Eleanor McLean and the Murder of Parley P. Pratt
by Steven Pratt 1
by Steven Pratt 1
Twelve miles northwest of a small Arkansas town called
Van Buren, Parley P. Pratt was murdered on 13 May 1857. The events that
precipitated the murder have often been speculated about and discussed
among students of Mormon history. Most scholars know that Parley’s death
was connected with his involvement with Eleanor Jane McLean and that
her estranged husband Hector committed the murder. Though the narrative
of Parley’s tragic end is available, the full details are not, and these
need telling so that whatever mystery still surrounds it may be
resolved.
Eleanor Jane McComb McLean: 1817-1854
Eleanor Jane McComb was born 9 December 1817, in Wheeling, Virginia, to James and Ann McComb. 2
Little is known of her early life, except that her parents were strict
Presbyterian and that they moved to Greenville, Louisiana, near New
Orleans when she was a small child. It was there that she met and
married Hector McLean in 1841. 3
They seemed to be happy at first. But Hector started drinking heavily,
causing a separation in 1844. Eleanor, after seeking counsel from her
father, two brothers, E. C. and J. J. McComb, and a John McDougal as to
whether she should return to or leave Hector sent him an ultimatum:
Dear Hector:
Having used every persuation in my power to no effect, I
see but three alternatives all ending in misery if not in crime. First,
to live a victum of the vice to which you have became a prey 2nd to to
seek a home among strangers, or shall the smoothe current of the
Mississippi be the last page that any may read of my “Ill Fate?”
Your Wife.
E.J. McLean
Your Wife.
E.J. McLean
Hector responded with the following note:
Millikins Bend
December 31, 1844
December 31, 1844
Nea, Ellen neither of these shall ever be your lot. I
will cease to grieve your gentle spirit, and we will live together so
long as it is the will and good pleasure of a Heavenly Parent we should.
We seek an asylum among the people of God (I care not what that may be)
and by their good example and precept I am persuaded your own dear
husband, may cure. I must be saved and reformed–it is impossible to be
either here. I have tried in vain, to live soberly and righteously
before God and men but cannot accomplish it.
Yours sincerely.
Hector 4
Hector 4
Eleanor then returned to live with him. Sometime later
they decided to leave New Orleans and go to San Francisco to help
accomplish Hector’s reform. They were accompanied by their three
children, Fitzroy, Albert, and Annie, and one of Eleanor’s brothers. 5
It was in San Francisco that they came in contact with
the Mormon church. After attending a Mormon meeting with Hector, and her
brother, J.J. McComb, Eleanor wanted to join the Church but was
forbidden to do so by her husband, who purchased a sword cane and
threatened to kill her and the minister who baptized her if she became a
Mormon. 6
In spite of this threat, Eleanor attended Church meetings as often as
she could. One Sunday night, while Eleanor was singing from a Mormon
hymn book she had purchased, Hector tore the book from her hands, threw
it into the fire, beat her, cast her out into the street, and locked the
door. She sought the help of a Dr. Bush, the family doctor, who took
her to a hotel, boarded her there for the night, and charged the bill to
Hector. The next day she filed a charge of assault and battery against
Hector, planning to go to San Bernardino to live with the Saints and
never return. She dropped the charges, however, and returned to Hector,
following the advice of Dr. Bush and the members of the San Francisco
branch. 7 She describes the incident as follows:
That Mr. McLean put me by violence into the street at
night, and locked the door against me, Captain Grey and Dr. Bush are
witnesses; and I presume McLean himself would not deny that I then
declared that I would no more be his wife however many years I might be
compelled to appear as such for the sake of my children. 8
Even though she embraced Mormonism in November of 1851, she was not baptized until 24 May 1854, by William McBride. 9
Although he had given his written permission for her to be baptized and
she continued to live with Hector, he forbade her to sing Mormon hymns
or to read Mormon literature in his home. Eleanor did not comply fully
with his rules, however, for she made it a practice to hold morning
devotionals with her children while Hector was away, and sought all
available means to stay in contact with the Church.
Parley Meets Eleanor
Parley Pratt, having been called by the First Presidency
to preside over the Pacific Mission and to set up a gathering place for
the Saints in San Jose, arrived in San Francisco on 2 July 1854. 10
Upon his arrival, he immediately went to San Jose, picked up his wife
Elizabeth, who had come to California earlier, and returned to San
Francisco, where they first rented a small house for $25 a month. When
it proved to be inadequate, they moved to a larger home on Broadway
Street which cost them $35 a month. 11
They had few funds and little to eat but were cared for by members of
the branch, including Eleanor McLean. She brought the Pratts food,
bedding, and clothing and became a frequent visitor at their home, often
arriving at dawn with gifts of meat, bread, fruit and other articles
which sustained the Pratts until the next day. 12
This was a great help to Parley, because Elizabeth was sick most of the
time and could do very little for herself or her husband. During her
visits, Eleanor told Parley and Elizabeth of her home situation and
asked Parley to help her solve her problems. Parley did visit the McLean
home a few times to try to reconcile Hector and Eleanor’s differences,
but succeeded only in making Hector more bitter. 13
Eleanor appears to have decided that there was no chance that her
husband would join the Church, but she decided that her children should
belong. So on 27 August 1854, she took her two oldest children, Fitzroy
and Albert, to Union City, where Parley was holding a meeting, and had
him baptize them into the Church. 14
Shortly after the two boys were baptized, Hector decided that the only
way to save his family from the Mormons was to have his wife committed
to an asylum; consequently he filed a charge of insanity against
Eleanor. When Parley was informed of Hector’s plan, he assigned a young
missionary to try to stop Hector.
Hector and the Mormon Cook
John R. Young was one of a group of missionaries working
in and around San Francisco to obtain funds for their fares to the
Sandwich Islands. While they were there, Parley, who was the mission
president, had them tracting, distributing pamphlets, and doing other
missionary work. John had been assigned to tract the city of San
Francisco, but Parley released him from that assignment and assigned him
the delicate task of helping Eleanor McLean keep her membership in the
Church and keep out of an asylum. When he asked how he was to accomplish
his assignment, he was instructed to “listen for the whisperings of the
Spirit and do as it directs and you shall be successful.” Then
President Pratt and William McBride gave him a blessing. Among other
things, Parley told John that McLean would not harm a hair of his head. 15
John went immediately to the McLean home and walked past it singing, “O
My Father.” When no one responded, he went back to his room and spent
the remainder of the day reading of Christ’s trial and persecutions in
Jerusalem. The next morning he returned to the McLean home and finding a
card in the window advertising for a cook, applied; Hector agreed to
hire him on a trial basis for a month. For nearly a month John stayed in
the McLean home cooking, making beds, and performing other household
chores. His job was not without some danger, however. Daily he would
take the pistol that Hector threatened to use on the first Mormon that
set foot in his house from under the pillow, lay it on the window sill
until he had made the bed, then replace it under the pillow. That Young
fulfilled his assignment is recorded in his journal:
A week later the directors of the insane asylum, a
physician, and Mrs. McLain’s brother, who was a banker, called as an
examining committee. They had a long talk with Mr. and Mrs. McLain, then
called in the children, who had been kept home for that purpose. After a
long talk with them, Mrs. McLain suggested that the cook be called. Oh,
how I prayed that I might be directed to say the right thing and not
say too much. In answer to the questions, I said: Mrs. McLain comes in
every day to the kitchen to tell me what she wants and instructs me how
to do it. She is always calm and sensible in her talk. I see no evidence
of insanity in her conduct. As to McLain, I can say but little. He
stays in his room until breakfast is ready and immediately afterwards,
goes to his office. When he returns at night, his step does not seem as
firm and steady as it does in the morning. He appears nervous and walks
about and talks a good deal to himself.” Mrs. McLain’s brother seemed
pleased with my statement. The committee decided that Mr. McLain had no
grounds for his complaint, and the shadow of the insane asylum was
dispelled. I felt very happy about this, but a few days later something
else happened. A man called at the bank where Mr. McLain was a cashier.
After a few minutes of business conversation, he said: “I want to ask
you a question. You seemed so pronounced against the Mormons. Why do you
employ a missionary as cook in your home?” McLain seemed surprised and
the man continued: “Do you not know that he is the same young man who
was tracting the city and selling Mormon Literature? McLain hurried home
and coming to me, demanded: “Are you a Mormon?” “Yes sir,” I answered.
Shaking his fist in my face, he exclaimed, “If you were not a child, I
would kill you.” “What have I done that you should want to kill me?”
“You are teaching the false doctrines of Joseph Smith.”
