Saleta Ann Brown was born abt. 1819 in Tennessee. She
was the
daughter of Alexander Brown and Polly Sharp of Meigs County, Tennessee.
She married Peter Huff, the son of John Huff and Nancy Cox, on 25 November
1841 in Meigs County, Tennessee. (Although referred to as "Saladia" and
"Salada", her name was actually Saleta, a Southern contraction
of the names Sally and Etta.)
Around 1849 they moved to Dallas County, Missouri, and then to Benton
County, Arkansas, where Peter Huff purchased 120 acres of land in 1854.
The Huff property was located a few miles from the property Captain
Alexander Fancher purchased the same year. "The Huff Train" departed for
California in April 1857 from Benton County, Arkansas. It remains
unknown if "The Huff Train" was traveling with "The Fancher Train",
departed independently, or might have joined one of the other trains
involved in the Mountain Meadows Massacre, en route.
Milum Lafayette Rush, of Carroll County,
Arkansas, may have been part of the "The Huff Train".
(Milum Lafayette Rush's paternal aunt Louisa D. (Rush) Huff, was
married to Urial S. Huff, the brother of Peter Huff.)
Peter Huff is said
to have died of an infected spider (or other insect) bite in July of 1857,
and was buried near Fort Bridger in what was then the Utah Territory, and
today is Wyoming. His widow Saleta Ann, and her six children, decided to
continue on to California. Saleta Ann (Brown) Huff died in the 1857
Mountain Meadows Massacre in Utah Territory, along with 5 of her 6
children. Her daughter Nancy Saphronia Huff, born 1853 in Benton County,
Arkansas, survived the Massacre and was returned to her relatives in
Tennessee in 1859 by her maternal grandfather Alexander Brown, who was a
widower. Nancy
Sophronia (called Sophronia) was raised by her paternal grandparents, John
and Nancy (Cox) Huff. Saleta's daughter Nancy Saphronia's account
of the Massacre states that she saw her mother "shot in the forehead and fall dead". Widow
Saleta Ann (Brown) Huff was 38 years old when she died.
The information inscribed on the 1990 Dan Sill Hill Monument is not
accurate. The Monument records:
Saladia Ann Brown Huff
William Huff
Elisha Huff and two other sons
Saleta Ann (Brown) Huff's children that died in the Mountain Meadows
Massacre were:
John Huff born 1843 in Meigs County, Tennessee
William C. Huff born 1844 in Meigs County, Tennessee
Mary E. Huff born 1846 in Meigs County, Tennessee
James K. Huff born 1849 in Dallas County, Missouri
And an Unknown Son born about 1851. (This son has been sometimes referred
to as Elisha, but there is no evidence to support Elisha as this child's
name.)
© 2008 A.C. Wallner for the Mountain Meadows Association. All rights
reserved
IN MEMORIAM
IN THE VALLEY BELOW BETWEEN SEPTEMBER 7 AND 11, 1857, A COMPANY OF MORE
THAN 120 ARKANSAS EMIGRANTS LED BY CAPT. JOHN T. BAKER AND CAPT. ALEXANDER
FANCHER WAS ATTACKED WHILE EN ROUTE TO CALIFORNIA. THIS EVENT IS KNOWN IN
HISTORY AS THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE
SALADIA ANN BROWN HUFF
(Her age does not appear on the 1990 Monument. She was 38
years old.)
* Please note that the
names of the victims of the 1857 Mountain Meadows Massacre that appear are
only of those who we have personally researched and verified as actual
victims. In some cases this list will differ from the names that were
inscribed on the 1990 Monument on Dan Sill Hill.
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virtual flowers - MMA FIND A GRAVE
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