Isaac and Sarah Losee
Isaac and Sarah were married on February 7, 1838 in Toronto, Kent Co, Upper Canada. Later that year they moved to Walson, Montgomery, Michigan to make their home. Two years later, while in Waton, Michigan, their first child was born, Rufus Gilbert Losee. He was born on March 24, 1840. In October 1840, they heard about the Mormon Church through LDS Missionaries. On January 10, 1841, they were baptized and became members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints by Henry Lamerouf. On June 16, 1841 they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. On November 10, 1841, Rufus died. On August 10, 1842, Isaac and Sarah’s second child, Elizabeth Jane Losee, was born.On May 11, 1843, Isaac was called to fill a mission in Michigan and Upper Canada. Sarah went with him and stayed with her parents in Michigan while Isaac traveled as a missionary. They returned to Nauvoo late in the fall of 1844. Sarah’s twin brother, John Rich Gilbert, joined them.
Once back in Nauvoo, their third child, Rebecca Losee, was born on March 6, 1845. During these years the Mormon people were cruelly treated by people who were against the Mormon Church. The strife and turmoil among them got steadily worse until in the spring of 1846 mobs were formed against them. Their property was destroyed, and many homes were burned. The Mormons were ordered to leave, which they did. They took with them only food, clothing and the necessary household belongings. The Mormons decided to go west where in the valleys and the mountains they might live their religion as they chose.
On January 12, 1846, Isaac and Sarah went through the Nauvoo Temple and received their endowments. On April 1, 1846, they crossed the river on their way west. They stayed that winter with a company of Latter Day Saints. Then Isaac and Sarah continued on to Council Bluff, Iowa. A little later they crossed the Missouri River and arrived at Winter Quarters. There was a lot of sickness and poverty that first year, and it was five years before this group of Mormons were able to continue west. While in Iowa, Sarah and Isaac’s fourth, fifth, and sixth children were born. David Alma Losee was born on April 18, 1848. Mary Losee was born on May 30, 1849. And Isaac Losee was born on June 29, 1851.
Isaac and Sarah left Iowa on June 15, 1852, continuing the long hazardous trip with a company of Mormons. Covered wagons were their houses and the camps along the way were the only homes they knew. Forging rivers, building roads that loaded wagons might pass safely over, and finding forage for the animals made progress very slow. Some days only a mile or two was made because of the mud and breakdowns. Some streams made it necessary for rafts to be built, strong enough to carry the wagons across. Cooking was done over open fires and at some places fuel was hard to obtain. Conveniences were few, but not all was trouble and pain. Many hours were enjoyed playing music and singing in the evenings while gathered around the campfires. Benjamin F. Barney and his wife traveled in the same company with the Losee family. Isaac and Sarah left the last stopping place in Iowa for Salt Lake City when Isaac Jr. was one year old. Sarah walked and drove an ox team and often carried Isaac. They arrived in Salt Lake City on September 15, 1852.
With new determination, Isaac and Sarah set about making a new home in Zion. What is now called Sugar House area was their home for a short time. President Brigham Young asked them to move to Cedar Fort, which is near present day Lehi Utah, to establish a new settlement. While there, Isaac and Sarah’s seventh, eight, and ninth children were born. Sarah Losee was born on November 1, 1853, Martha Ann Losee was born on November 27, 1855 and Olive Bethia Losee was born on March 5, 1858. Sometime later, they were asked to go to Manti and help build a town there. On Dec 31, 1859, in Manti, Utah, Isaac married a second wife, Martha Amelia Jewel-Bemus, a 51 year old widow with eight children.
Isaac and Sarah’s tenth child, Lovisa Losee, was born in Manti on June 11, 1860. The Indians were so hostile around Manti, the settlers had to move to Gunnison, where the eleventh child of Isaac and Sarah was born. Lydia Almira Losee was born on June 30, 1862.
In 1857, Isaac’s sister Sarah Losee, who was married to John Story Sr, gave birth to a son John Story Jr. in Lehi, Utah. Sometime between 1857 and 1858, Sarah gave her son to Isaac and Sarah to raise. They raised him as if he was their son. When John went through the temple to be sealed to his parents, John wanted to be sealed to Isaac and Sarah. Sarah Losee Story remarried in 1858 to Robert Gribble. It is unknown what happened to John Story Sr. or why Sarah gave her son to Isaac and Sarah.