I asked what was false in the doctrines. He replied that
we claimed to confer the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands, while
the scriptures declare that it has been done away and is not needed in
this day. I asked him for a reference. He took his bible and tried to
find it, but his hands shook so that he could not find the passage he
sought. I took the Bible from his hands, turned to 2nd Chapter of Acts,
38 and 39 verses and read to him “Then Peter said unto them, Repent and
be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For
the promise is unto you and to your children and all that are far off,
even as many as the Lord our God shall call.” He sprang up, went into
the other room and returned with two twenty dollar gold coins in his
hands. Giving me the money he said: “Here are your month’s wages. You
are dismissed.” 16
John Young left and used the forty dollars to pay his fare to Honolulu.
Hector’s Retaliation
Shortly after Young left, Hector took the children, put
them on the ship Sierra Nevada, and sent them to their grandparents in
New Orleans. When he returned home that evening, he told Eleanor what he
had done, saying, “Now they are where you and the cursed Mormons can
never see them again!” Then he locked Eleanor in her room. About two in
the morning Hector released her since she had cried so much that it
disturbed him. The next morning she attempted unsuccessfully to find the
children. Her brother, E. C. McComb, suggested that she take the next
steamer and follow the children, but McLean would not let her. 17
She then obtained $20 and some goods from a local merchant which she
gave to Amasa Lyman for safekeeping, planning to use them to finance her
trip to New Orleans. When Hector heard of her plans, he boasted that
she was in his power and that if she attempted to go he would have her
in the insane asylum in twenty-four hours. This, however, proved an
empty threat, as two weeks after the departure of the children, in
February 1855, he even helped pay her fare on the steamer Daniel Webster
bound for New Orleans. 18 She was also assisted in paying her fare by Parley, 19 whom she wrote on 5 February 1855:
Brother Pratt,
I have some goods and 20$, in gold in Amasa Lyman’s
hands. Will you be so kind as to see what can be done, in order that
whatever they are worth may be available to me, at as early a date as
may be convenient. I am called suddenly to depart for a distant shore,
and would feel obliged to you to attend to this matter, for I expect to
need all the funds I can raise to defend myself in the midst of my
enemies.
Feb 5th 1855 Your Sister in hope
Eleanor J. McLean 20
Eleanor J. McLean 20
Parley wrote to Amasa Lyman on 2 March informing him
that Eleanor had been “called suddenly away to New Orleans–& never
expects to see this country again, But to make her way to Zion with her
children, if she can get the means,” 21
and asking him to send her things to her by the first trustworthy
messenger. This Amasa did, and they enabled her eventually to make her
way to Utah.
The children had been sent to New Orleans accompanied by
neither friend nor relatives. They traveled by ship to San Juan,
Nicaragua, and then by steamer to New Orleans, arriving 13 February. 22 They were taken to their maternal grandparents.
Eleanor arrived in New Orleans on 2 March and went immediately to find her children. 23
She remained in her father’s house three months, being closely guarded
at all times lest she should try to take the children. She did attempt
to remove them, however, and kept them hidden four days, but was
unsuccessful in getting out of the city. Her father then pledged to
change his treatment of her and let her have a room and free access to
the children if she pledged she would not take them out of the city. She
agreed and returned to her father’s house. Under these circumstances
her health declined, and finally she asked her father to help her
arrange passage to Salt Lake. She was given the means to take the May
Flower to St. Louis and then the Alma to Atchison, Kansas, where she
found a Mormon emigration party that hired her as a cook to pay her way
to Salt Lake. She arrived in Salt Lake on 11 September 1855. 24
Parley and Eleanor: 1854-1855
We do not know what the relationship between Eleanor and
Parley was during the 1854-55 San Francisco period other than that he
tried to help her solve her domestic difficulties and she assisted the
Pratts with gifts of food and clothes. After she had left for New
Orleans in 1855, Parley wrote his wife Belinda that he had met a worthy
soul who then was in deep tribulation, who, he hoped, could make her way
to Zion. 25
After Parley’s death in 1857, Eleanor wrote that she had “often sought
his society” at the home “he kept with his wife, Elizabeth, in San
Francisco. . . .” 26
Whatever their feelings, Eleanor remained with her husband until she
went to New Orleans to get her children back, however estranged they had
become. When she left San Francisco she left Hector, and later she was
to state in a court of law that she had left him as a wife the night he
drove her from their home. Whatever the legal situation, she thought of
herself as an unmarried woman. 27
For Time and Eternity
After Parley arrived home in Salt Lake from California on 18 August 1855, 28
he worked in the Endowment House and went on a couple of local
missions, speaking, and attending to local Church business. Eleanor
arrived in September and went to the Pratt home to apply for a position
as a school-teacher. 29
She was accepted, and one month after her arrival in Salt Lake, Eleanor
and Parley were married. The ceremony took place in the Endowment House
on 14 November 1855, and was performed by Brigham Young. Parley’s
journal records the marriage ceremony in these words: “Ministered in the
Endowments and had Sister Eleanor Jane McComb of N. Orleans sealed to
me at the alter by President Brigham Young.” 30 The Pratt Family Record also notes the marriage, adding that they were married for time and eternity. 31
Eleanor was looked upon as one of Parley’s plural wives from that time
on, and was referred to by family and friends as Eleanor Pratt. 32
Eleanor remained in Salt Lake for one year, serving as
schoolteacher for Parley’s children for seven months and then boarding
in Brigham Young’s house for four months and teaching the governor’s
family school. 33
But with Parley’s call to a mission in the Eastern States on 24 August
1856, Eleanor, thinking to regain her children, bring them to Utah, and
raise them there, asked Parley to let her accompany him on his mission.
Eleanor Returns to New Orleans
Traveling by way of Fort Kearney, through Iowa and Illinois, they arrived in St. Louis on 18 November, 34
where Eleanor borrowed $100 of Church funds and proceeded to New
Orleans. She went to her father’s home and, by telling him that she had
reconsidered her stand on Mormonism and did not believe it anymore,
gained liberty with the children. She stayed at her father’s house for a
week, then she and her two youngest children (Albert and Annie) took a
steam car from her father’s home to New Orleans, a distance of several
miles, from where she wrote a letter to her father telling him that she
was now Mrs. Pratt and that she and the children were going to Utah. 35
She had hoped to leave on a steamer for Galveston, Texas, but when no
steamer was to leave for almost a week, she took a room in the United
States Hotel kept by a Mrs. Smith. The next morning, deeming it unsafe
to stay in a public house, she took an omnibus, leaving the children at
the hotel, and rode far down in the third municipality. There she found a
furnished room across the street from a Dutch grocery store and,
together with the children, stayed for four days. Thursday morning, 18
December 1856, they boarded the Atlantic bound for Texas; and at
Galveston they took the the steamer Captain Pierce to Harrisburg, where
they stayed all night at a hotel kept by a Captain Andrews. The next
morning they went to Houston. Two miles from Houston they found a place
to stay at the residence of William Gambell, where they were treated
very well. While there, Eleanor worked as a seamstress in a Mrs.
Stansbury’s dressmaking shop. On 4 March, Eleanor and the children left
Houston with Captain Andrews, Mr. Stanfield, and James Gambell to
journey to Ellis County, where a Mormon emigration group was fitting out
for a trip across the plains. Learning in Houston by letter that Hector
was in pursuit of her, Eleanor decided to take a passage with a man by
the name of Clark, who was not a Mormon. He had a wife, three children, a
poor wagon and three yoke of good oxen. It was while they were
traveling with these people that McLean met them a little west of
Arkansas. 36
Parley’s Tour of the East
Parley visited various eastern states from December 1856 to March 1857. 37
Throughout his eastern mission, Parley kept in touch with his wives by mail. In January (1857) he wrote:
I have heard from E, once since she sailed from St.
Louis. She had arrived in safety in her father’s house, & found her
two children alive and in tolerable health. She is living there in quiet
with them. She may make it back soon. 38
And in February he added:
I arrived in the states all well, in Novr. E soon went
south, found her c . . . ren well, staid at her father’s one week, and
escaped with the c . . . ren to Texas. She may return to St. Louis, and
may not. She may go by land a thousand miles northward through Texas,
Indian Territory, and Kansas to get to the Platte River. A Texas company
of saints talk of coming that way. 39
During his visits to Cincinnati, it is claimed that
Mormon apostates informed McLean of Pratt’s eastern itinerary, setting
him on Parley’s trail. 40
However he found out where Pratt was to be, McLean followed him
throughout the eastern states and almost caught him in St. Louis in
March of 1857. Erastus Snow relates:
Early in March Mrs. Rushton who some years ago belonged
to the Saints and still professed friendship for us came to George A.
Smith and told him that she had learned through a police officer that H.
McLean was in St. Louis and seeking Elder Pratt’s Life: That the city
police had orders for his lowing night. She further said that many
apostates in the city were leagued with McLean for the accomplishment of
his purpose. From a variety of circumstances we became satisfied that
this information was in substance correct and Elder Pratt had for some
days previously felt the approaching danger and kept himself retired.
