A hard life....

 Tamson Parshley Egan





How we Relate:

Wife of  Major Howard Egan

Mother of Richard Erastus Egan

Who is the father of Tamson Minnie Egan Marshall

Who is the mother of Minnie McKinnon Marshall

Who is the father of Byron McKinnon

Who is the father of Don McKinnon

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                Tamson was born on July 27, 1825 in Barnstead, New Hampshire which is about 65 miles north of Boston. She was born to Richard Parshley and Mary Caverly and had 7 siblings , Tamson being the sixth out of eight. Their family continued to live in New Hampshire which borders Massachusetts.

In 1838, Tamson met Howard Egan – a sailor living in Massachusetts and they were soon married on December 1, 1839. Howard was 23 years old at the time and Tamson just a girl of 14 years of age.  They settled in Salem, Massachusetts where there first two sons were born, Howard Ransom Egan in 1840 and Richard Erastus Egan in 1842. 

                In 1842, Elder Erastus Snow introduced Howard and Tamson to Mormonism and they were baptized and moved to Nauvoo that same year to be with the rest of the saints.  When they reached Nauvoo, they met the prophet Joseph Smith who quickly hired Howard as one of the Nauvoo Police and also as his own personal bodyguard.  After arriving in Nauvoo, they moved into a little two room house.  There were two rooms facing the street with a hall between. They lived in the left hand room and another family lived in the right hand room.  Howard opened a rope factory close to a river, and Tamson would meet him there daily to take him dinner.

                On Sept. 24th 1844, Tamson and Howard each received a Patriarchal blessing under the hands of Hyrum Smith. Below is a copy of the blessing given to Tamson:



                In 1844 Howard entered into the life of polygamy and was sealed to Catherine Clawson. The saints were persecuted harshly in Nauvoo and their beloved prophet was murdered in 1844.  The saints lasted in Nauvoo for about two more years when they were forced out and moved on to Winter Quarters in the spring of 1846.

The family settled in Winter Quarters for a time and in his diary, Howard described their home as “log hut that was neatly arranged and papered and hung with pictures and otherwise decorated by Tamson, which made it very pleasant and habitable.”  Winter Quarters was a  settlement that consisted of 700 houses of log, turf and other materials; and was laid out with streets, workshops, mills, etc., and a Tabernacle of worship. Winter Quarters was on a pretty plateau overlooking the river, and was built for protection from Indians. There were 22 Wards with a bishop over each, also a High Council; and the population was over 4000."  While in Winter Quarters, Howard married a third plural wife – Nancy Redding.

Tamson was often left alone to care for her family much of her life since her husband spent a lot of time with his newer wives and also the many assignments he received from the church. In 1847, Howard was called to be a captain of one of the groups of the first pioneer company to trek across the plains with Brigham Young. This left Tamson alone in Winter Quarters for about a year. She received a letter from Howard on April 20, 1847 that said:

" I never in my life had such feelings while away from home as I have on this trip. I cannot say that I feel sorrowful because I am where I delight to be in the society of my Father Heber [C. Kimball] where I can receive instruction and counsel from his lips. My health has been very good since I left home and we are all getting along first rate, we are about 100 hundred miles from Winter Quarters tonight. We travel at the rate of 20 miles per day; the roads are very very good and it is a beautiful country. Tamson I feel sorrowful when I reflect on your situation for I know your feeling when I am away from you, but I feel easy when I realize that you have a kind and generous hearted mother who will do all that she can for the comfort of those around her."



              In 1848, Howard returned to Council Bluffs and brought Tamson and their children to Utah in the Heber C. Kimball Company.  Many times, Tamson was left to drive the wagon team by herself.  When the company was passing through Echo Canyon, Howard was called away to  assist in a some repairs on another wagon. Tamson drove two yoke of oxen and two yoke of cows through the rough, rocky terrain of the canyon. It is said that she missed more stumps and rocks than any other driver, and crossed the stream 27 times all on her own. Tamson’s oldest son, Howard Ransom, recollects hearing his mother say “Damn these rivers!” on many occasions. (I thought it was funny)

They arrived in Salt Lake City on 24 September 1848, and promptly moved into the Salt Lake Fort. There were 423 apartments the saints were supposed to share within the fort. This is where they lived for about two years. (*Side note: The year of their arrival was also the same year that the crickets were about to eat all of the crops, when thousands of seagulls came from nowhere and saved them.)  Tamson’s son, Howard writes about his mother:

“Of late years I often think of what a hard life Mother had in pioneer days, but I suppose that was the lot of all the pioneers; digging roots and gathering greens, catching fish in the Jordan River, collecting anything eatable to make what little flour and cornmeal we had last till another supply could be procured, was the common lot. Wood was also scarce, even the bark of the fence poles was stripped off for fuel, for the men could not spare the time to haul wood from the canyons.

