Ensign Family Kettle

Contributed By Donise Price · 20 January 2014 · 

Tale of the Ensigns’ Kettle

This black kettle would have many a story to tell if it could, because it swung beneath the wagon of the Ensigns’ as they made their way across the plains from Nauvoo to the Valley of the Great Salt Lake. It belonged to Horace Datus and Mary Bronson Ensign. They acquired it as they made preparations to join the Saints of 1844. The kettle was used extensively in the making of soups, stews, buffalo roasts, baking biscuits and sour dough bread. No doubt this kettle played a big part on their journey as they circled their wagons for the night and prepared their food over the camp fires. This kettle, among other relics, was kept in the family by their son, Luman Ashley Ensign. It’s next home was in Luman’s daughter’s, Mary Emma Ensign. She married Joseph Mahonri Cahoon. The kettle then found a home in Miriam Cahoon’s home, their daughter. From there it was given to their son and daughter, Gordon and Ilene Pyper, children of Marian Cahoon Pyper. Later Ilene gave complete rights to her brother, Gordon. After a time it became excess and he sold it to a friend, Robert Sheldon for $20.00. Robert Sheldon was the ward custodian in Parley’s 3rd Ward, Parley’s Stake. I was living in that same ward, and knowing I was an Ensign, and knowing it was an heirloom, wanted to know if I would like to buy it. Mother and especially Dad, were very excited about acquiring it. They suggested I pay $20.00 or more if it became necessary. The deal of $20.00 was made, and now this Ensign pioneer cast iron kettle is back in the Ensign family where it belongs. I received it 134 years after it entered the Valley. Patricia Ensign Richards.

Mormon Pioneer Cemetery - ENSIGN

Horace Datus ENSIGN (1797-1846)

Mormon Pioneer Cemetery, Omaha, Douglas County, Nebraska Born 28 Sep 1797 in Westfield, Hampden, Massachusetts. Son of Isaac Ensign and Lydia Noble. Married Mary BRONSON (1806-1888) 28 Sep 1825 Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut. Children - Horace Datus Ensign (1826-1866), Luman Ashley Ensign (1828-1897), John Calvin Ensign (1829-1907), Martin Luther Ensign (1831-1911), Rufus Bronson Ensign (1832-1915), Elijah Ensign (1836-1837), Lydia Esther Ensign (1841-1852). [Listed in Cutter's Park #15, Winter Quarters] Died 28 Sep 1846 Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa [Winter Quarters / Florence] Heart Throbs of the West, Kate B. Carter, Vol. 12, p. 376 My grandfather, Horace Ensign, and his five sons of Westfield, Massachusetts, were all carpenters. They joined the L.D.S. Church in 1843 and arrived at Winter Quarters in 1846 where they built a fine home, with a living room large enough in which to hold public meetings. Grandfather died of malaria that winter, but the eldest son Datus Ensign came with the first company to Salt Lake City and later moved to Ogden. Grandmother Ensign, with four sons and a daughter, arrived in Salt Lake City with the second company on September 18, 1847. - Effie Ensign Merrill

Monuments and Markers - Horace Datus ENSIGN

Description: This structure, sometimes referred to as "The Exodus to Greatness Monument" is located at the western end of Parley Street where it meets the Mississippi River (seen on either side in the background). The names of thsoe known to have joined the exodus west only to die somewhere along the trail are listed on the walls inside the pavilion.

The name of Horace Datus ENSIGN is listed here.

Born: 28 Sep 1795 Westfield, Massachusetts
Died: 28 Sep 1846 Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa
Burial: Cutter's Park #15, Winter Quarters

"We started for Nauvoo in the spring of 1845 in March. I [Martin Luther Ensign] was now fifteen years old, had no schooling after this time, as we were traveling and making settlements in uninhabited country. In our travels the route was from Massachusetts, through Connecticut to New Haven, from there to New York, then Philadelphia, through the state to the Ohio River, down to Marysville, thence up the Mississippi River to Nauvoo. Most of the Saints had been driven out before we got there. We arrived in Nauvoo in May and stayed only about three weeks, bought wagons and cattle and then took our journey west across Iowa, three hundred miles, to the Missouri River."

