By Letitia Palmer

It was the 7th of May 1820, in Henrietta (now a suburb of Rochester), New York, that a baby was born to Daniel and Mary Hewitt Wight and given the name of Stephen.  Stephen was the 5th child in a family of seven.

This baby, Stephen, had a choice heritage and was a descendant of many generations of Wights in America.  Their forefathers had come in the middle 1600's to America, supposedly from England, to obtain liberty and freedom.  These ancestors had landed and settled in Massachusetts in the Boston area.  They were leaders in their communities, pioneering and colonizing and actively engaged in the civic organizations as selectmen.  They had planned and built homes and communities.  They knew the adventure and joy of clearing land, planting crops, and learning how to deal and live peaceably with the Indians.

They were also pioneers in education.  The history of the Wight family records that Thomas Wight and his wife and family were living in Dedham, Essex County, Massachusetts about 1630 and died there in 1674.  Thomas, his sons, and sons-in-law contributed to the establishment of an institution of higher learning which later became Harvard University, and their descendants were later students there.

These early American Wights loved this new country and were not only willing and anxious to build it but also to fight for it.  Daniel's two brothers, George and Abbott, were both killed as young men in the War of 1812.  Another of the brothers married a fourth cousin of President Van Buren.  He was a talented, well-educated man and in his lifetime traveled world-wide and was well known.  Another brother Lyman Wight, was a well-known apostle and a trusted and intimate friend of the Prophet Joseph Smith.  Lyman stayed by the Prophet through the continued persecution during the Missouri and Nauvoo era of the church.  He was one of those who was with the Prophet in Liberty Jail and assisted in the building of the Nauvoo Temple.  Lyman left the church and went to Texas but many of his descendants are now back in the church and are staunch and dedicated members.  Lyman was almost devotedly loyal to Joseph Smith and became rebellious when Joseph Smith was martyred.  The following is taken from the book "The Restored Church" by William E. Berrett:

Among those who admired the Prophet and would have given their lives for him

were two of the toughest men, inexternals, that have found membership within the

church.  Both had hearts of gold and the Prophet's tolerance of their outward rough-

ness is characteristic of his ability to look beyond mere externals to the human heart.

They were Orrin Porter Rockwell and Lyman Wight…who was attracted to the

church by the magnetism of the Prophet's character.  He was a rough frontiersman, a

deadly shot, whose reckless courage was well known along the border.  While the

Prophet lived, Wight was as plastic clay in his hands, as gentle as a lamb.  After the

death of his 'beloved Joseph,' no one could govern him.  He was tolerated in the

church only because of his former devotion to the Prophet.  His independent miss-

ionary ventures and his garbled teaching finally led however, to his excommunication

from the church.

Returning to Stephen's story…as a child and little boy he enjoyed the outdoor life, the woods, birds, and animals in beautiful upstate New York, and helped his father and brothers on the family farm.  He was taught by his parents very early in life that a good education was to be desired.  He worked and attained a very good education progressing through grade school and secondary school and attended some college where he learned the trade of surveying, or as we would call it now…civil engineering.

He worked and bought a delicate and valuable set of surveying or engineering instruments which were some of the precious cargo he later brought to Utah.  With these instruments he surveyed much of Northern Utah.  These instruments have stayed with the family until a few years ago when they were loaned to Mr. Richardson to be placed in the museum in Brigham City.  In this museum is also his sword and his old gun and other personal items.  The surveying instruments are now with brother Ray (in Ogden).

The Wight family was deeply religious.  Since Henrietta and Rochester, New York are only about 30 miles from Palmyra, New York, it seems very probable that the family heard of Joseph Smith and the Hill Cumorah and the Book of Mormon at this time.  It seems quite reasonable to think they may have at least heard about the restored church.  For a few years the exact movement of the families is uncertain except from births and deaths recorded.  Apparently, they moved west into the Allegheny Mountains, because their youngest two children, Ephraim and Mary, were born at Centreville, Allegheny County, in 1826 and 1828, and the mother (Mary) died in 1828 when the young child Mary was born.  The father (Daniel) also died in Centreville in 1841, and two of his daughters, Nancy and Asenath, died in 1842 and 1843.

