Description

Abel Weaver Garr

Abel Weaver Garr was born December 11, 1833, at Richmond, Wayne County, Virginia, the son of Fielding and Paulina Turner Garr. He was the seventh of eleven children. It is said that the Garr family settled near the road that the earliest Latter-day Saints used to travel between Kirtland and Missouri, and that on one occasion the Prophet Joseph Smith visited them. Abel’s parents joined the Church in 1840 and moved to Nauvoo. Abel’s mother passed away in 1844 and is believed to have been laid to rest in the old Pioneer Cemetery in Nauvoo. He was eleven at the time of her passing.

His father brought the family across the plains to the Salt Lake Valley. By 1848, the pioneers had begun to explore what would become known as Antelope Island. Late in the Fall of 1848, Fielding Garr and others rode out to explore the island. According to Benjamin Brown, they “came unexpectedly upon a herd of Antelope. Needless to say, all were surprised, including the antelope which pricked up their eats and went bounding away over the rocks and brush to a place of safety. From that time to now, it has been known as ‘Antelope Island.’”

It was discovered that the Island had excellent grazing and the winter of 1848 Fielding Garr built a small hut on the south end of the Island. It is recorded in the family history that 14-year-old Abel Garr was one of two teenage boys that spent that first winter alone on the island. The following spring Fielding Garr and his family moved to the island and began ranching not only their own cattle but the church-owned herds as well. In addition, they bred and raised exceptional horses.

The Garr ranch was a wild and beautiful place to grow up. One visitor said this of the Garr homestead, “I could have been happy, for the place I lived was beautifully situated right on the lake shore. We could see some of the buildings in the city although 18 miles distance, also Farmington 20 miles across the Lake. A garden with rich soil was there to my use, and on it a large spring of good water. The beach close by was frequented by the beautiful gulls, wild geese, ducks and snipes.”

In this remote and rugged setting, Abel and his brothers grew up to be some of the finest horse and cattlemen in the territory. Abel wrote that his father was a favorite with the boys who came to work with him. They loved being around him, and he delighted in teaching them.”

Then tragedy struck the close-knit family. On June 15, 1855, Fielding Garr, the family patriarch,
passed away and was buried at his ranch on Antelope Island. His son, Abel said this of his father:

“Fielding Garr had very much self-control and had an excellent temper; he seldom got vexed, and always used good language, and was loved by many…He always took delight in instructing the young. He was very robust, large, square-framed man, weighing 225 pounds, with a mild open countenance. He had a very mild, fascinating voice – nothing gruff or uncouth. He was one that was never in trouble. He never borrowed trouble, never had a lawsuit, and never was sued. He always had friends, and plenty of them, and always took a liking in entertaining them……He was a good neighbor and a kind, loving and affectionate father.”

Perhaps it was the influence of such a father that made Abel the man he was.

On October 7, 1856, when the first rescue wagons left Salt Lake City to bring in the late emigrants still out on the Plains, 23-year-old Abel went with them. When the rescuers had traveled as far as South Pass, Wyoming and not yet located the handcart people, Captain George D. Grant dispatched express riders mounted on the best horses to ride ahead and find them. Abel was one of the four. They found the Willie Company camped on the Sweetwater their situation desperate. After sending the Willie company on toward the rescue wagons, Abel and the other express riders continued east searching for the Martin Company. They went as far as Devil’s Gate where they stopped and waited for Captain Grant and the wagons to catch up to them. Still there was no sign of the Martin Handcart Company, or of the Hodgett and Hunt Wagon Companies.

On October 27, 1856, Captain Grant again called on Abel Garr to ride on ahead and find the lost emigrants. This time he rode with Joseph A. Young and Daniel Webster Jones. Their charge from Captain Grant was “Not to return until they were found.” Over the next 24 hours the men rode nearly 50 miles and found the Martin Company near the last crossing of the Platte. They got the Martin Company moving towards the rescue wagons at Devil’s Gate and then mounted up and rode on to find the Hunt Company farther downriver. After a stern warning from Abel Garr, the Hunt Company got up and also started moving.

After bringing the three companies as far west as Devil’s Gate, Captain Grant determined that President Brigham Young needed to know the awesome extent of the suffering and need of the emigrants. He wrote a powerfully moving letter and handed it off to two men to carry to Salt Lake, 327 miles to the west—Abel Garr and Joseph A. Young were tasked to carry the letter.

They set out, riding hard, and notwithstanding deep snow and the worst of weather, they arrived in the Valley ten days later. Along the way, they encountered rescue teams that had given up the search, turned around and were headed home. Abel and Joseph A. Young turned them about quickly.

By mid-December the emigrants were safely in the Valley and Abel returned home. It is remarkable to note that when Abel rode with the rescuers, he wasn’t even a member of the Church. He would be baptized and confirmed the following spring in May 1857, by George D. Grant and William H. Kimball.

Abel later married, raised ten children, and became a prosperous rancher. His son-in-law H.A. Campbell wrote of him.

“He was a very spiritual minded man…. He wasn’t much of a talker, but a very fine man. … I’ll tell you what Abe used to do. No man ever went hungry around Abe Garr. At Christmas time he would drive up to the farm and he would slaughter a beef and bring it down and hang it up to cool and on the morning of Christmas he would cut it up in pieces and drive around to the widows and poor people and deliver the beef to them. He did that repeatedly for years and years. Abe Garr wasn’t much of a preacher. When we had our Seventies meeting, he got through the meeting and paid his dues, laid down $5.00 and said, ‘That’s the way I preach.’ He was one of God’s noblemen, a charitable neighbor and loving husband and father. There was no person in need but what if Abel Garr knew of it he would come to their rescue with assistance. Abel had no bad traits. Every one of his associates will tell you that Abel’s character was above reproach.”

Abel Weaver Garr died March 4, 1899, and is buried at Millville, Cache County, Utah.

Sources:

https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/memories/KWN2-R3G
http://www.tellmystorytoo.com/member_pdfs/abel-weaver-garr_303_223.pdf
Andrew D. Olsen, The Price We Paid (Deseret Book, 2006)
Cutler, A.M., Fielding Garr 1794-1855 And His Family: Early Mormon Pioneers On Antelope Island, 1991

Copyright Glenn Rawson 2022

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