Samuel Corbett, Mormon Pioneer and

Black Hawk War Veteran – from Maine to Utah

Samuel Corbett, moved from Maine to Missouri; to Nauvoo, Illinois; to Winter Quarters; and to Salt Lake City, Cache Valley, and Summit County, Utah

1835, Farmington, Maine – 1902, Francis, Summit County, Utah

By Mary Corbett Percival, Samuel & Camilla Corbett’s daughter (written for Daughters of the Utah Pioneers.)

My father’s parents left the state of Maine when he was a small boy, together with the Saints and the body of the Church in Missouri. He was the oldest of a family of 6 children and father and mother. His father’s name was Daniel Corbett; his mother’s name was Elmira Wright or Almira Wright.

My father went through all the hardships of the mobbing of the Mormons and the driving of the Saints from Missouri. He was about 12 years old at this time.

I remember him talking of Garden Grove and Mount Pisgah. These settlements became a resting place for the weary saints for several years while crossing the plains and of Winter Quarters. It was here the scurvy broke out among them until they could obtain potatoes from Missouri and found horseradish in an abandoned Fort near camp. His family with the many saints spent a winter here and suffered greatly. His mother was sick all across the plains and died shortly after reaching Salt Lake City.

As a boy the first lean years in Utah he suffered the pangs of hunger. Sometimes so severe was the want for food he could not sleep. They were on rations and were only given a small biscuit that would set in the palm of his hand. Each day they would go out and hunt wild onion roots and what not. He said some of the children would eat their bread eagerly but he always saved his and ate a few crumbs at the time with his roots and always saved a piece to eat last so he could have the taste of bread in this mouth longer.

When he got older he went to work in Cotton Wood Canyon.

By now he had a sweetheart named Amelia. He said he loved her too much and when she was untrue to him it almost killed him. One night he walked from Cotton Wood Canyon to Salt Lake City to see her. When he got to her mother’s place she was not home so her mother made him a bed in the bowery in front of the cabin. About 12:00 here came Amelia with a soldier. It was moonlight and she didn’t know father was there. He saw the soldier take her in his arms and kiss her good night. So the next morning after thanking her mother for a bed and breakfast he walked out of Amelia’s life just before they were married. But he couldn’t get peace of mind and grew thin and restless and discouraged, but one night he had a dream and saw a small girl with curly hair, large blue eyes and a lovely complexion. She wore a Tuscon bonnet, a blue dress with dolmen sleeves and a big buckle, five inches long on her belt. He knew then he would know her when he saw her. Saturday night he walked in Salt Lake City for the weekend and Sunday morning went to a neighbor to read the paper. Sometimes the papers that got in from the East were 6 months old but they were news to the Pioneers just the same. He was reading the paper when who should walk through the room but my mother Camilla Dorothy Jacobsen, dressed just as he saw her in his dream. She was on her way to Sunday school, in less than a year they were married.

When about 23 he was called to defend the city from Johnson’s army. Was one of the first called out and the last called in. His hair was long and curly like the Mormons wore it then. He didn’t have a comb and his clothes were worn out so when he was called home he wore a breechclout made out of an old sack fastened on with a nail for a pin. The soles of his feet were so tough he would walk on prickly pares and they wouldn’t go through his feet. They measured his head and it was just the size of a bushel basket, matted and tangled. I had heard father tell this many times and when I was sixteen Aunt Mary Corbett Harris, who married Martin Harris Jr, a son of the witness to the Book of Mormon; now called young Mart, took me to see old Lady Tibets who was then 90 years old. She told the same story to me. She said she was the only woman left in Salt lake and she wanted to stay to welcome the boys if any happened to come home. She stayed in a seller with no light only a candle. She told me her Son, Jim Tibets and father were about the same age and build only Jim was taller than father. She spun and wove enough cloth to make her Jim a pair of pants. She measured several times and thought she had just enough. After she got it out of the loom she found she had enough for two pair of pants for Jim. She cut and made one pair and found she only had enough to make a pair for a shorter man and then she thought of Samuel, she made him a pair of pants.