Apparently the remaining members of the family now followed with relatives in the western movement into the frontier Ohio country.  We know that Lyman Wight had gone ahead in 1826 to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, and was living in Kirtland when the first Mormon missionaries came there in the winter of 1830.  Mr. Phillips, a guide at the Kirkland Temple (Summer, 1973), told us an interesting story.  He said that Lyman Wight had come to Kirtland and become acquainted with a minister whose name was Sidney Rigdon.  He was minister of the religious group called the Disciples.  This sect lived with all things in common.  One day as Lyman Wight was harnessing his team to his wagon in preparation for leading a group of several families west into the frontier to start a new settlement, the LDS missionaries came into town.  They talked to Sidney Rigdon and then went to see Lyman Wight before he left.  They began talking to Lyman as he finished harnessing his team.  He became more and more interested and then unharnessed his team and put them in the pasture.  Lyman became a constant companion of the missionaries and in a short time was baptized (1831).  A short time later Sidney Rigdon and his entire congregation were baptized into the new church.

We are not sure of the movements and trails made by Stephen Wight and his brothers and sisters but we feel their lives may have been closely intermingled with the western movement.  There is no definite record of the movements of Stephen Wight until we again find him in Nauvoo.  There is one mention of them having been in Missouri.  The journey there was slow and arduous, but feeling had been mounting against the Mormons in Kirtland and persecution was becoming severe.  They visioned a better condition in Missouri which was Zion and where they could worship freely.  They soon found that such was not the case.  Antagonism against them for various reasons was soon as bad, or worse, in Missouri.  As in Ohio, they were driven and persecuted with the rest and finally their Uncle Lyman Wight, after helping to lead several defensive actions, was taken with the Prophet to Liberty Jail where they kept him for 6 months.  They existed under extreme hardships in a damp underground cell or room with little heat, meager food, and little change of clothing.  Later, after they were released, Lyman Wight, at the counsel of the Prophet, established a ferry across the Grand River.

The family was driven with the Saints to Illinois and Nauvoo where Lyman later joined them.  The happenings at Nauvoo are familiar to all who know church history—the happy encouraging good times as they built comfortable homes and farms and business associations.  The building of the temple was a challenge to all, and everyone worked under great difficulties to build a house unto the Lord.  For a time they enjoyed peace and prosperity, but soon storm clouds of a seething undercurrent of hatred and jealousy from the apostates and enemies began to be felt again, and soon the storm broke in all its fury.  Mobbings and burnings and molesting and persecution became their lot again.  It finally culminated in the martyrdom on June 27, 1844, of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum.

The Wight family came to a split.  Lyman Wight became disaffected and took his family and many followers and went to Texas to establish a colony there.  It is recorded that Lyman Wight and others who had previously under the direction of the Prophet gone up the Mississippi River to Wisconsin to get timber to make lumber for use in the temple had floated this timber down the river to Nauvoo and stacked it in piles for building the temple.  When Lyman Wight became discouraged because his friend and leader Joseph Smith was gone, he made several attempts to destroy the timber.

When the Saints were finally given the ultimatum to leave Nauvoo, Stephen and his brother and sisters left with the earlier ones and began the trek across Iowa and toward the west to search again for peace and security.  (Stephen had been baptized January 10, 1843, by Charles Thompson and confirmed the next day, probably at Nauvoo).  This group reached Winter Quarters, and there, Stephen was destined to remain and help.  During these years in Nauvoo and Winter Quarters, he held the position of Bishop's counselor for 11 years and then became a Bishop himself for 3 years.

At last in 1852 came Stephen's call to come to Utah, to make the trek he had helped so many prepare to go ahead including his brother Ephraim and his Sister Maria Wight, wife of Alva Keller.  They were requested to help widows and orphans.  Grandfather's friend Elias Pulsipher had died and left a wife and children so Stephen finished the wagon he and Elias had begun and prepared to take the Pulsipher family with him and his family.  It is here that Grandfather Stephen Wight and one of the Pulsipher daughters, Grandmother Abigail Emma Pulsipher's lives came together.

The Wight family and the Pulsipher family came to America at very nearly the same time (about 1630) and pioneered the same New England area in upper Vermont and Massachusetts.  Both families lived in or near Boston and in those pioneering days, it is highly possible that they could have known each other in Revolutionary War times and later.  Isn't it interesting to think that most likely they saw the historical events of early American history—the Boston Tea Party, Paul Revere's ride, and other events….

Abigail Emma Pulsipher Wight was the 4th living child of Elias and Polly Chubbuck Pulsipher and was born October 3, 1839, at Island Grove, Sangamon County, Illinois.  Her father and mother were baptized into the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1838.  Her father moved his family from Island Grove to Nauvoo where they stayed a short time.  Then they went to Winter Quarters and then to Council Bluffs (Iowa).  They stayed at Council Bluffs about 2 or 3 years.  Here they had a good farm with a big house, had quite a number of cattle and were fixed comfortably.  Her father died August 30, 1850, of palsy.  She was then about 11 years old.