We now thought it advisable for him to leave the City
privately and after concealing him one day we found means to disguise
him and send him to Bro. Browns in Belfountain Cemetery, where on the
following morning by day break I sent him Bro. Sprowl with a satchel of
clothes and some $100 expense money and he accompanied by Elder Sprowl
left place immediately and traveled a circitous route westward avoiding
the roads, until he deemed himself safe. When he dismissed Bro. Andrew
Sprowl some 12 miles from the City and steered his course westward he
sent word by Elder S. not to be uneasy if we did not hear of him again
in a year.
In the meantime McLean assisted by the police and
apostates continued searching the houses of the Saints and all places
frequented by us in the City, and adjacient county but without finding
the object of their search. 41
George Higginson and the Cherokee Mission
George Higginson and Riley Perryman were working as
missionaries among the Creek and Cherokee Nations in the Indian
Territory. In the spring of 1857, they expanded their labors and
traveled a great deal to met and contact as many as they could before
their April conference. In the early part of March, George and some
Indian members started up the “Verdigree” one Saturday morning to attend
the funeral of Prince Perryman. About noon, after coming to Little
Spring Creek and stopping for lunch, they noticed a man riding on
horseback full speed toward them. Thinking it was the U. S. Marshal come
to remove them from the Indian Nations for preaching the gospel, he and
his companions rode off as fast as possible. The rider soon caught up
with them, steered straight for George, and asked if his name was
Higginson. Receiving an affirmative reply, the rider asked George to
ride business with him. George refused to go unless the rider identified
himself, at which the rider drew closer and whispered “Parley P.
Pratt.” Parley being in disguise, George doubted his word until Parley
produced a letter Higginson had written to J. H. Hart in St. Louis. As
they rode on together, Parley said that he was “flying from death” and
sought protection in the Indian Nations.
After the Perryman funeral, George took Parley up the
River “Verdigree” to Joseph Burgess, who secluded Parley in his home,
which was on the edge of a large prairie. Parley was introduced as Elder
Parker from New York, and stayed in the Burgess home until 6 April when
he went to conference at Mr. Jack Randoll’s house. During the
conference Parley asked George to go the frontiers of Texas to look for
Eleanor and convey some letters to her that informed her of Parley’s
whereabouts. George went as requested, but after traveling for 200 miles
found that the Mormon train was yet 300 miles south of him. He then
hastened back to the Arkansas River to report to Parley and receive
instructions. Arriving at Fort Gibson on 6 May, George found a letter
informing him of Parley’s whereabouts. 42
He returned to the Texas road, and having ridden about five miles
spotted a man about a mile ahead of him, overtook him, and found it to
be Parley. Parley told him that he was determined to travel until he met
Eleanor. George asked Parley if he felt safe traveling the public road.
Parley replied that he thought so for no one had inquired about him.
Shortly thereafter George saw a military escort armed with muskets
coming toward them. He said, “Brother Parley here comes an escort of
soldiers armed.” Parley paused and replied, “Yes. They are certainly in
persuit of me. I must have been watched it is all over now.” The
captain, whose name was Little, rode up to Parley and said, “Parley P.
Pratt. I arrest you in the name of the United States of America.” 43
Hector’s Pursuit
As soon as Eleanor had left New Orleans with her
children, her father sent word to Hector in San Francisco. Hector came
immediately to New Orleans, then searched for Parley throughout the
East, almost capturing him in St. Louis in March 1857. Failing that, he
decided to look for Eleanor, because he heard that she might be in
Texas. He found in Houston that she had left earlier to join a Mormon
train to Utah, so he went back to New Orleans. From there he went to
Fort Gibson with the hope of catching Eleanor there. On arriving at Fort
Gibson, he inquired if anyone had seen Eleanor or anyone fitting her
description. None had, but after he related some of his troubles to the
postal official and had given descriptions of Parley and Eleanor, the
official produced some letters written to a Mrs. Lucy Parker from Mr. P.
Pratt Parker. 44
Hector knew immediately whose letters they were. He filed a formal
charge with the commissioner in Fort Gibson and went in pursuit of
Eleanor, while the soldiers and his friend Shaw looked for Parley. 45
While riding a little west of what is now Arkansas, he came upon a
rider by the name of John Peel, who told him where Eleanor could be
found. 46
He met Eleanor’s wagon on 6 May, and with another man rode up to the
wagon, took the children, and rode off. About three hours later, Eleanor
was arrested by a man styled the “State Marshal” on a charge of larceny
of clothing belonging to Albert and Annie McLean to the amount of ten
dollars. Three other names appeared in this same charge: Parley P.
Pratt, James Gammell, and Elias J. Gammell. 47
On the Road to Fort Gibson
The “marshal” took Eleanor to a hotel in the Indian town
of North Fork. She saw twelve armed men in the gallery in a state of
“great excitement.” These twelve men were some of Hector’s Mason friends
gathered from “all parts of the territory” to aid him, should the
“government take no notice” of his grievances. 48
The next morning a party consisting of the “marshal”
(Shivers), Eleanor, and twelve armed men, set out on horseback. When
they had ridden about fifteen miles, Shivers asked Eleanor if she would
like to see Mr. Pratt. She replied: “Not in tribulation such as I am in.
He is a good man, and I know his family and would be sorry to see him
as a prisoner. Is he in this part of the country?” “Well he’s not forty
miles from here,” was the answer. This was the first Eleanor had heard
that Parley was in the Indian Territory; the last she had heard, he was
in St. Louis. They rode until noon and then stopped at an Indian’s house
for dinner. Eleanor noticed that the mob, which was composed of some of
Hector’s friends, had increased. When they remounted the horses, she
noticed Hector, who had the children in a carriage some distance from
the house, give the lines to another, buckle on a sword in addition to
his pistol, and ride off. The marshal informed Eleanor that “they had
got Pratt; and McLean is determined to kill him, but we are bound to
prevent him while he is our prisoner.” 49
When they had ridden a half mile from the house, they came upon the
military unit that had arrested Parley. As they drew near, Eleanor could
see Parley lying near a stream, with his hands under his head. He was
wearing a blue checked shirt and dark pants. When they dismounted,
Eleanor asked if she could speak to Parley. Given permission, she
advanced towards him. Parley rose and extended his hand. Eleanor said,
“How do you do, Brother Pratt.” “Very well Madam, how is your health,”
Parley replied. “I am well in health, but that demon who has been in my
pathway these thirteen years has again crossed my way. He has torn my
children again from me and he says I shall never see them again.” Parley
then said, “Well, my sister, never mind, these things are all in one
short lifetime and life is but a speck of eternity and will soon be
over.” Eleanor turned to him and said, “Brother Parley, I rejoice in one
thing. Mormonism has taught me how to live and taken from me all fear
of death and the grave.” Then she raised her hand and voice and turned
to the crowd and said, “Now you civil and military officers and soldiers
you can only kill the body and after that you have no power over the
soul, do what you please I am ready and willing to die as to live but
that is my Father’s business not mine.” 50
The marshall then read the charges to Parley. Someone in
the crowd pointed to George Higginson, who was with Parley, and asked
what was going to be done with him. Though both Captain Little and
Marshal Shivers said they had no power to arrest him, he was placed
under guard until such time as they deemed it safe to release him. They
rode on to Fort Gibson, Parley riding with a rope tied around his right
ankle, the other end held by an Indian riding alongside him as a guard.
Reaching the fort at midnight, after a twenty-five mile forced ride,
Parley and George Higginson were placed in jail with a heavy guard, and
Eleanor was taken to a boarding house. She was so bruised and mutilated
from the ride and violence of the day before that she had to be lifted
from her horse and carried into the house. 51
An Important Letter from Fort Gibson
After Hector had left Eleanor at the hotel, on the way
to Fort Gibson, he went out to meet his friend Captain Little at the
spring where Parley and Eleanor were to meet later. Making sure that
Parley was securely arrested, he traveled to the Creek Agency, where he
stayed with his friend, Mr. Whitfield. They started for Fort Gibson,
escorted by Perkins and the rest of the “Masonic Brethren,” and arrived
on 7 May. 52
While in Fort Gibson, Hector wrote a letter to some friends in St. Louis:
Fort Gibson
Cherokee Nation
May 7th, 1857
Cherokee Nation
May 7th, 1857
Dear Friends:–I have just arrived from a sore tramp, in
which I succeeded in coming up with Eleanor and the children, and have
taken the children from her by force. I have placed Eleanor in charge of
the U. S. Marshal, and have succeeded also in arresting Pratt, who is
now in the guard-house of the Fort. The U.S. Marshal will start with his
prisoners for Van Buren tomorrow, and I will by a different route, in
company of Capt. Cahil and lady, leave with the children for the same
place. I arrested Pratt and R. (E) J. on charge of larceny, in stealing
the clothing on the children when kidnapped–in the value $8 to $10. It
is the only way I could arrest them in these Territories. When I fail
before the U. S. Commissioner at Van Buren, I mean to have Pratt
arrested for having fled from justice from St. Louis, Mo., and get a
requisition from the Governor of Missouri for him. You are fully posted.
