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Lemuel Hardison Redd, Sr.
Keziah Jane Butler
Lemuel H. Redd and Louisa Chamberlain
Lemuel Hardison Redd, Sr.
Born: 1 July 1836 at Sneeds Ferry, Stump Sound, Onslow County, North Carolina
Parents: John Hardison Redd and Elizabeth Hancock
Married: (1) Keziah Jane Butler, 2 January 1856 at Spanish Fork, Utah, Utah, USA
Married: (2) Sarah Louisa Chamberlain, 5 November 1866 at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake, Utah, USA
Died: 9 June 1910, Colonia Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico
SKETCH OF LEMUEL HARDISON REDD, SR.
Lemuel Hardison Redd was born July 1, 1836, in Sneeds Ferry, Stump Sound, Onslow County, North Carolina to John Hardison Redd and Elizabeth Hancock. He moved with his parents in 1840 to Murfreesborough, Tennessee where they bought and operated a plantation. During this time John D. Lee and other Latter-day Saint missionaries brought the message of the restored Gospel of Jesus Christ and accepting the truths found therein and being baptized, the family sold the plantation and moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. The family crossed the plains and arrived in Salt Lake Valley in September of 1850. Lemuel was 14 years old and drove an ox-team all the way across the plains, meeting the perils of hostile Indians, stampeding buffaloes, and a disastrous attack of cholera.
He attended school in Provo during the winter of 1850-1851, moving to Spanish Fork in the spring. The stern demands of the Walker War claimed his time and attention while he was yet in his teens. He married Keziah Butler on January 2, 1856. To this union 13 children were born, six sons and seven daughters. The family moved to New Harmony in compliance to a mission call from Brigham Young in the spring of 1862 with their four children. Before they were permanently settled, the Black Hawk War broke out. It continued for two years. They had to accommodate themselves to all the hardships and limitations which this conflict imposed upon them; Lemuel Hardison was often fighting Indians, as far away as Green River, Utah.
His daughter, Della R. Ivins wrote “He was a leader in the civil government of the place, a member of the County Court for six years. He was Director and treasurer of the Kanarra Cattle and Sheep Company,” and at the time of the United Order he was Vice-President and Secretary. He pulled teeth in emergencies and was something of a veterinarian and, according to John D. Lee, acted as chorister in the Sacrament Meetings, and the singing was inspiring.
He married a second wife, Sariah Louisa Chamberlain, in 1866. To this union 14 children were born. He moved his two families into a home built to be a duplex and purchased from John D. Lee.
When his son L.H. Jr. and his family were called to the wild and remote southeastern corner of Utah to cultivate the friendship of the Navajos and other Indians, he decided to go along. He was chosen along with George Hobbs, George W. Sevy, and George Morrell to scout the way to Montezuma and determine whether wagons could be taken through. There are various accounts of this hazardous and exhausting venture referred to as the “Hole in The Rock,” but no question of the difficulty and danger.
On the 17 Dec., 1879, the day they started to blast the road down thru the crack; the scouts George W. Sevy, George Hobbs, George Morrell and Lemuel Hardison Redd with their horses and pack mule, made their way down to the river. They crossed the Colorado River in Platte D. Lyman’s boat that he had let down over the cliffs. The scouts wanted to make their way to the base camp at Montezuma, some 175 miles away. George says, “Christmas found us on the east side of Elk Mountain, without food and no way of identifying our location. It was impossible to retrace our steps to the River Camp and we knew not which way to go to reach our destination.” His report at the historian’s office gives Hobbs words as follow: “Lemuel H. Redd’s dream helped us find our way.”
The following is Lemuel H. Redd’s story of their perilous experience that Christmas- time, as told to his children and written by Ellen Redd Bryner, “Snow had fallen all day until evening. Night began to settle around them. They found a clearing in which to make camp. With branches from cedar trees they brushed away the snow and kindled several large fires to dry and warm the ground. After hours of work, carrying dry cedar trees to feed the fires, their reward was a warm place for their horses and for each one of them to lie down wrapped in his blankets. They prayed for help to know what to do. Morning came with clear skies and sunshine. As the folded their blankets my father (Lemuel Hardison Redd) said to his companions, “Come with me to the top of yonder knoll, where he had stood in his dream of the night before, their hearts thrilled as each in his turn with their one pair of field glasses, looked upon the waters of the San Juan River...”Shining like a silver ribbon in the sunlight,” as my father expressed it. This ended their search for the San Juan River. It was to guide them to their destination.”
The next trouble the scouts came to was on one of the big slick rock mesas. It looked like they never would find a way down. They searched and searched and finally ran on to a mountain sheep. Some of them wanted to kill it, as their rations were nearly gone, but George Hobbs said, “No, he will lead us out.” The sheep would stamp his feet and look at them, until they would get so clase, then he’s run on; then stop again until he led them off of the slick rock mesa. They blazed the trail but a snowstorm came and covered days of struggling thru snow and cold. They reached the Camp at Montezuma. (This camp was actually at the cabin of the Harris family who had come to Bluff earlier the previous fall.) Four days they had been without food. Here their hunger was satisfied (by the Harris family), but because food supplies at this (Montezuma) camp were so depleted, these people dared not divide their food. The scouts stayed one day to recuperate. These people feared for their own subsistence.” Thy returned to the base camp 25 days after beginning the journey. There was a letter there for Lemuel with the news of illness at home. He packed a few things and returned to his home.
Because he had taken a second wife, Lem became a hunted man and spent many years running from the U. S. Marshals. He finally took his second family and made the difficult journey to Colonia Dublan arriving in January, 1892. He then spent part of each year in New Harmony, usually winter, and summer in Colonia Dublan.
A quote from the book The Utah Redds and Their Progenitors says: “He was generous to a fault. His hospitality to traveling friends was unusually marked. He was an extensive and intensive reader, a qualified student of history, biography, and current topics. He was interested in politics and was an enthusiastic Republican--standing for the building up of home industries. He was an untiring student of the gospel and a very pleasing speaker. His nature was genteel and happy. He loved to sing with his family, and he let his tenor voice be heard in church. He had a broad understanding of life and was diligent in searching after knowledge in various fields. He was widely known and blessed with many friends. In earlier life he was know as Uncle Lem Redd, but later generations called him Grandpa Redd.
He was active in the church in Mexico, especially in the seventies quorum and then in the high priest quorum. He was first counselor to the stake president. A.F. McDonald, then to President Miles P. Romney, and then to President A. Thurber. He was ordained a patriarch on the ninth of March, 1908, under the hands of Apostle John Henry Smith, George F. Richards, and Anthony W. Ivins. He died June 9,1910, in Colonia Juarez and was buried there.
Right-click [Mac Control-click] to open full-size image:
Lemuel Hardison Redd, Sr.
Keziah Jane Butler
Lemuel H. Redd and Louisa Chamberlain