JESSE HOBSON
Jesse Hobson was born on January 26, 1812 in Randolph County, North Carolina. He was the third child of Nathan Henry Hobson and Rebecca Freeman. It is not known when Jesse left his father’s home or how he first learned about the L.D.S. Church, but Church records document that he was baptized on April 10, 1833, only three years after the Church was organized in Upstate New York. Jesse was in Cook County, near Chicago, Illinois, on April 6, 1835, when he married Catherine Dougherty, sometimes spelled Doughtery. Catherine’s family had endured the persecutions of the Saints in Jackson County, Missouri, although she was born in Orange County, Indiana. (Jesse’s parents later moved to Montgomery County, Indiana.)
Jesse and Catherine were the parents of nine children. Their first child, Randolph Sylvester, was born in Cook County, Illinois (he died when he was 8), as was our ancestor, Lydia Ann, their second child, who was born on January 1, 1838 in Chicago, Cook County. Their third child was born in Knox County, Illinois, and their fourth, Miriam Elizabeth, was born on August 31, 1843 at Camp Creek, Hancock County, Illinois, fourteen miles from Nauvoo. We cannot find that they owned land at Nauvoo itself, but they definitely followed the Saints in their moves, brought upon by persecution. Their fifth child, a son, Henry Platt, was born at Platt River in Nebraska, and their sixth child, Nathan, was born in Pottawattamie County, Iowa, near Council Bluffs, the headquarters of the Church after the Saints were driven from Nauvoo.
Jesse and his family crossed the plains, coming to Utah in 1852 with the Benjamin Gardner Company. They first settled in Farmington, Davis County, Utah, where their last two children, Mary and Julia, were born.
In Utah, Jesse was elected one of the members of the Legislature, representing Davis County, so he went to the state capital at Fillmore, during the winter of 1855. He traveled to Fillmore with one of his friends and had been there about three weeks when he learned that his beloved wife, Catherine had died on December 14, and that two of his children were very sick. (She left a family of eight children, ranging from ages 4 months to 17 years.) They released him from the Legislature, but he didn’t have a way to make the 175 mile trip home, as he had no team and the snow was deep that year, so he had to stay until he could find a way to get home. When he was able to make the journey, he got as far as Salt Lake City, where he became ill with typhoid fever. His daughter, Lydia Ann, who was 17 years old, came to nurse him back to health.
At General Conference in April, 1856, when Jesse had been home but a few weeks, President Young called him to go on a mission to England. His wife had been dead only four months and he had motherless children at home. He wrote that this was a great trial for him, but he was obedient and made arrangements to have his children cared for during his two year absence. Jesse rented out his farm, leaving the Bishop in charge of his affairs. He left home on April 21, just 15 days after receiving his mission call.
When he reached the outgoing missionary camp at the mouth of Emigration Canyon, he found that all of the wagons were full, so on the advice of President Young, he sent home all he could not carry on his back and was prepared to walk back across the plains. However, only a few hours out he was asked to drive a team of mules that the driver was unable to handle. There were nine wagons and 35 animals in that outgoing company. Others in this company of missionaries were Orson Pratt, George A. Smith and Erastus Snow of the Quorum of the Twelve, and Ezra T. Benson. It took them 48 days to travel the 1,100 miles to Kansas. On July 5, they went on board the ship ANew Worldfor the journey to England. The voyage was generally good, but Jesse and several others were sea sick all of the way across the Atlantic.
On the night of July 11, when he was so sick that he had thrown himself down on some barrels of beef and pork and didn’t care whether he lived or died, he wrote that AI dreamed that my wife Catherine came to see me and made a bed good and smooth and fixed a pillow for me to rest my head on. She then lay down with me and at my feet there lay my little daughter Mary and near the foot my daughter Miriam. When I woke up I know it was but a dream, still I felt refreshed with my sleep. I had a good bed and the visit with my family, for the barrels were rough, but to me they were made smooth. On July 29, he again dreamed of his wife and seems to give the impression that she was with him on his missionary journey, which is in fulfillment of his patriarchal blessing. Jesse wrote daily in his missionary journal.
The missionaries reached Liverpool on August 6, 1856, one month in crossing. Jesse was assigned to work in the Norwich Conference, where he labored until December, when he was transferred to the Norchester Conference.
During 1857 all foreign missionaries were called home, due to persecution in Utah by the U.S. Government, so on February 14, 1858, Jesse set sail from Liverpool. He was called to be in charge of the 64 souls, who were coming to Zion on the ship AEmpire. They arrived in New York City on March 20, 1858.
When the returning missionaries and converts reached the Rocky Mountains, they found that Johnson’s Army was stationed there, so they picked their way through secret mountain passes. Jesse returned unharmed to his home in Farmington, Utah, where he found that his family had been well cared for, also prophesied in his patriarchal blessing, given by Isaac Morley on January 15, 1856.
Ten months after returning from his mission, Jesse married Nancy Henderson Simpson; he was 47 and she was a widow of 31. They moved to Richmond, Utah, early in 1861, where he was elected City Mayor, although he suffered from poor health. Jesse and Nancy were the parents of five children. Nancy was also in poor health and died in 1863 at the age of 36, leaving children ages 7 years to 3 months, including a set of 18 month old twins.
During 1865, when he was 53, Jesse married Sarah Dowell Rogers Clarkson, twice widowed. Together they had three children, including twins. Sarah died in 1880 at the age of 54.
After Sarah’s untimely death, Jesse went to live with his older children. In 1881 he moved to Mesa, Arizona to live with his son Jesse and his daughter Julia, who had migrated there. He moved back to Utah and then to Idaho. He died in 1883 at the age of 71 of Bright’s Disease and is buried in the Richmond City Cemetery.
Jesse was a large man, weighing over 200 pounds. He had dark eyes and black hair. He had a kind and loving disposition, was a good public speaker and a good advisor and counselor. He was an energetic man and liked things about him to be orderly and in place. He was an excellent horseman and was frequently asked to judge horses at county fairs, etc. He held the office of Seventy in the Church. He has been recognized as a Utah Pioneer and his portrait is among those of other Utah Pioneers displayed at the Pioneer Memorial Museums on Capital Hill, Salt Lake City and at Logan, Utah.