See Strong, and inform him forthwith of the best manner of proceeding.
There are several things that can be learned from this
letter: (1) Hector realized that the charge of larceny would not hold up
before the U. S. Commissioner in Van Buren; (2) he was planning to have
Parley charged in St. Louis with higher crimes and was asking his
lawyer to take care of the necessary arrangements; and (3) larceny was
the only charge he could come up with in Indian Territory to have
Eleanor and Parley arrested. Hector was using the arrest in Indian
Territory as a pretext to give him time to get a requisition from the
governor of Missouri and thus enable him to put Parley in prison. His
plan failed, however.
Eleanor’s Defense
After spending Friday at the fort, Eleanor, Parley,
George and company started for Van Buren on Saturday, 9 May. They
traveled the two days following, Eleanor in a carriage driven by two
soldiers and Parley and George chained to each other on horseback. The
group arrived in Van Buren, Arkansas, the place of the trial, about noon
on 11 May. Hector, traveling by a different route, had gone to Fort
Smith and left the children there. He, Captain Cahil, and Major Rector
also arrived in Van Buren on 11 May. 54
Parley was sent to jail, Higginson released, and Eleanor taken before
the judge and lawyers. At first Judge Ogden was severe in tone, but
after Eleanor had answered a few questions his attitude changed. She
described her experience as follows:
He first said, “I suppose you understand madam that you
have been arrested upon a charge of larceny?” “Yes, Sir, I know the
charge but it is false.” “Well madam, I suppose you will not deny that
you were happy with Mr. McLean until this man Pratt and Mormonism
crossed your pathways.” “Yes Sir, I must declare that many years before I
heard Mormonism McLean drove happiness from our home by inbibing that
spirit that comes in bottles! And because I was a mother I would fain
have escaped the impending fate foreshadowed in the breath of a man who
had learned to love wine more that he loves the happiness of the wife of
his bosom. And down through thirteen long years I suffered this blight,
and at length he put me by violence into the street in a dark winter’s
night in a wicked city, and I was compelled to seek shelter and
protection in a public house. And do you suppose Sir, a woman conscious
of having done her duty as a virtuous wife and faithful mother could be
induced to come again to the arms of that man? No Sir, it was not
Mormonism that desolated McLean’s home–but that spirit that comes in
bottles, prepared his heart and him for deeds of desperation and at last
he found a pretext in my religion, that was unpopular, and upon this
ground he might treat his family with personal violence,–thrust his wife
into the street and lock the doors–send his children, while yet infants
upon the high seas to go many thousands of miles without one friend
they had ever seen. And now it is no marvel that he is prepared to tell a
lie and swear to it–imprison innocent persons, and drag them before an
excited populace in a land where mob law bid defiance to the
Constitutional government and the Civil Courts. I have no hope of
justice in this land Sir. If I had a chance I could bring truthful
testimony from the days of my childhood until the present moment, that I
have lived a life of strict virtue, industry and faithfulness in the
duties belonging to my station. But I see no motive. For after all the
adopted course of this government, would sanction my imprisonment and
perhaps the shedding of my blood. Because I will not deny what I know to
be the Truth of Heaven!
“Well Madam, do you acknowledge your father to be a
truthful man?” Yes Sir. Here then is a letter from him, which confirms
Mr. McLean’s statements. I read, “She was honored and beloved by her
family and highly esteemed in the society in which she moved. Mr. McLean
went to Cal. and by industry procured a home, sent for his family, and
they were happy in San Fran. until/Mormonism, and its wiley Elder, began
to throw their seductive influence about my unfortunate daughter!”
Well Sir. I will still say my father is a truthful man
but honest men are often deceived. And I claim this mother to be the
best judge. In all the years to which he alludes, I was in McLean’s
kitchen, parlor and bed room, while my father was at peace in the midst
of his own household thousands of miles distant. And if my husband came
enraged and intoxicated to either neglect or abuse his family how could
my father know it? Who but a wife knows bedroom scenes? It is true if I
had gone for my neighbors and brought them to see him lying with his
head hanging nearly off the bed, one coat sleeve off, and the other on,
one boot off and the other on, and the vomit over his boots and all
richly perfumed with old bourbon, (or some other well known beverage
that adorns the shelves of the fashionable saloon). Then I might have
hundreds of witnesses to what I now state. But the opposite of this was
my course. I studiously concealed year after year the viper that clung
to the secret fibers of my soul. He was not a man that drank and mingled
much with his fellowmen, nor did he often drink enough before leaving
his place of business to betray to anyone, that he drank at all. But a
copious draft just as he left, and then another out of his secret
bottle, before a 5 o’clock dinner, and then after dinner another; laid
the strong man low. Yet who but a wife could know of this state of
things. If he could not eat dinner he was sick. If he vomited It is
because he was sick, and the children pitied “pa” because he was sick!
And if a neighbor called he was excused on the same ground. The wife
might shed a million tears of untold bitterness between the setting and
rising of the sun; and who could know it? Could the husband who lay on
the dead sleep of the inebriated all these lonesome hours realize that
she had known no rest? And when she stood beside him at break of day
with toast and tea to stay his stomach and clear his brain, so that no
betrayal of his vice, might reach his business place or even the nearest
neighbours? Was there any witness? When he enjoyed a refreshing
mornings’ nap, a good breakfast and sallied forth at 9 o’clock in a
clean suit, would any neighbors or friends suspect him? And if he
delivered a strong temperance speech the following night as a grand
worthy Patriarch of the Order Sons of Temperance, was there any to
betray him? Nea gentlemen, but I tell you God and the holy angels
witness these things and before them I am clear as the morning’s dew.
The Judge then said, “I think madam it is the mind of
the District Attorney to release you as a prisoner and call you as a
witness in this case.” “Well sir, I am in your power and you can do as
you please. But I hope to be protected from insult or personal injury.”
“Oh yes Madam, you will be taken to the best hotel and all your wants attended to, and no one shall molest you.”
“Thank you Sir.” 55
The lawyers then asked her several questions about Utah
and the condition of the women there. After they had finished their
questions, the “marshal” (Shivers) took her to a hotel.
The next morning (12 May) when court convened, a crowd
rushed into courtroom, anxious to see the proceedings. Eleanor was
there, having come twenty minutes before court was to begin. They then
brought in Parley as soon as Judge Ogden had taken his place. Parley
looked weary and weak, having spent the whole night in jail with no food
and little sleep. He seated himself near Eleanor with his counsel,
Henry Wilcox. The first thing Judge Ogden did was to dismiss the charges
against Eleanor. He said, “Mrs. McLean, the court finds nothing against
you. You can retire.” Eleanor hesitated, then said to Judge Ogden,
“Judge, I have been assured by the officers both Civil and Military that
here I would once again see my children, and if this is the only place I
may ever see them I wish to stay.” The Judge said, “Well madam you are
at liberty; but not compelled to leave, you are no longer a prisoner.”
Eleanor then went back to the hotel following the advice of a lawyer,
John T. Humphreys. 56
The Trial of Parley Pratt
After Eleanor had left, the charges were read to Parley
by McLean, who was allowed to state the history of his grievances, and
read evidences to the court that “implicated” Parley. He succeeded in
stirring up feelings against Parley among the five hundred spectators. 57
When Parley arose to respond to the charges, Hector drew his pistol and
pointed it at him but was prevented from firing by the officers of the
court. 58
Because of the excitement of the crowd and McLean’s display, Judge
Ogden postponed the trial until four o’clock that evening. The crowd
reluctantly allowed the officers to lock Parley in jail, and crowded the
courtroom and courtyard long before it was time for the trial to start.
Judge Ogden postponed the trial further until the next morning at eight
o’clock. 59
This was a trick, however, to deceive McLean, for later that evening
the real marshal, Mr. Hays, called on Eleanor with George Higginson and
told them that Parley had been acquitted by the court and was only kept
in jail for his own personal safety and would be released as soon as it
was deemed prudent to do so. 60
Early on Wednesday, 13 May 1857, Judge Ogden brought
Parley’s horse to him at the jail. He released Parley, put him on his
horse and offered him his knife and pistol, but Parley refused by
saying, “Gentlemen, I do not rely on weapons of that kind, my trust is
in my God. Good-bye Gentlemen.” He rode off in a southerly direction. 61
The Murder
Yes, I have a family at Salt Lake City, Utah Territory
and that is my home. My gold is in this pocket (pointing to his pants)
and my gold watch is in this, and I want them with all my effects sent
to my family in Salt Lake, write to a Mr. Couch Flint Post Office
Cherokee Nation and let him have all my things to send to my family. 62
Parley asked the men to communicate with a Mormon train and have some of them take his body back to Utah. 63 He then desired to leave his dying testimony with these men saying,
I die a firm believer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ as
revealed through the Prophet Joseph Smith, and I wish you to carry this
my dying testimony. I know that the Gospel is true and that Joseph Smith
was a prophet of the living God, I am dying a martyr to the faith. 64
Parley’s voice weakened and finally ceased.
