BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES STEPHEN BYINGTON
Contributed By Margebecraft · 2013-10-28 16:25:19
BIOGRAPHY OF JAMES STEPHEN BYINGTON
James Stephen Byington was born 30 October 1842 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, the only son of
Stephen Byington and Martha Head. His father was born in Bostard, Leeds, Ontario, Canada on 17 May
1813 to James Byington (Boynton) and Susanah Nichols. His mother was born in 1819 in Ogden,
Granville, Ontario, Canada to Anthony Head and Catherine Maggard. Both the Byington (Boynton) and
Head families were originally from Rutland, Vermont prior to moving to Ontario, Canads. They joined
the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Canada and later moved to Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois.
Stephen and Martha were married 21 February 1842 in Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois.
James Stephen was just three weeks old when his mother died on 11 November 1842. His
grandfather, Anthony Head died about a month before he was born on 25 September 1842 in Nauvoo.
His father,Stephen, went back to Canada after his wife died and later married his second wife, Charlotte
Burzer.
James Stephen was raised by his uncle and aunt, William Henry and Mary Jane McCellan Head.
They lived in Nauvoo until the saints were driven out and came west with the pioneers. William Henry’s
mother, Catherine Maggard Head had taken care of James Stephen until she died at Mt. Pisgah and
William Henry took over his care.
William Henry and Mary Jane were married 17 January 1850 in Council Bluffs, Pottawattomie,
Iowa. They had lived in the area for some four years before leaving for Utah. James Stephen would
have been eight years old. He was baptized 1 January 1852.
They first settled in Payson, Utah Territory; then moved to Summit Creek (now Santaquin). They
had four children born to them. James Stephen left them some time before they moved to Idaho. He
went to Hooper, Weber, Utah Territory to work.
While in Hooper, he met Annie Fowers, daughter of Jesse and Sarah Johnson Fowers originally
from England. They were married on 6 December 1869 in the Endowment House in Salt Lake City, Utah.
They made their home in Hooper.
Stephen and Annie were parents to eight children, one boy and seven girls. Their children were:
Sarah Louisa, born 3 November 1870; Annie Elizabeth, born 5 December 1872; John William, born 30
November 1874; Mary Bell, born 13 November 1876; Laura Janette (Nettie), born 17 January 1878; Rosa
Mae (Rosie), born 25 December 1880; Martha Hannah, born 15 October 1882; and Jessie Louise, born
30 October 1884. Their first child was born in a wagon box where they were living.
James Stephen later built a one room log house with a small lean-to which was used for a
kitchen. The construction of the home was logs stacked as close together as they would fit, with mud
and clay placed in the cracks to keep out the cold, rain, and snow. The mud and clay were gathered
from the ditch banks. The roof and floor were dirt. This was the type of home built by early settlers of
the county and didn’t require a lot of time to keep clean. At this time some of the settlers were still
living in covered wagons. The homes at that time were heated with one large stove used both for
cooking and heating. Men and boys gathered sage brush in the fall, while it was still dry and stacked it
to use all winter in the stoves.
Staying with their home and the Gospel, they had many hardships to go through. One terrible
year, the grasshoppers took their yearly crops. James Stephen worked at any kind of work to make a
living and Annie did washing and house cleaning for other people to help make ends meet. They were
happy working together.
When James Stephen was forty, two he contacted brain fever and died six days later on 14 April
1884, leaving Annie a widow, with seven small children, the oldest fourteen and a half. Their youngest
child, Jessie Louise, was born six months after his death. Rosa Mae remembered her father being laid
on a board in the corner of their home to be prepared for burial. Neighbor men dressed him in temple
clothes and placed him in a homemade wooded box lined with white sheeting and a small white pillow
was placed under his head. She remembers the ride to the funeral, seated on a chair in a wagon. They
followed in the wagon that carried the coffin. The funeral was in the West School House. He was buried
not far from the large pine trees in the southeast corner of the Hooper Cemetery.
After their last child, Jessie Louise was born, his wife’s brothers helped the family move into a
small two room house closer to her parents where she lived the rest of her life.(Located at 4581 S. 6700
W, Hooper)which is the home where my grandmother and my mother and dad lived. She started to
work away from home doing washing, ironing, and house cleaning again when her baby was just six
weeks old. Her oldest daughter took care of the other children. Her pay was in food and clothing to
help provide for her children.
They had a forty acre farm, some of which was planted into pasture. Annie worked the farm
with the help of her only son, John, (my grandfather) who was only nine and half when his father died.
My grandfather missed a lot of school trying to run the farm and help provide for his mother and sisters.
His wife, Annie died 1 September 1925 and is buried beside her husband in the Hooper Cemetery.