| Notes |
- !Published vital records of New Bedford, Mass, list a Josiah C, son of
Edw. W. & Clarissa D. (Crapo) Davenport born 15 Aug 1849, but all family
and LDS church records call him Joseph Crapo Davenport and show his
birthdate 5 Aug. Marriage date is from biography of wife. Death date
from newspaper obituary and Parker cemetery records.
No original record is found of his baptism into the Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints. LDS ward records of Paradise, Cache, Utah, show he was
rebaptized 5 Apr 1883 by Orson Smith, confirmed by E. Tams.
Endowment is in the LDS Endowment House record. Sealing to parents was
done by the family after finding that it had been assumed that he was
sealed to his parents when he was endowed. The assumption was in error
as no sealings of children were done in the Endowment House.
The endowment record shows his name as "Joseph Smith Crapo
Davenport" but nowhere else is it recorded this way. Massachusetts
1850 census lists him as "Joseph C" and elsewhere he used "Joseph Crapo
Davenport".
Other sources: Personal knowledge of children #5, 7, 9 &10 & wife of
#3; Biography of wife, written as a result of an interview with her by a
neighbor, George F. Rudd; biography of husband found in "Davenports in
America" by Dorothy D. Hall; autobiography of child #10; records of LDS
Wards of Parker, Idaho, & Paradise, Utah; cemetery records of Parker.
IGI, TIB and LDS Endowment House & Logan Temple records. (copies of
biographies and certificates in possession of Marva D. Rydalch, 3567 Jill St.,
Idaho Falls, ID 83401.
!From "Davenports in America" by Dorothy D. Hall: "(This biography was
compiled from writings of Joseph's sister, Eudora D. Short, his son,
Charles, and a friend of the family, George F. Rudd, and from information
received from other sons Ezra and Ira and from his daughter, Zina D.
Dayley.)
"Joseph Crapo Davenport was a handsome, soft-spoken man, known for
his honesty and kindness. When he was born in New Bedford, Mass, it
was a fishing and textile industry town on the shore of Buzzard's Bay.
He grew up in the midst of the westward movement of the Church of
Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormons, crossing the plains wih
his mother when he was three years of age. (See the biography of his
mother and father for their experiences during this journey and his
growing years in Salt Lake City, Draper, Camp Floyd and Paradise.)
After his marriage in 1871, which was a double wedding with Joseph's
cousin, Mary Montierth, and Henry W. Jackson, they lived with them for
three months in the new two-room house Henry had built and then moved
to their own house.
"Joseph spent considerable time both before and after marriage working
in the canyons with his brothers getting out timber and sawing it into
lumber. The saw they used was driven by water power and worked
vertically up and down. They received as high as $140 per thousand feet
for the lumber. They would go to the canyon in the day and saw by night.
A trip to the canyon in those days meant facing not only the danger that
is so imminent to one who works in the timber, but a greater danger
from the lurking savage. He never knew when he left his home in the
early morning whether it would be razed to the ground and his loved ones
killed or taken captive before his return. They tried to be friendly to the
Indians, and many times Lottie fed them when they would come to the
door saying "biscuit-i-ac, papoose hungry." They had a big dog which she
kept tied in the house when Joseph was gone, and if the braves became
too demanding, she would threaten to turn him loose on them. They
called her "Shantinarian Sequaw" which meant "Brave Squaw".
"Joseph worked in the timber for years, and in 1878, he and his brothers
bought a sawmill, driven by water power. This mill was located in a
canyon 25 miles southeast of Paradise. The boys got logs from the
canyon several miles above the mill. They operated this mill in the
White Pines, owned by Barney White of Ogden, and McMurdie of Paradise.