At about half past noon a lady came to the hotel in Van
Buren where Eleanor was staying and told her that Parley had been shot. A
later report said he was wounded but not dead. Then McLean appeared on
the scene. He and few friends were drinking at the bar of the hotel when
Mr. Smith, the landlord, approached them and asked McLean what he had
done. Hector raped, “Well, I have done a good work.” Then the crowd
began talking of lynching Eleanor, one saying, “Come now let us lynch
her, twile not do to let her escape.” Mr. Smith broke in:
How dare you speak in that manner in my house. If any
man attempts to molest that lady while she is in my house he must do it
over my dead body, for I will protect her while she is under my roof.
The man that would so disgrace his kind as to suggest such a thing had
better not be seen again on my premises.
A few minutes later McLean crossed the Arkansas River
and boarded a boat. Just before he stepped on deck he spoke to a man on
the street and said, “Sir if you will go out eight or ten miles on a
certain road you might do a deed of humanity,” and then he sailed off. 65
Eleanor and George Visit the Murder Scene
After Eleanor received definite word that Parley was
dead, she asked Marshal Hays if she and George Higginson might go
prepare the body for burial. The marshal said he would furnish a wagon
and take them out to the site the next morning. Upon entering the Winn
farm house they saw Parley’s body lying on a board. Mr. Winn told them
about the murder and took them to the scene. They saw where Parley had
fallen near a stump and had crawled to and used it to try to stop the
bleeding. They also found several papers that he tried to use as a
compress. Although Parley had lived about two hours after being
attacked, he had bled to death. Examination of his body and clothing
showed six bullet holes around the skirt of his coat and two knife marks
in the front. One was in a V form over the left breast, but this did
not penetrate to the body. The second, the fatal wound, was to the left
of the first and about two inches long; this went directly to the heart.
They also found evidence that a bullet had struck his collarbone and
bounced off. Mr. Winn informed them that when asked if they should send
for a doctor, Parley had said, “I want no doctors for I will be dead in a
few minutes.” 66
When Eleanor and George arrived, the body had been
washed, the face shaved, and all necessary materials made available for
their use. George and the marshal put clean clothing on the body and
Eleanor wrapped it from head to foot in white linen, which she had
obtained from Mr. Smith at the hotel. She returned to the hotel in Van
Buren, being advised to do so by the marshal because of the animosity
that prevailed in the area. Parley’s body was placed in a white pine box
made by William Steward at the request of James Orme, Justice of the
Peace, and driven by John Steward to Sterman’s Graveyard (now known as
Fine Springs) about twelve miles northeast of Van Buren. 67 There Parley was buried by George Higginson about ten o’clock the night of 14 May 1857. 68
Eleanor Returns to Salt Lake
Eleanor, without means to leave Van Buren, was compelled
to stay until a way could be provided. The lawyers continued to call
daily to question her on when she planned to leave, but she replied that
she “knew nothing on the subject” and could not leave then because she
lacked money and clothing.
This situation continued for several days, until the
district attorney persuaded her that if she would go to see her parents
in New Orleans just once more, “the means would flow freely.” Eleanor
promised to go if the way were provided for her escape if she would run
into trouble in New Orleans. The lawyers still insisted that she go
because her father had attempted to see her while she was on trial but
couldn’t because of sickness and forced to return home. Eleanor promised
to go. On Monday morning, 18 May, Marshal Hays, Judge Ogden, and an
unnamed lawyer gave Eleanor $54.50 to pay her expenses to New Orleans.
The Judge had collected this money from various people in Van Buren, 69
and he told her that he sympathized with Parley and had never seen a
man quite like him, so “uncomplaining and free from every feeling of
revenge.” He told Eleanor that he had instructed Hector to leave Parley
alone because he had failed to prove one thing against him:
I pleaded with him until two o’clock in the morning, I
kept him in my office and talked with him, and told him I did not wish
violence done to the prisoner, and I hope he would not incite men to
take his life. And he [McLean] said he did not wish any man to touch
him, that that was a priviledge he wished to reserve to himself.
Judge Ogden continued, “I am doubly grieved when I reflect that he [Pratt] was a grand Master Mason.” Eleanor replied:
And not only so, he was a mighty man of God and this day
tens of thousands of men, women, and children (not to mention his
numerous family) would fain bring their tribute of unsophisticated
affection & gratitude. And I know not of a nation where the news of
his cruel death will not produce a sensation of grief and irreparable
loss.
The judge also spoke of the men who had assisted McLean
and said that they could not escape punishment. The lawyer then spoke up
and asked if the Mormons would not avenge Parley’s death. Eleanor told
them that they need have no fear on that score, for Hector and his
friends would be judged by God and get their just reward. Eleanor then
told them that she had composed a song on the death of Parley and wished
to sing it to them, which she did. 70
After the song, she read them an article she had written for the
Arkansas Intelligencer and asked them to see that it was printed. The
judge said that he would see that every word of it was published. 71
He then handed her a five-dollar gold piece and went on board the boat
to arrange passage for her down the Arkansas River to the Mississippi.
Mr. Smith, the landlord of the hotel, took Eleanor to the boat (the H.L.
Tucker), introduced her to its captain and made sure that she would be
cared for.
They were five days reaching the Mississippi, landing at
Napoleon to let off some passengers. Eleanor was afraid to leave the
boat because most of the men on board that had gone ashore were
gamblers. Feeling unsafe on the boat also, she asked the protection of
the captain, who said he would protect her but made it clear that he did
not approve of her. She stayed on board until the first boat going to
New Orleans was available; she boarded the Queen of the West, and
traveled directly to the Baton Rouge area. While on board, she became
acquainted with a couple named Walker, who were spiritualists. She told
them of her peculiar situation and requested that Mr. Walker take a
letter to her father, and then write back to her at Bayou Sara when it
was safe for her to proceed to New Orleans. Mr. Walker promised he would
deliver the letter. She waited at Bayou Sara, a hundred miles from the
city, for three days, hoping to hear from either Mr. Walker or her
father. Finally she decided she had better go to New Orleans. She took a
packet, stayed at a friend’s house until the next morning, and then,
taking a steam car to her father’s neighborhood, stopped at a hotel.
From there she sent her father a note informing him that she had been
advised by the district attorney and Judge Ogden of the state of
Arkansas to see him, and that he could reach her until 11:00 a.m. at the
Carolton Hotel, and at 11 Gracier Street from 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. Her
father replied by note that he would meet her that afternoon. When she
inquired at 11 Gracier Street for J.S. McComb, she was told that he had
been there, but had left word that he did not wish to see her. As she
was leaving, she met her brother-in-law, Dr. Cambell, who was living
with his family in her father’s house. He assured her that he was her
friend and had decided to see her when her father had refused. They
talked freely, and when Dr. Cambell left, Eleanor felt assured that she
had at least one friend in New Orleans. Dr. Cambell visited her a number
of times, passing notes between her and her parents. The substance of
these notes was that they wished her to give up her religion and come
back to them. She responded by testifying of the truths of Mormonism.
She remained in New Orleans four days, affording her parents ample
opportunity to see her; but they did not come, and she didn’t go to them
for fear of meeting McLean. 72
The day before she left, she learned that her oldest brother, David,
had come from Memphis, empowered by McLean to act as his agent and have
her arrested upon a charge of insanity, that he had sworn an oath before
the court that she was a maniac, and that the papers were in the hands
of the sheriff for her arrest. 73
She went to the private residence of Randall Hunt, a lawyer, and
related her case to him, asking his counsel. He listened to her story
and told her that McLean had no case against her, but that she had
better leave, for McLean might put her in an asylum for a time to see if
he could make her insane. She left New Orleans and went back to Bayou
Sara, where she found several notes from her parents in one envelope.
These stated that they never wanted to see her again, that when she had
taken upon herself the name of Mrs. Pratt, she had cut off all their
sympathy for her. With that disappointment, she left the New Orleans
area, never to return.
She took the James E. Woodruff to St. Louis, arriving on
11 June. As she stepped off the boat, she noticed H. J. Bartlete,
another brother-in-law, talking to a couple on board the ship. Eleanor
walked by, paying no attention to them. She had anticipated that she
would be followed, so she asked the clerk of the boat to take her to the
corner. When the clerk left her at the street corner, she noticed that a
man was following her. He followed her until she went into a boarding
house, and then left. The next morning there were several policemen in
front of the building, but none of them entered. When she left, however,
they followed her from house to house until they lost sight of her. The
police continued their search for several days, but could not find her.