Her mother stayed at Council Bluffs about 2 years after her husband died and then crossed the plains.  Elias Pulsipher, Emma's father, was a wagon maker and had partly built a wagon in which he intended bringing his family to Salt Lake.  After his death, Stephen Wight, who was then bishop of that ward and a dear friend of the family, finished the wagon Elias had begun and with his wife Lucy and their infant child, brought Polly Pulsipher and her family across the plains.  Another widow woman by the name of Jane Makichnie with her three children also came in the same wagon, making 14 in one wagon with an ox team.  They were not driven from their home but they wanted to go to the valley.  They never received any payment for their property.  Many could not stand the rigor of the trip and died.

Emma walked most of the way to Salt Lake barefooted.  The children would sometimes ride for half an hour.  While they were crossing the plains, they were happier than usual.  They were so glad to get to the "valley" as they called Utah, they would walk in the hot sun until they would nearly fall asleep.  They would watch for the pretty flowers along the way.  On Sunday they would hold meetings, and always had morning and evening prayer.  They would sometimes clear off the sagebrush when they camped at night and have a dance.  Elijah Wilson was Captain of our ten and T.C.J. Howell was Captain of our 50.  (Emma's words)  We arrived in Salt Lake Valley in September, 1852.  We went to Mill Creek where Aunt Maria lived.  She was married to Alve Keller.  Ephraim Wight, a brother of Stephen who had come to Utah two years before, also lived at Mill Creek.  He and Stephen built an adobe house and a machine shop which was run by water power.  They worked in the machine shop making furniture and there earned their living.

When they reached the valley they had a dress apiece and Emma and her sister Harriet had three dresses between them.  Everything went along pretty well until the grasshoppers came which was about 2 years after they arrived.  They were put on rations.  They would go and gather greens and were so weak that when they would rise up from gathering the greens, they were dizzy and would see stars.  They said it was very strange but they could go to the same place every day and gather all the greens they wanted.  After the famine was over, they never saw them there any more.

Aunt Maria (Keller) was very good to them during this time.  Her husband had grain to sell, but would rather sell to other people than her relatives, but she would visit them regularly and bring a sack of grain to them which they would grind in the coffee mill and make flour cakes.

Abigail Emma Pulsipher was married to Stephen Wight April 20, 1856, with President Brigham Young performing the ceremony….

Here are some excerpts taken from a book written on the early history of Brigham City and Box Elder County.  These are quotes from the book.

The first land was taken up by "squatters claims" and even as late as 1868,

government titles to land could not be issued as no land department had been

organized in the Territory of Utah.  The first patents were received in October 1869 by

Chester Loveland in trust for other owners, and was signed by Ulysses S. Grant,

President of the United States.  At the time this patent was issued and for many years

after, Stephen Wight was County Surveyor.  He was involved in an arduous task due

to the fact that for nearly a decade, land had been secured and boundary lines defined

from objects which were fixed only in the minds of the owners; rocks, trees, etc.

There were no accurate plats or maps of the territory as a whole—he laid the

foundation.  Stephen Wight was skilled in his work, having received in his boyhood

home at Henrietta (Rochester) Monroe County New York, a very thorough education

in grade and high school, after which he took a special course in surveying (civil

engineering).  He held the position of surveyor in Box Elder County for over 20 years

during which time he did most of the original surveying of much of the land in the

county.  (The old mountain home which is now known as the Beecher place with a

large acreage on the mountain he received as part compensation for his surveying).

The original patent or deed given to him for that was also signed by President Grant.

In 1861, just prior to the organization of the "Co-op," Stephen Wight built a

carding mill for President Lorenzo Snow.  It was located on Box Elder Creek east of

1st North.  The mill was run by water power and Mr. Wight managed it for 2 years.

Later he had his own private shop (on the back of his lot on 4th East) where he made

furniture and also had his own carding machine for carding wool.

In the early 1860's, Brigham City maintained a good brass band consisting of

James N. Christensen, Lars Larsen, Lars Mortensen, L.P. Johnson, John D. Burt,

Stephen Wight, Ephraim Wight, John Nye, John Johnson, John L. Anderson, Olsen N.

Stohl, Sr., James Barron, S.N. Lee, Thomas Forest, John Forrest, and N.C. Schow.

This band rendered valuable community service for many years.

