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In Nauvoo, Isaac
served on the police force and as a body guard for Joseph Smith. Isaac was in Utah
guarding the temple in Nauvoo when word came that Joseph Smith and his brother, Hiram, had
been killed. Isaac was the first person to receive the news.
Isaac played an important role in the exodus from Nauvoo to the Utah
Territory. Brigham Young appointed him as one of the bishops to build shelters and to take
care of the families at Winter Quarters. He was known for his resourcefulness and the
people had great confidence in him.
In 1847 Isaac was sent to Salt Lake City. He made a
second trip the next year. In December of 1848, Isaac was part of a group of fifty men led
by Parley Pratt, who had left Salt Lake City and gone south to Salt Creek, then east to
the Sevier Valley and southwest to Panguitch and the Valley of the Little Salt Lake. After
traveling through the mountains in three to eight feet of snow, they reached what is now
Parawan.
Upon his return to Salt Lake City, Isaac was given a
seat in the territorial legislature. Shortly after the legislature adjoined, he left on a
mission to England where he was very successful in recruiting new members to the LDS
Church. It was also Isaac’s responsibility to carry the Saints money, which had been
converted into gold, back to the United States. He carried a small leather satchel that
contained $36,500 in English gold coin and which he converted to US currency and spent in
New York City on supplies.
Isaac made several trips to England where he recruited
other members to the LDS Church. On one of these missions, he met ELIZA ANN PRICE, the
daughter of JOHN PRICE and SARAH MARY JOHNSON. She became one his five wives. Eliza
was a member of the Episcopalian Church where Isaac was preaching. Eliza and five other
girls had gone to hear him speak when they met. Eliza's mother had died when Eliza was an
infant and she was raised by her Aunt in London. She had light brown hair and blue eyes.
She was a small woman, weighing only about 120 pounds and standing five feet tall. Her
brother was Sir Arthur Price who served in the King’s Service. Her grandmother was a
distant relative of Sir Walter Scott.
They were married on October 10, 1853 in Salt Lake City.
According to their daughter’s memoirs, Eliza did not know that Isaac had other wives
until she was on aboard the ship for the United States. When she discovered Isaac had
other wives, she refused to marry him. But, she was too embarrassed to tell her family
back in England and so she remained with Isaac and lived her life in the Utah desert. She
never quite forgave him for his deception.
Isaac’s other wives were (1) MARY MURRY, (2) ANNA
BELL ST. CLAIR, (3) ELIZA ANN SNYDER and (4) ELIZABETH SUMMERS January 24, 1858 in Utah,
daughter of JAMES and MARY SUMMERS.
Isaac was sent to Iron County, Utah where he was the
first mayor of Cedar City as well as the first Stake President. His home still stands on
the corner east of the Presbyterian Church. The family later moved to Tocquerville.
In the late summer of 1857, the territorial militia
(affectionately, the Nauvoo Legion), which included every able-bodied man between the ages
of eighteen and forty-five, was on full alert. Staff officers, who were also church and
civic officials, were dispatched to every settlement under their command to explain and
enforce militia decisions. George A. Smith, who commanded all of the southern Utah militia
units, arrived in Parowan on 8 August and began the task of preparing the people
psychologically, militarily, and materially for war. The units of the Tenth Regiment of
the territorial militia were mustered and drilled, and the impending battle plan was
explained. Smith, an effective orator and founder of Iron and Washington counties, made
several impassioned speeches and apparently accomplished his purpose. The people were
convinced that they were in a state of war and were ready to take action.
Several meetings were held in Cedar City and Parowan to
determine how the "War Orders" should be implemented. The militia decided that
the Fancher train should be eliminated. Cooler heads prevailed temporarily and an express
rider was sent to Salt Lake City to solicit Brigham Young’s advice. The round
trip—more than 500 miles—took six days. In the meantime, things got completely
out of hand. Orders and counter-orders were misinterpreted, deliberately or otherwise.
Isaac was excommunicated from the church and he died in
exile on September 08, 1886 in Thatcher, Graham County, Arizona.
The children of ISAAC HAIGHT and ELIZA PRICE are:
MARIE ANTOINETTE HAIGHT, b. August 09, 1861, St. George,
Utah, d.January 12, 1935, Salt Lake City, Utah
ROSELIA JACOSIA HAIGHT, b. October 22, 1854, Utah d.
December 10, 1922.
ISAAC CHAUNCEY HAIGHT, b. October 21, 1856, Utah, d.
1927, Utah
ELIZA ANN HAIGHT, b. May 08, 1858, Utah, d. March 02,
1897
HORTENSE HAIGHT, b. January 11, 1860, Utah, Went to
Alaska
MARIA EUGENIA HAIGHT, b. July 25, 1863, Tocquerville,
Utah; d. February 07, 1942,Utah.
HARRIET ADELIA HAIGHT, b. September 03, 1865,
Tocquerville, Utah, d. December 15, 1942.
OWEN PRICE HAIGHT, b. May 29, 1868, Tocquerville, Utah,
d. October 17, 1900.
HECTOR CALEB HAIGHT, b. May 09, 1870; d. December 1957.
HORTON EDWARD HAIGHT, b. October 11, 1872, Tocquerville,
Utah
Source Notes:
1. Isaac Nelson, Cedar City Utah
2. Memoirs of Marie Antoinette Haight
3. Juanita Brooks
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