Father was away most all the time working for the church and Mother would never ask for help if she could avoid it. Possibly she could have got along easier and with less trouble if she had not been so independent. I have heard her say that she would work her finger ends off before she would ask for assistance.”

During this time of living in the Fort, Howard married a fourth wife - a woman named Mary Ann Tuttle, and left once again to go back to Council Bluffs and bring his third wife, Nancy Redding, back to Utah.  They arrived in August of 1849, and he was immediately sent to go on a Gold Rush mission to California – to collect gold to help the church grow.

While he was gone, Tamson renewed her friendship with James M. Monroe, a man she knew back in Nauvoo. James Monroe was the prophet Joseph Smith’s clerk and also had taught Joseph’s children in school.  Around September 1850, Tamson and James had an affair which resulted in pregnancy.  James Monroe was counseled to leave the area because of the wrath that he would face when Howard discovered what had happened. In1851 Howard returned to Salt Lake to find Tamson with another man’s child. Enraged and scorned, Howard heard that James Monroe was thought to be traveling with the John Brown Company. He rode on his horse and caught up with him.  Howard and James talked peaceably for a moment when Howard shot and killed James Monroe. Below are some witness accounts from people who were in the same pioneer company and present when it happened:

Robert Caraticus Williams’ account:

“We met at the Offercers with the body of Monro that Howard Egan had killed for unlawful cohabitating with his wife[,] When in Calafornia he used to lodge at Egans when he was away and when he Monro returnd back from the States he was met by Egan and asked him if he had don[e] so and he answered he had[.] They retierd from the camp a distance, talked a time and told him he must die[.] Says Monro spair the child [the illigetimate son] he placed a pistol to his (Monro) head and fierd. He fell away [.] Egqan rode back 100 miles to Utah with his companion gave himself up[.] Their remain’d the secret tragedy it was said that Mrs. Egan that very night seen the spirit of Monro as bright as any angel at her bedside[.] They were always play fellos together when little children and it was hard to  part them[.] he payd the debt [of blood atonement] and was saved[.]”

Also:

William Woodward account:

“About the 24th of September, as we were "rolling out" of camp A person rode in and conversed with Mr. Monroe. the man was a stranger to me: This was in the vicinity of Yellow Creek, & about 70 miles from the Valley. The next I saw of him, he came riding by saying "gentlemen I have killed the seducer of my wife" he put his hand to his breast and said "vengeance is sweet to me".

Our captain rode past and gave orders to stop. I went back to see what was the matter & James Monroe lie dead, he was shot by Howard Egan, for seducing his wife.”

Howard turned himself into the authorities immediately after shooting Monroe. George Albert Smith, one of the twelve apostles, stepped up to be his lawyer. Howard went to court with a judge and jury consisting of all Mormons. George A. Smith, who had had no legal training previously, argued that Egan's action was justified under Utah's "mountain common law" and that common law's usual light penalty for adultery could not be accepted in Utah. Common Law were the basic laws of the land throughout the country.  The jury agreed with the defense motion of Howard killing Monroe as justified by “Mountain Common Law” and Howard was acquitted of murder.  As a direct outcome of this trial and verdict, on March 2, 1851, the Justifiable Homicide Act was put into place.   This act was passed by the Territorial Legistalture as a direct outcome of the Egan v Monroe case. The Act states that homicide is justifiable: “ When committed in a sudden heat of passion caused by the attempt of the deceased to commit a rape upon or to defile the wife, daughter, sister, mother, or other female relative or dependent of the accused, or when the defilement has actually been committed.”  This act was around until 1874.



