Living Near Haun's Mill
Information about Oliver & Nancy Cressy Walker provided courtesy of Sandra Gwilliam
Oliver Walker was a Justice of the Peace in Randolph County, Indiana.
Part of the clan, John R. Walker and family were in Jackson County in 1833, John related, " his family were in Jackson county, and driven out “by the Hands of a mob who pillaged and destroyed my Goods &C. &C. in Jackson and Caldwell Countys and Which Losses I Certify To be no Less than Five Hundred Dollars further that I suffered many Injuries from this mob By Breaking in my Windows By Thrusting Long Poles Through at My family and Driving them from their Habitation.” There is no record that other members of the Walker family were also in Jackson county. [Clark, John R Walker petition in Mormon Redress Petitions]
Meanwhile, Oliver Walker performed his daughter Nancy Reader Walker's marriage to Horace Martin Alexander, in 1834, in Randolph County, Indiana, as a Justice of the Peace. After their marriage, Nancy and Horace moved to Clay County, Missouri. The Alexander's first child was born in West Liberty.
Horace M. Alexander
On 7 October 1838, Horace M Alexander, son of James Alexander, born in Montgomery, Orange County, Virginia, February 18th, 1812, received his Patriarchal Blessing. It was pronounced upon his head by Joseph Smith Sr., at Far West Missouri.
By 1838, Oliver moved his family to Missouri and he and Nancy Cressy Walker purchased 100 acres of land about 3 miles from Haun's Mill, Caldwell County,
Missouri.
On 29 September 1838, "...the camp [Kirtland Camp] passed through Chilicothe the county seat of Livingston County, they traveled up the side of the Grand River and crossed the river near the small village of Utica. After crossing Shoal Creek, they camped on the west bank, fifteen miles inside the border of Caldwell County, "on the farm of Oliver Walker, who gave each family a pumpkin and plenty of shelled beans. Today we felt like we had arrived in Zion."
With in a month, Oliver became involved in efforts to avert an attack on the mill, making his home available for representatives of both parties to meet.
According to the testimony of Isaac Leany, in a Mormon petition for redress, signed April the 20, 1839, Quincy, Illinois:
“I Shall now procede to give an account of the bloody but(c)hery that taken place at a blacksmyth Shop at Hawns mille on Shoal creek on the 30th day of Oct. 1838. the mob party increased from time to time & committed outrages after outrages until at lenth the mormons not willing to bare it no longer they Said to the general what must they do was they not to have no protection must they Stand and See there property Stolen there familys abused there houses burned there cattle drove off & nothing to be done for them. then jeneral Donathan Said to them go & defend your Selves & drive the mob from Daviess county drive them to hell, breathing out an oath against them. the mormons then went out Supposing that they was legaly ortherized, & finding that the mob had burned Six or Seven of there houses & was carying on at a great hand Stealing & driveing off there Stock So the mormons went to work determed to rout them or dy in the attempt, they Soon got the mob in the notion of leaving Daviess county So a great portion of them fled in to Livingston ajoining county & told that the mormons was burning there houses Steeling & plundering & it was Soon blown to the four winds that the mormons was doing everything that was bad now the citiz of livingston & the mob that had left Daviess began to Steel cattle from the mormons that lived in the neighbourhood of Hawns mille & also to go threw the neighbourhood & take there guns from them, they came twice & drove off cattle & an other time they came & took Several guns they also as we heard Said that they would burn our mill down, & we new that they was not too good to do it, & nowing that it was our only chance to get on going, for we dare not to go to there milles So about thirty of us went to guard them from burning it down & while we was guarding the mill we held a council to now what plan we Should fall upon to accomplish a treaty or to come on Some conditions of peace it was voted that a letter Should be written & Sent to them imediately desireing to k[n]ow what there determinations was, for they had imboddyed themselves Several days before we had & we heared thay was comeing on us, we had appointed to take them the letter & just before he Started they came a mesage from them desireing too or three of our