Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1907-10-08
SPENCER FAMILY
HOLDS REUNION
Descendants OF Daniel Hyum
and 0rson Spencer Meet in
Eighteenth Ward Hall.
LETTERS OF TWO BROTHERS.
Epi-tlc. oft Historic Interest rcuucd in
Early Day. Read Before
The Ns-cmbiagr.


Tho Spencer nmuy Including de-
sccudauts of DomfI H'rm and Or-oh
Spencer held thoIr annual feunian last
night in tha Eighteenth ward hall, the
gathering being iha largest that has yet
assembled and the program and ali
details being among The most euJoya
bile that have set been given. The
program opened with quartet py
Miss Roh8u Spencer Miss Julistte o..
knoultou. O.. b. Felt aud }. u. spencer
with Miss jean Spencer aCcompanist.
followed by soprano solo by Miss Eer-
tha Spencer
Miss Ellen g. TibbItt sang two
charming ballads. and Miss Avira
Hirst followed with "a piano solo. The
hit Of the evening was made by three
little daughters OF Mrs Ivy 'lawsou
Greene. Mildred Elsie ANA Myrtle who
sang two character songs with appro-
PIRATE action to the delight OF their
audience Two more selections by The
nrst quartet finished fhe program. the
chief feature OFF which .gls Che readiug
OF two letters written respectively by
Daniel and Ors0u Spencer 90 a brother
m Massachus-tts shortly after thsy had
migrated to the Salt Lake valley Dane
Gel Speucers letter Deurs the date and
address of Oct s. lsfs. and Oreuu Spen-
GERS. Sept l5 1854. Cincinnati. where the
writer was IululliuE mission. These
letters were preserved hy the brother
and came into Che possession of
grandson who recently gave them into
ID |
They are sl much a. part OF the history
az the time ana describe 800 graphically
the then existing conditions that their
publication b. deemed mterps Ting Go
many readers off the News. They are
a. follows
Brother Grove. 30 having been some
time since Q have heard anything from
you and having spent about One year
iu this valley I think that q few lines
from me may Doe somewhat interesting
AZ you have probably heard from us
since our departure from Nauyoo. 1
shall not be ls particular as ] otherwise
should 1 VIII say. however that wo
started ou tfe tith day OF February
1896 from NauVoo by Compulsion az 90
were. as wc had orders not Co be seen
at that place after The lst OF May fol-
lowing The consequences of our stay
ing if we had done SO has been dem-
onstrntcd by the conduct of the mobs
towards our brethren who were not able
20 remove until that time. Immediate
lv after we started from our homes.
which were quite cOmtortuble, the
weather was quite cold and "a heavy
snoWstorn came ON. the snow falling
deep We an had to camp out some
with. and some without tents. and hav-
ing TO cook iu the rain and snow, and 60
lodge on the damp ground or In our
Wagons which leaked much, you VIII
sec that we wcro much exposed. iu con-
sequence Of which Cathaune, orson' g
wife lost her life. as did Mary Spcnc-
en- and D. Hendrix X wife, many others
suffering much then, ana death ANA as
case being fastened upon others which
showed when we arrived at Council
bluffs or what we called Winter Quar-
tors. for our people died by hundreds
during the next winter. When we lett
we had not time Co dispose Of our lana
on property. and az our means 10 start
with was small we concluded 20 Tee
turn and dispose OF our houses and
land for something 90 aid us in our
fournev. Accordingly Brothers III
ram and Claudius went back
10 sell our farms and houses, ana they
succeeded iu getting an oHer TOT "a
small part of their value pfihclphly
In cattle. and they come hundreds OF
miles from NnuVOo. They went h
pursuit Of them m the month OF july
rbov had about 100 head quite wild
ANA after they started them they round
our euemies were determined to steal
them AS YOU know, that brother
Hiram is quite cautious aud perse-
Vrrlne. he attempted to escape ana ala
80 by driving night and day and mis-
guiding those that pursued them in
the way tr.N were soiuE. ihus py
fatigue and want of sleep he lost
his ufe. AMID CaudIus was despaired