The lives and times of Nike Wilson and Jonathan Hoopes
By John L. Hoopes
Soda Springs, Idaho
After moving to Soda Springs, Idaho in 1999, I learned about the book: Among the Shoshones, an autobiography by Elijah Nicholas ANickWilson. From the book’s introduction and AAncestral File,I learned that Wilson was born in 1842 near Nauvoo to faithful Latter-day Saint parents. He came to Utah with the Mormon Pioneers in 1849.
Nick’s mother gave birth to 18 children; there were 14 at home in Grantsville, Utah, when Nick was fourteen. They were living in dire poverty, dealing with the ravages of crickets, war (Indian and U.S. Army, which had come to put down Mormon polygamy), and subsisting on green weeds and Alumpy-dick.
Living near Nick’s family was a family of friendly Gosiute Indians, consisting of parents and a son, Pansuk, who was one year younger than Nick. He became Nick’s best friend and taught Nick his native Indian language. He and Nick were sent out for days at a time to heard sheep.
When Nick was about twelve years old, while out with the sheep, some Shoshone Indians, who were Auntamed(not confined to reservations and were causing problems for the Mormons and the pioneers going to California and Oregon) approached and offered him a beautiful pony if he would go live with them. They promised him good food and warm clothing, something his parents could not provide, so after thinking it over he went with the Indians and became one of them for at least two years. Nick was given to the old chief’s wife, and she loved him as her own. Her son, Washakie, treated Nick as a brother. Washakie later became an important Shoshone Chief, friend to the Mormons and settled the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming.
From the Indians, Nick developed attitudes, physical and mental skills that would serve him for the rest of his life. He learned to ride and break horses, traditional Native American herbal remedies, and to communicate in their native languages with several important Indian tribes.
The White Indian Boy finally returned to his natural family after being lied to by Abad Indians(Chief Pocatello’s band) that the Mormons were getting together an army to kill the Indians as punishment for stealinghim. When he returned home he found that conditions were even worse than when he left and that his parents were fleeing to Spanish Fork, without even being able to harvest their crops, because of U.S. government harassment. By then Nick was a strong young man, capable of defending himself and others.
Nick, who never attended a day of school in his life, broke horses for a living, was a Pony Express rider and worked as a scout for the government. He fell in love with a young woman, who was taken as a plural wife by an older Brother Snow, and, at the age of 22, married Matilda Patton, becoming the father of 15 children. Nick moved his family frequently, but they lived at Soda Springs, Idaho for many years. This was an important point on the Oregon Trail. Here Nick served as bishop in the LDS Church and also as a >doctor,’ using herbal treatments he learned from the Shoshones. He was far away from home treating diptheria victims when four of his own children died from an epidemic of the disease in Soda Springs.
Sometime between 1865 and 1871, Nick was called by Gen. Charles C. Rich, a Nauvoo Legion General as well as an LDS Apostle, who settled at Paris in Bear Lake County, to serve on a posse to capture outlaws who had raided Montpelier. Rich asked for two men from each settlement, Athe best men to be hadto serve on this dangerous assignment. Nick’s partner was Jonathan Hoopes, Jr., who was living with his wife Mary Ann Baldwin and their eight children, including young George Arthur (my great grandfather), at Bennington, east of Soda Springs.
Nick had two more wives and additional children, including Charles Alma Wilson, and eventually settled the Jackson Hole country of Wyoming, which is about 100 miles north of Soda Springs. Here he also served as bishop of the ward until some visiting authorities from Salt Lake City caught him smoking his pipeBby then the Brethren were enforcing the AWord of Wisdom.
Around 1906, as an old man and well known story teller, Nick typed up his life stories on an old French typewriter and had them published as The White Indian Boy: Uncle Nick Among the Shoshones in 1910 by the Skelton Book Company of Salt Lake. The book was later edited by Howard Driggs of Utah State University in Logan, and became a textbook in schools all over the west. Since expiration of the copyright, the book has been published by several publishers*, including Bookcraft. (Many old editions are now collector’s items, selling for hundreds of dollars.) The final chapter of the book called AFrontier Troublestells the story of Nick’s experiences with Jonathan Hoopes, Jr.
Unfortunately, Jonathan Hoopes, Jr., did not write out his stories. As the son of Quakers he may have believed this was drawing attention to himself or boasting, something against Quaker culture. But Jonathan obviously did live a colorful life in the old west. Jonathan and Nick had a lot in common and may have known each other much better than just from the posse incident included in Nick’s book. Jonathan is one of the few persons that Nick referred to by name in his book, and it is obvious that Nick admired Jonathan and his bravery. Here are some facts and comparisons about the two men:
LJonathan was born in 1835 in Ohio to Quaker, converted to Latter-day Saint, parents, who remained faithful to the LDS Church. Nick was born in 1842 near Nauvoo to faithful LDS parents.
LBoth lived in Nauvoo, although Nick was younger and probably didn’t remember the incidents there as well as Jonathan did. Jonathan’s father wrote his Aredress petition,of which a copy exists, as requested by Joseph Smith. Nick’s uncle James was a body guard to Joseph Smith, so there were probably lots of family stories told.
LBoth crossed the plains with their parents and settled in northern Utah and Southeastern Idaho. Jonathan’s parents were in their early 60s when they crossed the plains; Nick’s were younger and had more children in Utah. Jonathan’s parents settled in Weston, Oneida County, Idaho, where they both died. Nick’s parents first settled in Grantsville, Utah, but his mother, to whom Nick was very close, ended up in Cache County, Utah.
LBoth families endured many hardships and privations after they reached Utah. There were plagues of grasshoppers, failed crops, Indian killings and U.S. Army troubles.
LBoth married after reaching Utah. Jonathan married Mary Ann Baldwin in Provo in 1852. Her parents were well known in the Church, as her grandfather, Caleb Baldwin, was a close personal friend of Joseph Smith and was the only non-apostle imprisoned with him at Liberty Jail.
LBoth Nick and Jonathan lived the law of polygamy and were persecuted by the U.S. government for it. LBoth traveled extensively in Utah, Idaho, Wyoming and Montana and enjoyed being Awhere the action was.
LNeither apparently enjoyed farming, although nearly everyone farmed some in those days. (Jonathan’s father was a stonemason.) Jonathan was a freighter and traded in horses. Nick broke and traded horses for a living and worked as a blacksmith. Both men were well known as excellent horsemen. Nick also served as a Adoctorusing skills he learned from the Indians.
LNick eventually went north, settling the Jackson Hole, Wyoming area. He died at Wilson (named after him), Wyoming in 1915 at the age of 73. Jonathan, after an incident in Montana, pioneered Southeastern Arizona and northern Mexico. He served as a guide and bodyguard to LDS Apostles fleeing into Mexico, where his plural wife, Arthusia Elmer, gave birth to a daughter in Colonia Juarez, a Mormon colony in Mexico. Jonathan finally settled at Thatcher, Graham County, Arizona, where he died in 1919 at the age of 84.
*Nick’s son, Charles Alma Wilson, when he was in his 80's edited the various publications of his father’s original story, and wrote a sequel, publishing it in 1988 as: AThe White Indian Boy and its sequel The Return of the White Indian. This book is published by Fenske Printing, Inc., Rapid City, South Dakota.