The snow came early up there in the mountains, and so they could not
work very late in the season. One fall Joseph and his brother William
and two others went back for a load of lumber. It was clear weather
when they went to bed, but it began to snow in the night. They got up
early and started down the canyon, but they were traveling in a foot of
new snow and it was still snowing. It wasn't long until the snow was
too deep to travel with the load. The men unloaded the lumber and went
on, but soon had to leave the wagon also. For three days and one night
they labored through the deep snow (to travel a distance of six and
one-half miles). His brother Will became so exhausted that he laid a
blanket on the snow and lay down. Joseph pleaded with him to get up and
go on but he refused. Will used to tell the story of how Joseph cut a
willow for a whip and with tears flowing down his cheeks began to whip
him into action. He became so angry at his brother that he got up and
plunged on into the snow and as a result his life was saved. A party had
been sent out to their rescue and found them about twenty miles from
home. All of the men were by that time so cold and tired and hungry they
could have gone but little longer.
"About 1882 the brothers went to Beaver Canyon, Idaho, which is near
the community now called Kilgore, in the northeastern part of the state.
They logged for a sawmill owned by William A. Thomas of Paradise.
Lottie and the children remained in Paradise for the winters and joined
them in the summer to cook for them.
"Joseph's parents homesteaded some land on Egin Bench in what was
then known as Parker and is now known as Heman, Idaho, near St.
Anthony, in 1883, and in 1886, Joseph bought part of the land and the
little store his mother had established, and the family came to Idaho to
make their home. The Parker Ward records show the family was received
as members 23 Dec 1889.
"They took in eggs and butter and other produce in return for
merchandise and when he would get a load of these, he would take them
by wagon to Idaho Falls or Dillon, Montana, and bring back a load of
exchange goods. On one such trip he went first to the sheep camp which
was the home of his brothers Will and Warren, and stayed there over New
Year's Eve. When he left early the next morning, the wheels of the wagon
could be heard creaking in the snow and frost long after he was out of
sight. This was the last time his brothers saw him alive, for when
Joseph arrived in Dillon, he took lodging in a hotel and here he was
stricken with appendicitis and died 3 Jan. 1894 at the age of forty-five
years, leaving his wife and eight children. (A notice of his death in the
"Idaho Register" of Idaho Falls, dated 12 Jan 1894 said he "was
returning from Butte where he had been looking after some cattle
shipments he had made, when near Dillon he was taken sick and taken off
the train and a physician called but he died that day from heart failure."
A baby girl was born to Lottie soon after his death. The baby died at
birth and was buried in the Parker Cemetery, and Lottie almost lost her
own life at this time. They had also buried two children earlier in
Paradise, a girl Clarissa Matilda, four years old, and a baby boy,
William, two weeks old.
"Lottie sold the stock from the store to a Mr. Coburn and kept the farm,
which her boys operated. She went on alone to raise their family,
moving to Parker in the winter to be nearer the school, so her children
could be educated.
"She sent one son on a mission and into the service of their country
during World War I and saw all the rest establish happy homes.
In 1914, when her youngest son, Ira was married, Lottie bought a home in
Parker so Ira and his wife could live in the house on the farm. She and
her son Frank, who never married, were still living in Parker in 1931
when she died of pneumonia while visiting with Ezra and his family in
Woodville, near Idaho Falls. She was energetic and active in her last
years as she had been all her life.
"In all their trials and hardships, Joseph and Lottie were ever faithful
and true to their God and His latter-day work. Lottie said that she had
never known her husband to use tobacco or liquor or profanity, even at
the time he was an ox team driver. There was also a happy side to their
pioneer life, for most of the Davenports were and are divinely gifted
with song and music and the rhythm of the dance."
Parker Ward Records say Joseph C. Davenport and his family were
received as members 23 Dec 1889. On 6 Apr 1890 he was set apart along
with Henry W. Miller as an assistant to Judson L. Stoddard, Supt. of
Sunday School. 13 July 1890 he was set apart as a Teacher (probably
Ward Teacher) by Bishop Parker. He also bore his testimony. 23 July
1890 he reported that he and his partner had visited their district and
people were desirous of doing much better than they had been doing.
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