in good many times after. He was a small man. He died at Ogden l September 1861 and is buried in the Herrick plot in the Ogden Cemetery by the side of his son, Nelson, who died just before his father, 19 March 1861. (He was drug to death by a team of horses while hauling logs out of Ogden Canyon). Of Sally Judd I know very little. I have found what I believe to be her father, Obediah Judd, but have never found good proof. If he is proven not to be her father, when I have a long Judd line' and it is nearly all worked out, but so far Sally is not sealed to any parents--which worries me. I hope some day soon that someone will take this line, as I have so many I am working on, and find her ancestors, does the work, and has her sealed to her parents.

Ogden Cemetery