Eleanor said that she knew of their movements at all times, had looked
in their faces several times, and had overheard several conversations
about her and their plans to arrest her. But she was never detected. On
16 June she left St. Louis on the first steamboat to Florence, Nebraska,
and then joined a wagon train going to Salt Lake. 74
Arriving in Salt Lake, she stayed with the Pratt family
and taught school. Brigham Young had called her to build a schoolhouse
in which to teach the Pratt family. During the construction of the
school, she wrote several letters to Brigham Young, and these are the
principal source of the knowledge we have of her activities until her
death in 1874. 75
The building was begun in the latter part of 1857 and completed in
1858. The other Pratt wives were slow enough in helping her financially
that she had to borrow twenty dollars from Brigham Young to complete the
structure. 76
Most of the letters to Brigham Young reflect her dismay at the lack of
support she was receiving from the Pratt family both before and after
the school was completed. She wrote on 23 October 1858:
Bro Young,
Must I teach the Pratt children without any compensation? Or should I share like any other members of the P. P. Pratt family?
Certainly they have not contributed a mite to the
building of the house neither have they rendered a mite of gratitude for
my services, during the past years in instructing their children.
I have waded through toil and perplexity unknown to any
second person to obtain a living and building the house agreeable to
your instructions–and now I much desire your counsel as to the terms
upon which I am to occupy the house. The women are not agreed and Parley
[Jr.] declines deciding the matter. I believe your word would make an
end of all strife in the case.
Your Sister in the Everlasting Covenant,
Eleanor Pratt 77
Eleanor Pratt 77
Brigham wrote back on 26 October:
Dear Sister:
Your note in regard to teaching Brother Pratt’s children
is received. As regards the school house I suppose that it was
principally built, by a freewill gift of the people, out of respect for
Brother Parley and with a view of benefitting his Family.
So far as you identify your interest and means with the
family and for their support, you should share equally with them
according to your necessities.
Trusting that unity may pervade your councils and that the Lord will give you wisdom to see and do right
She did begin to share her means equally as Brigham
directed, and the family allowed her to stay in the school, which became
her home. Not only did she teach the Pratt children but also Brigham
Young’s children and several other children of members of the Church. 79
She was able to support herself on the tuition paid by her pupils, even
though she received very little in tuition payments from the Pratt
family, which created a hardship for her because even though she had
enough to live on, that was about all she had, and repairs on the
schoolhouse drew heavily on her funds. It appears that the Pratt family
blamed her for Parley’s death and withheld their complete support from
her.
On 30 April 1860 she met with George A. Smith and turned
her handwritten account of the murder of Parley P. Pratt over to the
Church. 80
On 16 November 1860, Wilford Woodruff and Robert Campbell addressed the
concluding session of a series of teachers’ meetings held in Eleanor’s
schoolhouse. The major topic of the week-long meetings was education in
Utah, and how to best teach the various subjects in the schools. The
teachers presented papers on several topics and discussions were held on
all aspects of teaching. Eleanor was a dedicated teacher and
participated fully in the meetings in an attempt to improve her teaching
ability. 81
One example of her dedication may be cited. One of Parley’s sons,
Teancum, had lost part of his foot to frostbite and required special
care to insure his education. Eleanor wrote to Brigham Young:
I am now anxious to help in the education of Teancum. If
my school is not decided the best place for him at present, I am ready
to contribute the tuition of one pupil and also assist to clothe him,
when I shall be free from debt contracted to improve the house last
fall. 82
In 1862 Eleanor added two rooms to the schoolhouse to
rent and proposed to clear a way for a playground for the school. That
way she could accommodate some “brother or sister with a small place of
business, in a convenient location, at a reasonable rent,” and at the
same time create a small income for her to live on. 83
The next thing that we learn about her comes from a 13 October 1866
letter to Brigham Young. Writing very graphically, she relates what had
happened to her since coming to Salt Lake after Parley’s death:
When I came from your Office in 1857 and told the family
what you had given me to do one said, “I’m glad its not me.” Another “I
wouldn’t like to do it.” And a third said “Eleanor are you going to do
it?” Yes. “When do you intend to commence?” Tomorrow.
She then recounted to him how the construction of the
school was accomplished by freewill offering and her expenditure and
then said that the family had held a meeting and by unanimous vote
refused her either the portion of a wife or 3/5 tuition pay for their
children, when the schoolhouse was $200 in debt. She then continued:
Nevertheless the Lord blessed me and I have toiled
through the years and the sons and daughters of Parley have been
faithfully taught in the house built for that purpose and now a number
of them are qualified to maintain themselves by teaching.
She then told Brigham that an old rumor was abounding in
the vicinity that she had refused to teach the Pratt children until
they paid tuition and this had been used to prejudice the minds of
several against her. She affirmed that she had not refused them but had
sought all manner of means to improve the building for their best good.
She asked President Young to put aside this controversy by a word from
him to the guilty parties. She informed him that she planned to leave
town that winter with Abinadi, one of Parley and Belinda’s sons, to
teach in the country. She said that plan met with Belinda’s approval and
wished to know if Brigham would approve. 84
We can only suppose that she did go through with her plan for we can
find nothing further on what she did do in the winter of 1866.
In 1870 she was still teaching school at the Pratt schoolhouse and had Keziah, one of Parley’s wives, living with her. 85
It seems from the 1870 Census Record of Utah that her youngest son,
Albert, came to live with her, for he taught school for a time with her
in the house. 86 What happened to her other children is still a mystery. Annie died on 9 September 1872. 87 We know nothing of Fitzroy, and we know little about Eleanor’s activities until her death at 8:00 p.m. on 24 October 1874. 88
Conclusion
These, then, are the details available concerning
Eleanor Jane McComb McLean Pratt and Parley P. Pratt. Hector McLean
apparently was a violent man, especially when he was under the influence
of alcohol, which plagued him most of his life. When he had driven his
wife from him and, in his mind at least, lost her to Mormonism, and was
on the verge of losing his two youngest children he struck out at the
man who stood for the Church and seemed to be the cause of his personal
problems, convinced that by doing so he would rid the world of a social
menace and a despicable man. He was totally unable to feel anything for
his estranged wife’s or Parley’s religious beliefs.
***********
2. Parley P. Pratt Family Record,
a genealogical record kept by Parley Pratt. The original, in Parley’s
handwriting, is in the possession of Cathryn B. Pratt, Salt Lake City,
Utah. Hereafter cited as Pratt Family Record.
3. New Orleans Probate Court. “In
the matter of Eleanor Jane McComb wife of Hector H. McLean,” June 1857,
Case #12018. A petition to the court for the arrest of Eleanor on the
charged of insanity, filed by David McComb acting for Hector McLean.
4. Eleanor Pratt, sixty-two-page
handwritten account of the murder of Parley P. Pratt, p. 60. Eleanor
Pratt Papers, Church Archives, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. Hereafter cited as Eleanor Pratt, “Account.”
6. Ibid., p. 419. Reva Stanley,
in the California Historical Quarterly (March 1935), p. 175, suggests
that Parley met Eleanor sometime during his visit to San Francisco from
11 July to 4 September 1851, prior to sailing for Valparaiso, Chile, on 5
September 1851. Parley was also in the San Francisco area from 21 May
to 30 July 1852 (see Autobiography of Parley P. Pratt, 6th ed. [Salt
Lake City: Deseret Book, 1966], pp. 383-87, 404), and it is possible
that Parley met her during that period. Both of these suggestions are
countered by the following: “In July ’54 br. Pratt arrived here [San
Francisco] from G. S. L. City, on a mission to the country. Up to this
time Mrs. McLean had never seen br. Pratt; and he did not know that such
a woman existed, although she had been a member nine months, and had
been trying for two years to obtain her husband’s consent to it”
(Western Standard, 10 July 1857). This quotation is from an article
signed by a member of the Church who was in the San Francisco Branch
when Parley and Eleanor met, and also prior to their meeting when
Eleanor had problems with Hector in her attempt to obtain consent to
join the Church. Eleanor substantiates the above with the following: “In
the first place, the article alluded to says that `Mrs. McLean was
induced to embrace the Mormon faith by Mr. Pratt’ [Arkansas
Intelligencer, 15 May 1857]. This is false, for Mr. McLean knows that
the first `Mormon’ sermon I heard in California, himself and my brother
J. J. McComb, were present, and they know that it was at least two years
before Mr. Pratt made his appearance in San Francisco; and they know
that from the time I heard the first sermon I never spoke except in
defence of the `Mormons’ and their faith; and they know that I sought
diligently for my husbands consent to be baptized into the Church of the
Saints, and finally obtained it in writing, and was baptized before P.
P. Pratt made his appearance” (Millennial Star 19:428).
9. Nathan Tanner Journal, 24-26
May 1854, Church Archives. Although Eleanor said that she had “embraced”
the Mormon faith in November 1851, Tanner records that the baptism
occurred on 24 May 1854: “Sister McClain was baptized & Sisters
Evans & King, Sister Evans a little big also & I preached at
Sister Evan’s house. May 25-56, 1854. . . . Sister Eleanor Jane McClain
gave me one shirt and 3 hankichiefs. Her husband dos not belong to the
Church & has forbid deen for the last two years [her] beying
baptized untill now he gave his concent in writeing.” The Endowment
House Record, 1855-56, also lists her baptism as May 1854.
