Mayhew Hillman-4th Great Grandfather

Mayhew Hillman

My 4th Great Grandfather

 

Birth Date: 4 Mar 1793
Birth Place: Chilmark, Dukes, Massachusetts, USA
Parents: Samson Hillman and Damaris Look
Death Date: 22 November 1839
Death Place: Nauvoo, Hancock, Illinois, USA

Spouse: Sarah King

Marriage Date: 1816

Marriage Place: Cambridge, Washington, New York

 

 

 

Geneology Line: Mary Leona Dalley---William Sylvanus Dalley---James Hillman Dalley---Mandana Hillman---Mayhew Hillman

 

Mayhew Hillman, 1793
Biography of Mayhew Hillman, 1793 and his wife Sarah King, 1799 who were early converts to the LDS church. The sources for this family history document will be given at the end of the biography. This is all the information I have at present.

 

Sarah King was born at Cambridge, New York, on 24 Aug 1799 to Jonathan Seymour King and his wife, Tappenes Coy. Sarah's parents were members of the First United Presbyterian Congregation Church. Sarah was one of eleven children, being the second daughter and fifth child. She grew up in Cambridge, Washington, New York, under the pioneer conditions prevalent at the time, but no record has been found of her early life.

 

She met and married Mayhew Hillman about 1816 in Cambridge, Washington, New York. Cambridge is located about thirty miles northeast of present-day Albany, near the Vermont border. Sarah and Mayhew set up housekeeping in Cambridge, where he was engaged in manufacturing. Here, two children were born to them: Silas on February 27, 1820, and Hyrum, about 1822. Hyrum died at the age of eighteen months.

 

By 1823, Mayhew and Sarah had moved to Spafford, Onondaga County, New York. which was west about 160 miles in the same state, the country being new, and opened up a new farm. Deeds recorded in Onondaga County show that Mayhew Hillman purchased seventy-one acres of land for $850 and fifty acres for $325. Spafford was an agricultural town with well watered soil, near the Hill Cumorah. Here, on 30 Apr 1827, Ira King Hillman was born. Sarah gave birth to two more children in Spafford.  Mandana was born on 3 Dec 1829, and Sarah was born about 1831. Mayhew and Sarah were members of the Spafford Congregation of Free Will Baptists.

 

In 1831, Elder Chamberlain came to Spafford, bringing the Book of Mormon, and preaching about the Restored Church. Sarah believed the message, and was baptized on 19 Jul 1832, joining the Spafford Branch which had been organized in January of the same year. In the late fall of 1832, the Spafford Branch was visited by Elder Orson Pratt in the company of several other elders. Mayhew Hillman was baptized on 10 Nov 1832. Libbeus T. Coon, (whom Sarah married for time after Mayhew's death), was also among the fourteen people who were baptized at that time.

The next fall, the Hillman family prepared to move to Kirtland, Ohio, the headquarters of the new church that they had recently joined.  Silas(Mayhew? as Silas would only have been thirteen!) sold his land for $1520 in the late fall of 1833. The Hillmans left their home where they had lived for eight years and started for Ohio. The roads and weather were so bad at this time of year that they were forced to stop for the winter at the home of Benjamin Hillman in Napoli, Catteraugus County, New York. They had traveled about 160 miles west of Spafford.

 

In the early spring of 1834 they completed the final 190 mile portion of their journey to Kirtland so that they might be near the prophet and assist more definitely in the building of the new Church. When they arrived in Kirtland they found that the foundation of the temple had been laid. Mayhew purchased a house about 100 rods south of the temple. Here their youngest daughter, Sariah Hillman, was born on 23 Mar 1835. Mayhew donated countless hours in the construction of the temple, and Sarah worked at knitting, spinning, and making garments for the temple builders. They rejoiced when the temple was completed on 20 Mar 1836.

 

During September of 1837, Joseph Smith, accompanied by several brethren, traveled to Missouri to help the Saints there establish themselves. The city of Far West was chosen as a central gathering place at this time. The Hillman family took part in the migration to Missouri in the spring of 1838, a distance of approximately nine hundred miles. They settled in Adam-Ondi-Ahmn, Daviess County. At the time of Mayhew's and Sarah's arrival, persecution was raging against the Missouri Saints. Sarah endured mob violence. Homes were burned and cattle driven off. The brethren at Adam-ondi-Ahmen stood guard for two or three weeks, after which they negotiated a treaty allowing the Saints to move to Far West. The Saints fleeing Adam-ondi-Ahman were forced to leave all possessions that they could not carry in their hands. Far West was captured by the mobs and the Mormons were forced to leave Missouri under the exterminating order of Governor Lilburn W. Boggs.

 

In the spring of 1839, Mayhew took his family out of the state and into Illinois. They crossed the Mississippi River at Marion and traveled from there to Nauvoo. They had lost most of their worldly possessions and were forced to travel a distance of about one hundred fifty miles in extremely cold weather. Mayhew Hillman fell a victim to the hardships of the journey and to the unhealthful conditions prevailing in Nauvoo at the time. He died on 2 Nov 1839, of the "ague fever".

From the Comprehensive History of the LDS Church. Roberts, B.H.  Volume 2, Page 206:

"In a grove near Lyman Wight’s house in Daviess County, Missouri, John Smith chose as his third councilor in the newly organized High Council, Mayhew Hillman, on June 28, 1838.  Joseph Smith then proceeded to instruct the men chosen as to their duty.  Mayhew Hillman was one of the builders of the Kirtland Temple. "