"I drove a team for John Wooley, brother of Edwin S. Wooley. They had been to Westfield on missions. There was a city laid out on the west bank of the Missouri River, called Winter Quarters. There we built a house of hewed logs, one of the best in the city. Ward meetings were held in it during the winter and after we came west there was a store kept in it. There were at least two thousand inhabitants, and twelve hundred and fifty homes and dugouts built. This place was afterwards called Florence. The land had not come into market. It was a very cold and sticky place and many people had chills and fever, and scurvy or “blackleg” as it was called by some."

"I took the chills and fever (probably malaria) and they continued with me until the next spring. Hundreds were sick and destitute and a great number died. Father [Horace Datus Ensign] died of scurvy on his birthday, November 28, 1846 being forty-eight years old. Now we were without a father, and in a wild Indian country, our provisions were running short, we were unaccustomed to a life of this kind and now we were left with a windowed mother with six children on her hands, Datus Horace, twenty-one years old, Luman Ashley, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Rufus Bronson and Lydia Esther."

(Autobiography of Martin Luther Ensign, son of Horace Datus Ensign.)

Mary BRONSON ENSIGN - Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude

Mary BRONSON ENSIGN
mother of Martin Luther ENSIGN

I find many of my grandmothers in:

Pioneer Women of Faith and Fortitude

Volume I
A to E

International Society Daughters of Utah Pioneers
page 906-907
Correction is needed to marriage place in article: Mary and Horace were married in Suffield, Hartford, Connecticut on 28 Sep 1825. And correction is need for the death place of Mary's spouse Horace Datus ENSIGN died at Council Bluffs, Pottawattamie, Iowa and is buried at Cutter's Park #15, Winter Quarters.

Sylvanus BRONSON was the father of - Mormon Pioneers Mary BRONSON ENSIGN and her husband Horace Datus ENSIGN were the parents of - teen Pioneer Martin Luther ENSIGN who married teen pioneer Mary DUNN they were the parents of - Harriet Camilla ENSIGN the mother of George "Ensign" SMITH - he was the father of Camilla SMITH.

Mormon Trail - Horace Datus ENSIGN and Mary BRONSON - Massachusetts Saints

Mormon Pioneer ancestor of Camilla SMITH WOOD From JR Seventh Generation Horace Datus ENSIGN (1797-1846) and Mary BRONSON (1806-1888) m.1825. Traveling with their children including Martin Luther ENSIGN. Horace Datus died before the journeys end. Mary BRONSON ENSIGN wife of Horace Datis ENSIGN mother of Martin Luther ENSIGN