15. John R. Young, “The Last
Days of Parley P. Pratt,” Church Archives. A letter to William C. Black
from John R. Young, March 1930. Also in the “Autobiography of John R.
Young,” Church Archives, and William E. Berrett and Alma P. Burton,
Readings in L. D. S. Church History (Salt Lake City: Deseret Book,
1953), pp. 400-1.
18. New Orleans Passenger List, Genealogical Society Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Salt Lake City, Utah.
20. Letter from Eleanor Mclean
to Parley P. Pratt, 5 February 1855, Parley P. Pratt Papers, Church
Archives. Hereafter cited as Pratt Papers.
22. New Orleans Passenger List, 13 February 1855, Genealogical Library, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
26. Millennial Star 19:430.
Eleanor seems to have been deeply fond of Parley for she says: “When he
kept house with his wife, Elizabeth, in San Francisco, I often sought
his society, and if any censure me, let them censure me for the
strongest impulses of nature, which have ever prompted me to seek light
and truth, despite the difficult that might intervene between me and the
object of my search.”
27. Millennial Star 19:432.
There is no doubt that Eleanor was not divorced from Hector at the time
she was sealed to Parley on 14 November 1855. On 1 June 1857 when Hector
filed a charge of insanity against his wife in New Orleans, he stated
that he wanted her “placed under charge of your petitioner [Hector] as
her curator.” All through the petition Eleanor was named as his wife. To
further substantiate the above, when Eleanor was asked by a reporter of
the New York World in 1869 whether she had divorced Hector prior to
marrying Parley, she answered: “No, the sectarian priests have no power
from God to marry; and as a so-called marriage ceremony performed by
them is no marriage at all, no divorce was needed. The priesthood with
its powers and privileges, can be found no where upon the face of the
earth but in Utah. . . . I regard the laws of Celestial Marriage, or, as
the “Gentiles” term it, polygamy, as the keystone of our religion. That
is wherein we differ from the sects of the world. They hope for
salvation in a heaven where husbands and wives shall be utter strangers
to each other; we expect to reach a heaven where we shall rear families,
the same as we do here. We could not do this unless we had a revelation
authorizing Celestial Marriage; and we could not be saved in the
Celestial Kingdom without obeying this revelation. It is the great
distinctive feature of our religion, and by it our religion stands or
falls” (New York World, 23 November 1869, p.2).
Eleanor’s explanation of why she joined in a polygamous marriage without going through the formalities of a sectarian divorce from Hector helps the modern reader better understand both the teaching about the authority of the priesthood, and the tenor of the time. For further discussions on the subject, see the following: Wilford Woodruff Journal, 15 August 1847, Church Archives; Orson Pratt, Speech on Marriage, Journal of Discourses, 16:175; Parley P. Pratt, Marriage and Morals in Utah (Liverpool: Orson Pratt, 1856); and Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855), chapter 17.
Eleanor’s explanation of why she joined in a polygamous marriage without going through the formalities of a sectarian divorce from Hector helps the modern reader better understand both the teaching about the authority of the priesthood, and the tenor of the time. For further discussions on the subject, see the following: Wilford Woodruff Journal, 15 August 1847, Church Archives; Orson Pratt, Speech on Marriage, Journal of Discourses, 16:175; Parley P. Pratt, Marriage and Morals in Utah (Liverpool: Orson Pratt, 1856); and Parley P. Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology (Liverpool: F. D. Richards, 1855), chapter 17.
32. Pratt Journal, 24 January
1856: “Jan. 24 The day in slayriding and visiting Bro. Keslar with five
of my wives viz: Belinda, Elizabeth, Mary, Hannahette and Eleanor.” Reva
Stanley, in Archer of Paradise (Caldwell, Idaho: Caxton Press, 1937),
pp. 293-94, 296, didn’t rule out the possibility that Parley and Eleanor
lived as a married couple, but favored the idea that the marriage was a
Platonic gesture to provide Eleanor a husband in eternity. The evidence
is not conclusive either way, except it was Parley’s habit to live with
his wives.
35. John A. Peel, “Dying
Remarks of Parley P. Pratt,” Church Archives. Peel was in Van Buren at
the time of the murder, but his statement was not taken down by Frank
Poneroy until 1895. See also Daily Missouri Democrat, 25 May 1857.
39. Letter from Parley P. Pratt to his wife Agatha, 25 February 1857, Steven Pratt Collection, typescript.
40.Samuel E. Allen, notarized statement sworn before Joseph W. Musser, 25 May 1857, Steven Pratt Collection, typescript.
43. George Higginson, “Account
of the Assassination of Parley P. Pratt,” handwritten manuscript, Church
Archives. All conversations between Pratt and Higginson are taken from
this source.
44. Daily Missouri Democrat, 25
May 1857. Following is a copy of one of the letters Hector found that
led to his locating Parley and Eleanor. The letter was addressed “Mrs.
Lucy R. Parker, by P. Pratt Parker, from near Fort Gibson, Cherokee
nation,–dated 11 April 1857, as printed in the 25 May 1857 Daily
Missouri Democrat:
Dear Eleanor,
McLean is in St. Louis; he has offered a reward for your discovery, or your children or me. The Apostates have betrayed me and you. I had to get away on foot, and leave all to save myself. If you come to Fort Gibson, you can hire a messenger and send him to Riley Perryman’s mill on the Arkansas River, twenty-five miles from Fort Gibson, and let him inquire for Washington N. Cook, mormon missionary, and when he has found him he will soon tell where elder-Pratt-Parker is. Do not let your children or any friend know that I am in this region, or anywhere else on the earth; except it is an elder from Texas who is in your confidence, and even him under strictest charge of keep you it.
“If you send a messenger to Perryman’s mill for Elder Cook in order to find me, send a note addressed to Washington N. Cook. Everybody knows the place. He may live a few miles distant, but the folks at Riley Perryman’s mill know where he is. And if they can be made sensible that it requires immediate action, some of them can go and find him. Your messenger can leave the note at Riley Perryman’s or with Elder George Burgess there and return, but you must state in the note where you can be found, and Elder Cook will probably call on you before he can have time to see me, as I may be some days journey away, for I don’t much expect you at Fort Gibson, as I don’t believe you received my last letter mailed at St. Louis, March 4th, and addressed as usual to the usual place. Elder Cook knows all, and you can trust him with all necessary information. When I know that you and the children are safe and your circumstances, I will know what to do.
“Be sure not to let the Texas company know anything, for all the frontiers are watched, and some of them may betray you there. I must hide you or pass you some other way.
“Pray much. Be still and wise. I have made use of some of the late alterations in the alphabet. I am well.
And your own ———- ———-.”
Dear Eleanor,
McLean is in St. Louis; he has offered a reward for your discovery, or your children or me. The Apostates have betrayed me and you. I had to get away on foot, and leave all to save myself. If you come to Fort Gibson, you can hire a messenger and send him to Riley Perryman’s mill on the Arkansas River, twenty-five miles from Fort Gibson, and let him inquire for Washington N. Cook, mormon missionary, and when he has found him he will soon tell where elder-Pratt-Parker is. Do not let your children or any friend know that I am in this region, or anywhere else on the earth; except it is an elder from Texas who is in your confidence, and even him under strictest charge of keep you it.
“If you send a messenger to Perryman’s mill for Elder Cook in order to find me, send a note addressed to Washington N. Cook. Everybody knows the place. He may live a few miles distant, but the folks at Riley Perryman’s mill know where he is. And if they can be made sensible that it requires immediate action, some of them can go and find him. Your messenger can leave the note at Riley Perryman’s or with Elder George Burgess there and return, but you must state in the note where you can be found, and Elder Cook will probably call on you before he can have time to see me, as I may be some days journey away, for I don’t much expect you at Fort Gibson, as I don’t believe you received my last letter mailed at St. Louis, March 4th, and addressed as usual to the usual place. Elder Cook knows all, and you can trust him with all necessary information. When I know that you and the children are safe and your circumstances, I will know what to do.
“Be sure not to let the Texas company know anything, for all the frontiers are watched, and some of them may betray you there. I must hide you or pass you some other way.
“Pray much. Be still and wise. I have made use of some of the late alterations in the alphabet. I am well.
And your own ———- ———-.”
63. Eleanor sent the following
letter to Erastus Snow. The original is in the Erastus Snow Papers,
Church Archives. This copy comes from the one Eleanor Pratt retained in
her files, also in the Church Archives.
Dear Brother Snow,
I do not feel to have power to write you fully the painful news, you will find on the enclosed sheet. I therefore leave it open for your perusal.
Can you send for the body of Brother Parley. What shall I do? In case Mr. McLean either flees to evade arrest, or is taken into custody, my children will be without a protector!
I cannot wait to hear from you before I take some step, and I think I will go to N. O. and there I hope to hear from you. Adress to E. J. McComb care of J. S. McComb N. O.
