Samuel LINTON

                   Records in possession of Richard C. Holden of Colorado Springs, CO state

conflicting dates. Records of Julia Linton Crawley, his daughter, state
his endowment in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City 26 Apr 1858. Other
Church records say he was sealed to Ellen Sutton in the E.House 9 Apr 1868.
Old Church Records in City of Nephi 874 pg 41 state Samuel was baptized on the
9 Jan 1854 by Samuel Harrison.  He was confirmed the same year by the same man.
He was ordained a 70 in 1856. E=7 Sep 1855.   Pioneers and Prominent men of Utah gave space
to Samuel Linton.  The article says he came to Utah in 1853. He was a member of
the 49th quorum of seventies, a high priest, veteran of the Echo Canyon War.He was a very successful farmer with much land.  He was one of the young men who rescued the Martin and Willie Handcart companies sent out by Brigham Young, and his name appears on the rescuers list at the on site information center.

This is from the Diary of Samuel Linton.  Do you have it?


I am the son of William Linton and Elizabeth Selfridge.  I was  born June 27. 1828 in the County of Tyrone, Ireland.  My  father emigrated  from his native land and arrived at St. Johns, in New Brunswich, in about  1835.  At that time I was about seven years of age ' and, although quite small,  assisted my father in his work.  I recall helping him in the fields, piling  up brush and such light wood as I could handle. I remained with my father until  I was twenty years of age.  In about 1848, I went to Philadelphia; my father giving his full consent.  Shortly after my arrival there I took passage on a vessel for New York.  The boat was loaded with timber and I paid for my passsage by assisting in  the unloading of the timber. This journey required about four days.  Shortly  after I returned by train to Philadelphia where I had been promised a job.  I found my work satisfactory and soon made several friends who, although I was  surrounded by many strangers. treated me very kindly and I found life quite  pleasant.  The year following 1849, my sister, Sarah Jane, came to Philadelphia and lived  with my cousin, Robert Selfridge and his wife.  They had one child.  My sister  lived with them until she met and married Mathew T.R. Ralston.  In the year 1850, Father brought the remainder of the family to Philadelphia  where we lived happily together when Father died in the year 1851. It was not  until four years after Father's death that I first heard the Gospel of Jesus  Christ. This was in the year of 1856 and how I came,  to hear of it and the facts  concerning my conversion are as follows:  It was in the year 1851, that a Mr. Joseph Barker from the state of Ohio, a  noted agnostic and infidel, issued a challenge to the Christian Ministers of  that day to debate with him on the subject of the divinity of the Holy Bible  or the question of the existence of God. There was an elderly Presbyterian  gentleman who accepted the challenge and arranged for five evenings of  discussion.  Being very much interested I attended every evening and listened  attentively to arguments on both sides.  To my surprise, I saw that the  Presbyterian was no match for the Agnostic and that set met to thinking.  I  definitely made up my mind to investigate every sect and religion and to  discuss that subject with every person I could who professed faith in the Lord  Jesus Christ.  One day while looking through the notices appearing in the Philadelphia  Public Ledge, a daily paper advertising meetings being held by various  sects, I ran across a notice of a meeting that was to be held under the  auspices of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  In effect, the  notice read as follows:  " Elder Samuel Harrison, of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day        Saints, will preach at 10:00 AM on Sunday, at Callow's Hill and Seventh Street and will show that neither the Protestant or Catholic religions have the true Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth."  This notice commanded my attention.  My first impression was that this was the  most presumptious claim I had ever heard made by any people; first to style  themselves as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latterday Saints and then to claim  that they constituted the only true church, having the only true Gospel of Jesus Christ upon the earth.  Of course, my interest and curiosity were aroused and I immediately arranged  to attend the meeting scheduled.  I arrived in time, as the people gathered  into the meeting place, I was deeply impressed with their sociability and they  impressed me as being a very happy and contented people.  When the time  arrived for the meeting to start, Elder Harrison took his seat on the stand and  then announced the opening hymn.  Following the singing, the Elder offered the  invocation and I felt I had never heard a more sensible prayer and the words  of the hymn impressed me.  In the sermon, he preached from the New Testament and quoted passages from it  which I had memorized while attending the Methodist Sunday School, but his 6  interpretations of these scriptures 