leading men to go & meet the too or three of there leading men & see if they compermise the matter, this was the verry thing that we wanted. So in the presance of there mesinger we elected thre men to go compermise with them. we also in the presance of there mesinger unanimously agreed to abide the treaty that our men Should make with them our thre men then Started fourth with to the place that they desired them to come to & thare they met with twelve or fourtee armed men. So the too partys began to counci the matter & Soon found that the difficulty that was between them was easy removed, that it was in consequence of false reports that had occasioned them to guether themselves to guether, they had heared that the mormons intended to come &C burn dow there houses, they Settled the difficulty without mutch trouble, the Misouriens was not willing to countunance Such conduct as this Steeling party was gilty of nor be called of that party So they would not associaiat with them, but agreed to use there enfluence to get them to come & compermise with us also & we was useing every effort that lay in our power to get on peasible terms with them when we thought that we had got the difficultys Settled with the greater part of them & was likely to Suceede in geting if while I was liveing near Hawns mills on Shoal Creek Mo and about the 25th or 26th of October 1838 I was informed that a company of mob of twenty in number under Nehemiah Cumstock had been to the mill and leveled pieces at those present demanding all their guns one man gave up his rifle another who had his gun in hand refused and started off two of the mob followed and snaped their guns at him twice or three times each one of these men I was told was Hiram Cumstock the other name I never learned though the man whom they were trying to shoot made his way off and gave word to the neighbor who met the next day at the mill to hear the story from the different families who informed us that the mob had sworn the burning of the neighbourhood and mill with the other hard threats such as killing Hiram Abbot who would not give up his gun we also learned that thare was another company of men lying below us at house of Mr McCrosky & knowing that either of those companies was far superior to ours in numbers some of the neighbours wanted to leave their homes and run off but haveing only about seven waggons to twenty three or four families we had to stay and defend our selves ..."
Nancy Cressy Walker, wife of Oliver Walker
-Photo provided courtesy Sandra Gwilliam
"And as I recollect it was on the twentieighth of the month we conducted to offer them terms of peace but before our mesengers had started thare came one from the company below us with a request that we would send three men to the house of Oliver Walker to make a treaty with three men which they would send to the same house David Evans Jacob Myers seignior and Anthony Blackburn was chosen to meet them and on going to Walkers they met ten men with each a rifle instead of three without arms however peace prevailed and a treaty was soon made and agreed a pon I suppose to the satisfaction of both sides and on next day two of our men went back again those two were Evans and Ames they was told that the other company had sent a mesenger to Cumstock and his company with word of the treaty between us and them and also told them that we wanted to treat with them they said that Cumstocks company was not only mad with us but mad with them for making any kind of a treaty with us Evans sent them word that he wanted nothing but peace and would not fight them without offering them terms of peace I cannot tell whether or not they got the word or not but well I remember that on the thirtyeth of October about three o clock in the afternoon Cumstocks whole army of two hundred and fifty men came a pon us our company was about thirtyseven in number being joined by a company of families traveling to the other side of that County and the adjoining Counties stoped thare to get grinding at the mill Cumstocks company formed a kind of broken line at the distance of about seventyfive yards situating their horses in front for a kind of breastwork commenced a fire without passing a word.
Abraham Palmer's testimony in a Mormon petition for redress, sworn to before J. Adams, J.P., Sangamon Co., Illinois, 9 November 1839:
4 September 1838, Oliver Walker's daughter, Evaline Walker, was married to James Henry Rollins, on Shoal Creek, 4 miles from Haun's Mill, just four days after the massacre.
