1826 -1917                      INDEX      PEDIGREE
 

 
Harriet Amelia Decker

PHOTO ALBUM

SPOUSE: EDWIN SOBIESKI LITTLE
Marriage: 5 January 1862
Place: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah
SPOUSE: (2)EPHRAIM KNOWLTON HANKS


Birth Date: 13 March 1826
Birth Place: Phelps, Ontario, New York
Death Date: 20 May 1917
Burial: Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah

CHILDREN
George Edwin Little
Ephraim Marcelus Hanks
Marcia Amelia Hanks
Otis Alvarus Hanks
Harriet Page Hanks
Clara Vilate Hanks
Charles Decker Hanks
Perry Isaac Hanks		 1844-1915
1849-1890
1851-1939
1853-1854
1856-1906
1858-1932
1860-1922
1863-1892


OCCUPATION(S):

FAMILY
Father: ISAAC DECKER
WIFE (2) MARIA LOUISA ROBERTS
WIFE (3) DELIGHT DAY
WIFE (4) FANNY ELIZA GREENE
WIFE (5) MARY CANNON
WIFE (6) HANNAH HERBERT
WIFE (7) SARAH S.COLLINS
WIFE (8) ANNE LUCAS
Mother: HARRIET P.WHEELER
HUSB (2) LORENZO DOW YOUNG

SIBLINGS
Lucy Ann Decker
Charles Franklin Decker
Harriet Amelia Decker
Clarissa Clara Decker
Fannie Maria Decker
Isaac Perry Decker
Ann Elizabeth Decker (w8)
Hannah Maria H. Decker(w6)
Albertine Decker (w7)
Don Albert Decker (w8)
Christina H. Decker (w6)
Alice Delina Decker (w7)
Lester Isaac Decker (w8)
James Henry Decker (w6)
Ella Eudora Decker (w8)
Julia Vilat Lte Decker (w7)
James Isaac Decker (w6)
Luna Josephine Decker (w8)
Edwin Little Decker (w6)
Laura Decker (w8)
Louis Decker (w8)
Clara Lavina Decker (w8)



INDEX TO HISTORY

 RELIGIOUS INFORMATION:  

 BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION:

Biography of LD Young by James A Little Utah Hist Quarterly
Here [Richardson's Point] Lorenzo's nephew, Edwin Little, was taken very sick with the lung fever. He was removed to a house about two miles from camp, but he continued to grow worse and died on the 18th of March, 1846. He was buried in a cold damp grave in a grove of trees a few rods from the road. It was a melancholy day for friends and relatives and especially for his stricken wife, Harriet.

Diary of Lorezo Dow Young [1846] Wensday, [April] 29. The rain is still falling, and everything looks lonesome today. Harriet A Little and child came to live with us. Thursday, 30th. Still it rains and we feel dull. Philip is not able to set up at all.
[Friday September] 18th. [1846] This day I visited Bro. John and Joseph and Phineas. In the evening married Harriet A. Little to P. H. Young. Friday,

Our Pioneer Heritage, Vol. 2, p.308
      Harriet Amelia Decker was born 13 March 1826, at Phelps, Ontario county, New York, the daughter of Harriet Page Wheeler and Isaac Decker. The family made several moves while Harriet was still a young child; first to Cattaragus county, New York; then to Portage, Ohio, and later to Franklin and Kirtland, Ohio. While living in Portage the family joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Harriet was nine years old when she was baptized. The Decker family became close friends of the Prophet Joseph Smith, Brigham Young and Lorenzo Dow Young. They traveled with the Saints to Missouri and then to Illinois. Harriet experienced the fear of the mobs who persecuted the members of the Church.
      While living in Winchester, Illinois she met Edwin Sobieski Little, son of Brigham Young's sister, Susannah, and James Little, and was married to him in her father's home by Joseph Young, on the 22nd of March, 1842. Edwin was 26 years of age and even though she was only 16, she was well trained in home making. Their son, George Edwin, was born 6 August, 1844 in Nauvoo, Illinois.
      Harriet's mother and father separated the 9th of March, 1843. She later married Lorenzo Dow Young, brother of Brigham Young. Harriet's sisters, Lucy Ann and Clara Decker married Brigham Young. Her sister, Fanny, married Feramorz Little, a brother of her husband; [p.309] so Harriet and her family were closely associated with the leaders of the Church.
      During the time of the exodus from Nauvoo Harriet and Edwin with their son, George, crossed the Mississippi River and it is recorded in Harriet's history, "that Edwin was helping his Uncle Brigham Young across the river with the wagons, when the ice broke through throwing him into the icy water. He gained shore in safety but was chilled and wet."
      When the Saints arrived at Richardson's Point, fifty-five miles from Nauvoo, they remained there a few days and several of the brethren found work for which they received corn to sustain their teams. It was here Edwin Little was taken ill with lung fever. He was removed to a house two miles from camp but his condition continued to grow worse and he died on the 18th of March, 1846. He was buried near the present site of Keosauqua, Iowa, in a grove of trees a few rods from the road. The Saints stayed in Winter Quarters the winter of 1845–46.
      Harriet's mother, Harriet Decker Young, her brother, Isaac Perry Decker, and sister, Clara Decker Young, were permitted to go with the first company. Harriet Amelia and her little son, Edwin, came with the second company of 1847 with Jedediah M. Grant as captain. It is told that she had a small box on the back of her wagon which contained three hens. These hens kept her supplied with eggs while crossing the plains. She, and her son, arrived safely in the valley the 2nd of October, happy to be reunited with her mother and other relatives.
     Their first home consisted of the wagon in which they had traveled. Not only was food scarce and very difficult to obtain but so were cooking utensils and other necessities. Harriet helped other women with cooking and sewing in order to make a living. Ten days after her arrival she was helping to prepare dinner at the home of Captain Rosencranz for some of the members of the Mormon Battalion. Among the guests was a young man by the name of Ephraim Hanks. On September 22, 1848 they were married by Brigham Young, the ceremony being performed in her mother's home. Ephraim was the son of Benjamin and Martha Knowlton Hanks. He and his brother, Sidney Alvarus, had joined the Church in Nauvoo. Alvarus came with Brigham Young and Ephraim joined the Mormon Battalion.
     Ephraim took Jane Marie Spencer and Hannah Hardy in plural marriage on the 26th of March, 1856, a month after Harriet's fourth child was born. Harriet's son, George Edwin, was a rider for the Pony Express when he was sixteen years of age. Ephraim had taught him to be fearless and to have faith in God. Harriet and Ephraim were the parents of seven children: Marcellus, Marcia Amelia, Otis Alvarus, Harriet Page, Clara Vilate, Charles Decker and Perry Isaac. They were all born in Salt Lake City, the last son, Perry Isaac on the 20th of January, 1863.
    My mother, Mattie Little Hanks, wrote the following: "As a child I always looked forward to spring for that season brought my grandmother, Harriet Little Hanks, to the Teton Valley, Idaho from Salt Lake City. She had homesteaded an eighty-acre tract of land adjoining our property. She had a cozy log cabin built on it and spent six months of the year there. It was our responsibility to stay with grandmother every night. There were four of us children who took turns. We were always glad when it was our turn as grandmother always had something extra nice for us to eat and a nice soft bed to sleep in."
     Harriet was living with her daughter, Clara, and her husband, John Felt, 155 North Main Street, Salt Lake City, Utah, at the time of her death May 30, 1917—Teton Hanks Jackman		  REFERENCES: