SAMUEL HAMER, SR
JANE THORNLEY

Jane Thornley

Samuel Hamer was born 28 May 1803 in Bolton-Le-Moors, Lancashire, England, the son of John Hamer and Jane Bentley. The Bank Street Presbyterian Church records his christening on 19 June 1803. The same records also show three younger brothers: James, John, and Edward.
 

Jane Thornley was born 14 April 1802 in Horwich (a small town about two miles east of Bolton), Lancashire, England, the daughter of John and Ellen Thornley.
 

Jane and Samuel were married 7 March 1824 in Bolton-Le-Moors. Samuel worked as an engineer, fixing and maintaining machinery, and also as a millwright. Ten children were born to them in England - John, Martha, Nancy, Ellen, James, Samuel, Jane, James, Ann, and Joseph. In 1835, the family moved to Tottington (about four miles north of Bolton), and it must have been here that they were converted to the gospel. The British Mission opened in Preston in 1838, and spread to the nearby countryside: "Members of the Council of the Twelve who served missions to England in 1840-41 found the specific prophecies of Joseph Smith upon their heads were fulfilled. Their experience was like that of the early Apostles on the day of Pentecost as thousands recognized their message and authority and asked them what they should do to be saved." (Ensign, July 1987).  According to the History of the Church, in 1840 there was a branch of sixty members in nearby Bolton. It is not known when Samuel and Jane were baptized, but their son John was baptized in September of 1840 by Robert Crook. John was 16 years old. Samuel was an officiator as a baptism for Sarah Singleton on 23 November 1841, so he must have been baptized before that date.
 

1841 English census - Tottington, Lancashire

 

The Hamer family appears in the English census in Tottington Mill in 1841. The record shows:

Saml Hamer, 35, Engineer

The Hamers immigrated to the United States in February of 1842 on the ship "Hope". The passenger list for the "Hope" shows:

Samuel Hamer, age 38, origin England, occupation: Millwright

 

The "Hope" sailed from Liverpool on 5 February 1842, under Captain Soule. There were 270 LDS immigrants. The LDS leader was James Burnham. The voyage was described in several journals: "She got out of dock on Friday 3rd Feb. and she was towed down the river on Saturday morning by a steamer about 8 miles and on Sunday morning we passed the land of Ireland...We saw a number of fish called porpoises, and on Wednesday 8th we had a strong head wind, and Thursday 9th it blew a strong gale of wind...Wednesday the 2 March the same as yesterday. I saw one flying fish today and one yesterday. Saw a vessel at a great distance we thought making for England. 30 March Wednesday morning the steam boat "Star" arrived and took us in tow about 9 o'clock in the morning...and took us in tow up the great Mississippi River and when we got up the river some distance on Thursday morning the 31 March we came in sight of a most beautiful country diversified with plantations farm house, sugar manufactories, and beautiful cottages and wooded on each side of the river and on 1st April we got to New Orleans and safe and sound and on the second April we chartered a steam boat "Louisa" commanded by Captain H.C. Cable to St. Louis."  (Richard Rushton)
 

The company of Saints travelled up the Mississippi and joined the Saints at Nauvoo.  The ship arrived on 1 April 1842. The History of Joseph Smith records: "About one hundred and fifty Saints from England, landed in Nauvoo from the steamer Louisa, and about sixty from the steamer Amaranth."
 

Nauvoo in 1840 had a population of 2,450. The call to gather brought many hundreds of English immigrants like the Hamers: "One of the assignments given the Council of the Twelve in Nauvoo was the resettlement of British immigrants. The Twelve helped newcomers find homes and land, employment, and temporary sustenance when needed. So, to serve the steady influx of Missouri and British Saints, surveyors in Nauvoo laid out a plat of four-acre blocks, each divided into four plots. Upon the city lots were many small log homes, some frame and stone buildings." (Ensign, Sept. 1979). The Hamers were given Lot #74, a few blocks from the Nauvoo Temple site, towards the river. (One of the Hamer's next-door neighbors, Sarah Granger Kimball, was responsible for starting the charitable women's organization that became the Relief Society. Her house is still standing, and is part of the Nauvoo restoration site tour.) Samuel is found paying taxes in 1842 in the Nauvoo, Illinois Tax Index, 1842:
 

Samuel Hamary, page 226, coordinates 6N8W
 

Source: Nauvoo, Illinois Tax Index, 1842, on ancestry.com.
 

Samuel worked in Nauvoo as a blacksmith. The one-year-old baby, Joseph, died in September of 1842. He is believed to have been buried on the Hamer's property.
 

There is some confusion about Samuel Hamer's death. The newspaper, the Nauvoo Neighbor, records the death of Samuel Hamer in August 1843 of "ague and fever"- probably malaria. The death is confirmed by the handwritten Sexton's list of death. However, there is an interesting family story, as told by Samuel's granddaughter, Nellie Hamer Reiser (the daughter of Samuel Hamer, Jr.): "I remember having heard my father tell many stories of his experiences as an early member of the Church and as a pioneer. He told us of having seen the Prophet Joseph Smith lying on the well curb after having been killed and having fallen from the window of the Carthage Jail. Father had gone with his father and mother to see where the Prophet was imprisoned, and arrived just after his cruel death. His father, who was the only miller that the Saints had at that time, and suffered for some time with a weak heart. He took his wife and his boy home, and had no sooner reached the house than he fell dead. The shock of the Prophet's murder was too great for him to stand." This story is unlikely. If it were true his death would have had to have been in June of 1844, instead of August 1843 as recorded. Samuel Hamer, Sr. is not buried in the old Nauvoo cemetery, but is probably buried on his property in Nauvoo, which according to the Nauvoo Restoration Society is now pasture land. This pasture land is owned by the LDS church, as part of the Nauvoo restoration.
 

The loss of her husband must have been very hard for the widowed Jane Hamer, and she still had young children to raise. All of the Saints were shocked by the murder of Joseph and Hyrum Smith in June 1844, and mob violence increased. A diary kept by Zina Diantha Huntington Jacobs in Nauvoo records on September 14, 1844, "I went and saw Sister Hamer." (Zina later became General Relief Society President from 1887 to 1901).
 
 

Nauvoo Neighbor, death notice for Samuel Hamer

Jane Thornley Hamer was left with the responsibility of a large family, as the Saints encountered increasing difficulties in Nauvoo. The family gathered together to support each other. In 1845, John S. Haslam, a good family friend, married the oldest daughter, Martha. The family remained in Nauvoo until continuing persecution caused the Saints to leave in 1846. The family traveled together to Winter Quarters. Samuel, Jr. and John S. Haslam helped the Saints carry supplies and immigrants across the Missouri River, and worked as blacksmiths. The winters of 1849 and 50 were especially hard. They often did not know where the next meal was coming from: "There had been no supper the previous night and the mother (Jane) could find nothing for breakfast. They held family prayers and asked God for food. After prayer, Samuel (her son) took his gun and prepared to go in search of food. He was in the act of leaving the tent when a large rabbit ran through the tent flap and across the floor. He took aim and fired, killing the rabbit. In the midst of their rejoicing, someone noticed a shadow which fell across the floor. Looking up, they saw a large Indian standing in the doorway. With what little English he knew and many gestures, he let them know that he had chased the rabbit into their tent, and that it was rightfully his. The mother recognized the justice of his action and relinquished the rabbit without further ado. As he turned to go the children, seeing their breakfast disappear, began to cry. The Indian stopped, turned to grandmother and said: "Where your man?" She told him that her husband was dead. He grunted, handed her the rabbit and turned and walked away." (Nellie Hamer Reiser).
 

Jane is found with her family in the 1850 census in Pottawatamie County:
 

John Amer, age 26, occupation: blacksmith
Elizabeth, age 18
John Hazlem, age 27
Martha, age 24
Jane, age 4
John, age 2
Jane Amer, age 49
Samuel, age 17, occupation: none
Jane, age 15
James, age 13
Ann, age 12

Source: 1850 federal census, Iowa, Pottawatomie County, District 21, page 112, on ancestry.com.
 
 

1850 census, Iowa

Jane and her family crossed the plains with the Orson Pratt Company, encountering hardship and near starvation as they journeyed to Utah. Jane was a midwife, and her skills were a great blessing to the sick while crossing the plains. Her son, Samuel, remembered her determination and economy: "Father was always proud to tell of his mother's foresightedness and economy. He told us of how she would prepare the bones and small pieces of meat for their immediate meals, drying and saving the larger pieces for the future. When father's gun would bring down a prairie chicken or two, his mother would cook the forepart of the bird, and would dry the legs and hang them up by pieces of string to the beams of the wagon in the manner which she dried the pieces of meat. He told of how his mother made soda from salratis which she gathered from the wayside, of how she made soap." (Nellie Hamer Reiser)
 

The family arrived in the Salt Lake Valley in October 1857. Jane received a plot of land in the 16th Ward from Brigham Young. Her life here was comfortable and happy. Her children married and had children: "Samuel married Ann Abion on November 5, 1857. Nancy married William Player; Martha, married John Haslam; Jane married Thomas Dallin and was the mother of the famous Utah sculptor Cyrus E. Dalin; Ann was the second wife of D.O. Calder; John drowned in the Jordan River in the year 1877 while fishing; and James died in Salt Lake City." (Nellie Hamer Reiser). There is an incidental mention of Jane Hamer in "Our Pioneer Heritage": "Brother David Calder, President Young's head clerk had engaged me...One day of of his wives had me go with her to visit her mother, to help carry her child. Sister Hammer lived in the lower part of town. While there, a young man, Henry Maudsley, came in. His mother and Mrs. Hammer had been playmates in England and later neighbors in Nauvoo."  (History of Mary S. Maudsley, Our Pioneer Heritage, vol. 19 p. 377)
 
 

1860 census, Salt Lake City, Utah

Samuel Hamer, Jr. was called on a mission to settle Panaca, Nevada in 1868. He returned in 187l, and settled with his mother on the land which Brigham Young had given her. Samuel's likeness may be seen on the Brigham Young Monument in Salt Lake City, as his granddaughter tells: "It has been stated by members of his family that Samuel Hamer posed for the figure of the Trapper on the west side of the Brigham Young Monument at South Temple and Main Street in Salt Lake City. This monument was the work of his nephew Cyrus E. Dallin. The figure is a very good likeness of my grandfather." (Isabella Hamer Vogelaar).
 
 

1870 census, Salt Lake City, Utah