were so different to that which had  been taught to me, that I was confused.  This set me to thinking.  I had read and heard about the Mormons. But all that I had learned about them  was unfavorable; that they were just a misguided people who were followers of  old Joe Smith; that Smith's claim was that he had dug up a gold bible  somewhere and based his religion on it and that it was all a humbug.  As Elder  Harrison continued his sermon, I thought he was quoting  from the Book of  Mormon and thought how similar it was to our Bible, but when he had concluded,  he held up the book from which he had been reading and told the people that it  was the King James translation of the Holy Bible. I then realized that the things I had heard about the Mormon People and their  religion were not true.  At the conclusion of the meeting, I remained for a few  minutes when a man by the name of Luts, whom I had never seen before,  approached me and asked me what I thought about Elder Harrison's sermon. I  told him I could find no fault with it.  Then I asked him many questions which  he answered to my satisfaction.  He promised me that if I would call on him  later he would lend me a Book from which I could learn much more concerning the  Gospel. I kept that appointment and the book he loaned to me was the " Voice of  Warning."  After much reading and meditation on the principles taught in the book, I was  convinced that the Lord had restored to earth his Gospel in these the last  days; that his authority to administer in the ordinances thereof had been conferred upon man and finally that it was my high responsibility to accept the same and ask for baptism.  Upon asking for admission into the Church,  I was questioned as to  whether  I was prepared to meet what would follow; to have my friends turn away from me;  to have evil spoken of me; to suffer persecution and perhaps to give my life for righteousness sake.  In that moment I thought of the former day saints and of the trials and persecutions.  But the spirit of the Lord was with me and without hesitancy I said; "I have considered it all and I am ready."  On  these conditions, then, he told me I could be baptized.  It was at least three weeks before arrangements were made for the baptism.  There were quite a few who, like myself, had asked for baptism.  When everything was ready, we all repaired to the place where the ordinance was to  be performed.  It was on the first day of January, 1854--New Years Day.  There was a thick coating of ice on the water which had to be broken and pushed away to enable us to get into it. It certainly was a cold bath we got as we were immersed into icy water, but it did none of us any harm.  About three months later, on the third day of April, 1854. I left for Utah to  be gathered with the Saints.  Our company took railway transportation to  Pittsburg; from there we went by rail to Cincinnatti, Ohio, and from there  to St. Louis, Missouri, where we met Horace H. Eldredge.B  There were five or six of us boys who were good teamsters and we asked Brother Eldredge for jobs to  drive teams across the plains to Utah.  He was, at that time, preparing to  transport a company of people west and he advised us that if we would furnish our own guns and blankets he would arrange position as teamsters for us in the  company he organized.  I, with some others, accepted the job offered, under  these conditions, and then proceeded up the Missouri River to Fort Leavenworth,  which, at that time, was the outfitting point.  I made the best of my situation  and helped whereever I could; especially in taking care of Church freight, etc.  It happened that at that time the Church was getting ready a large train of  freight wagons which was under the charge of the returned missionary by the  name of Bucklen.  This brother was not only in charge, but he did the cooking and arranged for our commissary.  It was not long, however, before it was necessary for him to leave us and go out into the country to buy cattle to haul  the wagons.  This made it necessary for us to do our own
cooking or go without.  It was twenty four hours before I could bring myself to the point of eating my  own cooking.  None of the other boys were cooks either, and I  soon found myself selected to do the cooking for the group until Elder Bucklen returned.  l was  also assigned the job of cutting wood to make charcoal for the blacksmithing and this, together with fixing wagons, the gathering and loading of freight and the handling of half-broke cattle afforded me plenty to do and not much time  for leisure.  Finally, when the last of the cattle were delivered to us, I was put in charge to look after them. This I did and did well except there was taken from the  things placed in my care a fancy cane which had been presented to Brother Horace S. Eldredge.  It was stolen a day or two before we left on our  journey.  In the spring of 1855, I went to work for Horace H. Eldridge, and was in his  employ until the fall ofJ  1857.  From then on during the winter of 1857-58  I served as a guard at the Echo Canyon camp at the time of the threatened  invasion by Johnson's Army.  While serving as guard in the Echo Canyon War, Samuel Linton was closely  associated with Peter Sutton and it is assumed that Uncle Peter spoke  frequently of his sister, Ellen Sutton. In any event, it is true that on Samuel Linton's trip to the "valley," he met Ellen Sutton and they were married in  April 1858.  On my return to the Salt Lake Valley in the Spring of 1858, I was employed by President Brigham Young.  Part of the time I did Farm work and the remainder of  the time I assisted him in moving his family to Provo and returned at the time of the "move."  