Isaac engaged in farming while in Gunnison and built a four room, two-story rock house which was considered very nice at the time. Harvesting was very primitive. Grain was cut with an implement called a cradle, wielded by one man, then raked together and bound in bundles, by hand, then thrashed by driving horses over the bundles. The bundles were laid on hard ground in a circle with heads all pointing to the center and then Isaac’s horses would be harnessed and driven over the grain until it was mostly thrashed. Then the straw was thrown off and finished with large sticks by beating it until the grain was all shelled out. To separate the grain from the chaff, it was poured from pans onto a large canvas when the wind was blowing a little and the chaff would blow away while the grain would fall on the canvas.
The Indians were very hostile at the time and it was necessary for the settlers to be on their guard at all times to protect their lives and property. The Walker War began in 1853 and ended in 1854. Then the Black Hawk war began in 1865 and ended in 1867. During the Black Hawk War, Isaac and Sarah’s son, David Alma, acted a messenger to carry messages to the soldiers. He was seventeen at the time.
Isaac was gifted in the art of home building and with his own hands fashioned the articles that were essential in furnishing the home and clothing for the family. Besides farming, he did copper work, making wooden tubs, barrels, butter churns and a vessel called a keeler in which bread was made. He also made brooms from the broom corn he raised. Shoe making was another art in which he took special pride, making the tacks from seasoned hardwoods and often the children’s shoes were from the tops of men’s worn-out boots and laces made from buckskin.
While living in Gunnison, Sarah cheerfully did her share going about doing the things that fell to her as the mother of ten children. The laundry was done on a wooden washboard. She made her own soap and starch, and tallow candles to use for light. Clothing was a real problem. After the sheep were sheared, the wool was sent to the carding mill to be returned in rolls ready for spinning and weaving into cloth for clothing for the family. They later help settle Redmond, Utah.
In 1866, the family moved near Spanish Fork. Isaac’s second wife Martha did not move to Spanish Fork with the rest of his family. She moved back to Manti, and lived there until her death in Sept. 1892.
Isaac built a log house close to the home of Stephen Markham and his family. For a short time when the Indians were raiding, the Losees and Markhams lived together. The Losees soon moved to into town and Isaac built another home. It was an adobe house and Isaac planted a good orchard there. He would bring wagonloads of fruit for the family to dry, some of which they sold. Sarah and the girls knitted stockings, carded bats for quilts and braided rugs and they also braided straw from which straw hats were made. In 1867, Isaac was called on a mission for the Mormon Church, but was released because of ill health. While in Spanish Fork, Sarah and Isaac’s last child was born. Isadora Losee was born on November 26, 1868.
Sarah went all over the surrounding country caring for the sick. Although she had no medical training, she did a good job at it. She was a Mid-wife and assisted in bring many babies into the world.
On November 3, 1870, two days after her seventeenth birthday, Isaac and Sarah’s seventh child Sarah, died a week after giving birth to a baby boy, Joseph Alva Tippets. Isaac and Sarah raised the baby as their own.
A few years later when land was opened for homesteading, Isaac and Sarah sold their house and the family procured a homestead southwest of Spanish Fork, then called New Survey.
In 1879, Isaac and Sarah moved with their family to Orderville to join the United Order. Their oldest daughter Eliza Cox, her husband Orville Sutherland Cox, their two sons, David Alma, his wife Sarah Angeline, Isaac Jr and his wife, Mary Miranda, lived there. Later their daughter Olive Stock and her husband Fredrick Stock also moved there.
The Order broke up in 1885 and the Losee family moved to a small place near Cannonville, Utah. The name of the town was Clifton, but because there was already a Clifton in the state, The towns name was changed to Loseeville. Isaac and Sarah’s children settled around the area. Isaac and Sarah farmed the land and raised bees.
Isaac froze to death while riding his horse over the mountain to get the mail on February 22, 1891, and Sarah died on February 5, 1893. Both are buried in the Loseeville Cemetery.
Isaac and Sarah’s daughter Olive Bethia and her husband, Fredrick Stock, moved to Cedar City around 1882, and between 1883 and 1885 moved to Pima, Arizona. Sometime between 1899 and 1920, Olive moved to Canebeds, Arizona, where she died February 5, 1934 and is buried. Fredrick Stock died August 11, 1927 in St. George, Utah and is buried there.
Isaac and Sarah’s daughter Lydia Almira married John Millford Allen on Dec 29, 1880 in St George, Utah. On Feb 5, 1885, John Millford Allen also married Lydia’s sister Isadora. Later when polygamy was abolished, John divorced Isadora, leaving her to care for her family alone. On Nov 12, 1926, Isadora married John’s half brother Isaac Morley Allen.