Horace Datus ENSIGN / b. 18 MA - m. 18 - MA. - d. 18 IOWA - buried (died at Winter Quarters 1846) Places Lived: Massachusetts / Nauvoo (3 weeks) / Winter Quarters, Iowa See: Martin Luther ENSIGN Autobiography for trip from Massachusetts to Winter Quarters. Mary BRONSON ENSIGN age 41/ b. 18 MA - d. 18 UT - buried Places Lived: MA / Nauvoo / Salt Lake City, UT BAPTIZED: both Mary and Horace bap. in MA 1844. BY LAND: 1847 Daniel Spencer/Ira Eldredge Company Pioneer Information: With four children and brother in-law’s family. One son had gone earlier with the “PIONEERS” July 1847. son Ensign, John Calvin (17) / niece Ensign, Julia Sirls (13) / son Ensign, Luman Ashley (19) / daughter Ensign, Lydia Esther (6) * Ensign, Martin Luther (16) / Ensign, Mary Bronson (41) / sister-in law Ensign, Mary Everett Gordon (36) / son Ensign, Rufus Bronson (12), Brother in-law Ensign, Samuel (42) Captain of ten / nephew Ensign, Samuel Lozene (11) 1847 Daniel Spencer/Ira Eldredge Company Departure: 17 June 1847 Arrival in Salt Lake Valley: 19-22 September 1847 Pioneer Information: Mary was the widow of Horace. She traveled with her children Luman, Joh, Rufus, Lydia and Martin. Pioneer Information: [Martin Luther Ensign] drove three yoke of oxen for John Eldredge. Pioneer Information: [John Calvin Ensign] claimed, "I drove the first ox team into the valley...." Pioneer Information: [Samuel Ensign] Captain of Ten. He traveled with his wife Mary and children Julia and Samuel. [Included in the third ten led by Samuel Ensign were: John Calvin Ensign, Julia Searles Ensign, Lydia Esther Ensign, Lyman D. Ensign, Martin Luther Ensign, Mary Bronson Ensign, Mary Everett Gordon Ensign, Rufus Bronson Ensign, Samuel Ensign, Samuel Lozene Ensign,] Company Information: 174 or 177 individuals and 76 wagons were in the company when it began its journey from the outfitting post on the Elkhorn River about 27 miles west of Winter Quarters, Nebraska.

Elkhorn River, Nebraska: Charles C. Rich sent a note back to John Scott at Winter Quarters ordering him to send the cannon "as the whole camp is waiting." He also wrote to Alpheus Cutler, the presiding member of the High Council, requesting that he help Brother Scott in sending the cannon, boat, and Nauvoo temple bell.

Ira Eldredge's fifty, part of the Daniel Spencer Company officially started their pioneer trek, leaving the Elkhorn River. The Eldredge fifty consisted of 76 wagons and 177 people. The captains of tens were Isaac Haight, Hector Haight, Samuel Ensign, Erastus Bingham, and George Boyes.

[Included in the third ten led by Samuel Ensign were: Anna Abbott, Rufus Abbott, Polly Woodsum Bond, Ann Brimhall, Adelia Ann Brown, Mary Jane Brown, Niamah Brown, Phebe Narcissia Brown, William Brown, Eliza Clement, Albert Crandall, Mary Crandall, Melissa Crandall, Alva Cummings, Benjamin Franklin Cummings, Mary Cummings, John Calvin Ensign, Julia Searles Ensign, Lydia Esther Ensign, Lyman D. Ensign, Martin Luther Ensign, Mary Bronson Ensign, Mary Everett Gordon Ensign, Rufus Bronson Ensign, Samuel Ensign, Samuel Lozene Ensign, Edwin Frost, Emeline Frost, Mary Elizabeth Frost, Belinda Hickenlooper, John Thomas Hickenlooper, Sarah Hawkins Hickenlooper, William Haney Hickenlooper, Eliza Holmes, Ellen Holmes, George Holmes, Hyrum Holmes, Oliver Holmes, Samuel O. Holmes, Rosetta King, Amanda Nowlin, Bryan Ward Nowlin, Edwin Randolf, Ann Snedaker, Marris J. Snedaker, Almira Sophia Taft, and Harriet Taft.] (see: Heritage Gateways http://heritage.uen.org/resources/Wc8a49e4f0b2c.htm) See: Martin Luther 6th generation for Trail Excerpt: Mary‘s son Ensign, Horace Datus (20)“PIONEER” Brigham Young Pioneer Company (1847) Departure: 14 April 1847 Arrival in Salt Lake Valley: 21-24 July 1847

Samuel ENSIGN brother of Horace Datus ENSIGN

Uncle Samuel ENSIGN brother of Horace. After Horace's death at Winter Quarters Mary and some of her children traveled with Samuel and his family. Samuel and his family had lived in Nauvoo. Samuel was killed when he fell from the wall of the Salt Lake Temple under construction. Camilla SMITH - George Ensign SMITH pedigree