Yours respectfully,
Eleanor
P. S.
If Brother Higinson is permitted to live and journey to you he can tell you alll things.
E. J.
The claim that the Church had deserted Parley Pratt by not taking his body to Utah for final burial needs to be placed in its proper perspective. There were a number of circumstances that arose to block any attempt to return Parley’s body as he had requested. First, the difficulty of transporting a body over the miles of wagon trail led the Saints to bury their dead where they died and move on, which is what they invariably did. Second, the news that Johnston’s Army had been sent to Utah precluded taking anything on the trains that did not absolutely have to be taken. Third, during the events of the Utah War there was no real opportunity to recover the body. Fourth, after the Mountain Meadow’s Massacre, the people of Van Buren, Arkansas refused to allow Mormons into their region until this century. All these did not deter later attempts as the following shows:
In 1902 Samuel Russell, Parley’s grandson, corresponded with John Neal, former mayor of Van Buren, and was informed that a Walter Fine knew the location of Parley’s grave. Russell wrote to the First Presidency asking what he should do. They recommended that he contact President J. G. Duffin of the Southwestern States Mission and request him to send some Elders to locate the grave “with the view of bringing his remains to this city [Salt Lake] for interment” (Letter from J. F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund to Samuel Russell, 19 May 1902, Church Archives). J. G. Duffin visited Van Buren on 3 September 1902 and contacted John Neal, former mayor, John Orme, Justice of the Peace at the time of Parley’s murder, and John Steward, the man who drove the wagon that transported Parley’s body to the gravesite. Brother Duffin did not visit the grave, but got a promise from John Steward and John Neal that they would assist in the removal of the body if the exact location of the burial place could be determined. They informed Duffin that the Fine brothers could point out the exact location. He was not able to visit them. (James G. Duffin to Anthon H. Lund, 19 December 1902, and Journal History of the Church, 13 May 1857)
Further investigation was done in 1912 by Samuel Russell. He visited Van Buren and talked with Thomas Fine, who pointed out what he thought was the location of the grave. After Elder Russell had returned to Salt Lake, he sent a letter to his friend, Calvin Little, of Alma, Arkansas, on 17 November 1912, and asked him to investigate further. Little sent Russell a memorandum giving the location of the graveyard and the approximate location of the grave, which was in the northeast part of the graveyard near a large oak stump–he could not determine the exact location. (Samuel Russell Papers, Church Archives. The Little Memorandum is a letter from A.B. Howell to Calvin Little, dated 11 August 1912. Little must have gotten the memorandum after Russell left, and sent it to him later in the November letter.) See footnote 63B.
Dear Brother Snow,
I do not feel to have power to write you fully the painful news, you will find on the enclosed sheet. I therefore leave it open for your perusal.
Can you send for the body of Brother Parley. What shall I do? In case Mr. McLean either flees to evade arrest, or is taken into custody, my children will be without a protector!
I cannot wait to hear from you before I take some step, and I think I will go to N. O. and there I hope to hear from you. Adress to E. J. McComb care of J. S. McComb N. O.
Yours respectfully,
Eleanor
P. S.
If Brother Higinson is permitted to live and journey to you he can tell you alll things.
E. J.
The claim that the Church had deserted Parley Pratt by not taking his body to Utah for final burial needs to be placed in its proper perspective. There were a number of circumstances that arose to block any attempt to return Parley’s body as he had requested. First, the difficulty of transporting a body over the miles of wagon trail led the Saints to bury their dead where they died and move on, which is what they invariably did. Second, the news that Johnston’s Army had been sent to Utah precluded taking anything on the trains that did not absolutely have to be taken. Third, during the events of the Utah War there was no real opportunity to recover the body. Fourth, after the Mountain Meadow’s Massacre, the people of Van Buren, Arkansas refused to allow Mormons into their region until this century. All these did not deter later attempts as the following shows:
In 1902 Samuel Russell, Parley’s grandson, corresponded with John Neal, former mayor of Van Buren, and was informed that a Walter Fine knew the location of Parley’s grave. Russell wrote to the First Presidency asking what he should do. They recommended that he contact President J. G. Duffin of the Southwestern States Mission and request him to send some Elders to locate the grave “with the view of bringing his remains to this city [Salt Lake] for interment” (Letter from J. F. Smith, John R. Winder, and Anthon H. Lund to Samuel Russell, 19 May 1902, Church Archives). J. G. Duffin visited Van Buren on 3 September 1902 and contacted John Neal, former mayor, John Orme, Justice of the Peace at the time of Parley’s murder, and John Steward, the man who drove the wagon that transported Parley’s body to the gravesite. Brother Duffin did not visit the grave, but got a promise from John Steward and John Neal that they would assist in the removal of the body if the exact location of the burial place could be determined. They informed Duffin that the Fine brothers could point out the exact location. He was not able to visit them. (James G. Duffin to Anthon H. Lund, 19 December 1902, and Journal History of the Church, 13 May 1857)
Further investigation was done in 1912 by Samuel Russell. He visited Van Buren and talked with Thomas Fine, who pointed out what he thought was the location of the grave. After Elder Russell had returned to Salt Lake, he sent a letter to his friend, Calvin Little, of Alma, Arkansas, on 17 November 1912, and asked him to investigate further. Little sent Russell a memorandum giving the location of the graveyard and the approximate location of the grave, which was in the northeast part of the graveyard near a large oak stump–he could not determine the exact location. (Samuel Russell Papers, Church Archives. The Little Memorandum is a letter from A.B. Howell to Calvin Little, dated 11 August 1912. Little must have gotten the memorandum after Russell left, and sent it to him later in the November letter.) See footnote 63B.
69. List of the contributions
by the people of Van Buren to Judge Ogden to pay Eleanor’s expenses to
New Orleans, Eleanor Pratt Papers, Church Archives.
71. Ibid., pp. 42-43. For a copy of the article, see Arkansas Intelligencer, 22 May 1857 and Millennial Star 19:428-32.
75. Letters from 1858-1866 from
Eleanor Pratt to Brigham Young, Brigham Young Correspondence, Church
Archives. Stanley Hirshson in Lion of the Lord: A Biography of Brigham
Young (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1969), p. 217, quotes a Captain Ginn,
who visited Utah, that Eleanor was a concubine of Brigham Young. I could
find nothing to substantiate this claim, and in fact, her letters to
Brigham suggest that she was not married to him. The Endowment House
Record from 1858-1874 shows no sealing taking place between Brigham and
Eleanor. Eleanor was a frequent visitor to the Young house, because she
taught Brigham’s children.
78. Letter from Brigham Young to Eleanor Pratt, 26 October 1858, Brigham Young Letter Book, Church Archives.
So many problems for Horace, Parley, and Elenor and their family could have been solved if all of them had humbleness and charity. (I am not saying Parley wasn't humble.) None of us are perfect, and each of us comes to earth with weaknesses, which means there will be at least one commandment or habit of the natural man or woman that will butt forces with God's laws and commandments, which provide safety. If Horace had been humble he would have seen the power the gospel and the atonement of Christ would have given him for his drinking or whatever need caused him to feel like he had to drink to mask his pain or whatever. Horace, while investigating the church/ and after joining the church would have talked to his Bishop, and also his wife. They would have been cheerleaders for him in his weakness. At the same time, his wife and children would have been protected from him in a way that didn't increase the vicious cycle, or make him feel abandoned or his reputation ruined. This is what I think would happen in charitable society. There is accountability, but there is creativity, protection, and a good will from all. Elenor's needs would have been met, Horace's needs, their children's, and anybody else involved in the picture, to help them through it. But when there is pride (Horace's actions, Elenor's father's actions, maybe even some of Elenor's actions) and fear (Horace's emotions, and Elenor's father's), then it is hard for the spirit to work, and a new situation occurred due to pride and fear and sin. Charity, love, forgiveness, being teachable, would have all been ingredients to lead to a more creative solution and not such a tragic ending. I think the Lord has ways to help people solve problems, that we would call thinking outside the box, but the world tries to sabotage all good things.
ReplyDeleteI was reading D&C 67:10 today....
ReplyDelete10 And again, verily I say unto you that it is your privilege, and a promise I give unto you that have been ordained unto this ministry, that inasmuch as you strip yourselves from jealousies and fears, and humble yourselves before me, for ye are not sufficiently humble, the veil shall be rent and you shall see me and know that I am—not with the carnal neither natural mind, but with the spiritual."
What are some ways that you strip yourself of jealousies and fears and humble yourself? I know God can also help us. But where does God's part end and our part begin? What things can we do and become that help this process of stripping away jealousies and fears? What things has God done for you that have helped you in this process. I think this has become one of my new favorite scriptures for the time being.
Thank you for reposting this. Parley is my great-great-great grandfather, and I'd only known the most rudimentary details of his death.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great man he was! and what a rough life Eleanor had both before and after.