She said her son came home among the first and Sam was the very last to come. She said all the women cried they saw him. Poor Sam, his hair matted and tangled his skin burnt and blistered, gaunt and thin, his eyes sunk in his head then men picked him up and carried him on their shoulders. He was a real hero that day. I was so glad I could present him with a pair of pants, Sister Tibets said. She knew the Prophet Joseph Smith and testified to me and Aunt Mary Harris that he was a true Prophet.

My father fought in the Black Hawk war under General Burks command.

Shortly after he was married he was called on a mission to the Missouri River with others to meet the emigrants who were suffering and in need of help to reach the Rocky Mountains. They went with ox teams, food, clothing and greetings from Brigham Young. Church history will tell the sufferings of these young men on that journey. Your grandfather was one of them.

He often told how he spent the first dollar he ever made when he was a boy. He laid the dollar on a plug of tobacco and the man cut out apiece just the size of the dollar and gave it to him for the dollar. He went in a cornfield when no one could bother him and chewed and swallowed it all as quickly as he could. He was so sick he spent the day and night in the cornfield. He never tasted tobacco again in any form or wanted to as long as he lived.

When any of his children were ill he administered to us and we always got well. He had a strong testimony of the Gospel and loved his neighbors as himself, sometimes I often though he loved them more.

He lived in Salt Lake City until he was called to Hyrum, Cash (Cache) Co. to labor among the Indians with his family. He was there until after three children were born and then moved to Salt Lake City again. A few years later he helped to settle Rhoades Valley, which was later called Kamas Valley. He was the father of eleven children and died at the age of 67 at Kamas, Ut. He is buried in the Kamas Cemetery in Francis, Summit County, Utah.

Obituary of Samuel Corbett -- Taken from the Desert News papeer at the time of his death, 17 January, 1902

Samuel Corbett was the son of Daniel and Elmira Corbett. He was born Oct 19,1835 at Farmington Township, Franklin Co. Maine. He was baptized in Mosquito Creek, Iowa in the month of April 1848. He was ordained a Seventy in 1854 by Joseph Young, and became a member of the seventh quorum when it was organized. He was present at the expulsion of the Saints from Nauvoo, he assisted in defending the city against the mob. He served in the Echo Canyon War, was one of the first called out, and one of the last called in when peace was restored.

In 1862 he was called on a mission to the Missouri river to help the emigrants across the plains and with others endured many hardships incident to that journey in those days. In 1866 he served in the Black Hawk Indian war in Major Bert's command, Charles Ringwood being captain of the ten he belonged to. He died on the 17th of January and was buried at the Francis cemetery on the 20th of January 1902. His funeral services were held at the Francis meeting house. The speakers were: James Woolstenhulme, Dan Lambert, Ephraim Lambert, J. R. Burbidge and H. VanTassel, men whom had known him in every condition of life. They spoke in high terms of his fidelity to his religion and his country. As a member of the twenty-second quorum of Seventy and a ward teacher, and a worker in every organization of the Church. He was always on hand to do all in his power.

He married Camilla Jacobsen, They had eleven children and fourteen grandchildren. He leaves his wife, three sons and five daughters to mourn his loss, as well as a host of relatives and friends, who honored and respected him for his many good qualities. He had Iived in this valley for over twenty years.

This community in his death has lost a good citizen and the Francis Ward of which he was a member, will miss him very much.

The following is from Pioneers and Prominent Men of Utah
CORBETT SAMUEL (son of Daniel Corbett and Elmira Wright). Born Oct. 19, 1835, Farmington, ME
Married Camilla D. Jacobsen Oct. 2, 1860, Salt Lake City (daughter of Niels Jacobsen and Annie Dorothy Jorgensen, of Copenhagen, Denmark, pioneers 1849, handcart company). She was born Dec. 4, 1840.
Their children: Samuel b. Oct. 31, 1861; Marion LeRoy b. Jan. 20, 1864, m. Martha B. Woolstenhulme; Elmira V. b. Aug. 24, 1866; Annie C. b. Nov. 7, 1869, m. Terry B. Hallett; Walter N. b. March 19, 1872; Sophie b. March 15, 1874, m. Andrew Mathieson; Francis L. b. Oct. 23, 1876, m. Annie Tavlor; Stella C. b. Jan. 13, 1879, m. John Jones; Mary E. b. June 14, 1881, m. Charles Percival; Florence R. b. Dec. 14, 1883, m. Harlen Gines; Thaddeus F. b. March 22, 1887, m. Mary F. Hoover. Family resided Salt Lake City and Kamas, Utah.
Seventy. Assisted to bring immigrants to Utah; Black Hawk war veteran; took part in Echo Canyon campaign. Farmer. Died Jan. 17, 1902.

