Nathan Staker (Mormon Pioneer)

 


A HISTORY OF NATHAN STAKER

As told to his granddaughter Dora Day Sanderson by his daughter 

 

Eliza Jane Staker Day. He was born 28 November 1801 in Pickering, Canada. His father was Conrad Staker, and his mother was Cornelia Snook. He lived in Canada first, moved to the United States, and then back to Canada. He was a Methodist Minister
when he heard the Gospel and moved his family to Springfield, Illinois. His wife Jane Richmond contacted small pox at Pigeon Grove, Iowa and died, leaving nine children. They were John, William, Sarah, Alma, Nathaniel, Nathan, Richmond, Lydia, Aaron, Mary and Joe. Nathaniel and Nathan died in infancy. 

 

He came to Utah in Henry Miller's Company, arriving in September 1852. He settled in PleasantGrove where he helped pioneer that city and held offices of responsibility in Church and state. Here he met and married Eliza Cusworth Burton in 1857. In 1858 they moved to Mt. Pleasant, Sanpete County, where he took an active part in pioneering that city. He got his portion of land in the North Field near North Creek (later it was taken up by the preemption Act and he paid the government $1.25 per acre to receive deeds). Later he took a large farm and developed it east and north of the round hills. This was later divided with his three sons: Joseph, Jim and Joe Burton (son of his wife) who always shared equally with his own sons. He taught school for two years, receiving very little pay. That pay was in produce. He taught many years for nothing. He suffered the hardships of pioneer life and was active in the Black Hawk War and other Indian troubles. For more than two years he herded the town sheep herd in what was then called Thistle Valley, now Indianola.

Here he was continually in grave danger of being killed by Indians, but he was always kind and honest with the red-man, feeding them instead of fighting them. Many times he gave his dinner pot of mutton and dumplings to them, winning their respect and friendship. He was a good farmer and gardener. He planted fruit trees and had one of the first and finest orchards in Mt. Pleasant. He exchanged cheese and meat for fruit trees with his son William who lived in the Sugar House Ward in Salt Lake City. In the fall he and his wife would go to Pleasant Grove where he worked in the molasses mill or potato fields. His wife Eliza, would dry fruit by spreading it upon the roof of the houses. 

 

He was an honest, hard working, industrious man and raised a large family. He truly believed in the old maxim, "Do to others as you would that they should do to you". He was a good Latter Day Saint. His children all loved him for he was always tender, loving and kind to them. He believed in keeping out of debt, and never ran one. He taught his children and his wife to attend Church and Sunday School. They never missed a meeting in their lives unless they were ill. He was President of the High Priests Quorum for many years. When he came to Mt. Pleasant, he had an ox team and wagon. With these he farmed many years. One day after plowing till noon he turned his oxen out to graze on weeds called "Blackseed” while he ate his lunch. One ox, being tired and hungry, ate so much that he bloated and died. That night Nathan walked home leading one ox. He soon traded for another though, as he could not farm with one ox. He raised grain, wild hay, potatoes, and all kinds of green vegetables—enough to keep his large family and also help a lot of others not so fortunate.

He paid his tithing always. He cut grain with a cradle, which left it in swaths. Then he bound it into bundles with its own straw. He dexterously twisted the headstand after pulling the band tight, twisting and folding the butts so the band would not slip while it was being shocked, hauled and stacked. After threshing the grain, the chaff was used for feed for the cattle and the straw was used to roof the sheds and stables to keep the cattle warm and dry. He had cows, pigs, sheep and other animals to help make a living. The sheep were the most useful as Grandmother spun the wool into yarn from which she knitted all their stockings. She also sent wool to the mills to be carded and spun and woven into home spun cloth from which she made their clothing. She was the best and fastest knitter in town. Besides knitting for her own family she often knitted for others. She taught all her girls to be good knitters. Grandfather took great care of everything. He would mix buckets of feed in layers of chaff and grain, moistened with water. This was most economical and at the same time nutritious and fattening. The family made their own butter and cheese, and cured their meat in the old smokehouse. 

 

During the grasshopper plague they all went out to the field to dig trenches, brush the hoppers into the trenches, cover them with straw and burn them. In spite of all this hard work, fields were very bare and crops were very sparse. Their first home in Mt. Pleasant was one large room built of logs which grandfather cut and hauled from the mountains. The logs were chinked. The roof was made of willows and dirt. The house had a wood floor and was furnished with crude furniture which they made of rawhide woven crosswise from beef hides for chairs, stools, tables and bedsteads. They had a fireplace too. The cupboard was made by placing shelves across one corner of the room. Later another room was added to the one large room. The house had to be moved onto the farm and lived in while the paid and preemptioned their land. Later Grandfather Staker built and furnished an adobe home which still stands in Mt. Pleasant. Nathan Staker and Elizabeth Burton were married in the Endowment House in the spring of 1857. On 7 February 1858 their first child was born in Pleasant Grove. In 1859 they moved to Mt. Pleasant and were among the first settlers here. Eliza Jane Staker (my mother) was born 17 November 1860 in the old house.

Her father was delighted with this little new girl and loved and tended her a lot. Grandfather Staker had some cattle which he summered in the mountains. One of these, a nice fat steer died.

Upon finding it, grandfather opened it up and took out the tallow to make winter candles. They made the
candles by melting the tallow and running it into molds and cooling it. Grandfather had a small sore pimple on
his hand. Some of the tallow got into this sore. The doctor said the steer had possibly died from some poison.
The poison got into grandfather's blood through the sore. This blood poisoning caused his hand and arm to
swell badly and he was a very sick man for some time. Dr. Wing treated this by burning a ring around the arm
above the elbow with caustic acid. This treatment possibly saved grandfather's life but he suffered dreadfully for months. However he finally recovered. Nathan Staker was a very religious man and believed in and did a lot of Temple Work. He helped to build both the St. George and Manti Temples by sending men to work winters on them. He also sent food to board them while they worked. Joseph Burton was one of these men. (This would be Joseph Burton Jr.) He was always slightly lame on one leg resulting from an accident in the states when a tree he was cutting fell on him and no doubt would have killed him but for the protection of God, who spared him for a great mission.
 

The tree grazed his head but caught and smashed his heel. Nathan Staker lived to be eighty two years old, dying 19 May 1884 in Mt. Pleasant where he was buried 2
June 1884.

Source of this Biography

*We have his patriarchal blessing. His daughter wrote a poem about him before he died. There are many histories available of him. Google "Nathan Staker" for more information.

See Also:

Mt. Pleasant Pioneer Blog

William Merchant Biography