I was in his employ until the fall M of 1860.  Aunt Mary Morgan wrote a similar story of her father, but added:  When Samuel's father went to Canada in 1835-36 his brothers, John, James and Samuel had already immigrated there. While Samuel lived with his father, he had already learned how to cut timber and cradle grain. Years later in Utah Salmuel  was well known and considered an expert in cradling grain, being able to cradle five acres in a day.  In Philadelphia, his sister lived with her cousin, Robert  Selfridge, his wife and child. Samuel himself earned his way to USA and came to  Philadelphia via a timber brigantine.  In his biography it sounded as if he  took the job on the timber ship after he had arrived in Philadelphia.  Aunt Mary also told a story while Samuel was on the plains. He told of men who were  driving a herd of high-bred cattle through to California. They offered Samuel forty dollars a month and a good outfit to ride if he would go with them.  Samuel, however, chose not to leave the saints, and he never regretted it. In  this trip to Utah, Samuel drove a big team, the wagon loaded with sheet iron,  mill irons, window glass, and a woman with four children. He got through all safe, although they had a stampede on the road.  Samuel heard them coming, he  stopped his team and stood in front of the leaders and talked to them.  They  stood still while the cattle ran past on each side of them.  They came into Salt Lake valley the third of October, 1854.  Samuel went to work for Heber C. Kimball  digging post holes and shucking corn.  Brother Kimball sent Samuel and a  prisoner he was taking care of, to cut fire wood up City Creek. He had three  teams hauling two trips a day. Samuel and the prisoner kept things moving  rapidly.  Brother Kimball called Samuel," the Irish Yankee." After one month,  Samuel quit.  When Brother Kimball asked why he wanted to quit.  He wanted to  know if his family had not treated him right. Samuel told him he did not like digging post holes with pick and shovel. He worked for Heber C. Kimball until  1854 (middle of winter) The rest of the winter he worked for the Church in Big  Cottonwood Canyon cutting timber until spring of 1854. He worked for Br.  Eldridge until Fall of 1857. He worked for Brigham Young from spring 1858 until  the fall of 1860.  Aunt Mary writes:  Samuel forgot to say in the Fall of 1860 he went out after  those late hand-cart companies an
d had a very hard time.  In the month of  September 1858, Bishop Hunter sent Samuel and eight others out to meet Rowly Hand-Cart Company.  They met them on Ham's Fork.  They were out of flour.  this  was the most pleasant trip he ever recalled having, although he came near to  losing his life by a party of soldiers who followed them from fort Bridger, a  distance of ten miles.  These soldiers got in trouble with their captain who  was doing something the soldiers didn't like, and he ordered them out of the  camp.  They went on about a mile to a saloon. They wanted to search every  wagon and tent, but Samuel went to them and talked to them quietly.  They  offered him the whiskey bottle. Samuel said he always wanted to see a man drink out of his own bottle first.  Well, he said, that is sensible.  By this time, they  had got around to where the other eight boys were, each one having a six shooter in his belt.  Samuel had told them they got along with men in peace,  and when they could not get along in that way, then, they got along the best  way they could.  The one who was making so much noise showed fight, but one of  them picked up a rock and said, here is one of the Lord's biscuits, shut your  mouth.  They went outside the camp and commenced shooting into the camp. It was  dark by this time, and there was no one hurt, but it was a miracle.  Aunt Mary continues: Father was a glass stainer by trade.  They had one  child, Sarah Ellen, who lived with grandmother (Ellen) Sutton until she was ten  years old when she died of Diptheria.  McKetchney had some dealings with  President Brigham Young on which they didn't ] agree so he apostatized and went  to California threatening to take their baby.  Aunt Mary wrote:  Mother has  told me how Uncle Peter guarded her till he knew he, McKetchney, had left  the country. He begged mother to go with him, but she told him she could not  leave her church and people to follow him. I think she never heard of him any  more.  Old Church Record of Nephi # 975 pg.41 states that Ellen Sutton was baptize 12  Jan.1851 by John Ashcroft and confirmed on the same date by John Ashcroft. Samuel was a very large, strong man.  He had a farm in the  old field and could cradle more grain in a day than any other man around Nephi  where they lived, and he could cut more wood so I have been told by men who knew him.  He had great faith in prayer and the Priesthood which he held.  WE  never had to call a doctor if father administered to us.  We got well immediately, no matter what ailed us.  Samuel was called to the "Muddy Mission" down near St.George about 1869 to help  develop that country and went with others that had been called.  Just a few  days before Alice was born. Mother pleaded with him not to go until after, but  he thought he was called and had to go. Mother came nearly leaving us, but I  guess his faith and prayers prevailed as she was spared to live and bear five other children. (My grandmother, Julia was one of these) Three of these children died at birth, twin