Howard Egan



Tamson had named the baby that came from all of this William Monroe Egan and Howard raised the son as if it were his. Around that time, Tamson and her sons had moved out of the Salt Lake Fort and into a little house that was built of adobe material. This home had one large room  with a wooden floor that had been whitewashed.  Her son remembered how Tamson used to mop the floor every day and took pride in the whiteness of it.  This house also had areas outside for a pig, poultry and even a cow.  Howard, Tamson’s son, remembered the following:

 

"Oh, we were just beginning to live fat, and we had our garden in. It was here that I saw the largest spider that I ever did in my life. Mother heard the chickens making a great fuss back of the house. She looked out of the back window and saw the chickens standing in a ring around a large spider. It was standing as high as possible with one leg raised, and striking at the hens when they ventured too close. Mother got a tin box about three by six inches, and one and a half inches deep, laying this on the ground she drove the thing over the box. Where it stood its legs reached the ground each side of the box without touching it. Mother gave it a tap with a stick and it pulled its legs in and settled down in the box, which it nearly filled. Mother slid the cover on the box and set it in the window and when she went to let a visitor see it-, found that the sun, shining on the box, had killed the spider. Its body was about the size of a silver quarter. Mother pinned it to a board with a needle and kept it for a long time for people to see.”

Street that Egan Family lived on in 1860

           Howard was continued to be away frequently from home and left Tamson and the kids to take care of things themselves. Once when he returned from one of his trips, he got together with two men and bought a city lot to build a very large barn to use as a livery stable.  One day while Howard was again gone on travels, the barn caught on fire.  The boys were away and saw the fire as it spread to their house in the distance and rushed home to see what they could do but were too late. They arrived and saw the barn was no more than a pile of ashes and saw Tamson sitting amid the few household goods she had managed to save. The house was largely damaged and they lost all of their chickens, two horses, about thirty tons of hay in the barn, and the grain room was full of oats and barley. There were four sets of harness and some saddles in the harness room. All went up in smoke, along with many carpenter tools. The flames had spread so rapidly that it was impossible to save much that was in the barn.   They lost thousands of dollars with that event.

Tamson had six children in her life. One son died as a baby, and a son named Horace died when he was fifteen. The other four are: Howard Ransom, Richard Erastus, William Monroe and Ira.



Sons of Tamson and Howard



 Tamson  was a generous, kind woman. When the immigrants came in with trains each season and when new hand cart companies arrived, many desperately needed the necessities to live. Howard and Tamson were doing well with his beef trade during this time and Tamson spent a lot  of the proceeds to go towards helping these people get started out with the items they needed. Tamson was known as being very generous and benevolent.   Her husband told her multiple times that “ she shall be blessed for her good heart.”

Howard died on March 15, 1878, and Tamson continued to live until 1905 when she passed away from Pernicious anemia on March 31. She is buried in Salt Lake City, Utah next to Howard in the Salt Lake cemetery.

While looking up information for Tamson, most of the stuff I have come across only talks about her infidelity to Howard. I can’t imagine how hard life was for her at that time – her husband leaving her the majority of the time to either travel or be with his other wives, being a “single” mother on a new frontier, etc. I think that although mistakes may have been made, Tamson was a strong, independent, charitable woman.  Interestingly, she was the only spouse still married to Howard at the time of his death – the other three having divorced him. To me that says something about the man she was married to.



Sources:

·         More wives than one: transformation of the Mormon marriage system, 1840-1910 by Kathryn M. Daynes pgs 278-279

·         Howard Egan's Diary, Pioneering the West, 26-7

·         http://connellodonovan.com/boston_mormonsJ-Z.pdf

·         http://connellodonovan.com/boston_mormonsA-I.pdf

·         Ancestry.com

·         Educating the Children of Nauvoo by Brian D. Jackson  pg 63 

·         Woodward, William], Reminiscences, 8-10, box 2, fd. 4, in William Woodward, Collection 1851-1919

·         Brigham's Boys By Marlene Bateman Sullivan pg 45-54

·         http://jod.mrm.org/1/95

·         The revised statutes of the State of Utah in force Jan. 1, 1898 By Utah, Richard Whitehead Young, Grant Horace Smith, William Amalphus Lee pg 893

·         http://www.dialoguejournal.com/wp-content/uploads/sbi/articles/Dialogue_V21N01_99.pdf