Meantime Capt Evans advanced toward them and called aloud for Quarters untill thev Fired I suppose between fifty and a hundred rounds with out any answer then we could do nomore than Fire afew shots while the women and children made their escape the mob still advancing came within about four or Five rods when I made my escape by flight being shot four times through the body and once across each arm being about the last man off the ground now I am well aware that this is an incredible story to tell that amman being shot four times through body made his escape by flight but I have the scare to show ten in number one ball entering my body through the inside comer of my left shoulder blade came outjust below about two and a half or three inches below my collar bone and as far as three inches on the right of the midle of my breast another entered through the muscle under the hind part of my left arm and passed through my body and came out under the middle of my right aim another passed through the my left hip on the inside or through the uper end of my hip bone another through my right hip hit the bone just about the joint glanced out through the skin and rolled down my drawers leg in to my boot these four balls made eight visible wounds with two others one across each arm are all the wounds in my flesh I cannot tell how many bullet holes was in my clothing thare was twentyseven in my shirt but to my story haveing made my own escape and hid my self I listened at them shooting the wounded which could not escapeI was informed that one of these murderers followed old father McBride in his retreat and and cut him down with an old sythe while he was pleading for mercy this was seen by Mrs ames and two other ladies who were secreted under the creek bank Waren Smith and his Son was also shot a seccond time being unable to retreat after their first wounds Jacob Fouls and Wm. Champlin feined their selves dead and lay still untill their pockets were robed and after they supposd the wounded all were all dead they robed the houses took the horses from the mill and out of the stables and two waggons from the mill and off they went for the night but on the first or seccond of Nov they returned and camped at the mill robed that plundered the neighbourhood taking offsuch things as they pleased mob law being established in this band ofrobers murderers and thieves was Wm. Man Esq. N. Cumstock Esq Howard Maupin Jesse Maupin James and Stephan Reynolds called Runnels Hiram Cumstock a young man named Glase Erasmus Severe Jacob Rodgers Robert White George Miller Sardis Smith Elijah Trosper these men came on painted black trimed of with red rags and ribbands screming like so many demons enough to disgrace a heathen forest much more a land of liberty after some spend in this manner captain went to Richmond to draw pay for his service I was told that instead of pay they gave him a cursing and threatened him with justice throwing the murder and robery in his teeth and orders to return the stolen property (thema] this made Cumstock mad and on his way home he passed the mill and stuck up an advertisement staling that the stolen property should be brought to his house and could be had by paying him for taking care of hit some of the property was got and I have seen some of the horses that was worked [—] to death and rode nearly down but some of the best of them could not be found for asmall reward and one of the mob was going round trying to buy the chance of such they being about the best that was taken the names of the murdered Benjamin Lewis, John York, John Lee, John Byers, Wm Napier, Warren Smith, Austin Hammer, Simon Cox, Levi Merick, Elias Benner, George Richards, — Campbell, Josiah Fuller,Thomas McBride, Sardis Smith a little boy. wounded Tariton Lewis, Jacob Fonts, Jacob Myers, Jacob Hawn, Jacob Potts, Isaac Leany, Wm Yocum, Nathan Night, — Walker (not related), Charles Jimison, Alma Smith a little boy, Mary Steadwell, Hiram Abbot, Charles Merick a boy mortally wounded this I will support in any court of justice." [Isaac Leany,Mormon Redress Petitions].
"Abraham Palmer of Springfield Sangamon County State of Illinois says he is a member of the Church of Latter day Saints commonly called Mormons and that he moved into the State of Missouri in October 1838 and proceeded with his family in a waggon as far as Caldwell County where he arrived two days before the Massacre of the Mormons at Haun's Mill he stopped at a Mr Walkers about four miles from the said Mill where he remained in his waggon with his family in company with six other waggons of his brethren untill after the Massacre The next day after the aforesaid outrage a company of the mob came to him and brethren and said if you will deny your faith you can live with us in peace but if you will not you must leave the Country forthwith on pain of death for we will exterminate all of you that do not deny your faith men women and children. The above proposition was made by a man who had previously assisted in plundering our waggons he called his name Austin and Styled himself Captain of the Livingston County Spies."
-Abraham Palmer
See: http://www.cc.utah.edu/~jsg16/fh_pics/AlexanderChron.doc