Following are the children of Samuel CORBETT, born 19 Oct 1835 Place: Farmington, Franklin, Me Died: 17 Jan 1902 Place: Francis, Summit, Ut Buried: 20 Jan 1902 Place: Francis, Summit, Ut Married: 2 Oct 1860 Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Ut to
Camilla Dorthea JACOBSEN, Born: 4 Dec 1840 Place: Copenhagen, Denmark Died: 14 Apr 1908 Place: Francis, Summit, Ut Buried: 16 Apr 1908 Place: Francis, Summit, Utah:

• Stella Cornella CORBETT (AFN:3S5L-1W) Born: 13 Jan 1879 Place: Hyrum, Cache, Ut; Christened: 4 Apr 1880 Place: Hyrum, Cache Co., UT Married John Llewellyn Jones (Click here for an outside link to the Jones family) (John was born 16 Aug 1880 in St. Charles, Bear Lake, ID); resided in Park City, Utah. Died: 22 Jul 1918 Place: Park City, Summit Co., Ut Buried: 24 Jul 1918 Place: Francis, Summit Co., UT
• Marion Leroy CORBETT (AFN:1CDC-ZJ)(married Martha Ellen WOOLSTENHULME (AFN:17MH-P5) Born: 28 May 1870 Place: Kamas, Summit, Ut Christened: 18 Jun 1870 Place: Kamas, Summit, Ut Died: 26 May 1944 Place: Kamas, Summit, Ut Buried: 29 May 1944 Place: Francis, Summit, Ut Married: 15 Jan 1890 Place: Logan, Cache, Utah. Her father was James WOOLSTENHULME **Marion and Martha were the parents of Freda Belle Corbett, grandmother of the wife of this page's webmaster) Martha was born: 20 Jan 1864 Place: Salt Lake City, S-Lk, Ut Christened: 22 Feb 1864 Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Ut Died: 5 Sep 1943 Place: Salt Lake City, S-Lk, Ut Buried: 9 Sep 1943 Place: Francis, Summit, Ut
• Francis Layfette CORBETT (AFN:24D3-VG) Born: 23 Oct 1876 Place: Hyrum, Cache, Ut Died: 5 Mar 1922 Place: Rochester, Olmstd, Minn Buried: Place: Lander, Fremont, Wy
• Samuel CORBETT (AFN:24D3-PL)Born: 31 Oct 1861 Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Ut Died: 22 Jul 1866
• Sophie Lenora CORBETT (AFN:24D3-T9) Born: 15 Mar 1874 Place: Smithfield, Cache, Ut Died: 12 Jun 1929
• Walter Nelson CORBETT (AFN:24D3-S4) Born: 19 Mar 1872 Place: Smithfield, Cache, Ut Died: 28 Oct 1873
• Thadeous Fernand CORBETT (AFN:4G15-G9) Born: 22 Mar 1885 Place: Kamas, Summit, Ut Died: 15 Dec 1928 Place: Roosevelt, Duchesne Co., Ut Buried: 18 Dec 1928 Place: , Provo, Utah Co., Ut
• Mary Emily CORBETT (AFN:1KHV-41) Born: 14 Jun 1881 Place: Hyrum, Cache, Ut Died: 29 Aug 1972 Place: Provo, Utah, Ut Buried: 1 Sep 1972 Place: Roosevelt, Duchesne, Ut
• Elmira Viola CORBETT (AFN:24D3-RX) Born: 24 Aug 1866 Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Ut Died: 17 Oct 1867
• Annie Camilla CORBETT (AFN:175Q-WP) Born: 7 Nov 1869 Place: Smithfield, Cache, Ut Died: 18 May 1929 Place: Consumers, Carbon, Ut
• Florence Romania CORBETT (AFN:1KHV-56)Born: 14 Dec 1883 Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Ut Died: 15 Aug 1937 Place: Salt Lake City, S-Lk, Utah Buried: 17 Aug 1937 Place: Salt Lake, Salt Lake, Utah

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