Gilberth Haws was born 10 March 1801 in Logan, now Butler County, Kentucky, the eighth child of Jacob Haws and Hannah Neill.
Hannah Whitcomb was born 17 April 1806 in Cazenovia, Madison County, New York, daughter of Oliver and Olive Bidlack Whitcomb.
Both of their families moved to Illinois where Gilberth and Hannah met and married on June 2, 1822. Gilberth first heard of the Church in 1840 , and he and his wife were baptized in 1842 in Illinois. After their marriage, they lived on a ranch near Zenia, Illinois , where he raised sheep and some cattle and farmed. They remained there until after the martyrdom, then they started west with the saints.
The following is from the history of Gilberth Haws written by a daughter Lucinda Haws Holdaway.
"In 1845 Elders came to tell us that the saints were being mobbed and driven from their homes and that we had better prepare to go west with the company. We remained in Wayne County until May 1847, when my father and family prepared to go west. We went as far as Iowa and stopped at a little place called Mount Pisgah for the winter. We remained there until the spring of 1848, then started for Winter Quarters so that we might be ready to go west with the first company. At Winter Quarters they built a bowery and danced all night with the permission of President Brigham Young. During the month of May 1848, preparations were made for the departure of the main body of the Saints on the Missouri River. President Young was General Superintendent of the companies and Gilberth and Hannah Haws were assigned to the 3rd Company under the supervision of Lorenzo Snow. This company consisted of 321 souls, 99 wagons, 20 horses, 3 mules, 388 oxen, 188 cows, 38 loose cattle, 139 sheep, 25 pigs, 158 chickens, 10 cats, 26 dogs and 2 doves. Gilberth Haws had two wagons, one team of horses and five teams of oxen. Hannah drove the team of horses all the way across the Plains. The family consisted of father, mother, seven sons and six daughters. Continuing to quote from the history of Lucinda Haws Holdaway, she says: "All went as well as could be expected on the journey. Of course, we had many difficulties to encounter--we had to wash our clothes in cold water and make fires of "buffalo chips" as there was no wood to be found. In the evening we would all assemble in the center of the corrals, which were formed by a circle of wagons, and sing and pray. Everyone seemed thankful and a time was had by all. Gilberth Haws helped furnish meat and game for the company. On September 23, 1848, we arrived in Salt Lake Valley. My father then bought one of the little adobe houses in the Old Fort which was built by the pioneers who came the year before. This house consisted of one room twelve feet square, containing one door, a fireplace and two port holes about ten inches square, one on each side of the chimney. The house was made of adobe with a roof of willows, rushes and dirt and a dirt floor.
After we were settled we had a very hard time to get food to eat. A little corn had been raised the year before by the settlers, some of which we bought. This had been roasted and the bread we made of it was almost black. The people had sacks of dried buffalo meat which they used, making a kind of soup and thickening it with a little flour. Once in a while a cow was killed and a little piece of meat portioned out to each family. So we lived in this condition until the next summer."
Well that post deserves a few ye-Haws Mom. You have some awesome ancestors.
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