In 1863-64 when the Brigham City Dramatic Association was organized, Stephen

Wight's orchestra played for all the performances.  It consisted of Stephen Wight

(director, violin); James N. Christensen, cornet; Ephraim Wight, base violin; also Dan

Wight, Lars Christensen, and S.N. Lee.  (Lars Christensen made his own violin with

his pocket knife.  He played this violin for many years for dances and in bands and

orchestras.  Stephen Wight had also made his own violin hand carved with a pocket

knife previous to this time).

There was in Brigham City no one qualified to teach music until Stephen Wight

and wife and family arrived in 1860.  President Lorenzo snow hired him to come to his

home and teach both vocal and instrumental music to his children.

Stephen Wight was a 1st Lt. In the territorial militia.

In 1866 it was decided a dam should be built across the Malad River and by a system of canals and ditches the water was conducted on the land that was otherwise dry and barren.  The system was all surveyed by Stephen Wight with William Pulsipher aiding him.  The Malad River at that time was fed by streams of fresh water from Malad, Samaria, and Portage.  The project was very successful and for many years the early settlers raised fruits, grains, and vegetables of all varieties, especially around the Bear River City area.  As Malad valley became settled, the water was diverted and used there and the Malad River became alkaline so the canal system went into disuse.

The first permanent Sunday School was organized on May 26, 1867, in the upper room of the Court House.  President Lorenzo Snow appointed Stephen Wight superintendent with James Bywater and J.C. Wixom as counselors.

Stephen and Emma raised their family in Brigham City were they all lived and were educated until they were married.  They had 10 children of whom three, Levi, Kelvin, and Martha died as infants, several others died young in life; Asenath and Phoebe Ann.  Wilford, MaryAnn, Hattie Eliza, Emma Jeanette, and Wesley all lived to an older age, married and had families of their own.  Wilford and his wife Lucy and their family lived in Malad City.  Mary Ann (Minnie) married Nathan Yearsley and had only one child Melvin and died when she was 36 years old.  Hattie Eliza never married but became a very well known and highly respected and revered school teacher, also devoting much time to the YWMIA and the young women in the church.  Emma Jeanette (Nettie) married Frank May and then they were called to go to Canada to help colonize the Canadian colonies of the church around Cardston, Canada.  They had five children:  Frank Orlin, Sterling, Naomi, Stephen Glen, and Andrew.

(Side note by JEK:  Stephen Glen May and Zelma Simmons Hunt were first cousins, being grandchildren of Stephen Wight.  Glen's grandmother was Emma Pulsipher, while Zelma's grandmother was Lucy Waterbury.  Both Glen and Zelma lived in Baker, Oregon.  Glen was a wonderful, soft-spoken man who served as a bishop in Baker.  He was my friend.  I spoke at his funeral).

… Grandfather had passed away many years before I was born but Grandmother (Emma) was our loved childhood idol and friend…I remember Grandmother's old handmade cedar chest which was in the east room.  It was filled—not with clothing or finery—but with mementos and souvenirs of past days.  Happy was the day and often a rainy one when we children could get Grandma to take us up the old stairs and sit on the floor while she would carefully lift out each article and let us hold it while she told us about it—old letters, cards, clothing, a tiny doll, a handcarved baby's rattle.

All Grandma's furniture had been carefully and lovingly handmade by Grandfather.  How well I remember the fine old desk, the small table with intricately inlaid wood design which held grandfather's surveying instruments.  There was also the dish cupboard and the "grandfather" chairs, and the table we ate on.  Her pride and joy was the fine old clock which hung on the wall, ticked away the hours, and struck at each hour…

Another treasured heirloom possession which we have is Grandfather's old violin that he made himself.  The wood was selected and carefully prepared by grandfather and then he spent endless hours with his pocket knife and other hand tools carefully carving, designing and fashioning it into a beautiful violin.

Grandfather had a great feeling and love for music and he poured it into making this precious old instrument.  If the old violin could speak today, imagine the stories it could tell.  It was used many times as a fiddle to provide music for the dancing of weary feet at camp spots cleared of brush on the plains, and as they plodded to Salt Lake, and later at dances outside and then inside dances as they built buildings.

Later, Grandfather played in the bands and orchestras of the early days in Brigham City.  After Grandfather passed away the old violin was loaned to Henry Wight, a cousin, who played and fiddled for many of the light-footed dancers as they whirled through many square dances, quadrilles, and Virginia reels, and other dances of the day.  We now have it back, and it will be a treasured possession of a grandson and for future generations.